thefoundation | Intro log: Welcome to The Resort!

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round 2

Intro log: Welcome to The Resort!

INTRO LOG

Before you even open your eyes, you can tell something is not right. It's cold. Not quite unbearably so, but cold enough that you can take notice of it. And as soon as you open your eyes, you will be able to see why it's so cold: you're in the middle of a snowy forest, with only a single two-lane road cutting through the thick trees.

Unfortunately, you seem to be without transportation. Fortunately, you are wearing warm clothes and snow gear, so freezing isn't an immediate problem. But without transportation, you're in for a long walk ahead of you.

There are others around as well. Other people, just as lost and confused as you are. Everyone seems to be lacking any memory that might explain why everyone is here. As far as anyone knows, all of you were just ripped out of your previous lives and dumped here on this snowy road, wearing snow gear and having any items that are important to you already on hand. And for some of you, you even have a new power, one that you somehow instantly know how to use...

Two ways to go: forward and back. Despite having no indication of which way is the 'right' way, you feel drawn towards one direction in particular. Going 'back' is possible, but you get the feeling that you will be even more lost if you try. And given that you have no food or water on you, it's best to keep moving forward.

So, are you ready to walk? Because you have a long road ahead of you.

((Welcome to The Resort! Your characters will have any objects or animals with them that they should have given their canon point, but are dressed in cold weather clothing.

This prompt is just the first part of the intro log. New top-levels will go up over the course of the weekend as everyone progresses from 'where the hell am I?' to the resort proper, and to getting settled in. For now, just start with this prompt. We'll link further updates here for easy access.))

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Ah, yes! This thing has everyone's names listed on the profile selection screen, doesn't it? Even if we don't talk about the profiles themselves, most of are strangers as far as I know, so it shouldn't hurt to familiarize ourselves with everyone's names...

[But then there's a guy who's just named "The Medic"... What's the deal there, she wonders...]

Except for this "Medic" person?

Edited 2018-11-25 02:12 (UTC)

I'll be honest, I don't know anyone here, but I also don't know how many of these are real names.

[It's more matter-of-fact than judgmental, because in this form she's absolutely used to not knowing the real names of anyone she interacts with. Of course, in this place... that sort of common sense might need an update or two. Of course she knows that. She'll still err on the side of caution.]

I guess for now, it doesn't matter. Medic might be a title, or it might be something else.

[She does navigate to that particular profile and pauses for a moment.]

... It might make sense, as a title.

Edited 2018-11-25 04:40 (UTC)

Well, it's just... Putting aside the nicknames, I can't think of a reason why they would lie about the names attached to the profiles, and I know the name attached to mine is accurate.

Still, I wonder why this one person just has a title? Why didn't they get a name like everyone else?

I'm not sure either, but there's... a lot of different types of people here. It might be something we'll only understand if we ask the person in question.

[She's already filing away the thought for later, when things have calmed down a little more and everyone is less jumpy. It's part of why she wanted to get this out in the open -- once they're all on the same page, literally and metaphorically, people can begin to grapple with the problem.

She's never been one for patience, really.]

... The name on yours...

[Now that she's looking around the profiles again, what is going on with your names there, Ellie. Maybe she should start her inquiries here.]

Ellie Troit, as it's listed on the page.

[Go ahead, ask about the profile nickname.]

And... 'Teen Mom'?

[...]

[It feels kind of rude asking straight out like that, all the same.]

You don't have to answer if you don't want to.

[She doesn't seem to be offended. Rather, she kind of tilts her head a bit as she thinks about it some more.]

It's true, though I'm not sure why it would be considered a big enough deal to be a nickname. I mean, all seven of us were like that.

[The elephant only gets larger when it's acknowledged, yes.]

[There are so many elephants in these profiles that she's starting to feel like an elephant herder, that is not her job. Blue Angel resists the urge to put her face in her hands and instead faces the stampede head on......]

... I'm pretty sure it's a big deal in a lot of places. Seven-- Seven of you?

[She is having trouble keeping her voice even.]

Well I mean, it's true that it's kind of a big deal. After all...

[She puffs her chest up, like she's really proud of what she's about to say...]

We're called the Witches of the Seven Stars. With God's Gift and our children at our side, we're purifying all the world's Dusk Circles!

Edited 2018-11-26 06:17 (UTC)

That's... not really what I meant, but--

[God, they are totally on different wavelengths here?!

And what is this girl talking about, why is witchcraft related to having children and honestly she can't parse much of the rest of it either. Okay. Deep breath, start from the top, try and make heads or tails of yet another 'cultural difference'. That's probably abusing the term at this point.]

How old are you, anyway?

Hm? 16, why?

We're the same age?!

[She can't quite help that exclamation, why does this keep getting worse. Or something.

This time she does put her face in her hand for a moment. Then she shakes her head. Okay, she's not even sure this is the strangest thing she's run into today. At least this is all. Somewhat hypothetical. She's not looking at this girl who actually looks younger than her having a kid right now. Oh boy.]

...Well I mean, I am pretty tiny, so I get why you wouldn't be able to tell...

[But it still kind of hurts when people have that reaction... She knows your pain, Serina, she knows your pain...]

No, that's not--

[Well, that is kind of it, on the one hand -- because she really couldn't tell how old Ellie was. But she's not here to deal with height complexes, so she'll just... focus on the other part of it. The really big part.]

Girls my age don't have children. That doesn't come until much later! I don't know... what's going on where you come from. I was just surprised.

Oh, that's true. The Classmating Ritual normally has a pretty low chance of success, after all.

[She nods to herself. Clearly this explains everything.]

Edited 2018-11-26 07:19 (UTC)

[She's starting to feel like a broken record, so she quashes down yet another exclamation of No that is not the point at all and tries to reorient herself. There's not much to orient herself by, though.]

Classmating... Who even named this ritual? [it's a mutter to herself, because this is a question she'll probably regret asking..... anyway] Maybe it would better if you explained it from the beginning...?

[She's definitely going to regret this. But at least they'll have a proper overview.]

I think the High Priest did?

[But okay, time to do a review of the whole thing...]

You... hold hands with your partner, think about your partner... Then you release your star energy into a Matryoshka, where it mixes with your partner's ether and produces a Star Child?

What kind of High Priest...

[She can't help herself, she's got to have a grumbling mutter about it. But she settles down all the same and tries to... listen to whatever is happening here.]

A... matryoshka? Like one of those Russian dolls?

[If she's off-topic, it's because she's kind of distracted by the relief that the children thing seems to be some weird magical thing. Does it make sense to be relieved by that?]

...We try to ignore him when it's not about important things.

[He might be the most important person in her world politically speaking, but he's also an unrepentant pervert that we all try to ignore, yes.]

...I don't know the word "Russian", but yes, a Matryoshka is a kind of doll, though they're blessed by the Star God to be able to store large amounts of star energy.

[That seems like a good plan of action, even without knowing about the super pervert part.]

And I never thought of a matryoshka as, um, something magical. But I guess you'd be able to put a lot in them. A whole person, though...

Well I mean, an adult won't fit, but they're large enough to fit a Star Child for the most part. I think they expand based on the star energy stored inside?

[She has... never really thought too much about the mechanics for how it works...]

What exactly is a Star Child?

[These are very confusing mechanics but somehow still better than the biological ones when applied to Ellie here. It's kind of... more like she's bringing dolls to life. Or bringing life to dolls, whatever.

In a weird way.]

Oh, that's easy. a Star Child is a magical warrior created by the Star God by combining a female Disciple's Star Energy, and a male Deisciple's Ether inside a Matryoshka. While not as strong as a Disciple, they have considerably lower ether requirements for using Star Energy, which makes them powerful allies inside areas without Ether.

[You wanted the "scientific" explanation, right?]

[She was prepared for this. But also she was not prepared for this. Jargon hell!]

... I didn't understand any of that. But basically, you're creating magic kids inside dolls that are pretty powerful, right? And they're supposed to... be allies, even though they're kids.

[And even though Ellie is a kid?? Then again, it's not like she can talk, she and the kids her age back home are getting into all sorts of shenanigans.]

Basically, yeah. Even though they seem like children, they're pretty strong. They do have some other big advantages, too. They can reach their full potential incredibly quickly, so they can use complicated spells that would take years to learn within a matter of weeks. They're able to coordinate with eachother incredibly well, enabling powerful combination techniques. They can also use the power of bonds to combine to form a steel giant, known as a Mecunite.

[Yes, she just casually brought up that her children can transform into giant robots.]

(no subject)

latebluemer - 2018-11-30 17:26 (UTC) - Expand

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