INTRO LOG: AUGUST

[nextnightmods]

INTRO LOG: AUGUST
DARK, DARK, DARK

characters: everyone.
location: all over beacon!
date/time: the first part of august.
content: a few new faces, the teleporter is up to old tricks, and overall just loving not being trapped in an underwater science station right about now.
warnings: n/a.

welcome to beacon.

The first thing you're aware of as you come to is the glow of a lantern, just within reach. Hazily, you start to recall the events leading up to your arrival. You died, somehow, but how does that equate to you being wherever you are?

The second thing you're aware of is that you're being handed a slice of cherry pie by a six-limbed masked creature with a hairnet. Looking around, you find yourself inside a school cafeteria. The school looks to be in decent condition, despite being dark and clearly abandoned - except by whatever this creature is. Stick around long enough and they will also serve some chicken nuggets and a box of milk. Wander a bit, and you may find a memorial wall for dozens of unfamiliar names and faces. Where is this?

A few answers can be found if you pick up and look through the tablet that's settled right beside the lantern. Some of the information is a little out of date at this point, but the most important details are still there: yes, you're really dead, keep your lantern close, and watch out for the spirits. You might notice mention of a ferry, but that's odd, especially if you're nowhere near the lake...

Leaving where you are and using the provided map on the tablet will help you find your way to town, and along the way you might find some out of place items, like crates of food or toiletries or clothing. Feel free to grab what you find as you make your way there, your new neighbors are sure to appreciate it.

Luckily for all the newcomers, the tablet and the town have some resources available for getting acquainted with their new situation! In fact, as soon as they're prompted to enter a network username, an app containing all sorts of useful welcome information will launch. It's still a little messed up (maybe someone might want to record a new message?), it has plenty of important information to share. Newcomers can always check out the weekly bulletins and the records that were thankfully saved from the bad storm a few months ago. If that's not enough, there's many long-time residents of Beacon that will be happy to share how things go around here. If not in person, network works too.

hide and seek.

The teleporter repair team has been hard at work, and their hard work has paid off. Items have arrived in Beacon aplenty! Only, the aiming protocol is still a little off and it's still all over. Whoops. While anyone with a specific request will find a spirit guide to help them find their wares, everything and anything else is fair game for a little fun.

The spirits are in a playful mood, and have taken the liberty of locating all these lost sundries and supplies. And of course, after that, they chose to hide them around town. Spirits vary from great at hiding things (lining a hollowed out trunk with swim trunks) to downright terrible (is it really "hiding" that sheet of plywood when you put it behind a streetlight that is smaller than it is?), though they seem to enjoy the experience either way.

Need something in particular and don't know where to start? Don't worry, spirits will be happy to give hints. If you can understand their esoteric forms of communication, that is. Others give away the game in the fact they hide with the items themselves, and find the prank so hilarious that little snuffles and giggles are an easy clue to the stowed stash. If characters play along long enough, the spirits will give up the game and will show the poor things with no seeking skills what they've hidden. Still, why not have a little fun with it? The spirits sure are!

ooc.

Hey there, wonderful players, and welcome to The Next Night! We're so glad to have you with us, both new and old. For a run-down on what's upcoming in August, please see the August gameplan, or check the calendar for a quick overview!

As a reminder, things like newcomer arrivals, item deliveries, and lantern repair all depend on the help of the characters in the game! If your character would be interested in assisting with the equipment at Dr. Solis' Lab in any way, please let us know!

DELIVERIES

The newly ported in items have arrived, but as in July, they're still kind of everywhere. Learning to use this portal technology is hard, and more hands helping out are always appreciated! As mentioned above, the spirits will readily help find people's personal requests, but the general resupplies? Guess you'd better be willing to play the spirits' latest little game. The following can be found, one way or another:

• The monthly store restock, which provides enough food, general sundry items, and basic supplies to comfortably last the group a month. You can check what kind of items to expect in a monthly restock here.


• For Elektra Natchios: several slightly oversized t-shirts and sweatpants made of comfortable materials, a bottle of black nail polish (chip resistant), a bottle of whiskey with a slight odor of sewer when the bottle is opened (though it tastes fine), and a teddy bear.


• For Rosinante Donquixote: 4 boxes each (25 rounds per box) of shotgun and flintlock pistol ammo, except in every box two of the rounds have been replaced with nerf darts that some poor kids probably lost long ago.


• For Fitz Kreiner: A limited set of lockpicking tools and a set of locks to practice on, and some paper umbrellas which may require some disassembly before they can be used.


• For Matt Murdock: an assortment of 14 lovely rings (not all pictured here) as well as 6 rings to share with his friends!

If you submitted an item request last month and we've missed it here, let us know!

QUICKNAV
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pages	|	rules • faq • taken • mod contact • player contact • calendar • setting • exploration • item requests • full nav

Comments

[theimpatientone]

((I'll happily enough match your format, whatever you prefer.)

welcome.

Merwen walks into town, lantern in one hand, and a foraged granola bar in the other. Somewhere along the way she found a large floral scarf and tied it into a makeshift bag that hangs from her shoulder, and the weight of something approximately the shape and size of a tablet hangs in it. She is naked, hairless, purple, and her hands and feet are both unusually long and webbed.

Learning that you're dead is a lot to take in, and of course this land of the dead is a sea-less stony world. Of course it is. And it doesn't help that the only being she's so far encountered was the six-armed creature that offered her pie. A person, it was definitely a person, but so far from human she doesn't really know how to quantify it.

Once in town, though, if she can lay eyes on any soul who is more recognisably human (or at least has the right number of limbs, no matter if they're different from herself), she will approach them, confused but friendly enough.

"Share with me. Have you been here long?"


hide and seek.

It's more the giggling of the spirits that she follows, because there's something childlike about them, and that appeals to her. At present, there's little she wants to find, but her curiosity has her following the sounds of amused spirits around town as she explores Beacon.

And she's very likely to stumble upon someone who is actually looking for something concrete. And yes, she's still naked.

"Forgive me. Have these children given you something?"

welcome

[policier]

( The man she approaches is quite noticeably human, dressed in a long, dark overcoat, and with his lantern at his side, tied to a loop near his waist. It's not often that people approach him, and especially so when it is a stranger. It's enough to snap him out of his reverie. He raises his eyes, looking the woman over for a moment before immediately glancing the other way again, at the ground. )

A year, madame.

( If he seems disquieted, he doesn't admit as much. He's far too polite to say anything, but he does ask, for the sake of his curiosity, )

Are you recently arrived?

[theimpatientone]

I am. I am still trying to find my feet. It has been shared with me that I am dead, and I assume that is true of others here?

[She's confused, that much is clear, but it would be surprising if someone wasn't confused in this situation. She reaches out with one hand, the webbing between her fingers translucent with the lantern light behind it.]

I am Merwen. I admit I am slightly relieved to find that I am not the only human in this place.

[policier]

You may call me Javert.

( He answers, and the offering of her hand does not startle him quite so much as it may have a year ago. He thinks better of himself now, and though her appearance is strange, it is not so much stranger than anything else he's seen here. He takes her hand. )

I am dead the same as you, but it is not something you need be sorry for. Have the spirits been troubling you? They seem to be growing quite mischievous as of late.

( He frowns, clearly not pleased by this development. )

[theimpatientone]

Is this particularly mischievous for them? I enjoy it. It reminds me of having small children around.

[But she likes children, so.]

I do not share trouble over such as them, anyway.

( prompt: hide and seek. )

[clarius]

Quick to maintain her composure after being approached, Lorem nods in reply.

"Yes, they have," she answers. "I don't know why but they keep pushing packages to me if we cross paths with one another." She lifts the box in her arms as an example, looking more bemused than amused by these turn of events. And, just to be sure, she asks, "Is this yours, miss?"

[theimpatientone]

"Oh no, it is not mine." Merwen shakes her head. "Nor do I need anything from them. I am attempting to share understanding. I have never encountered anything quite like them."

She offers a smile. "I am Merwen the Impatient One. I am... newly arrived."

[clarius]

Lorem offers a smile in return. "Sounds like we already have something in common, Merwen. I'm Lorem Laurel. I arrived here too.

"And I believe they are the 'spirits' we've been told about in the welcoming message from the tablet, I believe. Have you gotten the chance to go through it? Your tablet?" While she speaks, she peers into the box to see what's in it. Hm... Medical supplies. Best to keep a note of that.

[theimpatientone]

"Some, yes." Her tone suggests the tablet is not her favourite thing. "Though these strike me as more childlike than the spirit who shared greetings with me when I arrived. I am not sure what sort of creatures these spirits are, but perhaps they have children of their own?"

Merwen leans her head to look into the box as well. Medical supplies where she is from look... well, different.

"I admit that I must assume a lot about spirits to conclude anything about them."

hide and seek

[callada]

Ah. Yes, she's still naked.

And he, meanwhile, is lurking, as well as someone his height can lurk. He's watching the spirits closely as they run around with people's things, hiding them wherever they can. He's finding himself with a lot less patience with the spirits than usual, and it takes some real self-control not to betray his hunger.

"Supposed to have," he replies. "Four boxes, but I've still got two missing."

[theimpatientone]

She smiles up at him, genuinely pleased to see a familiar face again amidst the absolute madness of being here.

And of course she's still naked. What else would he expect?

"Then these are expected gifts," Merwen says. "Perhaps I can share this task with you. What do you need to find?"

[callada]

Given the little he's learned about her so far, he has a feeling she won't like what's in the boxes. But he needs the ammo. Keeping people safe is always his main priority.

He shifts his bag around to his front and pulls out one of the ammo boxes to show her. It fits in his hand well enough, though would seem awfully large in one of hers.

"Like this. Need to keep my weapons loaded."

[theimpatientone]

Yeah, she doesn't like that at all. She presses her lips together for a moment, trying to choose her words. She doesn't want to pick a fight. She's just arrived, after all, but she knows enough that she shouldn't go around alienating herself from everyone around her.

"I see," she says, her tone gentle. "And who or what do you plan to share violence with?"

hide and seek - day after the TDM thread :)

[worthallthis]

"They're not children," Soldat explains with a small smile, pausing in their prowl in search of actual supply for the Invincible, themselves. They're... kinda getting used to the naked thing. Kinda. At least it's warm out. Jesus. "Those are some of the spirits who were making noise on the network last night."

[theimpatientone]

"Do spirits have children of their own?" Merwen asks. "If they age and die, they must have the ability to bear young, in which case there would very well be young ones." She shakes her head, though, well aware she's being a bit silly. "I admit I share little knowledge of spirits and their nature. They seem very childlike to me."

[worthallthis]

Lucky for you, Merwen, Soldat does in fact know some things about the spirits here. "Some of them can be childlike, but not all of them. Not even most of them. They don't age. They do die, only if killed. And." They shrug a little. "They are replaced not by children but. We think, maybe. By us. After resets. Remnants." They shake their head lightly. "No one knows for sure, though. Just a guess. We are pretty sure they used to be the living Beacon residents."

[theimpatientone]

For a moment Merwen goes very still, not exactly out of shock, but a deep surprise, certainly, and the sudden loss of all the amused curiosity she'd held about the spirits until this point.

"If that is true, then there is something very tragic about their existence. These are trapped souls. They should be reborn, not caught here."

HIDE & SEEK.

[catholicisms]

Matt also isn't looking for anything in particular, though the antics of the spirits are a nice distraction from... everything. The fact he died, again. Or that his lantern not functioning as usual. Even just the disaster of the Helix Station and the fight against the monster stuck in the portal. It's been a lot to process, safe to say. And the child-like giggles of young minded spirits is a bit of a balm to weary nerves.

That, and his mandrake spirit friend could use a chance to have some fun. They are doing more of the seeking than he is, though he will occasionally make a show of listening for the spirits that giggle madly the second anyone gets close. The mandrake doesn't seem to realize the correlation, wandering around searching under leaves and under branches, and not finding much of anything.

"Not so far," he admits to the inquiry, brow lining a little as that's not a voice he recognizes. Matt has stupid supersenses, he's going to notice the lack of clothes at some point... just not immediately. "Are you looking for something?"

[theimpatientone]

"I need nothing. I am merely sharing in the spirit of the event." She smiles a little at her own joke, mild as it is, and lifts her lantern to look at him a little closer. "I have only been here a short time, so I have much to learn. This seems to be a good place to start. I am Merwen the Impatient One."

[catholicisms]

He laughs too. Matt has always been easy to laugh. Maybe he just has a very forgiving sense of humor, maybe it's a way to disarm people and make them more comfortable around him, maybe it's a combination of the two. Still, attempt a joke, and he'll laugh at it. Even if it's a slow huff of a laugh, rather than an actual chuckle. Look, he's been through it lately, Merwen... that was a good one, honestly.

"Merwen the Impatient One." He tilts his head, slightly, looking a bit like a confused puppy. "That's an interesting title." Did she give it to herself, or did someone else do it? And further, was it accurate or teasing or both? "I'm Matt Murdock. And the little one with leaves is my spirit friend. I call them Ivy."

[theimpatientone]

"Hello, Matt. Hello, Ivy." She nods to both of them, quite serious in greeting the spirit as warmly as she does him.

But her name, well. That's a whole thing. "'The Impatient One' is my selfname," Merwen explains. "I am a Sharer, and we choose a selfname when we feel we are ready to share in adult society. A selfname is meant to be something about you that is true that you are intent upon outliving."

She... has not actually noticed he's blind, not yet.

Welcome

[bleedingsteel]

"Ma'am."

She catches Danse in the middle of disassembling an old circuit box on the side of an abandoned building, collecting the parts in a canvas bag. He had prepared for the task by ensuring the building was abandoned and the power was off.

Nothing could prepare him to be greeted by a fully nude purple woman. The fins, he'll process in a moment. He's busy with other things first.

"I apologize-- ma'am. You seem to be nude. Are you in need of clothing?"

[theimpatientone]

She looks down at herself almost reflexively, then back up at him, slightly bemused. Merwen knows perfectly well that other cultures have a taboo against nudity. She doesn't understand it, but she does know. "I am not in need of anything. I am comfortable as I am."

And honestly, if she's got this far, she's probably just fine doing so.

[bleedingsteel]

Oh.

"Very well. So long as you're aware." He glances away, trying not to make it obvious that he was staring. In his defense, there are several reasons to stare. "I would fear that vulnerability or exposure may be factors to consider, but that is your decision to make."

For a moment he resists. But no, he absolutely has to ask. "May I inquire about your appearance, ma'am? I've never seen anyone like you before."

[theimpatientone]

"Perhaps if the weather changes, I might rethink that, but for now, I am very comfortable."

Let him stare. It wouldn't be the first time she's encountered this sort of reaction, and it's better to meet it openly. "You may share whatever questions you have with me. My name is Merwen, to begin with." She smiles at him.