♥ December Event Log

[hugtopiamods]

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...

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

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

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.

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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.

Comments

cw: suicidal ideation

[scourgingstars]

[Now Ardyn was definitely losing the finer threads of the matter; time travel was far beyond the realm of his comprehension. He barely understood the timeline as it was, when Cor talked about it. But still, the general idea was enough to get a rough idea--and he wasn't about to distract from such honest admissions by asking foolish questions]

It was easier, sometimes. If Aera didn't know I would inevitably die, then we could have hope of a future together. I would have done anything to preserve that for her. And it was-...it was not that I cared nothing for such dreams. I wanted them as much as she did, truly. But ultimately, as things wore on...the idea of death was preferable. I was so tired, and the more my body broke down the less I saw any other way things would end. If I were lucky I'd live long enough to ascend the throne and see the world at peace, but...I never expected to.

And that was fine. Even if it caused Aera pain, at least she could have lived in a world without fear of the dark. At least I could have done what I thought I was made to do.

That's...how it is to you, isn't it? That if the salvation of the world demanded your life, then that price would be paid in an instant.

these two have Issues q_q

[astralera]

There are things far more important than one's own happiness. Even if your death would bring your loved ones grief, at least you helped ensure that they would live long enough that those wounds on their hearts would heal.

The salvation of my worlds has already demanded my life, and I have freely given it. If the price was my death, then I would pay that as well.

Though if the salvation of one Shard required my death... In my heart I would not hesitate, however it is not a price I could pay. I would need to forsake that one world to spare five others.

boy howdy

[scourgingstars]

...I can't truly claim to understand most of your realm's circumstances, and I don't wish to pretend that I do.

But what I do understand is that you're a wonderful person with more work than you remotely deserve, Era.

[astralera]

A wonderful person...

[ Her tail curls and uncurls behind her, and she shifts her weight again. ]

...I am trying now, to be a woman more than a weapon, but I'm not sure if I like it. If it is worth how much more there is to feel and be hurt by.

[scourgingstars]

I wish I could answer that. It's something I am still trying to determine for myself as well. Being a human--or at least something close to one--rather than a savior or a monster...it's difficult.

[astralera]

At least you were one, once. Though I could not say if that is a blessing or a curse for you.

[scourgingstars]

I don't know--and it's been so long I can't remember. This may as well be starting over entirely, for my part.

[astralera]

Aera will help you — that is one thing I can be certain of. I would offer my aid as well, had I any to offer.

Instead... I suppose we can try and learn this together?

[scourgingstars]

I think I...would like that. I feel she--indeed, most people--perhaps can not understand such a thought process as we can. Perhaps it would be wise to help one another, in that case.

[astralera]

[ Era nods. The smile she sends him now is very small, lopsided, and tentative, but as earnest she ever is. ]

Hades has been trying. He is so unerringly patient with me, but for all his years I do not think this is something he can truly understand — not with how our deities divide us.

[scourgingstars]

Perhaps not. It would be a lie to say I am not myself aware of an impassable divide between us as well. I have scarce lived through these past centuries at all, and even that pales beside the seemingly endless span of his lifetime and experiences. I feel terribly insignificant beside him, and yet there is no one else who truly understands what it is to be as I've become.

...We're all quite the scrambled group, aren't we?

[astralera]

You've both so many countless years, and I've my four.

[ She makes a broad gesture with an arm. ]

You understand that about me which he cannot.

You understand that about him which I cannot.

He understands things about both of us which we cannot of each other.

Scrambled we may be, but between us three I imagine there is enough understanding to bridge it all.

[scourgingstars]

I would...I would like to think so. I've had more than enough of differences and lack of understanding forcing one another apart.

[Ardyn frowned once he said that, hesitating; he fidgeted restlessly with his hands before moving them to his pockets, looking at a clearly fascinating bit of empty space off to Era's left.]

That was always our problem, I think. Neither of us wanted to concede any ground to the other, or look at matters from the opposite perspective. Too hardheaded and too convinced we were right to do anything else, and it twisted both of us in our own ways. Me, into a self-destructing fool, and-

[He trailed off at that, not quite losing the line of thought but seeming to want to reconstruct it in a different way.]

What little I do remember...I don't think my brother used to be this way. This whole affair changed him--nay, changed us both. I am far from who I once was, and farther still from who I must have been in a time when we were still brothers.

...I miss him, in truth. I missed him even in the time you've seen yourself, and I loved him until the instant he put a sword in my chest. Some shattered piece of me still does, I think. Else I would not be so angry with him, or frustrated with this act he puts on of an untouchable king wearing my brother's face.

[astralera]

...I cannot say I truly understand it, but... It would not surprise me if Somnus was doing much as I have done my whole life — he is not a man, but his duty. It creates a distance, and makes impossibly difficult tasks much less daunting. Tasks such as condemning a beloved brother to an unspeakably horrible fate.

If he ceases to wear his duty as a shield, what would become of the man beneath when faced with the weight of what he has done?

[ She exhales. Shakes her head. ]

...But I have not walked in his shoes, nor did I live in yours during a time before the Scourge.

What I can say with certainty is that there is nothing wrong with missing a loved one. With loving a loved one, even after what awful things they may have done.

It is a poor comparison, but you know some of what Hades has done. Some of what he has done to me. And yet still I... love him.

[scourgingstars]

If I'm to be perfectly honest, the comparison had not eluded me. Both of them...did unthinkable things, though I know the scale to be vastly different. And as furious and hurt as I still am, I...part of me understands now that Somnus truly must have believed he was doing what was right. Can I condone that--of course not, the same as I can not condone all you and even Hades himself tell me he's done for the sake of his world. I can not forgive what is my place to forgive, in my brother's case...but I can comprehend it.

...I only wish he would lower that shield, for I haven't the luxury of one anymore. I have carried the weight of what he has done in solitude and beyond, and I...I just want my brother back. As a person, not this pitiful duty-bound shade or the nightmare haunting my dreams even now.

Why must mortal emotions be so damned difficult?

[astralera]

If what I said does happen to be the truth of it, and if he does indeed have the heart of a good man, lowering his shield may break him.

But, perhaps... If the brother beneath is fortified, then he just one day may lower that shield.

...

[ His final question catches her off guard, and soon enough she's doubled over, one hand pressed to her mouth to stifle the fit of giggles that bubbles up from between her lips. ]

I have always said there is no accomplishment without difficulty, but in this case I would forgo accomplishment if it made this mess of emotions more comprehensible.

[scourgingstars]

... [He smiled just a little at her laughter, his own unease fading just a little at a time. Before he could say much else in response, the dragonlings moved and from them came a burst of light Ardyn practically recoiled from. When it faded he was...perhaps smoking just the tiniest bit, and on the altar were two items.]

Is...that--?

[astralera]

[ It's just as well that she had already been curled over with laughter, for when the light erupts from behind her she flinches; recoils in on herself, eyes clenched shut and tail moving to curl firmly around one of her legs. Bright bursts of light are not something she is altogether fond of, to say the least. It brings back that phantom pain, far too clearly. That world of white where there was naught save for Ardbert at her side.

She exhales sharply, resisting the urge to cough (a splattering of shimmering, luminescent light on the ground before her) and instead pressing the palms of her hands to her eyes and she tries to bolster herself against these unwanted memories (the sound of her soul shattering in her horns). That is all they are, she reminds herself. Memories. Moments she has already survived. And yet she still can hear the ringing dissonance of corrupted Light all around her. The sound of the true Ardbert's voice—

If you had the strength to take another step, could you do it?

Could you save our worlds?

...

But it's Ardyn who is with her. Not Ardbert. She is in the temple of Rawna, not on a platform high above a crumbling world. She does her best to focus on the present rather than the past.

Era doesn't need to ask when the light has faded. She knows it has, and yet still she keeps her eyes covered, huddled close to the ground, like a cowering child trying to hide from the monsters in her closet. When she speaks it is with a shaken voice: ]

Has the night returned?

[scourgingstars]

Era-?

[Ardyn knelt down beside her, a gentle hand hovering near her shoulder without daring to touch her. She could sense his darkness, Ardyn knew that much--with how it was still coming off of him in faint wisps of black, surely she would be able to focus upon it if she needed to.]

You're alright. It was naught but the altar, everything is fine.

[astralera]

[ The darkness that radiates from him is nothing compared to Hades, but it is more than enough to drag the last pieces of her mind back to the present. She leans toward his hand, like a flower chasing sunlight.

Era rubs at her eyes, letting out a tiny, wet laugh. ]

What a Warrior of Light I am.

[scourgingstars]

Now, don't be so hard on yourself. That rather startled me as well--come, let's see what's happened, shall we?

[Ardyn held out his other hand as the darkness faded, offering to help her stand.]

[astralera]

[ She takes another, steadying breath. Holds it for a few seconds, then exhales. One final rub of her face with her hands. Feeling moderately better, Era accepts Ardyn's proffered hand, allowing him to help her back up to her (slightly shaky) feet. Her tail, while no longer twisted around her leg, hangs low between them. ]

I can't deny that my curiosity is piqued.

[scourgingstars]

It may be worth an investigation, at least.

[And he did approach in no small amount of curiosity, turning very quiet as he picked up...an old chessboard and a case of slightly worn pieces in matching black and white.]

...

[astralera]

[ Era watches as Ardyn picks up what is clearly something familiar to him, then shifts her eyes to what else lays upon the alter.

Once again she loses her breath; a sharp exhale. Pained, and sad. She steps forward, hesitating to reach out, but she finally brushes her fingertips along the face of the shield, touch feather-light and reverent.

Her lower lip trembles, and her sight blurs as tears begin to well up in her eyes. She inhales, quivering and damp, then lets out a soft, barely audible oh. ]

My shield...

[scourgingstars]

This is our-...my old chess set. I remember--we used to play against each other to settle arguments, when we were younger. I lied to him and said it was a rule the elder player sacrificed one piece for every year of difference in age, because we both knew I was the better player.

[Ardyn.]

...Era? Are you alright?