lifeaftr | December Undercurrent: Opposing Viewpoints

December Undercurrent: Opposing Viewpoints

DECEMBER UNDERCURRENT

Who: Everyone!
What: Oh, inverted world...
When: December 3rd to December 20th
Where: Everywhere!
Warnings: Nothing of note; please mark if anything comes up!

I Wish You Could See the Wicked Truth

The island of Monsun is known for the split down its middle, and how it tends to bring out people's best and worst sides, depending on which side you're on. Some might remember it from previous appearances, but if you've never been, you can read up on the island's details on our Locations page and get yourself caught up to speed! Just like with the previous month, the Water is taking it upon themself to summon the island to the archipelago. And just like with the previous month, this will entail some effects upon the local populace: you.

Given that Monsun hosts the avatar of Balance, don't be surprised if things start to get a little inverted, a little out of balance, a little flipped, a little turned upside down. What do we mean by that, exactly? Well, it can mean all sorts of things. And you get to pick how many of these inversions if any, are going to be affecting you and yours for the duration of the month, at least until Monsun surfaces...and how much each one affects you.

Starting on December 3rd, adventurers may find themselves influenced by any of the effects listed below. You are free to vary the intensity and level of each, as well as how many end up being relevant to you. They can start as a slow build and ramp up gradually through the month, or emerge at full force right out the gate. You can be affected by multiple at once, or one every few days, and so on. The only limit is what you're willing to do!

[ ♆ ] Friendflipped: Do you have someone that you love in your life? Perhaps a best friend, a significant other, a member of your family? They might even be on the island with you. That just makes what's about to happen even more unfortunate, if that's the case, because all of a sudden, you're going to learn that you can't stand the sight of them. That's right: your best friends become your most hated foes. You'll find yourself positively despising those you would ordinarily get along with, all with a vicious, unchecked enthusiasm. Perhaps even more unfortunately, that goes the other way, too: your worst enemies are now your best friends.

[ ♆ ] Casual Obsession: One of the critical aspects of having any sort of hobby or preference is balance. It's always good to not go overboard! Which is why you might find yourself losing all inhibition. Your likes, dislikes, hobbies, desires, and so on will become utterly stripped of any balance the might have had. Do you have a mild sweet tooth? Well, now it's a full on sugar obsession. Do you dislike golf as a sport? Now you hate it with a fiery passion - and all those jerks who play golf, they can go to hell too!

[ ♆ ] One or Nothing: Most people will agree that emotional balance is something we should all strive for. That's about to get a lot more difficult. You might find yourself experiencing only one emotion for an extended amount of time, with only varying degrees of intensity to indicate any actual shift. Alternatively, you find yourself experiencing no emotions at all: a complete, deadened shutoff of any emotional instincts you have.

[ ♆ ] Skill Swap: Hobbies are one thing. But what about your personal skill-sets? Well, those are about to get some serious remodeling. Are you a talented musician? Now you can't read music, much less play it. Are you good in a fight? Not anymore, you're not! Now you can barely throw a punch without bowling yourself over. You'll find that your abilities have become seriously scrambled, to the point where you've lost any natural or trained skill you might have in certain areas. This can extend to magical knowledge, technological know-how, or even basic proclivities like stealth or how light you might be on your feet. The flip side of this is that you might find yourself preternaturally skilled in other areas that you've never so much as touched before. Maybe now you're a pro at climbing, or intensely good with social charisma and persuasion. In general, these swaps will work with a one-to-one ratio; one skill will suffer and another will be boosted as if in compensation, but you're welcome to experiment! Maybe you just want to make your character a completely useless loser for a few weeks. You're certainly free to do just that!

[ ♆ ] Interface Screw: In case it wasn't opposite day enough, you've also got the chance to have your personal orientation of the world completely reversed. By which we mean: left is right, right is left, up is down, down is up, and so on. This might manifest in varying ways. Maybe the sky looks like the sea, and the ground is so far above your head...and you feel like you're walking on thin air, even if to everyone else, the world appears more or less normal. Maybe this isn't even a purely perceptual thing as opposed to a literal one, and to everyone else, you're actually walking upside down. How this manifests is ultimately up to you, but you can interpret it as you like.

These effects will all die down by the time December 20th rolls around. Again, you can choose the rate at which this occurs, and whether it's a slow and steady decrease or a complete shut-off all at once. Either way, by the 20th, you'll all have been restored to whatever passes for your mental and emotional equilibriums, and Monsun will resurface on the archipelago!

But I Settle For a Ghost

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 December's Undercurrent Event, as well as any of the other minor events listed on our Monthly Rundown post. You are very, very free to let your dreams about magical mistletoe and snowgoons 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 the Questions header on our Monthly Rundown post!

December Timeline

[ ♆ ] December 1st: "Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snowgoons" begins and lasts until December 31st
[ ♆ ] December 3rd: "Opposing Viewpoints" begins and lasts until December 20th
[ ♆ ] December 10th: "Mistledon't" begins and lasts until December 22nd
[ ♆ ] December 20th: Monsun returns to the archipelago
[ ♆ ] December 21st: "Breath of Cold Air" begins and lasts until December 31st

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's like she has two-left feet, which hadn't been that noticable in the beginning, but as time had progressed, it had been annoying as hell. Carolina can't even count the number of times that she has tripped, or the bruises that she has from taking a corner too sharply, or how she has dropped her knife, pretty close to her feet. Some of it she could chalk up to being distracted, but not all of it. It is like she is a Rookie who just got pushed through because they needed the numbers.

It's not like in armour is any better than out of armour, but at least the bumps aren't as hard... It is why she is in her own, exploring again, although aside from snow and those enjoying the snow, she hasn't met anything out of the ordinary. Not that it stops her. She'd been done for the time being, planning on returning back to the cottage to change, when there is a familiar armoured body on one of the islets. She shifts her course, stumbling over her own feet, although this time she does keep from falling on her face. That had been embarrassing.

It's not like Carolina thinks anything about the gun. Why would she?]

[It's like a heat-guided missile of an adrenaline shot right to the fucking heart. He sees her, and the reflexive wave of recognition and relief and all the associations that would ordinarily come with the sighting down of her turquoise shade of armor is instead replaced by something intense, seething, and almost unbearable.]

[It's the sour taste of the sort of loathing that's generally reserved for people like the Director, for people like Hargrove, for people like Felix - ]

[For people like who he used to be.]

[His weapon snaps up, the sights trained unerringly on her.]

Don't come any closer.

[Left foot. Right foot. Who would have thought that Carolina would have needed to put so much stock in to something as simple as walking. It does make it easier if she at least focuses on it partially. Of course, what she doesn't expect is Wash.

For a moment she had wondered if something was sneaking up on her, given how he had raised his gun, but it isn't hard to see that the gun is aimed at her.]

Uh, you can put the gun down, Wash.

Can I? [he says mildly, without hesitation. It doesn't make any sense. He shouldn't be acting like this, not to her. It's Carolina.]

[But every muscle in his body feels tensed in anticipatory hostility. He can barely stand to look at her. Every instinct screams to put a bullet through her visor but - that'd be wrong, wouldn't it - ?]

[Why?]

What are you doing here?

[The hell type of an answer was that? It's almost like he thinks she's going to start something, but he has no reason to think that. It's a puzzled expression as she regards him.]

I was scouting. Why? I don't recall any plans.

[There's a hint of confusion that remains in her voice as her head cocks a little to the side.]

Talking to me? [Wash snarls, the aggression now wholly evident.] You think you can just waltz right over here, like nothing's happened? Like - god, why did I let any of it slide? Why did I let you walk all over me?

[It's like a realization that's sprang unbidden into his head...only it's come a few years too late.]

Why the hell did I ever listen to you?

[It is completely out of left field. Sure, she has seen Wash angry before, but out of no where? It is enough to stump Carolina as he snaps, yelling at her.

But about what, exactly?

... the past?

There is that own flare, but she does temper it. Leaping to aggression in turn has not really gotten her anywhere, and there's got to be something... She didn't piss in his cereal this morning, but maybe someone else did? She let's a breath out.]

Wash- [Her hands do go up, as it seeking to defuse the situation.] You know whatever's going on, you can talk about it.

[As there's got to be something else happening, right? Is he... actually angry about the past?]

Is that what you tell yourself? So you can sleep at night?

[The sensation of wrongness is all-consuming, but he can't seem to defuse it, can't derail any of it. She's still talking. He should shoot her, shut her up - ]

[No. No, he can't do that. What the hell is he thinking?]

[But he could, couldn't he?]

You're just so happy to assume that I could just forgive you for any of it. For abandoning me. Leaving me with them, for years. You were alive that whole time, and you never gave a damn.

[It does draw her alert, as it is not like sleep has been a companion of Carolina's for years now. Just like the temple, when she closes her eyes at night, sleep tends to be the furthest thing from her mind. She tends to toss and turn, even pace, catching a few hours here and there. Her armour and weapons tend to be quite clean, but her sleep is lacking. It's become a way of life, and it's not like she believes that she deserves better.

But there has to be something there, something else... Because Wash has spoken his mind in the past, and she does hope that he knows he can call her on bullshit, like he had back with the Reds and the Blues. Yet what it this? An emotional purge? Or... is something amplifying what he actually feels?]

You know that's not it at all, Wash. That nothing I can ever do can ever make it up to you. But that I won't stop aiming to do so.

[As she lowers her hands slowly, although oops, look at that shoulder piece falling off her right side with a sudden and startling clank.]

You're literally falling apart.

[The words are almost a sneer, nothing like the soldier he usually is. He generally labors to paste even a thin veneer of icy professionalism over his lowest and most hateful acts, or at least a baseline justification for them. But here the words are firing out apropos of nothing, unfocused and scattershot.]

Who said I asked you to make up for it?

[Yes, yes she is, as she bends down, almost tripping over her feet in the process, to grab it. Yet she doesn't appear to be the only thing falling apart. Grasping the piece, she glances back to him.]

No one. You never had to accept my apology, Wash. It didn't mean I wasn't sorry.

I don't care whether or not you're sorry, [he hisses.]

Sorry doesn't fix any of it. Sorry doesn't make any of it better. You just act like it's all in the past - like it's all fine now, because you said so.

It's not like you ever said anything otherwise!

[As, oops, there goes that redhead temper. Try as she might not to get her hackles up, it's sometimes easier said that done. Her hand rises, as if to pinch the bridge of her nose, but the helmet prevents that.]

Maybe because all I've ever done my entire life is take orders. Maybe because I'm better at taking orders than anyone else, and as long as you were around, you were just someone else to walk all over me.

[And then, because that's not enough, because he wants to lash out with that additional sting for reasons beyond him - ]

You're just another Director waiting to happen.

[That...

That was a low blow.

A very low blow.

Everything that Carolina had been trying to do was to make amends, to make certain that she never became anything like the man her father had become. She grinds her teeth together, hands clenched, before exhaling sharply.]

You know what? I'm just going to walk away.

[Although the doubt may well have been planted. Yet... No. She can't trust that this is actually Wash, that this is his true feelings. He may have struck close to home, but there is no one else she would trust to have her back more than him.]

Before we both do something we'll regret.

[She'd have to see... No one else had been acting like him, but with this place, that doesn't mean anything. He doesn't appear to be tripping over his own two feet like her, so it's got to be something else.]

Yeah. Go on, run away like you always have.

[The words are heavy and poisonous, a taunt sharpened by the uncharacteristic acid in his tone.]

How about you do everyone a favor and stay gone this time? I was doing fine without you. I was doing great, even. And then you had to head right back in and pick up where you left off.

No one asked for you to come back last time.

There's a difference, Wash, between running, and backing off.

[No, Carolina was going to look in to some things before tracking him down again. Her days of running were long gone, and whatever was up, she would find the root of it.]

[Wash laughs. It's a cold, mirthless sound, and it doesn't really suit him.]

Fine time for you to decide you're done having a spine, huh?

[It doesn't suit him.

It isn't him.

That much is clear.

She'd usually ask Wash her questions, as he had been here the longest, but he seems disinclined to be helpful. Rather shoot her in the ass or something, so she's going to have to go about it the hard way. It's clear he's not tripping over his own shadow, but is something else going on? Something different?

Question the rest of the house and see if they noticed anything off.]

I will talk to you later, Wash.

[She's turning around, leaving, leaving him, leaving him again despite all the warning signs. He knew this would happen, didn't he? He knew it would. He should do something about, should do anything. He shifts his stance. He shifts his grip on his rifle, shuffles back a step, rocks his weight forward, tries to think - ]

No.

[She gets that as a warning. An uncertain one, an unintentional one - but a warning. The word is uncertain.]

[And then his gun snaps back up, and he fires.]

[He seemed to be escalating, and Carolina had wanted to try to figure out why. She trusts him, which is why she doesn't believe that the words are real. Why she will continue to believe that. She knows she can be a major pain in the ass, but Wash can also call her on that anytime. Ever after being here as long as she had, there is still so much more that she needs to understand, that will always be the case with this realm and it's constantly shifting rules.

The single word is enough to put her on edge, helmet starting to turn as she catches the raised weapon. Usually, she might have been quicker, but the problem with two left feet is that you don't have one right. Still, she manages to turn just enough that it clips her tricep as she ducks in to a roll, coming up on one knee.]

The fuck, Wash!

You had to know this was coming!

[He powers forward, trying to re-aim and shoot better. If he gets too close, she could kick his ass in C.Q.C., so he's got to do this from a distance while he has the capacity to.]

You had to have seen this coming.

No, because this isn't you.

[That Carolina knows to be true. She's the biggest fuck up that she knows, letting her team down, casting them aside when she became a dog with a scent. Anger and rage had been her domain, letting it feed and fester within her, letting the guilt burn like bile in her throat.

Her hand shifts, not going for her gun, but for her grappling hook, that trusty grappling hook, and aims- or tries to, because what the fuck to her own body, that seems more intent on betraying her. Like she's drunk or drugged, only she is clear minded. There's just that disconnect between the parts.]

Maybe it's the most me I've ever been. You ever think of that?

[Clip's empty. He's going to have to give her the opening to reload it, but he doesn't have any choice in the matter. He shucks the spent clip and slaps in a new one. It's all he has left.]

No, actually, I didn't!

[And going to use the grappling hook aimed towards his leg to hopefully get him down. Fighting Wash is not at all on her list of things that she wanted to do today. Or ever.]

i.

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