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

I can't, I... I don't think that's how this works, Beau. I'll just go back to being dead.

[ It would be like suicide for him to go back home. Just jumping back into whatever afterlife he was supposed to have... or just oblivion.

Darkness.

Nothing.

There's a moment, but then he laces his fingers with hers. It's a good thing, grounding in his existential panic. ]

You're not supposed to have these feelings and thoughts after you died. It's fucked up. I don't want to die, but why the hell does it have to be so complicated for me?

Because the universe sucks. And we should fight it.

[She damn well knows it's not that simple, a grumble of more her wishes that it was than a truth or solution. And yet, she hangs on. Funny how it works on a literal and metaphorical scale.]

Look, we don't know if that's what happens, and what do you lose by trying? You're past death, we can't make that worse.

[Beau pauses for a second, and then adds--]

Well some people can. But probably not me.

You can't fucking fight death, Beau. You can't just go square of with the Raven Queen and hope it somehow works out.

[ He doesn't even know she can punch ghosts, ok? ]

I... it can be worse. I'm at least something here. [ He tries, even if it sounds hollow. ] These islands are weird and full of bullshit but I still kind of exist. If I go back, I'd be just... nothing. I never even really existed in the first place.

[ He'd be even less than dead. ]

Bullshit, you existed. Just because you were borrowing some guy's corpse doesn't mean you didn't exist.

[She reaches up and tugs a bit on his hair, the long edges just in grip of her fingertips.]

Why the hell do you wanna die so bad anyway? Where the hell is Mr. Sunny Optimism or whatever? Not gonna be a god with that kind of attitude. You're pretty solid here, don't see why that has to change when we go.

I don't fucking know! I don't know what's going on with me, why I'm even saying this!

[ He doesn't pull away from her, though. It's weirdly grounding to have his hair tugged by a bitchy monk. ]

This is why I hate truths. It's so unforgiving.

Great, I'm not the only one feeling weird. Shoulda known.

[She won't let go either, even if her instincts say to. Fuck that. This asshole is her brother and whatever this island wants it can fuck right off.]

Look, just like-- I can't believe I'm the asshole saying this, but stop being so negative. Believe in possibility or something, where's your mystic man bullshit now?

[ He takes a deep breath and tries to shake this stupid honesty thing off, before meeting Beau's eyes. Molly tries a smile, and it's a little strained - but better than before. ]

We should pull some cards. Let me give you a reading.

[ 'Let me bury this in kind lies again'. ]

[Her gaze is inquisitive and almost soft until he mentions cards, and Beau grumbles a low whine with a raise of her mouth, like a disgruntled cat a moment from hissing.]

Still kinda hate those things. Even if they're yours.

[That's not stopping her from sitting up, though. It's him. She isn't making deals or buying in on someone who claims to have all the answers. It's just Molly. Reminds her of what she told Tim-- it's all the meaning you put into it anyway.

So let's hear what meaning he has.]

Lemme guess, you need me to draw some stuff?

[ Oh, he knows it's annoying, but he's (technically) the younger brother and that's his right. ]

Don't be such a grump. Just pull a card.

[ He grabs the (whole) deck from inside his sleeve and makes a neat fan with them. Molly knows every card from touch, a little dent there, a tiny bit of missing gold foil here, and like a true charlatan, he angles some cards to subconsciously look more attractive to pull. ]

[She grumbles on purpose, but doesn't protest further as he gets himself set up. On one hand, that deck is technically his- he's going to know them better than her. On the other hand, she's been carrying a copy- minus one card- and knows the patterns. Still, with a 16 Wis check, it's not perfect-- but she sure does see the way he's angling that shit.

So instead, she looks right at him, shoves the deck together into a solid block again, and cuts it in half-- before drawing the top card from the bottom half of the cut and turning it towards him without her looking.]

Don't try to get me to pick something for destiny's sake. I'll take whatever I want.

[ Of course she does that. Molly grins at her, somewhere between proud and a little perturbed that she saw through his trick. ]

Destiny's a bitch, just like you.

[ He says lazily, taking the card she's showing him and turning it back towards her. It's depicts a star with more stars aligned at each tip, creating a halo. ]

The stars, upright. 'A long journey brings rewards'. Traveling forward with the Nein will help you grow in power and mind. Not too surprising, kind of obvious.

[ With a slight of hand check of 19(!), Molly flicks the card with his thumb and another 'appears' next to it. This one is a key. ]

Well. Look at that. The key opens all locks, but it is reversed. Something is shut ahead and you need to use your talents to find out how to open it. You might not like what lies behind it, though.

[She's expecting some kind of showmanship, but the flip does get a quirk of the eyebrow from her otherwise impassive face. He could read anything from these, what else is new. But Beau does let him finish, keeping her gaze fixated until he's looking perfectly smug with himself.]

Alright, and? Do I ever like what I find?

[A slight pause, and then--]

If the key's right there, why can't I just use the key to open whatever it is? 'Ss on the card.

[ Molly sighs at that and then wiggles the key card again. ]

It's a card, Beau. It's not so literal.

[ Smiling, he tries to shake out another card from his sleeve, but shitty rolls indicates that he mostly just fumbles it this time. What comes out is a half-finished card of a woman. ]

Huh. Well, this is Seduction. Passion and romance await. It looks like you might just like what you find.

[ Smirk. ]

'Ss like a card game, they might do stuff.

[But she lets it go long enough to regret letting Molly do anything as he pulls his half baked reveal.]

Okay dipshit, you think you can tuck any card in your armpit that has titties on it and I'll be sold, but I am not that predictable.

[She's wearing that face right after she says that means you can almost hear the (marisha ray voice) wait, am I that's bound to come right after.]

Oh fuck you, here I'm being nice and showing you the few cards with tits I have.

[ He rolls his eyes, even if that's kind of hard to see. ]

She's a work of art and took days to finish.

[Well that at least gets her to laugh, a wicked sort of grin as she reaches forward and plucks the card from his hands to examine it a bit more.]

Y'know, never realized you were drawing these. Knew there were a bunch of blanks, but... did you really have the time for this running around with a circus?

[ He takes that as a win, at least, so everything's coming up Molly. (At least when he changes the goalposts, because he's a bastard.) ]

There was a surprising amount of downtime between towns, sitting in the back of a cart or when we were camping. Making a card or doing some embroidery. Not unlike your evening and morning training.

[ He reaches out to snatch back his deck, with a strong 16 to his attempt. ]

Edited 2020-01-30 18:37 (UTC)

[molly ya fuckin cheater. She lets him swipe it back without resistance, clearly giving an expression to let him know she allowed him and that he didn't pull one over on her. Of course not. (She got a 3.)]

Is that why your everything's like that? Huh. Sounds like it got pretty boring, but. Travel does that.

[It's... a weird feeling, she realizes she's having. It's calm. Contentment, almost, and that makes no sense, especially not with Molly. Beau looks back at him, half wondering if he's trying some kind of spell.]

So what's your advice, fortune teller? Am I gonna find fame and fortune?

[Her tone is incredibly sarcastic, even going so far as to raise her hands and do a little jazz shake by her head to emphasize the ridiculousness.]

Travel's travel. It helps to have people around you.

[ Family, friends, strangers-turned-family...

At her question, Molly gives an overdramatic bow while tucking his deck into his sleeve again, all with a showman grin. ]

Oh, I can with certainly say you'll gain notoriety, whether it be for good or bad, and you're damn good at solving problems, so fortune is already yours. I'll sprinkle in some tits in your future, as well. As a treat.

[She just snorts at his theatrics, reaching out and flicking him on the forehead with her thumb and forefinger like a good shitty sister.]

Oh, thank you gracious oracle, for blessing me with the ability to get a boob grab once in a while.

[And yet, somehow, this feels good. Better. Much better than anything her father ever said about hags in forests, of creepy witches and tarot cards. If most psychics were as charming as him, the whole thing might not have been so sinister.]

Alright, alright. So you gonna do anything today or just keep drinking on the floor? 'Mm getting restless sitting here listening to you talk about your deck if you know what I mean.

[wink!!!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

November Undercurrent: And We Give Thanks

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