March Undercurrent: Lost Connections

[lifeaftr_mods]

MARCH UNDERCURRENT

Who: Everyone!
What: We remember those lost, and connect with one another
When: March 3rd to March 19th
Where: Everywhere!
Warnings: Please mark anything as it comes up!

From Stardust to God

Those months since the Water's introduction to you all have been...tumultuous, haven't they? These two gods have more or less been trying to consistently undermine each other, and you all have been caught in the middle of it - whether or not you wanted to be! Kind of a miserable state of being to be stuck in, right?

All that is going to change.

For the duration of this particular month, both the Storyteller and the Water will be operating under a tentative ceasefire as they commit their efforts to one singular, joint goal:

They wish to remember those who have been lost. Those who have left the archipelago, those who have died, those who have come and gone, those who you lost in your homes...and these gods will be, also, commemorating those who they have lost. This commemoration will be facilitated with the use of memorials and offerings to those long past.

The Storyteller will provide you with materials to craft paper lanterns that can be illuminated and sent sailing into the ocean waters. They can be decorated with colorful paper, cut designs, and so forth. The Water will guide the currents to allow the lanterns to drift to...wherever it is they need to go. You can send as many lanterns as you like, and as many nights as you like. The skies will always be clear, and the water will always guide them to the horizon, where they eventually fade from view...

Both the Storyteller and the Water will be available for discussion for the duration of this event.

The Highs We Trade for the Lows

This month isn't only about remembering what's been past. To conjure Ai'tuoh back to the archipelago, it will also entail that all of you do some reflecting on what has been lost in your lives, and sharing in that pain together. This may be a somber month for some of you, or it may be an introspective one.

At any point during this event, your character may wake to discover that one or more thin threads of colorful light appears to be emanating from their chest and trailing through the empty air. These threads cannot be removed or influenced in any fashion; attempting to grab at them will simply cause one's hands to phase uselessly through them, as though they are ethereal constructs of some sort.

The purpose of these strands of light might not immediately be apparent, but if you spend enough time observing your fellow islanders, it might get a bit clearer. Each tether connects you to someone else - someone who has a pain similar to your own. Should you follow your tether to whoever it has linked you to, you may find yourself compelled to comfort or relate to the other party. This compulsion can honestly vary, from a gentle nudge to a sudden impulse and anything in between. There may or may not be a subtle pressure on your thoughts that may help you discern what you might have in common with this other person, whoever they might be. This facet of this event is completely opt-in, naturally, and we encourage you to interpret this however you like. What counts as shared pain? It can be as literal or as figurative as you like. Whether characters underwent the same events in this game or another, or whether there are certain parallels you wish to explore within certain canons or across multiple ones...or if you just want your character to have a nice sit down and talk about their problems for once, the choice is yours. Your character can be connected to as many others as you like - there is no limit to how many characters you can share any related trauma with!

Should you choose to reflect on that which you have endured, and the shared pain of others, what follows is fairly intuitive. The tether binding you together will fade, though hopefully a stronger bond will be forged, and ideally you'll all feel better afterward...but that's not necessarily a given, now, is it?

This is No Place Like Home

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 February'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 Monthly Rundown post!

March Timeline

[ ♆ ] March 1st: "The Return of Your Special Lifting Friend" begins and lasts until March 10th
[ ♆ ] March 3rd: "Lost Connections" begins and lasts until March 19th
[ ♆ ] March 12th: "Spring Forth" begins and lasts until March 21st
[ ♆ ] March 20th: Ai'tuoh returns to the archipelago
[ ♆ ] March 22nd: "The Happy Hang Glider Vacation Society" begins and lasts until March 31st

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[shatteredlenses]

It is indeed.

[Did he regret remembering what happened in Altissia after those first few months of not knowing? Well, he could certainly do without those visions of Noctis' fate, but he can't say it hadn't helped him to know the loss of his vision had come as the result of a choice he made and not because he was held down and helpless in Ardyn's path of destruction.]

Is there nothing good you have remembered? Nothing to hold onto as you work to make up for those regrets?

[story_teller]

It is...I think "bittersweet" is the term I would use. There is good and bad in both things. But looking back, it feels as though it is only the bad that has had lasting repercussions.

[They shake their monkey's head.]

Perhaps things are warped by my perspective.

[shatteredlenses]

I was told very recently that perspective makes a big difference. Of course, changing one's perspective is a very difficult thing, especially when it's a view that has been held for a long time or is close to the heart.

[Ignis pauses a moment, thinking, before continuing.]

Being in this place as been bittersweet, just like your memories are and yet, I would not want to have never come here. There has been a great deal of pain, but so much has been learned and people who never had a chance to change have been allowed to do so. Your friends' sacrifice gave us this chance. Perhaps focusing on the good being here has done us will help? What you all fought for was not in vain.

[story_teller]

[The Storyteller breathes out a sound that lands somewhere between a laugh and a sigh, both rueful and weary.]

I suppose that is the nature of living. One life cannot help but touch others. As much as I may have fought it every step of the way...I would not be the same person had you all not come here and taught me, changed me, as you all have - simply by living.

...

It rather terrifies me.

[shatteredlenses]

Life as a whole is terrifying. Very few can honestly say otherwise.

[Ignis laughs then, self-conscious, since he knows one of the few people who might actually be able to say that.]

Change is proof of life. A static existence cannot go on no matter how much we may wish it to. It certainly doesn't make for a good story and it really has no use, not when everything around it is changing as well.

[story_teller]

So how does one keep the bitter things from dampening the sweet? Or...I suppose the better question would be to ask the difference between dwelling on what one cannot change and attempting to learn from it. Because one must look back to learn how to go forward, but looking back is so terribly dangerous. Is it not?

[Spoken like someone who's been trapped in their own head for undue amounts of time, questioning constantly whether this is where they ought to end up.]

[shatteredlenses]

Extremely so. The past is very much a trap luring some to remain in the happy memories of times gone by and holding others in a cycle of guilt over what should have been.

[His head drops then, mind drifting, as it so often does, back to Altissia and the question of if he could have done something differently. If he should have done something differently. He only allows his mind to linger for so long, though, before dragging it back to the present. Even with the time that has passed, those memories are his very own trap.]

I think the key to moving forward is having a goal, something you wish to accomplish or create. That goal may start, in part, with helping others, or in memory of others, but in the end it must be something you are doing for yourself as well. Otherwise, when things get difficult, it will be too easy for you to be turned away from that goal.

[story_teller]

I suppose those with more ephemeral lives than I would know better than myself.

[The sigh is rueful, though that does not mean it is not sincere.]

Is it too late to endeavor to do so?

[shatteredlenses]

It's never too late as long as you truly wish to move forward and achieve your goal. Human lives may be short, but it is our will and our drive that lets us achieve all that we do in that time. I know you are tired, but I am sure that drive is still inside of you. Otherwise, you wouldn't be asking that question.

[story_teller]

Perhaps you're right. I imagine it must be...obvious, in that respect.

It is not in my nature to abandon a story and leave it unfinished. I am not human. I was never mortal. But I do...seek a better ending.

I am not sure if other gods would consider that a foolish goal.

[shatteredlenses]

What they think isn't really what is important. It's what the goal means to you that matters.

[Ignis gives them a gentle smile.]

Seek a better ending if that is what you want. Most new beginnings come from endings, after all. They're called sequels.

[Oh Astrals, Ignis must you?]

[story_teller]

[...ha. The Storyteller laughs a little, very faintly, at that, though the sound is tinged with more than a little guilt.]

I suppose. Though writing the same story over and over again can get...stale, can't it?

[shatteredlenses]

[Ignis tilts his head, a little confused by the laugh, but in the end letting it go. The Storyteller thinks about things differently than they do. Confusion is just one of the results of that.]

Perhaps, but I'm not certain what you ask is really possible. I am no writer, but from what I have heard from those who are, stories take tend to take on a life of their own and go different directions, sometimes even going in a direction the author never thought possible. One might say that a story is only limited by the imagination of the one who writes it, but it might be more accurate to say the story is only limited by the one who writes it and the characters they are giving life.

[He feels a flash of sadness then, thinking of Prompto and the stories he liked telling with is pictures. They were a different type of story from the kind they are talking about now, but the creative energy is the same. At least, he likes to think so.]

[story_teller]

Imagination, hm?

[That's definitely a tinge of melancholy pulling at them.]

I suppose I always did make a better reciter of tales than I did a composer of them. I am a narrator, perhaps, though I think even that is giving myself too much credit.

[shatteredlenses]

We are our own worst enemies. This is especially true when we are judging ourselves. For what it is worth, I think you are doing your best, even if I questioned that at times.

[Over the years he's learned to be more accepting of mistakes. Astrals know, he's made his own.]

[story_teller]

It's probably for the best that you did. I'm not sure I would have...turned out the same without the interference of others.