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

I have only spoken honestly to him since arriving in this world. It is not my place to speak for the gods, nor is it time for their words to be heard; to demand them is hubris, of which I was once guilty.

Have you? Or have you lied only by omission instead of fact?

[He lifts the tea as though it is a toast.]

Who speaks for you, Somnus? I will not claim to know all of your heart, but you show enough of it when you forget for a moment to hide.

If your flaw is hubris, then it is not by refusing to speak that you cure it. It is by listening. And it is not for Ardyn's sake alone that I bang upon the doors of your ivory tower. It is because for a moment I saw the young man within, and thought he was a person worth a closer look.

[Somnus looks away. As he does, the tea in his system churns the words out of him.]

No one speaks for me, nor is there a need for it. My words fall ever on deaf ears, and my heart is of no consequence.

[Even if he won't share the gods' revelation, for that is the duty of the Oracle, his own words have been tossed aside time and again. They've only done more harm than good, and that makes them worthless.]

I have listened. And I will continue to listen, for it is all that I can offer him.

No, you're hearing. Listening is an entirely different matter, for if you were listening, then I would not need tell you this again and again.

[His pitch lilts steadily upward in his frustration - the honesty that is truly dangerous to Emet-Selch is the emotional sort - until the combination of it and his accent are nearly grating. He stops, puts his hand to his face as though fingering an unseen mask, and sighs.]

Of course your heart is of consequence. You are worthy of being heard. That I shall repeat to you, and he, and Era all until I grow frustrated enough to choose one of you as a weapon to bludgeon the others. Likely you, you're no doubt lighter than Ardyn.

[Apparently, Era is not a blunt weapon candidate, despite being the smallest.]

[The frustration is a familiar tone. The last time he heard it directed at him must have been thousands of years ago. It's a miracle that he's able to even remember.

Hearing and listening—yes, there's a distinction. His words are hollow and devoid of emotion as he steps away.]

Such pretty words. You and he are alike.

Perhaps so. I think it has been rather far too long since I was ever that innocent. Even those of us who lived sacrificed something, be it peace of mind or pieces of ourselves.

[He has seen far too much of the worst of humanity, now, to ever go back to those younger, happier days.

It is because of those things, no doubt, that he does not see Somnus as as far beyond redemption as the man sees himself.]

And is there anything but words that might convince you, that you are not beyond saving?

[Those who survive are left to live with the consequences—and die with them, as it were. He knows that painfully well. But it isn't entirely what he meant, and he begins to walk away with his back to Emet-Selch.]

I do not need saving.

[For a few moments, it seems like Somnus might be getting away with the last word on that. But just those few moments.

Because the key to making an impression lies in presentation, and Emet-Selch is nothing if not a master of presentation.

And so it is that very suddenly, Somnus will find that he is nearly-walking-into a swirl of dark energy, which manifest and then fades, leaving Emet-Selch behind. Surprise, your family doesn't have exclusive reign over teleportation magicks in this city.

His walk bears all the hallmarks of authority - it is the posture of so many advices to "think murder and walk." But his expression belies that, for it is not unkind - if anything, there is a pain to it, to his quiet words as he draws up a hand, his fingertips drawing the old (but still young, so painfully young) king's jaw up, emphasizing the very real difference in their heights.]

In all my years, I've never met anyone who couldn't use a bit of saving. Those who claim no need of it, most of all.

[He lets his hand drop, and takes a step back.]

My heart breaks for you, Somnus Lucis Caelum. You punish yourself so deeply that you cannot see that no one desires to see you punished. You keep faith to faithless gods, who are not even here to see it. You too have been in the dark alone since that day, haven't you?

[Somnus grinds to a halt when the dark energy manifests before him. He makes no move to tear away from Emet-Selch when his jaw is lifted, and he maintains the angle once the fingertips withdraw, locking eyes.]

I have never been alone. Before my death, there was my Shield; during, my queen and son; after, his children and their children.

[No matter how great his remorse, he's been blessed all throughout his existence by good people, with whom he's shouldered the burden of duty over the millennia. Although his beloved brother was lost to the Scourge, he had them. The rest of what Emet-Selch said is of no import.]

I will not cheapen their worth for you.

Nor would I ask you to. I am not without my own lovers and children; there have been times that I have regretted that I was not the mortal they believed me to be, for their sakes. Times that I wished I did not know how very ephemeral and flawed they were in the end.

[And that is an honest regret. He cannot make himself less, and to make them more has been the process of ages.]

If that is truly the case, then I am glad.

[But he cannot help but doubt, for sharing one's duty and one's regrets are very different things. And Somnus has shown himself to be very much a person who thinks wholly of the former, and burns his heart to the latter.]

You remind me keenly of Elidibus - always aloof, always bearing the cause of balance for the star so proudly upon his breast that he could see nothing else. Better that than Lahabrea, it's true, whose mind eroded under the weight of the lifetimes - but I should think that I would fear the coldness I see in you and the Emissary more. To love and have it mean nothing in the face of duty brings me enough ruin as it is; to kill even the showing of it would be alike a living death.

[He's no stranger to fear. He has his share of nightmares, and he'll always remember the terror with which his people regarded him in the past. He was feared, because there was no room amid his actions to show his love for the people whom he sought to protect.

But this is different. (And there's a difference between him and the Emissary: Somnus bears his house's cause with shame, not pride.) He's shown that love here, if clumsily. He's attempted to express it more than once, and yet—]

Mine is looked upon as a pretense, inviting naught but hardship for those who look. I would rather choose living death than prolong such a showing.

Then perhaps you are not speaking it in a language that others can understand. Words are naught but dressing, and if none can understand your actions...

[Then that explains that, doesn't it? Again, he is reminded of Elidibus. To be always aloof doesn't mean that one doesn't care, after all.]

If you wish to speak of it, I will listen.

[An offer, an invitation - that is all he can give.]

[A moment passes in silence as Somnus waits. It seems Emet-Selch really is willing to listen. Regrettably, this man is not his brother and so the offer will have to go to waste.]

I wished for understanding, once. [He lowers his head, leveling his gaze.] No longer.

[He's already done enough. Bowing his head, he steps around Emet-Selch.]

If you wish to be understood and he wishes to understand, then the problem is one of communication, not desire.

[He allows Somnus his leavetaking, this time, only stepping slightly to turn and follow with his gaze. If he can't ingrain it in the man's head that no one desires his suffering, then there is little else he can do. Somnus possesses none of the gifts that might move the communication to a clarity beyond that of the clumsiness of words.]

Be well, Somnus. And do not forget that our door remains open, even for things of less import than the tangled web of family.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

♥ December Event Log

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