lifeaftr | March Undercurrent: Lost Connections

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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Goodness, imprisonment with other people, aren't we special.

[Ardyn pulled off his fingerless gloves as he spoke; they vanished in a quick flicker of red light shaped like crystal shards, Ardyn holding up both hands to reveal scars lancing straight through his palms where metal stakes had once been.]

It's as Ignis says, in fact. Brother dear went on to be a beloved and venerated founder of a line spanning some hundred and fourteen generations, and it's quite like everyone forgot he went about setting people on fire. As for me, he struck my name from all record and replaced it with a myth of the terrible, unknowable monster Adagium.

[The falsely amused tone dropped for an instant at the last word, spoken in much the way a snake would spit poison.]

As it stands, the only one who hates the blood of House Caelum quite so much as you describe is standing right in front of you.

Edited 2020-03-26 02:09 (UTC)

[Jules' eyes flash in anger as he would have given almost anything to be imprisoned alone. He'd tried, multiple times, to commit crimes on other planets so he could be imprisoned alone there instead of being shipped back to Andaria. Unfortunately every attempt only led to his return to the vorgate.]

Yes, other andryokin. The most hardened criminals on the entire planet who despised my grandmother and the entire eton Anatole bloodline with every last fiber of their being. A pack of vicious, murderous adults thrown in with a scared and defenseless child of the same bloodline they hated more than any other. They couldn't get revenge on my grandmother, but what do you think they did to another of the eton Anatole blood? One they had full access to and knew they wouldn't even be punished for harming?

[Jules lets the two of them figure out the answer to that question themselves. He has his own scars, both internal and external. While he's willing to talk about the drugging and assassination attempts made by his own family members, he doesn't like even thinking about his time in the vorgate.]

The only one who hates the former Tadara more than the entire population of Andaria is standing right in front of you. Funny though, the entire population of Andaria thinks I love her, and the only one of eton Anatole blood they hate more than her is me. They were all beyond thrilled when my grandmother secretly put out a thrill kill contract for me and then totally behind my dear mother for striking me from everything as well and allowing the contract to have me tortured and brutalized before being murdered in the most painful way available stand. I would have taken being given the myth of a monster instead. It's what I always referred to myself as anyway. Dagger.

Edited 2020-03-26 15:10 (UTC)

[Ignis, for once, doesn't know what to say. Of course, he knew Ardyn's side of things and bits and pieces of Jules'--in particular he remembers Jules mentioning the thrill kill contract before--but the imprisonment? In those kinds of conditions and to one so young? How can someone hate another so much just for merely existing? For all Ardyn did, Ignis never hated him that much. He can't imagine hating someone that much.

Astrals, how did he ever manage to win Jules' trust? After all of that his wariness makes heartbreaking sense.

Feel free to continue, gentlemen. Your mediator needs a few minutes to digest all that before his head explodes. He's not as used to hearing of such horrible things as you are.]

Oh, I like this one, little flame.

[Ardyn, meanwhile, was just short of delighted. It wasn't often he met someone as openly pissed off about existence as he was. Chuckling under his breath, the gloves reappeared in the same crystal flicker and were pulled back on as casually as anything.]

He's fun.

[It's lucky for Ignis that Jules is too pissed and too focused on Ardyn to catch anything that might be going on in his head. Instead his lovely Trisani mind reading flashes Ardyn's thoughts through his mind.]

Pissed at existence, sure, but generally speaking more pissed off at other beings. If my pissed off at existence had been higher than my joy of pissing off others I'd be dead now. Deciding it would piss everyone off who was trying to kill me was all that kept me alive most days.

This may have been a grave miscalculation.

[When Ignis finally gets his mind around him enough to speak, it's with fond resignation. This is just his life now, isn't it? Well, if he is going to be bringing down gods and changing the whole fate of a world, these two would certainly know how to go about it.]

You two will be the death of me. How are the strings? Dead yet or will they need you to do detailed kill counts as well?

[At least that little joke sounds more like him.]

Wait, did he just--

[Ardyn looked from Jules to Ignis and back again for all the good it wouldn't do.]

...I'd advise you to stay out of my head, you might find something you don't like. Or several somethings, as I've killed and sublimated enough people for a veritable legion of memories to be rattling about in there. Quite maddening at times, really.

Ya, think?

[He was about to make some comment about the strings when Arydn mentioned his memories and he got sidetracked. Jules grit his teeth but managed not to sound too snappish when he replied. Well, sort of.]

You think I want to be in your head? I've got enough of a mess from killing my own legions rolling around in my brain to want to add anyone else's pain. It's one of the downsides of Trisani gifts. You can't control the mindreading. It just happens.

[It was also why those with the ability tended to self-isolate. You couldn't read anyone's mind when nobody was there.]

Easy, easy.

[Ignis holds his hands up in a calming manner for what little good it will do. Neither of them mean harm, but they are both also on edge.]

As I recall, you also mentioned you've not had the chance to train with the abilities nearly as long as most do either, so even if you could control it, it would be harder. I trust that was what lead you to our door, though? You mentioned a vision earlier.

[Luckily enough, Ignis was probably the only person alive that could get Ardyn to stand down...in whatever small measure he did, hands on his hips and a tense sort of smirk on his face. The last thing he needed was anyone else in his head, but it was what it was.]

Oh, I know all about power beyond control. It's never a fun time of things.

If Trajen can't control the mind reading, no amount of practice or time will let me do it. Tray is the strongest Trisani in the history of the race from what I know of.

Yeah, short triggering of some foresight. I told you everything I saw already though. It didn't go into much detail, which is a pain.

It's strange such a power would not develop controls merely as a method of self-preservation for the one bearing them.

[But that is something to be pondered another time. There is still that string to deal with and it appears that the small glimpse that Jules got isn't going to be anymore helpful than it already has been.]

I can't imagine what else it may want you to share after sharing your histories. Your favorite color perhaps?

March Undercurrent: Lost Connections

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