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

[vagabone]

[He's not looking at the memory, trying not to let it distract him...]

I don't really care, because I don't think you're some awful, unredeemable person. Even if you don't believe me. You do need to relax a bit and stop thinking everyone who's being nice is out to get you, for sure.

[reflash]

[He has a temper, white-hot and snarling under all the walls he's built up to keep it from exploding. Those walls hold, mostly, because he's spent a lifetime being the good one, the well-behaved one, the one who doesn't rage and flip over tables and send classmates to the hospital.

His voice is level, just barely too sharp, not offensive just an indicator that he might be a little angered by something that was said. His hands stay at his sides, not curled into fists. The tension in his posture goes from curled in to ramrod straight as Héctor speaks.

He's good at this, good at control. He has to be.

The tail, as usual, gives him away more than he would like. It goes stiff, curled to the side and low, ready to strike out and take Héctor out at the knees. That's the only sign he's more than just a little annoyed, the only thing that hints at any real danger here. ]

I understand that you are concerned about me. But I have asked you, repeatedly, to leave me alone.

[vagabone]

[It helps that he's not really afraid of being stabbed or sliced--he doesn't have skin or organs, it won't hurt! Much. Besides, he's untouchable at the moment.]

...So you can starve to death and stay lost in bad memories?

[reflash]

I have asked you to leave me alone. [He says, like that's going to help it sink in.]

I don't know you well enough to tell you the answers to your questions. [He's being blunt, he's being rude. He doesn't have any other option.]

And insisting on interrogating me isn't being nice.

[vagabone]

[Rudeness! And the world doesn't come to an end--the skeleman doesn't seem to care. See? It's alright to be terrible, rude, and blunt. He just shakes his head, vaguely gesturing.]

Not an interrogation, the answers don't even matter. I'm trying to convince you standing around watching is... not healthy. It's not going to magically make you a perfect person, right?

[reflash]

[He tried being polite, he tried being direct. Nothing works. He doesn't have anything left, he can't get this man to just back off and leave him alone.

And then...

the answers don't matter.]

In that case, you're just being deliberately cruel. [He says, before he thinks better of it, before he bites back those words. But Héctor is being cruel, he's dogging Yukio's steps and refusing to listen when Yukio asks for space, he's insisting on answers to questions he doesn't really want the answers to, answers that are just going to hurt Yukio when he tries to give them.]

[vagabone]

[He leans back on his heels, looking like he's been slapped in the face... in the only way that he'd actually feel.

No argument. No defense. It's probably true, whether he meant to be or not--it amounts to the same thing either way. What a wonderful and familiar taste of shame.]

... Okay. Okay, I can give you that. [He sounds flat, tired, not quite like his usual lilting tone.] You want to stay, alright. Stay.

[And he'll just... see himself out.]

[reflash]

[Shit. He screwed that one up, he shouldn't have said that, he should have done something else, there must have been another option, but instead he just...

he screwed this up. Héctor leaves, brushes out of the dream and walks away.

And then it starts over, and Yukio really doesn't want to be here anymore..]