♥ September Event Log

[hugtopiamods]

September (Ohnir) Event Log
Ohnir is in full swing now and the weather, while still boasting hot days, is starting to cool slightly at night. The residents are recovering after the lightning storms from the previous month and, curiously, most of the robots that had been damaged in the storms are back. They don't look the same as before, but they seem to act the same, still happy, still thankful that the offworlders are here. A few even thank those who carried their bodies to the temples with small gifts of painted stones. Havenwell continues as it always has and welcomes their new arrivals with a few rather odd changes...

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❥ PROMPT I: Robot Crossing

Now that all the new and old arrivals have mingled and met, the robotic natives start pointing everyone toward the VR cafes. The bright lights and cozy insides have been decorated with fake leaves and carved and painted plaster approximations of fruits and vegetables in odd colors. When an offworlder comes in, they explain that back when they were still in their flesh bodies, the month of Ohnir was one for harvest and celebrations of the summer bounties. Now, without any real farms or need to eat, they've translated the Harvest Festival into a game, so why not play?

Logging in with another character will net you a little farm and a variety of games to choose from:

1. Pick and harvest as many Aellyn vegetables and fruits as you can before the timer runs out! The more you pick, the better your score. Work together with your partner to clear the field in any way you can. Strangely, once you finish clearing a tree or a field row of their bounty, they seem to magically refill when you turn your back. Oh well, at least you won't run out before the timer hits zero and with the sheer number of levels and combinations of trees and fields with obstacles in your way to make harvesting a little more challenging with each new level, you certainly won't be running out of things to do.
   
2. With a partner, use the giant slingshot to launch comically large fruits into a garden patch of other colored fruits. Match a line of 3 or more similarly shaped fruits to clear it from the field. The more fruits you can clear, the higher your score - aka welcome to Fruit Crush. Stack lines of 6 or more to get shining clear diamond fruits that clear the entire row and snag yourself some bonus points.
   
3. You and your partner(s) are given a magical golden pumpkin and it's your job to grow it into the largest pumpkin possible. Why? There's a county fair of course and the largest pumpkin wins! But how do you grow this pumpkin? Well, there are a lot of methods! You could gather up materials and work together to stick it to the pumpkin until it absorbs them and grows. You could do a song and dance routine together to encourage the pumpkin's soul to grow big and bright. You could hold hands and share stories and entertain the pumpkin until it feels encouraged enough to grow on its own. The possibilities are endless, so get to work making the best pumpkin that (digital) fair has ever seen!

As always, when playing the game, the picture and quality seems to increase as long as you're in contact with another person. Once the games are over and your scores tallied, the cafe attendant walks over and asks to see your communicators. To the winners, he or she attaches a little floating charm in the shape of one of Aellyn's weirder fruits. It looks like a cross between a blue rambutan and the hala aka puhala fruit, and it's called the sikheen fruit here. The sikheen are extremely rare nowadays, but their appearance is so unique that Havenwell residents still like to remember it for the Harvest Festival. Enjoy your prize!

❥ PROMPT II: Paint by Number

The new arrivals get to enjoy Havenwell in all its glory for about a week before suddenly, one day everyone wakes up to find the entire city has gone gray. And not a natural, nice gray either, but a strange dull, lifeless gray. Everything from the sky to the houses to the grass to the native people have all turned the exact same shade of graphite gray. Even the natives are confused and the devout flock to the temples while the science-minded head to the labs to study this new phenomenon. The only ones who seem spared from this strange color drain are the offworlders and the statues of the gods in the center of town. Or, well, at least most of the offworlders are spared. A few people might notice that their colors aren't as bright as they once were, or that parts of them are starting to turn gray as well. Those offworlders unlucky enough to lose some of their own can touch another player character to regain what was lost easily enough. Overall though, no one seems harmed by this sudden loss of color, but they're certainly perplexed.

A few days later and round silver platforms start showing up around the city, dragged out of storage by the natives. The first arrivals might remember these as the fireworks platforms that are activated by people standing and holding hands on them. The temple priests and scientists encourage the offworlders to stand on the platforms again and to hold hands or engage in some other sort of physical contact on them and wait.

When characters do as asked, the platforms shoot fireworks like they did before - in brilliant colors instead of the dull gray everywhere. And wherever the sparks fall, color starts returning to the world in splotches. The natives are overjoyed and move the platforms all across the city, asking the offworlders to find and use them wherever possible to return the color to their town.

❥ PROMPT III: Sharing is Caring

Ohma's temple is particularly lively during Ohnir and the priests are busy cleaning and sweeping, decorating it with rolls of parchment and digital inkwells and quills that write as if they were actually fountain pens. The natives, especially adherents of Ohma, start to make pilgrimages to the temple in little processions, some playing music, others flying banners. It would probably be far more impressive if the colors weren't still so gray and splotchy, but they're trying their best.

Anyone who chooses to follow can observe the natives going up to the altar and sharing stories with one another. They talk about things they did over the past year or things that are far, far in their past. Some of the stories are happy and result in the procession laughing and some are...well, not everyone came back from the lightning storms. The priests diligently write every story down on those parchment rolls and deposit them onto the waiting altar, where they're summarily lit on fire to the cheers of those present. The more emotional the story it seems, the brighter and bluer the flame that it emits and the louder the procession cheers.

As the file out, they notice you watching and urge you to go up with someone else in the temple to clear your heart and offer up your own stories. They can be stories of home, information about your worlds, or stories about your life. It seems the more personal the story, the brighter the flame though and the more Dora that will mysteriously show up in your account at a later date. If the priests are asked about this donation later, they're just as perplexed. No one they know would have paid anyone for an offering to Ohma, so where could it have come from....?

❥ PROMPT IV: Sleep Sweet

With Ainea's temple familiars finally back where they belong, quiet returns to the city at night. We're sure that first long uninterrupted sleep felt heavenly, right? Although there may not be color in the city, the world of dreams at least is fully technicolor and safe. Which might be weird for some characters in case they don't normally dream or remember their dreams because now everyone is dreaming at night. Most of the dreams are the usual variety that your character always has, but every so often in the midst of a pleasant dream about home or a funky one about flying pizza (whatever it is you usually dream about, we don't judge), there's a glitch.

Out of the corner of your eye or just on the edge of your vision, a person appears. Their face can't be seen and their arms are longer than they have any right to be, but they appear and stand there, watching. Trying to focus on this person causes them to flit away and it's easy enough to dismiss as a random event, until it keeps happening. And it keeps happening, and it keeps happening, and every time you see this person, they get closer and even less distinct. Waking up and talking to or holding someone might help calm that disquiet in your heart, offworlder, so hopefully there's someone around to help you.

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This event will run from September 16th to September 30th. 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 on the OOC Entry.

Feel free to also use the OOC Plotting Post for planning what your character is up to!

Comments

[astralera]

Hythlodaeus, yes. The nameless Amaurotines filled in other details... And Mother had spoken to me of Rejoinings long before you and I met.

But Hythlodaeus saw things you could not. He was most helpful. My new-old friend. [ There is a sadness at that, but she does her best to brush it aside. ]

[unsunderworld]

To see things even I could not was his wont; he might have had a position on the Convocation, indeed my own, had he any desire for it. I was, in fact, the second choice; one might say that my habit of observing owes itself to his memory.

[There is a strange combination of fondness and bite to his words; the irritation is different from how he has in the past spoken of Lahabrea and even his current descendants. This feeling, instead, is that of someone speaking of a dear, yet irritating, friend.]

[astralera]

[ To hear that Hythlodaeus turned down such a prestigious position is less of a shock than it is to hear that Hades was the second choice for the title of Emet-Selch. It's enough that the last dregs of sleep fall away and she sits up, shuffling to peer over the side of the couch at him with eyes so leeched of colour they look Light-tainted.

What isn't surprising is the emotion with which he speaks of their mutual friend. ]

I am glad you gave life to his memory.

[ I wish I could remember him, she thinks, and her Carbuncle whines at the Architect's feet. ]

[unsunderworld]

...If not I, then who? There is no one else; even before Lahabrea's, ahem, departure, there was no one else.

[He can near enough hear her thoughts, and turns away from her and the carbuncle both. He has dishes to finish. (Time may have cured him of the stubborn refusal to resort to mundane means of such things, but it will never cure him of the resentment that he must.)]

I do at times wonder what has become of his soul; it has been some lifetimes since I last saw it. No doubt but that it would be one of those possessed of the Gift; beyond that I could not say.

[astralera]

The Echo? There are many of us in possession of it. I'm certain he will turn up again eventually, likely when most convenient.

[ She continues to watch him, resting her chin atop the back of the couch. The weariness begins to crawl back in, and Era doesn't bother to fight it. She can understand why Emet-Selch was so prone to napping — it makes time pass by without you needing to bear it. ]

Do you need to eat?

[unsunderworld]

Or inconvenient, depending on one's view.

[Such was their relationship, after all.

He does twist his head over his shoulder to look at her - it's a more significant twist than someone with a more typical neck would be typical of, giving her a perfect view of his profile.]

I am wearing a mortal skin, my dear, yes. Also, taste is one of the greatest sensory pleasures afforded to living things.

[astralera]

[ His profile is interesting, and unlike any she's seen before. Perhaps if she afforded more attention to his descendants' facial features she might find some similarities, but the thought of interacting further with Varis or the body of the crown prince is unappealing to say the least. ]

You cannot sustain it with aether? [ With a mortal form it wouldn't be any way efficient, but she cannot help but be curious. ]

I enjoy the texture of food.

[unsunderworld]

You cannot make aether out of nothing. Metabolizing food is an inefficient method, but it is all that most bodies require. Yes, in theory I could sustain a body for quite some time on my own reserves, but not infinitely - and my aether is much reduced here.

[A grimace upon that last, but what's she going to do with that information, kill him?]

[astralera]

Sleep also replenishes aether. Food, and sleep. If I've little of one I can make up the difference with the other.

[ His admittance is no surprise to her — it explains much. ]

Perhaps the gods here can learn much from the Exarch on how to properly steal people away from their worlds.

[unsunderworld]

More accurate to say that sleep conserves; it is the continued processing of your metabolism while you sleep that restores aether.

After all, no amount of sleep will save someone from starvation, no?

[A timer dings and he sets about pulling the food from the oven.]

...It is not entirely a matter of that. I am weaker because this planet is weaker than even a shard; there is nothing outside myself for me to draw upon.

[astralera]

I recently slept a great deal to prevent death by starvation. [ It is an easy admittance while she closes her eyes, listening to him putter about. ] I need too much food, and there was too little to go around...

But you're correct — I was still starving, just prolonging it by a great deal.

[ Era still doesn't trust that Havenwell won't also run out of food for months at a time. And without anywhere to forage or hunt she is unable to truly stockpile for a rainy day.

She notes his comment — that there is nothing outside himself to draw upon — and puts it aside for later. ]

What are you making?

[unsunderworld]

[He nods.]

And using creation magic for food is horribly inefficient.

[So yes, even the ancients had some limits.

He bends and pulls the tray all the way out, and there's not much need to answer her question. Baked potatoes are not exactly hard to identify, though these seem stuffed with some additional filling.]

Nothing complicated. Help yourself.

[astralera]

I imagine it would taste quite good though. [ She says it without thinking, nor does she dwell on the fact that she finds aether appetizing.

Instead she hones in on what Hades pulls from the oven and her stomach twists with hunger. She would like to eat, but she also knows herself well enough to refrain for now. ]

I will eat whatever is leftover, once you've had your fill.

[unsunderworld]

[He looks at her, and then at the full tray of potatoes.]

Did you think I made these for the voidsent in the attic, hero? Eat.

[astralera]

[ She purses her lips, brows furrowed, and shakes her head. ]

I will eat what is leftover, Hades.

[unsunderworld]

[He stares at her for a moment, then sighs.]

Why is it this of all things that you choose to be so stubborn over...

[Path of least resistance, then - he'll just also handle the plating. Which is two for him and four for her, crowded onto the plate in such a way that they barely fit.

Rather than actually taking them to the table, he just carries the plate and a fork over to her, pushing it into her face.]

Or is it that you think so little of my observational skills that you thought I didn't notice the amount you eat?

[astralera]

What if these food suppliers cease working? If there is famine?

[ She is so very hungry, and though she takes the plate when pressed she makes no move to eat just yet. ]

I eat too much. More than I need to.

[unsunderworld]

You expend aether at a far higher rate than the average person. In addition, you are physically active and muscular, with virtually no insulation from body fat. It is only natural for you to have a high metabolism.

[His voice is dry and academic, only a little sharp.]

If there is famine then you will be better prepared for it by eating while food is plentiful. And if there were, I've no doubt our 'hosts' would act quickly, as without hose of us who are living, their world suffers more than any individual among us.

[Sharper, now. His displeasure practically radiates, though it is not directed at her.]

So what, exactly, is it that makes eating what your body calls for 'too much'?

[astralera]

[ There is logic to his words that Era knows all too well, having studied modern medicine enough to be aware of metabolic rates. But she has spent two months being keenly aware of how little food there was to go around. Of how much more she needed in comparison to those around her... ]

If I ate enough to sustain myself then others would have starved. If I eat less, there is more food available to be shared or saved.

[unsunderworld]

Perhaps in another place, that would be true. But there are no such limits here.

[astralera]

You can't be certain of that. This place has already brought so many limits upon us, and there is naught to hunt or forage.

[ Still, his reassurances combined with her hunger cause her to finally cave, stuffing her face with the baked popotoes with all the refinement of Era, the starving street urchin, as opposed to a charge of House Fortemps.

She pauses at two, taking the third and tucking it away into her aetherial inventory before starting on the last. ]

[unsunderworld]

[Which makes him tsk- by then only halfway through the first of his own.]

If you wish more, it is no great hardship. Eat. Your body is smarter than you are.

[astralera]

That is not a difficult feat to accomplish.

[ Era frowns into her popoto, almost finished and still hungry despite beginning to feel physically full. ]

Though my body does not feel quite right as of late.

[unsunderworld]

I wonder why.

[Like, no shit, Era.]

[astralera]

[ She frowns again, though this time at him, her eyes that unnerving, unnatural white. ]

Not in the sense of malnutrition or starvation, Hades.