[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

[probablynoteren]

[He's not intrusive enough to read extensively over someone's shoulder, just whatever he happens to spot while they're conversing or he's chasing scrolls, or accepting a scroll back from her with a quiet Thanks.

Judging by the length and the main points, though, her notes are already starting to get extensive. It's still just the first day, after all, and the way she puts it is a little funny...]

Prepared? What for?

[mapsio]

[She shuts the notebook, sighing a little. Explaining how she was handling this situation was a little hard.]

I figured that we should be prepared if there really is no way to get home right away. I wanted to start something for everyone.

[She's truthfully a little embarrassed.]

[probablynoteren]

[He hopes he isn't bothering her too much, but in for penny and in for a pound, and all of them are grappling with everything being thrown at them in their own ways. He listens and considers the idea quietly, turning it over in his head along with the scrolls he still has in his hands.

He doesn't like to think about all the things telling him he can't go home, probably won't be able to for longer than he likes to imagine. But... he can't exactly run away from it, either.

There are already others moving to face it here.]

A garden, or a greenhouse, for vegetables? We can't eat meat and preserved food forever. It's practical.

[mapsio]

I think it would be wise to start off with a garden. I haven't seen any material to make a greenhouse with.

[She only recently learned that her way of just dealing with things was to figure out what she could do for others.

Lenka isn't bothering her in the slightest though, he hasn't been intrusive or rude.]

I wonder what kind of vegetables everyone would like.

[probablynoteren]

That's true... It would need to start small.

[He's seen homegrown greenhouses before, relatively makeshift ones, but never had the leisure to actually help with one himself. And once he got to Fenrir, day-to-day problems like that hadn't been part of his duties anymore. He finds himself drawn to the idea, though.]

Maybe there are vegetables or herbs already around the island.

[It's strange, to think of foraging for live food, whether green or not. New, and almost exciting, even with everything else going on.]

[mapsio]

Perhaps when everyone is settled I could take a small group with me to the forest to forage for food I could harvest seeds from. Herbs I could replant.

[She finds it to be a good idea, and she seems pretty pleased with the idea of making something for the general crowd.]

Today just wasn't a good day.

[probablynoteren]

I don't mind going. [he offers almost immediately; he's been itching to take a look at more of the island anyway, it'll make him feel less trapped by the situation even if geographically they're still... stranded on an island] I don't really know what to look for, but.

[If there are other people along with a keener eye for botany or at least salad, then he still has some confidence in his own eye for detail, memory for foraging, and combat skills -- even if he's been having to improvise...]

[mapsio]

I can teach you. I can teach you what is edible, what isn't. The type of plants that are sturdy.... anything you like.

[At the very least she comes equipped with plant survival skills. She's never had to put that to use until now.]

When things settle down, I'll definitely want you to come.

[probablynoteren]

Okay. We didn't have a lot of plants at home, so... the basics.

[And by 'not a lot of plants' he really means 'most of the planet is undergoing deforestation by a voracious omnivorous cellular apocalypse' but that's so many words, and so much to describe. Either way, it sounds like a good idea to pick up some plant survival skills while he can. He didn't think he'd ever have the chance.

There's a small pause, and then:]

Oh. I'm Lenka.

[Scratching his head and feeling a little silly for introducing himself after making a promise, but it's really been that kind of a day.]

[mapsio]

The basics then, we can start there.

[It's fine though. Haru has been bad about remembering to introduce herself, and really anything else of the sort. Long day was definitely way too long.]

I'm Haru, forgive me for not saying so earlier.

[probablynoteren]

Yeah. It's okay. I think we've all been... introduced to a lot.

[Which is his weird stumbling way of saying that introductions being buried under the flood of information and things is really just a matter of course. He's started slowly sorting the scrolls he's picked up again, thoughtfully setting aside anything that looks interesting or that he even has the remotest chance of deciphering.]

But for the plants, if there's anything we can do around here now -- I can keep an eye out.

[Starting small, and all.]

[mapsio]

I'll need to make sure we have a good enough area to start marking off a garden space. We'll need to turn the land and makes sure the soil is good enough.

[That was the first step anyways.]

May I ask what the scrolls are for?

[probablynoteren]

I don't know how close to the beach we can find land like that. But we can probably clear something in the forest.

[Even he knows that this much sand isn't all that convenient for growing things. That's probably common sense despite everything. But he'll do his best to survey for growing land on expeditions... they probably need water, too, not a fake beach. What a fake beach, in more than one way.

At Haru's prompting, though, he's pulled out of his thoughts and looks down at the scroll he's half-unrolled; he holds it up a little so Haru can see the hints of a map, strange terrain and odd markings.]

These? They're maps. I don't know how many of these books I can read. So I thought I'd take a map.

[Ideally, there'd be a map of the island, but that's probably asking too much. Actually, if there were a map, he would have expected it to be provided already.]

[mapsio]

What about making something at the edge of the forest? If we can find enough land for it.

[She thinks that trying to make too much sense of some of these books is asking a little too much. So she gets why he would be taking maps instead.]

We should look at them and see if we can match up any part of this island on them. What do you say to that?

[probablynoteren]

Yeah. Maybe there are streams, and people with abilities that can help.

[At the very least, there should be someone around with the ability to chop down or otherwise budge trees and soil -- judging by what he's seen so far, Lenka would put money on it if he had any right now.

Instead, he nods and starts spreading out some scrolls in the sand, using any small rocks lying around to weigh them down. He'd been scanning idly for any interesting features, but it's not a bad idea.]

I haven't seen the whole island, though. But we can try.

[mapsio]

[The possibility made her excited, truthfully.

She helps straighten out the scrolls and place rocks on them. Though when she starts looking at the map she is pretty stumped at the moment.]

I don't see anything that looks familiar yet.

[probablynoteren]

Hmm. [he's scrunching up his face a little at the maps, too] I don't know if these are current maps. Or maps of the island.

[There are maps of islands, but... he thinks for a moment longer, and then shuffles some rocks around, and turns a few of the maps to different angles and orientations...? It's still a bit hard to decipher from pictures alone. Many of them aren't legible in the least.

And then there's the ones that don't even look like topography. Like, there is a map that just has a giant bird-shaped object composed of smaller bird-shaped objects. Or triangles? Who knows.]

Maybe they're maps of where we're going...

[He's not sure how he feels about that in general. But maybe these can still be helpful.]