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The Mods of LifeAftr ([personal profile] lifeaftr_mods) wrote in [community profile] lifeaftr2020-01-02 08:51 pm

January Undercurrent: Growing Pains

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
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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
yakyuuman: (179 homeruns)

[personal profile] yakyuuman 2020-03-02 03:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ When Jyushimatsu goes down, Strike One also does, but Ichimatsu will feel the boop of the dog's cute paws all over the side of his face. He's not being stopped.

But the smile on Jyushimatsu's face does come to a halt, mouth wiggling and matching with the frown and cat-like eyes now appearing on him. He doesn't like what he's hearing! ]


What do you mean I can't get it? Why are you allowed to smoke pot and I'm not?

[ That sounds so unfair? Sure, he never got weed before, but even knowing Ichimatsu became a drug lord he should have the prime priviledges as his favourite cursed sibling, right? Right? Look at that pout he's making, Ichi! How can you displease your precious little brother like this?!

Strike One seems to be sensing the emotions of his owner because his eyes also take a shape of a cute angry dog, his muzzle snorting indignantly. ]
ichininyaanshi: (or just in my brain)

[personal profile] ichininyaanshi 2020-03-07 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[Jyushimatsu being his favorite cursed sibling has nothing to do with it. Actually, no, it has everything to do with it. The only reason Ichimatsu even smoked weed in the first place was because a few people suggested to him that it would help with his..... personality issues. He doesn't even want to think about what it might do to Jyushimatsu.]

[Too late. He can think of at least five scenarios. Death awaits in them all.]

[Angry dog eyes, though. Ichimatsu sighs and tries to placate his brother with a wave of his hands.]


I-it's not that I'm allowed... there's just no cops here or anything. We're still going against the law. W-well, my neighbor was an American, so... I dunno about him. Anyway, don't turn into a criminal just because you're curious...

[As opposed to Ichimatsu, who is a criminal because he's a criminal. And criminals also do bribes.]

... we can keep the dog in the house if you drop it.
Edited 2020-03-07 21:53 (UTC)
yakyuuman: (298 homeruns)

[personal profile] yakyuuman 2020-03-08 09:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The reasoning doesn't hold to him. If there's no law then why isn't he still allowed to smoke pot like everyone else? And what does being American have to do with that?

Jyushimatsu doesn't understand jack about it.

But what he understand is, instead, what Ichimatsu tells him right at the end. ]


Oh? Can we?

[ Technically, that's his cottage. He was the one who picked it before Ichimatsu came along, so he's got the ultimate choice on what goes in there! But anything positive that concerns his keeping Strike One as a house pet makes him happy. The doggo also seems to agree because he stops bopping Ichimatsu's face, frown relenting. ]

Okay! If you give me your world then I won't talk about weed again! But you've gotta pet and cuddle Strike One everyday as an extra fee!
ichininyaanshi: (whatcha gonna do when you get)

[personal profile] ichininyaanshi 2020-03-15 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[Score. Relieved, Ichimatsu sighs and rubs his nose where the dog had bopped him the hardest, scowling even though it didn't hurt even a little bit. He's really not much of a dog person... but if all he's gotta do is pet the gross jelly-dog every day to keep his little brother out of the doghouse, then that's the price he's willing to pay. Even if this isn't Japan, it's just not a habit he wants Jyushimatsu to get into...... and leave him to explain to Choromatsu, if that high-strung, fappy bastard ever shows up.]

[Anyway, it's not because he's already growing fond of Strike One's clueless, happy attitude or anything. He's not that easy.]

[And it doesn't remind him of who may or may not be his favorite brother. Even a little bit.]


... tch. Deal. You're the one feeding him and cleaning up his messes, though.
yakyuuman: (262 homeruns)

[personal profile] yakyuuman 2020-04-02 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Well, that went a bit worse than he expected because he kind of expected Ichimatsu to wholeheartedly accept Strike One into his life without conditions. Even if the weed options were out of question no matter how hard Jyushimatsu begged for even a whiff of the prohibited material. But it's fine after all! They have a jelly dog and maybe he can make a deal for two more strikes and their cottage will be full of love with a pseudo family of their own to take care of!

... Maybe adopting four dogs and naming them after their brothers would have been another viable idea, but Ichimatsu might object to that. And Ichimatsu can be very deadset on his opinions. Jyushimatsu won't take any chance to fight with his nii-san... although wrestling matches are always on the table to take out some stress.

Strike One lets out a sound that sounds like wet paper getting slapped on a wall. He then proceeds to lick Ichimatsu's face. Jyushimatsu smiles luminously at them. ]


There! The deal has been sealed now! Hehehe!