November Undercurrent: And We Give Thanks

[lifeaftr_mods]

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 )

Comments

[salutosinedelectat]

[ He sits forward in his chair, listening carefully. The names are entirely unfamiliar - except Earth, of course - but the last part catches him by surprise. ]

--you died?

[forwearemany]

(They look away.)

Our allies betrayed us.

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Oh, well, that's a fair bit more dramatic than he was prepared for. ]

I'm so sorry to hear that.

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged.

(Legion's life has been very distressing and dramatic.)

[salutosinedelectat]

Not to pry, dear fellow, but may I ask what happened?

If that's alright, of course.

[forwearemany]

Our Creators sought to destroy our people.

(They look at the floor.)

Upon realizing that they could not convince them to back down, our allies let them. We objected, and were destroyed.

(So ... genocide.)

[salutosinedelectat]

Funny, though, how it doesn't sound any different than if it were something involving only humans. But he's learning more about that as he goes.]

I'm terribly sorry to hear that. [ Offered quite solemnly.]
 
No one should go through such a thing. 

[forwearemany]

Affirmative.

(They're starting to learn that apologies in these situations are a matter of politeness, so they do not bother to dismiss it.)

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Language and customs are complicated. Aziraphale would know, having lived in "his" Earth since it was first made. ]

Are there others left? Like you.

[forwearemany]

In our timeline, no. In others, possibly. Many universes contain synthetic lifeforms, though few are truly "like us".

(They are ... unique. It is lonely.)

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Those last words are something Aziraphale is a bit more familiar with than he should be. He's not the last one of his kind, definitely not, but there are many ways how someone can feel truly alone. ]

I see...

How long have you been here? In these islands?

[forwearemany]

(They chatter, and their headflaps shift.)

This unit has resided in this location for approximately one year and five months.

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Aziraphale nods solemly. A year and a half might as well be a blink, for as old as the demon is, but he has no idea what perspective of time this mechanical fellow might have. ]

That's...a long time.

[forwearemany]

(Legion is both immortal and operating in machine time: a single breath is an infinite stretch and yet a year and a half is so so little compared to the centuries accumulated by so many of their programs.)

Yes.

(A lot has happened. It has been long for them.)

[salutosinedelectat]

[ For a moment, the angel says nothing, giving the information a deserved solemn silence.

He glances at the cake in front on him, having mostly forgotten it in turn of the conversation (a rare situation indeed, but unique circumstances allow for such different behavior than usual). Picking up the fork, he finally gives it a try.]

Hm, this is quite good.

[ Of course he’s had better, in the high quality bakeries and restaurants he tends to visit, but beggars can’t really be choosers nowadays. Not here, anyway.]

Did you make it yourself?

[forwearemany]

(In answer to that, they show him their blade of plenty.)

This weapon transforms items into cake.

(So it looks like old junk because it was old junk until it got transformed. Now it's delicious desert all the way through, covered in chocolate dust instead of grime.)

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Aziraphale stops eating for a moment, giving the sword a very confused look. ]

It...into cake?

Really?

[forwearemany]

Affirmative.

(They reach into their backpack, and pull out another, smaller piece of junk, which they then stab to reveal ... oooh looks like it's a lemon cake this time!)

[salutosinedelectat]

[ He is very impressed. Not over the fact of something turning into something else, but over seeing something shaped like a weapon being able to produce such a specific kind of magic.

Also that lemon cake looks positively scrummy.]

Oh my. How did you find such a thing?

[forwearemany]

It was located on Nastrandir, among the items hoarded by Ahidalga.

(They looted it from a dragon's hoard.)

[salutosinedelectat]

[ He has no idea what those words mean. Which is a very strange feeling indeed, since he knows many, many words.]

Ah. I...see.

And it’s completely safe?

[forwearemany]

No evidence of harm caused.

(They've been giving people cake quite a bit today, and there are other people with blades of plenty who have used them, and no one has warned of any danger...)

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Aziraphale gives the cake a thoughtful look. And then he considers that that sword can't be the strangest thing in their situation, and the cake itself seems perfectly normal. He also considers that he really wants cake, or, mostly, something that doesn't taste bland and awful. ]

Well. I trust your word, then.

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged. Thank you.

(Even now, such easy trust is novel to them: no amount of goodwill could convince even their allies that they were entirely trustworthy.)

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Well, Aziraphale trusts easily, sometimes to his detriment. In the very least, he doesn't really expect people to be outright malicious. His demon friend would call that a bit naive, probably.

But he's also never spoken with a sentient machine, so he's quite fascinated. Even if he never invested much attention to what's modern by the standards of his world, this is something else altogether. ]

Very kind of you to offer. I must say, this kind of magic is quite curious.