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

[mockiri]

[Oh, that is an idea. She chirps and fluffs up her feathers, looking solemn as she nods in agreement.]

There’s lots of creatures around that could hurt.

[It's quite scary out there. Maybe if she learns about them, she'll know which ones are safe and which to avoid.]

[salutosinedelectat]

There are, aren't there?

[ Dreadful business. He doesn't really go out of his way to engage with such creatures, but he's seen his fair share.

He picks the book off the shelf. Nothing official, of course, as it is most likely written by someone residing in the islands.]

Why don't we take a seat?

[mockiri]

[Never has a little bird been so excited to listen. She scampers over to the nearest open seat available, tucks herself into a fluffy ball of feathers and cloak, and leans in, eager and waiting.

He'll have her full attention for as long as he's willing.]

[salutosinedelectat]

[ That is...incredibly endearing. He can’t help by to smile, stepping over to take the other chair and lay the book on the table in front of them.

He means to reach for his entirely useless glasses, perhaps miracle them on his person, out of habit. But he catches himself and pulls his hand back again.]

Right. Let us see...

[ He flips through the pages and the rudimentary drawings.]

Oh, lorbies. I’ve encountered these creatures before, a couple of times.

[mockiri]

[She leans in to look, blinking at it for a moment before it clicks. Oh, those things! Terrible, noisy. They'd been fun at a distance, mostly for irritating people.

She mimics a piercing but mercifully brief shriek of the baby lorbies that had populated one of the islands recently. Horrible, but not deafening as the adult cry, at least.]

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Aziraphale jumps and winces at the sudden sound. It will probably serve him well to remember that she may simply just...do that. ]

Yes, quite. Exactly that. Quite loud, specially in groups. The babies in particular are quite shrill.

[mockiri]

[She hadn't seen much as far as groups go, because she would absolutely have died. But some noisy babies? Definitely saw a few.

She fishes out her notebook, jotting down a quick note for him,]

do you know any big teeth swamp monsters?

[salutosinedelectat]

[ He reads the message, then leafs through the book in front of him. ]

Can't say I do, but I haven't quite spent any time in that sort of area since I've arrived.

Are you looking for anything specific?

[mockiri]

[She considers the question for a moment, then quietly shakes her head. She's just happy to be here and learning new things. And honestly it's something of a relief to hear that at least said swamp monsters are not common. She hasn't seen any either, but logic doesn't always factor into a child's fear.]

[salutosinedelectat]

[ He hasn't quite taken the time yet to learn about all the creatures here (he never studied the Earth ones, either, but he also didn't have to worry about being discorporated by them there), so they're practically learning together.

He pauses when he remembers. ]

How about those colorful little..."dogs"? Have you seen those?

[mockiri]

[He gets a curious little headtilt and a chirp for that one. Dogs? What dogs?]

[salutosinedelectat]

Ah. They are quite...noticeable. [ And very, very strange.]

I don’t suppose there are any notes on them. I got the impression no one has seen them before.

They are quite colorful and...well, and dog-like. I think. Although the consistency of their bodies seems less than solid...

[mockiri]

[Colourful... non-solid... almost-dogs.

Yeah, she's having a hard time visualizing that one. But for lack of a better response,]

That sounds adorable!

[Because it could be! Maybe. Dogs are sometimes, when they don't chase her.]

[salutosinedelectat]

[ She’ll have an ever harder time picturing them the more he describes them.]

Hm, yes, I suppose they can be seen that way. [ A certain demon would wildly disagree.]

They seem to come in a variety of colors. And shapes. And...numbers of limbs and eyes.

[mockiri]

[And that... nets him a puzzled look, and an equally quizzical trill. This is starting to sound not at all like a dog, actually. Are you sure about that word??]

[salutosinedelectat]

[ He is most definitely not. But they act a lot like dogs, so...maybe?]

Yes, quite curious, isn’t it?

They’re also surprisingly slimy... [ He makes a bit of a face at that. He has personal experience with that.]

[mockiri]

[These not-dogs... sound kind of gross. She's not certain she approves.]

This is a weird dream.

[She doesn't have the words to say "that's weird", so this is as close as it gets.]

[salutosinedelectat]

[ She should ask Crowley about them sometime. He’s a lot less polite about it.

Her response is a bit confusing but he thinks he gets the gist of it.]

Quite. But, then again, these islands seem to be covered with all sorts of curious creatures.

[mockiri]

[It bears repeating, so:]

There’s lots of creatures around that could hurt.

[Feels insufficient, though, so she folds open her notebook to write.]

is this home?

[She doesn't entirely get how it works- how people are brought here, what other worlds exist... it's a little beyond her young mind to parse all of that.]

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Ah.

Reading the question makes him pause. It’s a tad bit more serious than reading out random descriptions of odd creatures, and it's a tad more...complex? That might not be the right word, though.]

I... do suppose it must be someone’s. [ Not his. And, by the sounds of it, not hers, either. Maybe those so called Gods'.

It dawns on him that he has absolutely no idea if she's accompanied by anyone. By what he can tell, she acts like a human child would, which is partly why he even has gone as far as reading for her. Human children usually have some sort of guardian...does she not have one? Did they not tell her about this? Is it his place to? ]

Say, is there anyone you've known since before you arrived here?

[mockiri]

[She perks up at that, lifting her arms into the air, cheering (in a questioning tone, in Beau's voice),]

Welcome back to the Mighty Nein?

[Not exactly guardians or parents, but they keep her fed and safe, so she's content. Her needs are few.]

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Those are...words.]

Are those your guardians?

And are they here?

[mockiri]

[They sure are words!

She nods her head, holding up three feather-fingers. Three whole guardians! That's a lot.]

[salutosinedelectat]

[ So many guardians! Well, as they say, it takes a village. Though a lot of humans seem to have lost that habit. But he doesn't quite know about the cohabitation and parenting habits of other creatures. ]

Oh, good, good.

[ He pauses for a moment, thinking. ]

And what have they told you about this place? [ Mostly because he doesn't want to step on any toes. He's not even sure it's a good idea for a child - a bird, a chick? - to really know the details of this place. May be a bit much. Not that he really knows that much about it... ]

[mockiri]

[She gives an exasperated huff in response to that. How is she supposed to answer something so broad?

After some consideration, she lists off a handful of island names, all spoken in a variety of voices, and then in sequence:]

This is a weird dream. [A man, dry and somewhat irritated.] Are you by the temple? [A woman, accented.] Fighting monsters. [The same as the first, again.]