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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"Wow is that an exceedingly complicated question," David sighs, rubbing the back of his neck as he walks. "First, Tommy's dietary needs are different than yours, but you're not wrong, you need a lot of fuel."

He is going to have to talk about this, isn't he?

"Fine, fine, sleeping wit' one," Jean-Paul says, waving it off again. He does a lot of that. "Whatever you kids choose to define it as, these days. My point is that yes, I'll eat your greens."

"Jean-Paul," David said, his voice soft with nerves. "I told you I was in another world, right? I spent two years there from my point of view. But I spent it in chunks. Chunks that started before Tommy and I got involved. It's... Facebook literally doesn't even have a status that can begin to describe how fucked up things have been for me."

Jean-Paul pauses and looks at David carefully. It's easy to tell when you have his full attention, because his eyes are painfully intense when he really looks at you.

"...you mean full-on Krakoa love polygon complex," he says as he absorbs the implications. "Oh, David, that does sound awful. Are you... do you need a hug? I can find someone to hug you."

Very, insanely, powerfully intense eyes. David looks away from them, unable to meet them.

"I mean I had a relationship with a con artist I was deeply in love with. I mean I fell in love with Josh Foley while he was dating Laurie Collins. I mean I was sleeping with a guy I didn't know was a serial killer who choked me to death, when I was powerless to do anything."

Find someone to hug him. David moves to punch Jean-Paul's shoulder. Or tries to.

Con artists and love triangles aren't all that out of the ordinary - Jean-Paul's had plenty of complicated trysts of his own in the past, but that last one is shocking.

So shocking he pulls David into a proper hug in spite of the semi-punch.

"David. Oh, David."

He'd loved the con artist too. So very, very deeply. Damian had meant so much to him. By now David had mostly moved on, understanding that would never come again. It didn't make things better, though.

Especially that last part. The shock, though, really came with the hug. He wasn't prepared for it, but he took it anyway. Strange how Jean-Paul didn't offer that when David had lost one of his best friends, but for this? This was what it took.

"He had this armor, like the Iron Man stuff. I don't know if Tony gave it to him, or if the guy dreamed it up. But I didn't know it was him at first. And he just mocked me. How did... How did I not know? With all of my powers, how did I not know? How could I let him touch me and not know?"

To Jean-Paul, losing someone didn't seem comparable to being murdered by someone you love. It's not a great hug, but hey, better than nothing. He lets go and searches for David's eyes behind those glasses of his.

"Because you're not infallible," he says. "Nobody is, David. Don't you dare go blaming yourself."

Love. Who said he'd loved Kavinsky? Trusted? Yes. But loved? Probably not. He just didn't know how to find answers. And hey, at least it's easy to search David's eyes. His glasses weren't corrective, so of course he hadn't been allowed to have them.

"I'm psychomimetric and psychometric at this point, JP, I should have known. And instead I just... I made mistakes."

Mistakes he can't make up for now that he's here. He doesn't buy the redemption this place is peddling.

He looks younger without the glasses.

"David, listen. Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes huge ones. You know that, right?"

Yeah yeah, he knows, younger without them. At least here he's rested enough that you can't see the bags under his eyes.

"I know that. But me? I'm sure as hell the 'fuck around and find out' type. And I find out too much."

The worst way too.

He stops and shakes his head.

"My boyfriend over there, in the other world? A wereraptor, JP. That couldn't always control himself in the heat of passion. I had to make power suppressors for us to even be together. Except when we didn't use it. Josh had a lot to say about the wounds.

Jean-Paul's expression is complicated - sadly amused, concerned, and also full of understanding.

"...alright, that's a new one on me. The raptor part, I mean, not the embarrassing post-coitus injuries."

"I really don't want to remember more about your embarrassing post-coitus injuries. You don't keep those deep enough for me to reach and I'm thankful," David answered with a wince.

Please, for the love of all that is holy, don't tell him.

It's easy to forget David's powers mean he knows a lot about what people have learned. Everywhere.

"...right. Let's skim over that topic, shall we? Although I will point out that you brought it up." He pats David's shoulder. "Tell you what - as your boss and as your friend, if I see you expressing interest in terrible men here? I'll tell you they're terrible."

Yes, those powers do mean that. Isn't everyone happy that David can't do that without touching someone now? David is, in the moment. Back home he was happy to have his proper mutation back, but most everyone he met lived on the same world, so he didn't have to deal with learning whole worlds. His mind could just bypass the repetitive stuff normally.

It got worse when everything was always fucking new.

"I brought up MY experiences, not yours. But fair point."

Still, the statement, the offer, is nice. The 'and as your friend' also helps. To be called that here.

"And you're a good judge of terrible men?"

Jean-Paul smirks. "I am," he assures David. "Having fallen head over heels for, oh, at least two of the worst possible choices around? Ouais." He shakes his head. "But I am also living proof that you can overcome bad luck or taste."

Two? Oh David's interested in those stories, if only so he doesn't have to admit his own even further.

"Kyle is pretty tasty. You're a very lucky man, Jean-Paul. I'm glad you have him."

If there's one way to get Jean-Paul to look genuinely soft, it's to mention his husband. His eyes grow warmer, his smiles gentle. "He is," he agrees. "Absolutely gorgeous. I honestly think, no bias, that on an island full of superhumans he's just as gorgeous as most."

He sighs.

"And here I am without him. Tabernak."

What beauty, in how soft Jean-Paul looked at the mention of Kyle. Though if he had to put Kyle up against others, he'd declare the man far more attractive because below it all he was just so genuine and kind.

"I'm sorry you're alone. But hey, at least we're alone together? Does that help?"

Jean-Paul shrugs, expression resuming its much more familiar coolness.

"Merci. I am actually very glad to have you, David. It's entirely selfish, but I'm not about to apologise for that." He tips his head toward him, eyebrows ticking up. "You're alone for now. You're young. Shit happens."

"And here I'd think you'd be grateful for Lorna or Rachel over me. But I'm glad you're here too. I'm not used to anyone from our time being around, at all."

Everyone else had been so far behind. How did you even begin to explain everything that had happened on and around Krakoa? It was a mess. He hadn't even known how to explain the Cotati mess.

Still, he has to wonder why him. But he gives that to Jean-Paul to answer or not. Instead he shakes his head.

"You're sure I shouldn't swear off Romance for a while? Isn't that something people do?"

"It's not a contest," he says, smirking because it is, just a little.

He tips his head back and laughs. "If you want to meet someone? Then swear off romance. Trust me, it works every time - you loudly proclaim your intention to stay out of the dating scene and 'work on yourself' or some such bullshit, and the next thing you know you're heart-deep in drama."

"You know what, it really is," David laughs.

Then he's wincing. Was it really like that?

"Shit, I'd really prefer to avoid drama. Is there a way to avoid it AND romance? Or is it just jinxed to even try?"

Jean-Paul waves this off, still smirking. "Well. Then you're winning, currently."

He nods, looking amused. "I'm afraid that's how it seems to work for many, sad to say. If you want to avoid it all, I suppose your best bet is just to focus on work and not say anything about it all aloud. That's what I always did, anyway."

Currently due to proximity he expects. But he takes the win for what it is.

"And look how that worked for you," David pointed out. Honestly, though, he doesn't have anything truly definable as 'work' for him to focus on. Except maybe self betterment? Was that a thing? If only he knew.

"I think... for now I'm going to focus on surviving for a change."

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CW: Referenced murder, strangulation

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