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 )

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"Michael has one, huh," Bucky says with a slight laugh. Yeah, that sounds about right. "I guess I shouldn't judge, I have a sheep that grows flowers instead of wool." Though, honestly, she's a lot more calm than any of the snake owls he's ever seen.

He considers Ignis' idea for a moment. "Sounds reasonable enough. They do seem a little distracted right now, don't they?" One of them is already slithering towards its sibling, making curious chirping noises. "You ready?" he asks, ready to scoop it up."

"Yes, he named it Florida. Regrettably, my world doesn't have a Florida, so the joke was rather lost on me," Ignis smiles at the description of Bucky's pet and then nods in Leo's direction. "I have him and a very large bird that we use on our world for riding. From what I've learned since coming here, they fill a similar role to the horses other worlds have. There is no animal called a 'horse' on Eos."

Ignis checks himself once more to make sure he is secure and then nods, reaching out in Bucky's direction. If they are distracted, then it is best to do this as quickly as possible so they don't loose the advantage, "Yes. Send the first one over."

"Oh," Bucky says, laughing slightly. "Actually, I think I have met his critter. I'm from... well, maybe not the same world, but one with Florida in it. Only, I don't have a clue what he's talking about."

After all, he's socially from 1944, a full decade before Disneyland. There will be no bad jokes about Disney World from Bucky Barnes. "There's not much to it, just a lot of people who live on the coast, honestly." As Ignis is talking about his world, he starts to pass over the first one, which reaches out immediately with its tail to grasp on the closest thing, which is likely Ignis' forearm. "You ride on birds, huh? I've heard of people ridin' ostriches, but I bet that's not what you're talking about."

"He said it was full of crazy people," Ignis shrugs still not 100% sure about the whole thing. "Your guess is as good as mine as to what that means. Is the weather bad in Florida? I know I wonder about where some people choose to live back home sometimes for that very reason."

Ignis is actually pleased when the small creature is comfortable enough to wrap its tail around his arm. There is much less chance of it falling that way and much like he hoped, it is more than happy to crawl right back into the nest when brought near to it, "I don't really know what an ostrich is, but you're not the first person to make the comparison. We actually have a couple at the cottage we use both for riding and for hauling things. You are welcome to stop by and see them if you would like."

"I honestly don't know," Bucky admits. "I lived in Brooklyn, that's over a thousand miles away," the verbal shrug more than obvious in his voice. And he can't clearly remember any time spent in Florida, so it's not much to go on.

"Petting a giant bird sounds like fun," Bucky says cheerfully.

The other two babies start to chirp at their siblings, seemingly relatively unperturbed by Ignis and Bucky, probably as a result how calm the two of them are.

Calmness is a great benefit in many things, so why not here too? With one baby safely returned to the nest, Ignis reaches out for the next.

"What is Brooklyn like?" Since obviously if he doesn't know anything about Florida, he won't know anything about Brooklyn either.

"Petting them is soothing, so is listening to the sounds they make. There were many nights my friends and I fell asleep listening to them while we were on the road. We live in the cottage nearest the mana pool on the first islet whenever you might want to try it out first hand."

"I don't know what it's like now," Bucky admits, which could be a strange comment to make. "I haven't been back there in a long time. But when I was living there, it was during the Depression; a lot of people just struggling to make ends meet. My friend and I, we shared an apartment in a tenement. Means we were living in the building with other people, used to come together to buy things like food and the like."

He smiles slightly, even if Ignis can't actually see it. "I think that would be nice, they sound like good companions."

The benefit of Ignis not knowing any of Earth's history is that anything that might have sounded odd with that answer goes right over his head. His focus, instead, is on the description more than anything.

"That sounds a bit like where the refugees have to live. His Majesty and his Highness have been trying to make things better for them, but there are so many," his expression is sorrowful, "and the war displaces more everyday. Now, even those who used to be safe within the capital city's walls are refugees."

He takes a deep breath and then smiles, returning Bucky's without even realizing it, "I hope Brooklyn is doing better now than when you last were to see it. Having good friends and companions around helps."

Honestly, the non-reaction is something of a relief. He doesn't like telling it to everyone who asks him how he could have been alive during the Depression while in his 30s. "Yeah. It's the same way, in Europe. It was the middle of the War, and when we were fighting the Nazis— bad people, intent on killing off anyone who they thought inferior— the people in the towns we liberated had to deal with needing to completely rebuild."

Even if Ignis isn't conscious of the returned smile, Bucky can't help but feel happier, at the idea that maybe his old hometown is doing good. "Yeah. Me too."

"We call them Nifs on Eos, because they are from the country of Niflheim. They have always sought to take lands that were not theirs because they thought they were 'better,' but in recent years their Emperor has become obsessed with taking possession of the Crystal that was given to Lucis' royal line to protect. The Crystal only bestows its power to those in the royal line, so none of us are quite sure what he expects to gain from taking it."

Then again, when do the motives of these kinds of people ever really make sense?

"I suppose if we did understand him, it would not say good things for our own states of mind. Better to focus on rebuilding and helping those who need it."

Isn't that what they were doing back home, even as they fought to gain the Astral covenants that Noctis needed? So many tasks in every settlement they stopped by and they always took time to do the ones they could before moving on.

"Sounds like Red Skull," he says thoughtfully. "He stole this... thing. This object that had tremendous power, and was trying to destroy the world with it. I think he was, anyway." Maybe he was just trying to take it over, Bucky never did learn much about the guy; Steve was the one who knew more.

"It always seems to be that way with people like that, huh? Try and understand the people who wish to do harm, and maybe you'll end up in a situation worse than where you started." He shakes his head, obvious in his tone before he continues on. "At least these little guys are easy to understand. When they're feeling clam, they're all right."

"Red Skull. What a descriptive name." There is part of Ignis that wants to know how descriptive, but at the same time, he also doesn't want to know. These guys are generally not that creative when it comes to naming themselves, "I suspect we should be glad they will never have a chance to meet because whether their aim is destruction or simply taking over, ruin is always the end result."

Ignis starts to gently coax the little guy that has attached himself to his arm back into the nest as he continues, "There are those of great insight and will who could do it and perhaps not lose their way, but once you start justifying things, it can be hard to stop."

"I have to admit, I may be starting to understand a little why people keep them as pets. If only the whole world was so easy to understand."

"It's a literal one, to boot. Guy sure liked to make him sound like a comic book character. Got his 'look' because he was given a serum that enhances strength and magnifies personality. Guy looked seriously creepy." At least he can rest with the knowledge that Red Skull is long gone, and not someone who is going to be causing problems ever again. "That does seem to be the way these things go, for whatever reason."

The strange critters are fairly benign, so long as they're not upset. Bucky likes them, to be honest. They're pretty cute, even if he thinks they look unsettling. "I can agree with that. It'd be nice if everything was so simple. Like these guys, as long as you're calm around 'em, they're perfectly happy."

"Wonderful." So it was as bad as he had feared. At least Ignis won't ever have to see it for himself. He can't help but feel sorry for those like Bucky who had to, though, "And I am certain he is one who could have done very well without having his personality magnified."

Astrals, it's terrible to imagine what something like that would do to Ardyn. Everything else aside, the redhead's personality already fills rooms with its power. What would be next? Cities?

"All right. I think they are all back and settled. Would you take a look just to make sure I'm not missing anything that may upset them once I jump down?"

"Definitely not," Bucky agrees with a bit of a scowl. Ignis might not be able to see it, but he probably hears it. "He's been gone a long time, thankfully, and I know he hasn't shown up here, least not when I've been around."

Small miracles, that.

But, at least the weird critters are safe now. "They all look okay to me, right now. Happy family, by the looks of it."

"I arrived in the first group that came to the island and I don't recall anyone like that ever having been here. I'm sure he would have made his presence well-known to everyone. It appears we have dodged that particular bullet, thankfully," Ignis slips quietly from the tree and as soon as he has taken a few steps away, Leo returns to his side.

"All right, mission complete. I think we've both earned a drink at Denny. Shall we?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

November Undercurrent: And We Give Thanks

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Sorry for the late tag. I've been on hiatus!

no worries at all! I took my time getting back to you, too :v

\o/ Life requires slow tagging sometimes, unfortunately.

\o/

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