lifeaftr | January Undercurrent: Growing Pains

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

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

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[They can't. Not very well, anyway. The river isn't too deep, but it is horribly cold, and they fight the chill just as much as they do the current. Their skin is blue enough as it is. The drop in the temperature could very well be fatal to them; they don't know. The water soaks their cloak and makes their limbs that much heavier, but they keep going.]

[Of course they're not about to stop. They're not about to slow down.]

[They keep going until they reach the other side.]

Kravitz knows what this is as soon as the weariness starts, the creaking in his joints that means a specific and horrifying plague, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. Ginko may find his thoughts about fairness unnecessary, but Kravitz is in exactly the same boat- this is unnecessary. This is not needed, for this to come again when they know how to cure it. It's especially frustrating when the red flowers he's waiting for never come- instead, different petals find their way through his hair, pressing out from tiny buds into thick blooms. It's this that spurs him to action- he doesn't know if this is the same. He can't hope to know exactly, and that means he can delay it no longer.

He finds Ginko while he's out seeking someone to talk to, blinking in a slightly bleary surprise to see the other man beginning to blossom as well, and sighs. "So... it is to be everyone, then? All of us must endure this? As if once wasn't enough, compounded with the many memories we've had to see of others. You would imagine at some point it would end."

Cabbages, I want you to think really hard and come up with five facts I've told you about myself in the entire time we've known each other.

[Connor breathes out, a noise that could almost be laughter. He's not angry about this, just infinitely practical.]

Not things you know because one of the wonder twins told you. Not things you know because you've been in my house or I implied them. Things I explicitly said about myself with my own mouth.

[He's making this distinction, because he remembers telling Kravitz about the Laphroaig his father drank. There was an implication in the way he talked about his father, but he's never outright said the words. Even in all the things he's said to Tim, who's made a pretty good guess about what his home life was like before he arrived here, Connor's never directly said his father made living in that house an absolute nightmare. It's easy to change if you give it your attention, though.

Isn't it?

That's the problem with the idea of emotional honesty, for Connor. The very idea of being himself, of saying anything true, is tinged with the horrible and irrational fear that someone will hate him for it. That's what Larry taught him his entire life and it's a lesson that hasn't faded even as he's unlearned some of the worst parts of his childhood. He's made peace with the fact that Larry Murphy has no power over him here and he knows that everything was fucked up. He knows that. But still: what if everyone saw? What if everyone knew? Would they like what they saw?

Or would they hate it too?]

Whatever you just came up with? Puts you above anyone who knew me before I died. [He pauses.] The first time, I mean.

Used to think demons only had anger and confusion.

[He peers at the petal, grimacing in disgust, and drops it on the ground.]

A lot of things were easier back then. But really, I don't have that many secrets anymore!

Basically what it says.

[Michael shrugs, leaning back a little in his chair.]

I'm really not equipped for this on a regular day, but if it could help someone not die of flower poisoning? I don't mind hearing people out. Figured it might be easier talking about certain things to someone who's almost definitely done worse.

(It is with immense relief that they see their ally managing to struggle across.

Shortly after the Drifter emerges, Legion follows, and immediately goes over to check if they're alright.)

Drifter.

[It's easy to make the beginning of the Overgrowth for a normal exhaustion. Despite it being calm lately, there's an apprehension behind time passing in this place, a fear when it's too quiet. To his own end, Kravitz figures it may just be grief, or overworking himself, but sleep doesn't solve it and suspicion turns to worry in his gut.

It's only confirmed when he's getting some lunch with Aziraphale and the petals come out, wet into his hand with blood, that Kravitz' eyes begin to go wide as he thinks the worst of it.]

Did you just... did those come up when you coughed?

i. january 5th ; ensō ; as soon as i get my gun i'll point it out the window at the setting sun
[He recognizes the petals that swell out from the back of his neck and fan out down his spine and along his arms. He recognizes the sharp smell of rosemary and the soft, pale blue blooms.]

[The yellow ones, though. Those are new.]

[He recognizes those too.]

[They were hers. C.T.'s.]

[He has little doubt that this was intentional. A way to twist the knife, or maybe a way to indicate to him that his means of fending off the Overgrowth the last time won't have the same effect. Clearly, he's still got plenty of secrets still festering in his soul. What the fuck else is new? All he does is carry secrets, it feels like.]

[Still, that doesn't mean he's not going to fight the symptoms. You'll most likely find Wash sat out on one of the beaches, sans armor, trimming the petals poking their way through his skin with one of his knives, his face set into an expression of grim determination.]

ii. january 13th ; ensō ; can i bleed enough to fill up what the engine takes?

FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUUUUUUUCK!

[Someone didn't get the shark memo. Wash is running backwards, opening fire on the hulking, ghostly great white that's currently doing an excellent job of erupting from nearby puddles of moisture in one of Ensō's dripping jungles. In all likelihood, you'll hear him before you see him, assuming the sound of a BR55 battle rifle doesn't scare you off.]

[This would be a perfectly valid reaction.]

iii. january 22nd ; nuidan ; they'll put me on vacation underneath the sun
[Wash is grateful, at least, that he's managed to survive the Overgrowth twice over, now. He was certainly happy enough to take a break from it all by heading to Nuidan, in particular its northern region. And among the grassy fields of livestock and wheat and grains, exists...]

[...uh, things.]

[They're not harmful things. Wash regards them warily for a time before finally creeping close enough to let some of these creatures sniff at his hands here and there. And a few days later, you might find him willingly scritching one of these wobbledogs behind the ears.]

Hey. Hey, buddy. [He's not as warm as he would be with, say, something of the feline persuasion such as Ami, but he's not unfriendly to them either. He scratches at the ears of a six-legged specimen, somewhat tentatively.] You're a cute one, huh?

[It turns, revealing that it has three eyes on one side of its face, and pants happily.]

...uh-huh. Uh, I mean, aww. I guess.

iv. wildcard ; i'm old enough to die for your mistakes
[as always, i will happily whip up any closed starters that you might desire. you can also hit me up over at

arrpee or zero#8942 on discord. i will match prose or brackets!]

[Tim could look better.]

[It's not that he's not spitting petals himself. A few buds are already peeking out from the bottom of his neck, and he can feel them pricking through the skin of his leg. Already, parts of him are sticky with warm blood as they start running out from the places where the growths have started to break skin.]

[Then he glimpses Zidane, doubled over and coughing up blood and - petals. Fuck. Christ.]

[Immediately, Tim crouches at his side, doing his best to speak past the hitch and unevenness in his own breath.]

Hey. How bad is it?

i. [germination] i don't say too much / cuz' I don't wanna say the wrong thing

[At first, it just seems like a tiredness that seeks into his bones. Kravitz knows he's been pushing himself too hard lately, but it's the only thing to stave off how empty his camp feels at night, how he's largely only been talking to his bird for company. But he still forces himself up and goes to the library, even if that means he's leaning over on the desk more, taking a breather in a chair more than he's working. He's fine, he tells himself. He's fine.

Or well, he'd like to believe that, but he's nearly asleep on the desk when you enter, causing him to jerk up with a small cough.]

Uhm, hello, I-- do you need something? I... wasn't sleeping.

[Great.]

ii. [budding] you don't care too much / a confession isn't your style

[It doesn't progress the way he thinks it will. While Kravitz is expecting the red, delicate flowers that spread from his back in vines up his veins, the delicate blooms that do emerge are much different this time. At first they're tiny, dotted flowers, but they quickly swell into thick blooms from the point at which they emerge. Unlike the last instances, these flower mostly from the back of his head among his dreads, over his left shoulder almost like a cloak, inching towards his heart.

He wonders if that means something. It probably does, but he doesn't quite have the energy to have that kind of introspection.

At this point, he's abandoned the library in favor of trying to find people. Unlike others who know what's going on and are ready to die again, Kravitz is fairly determined to not go out this time. The problem, though, is the same as it was the first time the Overgrowth came around- he doesn't know exactly what he's supposed to be confessing about. Kravitz thinks he's been pretty straightforward, but he doesn't have the comfort of his family at the start to avoid others and cure it this time around. So he's out, trying to seek out people who look otherwise affected-- or just possibly bored.]

Uhm, hello-- sorry to bother, but. I do know how we can cure this, if you're willing to have an honest discussion.

iii. [wildcard] i stay awake at night / i make believe that i'm not alone

[Have something else you want to do or want to discuss another prompt? Hit me up via PM or at

cancerously and we can plot!]

[Tim's been spending more time on Monsun lately, particularly on the side overtaken by volcanic antigravity. Sure, he knows now that what he sees isn't real, but...]

[Well, when's that stopped him, really? It hasn't stopped him. He's mid-conversation with someone that clearly only he can see when he stops and notices just who's drawing close. Flowers all over, and...yeah. That figures. Tim raises his voice slightly to call out, only vaguely hoping that the dragon doesn't choose to interpret that as a threat.]

Still not taking your own advice?

(They were intending to avoid their ...ally, unless he personelly indicated that he did, in fact, want to resume alliance, but the sound of trouble brings them running.)

Washington-Agent!

[Tim promptly does a double-take.]

[Fuck, he thought she was gone. Wasn't she? Is this another...no. He's not on Monsun. Why would he be seeing her anyway? That doesn't make any sense. He didn't know her well, not really. Just...well enough, maybe.]

[Tim shakes the hair from his eyes - it's getting long again - and tries to gauge if there's even a hint of recognition in her gaze.]

I've been worse. What about you?

[Tim's picking away at the little buds of snowdrops creeping up the lengths of his arms, trying not to think about anything in particular. When he sees him...well, that's not a fucking surprise, is it? He called it, more or less. It's not even remotely a surprise at this point.]

Well, that's a step up from last time, huh?

[His tone is flat. Naturally, he doesn't seem the least bit shocked.]

[ Honestly, why wouldn't he be proud of his wobbledog. She's so charmed, and she picks up a tiny one. It wiggles and flops in her arms. ]

They really are adorable. They look kind of like dogs, right? [ She gives Strike One a wave. ] Hi there.

[ When she looks at him--no, there's no recognition. Not even a spark. Mira swallows thickly, and she winces as she moves her left arm to cradle her right. ]

As far as physical pain goes... I think this is about as bad as I've ever felt.

i. [sharks] call the neighbor kids, the trash can lids / with buckets on their heads

[Most people, when they hear 'there are sharks that can come out of any bit of water and will eat you', might think that they'll stay away from water. And to Beau's credit, she does take the time to establish that these are the only facts she'll need for this scenario. They do appear to just be sharks- they can be hit, and it's just inconvenient that they come from any water source.

To that end, she's going to go fight them.

So Beau can be found down on the beach with her staff, shifting her weight on her feet and looking out to the ocean. Everything seems still and peaceful, just for a moment...

And then a shark leaps out of the water, and Beau slams it in the nose with her fist before smacking it back into the water with her staff. It's like baseball, if baseball was shark-based. She certainly seems to be enjoying it, if the loud laughter is anything to go by.]

That's right, fuckers! Come at me! Try it again, I dare you!

ii. [overgrowth] find some cover / kill the lights / and nail the back door shut

[Beau's read a lot about the process of the Overgrowth, what it means and how it manifests. Despite the amount of time she's spent researching it, she just figures she's gotten a cold when it's come around; she tries to sleep, tries to eat well, tries to work it out of her.

It doesn't work.

In fact, she realizes that it doesn't work when she's out in the morning close to the Denny, pushing herself through her daily workout despite the dizziness in her head and the clogging in what feels like every joint. But in the middle of a high kick, the knee holding her up gives out and she falls, coughing until she feels blood and something else lodge out of her lungs.

At first they don't look like flowers; it's simply stringy bits, as if she's swallowed pine needles. But when the first few petals begin to emerge, she stays on her knees, looking at them while her mind whirls and she mutters to herself.]

... Well, shit.

iii. [wildcard] i'd much rather choke and die than sit alone and fall without a fight

[Have something else you want to do or want to discuss another prompt? Hit me up via PM or at

cancerously and we can plot!]

Edited 2020-01-13 05:55 (UTC)

[Chip is a little startled when Kravitz addresses them, blinking up at him owlishly while he explains himself. While they're not...opposed, per se, and nod in agreement, they pause before prodding at the mass of dandelions crowding their throat.]

[A bit hard to have a conversation with them right now.]

[Ichimatsu is typically the type of guy to absorb something while looking like his attention is somewhere else entirely. As Connor talks, though, his eyes stay trained on the younger man, one finger tapping slowly against the side of his cup. He doesn't interrupt... but near the tail end of Connor's statement, one of his eyebrows does raise. He can't tell if Connor is trying to methodically unload on him a little bit, just in a restrained way, or if he's actually just accepting it like he says he is.]

[Not that Ichimatsu would mind if it were the former. He's just not gonna push for it, is all. He already knows that the two of them are way too much alike for hounding him to be helpful in any way.]

Right? It's not like it's even that bad. The damn problem is everyone else. Those idiots who are actually worried about dying, but don't leave guys like us alone and work on dealing with their own shit.

... pisses me off that we have to be hypocrites about it.

[No, then.]

[Trying to force a smile would just look wrong on his face, he knows. He doesn't even try. He keeps his expression as blank as possible as he nods.]

I take it you don't know what this is. Never felt...uh, the Overgrowth before.

I've... never experienced it until now. [ A cough, brief and painful. ] But someone--Keith--told me quite a bit about it.

You, uh...

[You don't remember him?]

[He'd guess not. No point in pouring salt on that fucking wound, right?]

It's pretty rough. Anything you need to get off your chest?

[They're on their hands and knees, more or less, spitting blood and petals to the ground. Clots of whitish floral matter gummed up with their pink blood splat wetly to the ground. The Drifter shivers.]

KEEP MOVING

[Regardless of whether or not it's still behind them, and they assume it must be, this is hardly a good place to stop.]

Edited 2020-01-13 06:31 (UTC)

[Seeing as Ichimatsu is merely stopping in for a few minutes, he doesn't pay attention at all to the figure slumped on the desk. Initially. After a quick double-take, though, he recognizes the guy as one of the people that used to take care of Ren... what was his name? Cravat, or something. He's met him once or twice in passing, anyway.]

[Fuck, is he dead? Ichimatsu really doesn't want to deal with that right now.]

[Luckily, though, the man springs to life not a moment later, looking totally disoriented but alive. The quick cough sets an edge in Ichimatsu's teeth, though - something that may have to do with the fact that he's wearing a sick mask himself, black fabric with a pawprint design on it. Either way, Ichimatsu regards Kravitz suspiciously from the doorway. The man looks about as well as he probably does, all around.]

Oh... actually, I thought you were dead.

Fucking ruuuuuuUUUUUUUN!

[Another shot that goes right through the damn thing and - god, but it lunges right at his ankles and barely misses. Its teeth close with a savage, audible snap of razor-sharp jaws. He barely registers who's calling out to him - just that this is very not good, between the shark and the intangibility and why is this his life?]

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Page 9 of 61

January Undercurrent: Growing Pains

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cw: emotional abuse

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agent washington | ota | i'll match your formatting!

germination

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January 13th

overgrowth

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beau | ota | standard cw for blood and body horror throughout

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