lifeaftr | November Undercurrent: And We Give Thanks

November Undercurrent: And We Give Thanks

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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah, I...do, actually.

[He has to take a minute to get it out of the belt compartment, because it wouldn't leave him alone, and when he does - lo and behold, there's something new glimmering on the strand. A crystal, to be exact.]

Uh. That's new.

Oh, mine did not come with...ah. Never mind, there is one there now.

[He looks at the band on his own wrist, then again at Wash's. They aren't even the same type of crystal; Wash's actually looks rather like some of the shining rocks that form on the walls in Waterfall.]

I have seen some like yours before. Is it glowing? It is hard to tell in the sunlight.

[And if there's a flower blooming around them - well, they're outside and there's a fair amount of plants around. He hasn't quite noticed that yet.]

I think so? Like...kind of a teal color?

[Tucker's voice in the back of his mind, indignant: it's aqua! He ignores it.]

Did I just get forced to thank you for not killing me because of this? Why do you have one?

I did think that was...something of an odd thing to thank me for.

[Sure, Asgore appreciates the knowledge that apparently he didn't, but...that is really the very least he could have done. After a moment of consideration, he clasps his hand together and says, loudly and deliberately like an old man talking to an Alexa:]

But thank you for telling me.

[He looks at the band. Nothing is happening...]

[Thank you for telling me. And then, ping, there's a blue-gray crystal, a bit dull and matte but finely cut, hanging off the leather strip.]

[Wash stares.]

Seriously?

Oh. Now, that is very odd.

[Asgore holds his arm up to inspect it. He doesn't think that was done under any compulsion at all; he was grateful, certainly, but his main intention was to test what would happen. Perhaps he just isn't good at telling?]

There is no lingering magic to it that I can sense...but that may not mean much. [Most universes don't really involve monster magic.] I suppose we will not be allowed to leave the crystals behind, either.

Clearly they're for something. I mean...they show up after we thank each other? Is that seriously it? We're supposed to thank each other for whatever the fuck we can think of?

[As far as Asgore can tell, there's no magical aura around it, but clearly something's up.]

Why, though?

Perhaps they do something.

[He taps his own, very lightly, with one claw. Seems like just a regular crystal to him.]

Perhaps the Storyteller is...trying to promote some sort of good feeling? [He sounds doubtful; what Washington described just seemed forced and weird.]

[Wash stares at his own. Now that he knows what it is, he doesn't want to take his eyes off it, just in case it proves to be more dangerous than initially anticipated.]

Doesn't read as their style. Can they even do that? Change...how we feel?

Surely it cannot be something else from Nastrandir. I have not been back there!

[oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god - ]

I don't think anyone has. Since...we raided the dragon's place, anyway.

[Shit. Is this something from that?]

[Well, that's where Asgore's mind jumped when we started talking about things affecting our brains, at least.]

I did not even know that had happened. [About the dragon, obviously, but less so the looting.] Perhaps someone took something from there?

That seems the most likely. Someone messed with something, or poked something they shouldn't have, and - goddamnit, isn't this exactly what happened to make everyone go at each other's throats?

[This nefarious magic is making them COMPLIMENT EACH OTHER.]

[okaaaaay, let's just try not to panic here...]

Is there something we should do? I have not tried to destroy it...

[It had seemed like an over-reaction at the time, but now?]

I don't know if that'll work. Getting rid of it didn't work, so I'm guessing it'd just come back.

[Tempting as it is as a prospect, it's not nearly that simple, either.]

We need more intelligence. This isn't enough to go on.

[Huh. Well - ]

Thank you for...that suggestion.

[It's off-handed, his eyes flicking between the bands on both their wrists. But after a second, it seems that no further crystals are going to appear.]

Perhaps it can only be done once? Or only once per individual. [or it was just because that wasn't really a genuine thanks]

I guess that's something we can...test?

[It pays to gather intel before you make any snap judgments but lord, he has no idea what any of this stuff is. Wash sighs, very much like someone would if they were going to reach up to rub at their temples.]

I don't even have that many people I can thank for anything.

Nor do I.

[Well, maybe that's not true. He could thank Tim or Legion for something? It's just that he hasn't seen either of them in a little while. Going very far from his home has just seemed exhausting lately.

It's the kind of seclusion he never could have allowed himself, when he was King. But here it doesn't really matter if he's around or not. Really, it probably isn't good for him - the other Patients never would have let him stay alone in his room for so long.]

Though I suppose you could thank anybody for anything.

Maybe we can take turns giving each other shit and thanking each other for that. That's technically gratitude, right?

[Technically. Yeah, he would exploit some technicalities to avoid being completely honest with himself or other people, because that's just so much easier, wouldn't he?]

[Asgore doesn't typically have trouble with thanking people, but yeah, sometimes we don't need to be totally honest.]

Yes, it would be. [...] Oh, there is some human festival about giving thanks, is there not?

...

[God, and it's...it's November. Isn't it.]

Yeah, actually. Late November. It's literally called Thanksgiving. [Is that what this is? Is that what this literally is?]

...I see.

[That is...actually a lot more literal than he thought it was?]

Do you give gifts for Thanksgiving?

Not...gifts so much? It's more about just, you know. It's about giving thanks. [Right, obviously.] Some bullshit about family and togetherness. Sharing food is pretty common, I think.

Oh. That sounds nice.

[It's for the best that isn't a thing here, probably. Asgore doesn't agree that it's bullshit, but Gyftmas is usually depressing enough by itself.]

Monsters have Gyftmas, in the midwinter. It shares some similarities with a human holiday - there is a decorated tree, and gifts underneath it.

Giftmas? What, like Christmas? [Christmas with the serial numbers filed off?]

Yeah, that sounds pretty much exactly like it.

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