asgardchrysalis | AUGUST INTRO LOG: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

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

Nahhhhh, scavenger hunts aren't exactly the kinds of games we play in my world. This is all really kind of dull for us, but I'm finding my fun one way or another.

[Hey, wait, her first book was just gone! where the hell did it go? She was about to shout in irritation when she could feel an urge coming over her, an urge to say one of her favorite hobbies, which... sort of kind of fit?]

Usually back home, we'd play roleplaying games with real swords and weapons and kick each other's asses. Was a lot of fun until someone lost an eye.

[Yes. Literally.]

[ She's at first still just looking through her own books, but it's the last part that makes Chizuru completely stop for a moment and instead look over to Terezi. The eye part really stands out, if not just because she has to wonder if the other means it literally or if Terezi is just exaggerating.

Then again.. she did say real weapons, didn't she..? It's not like Chizuru hasn't been around real weapons in her life - she's been around them a lot, in fact, but.. ]

Um.. Sorry if this is a rude question, but.. how old are you exactly?

[ Because Chizuru isn't sure if she looks old enough to be playing with those to begin with?? ]

[Oh yes, totally literally. Vris lost one, and she got blind. Absolutely one of those "You'll put your eye out" moments, only with a lot more murder and death.

The question caught her by surprise and she peeked her head around the bookshelf to regard the girl. Why did everyone ask that? It was such a common question to ask.]

Found one... wasn't one we were looking for, though. It's already gone. [Siiiiigh] I'm about seven sweeps? Why do you ask?

[Yep. There she went again. Talking about sweeps instead of saying "I'm basically close to a sixteen year old, and used to play murder games with my friends when we were about twelve because trolls are awful."]

[ Maybe it's for the better that Terezi can't see the absolutely baffled look on Chizuru's face right now. She never even considered that some worlds might use entirely different ways to tell age than hers.. But "sweeps" is difficult to figure out. Like broom sweeps? What? ]

Well, where I come from, young people usually don't play with real swords.

[ Just the grown up occassional manchildren she takes care of.. ]

Like you said, it's really dangerous, after all.

Life on Alternia's a violent sort of place and trolls are violent kinds of people. It's survival of the fittest once you're not a grub, so you have to pick up the skills to survive real fast.

[She laughed a little.]

Only the strong ones ever leave the planet, at least that's how it used to be. Doubt that the new world'll be like that at all. Karkat was never a fan of that system and pretty sure he and Dave are in charge now.

.. Oh..

[ Chizuru's expression falls a little as she listens to the explanation. That's.. actually kind of really sad. Sure, there was violence in her own world, but usually children were at least left out of the crossfire rather than having to fend for themselves. ]

I'm so sorry.. It must've been tough. [ Terezi may be laughing about it now, but Chizuru has known people who covered up their own suffering with that kind of attitude, so..!! ] I'm glad if things are a little better now, but you really did deserve to grow up in a better way.

[Blink. Blink blink. Her head cocked and she regarded Chizuru with a confused expression on her face. One hand went up to scratch at her head and when she spoke, there was obvious confusion there.]

Eh? Well, yeah. It's survival of the fittest. Definitely going to be tough, but there's always huge amounts of us, so it means you get the tough ones in the end or you overpopulate like locusts...

I mean, I guess I get that humans don't always understand, but it's just how we've always grown up for hundreds and thousands of sweeps. Karkat had a stick up his nook about the lowbloods, which I totally get.

I'm not sure it's better now? But it's definitely not worse. Thing is, I never saw what Karkat did? I just know he did it from Dave.

[ At least the confusion itself isn't too surprising to her. If Terezi grew up like that, then of course that's normal to her, no matter how difficult and cruel it seems to Chizuru. Although the fact it's so natural to her now is still kind of sad in and of itself. ]

Hmm.. I understand. It's just really different from the way we live. Not that humans never have conflicts or anything [ she has seen plenty of that, after all ] but.. usually children are at least left out of it.

Yeah, we kind of noticed when we watched human kids grow up. They were coddled a lot, and left to their own devices... and there was a whole lot less murder and death. but there was also a whole lot less of them.

[She shrugged.] Honestly? As long as they don't make too many grubs at a time, we won't have an overpopulation problem, and everything should be fine. That's all Kanaya has to be careful about. And if Karkat's helping, well it'll probably be ok.

They're not complete doofuses after all.

So, what was your childhood like?

Ah--

[ Chizuru starts, and then just.. stops. Because Terezi just said some really confusing things there. There's.. just one person who decides how many babies there are? And another person helps? Are they just everyone's father and mother?

But she can feel her brain starting to fry just trying to imagine that concept, so she drops it for now. Especially when the girl asked her something. ]

Mine..? Well, I guess it's slightly different from most humans'.. [ But still way different from Terezi's kind. ] I only grew up with my father. He wasn't home a lot though, since he's a doctor, so I learned how to do everything around the house myself.

[It was complicated and involved a creature called a "Mother Grub" of which Kanaya was the tender and minder, but that was a topic for if someone wanted the 'birds and bees' talk of that weird little species. It was definitely confusing.]

So, you spent most of your time all by yourself? A little different from some, yeah. So, I guess you're kind of used to being alone most of the time. This a nice change of pace?

Yes, it is. I actually stayed somewhere else for a few years where there actually were a lot of other people before I showed up here. [ Although the majority of her life was spent alone before that, yes. And even when she ended up in a place with more people.. ] But there were a lot of reasons as to why I couldn't get close to a whole lot of them. So being around all sorts of people like this, and being able to talk with them and become friends with them..

It's nice. I like it.

Ahhhh. I kind of went the opposite direction. There were plenty around on Alternia, but then I ended up stuck with the same eleven other dumb dumbs for a long time. We eventually got three whole humans. Three! Man, did that change things up a bit. Hahaha.

Good that you like it though. I bet it gets more interesting as time goes.

Well.. I guess you're right about that.

[ The part about it getting more interesting as time goes by, she means. ]

It's like I discover a whole new world unlike anything I've ever seen back home with every person I talk to. Everyone's world sounds so interesting.. [ Although also sometimes sad and scary. Terezi's sounds kind of sad, for example, but she's sweet and polite enough to not say that out loud. ] I mean.. Of course I miss being back home, but I'm at least grateful for the opportunity to meet so many new people.

[Scary and sad... and very stupid. A good description of her world. She wasn't wrong about it, even if she didn't say it.]

Oh yeah. It'd actually be fun to travel to a few of the worlds that we hear about, even if I don't know that I'll get the chance. You think we'll get the chance to see more of their worlds?

I guess I don't really share missing home with you, though I do miss some of my closest friends.

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AUGUST INTRO LOG: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

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