Fandom Seasons of the Skaian Calendar: A Homestuck Roleplay

[SerbianMounted]

4 young people stand in their respective domiciles. But one in particular stands in her domicile with a rather birthday like demeanor. It is the warm sunny season of summer, and as the sun hangs high in the sky, promising this young woman naught but the greatest of tragedy and disaster, the curtain rises on her and her friends' tale.

We have been here once before. And if we are not careful, we will be here once again.

Joan, you stand in your bedroom, having just had a TERRIBLE nightmare, the worst (or best?) part of which is that every time you have it you cannot remember what it was. It is a distant, fuzzy memory, more so composed of feelings of dread and strange pangs of sorrow than it is details. Your heart races. Good morning!

Shall you introduce yourself?

Eidolon Astronaut ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> Enter Name.

You already have a name, weren't you paying attention? It's carved into your HONORARY PLACRONYM, a memento of your birthday three years ago. It reads JOAN DRYDEN.

> Joan: Examine room.

You have a variety of INTERESTS, and as such, your room is a reflection of them.

On your walls is an array of PROMOTIONAL POSTERS, some for the various NATIONAL PARKS AND NATURAL ENVIRONS you study (much like the one you live in) but mostly for the innumerable AEROSPACE CRAFT DESIGNS AND MISSION PATHS. You love space. You want to be an ASTRONAUT more than anything, and have several trips to space camp under your belt to prove it. On the shelves by your bookcase you have an array of SAPLING SPECIMENS as you are fairly into DENDROLOGY. In addition to academic tomes, space almanacs, and the occasional video game, your bookcase is filled to the brim with PULP SCIENCE FICTION from the previous century. Sure, they are a little dated and almost offensively inaccurate to the entire concept of science, but the idea of the warring noble houses of Mars is certainly a striking image, no?

On the other side of the room by your computer is your WORKTABLE where you practise a little bit of AMATEUR ENGINEERING, like the magic you worked on your pet goldfish MAJOR TOM, wherever he is right now. It's almost exclusively filled with parts and half-finished projects, along with the many TOOLS OF THE TRADE. By your bed is your CELLO, though you keep it's BOW tucked neatly in your STRIFE DECK so you never have to bother with your SYLLADEX if the mood strikes you. Not like you need it for anything else, nothing ever gets too hot to handle around here anyway.

Oh yeah, and it's your BIRTHDAY.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

> Joan: Examine birthday paraphernalia.

You would, however you have no such paraphernalia to speak of. You do not have MULTITUDES OF CAKE or VARIOUS COLOR CODED PRESENTS denoting from whom each gift was sent. Perhaps that's something you'll have to find as the day goes on.

Your Unc is the kind of fellow who has a quiet, almost tepid demeanor. But despite his soft-spoken attitude, every birthday of yours is marked with MUCH TRADITION and INTRIGUE. Because he makes the holiday a SCAVENGER HUNT. In recent years it is one of the things you and he are able to connect over the most: a love of the outdoors. And thus, in preparation of your birthday every year, you must trek through the Piney Woods to find your presents and cake.

Better get ready for some adventure! ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

==>

So begins the annual ritual of finding things that should already belong to you. Time to make preparations.

> Joan: Make preparations.

You captchalogue your PHONE into your sylladex. That's it, really. The woods aren't particularly dangerous due to the human presence in the area, and even if you did get lost your phone has all your contacts and a map of the local terrain. It's not 2009 anymore. The world's information is at your fingertips...

... however that isn't any fun, so you cram some irrelevant garbage into your sylladex anyway. You captchalogue your incredibly large and heavy copy of AN INCOMPLETE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FORESTS, JUNGLES, AND OTHER SILVICAL HABITATS FOR THE ASPIRING ARBORIST VOL. 1 beside your phone in the bottom row of your FETCH MODUS alongside some FISH FLAKES in case you run into THE MAJOR. You leave the remaining three spaces in your sylladex open for anything else you will have the sudden urge to clog your inventory with later.

You exit your room into the COMMUNAL FAMILY SPACE that comprises the SECOND FLOOR. Here is where you, your Uncle, and the Major live, and is also home to the FAMILY-ONLY BATHROOM, among other things. Time to snoop for clues.

> Joan: Snoop for clues.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

You get to snooping as you do every year. Luckily the first of the clues is taped to your BEDROOM DOOR from the hallway side. It reads as it does every year:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOAN.

FOUR PRESENTS I HAVE HIDDEN JUST FOR YOU ACROSS THE PROPERTY. THE RULES AS USUAL APPLY. THREE ARE HIDDEN IN THE HOUSE, AND 1 IS HIDDEN SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE. EACH GIFT HAS A CLUE FOR THE NEXT IN A SEQUENCE RELEVANT TO THEIR DIFFICULTY TO BE FOUND. HERE IS A CLUE FOR THE FIRST:

FOR ME, TODAY COMES BEFORE YESTERDAY. WHAT AM I?

I AM SO, SO PROUD OF YOU.

> Joan: Look at family space.

The family room is as it's always been. It's a cute little study complete with a READING NOOK, several BOOK SHELVES and two DESKS on which sit you and your UNC's respective projects that need more lighting and space than either of your rooms can offer. Sitting on your UNC'S desk is an unfinished miniature ship in a bottle, with several documents of UNIMPORTANCE scattered about the surface. The room is lined with pictures of you and your UNC fishing. Tom guest stars in a few looking horrified. If you had to guess, the first present is around here somewhere. ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> "A dictionary."

You reach over to the shelves and grab the OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY that your family keeps, because a book collection without a relatively unneeded dictionary in a language you already speak is like a simple southern lawyer without a pair of thumb-temptingly elastic suspenders. Which is to say a pretty piss-poor simple southern lawyer if you ask you.

You crack open the DICTIONARY.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

Sure enough when you skip to the section for 'YESTERDAY' another note that's been folded over has been slipped inside. It reads pretty much as you'd expect.

JOAN, IF YOU ARE READING THIS THEN IT MEANS YOU HAVE SOLVED THE FIRST RIDDLE.

I AM SO, SO PROUD OF YOU. PLEASE ENJOY YOUR FIRST GIFT, COURTESY OF MYSELF.

Sure enough, you look to see that behind the dictionary is a HOLE IN THE WALL carved out from the drywall that reveals a black and white gift wrapped present issued to yourself. Seems as though Unc is really going all out this year.

> Joan: Open present.

You tear open the wrapping paper to reveal...oh, wow. Tucked neatly into the boxes contents is a NEATLY PRESSED baby blue AUTHENTIC ASTRONAUT JUMPSUIT complete with REAL SEWN ON PATCHES. It has the NASA LOGO PATCH as to be expected, in addition to a NAME PATCH matched to your own set of FLIGHT WINGS.

>

The note continues:

WHAT DOES THE LETTER T AND AN ISLAND HAVE IN COMMON?

Based on Unc's previous track records, he's most likely to keep his search going onward still inside the house. If you had to guess it probably is in just ANOTHER ROOM ON THIS FLOOR.

> Joan: Check messages on phone.

Oh, looks like one of your pals has been messaging you. Answer a message from CG?​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> "They are both in the middle of water."

Seeing as there is only one room in the entire second floor with plumbing, you head next to the FAMILY-ONLY BATHROOM, keeping an eye out for THE MAJOR in case the old man is pulling a classic RIDDLE SUBVERSION. You leave the JUMPSUIT in it's box, knowing that it might get damaged in the powder keg that is your homebrew fetch modus. You do captchalouge the TWO (2) RIDDLE CARDS though, placing them above the encyclopedia and the fish flakes. You can never have enough random stuff.

You enter the bathroom to peruse for the next clue, if you had to guess being either in the BATHTUB or maybe the BACK OF THE TOILET.

> Joan: Answer chum.

Oh, it seems like CG has decided to drop you a line. You pull your phone from your sylladex and open Pesterchum.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

> Joan: Speak with CG.

​

Spoiler: Pesterlog

-– caesuraGiddyup [CG] began pestering cosmogenicAtelier [CA] at 10:45 --

CG: Juvenescence shines like the sun’s slow climb
and I see a bird not yet flown its cage,
CG: I hear the footsteps in the march of time -
a journey of self, a coming of age!
CG: Thus you Peter Pan on wings of an elf,
who the power of eternal youth seeks,
CG: must fly your limits lest your second self
hidden from you conceal your own mystiques.
CG: So fly dear girl, fly and never look back
and richly love the heart and feel the soul -
CG: save close your nobilities lest you lack
for all that you do bears a living toll.
CG: And dear, in our shared purpose be like them
whoso rise above the hubris of men.
CG: Happy Birthday Joan, I hope this birthday sonnet of mine serves as a good ‘primer’ gift to what I have to offer you this year.
CA: A simple “good morning” would have sufficed.
CA: But I like this too, thanks.
CA: I haven’t found your present this year yet, but there’s a 1 in 3 chance it’s in the bathroom.
CA: So, you know, it might be where we poop.
CG: Thank you, dear friend, for that riveting image.
CG: I’ll be confident in my belief now that you’ll hold my possibly sewage smelling present close to your bosom, enraptured by its beauty and foul stench.
CG: I see the old man is up to his usual nonsense this year.
CG: Have you found TT or GG’s gifts yet?
CA: You’re welcome, but never say “bosom” again.
CA: And no, I haven’t found them yet either.
CG: Damn.
GC: And no promises.
GC: I’m sure TT will be getting to you soon about her gift, if you don’t get attacked by some kind of Texan wilderness creature mid scavenger hunt.
GC: I doubt GG is even up yet…
CA: I’m perfectly capable of fending off the wild squirrels, though it’ll be a tough fight.
CA: And it’s what, 8 AM in the middle of summer for him?
CA: It’s not that unreasonable.
GC: Knowing him he’ll probably sleep in until two o’clock.
GC: And sorry but it’s hard to imagine anything but the contrary considering you tote around a piece of wood and horsehair as your main defense.
CA: It’s not for defense, it’s for art.
CA: After all, when was the last time *you* got in a strife?
CA: One moment, plundering the water closet.
GC: Just now, actually.
GC: A giant-
GC: Well, nevermind.
GC: I’ll text you back later when I have the time.
GC: It looks like round two...

​

> Joan: Plunder the water closet.

You investigate the bathroom as per your hunch. The toilet's water basin and bowl are both (luckily) vacant. But pulling back the curtain you see a tub filled with tepid water and at the base next to the drain a RED parcel tied up in a clear plastic bag. You retrieve and open the package's container. To your luck, the package doesn't have a drop of water on it. Open the package? ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> Joan: Open package.

You take the red parcel back into the main space, discarding the plastic bag.

You place the package on the table beside the previous haul and open it up.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

You open the package and reveal a JAR OF DIRT. Huh. You inspect the mason jar further to find visible through the glass is a vast network of well established roots, ironically thirsty for water they were separated from by many layers of wrapping. At the top of the dirt is a very small, firmly tightened BUD. Seems like this little guy won't be blooming anytime soon.

Ah, and it comes with a note!

> Joan: Read note.

Hi Joan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm so totally thrilled to be writing you this birthday letter!!!! sorry for the uber exclamation points, but you gotta whip these sorts of things out on special occasions like a best friend's super awesome 16th birthday!

i just wanted to take the time to wish you all the best and tell you how much your friendship has meant to me these many years we've been chatting online. despite the distance and the fact that i've never gotten to give you a hug, you've been one of the most consistent, supportive and best parts of my life! i honestly don't know what my life would look like had you and the boys not been a part of it, and for that i just don't know if i can ever tell you how thankful i am for all you've done, whether you know that or not

oh and bt dubs you're WAY too hard to shop for, so please don't ever have another birthday, okay? lol, just kidding! but seriously, i wracked my brain for like, EVER having to come up with the perfect gift for you since i know flower crowns and my kind of flora aren't exactly your thing.....buuuuuuuuuuuuuut like any good idea or gift for that matter, this one just kind of fell into my lap! so i hope you like it! it's a kind of flower i've never even seen, so i figured i'd leave it to the smartest goon i know to figure it out.

be sure to tell me what it looks like when you get a gander! i bet the fullness of it's beauty isn't nearly as pretty as your smile!

hope you have a good one joan!

love, tributaryTeardrops [TT]

> Joan: Inspect other note.

And to be expected, a note from your Unc.

DEAR JOAN, IF YOU ARE READING THIS THEN THAT MEANS YOU HAVE FOUND THE SECOND PRESENT.

I AM SO, SO PROUD OF YOU. THE HINT TO YOUR THIRD PRESENT IS AS FOLLOWS:

WHAT TRAVELS ALL AROUND THE WORLD BUT STAYS IN ONE CORNER?​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

==>

D'aww.

You put the HEARTFELT NOTE back into the box as you inspect the UNKNOWN FLORA, you'll have to thank her later. The presence of a large, singular bud and the lack of any prominent stem implies a HERBACEOUS PLANT. Your botanical specialty is in woody plants, mostly trees and shrubs, but this new specimen intrigues you. You pull AN INCOMPLETE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FORESTS, JUNGLES, AND OTHER SILVICAL HABITATS FOR THE ASPIRING ARBORIST VOL. 1 from your sylladex to find any cross-referencing of your new friend in APPENDIX L: FLOWERS AND WEEDS. Doing so destabilizes your HEAP MODUS, launching the RIDDLE CARDS from your inventory where they find purchase stuck in the wall like an EXPERT CARD-THROWER.

Oops.

> Joan: Do some simple botany.

Unable to find any mention of a plant matching this description, you leave the book on the table to tend to the plant itself.

You notice the dryness and go to procure some WATER. Luckily, you can just scoop some from the still-filled bathtub, being careful not to overwater and drown the plant. You could transfer the plant to one of your SAPLING POTS, but the jar seems to be holding it fine for now. Maybe if you need to put it in a larger container later. You captchalogue the MYSTERY PLANT where the encyclopedia once resided.

> Joan: The riddle!

Oh, yeah. The answer is clearly "a stamp," and that means the mailbox. You descend the stairs at the end of the COMMUNAL FAMILY SPACE and reach the GROUND FLOOR.

You descend into the relatively small BACKROOM KITCHEN. Sure, there isn't a lot in here by the way of COOKING APPARATUS, but it's not like you or your dad are world famous chefs or anything. A microwave, oven, and fridge are really all you need. You exit the kitchen into the MAIN ROOM.

It is here that the reason for your home's location and seemingly unneeded size are revealed. You are standing in the doorway to the VISITOR'S CENTER, where tourists can learn about the Piney Woods and the surrounding area, rent a BOAT to take out on the lake, or simply just cool off for a bit from the heat of those SCALDING TEXAN SUMMERS... though it's empty of other people today as the center is closed for a special event. (your birthday!) When the center is closed for the night, the large INFORMATIONAL SCREEN is repurposed as your family's TV for watching the occasional B-MOVIE. They aren't really your thing, but your uncle seems to like them, so you indulge.

You exit the building into the FRONT YARD / GRAVEL PARKING LOT. The only vehicle here is your Uncle's RUSTY SERVICE TRUCK. You make a quick stop to the large iron LOCK BOX that the postal service has agreed is your mailbox and look inside.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

==>

Passing by the kitchen you do happen to spot something on the kitchen table: a paper and plastic CAKE BOX where inside is a beautifully decorated BLUE CREAM CHEESE FROSTED CARROT BIRTHDAY CAKE. Much to your lack of surprise in curled orange icing letters made no doubt by the pâtissier are the words "Happy 16th Birthday Joan". There is even a decorative flower. Good to know Unc is still on top of what you like even after all these years. As you go to inspect the mailbox you're filled with some BIRTHDAY MIRTH. Maybe this is why he has you go around the property all day.

==>

The rec center is also decorated! If sparsely. Some streamers and a banner (all blue, as you'd guess) decorate the center even though nothing is particularly extravagant. Certain portions remain completely untouched, and the only favors are two simple PARTY HATS sitting on the table you guys use to rest drinks and snacks on when you watch your B MOVIES.

As you go outside, you grab the MAILBOX KEY from the key rack by the outside door. You have a feeling taht if you were 13 years old, this would've been a WHOLE INVOLVED PROCESS related to a STRIFE BATTLE that your Unc really seemed to push every once and a while when you were younger. It's waned, lately, though. You travel outside and unlock the door and-

> Joan: GET INTERRUPTED

You turn around to see none other than MAJOR TOM! He has burst through the door with barely a crack preventing him from crashing through in his ELECTRIC POWERED MOBILITY DEVICE. He is able to land on the ground behind you and do some sick donuts around you. Damn your goldfish is so cool.

He seems unable to settled down. Probably feeding time already.

> Joan: Open mailbox.

You open the mailbox and find that much to your surprise there are TWO packages! There is one delicately wrapped and bowed GREEN package, clearly from CG. The other is...also GREEN? The package however isn't a box as the others have been, it's a colored envelope with a bulge to suggest something's been stuffed inside. ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> Joan: Feed the major.

You open the top of Major Tom's MOTORIZED FISH BOWL and sprinkle in some of his favorite FISH FLAKES, finally removing them from your sylladex. God damn if he isn't the COOLEST GOLDFISH IN THE WORLD. How many other goldfish know how to play fetch? You think probably very few.

> Joan: Captchalogue mail.

You store the MYSTERY ENVELOPE in your sylladex beneath the GREEN PACKAGE before closing the mailbox and heading back inside with the Major in tow. You bring the package back upstairs with the others before opening it. You'll also take this time to inspect the envelope.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

==>

You open the envelope to find a pair of CDs placed inside, separated and packaged by bubble wrap. each of the CDs is black with a STRANGE FOUR BLOCK HOUSE, the color of which is a serene blue. One of the CDs is marked as SERVER, the other is marked as CLIENT. Aside the two CDs is a note, written in an interesting lime colored scrawl.

Hello! I would like to play a game with you and your friends! We haven't had the pleasure of meeting Joan, but I would like to and, if you're willing, be your newest friend! Please install these discs so we can meet and I can explain further.

The other package obviously from your good friend Orin however is far less mysterious. The packaging comes off cleanly and elegantly, the bow is one of those you only rarely see around Christmas, but its color matches nonetheless. Inside is, as the trend has gone, a gift and a NOTE. The gift is the HEAD of a strange, robotic humanoid that lacks any features to give it gender or identity. Its eyes are a glass blue, and spewing out from its neck are various wires meant to be plugged into a PC.

The note reads accordingly:

Dear Joan,

I hope this package is received in good health. I write to you hoping this package finds you on the day of, and that you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed fine tuning the damn thing over all these months in preparation. Meet J.O.I, or Joan's Online Interface. It's an incredibly smart A.I I've designed that can manage email, pesterlogs and even files on your computer. Despite the head unfortunately I haven't fine tuned the Chat Bot element to it that allows for it to be like Siri (the voice commands were nearly impossible).

Regardless, I suppose this is the portion where I discuss my sentimentality towards you. You are aware I am rather uncomfortable with this area outside the context of poetry. Prose robs me of any sentiment nor flowery language I could otherwise throw at you to satisfy the birthday need for congratulations and appreciation. Perhaps I'll write a poem for you to describe things in more revised, proficient terms.

But, as unsatisfying a way as it is to describe it. I appreciate you Joan. You are my best friend and I do mean that. You are the easiest to talk to, the best to ask advice from and a great person to play games with online. We should do it more often.

Best,

caesuraGiddyup [CG]

==>

You also procure a NOTE from your UNC to match the trend, of course. The note reads:

DEAR JOAN, IF YOU ARE REAIDNG THIS THEN THAT MEANS YOU HAVE MANAGED TO PROCURE THE THIRD GIFT.

THE CLUE TO THE FOURTH IS AS FOLLOWS:

WHAT GETS BIGGER THE MORE YOU TAKE AWAY?

I AM SO, SO PROUD OF YOU.

​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> Joan: Inspect haul.

After reading the second HEARTFELT LETTER of the day you return the UNFORTUNATELY NAMED DEVICE into it's box; You'll test it out after the hunt is over, there's still one gift left, after all. The DISKS on the other hand are interesting, but you don't think it's particularly safe to run MYSTERIOUS PROGRAMS FROM STRANGERS on your personal computer. You're the responsible one.

> "A hole"

The last clue of the hunt, but what could it mean? As far as you know, there aren't any immediate holes anywhere nearby. And you're not about to start digging up random holes in the forest with nothing to go on.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

==>

Seems like you're getting some messages from another friend!

​

Spoiler: Pesterlog

-– tributaryTeardrops [TT] began pestering cosmogenicAtelier [CA] at 11:20 --

TT: hiiiiiiiiiii joan!!!!!!
TT: happy birthday girl!!!!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh im so like totally excited!
TT: are you as excited as i am excited???
CA: Thanks, and thanks for the gift as well.
CA: I don’t think it is humanly possible for anyone to match your levels of excitement about anything.
TT: wait you got my gift already???
TT: aw, geez, i’m so embarrassed! knowing you read that sappy note and everything
CA: I did.
CA: I couldn’t find anything out about it in the Incomplete Encyclopedia of Forests et al.
CA: Where did you even find it?
TT: oh, well...that is a tough question to answer?
TT: not because i don’t wanna tell you but because it sort of came to me under strange circumstances
TT: and it’s a little...complicated, sorry
CA: That certainly sounds strange and complicated.
CA: Well, I’ll keep you posted on any herbaceous updates on our little friend here.
CA: I am quite curious to see what he turns into.
TT: from what i know about the little guy, he’s sure to be just what you need when you need it
TT: anyway, i am excited!!!!
TT: excited because today is gonna be so awesome joan, you have no idea
CA: Oh? Do you know something I don’t?
CA: Are you keeping secrets from me?
TT: well...i don’t wanna spoil any kind of surprise
TT: but my sources say today is going to be eventful!
TT: and perhaps that will try and test you sometimes joan, but i know that no matter what you’re going to come out of this for the better
TT: er...oh gosh, i’m sounding pretty weird right now aren’t i?
CA: Not any weirder than normal, to be frank.
CA: This... wouldn’t have anything to do with a pair of mysterious game discs that may or may not have found their way into my mailbox, would it?
TT: ...wait, you got that too?????
TT: joan i honestly have no idea why those ended up there
TT: or in my mailbox, either
CA: So they weren’t from you.
CA: Great, mysterious games from unknown parties.
CA: Just what I always wanted.
CA: Have you ran them?
TT: no, no
TT: i wanted to talk to you about them!
TT: the note seemed nice enough, wanting to meet me, be my friend
TT: and honestly? if it was from an email, now way in hell
TT: but the package...i dunno, it made it weird, like i should trust it even though it seems more untrustworthy
TT: does that make sense?
CA: I don’t know.
CA: Trusting enigmatic packages is how you get an anthrax outbreak.
CA: But on the other hand I kind of know what you mean.
CA: Are you going to run it?
TT: ...yes
TT: the box kind of reminds me of what my sources say
TT: that this is going to be an eventful day, that today is important for a lot of reasons
TT: i’ll run it if you do
TT: hm, maybe i should ask the boys?
CA: It would be pertinent to know if they also received copies.
CA: And if they’re labelled “server” and “client” then I can only assume we’re meant to play it together.
CA: Why have a server for a singleplayer game, after all?
TT: oh yeah, that does make sense doesn’t it!
TT: haha, i don’t know if i’d be excited or even more weirded out if i found out the boys got copies
CA: You can ask them and figure stuff out while I finish up the scavenger hunt for GG’s present.
CA: Speaking of, you wouldn’t know what sort of place the clue “a hole” would be referring to, would you?
TT: gg?
TT: i thought he wasn’t…
TT: aw, jeez
TT: i shouldn’t have said anything
TT: um, hole?
TT: uhhhh...joan i really suck at riddles
CA: Can’t blame a girl for trying.
CA: I’ll keep looking, let me know how your interrogations go.
TT: best of luck joan!
TT: if anyone can figure it out, you can!!!!
TT: bye joan! Ttyl
CA: Talk soon.

​

==> Joan: Ponder riddle.

You try and ponder the ultimate riddle your Unc gave you to unlock what is supposedly your final friend's gift to you. But your attention is broken by a quick red flash proceeded by a huge BOOM in the distance. Past the treeline, the source of the emanation, is a billowing column of smoke that reaches towards the midmorning sky.

You would wager, were you uninformed about the RULES of the hunt, that this is your newly created hole. But as your Unc made clear in the first note, THREE presents must be found indoors, while one (technically two if you count the mysterious lime parcel) were already discovered outdoors. The last present is still waiting for you within your home.

Suddenly, another FLASH and BOOM emanate loudly from the other side of the house. The column of smoke DAUNTINGLY grow as the treeline in the opposite horizon catches on to the meteor's heat much faster than its predecessor. This doesn't look good. ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> Joan: Panic and check out the explosion!

While you could absolutely FLIP THE FUCK OUT like some form of rabid weasel, you instead follow FOREST FIRE SAFETY by staying indoors and turning off the HOUSE GAS via the control box in your BOILER ROOM. Safety first.

> Joan: Find final gift.

You would definitely search while you wait for your uncle to return from wherever he currently is, but unfortunately you have no idea where "hole" refers to. You're a bit STUMPED, tree pun not intended.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

==>

Unfortunately as you think, and you hear more meteors impact on the property surrounding you, no answer readily comes to mind. Reasonably your attention is diverted almost wholly to the cacophony of meteors falling around, making more and more noise as time goes on. You get a message from your pal.

​

Spoiler: Pesterlog

-– tributaryTeardrops [TT] began pestering cosmogenicAtelier [CA] at 11:35 --

TT: joan!
TT: install the game, like, right now
TT: are there meteors falling around your house????? i think you're in danger
TT: i think i just got a pesterlog notification from the person that sent the disc
TT: install the client. NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

​

​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> Joan: Install game.

Following the panicked and cryptic advice of your friend you return to the confines of your room, thankful that the GAME DISCS are free and open in your sylladex.

Unsure of how it will help the situation, you install the CLIENT.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

> Joan: Connect with server.

You form the FIRST CLIENT SERVER PAIRING of your session! Whatever that means. TT begins to message you some more, but you become too distracted to notice a rambling and pressured explanation of the sudden entourage of GIZMOS whirling about your house.

You are given devices familiar to us: CRUXTRUDER, ALCHEMITTER and TOTEM LATHE. They are all here now. Your move to figure out what to do with them.

First, open the cruxtruder.

>Joan: Reach your hand in the hole, find last present. ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> Joan: Engage in archaic magiscience.

You attempt to open the CRUXTRUDER in the visitor's centre. It's far too heavy for you, but luckily your friend TT drops the entire display marking the local nature trails onto it, cracking it open like a carbonated beverage after being shaken. A blue ball of light that you wouldn't know is called a KERNELSPRITE appears from the top; another mystery, it'll have to wait a moment.

You turn the wheel on the side of the Cruxtruder, extruding the CRUXITE within into dowels that promptly enter your sylladex. It's role seemingly finished for now (aside from the ominous countdown that has now appeared), you leave the machine to move to the next. You arrive in the kitchen at the TOTEM LATHE where the PRE-PUNCHED CARD already waits for you. Putting things in the obvious places, you carve your first CRUXITE TOTEM and head to the final machine while TT does something off-screen with the Kernelsprite.

At the ALCHEMITER located squarely in the middle of the common living space, you slam the totem into the pedestal clearly made for it. Simultaneously woven from light and pulled from the ether, a CRUXITE ARTEFACT is created.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

==>

Blazing around your house are now DOZENS of meteors which shower your local landscape with fire and destruction. You can only wonder with a mix of dread and confusion where your Uncle got off to in the ensuing chaos. Surely he'd be smarter than to wander off during the apocalypse....right? You go through the process while TT fusses more and more with the Kernelsprite.

You don't have the time to focus on that right now. Wait, where's Major Tom?! You plant the dowel and produce a BLUE JIGSAW PUZZLE. Damn it! Not another puzzle! You may either see it for what it was always meant to be, or discard its meaning entirely to make something else. What picture do you form from these broken pieces? ​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> Joan: Carve out alternate solution.

You don't have time to go through the process of sorting and arranging pieces to solve the puzzle correctly, so you opt for brute forcing the first thing that fits with the pieces given. The finished product isn't even rectangular.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

> Joan: Enter.

The house and world warps around you as you jam the final piece of the "puzzle" into place. The picture that forms is something that makes you squint a little. It looks like, a hole? Maybe a bursting explosion? It's tough to tell at this juncture in your journey, and as it vanishes to confirm you're cruxite entry process, you will maybe never know what it was until much later in retrospect.

The world goes cold and black, and overhead you see the meteors that were about to obliterate you and your home completely vanish into an inky abyss. Monsters are looming, creatures that escape your direct vision and creep only in your periphery.

...where are you?

> Joan: Shift perspective.

You are now another young girl, in another young girl's bedroom. This young girl is, well, totally excited to share her part of the narrative with you! She is the very same young girl who helped the previous young girl establish a connection with a client server pairing, allowing her to escape death! And from the looks of the window panes of this HOUSE BOAT, it seems like she might need the same here soon.

This girl's name is...her name...

> Enter name.

You go to enter something predictably immature and hurtful only to find that this young girl has already been named! The placronym reads simply: Opal Morales.

> Examine room.

Your name is OPAL MORALES. Scattered about your room on your DAD's tiny houseboat are innumerable sculptures, knick knacks and tchotchkes you've collected from YARD SALES or have otherwise created yourself over the years. You have a fondness for SCULPTURE that has lead you to creating many TOTEMS and mini STATUES to your heart's content. Also stacked on countless shelves are MASON JARS, TERRARIUMS and CLASS DISPLAY CASES holding dead and alive FLORA and FAUNA, various HERBS and SEEDLINGS you use for your HERBALISTIC PRACTICES and also just for DECORATION.

You fancy yourself a bit of a WITCH, collecting and crafting all kinds of natural remedies from the bayou surrounding you. You enjoy testing some of these remedies on yourself even when you don't really have any illness or injury. But it's still fun to PRETEND, after all. Ah, and of course donning your walls are a few posters of the HORROR MOVIES you've come to love over the years. Not actually good modern horror movies, mind you, but the schlocky stuff from the early 20th century you think is fun and more interesting to watch.

What will you do? ​