boardmaster: (Default)
BOARDMASTER ([personal profile] boardmaster) wrote in [community profile] pawnstorm2016-04-09 04:30 am

intro ♚ april

WELCOME TO GRAUPERA



We’ve all had those dreams: you wake up on a table, to blurry, ominous images and the certainty that you are absolutely buck-naked in a room full of strangers. This is not quite it.

Instead, you come awake to the sun on your face. The soft burble of water nearby. The hustle and bustle of a busy street and the faint, fortifying smell of bread. You open your eyes and there’s no one there at your bedside, but there is what appears to be the end of the world happening just beyond your window.

There’s a crack in the world across the sky, the “sun” is the totally unnatural light spilling from that crack straight into your eyes, and someone’s left a neatly pressed and folded uniform at the foot of the bed that isn’t yours. Somewhere in the room, there’s a strange clatter like beads, the click of claws on the floor.

Something’s in here with you.

Also, you are naked.

ONE CAPABLANCA & AIRY
As much as Blanc’s capital welcomes its Heroes, new arrivals such as yourself won’t have much time to settle. Get dressed and pick up your weapon and Carrier, because sometime in the afternoon, all floor nannies and Carriers will broadcast an announcement by Commander Lisbrand. She delivers a brief greeting to their new members, but gets straight to the point: they will be headed for Capablanca and the open sea beyond, in order to restore the fortress of Graupera for battle with Noir looming on the horizon. All new Heroes are expected to report to the Airy at the Caissa aeroport on the 8th along with their seniors.

On the morning of the 11th, Airy alights on Graupera, an island about two hours away from Capablanca by ferry. From here, you can either help the navy with Graupera repairs or assist in Verdoni’s investigations and head for Capablanca proper. Heroes will be staying in the (in)famous Hotel Caruana: they say you can check in anytime you like, but you can never truly leave. Nobody will quite meet your eyes or tell you what it means.

Wherever you are, the Airy will remain parked at Graupera.

TWO GRAUPERA, CAPABLANCA SEA FORT
What was once a heavily fortified island rests a ways off the coast of Capablanca; it looks a little too much like one of the thunderclouds slowly swarming on the horizon. Graupera has seen many battles and withstood the ebb and flow of wars. Formerly the city’s first line of defense until it was abandoned after the Reclamation, its dilapidated condition is the current bane of the Blanc navy. Blanc needs to bring it back to its former glory before it can face a single warship, much less Noir’s fleet of magical cannons. Blanc’s government has no doubt Heroes will do a fine job at returning the fortress to its former glory!

A ♙ The great stone and iron wall facing the wide open ocean has seen better days and is full of holes overgrown with stubborn clinging vines; cannonballs used a lifetime ago litter the grounds. The vines are extremely thick and may tangle the careless beyond hope of escape, not to mention filled with a pungent sap that will seep into your clothes and hair for days. It makes a great adhesive, though? Conveniently, parts of the wall are strewn across the floor, so at least some of the cannon holes can be repaired with enough improvisation, desperation and a bit of spit. The rest need new material provided by our helpful Heroes in Option C. Furthermore, the lingering damage from a previous attack and old age have turned the floorboards weak and unstable. The wood creaks ominously beneath the mass of even a single average-sized person, so watch your step.

B ♟ You might want to get your weapon before you descend into the dank depths beneath the castle. Once you make it down the steep, slippery stairs, you’ll be meeting the gigantic, hostile rats that infest the castle cellar from top to bottom. It looks like magical residue from long-ago battles has seeped into both the foundation and its inhabitants. The cellars have become a huge warren filled with strange mana currents, and sometimes flooded with water. If you're going to start an extermination campaign, you may want to recall the magical residue: chopping off a rat’s head and limbs will barely slow it down. It will keep going for hours unless you either lop off all its limbs or pierce its heart.

If you manage to make it all the way up into the castle’s two intact towers (the other two are half-collapsed), the uppermost levels are utterly covered in bird crap. You’ll be encountering the kings of this castle: the unusually large, grey-feathered sea birds that have taken up residence here. Albatrosses, gulls, pelicans, even sand pipers: they all share nesting and pooping space here. The feathers of each bird seem to have taken on stone-like properties not unlike the castle’s walls. They’re extremely ferocious and protective of their nests, which are filled with all kinds of things: twigs, shiny things, coin money, Option C’s supplies, feathers of all kinds, and some completely ordinary tools that seem too small for human hands, and much older than anything else in the place save for the walls. If you look closely, you might be able to see a few baby rats scattered in amongst the eggs and the peeping chicks. They’re being fed, too.

You’re meant to be moving the birds out of the place, but you might have enough trouble just moving their offal.

C ♙ Don’t feel like dealing with pest control? No problem! Blanc will need materials for rebuilding and other supplies for the coming battle! Everyone knows how important it is for the fortress to remain standing, so Heroes will be provided with gadgets and weaponry that should make it difficult for enemies to penetrate the walls yet again. Word has spread that the Heroes are transporting valuable goods, though, so you might have to fend off the occasional hopeful man or annoying mouse (rat) who wishes to borrow much-needed material.

Of course, all this rebuilding will be for naught if you are not prepared to defend the stronghold! Ammunition such as cannonballs, bullets and arrows needs to be transported to Graupera en masse, pronto. Equally important essentials include first aid supplies and enough non-perishable food and water to last a small army (you) a month or two. You wouldn’t want to have to scavenge for rat meat.

No one knows just how long this battle is going to last.

THREE Training
It’s time for you landlubbers to learn how to swim! Commander Lisbrand won’t be tolerating any sinking stones on her task force. The upcoming battle will be fought on the sea so your instructor, one of Blanc’s many fine captains (when she isn’t intoxicated), will make every single individual who hesitates at the sight of the open ocean walk the plank. She’ll even give you a helpful kick if necessary! Once that’s over, she will show you how to steer a ship. However, wandering eyes that land anywhere on the inebriated captain’s assets will be swiftly and spectacularly dealt a large bottle of the harbor’s best swill right where it hurts.

Blanc has also provided training dummies dressed suspiciously like prominent figures of the Othellian underworld. Now might be a good time to branch out and learn about your affinities. Heroes who have recently been promoted in Rank might want to set some time aside for getting used to their new abilities, too. Power and responsibility come hand in hand, after all!

INFO Welcome!
Welcome to Crosscheck's April intro log! For any further questions, please see the FAQ or reach us at the Contact Us page. Have fun!
drawmecute: (Hashtag Blessed)

[personal profile] drawmecute 2016-04-10 01:05 am (UTC)(link)
Lola's been here for only a few days, and she'd had her touch up rather recently. There was still a little bit of root showing, her naturally dark hair visible if you looked for it. Plus her eyebrows didn't match the pink locks. She noticed she had someone's eye, she assumed it was for her figure. Boys stared, that was her life. She loved it.

But when she looked at him, she noticed his eyebrows matched the very unnatural blue of his hair. That had her attention. Sadly Lola's curiosity was a bit stronger than her sense of personal boundaries, so she just walked over and is just staring trying to figure out how his hair was dyed so well.
twosidedsword: (Cute Blushy Face)

[personal profile] twosidedsword 2016-04-10 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
Ah... She not only came closer but now she was really...inspecting him? Shin-Ah shifted his eyes away, not sure what was happening here anymore. For some reason she was staring at his hair which was a new thing for him. Most people were usually trying to look at his Dragon eyes so he really had noooo idea how to react to this particular situation other than to flush a little and maybe give a squirm.

Of course, she wasn't about to find any roots that were a different color on him. This was actually his natural hair color. Surprise.

Luckily his carrier knew how to handle this situation! So this blue ball of fur wiggled out of his coat and bounced over to the girl to purr and nuzzle against her cheek. "...Ao..."
drawmecute: (Worried About)

[personal profile] drawmecute 2016-04-10 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
Huh... no roots. Like, no roots. None of the damage either. It was as if his hair was naturally blue. Or... well, they did say magic was a thing here. If she could keep her hair color without the damage that'd be great! No she hasn't noticed that she's made him uncomfortable. And then she's got a blue dustbunny demanding her attention.

"Oh hello there," Naturally the fuzzything brought Lola's pink furred kangaroo rat out to play too. Squeaking from it's little hidey hole in her clutch. Lola's eyes moved from the fluffball, her rat, and the boy she had just been inspecting like he was a new summer fashion. "How do you get your hair that color without damaging it?"

Because, you know, it couldn't really be natural. And if it was the world is blatantly unfair.
twosidedsword: (Head Tilt)

[personal profile] twosidedsword 2016-04-10 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
Well those two carriers were obviously going to be friends now. There was no avoiding it. Shin-Ah gave up on trying to get Ao back to him because he was being asked about his hair. Honestly he wasn't sure why she'd ask that and it showed all over his face as he blinked down at her.

"...I was...born like this."

Damaging your hair? Did turning it other colors damage it? Was that a thing?
drawmecute: (Sad Panda)

[personal profile] drawmecute 2016-04-10 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
Lola tilted her head at that answer. Born with hair like that. There was a lot to this world she had to know about, sadly this bit of information won't help her keep her own look alive. And she'd hate to have to coordinate clothes with her real hair color. Shudder. "That's... really unfair."

Julio the rat makings it way over to Ao, because clearly the little ball of fluff was far more important than either of their masters right now.

"Oh, right! I'm Lola." Manners, she'd forgotten them in all the being easily distracted.
twosidedsword: (Learning About The World)

[personal profile] twosidedsword 2016-04-10 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Lola..." It's a pretty name just like the girl who had it. Shin-Ah took a second to look down at her some more (she was really quite small) before speaking again to offer his own name to her. "I'm Shin-Ah."

He looked at Ao who was currently vibrating from the purring she was doing, rubbing against the rat. Shin-Ah was apparently doing pretty okay right now so she had absolutely nothing that she needed to take care of. Obviously that meant free time to play with the new rat friend! Hooray!

"...unfair?" He wasn't sure what she'd meant about that.
drawmecute: (Social Butterfly)

[personal profile] drawmecute 2016-04-10 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
"It is nice to meet you." Lola smiled, this interaction and her thoughts on hair completely separate, she barely even noticed that she had two fuzzy carriers making friends with each other still on her shoulder. Just a friendly pleasant little smile.

"Well, at home nobody has hair like that. And I put a lot of time and energy to keep my hair looking like this. When people have hair exactly like that in other places. Completely unfair." There's no real malice in her thoughts, which she says pretty much as soon as she has the words for them. Just a simple tragedy of fate that she can't be pink haired without the time, money, effort and stylist. What makes it worse, of course, is that her money and stylist are back in Canada. Not here. Thus her concerns that as her hair grows out she will need to do something. "And since yours is natural, I can't ask for your help getting my hair to stay like this."
twosidedsword: (Painful Past)

[personal profile] twosidedsword 2016-04-10 02:51 am (UTC)(link)
It wasn't her natural color? He'd never heard of such a thing but he was looking at it now to see if he could understand. Really he couldn't though. For all he could tell it was supposed to look exactly like this, even with her brows being a different color. Maybe that was just how hair worked in her world for all he could tell. Still, he had no reason to not believe what she was telling him.

"It's pretty." Maybe that would make her feel better. It was hard to tell since he'd really never been in this situation before. But he did know he wanted her to feel better in that moment. She seemed like the type of person who should have a smile on their face.
drawmecute: (Baby I Got Your Flower)

[personal profile] drawmecute 2016-04-10 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, that is why I do it." Lola walked a fine line between shallow and vain. She was vain, she cared about looks, she wanted to be pretty. She wanted boys to let their eyes linger a bit too long on her. And she was more than happy to watch boys play basketball. Shirtless. But she did care beyond looks, but oh boy did looks matter for her. "My hair is brown, I can't accessories to that color scheme. My only choice was to dye my hair."

Which in Lola's fluffy little head was an accurate logical path. It also meant brand new accessories when her hair changed colors, cause this was a much paler pink than her last dyejob. "So what are you doing out here, come to enjoy the sun and sand?"
twosidedsword: (Handsome Man)

[personal profile] twosidedsword 2016-04-10 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
Brown. He wasn't sure what the problem with brown would be. Brown would be a very pretty color on her as well. It was also a color that tended to go with everything as far as he could tell. Still, if other colors made her happier then he was already thinking of looking for what things could help her to keep the color as it was. Maybe there were potions.

He should ask Jae-Ha. Jae-Ha would know about things like this.

"I was listening. For investigations." He looked up at the sky then suddenly shot a hand out. Mainly because Ao had randomly bounced and he was catching her before she fell. She landed neatly in his hand and he gently put her back on Lola's shoulder. Shin-Ah was big but he was very gentle person.

"I like the sun." Though. That was the other word that should have been added there but he forgot.
drawmecute: (Accepting Friend)

[personal profile] drawmecute 2016-04-11 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
Look, you can try to follow Lola's line of reasoning, but that's a terrible idea and you shouldn't do it. Lola also hadn't figured out to ask for magic, and the only dye that people knew of here was for cloth. Which she'd totally try if desperate enough.

"Oh right, why we're here." She'd forgotten, she was offered hard labor rebuilding a dully barren fortress, and a resort town with beaches and cute bikinis to wear! What would you pick? "I'm still not used to the two suns thing. It should make getting a tan easier. I think..."

Lola you do not know how tans work, you just know how to make it look good. Please do not attempt science.
twosidedsword: (Head Tilt)

[personal profile] twosidedsword 2016-04-13 09:20 am (UTC)(link)
"Tan?"

He was clearly not an expert on how those worked. Just looking at him would seem to imply that he'd practically never seen the sun his entire life. Sadly, that wasn't really that far from the truth if one happened to know that he'd spent most of his life basically locked away, fourteen of that in caves.

Basically, pardon his confusion. He wasn't too familiar with this concept.
drawmecute: (Baby I Got Your Flower)

[personal profile] drawmecute 2016-04-15 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
Fortunately Lola's gotten the memo on language barriers. Even if they all speak the same language, the words might not carry the same meanings. That the concept just might not even exist! Which worries her, a lot of people could do with a little color.

"You lay out in the sun and let the rays darken your skin. I mean, safely, with the right lotions and safety to keep from giving yourself cancer or something."
twosidedsword: (Who?  Me?)

[personal profile] twosidedsword 2016-04-16 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
He...was going to assume that cancer was something bad. It wasn't a word that he recognized, after all. But since it was a negative consequence of being out in the sun...

Anyway, he looked down at his extremely pale hands. "I'm not..."

Tan. He's not tan. He's wondering if that's good or not.
drawmecute: (Accepting Friend)

[personal profile] drawmecute 2016-04-18 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
"You're really pale, but it works for you."

Lola didn't have much chance to work on her tan, fresh from a school year (and winter at that) before finding her way here. But she had some color to her skin. Not a lot, but she was fine, she had her entire look down for her current state.

"Well, as much as anything works with these uniforms..."
twosidedsword: (Not His Clothes)

[personal profile] twosidedsword 2016-04-22 12:57 pm (UTC)(link)
He couldn't help being pale. It was sort of something that happened when one lived the life he had.

"...The caves had no sun."

And now he was looking at the uniforms. They weren't what he was used to but he didn't see anything wrong with him. To him they were just...clothes. Which was probably why he hadn't gone to get anything else to personalize them or to have clothes he was used to.
drawmecute: (Worried About)

[personal profile] drawmecute 2016-04-24 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"You lived in a cave!?"

Which seemed absolutely awful, who would live in a cave. Caves are dark, and gross, and dark, and never have any cell signal! And because Lola feels it, it's clear all over her face.
twosidedsword: (Going To Find)

[personal profile] twosidedsword 2016-04-27 10:16 am (UTC)(link)
He nodded, at least aware that most people didn't actually live in caves normally like he had. His village had been a...unique sort of place. Namely because he and past Seiryuu had lived among them.

"My village was...hiding."
drawmecute: (So Incognito)

[personal profile] drawmecute 2016-05-01 09:56 am (UTC)(link)
"From what?"

It was the most obvious question, well... other than how did the village make it to the cave. She assumed everyone just moved. But she also got here on a flying city after waking up naked in a new world with a new sky that didn't play by any normal rules. So she couldn't rule it out.
twosidedsword: (Troubled Past)

[personal profile] twosidedsword 2016-05-02 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
At that he shook his head very slowly. It wasn't what they were hiding from but rather...

"They were hiding me."