[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

[girasole]

(I do prose as well as brackets, just so you know. Pick your style and I'll match it. Anyway.)

A: It's taking a lot of self control to keep from making crab puns.

Hold this.

[And that is when you, yes, you, had a crab foisted onto you. If not a crab then a large...container of some kind fit for sticking crabs into. A pot? A net? Something. Either way, hold this.]

B: The lure of making bad puns is downright crabtivating.

[Obviously, Prompt A had been a mistake.

So, as what remained of the crabs was being left over there-]

I know. I can't control it.

[He's talking about his left elbow, which is currently glowing like the cheerful morning sun, dawn having tumbled out of her bed and gotten to work. It's a really nice glow, really. Too bad the occasion.]

D: That wasn't a krilliant pun I'm sorry.

If you're asking about the scarf I'm sure there's something else there for you if you look long enough.

[It reminded him of a friend, okay?] And if you're asking about the book I doubt you'd want it.

[You really don't.]

A

[liveinskin]

Huh, hey! [And suddenly she has a crab foisted right onto her, which she grabs and has to quickly bounce in her hands so it doesn't start pinching her.] What's the big idea?

[girasole]

[Normally, he might suave something like, "I'm really sorry, I wasn't aware that I was standing next to such a radiant woman." Except better sounding. The sort of thing that could lead to him sweeping up her hand and giving it a kiss, depending on how things went.

But, you know what?

It's been a very long day.

So instead of the shitty pick up line, and instead of the normal explanation (I was going to grab the thing we're putting these crabs into), he's staring at her because...really? Really? She's sounding like she just got a bomb foisted onto her, god. His mouth is working for a moment.]

Think of it as...training. [And apparently that's the first thing that came out of it.] If you try breathing in the right way you may be able to stun it just by holding it. [He's so done.]

[liveinskin]

Training. [She blinks, looking down at the crab and trying to puzzle out what this guy is saying.] Would changing how I breathe really give me that power? You're not just trying to fool me, right?

[girasole]

... [...] ...actually, normally I can - I trained for several years with a hamon master - but since I get here nothing seems to be working the way it's supposed to. So...breathing in the right way likely wouldn't do anything if you tried it.

[Shrug. It is what it is. He's going to get the...container. The cage? Whatever. The thing they're putting crabs into. He's getting that thing.]

[liveinskin]

Aw, that stinks. [If she can't use this "hamon" thing then what's the point. Ah well, the crab is pretty cute. Too bad it's gonna get boiled up.] I think everyone has some power sealed away. Or maybe it was traded in for the power we gained?

[girasole]

[...everyone has some power sealed away. Which meant...]

And you? What did you lose?

[Fortunately the crab is an innocent and tasty thing and won't have any unfortunate side effects, so at least it tastes good. Into the...

Let's say a large bucket. Into the bucket it goes. Caesar is so glad they only have to do this once and this won't be a regular staple of their lives here upon Space Island until the day they drop and they can look forward to not having to collect food the hard way, let alone rely upon their fellow castaways for culinary experience.]

[liveinskin]

[She shrugs, watching the poor crab scuttle haplessly in the bucket. At least she's not the one in there, she thinks to herself.]

My abilities. I'm confined now to what I have, which isn't much. [Human bodies break so easily, she isn't sure she can fight without being able to repair her body with the plankton inside her.] Usually I could repair my body if I got hurt, but the magic I've been given in exchange is really weak.

[girasole]

[There's no good way of saying, "Yes, et tu, I'm a walking sunlamp."]

That happened to me as well. I used to be able to do a lot more, but now my abilities are limited...and, the worst part is that the more I think about it, the more I feel as though I could have avoided a great deal if I was able to do this in the first place. That despite-

[He's even dramatically gesturing with a second crab in his hand, which kind of negates the tension of this scene, but it is what it is.] All of my training, all that I learned, all I needed was a power like the one I received here.

[And in goes the crab into the bucket.] I'm trying to not think about it too hard because I know it would only frustrate me.

[liveinskin]

Well, you have that power now! You shouldn't worry about the past, or what you could have done with it. Getting frustrated about things you can't change is natural, but you have a whole future to look forward to now.

[That's the way she sees it. It's the way she has to, otherwise she'll just dwell on how things ended back home.]

D it needed just a pinch more punchline

[probablynoteren]

[It's like the worst texting game where random messages keep pinging in and you definitely don't have enough spaceship bullets to hit them all. As if tonight weren't already disorienting enough...]

I already have a scarf.

[It occurs to him that they may be talking about the same scarf, but while he does reflexively grab his own scarf there doesn't seem to be anybody nearby with particularly scarfish sensibilities. Hmm.]

Isn't it easier to talk out loud for this...?

[They're probably in the same area and this is silly.]

[girasole]

I don't know. All I heard was hello, hello, hello, so I assumed that's what you wanted. If you wanted to ask me about it you should've said something instead of doing this.

[probablynoteren]

I think everyone is saying hello. Or something else is happening.

I don't think I was asking you anything, so maybe you-- [misdialed the telepathy, however that works. If it works like a phone, is the rest of the thought, but contrary to its presence in brackets, he does in fact send it by accident; it just sounds a little staticky.]

[girasole]

Have you done this before? No, do you see anyone who's...I can't believe I'm saying this. Or thinking this. But do you see anyone who is glowing like a firefly in your vicinity?

[probablynoteren]

Not before today.

[That seems to be the case for most of them, so he's sort of rolling with the punches and the misfires and everything else that doesn't seem like it should be a problem when you're in people's minds.

Speaking of rolling with it, he'll just go ahead and listen to the stranger in his head and do another sweep of the people around him. Even with the description, it's a little harder to immediately find someone under the glow of the caravan itself towering all over them, but-- oh, there's a bulky-looking guy, who's sort of... twinkling? Winkling? Hmm.]

Next to the box with all the shoes?

[He's checking, sure, but he's also already ambling over, getting down to the business of just talking in person in case he's got the right person.]

[girasole]

Yes. And you're-

[And he's looking up and looking around and there seems to be someone ambling towards him.]

I see you.

[Probably. He's basically got a Gryffindor scarf minus the Harry Potter logo.]

[probablynoteren]

[I was absolutely too lazy to decide on a visual representation of his scarf but please imagine it being relatively lengthy and soft and jet-black. He's wearing it over his military-issue uniform from home, so really he looks just a little more like your average JRPG protag than he usually does.

Lenka tilts his head and puts up a hand in a wave that's more out of habit than anything, they've already said hello (who knows how many hellos...), and stops in front of Caesar to stare for a little longer before--]

You're really glowing. Do you do that all the time?

[girasole]

[He's expecting a lot of things but-]

No? [Why would anyone normally glow.] I had the crab earlier. [That explains everything.]

A

[5kotai]

Um...!

[ Gokotai is a little distressed at his crab gift. Not that it has pinched him like a crab would do to any other shrimpy kid who was not a fan of foreign crustacean. They're kind of scary up close. ]

Will you... Take long?

[ Mister Crab has decided that it would like to rest on Gokotai's fluffy mop of hair. This could be a reference to something horrifying... or just this. ]

[girasole]

No- [Now, he was just going to hand it to the nearest person so he could grab some kind of container (let's say a cage) to stick them in. And he assumed the nearest person was old. And this wasn't an old person.

This was a small child. Completely and totally young without any sort of plot twists. Tiny. Small. With a crab atop his fluffy hair. Actually, he's not sure what to do because what basically happened was...

1. "No-"
2. Wait shit I gave a crab to a small child what if-
3. The crab seems to be enjoying itself.
4. This is actually kind of cute and yet...not? But what if in the process of moving it the crab-
5. I'm not sure what to do here.]

I wasn't going to, but now I'm worried that if I touch the crab it might...move. Honestly, I'm not sure if it's better to leave it at this point. It- [Point. The crab snaps a claw threateningly.] -seems to be enjoying itself.

[5kotai]

[ Yeah... no plot twists here. Well, for right now due to magic frequency things and Gokotai beig a bit preoccupied to give Hanamaru-esque exposition. He's keep rather still because that crab might pinch in an effort to stay on his head like a dramatic fall death from a movie with flailing pincers as they fall to the abyss. ]

Mister Crab, you might want a taller throne, I'm not cut out for this...

[ The tiger cub who used to site on his head was a special case. Also, much fluffier. At least Gokotai is trying to not panic, and he doesn't thing Ceasar made some horrifying life-threatening mistake. He just aimed to high handing off the crab. ]

I guess I'll be a crabsitter. You were going to grab something now that your hands are free, right?

1/5

[girasole]

Oh- right.

[For the sake of this thread let's say it's an old rusty cage that's kind of heavy - not impossibly so, but also not the sort of thing a guy can heft around easily - because all of the more sensible containers were taken by other people. So it's basically a large cage that he's staring at, glumly - didn't they have containers? Better ones?

No?

Okay.] It's-

[Fuck, it's heavy. He's struggling a little but he's got this.]

5/5

[girasole]

[...four tags of annoyed introspection and a little bit of multi-lingual swearing later, the cage is placed and he's just going to gesture-

Take the crab from Gokotai's head and-...

...actually, after the crab sat on that head for so long he feels kind of bad just throwing it into the cage, so instead it's getting placed inside of the cage.] It almost seems like a waste.

[5kotai]

[ If I could manage even half of that in actual multi-part tags I'd be thankful for you sticking with me for the introspection and crab trivia—

anyway.jpg

Gokotai is finally free. He's also super thankful Caesar was somewhat gentle toward his new crab friend. They bonded over four theoretical introspection tags, a bit. He even tosses a scrap of jerky in there for the headgear crustacean. ]

It's quite small... Better for soups, but we'd need more than just seafood broth. It would be really strong without fresh vegetables to cut into that.

[ Granting the kaniwa immunity from certain boiled death starts now. Surely it will not be an overused device and more of a... Shout out! Or a light brick joke for future cooking and camping adventures in the hub area. ]

[girasole]

[Naturally.] Putting it like that I almost feel bad intending on eating it later.

[...more than a little because it is kind of...small, isn't it?]