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The Mods of LifeAftr ([personal profile] lifeaftr_mods) wrote in [community profile] lifeaftr2020-01-02 08:51 pm

January Undercurrent: Growing Pains

JANUARY UNDERCURRENT
Who: Everyone!
What: Hey bud, how's it growing?
When: January 3rd to January 20th
Where: Everywhere!
Warnings: This event has a potential for body horror and character death; please mark anything as it comes up!

A Notion Growing Inside Me

Those of you who weren't with us the last time Umui entered the archipelago didn't have to contend with the lethal illness known as the Overgrowth personally, but anyone who remembers it probably doesn't remember it fondly. Fortunately, this isn't quite the same strain of the illness that you had to contend with the last time. It's not unrelentingly and uncompromisingly fatal, for one! That's always nice.

For those that need a primer on the Overgrowth, it is best described as a sickness that overcomes you with floral growth both inside and outside your body that can only be cured by expressions of emotional honesty. Expressions of truths, affections, and admissions of things that you have hidden from yourselves or from others were critical in dispensing of the illness. These could be as simple as admissions of past sins or the revealing of secrets, or as grandiose and overt as confessions of guilt or love. That general idea will remain more or less the key means of curing this strain as well, though the stakes fortunately aren't as high this go around! Which is to say, if you fail to have any grand emotional epiphanies by the time this event ends, you aren't doomed to suffer a character death; symptoms will simply dissipate come January 20th.

So what's this sickness going to be like in this particular instance, then? We're so glad you asked!
You can go the standard route, of course. Adventurers' first brush with the illness saw the following afflicted upon them:
[ ♆ ] Stage One: Germination. Initial symptoms involve fever, coughing fits, numbness to nerves and extremities, and general joint stiffness. Difficulty breathing or performing other basic functions will often occur. Fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and intense weakness or dizzy spells are also liable to occur as the flowers begin to harvest nutrients from the body. This will also generate extreme thirst and periods of intense nausea. Tremors and the sensation of something "itching" from inside are also common. The end of Stage One is usually marked by the act of vomiting or coughing up flower petals or spores, along with a not-insignificant amount of blood.

[ ♆ ] Stage Two: Budding. The floral growths spread more completely inside the body, and begin to grow on the skin or exterior. Difficulty performing basic functions will increase as, for example, airways become obstructed and flowers grow around joints and pinch them still. The site of affliction also yields rashes, blisters, and blood sores as the flowers sprout from the skin. The rate of vomiting or coughing up floral growths will increase dramatically. Flowers often bloom quickly, and very painfully. Numbness in affected areas will increase, oftentimes rendering parts of the body completely inert - a pair of legs claimed completely by blooms, for example, will no longer work.
This was followed by Stage Three: Bloom, which resulted in character death. However, this strain will not advance to this style of Stage Three. All symptoms will disperse by the time Umui resurfaces.

This strain is also rather more erratic, which can make emotional repression more of an inconvenience than a horrifying circumstance. For those who would rather not play around with intense sickness (or who have already endured this once before), you have the option to go that route if you like! With this variant of the Overgrowth, one can become, for example, so embarrassed that they hiccup up a flower. A vicious denial of their feelings may cause them to spontaneously erupt into a rash of dandelion puffballs, seemingly immediately. You might end up walking around with a bouquet for an arm for a few hours. Perhaps mortifying, but certainly not fatal! Isn't that nice?

Unless, of course, you want it to be...

I Can't Fight It Much Longer

Now, while the Bloom Stage isn't present in this strain, it has mutated its progression into a rather nasty end stage. Those of you who succumb a little too readily to this illness, who don't fight off the emotional repression quickly, who don't admit those difficult truths to yourself or confess to whatever you're bottling up, you'll be faced with a potentially horrifying transformation. Potentially, because it is your choice whether or not you see fit to commit your character to that fate - as stated above, this option might simply skip over your character entirely, and the worst they'll have to deal with are cartoonishly over-the-top effects that disperse in due time.

But maybe not all of you will be so lucky. Some of you might discover for yourselves how this particular variant of the Overgrowth has mutated.

We call this mutation Stage Three: Outbreak.
In this final Stage, those beautiful blooms wither and harden into a fungus-like carapace as the illness grows into the victim's brain and shuts down virtually all higher functions. This can sometimes render them almost wholly recognizable, but not always - oftentimes, it's very obvious who this person once was. The victim is reduced to a carrier of the virus, which causes them to act the way you'd expect most viruses to act: becoming intent on spreading. Advanced brain functions such as speech, rational thought, and so on tend to shut off and become wholly inaccessible.

Now that the victim's body is no longer fighting the Overgrowth, the illness lends them increased speed, strength, and durability, making them dangerous foes indeed. They will usually seek to infect others by whatever means necessary - usually via biting or exuding breathable spores - but in some cases, they will simply reduce to base instincts, and just outright attempt to attack and kill whoever is closest.

Unfortunately, at this point, there is no hope of a cure; it's hard to make someone be emotionally honest when they're capable of little more than blunt, animal instinct. At this point, you can either wait for the Stage Three symptoms to disperse come Umui's return, or take manners into your own hands. You can probably guess what that might entail.

If you decide to put your Overgrown friends out of their misery, this will count as a character death. If it comes to that, be sure to let us know on the Deaths page! Death penalties, however, will not be reduced for this event.

Try to Get Through It

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 January's Undercurrent Event, as well as any of the other minor events listed on our Monthly Rundown post. And, of course, 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 Rundown post!
January Timeline
[ ♆ ] January 1st: "This Sucks" begins and lasts until January 10th
[ ♆ ] January 3rd: "Growing Pains" begins and lasts until January 20th
[ ♆ ] January 11th: "No Water is Safe" begins and lasts until January 19th
[ ♆ ] January 20th: Umui returns to the archipelago
[ ♆ ] January 21st: "Impawsible Geometries" begins and lasts until January 31st
LOGSOOCSTORIESMAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
thermalwind: (pulling in three two one)

[personal profile] thermalwind 2020-01-26 04:40 pm (UTC)(link)
No. [He has gotten less and less caring about choosing his words with care on a given day. It will be hell for public relations when he gets home. Keith shrugs,]

But last time I didn’t play it safe we had a god drugged on their own aspect pull us into dreams and try to eat us.

We ignored the vines following us because they seemed harmless. [He isn’t drawing his weapons but checking it out? That needs done.]

And better to know if we got a bunch around or not. Let people know if they are harmless. It’s nice to find something around here that is.

[He shrugs his shoulders once and scans around them. Nothing so far.] ...if you do decide to keep them I know some ways to handle canines. They’re great friends to have.
thermalwind: (spoilers: no I don't)

[personal profile] thermalwind 2020-01-26 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
And some just don’t know what it is they’re holding back. [He says with a small nod. Keith looks back at the sea for a moment. Then back at him.] Nasty way to punish a group of people.

[He elaborates before he’s asked to. His tone suggesting he is just getting it out now. Being prompted wastes some time and...better they know.] This sickness comes from a Quarantine island called Umui.

The people of an ancient city called Tempide seems to have sent them there when they started growing flowers out of themselves. Why the sickness endured after they all died...couldn’t tell you. Acts like a curse, spreads like a sickness. [He shoves his hair away from his fully pointed ears.]

Some god was really mad and is still mad, I guess.
salutosinedelectat: Confused, curious, nervous, scared, sad (I hate this)

[personal profile] salutosinedelectat 2020-01-26 06:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Aziraphale is beginning to think that this human - or human shaped being as it were, he's not really looking too deep into that - is quite the serious kind.

The part about the drunk god and vines and trying to eat people though, that certainly gets his attention. He's heard a lot about the gods in these islands, but, somehow, no one's actually told him they can be dangerous. Although...he should really just know that from experience. ]


Oh, I...I see. I do suppose you have a point.

[ He glances down at the wobbledog by his feet with renewed uncertainty. The animal simply tries to scratch its ear, nearly falling over in the process. ]

Right. Well, perhaps a thorough investigation really is necessary. Just to make sure.
blindfoster: (fae49)

[personal profile] blindfoster 2020-01-26 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"Have you always been able to read minds? That sounds..." How to say this without being offensive, "Exhausting."

But right. Talking about his own feelings. His shoulders slump. "I guess, that's mostly it. I miss everyone now, and I know I'm gonna miss them again, and it'll be a lot longer than however long I'm here." Eleven more years until he comes of age and has to leave San Francisco and his fosterage behind. It's hard not to think of his as a preview of that in some ways.
catpiper: (well here I am now talking at my phone)

ii

[personal profile] catpiper 2020-01-26 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[The yell instantly gets her attention. The island is comfortable, but far from safe and she's not willing to overlook someone's cry when she knows it could be anything. Fusterclucks moving into different territories, some strange monsters, even the water could be creeping up, so-

She hesitates, taking cautious steps towards the source of the noise, ducking down into the bushes to ensure she's hidden in case something funky fresh is happening in these hundred acre jungles when-

It's that shark and-

It's that guy.

She doesn't know whether the shark might come to life again, so she opts to raise her hands from a nearby bush to wave frantically. Look at her!! Come over here!!
]
blindfoster: (fae23)

[personal profile] blindfoster 2020-01-26 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Seems like a good time for a heart to heart then.

[Quentin watches the shirt go up and does a fairly decent job of keeping his attention to looking at the remnants of the flowers, and not the fact that Keith is pretty. The latter is just bisexual details, really.]

Right yeah. Questions. [Quentin considers, brow furrowing as he focuses again.]

This place... do you think it's trying to teach us something? [He shakes his head.] If it isn't, this place is just... sadistic. I mean, even if it is, I think that still applies.
tenthstreetbred: (Shock)

A!!!

[personal profile] tenthstreetbred 2020-01-26 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[She coughs, feeling the familiar growing feeling of dread in her lungs. For a moment she chokes on a small petal that flutters from her mouth to the ground. She grits her teeth and then shakes her head. Fuck this shit, honestly.

She makes her way towards the mana pools, knowing she has to talk to someone, even if she really, really doesn't want to. The last person she opened up to, opened her heart to, is gone. It feels like a curse, almost. One she absolutely deserves.

She finds Legion prone on the ground. This seems to be a running theme between the two of them and she would be amused if she wasn't worried what it could mean with the current disease going around. She drops to her knees next to Legion, more calm, checking over their body to make sure that they aren't, well, dead. She's no engineer however and very quickly she finds herself out of her depth.]


Well shit, Legion.

[She feels the fluttering of panic in her chest alongside the feeling of roots creeping through her lungs. She reaches forward and hauls them up over her shoulders, fireman carrying them towards the mana pool she was making her way towards. It doesn't take terribly long to reach and she sets them down beside her as she feels the mana pool revitalizing her as well. Then she waits to see if they wake.]
eudaimonikos: (consequences)

[personal profile] eudaimonikos 2020-01-27 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
Can't say I do either. Although none of my friends from home are here...

[Maybe it doesn't count?]
thermalwind: (Raid night canceled ok...pizza?)

[personal profile] thermalwind 2020-01-27 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
[Keith grimaces. It's all too easy to remember the trials weighing on them and the final room that seemed to say 'remember, impulsive rage solves nothing'. He can almost feel the sticky slime and glitter on his skin.]

I think, [He says slowly as he sits a little straighter and smooths his shirt with his good hand. He's not quite as oblivious to Quentin's staring as he is pretending to be. He just doesn't quite process why. Is it the scars? He does have way more than most people do.]

That this is an old punishment for something. Umui was a quarantine and Tempide where they came from...something happened there. I need to go back over my notes of what we found. Have you met Kravitz yet?
Edited 2020-01-27 00:32 (UTC)
eudaimonikos: (supervenience)

[personal profile] eudaimonikos 2020-01-27 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
...that's Florida.

[He says, with no further explanation.]
mockiri: artist unknown, searching for source (She’s probably a good egg.)

[personal profile] mockiri 2020-01-27 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
[She nods thoughtfully, then quietly echoes each phrase- in a perfect mimicry of his voice, of course.]

Excuse me. Pardon me. May I help you. [She chirps, delighted, and claps her hands together.] Thank you.
suspecteverything: (neutral)

[personal profile] suspecteverything 2020-01-27 03:02 am (UTC)(link)
"No. Resent acquisition thanks to my screwed up genetics and an attempt to save my life. And yeah, it's exhausting. Can't turn it off."

Or any of the other things that come with Trisani abilities.

"Missing people is part of life unfortunately. It sucks ass, but that doesn't change anything."

Jules isn't the type of person to be all happy positivity pretty much ever, but especially not when he knows it's a lie. There's no way he'll tell Quentin they'll meet again someday. A lot of the time that's a load of crap.
suspecteverything: (oh man here we go)

[personal profile] suspecteverything 2020-01-27 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
Couple months...

[A more intentional dip into Jyushimatsu's mind tells Jules all he needs to know, and he nearly groans.]

There's two of you now? Fantastic...
blindfoster: (Default)

[personal profile] blindfoster 2020-01-27 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
[Nope, Keith. It is not the scars at all. It is the basically everything else.]

An old punishment sounds ominous. And we're just... caught in it somehow?

[Luck? Something more sinister and deliberate than that?]

I don't think I recognize the name.

[Quentin is quiet for a long moment, considering.] ...oh, and in case it decides to become a petunia in my spleen or something, I think you're really pretty. Like just objectively. [A shrug because, facts are facts, and Quentin doesn't see anything weird about acknowledging this.]
thermalwind: (Um thanks for noticing my efforts?)

[personal profile] thermalwind 2020-01-27 03:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[He blinks and his cheeks turn pink. Keith swallows, then ducks his head as the color spreads up to the tips of his ears.] Uh. Thanks.

...and to make sure I don’t cough up flowers over this I’m not used to being told that. I’m still getting used to it from Shiro.

[It takes a moment to compose himself. He really isn’t used to being seen in that light. Except by Shiro and in those cases he is busy seeing how much he can get his fiancé to relax.]

And yeah, we caught it originally from the mass grave we found on Umui. The flowers the dead leave behind are contagious if enough of their remains are airborne. We dig too deep and we’re likely to wake this again.
philoxenia: (ain't it fun-- being all alone?)

[personal profile] philoxenia 2020-01-27 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ This-- ]

I'm so sorry.

[ The apologize is automatic, and something tugs hard and tight at her heart. Even if she doesn't know this girl--Ren, Mira thinks Ren must have been someone close. Even if she can't feel anyone's emotions anymore, it's written on Ren's face. It's... it's hard for her, to let herself get close to people, especially physically, but...

She takes Ren's hand and gives it a squeeze. ]


It must... hurt, even if you say it's okay.
agathokakological: ([102])

[personal profile] agathokakological 2020-01-27 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[Crowley can feel himself on the brink of tears, but swallows it all up and replaces it with anger. Classic move.]

Angel, you are not writing a suicide note right now. I am not going to let you die. Stop being a stubborn prick.

[He takes a breath, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.]

I'm sorry. Tell me how it feels. Tell me how I can help.
yourattention: (i mean no one stops to care)

[personal profile] yourattention 2020-01-27 07:27 pm (UTC)(link)
It's like moths.

[He sets the cups down and draws a spiraling circle in the air around it, drawing closer and closer to the center.]

People who want to fix shit are drawn to assholes like us. They draw closer and closer, until they learn the true nature of fire. Then they either die or retreat to a safer distance.

[Or you push them away. Usually that one.]
errantdetective: (And you can't escape a story that)

[personal profile] errantdetective 2020-01-27 07:34 pm (UTC)(link)
He's still her Squire, even if this is a bizarre situation. But then, when are they not in a bizarre situation? It's a perfectly legitimate time for a lesson.

She lets her disguise drop, releasing the scent of bloody copper and cut grass into the air. "Breathe, kid. Let your nose tell you if I'm real or not."
yourattention: (but at least there were days)

[personal profile] yourattention 2020-01-27 07:51 pm (UTC)(link)
You know, when a person is very, very sad they like sunsets.

[The words are slow and measured, but the response is too quick to be anything but something Connor's reciting from memory. It, like most things Connor says that he's stolen from somewhere else, is a deflection.

He remembers the last time he did this: I live in the sound of the waves. You have to look with your heart.

Tim is too practical for that. Instead, Connor breathes, ragged and laborious.]


I'll tell you a secret if you go first.
yourattention: (all i've thought about is how hard)

[personal profile] yourattention 2020-01-27 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[Connor laughs, which turns into a cough. On any other occasion, it might seems like he was trying to hide the laugh. Here, it's obvious the flowers set him off.]

I know you won't believe this, but the best thing I ever did for other people was die.

[From his perspective, anyway, his death gave people what they wanted. His dad got someone who wanted to play baseball. The son he'd always wanted. There was an orchard being restored. People got meaning from his death where when he'd been alive he'd just been a burden. He'd just been seeking attention.]

All I do when I'm alive is ruin things.

[Usually deliberately. Sometimes unintentionally. If he were honest about that too, he'd say it's because his brain is a fucked up black hole and he has no impulse control. When he decides something, that's all there is to it. Sometimes he destroys something in the process of trying to save something else. Most of the time, he just caves to the part of his brain that says he should ruin things like a forest fire that ravages everything before someone manages to get it under control.]
forwearemany: (Default)

[personal profile] forwearemany 2020-01-27 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
(A good thing to hear.)

Acknowledged. Thank you.
postictal: (are you ready to mcfucking die)

[personal profile] postictal 2020-01-27 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[It sounds like a recitation. A reference to something that Tim doesn't get, like most of the references Connor drops. He looks away, runs his tongue over the blood in his teeth. He can still taste the sharp sting of sap from the flecks of plant matter caught there.]

[Tell you a secret.]

[You go first.]

[Well, he can work with this. If it means Connor doesn't die, again...if he keeps it vague enough, maybe...]


I killed someone. [He says it simply, and without preamble. It's something that people here used to know, back when they were here. But now he's pretty sure no one's left. No one's left who remembers, which basically makes it a secret all over again.]

Back home. I wasn't gonna. I spent the entire time - he was trying to kill me, actually. I kept trying to find some other way out. He kept saying no.

He wasn't even a friend, but I knew him. From school. Years ago. And he tried to kill me, and he killed a lot of other people, so when he had me up against a wall I stabbed him in the neck and then I hit him until he stopped fighting.

Told me to kill myself before he just...

[A shrug. Before it was over.]

[He breathes a little. Feels a bit, a tiny bit, like letting poisoned blood out of a wound. In the grand scheme of things, it's not really much of a weight off his chest.]

[But he does it without much hesitation, because he actually does want Connor to live.]
agathokakological: Humiliating. ([061])

[personal profile] agathokakological 2020-01-27 09:08 pm (UTC)(link)
You can always tell me. From one bad demon to another. I won't judge you.

[Crowley waves his hands.]

Well, I mean, I'll judge you, but I don't really care.
salutosinedelectat: Crowley, talking, serious (Staredown)

[personal profile] salutosinedelectat 2020-01-27 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Suicide note?, he thinks to ask, with how much he absolutely does not want to die. To think that there's an increasingly better chance that he might, from all he's heard about this condition, over something so--frustratingly placating in every manner-

He thinks about the times when he's almost found himself discorporated. He thinks about the moment he was set to be destroyed (not that he was there, mind you). He thinks about all of that, and the flowers taking over his insides. He looks at their hands, and feels the itch beneath his skin.

That's where his gaze still is, when he speaks quietly again. ]


I don't want to die, Crowley. [ So much should be obvious, but saying it outloud has other implications. Plus a healthy dose of dramatics, that may be entirely justified, considering how he feels. ] After everything we've been through, this can't just be what it all comes down to.

[ A breath through his nose, another muffled cough, but one that builds up enough that he has to pull his hands away and cover his mouth. He feels them coming back up again, from wherever they're sprouting without his consent. He feels them ripping at something, for as much as flowers can do such a thing.

He takes a couple of deep breaths, hunched over himself, hand on his chest. When he speaks, his voice is more strained than before, and quite a lot more frustrated. ]


This blasted place has been nothing but one thing after another, all-- monsters and gods and rogue magic. But all accounts, it shouldn't even exist.