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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Well, why not?

[He heads for the entrance himself, as if she were inviting him along. She is now. But he slows once he's level with her, spinning to drift backwards in that direction, facing her with a smile.]

Let's test it out! You already said it. Either you say it again inside, it doesn't work, and you're no worse off, or it does work and you make a profit. I'll even be your witness!

Y'know what? To heck with it, let's go.

[She spins on her heel without hesitation, marching into the temple and peering around, hands on her hips. There's a few robo-priests milling about, but it's not hugely populated.

The place looks pretty enough, though, if you're into that sort of thing.]

Hmm... might be more of an audience further in.

The more the merrier, I always say!

[He follows, doing a 360 once he's well into the area, giving it a good once-over. Fancy place. It's not quite his first time inside, but he'd been in and out as quickly as possible before, which had probably not helped the case for his earnestness. At last he settles a few feet away from her.]

But maybe I shouldn't make blanket statements like that around this Diacht guy. I've probably said "the more the merrier" before, at least once! That's better. Well, lead the way.

Close enough! The god likes honesty, right? Or something like that. So you're probably on the right track.

[She shoots him a pair of finger-guns and continues onwards inside, offering up a casual wave to some of the priests now watching them explore. A few wave back and return to their duties, but thankfully no one moves to stop them.]

So what's your handle, little fella?

[The altar is attention-grabbing, for better or for worse, considering the circumstances. Would she yell it from there? He begins to drift in that direction to get a better look at it anyway, and whatever happens will happen, and it's probably going to be great.

But he stays near enough to have an indoor voice conversation, though not as hushed as "temple environment" might call for, depending on who you ask.]

It's Magolor! Handle, huh. I don't hear that all that often. What's yours, before I hear it on the news tomorrow?

[She laughs at that.]

As if they'd be so lucky to catch me! But I'm Lup, anyway.

[She's got her eyes on the altar too now, actually. Looks totally climbable... might be a good vantage point, too. And with the open-air concept of this place, her voice would really echo. Hmm...]

Nice to meet you!

[He turns back to her with a little wave, sees the direction she's looking in, and breaks into a brighter grin.]

Hehehe, you're thinking what I'm thinking, huh? What better place to unleash the full force of your honesty? If I were a god, I know I'd appreciate it!

Well, so long as I have your stamp of approval. Think you can distract that fella over there for me, so I can get a head start?

[She points towards one of the robot priests tending to the garden- not only facing the altar, but also standing a little too close to it for her to get a leg up.]

Just in case it's not on the level.

Welllllll, I guess it was my idea, so how can I say no? Just watch this! Or don't. You can watch it from up there instead.

[There's nothing easier than being distracting. Magolor pops off a salute and zooms right over to the priest, shamelessly in his face. He chatters away without missing a beat: Oh, thank goodness you aren't too busy! You aren't, are you? I just had a few questions about this place, but I could ask someone else, if you really . . . oh, thank you! Of course you'd help me! You're one of my own people, after all. I just knew when I chose Diacht to pledge myself to that—

And so on, and so on, and so on.]

[Look at him go. He's so exuberant about it that it even draws the attention of a few more of the priests, drawing closer in hopes of helping the newcomer along in his budding faith. Satisfied, Lup murmurs a handful of arcane words under her breath and draws her hand across her face- and as she does so, her form ripples and changes in a matter of seconds until she herself looks just like one of the robotic priests, clad in the temple colours.

For the moment playing the part, she offers a stiff salute in Magolor's direction - thanks, little buddy! - and kicks off the ground, landing on one of the birds on the lower level of the altar. Up she goes!]

[While he's mostly busying himself with keeping the priests occupied, Magolor has one eye, or more like half of one eye, on his partner in crime; he catches some of the illusion happening there, and his eyes widen fractionally. That's some power. But he can't let himself admire it, or even think too much on it, now, if he doesn't want to slip up in his own role. It's a good thing he's practiced as hell as putting things aside in the pursuit of a goal—there's only that blip in his conversation, and then he's back at it again, easily splitting his attention (and physical affection) between the tiny crowd of robopriests. This is embarrassing, but can I confide something in you? I haven't always been honest in my life. That was a long time ago, but there are some people back home who still think of me as the liar wizard, and, even though, I deserve it, every time I hear it, my feelings just,

The more teary he begins to sound, the more his voice breaks. Too bad he's not in Rawna's temple right now.]

[The priests are patient and attentive to his distraction, but not so much that they're completely unaware of what's going around them; she's about halfway up when one of them breaks away and politely inquires just what she's doing up there.

Lup, half-hanging from one of the upper birds, takes a beat to consider her options, and then lays a hand over her heart- or whatever counts for a heart on a robot illusion, and does her very best robo-voice impression.]

Fellow servant of the mighty Diacht, I am dusting the altar! Praise be to, uh, them.

[Judging by the look that the priest is giving her now, apparently her voice needs work, and now a few of the others are starting to switch their attention as well. Maybe they don't dust here...?]

[Whoopsie. Magolor looks over when the others begin to, and a quick scowl passes over his expression, though he smooths it out as quickly as he can. Hopefully Lup was drawing enough attention that it went unnoticed. There's a long moment of silence as his mind races to consider the way forward here: ditch? A very real option, but one with more cons than pros. Create an even bigger distraction by throwing a fit? He tucks that possibility into his back pocket. But no, there's only one way.

He begins to drift towards her, past the small crowd of robopriests. His scowling expression is back and far more deliberately noticeable this time.]

Heeeeey. Waaait a second here . . . something's not right about this . . . !

[Up he floats in silence. Right up into her face, with a deep frown of suspicious scrutiny. And then:]

You shouldn't be doing that all by yourself! Here, let me give you a boost up. Sorry for taking up everyone's attention like that. I'm sure if I hadn't been so rude, someone else here would have helped you, hmm? No priest of Diacht would let a fellow struggle her way up here all by herself!

[Magolor raises his voice enough for that that it's clear he's addressing the entire temple, even though he doesn't ever look away from Lup's face.

. . . He does say "her," though, unthinkingly. Do the robots have genders? Would he know hers so firmly if they did? He doesn't consider it either way.]

[She gives him her very best poker face in response, since even through an illusion her expression can shift, and from what she's seen of the robots, they're far more limited than what real, fleshy folk can do with their faces.]

That's very kind of you, newcomer. I'm almost to the top. Please pay me no mind.

[A few of the priests below are speaking quietly in a circle, gesticulating a little- giving off the impression that this is a very new and not-standard-protocol behaviour, even from someone in their colours. So... okay, probably her disguise isn't going to do her any good much longer.

Oh well, worth it anyway. She pulls herself up to the next rack of birds and flips towards the final circle of the altar. Almost there!]

If you insist . . .

[He drifts back down from the altar, placing himself directly in the middle of the circle of priests.]

Is this really okay? I'm impressed by her dedication and all—

[So this is clearly out of hand at this point. All he can try and do is preoccupy them long enough for her to get done the thing she's going to do, which in hindsight, really is not a great idea! He can't just get out of this situation without any benefit. He has to be able to spin it after this goes down! But it has to go down before he has anything to spin! He's probably not going to make them any less suspicious, but he can at least attempt to buy time by engaging them in discussing how suspicious she is rather than acting on it. It's a last-ditch effort. Go, fake robot, climb!]

—Is it against Diacht's teachings to be suspicious of all this? I feel so guilty having doubtful thoughts about my fellow adherents when we've all pledged our truth. Am I the one who's wrong?

[Please be distracted by his religious crisis over that obviously fake robot up there!]

Edited 2019-07-20 19:36 (UTC)

[The good news is that they are distracted long enough that Lup can get to the top of the altar. The bad news is that's when she needs all eyes on her. What sort of proclamation would it be if no one was paying attention? She gives the temple one final scan, searching for where they keep the- aha. The ribbons are out on display, not far from where she'd land if she fell. That's convenient... and it means that all the required pieces are in place.

And so, leaning off of the wing of the highest feather, Lup hollers into the temple,]

Hey, what's up, godly folks!? Eyes here, if you please!

[She feels numerous sets of eyes on her, and a few hushed, concerned voices telling her to gosh, please come down, it's dangerous, but she pays them no mind. Instead, she drops the illusion, revealing herself. Bit ballsy, might get her arrested, but you gotta live like you're dying, right? And those below don't look or sound especially surprised by her not being a robot anyway. Ah, well.]

I have an announcement to make! I've looked at your games, thought long and hard about your expectations of me, and have decided... fuck this!

[The concerned voices are very abruptly hushed, but she isn't in the slightest deterred.]

My incredibly honest confession is that I'd rather sit on a chair of thumbtacks than share my deepest darkest secrets with a bunch of strangers. And since you nerds have kidnapped my very rad self, you're gonna have to deal with the consequences of that. In short: balls to that, and I'm out!

[And with a final smack to the tip of the feathered statue, she pitches forward and swan-dives right off.]

[She's . . . probably got that, right? She wouldn't be doing that if she didn't have that covered? Maybe that's a silly thing to assume, considering how all of this went, but Magolor assumes it anyway, and makes no move to catch her, even though he could. She's totally got that!

Instead, after joining in the stunned silence of the gathered priests—and not entirely feigned, either, that actually was ballsy and forthright enough to impress and shock him—he begins to clap, ringing loudly in the very temporary temple silence.

She deserves a standing ovation for that. Even if he's the only one who thinks so, he is not holding back in making that known.]

Bravooooooooo!

[Possibly any further commentary is going to be delayed by chaos.]

[Thankfully she does have it handled, or this would be a comedically short show. Before she gets too close to hitting the ground she whips a feather she'd picked up out of her pocket - perks of being aligned with the bird god, there's feathers everywhere in this place - and casts Featherfall, turning her body mid-air to drop softly enough that she can offer up a melodramatic gymnast pose as she sticks the landing. There's no time to enjoy the gravitas of it all, however, as she has no idea how the bots are going to respond to this, so she points a finger at Magolor with a wild grin.]

Hey, buddy? Bail time!

[And then she books it for the exit, firing off a Mage Hand spell as she approaches (and passes) the ribbon display and plucking one right out of one of the dumbfounded priest's hand.

All in all, she's calling this a success.]

[Waaaait a second here.

This got away from him. She's already booking it to the door, and implicated him in the process—and he was anyway, he's well aware, but he'd been operating under the assumption that it'd be worth it for him in the end. It's still salvageable, but only if he steps in right this second. Considering her obvious power level, he's not sure he can make it, but it's worth a try: he makes to zip in front of her, weaving in and out of this dimension and the next to snap ahead to the door, and if he can make it there before she does despite her head start, his goal is to throw up Magic Barrier across the exit. If he can deter her for just ten seconds—]

Leeeet's not be hasty!

[BETRAYAL! Betrayal by her own comrade in arms. ...Well, okay, she gave him away first, but a hasty escape was necessary! How else did he expect this to end dramatically!? Weren't they going to fly off together in a blaze of glory!?

(This is so much easier with Taako.)

Either way, she's relying on her legs, which is significantly slower than flying, so he does manage to beat her there and she crashes headlong into the barrier before she can slip through, bouncing off and just barely rolling as she lands to keep from falling on her ass. She straightens up at once, shooting him an annoyed look.]

What the hell, dude!? You killed my grand exit!

[Magolor holds it there—a pinky purple star-shaped field of light that blocks the exit, held up by the palm of his hand. The spell doesn't take much effort to maintain, so most of his focus is going to Lup and the robots behind her, making sure they're not doing anything hasty either. Who knows how seriously they take the sanctity of this temple?

He giggles.]

My bad. Did you think I was with Ainea? I didn't help you out for charity. Well, I did have a really good time, though, so thanks for that! You seriously impressed me today! But I'm here to get a ribbon myself, and I can't do that if I make my grand exit on your terms. So here's the truth about myself first: I'm a little bit jealous of how honest you are! You truly do belong in this temple. Complain about it all you want, but only an honest person would be honest about how much they hate being honest. Me, I just lied about it the whole time. Congratulations! You deserve that ribbon more than I do!

[And then he drops the barrier and moves aside with a bow, gesturing out the door.]

[Ooooh comrade, you have just been moved to public enemy #1. She glowers at him for a moment, but not to be undone, she straightens up, dusts herself off, and plucks the ribbon out of her waiting Mage Hand.]

Yeah, about that. I was gonna do you a solid, but for that little trick and my sore nose? I'm taking them both.

[She twists the ribbon between her fingers and it spreads apart, revealing that she'd had stolen not one, but two, which she immediately pockets.]

Have fun with your new robot friends.

[And then, with a flourish of arcane energy and a two-fingered salute, she draws herself a Dimension Door and teleports away with her prizes.

But hey, at least the priests don't... actually look like they're trying to catch anyone? They mostly look about as dumbfounded as robots can get.]

[He watches her go,

And, not in a hurry himself, turns to go over to the nearest box and take a ribbon of his own. He earned this honestly! (Eugh.) Absolutely shameless, he smiles and chatters with the priests:]

I think we all learned a lot today, didn't we? I wonder if she'll still have two ribbons in her pocket by the time she gets home, though . . . well, I'll probably never know. She seemed a little ticked off at me. Anyway, thanks for everything! See you again tomoooorrow! ♥

[He's out, much less dramatically.]

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♥ July 2019 Intro Mingle

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