hugtopia_logs | ♥ December Event Log

♥ December Event Log

December (Ranir) Event Log
The city of Havenwell is recovering very well thanks to your efforts, offworlders. The hole in the wall is sealed up and, while maybe not looking like new, it certainly looks sturdy and safe. The city itself has removed much of the rubble from the battles you fought, and the people are back to their regularly scheduled lives. They're eternally grateful that you continue to put in the time to rebuild this final bastion of civilization and are pleased to see that you enjoyed their festivals so far. As the weather of Ranir turns colder and the nights longer, some may even see snow dust the cobblestone and paved streets in the morning. The time of Rawna has come and with it...

❥ PROMPT I: At Least It's Not a Sweater

a pair of hands holding each other with a red ribbon tied around their wrists

Normally when a new season belonging to a god rolls around, the temple priests gear up and start with temple festivities. Seeing how this is Rawna's month, however, nothing much of the sort seems to be happening. In fact, it's almost as if Rawna's priests don't even care that their god's season has started. Rawna is, after all, chiefly the god of Apathy, so is it all that surprising?

What might be surprising is the sight of Ainea's priests in pairs out around the city in their stead. Each pair carries with them a single bright silver sash and they alternatively stand in broad daylight or hide in the shadows of the buildings. Walk by on your own and you'll be left alone, but when the priests spot two people walking even remotely near each other, they spring into action.

The two robotic priests zip around you and another person with surprising speed, tying the sash off around you - either around your wrists, your waists, your legs, whatever it takes to tie you to another person. With a triumphant buzz of excitement, they declare "Happy Ranir! Kindness comes in many forms!" and depart to find a new pair of ~~victims~~ patrons. As they leave, one of the pair calls out an additional clue for you: "Be kind to unwind!"

Good luck, everyone, you're now stuck with this other person. You can either wait until the sash naturally falls off in a few hours, or you can take the direction of the priests and be kind to the other person to encourage the magical knot to come undone. Each compliment, word of encouragement, or other act of kindness directed at your new partner seems to loosen the sash a little each time, so get to winning the Niceness War.

Oh, and in case you were thinking of blasting, teleporting, or cutting your way out? No amount of magic or physical force seems capable of cutting or removing the sash. Hopefully you went to the bathroom before they got you.

❥ PROMPT II: A Delicious Delight

After a long hard day of dodging Ainea's priests or just slogging through the colder weather around the city, what could be better than imbibing a seasonally festive drink? Well, the scientists in charge of Experiment 73 certainly think so! They've added a limited edition drink selection to all of the replicators and have some delightfully festive booths spread about the city staffed by a few robots wearing Rawna's colors in their sashes and hats. There are five drinks in total to choose from and you should certainly try them! They're only here until the end of the month and then the scientists say they'll be gone! The best things in life are fleeting, aren't they? The best things in life are also surprises, so when you take a sip of these exquisitely delicious (honest! For once they're good) beverages, prepare yourself for a little trick with your treat.

Ginger and Honey Tea: A hot, thoroughly warming drink with the bite of ginger and the sweetness of honey. Drink this and you'll be shored up against the cold, but also feel compelled to tell or blurt out the truth. Whether you're asked a question or trying to tell a little white lie, you find you can't say anything but the truth. This effect lasts for up to an hour after drinking the tea.
Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie: A cold sweet treat of vanilla smoothie topped with sweet strawberry pieces and whipped cream. At the bottom, you'll find a layer of sweet sponge cake cut up into pieces. Drink this with its own special thick straw and enjoy the taste of cake; and the effect of a personal miniature snow cloud that appears over your head. The cloud dusts you and your immediate area within a foot of you with beautiful multicolored snow - and that snow leaves splotches of color behind that last for up to an hour after drinking the smoothie.
Hot Cinnamon Apple Cider: A deliciously steamy beverage that tastes of apple and cinnamon and comes with a cinnamon stick stirrer for effect. This beverage smells as delicious as it tastes and the aroma wafts around the area more strongly than the others. Drink this penultimate holiday drink and you'll find yourself heating up so much that you'll want to stay cold by giving your heat away via holding someone else. You'll want to be everyone's personal heater for up to an hour after drinking the cider.
Gingerbread Latte: A nice piping hot latte with the hint of gingerbread threaded through the coffee, topped with whipped cream and dusted with gingerbread spice. Served in a tall red cup that seems to transfer the heat uncannily well through its thin walls, sip this and you'll find yourself painlessly sprouting an animal's appendage at random. You can have one functioning or non-functioning, cosmetic animal appendage like a cat's ears, a dog's tail, a duck's beak or whatever else you can think of for up to an hour after drinking the latte. They can replace your original body part (e.g. your ears become cat ears) or grow superfluously (e.g. you have regular ears AND cat ears). You can move the appendages or talk with them as if they are your own, but they don't confer any special magical powers with them. So you can fly with those griffin wings, sure, but you're going to need to put the effort into it.
Hot Mulled Wine (alcoholic): This one isn't for children - and in fact, under 18 people might find it hard (but not impossible, be industrious, little ones!) to get their hands on this drink. Red wine is heated with spices and citrus fruit over low heat for several hours - or it would if it wasn't all synthetically created. The effect is the same though, a delicious adult beverage that's a nice way to spend an evening with someone special. And you'll want them to be someone special because drinking the hot wine makes you inclined to get a little steamy with people. Kisses, both chaste and passionate, seem to alleviate the urge which you'll be under for up to an hour after drinking the wine.

❥ PROMPT III: Winter (VR) Wonderland

a wooden lodge at night, blanketed in snow

There isn't quite enough snow on the ground to allow it in reality, but in the VR Cafes anything is possible. This month, the VR Cafes are decorated with snowflakes in odd patterns and designs - holograms, naturally - that spin and change shape and color in a timed routine. Plug into the games and you'll find a new selection among the usual offerings: Winter Wonderland.

There are two modes to Winter Wonderland and each are fun in their own ways.

Snow Fight! Head out into the powdery snow where fantastic snow forts await and battle it out with snowballs to claim the most territory or just see who can hit the other side the most. You can choose Team Battle, Solo 1vs1, or Battle Royale. All magic, skills, and cunning are at your disposal. While the snow might not be falling outside, it's definitely going to be raining down on you here, so bundle up and have some fun. You earned it!

Ski Lodge But maybe you don't want to go flinging snow down someone's shirt and would rather cuddle up on a couch in front of a big warm fire, huh? Sure, we understand that. Welcome to the Ski Lodge, a cozy getaway up in the mountains where you can relax with a hot chocolate (or cider, or glass of wine even) and curl up on the couches and experience a lazy afternoon in thick fluffy sweaters. It's even better with a friend, they say, so why not create this private little getaway for the two (or three or four, we're not judging) of you? For people wanting a romantic lean, you can always slip out the back (and out of your clothes if you prefer) into the private jacuzzi on the wooden deck, too.

For people who want to have some fun tearing it up on the mountain-side though, we suggest trying Ski-venture! A year-round game that lets you ski or snowboard your way down the mountain.

❥ PROMPT IV: A Mysterious Gift [REGAIN EVENT]

Toward the end of the month starting from the 20th and on, some people may find themselves drawn to Rawna's temple late at night, when most of the priests are offline or elsewhere. The only native creatures you can see here are the fledgling rainbow dragons which watch you from their various perches all around the sanctum. As you approach the temple's altar, you realize someone else has been drawn here as well. In the quiet, dim lighting, the barest of candles still burning and the watchful eyes of the dragons, you feel compelled to unburden yourself to the other person. Tell your tale of woe or sorrow, relieve yourself of a secret you've kept hidden for too long, and listen to your companion as well. They say a burden shared is a burden halved after all.

Once you've both shared something, a pair of dragonlings crawl up into the altar's clawed hands. They wind around each other until an iridescent light shines from their scales. The light is blinding and you must look away as it reaches its pinnacle and releases a burst of rainbow light. When you look back, the dragonlings are slithering away and in their places are two objects - one familiar to you and one to your partner - so long as both of you have shared. It seems your tithe has been rewarded with something from home.

OOC: These items from home must be approved by a mod. They cannot exceed the Medium Item regain limit. It cannot be a power or other ability. It cannot be something your character did not own or have knowledge of in their canon or their CRAU. Please post your regain request in the Regain Request thread before threading out the receipt of the item.

This event will run from December 6th to December 31st. Click on each prompt's title to see the text. You are welcome to use this log, or create entries of your own! If you have any questions, feel free to direct them to the FAQ or to the Mod Question thread.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

✿ i. It’s Not Mistletoe Either
With the chill in the air that just seemed to linger all day, Vianca was getting the feeling that it was just about that time of year-- the mistletoe time. It was a little confusing when that didn’t seem to be the case, but it was a different planet. It wasn’t good to make assumptions about traditions, even if this totally seemed like one that the robots would be all over. Maybe someone would let it slip for next year. Vianca wasn’t. She used to look forward to it, but that was when she could eat the berries! There was no point in getting stuck in one spot for hours on end when she couldn’t even have a toxic berry snack.

So this kind of “getting stuck” was better. They could still move around! They were just! Kind of attached now! Huh! Vianca had only been trying to sneak her way past, but here she was, all tied up to someone else’s hand.

“Oh. I think they call this… a pickle.” A pause. “Or a jam…? Oh, no, we’re in a bind.” Literally!

✿ ii. Sweet Treats
Vianca hadn’t bothered much with the actual food experiments from last month, since she really didn’t need to eat that much. Drinks though. She could be enticed by drinks. You could find her sipping on a sweet beverage any time this month. She was partial to the ginger and honey tea, but she wouldn’t know it had any fun effects. She was a very honest pikmin after all!

It’s the strawberry shortcake smoothie that got a lot of secret delight out of her. Here and there you could find shimmery paths of color, which if one cared to follow would lead them to one (1) pink child, quietly having a little twirling party by herself. She would make a little spin, letting her skirt fan out and all the snow gently fan out around her. Then she’d watch, and do it again.

You might find her with a cider too, but she’s not very fond of coffee. She’ll try it if you ask her to though, just to see.

✿ iv. This is Past Vianca’s Bed Time
The likelihood that Vianca would be at Rawna’s temple at such a late hour was slim. She was usually already in bed! Should the stars align, however, you might find her there with plenty of secrets to whisper in your ear. If you really want her there, we’ll find a way. Once she’s been once, she might swing by a bit more in case anyone else needed a listening ear.

✿ v. Something Something Else
Want to do something else with the childe? Go for it. Mix and match where your heart desires. Give me those sweet action brackets if you prefer. If you want to figure out a secret prompt or anything else, hit me up!! (OR WING IT i am constantly in a state of winging it.)

Edited 2019-12-07 03:16 (UTC)

[Well, this was unexpected. Honerva had been being careful, wary of this new priest activity, but so it happens, she has a stack of electronic books that she seems to be floating along with her, so perhaps her intended location is a bit more clear... down the road, there might be more of a commotion of another pair getting roped together. Certainly easy to think that she could escape notice.

... and then they strike! And are off to bother another pair. So quick. So sneaky. And now attached to her arm was a very small person indeed.]

... Perhaps this was bound to happen sooner than later.

[It is difficult to tell whether or not that was intentional by the even measure of her tone, but somehow she follows suit to Vianca's quip.]

[They're so strong and swift, those warriors of love. Truly Ainea was a powerful foe.

Vianca blinked up at her new sash-bound companion, simply staring for a moment. Oh. Was that? Oh. Her own soft tones just as telling as Honerva's.]

... I understand that. Your pun. Very good.

[The faintest of smiles, Vianca. You might currently be a stranger, and it was not fun to be caught by determined priests in this manner, but solidarity in quick one liners, or so it seemed.]

It is not often that I would take the... opportunity.

[But it is nice to have the effort appreciated.]

However now that they have seen fit to inconvenience us both, we will have to solve this together.

I would, if I were good at them. They can be very clever.

[Delivered at deadpan surely doubles their effectiveness, because half the fun was in the puzzle.

Vianca lifted their joined hands, giving their bindings a tentative tug. She would have been surprised if that was enough to do anything, but she was equally surprised to find that it had zero give whatsoever. The power of love... was strong.]

They said... be kind?

So more than contact is required... curious that such bindings could be devised for this purpose. Are they using the generated power in such a way, or is this something from a past era...?

[She's musing more to herself, mostly to deal with the fact that she does not like this. She can feel the way the bind is interfering with her ability to teleport. If such items could be created for this purpose, then what else was out there? None of this she says, though.]

... In any case, acts of kindness need not be artificial. Was there a location you were headed to?

[The stack of tablets that had been floating before the ambush was stacked upon the ground now, though with a little movement of her free hand they start to rise again.]

[She nodded along as Honerva made her contemplations out loud. It was a curious thing. It seemed a little bit like this was something the robots might have done every year-- before they were robots? After? Both? She was keen to keep an eye out and see, because if the conditions had nothing to do with contact, that meant the natives could participate too!]

Hm. I was going to the library--

[The movement of the books caught her attention. She'd seen books float before! She'd seen these books float before! Vianca blinked at them, and then blinked up at Honerva.]

Oh!

Vianca | Pikmin [ohma] (ota)

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i

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one shimmery pink child please

for u

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II

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