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

[Ah . . . a certain warmth goes through him once he realizes who this is, and receives that silent invitation. It's still a little unexpected. Should it be, by now? Aren't they always ending up in these ridiculous, unnerving situations together? And isn't it somehow always more comforting with Kai than it would be with most people? Maybe that's a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's a matter of simple practice. You get the practice in with one person and it gets easier, so you get more in, and it gets easier still . . .

Magolor thinks these things quickly and half-formed, in the background of his head noise. Mostly he's scooting over to burrow in under that blanket. It's dark and cold and eerie in here tonight, and he loves and hates it, the way he loves and hates many things at the same time. They feed into one another.]

I'll give you that one. This is your temple, not mine. Don't tell me you really do sit alone here at night in the cold? Take care of your immune system, geez.

Excuse you, that's what blankets are for.

[Blankets and warm, egg-shaped friends. The absolute perfect shape for filling that empty spot. Kai waited for him to get mostly settled before he properly wrapped his arm around Magolor, drawing him in closer to Kai's side. Cold as it might have been in the temple, Kai usually ran hot even without magic cinnamon drinks. This little pocket under the blanket was nice and cozy.

There hadn't been a denial over his night time activities though. Just a small shrug of his shoulder that could have just been chalked up to getting comfortable, and a thoughtful glance towards the dragon's beckoning hands.]

It's a lot cozier here than some other haunts.

You've got a bed, you know. Er, I assume you do. For all I know, you swapped it out for a scientific lab, and now this is your only shelter.

[Get dunked on (behind your back and without naming names), Verstael!

Magolor himself runs warmer than a human, so this is going to be a very cozy little blanketpile. He presses himself perfectly right into that space and heaves a comfortable sigh. After all this time here, he's getting used to the contact thing, but it's still very rarely Nice. This . . . is Nice.

But he can still feel that tension in the air—he's here for some other reason, and he knows it. It's there sitting inside of him like a stone, no matter how comfortable he is.]

[He chuckled, the sound low and quiet in the dark.]

I've got a bed.

[It even saw fairly regular use! Which was amazing, considering how awful his sleep schedule usually was. It was amazing the kind of impact someone dropping in to help with their own sleep had on that sort of thing. He'd never had that much fondness for being at home in bed before now. It'd never been anything that was actually comforting.]

I'd go out at night back home, too. End up too far out to make it home before I was too tired, so I'd just hole up wherever I was at. Found a shack out in the mountains one time, so I'd usually just head back there.

[Maybe that'd ring a bell. Maybe not. It hadn't been one of the dreams that Kai was aware of anyone seeing, so he wouldn't have known either way, doesn't even think about it as he talked about it.

He lifted his unoccupied arm a little, giving his head a little tap.]

It's a bit easier to think when it's chilly.

[Magolor's ears twitch up again, not at the tap this time—though that's still nice, he still wants it, and he leans into it. Kai can give him alllll the pets he wants. But no, that description rings a bell immediately. It had been a surprising enough thing to witness that it had stuck in Magolor's mind all this time, as brief as the glimpse had been. Should he say anything? . . . There's no reason not to. He's curious. And there's something about this night, this situation, this mood, that makes him push. He can feel something pushing on himself from the inside, too. Maybe Kai feels the same.]

. . . I remember. Surprised? That shack you're describing, I saw it once in one of your dreams. I've always wondered what that was about. But who asks about dream shacks out of nowhere, right? I'm sure you've seen some of mine and wondered, too.

[He doesn't even only mean the one he knows for certain Kai saw. He'd been found asleep during the same bubble event that had led to the shack thing, and he suspects.]

Huh.

[It was more a thoughtful sound than a question. He didn't really remember having any recent dreams about the place, and certainly not any Magolor had been to. Before then, maybe... Ah.]

I guess I am a little surprised. I gotcha though, cuz yeah. Might've wondered about some things. For the longest time I couldn't figure out if that smile face was actually a face or just eyes or what.

[... He still wasn't sure!]

I see. So you've seen it more than once? I didn't realize that! How embarrassing.

[Embarrassing isn't quite the word. It's a mild substitute for how that makes him feel. It seems impossible that that could be the case and they could still be here talking like this, completely casually . . . and yet it's not like that isn't the situation with Kirby and the others, too, for the most part. Why is he still surprised?

The compulsion to spill the story is strong. Not only because of outside influences, but it's strong in the way it always is when it comes to this: maybe he should just drive Kai away now and be done with it before he gets any more attached than he already is. Yes, that sounds sane and normal. Magolor folds his hands in front of himself with a smile.]

Why don't I just explain everything? Since we're here together and all. Isn't this the perfect place?

[Magolor. Buddy. Guy.]

Mm, it's a pretty good place to do it. A quiet night without any interruptions to say what you wanna say.

[Kai inclined his head a little to watch him, looking over those folded hands. It wasn't that long ago he'd seen someone else doing the same thing in front of all these dragons. There was something heavier about it tonight, like things needed to be said, but... Kai shifted his hand, carefully, gently brushing fingertips just there at the base of Magolor's ear.]

I'm not gonna go anywhere.

[That makes him falter significantly—the mood was already something heavy and unique, but that shifts it again. He can't tell a grand story about a vile fiend, who happened to also be him, when he's being looked at and touched that way. His expression shifts too and he has to look away for a moment, gathering himself. But his ear flicks into the touch anyway.

And to say that he's not going to go anywhere—well, they'll see.]

Hmmm. Well, it's the story of a great hero who saved the universe! . . . But I'm not sure I'm in the mood to tell all that tonight. Sometimes I am. I think instead, I'll tell you the part about the great villain who threatened the universe in the first place. Once upon a time, a very greedy wizard who lived alone on a faraway planet found out through all of his research that he was living very close to an ancient artifact that would give its bearer complete control over everything in existence. If he managed to steal it for himself, every person on every planet would come to know him as their god. . . . That's an exciting start, huh?

[He'd just already had the feeling that this wasn't a story that Magolor liked telling all that much, for whatever reason. A little assurance was okay, right?

He nodded along, letting Magolor set the stage the way he wanted it laid out. A villain story, huh. That sure was an interesting narrative choice. Kai hummed.]

Definitely an exciting start. I'm invested.

[He was. He was invested.]

So he had a goal already in mind.

[The story gets a little easier to tell as he falls into a rhythm with it, and as the surprise of the tender moment fades. He can handle this, even being petted. Maybe it's even better to be petted! Weird. He can't dwell on that too long right now.]

Of course he did. The artifact was a crown of great power, and it was under the protection of an ancient, hideous dragon slumbering in the volcano, bearing the crown on his head. No one dared approach that dragon to steal it right off the top of him! But our evil wizard was convinced of his own power and will. The reason no one else dared was because they may as well not exist at all . . . but he was a somebody. And somebodies are meant to rule over and guide nobodies. Since he knew he was somebody, and they were nobody, that just meant he couldn't possibly fail in taking the crown for himself!

—But this wouldn't be a very exciting story if he had succeeded the first time. We wouldn't even be here together sharing it if things had gone that easily. The wizard failed to defeat the dragon and was forced to flee the planet on his ship to find somewhere else to lick his wounds and make a new plan.

[Oh, ouch, his poor nobody heart. Except he was fine, just rolling his eyes a tiny bit at that. Still: invested.]

That'd be a bummer, you're good at this. [And he meant that, for more than just the compliment.]

Was he able to find inspiration for the next go around?

Something like that. What he found . . . well, it wasn't quite a coincidence. Rewind! Once upon a time a while before that, another Somebody came to visit the wizard's planet, and they crossed paths. You could say that, if this wizard were a king, this other person was a court jester. He'd tried himself to gain the same kind of power some time before, using a different artifact left behind by the Ancients—but he'd been stopped by a great hero that lived on the planet Pop Star! . . . The jester told the wizard this story, and the wizard remembered it. So, when he was fleeing Halcandra on his ship, he decided he'd navigate to Pop Star and meet that great hero himself. Because if he couldn't defeat the dragon himself, maybe he could trick someone stronger into doing it for him.

Now we're caught back up to where we were! The evil wizard met the hero and pretended to befriend him so that the hero would help him repair his wrecked ship and then travel back to Halcandra to defeat the mean, nasty dragon that had attacked it in the first place.

[These days, Magolor has grown and come to understand enough about what he did and why it was wrong that it's not like he's under the illusion that any of this story makes him look good. But that part is still the part he hates people knowing the most. Trying to make everyone in the universe his slaves? Sure, that sucks. But there's something different and more personal about what he did to people who thought he was their friend to accomplish that.]

[This certainly was a Way to frame the story. It seemed almost odd that Magolor wasn't trying to paint it in a better light beyond the jovial way he was telling the tale. Almost. Wizard of truth, and all that.

Kai, for his part, continued to simply listen to the tale. It was clear he was doing so, but any visible signs of judgement a person maybe should have had by now weren't readily apparent. The story wasn't done.

... And this had kind of been his perception of most friendships up until now anyway. So.

He did offer a quiet snort there at the end though:]

Gee, I wonder why it did that.

[Really, making a stupid joke is the best possible response at this moment. Magolor giggles in response, relaxing another fraction. It's all very complicated for him to navigate, and any little bit of normalcy counts. The one who flawlessly mixes lies and truth—in reality, that's the kind of wizard he is, telling this story with the fundamental honesty of not spinning it to make himself look sympathetic, but with the fundamental dishonesty of refusing to tell it in the first person.

And, in truth, talking about his own possibly-sympathetic feelings and history at the time would be a little too honest for him to face.]

It's a mystery! That crazy dragon can't be tamed by anyone! . . . Anyway. The wizard's plan worked exactly the way he thought it would. Of course it did. He was a genius! He really was a somebody. So was the hero, and all of his friends adventuring with him. The wizard began to realize this while he was befriending them . . . or pretending to befriend them. Who can say for sure which it was? Those things aren't as different as you might think. But he didn't realize that until much later. At the time, he wasn't about to let those feelings get in his way of his grasp for ultimate power. Ultimate power is ultimate power! —In other words, if he had to kill them all to win, that was fine. He'd have enough power afterwards even to bring back the dead, or turn back the hands of time. He could have his cake and eat it too, if only he managed to win the Crown!

That's how he thought of things at the time. I did tell you he was evil. And sometimes bad people manage to get exactly what they want, at least for a little while. When everything was said and done, the plan worked perfectly, and he put the Crown on his own head while the heroes watched in horror.

[Ah. Well then. That was definitely a, uh, Power Move. This was probably the part of the story where if Kai hadn't already gotten the big Bad Guy vibes, he was probably supposed to agree about the evil nature of this wizard. Maybe this wizard was not a very swell fella.

And you know? He wasn't.

Even knowing this, Kai's reaction was just a thoughtful hum. That encouraging hand had yet to stray.]

... This is where the big guy comes in, huh.

The big guy . . .

[That cracks him into showing a little emotion again—and rather than being anything very serious, it's just, TFW your hideous possessed self is referred to as The Big Guy. What a strange feeling of the utterly mundane, hearing it put that way. It isn't a bad feeling, and neither is it a good one. It's just a feeling that touches him unexpectedly right now. Almost like being halfway home from work after a beautiful day you had to spend inside working, only for it to start pouring down on your head: it's both exasperating and so much so that it's funny.

He scratches his head. For a moment he's just a dude telling a story about his day, and some of the grandiosity goes out of his presentation.]

Well, you're not wrong. That's where that comes in! . . . You see, the wizard really did think he had a strong enough will to control the Crown's power. But he couldn't have been more wrong about that. Once it had its claws in him, he was done for. Magic that old has a mind and will of its own, and most people can't control it . . . when it came down to it, he wasn't any more of a Somebody than anyone else who might have tried and failed. His body and mind were completely taken over by that ancient power. That's who the big guy was.

[He's a very good story participant.

Besides, what did you want him to call it, Magolor, the giant nightmare monstrosity? Something equally as unflattering? Cause that implied a lot of unsavory things about the little guy that had been in there, and he didn't quite care for that. Sure, this was an extremely unflattering portrait of the little guy, but...

Kai kinda had a lot of faith in the little guy that had been burrowed up against his chest, sad and frightened. People weren't static. They learned lessons.

...An ancient possessing power worked too though. That was definitely something else to call it. It certainly made a lot more sense.]

Ah... rough deal.

[Very, very good story participant. But also, legitimately, yeesh. Rough.]

Why, thank you for your sympathies.

[He says this in a light, almost flippant tone—but he does mean it. It's not something he's ever heard, actually, and a moment of that heaviness crosses his expression: his smile looks a little faded, but warmer than the bright storytelling falseness.

And, of course, it's the first time he's actually acknowledged himself as the "protagonist" of this tale.]

Unfortunately, our story's almost at an end . . . it didn't take very long for the wizard's mind to be almost entirely subsumed in that ancient power. So it fell to the great hero to end things the only way they could end! He raised his sword against the power of the crown, and after an arduous battle, he brought the sword down one last time, drove the power out into the darkness, and sent the wizard into the great beyond. And that's the end of that chapter.

[It wasn't really the only way it could end. The other options didn't really make for a good story though, since the storyteller wouldn't even be around to tell it. Kai wouldn't have even known what he was missing.]

What's out in the great beyond though? Is that chapter two?

Sorry, but nope! That part doesn't make for a good story at all. There's absolutely nothing there. Just . . . nothing.

[And that's a thing he can't let himself dwell on very often or for very long. It's still hard to think about the Nothing. Magolor's considered more than once how he'd incorporate that part into the entire narrative, but . . . he just can't. His ears flatten for a moment before he forces them up again.]

Chapter two comes after he was rescued! But it's a whole other story, not the one I'm telling tonight. I think I about covered what I was going to. What did you think?

[Hm. Kai glanced at those ears, moving his lightly petting hand up to give one a proper stroke.

Aha.

[That confirmation that there was a chapter two was enough for Kai right now, and gave him that important little rescue detail. By that great hero? Seemed likely.]

It was an interesting story. Sounds like the wizard could have learned a lot from it.

[Despite himself, he leans into the pets. There's more relief than he'd ever admit in the fact that they're still happening even after all of that is out there.]

He might have learned a little from that, and from chapters two and three too. I guess this would be chapter four? So far, so good.

Four whole chapters, huh. That's a lot of development to cover. Especially in an ongoing series.

[It was going to take more than just a story about how maybe he tricked all his friends into being his friends and maybe intended to kill them off to push Kai away-- Kai didn't know who any of those people were. Maybe if it was something more direct, like blatantly telling Kai to leave. Maybe he'd get the idea at that point.

Since he didn't, that meant all these pets were for you, Magolor.]

I think I kinda get where the wizard was comin' from though. Probably seems like it'd be less lonely to be a Somebody that was alone than to be a Nobody that was alone.

But maybe that's just how I heard it.

I think you're reading a liiiittle too much into a great fairy tale adventure.

[GRUMBLE. He doesn't shove away or anything; he stays put, ears flattening and then flicking before settling again. But he can't not deflect being, well, called out like that. It's getting in too deep to admit to how lonely he'd been then—how much that had been one of the secret drives behind his ascent. Confessing to trying to kill his friends, that's fine. Confessing to sad and depressing feelings? Nuh uh.

Still . . . he doesn't shove away.]

Anyway. That's that!

♥ December Event Log

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