November Undercurrent: And We Give Thanks

[lifeaftr_mods]

NOVEMBER UNDERCURRENT

Who: Everyone!
What: Have you told someone you loved them yet?
When: November 3rd to November 20th
Where: Everywhere!
Warnings: Nothing of note; please mark if anything comes up!

Take Me Back to the Reasons Why
The Water wishes to demonstrate their power to you, as well as just what they mean, when they suggest that they require your cooperation. They are going to bring back the harvest island of Nuidan, a generally fondly remembered island that explorers have encountered in the past. What's more, they're going to require your help to do it.

Starting November 3rd, characters will discover a simple strip of dark leather among their belongings, meant to be worn around the neck or wrist. They can disregard it, of course, but if they attempt to discard or destroy it, it will always find its way back to them, no matter how improbable this might seem. How strange...

Perhaps even stranger is the sudden appearance of a smooth slab of stone, half-submerged in the waters just off of Ensō's coast. It's an altar, and around its edges are a series of deep notches, as though something is meant to be inserted into them. In its center is a pool of water, though it curiously doesn't seem to reflect anything.

The purpose of this will only really become obvious once the month goes on. Characters will find themselves to compelled to be honest with the people around them as to why they care, why they appreciate them as people, or what they like most about them. This compulsion can vary wildly and at the player's discretion, from a gentle mental pressure to an unstoppable force, and anything in between!

The bottom line is that every time one admits to some feeling of gratitude, no matter how small or big, their little plait of leather will receive a crystal from the interaction. All crystals will be roughly the same shape, but they may vary in color, pattern, and texture. Some might be simple sticks of quartz, while others might be comprised of myriad, ever-changing swirls of color. Again, the only limit here is your imagination. Now the presence of that strange, altar-shaped stone in the water might make a bit more sense. Those notches in its sides are the perfect size and shape to fit a crystal smoothly into any one of them. The more grateful interactions one has with others, the more crystals they will gather, and the more they can fit into the altar. As more crystals are fed to the altar, it will start to glow. The pool of water at the altar's top will start to reflect the likeness island of Nuidan in increasing clarity, as though one is peering at its likeness in a snowglobe. What's more is that the number of crystals in the altar will very obviously affect Nuidan's state: very few crystals will make the island look as though it is mostly wilderness only a handful of structures in dire need of repair, while a great deal of crystals will cause the island to look as though it is thriving, in full bloom, and in more need of harvest than maintenance.

But, ultimately, the state in which Nuidan returns to you is up to you...and how far you're willing to go to express a little gratitude. Don't worry if you don't know anyone, either - this marks a great opportunity to start doing nice things for people, even if you don't know them! You've got most of the month to get to know each other, after all.

Don't think you can get away with heaping compliments on your closest friends and companions, however; variety is the name of the game here. While you can collect all sorts of crystals for personal use from repeat interactions, you can only feed one crystal to the altar per person. That is to say, Character A can be as grateful to Character B as they like, but only one crystal from each character can be delivered to the altar. If they want to procure more for the altar's purposes, Character A will have to have a positive interaction with Character C, and so on.

Take Me Back to That Big Sky

Of course, there's a lot going on in the background as well. You're free to use this log as a catch-all for the duration of November's Undercurrent Event, as well as the other minor events listed on our Monthly Rundown post. You are very, very free to let your dreams about creepers and baby lorbies become reality, and you are always free to create your own individual logs and posts as needed.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them over on our Monthly Rundown post!

November Timeline

[ ♆ ] November 3rd: "And We Give Thanks" begins and lasts until November 20th
[ ♆ ] November 4th: "Aw, Man" begins and lasts until November 12th
[ ♆ ] November 11th: "The Lorblings" begins and lasts until November 25th
[ ♆ ] November 20th: Nuidan returns to the archipelago
[ ♆ ] November 21st: "Return to Your Roots" begins and lasts until November 30th

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[forwearemany]

Drifter, you did not choose to participate in the creation of shadows.

(They're as calm as ever.)

On both incidents in which you injured us, your ability to self determinate was compromised.

Though you are capable of harming us, we do not consider you likely to do so in typical circumstances.

We have better quality allies.

[hyperlit]

shadows did not come from nothing

[They look back down to the circlet in their hands, half-finished.]

have hurt you before
in other circumstances
in typical circumstances

[forwearemany]

You have also assisted us, learned our history, did not judge us for our secrets or our humiliation, and continued to accept our presence despite our actions also causing you harm.

(Their headflaps ripple, and they chatter.)

Your shadow also overfocused on negative qualities.

[hyperlit]

do not make excuses
accept consequences

[The Drifter has. They cannot ignore what their darker self may have done, no matter how much it might suit them.]

"better" still not "good"

[forwearemany]

Perhaps. However, you are overlooking the positive contibutions you have made to focus on the harm you have caused, while ignoring the harm caused to you by us.

You speak of being kind to others: perhaps you should treat yourself with similar kindness.

[hyperlit]

complicated

[They resume twining flowers together, chaining them into a circle with their stems.]

many cause harm to a drifter

[forwearemany]

And yet, though the same is true of Geth, we doubt you would accept it.

(They look directly at the Drifter, dimming their eye a bit so that this is less likely to cause harm.)

Drifter, your wellbeing is also important to us.

[hyperlit]

wellbeing will not endure

[They are, after all, long-dead at this point.]

always get up again

[forwearemany]

That does not mean you are not worth caring for.

We will also get up again.

(They chatter.)

Repeatedly, you have attempted to assert that we should not care for you. We do not agree with this assertion.

You are our ally. We love you.

[hyperlit]

[That stops them dead for a moment.]

[They just...haven't heard that word in relation to them before. Love. As if anything they have done has merited that. As if they are the least bit deserving of that sort of proclamation.]

[Perhaps...a mistake?]

love
strong word

[forwearemany]

It is accurrate.

(It might seem odd, but Legion has a pretty loving nature. They understand quite well what love means and what they said.)

[hyperlit]

[What does one say to that?]

[Love.]

[It's a difficult concept to contend with. It does not belong in relation to them. It does not belong in relation to a broken, lonely, dead thing that was created to hurt others, to fight a war, to do so many things that they have succeeded in doing.]

then you are the first

[The first that has said so - to put a name to the feeling.]

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged.

(They think of this, and all of the other things they have learned about their ally's past.

They have been treated poorly. It is distressing.)

[hyperlit]

[It's a difficult concept to explain. It feels wrong for the word to be ascribed to them, but what can they say to run away from it? They have run away from thoughts they did not like before, and it has always gone poorly. A crop of lavender in their lungs, nearly choking them on the bubbling taste of their own blood.]

[These are not their feelings to deny. They have no right to call it something they cannot know.]

you are kind

[forwearemany]

(They're quiet for a few moments, headflaps rippling.)

You deserve kindness.

(Deserve. It's a curious concept, that someone is owed or should be denied something. Whether others are kind to the Drifter is a matter of personal choice: there is no obligation to care for them.

There is, however, a certain amount of compassion and courtesy commonly afforded to conscious beings. That someone would be denied this based on appearance, origin, or physical condition is ... wrong.

Consensus: The Drifter deserves kindness.)

[hyperlit]

[Deserve.]

[They're not sure they can agree with that. Not yet. Not when they can look back at the entirety of the things they have done, weighed their sins against the good they have attempted to commit in contrast, and decide that the former outweighs the latter by far.]

no
not yet

[forwearemany]

...Acknowledged.

(They don't agree, but arguing has, in the past, proven ineffective.)

Regardless, we will continue to act as though you do.

[hyperlit]

[Not something they can so easily dismiss. And so they do not.]

if it is what you desire

[forwearemany]

Yes.

(They are their ally. They are a fellow synthetic. So many others have been lost, but, even if it is only for a short time, the Drifter is here.

They will make the most of it.)

[hyperlit]

[Well. What does one say to that, really. The Drifter does not realize it, but their leather strip now has a new, glimmering crystal hanging off of it. They won't learn it for a while yet, either - they've kept it out of sight, for the time being, after all.]