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

The Starscourge is found in your blood, correct?

There is a very simple way to acquire a concrete, unquestionable answer.

...What is it you’re getting at?

My blood is filled with my lifeblood aether, and my aether is suffused with Light, as is its natural predisposition.

[ She rises from her seat, and picks up a small saucer leftover from earlier tea in one hand.

The other hand is quickly brought to her mouth, where she sinks her teeth into the flesh until blood coats her tongue. From there she simply lets the blood drip onto the saucer until it pools with an appropriate amount.

Then she holds the saucer out to Ardyn, looking at him expectantly as she returns her hand to her mouth. She could easily heal it, but she has unfortunately grown fond of the taste of her own aether. ]

Era?! What in the Glacian’s name are you doing?!

[ Era thought it was pretty obvious, and the expression she levels at him makes that quite apparent. ]

If the Starscourge is transmitted by bodily secretions you can just spit in it instead for the same effect.

First of all, I am not doing that. Secondly, I am not shedding blood or anything else here.

Ardyn. Please indulge me in this. You needn't worry over any lingering traces, since it's simply a matter of setting it all alight once through.

Absolutely not, no matter how convinced you are. That’s insanity.

[ The look she sends him is one of utter confusion. ]

This will harm no one.

If you're proven correct, then that is the end of it. If I am proven correct, then there may be a way to safeguard your loved ones.

Why then are you so adamantly against it?

Because I am terrified of myself, why must you force me to spell that out so plainly? I can not and will not do what you ask, and that is the end of it.

[ Era cannot recall a time when she was ever truly angry at a friend, but she burns with fury at Ardyn's words. She would never dare cause him harm, though she doesn't know what outlet she has. Always there had been the near immediate option of combat, or at least the ability to simply walk away and train to the point of exhaustion.

Here, she has no options.

She inhales sharply; a hiss between her teeth. Her tail lashes. She forgets her own strength, and the saucers she holds shatters in her hand. In her anger she doesn't think to drop them, instead holding onto the pieces, oblivious to it all. ]

A thrashing woman bound to her bed as her parents plead for you to save their daughter. The relief you felt when you healed her. The pain in your arm, searing like a brand in your veins.

Palace guards searching a forest cloaked by night. Confusion, fear, and the hurt of betrayal.

The Starscourge burns, an agony of twisting flesh. Detached acceptance. Better to turn now, before his guards find you and drag you back. Better to disappear like so many others than let your people realize their beacon of hope is now one of despair.

Better to be alone than let Aera bear witness to your failure.

There is so much pain. A downpour of rain that offers no relief to the fiery agony within the flesh.

[ She trembles and shakes. Distantly Era thinks that she must not have been as unaffected by the vision as she thought. ]

It hurts, Ardyn. To see you torture yourself as though it's deserved. It isn't, and it never was. Failing at an impossible task is not a crime.

You deserve love and happiness without fear. To be able to hold Aera close and kiss her. To enjoy this chance you've been given to its full extent.

So I... I do not understand why you fight so vehemently against me. There is fear, and then there is this, and I am so— I feel so infuriated with you, Ardyn, and don't know what to do.

[Whether Era struck out at him or not, Ardyn flinched at the shattering as though she had; stepping back in alarm and shock at everything she said. How much did she see, to be able to recount all that?]

Please, just-... [His voice came out so weakly he nearly didn't recognize it, and Ardyn hated himself for that atop thousands of other things.] I-I should go, I think we're not likely to find any middle ground on this matter and I have more than troubled you enough for a lifetime, so I should--I should really just leave--

[ Tired, and resigned: ] If you want to leave, I won't make you stay.

[ It finally occurs to her that she should drop the shards of glass, and so she does. ]

Just please consider what I've said.

I...

[He didn't want to leave, least of all in a situation like this, but he felt cornered with no other escape route. Unless he did the unthinkable and, say, actually tried to articulate how he felt.]

Don't...push this right now. Please. I have too much of my state and condition to sort out before I even consider doing anything so reckless. That's all I ask.

[ He says nothing that indicates he would consider her points regarding his own happiness, but Era is afraid to ask anything or seek clarification lest it be considered 'pushing'.

She rolls her bottom lip between her teeth, then turns and walks away to locate the broom and dustbin, absently licking away what she can of the blood on her hand before it can stain the sleeves of her sweater. She uses the broom with her other hand and holds the dustbin with her tail, making quick work of cleaning up the saucer shards.

Idly: ]

I had felt a bit remorseful after he broke his face on my hand, but now I am more remorseful that I healed the worst of it for him.

...

[Ardyn said nothing in response to that, but once her hands were free he reached out to take them again, far less urgently. There was the faint tingle and warmth of unmistakably Light-aligned magic as the wounds closed and vanished, accompanied only by a brief flash of blackened cuts on Ardyn's own hands that healed as suddenly as they appeared.]

[ Because he is her friend and she trusts him, Era stays still and lets him take her hands. As soon as he's finished, however, she quickly pulls them away.

She says nothing of how the wounds appear and disappear on his own hands. He asked her not to push, and so she'll stubbornly refuse to speak of any oddities. ]

In the future please ask for my consent, provided I am capable of giving it.

O-oh--I'm sorry.

[Maybe that was a thing with healing magic on her world? Gods only knew, it wasn't as though anyone had ever stopped him before.]

There is no need for apologies, unless you do it again.

[ She rubs at the now-healed flesh of her skin. The corners of her lips twitch briefly downward, and she moves to pick at her scales until she recalls the ring Hades made for her.

She spins the ring instead and returns to her bag of decorations. ]

Healing magicks alter the body. To use it without consent is infringing upon one's bodily autonomy. It is important to give someone a say in such things whenever possible.

My apologies. I merely didn't wish to see you hurt if I could do much about it.

[Ardyn fidgeted with his own hands, glancing down as if to be sure his own cuts had indeed healed themselves.]

I will do my best to be more cautious.

[ She has to bite her lip at that, because she feels much the same. She doesn't wish to see him hurt like he does when she may be able to offer aid, and yet...

Era sighs, and begins sorting out the third set of fairy lights. ]

If you would like any manner of jewelry as a gift for Aera this... I believe you said in your world it was a solstice?

If you decide you would like a piece of custom jewelry for her, provide me with the materials and a description of what you would like made. To the surprise of many, I am a rather skilled goldsmith.

Oh--I wouldn't trouble you like that. Hopefully I can figure out something for her on my own.

I would not offer if I thought it troublesome, Ardyn. Believe it or not, there are things I enjoy doing that do not involve combat directly.

Well...if you're certain, I could try to come up with something like that.

If a piece of jewelry is what you'd like to get her, but you aren't sure of the design...

A necklace, earrings, circlet, bracelet, or ring? Consider what would be most convenient to her lifestyle.

Which precious metal is her favourite, or best suits her? Does she have a gemstone she favours?

If I recall correctly you said once that she enjoys flowers. If she has a favourite flower I can create something with that shape.

Consider these things if you do decide upon a gift of jewelry, then let me know the answers. It should take no more than five days to finish any request you bring to me.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject