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 Some of the information is a little out of date at this point, but the most important details are still there: yes, you're really dead, keep your lantern close, and watch out for the spirits.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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Comments

[worthallthis]

Yeah, it's not super great, though Soldat has no real concept of an afterlife, let alone being reborn. (Sounds exhausting. They'd rather just be done.) "One of a lot of reasons to stop the World Eaters. Don't know if that will bring life back here, or let it finally die for real. But probably one of the two."

[theimpatientone]

Merwen shakes her head for a moment, thinking hard.

"This word, 'World Eater.' It reminds me of how we speak of seaswallowers, on Shora. Of course, seaswallowers are meant to be there. We need them, as dangerous as they are. I can imagine a seaswallower placed in a sea where it does not belong would do great damage."

[worthallthis]

"These ones belong in space," Soldat explains. "They travel between planets and eat all the life on each one. They kill stars. Don't know if that's a kind of predator anybody actually needs, anywhere." They shake their head a little. "Don't even know if they're natural or some kind of weapon."

[theimpatientone]

"I cannot see such a creature having a place in any natural balance," Merwen says, musingly. "I cannot believe any creature has no role at all to share, but I also cannot believe any positive can come of creatures that destroy entire ecosystems. If some mad lifeshaper created them, then..." She shakes her head. "This is a sombre place. My thoughts run dark, here."

[worthallthis]

"Not hard to do," Soldat says, not without sympathy. "You just. Got to look for the good things. They're there. Good food, good people, music. We try to keep each other safe. The spirits aren't bad, even if they're hard to understand sometimes. We have a mission."

Soldat might have a low bar for "good things", but then, Merwen got the basics of where they came from. It's probably not surprising. They sound earnest in their attempt at encouragement,at least.

[theimpatientone]

"It is true that I have already shared acquaintance with a number of kind souls, here," and she gives them a warm smile. "If my soul has been interrupted in its cycle to its next life, there are worse places for it to end up. I would not complain about having a reef to swim over, if I were making suggestions."

[worthallthis]

Water person, right. "Don't swim in the river, whatever you do," Soldat warns, not wanting her to get any ideas. "It's too fast. Much faster than it looks. The bay is safe enough if you want to swim. The dragon goes out in it all the time. He is also very big, though, might just be scaring off any trouble."

[theimpatientone]

"Hidden currents, is it? Very well. I know enough to not swim when the sea swallows, and whatever half-life this is, I won't throw my life away needlessly. The bay will be pleasant enough."

Merwen muses on this for a moment, then asks, "Is the dragon a threat?"

[worthallthis]

"Nah. Not unless you're afraid of getting splashed. He's one of us. Another person who died and was remade here. He died of old age-- think he's the only one here who did." Which is really kind of impressive, that of the dozens of people who have come through Beacon in the time Soldat's been here, not a single one of them besides Stone has died of natural causes.

[theimpatientone]

"A strange coincidence, if we've nearly all had sudden or traumatic deaths," Merwen points out. "Still, I look forward to sharing meeting with him. I have wondered about the possibility of a soul within a creature who is not human, and certainly I am not the only one to imagine it. To meet such a sister would be to share much joy."

She's honestly not entirely sure what to expect, honestly.

[worthallthis]

"Well. He's not hard to find, if you want to," Soldat says with some warm amusement for her curiosity. For various reasons, beginning and ending with Stone being played by the same person, Soldat has not interacted much with him. "Not a lot of people who aren't human of some kind anymore, though. We used to have more."

[theimpatientone]

"I admit to being terribly curious to meet any who are here," Merwen says. "Our history tells us that the old humans who left their home of Torr and spread through the galaxy found many strange worlds and beings, but none that had souls, at least not that they could recognise." She gestures vaguely. "Though whether they would have recognised a soul in so different a body is a matter for some debate. To know that they truly do exist is quite... exciting."

She smiles, a little bashfully, because this is a silly thing for a grown woman and mother of three to think about.

[worthallthis]

"My humans haven't even left our home planet yet, not really," Soldat says. "Finding out there are other species out there is pretty neat. Some people are from different versions of the same Earth, too, which is pretty weird. I'm kinda curious, though. Uh. How do you recognize a soul?"

Because, frankly, that's not a thing they'd really... ascribed to themselves.

[theimpatientone]

"A human, with a soul, looks into a mirror and sees herself in her reflection. She knows who and what she is, and where she ends and others begin. She can think about her place in the world, consider the weight of her actions, and choose accordingly in her life, in a way a legfish, a starworm, even a seaswallower cannot." Merwen smiles, faintly. "Though I admit it is not always so easy to discern. There are intelligent animals that can do some of these things. There is an animal on Valan, covered in plumage with a human face. A monkey, I believe it is called. A monkey does not know herself in the way a human does, but she does have an intelligence all her own. Can a creature possess half a soul? Is there a gradient of awareness reaching from the smallest microbe to the soul of a human? I do not know."

[worthallthis]

That's an interesting definition for a soul. Soldat's not sure what they think about it-- it's something that could probably be ascribed to themselves, isn't it-- so they don't address it yet. Instead they say, "Earth has monkeys. I think they have hair, or fur, though. Like this." They reach around and pull their ponytail over one shoulder. They're pretty sure she's referred to their own hair as plumage before. "Is this what you mean?"

[theimpatientone]

"Yes, like your plumage," Merwen says. "Hair, you call it? Or fur? Sharers have none, as you can see, and neither do any of the creatures of Shora."

And yes, you absolutely have a soul, Soldat. She insists.

[worthallthis]

"If it's on a human, we usually call it hair. If it's on an animal, we usually call it fur." There's a technical difference between the two, like the structure or the root or something, but Soldat has no idea what it is.

Weapons don't have souls, Merwen, c'mon. Those get beaten out of a body after a while. If they'll admit they used to be a person, they can maybe admit at one point they might have had a soul, but it's surely been warped beyond recognition at this point.

[theimpatientone]

"Hair, fur. Why make the distinction at all?" Merwen shrugs expressively. "Are they different enough to need different words? What does 'fur' imply that 'hair' does not?"

Look, words are kind of her thing, let her muse on this.

Also, a warped and wounded soul is still a soul.

[worthallthis]

"I... really don't know," Soldat admits sheepishly. "There's a lot that I don't know." There's a lot they do know, sure, but it's not relevant for Merwen in this moment. "But. Plumage is for feathers. Those are very different from hair and fur."

And that, they can offer an example for. They swing their lantern around from their back to show her the charm dangling from it, with a couple of Owl Friend's downy feathers attached to the beads and leather. "These are feathers, see?"

[theimpatientone]

Merwen looks at the feather with open curiosity, then back to Soldat's face. "This the sort of body covering on -- I do not know the word, but they fill the sky on Valedon. I have never seen a 'feather' up close like this. It is so intricate, in the way a leaf is, but grown from animal flesh rather than from a plant."

Her face is aglow with delight. This is an entirely new thing. "But why does the word 'plumage' only apply to this, and not to other body coverings or ornaments? You have so many words for these, and I have only one."

[worthallthis]

"Birds, probably," Soldat offers, smiling some at her expression. Cute. "I don't know why it only applies to feathers and not hair or clothes. Probably to tell them apart, since they're structurally different. There are lots of words for things in Earth languages. There's probably lots of words for things in your language that we don't have. Since your world has different things that are important, yeah?"

[theimpatientone]

"Birds," she repeats, attempting to fix the word in her memory. "I believe you share truth, Soldat. At any rate, a word for a physical object or sister is easily learned. A word for a concept is trickier."

[worthallthis]

"And some concepts that seem to translate might not be translating as well as you think, too," Soldat suggests with sympathy. "Languages are crazy sometimes." Says the guy who speaks a couple dozen of them. "I like the way you speak, though. It's nice. Not just the way it translates, but how it. Sounds. Through the translation."

Look, if Soldat focuses, they can pretty much tell what language most people are using through the translation magic, or whatever it is going on here. Usually they use it to match languages as best they can, but they don't know hers. And it's pretty.

[theimpatientone]

"I think your language has more in common with the Valan tongue than it does Sharer," Merwen says. "I know Valans have trouble with our sharing verbs. Valans divide 'learnshare' into 'teach' and 'learn,' and 'share speech' into 'talk' and 'listen.' It took me some time to understand the difference, when I learned Valan."

She offers him a small smile. "I am a wordweaver, though, and it is good to know that even translated, I hold some strength in my words."

[worthallthis]

"What does a wordweaver do?" they have to ask, curious. "Something with words. Of course. But there's lot of things to do with words." Some of the things one can do with words Soldat is good at; some of them they're really, really not.