hugtopia_logs | ♥ December (Ranir) Event Log

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♥ December (Ranir) Event Log

a small fishing rod seated in snow, with the line leading down a water hole

December (Ranir) Event Log

As another year winds to a close, the air grows sharp with a wintery chill; the perfect weather for curling up with someone under a cozy blanket with some warm hot cocoa. To contrast the cold weather comes a distinctly festive warmth to the city itself; it's some holiday season, even if the natives still can't quite grasp what. While recovery from the recent worm-based catastrophe is still an ongoing thing, the natives are going through with the festivities as they've learned to celebrate: Decorations strung about the city are a bit haphazard and in all manner of colors both holiday-themed and simply colorful in general, the spirit and enthusiasm are certainly there.

❥ PROMPT I: See You Next Level

people ice skating around a rink at night, lit by multicolored star-shaped light fixtures

Residents who venture past the wall to the northwest of the arena to visit the fishing pond might find an unusual sight this month: it's frozen over. This is kind of a big deal, because the city hasn't had a substantial amount of open water in- well, no one quite knows how long! It seems to have totally frozen overnight, which is definitely unusual, but hardly the strangest thing to ever happen in Havenwell. Examining the ice will find it sturdy and solid, a good 6 inches thick at minimum. It is safe to walk on, and more importantly...

Excited for a new experience after all the glum and gloom, some local metalworkers are creating skate attachments that can be adjusted for size and connected to the shoes (or the feet, in the case of the local robotic population) of anyone who wants to give skating a try. Visitors to the area will find a booth set up, occasionally manned but mostly left as a trust exercise, with a collection of these devices that are free to use. Please take as many pairs as your party requires and skate to your heart's content! As a courtesy, borrowers are asked to return the skates once they're finished with them, but if you're really itching for a pair, the booth has the equivalent of a QR code you can scan with your communicator and commission a personalized pair.

It seems that part of the city is extra cold this season, because an influx of snow has practically drowned the arena, leaving a thick layer across the entirety and high piles along the sides. Locals have cleared the entrances and done their best to keep it functional, but those wishing to use the facility might find the ground far less sturdy than usual. You can use it as extra training, or maybe just give in to the urge and have fun with it instead. Go sledding, have a snowball fight!

❥ PROMPT II: Fresh or Frozen

a hand dragging a stick through blue bioluminescence in water, followed by someone's feet stepping into the same

Purveyors of the fishing part of the new rink might be unhappy to have lost their hobby, but hey, no one's stopping you from carving a hole in the ice and giving it a go regardless. There's bound to still be something down there, though perhaps not what you'd expect. While you're out at the lake with another person, if you should happen to look into the water through a hole or the ice itself, you might occasionally see a series of dancing lights flitting around beneath you, mysterious but innocuous. Sometimes they disappear if you stare at them too long. Sometimes they follow you. If curiosity gets the better of you, maybe you ought to try dropping a line - or a hand - in to see what it is. If you're feeling really brave and don't mind the cold, you could even take a dive in and see what's going on up close. (Funny: it's not nearly as cold as you'd expect it to be, considering the frigid circumstances.) And there's no reason to worry about the rink, either. Likely through whatever actually turned the pond to ice, any holes carved into the ice somehow manage to freeze again overnight, as though it was never broken in the first place.

Whatever method you choose, these dancing lights will swirl around hook or hands, pulsing gently, until that light bursts and manifests into something familiar. Something you've been wanting, perhaps, or something you once had and have missed dearly. Maybe something you hadn't thought about at all, but would bring you delight. You can pull it from the waters and find it intact and undamaged by the cold or the water, alive if it is a living creature, though it appears to be hibernating. Dry it off, take it home, and check on it in the morning; you will find your gift as whole and well as if you'd plucked it from wherever you'd find it back home. Do with it what you choose, it's yours now. For those who might have the clever idea to try fishing more than once, surprises may await in the form of...a waterlogged old shoe? An empty tin can? A broken fishing lure? The possibilities are as endless as the objects are useless.

For those who may not have any creature or object of note they need or want, it is also possible for fishing to produce a small crystal, faintly glowing with some form of magic. Leaving the crystal by one's bedside overnight will result in a peculiar but pleasant dream; fulfilling one's heartfelt desire. Whether it's wanting to see somewhere back on your homeworld, getting closure with someone not in Havenwell, or hang gliding off of Everest, you will be able to see your desire in a dream and awake comfortable and well-rested in bed the next day.

This is a regain event! One regain is allowed per character, and it can be anything (within reason) that would fit within the Item Regain: Medium (100 point) category on the Activity Rewards page. Like with AC Rewards, regains must be approved by mods prior to regaining them, so please use the form below and comment to the Regain Request thread.

Player:
Character:
Item requested:

❥ PROMPT III: Snow Problems

cartoonish images of dancing clouds, raining down snowflakes against a blue background

As the weather shifts to something seasonally chilly, on occasion some small patches of clouds can be seen in Havenwell--specifically, hovering over the heads of offworlders. These localized little clouds find people to stick to and follow them a couple of feet overhead to shower them with a gentle dusting of snow, so hopefully you have an umbrella handy. And while the snow can be just snow and nothing more, to others it might have one (or even several at once) effects to it.

Cheers To You: No matter how much one drinks or how they choose to mix their cocktails, they will find themselves completely impervious to the ill effects of alcohol. No hangover, but also no fun to earn it in the first place.

Hand it Over: Some with their own personal snow clouds may feel nothing odd except for a slight tingle in their dominant hand. Whether one stumbles upon the actual effect or not, it is a very simple change: the power of their unarmed punch becomes superpowered and several times stronger than normal.

Sticks and Stones: Still others may feel completely normal and go about their usual day's business with absolutely no awareness of any change but a persistent snowfall overhead. However, should they meet with anything that might ordinarily hurt, they will find that they have twenty-four hours of complete invulnerability starting from when their snow cloud latched on to them.

Time and Tribulation: Perhaps along with the slight chill comes a sudden awareness that one is a bit shorter than usual. Or taller? It would seem that yet another odd side effect of the little snow clouds is that one has aged an entire decade–in either direction, rendering them either younger or older. Luckily, the changes seem to stop at only physical…at least this time.

This event will run from December 15-31. 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Watch out, we’ve got a track star on our hands—- and he’s a ditcher! [She’s pretty unphased by it, though. If Annleigh ever did anything fun, Farrah’s pretty sure she’d leave her behind too.

She kneels to scoop up some more snow and pack a snowball together, and briefly considers chucking this one at Cliff too. She sets it aside instead, moving to hurry and make another one—- because she’s suddenly realized the big fault in her grand plan. It’s fuckin freezing, and when she’s not zipping around, it’s way more obvious that aside from the giant jacket, she’s not dressed for this.]

Shouldn’t the robo cops be happy we’re hanging out?

Well, you were the one to attack me out of nowhere.

[She can't blame him for that! Not that he thinks there will actually be any trouble. He joins her in making ammo, mostly oblivious to her weather woes, unfortunately. It's not like he would have been able to be much help with that, anyway.

The question gets him to make a bit of a face. Ehhh...]

Sort of? It's only touching that counts, though. I'm a little surprised there isn't mistletoe and shit like that everywhere.

Ugh. Don't even, they'll hear you somehow and get shitty ideas. They really picked the wrong girl for all this. [She scoffs, but keeps at it with the snowballs.]

Seriously. The last place I was at? Everyone was all over each other, it was kind of disgusting. One girl had like, five girlfriends by the time we got out of there. She'd have been a smarter kidnapping pick.

[It's really funny to hear this coming from, well, not him.]

Five?

[That's impressive, and he notes as much with a whistle. Multiple partners seems like it's kind of a thing with the people that end up here, but that's a new level! Five girlfriends... He's still shocked about having the one.]

There's a lot of people that don't like that sort of thing here. I hate people touching me. If the gods or whatever are picking us on purpose, they're either huge assholes or, I dunno, want to make sure there's not some perv going around getting grabby. Both's a solid bet. The bots can actually be kinda cool, though.

Yes! She had so many! Like —- leave some for the rest of us! Not that I was into any of them. [Farrah’s voice is hinted with scandal, but she’s grinning. Even with Maya nowhere near, she can’t help but tease her. Then he brings up how he hates being touched, and…

She’s rude.]

You’ve mentioned that before. What’s the deal? Someone drop you, or something?

[squints]

What, like on my head? It's not a weird thing.

No! Like-- well, actually, yeah, on your head maybe-- [right. that's not the point. More snowballs.]

But that's the kind of thing that'd make you hate people touching you, cause it's like, what, you gonna drop me again?

[He packs a snowball a little slower while he gives her an unimpressed look. Do you want another one of these, girl...

But the thing is, it's half right. That was sort of one of the reasons he avoided it, and thanks to how their conversation went when they met, Cliff shrugs and goes back to work. It won't be a big deal to answer.]

Carl -- my stepdad -- was always grabbing me and pushing me around. It was fucking annoying. Now I just want space.

Jesus. [She's basically got a snowball mountain built.]

Fuck that. [And... then... because it's awkward, and Farrah has a perpetual need to fill any tiny bit of silence.] I got dropped on my head. That's kindof funny, right?

[It's a good stock of ammunition... They need something to transport it with. Cliff is looking around for candidates, not keyed into the fact that Farrah is uncomfortable in the wake of that. A little red wagon like what kids have would be perfect, but there's no chance of that. He frowns over at her.]

Uh, depends on how it happened? [But his tone suggests "probably not"...]

Cheer stunt. My base was high and dropped me. [She’s not even paying attention now, just being an infinite snowball machine.]

Lots of people thought it was funny. I’m kindof famous for it.

Oh. You're a cheerleader?

[He doesn't know what a base is, and he assumes high is a cheer thing and not the obvious reality, seeing as he knows absolutely nothing about it except that the girl he has an embarrassing crush back in Podunk is one.]

That sounds like a nightmare. You're famous because someone else screwed up and got you hurt? Were you okay?

Uh, yeah! [She shakes a snowball at him. Whoops, there’s snow tossed all over, because snowballs don’t make great pompoms.]

That was one good thing about my stepmom. She’s loaded. So I started at this fancy private school, and they didn’t have a dance team, and her daughter was already on the cheer team, so whoo! Go Tigers!

I got a concussion. But hundreds of thousands of people thought it was super funny, so…

[Ah, yes. He doesn't know how he could have missed the very obvious cheerleaderness.]

Go Tigers... We're the Bears, in Podunk.

[It already sounded bad to Cliff, who would have died having that kind of attention on him, but wow, holy shit?]

What the fuck? That's awful! [That can be really dangerous!! At least he...can be reasonably sure that isn't how she died... She knows it made her "famous" so she was either alive for that or a ghost, and it would be horrifying if people still laughed.] Did you quit after that?

[Since she was using as a possible reason for why he hated contact...]

The Bears probably would have whooped the Tigers ass. They sucked.

I didn’t quit. Which, I get it now, I fuckin should have! [She rolls her eyes, and gives the next snowball an aggressive pat.]

But I was like. Really good, before I fell. And Annleigh’s stupid boyfriend was my ride home, so it made sense for me to be there. And then it was like… You know that thing where everyone hates you and wants you to leave, so you stay there as an extra fuck you?

[It's obviously a sore subject, but for someone easily frustrated, her anger feels not only justified, but normal.

...The spiteful sticking around, less so.]

Uh, no.

[If that person hates him, he probably hates them even more and wouldn't want to stay. Like, his plan for dealing with his stepdad was to wait and move out as soon as he was eighteen despite knowing that his mom would more than likely kick Carl out if she knew how shitty he was being to him. So. Very much does not understand Farrah's mindset.]

But sports and group things aren't really for me. Having that many eyes on me would freak me out. [It'd have big consequences if he screwed up and turned into a wolf on accident.] Sucks that you liked doing it, when it sounds like every other part of it was shitty. Sorry.

Yeah, well, that's probably good. Cheering's way better than like. Kiddie Pageants. But it wasn't worth staying in when everyone hated me. It didn't end well.

Turns out they hated me so much that my cheer captain straight up fuckin massacred me, so. [She breaks the snowball. Then grins.]

My vote's against team sports too.

[UH?? WHAT THE FUCK???

Cliff is definitely staring now, openly horrified. Sure, cheerleaders could be mean in media, but that's supposed to be fake! They're not supposed to go around murdering other kids! Plus...obviously he doesn't know her much at all, and if he were back home he would have been too pessimistic to talk to her, but Farrah doesn't seem like the type that someone would want to murder? Then again, someone else Cliff knows here had just been a sweet dude that really loved his family, and he super got murdered, too.]

That sucks.

[It isn't the most eloquent of reactions, but he's never been good at that whole comforting thing, and it's always weird when he can see and talk to the person that died. Besides, what else really was there to say? It really sucks!!]

[Farrah pauses and stares back at him— briefly wondering if that was way too much, way too fast.

But also, like, she was the one who was murdered? So she refuses to let herself feel bad about it. And in terms of suck? It really does suck. Even if she had talked to Riley after all of that, and Riley felt like shit about it— Farrah had been straight up murdered by someone she had actually liked— and had looked up to a little bit. And it still fucked with her, like, a lot to think about. That someone had hated her that much, over cheerleading, after someone else had fucked up—-

But it’s not like she’s about to tell that to this other teenager she just met, no matter how much she likes his readiness for trouble or how easy he is to talk to. So, she does what she normally does, which is the very first impulse that hits her brain. And she tries to shove a snowball down the back to his shirt.]

[It's really unfair for her! She has every reason to be upset and can vent however she wants, then dodge the conversation however she wants. He just wishes her method didn't make him suffer so much. More on instinct than in an effort to dodge the worst of it, Cliff leans away to the side. Because of his layers, her attack doesn't actually get too far -- but it's definitely a shock for his poor Oklahoman neck that makes him splutter out a laugh. Awful! If they were more familiar, it'd be tempting to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder, leaving her no escape and keeping ammo out of reach, but even playing around, that's a lot. Besides, there was still that other reason he avoided touching people. No one's said anything, but there was always that what if. He can't risk someone being able to feel the wolf part of him through his skin.]

Farrah! Come on!

[Now he has to take a snowball in each hand and rub them to dust on the top of her head, it's just the law.]

There goes our truce!

[Farrah shrieks again, but she’s laughing at least, shaking her hair off. One hand flies to make sure her giant jacket is safe, but the other grabs for another snowball. Awfully nice that he left her next to her ammo pile.]

Truce!! You were gonna leave me behind for the robo cops!

[She shoves that snowball forward at him too.]

[He had a lot more to lose than being hit with a couple snow balls, and he'll gladly let her have that ammo and that direct hit while he scoops up a snowball of his own and skips backwards, finally getting himself space enough to maneuver around. Unfortunately, as sympathetic as he is to having a special bit of clothing you want to protect, her coat is the biggest, nicest target. The other options were her face or her legs, not as shielded from the cold. Cliff takes careful aim without coming to a stop, and after his throw, he's quick to find something he can use as a shield. I feel like he shouldn't find anything because I can't think of something that would reasonably just be around in a city like Havenwell, even after adapting to human inhabitants, but who knows. Maybe my imagination just sucks and Cliff has found a way to protect himself.]

That's your fault for not negotiating that part earlier!

[Farrah shrieks again, staggering up to her feet. It's actually a relief-- she hadn't realized how cold her legs were until she stood up, but there's little time to focus on that. She's gotta brush the jacket off again (it's fine, and still smells like home. And a little bit like gunpowder) and then she scoops up a snowball in each hand to chase after him.]

I shouldn't have to negotiate! Isn't there some unspoken like, pact here? We were having a moment! [She huffs, throwing another snowball his way-- though her advantages of being right beside him, and the element of surprise are gone. Also, she's totally acting like she's not the one who started this.]

[They we're having a moment... Doesn't matter how committed and head over heels he is for his girlfriend, a pretty girl says something like that and he's going to have his heart skip a beat. At least he was already pink from the cold.]

The moment was after! You're the one that betrayed the moment!

[He thinks???? What does she all count as a moment -- oh damn, she does have a good arm. He manages to just barely dodge on werewolf reflexes, but it means losing the chance for a good retaliatory shot.]

Aw, come on, you know I was just playing! [Like... she is now, maybe? I don't know. The way she tosses that snowball is awfully threatening, but now she's unarmed.]

Whoops.

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