[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

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[ That gets a small chuckle from him - though it's clipped short by his habit of silence. ]

The same was said by someone I worked with; when the times are hard, you make do. However, artificial spices made it easier to bear for some of my teammates.

[ Eating becomes something surreal now that he's not a human anymore. Even when he was a human, he didn't think much of it. Food as an art could only be afforded before his time, so it was a natural consequence of self-restraint that he would not expect too much out of his fare. ]

Aye. I'm not good at espionage, so perhaps it's best left to someone else. [ He's far too inexperienced for it. ] Do you still have your job here?

[counteracts]

[Orga returns the laugh.]

You learn that finding people with the ability to make something good out of whatever's on hand is worth their weight in gold. [There'd been the smallest shred of him that had been hesitant to take Atra with them into space, vaguely protective of the girl that had started to tag along after Mika in their youth, but... she'd been fairly insistent.

And her food was pretty damn good, especially considering what she was working with.]

It's not my strong suit either.

[Tekkadan was known more for kicking down doors, knocking out proverbial teeth. He simply used the tools at hand, and Mika was a blunt, particularly unsubtle weapon.]

What, my same job from back home? [There's a sense of amusement in his smile.] Nah. I gotta assume the same could be said for you?

[All this city really had to offer were jobs at the lowermost rung, so unless they were a bunch of gardeners and mall cops, they were all feeling a little underwhelmed with their options.]

[bulletbiter]

[ There's a lot in common between them, which adds to his newfound relaxedness. Thus: ]

I don't know how to cook well, so I won't complain about it either.

[ No use fussing over something that he struggles with at times. Toast is easy, but simple food is the limit of his abilities. ]

Yeah. This place doesn't really need my old skillset. [ Also, his second excuse would be that he was retired... which is true. ] I was offered a job as a clerk, but that's out of my ability.

[ He wouldn't have minded a gardener job, actually. But that's not really the point here. ]

It feels like they're almost done tightening their net. I can pass off as someone not from the coven, but I'm not sure how much good that'll do.

[counteracts]

[Orga feels similarly. It's nice to find those cut from at least vaguely similar cloth.

He laughs.] Let's hope we keep ending up in places where we can keep ordering food, then. [Because if he's ever stuck in a situation where it's him, a pantry of ingredients, and a kitchen, he's royally screwed.

Retired... sounds nice. Certainly beat being in the middle of a thorny situation and feeling as though you left your entire crew high and dry back home, without your leadership to try to guide them through the storm (which you admittedly put them in the path of in the first place, but that's beside the point).

A lot of the menial jobs were, in one way, shape, or form, things he'd done before. He's not thrilled about it, but he could do them. Maybe once he's shed his curiosity for the city and found some concern for the state of his funds.]

I'd have to agree with you. A place like this, it has to have records. If they know where we live, they can pull our names from a register somewhere without much issue at all.

[If they ever got half a mind to do something about them, well. There'd be nothing stopping them.]

My bigger question is, if they reach a point where they do something about us, what would that thing be?

[Setting dramatic irony aside, considering current events...]

[bulletbiter]

[ Sagely: ] Perhaps we should learn sometime. It'd be useful, at least.

[ There are plenty of jokes about how men are useless without housekeepers, but it only applies to them on a very superficial level. Can't be thinking when one has a crisis on their hands. ]

It might be eviction. I'm not sure, there's much we don't know about what's beyond the walls. But I'm confident that we can handle it.

[ Hey, they're soldiers. They've lived through worse, and can just grit their teeth through it. ]

[counteracts]

[Orga seems a little more unsure about the idea.

One of the first rules of leadership he'd learned was delegation. He had to make sure to distribute various important duties to different people, partially to keep himself from becoming overworked but also to make those individuals feel important and take pride in their work.

He would argue that he would just be taking away from all the valiant work his cook does for them... though the truth was, he just doesn't really want to...]

Maybe...

[Yeah, doesn't sound convincing.

It's not that he is against this sort of thing...! It's just that everyone, on his ship, has a role and a function, and his is very far removed from all of that. It's a bit hard to switch from that mentality here, where he feels he'll have to become a lot more self-sufficient.]

I want to say it'd be no skin off my back, but... I guess we're here for a reason, huh? [Something about that witch. They have to find her or something? Then glut her on magic until they can get the hell out?]

I guess so. I just like having a little more of an idea of what's ahead, so I can at least start to plan something out is all.

[Again. Necessary adjustments he's a little too hesitant to make just yet.]

[bulletbiter]

[ Times will change, Orga. One must get used to it.... even if it wasn't something they wanted to do. Best to be prepared. ]

Did you have a preference for food, though?

[ Julius perpetuates their discussion out of food partly because it gives them an excellent cover, so it has to continue. That, and his interest in it has increased over these few months. ]

Likewise. Still, it gives us opportunity to get to know each other so we can work together more easily. [If it's any comfort. ]

[counteracts]

[It's true, it's true... Usually he's fairly good with rolling with the punches and adjusting to whatever shit is thrown his way, but it's more the loss of his crew that he's slowly adjusting to. Being without them feels like he's wandering around with one arm tied painfully behind his back.

Orga gives a huff of a laugh.] On a plate, in front of me. Check those two boxes and I'll eat it. Hell. It doesn't even have to be on a plate...

[He's not picky. Of course, eating had become perfunctory back home, something he got out of the way so he could return to work. This opinion could stand to change here.] How about you?

[It is a fair point. He gives it to him.]

True. Seems to be working out that way right now.

[He certainly feels as though he can trust Julius at any rate.]

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[ Julius can't help but smile at the response. It's something he might have heard from Gilbert, though the older man did prefer a drink with his meals. Not just for the taste - sometimes, he wondered if the veteran ever doused his worries in alcohol. However, the likelihood of that happening had decreased over time. ]

I had the luck to be able to eat a somewhat balanced diet, so something along those lines. Meat, and some cultured greens. [ cultured because farming no longer exists. ] But if it's required, I'll also eat whatever's in front of me on a plate.

[ Friends are good, and being both military means he doesn't have to mind his words so much. ]

I think there might be a cafe of sorts around here that I can recommend. We can check it out, if you're free. [ If not, maybe next time. ]

[counteracts]

[Orga whistles.] Fancy. [Yeah, a "balanced diet" with actual, bona fide meat that came from an actual once-living animal and a variety of grown vegetables was pretty privileged from his perspective. But the Third Group had typically eaten what the rest of the CGS had eaten: gruel made from cheap grains, what few vegetables could be farmed on Mars, and artificial proteins. After coming from that, made by their own hands (and, by extension, not tasting all that great), all the food that Atra had been able to make from their supplies seemed like a divine gift.

He wonders what she might be able to do with some really decent ingredients. Something to look into when he gets back, maybe. Just so long as there was a meatless option for those of his crew that still felt weird about it.]

Yeah, sure. I don't have any place to be. [Maybe he should get a job, but, well. Then he'd be less free to wander around and befriend others who'd gotten swept away into this coven business.]

Lead the way.

we can wrap this up? :D

[bulletbiter]

[ Fancy indeed... ]

I suppose it is fancy. I treasured it because of the rarity, though. [ Such things were given only to the best soldiers, and for good reason. Mortality rate is pretty high. ] That's more the reason to enjoy what we can have here.

[ He'll start off towards the direction of the cafe he had last visited. It seemed like a peaceful type of place, with a gentle atmosphere. If Orga is anything like their conversation makes it out to be, he'll also need a good long break.

Or as much of it as they can get here. ]

sure thing c:

[counteracts]

Better 'n taking it for granted, that's for damn sure.

[It wasn't even that they had seen such a harsh divide among the different groups in the CGS. Even the older, more privileged (in as much as that they weren't youths selling themselves as human shields for food and board) First Corps had eaten the same sort of gruel that the Third Group had. The owner hadn't exactly been affluent. It was tough everywhere on Mars, except for the very thin upper crust of families so rich they might as well have been royalty.

He doesn't hold too much against them, though. His first employer had been a scion of such a family, doing everything she could to fix the very circumstances which had created the mercenaries she'd hired to protect her. There was an irony in that, sure, but he had nothing but respect for her.]

You're right, though. We gotta take advantage of all of this variety while we still can. [Said with a grin, happy in the anticipation of wherever Julius had in mind.

Casual things like getting a bite with an acquaintance was something that was still faintly unfamiliar to him, though Orga takes to it well, sampling some food he'd never really heard of before and continuing to talk for as long as their meeting together lasted.

Because, well, you gotta capitalize on the peaceful moments while they last.]