vella | intro log

intro log

INTRO LOG ♬

Whether you were in the middle of battle, on a grand adventure, or simply relaxing somewhere comfortable doesn’t matter. Whatever it was you were doing is suddenly interrupted by time suddenly going still. Everything around you freezes. The rest of the world seems to come to a standstill. The only thing that appears to be in motion is you -- though any temptation to try and figure out what’s going on is suddenly interrupted by the presence of something...small. Something light, like a piece of paper, floating down right in front of you.

A closer inspection reveals that this mysterious piece of paper is actually a ticket of some kind. You can’t quite decipher what it says, but judging by the layout of the text and the clear image of an airplane on it, you can tell that this is a travel ticket.

Not that you have much time to inspect it anyway, because when you reach out and touch it, the world suddenly starts to warp.

Arrival

You blink, and the next thing you know, you’re falling. You aren’t falling quite as gracefully as that strange ticket was; no, you’re descending very rapidly towards the ground. You can make out that your body is...glowing...a bright shade of yellow, and the ground can either mean the sand on the beach or the ocean itself. Regardless of where you land, the impact is not painful. You can feel the thud or the splash depending on where you end up, but it doesn’t hurt whatsoever.

Those in the water are not far away from shore at all. A quick swim will get you to land! For those of you who can’t swim, well, you may want to consider calling for help, given that you aren’t alone. The glowing seems to have stopped, but you can clearly make out the figures of other people nearby under the moonlight.

The land above the sand is thick with grass and overgrown weeds. There are some bugs here and there (namely tiger beetles) that skitter about, but unless you’re willing to use your bare hands, you don’t have anything to catch them with. For a light source, you can try to make a fire on your own using some twigs lying about from the trees, both apple trees and non-fruit-bearing trees alike, if you wish. Nobody’s stopping you.

There are also assorted tents throughout this part of the island. Each tent has a number on it and a little mailbox to accompany it, and there are eleven total. There’s nothing inside, when you go in, however.

The only other notable thing here is that smack down in the middle of the area you’re in seems to be some kind of man made area. There’s a large rectangle of dirt, and sitting on top of that dirt are three things: A wooden bulletin board with nothing on it, a large green tent with a leaf-like emblem above the opening, and a tall speaker next to the tent. Seems like someone’s been here before. If you step inside of the tent, nobody’s there. It’s completely empty inside, too. Below that tent are two large red tents, one with a "Women's" sign over it and one with a "Men's" sign. There are so many tents.

The airport to the south is locked, and try as you might, the seaplane docked behind it will not start up.

But before you venture too far out, you might want to gather your bearings first and chat with those who’ve been brought here with you. Maybe try to figure out a way to survive the night...assuming help isn’t already on the way.

And maybe some of you might need the help, considering you might not be like how you were before…

The Nook

Some time passes into the night. You’ve met some of the others, maybe did a little bit of exploring and set-up; but moments later, there’s suddenly a little seaplane up ahead. You can hear the plane from wherever you are, and it starts to descend near the airport. It descends rather quickly; you can’t quite see who’s operating the plane, but the passenger door opens.

If you happen to be near the airport, raccoon-like figure emerges from the plane and looks at you expectantly. He’s wearing a white collared shirt with a turquoise leaf-like pattern on it; he also has some khaki shorts on. Finally, he’s got the same emblem on his shirt that the sign above the entrance to the large green tent had. He smiles and it reaches his eyes.

“Ah! You’re all here already, hm? Yes, yes, it’s nice to see you here.” He walks towards the rectangle of dirt, and from his pocket he produces a microphone. Then, he speaks into it, and his voice echoes through the speakers: “Please report to Resident Services near the airport. Thank you.”

Whoever does decide to gather around will be met with an introduction from the tanuki: “Let’s see… First things first, welcome, everyone, to your new island! My name is Tom Nook, founder and president of Nook Inc. This is our first ever Deserted Island Getaway Package experience, so please bear with us while we make adjustments to our program as needed. Now... Today is your first official day -- er, evening on the island. Nook Inc. will always be available to ensure your comfort and safety.”

He then goes on to do roll call. This may take a while, but at least you’ll start learning the names of the other people you’re here with!

“Moving on, I have some camping supplies for each of you that I’ll be delivering to your tents tonight. I do have some assignments for each of you, you see, to ensure that there aren’t some people who are without a place to sleep in…”

Tom Nook then proceeds to read out the tent assignments. Yes, you all have those now, apparently. Hope you get along with your new roommates!

“There will be more announcements for you tomorrow, after you all get a good night’s rest. Yes, yes! Please get to know each other, and I will see all of you at nine AM tomorrow morning.”

A pause, then: “Ah-! Before I get to distributing the supplies, if there are any questions that I can answer now, go ahead and ask them.”

Should you not have any questions, you're free to turn in for the night. Get to know your roommates, arrange your camping supplies when they're delivered to you, and enjoy the sweet tunes on the radio. Or...you can get up to mischief outdoors, too. Nobody's stopping you! This is your island now and you get to do whatever you want.

Isn't that swell?

(OOC: Welcome to Vella’s intro log! Any IC, NPC questions can be posted under the “NPC QUESTIONS” top level; any intro log questions can be posted under the “OOC QUESTIONS” top level! Don't forget to turn in your threads for rewards, too. We hope you have fun!)

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[ Alright. Minato nods, taking Laurent's suggestion to heart, and makes his way back up to the side of the building. The ledge isn't too high up, just out of reach if he were to jump, but for as uncoordinated as his wings are, Minato's tail is strong and slightly easier to use for giving him the boost up he needs to grab a hold of it and haul himself up onto what I'm assuming is a one story section of the building until the mods say otherwise, shh for the sake of narrative.

On the roof! He makes sure Laurent is in position, and then tap tap tap several paces back.

This time, when he jumps, he doesn't move at all, it's dead weight all the way down. ]

[ Laurent catches this ~~angel~~ dead weight when he falls and sets Minato's feet on the ground again. He can't help but laugh. Sorry, Minato. ]

I didn't mean don't do anything completely. How about, instead of jumping from tall places, see if you can fly with your feet on the ground first? Just flap your wings with some coordination.

[ Though, he has to wonder. He knows that birds can fly because they're lightweight. And their wingspan is like that according to species. He thinks it would take a miracle for Minato to fly if physics worked the same, but he wants to see if that's true. ]

[ Oof, that's asking a lot of him, Laurent. Coordination?? Things he should have figured out from the start, straightening back out and setting his feet shoulder length apart, looking over his shoulders to see the sorry state of his wings. ]

Can you help me out a little...?

[ Just straightening them and making them lie flat, when part of him wonders if his brain is still getting used to being rewired for so many extra limbs. This is some body horror shit here, if he thinks about it too hard, so he doesn't. ]

[ Yeah, it's best not to think about that. Laurent has absolutely no idea how dragon wings work, but maybe if it's kinda like birds, it'll work? Laurent moves closer to help straighten out the wings. It feels kinda rough...? Whatever he expected, it wasn't this. After he does his best to straighten them out, he takes a step back. ]

Try flapping them together. Slowly.

[ Rough and leathery, but soft and thin, almost glowing red with the sunlight behind the membranes as they're straightened out and Minato does his best to stand still, T-posing so he doesn't mess up Laurent's hard work.

Coordination... very much not his strong suit, and something he's had to practice so much on in order to get simply his arms and legs working together the way he wants them to, but he does try his best making all of his wings move in tandem as his arms.

The result is him flapping his wings. Stiffly, awkwardly, in and out like that of a butterfly's, instead of a bird's. ]

Yeah, that's it. You're doing great. Keep doing that, though try to ease into a more fluid motion eventually.

[ He'll cheer you on, Minato. You can do it!! ]

[ He feels very stupid standing here and flexing his back muscles, but what else is there to do... Eventually, aka three minutes later, the self-consciousness catches up to him and he turns back towards the building again for another try, surely he will do better this time. ]

[ Laurent finds Minato cute suddenly. It feels like Minato is a shy kid that wants to show how far he's progressed. Cute.

Anyway, Laurent gets ready to catch Minato again just in case. ]

Ready whenever you are.

[ He hopes he snaps Laurent's spine when he lands on top of him this time.

jk

sort of

He just doesn't like being stared at, even if it's for his own benefit of figuring out how best to correct his flight, but Minato pushes this out of his mind as he takes his position back on top of the roof and makes his running start. Can't leap too far out or he'll miss his mark, but he tries to jump a little higher to gain some more air time, wings unfurling and spread out behind him at the apex before he

plummets, flapping wings maybe slowing his descent somewhat but not in any way that can be called flight. ]

[ Ah, well. You tried, Minato. Laurent catches him, but not without getting a bunch of wings batted at his face, but it's fine. This is fine!! ]

You kinda fell slower. I suppose that's progress. Are you going to do this all day?

[ It's totally fine. Better wings than those little sharp hooked things on the tips of Minato's wings that are probably pretty pokey. ]

Yeah...

[ Not with enthusiasm, though. The dejection is almost palpable. ]

It has to be today... Tomorrow, everything's going to be sore, and I won't be able to move a muscle.

[ He would very much not like those hooked onto his face. ]

That's fair. Though, how about a small break?

[ He holds out an apple. Eat, you skinny teen. ]

[ Before he can even open his mouth, the rumble of his stomach answers that question for him, and Minato averts his eyes at the cost of having to guess where Laurent's hand is when he reaches out for the apple. ]

Thanks...

[ Again, the lack of enthusiasm. What he wants is carbs, not fruit, but it's either be choosy or starve to death. ]

Do you want to try?

Try what? Flying? I'm just a typical human with no wings, I'm afraid.

[ Yeah.

Yeah.

Sure. ]

[ Mmhm. ]

Doesn't mean you can't fly.

Maybe if I hijack an airplane, I could fly.

[ But will he? Debatable. ]

[ Will he or can he? ]

What's stopping you? We have one right there.

I rather like this vacation island, so it's up to someone else who wants to leave.

[ He's seen plenty of people who did want to leave, so. Yeah. Let them get stranded in the middle of the ocean or something. ]

Aw... Not willing to chauffeur people who want to leave? Or just take a tour out... The best fish are further out at sea.

[ He doesn't have to leave the island forever, come on Laurent, don't be stingy ]

But would you catch them?

[ Laurent can guess that Minato would be the kind of person to go skydiving from an airplane to practice his flight. That's how he looks to Laurent now. ]

You'd be like a bird of prey.

[ He would immediately tip out of the side of the plane the moment it gains enough height, yes. All that water is there to break his fall, it'll be fine. ]

Do you think I'd be able to spear them with these?

[ A hand goes up to touch his horns. It's weird, thinking about horns as bones that are not in his body. Like teeth sticking up out of his skull. Weird. ]

With enough force, yes.

[ He gets out another apple and sticks that on Minato's horn.

Ta-da. ]

[ why

Minato leaves the apple there to save for later. ]

Can probably manage that... But I'll need worms or something soft and squishy to bait fish. Apples won't work.

Edited 2020-06-28 23:36 (UTC)

Eagles don't need worms to bait fish.

[ Do you get it, Minato? ]

[ Yeah, but the skill and energy expenditure it requires, compared to, say, sitting at the bottom of the ocean waiting for fish to swim near your head and then stabbing them with your skull teeth. ]

Eagles can fly, though. ...I am very good at falling, so that's half the battle, I guess.

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