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

[salutosinedelectat]

[ 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?

[wynand]

[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.

[salutosinedelectat]

[ 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.

[wynand]

[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?

[salutosinedelectat]

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.

[wynand]

[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.]

[salutosinedelectat]

[ 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?

[wynand]

[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.

[salutosinedelectat]

[ 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.

[wynand]

[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.]

[salutosinedelectat]

The world itself is called Life Aftr. This island, Enso. I'm afraid that, wherever you've come from, you're very far from home.

[ He delivers the sentiment rather earnestly. ]

[wynand]

[Home.]

[He has no idea where that is anymore. Mom and Dad...but aside from the vague, sepia recollection of a farmhouse - ]

[Where he was, that wasn't home. Was it? No. The answering insistence from within his skull is equal parts emphatic and afraid, and he flinches slightly at the force of it, reacting to some invisible stimuli until at last he can marshal enough of his thoughts to answer.]

Looks...better. Than where I was.

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Aziraphale does catch that odd reaction, faintly furrowing his brow with some curiosity. But, still, he's nothing if not polite, and it's best to let the poor man get situated (as much as he can), before he starts asking him about his personal life. ]

Does it? [ His expression lightens, but is still rather curious. He surely wouldn't say the same, but maybe his perspective is a bit tainted by the last few months since he's arrived here. ]

[wynand]

[A wary nod. Rapture was hostile from the start - gone straight from plane crash to underwater city populated by sneering, snarling, superpowered genetic splicers. So far, this place seems far from it.]

[It's brighter. The smell of the sea, though - the salt on the wind bites at him. Reminds him of where he was.]

No splicers?

[It's more a question than anything. He just needs to double-check.]

[salutosinedelectat]

[ Well, now Aziraphale just looks confused.]

I don't believe so. Certainly haven't heard about any.

[ A pause.]

What are they, exactly?

[wynand]

[Plasmids changed everything. They destroyed our bodies, our minds. We couldn't handle it. Best friends butchering one another, babies strangled in cribs. The whole city went to hell. He doesn't have the way with words that Atlas does. He doesn't have a way with words at all.]

Dangerous.

[His grip on the wrench tightens.]

Out of their minds.