Intro Log: November & Event: Nothing to Be Drone About It

[faileas]

Intro Log: November & Event: Nothing to Be Drone About It

I. ARRIVAL Out of nowhere, a glint of light catches your eye; your heart thunders in your ears as your body moves on its own, your mind consumed with inspecting the source. Your reflection stares back at you, just as curious from the surface - a mirror, a pool of water, your most trusted sword, something fleeting that your mind can barely remember - then ripples at your touch. A moment later, you feel a tug, and you find yourself stumbling into a dark, musty room. Behind you, a mirror stands ornately decorated with reminders of home wrought in brass and wood: the faces of people you know, and symbols important to you; all things that send a pang through your chest with the desire to return to them. Touching the mirror's surface does nothing but leave the stain of your fingerprints. When you turn to survey the room, you find there are hundreds of other mirrors. None of them are as decorated as yours - they're plain and dusty, speckled with age. Then you realize a second thing: You're not alone. Distantly, the ringing bell of a clocktower can be heard. But no matter its distance, the time is clear to make out: it chimes three times, stark, resonating like a pulse of something in this mirrored hall that you and others have found yourselves in, along with... several items, perhaps even creatures scattered across the floor around other mirrors? For those familiar with magic, they might feel the power of the witching hour upon them, though it will feel different from what they're used to - in fact, everything does. You're certainly not the only ones here, however. On the first floor, with the doors wide open behind them in the foyer, is a small group headed by two individuals. As people begin to arrive, to come from the higher floor, they're waiting - and they're waiting for you, and your questions. Explore the rest of the mirrored halls you've now found yourselves in, or proceed to the foyer? Leaving the Looking-Glass House makes it obvious that the clock striking three was for 3 AM - the night sky is faintly cloudy, but the stars are dim in the face of two moons. The Looking-Glass House is rather nondescript two-story cottage made of grey brick, sitting at the edge of The Coven's courtyard; stones which glow as you step on them mark the path to and from the two buildings. While fairly small and plain on the outside, the inside has been enchanted to be the size of a large library, with hundreds upon hundreds of mirrors hanging, standing, and resting inside its walls. Some are broken, some are cracked, and some seem completely uninjured - but all of them are just as plain as the cottage itself, showing age in the silver beneath their glass and in the greening of their metals... Well, all except a character's personal mirror; to characters, one mirror - the one they came through - will be decorated lavishly with metal-and-wood-wrought reminders of home, and the surface will be as clear as a brand-new mirror.

II. THE WELCOME PARTY Whether you've decided to find a way out of the building you've arrived in, or decided to explore the rest of the Looking-Glass House - and perhaps finding a few familiar faces among the crowd - you feel a pull towards the foyer of the first floor. It's like a firm suggestion, as if to take you by the hand and draw you to where it begins, and the source of it becomes quite apparent upon finding one's way to the front room: a tall, comfortably-dressed older woman and her even taller wolfish companion, along with those which feel to resemble yourselves in a world-traversing sense: Mirrorbound, they're called. "Just a few of you this month, hm? Don't mind the junk across the floor where you came out, someone is sorting that!" The woman sets her hands on her hips, with her Bonded casting a glance at those looking confused - newly arrived - and those who may have followed them in to talk to the newest addition of their mirrorbound bunch. "About time for introductions though- this here's Mhairi Ainsley, ambassador to the Parliament and my Bonded, and I'm Nerissa Bell, Head Witch of the Coven - but you can just call me Miss Nessie, you can," she adds, winking. "The lot of you must be as tired and confused as the last batch - hullo to those who've joined us, too! - so just a moment, dearests, I'll set all you right up—" With nothing more than a wave of her hand, rows of seats are summoned; despite their wooden nature, they're all sturdy and comfortable, filling the foyer and spreading out a ways into the lawn behind them, making room for all of the new arrivals as well as the previous batch. After all, they'll find this just as interesting. The Witches and Monsters that accompanied Nessie and Mhairi move to make room, and some disperse into the building itself to see if there's anyone who needs tending to. Mhairi steps forward as the chairs materialize. "Please, those who are able, join us for a moment. There are many questions that I'm sure you have - we will do our utmost best to answer them, and you may take any that we can't as a promise to find some sort of solution or answer." NOTE: If you wish to interact with Nessie and Mhairi, please comment here for a handwaved, summarized answer to your character's burning questions. For those that'd like a more player-based interaction, Aefenglom has its own Welcome Wagon! These are players who've volunteered for the role, and those that didn't sign up may assist as well if they'd feel their character would -- have fun, and make friends. Additionally, those with notable injuries or sickness will be attended to ASAP by Coven-based witches, and should anyone be curious about what they are - if they have magic potential, or if they swing a different way - then this can be done during this and the general hour or so the new arrivals are within the Coven's grounds. There are ongoing classes on magic, monsters, and Bonding as well, though they take place more during the day than at night - feel free to have your characters attend them at any time!

III. THE HAVEN After an hour or two of general chaos, questions that the natives attempt to help with, and injuries tended to for those who arrive in poor condition, it's time to make a trek to where you'll be staying while Nessie and Mhairi continue to search for a solution to the situation. As you're leaving with a few Bonded for guides, peculiar-looking devices - watches, the native Witches explain, compliments of Parliament - are passed around to all the new arrivals; they're given a quick rundown on their functions and bid to test them out when they can. They can even do it as they make their way out of the Coven's courtyard and to the Haven. Formerly part of the Aristocratic District, The Haven is just as well-kept and brightly-lit as the district it hails from. The houses err on the tall and ornamental-side, large enough to fit several families (or, according to the upper class, their one family, several dozen servants, and guests), especially closest to the Aristocratic District. They become a little more modest and smaller as one gets away from the realm of high society and nearer to the Residential District proper. Newcomers are shuffled here and invited to find somewhere to live - the Coven is currently handling expenses for the houses themselves in a program implemented by the Parliament, though if your character wishes to have anything extra - like maids, chefs, and so on - they'll have to pay for them themselves with their own earned money. Much of the landscape and fixtures are the same as in the Aristocratic Districts, though it lacks formal emergency services due to its roots as part of a district that already did. Much of the housing already has furnishing due to the speed at which homeowners were relocated; they were given enough time to collect their valuables, but standard furniture such as kitchenware, couches, beds, etc. were left behind for those moving in. Other houses appear the same, but the dust on the floors suggest these houses were left before the new arrivals even showed up - a reminder that the Cwyld can strike just about anyone, regardless of standing. Another portion of this district has been opened up to the new arrivals: the barracks, the row of buildings pressed against the very edge of the Bright Wall. As the city's military force no longer has the same presence it previously did, the barracks have gone into disuse, and a cleanup effort has been in place since before the new arrivals came through the Looking-Glass House. For those who desire something a little less opulent, the barracks might just be the answer. The barracks can also be used for business, for a welcome center, a communal space, for anything that the residents of the Haven see fit to use it for - so long as the legality isn't questionable, on the surface. To help with filling up the larger houses - and even some of the smaller ones, and the shared rooms in the barracks - the Witches put together a little roommate finding service, on a smaller scale from the grand opening of the Haven. For those who aren't entirely sure who they want to shack up with, they have a small survey for them to fill out and post on the board they've magicked up in the center of The Haven. The board also very helpfully reads aloud each form for everyone to hear in a cheerful, monotone voice. It isn't able to be shut up, nor is it easy to ignore, being imbued with a kind of amplification magic. It reads simply the information you've offered up yourself, or that someone might have written up for you, should that be their idea of fun.

IV. Nothing to Be Drone About It While a handful of mirrors in the Looking Glass House at 3 am on the 15th spat out people - new Mirrorbound or perhaps returned Mirrorbound - many other mirrors poured forth items or small creatures, all on their own. The night cleaner resigns himself to a long night as he has to deal with mess and confused folk, but he isn't terribly surprised. It was around this time last year that something similar happened with the mirrors. They may not understand it, but it looks like it may be a pattern, relics of the Mirrorbound's lives reaching out to them from home as gift or curse. The night cleaner fetches Miss Nessie to handle the arrival of a handful of new Mirrorbound, and then returns to start tidying up everything else. Luckily, she assigns him some help in the form of a young Witch named Emmelie, eager to prove herself. Not wanting to crowd the Looking Glass House, in the ensuing hours, she turns to an invention of hers to sort out the stuff littering the room with the mirrors. The goal, of course, is to get each item back to its rightful owner, and she firmly believes in better living through magic innovation! Unfortunately, it becomes clear fairly soon that Emmelie's brass flying saucers, which she had hoped would effortlessly deliver each item based on magical signature matching, could use a little... fine-tuning. The big saucers complete with six segmented mechanical 'arms' to hold the cargo in place are persistent as they zip around the city, often trying to take the shortest path to their programmed destination - whether it means they bump endlessly into barriers such as walls, get stuck on rooftops or in the River Temese, or knock over people, natives and Mirrorbound alike, who happen to be in their flight path. Some of them end up at the wrong Mirrorbound, and bump incessantly into them until they take the offered item, uncaring if they're who it belongs to or not. Of course, some deliveries go smoothly, exactly as they are intended to, but... they're in the minority. By the early afternoon, Emmelie is sending out a voice message that can be heard by Mirrorbound anywhere in the city, her young voice panicked as she explains what happened with her inventions and your mementos of home, adding at the end: "Ahh, it's such a mess! Look, you've got to help me, and please don't tell Miss Nessie, she'll never trust me with anything important ever again! I'll owe all of you so much if you'll just help find and return everything to where it needs to go!"

Welcome to November's combo Intro Log and event! While mingling on the log itself is highly encouraged, feel free to make your own logs. The network system is free to use once characters have their watches as well; information on that can be found at the bottom of the Setting page, while any extra questions about it can be found in the FAQ index. Quests can be picked up as well right over here at November's Quest Pickup thread. Finally, if your character is getting into any Shenanigans, let the mods know and if you have any questions about the log, ask them here!

Comments

[alpina]

[ And how could he not be the key when the guy literally erases and has a redo of the world. Not that she knows that. Regardless, it was more two minds are better than one. Especially when one of them does stupid things like goes back in time to back himself up for a plan. ]

I did hear that being mentioned. That and vaguely something about witches and monsters also living here. I assumed we would be meeting people like that eventually as we assimilate.

[ She watches him with a very curious gaze. ]

Were we brought here to help with that problem somehow?

[timenace]

[ Pretty incredible that he has powers that significant, but is only a bit player here, huh? Then again, the powers that exist back in his world seem to have been wiped clean, and a new set given to him to learn to use. Besides, there are so many people with the same potential as him here, and a lot of them who have a lot more experience than he does too.

A lot more experience with trying to understand what brought him here too, and the question she asks has him crossing his arms as he considers it carefully. ]

I'm not sure. The people that greet us at the mirrors aren't actually the ones that brought us here. At least, I'm pretty sure they're not. They don't seem to know the whole story behind the mirrors either.

[ His brow furrows as he considers it. ]

But maybe something brought us here to help? We do end up helping with trying to stop it most of the time.

[alpina]

[ She sighs. Part of her wonders how much of the time Sougo has spent here actually investigating things and how much of it was just him...whiling away his days and enjoying his time here. She's so unsure about him sometimes. Some days he seems to have nothing but air in his head but other days he has these grand schemes that somehow always pull together at the end.

But she can't help him smile at him. Still better than being here on her own and trying to work things out.

She pulls out her little tablet screen which is nothing more than a useless piece of plastic. ]

I tried to get this connected to get a read of what's happening here but I don't think it's working. I don't think our technology is compatible with this world. What kind of things have you been helping out with?

[timenace]

[ She's not wrong to suspect that he has not been on his grind the entire time he's been here, because he absolutely has not been. When you're stuck in a situation beyond your control, sometimes it's best to make the most out of it that you can. At least, that seems to be the philosophy that Sougo has been going for since his arrival in this world.

Sadly, however, there are no grand schemes in the works for now. He has absolutely no idea how to get back home, even having made several covert trips to the mirror room himself to take a careful inspection of his mirror.

He'll nod in agreement at her assessment of the tech. He's stopped carrying his phone around some time back, considering how useless it is. ]

They use magic here for a lot of things, so I'm not sure you could really get anything modern working unless you figured out how to do it with magic.

[ There's a slight pause as he considers her other question. ]

Ah, here? I've been going on a lot of expeditions, and helping a little with relations between other cities.

[ Kind of. He didn't help that much in the Underground. ]

Mostly I've been helping to fight monsters when they show up though.

[alpina]

[ That definitely would be a Sougo thing to do. She wouldn't have expected anything less although him trying to pro actively find a way home would have been nice.

Then at least he could have laid down some ground work for her. ]

That sounds like the exact type of thing you would do.

[ She pauses for a moment. ]

So your driver is compatible with the magic here...?

[timenace]

[ It's not to say that he hasn't been proactive in his attempts to look for ways back to his world, as much as it is that none of his attempts have born fruit. It's as unsurprising to him as it is disappointing though, considering the number of people here looking for the exact same thing.

So as time has gone on Sougo's interests in helping the people of this world might have started to take a little more precedent. That part he can't make many excuses for though.

Her comment makes him smile though, before her question has that smile faltering. ]

Ah, actually... I can't use the driver at all here? And the magic here is a bit more...

[ He snaps his fingers, and a little puff of ice crystals burst into the air above them, before fluttering harmlessly to the ground. ]

[alpina]

[ She fails to completely hide her surprise at the fact that he's able to conjure ice crystals like it has always been second nature. Although it's just more evidence that he's pretty much gotten used t life here in this new world.

Almost like he's forgetting there's a home to travel back to and potentially save.

Although if he's here instead of there...that's not a thought she should be entertaining. ]

Is that something that I can learn as well?

[timenace]

[ He hasn't forgotten for a moment about the home he has to return to, and he still fully intends to go back. However, from where he's standing he'll be going back to die as well. It's a sacrifice he's willing to make, but being given a little more time in a world without having to worry about the march of time in his own world? It's hard not to enjoy the borrowed time he's on.

So she's not entirely wrong, even if her judgements are a bit harsher than reality. He's been working towards finding a way home, but he certainly hasn't been pouring all of his waking energy into it by any stretch.

Plus Sougo's always been a bit of a meanderer in life anyway. The question has him shrugging a shoulder as he watches the ice evaporate into the air. ]

If you're a Witch too. Ah... you probably don't know what you are yet, right?

[alpina]

[ She sighs a little at him. It's not like she could blame him. His reaction to her suddenly appearing in his time line and dropping him in the worst case scenario was actually not too bad considering. The only time she has ever wanted to actually throttle him was that one time...when he time travelled to himself...

Let's not talk about that.

She watches the space where he had seemingly created nothing in the air, almost wistfully. It's true, she doesn't know what she is. She couldn't imagine herself turning into something...even though she had heard it was a possibility. ]

How do you know..? Or does it just happen?

[timenace]

[ There's something genuinely distressing at times just how easily Sougo rolls with the punches life tosses his way. He's got his breaking points too, but there is just far too much this boy will let slide right off his back.

He nods slightly at the question, thought it's in part because he's considering it more than answering it. It's not entirely untrue to say yes to it though. ]

More or less? I figured it out quickly though. I had a chance to try channeling magic in my first week.

[alpina]

[ It takes her a moment to consider his answer before she smiles at him and shakes her head a little. ]

You mean you ran head first into a fight? And then in desperation had to figure out how your new powers would work because you realized your driver didn't work here?

[ Part of her hopes that this is a completely wrong guess. However she would never put this kind of situation past him. ]

[timenace]

[ He laughs a little nervously, because it's not like that didn't happen too, though it came later when he was more actively trying to learn some magic. ]

Ohh, well it wasn't exactly a fight, but there was help needed with magic the first time I left the city, so I just tried to wing it.

[ He had immediately passed out after. ]

[alpina]

[ There's a small sigh and then a laugh. Sounds exactly like something he would do. Just jump into things without a second thought. Not that she could talk considering the situations she threw him into when they first met just to ... test some things out. ]

Hopefully you're more in control of things by now. And knowing you, you'be also built up on it a lot since then.

[timenace]

[ Her friends aren't exactly known deeply thinking things out before acting, though at least Sougo is a little more likely to come up with some kind of plan the Geiz is. That has to count for something, right? ]

Mm! I don't know how good I am with most magic, but I know how to do a few things pretty well at this point.