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

[philoxenia]

[ 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.

[postictal]

[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.

[philoxenia]

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

[postictal]

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?

[philoxenia]

[ She catches that, but... she doesn't pick up the trail.

What she does, instead, is hesitate. ]

... A lot of things. [ But she doesn't elaborate further. Not yet, maybe. ] What about you?

[postictal]

Always.

[He is a liar. The words are wry. He pinches at a purple bud that's breached the skin of his wrist and rips it out with barely a wince, flicking it away like someone would ash from a cigarette. God, but he misses it. Still gets a fucking craving like nothing else.]

But, y'know. No big loss or anything.

cw blood

[philoxenia]

[ She watches him, and winces a little. Not too much, just enough. Mira turns her head to the side and coughs up a violet petal, drenched in blood. The solution is easy, and yet-- ]

I know I'm just a stranger-- [ one of them is ] --but I'm not a terrible listener... if you'd like.

[postictal]

[Tim looks away, fighting the urge to smile, because that doesn't belong to him. It's easy to dismiss. He knows what belongs to him and what doesn't, he'd like to think. Maybe.]

Not really that simple with me. But if you wanna vent, I hear I'm not a bad listener myself.

[philoxenia]

[ She almost wants to insist that she really can listen, but... she knows how hard it can be. To just talk.

Which is why she fidgets. Pushes some hair out of her face that doesn't need to be pushed out. shifts her feet, stretches out her legs before pulling them up against her chest. ]

... I'm not even sure where to start, really.

[postictal]

[Well, he can't be all take and no give. Maybe he can...ease her into this.]

Has anyone here...recognized you at all? Said you looked familiar, maybe?

[philoxenia]

[ Huh. Slowly, she shakes her head. ]

No... I'm not sure why anyone would. [ It... seems like a pointed question, though. ] Why?

[postictal]

'Cause I think I've seen you here before. Or at least, a version of you.

[Figures someone should tell her now, before she learns in a less...pleasant way.]

[philoxenia]

Oh.

[ It comes out as an exhale, more than anything. She falls quiet, thinking. Really... she's not sure what to say. Maybe the feelings are there, but words are harder. ]

... Does that happen here a lot?

[postictal]

Sometimes, yeah.

[It's not like he can be anything but calm about this. This wouldn't be the first time this has happened. Not to him.]

Not too common, but...people might ask you if you remember them.

[philoxenia]

[ Ah. Well... it wouldn't be the first time she forgot people. Still, it aches deep inside, and she coughs. Tries to disguise it as clearing her throat, but...

It's not too successful, honestly. ]

... Thank you for telling me. [ a pause. ] Did... we know each other?

[postictal]

A little.

[That's downplaying it. But he doesn't want to make it sound like they were best friends, like he knew her really well. Just...well enough. Maybe. Vaguely.]

Not super well, though. Just recognized you is all.

[philoxenia]

[ It's a good thing she doesn't catch onto that, huh? ... She'll always be wondering, though. Mira nods slowly. ]

I see. That makes sense, I think. I just wonder how many others knew me.

[postictal]

I really can't say. You were...the other you, I mean, was here for a while.

[A while. He doesn't know how long. He doesn't really mark time anymore, in part because he's simply not very good at it.]