asgardchrysalis | AUGUST INTRO LOG: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

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! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Despite the... forced humanization, I find the rest of this bearable.

[ He takes a neat bite out of his snack, humming to himself that this time he got the red bean filling right, and gave the angel a flat look. He wasn't at all impressed by the icy tone; his brother perfected that tone with the added layer of 'Strict Teacher Seeing You Cheat' undertones. ]

There is a sturdy roof over head, a room that does not need sharing, a door that can be locked, and - [ another pause as he took a second neat bite of food, swallowed and then smiled in a manner that showed teeth that looked a little too pointed for a regular human ] - food that I do not have to beat into a bloody pulp and swallow raw. Things can be much much worse than this.

( unfortunately for ye zun, aziraphale has immediately lost any interest in continuing the conversation about their current accommodations. he can listen to this man's inane judgements later. what he's truly interested in is the part where he had mentioned "dehumanisation".

he makes a slowing gesture towards him, clearly now more willing to listen. )

Pardon me. Would you mind elaborating on what you mean by "forced humanisation"? Are you not human?

( is there some sort of standard for this? )

[ That's interesting, except that he has already met a couple people where being called 'human' was almost like being cursed.

(It was. Ye Zun spent a lot of energy trying to prove that he was not human and was better than human most of his life. He did not like being forced back to this.)

He did find it interesting that this guy was rather polite, even if he did seem rather old fashioned. ]

I'm not. My people are called Dixingren, and we're what you can call naturalized aliens. And when I say aliens, I do mean creatures from outer space.

( oh, okay. this young man is mentally unwell. "naturalised aliens". he supposes that he's heard worse stories and if they're going to be sharing the same space for an undetermined amount of time, he might as well be cordial. )

Ah, I see. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with such a thing.

( the closest point of reference would be a handful of novels he'd read about a similar subject. is that where ye zun got the idea from? curious. or perhaps the telly? )

What sets the Dixingren apart from the humans? Aside from being from a different planet.

None is.

[ Believe all he wants, Ye Zun was sure of his race's origins and differences. They look like humans and can have children with humans, but that still did not mean they were the same. Dixingrens still were different enough. ]

Some of the clans do have more inhuman traits, though those do tend to stay away from human lands. Our cousins had adapted to the point where they are able to take the forms of plants and animals. Dixingrens like myself conduct, harness and shape a form of... radiation I suppose you can call it. The forms can be limiting in some clans, but we all are affected by it.

[ If this was home and he had the means, he would show his ability off, would let the energy seep and pulse and shape it as he can will it. And if that did not work, there were always the tests that doctors liked that could read the minute differences in biology, the way the dark energy had shaped their already strange ability of mimicry.

But this place had made him human, stripped him completely of the changes he knew was there. Well, almost. He did have one thing that differed him from a human even now. Finishing his snack, Ye Zun delicately licked his fingers clean, shook back the sleeves of his robe, and then held his hand out, palm up and wrist bared.

Dixingren lived underground next to a volcano. Both their pulses and their natural body temperatures ran far far higher than a healthy humans. And it was one of the few things that hadn't been tampered with when he was squeezed into this human form. ]

I can see in the dark like a cat, I have better hearing than Haixingrens, and my body and pulse are faster than theirs. Test it to see if I lie or not.

( to his credit, he offers ye zun his full attention as he listens to his explanation. it sounds no less outlandish and strange than when he first brought it up, but it is nevertheless a very interesting thing to hear. )

Ah.

( there is a slight issue with the solution that ye zun presents him with. it rides heavily on the assumption that aziraphale is not only a human, but a human who would have any proper idea on how another human is supposed to feel in terms of pulse and body temperature. for the sake of avoiding what would surely be a very awkward and confusing conversation, he decides that he's going to fake it.

reaching out, he presses two fingers to ye zun's wrist in an intimation of how he knows one might check for a pulse. he feigns surprise at whatever it is he's supposed to be feeling here. )

Oh! I see!

( no, he doesn't see anything. he doesn't linger long, quickly withdrawing from ye zun. )

Would I be correct to assume the Haixingrens are "humans"? Is there a reason you wouldn't want to be grouped along with them?

[ He narrows his eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching before he takes a breath and controls himself from hissing. Ye Zun doesn't know if he was human or not, but he does know when people are trying to pacify him and right now he feels that is what was happening. He at least doesn't jerk back or move even closer and invade his space, but his tone does gain a layer of ice. ]

Do you.

[ A flick of his hand as he brushes his sleeve (granted this probably did not mean anything for those that do not understand that Ye Zun is very much seeped in the mannerisms ten thousand years out of date) as he adds - ]

Yess humans are what they are. I take it you also aren't one of those?

AUGUST INTRO LOG: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

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