[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]

[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.]

[girasole]

[There's a silence. It's a long one, a textured one. It's a silence that stretches further than silence, perhaps, should. It's a silence that speaks to his price for coming here and what happened shortly before he arrived. It's a silence that says, without saying it, "Actually. Actually, I really fucked up. Actually, I thought I was doing a good thing. I was bleeding to death. I stole a ring. It's a ring someone important to me needs. I was going to use the last of my life force to seal it in a bubble, leave something for him to take with him. It was going to be tradition. And then I ended up here and someone ringnapped that ring. I fucked up. I so fucked up."

This is accompanied by him sort of staring off into the middle distance for a moment, as he considers the fact that he really...

...he really fucked up.

He so amazingly fucked up. There's just this bleak, stare off into the middle distance, imagine Joseph writhing in pain because even if he killed Wamuu he can't do anything for that poison because the antidote is here and...his mouth works for a moment.]

You may be right. That's one way of looking at things.

[He fucked up so bad and he's going to tear this place apart when he finds an opening and go home just so he can get that ring back to Joseph oh my god. Then:]

You remind me of honeysuckle. Have you ever seen it? It's a nice flower.

[Is this a subject change? It might be.]

[liveinskin]

Hm... I don't think I have. Or maybe I've never heard the name before. There weren't many flowers in the area I came from. [Green Dolphin Street's open fields were mostly marshlands and pastures, so the only floral life grew by the water. It was all very simple though.] What makes you think of 'honeysuckle' when you see me?

[girasole]

I- [Wait.]

...have you heard of Italy? [He can't believe he's asking this, and yet, he's asking this. It feels a bit like he's going, "By the way, have you heard of water? It's a thing."] Maybe we should start there.

[liveinskin]

Italy. [She pauses to think on it. The fact that she can't give an immediate answer might be troubling, but she does manage to worm it out of the body's memories.] Yeah, it's a country! They eat pizza and pasta there.

[Truly a scholar.]

[girasole]

[This is said very slowly.] ...yes.

[This was both better and worse than he had expected.] Fine, I already decided to take one person to Venice in the unlikely chance I can. You're coming too. You'd probably like it.

[Things that won't actually happen but are nice to imagine.]

[liveinskin]

...That sounds like a nice place. I'd like to go. [But, she can't. She knows that, but she feels hesitant to admit it. It might ruin the good mood.] Thank you for offering me! Even if neither of us can do it, it's kind of you to offer.

[girasole]

How kind is it if it's not likely to happen, really? It's an empty promise. Still, I want you to imagine: an old city. Canals everywhere. Gondoliers. If you're lucky and stand on a certain bridge at a certain time you can hear them sing as they row past. If you're unlucky, you get someone who can't. There's an...

[After a pause.]

Cafe I liked to go to when I had the chance. I rarely did, at least at first. I'd gone there to pass along a message to a certain woman, my master. I was thrown into the water three times before they were satisfied. [In their own way. He might've been hot tempered. There might have been training involved. When he saw Joseph get his ass kicked by Lisa Lisa, a part of him might have gone, "You know, now that it's not happening to me it's actually really great to watch."]

Still, in its own way, it was fun.

[liveinskin]

Heheh, your master sounds vicious. [Sorry, she can't help but laugh at the thought. It must just be the survivalist, the fighter, within her.] I've never been to a cafe before. I know about them. They're little shops where you drink tea and coffee, and talk with friends. You can even buy pastries that are much too sweet for a person to eat.

[She smiles a little at the thought. So many things she can never experience, and only has memory of through the body she lives in. She's glad to have those memories but they aren't hers. They're just borrowed fragments of a dead woman.]

I wonder if we'll find a cafe here. Not "here" but some place out in wherever we are. It can't all be woodlands and sea, right?

[girasole]

It better not be.

[He would be so salty if it was.] It's not even a proper sea we have. When I first saw the beach- [Okay, he's going to take a step back, both verbally and...physically, why not. In fact, he's going to even grab a crab to use as a visual (and also because he might as well)-]

Italy- I'm assuming you know nothing. It's a peninsula. Surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. [So, crab's Italy, and the sea is the waters around it that's illustrated by his fingers making 'this is the water' gestures. Because he might be a Casanova, and he might be a punk, but he's also got a little bit of nerd to him. Not as much as some, but enough that when it comes to telling a woman about his country and his people that he'll make stupid 'here's water' gestures around a crab.] I grew up in the south, in Naples. I left when I was young.

It's a small country, so you can see the sea from...many towns, and so I grew up with it being an ever-constant presence. Do you have any idea how badly it's been distracting me when I look, expecting to see water, and instead it's space? Honestly, I had no idea how used I was to it until it was gone.

[And in goes Italy Crab into the box.]

[liveinskin]

...It reminds you home, without being home. That is frustrating.

[She looks at the poor crab as it scuttles around the box, thinking about her "home" now. Was it ever really a home? It was the marshlands of a prison, and for the longest time she only existed in it mechanically. Without thought, without memory. Without true intelligence. He speaks of a beautiful place that she could never imagine going to. It seems absolutely lovely though.]

I told you before, but I grew up in a prison. However, it wasn't just a prison - it was on an island. Secluded from the rest of the world, the only way to get there was to take a bridge in and out. It got its nickname "The Aquarium" for that reason. Only the prisoners were the fishes -- the piranhas in the tank.

That has been my life. A creature inside a tank. So I guess when I come to this world, and I see the stars, I see a way to walk around a place I never could dream of... I like it here.

[girasole]

You would. Anyone would, judging from that. I can't even imagine what that would be like. [...honestly, it's kind of surprising he doesn't know what it's like, really, thinking about it. He had been careful, but...still.

And after a moment he takes the crab and sets it loose. And- don't say it.] We should have enough crab without it. There's not that many people.

[liveinskin]

I think so too. Let it roam free! We have invaded its homeland, and it's only fair to spare some of them.

[girasole]

I'll take... [Hold on, give him a second to grimace at the crabs.

...okay, done.] These back. There's no sense in spending more time here than we have to, and both of us aren't needed to finish this.