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! ]

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[ Maybe it's a matter of perspective, of different realities. Jim's visited more than enough planets to know that sometimes what's perfectly normal among other species and cultures is weird or completely crazy to him, and the opposite applies just as well. So he's learned to accept rather than judge, even if some things do still leave him boggled despite his best efforts. ]

And you find yourself needing to shred a lot of people? [ Before he can help himself, he adds. ] Your teachers must've given you a top grade on that project, huh? Just in case they upset your robot.

[ It's so unfortunate, the wrong thing to say. Because she immediately bristles in an immediate onslaught of indignant rage. The kind only almost 20 somethings are capable of, like a hissing cat suddenly twice its size, her arms gesturing wildly. ]

No! I got. Third. Place. Third Place! Because this bourgeois prat of a princess in my class that stole my idea when her Daddy's paid scientists couldn't come up with anything themselves! Then gave it to the galaxies most corrupt police force!

[ Oh - Oh ] - And then, get this, her dad paid off the entire freaking judge's pannel so her crappy version of my robot won instead of me!

[ It is indeed the worst possible question he could have asked, he realizes quickly. On the other hand, while she sounds indignant, at least it's not directly aimed at him. A small comfort, he supposes. ]

Cheated just to get ahead, huh? Isn't that just the worst?

[ James T. Kirk you absolutely cannot talk about cheating. (But at least he never stole someone else's ideas.) ]

You know I would have been like theoretically fine with it - [ no she wouldn't have ] - if they'd at least built something good? But their robots were soooooo crappy compared to mine.

[ As if she is some great, nuanced artist. But the truth is, she hadn't got the name for nothing. She was damn good at building robots.

As long as that robot also happened to shoot lasers out of its face. ] They just had like - no vision, you know?

Well, not everyone is effortlessly talented when it comes to killer robots.

[ He shrugs, looking over at her. ] So is your robot around here somewhere?

[ And her face, it just falls. Everything always worn just there - too happy, too mean, too sharp on the bite - and just flatly lost. Like somehow, she's still just an idiot 19 something trying her best and just...

Well, just lost the one constant in her life since it went to hell, and it painfully shows before she shoves her face down. Kicks a rock instead of meeting his eye. Something to do with the hurt she's still feeling. Doesn't have ways to grieve, doesn't do anything but live in the running stride to know what she's meant to do but fight. ]

No. They said the magic here means the tech doesn't work. It's such bullshit.

[ Even if the concept of a killer robot as a best friend might be a little too strange for him, Jim's no stranger to that feeling of loss. It's clear on her face, when she looks like that, even if only for a moment, her expression open and vulnerable for the fraction of a second it takes for her to shove it down and act sulky instead.

He's left plenty behind too, coming here. He'd wager that most everyone has. Things that can't be replaced, people he won't be able to see or hear from anytime soon. They're all lost in their own way, and trapped when there's no chance that anyone or anything out there even knows how to get to them-- provided they're even looking to begin with. ]

Maybe for now. It's a new element that's been introduced, maybe eventually we can find a way to make it all work in harmony. [ He rests a hand on her shoulder and offers her an understanding smile. ] I'm sorry, about your robot.

Thanks. I've got a little bit of a relief, at least. Honir showed me where he was. He's off killing Rakks and doing his best, you know. So I at least know he's happy where he is. He loves zapping those things.

[ Like an owner of their beloved pet, she is so proud of him. Because Kirk is right in that, they all leave behind things, and she at least is used to leaving things behind, losing things, not being able to take it back. Pandora was littered with corpses, and it's not just the ones she had. ]

But yeah, you think so? You an engineer?

That's good, I guess. We all could use some comfort, knowing the things we care about are alright.

[ Jim knows he would. Granted, his crew was left in safety the last he saw them, but he would still like that reassurance. ]

Oh. No, I'm a starship captain. I know my way around, but I'm far from an expert. But we do seem to have a few brilliant people around, if we put our minds together to work towards the same goal, I'm sure we could achieve something.

[ It's how they do things in Starfleet, and he's certain it would work here too. ]

A starship captain? No fucking way. [ She's excited, always excited, apparently. Things just are interesting to her, either completely or weren't. ] You don't fly for corporations though, right?

[ Though, maybe, he was really clean after all. ] Guess so. Right now though, I am trying to figure out - if this place doesn't run on, I don't know, physics and chemistry and whatever, what does it run on?

[ Well, between the two options, Jim would rather be completely interesting than not interesting at all. He vastly prefers intense excitement to total apathy. ]

No. I fly for Starfleet, a service maintained by the United Federation of Planets. Corporations no longer exist, in my time.

[ He purses his lips a little and shrugs at her. ] Magic, supposedly. It's a new concept for me, honestly. But this whole place is unlike anything I've ever seen.

[ Her mind just sticks. She doesn't even process the rest of it as she just stares at him a second. ]

Wait, corporations don't exist?

[ Jim's smile widens, and he bites back a chuckle. It's not the first time he's gotten this reaction, though, so that at least doesn't catch him off-guard. ]

No. Money doesn't exist, either. The only currency we have is Federation credits, and even then it's scarcely used.

[ PAUSE. ]

But. How do you get paid for killing stuff?

We don't. Actually, killing is just generally frowned upon.

[ It's a little teasing; he knows (or thinks he knows) what Gaige means. ]

We do it when we have to, of course. To defend ourselves or others, but we're not paid for it.

Uhhh.

[ BLINK, BLINK. ]

What year did you say you're from?

I didn't. I'm from 2263.

[ He keeps walking down the road, glancing over at her. ] You?

Uhhhh, 2580 sometime. Haven't checked the date for a bit. Man. That's weird. Huh.

[ Did she read about this in history class? Hard to remember now. Lost a lot of things since then. ]

Man. You're pretty far back too. No one has money, seriously? 'Cause uh, capitalism rules the galaxy, man. As far as I've always known it, anyway.

Not... weird, necessarily. Just different.

[ He tilts his head, letting out a soft chuckle. ]

Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but I genuinely hope you're not from my future.

Oh dude, they call Pandora the second worst place in the galaxy for a reason. No one wants this version of the future. I know that. I'm not exactly a great person.

I'm almost scared to ask about the worst place in the galaxy.

[ Almost, though. Jim's too curious for his own good, so he waits to hear about it anyway. ]

[ that one is easy. ]

Promethea. Like Pandora. But the whole place got ripped to fucking hell and back by the corporate wars over the vaults. Atlas dug up the first one with the help of Typhon Deleon. Said it was going to build a better planet, but nah, they mostly just ripped it up to secure their resources then like tripled their armies.

And apparently the bugs are the worst.

Hm. And these vaults is where you keep stuff like money and resources?

[ Jim presses his lips thinly. ] Really glad we don't have corporations anymore, now. If we did then maybe we'd be in the same situation as your world.

Vaults have super-advanced alien tech in them left behind by this ancient race, you find that shit? You can make a fortune. Oh and giant monsters guarding them. Really can't forget the giant monsters. I'm a Vault Hunter, and everyone I've seen so far? Has got one of those big ass creatures in it.

[ She snorts. ] It gets bad. Like real bad. Corporate Wars and Corporate occupations are no joke. Thousands of people die because Atlas wants resources, or whatever.

[ Jim nods, walking silently. Sounds like a tough life, but it's probably all she knows, and she might not want it any other way. So he spares her needless sympathy, or wishes that she had something better.

Hell, maybe this is something better, for her. Either way, they all come from different places, but different doesn't always mean superior. ]

It's unfortunate they don't understand that resources are only ever good if you have people they benefit. And if you keep digging for them, you're just going to end up killing your whole species.

It's how humans nearly died in my world, some hundreds of years ago.

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AUGUST INTRO LOG: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

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