INTRO LOG + SKADI CURSE.

[asgardmods]

FEBRUARY INTRO LOG( FEB 16TH & 17TH ) february 16 ↴ INTRO: NEW WANDERERS' ARRIVAL! Our batch of new Wanderers wake this morning, as all new Wanderers have before, on a plush bed with a mild but lingering sense of recent disorientation. Frigg greets them as per normal, though rather than outright escorting Wanderers to the front doors this time, she and Sigyn allow the Wanderers time and space to leave their bed, meet the pantheon, and even depart the palace at their own pace - but not without a warning. All Wanderers must choose a deity to tether to before dawn the next day, or else one of the gods will choose them. This is of grave importance, as that's precisely how long the magic giving them form is able to last untethered before the Mother's own magic overwhelms it. (Though the gods are more than willing to allow Wanderers to leave, it's worth noting that many a castle servant - natives, born in this land - might see fit to intercede and insist on the choosing of a god before Wanderers step off the Gladsheim Palace grounds.) Stepping outside, you're greeted by an almost bright and sunny day... Undermined thoroughly by a sharp, biting wind that permeates any small gap in your clothing. I bet the gods might give you a sweater, if you ask. It probably won't even look that absurd, depending on which one you ask. A trail of what seems like stringless balloons float at eye level from just outside the palace door, guiding Wanderers down the path to a notice board just outside the palace grounds. On this notice board, Wanderers find a brief handwritten guide to accessing the city map on their cuffs, specifically denoting the little colored house icons ( ⌂ ) to help Wanderers make their way to each god's housing. Also on this board appear to be a variety of job listings, for those who want to get more involved in Asgard as a whole. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? There's more than enough time for that once you've chosen a god to tether to in the first place. february 17 ↴ GOD CURSE: CHARACTER-BUILDING WITH SKADI. The storm brewing within Skadi is hardly a secret. She was impatient during the gods' supposedly unanimous address, and in the days to follow, Sigyn (with all her desperately good intentions) tried to balm the irritation but only abraded the goddess further still. She attended the Wanderers' arrival purely by the letter of her duty and swept back out the doors as soon as that duty released her, and since then she's been holed up in her temple, her pointy-faced statues positioned just outside as sentinels meant to intimidate mortals away. They dared to tell her that she does nothing. Nothing for the Wanderers, that is. Nothing to help them grow and self-actualize, as if these 'Wanderers' are so much more important than Asgard itself, which weakens by the day as her fellow gods fling their magic about to overprotect the Wanderers, or even to satisfy their whims. The consensus to draw back some of that wasteful protection would have pleased her, if she weren't so thoroughly fixated on the slight that preceded it. They want her to help the Wanderers self-actualize? So be it. There's no better way, truly, than to confront and overcome the ways in which you're flawed. So the morning after arrival day, many Wanderers wake up with a stinging, itching spot somewhere on their body. Maybe their arm, maybe their back, maybe their throat. In that spot, as it turns out, is a set of words in a deep ruddy brown (almost like old blood) under their skin as if tattooed in place. But these aren't just any words - they prey directly into the Wanderer's fears, their regrets, their insecurities, and their mistakes. They're facing down some of the worst things they've ever thought or feared about themselves. The other gods, of course, are eager and willing to try to relieve the poor Wanderers of these cursed marks... but they find that it's not quite so easy. Wanderers who seek a god's removal of the words find that not only do the words remain, but a new set appears: Flees the truth. But that's fine = For most Wanderers, these words disappear on their own in a day or two. A handful of unlucky souls find that their marks linger indefinitely, or seem to disappear but return at truly inopportune occasions down the line. MOD NOTES This is the February intro log and Skadi's curse, our mini-event for this month! Skadi's curse is is entirely opt-in - not all Wanderers are affected - and is detailed more fully in the 'This Month's Events' section of the February Bulletin, and you're welcome to direct any follow-up questions to the Bulletin's mod questions top-level. You've also likely noticed that god jobs are now live! The listings themselves can be found here (same link as within the 'arrival' prompt), with a brief FAQ featured over here.

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Ye Zun | Guardian

[sanityinruins]

一 Welcome to Asgard?
It was starting to become a habit. Every other month or so new people arrived looking lost and confused and somewhat angry as they stumble into the city proper. Ye Zun usually didn't care too much about the whos or the whys they were there as much as he did about knowing what they looked like. It was a little bit of paranoia at work, but the idea of having a new face sneak up on him when he was working on something else made him loiter around the central palace an hour or so every day. Today such dedication seems to have worked.

Watching for a moment, he then steps forward to block the path of one such person, his hand already holding out a folded piece of paper. "Here."


二 A Curse
Some days Ye Zun does not feel like wearing his golden half-mask. It had been something he worn to stop from clawing his fac eoff, something to keep him from the screaming, insistent, gut-tearing knowledge of a lie told so many times that he believed it bone deep. He knew the truth now and did not hate his own face as much, but habits often were hard to shake. Here though he could gradually let go. His brother hadn't left him. His brother had tried to find him again.

His brother wanted to save him.

So when the itching burning sensation started on his skin, he thought it was from the sunlight and the wind and paid it no mind. And when a native jumped, looking at his face in horror, he frowned, thinking that maybe he said something wrong. It took actually catching a glimpse of his reflection that made Ye Zun stop, turn around and look again.

Under his right eye Devourer, under the left eye Fratricide and in between his eyebrows, right where Zhao Yunlan put a bullet in his head trying to stop him, Monster. Lips pulling back from his teeth, he pressed his thumb against the last one, digging in with his nail and cutting down. The skin parted a little but still, the word remained.

"Oh good," he said with a snort. Pulling out his mask, he set it back on his face and glances over at whoever was watching him. "You ever get the feeling that someone needs lessons on how to treat us as something more than pets?"

welcome!

[foxlore]

As far as the mood of her arrival goes, Flora falls somewhere between dazzled and concerned, and now, her hand already on the piece of paper he offers her, a little bit confused.

Or nervously agitated. Reading isn't so much her strong suit, and that's usually what paper means.

"Thank you." It's sincere, even if there's a slight upturn of confusion in it. "What's it for?"

[sanityinruins]

"It's a map," Ye Zun says, his smile a small, soft thing that looks sincere. "I know that our brackets have the function somewhere on them but it's far easier to use one on hand than the one in space."

He waved his hand to the side dismissing the bracelets as useless things even as he studies her expression. "Hopefully it will help you while getting use to Asgard's roads. In any case, I can answer some questions if you wish."

[foxlore]

He's as pretty as all the gods have been, and she's not been keeping count of all the ones she's met –– but he's given her the welcome gift of a map, so now she's gently categorising him in the entirely wrong way. Congratulations, stranger, Flora thinks you're one of the gods of Asgard.

"Thank you so much!" More sincere, if at all possible, than before, as she unfolds it and looks at the different districts. It's finely labelled, and it is more intuitive in its use than the bracelet. Takes a moment, but she finds 'Honir' on it, he can see her mouth out the word as she reads it. That's where she's gotta go, then.

But first: he's allowed her to ask questions, and she has a couple right away – unfortunately, they're not strictly speaking about locations. "What's your name? What's your domain? You... gods... all have one of these, right?" Is it rude to call them gods? Is it like the Good People, where it's better to say Good People than fae?

[sanityinruins]

"Ah?"

He blinked for a moment at her earnest mislabeling of his role in this world; if this was home where he could pull his dark energy forth, well that would be different. But after a moment where he hesitated on how to answer her and then starts to laugh. It was a soft,kind chuckle and not his more manic ones, so at least he was attempting to be kind here.

"No, no, I'm no god here," he said, raising a hand to show no offense. "I've been here for a while and know that some Wanderers just never had anything like the bracelets before. As for my name, this one is called Ye Zun."

And he gives her a proper bow, arms extended, hands cupped, back straight.

[foxlore]

Oh –– does that mean she ought to bow too? Efforts had been made to raise her to be polite: chew with your mouth closed, greet people, be respectful. But this is courtly. For heaven's sake, she's still barefoot.

Not sure what else to do, she bows too.

"I'm Flora. It's very nice to meet you." Standing straight again, she shuffles through her hair a bit nervously. "You're right, too. I know a bit of magic back home, but nothing like any of this."

[hei_pao_shi]

Shen Wei means to make his way straight to Heimdallhaus and get settled, but he freezes on instinct at the sight of his brother. That kneejerk of tension and vigilance upon the very sight of him will take some time to go away, and Shen Wei's brows gather as he takes in the mask on Ye Zun's face. He hadn't been wearing it when they met there. Shen Wei hadn't even been sure his brother still had it.

He crosses the distance between them, the notch between his brows deepening when he sees a trickle of blood beneath ornate gold. "Didi? he asks, lifting a hand to pull the mask away. "Did someone hurt you?"

[sanityinruins]

There is a moment of tension as Ye Zun sees movement out of the corner of his eyes, his feet setting and his arm coming up to block. But then he recognizes his brother and he freezes between instinct and logic, eyes flicking to Shen Wei's and away, as he swallows. It was times like this he misses his abilities; hate the leader and his power, Ye Zun leaned on how it mapped out all the minds around him, letting him feel at least less like a target .

"Gege..." And Shen Wei has lifted the mask away, no doubt seeing the words and the cut he made on his own skin. "No. I just... scratched too hard."

Shen Wei was a warrior and knew sounds. There was no way he would mistake that for a scratch. But Ye Zun attempts a slight smile and ignores the tremble in his lips. "Stupid, isn't it?"

[hei_pao_shi]

Shen Wei's serious eyes travel from one cheek to the other, and then to the last word, the one not terribly obscured by blood despite Ye Zun's obvious efforts. "I thought it might be their idea of a welcome gift when I felt my own," he admits.

It seems it's been done to all of them, but why? Why have the gods done this? Shen Wei has had very little time in their presence, but none had struck him as the type to command through fear and humiliation. He lifts his hand, thumbing away the drying blood on his brother's face, feeling a frisson of anger as he does so.

"Mine is hidden beneath my shirt," he says, lifting the mask between them. It's only fair if Ye Zun wishes to hide his. "I think they must represent our worst thoughts of ourselves," he says, gaze again drifting to the scratched word. Monster.

[sanityinruins]

"These? No, they wouldn't use them for welcoming."

Ye Zun lets him wipe at the blood, a corner of his mouth twitching at the thought. As much as the gods were strangers to them, they had some form of reasoning that's almost human. Almost.

But after the time spent around them and their logic, Ye Zun hasn't really considered them totally sane. After all, they did such things as throw a three day party in the middle of a snowstorm and mess the space/time up because they couldn't quite figure out how to live. They certainly had no idea that these marks are in any way harmful. Maybe they thought they were trying to help?

He took the mask and slid it back on, covering the words and his wound. "Our dark secrets, free for all to see?"

welcome

[carrotkeeper]

The whole process of choosing a new deity to align herself with had been bizarre and surreal. The Astrals she grew up with came in the form of passed down stories and legends and lore about their coexistence with the royal family, with the oracles-she fully believed in them. Even before Noct was able to summon them in front of her very eyes.

So distancing herself from those gods and having to quickly place herself into a whole other cluster, pick out a singular one to follow-it had been interesting. Weird. She can't say it's a process she particularly enjoyed, but it was necessary.

Because now she has her freedom back and is able to wander as she pleases, only to immediately meet-

Someone with a paper? Maybe they're trying to make some kind of sales pitch. But hey, she's not going to be rude in this new town. She plucks the paper from his hand, not moving to unfold it quite yet.

"Oh, what's this? Some kinda coupon?"

[sanityinruins]

"Coupon? Whatever for; everything in this place is free or bartered."

Ye Zun tucked his hands back into his sleeves, eyes narrowed in thought. Then with a huff, possibly at himself, he bows slightly, his mouth curving into a slight smile.

"Forgive me, no. It's a paper map of the area for those that may find the bracelets a little hard to navigate at first."

[carrotkeeper]

"Really?"

The kindness of strangers is really admirable and she's astounded each and every day at how welcoming a town can be, even in a situation like this. Lestallum had opened their arms to former Crown City residents and now, this place is offering the same.

"Wow, that's a big help. Thanks. The bracelets kinda remind me of my cellphone, so I should be able to figure it out, but hey! This is way better."

Because now she can mark it up and figure out where she's supposed to go in this sprawling town. She starts to unfold the paper and holds it up between them.

"Soooo, where's the best place to go from here? Bet you know this town better than I do."

[sanityinruins]

"Of course; why would I lie?"

Well. Why would he lie about this? There's a lot of other things he would lie about, most of them a knee-jerk reaction for survival and domination. But still, the map was perfectly fine, normal and lacking any kind of hook, or return.

"They are like that, I suppose." Not that he had managed to hold one for any length of time, but he had seen some of them in the hands of minions. "Even if they lack some of the more annoying features."

He suspects that they do monitor their health and locations for whichever god they were connected to. He would, if he had been a god and made the bracelets.

"What do you wish to look at first? We have a couple places to eat, a few places for relaxation or there is always the training grounds if you feel like fighting."

curse

[lan_wangji]

Lan Zhan had seen enough, the words as plain against Master Ye's skin as his own gracing the backs of Lan Zhan's hands: Cold, Unworthy.

But now, Lan Zhan has met Master Ye's brother. Now, Lan Zhan has seen Master Ye's words and a part of him cannot reconcile them with the same man who has taught him and guided him.

He bows, heedless of exposing his hands before giving the man a careful nod. "It is unfair. Some things are not others to tell."

[sanityinruins]

Maybe his brother was right and the words were what they themselves thought about their own actions. Ye Zun glanced down at the clasped hands as the younger man bowed to him, frowning at the words even as he steps forward to help him up as politeness demands. And while he tries to not be so burdened by the words, Ye Zun's smile wasn't as pleased as normally the case when he speaks with Lan Wangji.

"I feel that the others in this case is being a spoiled child feeling the urge to share our pain without knowing why we keep such parts of ourselves hidden."

The blood was going to be annoying under the mask. Ye Zun could remove it to clean it off, but he also felt that it wouldn't be as annoying as what others may gleam from the words branded on his skin.

"If you have questions, you can ask. Or speak to me, if you feel the urge. I won't judge."

[lan_wangji]

"Master Ye owes nothing to Lan Wangji he would not otherwise give," he says, careful and measured as he clasps his hands behind his back. He wants to know, wants to understand but if he has learned anything from the ordeal with Wei Ying the Yiling Patriarch it is that the truth is often complicated and more so to those outside.

Master Ye has been courteous and generous to Lan Zhan and Wei Ying both, helpful in ways Lan Zhan cannot repay and is owed at least this.

"Can Lan Wangji help? Master is bleeding under the mask."

[sanityinruins]

"I know, but I don't want you to feel uncertain about me because of a few words."

They were truths, but they didn't tell the whole story. Ye Zun admits that he paraphrased it when he told Wei Wuxian about the dark energy and how he had been removed from a physical form because of it. Of how it felt to have it's hunger in his veins. But not to the extent that the words hinted at.

"My brother and I were on opposite sides of a war, and we did fight each other on several occasions until recently," he says, reaching up to rub his thumb against his forehead were the word Monster and the cut was beneath the mask. "I... is there a place for salves near here?"

Curse

[secondplacescrow]

With Edd's Dead Man Walking on his forehead, he's not sure if he agrees. "Nothing ever good as to come as men," Edd declared. "I found the dogs are better treated than the men in most cases."

[sanityinruins]

"Really? I never seen that myself," Ye Zun says lightly, half bowing in greetings. "Then again that would be a waste of meat."

A sharp smile, but he smooths that away, turning back to the window and his now covered face.

"Or it was, during the war."

[secondplacescrow]

If Ye Zun thought to offend Edd on the suggestion of eating dog, Edd's not the person to try it on. He hoped this man wasn't bowing for mistaking Edd for a lord, or worst: a king.

"You'd think it be the case. No man is slow to eat dog when the alternate is to eat man, though they are still more upset to eat the dog anyway. Not that I'd eat dog. My teeth isn't as good as they used to be, and most dogs are stringy by lot. And that's during winter, though I'm sure it's the same with any war."

[sanityinruins]

"Stewing works wonders on tough meats, as does soaking it first in wine."

He spent a lot of time over the cooking fires when he was too useless for anything more than that or for cleaning things. He only proved himself useful later, when he was gangly and could sneak better than the rest of the fighters in the camp.

"I never seen much crying over dogs but we were a bit lacking in many food sources at the time."

Welcome

[untiltheend]

"Why, thank you kindly", says the distinctly Victorian-looking butler, who probably appears strangely calm and collected for being a new arrival - although of course he's seething on the inside, but that's not proper to display in public - as he accepts the folded paper.

"If I may, your domain might be...?"

Apparently this is the day of everyone assuming Ye Zun is yet another god.

[sanityinruins]

"I'm no god," he replies, eyebrow arched at the way this person was dressed. Ye Zun had seen a few different looks as people wandered by, he just never seen one that looked so much like someone fresh out of a British murder mystery like this. At least the map giving was a little useful in stumbling over the new faces without being so overt.

"I'm a Wanderer like yourslef."

[untiltheend]

"Ah? In that case, I do appreciate the welcoming gesture."

As... opposed to two seconds ago, when he was prepared to loathe the man on principle regardless of the level of welcoming. Anyway. Sebastian doesn't really react to the raised eyebrows-- he's dressed perfectly appropriately, after all, and if this person is surprised at being mistaken for one of these cheerful-forced-hospitability gods, well. deepest condolences on said person's thinking skills.

"May I assume you have been here for some time, then?"