♥ 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...

---

❥ 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.

---

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

I

[silversoldier]

[ Sephiroth opens the door to find a very familiar face shoving a letter his way. He pauses. Blinks. ]

Zack.

[ As if that one word could contain his several hundred questions, beginning with: what on Gaia are you wearing?

Sephiroth does not reach for that letter. ]

[classed]

( hold the phone.

he looks down at the letter in his hand, reads the name again and then once more for good measure, maybe just one more time before he finally looks back up at sephiroth with the sort of wide-eyed befuddlement that generally only comes from a dog trying to figure out where that oddly-toy-sounding squeak is coming from.

at least he's not tilting his head or anything.

also listen. the suit might look weird because they don't have this kind of thing back home, but don't knock it! it's festivus. get into the spirit of festivus with the rest of us, sir. )

—Sephiroth? ( absolutely looking at that letter in his hand one more time. yep. the name is still the same. and yep, it's still the person it's attached to standing right there in front of him. )

Kinda thought it might have been a joke the first time I read it. Or a trick of the light— the name, I mean. ( he waves the hand holding the letter dismissively. ) But it's really you. The heck are you doing here?

[silversoldier]

[ Upon closer inspection, Zack looks different than when Sephiroth saw him so recently. He looks more like the Zack Sephiroth knows. But this and his other questions will be answered in due time. ]

This is where I live.

[ He doesn't say this is his home because it certainly doesn't feel that way despite all that he has gained. Moreover, Sephiroth isn't really sure he even has one anymore--here, or anywhere.

Sephiroth steps back to allow Zack enough room to enter. It's immediately obvious from the simple fact that the surroundings err more on the side of cozy than austere that he isn't the only one who lays his head down here at night. ]

[classed]

That's not what I— never mind. ( of course sephiroth would take that question in the most literal sense, and in that sense, he isn't wrong — but he meant in havenwell, dodobird.

never mind that dodos probably don't exist in their universe, but you can take that term of endearment and zack using it any chance he gets from my cold, dead hands.

he's been doing his best to drop letters off and move right on to the next in his collection but exceptions can be made when it comes to finding friends you had no idea were in the city, right? of course. they have to be. and there's literally nothing and no one stopping him from taking a break to have a conversation.

it's crystal clear through the decor alone that he doesn't live here alone, and we're just going to sit over here chinhandsing in anticipation for the moment he finds out the second occupant is none other than genesis. since as of this particular instance he hasn't run into him on his own yet. give it time.

he's completely forgotten, for the moment, that he has a letter with sephiroth's name on it. he'll remember it eventually. give that time, too. )

Nice place. ( he turns to face him fully again and grins. ) Homier than you'd think with a city full of robots. ( never mind that they once had organic bodies. we're not thinking about that.

and by 'we', of course we mean 'this moron right here'. )

[silversoldier]

[ Sephiroth moves to the kitchen and grabs two mugs from the cupboard, sets them on the kitchen counter. He's been living with someone who is teaching him manners even if most of the time it's purely by osmosis. There really is something to be said about living with another person. It hasn't been that long and he's already picked up a few things: such as, you should offer other people drinks. It's something he never had to think about while at ShinRa but he certainly knows better now. ]

How long have you been here?

[ Sephiroth looks at Zack's brilliant grin and thinks better of giving him coffee. He pours him a mug of juice instead and then slides it over his way while he makes himself that coffee. ]

[classed]

( well, at least you're learning some manners somehow. doesn't really matter how you learn as long as you do, right?

( thanks genesis. you're a bro. )

also hey, hey?? he can have coffee! he can totally have coffee! just because he's grinning all wide and bright like a ray of freaking sunshine doesn't mean he can't have coffee!

but you don't refuse anything offered to you, as his mother would say. and his mama didn't raise no impolite fool; he takes a sip ( casual reminder to invest in a sippy cup, thanks so much ) and gives a one-shouldered shrug. )

Not long. Couple weeks, almost? Been trying to learn my way around. ( siiiiip. ) Kinda surprised I'm just now running into you, unless you're making yourself into a homebody.

( boy if angeal was still alive he'd come out of nowhere and smack you upside the head right about now. stop that. )

[silversoldier]

[ Zack takes a sip and Sephiroth knows he's done something right. Then he starts talking and if there was ever any doubt this was Zack it would be immediately dispelled. Sephiroth takes a sip of his plain black coffee while Zack fills the air with his chatter. It doesn't really matter what he's talking about, just that he is because the familiarity is...nice. Not that he'd ever say so, or that he'd missed him. ]

I see. [ That makes sense since Sephiroth spends most of his time in Havenwell's various libraries or The Arena. ] What is the last thing you remember?

[classed]

( don't make a habit out of the juice, sir. uh, please. juice is great and some adults might mention that mixing it with hard liquor is pretty great — but let's revisit this whole coffee thing in future, shall we? please and thank you.

and at the very least his filling the space around them with idle chatter isn't unwelcome, because it's a habit he hasn't quite been able to grow out of; he's not the type to talk just to hear the sound of his own voice ( like some people he knows, not naming any names, of course ) but he just. generally always has something to say? and while he does know the difference between being able to run off at the mouth whenever he feels like it and needing to keep his mouth shut, this … is sephiroth. and he's always, if only politely, let him carry on as he sees fit.

for the most part, anyway. and if you missed him, or anything close to that, we won't tell. it'll be our little secret. scout's — er — SOLDIER's honor!

he takes one more sip and sets his glass down, that question hitting him like a proverbial ton of bricks and he hesitates, because of all the things he'd thought he'd find himself talking about here, he hadn't thought about this. he should have, though, shouldn't he? if sephiroth has already been here longer than he has, and that much is more than evident, it would stand to reason that he would ask such a thing.

he stalls, swallows around a sudden lump in his throat. ) I was on mission in Modeoheim. ( another pause, another stall. he'd gone straight to the church in the slums after that, without even thinking of going anywhere else.

he leaves it at that, waits to see if sephiroth has anything to say for himself before giving anything else over. )

[silversoldier]

[ Although Sephiroth doesn't react visibly, it isn't as if this is not something that affects him. He's just not one for emotional displays of any kind and then there is the fact he's had a long time to deal with that particular shock--much more time than Zack, it seems.

Sephiroth sets his mug down. ]

That was over a year ago. More, if you count the time I've spent here.

[ It is his own particular brand of kindness that causes him to offer this knowledge so soon. It's meant to be a distraction from that all-too-painful topic. ]

[classed]

( whatever sort of reaction he might have thought to expect from the other, it wouldn't have been much; he's never known sephiroth to show any outward sign of anything, why would this be any different, even if it carries with it the reminder of what had happened to one of his closest friends?

at the very least, zack doesn't have time to dwell on the memory of what had happened then, not when those next words come out of sephiroth's mouth and he can't help put to peer up at him with more than just a tinge of confusion in now wide, bright blue eyes. ) A year? More than— ( he stops there, stares at some nondescript spot in the space in front of him, trying to get his thoughts together like any of this has a hope of making any sense to him.

over a year. how is that even possible?

he sighs, juice forgotten, folds his arms over his chest. ) Anything I should know about in that case, then? ( oh zack honey we don't want to go down that route, do we? )

[silversoldier]

[ Sephiroth's tactic might have worked but he has no intention of revealing any information to Zack. It's a path he avoided for himself and not one he intends to traverse with Zack either. Instead, he offers some insight into Havenwell. ]

It's not uncommon here.

[ And because Zack asked, now seems about as good a time as any to mention his housemate. ]

For instance, Genesis is from many years in the future. Don't be alarmed when you meet him. He is himself again.

[classed]

( well. at the very least, he knows a deflection when he sees one and he's not about to make this worse by pushing further when he doesn't need to. any information sephiroth gives him will undoubtedly be invaluable, of course given the source, and he nods at the admittance that gaps in memories isn't all that uncommon.

except, you'll have to excuse him as he does a bit of a double-take at the mention of — ) Genesis? Years in the fu— how is that even possible? ( sweetheart you better take another sip of your juice before you hurt yourself.

he does, and then he takes a breath in, and lets it out slowly. )

What do you mean, he's himself again? Like he's … not trying-to-destroy-everything crazy?

( sorry man but you know it's true. it happened. )

[silversoldier]

[ Sephiroth takes a sip of his coffee and sets the mug back down. He does this not because he was thirsty, but to give Zack a little more time to wrap his mind around things. ]

As I said, don't worry.

[ This is also something Sephiroth has no intention of elaborating on. It is entirely up to Genesis what information about himself he chooses to share and with whom. Sephiroth's social skills are far from great but even he knows better than to violate that trust. ]

[classed]

( well. thanks for that extra time, at least, but we're sorry to say it isn't going to do as much good as you probably want it to.

it's going to take a minute for him to actually come to terms with genesis not … being the way he's most recently familiar with. which, as he's said, is trying-to-destroy-everything batshit crazy.

he's quiet for a moment longer once he realizes sephiroth isn't going to expound any more than he has — which isn't a lot, thanks — but he would understand his wanting to violate trust on that front. ) Yeah, okay. ( he takes a breath in and lets it out slowly. )

Anything else?

[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. ]

[classed]

( ah yes, rufus. a man that he has yet to run into for himself here — but that's neither here nor there. it'll happen one of these days. probably.

yeah, sure. dropping information like that in such a tone that it implies that there is nothing else at all worth noting is how you do it. yep. mhm. there is nothing wrong with that at all.

zack considers that for a second, expression just far enough on the unreadable side to pass for as much, eyes trained on his mostly-empty glass of juice before they level again on the man in front of him. this isn't something to be taken lightly, that's for sure, but he's not. entirely sure how to respond. except. )

Does that mean you deserted, too?

( well. guess he does know how to respond to that. how many more friends is he going to lose in a future he doesn't know about? )

[silversoldier]

[ There are so many ways Sephiroth could answer that question, but most would involve divulging information about events that are still in the future for Zack and that is something Sephiroth has already decided against. ]

No. [ But he could have, would have, should definitely have years ago. ] I made the decision here. [ There is a small pause. ] Not that it matters yet.

[classed]

Oh.

( it's all he says at first, because of course you can't blame him for asking the question in the first place, what with all the wild goose chocobo chases he's been on when it comes to tracking genesis down, and then angeal —

he's not sure he knows what he's supposed to believe anymore, what he's supposed to do even though he'd picked himself up and dusted himself off after modeoheim, and pushed forward the only way he knows how.

it doesn't make it any easier.

he tries to shrug it off, like it's no big deal. ) At the end of the day, you've gotta do what's best for you, right? ( he takes in a breath, lets it out slowly. )

What are you gonna do if you ever go back home?

( set everything on fire. but. that's neither here nor there. )

[silversoldier]

[ Sephiroth might not be good at people, but Zack is easy to read and Sephiroth senses that, once again, he's thinking unpleasant thoughts. Sephiroth knows it needed to be said and that things probably won't end well if he ever manages to make it back to Gaia--either from him not "reacting well" to whatever he discovers, as Genesis said, or from an inevitable confrontation with ShinRa. However, that doesn't mean he needs to trouble Zack with events that might never occur. ]

I don't know.

[ It's technically the truth. ]

I almost prefer it here.

[ The idea of staying has started to grow on Sephiroth ever since Genesis arrived, and now Zack too, with the possibility of Angeal appearing one day. If only the so-called gods didn't interfere in their lives... It's also a great deflection. ]

[classed]

( he appreciates whatever measure of honesty sephiroth thinks to give him, wants to give him and while he doesn't like the implication of what it might mean that his friend no longer feels the need to remain loyal to shinra, it isn't going to do him any good fretting over the why of it.

if he could keep his expression from being so damned easy to read, it wouldn't matter, would it? he would be able to take everything he's given in stride and move right along without having to linger too long on it. it's just. it's never going to be that simple, is it?

he's quiet for another long moment. ) I guess it is kinda nice. ( and he's just going to finish his juice so he doesn't have to fill the silence with more words just yet. )

I could get used to it. ( shrug! ) You've been here way longer than I have, and if you're comfortable, it can't be so bad, right?

( oh the faith you have in this man, zack fair. )

Zack you break my heart

[silversoldier]

[ There's an almost nonexistent smile on Sephiroth's face for a moment because leave it to Zack to see the good in their situations even after all of that. But, then, that's what Sephiroth has always liked about him. He suspects it's what everyone likes about Zack.

Comfortable is a strong word though. ]

It's...different.

[ Sephiroth sets the juice bottle on the countertop in case Zack wants some more. There's a lot more that he could say on the topic but his version of kindness is changing it. Zack will discover things for himself in time. ]

What were you doing before?

he's a Good Boy ( tm )

[classed]

( he'll try to see the good in everything — everything — until there's nothing left to see at all, but we're sure that goes without saying by now. he's just always been that kid that can see the bright side of any given situation, no matter how dark the rest of it seems.

besides, this place really doesn't seem all that bad. yet. there's no telling what the future holds for him.

( ain't that the damned truth. ahem. what? who said that? )

he laughs at the response he gets. different. that sure is saying something, isn't it? but that's neither here nor there. ) Before I got here? Just kinda … ( he shrugs almost dismissively. ) Treading water, I guess. Pushing forward. ( there's another small pause, and he looks at the other man with bright, honest blue eyes. )

Can't let anything keep you down for too long, you know? No point in it.

must protecc

[silversoldier]

I meant before you knocked on my door.

[ Sephiroth just kind of gives Zack a look. It's a Sephiroth look and much like other Sephiroth looks it might be hard to distinguish from his resting Sephiroth face but if one knows him well enough one will understand he is skeptical about that obnoxious, red outfit. ]

[classed]

( well of course he's skeptical of the outfit. there's nothing like it where they come from, but … come on, sephiroth, you at least have to agree that he looks pretty cute in it.

or maybe you don't, we're not your real dad.

he breathes out a sigh, almost a huff like oh, that's what you meant and reaches for the juice bottle because he would like some more, thank you. ) Delivering letters. ( he says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. )

There's tons of them, which is why they needed help getting them all out. ( pause, sip. ) You gonna open yours? Might be important.

[silversoldier]

[ Sephiroth would ask why he felt obligated to help but this is Zack. Of course he did. Sephiroth knows that much about him. It's one reason why he's always felt a certain need to look out for the younger man albeit in his own way.

Sephiroth considers the question very briefly. ]

No.

[ All of his important people are either here or dead. He doesn't care what anyone else thinks or has to say enough to open it. Besides, if anyone truly wanted something from him they would let him know in another manner and not through...whatever this is.

Annnd Sephiroth finishes off his coffee. ]