lifeaftr | April Undercurrent: Breaking Barriers

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April Undercurrent: Breaking Barriers

APRIL UNDERCURRENT

Who: Everyone!
What: Normal boundaries are made malleable, for a time
When: April 3rd to April 19th
Where: Everywhere!
Warnings: Please mark anything as it comes up!

Keep Me In Your Clouded Mind

As days pass, and the Water begins to exert their pull, your surroundings will begin to grow hazy, almost dreamlike. Though some might find this sensation to be unpleasant, the feeling will soon pass, and the world will seemingly right itself. Perhaps a fit of vertigo, and nothing more...?

But come the morning of April 3rd, the island's skies and seas will paint themselves anew in faded guises - every colour it's possible for a sky and sea to be, from sunrise to sunset - bleeding into each other like ink in water, until the horizon vanishes. And from that vanishing point, where sky and sea meet, you will begin to see...rafts. Rafts bearing familiar paper lanterns - some crumpled, some stained from their crash into the water, but recognizable all the same.

Remember those lanterns that you made last month? It turns out that they've actually served as beacons. And, as those rafts drift closer, you might find that the lights you set free, forged in your grief and longing, have managed to guide the subjects of that longing to you...at least for a time.

Of course, it's not all people you know. Those on the rafts are just as likely to be strangers, people who have simply drifted in on the tides of dream. Or they may be both familiar and not - the people you knew, who have changed in your absence or theirs.

They might even be you, though not as the island has made you. Perhaps they're the person you once were, or the person you will be. Who knows what the tides may bring?

To distinguish such temporary visitors from those making a more permanent stay, those brought in by these strange waters often look faded or filled with an ethereal light. They may also have a strange translucency to them, though this will not affect their ability for physical contact, interaction, or their solidity.

This month, no special tasks are required of you other than to interact with these new visitors, whether they bring you joy, grief, or the mutual, fleeting bond of a first meeting. The more you accept them as part of your lives - temporary as they are - the more power you produce.

Their stay might be short, but their impact is no lesser, and recognition of that is necessary to pave the way for Elytlan's arrival.

♆ FOURTH WALL EVENT ♆

We'd like to welcome anyone and everyone to LifeAftr's Fourth Wall Event! We'd like to start things off with a few points of clarification, if necessary:

[ ♆ ] This is an IC event. All characters will remember the fourth wall event and any characters that pass through it.

[ ♆ ] You are free to enable and post with absolutely anyone! For this event only, all rules regarding doubles and duplicates are to be considered null and void. Doubles, CRAUs, player-made AUs, original characters, whoever you like who can be brought to interact with the islands is free to do so! Characters who might be re-visiting from their past experiences in LifeAftr can recall as much or as little of their time in game as you like.

[ ♆ ] Please be aware that visiting characters will likely notice that their powers have been slightly or greatly dampened. While they will probably still be capable of smaller or more ordinary things, any game-breaking or world-ending powers will have no effect on these shores. You are free to nerf them even more if you want, though! We certainly won't stop you.

[ ♆ ] Only members of LifeAftr will have posting access, but all characters and players outside of the game are welcome to comment anywhere in this log, unless a player wishes to opt out of the event entirely.

[ ♆ ] This does include posting to the network, over at lifenet! Newly arriving characters will have access to the Stones of Farspeech that enable long-distance communication, but they will not be able to make their own posts - only comment to the posts of others.

[ ♆ ] We ask that any visitors be mindful of our game rules. Most characters will likely be arriving on the island of Ensō or the islets just off of its coast - feel free to read up on those pages for more information, and don't be afraid to ask questions!

[ ♆ ] This event will only last up until April 19th. At that point, all characters who have been brought to the Fourth Wall event and are not currently in game will fade away. Due to the ethereal quality to them while on the islands, the temporary nature of their stay will likely be apparent. That being said, this log will remain open once the event itself is complete - backtagging is both welcome and encouraged.

[ ♆ ] As the game will be entering endgame shortly after this event, we will not be opening Applications after the event unless you are a returning player who would like to be present for endgame.

[ ♆ ] If anyone has any questions about this event, please ask them HERE!

Color in My Sheltered Mind

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 April'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!

April Timeline

[ ♆ ] April 1st: "Make Libations" begins and lasts until April 10th
[ ♆ ] April 3rd: "Breaking Barriers" begins and lasts until April 19th
[ ♆ ] April 12th: "Isn't It Dreamy?" begins and lasts until April 21st
[ ♆ ] April 20th: Elytlan arrives at the archipelago
[ ♆ ] April 22nd: "Got Your Goat" begins and lasts until March 31st

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i. arrival
[Arrival by boat isn't as strange as one might think. It's actually stranger than hauling yourself, shivering, from the remnants of a crashed plane (hijacked plane) and clambering on the steps of a lighthouse made slick with seawater. The tang of salt on the breeze is familiar; the expanse of white sand underfoot is not.]

[Jack Wynand stumbles onto blissfully solid ground and squints up at the sun like someone who's been living in the dark for an age.]

[In some ways, this isn't entirely untrue.]

[He looks a wreck. The man is, simply put, massive, built like a linebacker with a height and breadth to match. The cable-knit sweater he wears is heavy with saltwater and blood. It's torn at several points, and charred at several others. He appears unarmed but for the wrench hanging limp from one hand...and the strange crackle of blueish electricity at the other.]

[For a long while, Jack simply stands on the beach and looks at the sun overhead and breathes in the clear, unrecycled air, and savors the warmth on his skin. He looks like a man who doesn't believe this to be reality. So much of his recent memory has been overtaken by crawling through the apocalyptic art deco hell of the underwater city of Rapture that it feels as though he's done nothing else.]

ii. nuidan
[Eventually, he figures out how the mana pools work. He figures them out because there's a lot of food over on one of the islands, and that's one thing that Jack does get. He's a man who's been shaped by the survival instinct that's enabled him to last for as long as he did in Rapture (wasn't it?), and that survival instinct is simple: when he sees food or drink, he takes it. He takes it and he allows it to fuel his forward progression through the ruined parts of the city. Impulse control has no power over him whatsoever. He sees a bottle of some kind of alcohol and with zero hesitation, Jack reaches out and grabs it and downs its contents in one prolonged swallow.]

[He's an absolute tank of a man. Perhaps it's not a surprise that he'll simply grab whatever he sees on these tables with no concern for reaching some kind of limit. As far as Jack knows, a limit to what he can keep down doesn't exist.]

[He eats like someone who doesn't expect to see food for another week. He eats like someone who's been starving for months. He eats like he's afraid this is his last chance to do so.]

[Some habits are as hard to break as chains.]

[ Elizabeth's had enough of the ocean.

Of course, this is a vast improvement from Rapture. Hell, it might even be preferable to Columbia--scratch that, it's definitely better than Columbia. But Elizabeth finds herself at a loss. After so long of being locked up, chased, and doing things she'd much rather not think about for a very, very long time, having this freedom... it feels overwhelming. Especially considering she'd just won a wrench to the head.

She doesn't expect to see anyone else. Maybe this is some bizarre dying dream, or an entirely too vivid hallucination. Whatever it is, she's expecting to have a bit of time to herself.

But then-- ]

Excuse me!

[ That blue electricity is far too familiar. ]

[Automatically, Jack tenses, going rigid. People only call out to him if they're splicers and he's treaded upon the boundaries of their perceived territory. People only call out to him to attack. He hadn't realized this place - ]

[He reacts on reflex, hand tightening around his wrench and raising it defensively. Electro-Bolt crackles at his side. The one-two punch. The ADAM in his veins isn't the rush he thought it'd be. It hasn't eaten away at his body, hasn't worn away at his mind. Maybe he didn't have enough mind to begin with - ]

[Whoever's calling out to him - that's no splicer. Seems lucid. Even normal.]

[He's not used to this either.]

[Jack stares at her like he's expecting her to make the first move...which he is. People tell him what to do. He follows. That's his...]

[That's what he does.]

[ Ah.

Elizabeth stiffens, her eyes trained on that wrench. It's an unconscious reaction, one she kicks herself for. It's a reminder of just how badly she'd screwed up, as if the pain in her head wasn't enough. But Elizabeth is used to fear, and she takes a few deep breaths before she raises her hands.

They make quite the pair--all beaten and bloody. Elizabeth would laugh if she thought she could, if the situation wasn't so fragile. ]

I'm not going to hurt you. [ Her voice is even, and she looks him in the eye. ] I simply-- That electricity. It's familiar to me. [ A pause. ] Does "Columbia" or "Rapture" ring any bells for you?

[Tight breaths. Steadying breaths. Not a splicer, so - so someone who's going to tell him what to do. What comes next. He doesn't know, never knows what he's doing unless there's a voice on the short-wave telling him, so - ]

[He nods, short and jerky. It's been a long time since someone's asked him a question he's actually had to respond to. It feels as though he's forgotten how. He tries to answer, and the word squeaks in the back of his throat, rusty with disuse. He tries again.]

...Rapture.

[Yes. He knows Rapture.]

[It feels like he knows it better than he should.]

[ She nods. ]

You look like you've been through hell. And considering you're familiar with Rapture, it's not that far off.

[ Elizabeth sighs. Her head's still pounding, but... but she takes him in again. Really looks at him closely... and what she sees nearly floors her. Her eyes widen, and she's caught speechless for a good few moments. Could it--?

It certainly would be a coincidence. ]

Could you tell me-- [ Not demanding. A request, earnest and almost desperate. ] Please. I need to know. What happened while you were there?

[That's more words than anyone ever expects from him. What the hell is he supposed to say to that? What happened while you were there? How does he even begin to explain it? A plane. A crash. A lighthouse. A hijack? Everything starting to come together, forming the pieces of a puzzle he didn't like the look of but couldn't keep from coalescing.]

[He lowers the wrench. The blue light flickering at his hand buzzes out. He's not...he doesn't think he's being threatened here. She's asking questions of him, she's looking at him like he's something she's surprised to see, and he's not sure what that means, but if it means that she's going to tell him what to do, he can't hurt her.]

[(Whatever anyone else asks of him, he'll do it, he'll do it, no hesitation - )]

There was a plane. [The words rasp. Speak up. Louder.] A...crash. A lighthouse. And a city - it was -

[There isn't a word for what was made of that place.]

Hell.

[The blue crackle is, in her mind, a problem. That's blood-stained newcomer looks like he might need a hand or two to guide him towards safety.

But first-]

Your hand has lightning in it.

[Incredible.]

You should get away from the water or you'll get very hurt.

[He looks at her.]

[A small child, seemingly alone. A little girl. Nothing like the Little Sisters with their glowing eyes and their stained smocks, but an unaccompanied child nonetheless. As if on reflex, Jack closes his hand at his side and consciously focuses on the plasmid burning in his veins. The electricity dims.]

[Speaking isn't a reflex of his. But this girl is all alone...]

Are you...alone?

[The words are quiet, rasping a little from disuse.]

Yes, right now.

[The weird sparks are going away and it's impossible to tell if it's a conscious effort or a nice coincidence. He won't get electrocuted, at least, and she's able to tear her eyes off his hand with that worry out of the way.

He doesn't look okay-that's for sure. ]

But there are other people and cats here, so you don't have to scared of this place.

[Cats. He's not sure why that's important. When's the last time he saw a cat? There were plenty of dead ones back in Rapture, but when's the last time he saw a live cat?]

[He's not sure it matters.]

Are you safe?

[The presence of other people doesn't lead him to believe that she is. Those people could be splicers, or worse. They could be a lot of things. Whether or not Jack himself is scared is irrelevant. He's not sure why his feelings would enter the equation here. They never have.]

Yes, I'm very safe right now.

[Though the frightening moments seem to occur on a monthly basis. It's only a matter of time before something happens and this guy is already injured.]

I think we all are, so it's okay. You can be safe too.

[You can consider Jack...skeptical of this. Both that insistence that she's safe and the added assurance that he can be safe too. That doubt is more than a little apparent on his face, and he shakes his head.]

Don't know that.

[ Aziraphale was just out for a walk along the cliffs, just something to pass the time before he returned to the islets, or perhaps invited his partner for a drink at the Denny. These walks tend to be less than entirely relaxing, with the nagging of possible enemies that may jump up at any second, a feeling he really doesn't appreciate, but grew without his input, thanks to being here for a few months.

However, the raft in the horizon got his attention, and he watched it for a while, narrowing his eyes and furrowing his brow, trying to get a sense of what it was. As it grew closer to the shore, and as it became clearer that there was someone on board, he made his way down to the beach.

He's still a good few feet away from the figure when he calls out, just in case. ]

Excuse me! Hello? Are you alright?

[People tend to notice him. It's hard for them not to. He's a hulk of a man, and he tends to stand out. The guy calling out to him doesn't look much like a splicer, but that doesn't mean he's not a threat. The fine clothing reminds him of the tattered shreds of the tailored suits on the ADAM-soaked horrors that crawled through the streets and buildings of Rapture, and he tenses out of reflex.]

[He forgoes waiting for his raft to make landfall, instead splashes into the shallows to tramp forward on foot, ignoring the seawater soaking into his shoes. Most of him is already soaked in saltwater already. The wrench in one hand and the crackle of Electro Bolt in the other leaves Jack secure in the notion that, if this man does prove to be a threat, he'll be well-equipped to handle it.]

[Remember - the one-two punch.]

[He looks the other man in the eyes and nods, once.]

...yeah.

[The word rasps a little. It's been...he doesn't know how long it's been since he's spoken anything aloud.]

[Since anyone's expected him to.]

[ Aziraphale stops a several feet from the water, bringing his hand up over his eyes to shield them from the sunlight.

He watches the man get off of the raft, but it's when he spots both the wrench and the electricity surging though his hand that Aziraphale considers that he should, perhaps, be careful.]

You've just arrived? [ Well, obviously. But he should still check.] Are you hurt?

[A slow nod. As for the other question...well, it doesn't matter very much if he is hurt. Bullets, bludgeoning, shocks to his system, being set on fire - he can shrug it off. He's walked through worse. It doesn't occur to him why this is, why he can handle the high-pressure underwater city and the multiple tremendous stressors it provides. All he knows is that he can, and now that someone's called attention to it, he glances down at himself to track whether or not he is hurt.]

[He certainly looks worse for wear. Bloodstained. Soaked to the bone. But nothing about him hurts in any particular danger way.]

Don't think so.

[ Oh, that's blood. And, well, now that Aziraphale is taking a moment to look over the state of the man, it truly does look like he's been through more than rough waters. ]

Are you sure? Er. [ Best not to pry, probably. ] Well, there are others, up-- up there. [ He gestures towards the cliffs behind him. ]

To help you get your bearings.

Edited 2020-05-02 21:42 (UTC)

[Other people? Splicers. No, no - this guy clearly isn't a splicer. There's no fighting the tensing in his shoulders, the hitch in his breath like static, the tightening of his heart in the massive barrel of chest. When was the last time he was in a crowd of people?]

[The plane - the plane that crashed - ]

[ - or was it hijacked?]

[Doesn't matter.]

Others?

Yes. [ Aziraphale misses all the signs of tension the man shows, or, in the very least, simply takes them as someone who's just found themselves in this place. It's not a great situation to be in; he would know.]

Others also in these islands. Much like you, or me, who've found ourselves here.

It's--I understand it is all very confusion right now, but let's get you somewhere a little less, huh, damp.

[A little less damp. This is already significantly less damp than he remembers. Jack glances down at himself, dubiously, then back at the stranger in front of him, as if he can't imagine a world being less damp than this.]

[Again, he seems...far removed from the behavior that Jack's come to associate with splicers, or the other denizens of Rapture.]

All right.

[It's an order, or something close enough to it.]

[He follows orders. It's what comes easiest.]

[ Aziraphale knows a thing or two about following orders. Indoctrination. Bending the rules, too.

But he doesn't know Jack's story, and Jack doesn't know his. Right now, all he sees is another stranded person, much like him, unfortunate enough to end up here. And he's sure a dry place and a warm - or strong - drink would probably be nice.]

Oh, where are my manner? My apologies - Aziraphale, at your service. And you are?

[It doesn't occur to him that his name is being asked of him for a minute. He stares, momentarily uncomprehending, before it registers that this is what life is like, outside of Rapture. People ask for names and other people give them. People have a give and take of conversation. People don't rap out orders over a shortwave radio and expect that to be enough.]

[It feels like he hasn't felt that in a while. Actual conversation.]

Jack. [The word grates. He has to clear his throat to speak a little clearer.] I'm Jack.

[ Aziraphale finds the lingering silence a bit curious. The poor man must be in shock, as is entirely understandable in the current conditions. And he's clearly been through some rough times. ]

Jack. Pleasure to meet you.

I do suppose it would have been better in different conditions, but, alas.

[That's not new. Nice to meet you. Would have loved for it to have happened under different circumstances. Still, these ones are already better than the ones he's more accustomed to.]

What is this place? [He'll start with the easy questions. Clearly it's not Rapture.]

April Undercurrent: Breaking Barriers

♆ FOURTH WALL EVENT ♆

jack wynand | bioshock | ota

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