♥ December (Ranir) Event Log

[hugtopiamods]

December (Ranir) Event Log
The end of the year is here and winter has arrived. The chilly fall weather quickly gives way to cold days and colder nights, perfect for snuggling and watching the first dusting of snow fall. It doesn't seem to stick for long, but it's certainly a beautiful sight to watch out of your windows. Ranir is the beginning of Rawna's time to shine, but the god of apathy breeds apathetic followers and priests - or he usually does. Maybe it's due to the influence of all the offworlders for the past year, but this year? Ranir is strangely familiar in its festivities...

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❥ PROMPT I: Bring Out Your Pens

No one is quite sure how, but over the past year, the natives have come to learn about a very particular figure in many of the offworlders' legends. He appears one time a year, shrouded in mystery, visiting in the dead of night, only to vanish until the next year. This godlike figure has piqued their interest to say the least and once Ranir is in full swing, offworlders who are aware of the legend of Santa Claus will start seeing some robots, especially Rawna's temple priests, wearing that familiar red and white outfit around town. They're carrying sacks on their backs and going door to door, electronics buzzing with excitement as they find anyone they can to shove an actual pen and paper into their hands.

"All hail the Santa of Clause!" they exclaim with glee. "Hail to your winter god! Nail your socks to the wall!"

Anyone who receives a letter set in person will then be told to write a letter to the Santa of Clause (and the robots ARE checking spelling. Who's ever heard of Santa Claus? Clearly you're mistaken and need a spelling software update) asking for a present, to a friend in town, or to someone back home. They won't leave until you write your letter, either. Whether it means they have to follow you all day, all week, or straight into your homes, they will complete their duty to the Santa of Clause and appease his great and terrible appetite for grammatically correct letters. For those who are lucky enough to avoid the robots in person, they may find a letter set in their mailbox one more with similar instructions about to whom they should be writing and a cheery announcement that someone will be by later to pick the letter up.

The sheer volume of letters being passed around town, however, is more than the robots alone can deliver. Soon enough, they start reaching out to the offworlders to help deliver the letters to their intended recipients, whether it's other offworlders, natives, or to temples to be placed upon the gods' altars. Anyone who is willing to help out will be given a small token of appreciation in the form of Dora, but more importantly, a larger gift of the Santa of Clause approved uniform. That's right: a Santa costume. If you're delivering letters, you must be wearing a Santa costume or you'll anger the Winter God, Santa of Clause! Or so the natives believe. So get into the holiday spirit and dress on up!

Those who wish to write letters to someone who is no longer among the city population or those who have never been here are more than encouraged to do so. In fact, Rawna's temple priests seem particularly interested in having people come by to read those letters directly at their temples to tie this offworld holiday into Rawna's typical purview. Read your letters to your loved ones or just read a letter detailing what you want for the holidays at Rawna's temple to unburden your soul as the year ends. Maybe you'll walk away feeling lighter than before.

❥ PROMPT II: This Isn't What I Ordered

At the end of the month, characters will wake up to light scratching at their doors. The sound is enough to get anyone's attention, especially if the scratching is at their bedroom doors, rather than their front doors. When people go to investigate, they'll find a little rainbow dragonling at their feet looking up at them expectantly. By the dragonling's side is a box of varying sizes, decorated and topped with a holographic bow. Once the dragonling has determined that you recognize the package is yours, it slithers off back to where it came from, escaping your house with surprising ease.

Opening the package will reveal one item from your character's life. That's right, it's a regain event! The item inside the box is familiar to your character and it might bring a smile to their face - or it would if it wasn't just....slightly? Wrong? For whatever reason, it seems this year the gift giving went a bit awry and all the items delivered by the dragonlings are off in some manner or another. For example, you might have gotten a box set of your favorite books from home! But they're all in a language you can't read. Or you may have gotten your favorite sweater back! But it's fourteen sizes too big and looks like it was sized for a T-Rex instead. Or your favorite gun from home is now bright neon bubblegum pink instead of that sleek and cool gunmetal gray. Oh and the bullets shoot flowers instead of, y'know, bullets. Whoops.

Whatever the problem, every gift received seems to have something wrong with it. As the complaints start rolling in, the temple priests will try their best to fix it by having all willing characters come with their malfunctioning gifts. A few trials and errors reveal that the best way to get things right again is? You guessed it: positive contact. Any temple will do for this, but Rawna's temple is naturally the busiest seeing as it's sort of his holiday and thus, sort of(?) his fault. Come with a friend or a frenemy or just a straight enemy if that's your flavour, place both of your gifts on the temple's altar, and just hold on tight. Once contact is initiated, the gifts will start to glow with a soft light; and the longer the contact is held, the brighter the light gets. It can take up to an hour depending on the level of wrongness your gift went to in order for the light to grow bright enough to flash and set the gifts back to their original forms. But there are rumours that talking about the gift you received and why it is significant to you makes the process far faster, resulting in a light that might flash as soon as you finish your story. Just be sure to hurry to correct this mistake. Some of the temple priests hypothesize that the corrections can only be made so long as Rawna's power holds sway.

OOC: These items from home must be approved by a mod. They cannot exceed the Medium Item regain limit. It cannot be a power or other ability. It cannot be something your character did not own or have knowledge of in their canon or their CRAU. Please post your regain request in the Regain Request thread before threading out the receipt or restoration of the item.

❥ PROMPT III: Ghostly Consequences

Toward the end of the month, people begin having dreams of Havenwell. That's nothing truly unusual, certainly, as it's quite normal for dreams to mimic one's daily life. What is unusual is that these dreams feel...real. Too real. And the people in the dreams are ones that may or may not be familiar to you. The faces of the dream people resemble those of the ghosts that took over Havenwell a month or two prior, and they seem to be going about their business as if they lived in Havenwell. In fact, they seem to be living your lives instead of you, living in your house, sleeping in your beds, working your jobs, talking with your friends. No one in the dream seems to notice the switcheroo and try as you might to interact with people in the dream, it looks like you've taken on the role of ghost. Thankfully, these dreams are innocuous and short, snapshots of your life rather than full length dreams and are over quickly.

However, before each dream ends, the ghost living your life turns to you and puts their hands together in a pleading gesture. What do they say? That differs for each person.

For most offworlders, the message is the same. The ghost puts their hands together and says:

"Balance must always be kept. Nothing shall die here that He does not allow. Your sacrifice is balance, and balance must always be kept. Some must die or all shall perish. These were their promises and their demise."

But, if your character touched a ghost in the previous event, you will receive a PM from the mod account soon with your specific message. Keep an eye out for your message.

The dream ends once the message is delivered and you'll find yourselves not where you remember - your bed, your sofa, wherever you went to sleep - but someplace new. Apparently the dreams have caused some minor sleepwalking and you may just find yourself waking up in someone else's bed or up a tree or about to buy that super expensive plastic model of Havenwell's latest holomovie starlet. Whoops.

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This event will run from 15 December to 31 December. 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. You can also use the Havenwell Status page or the General Plotting Comment to give you other ideas for original prompts!

Comments

[shroudedsecrets]

[ There's a pause for that to sink in; she had not forgotten the name nor the information given, but much had happened during that time as well. She presses a hand to her chest, leaning forward slightly in acknowledgement. ]

... yes, I do remember. Of course. It is good to meet you properly in person, Basch. I hope your settling in has been going well.

[somakemelaugh]

It hadn't been meant to be a sad day, and despite his unfortunate musings and landing them where it had, he has no mind to let it continue like this. The nearest hand lifts, settling around Astre's shoulders as long as the teen wants to lean in against him.

"They must know, wherever they are now. You're quite right. We've ended up in the same world for so long now, even if it wasn't back home in England, it must be true. Though, I do wish I could ask your father what he thinks about your hair such as it is." He giggles softly and runs fingers through the wild locks, much longer than they had been back in London by now. "Your aunt would most certainly have an aneurism just to see it."

[sweetlies]

That brush of his fingers through his hair makes him laugh softly, imagining his aunts outrage at it. He could practically hear her from here, yelling about how indecent it looks and he can imagine her with a comb at the ready to fix it.

"She wields a comb almost as ferociously as a sword." He laughs, giving a fake little shiver of fear. "Father though, I think he'd be delighted though he'd insist I wear it more neatly." Even he got a scolding from her sometimes.

His arms wrap around the reaper and lets out a little sound, half sad and half peaceful. He does wish his parents could share this day with them but he's at peace knowing they'd be happy, that he has Undertaker.

"And, I think, he'd insist I get a little taste of that cake before it goes in the oven."

[necromanswers]

Maybe one had nothing to do with the other.

[Lup shrugs. She doesn't place much stock in what the robots get up to, most days. The gods are the ones to worry about, and she's yet to be put upon enough to really set their temples on fire, so for now it's whatever.]

[shroudedsecrets]

Also a possibility.

[ The robots certainly lived here, though they seemed more and more stirred to such activities which had all but been obsolete to them before, for centuries.

Uncomfortable, how familiar that consideration was. ]

Though they are getting their cues from some source.

[daikonrose]

He never thought that about her? Kyoko hadn't meant to make anyone think she was something she wasn't. Even genki girls can be full of fear and anxiety and hesitation, Shinji--learn something new every day!

Ah, but is he disappointed? Kyoko peeks at him sidelong, wondering at the warmth in the grip of his hand. No... it's not that, is it?

Shinji... he's so kind to her, so gentle and generous, but would he still feel for her like this, if he knew everything? Kyoko returns the squeeze to his hand.

"... Mm. I'll hold onto it." Maybe it won't exactly be a comfort, but it has a purpose all the same. "I'll keep it close."

[hedgehogsdilemma]

It's more the particular scenario, that Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known and having the choice to confront it being ripped away, that's what's unexpected. Before that, he'd simply assumed all of her displeasure with being swept away to Havenwell had more mundane reasoning behind it. Nobody asked to be here, pretty much everyone had lives to get back to, but something like that lingering, unresolved, that has to be a lot to cope with on top of everything else.

Whether there's more to that ache or not, he simply has no way to know, and so he just keeps that warm, steady hold on her hand.

"Until you get to say what you want to say." Whenever she gets to go home, which... he hopes the implication is clear, because at the moment wishing for her to return there soon hurts a little too much to say out loud.

[daikonrose]

Until she can say what she wants to say to Tsuruga-san, until she can face up to what he was going to tell her, she'll keep clinging to the mark he made on her heart. Even if it's just as hopeless and wrong as everything her heart wants here... it's right. It's the best thing she can do for Shinji and Kaito, and for herself.

Turning fully to Shinji, Kyoko brings up her other hand to clasp his in both of hers, smiling at him with thanks in her eyes, and regret. And with one final squeeze, she lets his hand go.

"Thank you," she said gently, turning to pick up that stack of tapes, and offer them out to him. "I didn't want to pile all that on you, but... as always, you're really nice to me."

[lunaelucem]

[And Lunafreya does, in fact, smile at his little quip, though something in it is a little wistful. Too often she'd liked to have spoken her own mind more freely, especially when she'd been young and chafing under Imperial rules. But doing so would've incited cruel punishment, direct or indirect, on either on her or Ravus. Whoever Basch's charge had been in his world, Lunafreya is envious of her for a short moment, and hopes that her honest and frank nature carries her far.

She dips her head in a substitute bow as well, her smile turning amused. It seems more than a little unorthodox to be doing introductions when they're already standing so close and intimately, but then, everything about Havenwell is a little unorthodox. She supposes she'll get used to it eventually.]

Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. It is a pleasure to meet you, Basch. I should very much like to hear about your last charge, if you are willing to speak more of her.

[She glances down at her clothes, twisting a little to look at the seams of her outfit.]

Especially since the hand-holding seems to be working. My clothes appear to be stitching themselves back up.

[carbungle]

[He huffs a breath, feigning exasperation, but he can't hold onto it for long, letting it shift into a smirk as he lifts a hand to muss at her hair. His snow-covered, gloved hand. A subtle revenge.]

He'd totally have cooperated. I'm his new favourite.

[necromanswers]

Of course they are- who doesn't? But I'm gonna be honest, I think I'm getting kinda tired of feeling suspicious.

[Lup lifts her free arm in a wide shrug.]

Maybe the leftover Candlenights spirit has still captured me. Must be the dragons...

[connectsthedots]

"Encouragement?" Dot follows Vianca’s eyes and watches as she moves to the altar. Well, what sort of things do you do at a temple? You make offerings, right? "Ah! Perhaps you’re on to something!" She follows suit, bringing the penny dreadful forward and placing it beside Vianca's stack.

"We likely need to do this to make it work, then, if that's the ploy." She holds out her hand with a resentful smile. "...Intentionally giving us wrong gifts to make us come here and make an offering to him... that's surprisingly cunning of this 'Rawna'."

[shroudedsecrets]

[ Most likely, if she had been taking Honerva's suggestions to continue to trance instead of sleeping or napping.

Not that it doesn't take much for Honerva to go to conspiracy town, but even so, perhaps it was clear she was a little more on edge than she might have been otherwise. ]

That is fair. The dragons at least, were only the messengers.

[nalbina]

Quite the opposite. ( don't want to make yourself seem incompetent in front of someone you're going to end up wanting to protect, do you? ) I've gone against more than my fair share of them. ( on the ground and in the air, as well, as it were.

and then there's that whole ass bitch yiazmat, but we're not talking about him.

she keeps tugging him right along, and at that last comment, he has to peer curiously down at her. )

I take that to mean this will not be your first time, either. ( pyra. girl. how do you keep getting more intriguing. )

[iustaegis]

[ She glances at him sidelong, sending him a bit of a coy, secretive smile, all the while thinking that she'll have to ask about his dragon-fighting adventures later. He's free to assume what he wishes, but as for herself...



She stops them just outside the virtual reality cafe. ] Here we are!

[ She raises a hand, gesturing at the sign enthusiastically, and while still holding his hand, steps in front of him and turns around, her smile proud. ] King's Knight... A virtual reality in which you can fight dragons. [ A game that she had coded to life for Noctis, but she doesn't mention this part. ]

It's very fun, and I'll have you know that while I'm not the top-scorer, I've pretty well established.

[ Whether or not she's fought actual dragons in reality is something she does not comment upon. ] You can even design your own character.

[ That potholder's gonna goooo ]

[nyxly]

[ He can never know what it is like to be royalty, let along carry the fate of the world or the future upon him. That is for something both her and the young king must endure. But if Noctis has three of Crownsguard with him to help carry those burdens, he hopes she realizes she needn't carry hers alone any longer.

It seems that the sparse touch, one that transcends either of their stations, does somewhat help, but her new question causes his expression to shift.

The future she speaks of-- the one of her death, when he and others had worked so hard to help her escape the city-- does sting a bit. Not out of frustration, but the loss of that it had to happen. ]

I saw it. Because of this place, I saw it through Noctis' memories, when you... [ When Ardyn had killed her. At the Altar, it hadn't been unlike sacrificing an animal for a blessing; in his case, it would mean one less obstacle in his way.

From Noctis' memory, he couldn't really make out the details of her final moments, but it seems that she had remained performing her duties as Oracle that day, too, summoning the Sea Mother, trident in hand. ]

You were fighting for something greater, too. [ Except, she hadn't sacrificed herself, even if he's certain that she absolutely would if it came down to it. She had been murdered. ] But Ardyn's to blame for taking your future away.

[silversoldier]

[ Sephiroth considers Zack for a moment. Now that Rufus is in Havenwell, he ought to be clear on where he stands. ]

You should know I completed my last mission for ShinRa.

[ This is delivered in a total deadpan tone, as usual. Because that is how one drops bombshells like this, right? Sephiroth has had enough time to come to terms with his new status and is now so unbothered that he swirls his coffee around in his cup before taking another sip. ]

[original_is_best]

"If I were to see another version of myself I would like to swap samples. How I would react overall, though... I suppose that would depend on the age of the other version of me."

He knew well enough now that he changed over time. There was something disturbing about it unlike anything else. It was one thing to learn that one would die in the future. It was another entirely to realize that he might lose his mind.

If that happened, was the man from the future truly the same man he was?

"I'd love to collect samples of any doppelganger we happen to see. It would be fascinating to learn if they were exact copies."

[necromanswers]

Next time one of their little animal friends shows up to start some shit I might have to send 'em back in plaid to see how they feel about people messing with things they love.

[A harmless illusion but very unfashionable. It's the perfect subtle revenge.]

[shroudedsecrets]

Would serve them right, all those stripes. Certainly not a punishable offence.

[ They'd gotten arrested for less, it was fair for them to be salty. ]

[hedgehogsdilemma]

Goodbye, hand holds. You did them both very well.

With his hand freed, Shinji accepts the tapes as they're held out to him, and he gives them a cursory look-over as if that's going to give him any indication that they're fixed. He's sure they're fine, if Kyoko's ring is, but he did promise to give them a test-run with her, and after that heavy talk and the... kind of sad? There was definitely something sad to that smile - it seems like she could use something upbeat to lift her spirits.

"I'm glad to listen any time," he answers, voice soft and sincere. "Honestly... the fact that you'd trust me with all of that feels nice." When he thinks of it that way, it doesn't feel too heavy, or stifling. It's kind of strange, but he doesn't want to think too hard about why that is right now. "Thank you, for trusting me."

[the4united]

[Devon certainly has those kind too, but they've become so common now that he doesn't think much about them. They're all about the past and not about a potential future.]

I have no idea. It's never happened to me before. I really don't like it though.

[necromanswers]

The cats better watch their step, or they'll be next.

[Speaking of which, she turns the corner, approaching the temple and waving off any overly-helpful priests hanging around.]

[shroudedsecrets]

[ The priests don't have a reason just yet to serve them with any wariness, keeping their distance when it's clear they seem to know where they're going or what they're after. ]

Then, you shall have to add the birds and the mice in as well, so they don't feel left out.

[daikonrose]

"... That's a relief, then, for sure." And it is, even if there's a brief stab of guilt in her chest at the mention of trust--but she pushes past that for now. She's already made up her mind on where to set her heart, after all; she won't do anything to betray all those kind feelings Shinji is harboring for her.

Turning back to the altar, Kyoko plucks up the dandelion right gingerly, her other hand there to catch it almost as soon as it leaves the stone. "Really... I'm glad it was you. It kinda feels like fate."