[JANUARY INTRO LOG | WORLD TWO]

[spellbindmods]

Who: All coven members, especially new folk!
Where: In and around the new world’s apartment building where the coven is staying, as well as the rest of Shehui
When: Day 160
Open/Closed: Open to All
IMPORTANT: While some prompts are newbie exclusive, all characters can tag this intro log!

How did you get into this building? This apartment room? What the fuck is going on? Let's refer back to this page for a semi in-depth, wow so detailed, explanation of your current situation. You'll also have a letter slipped under your door with some explanation about your whole coven situation, as well as info that explains you have magic now! And yet what kind of magic is conveniently left out. Are you up to speed? Great. Now, here's the question of the hour: what are you going to do about all this? A ▢ If you're the sensible sort and want to explore your new digs before slinking around Shehui, you're in luck! You've got easy access to your apartment, and it's luckily not on lockdown right now. Feel free to check out your room, raid the fridge -- oh, and saying hello to your roommates should also be on your to-do list. B ▢ Let's say that hanging out with these people is a little overwhelming...that's fine! There are plenty of things to do in the apartment building without interacting with roomies! There are vending machines to prop up, a leisure floor that contains a totally vacant air hockey table and a nice garden to relax in. C ▢ But ah, there's also venturing outside! Out front is the job board, which is a nice place to hit up if you're looking to add to your currently fat but depleting credit account. The problem is that the jobs are currently disappearing quickly, and those around you aren't giving you such nice looks. This apartment building is a known problem area at this point, and your signet doesn't do anything to settle their fears.

D ▢ With new year's week coming to an end, the residents of Shehui are feeling more celebratory than somber now. A lot of businesses are closed in order to enjoy themselves and ring in the new year the right way. A lot of restaurants and bars are currently offering specials, from free drinks to cheap food in order to pull in the holiday crowd. If you're looking to meet people and socialize in Shehui, this is the best way to do it. E ▢ Also because it's the post holiday season, stores are trying to push out the rest of their overstock merch. One item of note that's being peddled quite often is a cell phone. From tiny flip phones to the latest Orange product, cellphones are a necessity in this modern society. Get yours right now and begin texting right away! There are a few social apps that are installed, so you might be lucky enough to connect with another coven member! They also have Redmolar capability, which will automatically allow you to text those with phones in the area. Maybe send some mysterious stranger texts? F ▢ While you're hustling around Shehui, you may realize that the telepathic messages get stronger -- perhaps the new coven members are near? In general, you may be subject to telepathic messages about current Shehui goings on, random thoughts or requests to meet up at so-and-so location. A.K.A. let's utilize that telepathy...it may not last forever! G ▢ Because the week of remembrance is still going on, flowers are littering the streets, though most of them are dead. Bunches of flowers are being sold, and flower fortunes are a popular activity during this part of the holiday. There are fortune tellers on the street who will give you your flower of the year, but it's more fun to have them read with one another! There are digital cards that you can buy that will allow you to read fortunes on the go -- simply tap the screen of the card and your flower will be decided. Not happy with your choice? Too bad! It won't randomize to something different, no matter how hard you try. H ▢ While a lot of Shehui citizens are trying to avoid the coven members like the plague, a small alien child isn't so much concerned with who helps her, just as long as someone does. She accidentally left her house's door open and her five new kittens are suddenly missing! Where are they? Who knows! But she'd certainly like some help looking for them. I ▢ As the day winds down, snow falls on Shehui for the last time this season. The government is getting rid of their supplies that create the festive weather. This is old hat for older coven members, but for newbies? You better enjoy the snow while you can. After an hour or so, it piles up enough to truly be utilized for merriment...this also means that it's pretty easy to get snowed in if you happen to be in a building during the snow fall, which also creates some interactive opportunities. J ▢ Wildcard! How will your character interact with this new and unusual world?

Comments

[counteracts]

[He only asked for your help, Noctis... not your judgment on how he decides to spend his time...

For some reason, the question seems to stump him for a moment. Like he's just been building without really thinking about what it is he was working on.] A wall, I guess. [Brief pause.] A fort? A base? Something like that.

[He is a little old for it, sure, but he's never really been exposed to snow like this before. Well, that's not true, but he had other things on his mind the last time. Regardless, the whimsy of it exacerbated childish impulses.

He beams at Noctis when he brings the asked-for chunk of snow.] Great. Thanks. [He helps mold into place and... it's done. Whatever the hell it is.]

Yeah.

[By God, he looks so proud...]

Alright. Do you want to help me do the honors?

[Maybe at some point he'll learn a little specificity.]

[armigers]

[ He is giving him judgment regardless, though he guesses the guy built... something all right. Not a fort really but it's getting there? Noctis is pretty sure he himself built some craftier forts in his day, but he also had the luxury of his father's wealth and a large supply of fancy blankets and pillows at his disposal.

The fact that this guy is so proud of his wall makes it all the more amusing and awkwardly endearing, as though Noctis really is dealing with someone younger than his appearance suggests. At the question, however, he blinks a little owlishly before his eyes follow one end of the wall to the other. ]

Do the honors of what?

[ He assumes he's not being asked to knock it down, though he almost impulsively wants to. But he has a feeling that won't go over so well with the stranger, so he'll refrain. ]

[counteracts]

[Yeah, slow your roll, there, princey. Some people didn't have all those nice, fancy toys. Some people were building shelters out of scrap so they could get out of the weather when things in the streets got a little less than comfortable (or what passed for comfortable, anyway).

Orga beams at the other guy, replying as if it was obvious.

Turns out your gut instinct was right, actually...]

Knocking it down, of course! [His hands are on his hips, chin held slightly into the air at the proclamation.] What's the fun in building it if you don't get to do that, right?

[Probably things the boss of a mercenary company shouldn't be saying...]

[armigers]

[ A blink, then- ]

Really?

[ Sign him up! He's all for pointlessly destroying snow sculptures. He knows he's twenty, but let him have this! ]

I mean, if you insist...

[ As though he can contain the urge any longer. He quickly kicks down the wall with all the savagery of a small child before glancing around to make sure no one saw how gleeful he looked just seconds ago. It seems like the coast is clear, and the other guy isn't judging him too much.

Also, that felt undeniably therapeutic so he kicks the snow again and topples more over because why not? ]

Are you really okay building all this just to knock it down?

[ Does he plan on building it again, making snow birds, or what? ]

[counteracts]

[It's alright, Noctis, you're only a little older than Orga is. It might not be age appropriate to the common person's eye, but, well, hell. They could mind their own fucking business, right? If he was going to be left to his own devices in this city as the snow fell down in drifts, he might as well use it to his advantage and try to have some fun while he could.]

I do. [Said with a nod.

He gives Noctis the honorary first kick, smiling with an appraising nature. He doesn't respond to his question with words; instead he lowers his shoulders, running through the wall behind him with something along the lines of a tackle. He's laughing, sweeping out with one hand to collapse a portion that had escaped being toppled.]

Well, yeah. What other purpose would it have?

[The makeshift fort is basically rubble by this point. He turns to face Noctis again, a wide smile on his face and his hands on his hips.]

It was fun, right? Mission accomplished, then.

[armigers]

You have a point there.

[ How often does he get to unwind and kick around snow? It has its therapeutic advantages, and he can't help but still kick what's left, the tiny mounds that get smushed beneath his boots before he molds a snow ball in his hands. Too bad Gladio isn't around so he can smash a face-ful of it into him -well deserved considering how much space that guy hogs when he sleeps.

There's a lot he still misses back home, having been trying to cope with losing all that, and it's not often he gets to lose himself in the moment and have fun, especially since the attack on the Crown City. Some days, he forgets what it's like being a twenty year-old -enough that he's tempted to start a snow fight with a stranger, but he'll refrain. For now. ]

You do this sort of thing often back home?

[ It doesn't look like it's his first snow fort, but what does Noctis know? There's little he can ascertain from the guy's appearance alone except that he should probably have someone properly gel back that forelock for him. That's got to get annoying ...says the guy who can barely see through his fringe. ]

[counteracts]

[He isn't even sure how long it'd taken to build the thing, but it's reduced right back down to its base elements within a few short moments. That's the manner of things, though, isn't it? Something could take years, decades, even centuries to build up. Then one thing comes along, something changes, and it all comes crashing down. It was a bit condensed here, and certainly silly, but it's a common thread. At least there's some fun in it, though.

Noctis might not choose to throw it, but Orga keeps a wary eye on the snowball he'd formed in his hands. He'll maintain armistice as long as it was kept on both sides, but one false move and that uneasy peace would end...]

Nah. Not really.

[Pretty good for his first construction, then? The snow was fairly new, but he's used to all manner of work with his hands. Maybe it'd just translated luckily.]

Didn't really get much snow. Got even less free time to do something like this. I guess that's why I took the opportunity to do it now. [He looks up to Noctis.] What about you? Got much time for snowball fights? [Yeah, he knows you're still holding one, and he's keeping a wary eye on it.

And hey, Noctis, listen... Whatever aerodynamic engineering went into whatever the hell Orga's hair is doing, it's not only intentional but also intrinsic to him as a person, so let's just leave that be...]

[armigers]

[ It's not like Noctis has ever really had much time to go outside and play in the snow himself. Insomnia never had winters like these, and even if it did, he'd spent so much of his childhood with a whole conglomerate of people following him around, he doubts they'd have let him do something as simple as go out and make snowmen.

If there's one good thing about his kidnapping at the moment, it's that he can make up for all that lost time now and live more freely. If only for a while. Who's to say what will happen to him when he finally reaches Altissia, how everything will unfold. Maybe he'll get married, devote himself to taking down the empire, save the world and all that, but for now, he can just be some no-name twenty year old stomping around on snow forts. ]

I do now. Didn't realize how relaxing it was.

[ He tosses the ball of snow rather ominously from one palm to the other as his expression turns a bit more mischievous. ]

It's not a bad way to kill time. By the way, how are your reflexes?

[ Just casually asking that, no big deal. ]

[counteracts]

[Mmm... princely problems.

Orga spent most of his youth making sure he and Mika were fed and warm enough to survive while living on the streets. But, ya know, you couldn't really control the circumstances of your birth and all. Orga hadn't thought very highly of the wealthy elite at all, but after having escorted Kudelia all the way from Mars to Earth, he'd found he'd been wrong his assumptions. Despite her own seclusion and privilege, she had befriended them, become their patrons, guided them to the position of an honorable guard rather than yet another sleazy Martian paramilitary group.

But anyway.]

Relaxing, huh. [Said cautiously; Orga squints one eye until its closed, eyeing Noctis mistrustfully through the other.

Casual, huh? Damn, kid. He'd hope it's casual, because if you're trying any manner of subterfuge, it'd be just painful.]

Why don't you try me.

[His voice had dropped a bit. It wasn't a question.]

[armigers]

Like the sound of that.

[ And he likes winning even more, though he's not sure how one exactly 'wins' a snowball fight. Maybe whoever gets the most hits in? In which case, he's sure he has this in the bag as he quickly throws the ball in his hand towards Orga's head which isn't as debilitating as it could be. If he had his ability to warp-strike still in tact, he'd just use that to stealthily hit him before Orga even realizes he's disappeared, but he'll adjust.

Once the ball is out of his hand, Noctis rolls behind a tree for cover and already starts making the next one. If only Gladio could see him now, putting all that hard-earned combat training to good use. ]

Come on, don't make this too easy on me.

[ Taunting words as he makes sure he has a decent-sized snowball in his hands, ready to throw and keep the other guy on his toes -or at least keep him from pelting anything at him. ]

[counteracts]

[Orga doesn't really know either, but all he knows is that if they're going in for a fight of any nature, he's bent on winning. He didn't get to where he was by striving for anything else.

If he hadn't been fully expecting such a move, Noctis might've gotten a hit in. As it is, though, years of training and a skilled eye allowed him to see where the guy was aiming soon enough that he could duck out of the way. Man. Now he's wishing he hadn't broken his entire fort, because it would've been pretty damn useful right about now. Instead he scoops some snow and forms a snowball on the run. Orga's tactics usually rely on brute force. It's not because he's simply- or dangerously-minded in such a thing; he just worked with what he had. And what he had, which was a Gundam and a pilot who could crush anything in front of them, lent themselves to such an approach.

It wouldn't work here, even though he does wish Mika was here. Teamwork would make quick work of this.]

Oh? [Said as he skids into cover behind a snow-laden patch of shrubbery a short distance away from where Noctis was hiding behind the tree.] Big talk. Let's see you back it up.

[He glances over his makeshift cover, searching out for whenever Noctis might be looking around towards him and hurling the snowball when he thinks he's got an opening. Not a huge chance of success there, but he's making a statement. And trying to think about what the next ploy would be.]