AUGUST INTRO LOG: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

[asgardmods]

Who: EVERYONE
What: the August intro log and first god house competition, More Than Meets the Eye
When: August 8
Where: Gladsheim Palace for breakfast, around Asgard for the game/curse
Rating: PG-13; please take anything higher than this to a private log!

morning: a warm invitation

Everyone wakes up to a friendly invitation to breakfast at the castle with the gods. For most of you, this comes as a message on your bracelet, reading:

Join us at the castle today to welcome some new Wanderers into our midst. Breakfast will be served and a lively game will be available to all of our guests, both new and old.

New Wanderers are curious on their own, and this is the first there's ever been mention of a game. Perhaps it's enough for you to make the trek to the castle, to see what all the fuss is about, or maybe even to see if there's someone you know. Perhaps you want to learn more about the game, or maybe you just want the food.

For our new guests, this comes as a bit more of a surprise. Wherever you were before in your world, without even realizing it, you wake up in a strange new place. No time or space inbetween, just an awareness of There and then Here. A matronly figure tries to explain your circumstances with a sympathetic smile, but ultimately invites you meet them all for yourselves: the Gods of Asgard, and the Wanderers that arrived before you.



The sight that greets you on the castle grounds is a rather festive one, regardless of where you're coming from. Colorful streamers and flags are draped above large tables with room for several guests. Natives bustle about, cheerfully offering food and drinks to anyone that wants some. Everyone is welcomed to mingle and greet the new Wanderers on this bright summer morning.

the game: a friendly competition

Among the brightly decorated tables are ones highlighted in a specific color for a specific god house, and most of the gods themselves can be found sitting behind it with a few of their district's natives. They are here to welcome the new Wanderers into Asgard - but they're also here to explain the rules of today's game. There are coins hidden throughout the city and disguised as mundane items, and the god house that returns the most of their coins will win an upgrade to their god housing! No hints will be given, but the natives are excited to help facilitate the activity and happily invite you to wander through their districts to find what you can.

But you don't have to know about the rules to be playing the game! The coins are already hidden throughout the city, and no one knows what they are until they've been picked up. Whether you're banding together with friends to find as many coins as you can or blindly stumbling over an unpleasant surprise, the game and the curse are in full swing!

evening: a fair prize

At sundown, all of the coins in the city disappear at once, whether they're in your pocket or still disguised as a bowl. Points will be tallied and a winner will be announced (OOCly, on August 17) - but Asgardians are keen to celebrate regardless of who wins a rather inconsequential game. The same colorful display of tables and chairs is still spread across the castle grounds, although now they twinkle with fairy lights haphazardly blinking throughout the air. Snacks and drinks are made available, as well as more dinner-shaped meals for those that request it. Mostly the natives simply want to bask in the strangeness of these Wanderers from other worlds for a moment longer - but they're also eagerly listening to any stories from the day's mischievous game. Relax, enjoy yourself, or again, just stock up on some freely served food. Whatever suits your needs today. Welcome to Asgard, dear Wanderers.

[ OOC NOTE: This is the intro log for August, as well as our first god house competition/curse: More Than Meets the Eye. You are free to play with the curse prompts and searching the city in any way you want! If you would like to submit a map to earn points for your god house, please check out the rules to learn what to do. We will accept maps until August 17, at which point a winner will be announced and members of that god house will be allowed to vote for an upgrade to their god housing. As always, please let us know if you have any questions or need any help on the mod contact page. Enjoy, friends! ]

Comments

josie saltzman | ota

[polydeukes]

morning }

[A growing witch never says no to a good breakfast. Especially one who just narrowly avoided dying. She really needs to thank Hope for that, once she manages to find her way back home again, but for now, she knows that she's going to need allies. And the best place too meet allies is at breakfast.

She tries not to look awkward as she collects various yummy things from the table, as a lot of the people around here seem to be adults and she hasn't run into very many her own age, but eventually she squares her shoulders and makes her way over to the next person she sees standing alone, offering a small smile.]

So where are you from? Pre ... all of this, I mean.

[A beat.]

Or we could talk about our god houses? Whichever you're more ... comfortable with.

the game }

[Students at the Salvatore School are rarely given the chance to excel in a competitive setting. Usually because they're going up against a school that doesn't know they're magical, they have to learn how to blend in. But Josie is just as competitive as any other teenager, so if there's a game to be had, she's here to play. And for once, she doesn't have to play at half-speed.

So she can be found, making her way through various areas of the city, turning over items and searching for the coins. If there's a team that would like to take her on, she would be happy to join them because teamwork makes the dream work, but if not, she'll just compete for herself.

And probably get herself into some trouble. In fact, she gets herself into so much trouble.]

NJORD:

[Josie is found sitting on the side of the road, with a piece of paper and a pencil, scribbling hastily as she does. She doesn't know, necessarily, what's possessed her to start her memoir, as that's usually Lizzie's jam, but when she hear footsteps coming, she glances up with a squint.]

What's the word for someone who's so ridiculously sure of themselves but is somehow also the saddest person you've ever met? Is there a word for that?

SKADI:

[If you catch her somewhere in the middle of the day, you might find her singing an acoustic version of this number, kind of awkwardly. Her voice is good, but she's clearly not giving a star performance, because she's not that girl. Also this isn't the talent show.]

wildcard }

[I'm submitting her map soon, so I'll have a better idea for the curses in a bit, but feel free to have her stumble into one of your own! Or if you have an idea for a different kind of starter, feel free to drop it or hit me up @ iluvroadrunner6.]

morning

[ikanteven]

Oh, the...the afterlife.

[ Chidi doesn't believe in lying, though he knows his answer is a bit strange. Hopefully he doesn't have to go into all the details for that to be good enough. ]

[polydeukes]

[It's not that Josie doesn't believe he came from the afterlife. Literally all her parents plus her aunts and uncles have died and come back in some shape or form. But at the same time, she is going to be a bit curious.]

Which one?

[Where she's from there's ... a lot.]

[ikanteven]

The...the...

[ He pauses and looks at her with curiosity. ]

You know about more than one?

[polydeukes]

Yeah. I mean ...

[Well, she needs to stop because she's never died. So it's not like any of this experience is first hand. And most of these are also kind of negated so who knows really?]

Well, where I'm from there are a lot of like ... pocket afterlives? Each of them were created by super powerful people to serve a purpose and usually to punish people, but there's something that's referred to as being "at peace" which is kind of like a Heaven, I guess?

[A beat.]

Granted, none of this I know from first hand experience, just ... other people who had first hand experiences? Which kind of sounds a little insane now that I say it.

[ikanteven]

Oh.

[ He seems to consider this for a moment. ]

Where I'm from there's a Good Place and a Bad Place, except I was told I was in the Good Place without it being true. They just made it seem pleasant and cheerful, but they filled it with lots of little, mundane ways to torture us.

[polydeukes]

Oh.

[Though the way she says it, it kind of sounds more like "ew." Then she takes a deep breath, because there were a lot of places like that.]

I'm sorry. That must have really sucked.

[ikanteven]

It was awful. Though I ended up being told there were a lot of attempts at it that I don't even remember. So it's possible it could have been worse.

[ His voice kind of trails off at the end there. ]

Game: Njord

[hantale]

[ Quiet side streets towards the later half of the day are exactly where one might normally run into Fran. Sometimes literally, but not this time. The sigh of someone unfamiliar bearing the bracelets of the gods marks the stranger for, at the very least, a fellow wanderer. More than enough to pique the fey's interest.

They flash a warm smile when the girl looks their way, couching down nearby to avoid straining either party's neck. ]

Certain but Sad?... Hmmm, I might call them "Misled" [ They offered, gently shrugging. Light amber eyes with vertical slits blink at her, briefly scanning the newcomer's appearance. Nope, the clothes aren't familiar. ] Or pitifully confident. Why do you ask?

[polydeukes]

Trying to figure out how to describe a friend of mine.

[She wrinkles her nose because Hope being acknowledged as a friend is still a little new, but she's sticking with it until she sees her again.]

She's ... had a rough time?

[hantale]

Oh- Hmmm.

[ At least a little intrigued, Fran shifts, spinning on bare heels to sit down beside the girl and looking quizzically in the general direction of the book. ]


I hope she's doing better now. Hopeful confidence is the best I can imagine. Perhaps just describe her as that?

[polydeukes]

It is thematically appropriate. Her name is Hope.

[Though sometimes she is a bit more like "despair."]

[hantale]

How convenient!

[ Now that there's a lull in the conversation, Fran hops onto the questions lingering in their mind. ]

I don't want to interrupt what you're doing, but you're a wanderer too, right?

[ Bracelets are a giveaway, really.]

[polydeukes]

[She nods as she continues writing, unable to fight the compulsion, but clearly able to multitask.]

Yeah. I'm Josie. I'm new.

[hantale]

[ Fran certainly isn't going to stop her, figuring Josie was simply very enthusiastic about journals. ]

Oh- Welcome! I thought you looked unfamiliar. I'm Fran, it's nice to meet you. [ A brief flash of a smile. ] I know it's not the best circumstance, but I hope you like it here.

Morning

[captain_america]

[ Welcoming new wanderers gets Steve to breakfast st the castle maybe a little more readily than it would have. He’s Steve Rogers after all, and if he can help people than that’s what’s he’s going to do. So he’s part of the welcoming committee. Self appointed.

Steve smiles at the girl who approaches him, she’s young, too young to have to be caught up in this and he still hates that kids are being pulled here, but that’s out of his control. All he can do is try to keep people safe and make sure they are settling in. ]

I’m from Brooklyn. [ A beat. ] New York. What about you?

[ He’s met people that have no idea what any of that means so he wouldn’t be surprised if she stated a place he’s never heard of. ]

[polydeukes]

[She does know Brooklyn! She's never been, but she's heard it's nice.]

Mystic Falls. It's this really small town in Virginia, you probably haven't heard of it.

[captain_america]

[ He shakes his head.]

No, can't say that I have, but at least I've heard of Virginia. There are people here from worlds I've never heard of.

So, how are you doing with all this. It can be overwhelming.

[polydeukes]

Overwhelming is definitely a good word for it.

[She is only a kid, so as much as she's used to magic and the supernatural, being kidnapped to another place entirely is a little much. Especially since she doesn't have access to her magic to even send a message home anymore, and let her sister and father know that she's okay.]

But I'm okay. It's just a lot to get used to. Though I'm sure if my sister were here, she would have already put herself in charge, somehow convinced that she can save the day.

[And she misses Lizzie a lot.]

morning

[draumstafir]

[ reynir easily offers her a smile back, complete stranger or no. ]

I don't mind. [ he hurries to reassure her, which is only fair considering he's also been going around asking people where they came from. ]

I'm from Iceland. I was on my way to Finland before I woke up here, though.

[polydeukes]

Oh! I've never been, but it always seems so pretty there.

[She's only sixteen, she hasn't really had the chance to travel yet, but she has been to Europe.]

I've passed through Finland though, when I was in Europe with my mom and my sister.

[draumstafir]

It is! [ reynir confirms with a delighted nod, always happy to hear that someone was fond of his home, never mind how quickly he'd run away from it the moment he had the chance.

it was still home, no matter how much he needed something else at the time. ]

I didn't really get the chance to see any of Finland before winding up here, between the boats and the quarantines. [ he adds with a small, regretful sigh. he'd really wanted to see onni and tuuri and lalli's home, after all.]

[polydeukes]

That's a shame. Maybe you'll get a chance again if or when we get out of here.

[She's not saying it's a guarantee, but there's a chance at least.]

[draumstafir]

Oh, I hope so. [ reynir says wistfully. ]

I spent 20 years never leaving Iceland, I'd really like to go out and see the rest of the world, now.

Oh, but this is all pretty great too! There's so many people from places I'd never get the chance to even hear about back home. Everyone's lived such interesting lives.

[polydeukes]

Yeah?

[That does sound interesting, and while Josie has gotten to travel, she's never had the chance to do it on her own terms.]

I'm still getting to know a lot of them, being new and all.