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

i

[deathfindsaway]

[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?

cw: emotional abuse

[yourattention]

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.

[deathfindsaway]

[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.]

[yourattention]

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.]

[deathfindsaway]

[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.]

[yourattention]

[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.]

[deathfindsaway]

[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.

[yourattention]

[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.]

[deathfindsaway]

Ruin is... subjective.

[It's not the kind of coddling most people look for when they're in a crisis, but all the same, Kravitz knows Connor will appreciate the truth. And maybe he just can't give up on a lost soul, after all this time.]

You change things by being alive or dead. Shift the paradigm just by existing. The difference is if you have a choice what happens. The living get to select their impact, decide their purpose, rebel against fate. The dead only watch.

[His focus centers back on Connor, raising an eyebrow.]

You do not strike me as someone so passive. Not from the actions you've taken here.