August Aftermath: Plants Solidify Sunshine

[lifeaftr_mods]

AUGUST AFTERMATH: OVERGROWTH

Who: Everyone
What: You're back, for better or worse
When: August 19th and onward
Where: The Storyteller's Temple on Ensō, and anywhere else
Warnings: Please mark as you go!

Optimism Doesn't Change the Facts

By the end of the 17th, the last of those suffering from the Overgrowth have either pulled through or succumbed entirely. For the next two days, their bodies will decompose and the flowers will feed on their remains, flourishing into bright patches of color.

If you perished and choked on your flowery words, never fear. Come the 19th, you will be stirring awake in the Storyteller's Temple. You will be experiencing a few...side effects, as it happens, while your body readjusts. It will take something like a week for those symptoms to disperse, though the Storyteller isn't around to inform you of this.

What is around? Aside from your own freshly revived selves, there are a great deal of flowers, and all of them are sickeningly familiar. Scarlet gladiolus. Blushing dog rose. Soft yellow buttercups. Garnet-colored geraniums. Dark nodules of fly orchids. Rich violets. Periwinkle hydrangeas. Peppered yellow speckles of goldenrod. Jade green zinnias. Red spears of snapdragons. Pale begonias. Pink spangles of mountain laurel. The very flowers that killed you are now growing all over the Temple, inside and out, in rich abundance, cloying the air with their perfumed fragrance.

Don't be concerned. These ones certainly aren't going to be spreading to your flesh anytime soon.

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If your character died during this event, please let us know if you have not already. Death penalties have been reduced for this event, but we still need to account for them!

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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[vagabone]

[Well, half the message gets through to his frazzled brain. He's still more fatigued than normal, and his best isn't all that great to begin with. But that's no problem, he hardly remembers feeling any differently.]

No? Okay, what do you want to do?

[Something, or they wouldn't be holding hands. He gives hers a friendly little squeeze.]

[catpiper]

[That's the q of the day, isn't it? How does she get a specific game across without saying it?

It's a stroke of pure genius that helps her figure out her next move-she runs in place and then throws their joined hands up in the air as a victory pose.

What does that mean??? It means something. Ready to play, my friend? The rules are lost to time and she's ready to go right now immediately.]

[vagabone]

[Does she want to race him? Héctor's pretty speedy for a guy with a bum leg, but... maybe now isn't the time. Give him a few days of rest after the flowers sucked his 'life' away.]

No, no, let's not and say you won. You're faster than me, chiquita, you don't have to prove it.

[catpiper]

[That's a good point and since she's the victor of this imaginary game, she relents and goes down her list of terrible activities. No tag, no hide and seek, that leaves-

She lets go of his hand to dig in the earth, find a decent size rock and-

Boom! She lightly kicks towards him without much force. The sting of defeat will hurt more than a rock being whacked against a bony knee, but she's trying to be cautious while throwing it around. It's time for soccer.]

[vagabone]

[Better idea! He grins a bit and kicks it back her way, also lightly. It's a rock. They hurt.]

I need to get you a real ball sometime. Oh! Hey, I know--have you heard of charades?

[Something they can do that doesn't involve flinging rocks at each other!]

[catpiper]

[Thank god there's a sensible adult around to keep her from flinging rocks everywhere. Charades-she's never heard of it and there's an immediate shift in her expression, as she tries to work out what it could be.

Is that food? An island? Tell her, skelefriend.]

[vagabone]

[Hopefully if she came back hungry she'd have the sense to get food herself. He's forgotten what hunger is like, honestly.]

You think of something, something you can act out without saying a word, and I try to guess what you're thinking of.

[A beat.]

Not cats, it can't be cats. You have to really try to stump me.

1/2

[catpiper]

[Wow, first of all-

Accurate. Because her mind had wandered to cats immediately and she had been trying to figure out how to best portray their incredible kitty wonder. Now she's at a complete and total loss!!! Hector, why you gotta hit betray??

Until-]

2/2

[catpiper]

[It hits her.

That's fine-cats are off the table. It's whatever. Her terrible goblin mind has another idea.

She ambles over to the jungle's edge, picking up a handful of leaves. Most of the pile goes on her own head, but she holds a single leaf up to her chin.

Guess who punk]

[vagabone]

[Oh who could it be?? He covers his goatee with his bony fingers, not really hiding his stupid grin at all.]

Ehh, I don't know. Gotta give me more than that.

[That's a lie and he isn't apologizing for it.]

[catpiper]

[Is her leaf hat and leaftee not clear enough? Is it winning or losing if he can't guess? Should she be trying to make this harder? How does she win this new game?

The leaves were already falling off and she tries to keep the remainder there by holding her head upright as she rummages through the jungles for more Charades Winning Tools, but it's futile effort. They flutter away in the wind and it's the worst!! Bye hat, that's fine. She's got other tools for victory.

She places a couple sticks against her legs and holds the leaftee up again. BOOM. SKELETON BODY.

Guess now punk!!!]

[vagabone]

[Apparently not, because he is a cruel cruel man and this is adorable. A funny imitation of him for a change.]

Ay, I don't know. [He turns in a slow circle, thinking so hard, see. Do it, do it.] Come on, you have to act it out for me!

[catpiper]

[Regardless of the outcome, she's giving herself 25 points for stumping him this long. That feels like a victory she needs in her life. One hand is being used for the leaftee, so she's only able to hold one stick against her leg while she hobbles across the grass. Which works out, since she's trying to imitate him anyway.

HOBBLE HOBBLE. GUESS PUNK.]

[vagabone]

[What is it with kids imitating the 'skeleton walk'? It's shameful, being reminded of the pitiful shape he's in. Not that he can be upset with her right now, after all that's been going on.

His grin fades for a moment, dimmer when it returns.]

Okay! I have my guess! Are you ready? [A very deliberate pause. Oh, the suspense!!] Is it me?

[catpiper]

[A beaming smile appears on her face as she lets the leaftee float to the ground and hands him one of the sticks as a prize. There you go!! He did it. She's so proud and even claps her hands a couple times to show that.

Now it's his turn-charades it up.]

[vagabone]

[Hooray, a stick! He can... poke things with it, or just wave it around.

It takes him a bit to realize she's not starting another round--sure, he could, but how is she going to get her answers out?]

No, no, you think of something else for me to guess.

[catpiper]

[By writing with her terrible goblin finger in the dirt!! She's got this.

Which is why she points at him again-how's he supposed to claim victory? She's a cheater at heart, but he deserves a shot at winning. They can silently gesture at each other until someone comes by to question what's happening here.]

[vagabone]

[Fun, that's what. Exactly what all kids need.

He scrapes a finger on the stick, thinking about what she might actually know exists... aha. Holding the stick to his weird bone lips, he pretends to blow into it, tapping fingers up and down against it. Get it??]

[catpiper]

[She does. Recognition flashes across her face in an instant and she's beaming. How could she not, after the incredible gift Tim gave her all those months ago?

She holds her stick up to her own lips, silently copying his movements. It's flute time, punk!! She doesn't need to guess with the dirt-her heart knows what this is.

And what a great concert it's gonna be!! Time to play band.]

[vagabone]

[Sorry, Ren, it doesn't last long. Only until he sees she figured it out and then he jams the stick under his rope belt, beaming.]

Right, there, you got it! Great! Now it's your turn again.

[catpiper]

[Okay, she's starting to see the appeal of this extremely quiet game and digs through the darkest, deepest recesses of her mind to come up with a subject that's not him or a cat.

She takes quick note of her surroundings and when an idea strikes her, she stands absolutely still, holding both arms up in the air.

GUESS.]

[vagabone]

[He's not faking it this time when he has to think it over. Huh.]

Stick? Tree? Tower?

[Three guesses? Héctor, you filthy cheat!]

[catpiper]

[He's too good at this game. Tree was the answer and she jumps up and down at the second guess. Good job, ya skelebean. She holds up one hand, wiggling all her little fingers. He got five points for that.]

[vagabone]

[Well, he might be winning, but there are no prizes... mostly because neither of them have much. It's all in good fun!

He hesitates for a minute, quiet, and then... he begins to put on a show of hopping around (not very high, because ow) and making the most ridiculous exaggerated chicken squawks. Look at that, he's cheating again! Making actual sounds!]

Bawk bawk bawk bawk bawk!!

[catpiper]

[It's clear she wants to laugh by the way her mouth opens and how she steps back to ground herself at the sudden burst of life coming from this erratic skeleton. It's incredible. She can't make the sound, but she can copy his movements, which she does with gusto.

BAWK BAWK.]