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

[mockiri]

[Kiri ducks down a bit, shaking her head. Someone with no voice, so she can't say their name. Although they taught her to make it, rather than making it for her... that's a technicality, though.

Finally she shrugs and makes a series of robotic beeping noises, a mimicry of Drifter's communication bot, if he's familiar.]

[devilstongue]

[ It's been... a really long time since he last 'talked' to the Drifter, so it doesn't quite strike anything in Molly's head. He mostly looks confused, but shrugs a bit. It didn't really matter much, anyway. ]

It suits you.

[mockiri]

[She nods agreeably, echoing her words to Drifter when they'd given it to her in Beau's voice,]

Ooh, I’m a captain.

[Or something with a rank that involves flower crowns. Whatever, that's the downside of a limited vocabulary.

She plops down next to the table for a moment, fishing through her bag until she emerges with another flower crown. It's a bit more clumsily made due to less-dextrous feather fingers, but she stands back up and gestures at him. Get down here, you're too tall.]

[devilstongue]

[ Kiri wtf does that even mean???

He smiles, though. This place hasn't given him much choice by bringing her here, and now he's doing the thing he was trying to avoid. Getting attached. ]

Captain of the flowers, I see.

[ Then she... well. That was unexpected. Yet Molly kneels down like a knight swearing fealty, so she can put the flower crown on his head along with the red stones and twine he's now using for jewelry. It's a very simple but effective nature-mess. ]

...thank you, Kiri.

[mockiri]

[She lifts a hand in a clumsy, feathery thumbs-up. You're welcome! Everyone gets flower crowns today. She'll find the others later, though.

Normally she would try to leave Mollymauk alone before too much time passes, as is their arrangement, she today she hesitates, pointing a finger questioningly towards the bottle.]

Booze?

[A little early to be drinking, are you okay?]

[devilstongue]

[ It's a flower crown day, apparently. He can help her make more of them later, Yasha would probably love one. (Hard to tell about Beau... maybe if Yasha was the one giving it to her.)

He's not quite prepared to have the little bird girl question his drinking choices, and he puts down the bottle with a slight sigh. ]

Sorry. It's... stressful to be here, I guess. Nothing you should worry about.

[mockiri]

[Let them sort it out later, who knows how it'll go. But everyone gets at least one by sundown, that's the rule!

She considers his words thoughtfully, then answers back in Beau's voice,]

Come on, you get it.

[She's felt a little bit of the stress, even at her age; she can read a room just fine. Things that happened here, things that happened back home- their lives are difficult, far more than she's likely to ever know.

Quietly she reaches out and pushes the bottle back towards him. It's okay, she won't judge.]

[devilstongue]

[ He chuckles a little at that, but doesn't pick up the bottle again. Molly is an asshole, but he's not getting drunk in front of a kid. ]

Thanks, Kiri.

[ There's a pause, and then he snaps his fingers like he's suddenly remembered something. ]

Hey, have you met a girl named Ren yet? She's really nice, I think you'll be friends.

[ At least someone her age. Ish. ]

[mockiri]

[She chirps quizzically. The name is unfamiliar to her, but she likes the idea of making a new friend. From what she's noticed of this place, it can get a little lonely, and she's still mostly surrounded by strangers. Her response is in Ginko's voice,]

Sounds like a good plan.

[devilstongue]

Yeah, it's a great plan!

[ It's his plan, after all. Molly doesn't recognize that voice, but it just means Kiri is making more friends. ]

Maybe we should introduce you to some good people, too. I'm sure we're having a bad influence on you.

[ You know, with day-drinking and all. ]

[mockiri]

[Can birds grin, with beaks? She's trying, anyway, her eyes bright, as she responds in his voice.]

That's some bullshit.

[She's fine with meeting new people, but she likes where she is, too. Bad influences and all.]

[devilstongue]

[ ...okay, that makes him laugh. How many times were you told off by 'yourself'? Not very often. ]

That's fair.

[ He reaches out to ruffle her head feathers a bit. ]

We are a lovable bunch of idiots, despite all that. Still, we'll find you some kids to make friends with. I bet you miss the Shuster's.

[mockiri]

[She fluffs up a bit at the ruffling, looking rather pleased with herself, though the mention of the Shusters has her trilling sadly a moment after. It's true, she does miss them a great deal. She treasured her time with the Mighty Nein, and she treasures each day here just as before, but her life had been transient for so long that to finally have a home, a place to stay for a while, had been so lovely.]

[devilstongue]

I know, I'm sorry. Shouldn't have mentioned that.

[ He sighs a bit. Things were so complicated here, and it was awkward to go from standoffish and doing his best not to get attached to the small bird girl, to have her more or less living with them for the foreseeable future.

Molly likes kids; loves them, even. They can be vicious little assholes but easier to reach out to than adults. If the child was excited about seeing the circus (or just the 'nice horned man') it was easier to make them come see it rather than tugging on the coarser strings of adults.

It's hard to always keep the mask on to spare them, though. He managed well with Toya, because they 'grew up' together. Now he's... not really sure how to lie for Kiri. ]

You'll get back to them.

[ A truth, one day she would. ]

I'll be here until then.

[ He has nowhere else to go, but he's sending his girls home somehow. ]

[mockiri]

[She tilts her head to one side, curious, trying with her young mind to parse what feels odd about those words. Things are different with so few of the Nein here, an incomplete picture, and she's an observant child. She knows there are things they can't, and won't, tell her, because she's young or because she wasn't there for it. Just like when she travelled with them, there are things that she can't help with.

She reaches back into her bag and pulls out the notebook she'd been given at the library, scrawling out a few words, then offers it out to him.]

Come visit someday?

[devilstongue]

[ Molly reads the words and then looks at her, a little concerned but soft. ]

Of course. As soon as the Nein can, there will be visits. I know Jester misses you a lot.

[ It's not a lie, but he can't really say 'we' any more. He's not gonna go to Hupperdook again, but Jester would. So he could promise that, at least. ]

[mockiri]

[Hm... okay, that's enough for her. She reaches out and gives his hand a little pat.]

I miss you!

[Maybe less him specifically, since he's right here, but the sentiment is there. She misses those who aren't here, and in Hupperdook, she missed all of them. But she's glad she's not alone here.]

[devilstongue]

You're a good egg.

[ He's just gonna ruffle her head feathers. This is all weirdly emotional and he's not great with that. ]

Wanna see if we can find something better than fruit wine for lunch?

[mockiri]

[An affirmative chirp, feathers fluffing up, and she climbs down off the chair and heads for the shelter. This is more than the norm for either of them, and she's not inclined to push her luck further.

Food sounds good, though.]