hugtopia_logs | ♥ June (Dianir) Event Log

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♥ June (Dianir) Event Log

a line of rounded streetlights with colorful flowering plants hanging from them

June (Dianir) Event Log
Ainea's time has ended and now Diacht's months have arrived. Dianir marks the beginning of the hot summer months with a rise in temperature as well as humidity. With each passing day, spring gives way to summer, and the natives of Havenwell are enjoying the blue skies along with the newly expanded barrier. With the most dangerous of the beasts gone thanks to offworlder help last month, researchers and conservationists head out on occasion into the newly opened areas to continue the work of cataloguing and preserving what they can find. Some take time to study the barrier and some just seem to enjoy being outside the walls for the first time in centuries. Meanwhile, the city within seems to have calmed from Ealom's excitement, settling into its usual routine with only a few…"hiccups."

❥ PROMPT I: Hana-hack-i

drawing of a girl sitting on the floor, covered in scattered flowers and flower petals

With the turning of the seasons, the weather warms up and Diacht's influence grows in strength. 'Tis the season to be honest with one another, because if you aren't, you may begin to feel a tickle in the back of your throat…

For those who have feelings repressed, secrets unaddressed, or maybe just won't confide in a friend when they're feeling depressed, the gods work in mysterious ways. Specifically, in the fact that the offworlders may find themselves coughing up flower petals. Whether petals of plantlife from Havenwell itself or another world entirely, the longer one goes without confessing their troubles or sentiments the more insistent their condition until they might even have trouble getting through a whole sentence without finding a corsage's worth stuck in their mouth. Speaking minor truths will lessen the effect a little at a time, while larger or more impactful ones will work to cure it completely.

While not painful or otherwise physically harmful, the affliction does feel awkward and very likely doesn't taste all that great. Not to mention it's going to be difficult to keep secrets when everyone can see you have a mouthful of flower.

❥ PROMPT II: Uproot of the Spirit

hearts made of different colors of yarn laid out on a wooden table

Those offworlders that have been present in Havenwell since the previous June may remember an outbreak of traits and desires not necessarily their own, reflecting the dominion of their associated god instead. With the return of the early summer season, so too do such urges begin to resurface--but not quite in the same fashion.

This time around, things are a bit different--adherents to one god may find themselves with any other god or gods' traits, with one or more applying at once, one and then another on different days, any multitude of combinations apart from those of the deity to which they belong. For example, one under Diacht may have the effects of Rawna one day and Ainea the next, or perhaps Ainea and Ohma both at once, but never contend with Diacht's influence. And while the previous year seemed to deal with the gods' animal natures, it seems this time things are a little different as people begin manifesting extreme versions of their gods' emotional domains.

Ohma: As the god of wisdom, Ohma's influence becomes a desperate and insistent need to exchange knowledge. The affected may ask friends and strangers all manner of questions, ranging from 'where did you get that shirt' to 'how do you like your eggs' and everything in between. In exchange, the affected also wish to share their own information on just about everything they know, whether the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow or the entire plot of a book they read that one time. They simply have to give and seek knowledge to and from whoever they can find.

Ainea: The influence of the god of compassion leads the affected to be almost aggressively kind. Complimenting every little thing those around them might say, do, wear--if it can be spoken kindly about, those under Ainea's influence will do so excessively and well past the point of obnoxious. So too might they feel a compulsion to give gifts to others--specifically, giving away the affected's own possessions. Once the effect wears off, one might even have to track down their new and old friends to get their more important things back...

Diacht: Honor and honesty being Diacht's domain, those affected by them will be incapable of lying. They will be compelled to not only speak the truth, but do so out of obligation no matter how awkward for them or the other party. Even if it means speaking a brutally honest opinion or divulging a carefully hidden secret, so long as the words are true to the affected speaker they will have the urge to share it. To tell a lie or general untruth will make them feel suddenly ill, dispelled only by speaking something truthful instead.

Rawna: Rawna's reasoning takes the forefront of their influence; anyone under their affect will be insistent upon hearing and soothing the emotional hurts of others. They are certain they need to be a listening ear or comforting shoulder to the absolute best of their abilities and beyond--that is to say, they will not only go out of their way to find others' problems, but potentially assume ones exist where they do not. Some dear friends haven't spoken in an entire day? Clearly they had a terrible fight, and it's up to Rawna's affected to fix it.

❥ PROMPT III: 'Cause I'd Get A Thousand Hugs

a painting of trees backlit by a full moon and covered in small lights

Yet another indication that the world is recovering is the reappearance of the Fairy Lights. As the weather turns warmer, these beautiful little insects take to the air for their mating dances at night, dimly and softly glowing like Earth's fireflies or lightning bugs. These tiny little bugs float through the air, flitting about as their bodies pulse with light. The Fairy Lights come in a multitude of colors from red to purple, turning the night into soft rainbows of light. They make their triumphant reappearance in two locations: the botanical gardens and the green belt that grew up where the old wall used to be. Their beautiful displays start once the sun goes down and stop at sunrise, and natives are delighting in their return by taking walks among them.

If offworlders follow suit, they'll notice that the Fairy Lights are attracted to those who come in pairs or more, especially those who engage in sustained positive contact with each other while among them. The Fairy Lights seem to enjoy it when people are touching and will land upon them, one of each color until a rainbow has formed - usually in a crown around the head. Once the rainbow crown of Fairy Lights is complete, that character will feel a pleasant calmness and a feeling of peace and happiness wash over them. For as long as you and your partner(s) are in contact, the Fairy Lights will stay and so will the peace they confer. Once contact is broken, one by one the little insects will fly away, off to find a new perch.

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

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He's not sure he'd say it's 'remarkable', but what's more interesting is what Tony has to say after that. "Your bar... Oh!" With that, there's a spark of recognition in his eyes - you wouldn't catch him at Insomnia 2.0 under his own whims, but - "The one Kyoko's working at, right?"

Okay, well, that makes him marginally less of a stranger, even if they've still never actually met. At least this puts him somewhere in Shinji's social circle, so he tentatively accepts the offer of a nice, fizzy drink with a soft, "Thank you."

See there, he thought mentioning his bar might help. It was a point of pride that Insomnia's recognition was growing and clearly this was proof of that.

Well, turns out, only sort of. Tony's lip curled into a smirk. "Ah, you must be the roommate who wouldn't come to my party. Kai said you had something better to do, I believe." Kaito said no such thing, of course, but what fun would that be to admit? Besides, he was just kidding. He didn't really care if this third roommate had attended or not.

"Did... he?"

His 'something better' was definitely just staying home and being an introvert, but tossing that on top of the claim that Shinji not only didn't come, but wouldn't... jeez! Way to make him feel guilty about it!

"S-sorry," might as well apologize to the party boy himself, if it's being brought up. "I'm not... really good with parties."

Tony laughed seeing the kid's face. That had definitely been worth it! He was tempted to keep it up, but maybe not with someone he literally just met.

"Relax, kid. I'm just joking. He's a nice guy. Though, if you wanted to make it up to me, you should stop by sometime on a slow night. The food's good and there are plenty of places you can tuck into a booth and hide." He grinned, still being playful with the young man.

"By the way, what's your name? I'm Tony." He outstretched his hand.

"I'll... keep that in mind." It's still going to be an effort to make it out even on a quiet night, but if the invitation is there, then... he will do his best.

"Mr. Stark, right?" He's heard about him from Kyoko, so far nothing unfavorable, thankfully. A handshake it is, then - Shinji's gotten a bit more used to then in his time here, so the hand currently unoccupied by a lemonade bottle settles in Tony's. "My name is Shinji, it's nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise." He doesn't keep Shinji's hand hostage for long, fortunately. "Do you three live nearby here? My partner and I just moved over here to be closer to some friends. We should have you over sometime. I promise, there are places to hide in my house too, just like the bar," he teased warmly with a grin.

"If you don't want to talk to us, you can always talk to our kitten, Azure. She likes people who don't like other people."

Azure... a kitten... hadn't he seen someone on the network with a cat with a similar name? Maybe a nickname? It wouldn't be too much of a wild conclusion to jump to, who this mysterious partner might be, but maybe it's not the most important info for him to be chasing down right now, either.

Setting aside the subtle jabs at his own timidity, "Yeah, we live," he gestures off in the right direction, "in the Mallows, not too far from here." That would, in theory, make for a nice quick visit, but gosh, Tony, this all feels way too friendly for someone Shinji's only just met. If he knows Kyoko and Kaito, then it's not too bizarre, but gosh. Gosh! "Mm, well, you know Kyoko's schedule pretty well, I'd figure? And Kaito has a flexible schedule, I'm sure arranging something like a visit wouldn't be too hard."

Not real jabs but playful teases between new friends! That was totally different than anything Shinji could take as a real put down, right? Except that the young man wouldn't be the first nor the last to be offended by Tony's sarcastic humor even when it was toned down.

Tony noted where the shy kid pointed, confirming that they were indeed close neighbors. He chuckled and nodded that he should know his employee's schedule. "Ah yeah, how is Kaito's new business going? He's going to have a much shorter trip when we order food." Since they both were fans of good food and had been enjoying suddenly having access to all the Japanese ingredients. "What about you? What do you do?"

Don't worry, Shinji may not have had to deal with it for a while now, but he's not a total stranger to being on the receiving end of this particular brand of teasing. It's going to take a lot for him to be sincerely offended by it, even if he's not exactly thrilled about it.

"It's not really a new business," he's quick to point out. "It might seem that way because he just advertised for it, but he's offered that delivery service for a while now." It's impressive! It's worth admiring in an accurate way! Unlike what Shinji's work load looks like - when Tony asks about it, Shinji clears his throat a bit, bringing his hand up to his mouth to politely catch the little yellow blossoms that fall from it as a result. Those... are new. Hm.

"Not a whole lot," he admits, shaking the flowers out of his hand and on to the ground as nonchalantly as he possibly can and continuing on like that didn't just happen. "Mostly I just try to keep the temple tidy, so my schedule's pretty much open all the time."

"No?" He asked, curious. He listened as Shinji explained. "I see, so he sees all of these ventures as part of the same 'business'. I've hired him several times for the bar to deliver supplies while it was being constructed and now we've a new arrangement regarding anyone who might need a ride home." He smirked with that playful edge to his expression. "With how often we've now been adding food deliveries, you must either really like me for giving him so much work or find me incredibly annoying."

His attention, unfortunately, was derailed when he saw the color of the petals from Shinji's mouth. It became much easier to see them when the young man shook them to the ground. Ah, no. They weren't Cinquefoil. His gaze returned to the gardener's face even if he didn't recall even slightly what they'd been discussing. "Are you needing help figuring out what those mean?"

He's got nothing bad to say about Kai being so busy! But, hang on, let's get this flower situation ironed out, first.

"Mm, it's probably nothing," they... haven't really looked like that before, but he's not sure that it's necessarily any more dangerous than the flowers have been up until this point. He can deal with them later if it stays a problem. Maybe a drink will help, or at lest help sell the idea that this isn't a big deal. Time to finally open up that bottle of lemonade, thank you very much, Tony.

"Kaito seems like he likes what he's doing," let's take a sharp turn back to the important topics, then. "It can get a little lonely when he's gone for a long time, but I'm really glad he's got something to keep him busy, you know?"

Tony, of course, recognized an avoidance tactic when he saw one. The catch was what to do about it. He could let the conversation continue like it was before he saw those easily enough, which was clearly what Shinji wanted, but it was also possible the boy hadn't figured out the pattern. There really wasn't a choice here to someone who had such a strong rescuer mentality.

He nodded as he listened about Kaito with a warm smile. "He's lucky to have such a supportive friend."

Clearing his throat and shifting on the balls of his feet, Tony pulled the conversation back to where he knew Shinji didn't want it. Sorry, pal. "You may have already figured this out, but I'd be remiss if I didn't share this in case you didn't. I've learned the petals are using flower symbolism. It's a code of some kind regarding something we're avoiding dealing with."

He held up a hand quickly. "Now, don't stress out, I'm not going to ask what yours is about unless you want me to. Kyoko is the one who explained to me that if you tell small truths here and there it can cause temporary relief. You might try it."

Hey! No! He wanted to move past that part of the conversation! He's even got it in his head that if he just doesn't pay attention to the thing troubling him, it won't be as obvious that there's anything wrong in the first place. But no, Tony has to go and pull the focus right back on it.

Kyoko's been popping in to conversations at home with bizarre little factoids, so it wasn't really hard for Shinji to put the pieces of why she could be doing that together, but that doesn't make it any easier for him to actually open up to someone he's just met. Any 'small truths' he can think of off the top of his head are... not great, even the thing that's bothering him presently feels inappropriate to air out to someone he doesn't know well, but there is at least one thing worth addressing right off the bat.

"Kaito is... my boyfriend, actually."

Just to clear the air on that. It isn't a secret, though, and it doesn't do a whole lot to stop those petals from rising up in the back of his throat. Cool, great.

He's sorry! He knows this is awkward and it's not like he wants to put Shinji in this situation. It's this crazy city and all the bizarre things it does to force people to share intimate details that others have no right to. Fortunately this time they have some control over what's on display to a point. It went against his nature not to try and help, but yes, he could've probably left it alone.

When Shinji shares that little tidbit of knowledge he's immediately greeted with a smile. Good pick, kid! "He's even luckier than I thought. That also explains why you're such a supportive friend too." Kyoko is living with a couple? That must get awkward. What were the colors of her petals again? Yellow roses which if he remembered correctly meant friendship among other things.

"Things going well with you two and living with Kyoko?" He asked with a slight frown. He wondered what the yellow flower he saw from Shinji meant now.

Between that question and that slight frown, this at least feels like an avenue to try and keep the conversation from centering back on himself. Kyoko's been behaving pretty strangely this month, surely her boss would notice it as well.

"There haven't been any problems, really." He and Kai try to stay pretty discreet about couple stuff, Kyoko hasn't raised issue with anything in particular either. "She and Kaito have been friends for a while, and it's been really nice to know she's not living on her own like she was before."

Tony hoped Shinji's perspective on the situation was accurate. He didn't doubt the young man was giving him what he believed to be true, though. Running a hand over his beard, he asked, "Has she moved in with you recently then? How long has she been there?"

If it hadn't been very long, it was possible all of Kyoko's discomfort was from sorting out how to live in the same space as a couple. That could be awkward. It would be even worse if there were any feelings involved, such as maybe this friend who she's known longer and went to the party with her while friend's boyfriend stayed home. Interesting. Perhaps not the smartest move there, Shinji- even if you are as cute as a button.

"Were you okay with her moving in?"

Wary of unscrupulous behavior on his boyfriend and roommate's part, huh? Well, Shinji is the kind of person who's endlessly trusting with the people who can actually earn his affection, so maybe it's fine if someone thinks he might be being a little careless.

It still feels kind of strange to get this kind of questioning so quickly after meeting someone, but it pulls at least some of the spotlight off of himself, so he doesn't entirely mind answering. "Of course I was." He's not even indignant about it, but he wouldn't have agreed to do it if he wasn't! For the other question, give him a moment to recall exactly... "We had the room ready for her on her birthday, so she's been with us for close to half a year now?"

He'd seen and caused his fair share of unpleasantness and then some. So yes, Tony was a bit of a skeptic. However, he wouldn't want something like that to happen to anyone.

Skeptic or not, Shinji's answers at least were quite convincing. "Then that can't be the issue if she's had six whole months to get used to it." Huh, he wondered what her deal was then. Unless there had been some feelings and those had happened more recently? It could be something else entirely.

"I'll try to talk to her again. She's not good at opening up is she," he remarked with a laugh. Did that sound like anyone else they knew? Shinji..

"Just... don't push her too hard, please." She can definitely be a tough nut to crack if there's something she doesn't want to address, though surely you're not trying to compare her stubbornness to his own. You don't even know the lengths he'll go to in order to keep his own secrets secure! "I'm worried about her, of course, but I don't want her to feel like she's being hounded for something if everyone's asking from every side, you know?"

That's just gonna make her feel like she's being backed into a corner! And that's no good!

Tony raised his hands defensively. "I won't. I promise. I care about her and I just want to help, not make things worse for any of you but especially her." He frowned wondering what he could do if her friends were also worried about her.

He ran a hand along the back of his neck awkwardly. "If you do think of anything I might be able to help with, would you call me? If you do that, I won't say anything and let you boys handle it. You're much closer to her anyway." Although if he saw the need, he might step in anyway. He couldn't help himself, he was a Hero™ after all.

It's definitely good that there are other people who are inclined to keep an eye on Kyoko! It's always nice to have more people watching her back, and honestly Shinji finds some measure of reassurance from knowing that her boss is someone who does have her best interests in mind. Thank you, Tony. Truly.

"I can do that." He can at least keep Tony in the loop for any breakthroughs. "I won't ask you to back off entirely, though, just be careful about how hard you chase the point down. If you can figure anything out, too, we'd want to hear it."

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♥ June (Dianir) Event Log

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