lifeaftr | 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 true, Tex does hear him before she sees him. Something sounds weird in his tone of voice. Something that gives her pause. She turns, heading in a perpendicular direction from where she's going, preparing to intercept him when she comes across him.

When she does spot him, she doesn't really notice anything too remarkable about the way he's acting. At first, anyway. But she knows enough about this place to know it can really knock a person for a loop if it feels like it.

So she pauses, and waits, crossing her arms as she observes. ]

You having trouble, Washington?

You could say that.

[The frustration is palpable in his voice as he sways on the precipice he really didn't intend to end up anywhere near.]

Something's up with this place again. Something usually is, but this time it's screwing with my sense of direction, because I'm pretty sure I didn't mean to end up near a cliff. [He has to keep talking, because if he doesn't, he'll lose his mind thinking about the last time he saw Tex in the snow. He's trying not to think about Sidewinder, here. He's already done this once, for god's sake.]

[ She raises an eyebrow, bracing herself to possibly come towards him. If that happens again, she's going to rush in and save him from falling. ]

Where did you mean to end up?

Not here. [He grinds the words out between gritted teeth. Right now he just has to stand very, very still, perfectly opposed between falling and not falling. He really doesn't want to try shuffling and accidentally shifting the snow underfoot so he goes plummeting into the icy sea.]

I was in the area when this started...happening.

[ Tex observes him for a moment. They're not typically the type that would hold hands or anything, and he's not really the type to ask for help (neither is she), but these circumstances are different. ]

Do you want me to help you?

[His instinct would ordinarily be to say no and leave it at that. But the fact that Tex has actually asked instead of just bulling ahead and taking things into her own hands gives him pause.]

[That, and the fact that he's not really sure he could survive a drop like this. ~~(Would it matter?)~~ He'd like to be done diving off of cliffs, actually.]

...how would you plan to do that? [It's not without a little uncertainty as he says it. He is, maybe, a tad nervous about what constitutes Tex's idea of "help."]

Just lead you. I don't seem to be having any trouble getting around right now.

[ 'Right now', she says, because she knows that could easily change, considering this place they're in. ]

Right. That...might work? I mean, I know where I am, physically. I'm just having a lot of trouble moving the way I should be.

[Blink.]

Wait, right now? You mean you have already?

No, I just mean that the way things go here, whatever's wrong with you might come over me soon enough.

[ She reaches a hand. ]

Come on.

Right, [says Wash, with a slow, shuddery breath that's little more than an attempt at self-assurance. It's not really working. Tex, though - she's a solid fucking rock, in his experience, so if she's not been thrown off balance and assuming the islands aren't fucking with her to the point where this is some kind of ploy to fling him off the fucking cliff, it's the best idea there is.]

[So she has her hand out and he takes it.]

Okay.

[ She leads him away from the cliff's edge, planning to go a good 50 feet before checking in with him. She doesn't want whatever's plaguing him to take over her, so she concentrates on what she's doing, much more than it probably would deserve under other circumstances. ]

[His breath is steady, though sharp and rapid. He's clearly pretty tense about all this, though over what - the fact that his sense of direction has been thoroughly fucked, the fact that Tex is leading him by the hand like he's some kind of fucking kid, the fact that this could start affecting her at any minute because he's got no idea what this even is - is anybody's guess.]

[Still, even though he stumbles, as long as he doesn't think too hard about it, it's easier to follow her without concentrating on what he's doing.]

Tell me if your sense of direction starts to get fucked up.

December Undercurrent: Opposing Viewpoints

ii.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject