[MU] - FEBRUARY STORYTELLING / VOTING

[lifeaftr_mods]

As you made your opinions of the last voting session quite clear, there was no new island in the month of February. However, that does not mean there should never be a new island ever again, which is why the Storyteller has stubbornly resumed the same voting efforts as before. Try and pick an actual island this time, if you please? Each island contains resources and dangers both - there is no reward without a little risk.

Those of you who were with us for October's Storytelling may find this scene familiar - only, instead for four glistening pyres, it's only three that rear out from the shadows, each glowing a different color. The strange material that domes them almost resembles worked steel, forming different patterns against their multicolored backdrops.

[ ♆ ] The first glows a deep crimson, kicking scarlet embers into the dream-night air. Its pit sphere portrays a crowd of people in silhouette, heads bowed in genuflection - paying homage to some looping, many-coiled shape in the sky above.

[ ♆ ] The second glows a deep orange. Its pit sphere is worked into the shape of a looming mountain, with what might be some sort of village or ruin sprawled at its base.

[ ♆ ] The third's flames are a rich green. Its designs are most abstract; the starburst patterns that swirl across the metallic composition of its fire pit sphere could be explosions, maybe...or something else entirely.

Beside each pyre is heaped a pile of sticks, colored to correspond to their respective flames. Hopefully it is clear that you must add your stick to whichever pyre you intend to vote for; though if you're confused, hopefully your fellow adventurers will be able to explain it to you.

This will, of course, decide your next island destination, and those abstracted renditions are all you have to go off of.

Once you have cast your votes, what happens next is purely routine.



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 (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.

Comments

OOC || VOTING

[lifeaftr_mods]

OPTION 1

[lifeaftr_mods]

This island is represented by red flames, a crowd of people engaged in some sort of worship, and a massive, coiled shape above their heads.

OPTION 2

[lifeaftr_mods]

This island is represented by orange flames, a towering mountain, and a village or ruin beside it.

OPTION 3

[lifeaftr_mods]

This island is represented by green flames and strange starburst patterns reminiscent of explosions.

OOC | FORM

[lifeaftr_mods]

Reply to this comment, having filled out the corresponding form, if you wish to participate in the Storytelling for non-compulsory AC. Non-compulsory AC allows for IC rewards such as Item Requests, but is not mandatory - though it will ICly benefit your character to try and participate, even if they're not the storytelling type.

Remember that those who have already undergone one Storytelling cycle must tell a story of their time in LifeAftr in order for it to count. Newcomers may tell whatever stories they like!

<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Character Name:</b> <b>Character Journal:</b> <user name="NAME"> <b>Number of Offerings:</b> List character's number of offerings here. A maximum of THREE STORIES can be told each Storytelling. <b>Offering(s):</b> Describe the story related here. A link to a past game or a wiki will suffice if you'd rather not write it all out, but it is helpful to note if your character was an engaging or enthusiastic storyteller, plainly unwilling and undetailed, or anything else of note! <b>Public/Private:</b> Is this story told for all to hear, or to the Storyteller (or their altar) privately? Please let us know!

[antepone]

Player Name: Michelle
Character Name: Mira
Character Journal: antepone
Number of Offerings: Three
Offering(s):
- so like, she stabbed Foster. Or, at least, her shadow did and she's not sure how to feel about that! She's obviously freaked out about it, mostly because she didn't realize she could be that angry or vengeful. Naturally she's accepted it but.... whoof.
- She's finally going to talk about Nari leaving, and how it made her feel. She talks about how it reignited her fears of people she cares about leaving... but at the same time, she acknowledges that she shouldn't withdraw because she's scared.
- Her last story is about her training with Keith! She mentions that she's never had to fight before, but that motivates her because she wants to protect the people she cares about.
Public/Private: The first two are private, and the last is public.

[shiritai]

Player Name: Claire
Character Name: Violet Evergarden
Character Journal: shiritai
Number of Offerings: Three
Offering(s):

1. – Violet explains her job, as an Auto Memoir Doll and what that entails. As Violet tells it, it involves writing letters for people who aren't able to do so themselves – either through actual inability to write, or because they're struggling to find the right way to say what they mean. It's Violet's duty to look past what her client says and understand what it is they feel, at least enough to be able to put it into a letter. It honestly kind of sounds like two parts ghostwriting and one part freelance therapist. But Violet seems like she likes it. She also talks about the C.H. Postal Company that she works for, and a few of her fellow Auto Memoir Dolls; Iris, who's working hard to make a name for herself, Erica, who lacks confidence in herself but works twice as hard to make up for it and Cattleya, who by Violet's description, sounds like The Designated Mom of the group. She also offhandedly mentions Hodgins, who she says is their boss, and absently hopes that if she is missing back home that he isn't worrying himself too much about her.

2. – Violet tells the story of her first client as an Auto Memoir Doll and, unfortunately, her first total failure. A wealthy young woman had come to the postal company to request a letter from Cattleya, who was well-known for her love letters. Unfortunately for pretty much everyone involved, Violet was the only one available at the time and hopped to the task. The client had requested a letter in response to a man who had confessed his love to her, and asked that it be a coy, playing-hard-to-get sort of reply, despite the depth of her own feelings for this man. Violet unfortunately took all this at face value and produced a letter that was so straight-forward and demanding it caused a great deal of offense. She recalls seeing the woman burst into tears in the office, weeping that all she'd wanted was to express her love for this man and says that she'd only just then begun to realize how powerful words were – and how deeply they could hurt people, if not used with care.

3. – And since we've heard about her first screw up, Violet decides to dovetail from that into her first successful letter. At the suggestion of Hodgins and the other Dolls at the Postal Company, she'd begun attending a school for prospective Auto Memoir Dolls to improve their skills. It was here that she met a girl called Luculia, who Violet identifies as her very first friend. The two of them worked hard together, but while Luculia graduated, Violet did not, as she had failed to display the ability to understand a client's feelings while writing a letter. Luculia has attempted to help, by offering to write a letter for Violet, but instead their talk had turned to Luculia's home situation. She confessed that her parents had been killed some time ago, victims of a war in their country and her brother, Spencer, had been gravely injured in the same battle. He'd been consumed with guilt and anger over not being able to save their parents, but all Luculia wanted him to know was that she was happy he, at least, was still alive. Luculia left things at that but Violet, finally realizing how she could help, wrote a letter on Luculia's behalf – a simple letter of gratitude, from Luculia to her brother, expression her joy and gratitude that he had returned to her alive – and delivered it to Spencer. The letter allowed the two siblings to reconcile and in return, Luculia showed Violet's letter to their instructor, who was so moved and impressed by the effort Violet had put in, that she deemed her fit to graduate alongside the others, expressing her hope that Violet would one day become an exemplary Auto Memoir Doll.

Public/Private: All of these are public!

[journalname]

Player Name: Lu
Character Name: Asgore
Character Journal: journalname
Number of Offerings: 3
Offering(s):
- Asgore met his Shadow! That was...an interesting experience! Though he's aware that most other people had rather traumatizing experiences with their Shadows, that almost seems to be why Asgore chose to present the story in the first place. He tells it in a sort of self-deprecating way, like it's just a silly embarrassing thing that happened. He does not mention anybody else he encountered while keeping company with the Shadow.

- He also met his Light. It was a strange encounter - though he accepted it to avoid any fuss, he feels sort of guilty for claiming all these apparent good traits. Also, it said that it had been around to talk to Chara, and he's not sure if he should apologize to them for that?

- TEA. He got his first harvest from his tea plants! He made a few different new blends! Let him tell you all about it in extreme detail
Public/Private: The story about the Light is private!

[ideismo]

Player Name: Dal
Character Name: Alexei Dinoia
Character Journal: ideismo
Number of Offerings: Three.
Offering(s): As before, storytelling is not Alexei's strong suit. He's not unwilling, but he is awkward in doing it and frankly isn't good at it to a point where he's vaguely self-conscious about it; as such, everything is stated very formally with reasonably little detail that isn't needed. Noticeably, he doesn't provide any commentary on his feelings on the matters presented.

1. Bucky, Yeager, and Alexei all went to Monsun recently to explore the place. They argued a good amount and eventually found sheep there that seemed to be living plants of some sort; Bucky rather liked them and took a few back with him.

2. He'll talk about the Rejection Room and what happened there - what it looked like, and how it resembed a shrine that was raised from the oceans of Terca Lumireis; there was a fight with Yeager there that ended with Yeager defeating him.

3. There was a party recently that he attended, with fireworks and an odd preoccupation with boars. He has no idea what the party was for. Surprisingly, the time he had there was decent, and it wasn't as awkward as it could have been.

Public/Private: Private.

[galrarm]

Player Name: Michelle
Character Name: Takashi Shirogane
Character Journal: galrarm
Number of Offerings: Three.
Offering(s):
- He's definitely talking about paintball, and how it was the most fun he's had in a very long time. He was glad to see everyone in high spirits, and the teamwork was definitely a plus!!
- His next story leaves him a little embarrassed, but he talks about the Lights--specifically, his and Keith's. He expresses that he's glad he faced them, though. He and Keith are certainly better for it.
- The Lunar New Year celebration! He's glad someone put it together, and that it was so thoughtful and wonderful. He wishes he could thank whoever did it. Mysterious.
Public/Private: The second is private, but the other two are public.

[scythegun]

Player Name: Redd
Character Name: Yeager
Character Journal: scythegun
Number of Offerings: 3
Offering(s): The first story Yeager tells is of the trip he took with Alexei and Bucky, in which they found sheep. Yeager is blunt about how paranoid Bucky was and how frequently he and Alexei snapped at one another and were otherwise being a pain, but there's no emotion whatsoever behind his words. He seems cheerful enough as he recounts it, but that's just how he always acts.

The second story is of the fireworks show, where he met Ren, Amaterasu, and Asgore. He has no idea what the purpose of this was, or even why he decided to go in the first place, but it was... okay? Like before, he's still cheerful, but this time there's actually a bit of emotion... and it's not about the people he met. It's about the trees and the fireworks?? He's pleased to see something familiar from home, even if it does make him feel Kind Of Weird. (He's totally not homesick, though.)

The final story is one he's a bit hesitant to tell, but he'll pick up speed as he keeps going. In this one, he talks about battling Alexei in the rejection room, where he faced off against Schwann and Estelle and then Alexei himself. There's far less emotion present in this one, and he's not even pretending to be cheerful. By the end of it, he almost sounds relieved to be done telling the story. There's very little detail or anything in this one, it's more like a list of what happened. He doesn't exactly sound pleased that he killed Alexei, but there's a sense of satisfaction there anyway. It's difficult to tell exactly what he feels about it given the blunt way he's telling it, but hey, at least he actually brought it up instead of ignoring it like everything else.

Public/Private: Private for all three!

[crosslaced]

Player Name: Star
Character Name: Laurent
Character Journal: crosslaced
Number of Offerings: 1
Offering(s):
Damen’s gone again. Could you let him know if you see Damen anywhere?
Public/Private: Private

[devilstongue]

Player Name: Draiol
Character Name: Mollymauk Tealeaf
Character Journal: devilstongue
Number of Offerings: 3
Offering(s): Unlike last time, Molly's not going to fight the Man and be unreasonable. He is, however, bullshitting his purple ass off.

1. That time he and the beautiful flower fairy went out to search for the prettiest flowers in the land. And dirt. A lot of dirt.

2. The gruesome murder of a scorpion together with a powerful ninja, who Nott later ate. Also Nott the Brave is MISSING SOMEONE TELL HIM WHERE SHE IS.

3. The beautiful and loving friendship of three idiots. There was no fighting involved. Just broken ribs a sweet little discussion.

Public/Private: Public

[postictal]

Player Name: Zero
Character Name: Tim Wright
Character Journal: postictal
Number of Offerings: 3
Offering(s): As usual, he tells most of these privately, relatively calmly, and without going into a lot of detail. Also mentioning himself in these narratives as...little as possible, whenever he can.

1) Island Carpentry. This is a rare public story from Tim Wright, who uses this mostly as a way to thank Mira, Ginko, and Muffet for their help in earning the island's carpentry building. He also mentions all the tools that he's worked to make available. So if you need any woodworking done, Tim is now officially your guy.

2) Fireworks! And his silent gratitude for whoever set this up. He can always admire a firework show, and this one was particularly extravagant. It was a welcome break after the hell of the last few months on top of it.

3) This shit hurted. The one thing he never expected to hear from anyone. It hit hard. In some ways, it shook his entire world to its core. It's just a rarity for that to be a good thing.

Public/Private: The first is public! The second two are private.

[hyperlit]

Player Name: Zero
Character Name: The Drifter
Character Journal: hyperlit
Number of Offerings: 3
Offering(s): As is typical for them, they tell their stories nonverbally, with a mixture of text and drawings on the Chamber of Glyphs. This makes for some relatively clipped, impersonal telling, but they do their best!

1) Fighting a friend. A harrowing trial that required all of their accumulated skill to come up against. It was a difficult battle, made all the more difficult that they had to go up against an ally. It flew in the face of everything they are, to undergo this.

2) A lovely lightshow! Fireworks are not new to the Drifter at this point, but it was nonetheless a welcome reprieve from the past few months. They have their...suspects, as to who might have been responsible for this (given the portrait of the pig and whose markings it resembled), but they do not voice this aloud. If the person responsible wanted to be kept anonymous, they won't disrespect that.

3) How they got their ass beat. They got their ass beat a lot this event, but this particular occurrence was notable in that it resulted in the Shadow's death. For that, at least, they can be grateful.

Public/Private: All public, if nonverbally

[counterblows]

Player Name: Zero
Character Name: Agent Washington
Character Journal: counterblows
Number of Offerings: 3
Offering(s): As always, Wash's tone for these "stories" is less of a story and more of a post-mission report. He's clipped, formal, brusque, and probably not terribly interesting to listen to.

1) Meeting the Edgiest Lord. Most of this event was pure fucking hell, so this kind of harmless buffoonery was actually a bit welcome, in retrospect. What a fucking mess of a Shadow. At least he got to see that taken care of, to an extent.

2) He met a tortle. This was a welcome change of pace, given that they were just...extremely nice? He wasn't expecting that. It's weird to meet people who are this kind of brazenly nice, okay!!!

3) This was all a fine and natural meeting between a Light and Shion...until the real Washington intervened. He kind of arrived on the scene to ruthlessly brutalize - er, to interrogate and apprehend his Light. It's fine.

Public/Private: All three are private!

[semistableman]

Player Name: Nin
Character Name: Bucky Barnes
Character Journal: semistableman
Number of Offerings: One
Offering(s): He discusses the exploration he did with Alexei and Yeager. He clearly doesn't really like Yeager, but Alexei's all right. They found plant sheep, and Bucky ended up bringing a couple back with them.

They live just outside of his shack, and don't exactly have names since he's never had a pet before. They seem pretty happy, even if he's still not sure how they work.
Public/Private: Private

[timaeus_testified]

Player Name: Sam
Character Name: Dirk Strider
Character Journal: timaeus_testified
Number of Offerings: Three
Offering(s):
- He met and talked to a guy that he feels shouldn't have been attacked by the papers so much. Aka when he met Guzma.
- Meeting Ren who taught him about the stone and he offered an answer in return. He'll emphasize that he believes exchanges of info should be a mutual exchange. It's fair that way.
- His last story is about his boss room/meeting his light and rejecting it. He admits he had knee jerked. It's a reflex to reject anything telling him he's good because he's spent too long on a damn pedestal his friends made. He can't stomach being told he's some great builder when all he does is break things. Friendships, enemies, you name it he's great at fucking it up.
Public/Private: First two public, last private.

[thermalwind]

Player Name: Sam
Character Name: Keith Kogane
Character Journal: focusedroar
Number of Offerings: Three
Offering(s): Keith for once is lighter-hearted when he settles down to talk. He speaks calmly with a relaxed air about him. About as happy as he's ever been.
- This story is a little quieter. He talks about facing his shadow and realizing that he shouldn't fight him. His shadow was all that was darker about himself. He accepted the darkness in him. He tells of Wash facing it, then Alfor. Thanking both of them for their individual wisdom that led to his own revelation.
- This story is about Shiro. Specifically his light and Shiro's working together to achieve their goal. He seems to want to say more but the story is shorter. Keith only confesses that he never thought of how much good he does Shiro. ...as much as Shiro does for him.
- This is about painting the island. He's thrilled to do something productive and good. There's been so much pain that having this breather work them all up in his opinion. He wants to learn more. See more. He wants to find ways to help instead of being a bystander.
Public/Private: First and third are public. The second one is private.

[scourgingstars]

Player Name: Nao
Character Name: Ardyn 'Retcons' Izunia
Character Journal: scourgingstars
Number of Offerings: One
Offering(s): Basically describing his rejection room and allusions to the Trial of the Forgiving in wide strokes and metaphor as is his usual way. Essentially he's verbally working through that fact that maybe he's stuck learning character development. Please show mercy, I have to set up new backstory.
Public/Private: Public

[savedbyasong]

Player Name: Katy
Character Name: Shion
Character Journal: savedbyasong
Number of Offerings: Two, one of which goes to the upkeep of Lup Net
Offering(s): (1) This is back to his 'report' format sort of. Except it's a year roundup because he's been here a year and a lot has happened and he's not really in a good place to go into any specific things in detail so it's a bit windy and choppy.
(2) He has fixed up the memorial garden and is planning a way to keep track of people. This story is again... more of a report. Emotions are hard all right.
Public/Private: Public.

[diplomacycheck]

Player Name: Twi
Character Name: Princess Allura
Character Journal: diplomacycheck
Number of Offerings: Three
Offering(s):
- She'll finally talk about the Trial of the Trusting to someone who isn't someone who pulled her aside for a moment. She'll talk about trying to work together with one slightly-shady person and one who gave her bad vibes from the start... and how at the end, she yeeted them into the ocean because by the end they deserved it.
- Talking down her younger-than-she-remembers father from attacking the Fustercluck.
- Just a friendly spar with Keith! Totally didn't end with a heart-to-heart or anything, nope (it did with found family feelings involved).
Public/Private: Public

[catpiper]

Player Name: Lexy
Character Name: Ren
Character Journal: catpiper
Number of Offerings: 3 (1 for Lupnet)

Offering(s):
One-She's gonna talk about how fun it was to sing a duet with a cat about blessings and promote how grass is great, because you play music with it too. Amazing. Blow into your local grass pile today.

Two-She had a nice conversation about the cherry blossom trees during the god's awesome fireworks display. Did everyone see the colors?? Heck it was great.

Three-She's gonna talk about this and how happy it made her that Kravitz said he would find her. It was hard to talk about then and it's equally difficult to recall now, but her big hope is that they give up on her. She's thrilled they're allowing her to stay though camp though and describes feeling a weight lift from her heart when she told them.

Public/Private: Two public, last private

[forwearemany]

Player Name: Shiny
Character Name: Legion
Character Journal: forwearemany
Number of Offerings: 3
Offering(s):
1)Tigerlilies. Legion had been wanting to acquire some. Despite the difficulties faced in their interaction with Wash they have managed to acquire both of the two encountered, but they don't seem inclined to do much other than loaf around in the general vicinity of Leigon's house.

2)Shadow. Despite the fact that the Drifter's shadow murdered them while they were vulnerable, they focus a lot less on that and a lot more on being distressed and angry over the whole bit about them being synthetic.

3)Post revival. They talk for a bit about helping Asgore with gardening. They aren't the best storyteller, mostly recounting events with minimal embellishment, but it seems like they might have had a pleasant time? They go into a lot of boring detail.
Public/Private: Private

IC || STORYTELLING

[lifeaftr_mods]

If you wish to thread out the relaying of your story so that other characters may react to it, you may do so here!

vague episode ardyn prologue spoilers

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn was quiet at first, as he more often than not tended to be come Storytelling. And as he also often did, he seemed hesitant to sit near the fire; instead pacing slowly around nearer the boundary of the ink-black shadows.]

[Then at length, he apparently decided to speak.]

Once...long ago, there was a sage who sacrificed his humanity to protect others. He became a monster, and in doing so had all he cared for taken from him. Home, family, and name all stripped from him, the monster was branded by a multitude of epithets. Adagium, Usurper, Accursed, and the man he once was drowned beneath the endless darkness.

...Against all odds, past the end of his life did the monster discover a little flame that sparked a remnant of light within him, light which so pained him that he desperately struggled to see it extinguished. Even a labyrinth of phantoms reflecting he who cast the monster out taunted his waking steps, agreeing with the monster's certainty that no such fire would truly catch and burn to light the sky once more.

But the sage's remnant grew stronger, and in a most peculiar turn of fate did that light gain a voice for only the briefest of moments, surfacing above an ocean of suffocating darkness to say but one thing: 'help me seek balance.' For of course, the tormented sage couldn't be saved from the vengeful monster he became.

But the monster was infuriated by that, for fury and madness had been his native tongue for eons. So he lashed out in shrieking rage at those who accepted the light's request, as he couldn't understand why any mortal would waste the effort on a lost cause unless they were lying to gain something from him. He fought against those who insisted they wished to help, until he found he could fight no longer--'why' he couldn't fight being yet another thing he failed to understand.

...So instead Adagium chose to wait. Certain that something as preposterous as 'balance' could never be attained and that the sage was entirely lost, yet curious enough to observe just what might yet be accomplished with such an impossible desire.