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

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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...Man, I guess not. [She'll admit that much, even if she sort of pouts as she says it.] So I guess this could be... fffffine?

[She hesitates even as she says that, because...] As fine as having a piece of leather fuckin' with our heads could possibly be.

[Yeah she's still mad.]

Acknowledged. Our right to self determination is compromised.

(It's not as bad as it could be, but still.)

Right, exactly that. [Harmful or not, conceptually, it sucks.

Her brow furrows for a moment as she thinks.] D'you think it's like the flower thing? Like, where we're just supposed to get it all out or somethin'.

Uncertain. However, we have not encountered anyone who has been harmed.

(It doesn't seem like there's a penalty.)

At least there's that.

[She sighs, more out of lingering frustration than relief - but she is glad that it seems, so far, like whatever these are aren't going to fuck them up, at least for a while.]

If it seems alright to you, maybe it won't be a total shitshow... you seem to have your head on pretty good.

[Not that she has ever in her life had room to talk on that front, but as far as she can tell they seem to have decent judgement.]

Acknowledged ... thank you.

(They're not entirely sure what to make of this compliment.)

...Man, are you really that much not used to people saying nice shit? It's no problem.

[They've established pretty well that the whole compulsive honesty thing is weird, but still!!]

Prior to our arrival, positive interactions with non-Geth were limited.

(They've been here for some time, but they still don't get a lot of compliments.)

The population of Enso is the first to truly accept us. We are grateful.

(Do they look happy? Well, they are happy.)

That sucks ass. [It's not necessarily surprising, given a lot of Legion's behavior, especially when they first arrived - but it does suck ass.]

Damn good thing people have been chill here, then. Seems to be something they're good at, as, like... a population.

Affirmative. We are uncertain if this is a result of the situation they are in, or if what brings us here is biased toward individuals exhibiting unusual tolerance.

(It could be both, maybe?

Regardless, Legion is grateful.)

I'm gonna be pissed if something is actually picking and choosing us to be here, not gonna lie. But, I guess if they are, if they're dragging a bunch of people together to be trapped on an island together from different worlds, it'd make sense that they'd want them to be able to... not flip their shit at each other existing.

No more than is gonna happen anyway, that is.

(They look away. Unlike many, they are ...grateful to have been brought to this place.)

Yes.

[Erika may not have the best people skills, but she at least notices that. Shit, right, this place has been pretty good for them, hasn't it.]

...The hypothetical people-chooser made some good choices. Maybe, if we can find 'em and get people home that want to, others could stay.

[An attempt was made.]

Affirmative.

(Perhaps some of their allies would choose to remain.)

[She hopes that at least kinda worked - and it seems like it did?

So, she gives a satisfied nod.] It's pretty cool knowing you, in any case. And thanks again for the cake.

(It did, at least for now.)

Acknowledged. We are pleased to be able to contribute to the joy of our allies.

November Undercurrent: And We Give Thanks

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wanna wrap or continue?

Is there anything else you want them to bring up? If not, wrap probably.