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

[Ardyn was tense under her hand, as he often was; this time shaken and uncertain as he quickly rubbed a hand over his eyes. Perhaps something vanished in a few wisps of black smoke, or perhaps it was never there at all.]

I tried, Era. I tried to protect all of that and I failed. Now it's all going to fall to ruin because of me.

[ She does not remove her hand, nor falter in the motions she makes. Best to keep it as consistent as she can, though she can't help the way her aether presses against his skin, ever seeking to soothe and comfort. ]

You were given an impossible task, Ardyn. You failed in it, yes, but I do not believe you failed to protect what mattered most in the long term. I believe it would have happened either way — infection is made to spread. What you did was...

Ardyn, I believe what you have done with the Scourge is similar to what Ardbert and his companions did to the Flood of Light, and what I did with the Lightwardens' aether.

By containing so much of it within you, you are giving many more people the opportunity to live on than if the disease was left to run rampant. Eventually, someone will come and destroy the Scourge within you.

Whatever horrors may come to pass, it would have been worse without you.

You saw the Sin Eaters, in my nightmare. How they ran rampant, swarming those people and turning them... Pretend for a moment that they were instead daemons, and that was the entirety of your planet. Imagine no safe refuge, no places to hide.

It is unspeakably cruel to burden you with such a fate, but... You have given them the chance, Ardyn, and that is not a failing.

...

[He knew that was true, logically. Knew that no matter what became of the whole attempt that there was always one, ten, one hundred that would otherwise have died. That had often been comfort enough when he was at his most worn down, when the corruption burned in his blood and tormented his every waking moment. It was worth something, he'd told himself. If even one person could be saved, that was worth something.]

[But it was harder to see now, having come out on the other side of so much misery with yet more to come. Knowing that so many descendants of descendants walked Eos because he had worked without rest, and none of them would ever know it...not that he desired recognition, merely not to be forgotten.]

Does it...truly still matter, if the world should still be overtaken by darkness so long after?

[ She pauses, hand going still. ]

Please ask that again, little shadow, because I think I misheard you. It sounded as if you were asking if numerous generations — countless lives — truly matter.

That's not...that isn't what I mean.

[Ardyn shook his head, trying to rephrase his thoughts. Of course that mattered, it wasn't that he ever truly doubted as much. The only thing he doubted at the moment was himself.]

If all I did was stall the inevitable--or worse, leave it to be dealt with as someone else's responsibility generations down the line, is that not simply failure?

Edited 2019-12-13 22:42 (UTC)

[ Era gives a small pat to his back and withdraws her hand with a small, fond sigh. ]

Sit down for a moment, please. You are too tall for this conversation.

[That earned an odd look over Ardyn's shoulder, but...he turned around and sat down as asked.]

[ Pleased with his acquiescence, Era steps close to him and reaches out with her hands using slow, careful movements to hold his face in a feather-light touch. Never has her face been so close to his, largely due to the difference in their height, but there is no such limitation here.

This is important, she thinks. That he look her in the eye, properly, as she speaks. ]

You gave countless people the chance to help, to build, to invent, to create, and grow stronger. The chance fall in love and the chance to bear children. The chance for those children to laugh and grow, to find love and bear children of their own. The chance to learn and prepare.

Even if they should fall to the Dark a thousand lifetimes later, those thousand lifetimes will not have been spent in idleness.

My dear friend... You gave them a chance, and you cannot discount the worth of that.

[As he processed what she was saying, Ardyn slowly started to relax; it was't something he could argue even if he wanted to.]

You're...you're right. I only wish I had been able to do more.

You gave them your mortality, Ardyn. You gave them all of you, and more. Now it is in the hands of your great-grandnephews.

[ She crinkles her nose, then smiles at him; eyes ethereally bright. ]

Now, it is time for you to take your chance. It is your turn to live and love and heal.

And what if I do not want to leave it in their hands?

[To his credit, Ardyn did at least try for a weak and halfhearted smile.]

If this is to be the responsibility of House Caelum for all one hundred or so generations, then why should I step back from it now and let another finish what I began?

[ Her smile falters, then fades. Worry quickly works its way into her expression, though she does her best to limit what shows. ]

...Because if you step back now, perhaps you will not lose your fight against the monster within.

Perhaps it is taking a risk. But...it would feel wrong to leave everything to them, and to continue spending an abundance of time doing naught at all. Besides...would it not be better, if the bloodline were to fight together rather than distant and alone?

You would risk fighting alongside them, but not the chance to find a way to make such a thing safe for them?

I told you--you can't cure me any more than you can 'cure' Hades of his own true form. This is what I am now, and to eliminate the scourge may well mean my death.

Ardyn, I very specifically did not use the word 'cure'.

[ She sighs, exasperated. Then just sits herself on his lap, near his bony knees. ]

Are you at all familiar with the concept of immunity?

[Okay, hello there. Confused by the question and her proximity alike, Ardyn merely blinked and shook his head.]

As a healer, you must have bore witness to people falling ill with various, contagious sicknesses who then recovered, yes?

Of course. It is hardly as though the scourge was the only ailment on our world, justy the most dangerous.

Then are you also familiar with how those who recovered would then be far less likely to fall ill with said sickness again?

I rarely stayed in one place long enough to observe such a thing, but I believe that I follow your logic.

[ She nods, pleased and not surprised. ]

The body has what is known as the immune system. It is the body's defense against disease and illness that seek to invade and infect it. It is... incredibly complex, and so amazing.

Infections are caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites, or other such dangerous microorganisms. The first line of defense is the skin, protecting the flesh and blood beneath. You would be familiar with blood poisoning, or infections caused by cuts to the flesh, I'm sure.

Coughing and sneezing are methods of defense as well — the respiratory system seeking to expel foreign irritants. Inflammation is caused by increased flow of blood to the infected area — blood that brings with it the foot-soldiers of the immune system, the white blood cells.

[ She uses her hands as she speaks, gesturing and emphasizing. Trying to describe concepts with the shapes her hands make. So enthusiastic is she about this particular subject (medicine), even her tail wiggles with delight where it rests against his leg. ]

But I will explain what makes the the system so very effective: its ability to learn.

Let's say I fall ill with Red Throat, tuberculosis, or whatever illness you are familiar with that brings fever, lethargy, a cough, and lungs that slowly fill with blood. I am ill for many weeks, close to death, but against all odds I recover.

Were that disease to strike my village again I am not stricken by it a second time, no matter how frequently I act as nursemaid to the ill. This is because my body remembers that illness, recognizing the virus that has wormed its way in through the air I breathed. The white blood cells attack before it has a chance to infect.

This is the very basic concept of immunity.

[Ardyn listened attentively, though it was very clear by the look on his face that all of this was wildly new information. He'd only learned brief flashes of things and perhaps a faint impression of modern speech patterns from the memory incident on Angelgard; everything else was still beyond his reach without considerable studying.]

I believe I understand, for as well as I'm able to.

[ Again she is pleased, but not surprised. ]

With the body's ability to identify foreign invaders... There is a way to use this to preemptively train the immune system. On a world called Earth they take viruses and weaken them so they cannot replicate and cause illness, then inject these inactive viruses into the body. It allows the immune system to create a blueprint of this invader, and thus be prepared to fight against them with full force in the future.

These are vaccines, or inoculations. Many of the diseases you've seen cause such pain and suffering are all but eradicated in more modern worlds.

Good heavens. Humankind has certainly devised some ingenious things on such worlds, haven't they?

♥ December Event Log

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