Intro Log: June

[moustre]

Intro Log: June

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 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 many others have found yourselves in. 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 highers 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, even so close to the new moon as it is. 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. "I suppose you were right again, love," the wolfish one says, voice a low rumble in the quiet night. The woman looks particularly pleased with herself, hands on her hips and elbow nudging at her companion, a quiet eh, eh under her breath. She goes ignored as the werewolf (?) lifts her head to assess the arrivals with her one eye. "Although the excuse of Boaltinn is absent, this time." "Just begs looking into then, doesn't it?" The woman gives her companion an even brighter smile, a little tighter around her eyes, then turns to those gathered in front of them. "Well then, no sense in keeping secrets! 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. You have the option of handwaving the IC interaction to OOCly ask what questions your character might have for them, for us to summarize an answer for, or you can request an IC thread. Simply specify in your comment's subject and we'll respond accordingly.

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 an 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 seems like the prank previously attached to the spell has been fixed now, at least, so it doesn't read rude descriptions anymore - simply the information you've offered up yourself.

IV. CLASS ACTS Once is happenstance, and twice is coincidence - but Nessie won't take any lip about it, especially given some of those who arrived aren't turning out to be Witches, but the other half of the spectrum: Monsters. It's one thing to grow up knowing what you are and what you'll look like, and it's another entirely to be thrown into a world and have to deal with it without any idea of what to do. In the days following arrivals, Nessie gathers her best Witches and Monsters, and gives them a simple task: figure out who is what, and give them a little help. On a volunteer basis, of course; anyone who doesn't want to be tested for magical potential (or a lack-of it, signifying being a Monster) will not be forced to be, but they will be encouraged to check out the classes offered regardless. a. A LITTLE BIT OF HOCUS Those exhibiting magic potential - or who are interested in magic or Witches, regardless of if they were tested or not - are brought out to the Coven's courtyard. They're given a quick primer on magic, the different classes, and taught a few entry-level spells and concepts before they're set free to practice their new magic (with supervision, naturally). Try your hand at conjuring candy, evoking a little fire, teleporting a few feet, tossing a few enchantments on others or inanimate objects - get those flowers singing! But be careful: inexperience is a Witch's greatest enemy, and these spells might just end up going a little haywire. Your simple light spell might end up as bright as the sun, or maybe instead of a nice breeze you bring in a major windstorm - effects are either big or small, with nothing in-between. b. A TINY BIT OF POCUS Those exhibiting a lack-of magic potential - or those who are simply interested in Monsters and Bonds, regardless of if they were tested or not - are brought to the Coven's basement. Despite its below-ground existence, the area is well-lit and feels as open as the main room above. They're given a quick primer on Monsters and transformations, the full moons and their effects, and a key part in keeping them from going too wild: Bonds. Those attending are encouraged to form temporary bonds, which is done by the two characters simultaneously drinking a tasteless silver-colored liquid from the vial provided to them. This Bond will last up to a day and has the same effects as a real Bond, though lessened in strength and muted in feeling.

Welcome to the intro log! While mingling on the log itself is highly encouraged, feel free to make your own logs; take the prompts offered and go wild, go crazy, go stupid, have fun. 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 now as well! While new characters will have to get settled in, you can go ahead and put your name on some by replying to the June Quest Pickup thread on the Quest Board. 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

Dave Strider / Homestuck / OTA

[timeriffs]

1. haven

[Dave is super not paying attention to the tour that they're being given as they're being led through Haven to wherever it is they say they can stake out a claim on a bed. Or even a whole house? Shit, maybe he *should* be paying attention.

Nah.

The device they gave him is more interesting and worthy of his attention. Like a phone, but not. Just not as robust. No games on it, fine, whatever, but there was also no apps. Meaning no music app. No music library. What kind of fucking smart device is this to have no music?? Not even a ring tone library to compose raps to when he's in a real pinch and just feels the need to lay out some poetry. Maybe there was a comment drop box somewhere he can make a terse request to fix this issue.

It at least had a camera, and that was, arguably, more important than the music. You can make music, all analog and shit, but you can't take decent selfies with anything else. Are you gong to hire a master painter to capture your perfect duck face that you're making at an actual duck? Having to hold still while holding a rascally duck for hours or days?? Of course not. He just has to figure out how to use the camera, first.

At one point he takes a picture, but it's so not of himself, it's pointed out toward the person in front of him.]

Oops. Hey... [He taps you on the shoulder.] I was gonna delete this, but why fucking delete art? Maybe you wanna keep it, it's a pretty good shot of you, you can use it as an avatar or something.

[What does the shot of you look like? Comment to find out, you adventurer, you.]


2. hocus
[Dave first attends the witchy class thing. He assumes he has to be a witch, even though that's really weird thing to call himself, and not just because he's a dude. He's a little more too woke lately to care about being a guy called a witch, he ain't trying to get cancelled here.

But he figures Witch fit more along the lines of the things he could do after becoming God Tier. And maybe he could learn how to appearify shit whenever he needed it, since he suddenly doesn't have access to his sylladex and all the boxes and jars of apple juice he had stored in there, (because after years stuck on a meteor without access to aj because it was apparently just "too hard" to alchemize taught him to never be without at least a couple hundred juices within reach).

But now they're not in reach, and he's starting to feel antsy about it, so it's time to learn how to be the fucking Apple Juice Witch of Aefenglom. Bringing aj to the masses. A true fucking hero.

But for now he's sitting cross legged on the ground, in a corner far from everyone else because that's what cool dudes do, be all mysterious and shit in corners at large gatherings, and he's staring intently at a cup, just as all hero journeys start.

Or he might be asleep while sitting upright. Hard to tell with the shades on sometimes...]


3. wildcard
(( Throw something at me! I'm good with random scenarios, or if you want to PM or plurk me first to hash something out let me know.))

1!

[despised]

( Luo Binghe, for his part, doesn't have any idea what this device is — no phones or watches of his own to use as points of comparison, and frankly, not even aware that it can be pointed at somebody. Never mind the fact that there's one pointed at him right now. It takes him a few minutes of fumbling to even figure out how to get text input working. He's so busy with this that it takes him a minute to face the other when he feels a tap on his shoulder, turning with red eyes wide and expectant.

Oh but hold up that's a lot of words that don't wholly make sense together for a man from high fantasy ancient China. Let's pick and choose here, start with the end. )

An avatar?

[timeriffs]

[Whoah, if Dave wasn't still a bit self-conscious about eye shit he would be pointing and shouting SAME EYES right now, but for now he'll keep it cool and crimson eyes behind shades and just take in this info silently.

What's more important right now, anyway, is that this guy just asked a dumb question.]

Yeah? You know, like, the thing on the internet that's supposed to represent you but most people are super insecure and just use anime images to show how serious they are when they slam on women and minorities. That avatar.

[despised]

( Hmm... nope. Didn't help — not even a little. Those words are going in one ear and straight out the other, one after another. Internet? Anime? About all that Binghe manages to get out of this is that this "art" the guy mentioned earlier would do a good job of representing him. Which, really, he guesses is enough for the time being. After letting a long and quite possibly very awkward moment of staring in silence pass by, he finally speaks up, eyes flickering down to the watch in the other's hand. )

Let me see.

[timeriffs]

[Content that either the man finally understood or had given up on getting a sensible answer from him, Dave turns the device toward him.]

Bam. Drink it in.

[The photo looks pretty terribleawesome, getting Binghe's good side, a position Dave must have accidentally snapped at a choice moment when the other man was turning around or passing by.]

[despised]

( Oh hold up... That's actually kind of wild.

Binghe stares at the absolutely unflattering image for a few moments, wide-eyed, before glancing back to the guy who took it. His eyes are surprisingly bright and shiny for someone who just had a photo taken where you can see right up his nose. )

How did you do that? ( ?!? ) I can keep it?

[timeriffs]

[omg this guy was being sincere. It had been awhile since he saw such a thing from someone that wasn't, like, 3 years old.]

With the phone--computer--watch thing they gave us, it takes photos. TBH [he actually says tee-bee-h], I think this is one of the best ones I've ever taken, I'd be fucking proud for everyone to have it. What's your username, I'll shoot it your way.

[despised]

( Honestly, he'd been like two inches away from just taking the watch in his hands to walk off with that when the other mentioned a username. First of all, this man doesn't know what an avatar is and, second of all, is impressed with this kind of photo; you're going to need to keep going step-by-step with him. )

I've never seen one before, ( He notes, matter-of-fact. Not the watch, not a photo, none of that. He'll take his own watch out though and offer it up to the other. ) I don't know.

( It's probably just his name, Luo Binghe, or something similarly simple and default. )

[timeriffs]

Yeah. You're not very tech-savvy, are you.

[He takes Binghe's device.]

We don't got these where I'm from but I've used stupider things than this, so I figured out some things already.

[As he talks he's typing on one device then the other, and there's a little sound on Binghe's. A couple more taps, and he's turning it back to its owner, photo opened already on his screen.]

There, one perfect portrait of you nested safely in the sticks and fluff that is your watch thing. Take good care of it.

2

[fulgency]

[With most of the other students gathered around, regardless of one's success or failure, there are obvious signs of something happening. For some, it's something physically manifesting and for others, it's simply the reactions of the student or the supervising witch. But this young man in the corner is simply still in front of his cup.]

[At least, that's what seems to be happening after a long minute of observation and nothing appearing to happen. At the risk of breaking his concentration, Ozymandias finally speaks up.]

Your tenacity is something to be admired, but I'm not sure it's producing the desired results.

[timeriffs]

[Dave doesn't move or look away from his cup, but he proves he's not asleep by answering:]

Are you sure about that? Maybe I'm doin' exactly what I'm trying to majyyk up here but you are still too level 1 of a wizard to grok what I'm sorceling my cup to overfill with here.

[Is sorceling a word? Spellcheck is saying no, but it is now.]

[fulgency]

[...]

[Listen. Ozymandias knows he's probably not the most likely to be up-to-date with slang, but this is on another level. He thinks he understands the gist of what's being said, but he does raise an eyebrow.]

That seems unlikely...

[He thinks???? If he's understanding this strange boy?????]

[timeriffs]

Nah, man, I'm being serious here. Maybe if you get a closer look.

[He gestures for him to join him on the ground to stare at the cup along with him.]

[fulgency]

[Skeptical though he may be, Ozymandias accepts the invitation and sits opposite Dave. After a moment, he says,]

Your cup still appears to be empty.

[timeriffs]

Really? It's been spilling over with it since you sat down. Cascading to the ground, threatening to flood the entire room. We're gonna have to find a door and cling to it like Jack and Rose. [With his eyes still on the cup, he points straight at Ozymandias' chest.] Your gullibility.

[fulgency]

[Ozymandias frowns, clearly not appreciating the prank. There is a time and place for tomfoolery, but it's never really at his expense from a stranger.]

You should take your studies seriously.

[timeriffs]

I was. You saw me staring at this cup like I was trying desperately to undress it with my mind, trying to majyyk it full of sweet, sweet aj. I like a good burn as much as the next guy but I wasn't staring at a cup for fifteen minutes in hopes *some*one would bite.

[He leans back, planting both hands on the ground behind him.]

But pulling things outta nothing was never my bag.

haven

[spaghettimonster]

It's at least twenty minutes into the tour through Haven, walking the main streets with the local guides giving a rundown of the facilities through this district.

There's a lot of sights to see, if you like the sight of houses and more houses. It's a housing district on a scale Papyrus has only seen in New Home - or, if he's being honest, like in the ruins of Home. Mostly emptied buildings everywhere, some in mediocre states of repair... It's strange to think that, even on the surface full of humans, things might happen to cause huge sections of cities to be vacated.

So, rather than staring at the houses and guessing at the lives of the people no longer living there, Papyrus finds something else to focus on. It's still the first morning here, after all; he spends most of the tour looking up at the sky.

His eyesockets are watering a little, when Dave snaps that picture, thanks probably to staring right at the sun. It's probably just the unfamiliar brightness of it all, rather than any injury to his eyes - he doesn't even have eyes.

"Uh, what? You have a camera?" Papyrus wonders, wiping at his face to erase all signs of the somewhat overwhelming emotions of seeing the sky. "Oh! Did you catch my cheekbones with a good light?"

[timeriffs]

Dave might have caught that hint of wetness on those bleached white skull bones, but he is too distracted by other thoughts to quite comment on it. Namely, wondering how he managed to somehow miss a goddamn skeleton is walking in front of him, and that it's a goddamn skeleton in the first place.

"Did you drop your fucking skin somewhere, man? Need help finding it?"

[spaghettimonster]

"Huh?" Papyrus' eyesockets blink once or twice, his cheekbones sinking a little as he frowns thoughtfully and glances himself over. Did he have something with him called a skin? Nothing he can think of, which means it's a misunderstanding.

"Oh, no, I've never had a skin."

Outside of a particularly strange nightmare, with a bright forest and a drowning lake, where he wasn't himself. But that wasn't real, and he only barely remembers it, so it doesn't count.

"I appreciate you offering! But I've always been a skeleton."

[timeriffs]

Now, Dave had a friend back home that had a skull head and shit, but her bodily being seemed to be a little more, uh, fleshed? out than this guy. So Dave is a little confused by moving cheekbones and blinking eye sockets sans creepy doll eyes like Callie.

"That's cool and not weird at all."

[spaghettimonster]

"Those are both true statements!"

What else can he say? It's a little strange this human said that so bluntly, with nothing else... It almost comes across as sarcastic. But the last thing to do with rude sarcasm is to acknowledge it for sarcasm.

"And talking of cool skeletons... How did your picture come out?"

[timeriffs]

"Oh, right."

He puts his focus back on the device and flips it to show the skeleton. It was a angled close up of his scalp, with the sun glinting off it in a glorious lens flare. Huh, guess Dave should have thought that was weird, but his monkey brain that was used to seeing shiny white carapacian people back home didn't register it as a red flag.

"Check out that lens flare. Fucking magnificent; even JJ Abrams would weep upon setting eyes on it."

[spaghettimonster]

"Oh my god! I've never seen so much lens flare?"

He's seen close to it, in a couple of Mettaton's flashier productions... but this is another level. Especially in a picture of himself. It must be the sun, adding some vivid brightness that mere artificial and magical lights couldn't quite achieve.

"It's dazzling, but... It kind of obscures the skeleton. Which is a terrible shame! We should try again, but this time... With more cool sunglasses, and the lens flare reflected off the lens."

[timeriffs]

He stares at him for a moment.

Then, in an earnest tone of voice he replies with a resounding, "Hell.

Yes."