♥ 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

[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...]

[pinkmin]

Yes. If they came here that would be extra rude. It's your break.

[Nevermind the fact that getting plucked up and placed here was probably also rude on Aellyn's gods' parts. They were operating under a free pass in Vianca's eyes, since her last encounter with a giant had been. Well. That. If only she had gotten the chance to scold it.]

[carbungle]

Break, huh... not the most responsible thing for the so-called "Chosen" to be doing.

[He can't do anything about it, admittedly, but it's weird to go day to day without getting urged, coaxed, or nagged into the next duty awaiting him. No voices in his head, no buzzing phone alarm at his ear as the sun rises, no long, sleepy car rides... it's so surreal. He doesn't hate it, but he's not positive whether or not he should be enjoying it, either.]

[pinkmin]

[Are you Ready for This: she poked him.]

It is not responsible to burn out, either.

[carbungle]

[Gah! He was most assuredly Not Ready.]

Wh- I know that! I'm just saying... we were getting really close to our next goal. The timing's bad.

[pinkmin]

[Well she'd have to take his word for it.]

Ah... that's frustrating.

[carbungle]

Yeah.

[What else is there to say about it? He sighs, shifting his position a bit to avoid getting stiff, his side bumping up against hers.]

Whatever... I'll figure something out eventually. Maybe the gods here form pacts with people, too.

[Which isn't ideal either, but if that ends up an option, well. It'd be worth considering at least.]

[pinkmin]

[She shifted along with him easily, as if she was actually just a doll that happened to be leaning against him. There was a little bit of a look on her part, trying to assess if she should move, but then it became just another curious cock of her head.]

What does forming a pact actually do?

[carbungle]

[Noctis clenches and unclenches a fist in the bracer-hand, subconsciously feeling for the pulse of the marks that Titan and Ramuh left on him after their trials. It feels different here, subdued by distance, and he doubts he could draw on their power if he tried. But it seems that sort of connection is impossible to completely sever.]

I didn't really know at first- I just knew I had to do it. I figured I'd find out whenever the time came? As lame as that sounds. ...They help out in battle sometimes, though, if things get really dangerous. Their way of telling me that I'm not allowed to die, maybe.

[pinkmin]

[That sounded... really vague, and that didn't inspire a lot of confidence about his situation. If it hurt a lot to call on those powers, but he wasn't sure what the pact was really doing... Vianca gently gripped the hem of her skirt, a fraction of a frown on her face.]

I don't know what else you need to do, but... please be careful.

[carbungle]

[He notices the tone, glancing down to see her expression. There's a moment's quiet as he considers how to respond, then he very gently nudges at her side with an elbow.]

Hey, relax, I've got this. A bit of danger can't stop adventurers when they're on an important mission, right?

[He's been told enough stories about heroes of the past while growing up to know that giving up isn't the way to get a happy ending. Plus, even if he wanted to quit, there's plenty of people to remind him of his responsibilities anyway.]

[pinkmin]

[That caught her by surprise, making her blink up at him.]

That's... true. You should still be careful though. I'd rather hear about your adventures from you directly.

[carbungle]

Yeah, yeah. [He waves aside her concern.] It doesn't really matter here, anyway. The gods are different- I can't feel them or talk to them the way I could back home. No voices in my head telling me to get moving to the next covenant. It's... like you said, a break.

[pinkmin]

[There it goes, all her concern. Deflected. That just made her committed to keeping an eye on him, because what young, adult man wouldn't want a small child checking up on him. Truly very desirable. Congratulations.]

Rude and pushy... [That was a mumble, even by her standards.]

It might be nice for a little while, to do stuff you don't get to do?

[carbungle]

[Lucky... him...?]

It would be nice, but what I'd really like is to go fishing.

[And there's no fishing here... it's tragic. Tragic.]

[pinkmin]

[A tragedy. She could feel the despair.]

Oh. That might be hard... I saw a lot of signs for VR cafes near the library, but that's different.

[carbungle]

...VR cafe...?

[He didn't think of that.]

Think they might have a fishing game?

[pinkmin]

[Vianca thought about it. From what Magolor had said, the VRs were so the robots could replicate things they used to do when they had mortal bodies, so...! She nodded.]

There's a chance. It is more likely to find a fishing game there than it is to find a lake in the city.