hugtopia_logs | ♥ September Intro Mingle Log

♥ September Intro Mingle Log

a park scene in autumn with a lake, trees, a bench, leaves on the ground

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.

❥ 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

two fingers together with smiling faces drawn on

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

a vertical slice of several different weather conditions, from sunny to storms

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't think it's a matter of not being willing to..... I mean, I got hugs from some of the locals within minutes of waking up, myself!

I think..... I think they lost something, when they decided to become robots. Something important, but they didn't realize it until it was too late. I'm not sure what, exactly, but it seems like they broke or threw away their connection to the gods.

That's probably why it's so important for all of us to choose one to pledge our allegiance to! Have you thought about who you want as a patron yet?

[Another nod. Compliance was certainly a consideration, being new himself, and he saw no harm in it if the physical contact was all that was required. As the Exarch, as a mystery to most of the Crystarium's citizens, touch did not enter in his day to day interactions with others, as was his wont. It had no place in meetings, no position in gatherings with the other nations or his confidants.]

[Which left him with a bit of a hurdle, easy to overcome, and awkward no less. But he would see to it as he saw to all things under his consideration, with the grace of a leader decades in the making.]

If it is to somehow save this world, I will offer my own physical contact as a relief. But I would like to know more of this world and its lore and legends and history before I commit myself to any particular deity or cause, if I am to do so. I bear no ill will, I simply wish to make informed decisions where possible. I am sure we can agree upon this.

Of course! The priests are really helpful. I'm sure they'd be glad to talk your ears right off about their gods.

[Will laughs at that, spreading his hands.]

I asked around at all the temples before I made my choice--and you can look around the library too, if you want. The history they've is a little sparse, though? It seems like they stopped recording much soon after they became robots.

[Oh, he likes the humor in this man. No wonder the gods of this world chose Will.]

Ah, I should like to keep my ears as they are, but 'tis all on my list of things to accomplish, I assure you. Though that is troubling, that they have stopped taking record of their history and events. Do they seem to remember these times from first hand experience?

[He can't help the scholar in him. His was ever a quest for knowledge, among other things. None could count the number of hours he had spent with his nose in this tome or that, reviewing this paper or another.]

Edited 2019-09-22 01:08 (UTC)

It seems like it? I guess they just didn't think it was important anymore, since they could basically live forever like this.

[The Exarch seems invested in things like this, though, so he doubts that answer is satisfying in the least. Will gestures emphatically now; he may as well offer the Exarch the only solid thing he knows on the subject, right?]

I'll tell you something strange, though--one thing they don't seem to remember is how long they've lived like this. They stopped keeping track of even time. The locals are calling this year one, since they're keeping count again for our sakes.

[Even from his somewhat limited knowledge of machinery by this world's comparisons, he knows enough to realize that all things gradually fail and fall apart and require maintenance. With nothing to answer his steadily growing list of queries, he will settle for a look of surprise - for all Will can see of him, a bit of a slack jaw for only a moment - and then a hum in thought.]

I see. They must have a means to preserve those memories somewhere, one would assume, unless they have created other means by which to do so outside of their own bodies. Curious that they cannot recall how long they have lived in this state.

[He glances up at the sky, a reflex now more than anything after nearly a century of having done so, despite the ever present Light he would see.]

They do not mark the shift in the seasons, or the passing of the sun?

Oh--they do mark those! Sort of. They still celebrate seasonal events, at least, and I've seen signs talking about doing annual maintenance and repairs. But even if a clock can keep time, it doesn't keep how many days or years its gears have turned, does it?

[It's the best analogy he can think of off the top of his head, at least. This place, these people--there's a certain timelessness here, even as the world disintegrates around them. Milestones and holidays may be important, but does it really matter how many times they honor them, as long as they know to do so when they're supposed to? Maybe it's finally starting to matter more again, now that their time is running out....]

You'd probably need to ask them about that kind of memory preservation. Just don't be surprised if it takes some time to earn their trust--I'm sure if it's important or fragile, they might hesitate to allow a stranger to study them.

[He could say the time could be marked by the season, as had been done on the First when day and night were no longer distinct from one another, but this is not his world, and he can only imagine what it must be like for a people who have no real concern for time itself when nearly immortal. The thought is oddly similar to the circumstances of a people he knew little and less about until recently, but he sets it aside for now.]

Perhaps. I am but a stranger here for the moment, though if I am to live here for an extended period of time, I would like to know more about this place, should the information be granted freely.

[To help it, yes. Save it, if possible. And he cannot say no to that.]

Their cooperation would be appreciated, if we are here to help save this world. It may help if we work together on this, but for now it would be best if I got to know the city itself.

Here's hoping they do! It can't hurt to ask. I'd be glad to show you around, either way~

[Will throws his hands out in a sweeping energetic gesture, arms stretching wide to encompass the whole area.]

Where do you want to start?

[Where, indeed? He had a thought to look into the housing district first, so that at least he knows where he can stop by when the day dips to night and he finds something he wants to look into, or a tome or two to start him off on what will likely be hours upon hours upon days of research.]

You are quite kind. If you have no objections, may we tour the residential areas first? I would like to see about finding a room to use if I need, and then I will leave the next stop to your suggestion.

Happy to help! The houses aren't too far, right this way~

[Will beckons for him, leading the way--maybe a bit slowly, because it seems like it might be hard to see, with that hood pulled down so low. Even if it isn't, though, surely the Exarch will want to look around? Havenwell's architecture is rather striking, after all.]

Since we're here to help, the locals are letting us use some unoccupied houses without paying rent, so you can pick wherever you'd like. They're all made to house four at a time, so you may want to find a roommate or two! If you'd rather live alone though, there are still some empty ones.

[He nods graciously and follows the man along, footing sure though it might not seem like he can see much at all through the cowl's shade.]

So very generous of them to set all of this up for us without expectation of payment. [Then again, had he not done the same for the Scions and the Warrior?] After all they ask of us, it seems like so little in the end. To think, something as simple as a lack of touch among her people is what is killing this world. I will have to see what is available and make my choices from there.

It just goes to show that anything can be precious to the right person, doesn't it? It's easy enough for us to touch, but they're dying from a lack of it. What good are some empty houses or money going to do them, if their world withers away to nothing?

[It's definitely a sobering thought, to be sure. Still, he tries not to dwell on it.]

The houses are all basically the same, though. If you look at one, you've seen them all.

[Sobering, and touching close to the heart and recent, other world threatening matters.]

Indeed. But if all truth has been told, to prevent the end of this world is precisely the reason for our summoning. In time, with enough cooperation, the rest of this land outside of the city gates may thrive again and it may not matter at all. I would like to see that.

Me too! They won't let anyone outside to take a look at how it is now, though. Apparently it's too dangerous--we can get unpredictable weather in here sometimes, but outside of the gods' protection, it must get really violent.

[He can't help it - his gaze turns in the direction of where the walls must be, curious despite the threats. He has no intention of trying to push the boundaries right now and press his luck, especially with the Tower nowhere in his perception and his power likely to drain him faster than he needs should he use them, but it helps to know the wheres and have his bearings.]

Perhaps it is. Should we change things, that may yet be reconsidered, but this is as good a place as any to start our search for a solution, if touch is not what is needed. 'Tis a difficult concept for me to grasp, knowing what I do of my own worlds' gods, yet I know this world is not my own. Have you had any success with this theory of contact to rejuvenate the deities of this land?

My world's gods don't seem to need humans at all, either. But I guess the whole..... infestation issue a little while ago might count as something like a success?

[He sounds uncertain of that at best, but it's the best evidence he's got so far.]

About a month after we got here, the temple mice starting running amok all over town and needed to be brought home--they're Ainea's sacred animals. So I guess maybe they got a little excited as she regained some of her strength? I'm not sure why they'd swarm all over the place otherwise.

[Whatever it is, it's beyond his knowledge for the time being, something he will amend later when and where he can in this world.]

What works in one world may not work in another, I have learned. My own knew at least fourteen versions of itself, with all of them being connected. As such, the gods and deities - we call them primals - seemed to work in similar ways across the worlds. But this... [He pauses there, tilting his head back toward the clouds above.] This world is far different than my own. I know not what these gods or primals or what they may be require or what they want of us. The natives would know best, but they keep such little record of events here.

[After a moment, he looks back to Will with a light, almost apologetic sort of smile.]

We shall have to wait and search for our own answers.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

♥ September Intro Mingle Log

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