mayorityvote | Your New Life

Your New Life

Another New Life

You wake up to the sound of surf, much, much closer than you've ever heard it unless you moseyed down to Puffin Pier back in the old days. What old days...? Why, the days when you had a body, of course. The memories are probably coming back by now, jumbled along with everything else you lost. What a wake-up call.

But at least the ocean is real, unlike your dubiously fragmented remembrances. This little island out in the middle of nowhere sports a crude sign reading ~~DUCK~~ DAMNED ISLAND that seems like it's really railing against whatever fate you've been left to. There are little seashells and sparkling fragments amongst the sand to the left of your face. If you look further, to the left and right, it seems you're not the only one who's woken up here; it's considerably less cushy than your last wakeup, but maybe that's not a bad thing.

Here, you're free, albeit... kind of incorporeal, as you'll soon find out. The island is covered in pretty little trees that don't quite form a forest, bowed over the really beautiful sandy beach that is way prettier than the one on the mainland. One, slightly rickety treehouse -- bare of anything, because incorporeal ghosts don't need furniture, of course -- peeks out from between the leaves. This is, apparently, your home away from home now.

Finally, there's a small bay-like area on the island that leads you to a strange-looking storm drain, marked with a symbol that's not-quite-an-apple. Stepping in will wash you alllllll the way back up to Puffin Pier, right where the sewers normally let out.

Oh, and once you step onto the mainland? You're now a duck. What kind of quacking afterlife is this.

((OOC: the tldr; about death is here!))

Main Nav Week Two

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[ Is this how she finds out she can die twice???? Morning Dews user Duck_Amy is hiding behind Keito as bad noise is approached. ]

[The noise actually sounds a lot like... idle chatter?

Somebody down there is nattering on and on about fish! fish! many fish north! and neighbor! noisy neighbor from under! many neighbors! in a very strange tone. They do not know anyone who talks like this. Also, in between all of this chatter is another weird noise, like a low grumble or even a zipper being pulled. At this point, they can probably recognize it as a puffin's call.

If they approach the cliff, by the way, there are shrubs on the ledges to hide in, not too bad for a small duck. There's also the end of the pier. But they'll need to look down still to find their eavesdroppees(??).]

[ wow that's mysterious. keito's first instinct is absolutely to be even more nosy and use the shrubs to his advantage. but he also makes sure amy's still around and not magically kidnapped by whatever these creatures (puffins??? hopefully not sinister ones?) are.

anyway he's going to step as close as he can while hidden and look down.

is. is he gonna regret this? ~~it's not like maxeta or something right?~~ ]

[ Amy’s the most comically shaky duck in existence, probably, but she still manages to shuffle over to—

To look at Keito looking down. That’s still something. Distressed noise. Please don’t fall…]

[He sees a bunch of grapes in the shape of a puffin.]

[--No, that was a gag tag, but I'm leaving it there.

They can see a small colony of puffins that have taken up residence on the cliffs just below the pier; and this also means that their nests are right above the sewer entrance! Wonder which noisy neighbors they're talking about.....

Speaking of which, they can see the two puffins closest to the pier sitting on their nests and just... talking to each other?? There's more grumbling puffin noises, and now that they're close enough, they can tell that there's a slightly delayed mechanical voice that follows and that they can understand: Forest? Noisy forest neighbors! Always! and New neighbors, new clothes! New clothes, see?

Both of the puffins have stuck flowers into their feathers....... and also, just FYI, you couldn't understand any of the puffins before.

Investigate more closely?]

[ wow who could that be? it's not like there were a bunch of disasters living nearby (?) for the past couple of weeks... (but hey! they're not part of the forest? it's...not part of the forest, right?)

keito stares at amy and points at his ears before pointing to them. he's trying to ask if she can understand them too, but that's kind of hard when being silent. hope she's good at charades!

anyway, who cares about the weird neighbors, let's learn more about ~new puffin fashion trends~! ]

Edited 2024-03-20 21:42 (UTC)

[ What? He’s pointing? They can hear the same thing… is it something she needs to see?? Amy comes closer. Amy gets right up next to him, leans over to look, and—

becomes a falling, quacking ball of feathers. ]

[BONK, BONK, PLOOF!

The falling, quacking ball of feathers turns into a feather storm when she startles the puffins -- they fluff up from their nests a bit in startlement, but refuse to leave since, you know. Nests. (Or rather, burrows, tucked in between the protrusions on the cliff and difficult to actually fall onto from above. Luckily!) Eventually they settle back down, grumbling suspiciously at her and gaping their beaks to try and look more intimidating. They do not look a great deal more intimidating, except perhaps to a particularly small duck. They are puffins.

Noisy under neighbor! they cry at her, No egg for you! No egg! No fish!

Fun fact: There's a few stray fish on the cliffside that broke Amy's fall. Congrats on smelling literally fishy now.

As for Keito, if he was looking closely while all this hullabaloo was going on -- not only will he see that the puffins have also decorated their nests with flowers, but he'll see something glinting in one of the nests. Just a wee glimpse.]

[ If her quacking is translated here, it’s going to sound a lot like ] I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY [ while she scrambles to get out of the slip-n-slide Fish Pit. ]

Don’t hurt me!!!!!

[ oh fishsticks, he didn't expect that.

it's not like a diamond sort-of-glint is it? as much as he wants to investigate it more, amy's safety is priority here. also he can't just walk up to a nest and not get puffin-mauled? so after a glance, keito slowly drops his way down to where amy is, while repeating apologies. ]

Umm...I'm terribly sorry about all this! We don't want eggs or fish from you! We just came here by accident and didn't mean to mess with your beautiful nests.

[ he hopes they can magically understand him too??? ]

[If they're listening closely while quacking 91 apologies per minute, they'll hear... mechanical-sounding puffin noises??? It definitely isn't coming from the pair of angry puffins staring them (or mostly Amy) down, since they're much, much louder. But despite all of that, they don't attack just yet.

Hmph! Other under neighbors quieter! Very very much quieter, one of them sounds more like a drum than a bird now, making displeased thumping noises somehow with its beak; while the other-- Quieter and don't move! All the under neighbors!

At least it seems as though everyone can understand each other, even if it looks like they're still being treated like the home invaders they are........ The glint did not look much like a diamond. Too dull for that.

After a moment more of giving them the evil birdie eye:

Presents? Presents? Forgive for presents!

... apparently puffins are the live and let live sort. Possibly because they're always living with like 34 members of their family.]

Edited (forgot m'bold) 2024-03-20 22:24 (UTC)

[ uhh that's sure a lot of things to digest at once. he'll definitely keep all that in mind!

thank goodness keito's still carrying his sack of random stuff for reasons. one of which is a glass jar of paper confetti leftover from his ill-advised darts booth. he carefully fishes it out and holds it out as smoothly as possible. sudden movements sound like a really bad idea right now.

while he's doing all this, can he look around to see if he can get a better idea of where the mechanical sounds are coming from? ]

[ Amy is going to try soooo hard to be quieter, but there’s no totally suppressing the quack sniffles. Quackiffles if you will. She’s soooo under control.

Keito save her with paper confetti. Save her Keito. ]

[Fear of sudden movements is only on the one side, apparently, because one of the puffins darts forward and plucks the glass jar from him, curiously pecking and papping at it with its beak.

Color! Color, flowers, together, color! Color, fruit, together, color...

While it's all distracted with its new prize, Keito can also hear the continued translation noises -- it's definitely coming from one of these two burrows. The other puffin bobs its head up, looking like it's squaring its shoulders. Perhaps it's indignant? Its neighbor (puffin) seems to have no intention of sharing.

Two sorries! Two presents! Two visits! Two presents!

Just how many presents are needed to make up for their error.......]

Edited 2024-03-20 22:59 (UTC)

[ In pure panic, Amy tries to gift a puffin a fish from the fish pile. ]

H-here!

Yes, that's completely understandable. She wants to apologize too, you see?

[ okay, looks like amy's up! in the meantime he'll mull over the whole color, flowers and fruit thing while trying to sloooooowly step a little close to the burrows in the guise of shuffling his feet sheepishly. he wants to see what's there... why couldn't he have bought binoculars? classic detective blunder. ]

[Fish! No fish for you!

Apparently regifting is frowned upon. Also:

Two presents! Two houses! And two presents! Two sorries! Houses and houses!

The puffin that had drawn itself up stamps its foot like a little soldier. Luckily, the fact that it’s all stood up and stiff means Keito has a better view at the burrow past it. There’s definitely something else in there. Perhaps...... is that paper? Looks like it’s been appropriated as part of the nest.]

[ amy why.... okay new plan time!

guess who conveniently has a SHIT TON of paper in his sack. he's gonna take a huuuuge stack of various cute stationary out, as well as two paper bookmarks with pressed flowers. this should be four items? maybe? he can dig out more stuff as needed.

your move, puffins. he's gonna watch their movements closely, especially the ones nearest the burrows. ]

I see you're using paper, so how do these look? And what do you think about pressed flowers?

Edited (i forgot dialogue again) 2024-03-20 23:22 (UTC)

[Flowers, new clothes! See, new clothes!

The standing puffin seems pretty excited about this new and colorful assortment, flourishing its wings and beak a little at its neighbor; the puffin with the paper confetti has somehow managed to get the jar open and now there is suddenly confetti. Everywhere. It's a veritable explosion of confetti for all parties and all party-like.

Little flowers, new clothes! Little flowers, new house! ... is apparently the reply. Are they just showing off to each other. Now both of them are staring at Keito's papers expectantly.

He has an Audience.]

[ an audience... okay, he can talk, he likes talking. ]

I don't have any other little flowers on me, but if you want me to change the shape of these for your house, I can do that.

[ it's hard to do in duck form, but he does his best to fold some of the paper still nearby him into something bird-like and then crumple others into a neat little ball. that's nice and distracting for puffins, right? a total mood-raiser after all that? at least he hopes so. ]

Did you need more of these for your nests?

[The puffins bob their heads, raining confetti.

Two sorries! Two presents! Two visits, two presents!

Then the one that first received the glass jar waddles back into its burrow and comes out with... a sheaf of lined journal papers. It places it in front of the papers that Keito is assembling.

Two neighbors, two presents.

Judging by the way it's tapping its beak against the folded papers, it seems rather pleased. Apparently, there is some sort of trading going on.

These particular papers contain extensive text that seems to be written in some kind of code. What Keito can read is probably what appear to be little puffin, duck, and other bird emojis written down and sprinkled throughout the entries. There doesn't appear to be a way to read this just yet.]

[ he may not be able to read it, but it doesn't take him long to realize that he needs to keep this safe for later. all that paper is going straight into his sack before it can get mixed up with his offered stationary. ]

Oh, thank you so much, that's very sweet of you! I'll be sure to keep it safe, so you should take this in return, Puffin [ -san ].

[ time to work particularly hard on making a nice fish-shape out of non-code paper for the puffin! and also small talk. puffins are hopefully even friendlier with more small talk, right? ]

It's such nice paper. Actually, it makes me curious where you got it from.

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mayorityvote - 2024-03-21 00:40 (UTC) - Expand

END

mayorityvote - 2024-03-21 00:42 (UTC) - Expand

[ They’re yelling about clothes. Amy does the next logical thing and drops the fish to wiggle out of her sweater and hold it out for the nearest puffin??? PUFFINS PLEASE ]

[........ The standing puffin does an impressive leap forward and starts wriggling itself into the sweater. It is now a bird with a sweater, and Amy is not. The puffin seems inordinately pleased with itself.

It struts around the ledge, seemingly showing off to all the thirty-odd some other puffins all around. There's more zippercalls and growling bird noises that come from both the cliff and seemingly deeper within it, or maybe that's the echo off the pier. There are a lot of puffins in the audience now.

The standing puffin, henceforth sweater puffin, struts back into its burrow and comes out with something glinting wrapped in more journal paper. Equivalent exchange is real.

Two neighbors, two presents! Presents! Presents!

Perhaps you should look more closely?]

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collisionheart - 2024-03-21 00:28 (UTC) - Expand

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mayorityvote - 2024-03-21 00:40 (UTC) - Expand

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