hugtopia_logs | ♥ July 2019 Intro Mingle

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♥ July 2019 Intro Mingle

July Intro Log
Welcome to Havenwell! The walled city and its robotic inhabitants welcome all of the offworlders to Aellyn. New arrivals are given their tablets and showed to open housing, given tours around the city, and generally helped with settling into their new world. Some robots are more curious than others, more helpful than others, but overall the atmosphere of the city is one of hope and celebration. It is, however, a city that needs some help, and as newcomers wander, they may find that they can do a lot to aid Havenwell in its recovery.

❥ PROMPT I: Temple Jobs

The priests of each temple have a digital bulletin board in front of their temple doors that lists several tasks that each temple is asking of natives and newcomers alike. Havenwell is protected from the worst of the damage outside the walls, but it's still an ancient city and there's always something that needs to be done. Of course, the priests won't ask you to do these things for free, so anyone who wants to join up and complete a task will receive a reward of Dora sent to their bank accounts.

The sudden weather changes sometimes results in localized floods, so businesses and homes are always looking for help cleaning debris and mopping floors. The temples themselves always need a little extra help picking up after the temple animals or cleaning the altars. Some stores need help transporting goods across the city - normally a two person job, pulling carts and wagons. And lately, temples have been asking for help in cleaning up the city square for a "big *wink wink* project" coming soon. The priests won't say more than that, but they will offer payment for anyone willing to keep the square clean. Which may be a little difficult with the influx of new people, maps, and general trash and broken debris everywhere. It may be smart to team up to keep things clean!

❥ PROMPT II: Repli-fails

One thing that new residents might find that needs some help are the food replicators found in each home. They've been unused for so long that issues and trouble were inevitable. People who can fix them are few and far between, however, so until an antiques' maintenance-minded robotic denizen stops by, characters may have to suffer through some glitches. When characters ask for potatoes, they might find blue-flavored toothpaste getting dispensed instead. Or if they ask for 1 carrot, they get 20 hot pink ones instead. Or asking for a drink becomes a never-ending stream of said drink. Or they might not dispense anything that looks like food at all and instead inundate you with vaguely fish-shaped wooden blocks. Good luck, newbies. Even the natives are a little baffled by this one.

❥ PROMPT III: Virtual? Reality?

The VR simulation of the month, Petting Zoo, seems to still be pretty popular. Natives are plugging in to pet animals in record numbers and it's encouraged the proprietors of the VR parlors to keep the game a little longer than normal. New arrivals are encouraged to take the VR headsets for a spin to help proprietors gauge how to better adjust them for non-robotic clientele. That said, they'll still ask characters to pay for the experience, just not at a slightly discounted rate if they answer a survey afterwards. Characters will notice that holding hands with someone else during their VR experience significantly improves the quality of the visuals and audio input.

Unfortunately, as with most things in Havenwell, the VR experience doesn't always go as planned. On occasion in the city, glitches happen while residents are plugged in and suddenly that flock of giant pink sheep they were petting? Yeah, they're now manifested in the real world. In and around the entertainment districts, illogically colored sheep, giant house cats, miniature ponies, and - of course - the dreaded aggro rainbow chickens suddenly start appearing in packs. Their images glitch in and out, fuzzing into static in places, but they're very real and very confused about not being in their happy green pastures. Which means they panic, of course, and start running amok. Help the citizens corral these strange beasts until the glitch ends, run away from the now very real flocks of rainbow chickens that want to dogpile you, or simply stand by and watch the chaos occur. It's up to you how you want to help!

❥ PROMPT IV: The Ribbon Games

A couple weeks after everyone has arrived and had time to mostly settle into the weird weather patterns and machinery muck-ups, a notice is plastered across the network:

The citizens of Havenwell wish you well, offworlders! To show our appreciation for your assistance in saving our world, we cordially invite you to participate in an ancient tradition: The Ribbon Games! In the old days, this festival was held as a celebration of joyous events. You have a week to collect as many ribbons as you can from your temple by completing their Ribbon Task. Then, at the end of the week, we are hosting a party in your honor where you can compete to collect ribbons from the other temples to win fabulous prizes! Please visit your deity's temple to find out more and we hope you will join us for the Ribbon Games Party at the end of the week.

With all our gratitude,
The Citizens of Havenwell

Those who choose to participate and head to their deity's temple will find a priest with a sash and a box of ribbons in the colors of your chosen deity. They point to a digital board at their side that lists the task you'll need to complete in order to earn one of these ribbons, and will allow characters to complete a ribbon challenge once a day until the week is over for a total of 7 ribbons if they come each day. You may only earn the ribbon of your assigned deity, so if you are an adherent of Rawna and go to Ainea's temple, even if you complete Ainea's task, you cannot receive her ribbon. The tasks are:

Rawna: Give comfort to someone or ease someone's pain within Rawna's temple to receive a shimmering silver ribbon.
Ainea: Do an act of kindness or show compassion to someone within Ainea's temple to receive a soft pink and purple ribbon.
Diacht: Reveal an honest truth about yourself within Diacht's temple to receive a bold red and white ribbon.
Ohma: Learn something new about or from someone within Ohma's temple to receive a delicate blue and gold ribbon.

Once a task is completed, the priest will remove a ribbon from their box and affix it to your clothing. Don't let anyone steal your ribbons! Good luck keeping them safe, offworlders.

Outdoor party space with hanging lights and flowers

❥ PROMPT V: The Fanciest of Welcome Parties

At the end of the month, once the city square is clean and the ribbons have been distributed to participating citizens, the newest residents of Havenwell will wake to the sound of music floating over the city. During the night while people slept, the natives decorated the city with streamers, brightly colored lanterns, and strings of beautiful lights that glow no matter the hour of the day. The natives have decorated themselves, too, and provide the offworlders with clothing and decorations to match. Garishly colored sashes, brilliantly (artificially) plumed hats, skirts and tunics, boas and fake flower leis - just about anything you can imagine, they're wearing. In and around the city square there are long tables of oddly colored finger foods - orange-colored grapes, bright pink meats, blue cheeses and the like are provided along with golden chocolates, fuchsia frosted cupcakes with pink cake underneath, and minty green cookies. The foods might look strange, but at least they mostly taste like they're supposed to. The citizens are trying, they promise.

All around the fountain depicting the four gods in the center of the square, pre-recorded music is playing and the natives are dancing in pairs, groups, and lines. Join them for a dance and they'll happily teach you the local customs, or break out your own moves and share your world's best moves to earn some applause and awkward attempts at recreating them.

The big game of the night is shared by the natives and it's announced halfway through the party. The culmination of the Ribbon Games is a contest to try and collect a set of four ribbons - one from each different god's temple. The rules are simple:

Attach your ribbons to yourself in a clearly visible location.
Tag and hold someone else for more than 1 minute. You can bear hug them, hold their hands, link arms, anything!
After sustaining contact, you can take one of their ribbons. If you aren't the character who initiated contact, you can't take a ribbon.
Gather one of each god's ribbon in order to win a prize!

If you successfully manage to get all four ribbons, a little shower of confetti will burst from your ribbons and a nice little chunk of Dora will be transferred to your account. This can only work once unfortunately, but it's a nice little bonus for your first month in Havenwell! The party continues late into the night and the natives are happy to keep the party going as long as any of the offworlders wish to keep dancing.

As a reminder, please post your character to the Taken Character list and your own information to the Player Contact list as soon as possible. It helps us keep track of our player cap!

If you have any other questions, please ask them in the QUESTION thread below. Feel free to use the CR/Intro Meme to do OOC plotting. Otherwise, welcome to Hugtopia's first mingle log!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Boxing is not one he's familiar with but martial arts sort of makes sense. He knew there were people that trained for the sport of it but it was something so far removed from his life even before the Night fell that it's hard to imagine. It's a shame he hasn't stumbled into Regis yet, though, because he'd love to prove Will wrong about the shooting lightning thing.]

Mediated fights, then. With elemental powers. So these pokemon of yours are mostly tame then? I can't imagine trying to convince a coeurl to fight at your command, even if it would be nice to turn their thunder attacks on the enemy.

[He does lift his free hand to give his fingers a brief wistful look.]

That sort of power is what kept our kingdom safe for a long time. It's hard to challenge raw elemental magic.

Mmhmm! It's traditional to start with a bred, domesticated partner. Beyond that, though? Unless you buy others, you're expected to tame Pokémon you encounter in the wilderness.

That sometimes means fighting them to prove you're strong and courageous enough to be respected, but not always. Sometimes, you can just make friends with the ones you encounter. Or they'll even seek you out instead! I hear that happens a lot with Fighting types--most Pokémon are competitive by nature, but Fighting types have such a high drive for battle they'll leap at the chance to bond with a trainer they think is serious enough to help them realize their full potential.

[So yeah, basically exactly like convincing a Coeurl to fight at your side. He would absolutely love to be proven wrong about that too, honestly--it's enough to derail his train of thought.]

You use elemental magic?

Fascinating... I imagine a lot of people are gravely injured, if not outright killed attempting all of this? [Don't tell him you're sending kids out to do this shit he'll be horrified. He did the child soldier thing, it fucks you up.

That question gets a startled look, hand dropping to his side, fist clenched and expression going dark. Steely gaze straight ahead the way the inquiry makes him shut down is plainly visible, the pain, raw and deep and fiercely unacknowledged is a little harder to guess at but for someone like Will it would be all too obvious. As is the frustration, anger at himself for getting caught up in this boys tales that he let those walls of his slip for even that fleeting moment.]

Not anymore.

Not often, but it can happen. That's why people usually travel together, for company and to make sure someone is on hand to help if they need it.

[Ah--he hadn't been expecting that sudden stab of raw pain, or the sudden rush of anger that floods in, as though it could simply wash the anguish away if it burned hot enough. Will sucks in a sharp breath, faltering out of step; the wagon skews, and he hurries to catch back up. What in the world had happened, to prompt that kind of reaction? Had he lost his powers somehow? Been traumatized out of using them? Had that power failed to protect his kingdom from something disastrous?

He doesn't push, given the way Cor so clearly shut down--but Will does reach for his clenched hand without comment, ready to at least offer a comforting squeeze.]

[For as much as his emotional response affects Will, Cor himself hardly misses a beat. His grip tightens on the cart, steadying it when the younger man's footing falters, his steps slow, giving him time to right himself. His hand uncurls, lifting slightly, raised and ready to take his weight should he fall. But instead he finds Will's hand, reaching to offer comfort for something that Cor can hardly put words to. He frowns, the look he casts aside one of confusion and worry. Had he really been so obvious? Why had the boy stumbled at that moment as well?

Cor doesn't push Will's hand away but he makes no move to accept the offered comfort either. Instead he returns to their earlier pace and, more importantly, earlier conversation.]

These pokemon of yours must not be nearly as volatile as the creatures of Eos if that is the case. Even experienced Hunters have been known to be slain by weak creatures if they are not careful enough.

W-well.....

[A moment's hesitation as Will scrapes his composure back together and settles back into their pace; his hand simply brushes against Cor's as it drops instead, and he summons up a smile as though none of it had ever happened. He really wants to drop it that badly, huh?]

I mean--they probably are in general? But it depends on the species, and how fully grown they are, and lots of other things. Most people stick to the younger forms, since they're weaker, and usually easier to cultivate a bond with.

And some species are a lot harder or more dangerous to catch than others. You'd have to be insane to try to catch a wild Hydreigon! But if you could manage to find a wild Goodra? It would probably walk right up and hug you.

[It was hardly brought up so there's nothing to drop. Even if he were to discuss the mechanics of how magic works in his world it would hardly be a discussion of his feelings (and failings). ]

We have some domesticated breeds of dogs but even a domesticated creature like a Chocobo would hardly walk right up to a human in the wild. Most of our wildlife is... defensive at best and usually well equipped to defend itself.

[He'll get Feels out of you one day, Cor. Just you wait!11]

I guess that's fair. It sounds like there's more to be defensive over, if the power levels can get so unbalanced! What are Chocobos and Dogs? Oh, and Coeurl?

[But today is not that day!]

Chocobos are large domesticated birds for riding. Dogs are... canines? If you don't know dogs your not likely to know the difference between canine and feline. [He frowns a little, trying to think of how to explain the differences.]

Both are four legged, furred creatures but canines, dogs, are pack hunters built for stamina hunts and domesticated over the centuries. Felines, cats, are solitary and ambush predators. There are some domesticated cats but even domesticated they're not... exactly the most affectionate.

Coeurls are a type of large wild cat, incredibly intelligent and agile with teleportation abilities and thunder magic.

[Alas!! Give him a second to try and parse that, Pokémon has a ton of furry critters. On the plus side, Chocobos sound perfectly natural to him? They're practically one-headed Dodrio.]

So like Houndoom versus Persian..... That makes sense, I guess. Coeurls are really Psychic and Electric type, though? That's a rare combination. No wonder they're so scary!

[Will whistles at that, obviously impressed. How dangerous would it be to train one of those? Maybe it has an earlier form and you'd just have to get them young.....]

They're not that powerful. Some Hunters can challenge them as early as Rank 2 but they're tricky so it's safer to wait. So long as an elder doesn't show up.

[An Eldeer Coeurl is more like a rank 8 enemy. And we're not even going to talk about the Galahdian subspecies. Libertus has mentioned those and he's a little bit horrified that something like that exists.]

You say type as though it has more meaning than simply describing the type of magic being used...

Types are the elemental affinities something has! It's a good way to know what they're strong and weak against, and what attacks they're probably best with. Sometimes it even informs their whole fighting style, so you have to base most of strategy on it! How many ranks up can hunters go?

Ah... so a classification system.

[That makes sense. He is surprised to have the younger man asking about Hunters though.]

Well technically it is a scale of 1-10 but practically it topped out at 8. There are very few people that could face down a kingatrice or molokujata and by all accounts it would be impossible without the magic of the royal line. Killing one of those beasts is a task for a full battalion of Kingsglaives and rank 8 hunters.

Wow..... And even those are just natural animals? Just..... strong and rare ones?

[Strong, rare, and possibly actively aggressive, if it takes an army to kill the things. Or are they just reclusive but devastatingly powerful, and killed as a precaution? That sounds tragic, but..... well, he supposes he can't blame these hunters too much for being afraid of what that kind of power could do to their homes and families.

Will's pace slows a little--partially because he is starting to get tired, hauling such a load like this, and partially because the office buildings they've been passing are finally starting to give way to more modest shops. Where exactly are they supposed to bring all this, again?]

Hunters were rarely asked or expected to deal with daemons until very recently. It was considered far too dangerous. Of course the increasing volume of the scourge made everything more aggressive...

[Cor carefully slows to match Will's pace, eyeing the shift in their surroundings.]

If memory serves the map said we should take a right up here to access the back side of the shop.

Sick animals are always more likely to lash out. I guess they don't have much choice anymore, though..... It sounds dangerous whether they dig in and wait, or go on the offensive.

[Whew, that means they're close..... Good thing Cor held onto the map for them, huh? He's honestly more used to navigating from a bird's eye view.]

The one with the stripey awning? Hopefully they're expecting us!

.... more than you know.

[It's soft and somber, more of that pain he carries drifting dangerously close to the surface. Something to be pushed aside and tamped down. Easily done thanks to their arrival and the flurry of activity of delivering the cart and helping unload it. There's insistence that they do not need to unload, of course, but Cor's hearing none of it. He takes a moment to remove his jacket, carefully replacing the silver bangle from the outer sleeve to slide over the edge of the tee he wears underneath. If nothing else the work helps keep his mind occupied. But even that doesn't take too long and before he knows it they're left with a decent chunk of Dora on their accounts and...

nothing to do. ]

..............

[It's an ache this time, not a stab. Not as overwhelming or sudden as before; Will doesn't falter this time, but he is uncharacteristically quiet as he helps unload, trying to distance himself a little better and regain his sparkle. Enjoy talking to the robots for both of you, Cor--it may never happen again.

By the time they're done, he's more or less managed to get back to his usual self, gingerly rubbing his shoulder and smiling up at Cor.]

I'm not really used to lugging things around like that anymore, since I stopped traveling..... Where are you off to now?

You shouldn't strain yourself.

[Be careful, Will. It's a subtle frown, barely a shift from his usual neutrality but the concern is there, far deeper than his expression conveys.]

Back to the temples for another job I suppose... nothing much else to do.

[Excuse him, Cor, he's going to just start laughing. It's not that he doesn't appreciate your concern! But. But! Are you even listening to yourself before you talk?

Congratulations, he's only just met you, and he's already guessing how overwhelmingly skewed your concern for others versus yourself is.]

Ahahaha! Are you really going to say both of those in the same breath?

[See, Will, the difference is that you were just rubbing your shoulder because it's sore. He may be embarrassingly close to 50 but he's also made a point of keeping himself in the absolute best physical condition humanly possible.

Which honestly makes him frown, surprised and genuinely confused as to what is humorous.]

I don't see why not.

Hehehe..... You just dragged a wagon all the way across the city, and then you're going to walk all the way back and pick up another job that's probably also manual labor, and you've probably been doing more work before this job, too.....

You're either really bad at taking your own advice, or you're a real Mudsdale. Or maybe both! I won't rule that out, either.

[He's built for agility, not strength and endurance, of course he's sore. That was literally an entire loaded wagon, after all! Isn't it funny that Cor plans to exhaust himself, yet is worried about someone else after only one job, though?]

I'm a soldier. If anything simple deliveries like this are not even utilizing most of my skills, it's simply something to do and it benefits our hosts.

[He shrugs a little, no he doesn't find if funny. He... doesn't find most things funny. Or at least doesn't let himself express it when he does.]

What else am I supposed to do with myself here?

[Seriously, Will. He's got no idea.]

Just because you're not using your skills doesn't mean you can't tire yourself out, big guy. You were the one worried about something unexpected happening even inside the city walls, right?

[Will reaches up to pat Cor's shoulder, as though he really is talking to a great big stubborn Mudsdale, one that doesn't want to lie down even after it's been unharnessed.]

I don't know..... You could pick up a hobby, maybe? Read some books? What do you usually do when you're not fighting?

[His first mistake was assuming Eos was ever at peace, wasn't it?]

[He hates to admit it but Will does have a point. It might be best to reserve at least some of his strength in case something goes awry. Not that he's really been well rested or able to make that kind of call for years now. He's been pushing himself to the limit since Insomnia fell and even with that their losses have been far too great.

The idea of just sitting back and reading a book is, honestly, startling. Almost as much as that casual pat to his shoulder is, the touch unfamiliar enough to make him tense, not unlike the creature Will keeps comparing him too, startled and preparing to bolt.]

Usually? Reading reports, discussing strategy, planning rescue efforts and sending out teams of hunters to particularly bad areas... though most recently we've been handling the evacuation of the Crown City and trying to ensure the survival of as many people as we can.

[A pointed look, not exactly a scowl but something dark that conveys exactly how frustrating he finds this line of questioning. No, he doesn't have hobbies. No, he doesn't have time for hobbies. Not with so many lives on the line.]

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Plz don't try to catch a Coeurl, Will, it would 100% eat your face..... /)_(\

Even a Galahdian isn't that stupid.

Somebody make sure he never goes to Eos

Love yourself, Will. Never go to Eos. Especially in Cor's time.

No promises >.>

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