lifeaftr_mods: (Default)
The Mods of LifeAftr ([personal profile] lifeaftr_mods) wrote in [community profile] aftr_stories2018-02-19 08:51 pm

[MU] - FEBRUARY STORYTELLING / VOTING

Surprise, surprise, islanders: you're due for another lecture from your friendly neighborhood deity. An ocelot sits before the sprawling campfire on the beaches of Mu, grooming one paw - a paw that, on second glance, will prove to not be a paw at all, but a delicate cloven hoof.

"While I am not pleased with your intrusion," says the Storyteller, "it does not mean that nothing should come of it. You've doubtless glimpsed many things, most of which you were never meant to see. I suppose that's what some might call the wizard behind the curtain."

Some. Not all. They don't care to elaborate.

"Given that you're so interested in how the islands on this archipelago come to be, I will provide you with the choice," and here they stress the word with a calm switch of their spotted tail, "as to what sort of land you would prefer to brave next. I cannot promise safe travels, but I can guarantee the manner of materials those new lands may contain."

Four round dollops of sand wobble at the Storyteller's hooved feet, as though shaped by invisible hands, trembling, jellylike in the imaginary night breeze.

"The first...I have glimpsed flora and vegetation that may benefit you - for food, for medicinal purposes, for whatever you may see fit. The second bears something that I suspect can be used to fashion buildings, tools - an ore, of some sort. The third is...loud, terribly loud. A great many people live there, and they do not seem innately hostile. The fourth is full of noises, too, but of a different sort. I suspect a large number of beasts live there; perhaps tameable, perhaps docile, and perhaps not."

Their hooves have sunk into the sand, their amber gaze fixed and unblinking at some distant point on the horizon. Then, abruptly, they straighten, and the tension clenching their slim, felid frame eases.

"...cast your votes, if you wish. Whichever you choose, I will take us there."



It is time, once more, for you to tell a story. The setting will be familiar for oldcomers, and newcomers will recognize it from the introduction they received in their dreams. This too is a dream, and the ink-black dark is illuminated only by the bonfire surrounded by log seats. And seated around the fire are your fellow islanders, many of whom doubtless know the drill by now.

One by one, you will each have the opportunity to share your stories, as stories possess a certain undeniable power. Newcomers can tell whatever tale they wish, but for those who have been in LifeAftr for at least one Storytelling, only stories of their time in LifeAftr will count down the road. The story need not be long, or conventional, or even verbal; as long as the Storyteller knows it has been told, it will qualify. Those of the nonverbal persuasion have, as of a request issued by Ren ([personal profile] catpiper), an alternative means of telling their stories if they so choose, in the form of the Chamber of Glyphs.

If you prefer to keep your mouth shut, that's always an option, though you're more liable to benefit if you do. Perhaps you'd rather not relive any of your history, varied and variegated as it must be. Or maybe you're something of a compulsive un-truther, prone to embellishments and long, fanciful tangents. As long as the core of the story is true to its spirit, you are free to spin your tale however you like.

So choose well.
yourattention: (has been bad)

[personal profile] yourattention 2018-02-23 09:34 am (UTC)(link)
Connor tilts his head to the side, brow furrowing. There's something that's off about what the Storyteller's said, but he can't quite place his finger on what it is.

"There were . . . buildings, I think? In the water. Who do they belong to?"
story_teller: (He gives his harness bells a shake)

[personal profile] story_teller 2018-02-23 02:54 pm (UTC)(link)
The ocelot's tail twitches, once, twice. It might be hard to tell what's going on in their furred head. The firelight reflects off the gold of their eyes as they stare mutely ahead until at last they speak, and deviate from whatever avenues of contemplation they seemed to have gotten lost in.

"...people long gone," says the Storyteller. "Long, long gone."
yourattention: (if i stop smoking pot)

[personal profile] yourattention 2018-02-24 06:10 am (UTC)(link)
"But not the monsters or the Jormun." It's not said like a question, because Connor's gotten marginally better about trying when it turns out his very life is dependent on his trying. "Was the ship theirs?"

It might not be apparent to the people listening what Connor is talking about - he rarely mentions what he finds in the water unless someone directly asks him about it - but the Storyteller will get something that's not quite a fully formed story. It's more of the idea of a ship, wrecked on the reefs surrounding Chol, and the fact that he went there with the Jormun.
story_teller: (He gives his harness bells a shake)

[personal profile] story_teller 2018-02-24 06:12 pm (UTC)(link)
The ship. Truthfully, it takes them a moment to pick out the precise ship to which he might be referring - there are a great deal of that sort of thing, as it turns out. Old wrecks, and ancient remnants of doomed voyages.

"That particular vessel? No. No, I daresay it belonged to travelers - merchants. Those who thought to pass through."
yourattention: we've been way too out of touch (dear evan hansen)

[personal profile] yourattention 2018-02-27 09:21 am (UTC)(link)
He frowns. Chol formed, but he was under the impression it formed for the express purpose of hosting the sun when it died. That, according to the Jormun, didn't happen terribly often. What are the chances of a boat passing through when Chol was present? He doesn't ask that, exactly, but it brings another question to mind:

"Will the island you send us to disappear, like Monsun and Chol? Is - will Ensō always be the only island we can be certain of?"
story_teller: (He gives his harness bells a shake)

[personal profile] story_teller 2018-02-27 02:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"Inevitably, yes. This island is my home. Others are..." The ocelot tips their head back to regard the imaginary sky: pitch-dark here, and cloudless, speckled with stars. But maybe one can imagine the unraveling shapes in the air, floating like globs of modeling clay, ready to be shaped.

"...well, nothing you shaped managed to last forever, now, did it?"