♥ 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

[meridio]

[Don't be a coward.

Anyway, wine was always his brother's favorite. Somnus doesn't give it a second glance when a native hands him a cup of tea. Raising the rim to his lips, but not drinking yet, he looks next to him. What has Noctis chosen?]

[carbungle]

[He will be a coward if he damn well pleases. He will also raise an eyebrow as Somnus opts for the tea; not unpredictable, but a cause of sudden, unspoken uncertainty. Hopefully Somnus won't begrudge his own forcibly loosened lips.

He does order one of the lattes, though, because that's been the most fun so far, taking a light swig without hesitation. Don't you be a coward either, old man.]

[meridio]

[That arch of an eyebrow is cause for pause, but the concern goes unsaid. Somnus sips on the tea, oblivious to what's about to transpire between them and the drinks. As if on cue, another native suggests the wine.]

Unlike my brother, I was never fond of wine.

[—hold.]

[carbungle]

[...uh-huh. And should he look over at Noctis, he will find his descendant trying very hard to keep a straight face, but the little wiggle of the cat tail now sprouting from behind him might give him away.]

Didn't know he was a fan.

[Good thing he'd run into Ardyn post-tea, then, instead of the rest.]

[meridio]

[The native withdraws to move onto other targets. Somnus turns his head to look at Noctis when his gaze drops sharply to the wiggling tail.]

You were aware of this.

[carbungle]

Maybe.

[He can still lie. Not necessarily well, but hey.]

Was kind of hoping you'd go for this one.

[He raises his own mug. He still has a bounty to seize, after all: the price Regis had promised for a picture of whatever animal Somnus wound up as. But for him to go for that hot mess of a truth serum was something he couldn't not let happen.

Are his truths going to be just as cryptic as everything else he says? He really wants to know!]

[meridio]

[Only one between the two of them is a passable liar, and it's not Noctis.]

If you had offered, I wouldn't have refused.

[So far, less cryptic. He's unlikely to try another drink after this. Noctis squandered a great opportunity by not taking the initiative.]

[carbungle]

[........

fUCK]

Mm...aybe another drink will cancel the other one out?

[C'mon Somnus, surely animal features is better than being forced into the truth! He actually has no idea if these things stack, though, so he's curious about that as well.]

[meridio]

[It's too late.]

I must decline.

[He isn't interested in ingesting another strange substance, and he won't play the part of a guinea pig on this.]

This flesh was restored by the gods. I have no intention of mishandling it.

[carbungle]

[That tail. It is wiggling again.]

I could start asking some weird questions.

[He's feeling brave, and he already dragged Ardyn into an uncomfortable conversation under similar circumstances, so...!!]

[meridio]

[With the tea held at chest level, he looks Noctis in the eyes. Do it, then. They're tied together, but his tongue isn't. Somnus can't leave even if he wanted to.]

[carbungle]

[If he were a better person, he would do the mature thing and respect the other man's privacy, refrain from an interrogation, give him a few more compliments until they're both free.

Alas, he is a brat, and he's learned not to miss out on a good opportunity.]

Did you ever go on a big cross-country road trip when you were younger?

[Since it apparently runs in the family.]

[meridio]

I went on expeditions to quell the Scourge across the land.

[Those count as road trips, surely.]

[carbungle]

[Considering how much of his own journey was devoted to hunting and slaying daemons, sure, that counts.]

With Gilgamesh, yeah? Was there anyone else?

[Who was in your cool retinue, Gramps...!]

[meridio]

[Gilgamesh . . . He nods. There's a brief pause as he thinks of his Shield. (Enkidu was probably there, too, at some point in some places.)]

I traveled with an army. They were comprised of soldiers whom I trained and assembled.

[carbungle]

[Yeah, that's quite a bit different than the trio he'd left home with. Although by his time there wasn't that much left of the Lucian army left; Niflheim had done more damage to it than the scourge for pretty much his entire life and then some.]

With... wyverns? And chocobos?

[He remembers wyverns! That was a thing!]

[meridio]

The advent of the Scourge saw a decline in the deployment of chocobos for a time. The fleetest of them were also black, and we moved at night.

[It would've been dangerous to ride them, both for the rider and the steed.]

We rode horses.

[carbungle]

[He pauses at that, wracking his brain for a long moment.]

...You rode what?

[what... are horses...]

[meridio]

[Hornless spiracorns, may or may not have had feathers instead of manes. The world may never know.]

Powerful creatures, gifted with senses far sharper than those of their riders. Their prominence fell many years ago. I know not what became of them.

[Perhaps they evolved into another species or ceased to be. He had other matters to observe, though he remembers their contributions in the time when they thrived.]

[carbungle]

[What, what, oh god. He's talking about a new! kind of animal! one he's never heard of!

...Or okay, not new. Old and possibly extinct. But still, that's pretty awesome.]

Wonder what happened to them... 2000 years is a long time, though, so finding out would be a hell of an undertaking.

[Maybe Dr. Yeagre would know about this kind of thing, if he can get her mind off frogs for long enough to ask. ]

What were they like?

[meridio]

[Regardless of how much he remembers, that was so long ago. He speaks slowly as he recalls their appearance.]

They were barrel-shaped and four-legged with a long neck.

[He was never one for poetic descriptions. Surely there are better alternatives if Noctis desires to know more about them.]

Perhaps the city has preserved a creature like it.

[carbungle]

Huh... could be. They've got some other animals that look like they could be from Eos. If I see anything that looks like it might be a horse, I'll let you know.

[Technicolour aside, the cats seem pretty much the same, and the rodents too. Maybe in the museum or something.

Speaking of cat- doing that wiggle again, oh-so-subtly.]

So what's the deal with you and Pyra?

[meridio]

[The similarities of the flora and fauna to those of their world haven't escaped him. Also, that's not subtle at all.]

She and I share the same townhouse. We decided early on to honor the gods as often as we're able.

[carbungle]

[...Yeah, that's about as vague as he'd expected. Not that he'd been looking for dirty details...]

Pretty impressive that you could connect with a stranger so quickly.

[It's a compliment! And also an honest truth. It makes sense on Pyra's side, but Somnus? A genuine surprise for sure.]

[meridio]

[Sure, Noctis.]

She's no stranger to me. I first met her in another world, where I also saw you.

[He turns his head away after saying that.]