April Undercurrent: Breaking Barriers

[lifeaftr_mods]

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 )

Comments

Leonard Church | yeah another one | airlocked! crau

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

((yes I'm using my route/victory road journal for this, so sue me, I've used his main journal for damn near everything let's not deliberately confuse people))

Again? Fucking AGAIN?!

[The voice is probably very familiar to some people! But if they want to follow Church's voice, the body is less familiar. That's A Human Person! A human person with skin and hair and eyes and other details, who is also not very happy.]

You want me to go to the beach, I got beaches I can go to wherever the hell I want, thanks! What is it this time? [Who is he...talking to...] Is it a game? Is it Survivor? Is this an all-expenses paid trip I won and nobody told me? I'm not voting anyone off the island, okay? Not unless you give us another evil fuck possessing a roomba.

[He'll yell at whoever he wants. At some point, he'll notice his glowy, translucent skin. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa he doesn't like that.]

Okay. Okay okay okay okay okay, okay. So. So we're saying this place isn't real. I am definitely not really here. We know this? We know this, right, we're all in agreement that I'm not really present in this world, and all the other glowy fucks? So this is just, uh, i-it's just, maybe another simulation, o-or a VR thing, right, we're communicating with another place.

[He rubs at his arm, at the inside, over a tattoo which seems to be fancily scrawled Latin writing. Or Lucian, if you prefer.

You know he gonna end up at a Denny at some point, too. Because he still feels hunger? And physically interacts with this world?]

Listen, I'm not expecting a five-star meal. I just thought there'd be a little more choice. Burgers, maybe? Burgers with the works? Some fries on the side? I'm a very simple man.

[Or catch him in other places!]

[burninglight]

That's...not optimal, no.

[Said the highly confused man next to him, equally as glowy.]

But whatever's going on, I'm certainly in the middle of experiencing it as well. So it's certainly not only you.

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

Right! Right. Exactly. You can't also be suddenly an AI. All these poor fucks aren't AI! So. It's fine!

[burninglight]

'Fine' is a strong word, but I think 'real' is a definite confirmed truth at the moment. It's highly unlikely we're seeing any manner of virtual reality or artificial intelligence again.

[He folded his arms, frowning.]

...Cross-universe surprise of some kind? I haven't done anything with that technology lately, so I can't have broken it.

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

...Right. Real. Hold on--

[...Church, what are you--Church are you just not breathing? You big stupid fucking idiot. He gets to a point where he turns red in the face and gasps, panting.]

Okay! Still definitely need to breathe!

[burninglight]

Wh--Leonard, what the hell, of course you do!

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

I had to check, okay!

[Let him deal with his Issues in his own stupid ways, do you want a ladder so you can get off his back!]

We don't know the boundaries or limits of this world, okay.

[burninglight]

[Sighing, Ardyn ran a hand through his hair. Sure, right, as long as that was what he found reassuring and didn't pass out.]

Fine, fine. You're right, sorry.

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

...Right. [One of his hands reaches for Ardyn's. They've got each other, and that's enough.]

Everything here's looking pretty weird, though. Wonder if there's an apocalypse for us to stop.

wherever

[scourgingstars]

You're loud.

[...hang on something's very different about where that voice was coming from. the question was, did he care enough to question why the yellboy was decidedly less a robot?]

[...eh.]

I'm aware we're on some miserable island in the center of some liminal space, but must you speak so obnoxiously?

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

No shit, Ardy, since when--oh.

Ardyn. [Flatter. Plainer. Ardyn of a kind he hasn't seen in a while.] Yeah. Hi. I'm loud and obnoxious. You get used to it.

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn raised an eyebrow from beneath his hat, in a look recognizable as that old detached confusion--the same as a coeurl trying to figure out if a chocobo was worth going after.]

This hadn't escaped my notice, in fact.

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

Yeah, by any chance, and I know this'll sound insane, but have you seen yourself around lately? Saner, better dressed, looks less like he's a walking apocalypse?

[scourgingstars]

How hurtful. I like to consider myself at least fairly presentable.

[ardyn...]

I've not seen anyone of the sort, I'm afraid.

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

Shit. That's a shame.

So uh. So how's...life stuck somewhere with raging insanity and people trying to be all nice to you?

[scourgingstars]

'Raging' insanity, really. I haven't killed a single person purposely since I got here. Which was either...one, or maybe three years ago. I'm not fully sure, truly.

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

Time, it gets wonky, I know. I mean, it's beyond normal insanity, hence 'raging', but fine, not mad angry insanity, just 'demons in my head' insanity then. They could make a horror movie outta you. Actually, I might've seen a trailer for one once...

denny hours only in these inboxes tonite

[schoollifecub]

[ The instant Church comes walking into Denny, the random blonde kid tucked away at one of the tables looks up from her almost-completed house of cards (she's putting on the roof as we speak) and the instant she claps eyes on Church, she lets out what I can only describe as an indignant squawk and jolts up to her feet.

(She jolts the table on the way up, and cards go everywhere. RIP to your hours of work, Wakasa the Smaller). ]

Oh my god, where the heck have you been?! [ That is......... not how you would expect a polite-looking Japanese kid to address a stranger. ] I've been here for hours! I thought I was dead!

[ she's still on that, huh ]

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

I've! Just been! [HELLO this is loud and aimed at him and he's not entirely sure how to respond!] I'm pretty sure we're not dead, but honestly, I'm not the best person to ask!

Why are we yelling!

[schoollifecub]

Because! [ She gestures very animatedly, with both hands, at nothing in particular. ] Why wouldn't we be! This is messed up and I'm wigged out!

[ Her volume is not dropping even slightly. Sorry to anyone else at Denny. ]

When'd you get here?! I was looking around on the beach for forever, waiting for someone to show up!

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

I, uh. When everyone else did? Being rafty boys? And girls? Why were you...were you like, looking for me?

[schoollifecub]

Uh... yeah?

[ The confusion seems to be enough to dial down the volume on her Yell a bit. ]

Um, you and everyone else, obviously? I figured if I was here then Nee-san would be too, at least. And if Nee-san was here, then everyone else would be too?

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

[So the nice thing about being full of translation nanites is he can understand everyone. The less nice thing is people that don't have them can't in return. It's been a bit of a crash course in Japanese. But he at least doesn't think 'nee-san' is Nissan or anything.

Who does he know that knows him that looks anything like that who has a sister. Give him a minute.]

Rurubean?

[schoollifecub]

[ Her expression immediately brightens, but her brows are still furrowed a bit, in obvious confusion. ]

Uh, yeah, duh! Who the heck else would I be?

[motherfucking_ghosttype]

Uhhhhh some rando? You uh. You're taller. By like a lot?

Ohhhhhh my god, really, more temporal shenanigans? As if life wasn't already so god damn weird enough! And I can say this shit because I haven't seen Yuyu around, so she can't make me fear the cold embrace of death for cursing in front of you!

Choice.