asgardchrysalis | INTRO LOG + SKADI CURSE.

INTRO LOG + SKADI CURSE.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ehhhhhh... [She made a 'so so' motion with her hand.] It's... it's... uh, not like I haven't thought it myself before, but hiding under a hoodie and having a personal pity party with Faygo isn't going to do me any good right now, is it?

[Which was to say 'getting drunk at the bar never helped anyone else.' She shrugged and tried play it off with her tone, not wanting to press him for any he might be hiding. It wasn't her business and she wasn't necessarily nosey in that way if it wasn't being volunteered.]

Yeah, I'm betting someone out there thinks this is a great growing experience or whatever... or they're just being a punk. Might kick their butt for it if I find em.

A great growing experience? Seems more like they're upset about something we did maybe. I dunno. Who's Faygo?

[As if that was clearly the important thing to be asking here. Then again it isn't like Sora has any ideas about this either, really. He's just as clueless as she is about this and how to scrub free of the writing, the tattoos or whatever it is.]

Mine is....I still haven't done what I set out to do back home yet. To save Roxas and the others.

[He can't help feeling like he is failing them with taking so long, not yet figuring the Power of Awakening.]

Faygo? Oh... uh... it's a sugary, carbonated drink. Think of it as Beer for Trolls. I kind of used to have a problem.

[Shruuuug]

Ahhhhh, ok. Call it a hunch. You've still got time to go fix it when you're done here. On the plus side, after all, it doesn't feel like time's working right between our worlds, right?

Oh.

[There's so much that is so different with her. It seems he is always learning something new about the Trolls.]

I guess? Or something like that. If we get sent back to when we ended up here and don't miss anything. I just....can't help thinking of the stuff I still need to figure, back home is all.

Oooh, I know! You could do those post it note thingees! I bet there's a bunch of those somewhere, and you could put them all over your hive to help you remember the stuff you need to, right?

You think? I mean, we gotta save Aqua first to be able to wake Ven up? And I wanna save Roxas too! And they said there was a third in my heart but I'm not sure who that is? We should figure helping them too! And Namine, back home I mean!

[Yup, it's a lot. There's a few people counting on him.]

[She laughed. Yeah, that was a whole heap.]

You'll be fiiiiiine. There's always ten thousand things to do. But it's not like they're impossible. Just figure out the right order and don't forget it.

...

And if you have a magic ring, don't lose it. Seriously. That's usually important.

A magic ring?

[Why were they suddenly talking about magic rings? Sora tilts his head in confusion.]

Oh, just something I've learned the hard way. If magic rings are involved, always make sure not to lose them.

...

Magic anythings, really.

Uh, noted then? I mean, I can't help that I don't have access to my magic here like I did back home, but. Anything magic I find here I'll keep safe.

[He can say that much at least. Not that he expects to get anything magical. But still. If he does.]

Oh, haha, sorry... I thought we were talking more about when you got home than here. Heh, here? Probably not a bad idea, but I don't think the magic here's as pivotal.

Well, back home if I find anything magical I can just take it to Merlin and the Fairy Godmother and they can tell me about it. But yeah, I guess. Maybe we'll figure more magic and stuff later. I mean, we might still be figuring our abilities and stuff here.

[Sora considers. Some might see their new abilities and such here as magic in a way, after all.]

... I'm a little jealous. We had no clue the Ring had the kind of power it did when we first encountered. It was stupid uber powerful, and it would have been nice to know.

So, I'm guessing those two actually now a lot about magic where you come from?

They're the ones that taught me to use my magic back home! So yeah, they know their stuff.

[Plus, there was Donald as well. The mage of his world. Or one of them at least. Even if Sora had no idea about magic and all back home on the Islands, since leaving he has learned a lot.]

Maaaan, good to have them around then. You keep those ones close. The ones where I'm from don't know squat usually. Well, one of them does, but she was either cryptic to the point of being useless or drunk. Hah, depended on the day with her.

How strong's your magic?

Yeah, they're great. As for my magic....pretty strong, I guess. A lot more than what I can do here anyway.

[He can't exactly demonstrate for her. Magic too is kind of harder to describe. Sora isn't sure how to really explain it, especially when he's learned so much the last year or so.]

Mine here's... it's weirdly similar to what I had back home. Back home, I could kind of know things about other folks' minds. How they worked, how they thought, when they were going to be colossally smart or stupid. Could advise them. Best patterns.

Well, I can sniff out when they're lying, sniff out bigger truths. So... it's a little similar? Not sure I'd call it magic, more of a skill, though.

Reading minds? I mean I guess mine is kind of similar in a way with being able to use magic defensively. I couldn't make myself literally take hits for others like I can here but.

[Well. It's something. Even if it seems to freak others out, with how reckless Sora could be and how easily he might overdo it with that spell in particular.]

Oh... that's something. That's actually cool. You're like a big meat shield for folks aren't you?

[Ahem]

I guess... it wasn't really telepathy? I... just knew minds. Knew how people thought. Knew when they were being dumb, and I could warn them. It could get scary good if I was tag teaming off Dave, since he could do these little time jumps.

So I'd pick out what he should've done, and he'd rewind, go do it right. Never miss. Never get hit. It was awesome.

Time jumps? That's useful though. If you could warn them and manage to fix things.....

[If they could, it could change a lot? Back home. With Aqua and the others. Maybe he could stop Riku getting in with Maleficent and Xehanort's Heartless. It could change a lot of things.]

Really really useful. But it was only shorter jumps, so it was useful in a fight, not the bigger scale stuff. In the end, John had to make a deal to figure out how to go back far enough to really fix stuff.

And then, well... I was only ok fixing my own mistakes, so I told him how.

Shorter jumps would still be handy. Especially in a fight. Lots can happen in a fight in a real quick amount of time. So I could see how that'd help. Even if you might want to change things that happened a long time ago too.

[Sora himself would -- and, spoilers, does, kinda abuse that himself in trying to set things right for everyone else. Sora's just a bleeding heart, selfless like that. Regardless of what abusing that sort of power might result in for him.]

Yeah... basically two completely different ideas. Tactics, or change the world. [She shrugged.] I just kind of wish I'd been better at my end of the bargain before we got in to our think pans in feces.

[She wasn't about to judge. She'd basically cheated and helped change reality so other people could win.]

Your end of the bargain?

[He's not sure if he should ask about that or not. But he automatically finds himself doing so anyway. Her world seems so different and strange even compared to all those he had been to before.]

... I just... well, I fucked up Sora. Plain as that. We all fucked up, but I didn't do so hot in the fight until near the end. I 'fixed' things by sending back someone to correct my mistakes, and apparently that was enough to change it so we won in the end.

...

Kind of humbling to know your fuck ups were bad enough to doom everyone. In theory? I know it wasn't just me. We were all screwing up, and fixing my end just tipped the scales, but still.

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