polylogs | Something in the air...

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Something in the air...

✖ The Isle That Blooms

Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
This is the first isle you can smell before you see it rising on the island. It starts with the faint hint of growing things that blossoms into a floral scent that teases you with the combination of familiarity and the unknown. The next breeze seems to carry you closer even as it coats everything in a delicate wash of golden pollen that only the Ferryman seems to be able to avoid.

Do you like your lips to taste the gritty sweetness? Or are you already starting to sniffle? Either way, the island starts as a smudge then turns into a riot of color as it reveals itself.

The Isle that Blooms lives up to its name as flowers vie in a silent war of roots and strangling vines to cover every viable surface with sprays of color and vibrant pulsing life. There are signs of human life in the form of a village built on stilts and full of little anachronisms like a glowing neon sign that hint that the island sees a large number of Travelers come through this place.

And who wouldn’t be drawn to the abundant flora, brightly painted houses, and lively locals?

Everyone seems to be glowing with health as the locals gather near the dock to welcome the latest set of tourists. They come with arms full of flower wreaths and friendly smiles, clearly in control of their faculties and interested in trade. Their clothing is as bright as the paintings on their buildings, as the flowers that surround them, and perfect for the warmth of the day.

Do you notice, though, the absence of any babies or prepubescent children? Or that while there are old people, no one shows signs of the infirmities that come with age? It might be easy to miss, especially as the Isle starts to affect you, too.

The ache in your back from that terrible fall, the craving for that next drink, the trauma that’s too close to the surface, all the petty hurts the build up in a lifetime start to fade as you, too, start to bloom.

Notes:
1. NO GUNS are allowed on this island. The Ferryman will keep them safe for you.

2. These residents of the island are normal humans. Killing them is possible and may affect the color of your Scrywatch.

3. Any type of flower could exist on the island, blooming somewhere, regardless of its real world requirements. Rare ones are difficult to find and magical ones need a check in with the mods.

4. There is nothing preadolescent of any animal species on the entire island, including insects.

5. The island’s ability leaves people as the healthiest, most energetic version of their current selves. Examples: A blind person in otherwise good mental and emotional health would notice minimal changes. A person with a disorder would find themselves having a string of good days. A 50 year old probably hasn’t felt this good since their thirties.

Ⅱ. THE TEMPLE
Orchids in shades of yellow and pink so bright they glow have been trained to grow along the walkways and bridges of the elevated village to guide Travelers to this island’s Temple. The building stands alone at the edge of the Village, extending out in the ocean of flowers that fill most of the isle.

The temple is made of simple stout wood that has been carved and painted in patterns ornate and lovely in a way that speaks of hundreds of hours of creation and maintenance. The same orchids that guided you here gild building and act as camouflage the sleeping porches ring the outside. They are kept private and safe from insects by fine netting, and you will find the bedding soft and fine.

This Temple’s Guardians are a pair of lazing cats with strange spots and scaly wings that regard you with affectionate disinterest as you explore the facilities. There are toilets and sinks, but no baths or showers. The pantries are stocked with edible flowers and fresh fish and the space and tools to cook. If you are brave enough, the Guardians will probably give you practical advice on how to use those supplies. There are new clothes and sandals better suited to the heat, and even practical machetes.

Notes:
1. The Main Temple is still open to those who are brand new to PM.

2. There are paints and carving tools if you want to add to the temple decorations. (Maybe mention it during the Oracle Event if you do.)

3. All fabric items are ridiculously bright and vaguely tie dyed.

4. The marker orchids have a distinctly strong smell of vanilla with a hint of lime.

Ⅲ. THE LOTUS BATHS
CW: fantasy setting drugs.
There’s only so long a person can stand to be covered in pollen, and when you ask the locals, they grin. Oh, you want a bath? There’s a path back to the ground and through the tall flowers to a natural spring. Make sure to head out early, they warn.

It’s always better to be in the village before nightfall, and you are clearly going to take a while.

As you walk the winding path to the baths, the everpresent flowers seem to thin out and even disappear as ground warms and rock rises from rich soil. You can smell the mineral richness of the bright blue pools that form waterfalls over a series of rising ledges. There is life, though, even here, in the form of delicate lily pads that float in rafts around vivid lotus flowers.

If you test the water, you’ll find it’s warm enough to melt the knots out of muscles and make it easy to understand why the few bathers seem to be so languid and relaxed. If you sink all the way in, well, not only will you manage to get clean, but you might find yourself mellowing out even more. So mellow you’ll hardly notice when the pleasant hallucinations start.

You’ll find yourself drawn into visions of your most private joys and of the pleasures you keep to yourself. Maybe it’s a matter of shame or maybe it’s because they’re too precious. There’s one small problem, though. If someone else gets in the same pool, not only will they start to share the same vision, but you’ll start to see theirs too.

Will the fantasies become a nightmare or will you manage to navigate them together? Will you ever be able to look at each other the same way again?

Notes:
1. The hallucinations will end when you leave the water, but only once you and your bathing partner are both out.

2. The flowers are magical and will affect everyone, even robots or super powered people.

Ⅳ. NIGHTBLOOMING
CW: abduction, violence.

You are warned to stay in the elevated village at night. The flower fields are safe enough during the day, but things happen at night. It’s hard to imagine during the day when stingless bees that glitter in jewel colors bumble along and hummingbirds the size of chihuahuas feed from the abundant flowers while squeaking their strong opinions at each other.

But as the moon rises, and most of the flowers close, there’s rustling sounds that make it clear that there are big things moving through that growth. Things that make the hair rise up on the back of a person’s neck. It would take a big prize to make it worth finding out what makes those sounds. A big prize or a reason to face your fears.

There’s a scream in the night. You can ignore it, of course. Not everyone is meant to run towards the scream. It might not even change the color of your ScryWatch.

But if you go to the source of the sound you’ll find a mother weeping openly while other locals gather around to comfort her. It seems her teenager decided that the best way to woo their lover was with glowing flowers that only open under a full moon. The teen has been gone for hours, and the grim expressions on the people around you say his chances aren’t good.

You have a choice to make. Will you go into the dark to face the unknown dangers? Will you offer some other form of comfort? Or will you go back to hide in the safety of the Temple?

Notes:
1. The danger in the flowers consists of six foot tall nocturnal orchid mantises who have the teen pinned in a tree. They are currently singing a human language lullaby to the kid to get them to go to sleep and fall out of the tree.

2. The mantises have a hive mind and will retreat if one of their number is killed, but can also be talked to and negotiated with. They will be willing to trade a regular supply of fish for no longer hunting people.

Ⅴ. SPECIAL EVENT: THE FLOWER ORACLE
In the center of the village, there is a giant flower bud that is bigger than a man is tall. The villagers tell you that you are lucky. You will be here when the Flower Oracle blooms. You will have a chance to speak directly to the Ancient One through the Oracle, and She even answers. All it takes is a little sacrifice.

Notes:
1. During the week of July 12-18, there will be a special event post where characters can choose to interact with the Flower Oracle for a chance to be rewarded, get an answer, get silence, or get punished by the Ancient.

2. Any starter posted during this window will be honored, specifics to come.

3. This event is optional!

Bonus: music to watch the flowers bloom to.

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[At first Saxsice just assumes Sephiroth is playing the long con game about his secret mermaid status. She knows. She knows. But the water is so warm and relaxing that she doesn't tease him about it right away, and by the time she could think of doing so, the whole hallucination thing has happened.

However, since Sephiroth is still in the water, the other young man doesn't disappear, and his indignant attempt at protecting her honor is enough to jolt Saxsice into reaching out for a towel, wrapping it around herself with shaky hands.] Sorry.

[It's hoarse, faint, trembly. The exact opposite of everything she's been up until that exact moment.]

[Sephiroth sits up straighter as he instinctively tries to swat Zack's hand away. His fingers pass through it, but Zack moves the hand anyway. Unlike Sephiroth's, his face is full of concern.]

Hey, no. Don't apologize for being upset. Seph can be a real dick, y'know?

[Thanks for that, illusory "friend." It isn't his fault she's upset. It's that vision, of the boy... Given her reaction now, Sephiroth assumes the boy died. He isn't remotely sure what he's meant to do about that. Should he... leave? (Zack would probably suggest otherwise.)

Well, there is one thing he wants to confirm, regardless of her state.]

They're only illusions, but... do you see him, too? [Jerking a thumb towards Zack.]

[Saxsice sniffs a couple times, trying in vain to seem like she isn't on the verge of tears. Being soaking wet helps mask it a little, at least, and she even trusts herself to turn around and frown at the two young men.]

Yeah, of course. [Another sniff, and she wipes her nose on her arm, then frowns towards the dark-haired stranger.] Whaddya mean, "illusions"?

Images taken from our memories. Like on Carcosa. [He's not eager to remind her of the theatre, but it's an apt example. He's fully aware this time, but the trade-off seems to be that she can see it, too.

Zack gets to his feet, shooting Sephiroth a look because he's totally not imaginary! (He is.)]

Sorry. I'm... [Except now Saxsice's vision is bleeding into Zack's awareness, and he does a double-take between her and the her in the apartment.] Uh, on second thought, maybe something weird is going on. Are we all on drugs or something? I don't remember agreeing to anything with the science department, but--

[Sephiroth abruptly pulls himself out of the water, and Zack, the apartment, the boy-- they all vanish. Sephiroth pauses, because he was expecting there to be more to it, but it's not his surprise that prevents him from reaching for a towel. He just has zero modesty.]

...there. They're gone. [Why isn't that more of a relief?]

Like back on -- oh. [Saxsice immediately wrinkles her nose at the implication of the theater, because at least those memories were only visible to her. Or to him. She hadn't actually seen herself as his...not-dad or whatever.

She's about to reply further when Sephiroth abruptly gets out of the water, and then they're suddenly both standing there, dripping wet and mostly naked. It's a relief. It's definitely a relief. She doesn't immediately want to hurtle herself back into the water and stay there for the rest of time.

Clearing her throat, Saxsice grabs for another towel, offering it to Sephiroth.] You'll catch a cold. [It's understated, and she's even refraining from making any sort of innuendo. She must be really shaken up.]

[He won't catch cold. He's never caught a cold, but he understands that isn't normal, so he doesn't say it. He just accepts the towel and wraps it around his waist.]

...thank you.

[He doesn't really mean it, they're just the prescribed words available. She isn't behaving at all as he's used to, and it's strange. He glances in the direction of the village, thinking again about leaving. But he feels... He isn't sure what he feels. Seeing Zack again... They'd managed to develop an almost easy rapport, and he doesn't know how much longer he's going to be without it.]

......if that was your apartment, you could stand to clean it occasionally.

Sure. [For a moment Saxsice just stands there, looking at the puddle that's forming around her feet and wiggling her toes absently. Part of her wants to turn and bolt into the woods for some alone brooding time, while another wants to get back into the pool.

Then he speaks and startles a laugh out of her, eyes flying up to his face to try and see if that was a joke. It might've been which is -- interesting. Either he's too awkward to think of something comforting, or this is a roundabout way of being nice. Whatever it is, it jolts her out of her mental spiral a bit.] Yeah, well, you don't think about that stuff when you live alone. [A beat, then, because he clearly saw the memory, he knows she wasn't alone:] I lived alone until a couple months ago. Haven't gotten around to upgrading. I didn't know he was gonna stay that long.

[A bit of both. He hasn't had much practice at being comforting or nice, but he can manage a light-hearted insult.]

You didn't think about it, you mean. [Sephiroth lived alone and he definitely kept his apartment tidy. He hesitates, because she does seem to be talking in present tense, like it's something she'll expect to get back to once they escape their captors.]

...is he all right, then?

I didn't think about it. [Saxsice repeats it with a huff of sound that...might be a laugh? It's more like a sigh, though, and she sits down on the bench, starting to squeeze water out of her hair.

The question gets a moment of silence and an arched eyebrow.] He was when I left. I don't know about now, cause I'm here and not there. [And therein lies the main issue, you see. Saxsice keeps squeezing out water, eyes fixed ahead of her, talking mostly to herself.] He's a smart kid, he probably called my friends first when I didn't come home. Then the cops. Then my mother, probably.

So right about now, no, he's probably not all right.

[Sephiroth's expression eases momentarily, because his thought is 'oh so he isn't dead,' and that's a significant improvement in circumstances, really. He looks away from Saxsice to study the water.]

...you realize you're making an assumption. Given there are people who've been brought from Earth from differing centuries, there's no certainty that our time in this dimension will even be noticed.

[If that's the case, he suppose it means Zack won't have time to miss him. Neither will Shinra. And that's fine. If he's to leave the Company, he'd rather do it deliberately, and see the look on the President's face. The look on Hojo's face...

His fingers clench, and then loosen. If he misses anything from home, things that kept him grounded, he doesn't miss that. Maybe he won't mind either way, whether time passes or not. Let Hojo be without him for the rest of his miserable life.

It's only been two months, but maybe that's why his tension has started to ease, here. He doesn't miss it.]

[She looks up from where she'd been staring down at her bare feet, toes curling against the wet ground, raw surprise on her face for a moment. If she didn't know better, she'd almost say he was...comforting her? Maybe?

Saxsice twists her fingers together, another uncharacteristically anxious gesture.] Do you...really believe that? That time isn't passin'? We aren't...bein' missed?

[Sephiroth glances back at her and gives a slight shrug. Perhaps another person might lie to make her feel better, but he's never cared for that.

Besides, he's only pointing out a flaw in her reasoning. That's all.]

I believe it's possible. We have no definitive proof either way.

[It's not quite someone patting her shoulder and telling her that everything's going to be okay, but...weirdly, Saxsice kinda prefers this. At least she knows he's being honest.

She sniffs, rubbing at her face, then huffing out a sigh.] Right. Yeah. You ain't wrong.

[Then, after a beat:] So, who was that? Mister tall, dark and hallucinated, I mean?

[She seems to be pulling herself together. Good.]

...Zack. He's one of my men.

[Yeah, just one of his men he allows to call him 'Seph,' no big deal.]

I'm sure he would appreciate the description.

[Or rather, the original 'tall, dark, and handsome.' Sephiroth walks back to where he left his robe, but pulls the towel from his waist to finish drying off properly first.]

One of your men? [She blinks at him blankly for a moment.] You got more than one boyfriend?

[No. No, he means military. Please shove her into the water, Sephiroth, she deserves it.]

[Sephiroth pauses, and then he actually starts laughing. Not only has he never bothered with boyfriends, but he thinks the mistaken assumption would have embarrassed even Zack, flirt that he is. To be one of his boyfriends... Well, he has enough admirers back home, doesn't he?

He settles the robe over his shoulders.]

No. I am his commanding officer. We're military.

[That alone is enough to shake Saxsice out of her gloom -- she didn't think that Sephiroth was physically capable of laughter.]

Military? With that hairdo? Guess you really are from a whole different world.

Regulations would have me braid it.

[Not that anyone's said a word to him about regulations in years. One of the things he actually appreciates about his celebrity.

He did have it up for bathing, but he lets it back down now.]

But you don't care about regulations, I'm guessin'? [It's kind of refreshing. She's met military guys who make it their entire identity.]

Also it'd be a crime to cut all that. [She gestures at his majestic, flowing locks.] Probably gets in the way when you're fightin', though.

[It's still a larger part of his identity than it really should be.]

I know what I'm doing well enough that it doesn't.

[He eyes her thoughtfully. About back to her usual self now, is she? It is... exceedingly rare that talking about himself can cheer anyone up. Rare to talk about himself, but being here means there are at least a few easy things that are no longer common knowledge.]

Right, right, you're a commander. [She's distracted now, at least, though her eyes keep straying back to the pool, half wary, half longing. If he wasn't there, she'd jump right back in and lose herself to her memories.] Why'd you join?

[He's been asked this enough times--by fellow soldiers, in the occasional interview Shinra insisted he do--that he has a few lies on hand. Lies that protect the Company's image, and his own past in the process.]

It was an opportunity for me. I suppose I wanted to see the world.

[Saxsice huffs out a sound that's honestly more snort than laugh.] That's not very interestin', but you do you, I guess? I never thought about joinin' the military to travel. Just did it on my own.

[A pause, then she adds flatly:] Plus they probably would've kicked me out after the first full moon.

Doing it on my own wasn't possible. [It's true enough. They would never have let him out if it wasn't to be useful.]

And I imagine they would have kicked you out for a lack of discipline, before the full moon.

Huh. There's a story there. [But she doesn't pry -- perhaps out of gratitude to him for distracting her.

Then she makes a face, scrunching her nose.] I can be disciplined if I wanna. I just choose not to be.

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