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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asgardchrysalis2020-02-16 10:08 pm
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oh good, someone who can handle the actual facts here; doesn't matter when the death happens, just matters that it does— or did? again, klaus isn't certain and hasn't been trying to find out who's exploding by witnessing it another time. his friend, emil, died during the wight war but came back seemingly alright? no explosion there, only disintegration. from what he's experienced though, the asgardian gods are the ones who have control, over anything and everything.
could be worse. well, ain't that the truth? at least death isn't permanent around these parts.]
True, but I don't wanna imagine that, either.
[he snorts, momentarily drops his face into his hand, shakes his head then straightens back up.] So, uh. [may be time for a subject change.] How're you settling in?
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Does it matter?
[The question is relatively toneless, almost delivered with the air of a joke - but coupled with Jet's deadpan, unsmiling delivery and his direct stare, it might be hard to say if it is one, or if it's just...him being direct per the norm.]
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without missing a beat,] Yeah? Kinda sucks if you're uncomfortable where you're staying.
[he's assuming with jet it's the serious, most direct route here because despite everything being provided to them, sleep wouldn't come easy the first couple of weeks. so, klaus'd somewhat understand in the sense of being high-strung about ‘settling’ somewhere completely unfamiliar as it were.]
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[Uncomfortable covers most living situations in the Zones, and right now comfort is a pretty low priority. Always has been - now more than ever. He'll take uncomfortable over being ghosted. He'll take uncomfortable over letting his guard down.]
Comfort's not my priority.
[This was probably...obvious...given Jet's absolute lack of hesitation in hacking off a strip of his fucking skin.]
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and yes, that was quite indicative, too.]
Well, if you ever need a place to crash... I've got the extra room.
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God housing?
[His interest doesn't manage to outweigh his paranoia, naturally.]
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Sort of... but it's different? My friends and I built it, so we can leave whenever we want.
[despite it being in a god's district.]
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[That gets his attention. That's already more trustworthy than the god housing, and...damn. He's not actually sure he's ever had a day where he's known without question where he's going to be sleeping. He's used to this. That's so familiar a hardship that it doesn't even register as a hardship anymore.]
Must've taken a while.
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[since he's already close enough while being knelt beside jet star, klaus brings the arm between them up, activates the cuff and begins flipping through some pictures that he brings up. most are of him and his friends in the house, obviously taken throughout the different rooms, but it gives a good idea how big it is.]
I think it took... five? Six months? Before it was done and, like, completely furnished. [he shrugs.] Or something close to it.
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You all live there together?
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Whatever's left of us.
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[It's a question and not a question, both at the same time. Jet lifts his eyebrows very faintly. Fortunately, he's aware that this is...something that's common, apparently. People disappearing. Coming back, and then...not.]
There a lot of you when you started?
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[in case jet's forgotten already— not that klaus thinks he has, just... reinforcement behind the idea: people come, people go, some stay and others don't. if they expectantly hold their breath, they'll turn blue and whatnot.]
Six of us before. Now we're down to... four, I do believe? Not including the animals, that is.
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[Four is simultaneously more than he expected and fewer than he'd like. Mostly because he knows that losing family is like losing a limb and he had to undergo that three times in quick succession - four, if you count the Girl - and it doesn't matter what number of them get taken out.]
[It hurts just the same.]
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[the number's higher than he's expected it to be, yet lower than it has been and every time someone else disappears, it's like a tiny piece of him goes along with them. (later on down the line once he's alone, god only knows how much will be left.)
making new friends will fill those holes, though.] I totally understand if that's too many people.
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Lot of people I don't know. [That's really the main hurdle here.]
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[following a thoughtful hum,] Well, there's one other thing I could offer, but I'd need to clean it up a bit first.
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[You can't just dangle a thing like that in front of him and not explain, buddy. Jet's frown is faint, almost imperceptible, but it's the primary indication of his interest.]
[He grew up in the dust and the dirty. What's "clean" to a zonerunner?]
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I got it for Christmas from home. It doesn't run yet, but I've been trying to get it working so it can actually be useful. Instead of sitting at the bottom of the hill near the house.
[‘clean’ in the sense he'd like to clear all his drug paraphernalia out of it before jet takes up residence there.]
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Can help with that. [Does he have an interest in dispensing favors? Not usually. An interest in getting a car to run?]
[Very definitely, yes.]