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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i. doesn’t know how much to feel (jan 3-10)

[Connor knows what it is immediately, the first cough wracking his body and drawing concern from the dragon that doesn’t really fit in his house anymore but refuses to stay outside.

He also knows he could fix it, if he wanted to, because he was the one who figured out how it worked in the first place. That sounds simpler than the reality of the situation, though, which is that not a lot has changed since the last time he had Overgrowth. Someone going to try, though, and he's going to pretend he doesn't know what they're talking about.

The natural thing to do in this situation is, of course, to make a flyer. There’s one for the temple and one for the Denny. Connor himself can generally be found at the Denny, drinking something he refuses to share. It’s fine. He’s fine. Everything is fine.

Of course, the dragon thing looks like an empty threat given that there are no dragons visible in the direct vicinity. Feel free to actually attempt confessional with him or, you know. Take up his offer of just sitting there in silence and being a nihilist.]

ii. find a rush within the pain (jan 11-15)

[By the third time a Ghost Shark tries to kill him while he’s pretending like he's trying not to die from flowers, he fucking gives up the ghost (pun intended) and goes to the desert of Monsun. If he’s going to die, he might as well be free from his own brain weasels while it happens.

The dragon usually walking beside him makes him seem a lot more unapproachable, but his Overgrowth is on full display at this point. Anyone who’s met him for five minutes is probably unsurprised by this, and attempts to coax him into curing it will be expertly evaded. Or have a dragon set on them, he wasn’t joking about that.

For anyone who’s ever been to his house and met his corpse, however, you might find the fact that the flowers this time are different interesting. Turns out he doesn’t have Aquifoliaceae this time. This time, they look like . . . daisies? His lower left arm is where most of the blooms are concentrated, mostly white with a few pink scattered throughout.

Oh, also he made himself a flower crown out of them that the dragon hovering around him is wearing. He gives absolutely no fucks about this. Overgrowth is barely in the top 10 worst things that have happened to him since he got here.]

iii. need the feeling to remain (jan 15 on)

[What the FUCK was that?

There's a wall of fire in the Monsun desert and a dragon circling overhead. You'll have to dodge the dragon first to do anything about the fire, which is more of a ring upon closer inspection, and contains (1) person. Zombie. Whatever. The problem with that zombie, right, is that unfortunately Connor’s like. Actually fairly strong to begin with. He’s almost deceptively strong now, given that he regularly just swims for fun but still looks like a noodle.

So anyway you probably should have left the fire alone.]

[At some point while Connor is nursing his drink, a few weak, thready coughs crop up behind him from someone else entirely. Followed by a scratchy voice that might be at least somewhat familiar to him.]

Hey.

[Then his former neighbor slides into a nearby seat, holding his own cup - with no apparent plans to drink it yet, given the mask secured tightly around his nose and mouth. There's no obvious flowers blooming from the exposed portions of his skin, but he's paler than usual, listing just a bit to the left.]

You still suck at advertising.

What hole did you crawl out of?

[He's just ignoring everything that Ichimatsu said in favor of expressing concern. Sort of. He was worried when Ichimatsu disappeared, but he can't just. Say that. Especially not when saying that would be admitting a kind of defeat.]

You look like shit, for the record.

Yeah, well, so do you.

[he knows what he's got by this point, so there's no doubt in his mind that Connor's got the same thing. As such, the criticism is pretty much reflexive; far be it from him to harp on someone about being emotionally honest, even if it'd save their life.]

[As for his earlier question --]

Who knows? Went home, I guess. Not that I remember anything. Pretty sure that whole "going home" thing is bullshit.

[Non-existence: the greatest escape.]

Sure was a nice break from being here, though.

I always look like shit, thank you very much.

[Is it a point of pride? Maybe! He literally does not own a hairbrush despite his hair now being long enough that he had to actually cut it. Unlike a normal person, he just cut it with the straight razor he owns.]

Anyway, everything is bullshit. Death isn't real. Last time I died the Storyteller kicked me out and was like "your punishment is living bye."

Same here.

[Which is a response to every statement above; Ichimatsu is just too lazy to articulate the exact sentiment of "oh, worm" against multiple points. Instead, he coughs wetly into his mask and scratches at his wrist through his sleeve.]

So, since we're agreed... think you're gonna die this time, too?

I've only ever been honest about my feelings like three times in my entire life and I had to be doped up on Bliss juice before I was doing it on purpose. My feelings are shoved so far down in the deep black hole of my heart that I forgot my own ex so I wouldn't be fucked up by the break up.

[That admission eases the stiffness in his fingers, but he doesn't react to this realization. It doesn't matter, he'll lie again in like five minutes and he'll be back where he started.]

Yes, I'm going to die before I talk about my feelings. I keep all my feelings right here [Connor gestures to his chest.] and then, eventually, I'll die. Well, what passes for dying in this shithole.

[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.

[The problem with telling people nothing about yourself is that telling people literally anything about yourself makes Overgrowth ebb and flow. He remembers this from the first time, and he intended to keep it from happening as much but he doesn't remember what the fuck he's told people and what he hasn't so it's going badly.]

I'm told it's a sign that people care. [Like three people have told him that, at least.] I think I prefer when people try to buy my affection.

[No, he doesn't. He hates baseball gloves.]

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ichininyaanshi - 2020-01-18 05:19 (UTC) - Expand

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yourattention - 2020-01-27 19:27 (UTC) - Expand

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ichininyaanshi - 2020-01-28 23:46 (UTC) - Expand

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yourattention - 2020-01-29 03:49 (UTC) - Expand

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ichininyaanshi - 2020-01-29 04:06 (UTC) - Expand

[Of goddamn course this is happening.

Kravitz knows it's fruitless to try and get Connor to talk- he understands and hears the dragon threat, thank you- but that doesn't mean he isn't stupid enough to go say something. There was a hesitancy before, a doubt born of not knowing if a specific cure would work or not, but now--

There's just no reason. So yes, he is coming over there to the Denny while also looking a little bit like hell, sighing as he takes a seat.]

Are you really going to do this? Again?

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.

[It's somehow exactly the answer he's expecting and not one at all. But he thinks. Ruminates on what he knows.]

You're a strong swimmer. And-- you have a boat. I recall you're the one that told me those facts.

[Really good job there, Kravitz, that's how you convince someone to you know them super well. He just sighs, trying not to get caught up on this technicality.]

Not everything about a person needs to be explicitly taught to be understood. Otherwise, you certainly wouldn't refer to me as Cabbages, as I certainly have never described myself as a "cop".

[Look, Connor even gets the two fingered air quotes on that one to prove he's trying to stay hip. Or something.]

That wasn't the point. You already know almost as much about me as my family did and I didn't have to tell them anything. They know I swim because my dad made me swim.

[His father told him he could swim or he could run and he picked swimming. Then he made the swim team. Then, because he's never been able to keep himself from destroying anything that makes him happy, he quit before the first swim meet.]

Asking me to be less secretive is like asking a snake to walk. I'm physically incapable of it and that's the reason that after I died some guy I didn't even know managed to convince my family he was my friend to date my fucking sister.

[He takes a drink of what he's been holding. He's trying to mask the fact that he's unintentionally eased his symptoms in trying to prove a point, but forgets to use both hands to lift the cup like he was before this point. The problem with keeping your cards incredibly close to your chest is that saying almost anything about yourself makes the Overgrowth ebb and flow. It feels a little bit like a punishment designed specifically for him, but he can't blame it on the Storyteller for once.]

[Hm, well-- that's still interesting, that something in that vein could actually work. If he can keep him talking, Kravitz figures he may be able to help despite the circumstances. His body hurts from where the flowers shove roots through his musculature, but he still manages to cross his arms for the sake of being a bit huffy about it.]

There are plenty of ways to know someone even if they do not lay out their life's story before you. For instance, I know you're detail oriented, from your notes that you've kept over time. And compassionate to others for the attempts you've always made to inform people how to stay alive.

[He watches closely for a response, any kind of indication that he's stepping in the right or wrong direction.]

[Miguel once said he was "innocent." That's not how Connor thinks of himself, really, but it's something he knows is true if you know what you're looking at. For example: as much as he pretends to be an asshole he is physically incapable of being fundamentally the same person who fed the cats under the porch because he didn't want to see them die. He's the same person who ruined the only thing that ever made him feel like he could be what his parents wanted because Miguel needed his help and it was the only thing he could offer. Because Miguel was more important than anything else, really.]

Knowing me is here [Connor draws something from his pocket, a bottle of red nail polish, and sets it on the table.] and me letting you in is here. [Another bottle, this one yellow, is set about six inches away.] Nobody's actually figured out how to get from one to the other. I usually die before they get there.

[For once, he doesn't say it like a joke. It's just stated plainly, like that's a normal reaction to someone asking you to be honest with them.]

Some people are protagonists. I'm the dead girl wrapped in plastic that only matters after I'm gone.

[You know, that one.]

[That would be a beautiful and poignant reference if Kravitz knew anything about TV show plots, but he thinks he understands most of the reference regardless. Worth more as a figure than a person; as a footnote than a character. Like someone so long dead the title spreads more than the name, who no longer remembers if the form he takes is the one he was or the one he chose.

Death... is personal. He can relate.]

That doesn't mean you don't matter-- that your life had no meaning. It doesn't negate the purpose. I can-- I can observe these, for instance.

[He gestures to the bottles that have become their visual aid.]

I can know of these and find places for them in life, as can many others. Not simply as a tool, but... well. You, you give it purpose. I can see that and surmise its function or life, but. You bring to it something unique. Your expression changes it, simply by existing or having existed.

[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.]

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deathfindsaway - 2020-01-30 19:34 (UTC) - Expand

[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?

[The dragon attempts to push Connor behind it, but Connor whistles something probably unfamiliar, not in the least because when he designed this command system he didn't consider what it would be like if he was having trouble speaking, and it stands down. Sort of. It's very much not pleased with people approaching Connor.]

I'm deciding where I'm going to dig my own grave. [He coughs.] See? Planning ahead this time.

[So yeah. As expected, he's absolutely not taking his own advice.]

[Tim frowns at the dragon, but doesn't get any closer. He's pretty sure he doesn't wanna get toasted by the thing, though that would probably be significantly less painless compared to the inevitable, flowery death he's sure awaits him.]

'S there maybe a...thing that happens if you tell anyone what's on your mind? Like, it'll break their minds, or something? [He asks this offhand, as though this isn't anything he's ever personally dealt with. Because sometimes that could be a thing. Sometimes it's simple repression, but sometimes that could be a thing.]

[zero i am so sorry this is canon and we're about to have another "hallucinations are normal" scenario because of it]

Sometimes. [He doesn't say anything for a moment, just breathing.] People like the sun. Telling them you don't know what that's like is how . . .

[He trails off, partially because he knows he's about to cough and partially because he doesn't want to end that sentence with "is how you end up in the psych ward." Tim already knows that one.

Of course, they're talking about vastly different problems.]

[He's not sure he fully grasps that, but he's not sure how to go about asking. Tim spits a wet clot of blood and petals to the ground and squints against the sun. It's so fucking hot here. The ground radiates heat, between the rivers of lava and god knows what else. Here he thought it couldn't get worse than regular old desert.]

You're allowed to feel that way. I mean, I get that it's...

[He trails off. Not acceptable? Not great? Every possible way he can think of to end that sentence feels like it falls miserably short of actually encapsulating it.]

'S not the end of the world. Not here.

It's better if it stays where it can't hurt them.

[He shrugs. Or, well. He attempted to shrug and was wracked by coughs, which has resulted in the dragon being very worried and nudging at him incessantly. It wants him to get on its back, and Connor gently pushes its away.]

Cabbages got pissed about it though.

He gets pissed about a lotta shit. He's got a shorter fuse than I think he'd like.

[That's just a guess. He really doesn't know very much about Kravitz, though he's certainly less antagonistic about the principle of...everything he represents than he used to be. Partially because Tim simply can't afford to be angry all the time. Hate takes work. Does he look like he has that kind of time?]

[Neither of them have a lot of time right now. Connor's just getting worse.]

Y'know I'm not gonna judge, either way.

Well, yeah. That's why I tell you things.

[A flower falls to the ground from his arm. It doesn't do anything, because the truth is so small in the face of all the things he should have said that nothing would really help at this point.]

We don't have room to judge each other.

connor | ota | cw: suicidal ideation as usual

i.

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cw: emotional abuse

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cw: grave humor. literally.

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