SEPTEMBER EVENT: WE'RE ON ISLAND TIME BABY

[sailmods]

on the 16th, starting at 6AM and continuing until 10PM, Friday herself will be driving the ship’s tender back and forth between the ship and the excursion, making the trip about once every 30 minutes. those who board the tender will find that they are knocked out for the journey, but will wake up still on the tender, wearing whatever it was they’d been wearing before getting on, and with no side effects.

the destination is a tropical island, with white sandy beaches and turquoise water. the island is rather large, with dense tropical foliage inside the barrier of sand, but passengers will find it difficult to get more than a mile inland. not because of the trees or bushes, but because the villagers intervene around that point, and politely but firmly return them to the beach.

yeah, there’s a village. wood and frond huts built in a clearing just past the sands, populated by about twenty beings that appear to be some kind of bipedal salamander. if they have a verbal language, they aren’t telling it to you, and mainly communicate through gesture. there is a sort of vendor nearest to the beach, sitting on a blanket that holds a variety of exotic fruits, trinkets, and cool shells that they will exchange for literally whatever you bring from the ship. they are also trading bottles of a dark-red, citrusy rum; they also either have difficulty judging or don’t care about human drinking ages, and anyone who isn’t clearly a child will have no problem getting some.

the jungle is teeming with a wide variety of tropical flora and fauna. the plant life is whatever would normally be found in a tropical Earth location, while the wildlife is limited to what can be found on this island and in the jungles of Sumeru. why? because I feel like it. my fleeting whims decide every aspect of this game and i ain't stopping now..

the surrounding ocean extends out about five nautical miles before reaching what could most accurately be called The End of the Map: the water ends very suddenly, followed by the sky, and beyond it is an endless black void that makes your brain twitch the more you stare at it. if you try to enter it, you will die, and it will hurt the entire time you are dying.

there doesn’t seem to be any restriction on magic, except for one rather major one: anyone with the ability to fly will find that they are suddenly unable to. whether magical (i.e. Venti), biological (i.e. Phil’s wings), or mechanical (i.e. MB’s drones) in nature, anyone attempting to take flight will find it impossible to get any lift. just barely over the horizon, something gleams as it points to the sky.

Comments

wildcard

[neverleave]

[Peaceful Discovery Channel time is interrupted by an explosion, and then another one. Should Sharky investigate and go around the nearest cluster of rocks, he will find a small, secluded lagoon. Natsuno is there - sadly without his flamethrower, but there is a plastic bag with bottles resting a few yards behind him.

Congrats, Sharky, you arrived just in time to see GWay stick a rug into a bottle of salamander-people rum, light it and throw it as hard as he can against a rock.]

[broshaw]

[Explosions are the Boshaw siren song, and so of course he's going to fucking investigate when he hears his lady of chaos calling to him!!!!

Sharky comes around at the right angle to avoid being in the molotov's blast radius, and he lets out a loud whoop after Natsuno smashes another against one of the rocks.]

HELL yes, GWay, look at that fuckin' pitch speed, man!

[neverleave]

[Someone's yelling? Natsuno turns, relaxing ever so slightly when he realizes it's Sharky. No one's here to get on his case, this guy apparently just loves it when stuff's blowing up. He nods at Sharky in acknowledgement.]

You were right. Making these is really easy.

[broshaw]

[Like hell he's gonna get on anyone's case for casually hurling explosives on a beach!]

Right?? Quickest way to burn down a barn. [Not that he's timed it or anything.] Looks like the salamanders really fuckin' nailed the firewater, huh? [Hahaha, get it...]

[neverleave]

[Good point about the barn. If he ever needs to burn something big, throwing a bottle and running would be better than sticking around with a flamethrower. Sharky is truly a treasure trove of arsonist knowledge.]

Everclear still works better, but the rum's not bad. And it smells better. [He's still not going to drink it, though. Shiki physiology condemns them to a completely sober immortal life.] The only problem is bringing it to excursions. Last time you couldn't get any alcohol past the metal detector.

[broshaw]

UUUUUGHHHHH, tell me about it. [Sharky's just gonna find a convenient rock behind Natsuno to perch on. He might sacrifice the bottle of rum he'd been saving for home because... this looks really fun.] I wonder how come it's not allowed? Like, liquor's everywhere on the ship, right? Why not let us have some during excursions?

[neverleave]

[Natsuno picks up another bottle but pauses when a lizard runs across the sand. He's sure the explosions disturb the wildlife, but he can ignore it as long as they're hidden. Once he sees them, though - it feels wrong. After six months of barren, fake realities, even a lizard is precious...

He shrugs at Sharky's question.]

Probably the same reason there's a drinking age in the first place. [Teens can be encouraged to murder, but having a beer is forbidden?] To annoy us.

[broshaw]

Yeah, I guess... [Sharky really doesn't feel all that annoyed by shit on the ship, though.] I mean, on the ship it makes sense. Cruises are always, like, super weird about kids drinking, 'cos... well, you don't wanna hammered preteen climbin' the railin', right?

[Right.]

I guess, like, the withdrawal was really shitty. And Pratt said the guy in charge is kinda a Satan weirdo. Sooo, probably got somethin' to do with vices. Like, us facin' our own private hells while hangin' out at summer camp.

[SHRUG!] I dunno, it's weird but I'm not gonna complain. [ALL HE DOES IS COMPLAIN ABOUT IT. But sure, okay, whatever.]

[neverleave]

[Natsuno is pretty sure the captain doesn't give crap about having them face their private hells, but he's not going to argue. He's on vacation today, and Sharky isn't the kind of person he'd want to talk about these things anyway. Some adults can be trusted with intel, others can even be confided in.

Sharky is the kind of adult who gets you alcohol and teaches you how to destroy things.]

Yeah, probably not worth complaining about. [...] What if I took something like spray deodorant and set it on fire?

[broshaw]

[PRETTY MUCH.]

Instant, portable flamethrower, buddy! You gotta be careful not to get the lighter too close to the can though, otherwise the thing'll explode in your hands. Don't let it get too hot, right? Uhhh, hairspray's the easiest to get your hands on, but yeah, any aerosol spray should work. Deodorant, cleaning spray, even sunscreen... So long as it's got a flammable warning on the label and a consistent spray pattern, you got yourself a quick weapon.

[neverleave]

...huh.

[Don't mind him rifling through the bag he brought with him. Natsuno pulls out a bottle of aerosol, holds it an arm's length and readies the lighter.

Three, two - whoooosh.]

[broshaw]

[Watching a junior arsonist find his firey little feet... he'd expected to experience it with Blade first, but you know what? It's almost as good to be helping a scene kid build up his guerrilla arsenal.

All of that to say that Sharky is fucking pumped when Natsuno depresses the valve and sends several feet of fire spurting through the air.]

FUCK yeah man! [WHOO!!!!] See? Super useful if the dude you're facin' is wearin' natural fibers. Double bonus if they got big-ass beards like mine. [Hehehe, speaking from experience. Oh, shit, but should he be encouraging that??? ...Ehhhh too late now!]

"scene kid" is hilarious considering natsuno was actually born in 1979...

[neverleave]

[Natural fiber and hair, huh? Natsuno's expression grows distant for a moment as he considers Jinx's long braids and Ebalon's robes. Yeah, it'll be good for the small stuff, maybe the flamethrower's fuel should be saved for something like the zombies...]

So you're saying I should aim for the face.

[Not something he'd do unless he's truly backed into a corner, but if he is - that's exactly the kind of improvised viciousness he resorts to.]

HE *IS* THE SCENE

[broshaw]

[Sharky gives a double thumbs up. It's hard to do holding a jug of rum but he does it!]

Better aim for the head than the body. Good way to surprise the shit outta 'em; they'll duck back, givin' you room to run.... or not. [He isn't going to SAY "stay and burn the fucker," but Natsuno probably gets the vibe.] But the accelerant burns faster, so you'll run out before you can really fuck someone up.

Man, you know what movie you should watch? Fuckin' Home Alone, man. Bet you'd take that shit to heart. [And ruin the ship for everyone else, but it would be fun...]

[neverleave]

Suprise and run is good enough for me.

[He'd really rather not hurt anyone at all, since in-fighting is a waste of time that can be used to figuring out how to stop the captain instead. Striking back doesn't need to be deadly, just give him an opening to escape through.]

What's that movie about?

[broshaw]

[TBH, it's a good response. Sharky's not looking to incite violence against fellow passengers! He just cannot resist teaching someone the ways of the flame.]

Oh, it's like... Okay, hear me out. There's this kid, right, he's like... nine or something, and his family are all gonna fly to London? Or Paris? I can't remember. Anyway, there's like, a dozen kids and half as many adults and the whole place is chaos, and lil' Kevin McAllister is gettin' bullied left and right. So like, through a bunch of shenanigans, he gets left Home Alone -- get it? -- and he's livin' it up until these two burglars try to come in and steal his rich family's jewels and shit.

Instead of gettin' scared and runnin' away, Kevin fuckin' booby-traps his entire house, like, tar on the steps, hot iron on the door-knob, wild tarantula to the face... And the whole time he's like, leading them on a chase through the house, until they get so fuckin' boondoggled by this goddamn kid that they wind up bloody and beaten in the back of a police cruiser. The wildest shit is that it happens to him again the next Christmas, except then, he's in New York.

[This is a good tag that furthers this relationship.]