January Undercurrent: Growing Pains

[lifeaftr_mods]

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

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[postictal]

Oh yeah? Like how you're taking care of yourself?

[You wanna go there, Kravitz? 'Cause he will. He has no qualms over being called out on his hypocrisy; he's fully aware of that already, thanks.]

[yakyuuman]

Uh, Sirius... Sirius... [ He makes his usual thinking face, in which his eyes take on a weird cat-like shape. Thankfully his smile returns shortly after. ]

Sounds like a badass name to me! Kind of heroic!

[thermalwind]

[Keith’s eyes go wide with surprise as Kravitz pulls him in. The stiffness and fight goes out of him and he sags against him, surrendering to the touch. He isn’t used to this. He has people he is willing to hug or hug him.

His arms go around Kravitz and he closes his eyes.] Y-yeah. Little by little we can make a difference. ...even just being the Black Paladin it changes things. I can’t erase what Zarkon did in a life time but...I can make it easier for those that come after. Just like you are.

[suspecteverything]

[Sadly money and status don't exempt one from being the target of a fight where he's from. Take that from a former Tahrs or crown prince.]

You seriously needed a fight to figure that one out? Everyone is an asshole, and I'm not just talking about people. There are plenty of other species that fit that qualification too. Haven't actually met a species that didn't have it's fair share of assholes. Some more than others.

[thermalwind]

[He draws back enough to see her face and slowly nods.] Other than what I have to get off my chest to Shiro, yeah.

I just have to find him but if I don’t see him during the day. I’ll see him tonight. [It might be better that way. What he has to tell him is very private. He reaches up and brushes at his eyes, wiping away a tear or two of his own.]

I’ll be fine after that. So will he.

[catpiper]

Yes, that's something I'm very good at.

[One of the few things she can have full confidence in. She can make a dank flower crown.]

You were good at it too. I can show you again.

[catpiper]

That's why we're going to be very quiet. It's okay. You can follow me and if you hear something scary, you run very fast. That's how it works.

[catpiper]

I won't die in here. The cats would sleep like this too, so-

[Those aren't here either and that's not a comforting thought. She knows ESP and EGG are likely long gone, given her apparent disappearance. The same thing had happened to Pachinko and not matter how long she searched, the little kitten never came out of the woods.

She opens up a little air hole towards one of the tucked in edges of the blanket and viola, perfect. Air, warmth-all's well in the land of Ren Oz.]

I can tell you a story if you can't sleep.

[catpiper]

[He starts to cry and-

There's a pang in her heart. One she can't force away because her eyes settle on his expression, the way he's failing to hold everything back and for a moment, it feels like she said something wrong. But it can't be wrong, if it caused this kind of reaction. If it's the truth she feels in her own soul, then there's some merit to it and he-

May or may not see it. Might not ever see it. But her words get through to him and she can see how some the flowers tear away from his skin. He's going to get better.

They're going to get better.

She's going to be better. For him, she has to be. If he's going to believe her, she has to be. If he can sit here and between these choked sobs say she's right, when he was struggling so much before then-

He starts to talk and she listens, focusing on every word coming out of his mouth. No petals are coming up, no blood-he's talking, and it's through a raspy sounding throat, but the words are coming out and he's not hurting because of it. That's what matters here and-

She's scared shitless when his voice drops and his hand moves to where that blindingly yellow flower is poking through her hair.

But she has to be better to. Get better. Deal with this because he's trying. Because she wants to try. Because they can try and even if it doesn't work, they did their best.

She knew it was coming. That he would be able to see through the haphazard braids on her head and pick up that her arms were numb and achy and sore. He always notices and she has to try. For someone kind like him, good like him, who sat here and listened to her preach about the shining heart beating in his chest, she-

Really has to try.]

I am. I'm very scared. Of a lot of things, I'm really scared.

[That once all-encompassing fear has shifted and waned over the years. Has been dulled by affection and care. Has been alleviated by kind words and promises. And with that, came-]

I used to be scared of dying. I didn't want to go, even if I had to. I wanted to stay alive for a long time and-

[That can't happen. It won't. It'll be impossible for her to survive outside of this island. The medicine will run out and she'll die.

She was always supposed to die.

And that thought isn't what makes every muscle in her body pull, pull, pull so tight. It isn't what makes her eyes immediately start to burn, as something seems to almost instantaneously overwhelm her. Like it's been at the forefront of her mind every waking moment, every second she's run around, every afternoon she tries too cook but she can't because she was never like him and how she tries to pull the fresh water from lake and heft it back to camp because she's not like her and how she stares at Kravitz because she is nothing like them and she can't make him better-only they could and she-

Tries to look up, then down, away and shuts her eyes tight to stop this and swallow it because they aren't here anymore.

So many people aren't here anymore and-

For awhile, Murasaki-chan wasn't here anymore and now she's scared of-]

I wanted to say goodbye. That's something I wanted to do. I want to say 'Goodbye' and 'Thank you' and-

I thought when I died, I could say that to people. Because I'm not supposed to be alive for a long time, but-

[They're gone. He was gone. People are gone and that's okay. She knew they would leave-they have homes with people who love them and worlds that are intact. They're going to leave and she's okay with that, but-]

They were just gone and now they won't know. I won't see them again and they won't know that I said 'Thank you.'

[They'll forget her and that's fine. It's normal. It's how it's supposed to be and how everything originally started.]

Everyone's leaving before I can say 'goodbye.' Before I can say 'thank you.' Before I can say 'I love you.' And now they won't know. I wanted to tell you too-that kind of thing and you were gone too. I wanted to say 'Thank you, Murasaki-chan.'

[She tries to wipe at her eyes to no avail. They're falling far faster than she can keep up with and-]

And 'Goodbye, Murasaki-chan' and 'I love you, Murasaki-chan.'

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Keeping a safe distance - probably, as what distance is even safe from being attacked by random spectral sharks? -, Aziraphale leans forward to try and peek into the hut.]

...huh. Well.

[ He cautiously approaches the door.]

Where could it have gone?

[salutosinedelectat]

Ah. They are quite...noticeable. [ And very, very strange.]

I don’t suppose there are any notes on them. I got the impression no one has seen them before.

They are quite colorful and...well, and dog-like. I think. Although the consistency of their bodies seems less than solid...

[blindfoster]

Not a word, [Quenting promises, but now he's trying to puzzle out what get fed a bunch of life energy entails because it sounds sort of vampire-y. But he'll save that question for later and turn his attention to first aid.

He takes a moment to take in the patterns of wounds on Keith's torso.]

So your flowers grow in a pattern to make sure you can't forget that fact. [That he's the leader, that people are relying on him. Yeah, this place definitely wants to send messages.

Carefully, he goes about cleaning the various little holes and wounds, trying to be gentle about it but trying to stay efficient at the same time. Hopefully he strikes a decent balance.]

[thermalwind]

[Keith only nods.] And that Shiro means everything. Yeah.

Not things I wanted to think about the first time. [He doesn’t like the patterns now but he can see what they might mean. He traces the flowers mid-bicep.]

...I wonder...I wonder which god made this sickness. I think I know but, what did they do to them to make them so willing to go this far?

[His hand falls back down. To his side as he shakes his head.] Anbaki said the trials were about judging willing participants. Then something happened and we woke up in the trials and has to go through them.

...something isn’t adding up.

[yakyuuman]

Woooooooow!

[ That's it - his attention is drawn by the sword and he won't look at anything else for a while. He follows its movements like a cat would to a laser pen. ]

I see! Rather than steampunk, it sounds more like an ancient sci-fi series with mythical creatures!

[ Close enough? Not at all? It doesn't matter because now he wants to poke the sword, so he goes ahead and does that. ]

[salutosinedelectat]

Oh. [ He does look vaguely impressed, eyebrows raised.

There are many things he could tell Keith, but he's lost all sense of reference the moment he started talking to the myriad of people in these islands. ]

I must say, I don't think humans in my world are quite there as far as space travel, but one can wonder if they will be.

[salutosinedelectat]

[ He sighs, a tad bit frustrated, not really understanding the situation enough to help the demon. ]

How about a pick-me-up? Perhaps some tea. Do you like tea?

[eudaimonikos]

Sure. There's some water.

[Michael keeps rather less water on hand than most people - he doesn't need to drink as often as a human - but Florida does need it, so.]

[yakyuuman]

[ Ichimatsu's immediate "and I- oop" reaction easily inspires more hilarity in Jyushimatsu, who laughs and swings left and right as the wobbledog in his arms... wobbles along, four of his six feetsies wiggling along. He loves this little fucker. It's like they're made of the same elastic, slimy marshmallow material. ]

It was Ginko! Some big troll I met at a party! He said he only knew you from the time you gave him weed!

[ More laughing. ] I knew you had that in you! Back home, something like that would get you arrested for years! Nice move, nii-san!

[catpiper]

Then we'll have to be very careful and listen for them until they go away forever.

[Because she ain't about regular ghosts. Ghost sharks?? That's somehow 100x worse.]

You can't hear it now, right?

[ichininyaanshi]

J-J-Jyushimatsu!

[He throws himself at his brother, flinging his arm around Jyushimatsu's shoulders and bringing him down into a conspiratorial huddle. If he gets random wobbledog feet thwacking into his face as a result, then that's how it be. He may have threatened their mother with the prospect of becoming a criminal once, but even Ichimatsu falls victim to the pressure of societal taboos.]

Don't get the wrong idea! It just kinda fell into my lap, you know?! It's for trading! Er - I mean, maybe I've used it once or t-twice...

[He's lying. He wasn't an regular user, by any means, but it was more than a couple times; thanks to his former neighbor, Connor, showing him how to actually use it after the growth process. And after living together this long, Jyushimatsu has potentially caught an old whiff of it on his clothes or blanket by now. He definitely hasn't smoked any pot since arriving, though.]

... and there's no way you're getting any, so don't even go there!

[salutosinedelectat]

I--er, alright. [ He's following a child. Why is he following a child? This is ridiculous. He really does not enjoy this sense of mortality. ]

We should have a better chance if we head inside. I hardly think sharks can open doors.

aaaaaaaaaaaa

[salutosinedelectat]

[ He's easily won over by earnestness, that's the thing. Six thousand years of watching humans grow and change makes it quite difficult to make any properly deep connections, but he's always fallen quite easily for genuine acts of kindness. And feeling particularly vulnerable only ramps up that feeling.

Proper honesty, however, is not that isn't. By nature of his own being, of his personality, of everything he's ever had to do, it's quite difficult to reach for something when you've spent so much time ignoring that a lot of it exists. He can't help, even as the reaper reaches for him and offers to lend his ear, to think of that one person that has always been around and with who he's never been quite honest to.

This won't work, of course. Kravitz offers, and it won't work, but the clock has started ticking regardless.]

Maybe--get some air. A walk. Need to-- give it some thought.

[catpiper]

Let's crawl to Denny.

[Crawl all the way to Denny, where they will be fully protected from stupid sharks and shark ghosts and any variation of that for the time being.]

[yakyuuman]

[ Then it's also normal for Karamatsu-niisan to worry about you! Dumb nii-san!

Though his tone would be cheerful, Jyushimatsu doesn't voice that out. It really isn't the proper time to call Ichimatsu out on his hypocrisy. Rather, he focuses on the times his older brother stumbles on his words, coughing and expelling blood... from the top of Jyushimatsu's head, precisely, which is a bit gross but he can deal with gross, even if it's blood and sap mixed together.

Either way, when Ichimatsu does that, it means he's holding back from details he should instead air out. Bad.

There's no mincing it, though: all his brothers would have gotten sick except himself. And they would have probably died without the proper... cure, that is. But the fact Ichimatsu keeps mentioning the idea of "dying" from the illness, as though there was no escape from it the first time around, fills Jyushimatsu with dread.

Was it really bad back then because people didn't find the solution sooner? Or is it still bad, and even if he helped Ichimatsu, he would still...

A snort. He squeezes his brother's hand, trembling lightly. He doesn't Ichimatsu to die. It wouldn't have been a big ideal back home, but here, everything is so out of his comedic range he's pretty sure what awaits him is emotional pain he might not be ready to face head on so dramatically. They almost lost their father once... he can't deal with seeing Ichimatsu slowly wilt away.

He needs more of the truth he's hearing. Really needs it. ]

Nii-san... if you were sick back then, does it mean you were among those who died?

[deathfindsaway]

[He quirks his eyebrows up until she actually admits some truth, eyes sharp and watching her posture. There are plenty of ways to figure out if someone's telling the truth, and he doesn't always need flowers breaking through the skin to do it.]

Thank you for admitting some of your own truth. I think it hardly helps either of us if we both don't make an effort.

[Of course, it's harder to tell the constant truth, but sometimes he knows it needs to be kept simple. Sometimes, the rules of the universe are unbreakable, and he has to accept that.]

I think my intentions are twofold to both. I would like not to perish to this, and in addition, I would like it if others don't as well. You because we are familiar, but-- well, anyone really if it stops them being stolen from the plane of death repeatedly.

[oops, who invited death cop cabbages]