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

[deathfindsaway]

[He knows Keith isn't fully expressing himself, and also knows for all his trepidation that he made the right decision in telling him for the way his own blooms are fading, dropping in clumps of petals. Kravitz feels like he can move more, so he reaches forward to put his hand on Keith's shoulder.]

Please, don't let my tale be the source of further sickness from you. You can speak your thoughts. I am past the need to be consoled about this, when it happened so long ago. I have made my peace enough to forget any fine details that may have plagued me. Alright?

[thermalwind]

[Keith can't help but lean into the hand on his shoulder. He doesn't open up to many people but this is his closest friend aside from Shiro and quickly...Quentin. He sucks in a sharp breath as he says his voice thick with anger,]

I know Drow and Galra have done bad things. It's eons of a regime that shaped them but...I still. I feel so tired and angry every time I run into this kind of hatred. You weren't harming anyone! Your family were harmless.

Yet they deemed you evil. It's pretty likely your neighbors betrayed you and all because...

[He closes his eyes for a moment.] I know it doesn't matter now. I just wish you hadn't been robbed of what you wanted.

[deathfindsaway]

[Kravitz only nods as Keith speaks, feeling those emotions like an old wound. He used to think about that often, a grinding of his own trauma. It simply wasn't something he could surmount, but he's had far longer than Keith to handle that. When he seems to reach a breaking point, Kravitz does only what comes naturally.

Which now, is just to pull him into a hug.]

Every society has done wrong. We are not meant to carry the blame for other's choices. There will always be fear of things that do not deserve that fear, but... we can change it individually. We can make a difference between people. And that matters.

[thermalwind]

[Keith’s eyes go wide with surprise as Kravitz pulls him in. The stiffness and fight goes out of him and he sags against him, surrendering to the touch. He isn’t used to this. He has people he is willing to hug or hug him.

His arms go around Kravitz and he closes his eyes.] Y-yeah. Little by little we can make a difference. ...even just being the Black Paladin it changes things. I can’t erase what Zarkon did in a life time but...I can make it easier for those that come after. Just like you are.

[deathfindsaway]

[In one respect, he feels like the strong protector he's been in the past-- and at the same time, he feels like he's being held through his own grief. It always feels like it's been too long since he properly died, since he even remembered what death truly was, for him to be hung up on it. And yet... it can always linger. Everything lingers.]

We can. And I believe we will. But remember that is not your only purpose in life. Your lineage, parentage, history may be gifts to you of the past, but that does not make them your entire future. Your life is your own. It does not need to be in constant service for you to have done good.

[thermalwind]

[He makes a small sound that's more exhaustion than anything else. Since this sickness came back to them he's gotten very little sleep and rushed around trying to save those who wanted to be saved.

Keith doesn't let go. He feels safe enough to keep talking.] I didn't grow up knowing what I was. Once I learned it, I got used to people denying it or not accepting me on either side. It's...maybe easier than it should be to know I'm a Paladin before anything else.

A Blade of the Marmora after that. Wired to save everyone else before I even think of myself.

[deathfindsaway]

[He nods a wordless agreement, not exactly seen but likely felt.]

I knew myself when I was young, but not my role. Not until my death and the service I pledged to her. It was complicated enough in life to be a step away from most, but to be a being between mortality and godhood, an existence without the trappings of the mortal world but without the wisdom of the deities... well. I understand the feeling of concentrating on others, when your situation is so complex and specific.

[They're more alike than he could have thought, and in a way, it's comforting-- that someone could do something very distinct from his own path in terms of actions, but still end up with the same emotional beats, the same struggles. Even if there aren't other Reapers, that doesn't make him alone. There will always be people who understand, and he's found clear evidence of that right here.]

[thermalwind]

[Keith closes his eyes. Death and The Black Paladin resonate. If that had been told to him ages ago he would have stared at them. He slowly lets go of Kravitz and steps back, slapping at his back. Bits of dead flowers fall to their feet.

He slowly smiles, something small and real lit from within by the swirl of feelings in his chest. Gratitude, affection, quiet calm and contentment. Worry still dances there and always will just by the nature of the islands.]

I knew you would. Well, that’s the lives we are leading. I know who I am. You know who you are. One way or the other we’ll be okay. And so no flowers grow out of me for keeping this to myself.

You’re the closest person to me other than Shiro. I will always have your back when you need it.

[deathfindsaway]

[He almost feels the desire to laugh when Keith talks so earnestly, not out of malice but purely from surprise. This kind of closeness, the kind words being given to him are still so foreign, but--

He's glad for it. He remains so, so glad, and that's enough to let him too enjoy the experience without falling too much into his own head.]

You have come to mean much to me as well. This experience may have been rough, but I'm sincerely glad to have met you in all of it. It's... well, it is a large universe. So I consider myself very, very lucky we found each other in it.

[His breathing is eased, petals crumbled on the ground, bits of stem and leaf he can brush out of his hair. Things will be sore, but it's a small price to pay.]

Thank you. For everything. I think we will be alright, in the end.