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

[atailoftwoworlds]

[Well, now that he thinks of it, he probably should have looked where he threw.] All right. I guess I should have looked where I was aiming. My bad. Heh.

[mockiri]

[She nods sagely.]

My bad.

[She lifts her arm pointedly, and wrapped around what qualifies as her wrist, mostly buried in long black feathers, is an identical leather banding.]

Get into trouble!

[These things are random and a bit weird, aren't they?]

[atailoftwoworlds]

Wow - you have one too? [Welp, it could be a coincidence but...]

Hey, uh.....did you find it in your backpack? Do you know where you got it?

[mockiri]

That’s true!

[She offers up an exaggerated shrug, giving herself a pat on the back over one shoulder to indicate her bag- she's not wearing it right now, but yep, just found it there. It seemed harmless and there were other people wearing them, so might as well, right?]

[atailoftwoworlds]

So I guess you know 'bout as much as I do. [Although she doesn't seem to care much about it.] Did you try to throw yours out too?

[mockiri]

[That earns him a surprised shake of her head. Why would she throw it away? It's hers now! However it got there. She has too few possessions in this world (or any) to start throwing them away just because she doesn't know where they came from. After a moment's thought, she makes an inquisitive chirp, holding a hand out.]

I’ll carry this leather to the cart.

[Does he not want it? She'll take his, too.]

[atailoftwoworlds]

[Zidane's been in this place for eight months and it's not as if he makes a habit of throwing things casually when he has to survive too. But because of the urge to talk about his feelings to his friends, he currently doesn't have the patience to sit down and think deeply about the significance of a random piece of leather. Not yet, anyway.] Uh......you sure? I mean, I don't want it but you sure you just want another piece of junk like this?

[mockiri]

[She shrugs. Why not? Leather is useful, even in small segments. Surely she can find something to do with it, and if not, it can be tossed. ...And not at people!]

[atailoftwoworlds]

Well, if you're really sure....Catch! [And he'll throw the piece of leather for her to grab it. See if she can find some use for it that he can't]

[mockiri]

[And she... tries to catch it, but she's four and has feather fingers so she's not especially dextrous. She does get it on the way down though, clapping it between her hands and tucking it into a pocket of her robe. Then she gives him a thumbs up. Thank you, mysterious monkey man!]

[atailoftwoworlds]

[You're welcome, mysterious little bird creature! In hindsight he probably should have taken her fingers into account, he realises. But never mind. He'll remember next time. Zidane gives a thumbs up back.]

Thanks! I owe ya, uh.....didn't catch your name.

[mockiri]

I am Kiri!

[Thank gods someone taught her to do that, as it's gotten a lot of mileage. And it's nice to be able to tell people who she is.]

/ sliding back to do laaaate tags

[atailoftwoworlds]

Kiri? Well, thanks again, Kiri. If ya find some use out of that scrap piece of leather, lemme know!

np np

[mockiri]

[She offers up a cheery wave and a chirp, continuing on her way to wherever she was headed before the rude leather interruption. At least she got something out of it!]