OCTOBER MINGLE.

[lasteden]

BEYOND THE ROLLING DALES... WHO. Everyone. WHERE. Inside the White Moon. WHEN. October 1 - 15. WHAT. Mingling and exploration. WARNINGS. None for now. FOR THE NEWLY AWAKENED. You are asleep. The dreamscape ripples, resolves into a vision of a foreign land, and then a world of pure white. There is the sensation of rising through deep water, and then you find yourself in a room of white marble. Your items may be set on the floor around you, or you could have arrived bare-handed - whichever it is, you'll soon be addressed by a couple of tired-looking people in white coats. It seems they're as confused as you are. Upon receiving an introduction to the White Moon and choosing your faction, you will be allowed to leave the Sanctum - but there will also be an announcement made later on in the afternoon to all of the Moon's foreigners. Will you attend? THE SKY, THE LIGHTS. Those who do attend will be ushered into one of the Sanctum's meeting halls, where Lucius waits with a woman in green by his side. Known as Rinzen to those who have met her before, her presence is a constancy in contrast to Lucius' flickering form. The Wintersmith waits to one side, arms folded. He looks oddly bright, in the absence of his dragon companion. "Hello, everyone. I've scoured the records, and it seems like the Meteor was one of the old control systems that we built. It's like a giant terminal for upkeeping the environment's conditions. We shut it down a decade back to conserve energy. Though why it fell is still a mystery - when it was built, it was drilled down into the rock itself." He gives those attending a nod, raising a hand to produce a holographic screen which showed an image of the monolith. "Each of the terminals are protected by a Boundary field. They're generated by crystals within the terminal. You can dispel it temporarily with another, opposite crystal. Thank you for bringing some of the stuff back from the lake, I can fine-tune them so they can react to the barrier." Rinzen folds her arms, her face still half-hidden beneath her hat: "Go in and take a look, if you want. We'll give you compensation." Lucius sets the screen to show a rotating panorama of the screen. His body flickers, as befits someone who was projected into the room. "I'll be here for a few hours to answer your questions, as always." It is now that the Wintersmith raises his voice, turning to address everyone in the room. "I have a question for all of you. How old is your world? When will it end?" What will you do? ADMIN. Welcome to Last Eden's October monthly mingle! It is intended as a catch-all for threads that are not put in log posts. New characters are encouraged to use this post as an 'intro log' of sorts, for prompts both in the Sanctum and around the Moon. Please direct any questions about this log to the OOC post here. The faction leaders (or their stand-ins, for Blood and Spring) will be available to interact with upon arrival. To thread with them, tag in to the NPC toplevel and mention who you would wish to thread with. If you wish to have your character meet them later on in the month, please submit this to either the interaction turn-in on the OOC post, or contact the mods to arrange it.

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NPC INTERACTION

[lasteden]

OTA

[scarsolderthanyou]

I. In the admin zone

Stone has been hanging around the Sanctum ever since he brought the crystals and mirror-images back from the crater lake, since most of the plowing is done back in Spring and he has a lot less interest (and skill) for weeding and watering. Plus, it's been about the right amount of time for new people to start showing up, if they do, and he wants to be there when and if it happens.

So he spends a few days loitering around the markets and picking up food from every stall, sniffing out other foreigners who might be in the area, and prowling around the local dragon tower.


II. The meeting

Stone's first thought is that something had to knock the terminal out of its casing. He hadn't seen any signs of damage, but he hadn't been able to look up close with the barrier in place. Maybe with the crystal to negate that shield, he'd be able to find signs of what happened. "I'll go," he says with a shrug, from the back of the group, arms folded over his chest as if he's not really all that interested in the outcome of this.

"If there's a way to see where it came from, I'll do that, too," he adds. "That'll be on the other side of the moon, right?"


III. The Exodus Remembrance

Because everyone else in his territory is, Stone has been trying to hollow out one of those flying fruit for the remembrance. It's been a bit frustrating, in fact, since he has absolutely no artistic skill whatsoever, and the only thing he's ever carved has been meat, or enemies. He ruins five of the gourds before managing one that's even halfway workable, and there's a lot of growling and even some swearing in the process.

It does make him a little more approachable, since seeing him unable to do something so simple is rather humanizing, and since he winds up needing some help at least once. It gives him plenty of time to ask the locals about where they came from, though, and what happened to make them leave, since obviously there should be people here who remember it directly. It wasn't that long ago.

The festival itself is easier, because letting things fly is something Stone does very well. He even offers to carry some of the younger and more daring children up to let their candles fly from higher in the air, if none of the other locals object.

3

[lasteden]

[ The village that Stone spends his time in is a quiet one, watched over by only three elders. The rest had either died of old age, or perished in the Fall. It is the grandmother that chooses to watch him craft, the lines on her face carved not quite by age but also by war. One runs down her cheek, reminiscent of a knife scar. ]

How does the work feel?

[scarsolderthanyou]

Like I'm going to put a claw through it, even if I don't have any actual claws right now.

[He's just regularly grumpy, right now, rather than actually-irritated-grumpy, in part due to the company. Spending time with actual elders that he didn't have to watch grow up is unusual for him and not exactly unpleasant. He suggests,]

Talk to me. If I'm listening to you I might not think about this so hard and ruin it again.

[lasteden]

[ She is seated a slight distance from him on a stool, a half-open book on her lap. No interest in reading it, though. ]

About what?

[scarsolderthanyou]

Tell me about all this.

[He gestures with the knife he's using in lieu of a claw, at the subdued decorations going up around the village square. He keeps his tone casual, though he knows the subject is an important one.]

No one's told me much about where you came from and why you're in this flying rock, to begin with.

[lasteden]

[ That gets a tilt of the head from the elder, though not much else. ]

I'm surprised. They ought to be doing a better job. [ Her tone is rather calm, though. ] Twenty years ago, our old word crumbled to ruin. We came onto this ship and left. It was built by the Ice people, or summat like that.

[scarsolderthanyou]

See, that's what I don't get.

[Stone cocks his head to use his good eye on the gourd, back to work, even as he asks:]

How can a world crumble? Worlds are big. It'll take a lot to ruin one, won't it?

[lasteden]

[ She holds out one hand, palm parallel to the ground ]

Our world is like this. It frays at the edges. Pieces fall off. So it gets smaller, and smaller over the years. It'd break to nothing, eventually.

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Stone has flown high enough to see the curve of his world, so that distracts him from the gourd again, frowning at her hand. A flat world? His first question:]

What's on the edges? Before it falls apart, I mean.

II

[carried_away]

"If you're going, I'm also going. I'm good at figuring things out." Bramble said. Granted, the last time she had been allowed to figure something out, it was to open a door that was better left closed. On the other hand, it was possible someone else would have opened the door and then they wouldn't have had the chance to stop things.

Either way, Bramble isn't letting Stone wander off on his own when he might be the only one from Indigo Cloud here.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Stone glances sidelong at Bramble, brows up. "Sure. Let's bring the kid. Think you can hang on if we're flying that high?" It's hard to tell whether he approves or disapproves of the plan, honestly, but he does remember what Merit had told him about Arbora and extreme heights. Then again, in this place, gravity might well flip itself over on the far side. He hasn't tried it yet.

If that's the case, of course, that makes the terminal "falling" even stranger.

[carried_away]

"I think so. I'll let you know if I can't," Bramble said. She did remember what high altitude felt like, and it wasn't fun. Did groundlings get sick like that? "Are the groundlings going to be using those dragons? I don't think they have flying boats here."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"That depends on if any of the groundlings are coming," Stone points out. So far, he and Bramble are the only volunteers, but then, there's not that many of them here. "But if they do, yeah, it'll be on one of the dragons. They live out there, so it won't bother them any."

[carried_away]

"The dragons, right? Not the groundlings." People seem to live in all sorts of places, but if people lived in the area, then htey could maybe just send a messenger and not have to bother exploring.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Right, the dragons. Not sure how the groundlings talked them into carrying them around all the time, but apparently they're very helpful." Stone has talked to exactly one of them, and it was a rather one-sided conversation. Still, he's hopeful he can actually get to the point of understanding them, since they seem plenty intelligent from his perspective.

[carried_away]

"What can they eat out there, if it's so barren?" Bramble has learned to pay attention to this: grasseaters live around places they can find food and water, and predators live in places they can find animals to catch.

OTA

[carried_away]

1. Admin Zone

Bramble is trying not to show how unnerved she is.

Bramble can count the number of times she's been without other people she knows on the fingers of one hand. In the colony, both the old one and the new one, you always knew where to find people. And traveling away from it, she was always in a group. Even captured, she had Merit and Delin.

At least the people here didn't kidnap her on purpose. And she's free to explore, looking at the market spaces, and picking up things that make the stall owners watch the strange barefoot woman carefully.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Stone had been dozing in the sun out on one of the walls between territories when the scent of Arbora wafted by. He sits up sharply and looks around, alert and growling immediately, to the startled alarm of the guard stationed there. That is definitely Arbora, somewhere not far... he shifts right there on the wall, and launches into the air, flapping heavily until he has enough height to clear the buildings and wing hastily in the direction of the scent.

The shadow that falls over the market lane Bramble is currently exploring in isn't quite as big as she might be used to-- Stone has suffered a slight reduction in size in the passage between universes-- but the form that backwings, shifts, and then drops into the largest and clearest part of the space between stalls is a familiar one nonetheless. Also, it's one that is immediately straightening and stalking her way, shoving a few startled people out of his way when they don't move fast enough.

[carried_away]

Bramble had noticed the shadow. She'd been told about dragons, which seemed to be some sort of flying animal that the groundings here used for transportation, and had wanted to see one. But... well, that looked like a Raksuran consort, and an old one. That was unusual. Line-grandfathers weren't all that common. And it was too small to be Stone.

But she saw him land nearby and the glimpses she got through the clouds was definitely Stone in his groundling form. "Stone!" Bramble tried to move towards him, a bit more polite about moving people out of the way than Stone was being. Well, if she had known he was here, she might have found somewhere less busy to meet him.

Anyway, as soon as she was in arm's length, Stone was getting a very large hug.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Good, because Stone is basically sweeping the little Arbora off her feet into one, himself. It's one thing to choose to travel the Three Worlds, and it's another to be stolen with no explanation and no expectation of being able to get back quickly. Even someone like him can feel the lack of his own people around, and he's hugging her tight, right back.

But the growl in his voice is the same as ever, when he demands, "What trouble have you gotten into now, Bramble?"

[carried_away]

"None. I just woke up here. Well, I suppose the groundlings in the market seem a bit upset at me, but I'm not sure why."

Stone could probably guess a few reasons.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Did you take anything of from their stands?" Is he going to have to go back and pay for things for you, Bramble? Stone, at least, understands the point of trading and money, even his appreciation of their value doesn't always match up to that of the locals. More importantly, though: "You woke up in the Sanctum, right? That big building at the center there?"

If she's already been shoved into a territory that isn't Spring, he's going to have to go back and make them change it...

[carried_away]

"No, and yes. I woke up in the big building." Bramble said. "And I didn't take anything from the stand. I picked up a few things, but I guess they weren't for trade for the things I had."

[scarsolderthanyou]

Oh, good, he doesn't have to pay for anything for her. That will make things easier. "If you woke up in there, they'll have made you pick a faction to move to. We can find the representative for that faction and they'll give you something to trade with." He eyes her. "Which one did you pick?"