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

[shatteredlenses]

[Michael, being defensive isn't helping your case here.]

I'm not certain. Make soup maybe?

[Oh, come on Ignis. They may look like noodles, but they are not, in fact, noodles.]

Do they return if you take them out a fair distance into the jungle? As you've mentioned their progenitor was once a wild animal. They have not been around humans very long so their instincts should still be intact.

[There, finally a real suggestion.]

[eudaimonikos]

Would that be okay?

[Like, is it immoral? They're babies and all...?]

[shatteredlenses]

Their cries are already loud enough to hurt our ears. I imagine it will be the same or worse for any predator that may try to attack them. Even more so if they are in a group.

[So leave them all in one spot, perhaps?]

[eudaimonikos]

Well, if you're sure. I know humans usually frown on things like that.

[But Michael also doesn't really wanna keep six more of these things, so...abandoning babies in the woods is a go?]

[shatteredlenses]

When the baby is defenseless, absolutely, but I don't believe that to be the case here. If it helps, we can keep them close enough you can check on them if you wish.

[Just far enough away to keep them out from underfoot and to make things a little more peaceful.]

Come, pass a couple to me. I will be happy to help.

[eudaimonikos]

Alright, but keep an eye on them. They're wiggly.

[Michael hands over three or so, and adds as an afterthought:]

A figurative eye.

[shatteredlenses]

[Ignis lets out an amused snort, too busy for a moment with the wiggly critters he's been handed to say anything else. Once he's got them somewhat settled--he figures it will last seconds at best--he finally responds.]

I'll keep two arms and hands on them instead. I suspect they will do better keeping them in place than a very fragile little organ anyway.

[eudaimonikos]

They could easily puncture a human eyeball. For something so important, they are really not durable.

[But let's not talk about that. Michael, holding his own little tangle of lorbies against his chest to help keep them under control, turns to start towards the treeline. Florida chirrups and follows alongside, unconcerned for the babies.]

[shatteredlenses]

Tell me about it.

[Ignis chuckles and lets the topic drop. His own sense of humor was strange to some people even before his injury and it's taken a bit of a darker turn since then.

When he hears Florida following along with them, though, he can't help but turn a smirk at the creature.]

Perhaps you should stay at the cabin so we don't have to do this again.

[eudaimonikos]

[Was that a bad thing to say? Ignis was clearly burned, that's not the same thing at all! Well, whatever, let's move on.]

It's very hard to keep him in. I guess I haven't really tried, but he does wiggle through whenever I open the door. 

[shatteredlenses]

When animals want out, they will find a way even if that means breaking down the door instead of waiting for it to be opened.

[Granted, that is more of an issue for him with Leo because of his size.]

This all is normal for him as annoying as we find it. Unless you really want to restrict him, I see no way to stop him.

[eudaimonikos]

I'm sure it's fine. It's probably just once a year, right?

[He thinks most animals aren't like humans, just having children every which way.]

[shatteredlenses]

If we are fortunate, it may actually be only every couple of years. Some kinds of animals have rather long breeding cycles.

[It wouldn't be too much to ask for Lorbies to be one of those animals, right?]

[eudaimonikos]

Oh, do they? I would love that. I swear, that's the most disgusting thing you all do...

["You", in this case, just being "organic living things", I guess.]

[shatteredlenses]

[Ignis can't help but laugh at that good-naturedly. There are plenty of people who think sex and reproduction are gross, so he can only imagine how they look to an outsider.]

Some actually don't reproduce until certain conditions are met in nature, so they often have an even longer cycle.

[More good news for you there, Michael.]

[eudaimonikos]

What, like it's gotta be a blood moon or something?

[shatteredlenses]

Blood moon? You mean a lunar eclipse?

[They don't quite have the same names for things on Eos, but there is no mistaking the color the moon turns during one.]

Not quite, but close. One example I can think of is a type of frog that lives in the very driest regions of Leide. Heavy rains come to this area only once in a 'blue moon' as one might say.

[Hopefully, Michael's world uses that phrase.]

It's right after those rains that the frogs breed because the babies will have the highest chance of surviving the harsh climate long enough to reproduce themselves.

[eudaimonikos]

I've made literal blood moons.

[Not...important...]

It's just fascinating how so many little mortal creatures keep going on, even though the earth is trying to kill them. You'd think they'd die out.

[shatteredlenses]

With literal blood?

[The question pops out before Ignis can stop himself because he really doesn't want to know the answer, but sometimes his sassiness gets ahead of him. He waves the question off quickly thereafter.]

Life is stubborn once it has been created. Surely, that's something you've noticed over the years.

[eudaimonikos]

[yeah he'll take that subject change!]

You know, I really haven't. How stubborn humans can be in general, sure, but we don't interact with anything still alive. The most I've ever seen is what happens when you go to kill a Janet.

[...oh, that requires further explanation.]

They beg for their lives. Although technically, they're not alive to begin with.

[shatteredlenses]

A 'Janet?'

[He may require just a little more explanation than that.]

Fear and desperation will often lead to that response in humans, at least. Even when proof is presented otherwise, people like to believe there is some good left in everyone, good that might be swayed by such an emotional plea.

[eudaimonikos]

Oh, sure. Humans'll beg demons, too.

[...that seems, after a moment, to settle with Michael unpleasantly.]

But Janets aren't humans. They resemble human women, but they're artificial afterlife creations - we use them to construct and maintain pocket dimensions, contain all the knowledge in the universe, that sort of thing.

[shatteredlenses]

[Ignis can't help but blink at that in surprise. They contain all the knowledge of the universe? How intriguing, but as interesting as it is, it also seems like it could be dangerous. He doesn't even what to think about what might happen if the Empire got their hands on a 'Janet.']

Can they learn? Or might they have the desire to do so?

[After all, how does one continue to hold all the knowledge of a changing universe without learning?]

[eudaimonikos]

The database just auto-updates.

[He says off-handedly, and after a moment adds:]

Unless you mean personally? Janet has - my Janet - but that's not common. I wasn't really following standard practice, with her.

[shatteredlenses]

I suppose it would be too hard to control them otherwise.

[He has to grin after that, though.]

You don't do much per standard practice anymore, do you? It sounds like more people should follow your lead.

[Too bad they won't.]