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

[catpiper]

[They reach out to her and she's nervous, for a second. They're not upset-their own hand outstretches to meet hers and she holds waits, hesitates and then gently brushes her own fingertips back against theirs.]

Yes, I didn't mean to leave. I'm not a ghost.

[hyperlit]

[Real.]

[Or close enough to it. They know this has happened in the past - people have disappeared, only to return. And she remembers them. That in and of itself is worth waiting for her.]

when?

[catpiper]

I think-it was now. Maybe earlier. I don't remember.

[There's very little of that time she recalls. One moment she was wandering the island and the next-

It was like nothing. A dream she can't remember. Something weird and then-

She was back again, only to find that things had changed.]

I don't know.

[hyperlit]

[She's back. Perhaps it even just happened. They don't know. They can't say, but...]

[That doesn't matter. This world has dictated that she return to them. Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps it was whatever gods decide that sort of thing. In the end, they cannot decide if this is good news or bad. If they only think of this selfishly, then the answer is obvious.]

missed you

[catpiper]

[Seeing missed you written on in the air, dictated by Drifter's small friend, makes her realize just how much-

She missed them too.

Even if she isn't aware of the lost time or how much has happened-even if she doesn't get why it's so quiet right now or what's happening-

She grips their hand a bit tighter.]

I'm glad you found me.

[hyperlit]

other way around

[Their response is immediate. She found them. She came back. They were only ever waiting here for her to return...and fully aware and accepting of the possibility that she might not. Might not ever.]

[catpiper]

[They always find her and she can't envision the opposite happening. They stumbled across her in the woods, while she was-

She pats her bare foot against the newly dug hole and says-]

Do you want these treasures? Someone gave me new ones, but I don't need them.

[She wants her old nasty bag back THANKS.]

[hyperlit]

[They tilt their head to one side slightly, and examine the hole she's made.]

what are they

[It looks as though she's got a new pack. Of course...with her arrival, there would be another, wouldn't there? They think they've seen the same of others, before. They think.]

[catpiper]

[As her grubby little hands reach into the awesome hole she's made, she doesn't pull out the whole bag. Nope. She upturns it, dropping the contents deep into the pit on accident. Whatever. It's fine.

Because she reaches in and pulls out a hatchet by the blade, holding the stick end out to them-]

This thing and-

[She reaches down again, scooping up a handful of nails.]

This stuff and there's food in that hole too.

[hyperlit]

good for self-defense
construction

[They crouch down to regard the supplies in the ground, and then look up to her with the faintest crease deepening the space between their dark eyes.]

why throw away food?

[catpiper]

I'm hiding it.

[Taako's got enough food at camp to last several lifetimes and her bag is equally full of delicious treats. Hoarding this stuff in case she's stuck out here or someone else needs it-that's better.]

But you can have it if you want.

[hyperlit]

unwise place to hide food

[Has no one told her the best means to store food? The Drifter looks down at the mess in the hole - nails, and the like - and looks very much like they'd like to heave a sigh.]

put it back in bag

[catpiper]

[Bet they're wishing she didn't find her way back now, but tough noogies. She's here and she's got more items.

They ask her to put it in the bag, so she does. It's probably something they want to take-they have more use for this kind of stuff than she does. Hatchet, nails, the macaroni mre-it all goes right into the bag.

And then she holds it out to them.]

[hyperlit]

[Well. All right. They'll take it back to her place for her. It's the least they can do. They shoulder the bag with a bit of difficulty. Their already weakened constitution has suffered further thanks to the Overgrowth, but they're hardly going to refuse her.]

[There is very little she could ask of them that they would refuse.]

will take it back for you

[catpiper]

No, it's for you now. It's your treasure-you can have it.

[Because if it were something she wanted to keep, she wouldn't have made them carry it. It would've remained strapped to her own back, though she would gladly share whatever was inside.

No, it's for them now.]

[hyperlit]

do not need nails

[Or a hatchet. They carried one for a time, but they gave it away to a small child who better required it. They cock their head at her for a moment, speculatively.]

should keep the axe
good for self-defense

[catpiper]

[Holding a weapon makes her uneasy, despite all she's been through and her expression shows it.]

I'll give it to Uncle Kravitz-he'll like that kind of thing.

[He already has a scythe. This is just a scythe for ants.]

You can have the rest of that stuff.

[hyperlit]

[Well, they're not about to force her to hold onto it.]

keep the bag

[It has her name on it! The least she can do is keep the bag, right?]

[catpiper]

[That's a nice compromise-they can keep the sharp stuff and she'll start hoarding things in a second bag.]

Okay, I'll put a lot of treasure in those pockets. I found a good leaf already.

[hyperlit]

good

[This is more reasonable.]

head home?

[catpiper]

Yes, we can go home.

[There's a pause and-]

We can go to your home first.

[hyperlit]

do not have one

[This is technically untrue. They have been living in the Knight's old house for enough time for it to have become a "home" of sorts, but they're not about to admit it.]

[catpiper]

Okay, we can go to the place you're sleeping tonight. We'll go there first.

[hyperlit]

why

[Doesn't she need to get this stuff to Kravitz?]

[catpiper]

[She's been missing, apparently, and the thought of walking back to camp while they're mad at her-if they're mad at her-

Well, she doesn't want to deal with that just yet. It's why she didn't instantly go home to begin with. The hatchet will make a good peace offering though. Who can stay mad when they're handed a bunch of treasure??]

We can rest there first.