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

[kept_his_letters]

He's avoiding her question a little. He's not answering directly whether or not he's happy. It makes her heart ache. But, she guesses, she can understand.

It's still hard some days. Most days.

"Can you tell me about the city? What's it like?" She won't ask about Mamá. Even she couldn't help there.

[vagabone]

"Its a city. A beautiful one, mija. There are building stacked on top of other buildings, bridges and roads up high connecting them, everything's lit up in a million different colors at night... I always thought it makes the whole city look like a pile of toy blocks. Big messy towers, but they never fall down and I imagine they never will. It's the land of the dead, it has to be a little magical." He's rambling. So sue him. Won't it be nice for her to know the other side isn't gloomy or scary, that wonderful things are waiting for her one day?

"And whichever way you look, you'll see skulls in the empty spaces between buildings. Friendly faces. I don't think anyone planned for them to pop up, it just happens that way. Magic."

What else? What had he been taken for granted that she'd be interested in? "There are real alebrijes all over the place too. And I don't need to tell you we're all skeletons there... but it's not so different from being alive. It's never been boring, that's for sure."

[kept_his_letters]

She makes a face at the comment that it's a city. She knows that, Papá. Though, she also hasn't really been to a normal city either.

Her eyes widen as he talks of towers, a smile brightening as he speaks of lights. Little skulls and magic all over.

"Alebrijes? Really? I've seen those! There's a man who just brought some to town!"

[vagabone]

No blaming him for being off his game, he has every reason to be incredibly distracted. Everything he's been starving for, right here in his arms.

"Ah, so you know what I mean. They're all over, and I don't think any two are alike. Your mamá has one... suppose I shouldn't say what she looks like. Other than big. So big she scares me a little."

[kept_his_letters]

"Ay, Papá." She leans a bit into him, in lieu of a bump. "I want to meet her. She sounds cool."

And if she was Mamá's Alebrije, she had to be fine.

"What do you do for fun there? You said it wasn't boring..." She makes a face and mutters. "...like shoes...

[vagabone]

His face feels wet again, which he supposes he'll have to get used to. It's his unlife now, all this happiness spilling out of his eyes. It has to go somewhere or he might explode. She's so real and vivid and alive.

Fun, though. Fun... "Ordinary things, mija. A whole city full of everything the living have. Sports games, movie theaters, shops, whatever." Things that cost money he hasn't had in decades. And he doesn't play music anymore, of course. There's probably no ban now, if he felt like playing for his family, but... it still doesn't appeal to him like it used to. One day, perhaps, he'll get over this mental block. Once his afterlife is no longer on hold, and he's spent more than four days getting to know the younger dead Riveras.

"To be honest, I'm happy enough pestering the neighbors and playing cards all day like the viejo I am. Oh, I did learn how to drive! Though... ah, there's room for improvement." A sheepish little laugh, pressed into her hair.

[kept_his_letters]

Ordinary, she thinks, is not what she'd jump to when she thinks of fun. She gives him a look for it. "Never boring" is time spent with her Tíos out of the shop.

She's about to argue that he's not much of an old man, when he surprises her.

"You have a car?" She asks, blinking. She tries to picture it, her Papá, driving down city streets in a fancy car, perhaps puffing a cigar... no, she can't see it.

hurgl i'm sorry

[vagabone]

He draws in on himself a bit at that look, from her--of all people. He may deserve it for a thousand different reasons... and yet that doesn't make it feel any nicer.

But then he lets out an entirely unnecessary breath, blowing the tension away. "Ha, no, no, they're too expensive for me. I borrowed a friend's van to to learn on." Borrowed, never returned, as usual with him. May she never find out... "It's trickier than people always made it look."

[kept_his_letters]

She's... not sure what happened there. He just... seemed to withdraw.

"Cars are too expensive for anybody," She says, decisively. Mamá would probably say that anywhere they needed to go, they could walk to. She wants to ask about how it went but she's too caught on his reaction before.

"Are you okay, Papá? Did I say something wrong?"

fff I'm sorry, I know it's been ages

[vagabone]

"You're absolutely right, it's awful. It's not enough to pay for the car, you've got to keep filling it up with gas every other day!"

A little more animated, like a flick of a switch, just for a moment. He's fine! He's fine. The real question ought to be what did he say wrong? "No, of course not." An awkward pause. "Did I?"

[kept_his_letters]

"No." What a strange thing to ask. What could he say that would be so bad? The occasional imaginings of a father who never loved her wouldn't bother talking with her now. "You just looked hurt. But I don't know why."

Is he trying to shake her off? She's not sure she likes that either. It's funhouse mirror that's not very funny.

[vagabone]

He's quiet for a moment, arms tightening around her once more. He's a lousy actor at the moment, apparently, it didn't fool her for a second. Bad idea, can't be tried again. "You looked a little disappointed yourself, mija. Was it something I said...?"

If she were four years old, or he knew more about all the years in between, this would be so much simpler... of course, he has only himself to blame for leaving home to travel the world with a monster.