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

[thankgods]

You are here by Mu's influence.

Mu interprets will. It does not always do so well.

[salutosinedelectat]

Whose will is it, then?

[ Osoru told him, but, still, he asks. ]

[thankgods]

Yours, in some cases. The Storyteller's, most of all, I should think.

They were...closest to Phantasos prior to their death.

[salutosinedelectat]

Ours?

[ Well, he would know something about his will affecting things, but not quite like this.]

We were told we were brought here by someone else's influence. I hardly think it was by ours. None of us knew this world existed before arriving here.

[thankgods]

Not the process by which you are brought here. But the things that happen here - some of them seem tailor-made to elicit some response from you. Anything that dips into your personal demons, that is the product of Mu adapting things from your psyche.

And, on some level, from your will.

[salutosinedelectat]

Personal demons?

[ Oh, he hates that. But it explains a lot. ]

So, we are influencing this world. But why are we here? Whose will is keeping us here?

[thankgods]

As I said, I suspect that Mu is responsible. Hence the erratic nature of the arrival and dispersal of yourself, and others like you.

[salutosinedelectat]

So I have heard. [ He mutters mostly to himself.]

Is there a way we can... Communicate with it directly?

[thankgods]

Considering that it is the remnant of a long-dead god, I would not hold out hope.

To put it in perspective, I imagine the Storyteller would like nothing more than to communicate with their old friend. But they have not. I doubt it to be possible.

[salutosinedelectat]

Ah.

[ Not that he's satisfied with the answer. ]

...and, yet, it continues to bring people here?

[thankgods]

That it does. It is a memory of someone who loved them. Of course, it would want them to be happy.

[The words are breathed out like a sigh, landing somewhere between melancholia and resignation.]

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Alright, the angel's beginning to feel like they're just going on in circles. ]

Right...

But, well...there has been the possibility of communicating with those of your kind who have passed. Wouldn't that be possible, in some way?

[thankgods]

Has there? Or has it merely been with fragments of those gods?

[The Water seems to believe it to be the latter.]

[salutosinedelectat]

I...I'm afraid I wouldn't know.

[ Shouldn't they know better than him? ]

They have claimed that much, but they still seemed aware enough to hold conversation.

[thankgods]

That is not so surprising. They are the recreations of memories of the gods upon which they are based. They would be rather articulate. They have generations of memories from which to draw their answers.

[salutosinedelectat]

I see...

[ The angel pauses. This conversation is getting farther than he thought it could go, but he's still not really getting any answers. Although he isn't so sure how to ask for those, either. Or what they are.

He looks up at the statue.]

What about them? Are their, er... memories still about?

[thankgods]

Not exactly. This world was, in part, by their design. They perished in the efforts to bring it into being.

To...bring me here, so that this world could thrive.

[salutosinedelectat]

Ah. [ He vaguely wonders if that makes them feel... Anything, really. He's having trouble getting a sense of morality and emotion from these apparent gods.]

So sorry to hear that.

[thankgods]

[Both morality and emotion exist on different frameworks for gods. At least, for these ones.]

It cannot be changed now. All we can do is move forward.

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Aziraphale nods and falls into a short silence, before he remembers a piece of information give to him just earlier. ]

Say, you've been responsible for the appearance of the other islands lately, correct?

[thankgods]

I have, yes. They all exist within and around my waves, and so I simply have to bring them forth.

Why do you ask?

[salutosinedelectat]

May I ask...why? I mean--your choices. Why those islands?

[thankgods]

I've been trying to bring back one in particular. Its name eludes me. But I've thus far been unsuccessful.

The more of them I rouse from the depths, the fewer are in the way of the one I'm after.

[salutosinedelectat]

[ So it's...chance. He isn't really sure how that makes him feel, considering what some of them have brought with them. ]

What's on that particular one?

[thankgods]

Perhaps nothing. Perhaps the memories that contain the means to understanding what keeps us snared here, unending.

I suspect it to be the latter.