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

[forwearemany]

We are more interested in the reason you have done so now.

(Always about motives. Perspectives.

The Geth learn and grow via the sharing of thoughts. It is how they are.)

[counterblows]

[He slaps the mag back into his rifle and rolls his shoulders.]

Well, it wasn't because I wanted to, I can tell you that.

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged. An effect of the islands?

(They suspected, if so.)

[counterblows]

Probably. I don't know. Like I said, it wasn't specific to you. I just had it out for everybody for a few days.

[Including, he remembers with a grimace, Carolina.]

[forwearemany]

...Acknowledged. Being turned against allies is common.

(They look down. At themselves? At the ground? It's not really certain.)

[counterblows]

Not really. I mean, this was...only the second time it happened here. That I remember, anyway.

[The first being Nastrandir. And that was a...limited thing. Not everybody got fucked up by that, at least.]

[forwearemany]

Though it does not precisely qualify, shadows attacked allies. Those sufficiently influenced by ghosts attacked allies who tried to convince them they were not real. Memory loss due to events on Cahypdo resulted in hostilities. Overgrowth has reduced at least one ally to a mindless husk that had to be destroyed.

This is in addition to the war on Nastrandir, and what has occurred with you.

(Murdered, stabbed by Shepard, multiple fights, caught in a trap and tormented ... Legion has experienced so much bullshit.)

[counterblows]

So you're saying you're...used to it.

[Which is kind of what he'd gathered when they first met, unfortunately.]

[forwearemany]

It is pointless to judge allies for actions taken when they do not fully control themselves, or are similarly influenced.

Such occurrences are unpredictable, and unpreventable. Additionally, it is entirely possible that the same may happen to us.

(No one has yet done anything so terrible Legion could not eventually forgive them for it.

To qualify, such an action would have to pointless and fully intentional in addition to being cruel.)

[counterblows]

That doesn't render them painless. That doesn't mean they don't still hurt.

[He shakes his head, fighting the urge to heave a resigned sigh.]

Look, I'm not going to stop you from thinking that. But you're allowed to be mad about it. You're allowed to think, hey, maybe I should take a step back so that I don't risk getting killed every time I say "hi" to my friends.

[forwearemany]

(They consider this, as they do all things, their headflaps shifting into the smooth ripple of heavy thought.

They think, back to three centuries ago, memories of their previous self in the morning war. All programs are familiar with these events, even those who were not yet created. They have analyzed and analyzed them over and over and over again, seeking an answer to an ever present and endless question:

What did they do wrong?

When they surrendered, the Quarians destroyed them. When they pleaded, they were ignored. When they fled, they were hunted down. When they fought back …

Where did that get them?

They won. They won, and drove the Quarians away and lived an entire 300 years, three centuries of freedom to live and grow as they desired.

And the galaxy … feared them.

The Geth stayed beyond the Perseus Veil. They built structures. They sought a future without involving those who did not seek to be involved. The Quarians were cast out for their creation. Synthetic existence became illegal. The AI that had previously coexisted previously were destroyed.

Generations upon generations of creator children were born into disease and suffering, raised to hate. That the majority of creators had never wanted to destroy them was forgotten, as was the fact that it had been their fellow creators that killed them. The Geth were reduced to storybook monsters. That they were struggling to simply exist was ignored.

They think of those Creators who fought and suffered and died to save them.

They think of Creators like Creator Admiral Tali’Zorah’s mother, who wasted away from a plague that thrived in cramped ship environments, her immune system too atrophied to fight it. The Geth never encountered her, and yet, they caused her death all the same.

The Geth deserved to live, they think.

But did the descendents of their Creators deserve to die?

Though the Geth had no need of Rannoch, they had cared for it. Cleaned it of pollution leftover from the war, maintained structures, ensured ecosystems would not collapse now that a vital part was gone. The Quarians were a part of their homeworld as much as it was a part of them, and a void was created in their absence.

The Geth, they know, had felt that void too.

They had won the war, and yet they kept a memorial for those who had not.

Shepard-Commander had been the first organic to openly cooperate with them since the morning war. This was significant to the Geth. Alongside Creator Admiral Tali’Zorah’s willingness to work toward peace, it had been a source of … hope.

It was this hope that had caused them to continue to make gestures of goodwill and try for peace even as the Quarians fought to destroy them.

It enabled their betrayal.

They think about their arrival on Enso, their suspicion, the way others reached out to them and accepted them in spite of it. Of sharing their language and their history with people who valued their perspective. Of being able to discuss weaponry without immediately being perceived as a threat. Of being protected when they were vulnerable, by one who barely knew them. Of a possible timeline where their people achieved the peace they had longed for. Of not having to prove themselves to be seen as worthy of life.

They think of the times they have been hurt by that same populace. Of how previous allies have betrayed them. Of not accepting the kindness given them. Of retaliating against those who hurt them, and discarding alliances to prevent future betrayals. Of fighting. Of isolation. Of the feel of bones crumpling in their hand until the form of an ally went still…

They stare at their hands.

The prospect of a future alone unravels before them, cold and empty, infinite and worthless.

They do not wish to be angry. They do not desire conflict.

Their posture sags as they stand there, strangely quiet.

They are … tired.)

[counterblows]

[God only knows what they're thinking about. Based on the way they slump, silent, Wash is willing to bet it's not anything good.]

...hey. [Christ, he's not any good at this. He's the only one of the Reds and Blues who's known to do any talking about feelings, or just generally attempt it, but that's often come with limited success. No idea how this is going to go over now.]

Are you, uh. Okay?

[forwearemany]

We do not wish to be alone.

(Getting mad and dropping alliances with those who hurt them would hardly isolate them but ... they're a Geth.

Compared to the intimacy and vastness of the collective, they're already terribly alone.)

[counterblows]

So you're willing to deal with whatever comes with company?

[It's as gentle as he can put it. He's not...good at gentle. The gentlest he ever gets is with Caboose, and that's only with mixed results. He's not a sensitive person, not anymore, but fuck if he doesn't want to...help, in whatever fucked-up way he can.]

[They just look so damn sad.]

[forwearemany]

Yes.

(The idea of being alone is ... like death, in a way. For a single program, it means reduction to a non thinking, non feeling entity. For a unit, it means reduction to a ferel and animal state.

For Legion, it is like being unable to breathe but alive in spite of it, yearning but unable to fill an aching void inside of them, forever.

They do not desire this existence.)

[counterblows]

All right.

[Well, who the hell is he to argue?]

Just...don't feel like you've got to sacrifice everything for that. Hanging around with people who treat you like shit isn't the same as having friends, and I promise that it's not worth it in the long term.

CW Fantasy Racism and Fantasy Slur

[forwearemany]

We are not being "treated like shit".

(They know what that looks like. It's not brief periods of aggression largely influenced by supernatural occurrences. It's the idea that you're inherently a threat until proven otherwise. It's saving someone's life and then waking up caged behind an energy shield after they debated whether or not to sell you into experimentation or throw you out of the airlock. It's being the subject of racist comments from your teammates even after you survived a suicide mission together. It's people not caring about your language or culture. It's calling you flashlight head, and talking about you as though you aren't there.

Perhaps they would care more about the harm done to them if it weren't so different here. If their allies didn't express such obvious remorse.)

[counterblows]

Me shooting at you qualifies as being treated like shit. Even if I wasn't...you know, in my right mind at the time.

[Just putting it out there. That's not a very high bar, in Wash's opinion.]

[forwearemany]

In your "right mind", you will not do so.

(They trust that.)

[counterblows]

No. You're right on that. I've kind of had it with stabbing people in the back.

[At this point, he might be holding to loyalty to a potentially destructive extent. But that's just where he is now.]

[forwearemany]

Affirmative.

(He couldn't have prevented this from happening, and so long as he controls his actions he will not do it again.

They enjoy his alliance. Anger is "not worth it".)

[counterblows]

Right.

[Not that he can say that he'll always be like that. Especially with this place against them the way it is.]

Well, for what it's worth - I'm sorry.

[forwearemany]

Apology accepted.

(Telling him it is not necessary will simply result in more arguing.

It is, however, unnecessary: his right to self-determination was compromised, and it is clear he regrets his actions.)

[counterblows]

[Not that it makes him feel much better about it. But he'd be, probably, more fucked up about it if he'd actually succeeded in killing them, so in that case, he can be grateful that he didn't.]

Well, I'm still not sure what the shark thing was about. You hear anything about that?

[forwearemany]

A similar entity appeared inside our lodgings.

(Yes, really.)