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

Oh. Well, I-- I suppose.

[He's still a little shellshocked at the sudden attention, but it's dying down.]

Do you, uhm... I mean, it's nice to see that we can still appreciate flowers here. Despite the hard meaning for many of us.

[Asgore does hesitate a little at that, hands finally slowing in his work.]

Oh. Oh, dear, I hadn't thought about that...I mean, I have no issue with them myself. I suppose I would not have goldenrod in my garden otherwise.

[yeah he sure did just keep on trying to cultivate the flowers that killed him. he has a way of doing that.]

But I suppose others might.

[He hesitates as well when he sees he's thrown even a little wrench into this conversation, an apologetic sort of cringe being shot the other man's way.]

No, no, it's fine, I-- I'm certainly not. Besides, there are increasingly few of us who even know that incident on a personal level. For most, it is... just story.

[Just a tale, out of it all. It feels almost melancholy, and Kravitz doesn't especially know what to make of that.]

It was beautiful, taken from it's context. Umui, I mean. It was lovely to simply watch, before we knew the weight of it's impetus.

It was. I quite enjoyed it, before everything happened. I had been planning on bringing so many new types of flowers back here...

[But then, you know, he found out where they came from. Asgore is okay with letting his own goldenrod have a place in his garden, but doing something like that with other people's flowers would be ghoulish.]

At least I had not done it yet.

[He nods in agreement. All things considered, he was hopeful people would do the same, until he realized the flowers grew from flesh and meat. A grave is a grave, and stealing from it remains a grievous offense.]

It felt almost like a nod, or perhaps a mockery, of the mourning concept. Flowers growing from the dead to celebrate themselves, life being choked from them for the expense of the onlookers and grievers. It's-- not that it was someone else's fault, it's just... well, I'm rambling.

[For as much as Kravitz wants or claims to understand gods, he doesn't know their motives. And now that they've learned this was some kind of curse, he can't help but wonder what this was in retribution to.

Lots of people love flowers, after all. It would stand, if a god's death was being mourned, you would need a lot of them.]

I had never thought of it quite like that.

[Asgore doesn't often tend towards such metaphorical thought. It only reminded him of his garden, of the flowers that grew where his son's dust was spread. Of course it seemed fitting that flowers should grow from his own as well.]

I know that humans like to leave flowers for the dead, but that is not a monster custom. If the departed was especially fond of flowers, we might spread their dust where they grow, but that is up to the individual and their family.

Oh. I-- that's fascinating, actually. Is, is your culture strict on cremation, or is it a different aspect of decomposition?

[Oops, he's suddenly getting more animated about this whole thing. Hardly a surprise that the Reaper would enjoy talking about death practices, but this is interesting and Asgore doesn't appear to be shying away from the subject. So what's the harm?]

Oh, no. Monsters' bodies are mostly made of magic, with only a little bit of physical matter. We turn entirely to dust when we die.

[No cremation, no decomposition. Just like that. Asgore considers, and cups his hands closely together.]

Even for a monster my size, it would only be about so much. Traditionally, we spread it over something the deceased loved, so that they can live on in it.

[Kravitz nods along as Asgore thinks, trying to put that in context with what he knows about death. It's poetic, in a certain way. He thinks he understands.]

That's... quite beautiful, in concept. That the energy made from them would go to something they loved, as to be reborn with that energy within them. It sounds like a lovely ceremony.

[At least he's not so clueless as to say he'd love to see it, seeing as that would imply a lot he doesn't want to.]

It can be.

[He seems a little sad...but then, it is a funerary custom. That's only natural.]

I am rather less familiar with modern human customs, I'm afraid. Or perhaps they simply have many.

They absolutely have many- it is not just your perception. Most human cultures have death rites, and they often vary by location, religious pursuit, and personal request. Almost all of them have a concept of it though, and a concept of my role. I suppose it has varied across worlds, though.

[He's coming to realize that this may not be a great conversation for mortals to be having, and he clears his throat, just a bit embarrassed.]

I'm-- sorry, I don't mean to dig in on this. You were having a good time with your, uhm, flowers.

Oh, no, it is alright.

[Well, that's sort of a deflection; it is a little sad. But you know. He's okay.]

I'm sorry - I do not quite know what your role is?

Oh. I-- My apologies. I had thought with the various nicknames others have for me, it was common knowledge.

[He has a feeling a lot more people know him as "death cop cabbages" than he'd like. Because of course they do. Regardless, he puts a hand to his chest as if he's set to bow, a formal stance across his ribcage.]

Back in my home world, I am a bounty hunter for the Raven Queen, the Goddess of Death and the Natural Order. I track escaped souls from the afterlife of the Astral Plane and ensure the dead successfully depart. So I, ah, I'm always a bit interested in how it's handled elsewhere.

[.....that's a lot of entirely unfamiliar terms, but after a second of thought Asgore brightens.]

Oh! Like Ryoji! That is a friend I made in the last world I visited - he was Death, or something like it. A very nice young man.

[He's expecting a harsher reaction, so the cheerfulness catches him a bit off guard. Kravitz blinks once, trying to remember that not everyone wants to stab Death and run, and doesn't suppress the kind smile that finds it's way onto his face instead.]

Yes, I'm-- I'm sure it was quite similar. Us, that is. Truly, I don't mean anyone harm, especially not here. The only subjects I pay mind to are the escaped dead.

Oh, of course. That is quite alright.

[That wasn't Ryoji's job at all, really, but the concept is similar enough. Just because someone exists in that capacity doesn't mean they're a bad person.]

Although quite a few of us were dead before arriving here, were they not?

Ah well, yes. That is not something I have control over, loathe as I am to admit it. When this is all over, I'll be sure everyone returns to their proper plane. Otherwise it could get very, very messy.

[Souls running around where they shouldn't is Bad, for a large variety of reasons. Kravitz is not eager to find out all of them, even if he knows quite a few.]

This realm is a bit of an exception to the rule, due to... outstanding circumstances. But it is certainly not the norm.

Oh, the world I came from was much the same as this. But we were managing things there quite well ourselves! We had discovered our own paths back, only I was brought here before I could leave.

[He's quick to add the latter part! Asgore knows that a good number of his compatriots don't plan to return home at all, and though he's always loathe to lie...he won't sell them out. He won't do anything that might cause them trouble.

And...maybe he doesn't want to die again, himself? When he thinks about it, he feels like he wouldn't mind; it's just the consequences of his own actions. But...

That's something to think about on his own, perhaps.]

[Unsurprisingly, Kravitz is not the best advice giver when it comes to the question of 'should the dead stay dead', especially when it's the person in question. But Asgore's statement confuses him, and he furrows his brow.]

Your... your own paths back from death? Were you taken to the Astral Plane before you had died? Because that is an incredibly rare situation.

[blink]

Oh! No - we were brought to another world, and making our way back to our own. [and like, not back from death or anything. totally.]

Oh! Oh.

[Well that makes sense. Kravitz knows from a few others that there were other places around, so it makes sense that they were all heading out of another world and got stuck here as well.]

It's unfortunate that you've been away for so long, then. I sincerely hope we can resolve this place in a way that allows you to return home soon.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

December Undercurrent: Opposing Viewpoints

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