🏝️ dulces sueños group excursion! 🏝️

[hearthwarming]

🏝️ who: intrepid adventurers (vacationers?) and more!
🏝️ what: ori organized (origanized?) a group trip to the resort! mass memshare ensues.
🏝️ when: fall 9-10
🏝️ where: dulces sueños resort
🏝️ warnings: threads will be marked as needed for memshares.

[ Hopefully everyone had fun on the Arco Lunar! The morning after the boat departs from the docks, a letter arrives to your mailbox: ]

Hello, intrepid adventurer!

I am excited to have you along for a group excursion to the mysterious new island! In two days' time, let us gather in the town square and set off from there! Please be prepared to stay the night. It will be so fulfilling and memorable for everyone to spend a night on an adventure together!

If you have any questions or concerns, please come find me at my flower shop in town or at the forest farm where I live!

Sincerely,
Oriphi

[ If she accidentally delivered it to a few wrong mailboxes, then... Oops!

On the promised day, once everyone (and likely a few surprise tag-alongs) has gathered or been gathered, Ori distributes little paper bags of snacks to everyone. Inside are cookies, oat snacks, and a freshly-picked apple from her and M-21's orchard. Do with them as you please... Just don't let her catch you throwing it into the sea or something. 🥺 ]

Alright. I think we should head out, then! Thanks for coming along, everyone! I hope it'll be a great time. Oh, and please don't forget to drink plenty of water and use this incredible ointment I discovered on this island! It's called "sunscreen!" Tieflings don't really get sunburnt, but you should use it!

[ And with that our intrepid adventurers set off to the mysterious, dangerous, unknowable... resort island! ]

( This is the ill-fated mass extinction memshare event. Please refer to the event for details on the resort and the plotting post for any specific details for characters' memshares! There are toplevels for each area of the resort (and for the memshare). Enjoy! )

Comments

[bluminescence]

[ A memory within a memory. The room that greets Steinbeck is dim, save for the pulsing, organic dotting of lights like the bulbs of white flowers along the ceiling. Though he may find even the darker corners, where marble kisses stone, easier to pierce in the moment. The smooth gray floor of stone beneath his bare feet is surprisingly warm, the walls only an arm's length away on either side. The lights above span between archways, one before him and one behind.

Before him, the path curves off with only the discarded light of some unseen and faintly glowing room. Behind him, the soft steps of a young boy. Robed in simple white with bared feet, he glows dimly. His familiar grey eyes, emanating a haze tinted blue, look through Steinbeck towards the path ahead. Kaspar is six and only looks young for his age in the softer features of his face. Expressionless as his steps are calm, he crosses past Steinbeck close enough to reach out. But Steinbeck can't move, he can only watch as Kaspar walks past, his white hair freshly cropped and too short for his rounded cheeks. His only adornment, a gold circlet resting on his crown

He tenses a moment before the authoritative sound of another's deep voice confirms his identity.

"Kaspar."

Kaspar squares his shoulders, turning on his bare heels robotically as if already wearing military issue leathers. A teen dressed in white has appeared at the other archway, larger in height and mass, though not as much as one would expect given their apparent age difference. His uniform is that of a cadet, white long sleeves and buttons to the golden collar tight at his thick neck. White trousers, down to leather boots. Simple, with only the barest golden touches for adornment, it is far different than the simple scrap of a robe Kaspar wears with his chest bared beneath it.

The older boy carries himself like he relishes the superiority, but his face is similarly expressionless. Shoulders squared to his maximum height, his hair is blonder, slicked back, and his hawkish eyes are a light, softly glowing red.

"Aksel." Kaspar answers, quieter, with his eyes on the other's chest.

The newer arrival sizes up the first, the silence between them tense until the older boy breaks it with a command.

"Strike me."

Kaspar hesitates. Aksel does not. He lunges with a fist aimed for Kaspar's unprotected belly. The smaller boy barely blocks it with a stifled grunt. But the force of the hit still causes his own knuckles to graze his tensed stomach, for his cloaked back to touch the wall behind him. Aksel seems neither impressed nor disappointed when he leans over just so, to coolly remind Kaspar of the rules of this place.

"In these halls, you will address me by title." And with that, Aksel leans back again, adjusting his cuffs as his steps carry him down the hall with his parting words, "Do try not to disappoint mother."

Suddenly, Steinbeck can breathe and move freely again. Either path is open to him as Kaspar's eyes settle on stone. After Aksel's steps fade away, tension snaps and Kaspar clenches his fists. He finally lets his shoulders shake slightly with his deep breaths.

> what will Steinbeck do? ]

[graftage]

[He's disoriented at first. It all seems like some far-off dream, something like smoke to drift through and be forgotten. But as things progress, realization comes to a head when he recognizes the young boy in front of him, a chill spiking down his back at the name.]

[Kaspar, so young, so precious - and before he can reach out, another figure comes, and Steinbeck's expression turns to something wary, and then cold, and then-]

[...]

[A part of him feels the vicious heat of anger rise (rise, haha, as if it isn't always there, like an almost-feral dog, barely changed) and he wishes he had his knife to use it properly, for once, as the weapon it is.]

[But he can't. He watches as Aksel bends down, hisses his words, and walks away. And for a moment, this so-called dream lets him. As much as he would like to chase him down and bash his head into the wall, his first inclination makes him stumble over to Kaspar, bending down.]

Hey. Hey....Kaspar....?

[He doesn't know what's happening, but might as well check on the boy.]

[bluminescence]

[ The boy's eyes snap to Steinbeck's and for now, there is no recognition. It is instant, the way he pulls himself back together again with breath evening and stance shifting. The second his eyes land on the man, Steinbeck's skin begins to glow just as dimly as any other Groscian. There is still a flash of surprise that this Kaspar is too young to hide. Even bent, he can tell Steinbeck is taller than father or Aksel.

A colder wariness settles. Fists slightly clenched, one foot solidly behind the other, it is more a challenge if Steinbeck is looking for one than any sign of fear. Kaspar is already big for his age, rounded but already with more muscle and marks than could ever be from childhood games alone. Defiantly, he lifts his chin.

But he has yet to learn how to keep the curiosity from lingering in his big grey eyes. Kaspar's voice sounds punched coming out at normal volume, forced words as if his brother is testing him again. ]

What is it? I will not be made late.

[ Yet he pauses. Because he knows what is waiting for him. The muffled sounds of a crowd have started filtering their way down. Happy sounds, at that. He swallows. But Kaspar feels rooted to the spot by the soft words. ]

[graftage]

[He glances at his own hands, surprised of the glow, but smart enough not to comment on it. Okay. Guess this is happening - he puts his focus back on the young boy, instead, with familiar eyes that look at him so curiously and yet so warily.]

[The way his voice comes in a normal tone, somehow, makes something clutch in his chest. As if he's feeling the aftereffects of a punch delivered squarely where it was not needed.]

...I wanted to... [A pause.] I wanted to make sure...you were okay.

[bluminescence]

[ His chin lifts higher, as if it might assist him in looking taller. It only serves to highlight the contrast between his baby face and the muscle forced on his frame when he puffs up his chest a little too. Far too much like his brother.

But little Kaspar hesitates, unsure why some stranger would even care at all. He still believes his canned response more than the slight quiver of his lip lets on. ]

I am ready for any fight. Any trial.

[ Then quieter, with a stray glance down the path, he whispers his childlike confusion at Steinbeck's existence. His eyes narrow at Steinbeck when they snap back to him. It is hard to look threatening with such a cute face. ]

... what's your rank?

[ Tall means military to him, but he isn't wearing any markings he recognizes. Yet the man hasn't corrected him or acted in the ways he expects, making the boy nervous.

It still feels like a trick. ]

[graftage]

Of course.

[He knew that already - he could feel that already, scars and all, on a body much older. Kaspar has had his fair share of trials. He wants to spare him from unnecessary ones.]

[He watches as the young boy glances up at him with familiar eyes, his heart softening at it in a way that only an older sibling can feel.]

Me? I'm really, uh, quite average, I suppose. [He scratches the side of his neck, bashfully.] Look. Regardless of rank, I wanted to check on you.

[bluminescence]

[ Kaspar is silent a moment, like he isn't sure how he is supposed to react. But ultimately, he doesn't read anything disingenuous in Steinbeck's behavior. He really wanted to check on him? Without resting or prodding or judgment in his eyes? Kaspar doesn't think of it this way, but it all swells into a gut feeling that has him blink. He relaxes his stance. Optimism and trust are difficult weeds to root out.

He finds the man strange, in a good way. And so, in stark contrast to his puffed chest, Kaspar lets out a genuine little laugh, almost a giggle. It is a brief moment where Kaspar seems his age. Just before the sounds of the crowd snatch it away again.

With a deep breath, he steadies his fists and begins his overly proud walk towards the end of the hall. ]

[graftage]

[He can't help it. He lets out a little huff of a laugh in reply, like a sent message in reply to a letter. Kaspar always makes him smile, it seems, no matter the time or place.]

[But it seems they can't stay here for long, and that damned older brother is still around, too. Can't forget about him - Steinbeck moves to follow, quietly, eyes flitting between the young boy and the hall up ahead.]

...Is there an assembly?

[bluminescence]

[ Kaspar shakes his head, walking on toward the room that open up in front of them. Before reaching the end of the hall, he answers quietly. ]

Placements.

[ He doesn't break his pace. Large and round, this entrance splits off three ways.
One forward into the arena filled with other children Kaspar's age dressed simarly in simple white. Scattered along the edges are men in white, stretchers already leaning against the stone walls. To the left and the right, steps lead to a tiered viewing area that spans the whole circle of the room.

Across the way, Aksel stands with a woman who shares his red eyes. Two cadets let Kaspar step down into the arena, but they are clearly there to stop anyone from interfering in this event. ]