Returning Island: Umui

[lifeaftr_mods]

RETURNING ISLAND: UMUI

Who: Everyone!
What: Umui returns to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: January 20th, and onward
Where: It'd almost be beautiful, if you didn't know it could kill you
Warnings: Please mark if anything comes up!

I Found a Plot of Weeds Instead
Perhaps some of you remember the island of Umui...its mysteries, its dangers, its eerie quiet. Almost everything here was both overgrown and Overgrown - remnants of an old civilization were buried beneath layers of the flowers that eventually killed them. And travelers got to unpack and hunt down whatever clues they could find about just what happened to the people out here, until the answer became all too obvious.

When Umui resurfaces on January 20th, you might be startled to discover that everything has become even more overgrown than before. No, really - almost every landmark and building has been rendered more or less totally unrecognizable. It looks very much as though centuries of growth has now overcome this entire area, as though you've left it like this for a period of millennia and not merely a period of months. The buildings have been utterly buried beneath grasses and flowers, and if there were any of those automatons left lying about, they're probably buried pretty deep under the ground too. It's not recommended that you go digging too deep. You probably don't want to awaken any old strains of the Overgrowth, right? You already dealt with that earlier in the month! And that's the good news in all this. As long as you don't go digging too deeply into the island, you won't have any fear of encountering the Overgrowth again.

Well, unless you're after something or someone in particular. Some of you might remember robotic entity that several of you worked together to save. They're probably underneath all this stuff somewhere, right? Still deactivated, but...maybe there's something you can do to save them...?

If anyone has questions about what you might find if you poking around Umui's landscape, you're free to ask them here! It's worth noting, however, that except for the flora, this place is almost completely devoid of other life. Nothing sentient lives here...anymore.

Buried Deep Underneath the Tree
That doesn't mean Umui is bereft of any of quirks entirely, however. While you might recognize some of the flowers poking up from the humps of moss and greenery, a certain type of bloom is definitely new...and definitely not one of your standard types of flowers, either. If anyone thinks to ask one of the gods about these flowers, they will receive an assurance that they are not innately dangerous - but they are innately linked to the dream island of Mu. They glow with a strange, vaguely ethereal light, and if you get too close, they'll waft some thick spores of pollen in your direction.

These spores have all sorts of ways of latching their effects into you. Whether they get breezed into your mechanical parts, inhaled, ingested, if they land in your eyes, whatever the case - pretty soon, they're going to start working their magic. And once they do, you'll soon find yourself feeling inexplicably and incredibly tired. Inexorably, you'll find yourself settling down for a nap, regardless of whether you're not one for sleeping, or even if you're one who requires it. The moment you close your eyes, you'll find yourself entering a dream state on Mu, and one that is linked with all other dreaming entities. This means that it's highly possible that your dreams will be bleeding into other people's, or that you may end up wandering into another's dreams. It's very probable, in fact.

The dream-state you enter may vary in depth. You might end up completely beholden to Mu's wishes, or you might find yourself in a vaguely lucid, almost "sleepwalking" state, where in the following effects are "projections" visible to the waking world. Most likely, you'll all be bumping up against one another's heads within Mu's vast and comfortable shores. Whichever of these it is, once you're caught within Mu's grasp, you'll find that it's a trove of memories that await you - your memories. You may find yourself re-enacting them or simply watching from afar...but the same may be said for others who might stumble upon your mind. Perhaps they find themselves in place of another character, or watching invisibly from the sidelines. Either way, Mu tries to make each instance as close to the real thing as possible. When it has completed, it may either restart itself, or simply fade entirely.

Should you be affected by Umui's pollen, any one or more of the following will occur:

[ ♆ ] True Bliss: Mu recreates a memory or a time in which you were truly happy. This may be as simple or as grandiose as you may like, but it had to have really happened.

[ ♆ ] True Judgment: Mu recreates a memory or a time in which you felt exceptionally guilty. And no matter what you do, you'll find that it is impossible to change. Try as you might, you can only ever witness the same end result that has stricken you with so much guilt. And the same can be said for whoever might have gotten caught in this instance, and is watching it happen...

[ ♆ ] True Peace: Mu recreates a memory or a time in which you felt the most at peace, whether with some aspect of yourself or the circumstances around you. Perhaps this sense of peace bleeds into your own consciousness as you witness or act it, or perhaps it only serves to unsettle you...or maybe it affects those who go wandering into your dreams.

[ ♆ ] True Balance: Mu selects a memory or a time in your life...and warps it so that it is experienced in the opposite manner that it was initially. For example: that happy memory of you rescuing a bunch of kittens from a burning building? When you experience it this time, it will be in a relentlessly negative light - you absolute monster, traumatizing those kittens by carrying them through the fire like that! You should have been more careful! What if the fire was your fault all along? That horrible memory in which you slaughtered a bunch of innocent people? Well, it was all for the best, wasn't it? It was good that you did this. You have nothing to be sorry for. There's a bright side to everything - even this.

[ ♆ ] True Fate: Mu creates what it understands to be your final destiny, whether it be the place where our story ends, or the circumstances under which you perish. Perhaps this is something that is known to you, or to others. And perhaps it isn't.

You may pay witness to any one or more of these dream-states at a time. Perhaps you visit the island five times and receive the same "effect" each time, or perhaps you visit only once but find yourself looping through all five "effects" in the same space. The memories may vary, as well; for example, you might experience the "True Bliss" effect three times, and experience three separate happy memories each time. The choice of what your character experiences is up to you! While there are no inherent risks to this dream-state, it should be worth noting that your body will not be immune to entropy should you stay in it too long. Your body may suffer from hunger or thirst, or require recharging at a mana pool. For the most part, however, the only things you have to fear are the, uh, trauma that this might inflict. Or the trauma of other people seeing some of your most private memories.

Where My Friends Plot to Bury Me
Of course, there's a lot going on in the background as well. Characters are not required to go to Umui; you're free to explore any other minor events listed on our Monthly Rundown post. You are also always free to create your own individual logs and posts as needed!

Also remember that if you died this month, to fill out the corresponding form over on our Deaths page!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them over on our Monthly Rundown post!

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

Ginko | OTA

[onegreeneye]

After Umui’s first appearance, Ginko couldn’t blame anyone for choosing to stay away from it when it re-emerges - but, for him, personally… he might as well. Apparently keeping his distance didn’t actually keep the Overgrowth away, anyway, and if he gets it again... well, at this point, what are a few more spilled secrets. Fine.

1a - True Judgement; cw: potential discussion of child abuse/suicidal ideation

The silence seems, somehow, to stretch on forever, filling and overflowing the room. It bears down on a young boy with unkempt white hair, and his single, bright green eye stays fixed on the floor, unable to bring himself to look at the man across from him.

“...I see.” As much as the silence may have weighed on Ginko, hearing Suguro speak again doesn’t bring any real relief. His voice holds steady, and Ginko’s fists clutch at the shabby fabric of his kimono. “We’ll have to close the mountain for a while.”

It takes some work for Ginko to respond; at first, the words catch in his throat, his voice weak and quiet even when he does speak. “Has… the ‘nature’ left it? What will happen to the mountain now?”

He almost doesn’t want to know the answer. If the fear still nagging at him after what he did is right-- if he’s killed the mountain, then--

“What you met was nature.”

For the first time, Ginko looks up, his eye wide - he’s too surprised even to be relieved, even though he knows he should be, as Suguro speaks. “If the flowers above ground are the mountain’s god, then those beings were the roots. If they took the god’s life into their hands, then it must only be a matter of time before a new god appears.”

There’s no time for Ginko to take that in, for whatever hope it may provide to settle in, before Suguro speaks again. “Now, it’s time you got ready to leave. I can’t forgive you for what you did.”

There’s no anger in his voice. It’s still quiet and steady, his tone as straightforward as ever as his words bury themselves in Ginko’s chest with a familiar, cold weight. “I never want to see your face again.”

1b - True Peace; cw: potential discussion of child abuse/suicidal ideation

“But… make sure you don’t forget. In this world, every person and place has a right to exist.”

Ginko’s gaze is still fixed on Suguro, and he finds himself going somehow stiller than he already had been, until he’s barely breathing. There’s still a painful knot sinking in his chest, but, if only for the moment, his now-former mentor’s words pull his attention away.

He’d expected the conversation to be over now; he would leave, and that would be it. For all the apprenticeships he’s started and failed, whether he was dismissed, driven away, or simply left behind, something about this is… new.

Suguro is still looking steadily at him, and Ginko finds himself staring back. For once, he wants to hear the rest, instead of just bracing himself against it. “It’s true for you, too. Nature itself allowed you to come back. The entire world, as a whole, is your home.”

There’s not much more to be said after that, and time blurs together as Suguro gathers what supplies he can spare for Ginko, and Ginko departs for good. Hours might as well be minutes, and minutes don’t mean anything as he walks, and walks, and the mountain draws away into the distance. It’s not until the sun starts to set, evening and night settling over the landscape around him, that he slows to a stop, standing solitary in a field that stretches out for almost as far as he can see in every direction, and speaks softly to nobody but himself. “I guess I’ll stop here for the night.”

He lays down carefully in the soft grass, setting his pack down by his side, and stares up at the sky, surrounded by life, though none of it may be human. He can hear the soft chirping of insects, see the gentle lights and indistinct forms of mushi drifting through the air.

Ginko sets a hand lightly over where his left eye would have once been, where he knows another mushi is settled into the socket - the only constant presence he can remember. He closes his good eye, and he listens to the world around him. And, there, he goes to sleep, more soundly and securely than ever before.

2 - True Bliss

“Alright… fine.”

He’s sitting in a simply but comfortably-furnished room - an inn, where a friend has gotten on good terms with the owner. It’s warm, the first time he’s been anywhere warm in some time, and there’s a gentle relief rising in his chest. He glances up at the teenage girl sitting across from him; her feathers and wings, and the talon-like state of her arms, are still strange to see, but he’s gotten used to seeing Heather like this, at the same time that he’s adapted to the fur and stones covering his own body. For the moment, at least, their physical states are far from being at the forefront of his mind.

“Let’s just say that you were being a… ‘rancid turd’.” He can’t quite keep the amusement from his tone as he quotes her, and maybe that’s a good thing. “And that it’s been completely forgiven. How’s that sound to you?”

He watches Heather carefully, not quite willing to look away - and he lets out a breath he didn’t quite know he was holding as she smiles, as tentative as his own. “Yeah, okay. That sounds… that sounds okay.”

He’s starting to relax again, for the first time in a while - enough so for the pain in his shoulder, the deep ache of a wound that hasn’t quite healed the way it should (centered around a spot that those he knows now may recognize, where a crescent bite wound left a deep scar), to be noticeable again, and it’s a relief for that to weigh on him more than anything else.

There’s not much time, though, for his attention to drift before the door bursts open, and a dark-haired boy with black fur running down his arms and glass-blue horns on his forehead steps in, brandishing a platter of tea and pastries, with his tail flicking behind him with pride. “See, toldja I’d bring back some goodies! Granny made these scones this morning, and they’re… ah, yeah, cranberry-orange.”

That warm fondness and relief fills Ginko’s chest all over again as Heather sits upright to reply, and the rest of the conversation blurs together, the words exchanged barely mattering as they eat; he just takes in the warm atmosphere, and the kids’ enthusiasm, and… he feels alright. As much as he could expect under the circumstances, and maybe more.

(( OOC: As the headers suggest, 1a and 1b are parts of the same memory; when tagging one or both of those prompts, please specify in the subject line whether you’re interacting with a, b, or both! As usual, if you want to plot something else out, hit me up over PM, on the game discord, or at omixgirl10 ! ))

1b

[ichininyaanshi]

Well... that guy sure seemed like an asshole.

That's about all Ichimatsu can gather from the scene; he doesn't really understand anything about the mountains, or flowers, or nature. Being part of it, whatever. Maybe it's because he's a city kid. More likely, there's just more going on than he has context for, but that's alright. By this point, in this world, it's easy to accept that people have way more going on than he's ever even imagined as possible.

He does know assholes, though. Thus his assessment: that guy is a dickhead. He might be softening the blow there near the end, but to Ichimatsu's outsider eyes, he's still rejecting and kicking a kid out. That kind of shit messes people up. In this particular case, Ichimatsu doesn't even want to know the context. Ginko did something shitty? Whatever, so does everyone. His eyes stay on Suguro long after Ginko turns and walks away, committing the guy's face to memory. He'll never have reason to think about him again, but Ichimatsu has plenty of room in his heart for pointless grudges of all kinds.

After a while, he turns and trudges after Ginko. Shadows him from behind for a while, saying nothing. As time blurs together, pulling the light in the sky into dark blues, and as Ginko settles down to rest, Ichimatsu finally closes the distance - and it's only to seat himself in the grass a good distance away, watching Ginko get comfortable.

If he notices that the other man has begun to fall asleep, it doesn't stop him from finally piping up.

"You're taking that 'nature is your home' thing seriously, huh?"

[onegreeneye]

The world shifts, as the memory reaches its end. Ginko opens his eyes as Ichimatsu speaks, back to himself - his present, fully grown, monster self.

It still takes him a moment to reply, but the pause is one of contemplation rather than reluctance.

"What else could I have done?"

[ichininyaanshi]

Ichimatsu gives a jerking shrug.

"Told him to eat shit, at least."

It's only a half-serious answer, but it's also all he's got. At the end of the day, there's not a lot a kid can do to fight back against an adult being shitty to them. Rejection is rejection. He's spent enough of his life trying to avoid it to know how much of a dead end it is when you're finally forced to face it. That's why he doesn't have a particularly helpful perspective - just one where you bite back a bit.

Anyway, everyone copes differently.

[onegreeneye]

Ginko's reply is preceded with a quiet, humorless snort.

"Wouldn't have done much. Suguro was never the problem, anyway."

All he did was go to the effort of taking in a kid who ended up being more trouble than he was worth - and he certainly tried harder than any other mushi master who had looked after Ginko before.

Any that he could remember at the time, at least.

[ichininyaanshi]

One quiet, humorless snort begets another - thought Ichimatsu's has the added bonus of being a bit acerbic, too. It's mostly due to being his default tone and only a little bit because of Ginko's accepting the shitty way he was treated.

"Dunno about that... but if you wanna make excuses for an old guy acting like a dickhead, go ahead. It's not like I knew him."

Ichimatsu considers this tactful. He's also practicing restraint by not pointing out that Ginko seemed to lack the monstrous bits and pieces as a kid, which he certainly noticed. Either way, he decides to shift the topic.

"Any reason you just wandered out into the middle of nowhere?"

[onegreeneye]

No response to that - not because he doesn't have anything to say, but... well, Ichimatsu didn't ask, and Ginko doesn't see much point in arguing with him on it.

He sits up, giving a lopsided shrug as he moves. That, at least, is pretty straightforward. "I had to get away from the mountain, and I didn't have anywhere in particular to go. So I picked a direction and started walking. Figured I'd run into a village eventually."

[ichininyaanshi]

He hums.

"You sure didn't have a problem just lying down in the dirt when you didn't make it to one, though."

It's an observation, and not a particularly judgmental or disgusted one, but the implied question is meant to be obvious: it seems like Ginko's pretty familiar with roughing it. Or giving up. Come to think of it, he was pretty handy with plants, wasn't he? Enough to help Ichimatsu identify some of the random herbs he'd gotten all that time ago.

[onegreeneye]

"Wasn't the first time."

Yeah, no, he had definitely done that before. A lot. It's never been something he's bothered to hide, either, so confirming that is actually way easier than discussing a lot of what Ichimatsu just saw.

Easy enough, in fact, for him to add, "Grass is more comfortable than you might think."

[ichininyaanshi]

Ichimatsu doesn't have a snippy remark for that. He just clicks his tongue, more contemplatively than anything else, and looks skyward.

"Better than the streets, I guess. At least you knew how to take care of yourself." As a kid, no less. Ichimatsu couldn't even last on his own without starving himself out as an adult. Maybe it's easier for kids, but... more than likely Ginko was just more resourceful. "That used to it?"

[onegreeneye]

"...Sort of." He can't exactly tell Ichimatsu that he was anywhere near competent at looking after himself as a child; if anything, he just saw the beginning of the upswing in Ginko's ability to survive, so he supposes it might have been hard to tell what rough shape he was really in before that point.

"Most of what I knew at that point I learned from Suguro. Enough to get the chance to teach myself more."

1a

[conscientiousobject]

Epsilon looks horrified.

There is a beat or two of total silence before he finds it appropriate to speak, let alone possible to articulate any kind of internal process that might correspond to what he's just seen.

There is quite a lot to process. The 'emotions' generated by his programming, by the scene, by Ginko are very strong, and all of them are, frankly, painful. But not nearly so painful as this memory must be for Ginko. He turns his gaze to the Troll, and in doing so, his expression changes from wide-eyed disgust and dismay to just... a terrible sadness. Like he's about to cry, but without so much as a single tear.

"How old were you?"

It is not a question he asks out of a search for understanding--he understands all too well, and age is no material factor in any of it.

Sometimes, you simply need a place to start.

Re: 1a

[onegreeneye]

Ginko doesn't look away from where the memory played out, where it lingers - it might be starting over, for all he knows, but it's at least faded enough now not to be the only thing he can focus on.

Not that he feels much better answering Epsilon's question. It doesn't even occur to him to wonder why he might be asking.

The fact that he can't be sure of the answer makes it a little more difficult, as well. "Probably... twelve or so."

Probably.

Definitely old enough to have listened when Suguro told him to stay put.

1a & 1b

[vagabone]

He's standing quietly off to the side, heart heavy, ghostly shoulders slumping. Inexcusable, Suguro. Young Ginko couldn't possibly have done anything to deserve that--no kid his age in the memory could. Years too young to be written off as a lost cause, even if he had hurt someone on purpose. Which Héctor very much doubts, though he didn't quite follow the rest of the scene (nature, bah). No, it's clear who the real asshole is in the memory, if not an outright monster. It almost sounded like kid-Ginko could have died, and that's all the comfort he gets?

He shifts his weight, fingers rasping at his leg. Can't touch anything but himself and the ground, not so much as a hand on the guy's shoulder. "Who was that? How old...?"

[onegreeneye]

Ginko is stock-still through the whole memory, his expression unmoving, hands stuffed into his pockets to keep himself from fidgeting in his discomfort.

He doesn't want Hector to see this. Doesn't want anyone to see this, really - though not for the reasons Hector might think. Even if he learned something important from it, the aftermath of one of the worst things he ever did isn't exactly the sort of memory he wants shared with those he cares about.

But refusing to talk about it won't make it any better - and this place doesn't seem inclined to let him keep much of anything to himself. So he speaks, quiet and hesitant.

"Suguro. He was a mushi master - my mentor, for... a while."

He doesn't, however, answer that next question yet. One thing at a time - and it's not like he can give a solid answer, anyway.

[vagabone]

"Some mentor." is all he says, for the moment. No good with kids, clearly. He can't imagine what could be so awful to toss a kid out, make them fend for themself... but he doesn't have the whole story. 'Mushi' have always confused him, creeped him too--Ginko knows he'd probably kill the things on sight, not coexist with them, and that's apparently the wrong answer.

"Do you... want to talk about it?"

[onegreeneye]

There's just the slightest shift of tension in Ginko's shoulders, something that might, at a glance, look like annoyance. But that's not it - not really.

And he doesn't really want to talk about it, either. But that doesn't mean he won't, not when, as far as he can tell, Hector's got entirely the wrong idea of what he just saw. He doesn't even know how adequately he can correct him, considering how poorly Hector seems to grasp everything he's learned of Ginko's world so far.

"There wasn't much else to be done."

[vagabone]

"That's not true. It's not what I would have done."

But Ginko knows it--Ginko's the last person on the island who how much it would take for him to give up on a person. Especially a kid. Every kid who's ever existed has made mistakes, so what?

"Whatever it is you did, you wouldn't have made the same mistake twice."

[onegreeneye]

"I know."

It's just a mumble, not even really addressing Hector directly. He knows. Hector wouldn't have made him leave, Hector wouldn't do that to any kid.

But Hector isn't Suguro. He doesn't have Suguro's responsibilities, doesn't know what kind of fallout Suguro was already going to have to handle - and he doesn't know the nature of Ginko's situation. Hector wouldn't have done it, but Hector is too far removed for that to say anything about Suguro.

Whatever it is he did. Right. Ginko snorts quietly . "Be hard to do it again, I think. But once was too many times, and I was going to have to leave anyway."

[vagabone]

Héctor doesn't have a clue, yes, but that isn't completely his fault. Sometimes it'd be nice if certain people would use more of their words. Explain what the heck happened, what he's getting wrong about the whole mushi situation...

He rubs at his face, staring at where the memory scene was, exhaling from imaginary lungs. "Why? What actually happened?"

[onegreeneye]

Ginko is quiet, for a few moments. Sorting words in his head, arranging an explanation.

In the end, he probably spends longer thinking about how to tell Hector than it takes him to say it.

"I killed the mountain's god."

[vagabone]

"Okay..." Big screwup. Humongous. Can't get bigger than accidentally killing a god. The key word there, though.

"Not on purpose. And throwing you out wouldn't make things better." To wander around in the wild, maybe to die before finding anyone else to stay with... Which may have been the point?? Not a pleasant thing to see happen to his friend's younger self.

[onegreeneye]

“...Right.” The pause before that agreement might have been just… slightly too long. Not on purpose.

He didn’t mean to. He didn’t choose to. Not consciously, anyway.

It’s the complete opposite of me.

Could I take this power if I act now?

"Still wouldn't have happened if I'd listened to him." In any case. "It wouldn't have changed anything, no. But... I don't think he could stand to look at me, after that. He still tried to prepare me for what was ahead. That's more than I could ask."

[vagabone]

Is it really? There's more to say, another angle to come from.

"I bet that you wouldn't say that if it were a different kid being tossed out." Like garbage. "What would you have done if you were Suguro?" No double standards allowed, no señor.

[onegreeneye]

"--Don't." It's not even a voluntary reply - just a rush of air with a word half-buried in it.

In over twenty years, of course he's thought about that. Of course he's wondered, seeing other kids thrown out and rejected, if he would have acted differently from Suguro - but there are problems with any conclusion he could draw that he can't seem to get past.

Ginko drags in a breath, forces his voice to even out. "I was going to have to leave, one way or another - it didn't matter if it was then or days later. And any claims I try to make about what I would do would be hollow speculation - I can't act like I have any chance of truly understanding Suguro's position. I've only ever been a travelling mushi master. He'd been looking after that one mountain for years, and would continue to for years in the future."

He's not used to talking that much at once. A moment's pause, and he's quieter when he speaks again. "Meanwhile, all I had to do was stay put and keep my hands to myself, and by then you would think I would have learned to do that much."