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

For someone with as big of a collection of unattended to feelings and thoughts as he has, a tea to unlock all of that baggage would absolutely be dangerous. Disastrous, even. Hopefully that drink will never betray him so terribly, but. Who can say?

No reason to worry about it right now, though, he's too busy worrying about how he could possibly try and achieve some extra relief here. Considering... everything, it's honestly pretty silly that he can't bring himself to just ask Kai to hold his hand or something, but that's still one hurdle he's having trouble overcoming.

"It was." Very cinnamon-y. It was definitely good for what it was, but if this is the kind of thing that's going to happen every time... He doesn't like the cold, but this is extreme even for his tastes! One cup of it will be plenty, he thinks. "I thought I was just warm because of it, but..."

Again. Too Extreme. He lets out a short huff of a sigh, his hot breath extra cloudy in the chilly air.

Kai eyed that puff cloud, letting one of his own go free. It hovered there, a fraction the size of Shinji's, and Kai let out a low whistle. "Wow." That was both impressive and... concerning?

It's got him looking at Shinji a bit closer again, leaning in a little bit. "This seems kinda extra, y'know?" He probably knew. He was also probably being Shinji about this. With that in mind, Kai went ahead and upgraded to slinging an arm around the other boy's back to lead him off elsewhere.

"Let's find you some water or somethin'."

Ahh, there we go. It's probably not as cool as the hands had been on their own, but that arm is still a far more comfortable temperature than he is right now. He can't ask for the help, but having it passed off to him with little-to-no pageantry is another matter entirely by this point. He even moves in a little closer in response, ready to radiate some of that warmth directly to Kai.

"Mm, sure."

It's not like it could hurt.

"'Kay."

Off they went, going... somewhere. Kai wasn't really sure, he had just kind of figured maybe some water or something could help cool Shinji down from the inside out. With him all pressed up against his side like this though, Kai wouldn't deny that it was cozy. Being so acclimated to his own temperature, he hadn't realized how chilly he might have been feeling before the direct contrast. The realization didn't last long though, quickly overridden by all this shared warmth.

There was all of one (1) gentle fwap as a tail definitely didn't wag.

Definitely not two or three times.

Oho? What's? This?

Shinji can't help but turn his head to see what was up back there, and what was up was definitely worth the look. Kai! That's cute! What the heck.

"Is it doing that on its own?"

The question leaves his mouth before he can pause to think about it, so, uh, sorry if calling that kind of sudden attention to it is embarrassing or anything.

Kai's mouth thinned, nose scrunching a little.

"Yeah." He sounded more baffled than he did annoyed, at least. It was a very confusing set of circumstances. "It wasn't doin' that before so it's weird."

He only had a vague sense of control over this new motor function at the moment and that was. A really weird sensation. Butt, please, calm down. Stop that.

calm your booty

"Huh." Wonder what changed? That's gotta be pretty weird, either way. He gives it another moment of observation, before he figures that staring for too long is, probably, Awkward. He pulls his attention back to what's in front of them as they walk, away from the tail and it's charming little wags.

For now.

can't stop won't stop

Except, for the moment, it seemed to want to just be chill. So weird. The amount of staring didn't phase Kai though, since. Yeah. Weird. He'd probably stare at it too. Go for it guy, its clearly the only interesting thing back there.

Since the water plan hadn't been been full thought out, the first viable thing they actually came across was another one of those festive drink booths. Kai squinted at it, briefly bringing them to a stop. The smoothie was a cold thing, wasn't it?

They were already super warm and sprouting dog tails, what else could happen? ~~Nothing, the effects didn't stack.~~

"... You try the strawberry thing yet?"

It's like... his butt... won't quit?

That aside. Shinji has no problem letting Kai lead the way. Sooner or later they're bound to end up... somewhere they can get a nice frosty glass of water. But this is the kind of plan that's definitely malleable, so when they come to a stop near one of the stands, he quickly picks up what's being put down here. The strawberry thing, huh?

"It's the smoothie, right? Not yet," It's too cold for cold drinks! Except for right now! It's perfect for one of those! "I guess that wouldn't be such a bad idea..."

"Hm."

That was enough of a go ahead for Kai. "Let's grab one then," he said, already steering them over to the booth. One pleasant enough exchange later, and one (1) deliciously frosty looking Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie had been delivered to their hot little hands. Or at least Kai's regularly hot hand. He promptly took it to hand to the actually hot hands around here.

"Here."

One smoothie, right to you, Shinji! He offers a soft "Thank you," as it's passed to him, and... well, a little frustratingly, just having it in his hands feels somewhat less helpful than Kai's hands had been. Not totally useless, but he feels a bit more like the drink is going to suffer the brunt of the heat before doing much to help.

"Should we find somewhere to sit...?" He'll take a test sip of that drink after he asks - gotta get a taste in before while it's still nice and frosty.

Oh, wow, that is awfully sweet.

"Mm, sure." Sitting was a little more conducive to sapping up heat, so why not.

This particular stall had the smart idea to set up shop not too far from a small park. It wasn't the most green park ever, which the time of year certainly wasn't helping, but there were benches littered here and there for taking a break and enjoying whatever weather was blowing through that day. They looked a little frosty. Perfect? For overly warm butts? Here we go, sitting those toasty buns down.

"How is it?"

So chilly, so convenient! Absolutely perfect for getting hot buns cooled down.

"Hm, it's really sweet," not, like, unbearably so, but in a different way than the gingerbread latte had been. Really sugary. He doesn't sound like he dislikes it, at least, and shockingly enough, once he's actually started to drink it, it does start to take some kind of effect to siphon off some of that heat. It should be pretty noticeable right away that he isn't completely burning up any more, but what may be a little easier to miss at first is the little big of foggy haze beginning to accumulate overhead.

The effects of the drinks don't stack, but they sure do seem to be overriding each other.

"It... might actually be working, too?" H u h

"Yeah, it looks pretty sweet." Look at all those strawberries. Is that cake in there? Geez. Talk about an indulgence. But if it's working...? Worth it, probably? There definitely wasn't as much heat radiating into Kai's side, but let's just make sure.

There was his hand at Shinji's face again, a little too late to be of much assistance. Unless you factor in how warm his hands usually were, maybe things had started reversing enough that this was still a pleasant happenstance.

"Huh! Nice, that was pretty fast."

There's still a little residual heat floating around, yet to be carried off by the elements, so Shinji hasn't quite returned to the point of 'oh no it is cold out' by the time Kai puts his hand to his face. He's not really much cooler than that hand just yet, but... the motion remains a pleasant one either way.

"Kind of weird, right?" He reaches up to lightly brush his fingertips - slightly damp as they are from the condensation of the cup, sorry if that offers up a chill as the breeze rolls through! - over Kai's hand. There is definitely something weird going on with these drinks, he's going to have to try to keep that in mind from now on, but it sort of makes him wonder if this one's going to do something unexpected as well...?

He doesn't have to wonder long, at least, as a few snowflakes are shaken loose from the cloud forming above them, giving way to a few more, and a few more after that.

"Huh-?"

There was something right then as that touch trailed over his hand. It wasn't a chill, but. That tail was doing a thing again? One wag. Two wag. What. Why? This was such a confusing body part.

"Huh?" Kai didn't notice the snow at first, thinking it was just. Snow? But then he noticed that it looked a little... different. A lot more colorful than snow was supposed to be?

Kai blinked at it as the colors drifted down, gently making a home on the canvas of his hair.

Hey! Some of us can be mystified by Just Snow! Shinji sure is! Seeing the light dusting of it blowing around on the streets in the mornings has been one thing, not entirely unlike seeing photos and videos of it, but having this little flurry suddenly start overhead is another thing altogether. He holds out one hand to catch a few of the flakes with an extra quiet sense of awe, even if it's clear that this isn't... exactly the kind of snow that had been absent from his life. Colorful, yes, but still leaving cold little stings on his palm as the flakes melt.

It's. Different.

His moment of wonder is put on hold as he steals a glance back at Kai and sees those little spots of color nestling in to his hair. That. Is also different.

"Huh."

Without giving it a whole lot of thought, he reaches up to try and brush some of the snow out of his hair. Not quite a ruffle, and not quite a pat. "That's a different look for you." Black and blonde is good, too much more color and you might be overdoing it a little there.

Besides the colors, the snow mostly seemed like snow. That didn't seem like the most mystical thing, but glancing down from the snowfall revealed that maybe he was wrong about that. Kai watched the way Shinji seemed to marvel over the small flakes catching in his palm. There was something about this sense of wonder that was unexpected and just... very nice to see.

There was another swish of his tail.

This shifted into a full blown wagging extravaganza as Shinji brushed his hand across his hair, and Kai honestly wasn't sure which thing he was more surprised by.

"Huh?" No, enough of that. Kai bowed his head a little, giving Shinji the full view. "Ha, is it sticking?"

That wagpocalypse would certainly be hard to miss, and for as much as Kai seems surprised by it, Shinji feels a little shocked himself. That is... that is quite the reaction. And it's doing it on its own, right? So that... must have been... a good move on his part?

"Um, yeah, a little bit." He sounds hesitant, like he's carefully weighing his next move here. There's something about the combination of Kai dipping his head down like that and the appeal of netting such a positive reaction that's tilting the scales a certain way, and as the thought that it had been kind of cute, and a kind of fitting action for Kai floats through his mind, he can't shake the feeling of wanting to see it again. His hand lands in Kai's hair a little more purposefully, brushing it back in an action that could easily and absolutely be explained away as trying to shake some more of those flakes on out.

But is also definitely a head pat.

Kai's surprise persisted as this thing that was definitely a head pat transpired. This time the feeling of Shinji's hand carding through that blonde fluff seemed like it was more deliberate. It was a much more pleasant experience than he would have thought. Kai glanced up at him, that surprise manifesting as something soft and quiet, but he didn't think anything of it.

Who woulda thought his ass would be a lot more honest, giving Shinji exactly what he wanted. That tail just kept a-thumpin' away much to Kai's bafflement. The correlation wasn't connecting, he was just rolling with this weirdo happenstance. So weird.

"Mm... Hey, just wonderin' but. You ever see snow before?"

One (1) head pat, delivered to one good boy who deserves it.

Just the one, however, as the thought that, as nice as it had been, doing it again might be a little harder to justify settles in Shinji's mind. Those wags were worth it, though, and maybe he can keep those in mind should the opportunity ever present itself again.

It might make keeping a more casual tone to the conversation a struggle either way, so for now, he withdraws his hand.

"I've seen pictures." So it's not like he doesn't understand it at all or anything! But, from Kai's perspective, with no Angels and therefore no Second Impact for context, that's probably a little odd. "The... world I came from," good grief that sounds so weird to say, "It was always really hot, like a year-round summer. It never got anywhere near cold enough for snow."

Edited (?words?) 2019-12-14 05:20 (UTC)

Just pictures? It's a weird thought at first, but not unheard of even back home. Some places just didn't get snow. Still, the way Shinji talked about it was enough to imply that this was something that wasn't just isolated to one place. Summertime all the time, huh.

"Mmm... This is all kind of weird then, huh." Kai held a hand out, catching a few flakes for himself.

"A little."

But not a bad kind of weird, at least. Now that the heat of the cider has made its retreat and the chill of the air is starting to set in again, he pulls the scarf he had left draped loosely over his shoulders back around his neck. That settled, he reaches out again to collect some more snow on his palm.

"You'd hear adults talk about how they miss the seasons changing, but I kind of figured I'd never see it myself."

Kai glanced at this scarf action briefly. It seemed like we might have been back to chillier temperatures, which, you know, made sense with this shift to snowfalls. Well. Seeing as an endless summer had been confirmed, Kai didn't see a reason he shouldn't scoot over to lend his services as the chilled on the bench.

It gave him a moment to tuck that information away too. A memory of seasons meant it wasn't always endless summer.

"Well, welcome to winter then. I dunno about this place but it can get cold as balls sometimes." The indication here being that it... was not yet cold as balls.

That. Uh. Huh. It can get colder. His mouth thins a bit in response to that thought, and while he doesn't make much of a comment on the idea, that little motion probably betrays his feelings on the notion. More cold. Well then.

"At... least they're offering warm drinks for us."

Some of these side-effects might be worth it, he'll just have to be careful about which ones he goes after. A super warm friend it also a good way to stave off that chill, too, so when Kai scoots in closer, Shinji relaxes into the touch. Thank you for soaking up some of that heat earlier, that's surely going to come in extra handy now.

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