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]

[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.]

[vagabone]

[It's for the best that no one else is around, watching two goofs lose their minds and become chickens!! He flaps his 'wings' and bounces around on long (chicken) legs a little longer, then spins and faces her expectantly.]

You got it yet?

[catpiper]

[Of course she does!! Who do you take her for?? She's an animal expert. Expert, in the sense that this was a creature in the picture books she had as a child.

Boom, a weird bird is drawn in the dirt. Give her the points!!]

[vagabone]

There you go!

[Close enough, whatever, it's not an art contest.]

You win this time--your turn again.

[catpiper]

[When it's not a matter of life and death, she can be oddly competitive. Since he's pretty good at this game on his own and doesn't need her assistance, she can go all out. Show her true power. Somehow win this game of charades.

She stands ramrod straight and then extends her arms far to her sides, parts her feet outwards, like she's about to do some kind of stretch, but does nothing other than stand.

She is a Star. Twinkle, twinkle, good luck guessing this.]

[vagabone]

[Did he forget to tell her not to do the same thing twice? Surely she's not. Can't be tree again. He looks at her, skeptically, and... is stumped.]

Ah... the letter X?

[catpiper]

[Does this mean she's winning? It definitely feels like victory is close. She can taste it. Grasp it. Sees it in the sky above. A gold star well earned from an afternoon of charadeing.

Anyway, she gives herself five points. Nice. And sketches a small crescent moon in the dirt, before plopping down on the ground next to it, outstretched like the horrible star she's trying to be. Twinkle twinkle.]

[vagabone]

[He snaps his fingers a few times, an obnoxious habit that little children should absolutely not imitate!! Now he's got it.]

A star!

[catpiper]

[Yeah you did it!!

She holds up five whole fingers! Look at all these dope points!]