lifeaftr | 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

The good doctor, unsurprisingly enough, is waiting for his fellow clinic employee when they come into work that morning, immediately standing up from their seat at the reception desk when they see the familiar form of one Yukio Okumura entering the building.
What is surprising, however, is that Faust looks - as much as a man with a bag on his head can look - marginally less light-hearted and carefree this morning than usual, and gives an unusually terse nod to the young man before greeting him proper:

"Good morning, young Yukio. Ah, before we get cracking for the day...may I have a word with you in my office, please? One-to-one."

His tone isn't grave, per se, but it definitely carries a certain weight that makes it clear this is far from a simple request. Before Yukio even has the chance to respond, however, the good doctor has already ducked through the doorway into his office...
...and then his bag pokes back out of it again, and he speaks once more, this time in his far more familiar jovial, reassuring tone.

"...oh, right: You're not in any trouble. Quite the opposite, in fact! I promise to make this as quick as I can."

[Yukio would like for today to go smoothly. It won't, but it would be nice. He's here early, as always, with a polite smile and a nod. But the doctor is uncharacteristically focused, and Yukio braces himself for a lecture. He's used to dealing with lectures, bowing apologetically and accepting whatever consequences Faust decides to dish out.

But then... then there's that bag sticking back out of the office for a moment, and that catches him off guard. He follows Faust in, curious.]

Of course. What would you like to speak to me about?

The good doctor is already seated when Yukio enters, body language and bag-expression fortunately lacking their earlier seriousness - his legs and elbows are all folded underneath his desk in a manner that would definitely result in broken bones if attempted by anyone else. As it stands, Faust looks perfectly comfortable with the arrangement, as he always has been since he first acquired the dainty little desk.
The perks of being a contortionist, eh?

"I apologise for my poor choice of words - what I'd like to discuss today errs more towards a quick little catch-up talk than anything else, though there are a few slightly serious talking points I would like to pass by you as well. Nobody's dying, I promise!"

He chuckles before pausing to retrieve his morning cup of tea from within the infinite expanse of his coat, taking a sip before continuing.

"But before any of that, I must ask - how are you feeling at the moment, young Yukio? How have you been finding work here at the clinic? In general, not just as of recent."

[Not a lecture, necessarily. Just a performance review.

He manages not to look startled by the doctor just pulling a cup of tea from somewhere in that coat, because he's mostly used to Faust's weirdness by now. And the conversation at hand is more important.

He picks one question, ignores the other.]

I've been enjoying it. It's not as busy here as it was in the Carnival, so I've had more time to focus on my studies. [He's been studying plants, obviously, if the growing collection of specimens is any indication. But he's also been focused on reading through everything in the library, starting with the medical books.]

November Undercurrent: And We Give Thanks

Nov. 3 / WILD CARD

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