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

[ Jyushimatsu sighs when Zidane announces they're now clear, and that's followed with a helpless shrug. ]

I was just doing my own business! I mean, I needed to pee and I did it near one of the trees around here... but I think they liked that tree so much and they got mad at me or something?

[Really? That's it? Well, it's not impossible but since Zidane has a lorby as a pet who's pretty friendly unless his master's attacked..] Uh......I'd be pretty shocked if that's the reason. It's way likely they thought you as prey. Those things are pretty harmless on their own unless you attack 'em. But if they attack you, then, well.....it's pretty bad news.

Just thank your lucky stars those ones were babies. You really don't wanna be around a bunch of screaming adults.

[ Him... a prey... is more likely than one would think. He's pretty much a potato. Actually a part of six potato-faced idiots. No one's surprised they would be mistaked as food.

Jyushimatsu rightfully winces at that. ]

Thanks for the reassurance, buddy. I'm not gonna step into that place again!

[ It comes off sarcastic, but there's a clearly shaken look to him. Lorbies are terrifying. He'll never get those hellspawns as his pets. He'd rather get a big poisonous tarantula. ]

But why were all those babies around, unsupervised by their parents?

[Zidane might have taken it as sarcastic if it weren't for Jyushimatsu's shaken appearance. Maybe he should not tell the guy right at the moment that he accidentally tamed one of the adult lorbies and said lorby is pretty friendly. Not at the moment anyway.]

Dunno. Maybe it's common for them to roam around without the adults? It didn't even occur to me some of the adults we took from Cahypdo were gonna go off and bre-

[Wait a minute. That would be letting on the fact that some people have pet lorbies. Not a good time to talk about that.]

Um - anyway! How 'bout we head back to base? You look like you could use a little rest, after what those things did to ya.

[ The implication people actually took those hellspawns as their pets and he might see more of them around doesn't... relieve him, exactly. Maybe he'll rationalize this shit when he's calmer and devoid of lorby-induced splitting headache. But now he's rather agitated, despite Zidane trying to omit those details.

He keeps a sleeve-covered hand to his head, while the other grips anxiously at the front of his hoodie. ]

Uh, yeah... have you got something for headaches? Do you know someone who does?

[ Are there even doctors around here??? ]

[LET'S JUST LEAVE THE LORBY CONVERSATION FOR ANOTHER DAY SHALL WE?] Er....no I don't. The clinic might have something though. I haven't checked. But it's worth a shot, right?

Or if you want, you can come over to my place and rest a little there until you feel better? [And hopefully his lorby Blank isn't around. Zidane hasn't seen him in a while and considering all the lorblings, he has a suspicion why.]

[ He'd really like to get his headache checked at the clinic, but he also wants to curl up under lots of blankets and try to sleep without dreaming of those terrifying faces for a few hours.

Both are valid options that he doesn't want to disregard. But going to the clinic might require more walking and he's pretty much in an "Osomatsu-niisan thrashing on the floor and throwing a tantrum" kind of mood in which he wants to be pampered. Besides, he really would love to get his practice going tomorrow and he can't do it if he strains himself. Gag anime physics hardly apply here. ]

Uh, if there's a good bed at your place then... I'd like it.

[ Jyushimatsu sighs, showing a rare display of defeat. He almost wants to cry. ]

No problem. There's three spare beds there and there's nobody else at the moment. [It can get a bit lonely at times but he's not going to complain about that.] We'll go there then. You need me to help you walk? [Since the dude looks like he's in such a state.]

[ Without Ichimatsu around, things are very much lonely at Jyushimatsu's cottage too. He's a bit tempted to ask Zidane if he crash at his place more often, but that's going to happen after he tests the actual softness of those beds. He can't really wait for that to happen. His head reeeally needs a pillow right now.

Zidane's offer next makes him wonder if he should really take advantage of the kid's kindness too much. It's not like he did anything to warrant that kindness, either... so many people in this island are too nice. ]

Uh, if you want... I mean, I might smash into a tree if I kept walking but it's not that likely to happen either?

[Anybody who knows Zidane well would realise that he's almost always trying to step in and help someone in trouble (and sometimes ends up in trouble himself). He's never felt the need to justify why. Besides, with the state Jyushimatsu is in now, he might some help getting home even if he is still not being carried. There could be more of those lorblings on the way back. Or even worse.

He shrugs in response]

Well, if you feel you need it, sure. If you don't, I won't. Whatever you want, I don't care. Just uh......try not to smash into a tree either way, I guess.

Well, I did say it's not very likely, but-...

[ He abruptly cuts himself off when a new wave of dizzy hits him and he bumps into Zidane in his attempt to steady himself. ]

Sorry! Ugh... m-maybe I need a little bit of help after all...

It's fine, take it easy. Here. [Zidane is on the shorter side but he'll attempt to put his arm over Jyushimatsu's shoulder to support him.] Shouldn't be too far to get back to base.

[ He'll be trying to steady himself, although his movements are stuttered, and he hates it!!! Fuck you lorbies!!! ]

Uh, thanks... I'm gonna find ear plugs or something, I swear... my ears are so sensitive...!

November Undercurrent: And We Give Thanks

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