December Undercurrent: Opposing Viewpoints

[lifeaftr_mods]

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 )

Comments

i

[postictal]

[Tim gets giving a shit about plants. Really, he does. He's had to take care of the flowers for the kids ever since they...well, he's been looking after their garden for them. It hasn't always been a perfect effort, but he's done his best with it.]

[He's heard that talking to your plants sometimes helps, but...yelling at them?]

[Tim stops walking for a minute to just...kinda stare and take the sight in.]

Uh. Hey, buddy.

You okay?

[agathokakological]

[Crowley's clearly frustrated with the state of things, and it's enough to allow him a moment to walk away and address the other man speaking to him.]

I'm fine. Can't say the same for the rest.

[The rest, of course, he says motioning over his shoulder, as if that is supposed to mean anything to Tim.]

[postictal]

The...uh, rest?

[He stares at Crowley, and then at the plants, and then back to Crowley. He doesn't want to say that he's lost it, but Tim's definitely gonna need more explanation here.]

[agathokakological]

[Oh right, Crowley's so caught up in his hobby that he forgets that human beings don't normally attribute human emotion to plants. He clears his throat, takes a deep breath, and tries not to sound too crazy.]

Having some issues with the garden... uhhh.. pests. Right. Garden pests.

[Fuck.]

[postictal]

Like...aphids or something?

[Those are garden pests, right? Tim keeps frowning.]

Can you talk to them? [He says it pretty matter-of-fact, like this is a perfectly ordinary sort of skill for someone to have. It wouldn't be the strangest thing he's heard of someone being able to do.]

[agathokakological]

Sure. [Aphids, whatever those are. You'd think a demon of his age would have more insight into the types of creatures that normally walk the Earth, but Crowley can't even tell you which animals have ears and which don't.]

Can't anyone? [He can't believe this man is buying this, and turns to look behind him.]

They don't talk back.

[postictal]

I mean, I dunno. Plenty of people can do pretty weird shit here.

[He crams his hands into his pockets just to give himself something to do with them, shrugging.]

Just saying. "Talking to aphids" would not be the weirdest thing I've heard of someone doing.

[agathokakological]

What is the weirdest thing you've heard of someone doing?

[This was not just to get the attention off of himself, of course. Crowley genuinely wanted to know.]

[postictal]

Eh. It's relative.

[Now that he has to think about it - well, Tim's metric for these things is pretty skewed, he knows. He's always been his own basis for abnormal and his basis for normal was always rooted in people like Alex or people like Brian, and sure enough his abnormality began to bleed into their baselines and now they're about as far removed from normal as he is on a good day.]

Turning back into a kid. Watching other people's memories. Switching bodies. Hearing other people's souls. Destroying the world. Bringing back the world.

Stuff like that.

[agathokakological]

[Crowley makes a face. One that kind of says some of that's not THAT weird, as in, he's done a few of those things himself.]

That's the weirdest thing? Really?

[postictal]

Like I said, it's pretty subjective. Most of that stuff isn't exactly possible where I'm from.

[Well...that is also subjective. But he's not about to go about telling anyone what anomalies really fucked with things back home.]

[agathokakological]

Perhaps it is and you just don't know it.

[Again, maybe he's projecting, trying to take all attention off him, ever the sly serpent. Maybe it's another compulsion. Crowley had been known to ask too many questions, and this was almost starting to feel like a game.]

[postictal]

[Tim shrugs again, noncommittal.]

Maybe. [Privately, he doubts it, but that's not why he's here.] Anyway. I'm just saying people would probably ask fewer questions if they knew you were talking to aphids, or whatever.

[agathokakological]

Noted.

[Who, Crowley? Nervous?]

I'll pen a sign next time. Don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.

[postictal]

[That raises his eyebrows slightly.]

What? Wouldn't want them thinking you're crazy, or something?

[Oh, no. Wouldn't want that. Of the two of them, Tim's pretty sure he's the only one who falls under that category.]

[agathokakological]

Sure, or worse: someone completely sane.

[He's joking, he thinks?]

[postictal]

Guess we're both safe, then.

[Casual admission of his own mental health issues could probably be done with more finesse and with also better language, but at least he's at a point where he can casually...almost joke about it. It's a sense of humor that befits the exchange.]

[agathokakological]

[Crowley laughs in response. He wouldn't necessarily call himself crazy, but he was unique in his life experience.]

Guess so.

[postictal]

So...gardening? Didn't know you were into that.

[Not that he knows very much about Crowley at all. Tim has, unfortunately, acquired a bit of gardening knowledge against his will. "Against his will," because he has to take care of a garden that belonged to someone else. Someone who's no longer here.]

[agathokakological]

Er, well, used to keeping houseplants. But you can say I know a thing or two. 

[And what he doesn't, surely Aziraphale would, having worked as a gardener for a very posh family Crowley once nannied for. Together they could certainly keep a garden alive.]

[postictal]

I guess you can keep doing that here. Plenty of flowers and stuff around.

[His gaze drifts over to the plants that Crowley had been, until recently, yelling at.]

Though I guess you figured that out already.

[agathokakological]

[He rather sheepishly looks back at the mess of plants he's accumulating.]

Yeah, I er... can't seem to help myself.

[postictal]

[Hey, Tim's not judging. Tim's the last person who should be judging, just as a general rule.]

I'd just say to stay away from the weed. There's people growing lots of that already.

[agathokakological]

[Now you've done it. You've piqued a demon's interest.]

Turf wars?

[postictal]

I mean, I don't think enough people actually, y'know, use it to justify how much there is.

[Or maybe that's just his perception. He doesn't know. He doesn't really track who here smokes weed and who doesn't.]