♥ 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...

---

❥ 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.

---

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

[necromanswers]

[She snorts a laugh, briefly, bumping her head against the blanket-lump that presumably is his.]

Nah, that ship's sailed. Not that I ever really wanted to. They're gone, so what'd be the point? Dunno about you, but rocks and holes in the ground aren't gonna give me closure.

[abracafcku]

[He grumbles when she bumps her head against his, but there's no edge to it, just the usual complaining about her rock hard skull under his breath.

But closure? Yeah, no. Taako never thought he'd ever get closure on anything. He'd learned not to expect it, not to look for it, just to accept that shit changed and to move on and never look back. It's why it was so easy to leave his world behind on the Starblaster, and why it was easy to move on after awhile from every world whether they saved it or not.

They'd all just been dust in the end. Around for a year and then gone. Not that he remembered that was why he'd grown so callous after she took that memory from him. He'd been left with just the detachment and no reason, the walls but nothing to protect.]

What would we even say if we'd gone? "Hey, so you're dead, we're not? Mkay, we're gonna go now so thanks bye?" Pfft nah.

[But he does wish he had even just one picture. Something with the four of them, even if it was blurry and out of focus, would give him an anchor and help him with this weird double life in his head. The one where it would have been only three versus the reality of there being four.

That discrepancy still jarred at him and he resorted to humor to toss up a barrier between him and that particularly bad brain feel.]

Plus if we'd gone, I bet people would've been weirded out if we didn't cry and hooboy, you do not look pretty when you're fake-crying.

[necromanswers]

Excuse you, I'm always pretty.

[She uses the head-bonking to settle in and rest her chin on his shoulder instead. She recognizes the deflection, but without much to offer as a contrast to it. She can't give him what he wants, when it comes to their parents. In that instance her memory's as hopeless as his.

A different angle, maybe.]

Hey, tell me about something from your solo adventuring? Something good? There's gotta be at least a few fun stories.

[abracafcku]

Excuse you, no one looks pretty when they're fake-crying. You have to screw your face up to make it convincing.

[It's a half-hearted protest and he settles as he rests her chin on him. Having her close is making it easier on him, but whether that was because of the magic of this world or simply the bond they shared, he couldn't say. Whatever it was, the fear and panic of the dreams were receding as he considered her request.

He didn't like thinking about those years when he was alone anymore, not like he did when he was incomplete. The best years were pre-Glamour Springs to be honest, pre-Sazed and all that fucked up buffoonery that idiot decided to pull. Taako had been at the height of his game and that? That's probably what Lup wants to hear, so Taako picks one and huffs.]

Well, I saved a shitload to buy that wagon, y'know. [He coudn't remember how, but he had, he knows that. Likely it was Lucretia sending him cash or jobs until he got the wagon, but he didn't want to think of that.] Got it tricked out to the nines with a fold-out oven, a rolling window, all that jazz. Took awhile to get my shows off the ground, but oh boy, when it kicked off? It kicked off with a bang. I had my first sold out crowd at a little stopover to Neverwinter and I never looked back after that.

[He smiles despite himself. Back then it had been simple and easy and all he had to care about was his food and pleasing the crowd.]

Ran out of oranges for a sauce for a duck and just grabbed an apple - boom, changed it to an orange and the crowd lost its fuckin' mind.

[necromanswers]

It sounds rad as hell. Wish I could've seen it.

[For real, anyway. There was that dream version, but she doesn't know how accurate that was, nor does she know for sure if Taako would ever remember that. Even her own memory of it is spotty at best.

She should have been there, she knows. Should have been cooking right there beside him, like always, her own memories gone through Lucretia's plot but not alone. They shouldn't have been separated and lonely for so long.]

That does sound like the kind of show you'd run, though. All oohs and ahhs... you're such a glutton for attention.

[abracafcku]

Yeah, you would've loved razzing me from the crowd, I bet.

[Or, honestly, they would have done it together. He always moved like he was expecting someone else in the kitchen. It was why he'd been so willing to let Sazed in. He filled the empty space that made Taako uncomfortable and so he'd ignored all of the warning signs as they started to pop up here and there.

If it had been Lup, even if they hadn't known each other, Glamour Springs would never have happened. Of that, Taako is innately certain.]

All the oohs, ahhs, and coin for merch - that's what I loved the most. I got to see the world and entertain and be lauded wherever I went. It was pretty baller.

[necromanswers]

When do I ever not love razzing you?

[Shame his hair is buried under the covers, she could muss it up right about now. As any good big sister should. There's that pang again, the ache in her chest of things missed, but she ignores it. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts.]

What was your favourite place to perform?

[abracafcku]

[He snorts beneath his blanket fort and pulls it down a little, staring at the wall. She would have loved the setup. He sometimes wondered what had become of the wagon after he unhooked the horses and left it abandoned on the side of the road. Years of his life, his entire sense of being, just left to be scavenged and rot in the middle of the countryside somewhere. He'd woken up to find Sazed and their money gone and had just resigned himself to this being his fate.

His ears flick beneath the blanket and he thinks for a moment, trying to turn his mind to all the places he traveled. He never stayed long in one place or another, but he did have some good shows here or there.]

The Underdark was good - they were pretty welcoming and learning drow recipes was... A headtrip. Iriaebor, near the Sunset Mountains, that was a sight to see... All tall spires and shadowy roads.

[It had made for a good stage for when he wanted to do his flashier magic. He could add colored lights and he appeared like a beacon in the dark.]

Anywhere that they let me have a bed at night though? That was pretty much the daily favorite.

[necromanswers]

[She hums a quiet, appreciative response, the names bubbling up all sorts of scenery in her imagination. A hundred years of planer travel, plus 100+ on their old homeworld, means she's seen plenty of things before, and names often tell a story in and of itself. She's never gone to the Underdark, or Sunset Mountains, but she can just imagine what it might have been like, lying here in the dark with her eyes closed as she listens to him.]

Sounds very mysterious... that just makes it more exciting.

[There's a grin in her voice. One of those at least is more familiar than the other.]

And you met Ren there, right?

[abracafcku]

Yeah, made it worth the trips everywhere to have a life that was a little less boring than the rest.

[He even misses it sometimes. The glory, the change, the constant revolving door of people and places and not having to care. It was exhausting having to care for people - but it was important. He'd spent a century being untethered and Taako was...ready, he thinks, to crawl into one place and stay for awhile. It'd been easy to do that with Magnus and Merle on the moon base and now he knew why.

He can't stay at the moon base anymore though, even if he goes back. It leaves a terrible taste in his mouth to even think of it now. What should have been his home is tainted now by a family member who carved it right out of his heart.]

Yeah, little Ren. I- well, y'know. I didn't actually remember her, but now I can't really forget her, huh? She's a good kid.

[necromanswers]

Yeah, I got that impression. Hard worker, too. That's someone who's going to do well for herself, def.

[It's rare that Taako takes a shine to someone so quickly, even if it's in that subtle, half-hearted way of his. She'd been glad to see it, watching through the staff. With Ren, Angus, Kravitz, with the guys despite not remembering their true history... it all adds up, over time. Forming those bonds, a power they relied on for so, so long. It's a bit corny, and she knows better than to say it yet, but she's proud of how far he's come despite missing so much.]

When we get ourselves sorted out back home, you're gonna have to introduce us properly.

[abracafcku]

[His smile turns unconsciously fond at the thought of Ren. He's glad she's safe. He's glad she didn't call bullshit on his bogus school of magic and that she was actually genuinely glad for that silly little certificate. It's endearing, in the same way Angus was endearing, and it was odd how much seeing her smile actually had mattered to him.]

Well ch'yeah, she's got that whole bar to run by herself. And me giving her that certificate of magical completion? Well, that can only put a little more oomph into her next zaparoo to whatever idiot who crosses her.

[Not that he actually did anything, but Ren was that sort of person who worked harder when someone believed in her. And Taako believed in her, in his own way.

His ears twitch again at the mention of going home though and flatten against his head.]

But uh...yeah. I'll hook you two up. [If he remembered. If this didn't all get ripped away from him. If he could even recall who Lup was when he went home, if the moment he stepped back into his time and place, that he wasn't bereft of his heart again. Taako feels the terror of his nightmare grip him again and his hands tighten in the blanket.] You- you two can gossip about how awesome I am.

[necromanswers]

Oh, I'm sure we'll gossip about something.

[She's got all sorts of fun stories about the girl's apparent cooking hero, after all.

Ren isn't really what she wants to talk about, though; it's a means to an end, an opening. A sliver of more things she missed- and more things she watched, when she couldn't do anything else.]

...That was nice of you, y'know. To give her that.

[And she knows he knows, but... well. It's important to acknowledge this sort of thing sometimes. Only sometimes, so he doesn't get too squirrely. It's sort of like training a really cagey cat.]

[abracafcku]

[He rolls his eyes, scoffing in amusement veiled as disgust.]

Ugh, I know you will.

[He doesn't believe for a minute that Lup won't absolutely ruin his carefully cultivated image with Ren in the first five seconds. She'll probably tell the story about how he stabbed himself in the leg or how he blew up the first souffle they ever attempted.

He was like 14! Give him a break! That was basically a baby in the kitchen trying to make rocket science happen!

But then she has to go and needle at him and he huffs, pulling the blankets closer around himself.]

Pfft, whatever. I took her diamonds, I had to give her something in return.

[necromanswers]

Oh yeah? You had to?

[Her tone is softly teasing again, and she shifts her position enough to wiggle her feet under the blanket with him. It's getting cooler at night, gotta warm those toes. And she knows better than anyone Taako's reputation for happily taking what isn't his with no recompense. For him to actually put the time in and give Ren something? It means she earned it, or he liked her. Or both. And in this case she suspects the latter.]

[abracafcku]

It was that or-- [He shrugs and then shivers, squawking indignantly when Lup's feet touch him.]

Fantasy Jesus, Lulu!

[He whips around, throwing the blankets off to cover her with more force than was probably strictly necessary. And if it meant he got to squirrel out of a weirdly uncomfortable conversation? All the better.]

Your feet are cold! Wear socks to bed, you ice pop!

[necromanswers]

[And now hers is the voice muffled under the blanket, giggling a bit madly as she tries to twist her legs around his to keep her feet in contact with any bare skin she can find. You're waaaaarm~]

Socks can't chase away that old undead chill. Save me, broooo--!

[abracafcku]

Nothing can save your frigid lich-y ass!

[He screeches again as she keeps touching him, scooting around so his back is to the wall as he tries to use his feet to push her away.]

Oh my gods, stop! I'll turn you into a radish!

[necromanswers]

Your sadsack ass can't do 9th level spells yet, nerdlord, you can't scare me with that!

[She lifts her legs so her feet meet with his in the middle, releasing him to grasp the bedframe instead as they have a mini-battle, foot to foot.]

[abracafcku]

I'll pull the magic out of my ass, I swear to Istus, Lulu!!

[FUCK her feet are so cold! He'd just been getting used to it with Kravitz before, but the months of sleeping alone again had desensitized him to how utterly frigid the undead could be. Lup was nowhere near as bad as the Grim Reaper but it was the principle of the thing!

Taako grits his teeth and pushes back at her feet, trying to move so he can get a foot on her leg or her middle or anywhere else to give him leverage. He has to admit though...this is better than the panic from earlier. And he's even having fun - not that he'd ever admit it. She can probably tell what with how he's barely keeping back a smile behind all his griping.]

Why are you the worst sister to ever be born?!

[necromanswers]

[He's not the only one enjoying himself, though she's more open about it, giggling madly the more he protests. Her free hand snakes under the blankets to try and find more points of contact with cool fingers.]

You should've asked me that when it happened, it's too late now!

[abracafcku]

I was a baby! How was I going to ask you when I couldn't even--

[Taako shrieks and bats at her fingers, twisting this way and that to get away from her.]

Oh my gods, I thought we were supposed to be sleeping! Why?! Are you?! The worst?!

[necromanswers]

[She's still giggling, but the scream makes her pull back abruptly, one hand over her own, the other yanking up the pillow and pressing it playfully over his face.]

Shut up, oh my god! It's the middle of the night, you're gonna wake somebody up!

[abracafcku]

And who mad--

[He can't get anything else out because the pillow is muffling his protests as he slaps at her hands. Beneath the fluff though can be heard a string of grumbling that might be something like "It's all your fault" or it could be "The pepper and salt." Who knows, it's a mystery.

Or it was until he suddenly Blinks and disappears from the bed.]

[necromanswers]

[You prick, she saw that coming a mile away. She doesn't try to disrupt it this time, though, and instead rolls over and winds herself up tight in his blankets.]

Ohhhhh, how sad, my brother has abandoned me... my only comfort is to sleep in his bed now, in that warm cozy spot he left behind. Too bad he can't enjoy it anymore.