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

[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?

[ The angel looks at the reaper, and back to the flowers in his hand, his free hand pressed on his chest. He doesn't know what he finds more disconcerting, the flowers themselves or the blood (He doesn't bleed. Why would he bleed? Did he really change that much?), and the look in his eyes is one of utter confusion and alarm.]

H-hum.

[ He had simply thought he had been somehow exerting himself in ways he wasn't aware of. Navigating a semi-mortal corporation had made him feel trapped, confused, and there was still much he was figuring out. But as much as he may be lacking in knowledge about biology, he's pretty sure bleeding is bad, and that you're not supposed to spew up flowers. ]

I--yes. Yes, I...erm, I don't- know how that happened.

[Congrats Aziraphale, you know just enough about people to know blood outside of your body is Bad, and also flowers most certainly don't go in lungs. Kravitz is no botanist, but it doesn't matter if he knows the kind of flower, here. There are no robotic nurses to classify them, only the scraping of their own lives back from the brink.

He reaches out quickly, pulling Aziraphale's hand towards him across the table, looking closer at the petals if only to confirm it all to himself.]

Have you been feeling tired, lately? Joints stiff? Like you simply can't get comfortable as much as you may try.

[ Aziraphale's own hand is pulled across to Kravitz before he has time to react, and anxiety builds up in his chest even more as the seconds tick by. He had already been concerned that he was somehow getting sick, then this happens and the worry in Kravitz's face and voice do nothing to help him stay calm. ]

I... [ He stammers out, hesitating. ] Yes, I, I do suppose I've been feeling quite under the weather lately, but...

[ He looks at the flowers his hands. ]

I don't understand what's happening.

[He takes a steadying breath, trying to keep himself in perspective despite the fear clawing at his throat.]

I-- it's-- here, please, stay. I can explain.

[Kravitz forces himself to sit as well, sort the racing thoughts in his mind.]

I've only seen this once, and I had... I suppose mistakenly thought it was no longer a problem on the island. But this is a disease specific to this world. And if left untreated, it will most certainly kill you as it has countless others.

[ Aziraphale stares, a bit.

He's heard murmurings about some sort of sickness spreading itself through the population of the island. Tim had warned him, but he didn't quite know of the gravity of the situation. Kravitz...well, Kravitz just gets right to the point, doesn't he?

So he angel stares, for a moment not even knowing how to react. ]

...h-hum. [ He shakes his head for a bit, just trying to get his thoughts together. He's a bit lightheaded after forcing literal flowers out of his lungs. ] I'm sorry, come again?

... Right, this is uhm, this must be a shock.

[WHAT AN UNDERSTATEMENT, KRAVITZ,

He takes a steadying breath, disliking the way his lungs seem to protest that, and tries again.]

On a previous island we visited by the name of Umui, we discovered it was a plague colony for a specific, insidious disease. Many of us contracted it there, and... well, it was bad. But we found the cure and I had thought solved the issue.

[Kravitz looks worriedly down at the flowers still in Aziraphale's hand, suddenly aware of the twisting in his gut.]

This is... why I meant to warn you about being more mortal here. We are not immune to things like this.

[ Oh.

So far, mortality has been quite the concept to grasp. Angels (and demons, by that matter) were not impossible to kill or to destroy, but either concept is very much different than a mortal death. And now he's being told, in no uncertain manners - by the grim reaper of some world, no less - that he can well die to disease. ]

Oh.

[ A pause. ]

I was, hum...I was told there is a way to cure it? [ Sentence ending in a slightly higher pitch, as he's attempting to not let his nerves get the better of him at this time. ]

[This is all of Kravitz' issues, right here. Sometimes when things are hard, he steamrolls right into them until that thing is Fixed or at least otherwise Handled. This situation is serious, and that's why he's giving it severity-- but not exactly the gentle touch of reassurance.]

Yes, there is. You have to be entirely honest about your emotions. These flowers feed on... feelings, truly, and the more you keep them locked in your mind and body the more sustenance they will gain. It is... confession, in its purest form. But that isn't as easy as it sounds, as I'm sure you can imagine.

[ This sounds familiar. In fact, it sounds exactly like what time told him a week back, something about petals and about unpleasant honest confessions. The angel quite hates the sound of it, though part of his mind is trying to convince him that he will be just fine. He's an angel, honesty should be easy, right?

...right?

Oh, lord.

He...gently discards the flowers of his hands, onto the empty bowl that previously kept his meal. It's strange, looking at them; beyond the...blood, they look like perfectly normal flowers. He clears his throat. ]

Right. It sounds very...difficult. And rather specific.

[His eyes are equally focused on the petals, Kravitz' mind trying to sort through where he may have seen them, the classifications of Umui he only ever half-understood. He pulls himself away only when he knows it's not important, shaking his head a bit to clear that thought.]

I would strongly suggest you think about it, and-- well, the sooner you cure it the less unpleasant it will be. Trust me.

[Says Kravitz, who is gonna end up 20% bush regardless, because he's a damn hypocrite. He looks towards Aziraphale with serious but soft eyes, trying to read his motives with a look.]

Perhaps we-- I mean, if you need to talk, I am always here to listen, though I understand these situations may be sensitive.

[ Aziraphale's gaze breaks from the flowers to look at the reaper, and he understands the earnestness in that look, even through a haze of nerves and worry. He appreciates it, really, though the thoughts of disease and possible death are swimming around in his head in rather dizzying ways.

He bleeds. He shouldn't bleed. Why is this a thing now? He'd been trying very hard to keep questioning his condition here, as it had proved entirely pointless, but this-- this is--

He swallows dryly, and he could swear that, for a second, he's pushing against something well beyond nerves. He stutters just slightly when he speaks, voice soft and quiet and anxious. ]

Hum. I...I do appreciate it, Kravitz. This is...

[ His eyes wander back over to the flowers on the bowl, and his hands fidget faintly on instinct. ]

I think I need-... [ He doesn't actually have an ending to that thought. ]

[It's particularly hard to watch him go through this because this was PRECISELY the sort of thing that killed him last time this disease came around. He had no idea what he wanted, had no idea what he was missing when he was already so different than he should have been. How do you fix something like that? How do you hope to resolve it all?

He doesn't know, but he does reach across the table and gently cover Aziraphale's hands with his.]

Please, you-- you needn't start screaming your confessions. I just don't want this to hurt you as I have seen it hurt so many others. The sooner you can get it out, the better, it-- would it help if we were to leave? Somewhere more private?

[ 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.

[It's likely not to work, but because Kravitz is who he is, he needs to try. Everyone seems to have secrets, things they're afraid of or otherwise avoiding, and he's sure Aziraphale is no exception. That doesn't change the fact that he needs to offer, because an avenue left unexplored could always have been the one that saved him, and he'll never know if it wasn't offered.

He pulls back gently, as if to metaphorically and literally give the angel some space.]

I completely understand, it's-- it's a lot to take in. I'm sure you already have some ideas of what needs to be said, but... well. If you don't, I'd say taking a walk and thinking about it is the first step to being honest with yourself. Then you can move on to being honest with others.

[That makes him worried about the way he's been feeling lately, the headache, the heat under his skin. He's going to need to figure something out, but it's so much easier to fret about others.]

[ It would be good if he immediately knew what to say, wouldn't it? Too good. Far too good for a creature so out of practice, that just a few months ago nearly sacrificed everything he's ever truly enjoyed by putting his own faith on those that were never honest, instead of following what was true, and the one person who'd always treated him with honesty and respect.

So, yes, he's not exactly good at this. Had he not been entirely scrambled by the dawning realization that he may actually die, he'd probably be out there offering to help others as well.

He knows what--well who he wants to see right now. And it will be a struggle. And it will be bad. And it does not affect just how appreciative he is of Kravitz's offer and helpful nature, which he will be happy to thank him for when this is all over. He's just...slightly panicking ]

Yes, hum. I-- [ He shakes himself out of it. Get it together, angel. ]

I need to think it over.

[ He stands up. So much for their nice lunch. ]

Thank you, Kravitz. [ Tone entirely sincere. ]

[This sort of reaction is largely expected, though this is a recent thing for him to be so directly involved with it all. Usually he can hide behind a mask of law and order, of being an arbiter of justice rather than a player in the game. But despite that, his stance on the truth has not changed- if someone's in danger, they need to know. It'll do no good for someone to be lied to when a situation is serious enough that he's to get involved. He knows Aziraphale can handle it- must be strong enough to do so- but he can only offer so much.

Kravitz nods, a recognition of understanding.]

Of course. We'll, uhm-- we'll reconvene for this later. And do contact me if I can be of any help.

[He has his own precautions to take, as well.]

[ Aziraphale nods, a bit too vaguely, clearly looking...lost. Far too many things running in his mind at the same time, not the least important of which the fact that he might...

No. No, it'll be fine! It'll be fine. All he has to do is to be honest, right? To tell the truth? That doesn't sound too hard. He'll just figure out some things to say and then he'll be all better. No more flowers, no more...blood. Yes, he'll just-

He'll just--

Okay, he needs to go. Somewhere. See a certain someone. ]

Right, hum. Thank you. I'll...

[ He trails off. ]

I'll be seeing you, Kravitz. [ Whatever his face does right then barely qualifies as a smile, and his body looks visibly tense.

After some hesitation, he turns and walks towards the exit, trying to ignore the stinging in his lungs. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

January Undercurrent: Growing Pains

I!

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that icon makes me SAD

SAME TO YOU BUDDY

aaaaaaaaaaaa

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god they are so similar

SO similar

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