hugtopia_logs | ♥ November Event Log

♥ November Event Log

a gloved hand places a brick in place on a wall

November (Malom) Event Log
The chaos of Lasohm's invasion is still fresh in the mind, but it's over. The ugly scar of the hole in Havenwell's wall is a jarring reminder that this world is dying and nothing goes quietly into that dark night. The phantom is gone as Malom overtakes Lasohm, the weather turning colder and chillier with each passing day. Still, the city of Havenwell has all of you offworlders to thank for its survival, and the fearful citizens make sure you know just how much they appreciate you by stopping you on the street to say their thanks. Your new home still needs your help to recover from their ordeal though, so will you lend them your strength once more?

❥ PROMPT I: Rebuilding Effort

a stone wall with a large collapsed hole in the center

The magic barrier over the hole that unknown monster punched through Havenwell's wall is repaired, stopping the onslaught and encouraging any other nightmares that lurk outside to move on and away, but the hole itself remains. Throughout the month of Malom, robot natives are working tirelessly to gather bricks and stone and patch the breach, but they could use some help. Work together with other offworlders and natives alike to repair the wall and be rewarded with a handsome bump to the Dora in your bank account. They need all sorts of help, from clearing away the dead bodies of the spider-like creatures for cremation, to retrieving and hauling stone for the wall, to actually slotting the heavy blocks into place to cement them back together.

Outside the barrier, now clearly visible through the hole, a storm rages on, obscuring the view of the world beyond it. Gray and black clouds whip against the invisible barrier, and occasional debris slams into it, causing the impact site to light up with silver, pink, blue, or white hues before it fades away again. It seems even without monsters, the world outside is as inhospitable as was rumored.

Work together or take a break along the base of the wall and get to know your fellow offworlders a little better. It's going to take a while before this mess is cleaned up.

❥ PROMPT II: Air Sickness

Those who worked at or were near the breach in the wall for any extended period of time will notice that, over time, it gets harder to breathe. Then they begin to feel feverish, even if they don't have flesh bodies or are immune to disease. Their bodies ache and groan and it gets harder to move about without help. Once the natives notice, they set up a recovery area away from where the breach occurred: a giant tent with cots and pillows, thick rugs and blankets to keep the chill away. Unfortunately, they don't have medicines available to treat flesh bodied people, so they're at a loss of what to do otherwise. The priests gather anyone who is ill and brings them here...which is when a curious thing occurs.

While conventional medicines and healing spells seem to have no effect on the illness, staying in contact with another person alleviates the symptoms. After a period of contact with another person or persons, the fever breaks and it's like you were never sick at all.

Return to the wall, however, and you'll notice your symptoms coming back with a vengeance after a few days. It seems that making regular trips between the wall and this recovery tent is the only way to keep working. At least it's an easy fix so long as you're not a germaphobe.

❥ PROMPT III: A Tasty(?) Reward

a collage of different foods on display: salads, meats, and pasta

Toward the end of the month as the hole in the wall is completely repaired and the risk of illness declines, a message is sent to all the offworlders' communication devices. Those who choose to open it will find a very official looking message from The Havenwell Council that reads:

Greetings, Saviours of Havenwell!
We of the Havenwell Council greet you and wish to express our eternal gratitude for your valiant efforts to keep our wonderful home safe. Without you, we would not have survived this terrible onslaught. As such, we wish to express our gratitude in a more concrete form. Your emissary, Magolor, has been in contact with this venerable Council and has brought to our attention that your greatest concern is for the food available. We apologize that due to our inability to taste we have been unable to supply you with satisfactory meals.

To that end, we invite you to work with our scientists to improve upon the taste of currently available offerings from our replicators. Please come to the Northern Research Tower (map included) at any time this month to sample what our replicators can produce and give us feedback on their flavour and textures. We ask that you be as specific as possible in your criticisms so we may improve upon your general quality of life. Please feel free to bring as many friends as you wish.
May the Gods Protect You,
Havenwell Council, Community Liaisons

Those who take the invitation will arrive at the Northern Research Tower and be taken directly to the 40th floor, where a large banquet hall has been laid out. Five rectangular tables, over 5 meters long each, stretch down the room, creating aisles for people to walk down. At the far end are several high round tables, covered in white cloth, and high round stools for those who wish them. The tables are overflowing with food, much like the welcome dinner, but at each table and scattered throughout the room are scientist robots with arm bands that read "Experiment 73" in that peculiar Aellyn script you saw during your time at the Archives. They invite you to taste the foods - both raw and cooked - and to give your very honest opinions.

Enjoy the food, help them improve the flavours, and walk the room to talk with the others who have come. Those who participate will receive a small synthetic fruit basket to take home with them on their first visit. Feel free to come back as often as you like, however! Each time, they'll be changing and adjusting the food available so your first and last visit may be very different. Perhaps that strawberry actually even tastes sweet, finally.

❥ PROMPT IV: A Virtual Spa

a spa/water park with large open pools, an enclosed building, a bridge, and a water slide in the background

The VR cafes are uncharacteristically quiet while the rebuilding effort goes on, but there are still those who come to plug in to unwind after a day of intensive labor. And what better way to unwind than with a hot bath, right? Since the people of Havenwell can't actually submerge themselves in water, they're doing the next best thing: going to a virtual hot spring. There are several types to choose from and despite being digital, their calming and soothing effects on the body seem very real. Choose from:

The Classic Outdoors: a rock lined hot spring with natural rock floors and steamy mineral infused waters nestled in the mountains. All around you is beautiful greenery like a sweeping pine and low fragrant bushes. The serene air and the calm forest is only occasionally broken by the sound of a wooden pipe thudding hollowly against a rock at a steady interval or the sound of birdsong off in the trees. The relaxing atmosphere is enough to set even the tightest wound nerves at ease.
The Marbled Columns: white and painted marble columns lead to a series of different shaped baths with statues of the gods pouring water into them. Each bath has a different healing property, which is clearly marked with a plaque at the rim of each: good for your circulation, your bones, your aches and pains, even acne and metabolic rate. The columns support a beautiful open ceiling that shows the perfectly blue sky overhead dotted with the occasional cloud.
The Steamy Sauna: though seemingly austere in their white tile and deep blue bath basins, the air here is thick and steamy and the baths are deep with hand-rails leading down steps to help you enter. All around the basins are stone or wooden benches with towels laid down for those who wish to simply sit and let the warm air open their lungs. If you get too hot? Grab a bucketful of cold water from one of the freestanding tubs and douse yourself to get a shock and cool off.
The Milk-and-Honey: a beautifully tiled bath with a large shallow rectangular basin. The surrounding walls and ceilings have blue, white, and gold geometric designs laid out with loving care in pleasant designs that ease the mind. The bath water here is filled with a concoction of milk and honey to soothe and smooth the skin, filling the air with a pleasing sweet scent. The effects of these baths on a person's skin is said to make them glow from the inside out for at least a day after bathing.
The Theme Park: the first thing to greet you is the comically oversized bottle of red wine tipped to pour a continuous stream of red liquid into the large crystalline bath basin. The smell of wine is heavy but pleasant in the air and the crystalline basin is round and shaped like a wine glass. Climb up the glass steps and give yourself a good old soak in the red water. You might even find that taking a dip here gives you a heady happiness that lasts all day. And if it feels like you're a little drunk while there? That has to be your imagination! ...Maybe.

Hot springs are great to experience with friends to deepen that feeling of skinship you have with each other, and several Havenwell natives are doing just that. But what about those who don't have a friend to log in with? Don't worry! The game will randomly select another player from this or another facility and match you together. Isn't that nice? We're sure it is! Who doesn't want to talk to someone else while naked, right?

This event will run from November 14th to the 31st. 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 here.

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[It says something about the severity of his own illness that Cor doesn't startle awake at the first hint of movement. Gradually he shifts, tilting partially onto his front so that Noctis has a better pillow of his shoulder rather than clinging to his back. Best way of cuddling, yes. His arm ends up curled under him, around a pillow, angled so that Noct is able to lay half on top of him and he hardly even notices. As much as he may have intended this to be a short cuddle it's ending up an hours long nap.

Eventually he wakes, startled to find the sky a deep purple as night creeps in and a weight against his back preventing him from moving much.]

Hmm...? Noctis?

[Come on, Cor, this is Noctis you're talking about. Gotta try harder than that. All he gets in response is a mumble against his chest, fingers curling in the fabric of his shirt. He heard you, but he's so cozy...]

[Yep, that's still Noctis. Okay, this is just where he lives now. A mattress for his Prince.

He honestly doesn't care enough to try to get up just yet. Maybe soon? Maybe.]

[There's a long silence that follows, at least a few minutes, where Noct's breathing eases out and it seems for a while that he's gone back to sleep. He's quite to content to stay like that, and could be there for hours yet, if allowed to do so.

Suddenly, though, there's a sleepy whisper:]

...did you actually use my name...?

[He doesn't hear that every day. Maybe he just dreamt it up.]

[For a long moment, even after that question, the Prince's mattress remains still and quiet. Then, finally, a muffled chuckle.]

'course not.

Uh-huh.

[With a sleepy yawn, Noctis leans back a bit - not quite enough to break contact, but enough to squint up at Cor's face, his body resisting every urge to wake up.]

....When did you get here?

[When did he get here? He frowns slightly, thinking back.]

Around 4 I think?

[And now the sun is going down so they've apparently been dozing on each other for nearly 2 hours. It's really astounding how much better he sleeps when he has someone to sleep beside.]

...'Kay.

[He doesn't even know what time it is now, so why did he bother asking?

He also shows zero inclination or sign of actually moving now that they're awake, merely drops his head back down where it was. He's so warm and comfortable. Cor's not as soft as sleeping next to Luna or the dogs, but his presence is undeniably a comfort. Like a big gruff security blanket. He feels a bit like a kid again.]

Like old times, huh?

Not quite... I can breathe for one.

[Cor huffs a laugh that will jostle Noctis slightly but even with that he still sounds breathless.]

When I watched you as a child you'd sleep against my back like this... just with both arms wrapped around my neck.

[Noctis smiles wryly against the familiar old Crownsguard fabric; the memories are foggy, like everything becomes when he tries to go too far back, but there's a certain familiarity to those words.]

C'mon, you were so much bigger than I was. [Still is, really, though less so now that he's grown.] It was the only part of you I could get my arms around.

[Cor just snorts a laugh, rolling his eyes.]

I'm quite certain that's untrue but if that's what you need to tell yourself...

[Can't believe you almost killed the Immortal, Noctis.]

[!!! he laughs again. Clearly the trick is to fall asleep on him. Noctis files this away for later. That's the one thing he's really good at, too.]

Not that far from the truth. It's the most comfortable, too- you can't just cuddle up against a leg, there's no cushioning. But see-

[He shifts closer, winding his arm around Cor's shoulders and pressing his head into the crook of the man's neck, settling in with a muffled voice,]

Built-in body pillow, just the right size. This is way better.

[It's hard to be so on guard when you're in a cozy cuddle pile with family.]

For you maybe, you're heavier than you were as a toddler.

[He's actually not that heavy at all but of course he has to grump about something.]

[No guard here, only naps.]

Would be weird if I wasn't. Though this pillow's more talkative than he used to be.

[Not a complaint, really. It's nice to see Cor a bit more open than he was in the past- or even more recent history, during the journey on Eos. This place really must be good for him.]

[He's starting to be okay with that, really. This place is definitely having an effect on him... it's been a long time since he let himself be anything beyond the titles.]

Oh I'm sorry, am I disturbing your beauty rest?

Yep.

[Zero shame, zero regret. This is your prince, Cor.]

Guess the trade-off's worth it.

I can just leave if you'd prefer.

[Admit you like him here, brat prince.]

Nope. [The arms tighten a little, persistent.] Denied.

Fine... perhaps I should simply go back to sleep then.

[He makes a show of stretching, pointedly threatening to roll onto hos back and potentially squish his prince.]

Honestly, though, if we're to remain here I should tell Will and Regis both, I'd hate to worry them.

[Noct makes a faint noise of protest at the slight pressure in that direction, the sound distressed for a second before it eases into one more emphatically complaining at being jostled. He shifts subtly to be more on his side as Cor moves.]

Sure, whatever.

[All the whining gets a smug little quirk of lips. He's much more careful when he's pulling his phone out of his pocket to send a text off to Regis and Will both.

Before he gets settled in against Noctis again, though, he cocks a brow at the Prince.]

Shouldn't you let Lunafreya know where you are? It's getting late.

Mm... she's helping out in one of the other tents. I told her I'd text her later so we could meet up for dinner.

[He settles down, closing his eyes and going quiet for a long moment... before snapping awake again.]

-Wait, it's later.

[Noct settles in for more napping and Cor begins a silent count in his head.

Wait for it....

As he jolts awake again Cor huffs a breathless laugh before stifling the rest into a pillow. Why yes it is, Highness. He just said that.]

[omg Cor do not! laugh at his misfortune! Though Noct only half-notices, wriggling free and grabbing his phone to check. There is a pointed pause, and...]

...Gotta go.

[He's scrambling to put his boots on. How did he manage to kick them like three feet away??]

Thanks for the, um. You know. [cuddle?? are we calling at that, is that too weird.] I feel better now, anyway.

[How do you do any of the absurd things you do in your sleep, Noct?

Cor simply nods and waves him off.]

Go on. Do tell the Princess I apologize if I've made you late for an appointment.

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carbungle - 2019-12-15 03:59 (UTC) - Expand

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