lifeaftr | Returning Island: Umui

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Returning Island: Umui

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 )

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[He's prepared for this to be something that twists his guts, makes him feel for her in confronting her own morality, but the reason she gives hits him in a place he was wholly unprepared for. Kravitz sighs, the kind of noise a parent makes when a child is grieving and there is no fairy tale to save them, and walks over to pull her into his arms.]

It's alright, it's-- I promised, didn't I?

[He is going to find a way to keep that, even if Kravitz truly doesn't know how. At least she's back on the islands now, making it easier to take her with him if they find a means of escape.]

These dreams may not know that. Telling the future is always some kind of guesswork. It isn't always true.

[In a way, he did arrive. Even if her face is buried in his shirt, she can take some comfort in that.

But it's apparent she's listening for something else. It isn't always true, but this is. Her death is. There's no guesswork in that and she's hoping-

He promised. She knows that and that belief he'll keep his word is enough to give her some solace over the inevitable. More than she's ever had in her life and it's because he reached out like this, over and over and over. Made that promise. Did everything right, it's just-

It would've been nice to see him come out of the stars.]

You did. I didn't forget that kind of thing. It's-

[She wanted to see it. Wanted to know.]

You still came, so I know you'll come through the sky too, even if I don't see it. You're good at finding me.

[He knows the uncertainty is wringing her out, the more the seconds tick on and the dream doesn't relent. There's nothing he can especially do to shape this, even if he tries to imagine another version of himself stepping out of a portal, easily bringing her home. Maybe it's because he doesn't know what it's going to look like to retrieve her. Maybe it's because this plan he's making is technically impossible. None of this has successfully stopped him before and it won't now, but he needs something concrete to give her in the meantime.

Maybe he can make this better in another way, just for now. So Kravitz looks down towards her, strokes her hair, coaxes her to look at him and not a grim future.]

Here, this-- this could be a good learning opportunity. Maybe if you show me around, it'll be easier for me to find you. Make sure I don't get lost.

[He hopes maybe she'll think of it like a game, even if it is one big gamble still.]

[The odd request-

Works.

It's so strange. Kravitz has always been someone who makes sense. He doesn't try to avoid her death or convince her it won't happen. Doesn't try to pretend there's a secret cure out or a way to avoid it.

He says things like this, where he tries to help within his means and it's so genuine that it feels like the truth. Like every spoken word is a promise and-

She looks up at him, stares at his face and turns around to look at her surroundings. It's not the worst place to end and she has an idea of where she had ambled off to, so-

Without leaving his arms, she starts to point behind and-]

The cats and I play over here sometimes. They like this spot because the water tastes good in that big lake.

[The lake being just a large puddle in the middle of, what might have been, a road.]

I don't see them right now, but there's a lot. A whole family lives in the woods.

[Kravitz knows, above all else, that death is always going to happen. While he could possibly do something that releases her soul, helps her escape death, it's not something he's going to do-- it's that kind of danger, that hurt, that creates the people he strikes down. On top of that, it's not the kind of healing Ren needs. She has long accepted her own death, and to convince her of otherwise is not calming for something that is so significant and very, very real. But there are other things he can do- other ways to help. So he will do them. Always, always when he can.

His eyes follow Ren's fingers as she points, turning his body to take in the view, trying to see where she means.]

Oh. A whole family... is there any I should be looking out for in particular?

[He starts walking that way, keeping her in his arms and moving away from the morbid scene they cannot change. This gives her some control; some agency to her own death, and that's the best he can do.]

[Speaking about this familiar part of her life-it's calming. The world around them is fake, even if it's a premonition of a time that will soon come. She didn't look much older and she knows it's because of this place that her limited time was extended to begin with.

Dwelling on it won't help anyone. Not her. Not Kravitz. He's trying to focus her attention into something more constructive and she can appreciate the distraction-it would've been impossible to look away from that scene on her own. He found a way to pull her back.

Even if it's a small moment. Even if it's kind of meaningless, she perks up at his tone and words, eyeing the horizon for her friends in this lonely world and even after all this time-

She can still recall a few and starts to go into detail, talking about the colors of their fur and how dirty they are so it doesn't matter. How they're smart so they blend into the trees, but they'll come out if Kravitz is nice and rolls a toy along the broken concrete. Her voice gradually gets higher, a bit happier, less defeated by the initial scene and-]

There are flowers here too. Have you seen them before? They're very pretty. They're called 'Lotus.'

[He does listen attentively to her instructions, the cats he should be looking for. This is important to Ren, and Kravitz is careful to hold his tongue from mentioning things like how cats eat corpses and her friends may really help him find her if that's the case. But again, he is... not gonna get there. Not right now. For now he's just listening, trying to memorize everything he can to ease his own anxiety about the task he's promised her.]

Are they unique to this world? I'm not sure I've seen them. Can you show me?

[He does actually have an idea, if they're the same as Faerün, the delicate flowers that grow from swamps and out through muck to bloom. It would be very apropos for Ren, he thinks, and kind of hopes they're the same on aesthetic alone.]

Yes, I'll show you! It's very nice-it's my favorite place. I like to sing there.

[This line of questioning is taking her to a far better mental place and she starts to wiggle and squirm out of his grasp. A small smile begins to cross her features as she focuses on the cats that hide in the woods, the flowers that bloom in the murky road water under the moonlight, over the corpse lying only feet away from them.

Once she's free, she takes his hand in her own and starts to pull him down the broken street, through the grimy, murky puddles of water and past the overturned cars and abandoned storefronts.]

You'll like that place too. It's very nice.

[He lets her down as soon as he's sure she's on a patch of solid ground and he isn't dropping her in a mud puddle, faced away from her body and walking away from this place. This is better. He isn't going to make her face her own morality over and over again when she's already accepted this as her ending- anything further would be cruelty for the sake of it. Kravitz would rather follow her out of this space, find anything that might actually help him locate her in the future.

That said, he's still worried about the landscape here, the amount of dirt and destruction that-- has she been living here alone? Is that where she's been? He wants to scowl but not to upset her, so he keeps his expression carefully neutral and concentrates on her as she pulls him ahead.]

If it's your favorite, I'm sure I'll love it. Be careful now, there's... well, you probably know what's on the ground better than I do.

[At this stage he's just worrying about broken glass. He knows Ren has never been one for shoes.]

[The edges of the memory are starting to form fuzzy little lines that dissipate into a seemingly endless void. It's something Ren notes and doesn't comment on. She'll be happy to leave, but first-

She really wants Kravitz to see because she doesn't want to die alone. Doesn't want to be alone and a part of her knows how impossible this task is.

There's plenty of broken glass around and she seems to avoid it just fine or maybe it doesn't bother her at all. There's mold and bugs and not a single sign of human life around, though it's clear people must have lived here once.

And she finally sees it-the huge, nasty dirty patch of water near a crumbling building and rusting street signs and all over-

There are lotus flowers everywhere and she quickly runs into the nasty, algae covered water to point them out.]

See? They're right here-this is my favorite place.

[Part of him figures this is a dream, and seeing as its Ren's dream, keeping her happy means she won't get hurt. On the other hand... he trusts nothing in this weird ass world, so it certainly doesn't hurt to keep an eye out. He watches as she goes, looking out for anything that might resemble flowers or beauty here, and--

Well, that was what he was expecting. Lotuses do bloom from the roughest of swamps, after all. He imagines the end of times might create similar scenarios.

He'd like to stop her from bolting into the water, but by this point Kravitz knows how precisely fruitless that is, so he just lets it happen as he stands on the shore, taking everything in.]

I can see why. The flowers are lovely. But, uhm, Ren... is it just you out here? There are... no other people living around? Just animals and flowers?

[He's afraid he knows the answer, but-- what about Seto? She always seemed so attached to him. Was he gone, too, at the end of it all?]

Everyone's dead.

[There's not an ounce of sadness in her voice. It's just a fact of life in their world-everyone's dead and they're one of the few remaining.

There were some ghosts. The emotions of those who perished manifested into something resembling a ghost and there were stray spirits that retained a bit of their humanity. Rare, and they usually vanished once their final needs were met. She heard as much from Seto in any case. Saw it with her own eyes once.]

It's was me and Seto. And now it's just him.

[Probably really sad and she tries not to dwell on how he's the last one left, as she pushes some of the lotuses with her fingers and wades through the nasty water.]

We were trying to find a 'home' for him before I went away forever. Maybe he's there now.

[But she has her doubts and that's clear in her voice. This world is empty. There's no one waiting for him.]

[It's one thing to be told, and another entirely to see it. The barren land, the quiet streets, thinking he may very well be the last person to step across this ground. It's beautiful, in a poetic sort of way, but the tragedy of it isn't lost on him. Kravitz nods at her, an understanding of grave severity, wondering how this all came to pass but not willing to ask those questions.]

Well, it's... possible. While I couldn't-- I can't displace the living, but...

[He doesn't want to make promises he can't keep, even as he struggles under the weight of this one he already has to fulfill. But something has to go right. It just has to.]

If you believe in him, he will find the solace you dream for him to have. And from the little I saw of him, he was quite capable, so your trust is not misplaced.

[Complimenting Seto is always a sure fire way to put her at ease and she believes his words. If there are any people left-a sentiment she never quite shared with him, Seto would definitely find them and create the family he deserves from whatever's left on this earth. Maybe, if he's lucky, he'll end up on the island. A part of her still believes her never returned back to their world-he's just lost and hasn't found his way back to Enso. She doesn't know if he can swim, afterall. He might have to wait for different islands to come back into view.]

Yes, he'll do it. He can do anything. He'll find people and have a family and live for a very long time-that's what I want to think.

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Returning Island: Umui

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