[OPENING] island hub - day 1

[spellbindmods]

Who: All Characters
Where: Main Hub
When: Day 1
Open/Closed: Open to All

TDM threads can be considered canon if you so choose, they contain the power that you apped with and both parties confer that the thread is canon.

For characters that were on the TDM and who were not accepted/didn't app, these characters will be considered dropped characters that were magicked away.

Night has fallen upon everyone. It's thus far been an eventful day -- you've met some new people, discovered some new aspects of yourself that weren't there before you appeared here (however that might have happened). The original inhabitants of the island have been working hard to prepare a few things. One activity might have been one you were a part of, but there's still time to get your hands dirty. A ▢ Brie has rolled out a large copper pot and created a pit on the beach. It's unrealistic to think everyone can subsist on the few foods she's collected from other words and boar jerky alone. She's got a few boar carcasses sitting on the beach that need attending to as well. Your characters can help feed themselves and others, and here's what needs to be done: Fire needs to be started for cooking the meat AND a large bonfire for light and warmth. The large copper bowl needs to be filled with water. Crabs need to be bravely collected from the bath house for boiling. The boar needs to be either cut up for kebabs or stuck through. Does your character know anything about spit-roasting? Any other helpful magical skills are welcome to help make food. Post feasting, there are dozens of crabs and a pile of roasted boar meet that are up for eating. Even if you didn't offer to help in making any of the food, they're open to eat it -- even if the true helpers may give you dirty looks. The boar is fine, if not a little bland and chewy, but it's probably better than the jerky. The crab is delicious, if not a little tasteless...there problem with the crab isn't exactly the taste, though. B ▢ The crab isn't a species that's immediately edible for most species, though your character will grow to get used to it eventually. For now, the meat isn't settling well within your character's system. Your character will experience sweats, a high fever, blurred vision, potential vomiting, hives...it's very obvious their body is rejecting the unfamiliar meat. This may also cause a bit of an issue with your character's powers. They're still getting physically and mentally acclimated to these new changes, so expect their telepathy and magic to go a little haywire.

It's almost completely dark outside when the next event of the evening happens. You're living your life when you see it out of the corner of your eye -- it's absolutely hard to miss. What you see is a large lit caravan, larger than even an army tank. It's bright white and shining, covered with golden, ornate details that emanate an even more dazzling sparkle. The entire thing is aglow, and it's quickly coming towards the large bonfire that's been made. It's not rolling across the sand, but instead it's floating, and so is a matching trunk that's sailing along next to a figure beside the caravan. C ▢ A tall, slender woman has also come along with the large caravan, quickly opening the trunk that eventually lands on the sand with a large thud. She's handing out sacks, very similar to the ones previously in the large lobster cage. These contain a parka, a type of candy of your choice, a bottle of water, a large shard from a broken mirror and a letter rolled up and bound with a roll of twine. There are two other thread options associated with this prompt: Genette's top level and her telepathy training post. Around the same time as Genette is handing out this new little goody bag, you suddenly receive a telepathic message. It might seem a little strange at first -- but on that note, what about tonight isn't strange? D ▢ The telepathic message your character will receive is a simple one: Hello. It shows up in text form across your character's line of vision and it doesn't go away until they respond back, though the message that's sent out won't go to the original telepath. Instead it will ping pong to a random person in the group. You've made a new friend! After you've met Genette, she's also got a few more supplies that she pulls out a small door in the base of the caravan. She's insistent that you only get two items, since there aren't exactly a lot of them to go around! E ▢ The last of the starter supplies are being handed out, and these are items that are more cumbersome or rare -- they may not be immediately useful for your character, but maybe you can make use of them somehow, whether eventually in another world or with your power. An electronic/technology: these can be as obvious as an MP3 player, as useless as a garage door motor or as scandalous as a Hitachi Magic Wand. If it can be powered by electricity or batteries, there's a tub of them. They're also partially charged if they don't need constant electricity to work. A fashion accessory: there are a lot of these, surprisingly. Flower crowns, belts, bras, shoes, earrings, other types of jewelry. Your character can look cute while suffering from crab vomiting. Books and stationary: maps of various worlds, books written in a myriad of languages (maybe even one you recognize!), writing paper, ink pens, gel pens, stickers. Any kind of stationary can be found here. Other household items: this can include cleaning supplies, furniture, and other miscellaneous goods. These won't be personal affects from your character's home, but they may be useful! Feel free to come up with unusual or alien items -- these have come from all over the universe, remember!

As the night winds down, it's recommended by Brie that you should probably go to be in your hut -- or at the very least get somewhere inside. There are a lot of people around the camp, however, so it's no surprise that there are a few people waiting around to get their fill of food and supplies before heading to bed. The noise of the new members and the light of the fire have attracted a very large pack of boars, who you'll later find make routine trips to the beach every night. Boar mating season has made the wild hogs rather testy, and the smell of food -- even if it's their own boar brethren -- have made them even more volatile. F ▢ If your character isn't quick to get inside tonight, they're likely to get a boar charging at them. The chances are doubled if they happen to be holding onto a food item. Female boars can leave a few bruises and trample you, but beware the males -- they've got tusks. However, it's not like staying up at night doesn't have its advantages. Once midnight hits, another species of animal makes its regular rounds across the base camp. In the sky, characters can see an Aurora Borealis-like sight. Instead of being dancing green and blue lights, however, the reality is that they are a massive species of space worm, and hundreds are wiggling past on their way to travel back home. They're shimmering and in every color imaginable, lighting up the sky with their magnificent hues. G ▢ The space worms operate outside the natural barrier of the hub, but they still are in close enough proximity to shed a film as they travel. If you're still awake, boars or no, you'll be in the middle of a shower. The film sheds from the worms and enters the atmosphere, creating multi-colored, sweet-smelling mists of worm water vapor. Worm water vapor is kind of weird, but it's also pretty cool. It's also calming, and that's a bonus. Inhale too much and you might become a little too calm.

Comments

[needmetoo]

I guess... Or whatever that is.

[She looks up to indicate the colored light show.]

Have you ever seen anything like it?

[probablynoteren]

I think, there is something like it. In the far north of where I come from.

[He'd ask Alisa if she'd ever seen something like this, if she were here -- her home must have been far enough to the north to see the phenomenon he's only heard about. He's not at all sure this is the right comparison, but it's not too important. There's something about it that almost seems living, but surely that's his imagination.

He tilts his head at the colors still resting at Xion's fingertips.]

What else can you do with it?

[needmetoo]

I'm... not sure yet. It's easiest to just... gather it together. I can move it a little.

[She brings the two marble-sized bits of water together, and, brow furrowing, lifts it up and lets it circle around the air for a bit]

I couldn't do this back where I came from.

[probablynoteren]

So it's one of those things that you can do here, like the letter said.

[The letter from Genette, who's still somewhere in this encampment -- it's strange to have gotten a letter from someone who was standing right there, even if it was potentially the practical thing to do with how many of them seem to have wandered in. It's almost as strange as being out at night like this, and not jumping at every shadow.

The funniest thing is, he doesn't entirely mind the boar attacks, either. They're just boars, and very nearly as fascinating to him as the sky raining rainbows.]

[needmetoo]

Yeah.

[She lets the small sphere of water come to rest on one of her outstretched palms, then dumps it out onto the ground, letting her power go.]

It's... strange though. I could do magic before I came here. I was still learning, but... Now all those powers are gone.

[Among other things, though she's calmer about that now than she was earlier.]

Did you have anything like that?

[probablynoteren]

[He's quiet for a moment, because it's actually difficult to know where to start answering the question -- the fact that magic is somehow normal for her, the fact that what he had (has?) wasn't quite magical but not quite normal either, and... well, maybe he can just start from the top.

It seems strangely like they have all the time in the world, in the mists that keep going on and on as far as the eye can see.]

... I could do things I can't here, but not magic. It was part of my weapon, and the technology.

[He gently taps the big red metal armlet on his wrist.]

Like this. I don't think it functions anymore.

[Which is actually more alarming than his even voice and the effects of the worm mist would show, but there have been bigger worries than that today.]

[needmetoo]

[Xion listens patiently as he explains, her thoughts wending their way after his words. So... it wasn't just magic that they affected, but other things too? Were there other things she couldn't do, that she hadn't realized yet?

When he indicates it, she peers at the armlet, curiously.]

What is it supposed to do?

[probablynoteren]

It connects me to my God Arc. My weapon.

[He misses it, his God Arc, and at the same time it's a bit of a relief. It's Complicated; at least here, it doesn't seem like there would have been a real use for it yet beyond being a particularly intense gunblade.]

It's also a signal beacon, but I don't think it works here.

[There's a vague wave at... everything above them. And in front of them. As high-tech as Fenrir is, he doesn't even see Earth anywhere, so that's the most logical conclusion...]

[needmetoo]

[Well that's... admittedly not what she expected. A story a lot like her own, in some ways.]

My weapon's called the Keyblade. I should be able to-

[She holds a hand out, and then seems to close it on air. Or something that should be appearing, but isn't. She pulls her hand back and looks down at it.]

But it's not answering either. I guess it doesn't matter while we're here but, I need it back, when we leave.

[And for all she says it's fine for now, she doesn't really believe it, honestly. The sooner she has her Keyblade back, the better.]

Why take them away from us?

[probablynoteren]

You can call it?

[That's the easiest explanation for the motion she makes, grasping at air -- there is a certain odd and almost intangible connection between himself and the God Arc, but it's not something he'd think to try over distances like this. That's much more magic, something on her end.

He flexes his own empty fingers, over where the armlet rests. It's funny: it hasn't quite been a year since he first got his hands on a God Arc, but now he feels kind of naked without one. There are no Aragami here, as far as he can tell (and Aragami aren't something you just miss), but his fingers still itch.]

Someone I met was talking about... exchange. Like they had to take something away to give something.

[That's something he hasn't thought too much about. And he's not entirely sure he interpreted it correctly. But here they are, weaponless anyway.]

[needmetoo]

It just sort of... appears, when I do.

[Xion grimaces a bit, head bowed.]

They could have asked. Asked if we wanted to trade.

[Because then she could have told them that she was happy with what she had now. And that not having her Keyblade now makes her feel almost useless. Even if she did get something new in exchange.]

[probablynoteren]

[Any other time, he'd be a little envious of such a convenient weapon -- but at the present time, they're both in the same boat and there's no point.

There are much bigger worries. The questions she voices are misgivings he's been having all day, but truthfully there was no one to voice them to. The only ones who could have done anything about them had been elusive until recently.]

They could have asked for a lot of things. I guess they decided to ask forgiveness, rather than permission.

[Any other time he'd be considerably more irritated, but Xion is the only one here right now, and the current colorful weather is cooling his temper. Perhaps for the best.]

[needmetoo]

I guess.

[As of yet she's reluctant to voice her opinion on the whole predicament more than she already has. Besides, it's not like it'd do much anyway.

Sighing, she lifts a finger and twirls it, forming a little disc of the mist.]

At least this is pretty.

[probablynoteren]

I wonder if it can be stored. It's some kind of liquid, so...

[Not that it seems to serve any purpose, beyond being really nice to look at and a refreshing cooldown after their crabby fates earlier in the evening -- but he's struck by it anyway. This is one of the first sights in this new place that he's really wanted to keep. It's harmless, surely.

Granted, he's not entirely sure where to put it. It's mostly a passing fancy.]

[needmetoo]

I guess so. Maybe somebody'll know something we could do with it.

[It's just an idle thought more than anything, but it's a comfortable sort of chatter, like talking with Roxas had felt like at the Clock Tower.]

Have you seen any empty bottles, or stuff like that?

[probablynoteren]

And at least you can use it.

[All he can do is look at it, but she seems to be having fun, at least.

There's a thoughtful pause while he mentally flips through his meager belongings here -- the one advantage of arriving with nothing but the clothes on your back, and all -- before he motions for her to wait there. It's not far back to the hut where he's settled down, and where he's stashed everything Genette's given them and anything else he's found.

What he's carrying is one of the water bottles from earlier, emptied out already after the events of the night.]

What about this? Do you think it'll work?