♥ September Intro Mingle Log

[hugtopiamods]

September Intro Mingle Log
Welcome to Hugtopia, and to the city of Havenwell. This mingle is meant for new arrivals to get settled and meet the other inhabitants. New characters should be the only top-levels but everyone should feel free to tag around and make new friends. Who knows, you may find that Perfect Hug in here. You can use the prompts here, or create a wildcard of your own.

ICly, this takes place from the 2nd to the 16th and then we'll have a shiny new event post up for you all soon after that date range. The prompts below are optional, but are a way to get you started if you wish. To help you create your own prompts, please take a look through our Settings and FAQ. Click on each prompt's title to see the text. If you have any questions, feel free to direct them to the FAQ or to the Mod Question thread below.

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❥ PROMPT I: Awakening

When you awaken, you're in the last outfit you remember wearing, three of your belongings laid nearby or your animal friend curled up by you, waking as you do. It's not the most comfortable place to sleep, a stone slab, but once you're awake, a humanoid-looking robot comes in and explains you're in Havenwell and leads you out of the room and into the main portion of the temple where a welcoming committee of similarly humanoid-looking robots hand over a clear smartphone-sized tablet, some starting funds, and explain their dilemma. Then they release you into Havenwell to pick your new home from free housing in the city and give you the chance to settle. It might be a bit disorienting, but thankfully there seem to be a lot of robots and even some non-robots around. Maybe ask them for help?

❥ PROMPT II: Buddy System

With all the changes going on, it might be hard to be a new arrival to Havenwell. The natives understand! Sort of. When some new arrivals begin to appear at the temples, receive the welcome speech, get their communicators and the simple map of the city, they get taken to the front of the temple by a helpful robotic priest. Rather than turn the newcomers loose right away, they pull someone seemingly at random off the street and push the two people together with a cheerful, "Here's your guide to Havenwell! It's dangerous to go alone, so be buddies!" before going back inside.

They try to place a new arrival with one of those who previously arrived, but who can keep track of all that, right? Characters may find themselves thrown together with an actual veteran or with another new arrival who only came here a day or even just an hour before them! Good luck helping each other out, offworlders, and don't lose your buddy!

❥ PROMPT III: Weather Wildcard

Havenwell's weather is generally so well controlled, with beautiful blue skies and temperate climes that it's hard to remember that there's a whole world out there that might not be so nice. Every so often, however, the controls break and something not so nice and temperate comes through. Pockets of unpleasant weather happens all over the city at random intervals and new arrivals might find themselves and others caught without warning. Is that a snowstorm with green snow? Sure is. A windstorm that only seems to affect three streets? Yup. Did a deluge of rain just pour the equivalent of an Olympic sized swimming pool of water on you? Uh-huh, sure did. A deep cold fog that suddenly rolls in and blankets your entire area? Yeeaaah... hopefully there's someone around to help you get about and find shelter or just dry off and get away from it all. Good luck, offworlder.

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Comments

[carbungle]

[Stick around long enough and she'll find them. Noct requires an orbit of friends around him to keep him out of trouble.

She does net a little laugh out of him for that one.]

Gladio brought so many books. I don't know how he got his muscles so big between all the novels he got through.

[Well, okay, he does know. He trained with the meathead for most of his life. ...Still.]

[pinkmin]

[Oh, a laugh. She won. There wasn't any smiling going on here, but her expression still softened with this pleasing result. Very good.]

Novels can be very heavy. [A pause.] ... Not just because I am small. I can carry a lot of books.

[carbungle]

[Yeah, you claim that victory, kiddo. It's not easy to do. He mostly laughs at some nerdy stuff, or when he gives his friends heart attacks stunt-diving his car off a cliff.]

Oh yeah? How many?

maths.gif

[pinkmin]

[She sat up a little straighter, as if that would do anything to make her seem any taller. (It didn't.)]

Ten encyclopedias. The stack starts to lean too much to walk with after that and that's not safe.

[Since, you know, small. But if it wasn't going to fall over all over the place, she could have handled twice that at once.]

[carbungle]

Whoa, that's a handful.

[He lifts a hand to hover it in the air- not over her head, he knows better than to get that close- above her seated height, mimicking a measurement of a stack of books.]

You're stronger than you look.

[pinkmin]

[It was probably bad to feel flattered by a compliment. It never led to anything good, she knew that. But... she still kind of wanted to feel nice about it, even if it was just once or twice. ]

It was just me in the library for a while, so it was up to me to get everything done. You have to move a lot of books.

[carbungle]

[And any hesitation she shows will just sail right over his head. He's not used to giving compliments, either, so it's for the best really.]

I can't remember the last time I went to a library... probably more than a year, now.

[pinkmin]

[Together they're... useless.]

That's not unusual. [Shivering a little, she scooted a teensy bit closer to the fire.] There were a few patrons I would see all year round, but many more only came once or twice if they came at all.

[carbungle]

[Gold star for them.

He does notice her shivering, though, and adds a bit more flames to the fire, intensifying the heat in their pocket shelter just a little. Hopefully enough to stave off some of the chill. It's controlled, though, as he doesn't want to risk setting anything around them (or her) on fire.]

I guess it's like that no matter where you go. Some people just don't like reading.

[pinkmin]

[Her mouth made a tiny 'o' of surprise as the flames flickered larger. Not realizing that Noctis had simply noticed her own shivering, Vianca took this to mean that he was also a bit chilled. Which, probably! He wasn't dry yet either.

Seeing as the only thing she had was herself, Vianca continued with her scooting. This time it was in his direction, to sit closer to him for his own benefit.]

Yes. That's not a bad thing though. Nothing would get written if everyone stayed inside reading.

[carbungle]

[He makes no move to touch her - he doesn't want to scare her off again - but he doesn't shift away, either, letting her do as she pleases. The close proximity is probably good for both of them.]

And even the writers need people to make stories happen, right? Otherwise I'd probably be out of a job.

[...Is... is destiny a job? It has to be sort of like a job.]

[pinkmin]

[With no objections from him, the covert scooting only ceased once she had very gingerly bumped against his side. Touch itself didn't seem to be an issue for her at least, though the intricacies of that would be lost without her saying anything. It was just her hair, and that purple flower sitting pretty on the back of her head.]

Uh-huh. There aren't any adventures without adventurers. We wouldn't have any discoveries either.

That's a lot of job security.

[carbungle]

[He carefully moves his arm behind himself, to hold himself up and keep it out of her way. He doesn't really get it - what's okay and what isn't, that is - but he's not going to do anything that might distress her. If she's good with this, then he is, too. Though he might have to move after a while, if the bracer gets too stiff. That's his bad arm after all.]

Lucky me... [Okay, maybe he shouldn't be a sarcastic ass with a kid.] ...Guess I shouldn't complain, though. I'm not really suited to do much else these days.

[pinkmin]

[Noctis you better say something if your arm acts up. Noctis please. His sarcasm just got him a little look, but it softened with curiosity in just a moment. She already got the idea that he had, uh, kind of a lot going on, but...]

Why would you say that?

[carbungle]

[He makes no promises. ...But also he has a tendency to whine about inconveniences, so.]

What? Oh, just. [He scuffs his free hand through his hair awkwardly, not really expecting to be called out on that.] I'm... kind of on a mission from the Astrals, back home. But it mostly involves fighting, so there isn't much room for anything else lately. It's not what I expected, growing up.

[pinkmin]

[Whines of convenience.]

Oh. So they wanted to see if you were worthy... And that's why you were on such a long trip?

[carbungle]

Uh.

[Now he looks kind of... embarrassed.]

Not exactly. When we started out, it's because I was supposed to get married...

[pinkmin]

[That's a big deal!!]

... A bachelor's roadtrip...

[Vianca no]

[carbungle]

[.....]

Kinda? Yeah.

[Vianca yes, apparently.]

[pinkmin]

[Vianca yes!]

So it got interrupted. That’s rude.

[carbungle]

[Okay, he has to smile at least a little at that, despite... well, everything.]

Yeah, but would you want to say that to a god?

[Even if technically it was the empire who did it, not the Astrals... but he's not about to delve into war crimes and city destruction with a kid who has her own problems. He's not an animal. A divine and heroic mission is a much better topic of conversation than that kind of hellscape.]

[pinkmin]

Yes.

[Her perception of gods and how to act around them was kind of a mess. They'd all insisted on being treated like everybody else! And they were rude sometimes! But they had also chose to come and live amongst mortals for a while, so Vianca could recognize that maybe a god in their usual godly realm was... different.]

... Politely. Being a god isn't an excuse.

[It's also a lot easier to think that maybe this whole scenario they're sitting in could be a break or something without that devastation backdrop.]

[carbungle]

You're braver than me, then. I still have to negotiate with them, so I need to stay on their good side.

[Dumb demanding Astrals. Except Ramuh. He was cool. ...Well, okay, so maybe he's got a 50-50 record so far, having only met two of them. But still!]

[pinkmin]

I suppose that is important for receiving their blessings. I can tell them to mind their manners.

[carbungle]

Well, if they ever come looking for me here, then I'll be sure to introduce you to them.

[Not that he thinks that'll happen, but it would be a sight to behold for sure. Tiny little thing like this trying to scold a giant...]