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

[Wow, real missed opportunity there, Aziraphale. Offers still on the table if needed, later.

Crowley had remained otherwise silent, half watching the doorway in the distance, half feeling as if he might doze off himself. He'd of snapped himself out of it, if need be, but only because Aziraphale was expecting him to watch his back.

He turns his head slightly to look down at the angel as he hears his name.]

Yeah?

[ He hesitates for a moment. ]

Do you think this might actually have something to do with...well, with all that's happened before we got here?

[ Somehow. In some way. This is still all too strange. Nevermind the fact that the less he rests, the more overwhelming everything feels.

He's learning to not try to assume how everything works, but these things take time. ]

[Crowley was fairly certain it hadn't, but the doubt began to seep in again. He shook his head as if to clear it.]

Angel, no, we've talked about this. It doesn't add up.

[It doesn't add up at all, but it definitely doesn't add up to be about them and solely them. Crowley's met a lot of people here, all from different realities.]

Go to sleep, Aziraphale.

[ He did think that. It doesn't sound like anything Hell and Heaven would have come up with, even if they wanted. And while the Almighty had Her ways, it doesn't feel like something she would do. Certainly not something he's ever heard about.

But it's all too much and he just can't help it. It's hard not to try to draw the lines between things.

He takes a deep sigh, and finally closes his eyes. ]

Wake me if anything happens.

Will do.

[Crowley's thankful for a moment as Aziraphale closes his eyes. He sighs rather heavily before turning his head back to the door. Nothing was getting in unless it came through there, and Crowley was fairly confident they were safe, which is why it may have been a little too easy for him to let his own guard down. Aziraphale would have to understand that Crowley was just as exhausted. The difference here of course, being the demon wanted to sleep.]

[ The angel knows Crowley's as exhausted as he is. He'd seen it in his face - there's only so much his sunglasses could hide -, and heard it in his voice. You don't know someone for six millennia and not pick up on a few things, even if you tend to not be particularly attentive in a general sense.

Sleeping doesn't come relatively easy. Sitting still and in silence just means whatever is in his mind is louder. He's tense, very much so. But still, exhaustion is bound to win over, specially as a newcomer.

So it's soon enough that he starts drifting off, forgetting where he is. Where they are. Everything gets, thankfully, a little quieter. ]

[Funny thing about exhaustion. You can fight it, but sometimes, it wins. And it was wuite triumphantly defeating Crowley, who in the silence and the warmth he felt on the corner, began to drift off himself.

It snuck up on him, and before he knew it sleep had consumed him, made his head heavy and hang forward until he could no longer hold himself up. Very slowly his posture slid down, head bobbing loosely from his shoulders, until it had fallen right onto Aziraphale's chest. The great serpent had completely crumbled into himself and on top of the angel, and the most amazing thing about it was that it hadn't woken him up at all.]

[ Good thing he didn't wake up, because at least Aziraphale can retain the honor in not being heard making the funny sound he does when he's startled awake, eyes snapping open. It's not that the demon had fallen violently, just that the angel's nerves were absolutely frayed.

Takes him a couple of seconds to remember what reality is and realize Crowley's head is resting on him, and a few more seconds before he remembers how to use words. ]

--Crowley?

[For a minute he dreams he's in his own flat, comfortable and happy. He hears Aziraphale's voice but he's too tired to understand why or under what context.]

Mngh... five more minutes.

[ Oh. Oh, Lord, okay. ]

Crowley, you're-....

[ He considers how to wake him. He hesitates, then reaches over with the idea of gently shaking him awake. But he hesitates again.

Crowley had been so tired. Tired enough to not be able to fight it, clearly. And he still...he still tried to stay awake just so that the angel could get some rest first. Insisted on it, even.

He pulls his hand back. Lingers for a few moments, before resting his head back again.

He takes a breath, sighs it out, and closes his eyes again.

They'll deal with it in the morning. Or whenever they may end up waking up. ]

[Crowley sleeps for a long time, dreaming of a place with paved roads and electricity. When he finally wakes, he finds that his head is resting on a much softer surface than he remembers. Hell, he doesn't even remember falling asleep... so it takes him a moment to come to. He stirs slightly, still heavily groggy. His glassed must have fallen off some time ago; his head nuzzles into the surface beneath him for a moment as he comes to and realizes what it is... who it is.]

[ And who it is seems to be calmly asleep. He won't be so peaceful and and sweet as soon as he awakens from who knows how many hours of sleeping on an uncomfortable wooden floor, but for now he's just breathing calmly and somehow hasn't stirred much at all.

He scrunches his nose slightly when Crowley stirs, huffing quietly through his nose... ]

[Crowley could watch that nose scrunch up a million more times, maybe. He almost doesn't want to disturb him, he's not sure he's ever seen Aziraphale look so peaceful in the millennia they've known one another. It's astonishing.

But they do have things to do.]

...angel? [His voice is low, not wanting to startle Aziraphale awake.]

[ There's a soft fussy groan when he's called. He hears it very, very distantly, just barely, and not quite real. His face scrunches up a bit again, as he slowly starts to notice the light from behind his eyelids.

Oh, lord, he feels it now. Well before he opens his eyes, he notices how his entire body is still sore. Perhaps even worse. He notices how uncomfortable he is. And there's an urge to just will that all away as well as just snap back into consciousness, but nothing seems to happen. Why isn't anything happening?

...oh. Right.

His eyes flutter open and he squints. He lingers, then brings his hands up to rub his face, feeling rather disoriented.

He hasn't noticed Crowley yet. ]

[Crowley's a bit frozen, himself. Partially too tired and sore to move, partially frozen in fear that the angel might throw him out of the window and off of the island entirely. For a second, he almost wonders if he should pretend to be asleep. That feels too dishonest, of course.

He groans slightly and then clears his throat, preparing himself to sit up and get moving.]

[ He moves his hands away from his face when he hears the demon, squinting down at him. It still takes him a couple of seconds, and then he suddenly looks very much awake. ]

Oh--

[ He moves to push himself into a sitting position but winces and hisses between his teeth, as a sorely--well, sore back makes itself known. ]

Oh, goodness.

[Crowley had already been working his way to upright, but hearing those pained noises from Aziraphale gets him sitting up fast.]

You alright?

[The thing is, Crowley really doesn't mind sleeping on flat surfaces. The angel really should have taken his offer to begin with.]

[ Maybe he should have. But that felt too forward and he wasn't even sure it had been a serious offer.

While he does not exactly feel well rested, he feels a lot better than he did before. At least his head doesn't hurt, just his back. Guess he's going to have to deal with that now. ]

Ah, yes. I'm quite alright. [ Even if he looks like hell.

He rubs a hand on his face again and huff, then taking a lot at Crowley. ]

And you?

[Crowley doesn't understand what the big deal is, this isn't forward, it's survival.]

M'fine.

[He stands, watching Aziraphale come to.]

How are you feeling?

[ Crowley’s also known the angel for six thousand years, so his ideas of manners and his awkward ways should hardly come as a surprise.

The angel sighs through his nose and straightens his back. ]

Better, I suppose. Even if sleeping on the floor isn’t quite ideal.

[ He’s still feeling sluggish, from just having woken up. Which, frankly, sucks.]

What time is it?

Er-- don't know, my watch hasn't worked since we took a swim.

[He already hates what he's about to say. It sounds like settling in, which to Crowley means giving up on ever getting out of this hell.]

If you want we can find something to makeshift a mattress with.

[ It would be a lie to say that doesn't cross Aziraphale's mind, too, but he tries not to focus too much on that. Which is to say he will definitely think about it but maybe not say it right now. ]

I suppose we should. I don't rather look forward to sleeping on the floor again.

[ He starts adjusting and fussing with his clothes, doing a double take at Crowley's watch. He ponders, for a moment, before deciding to say something. ]

Have you...tried to fix it? Your watch.

[ He may have been avoiding exploring the limitations his own powers may have. ]

Not since the trousers incident.

[He says this making a face, still upset over the incident.]

Been millennia since I've had to craft my own place to sleep.

[ He eyes the watch as he adjusts his bow, hesitating on saying what's coming to his mind. Mostly because if this doesn't pan out, it's just confirmation of his own state. ]

Perhaps I could...try.

[ Although he already assumes he's similarly limited. ]

Yeah?

[Crowley unbuckles it from his wrist and walks it over to Aziraphale, handing it over.]

Be my guest.

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