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.

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IIa. - Spill that tea!
Miles is always going to try the tea, no matter how bad it is. And this tea is surprisingly nice, actually. Ginger and honey wasn't a combination he'd have come up with, but it's good at warding off the cold.

IIb. - Smoochy boochies.
Mulled wine isn't something he'd usually try. While Miles isn't a teetotaler, he's not overly given to drinking. Tea is his vice (and super sentai TV shows). But he's opted to try it anyway.

He's not particularly a lightweight, either, so the warm, tingling feeling after one glass is surprising. Am I allergic to something in the recipe? He doesn't have any food allergies that he knows of (and it's certainly not hay fever season). It's definitely centered in his face, and particularly his lips. Must be the alcohol, so no more for him. He rubs at his tingling lips, hoping to dispel the sensation. It doesn't work.

IV. - Honesty is the scariest policy. (For Will)
Miles tends not to sleep much in December - or whenever this is (Ranir? The way he's marking time has it as December). Not sleeping is better than dealing with the nightmares that had largely dried up after the case of the DL-6 incident had been solved by that man--

--don't think about it.

So perhaps it's not so surprising that his feet have taken him to Rawna's temple. While it's not the god he's pledged himself to, the unfamiliarity is welcome in some ways. It gives him something to think about, to look at, that isn't dwelling.

He feels that pull again tonight, though gentler than before. It doesn't need to be so insistent, now that Will understands what it means; he lets himself be drawn towards Rawna's temple without protest. In a wistful mood like this, it's even a nice walk in spite of how dark it is; the air is crisp and clear, the stars are bright, and the cold is bracing.

It's a beautiful night, and a beautiful temple. Will is already settled in and kneeling near the altar by the time Miles arrives. For once, he's not even trying to smile; he simply looks meditative, gently stroking a tiny dragonling's snout with a finger. "You're out and about late. What brings you here at this hour?"

Oh. Miles is a little bit annoyed with himself - for all that he'd been trying not to dwell on things, he'd been doing so enough that he hadn't even noticed Will at the altar, playing with one of the little dragons.

"Just taking a walk," he says, and he tries to sound casual about it. Operative word being 'tries'.

"It is a nice night for a walk." He probably would have stayed inside with a fuzzy blanket and cup of cocoa, if not for Rawna..... but sometimes, you just need cold air and deep shadows to clear your head. That's what quiet nights like these are made for--to unburden yourself, and feel light and free. To watch heavy thoughts float away on the steam of your breath.

"Still, most people don't come to Rawna unless they've got something on their mind. Yen for your thoughts?"

His thoughts were too heavy to ascend into the ether, if he just unburdened himself with the telling. Rather, he thinks that the telling might make them even harder to bear. It had been difficult enough when he'd forced himself to give the whole story to that man, and even harder to come to terms with all of it; he's certainly not going to talk about why he can't sleep to someone he's only known a few months.

Belatedly, he realizes that he's been squeezing his elbow in an old tic, and lets go, letting his hands rest at his sides. "I...don't have anything on my mind," he says, lying like a rug.

He doesn't need to be psychic to see just how terribly Miles is lying. The tension, the distracted air about him, the way he clutches his arm so tightly, as though he needs something to hold onto..... Something is bothering him, obviously.

Well, he doesn't need to pry. Rawna's sure to coax it out of him soon enough, right? Will just nods in understanding, scratching under the little dragonling's chin. "I've been thinking about home lately, myself."

"Hm. So have I."

No harm in that, right?

Then, almost out of the blue - and so much so it surprises even himself - "I couldn't sleep. That's why I'm here. On this...walk." He sighs. "I don't tend to sleep much this time of year, anyway."

Ah, there it is. That urge, that pressure..... Even someone as composed and controlled as Miles can't resist it. Then again, who can resist the will of the gods?

Still, not being able to sleep much sounds like quite a few people he knows here. Will just hums, knowing and sympathetic. "Bad memories?"

Not bad dreams. If they were only dreams, Miles would probably be far more capable of just dismissing them, not struggle with them year after year. Something painful happened, something that haunts him to this day--something that Rawna thinks he deserves some relief from.

Miles makes a noncommittal noise. "Six of one, half a dozen of the other." Because they were dreams, yes, the worst nightmares imaginable, the ones that had plagued him every night for fifteen years until--

--don't think about it. Don't think about the trial, the revelation, his confession, how that man had believed in him, and that scream, the one that had been seared into his mind and memory since that horrible day.

Because those dreams were memories, twisted ones, a memory of the worst day of his life that he'd blamed himself for for fifteen years, the one that despite his nightmares mostly vanishing made the month of December, or Ranir, or whatever this was, a complete wash.

"Sounds like a rough time. Need to talk about it?"

Will reaches up to offer Miles a hand, along with a subdued, sympathetic smile. He may not want to, but he does need to, doesn't he? He wouldn't be here otherwise.

No, I don't.

Miles hesitates before taking Will's hand, and says, almost against his own will, "I think I might."

He doesn't want to talk about it, or think about it, or do anything of the sort, but Rawna seems to have other plans.

Rawna's plans aren't going to win brownie points from anyone, frankly--but just because they're not welcome doesn't mean they're not needed. Miles needs to talk about this, no matter how much he doesn't want to--and to do that? He needs someone to listen, too. It's a duty he doesn't mind fulfilling--though he has to admit, he wishes Rawna would've asked first.

Either way, it's going to happen. So Will simply wordlessly tugs at Miles' hand, encouraging the man to come sit with him. He can talk when he's ready to do so, if he needs a minute or two to gather himself first.

Miles accepts the hand, and sits down next to Will. He has been walking for a while, and could use the rest. Not because he wants to talk about this. It had been hard enough to tell Miss Fey and that man, and worse to explain the whole thing on the stand, accepting fault for a crime that had never been his in the first place.

A few minutes pass in silence before he finally says, "This time of year, about eighteen years ago, my father was killed. No, murdered." Killed was almost too clinical a term; murdered encompassed the true horror of what had happened. "While I was mere feet from him."

Not just killed. Murdered. Murdered while he was right there, possibly even watching it happen. That man watching the children with such a warm smile in the dream--that was him, right? Miles' father?

His stomach churns at just the thought. What a gruesome scene that must have been. How old was he eighteen years ago? He doesn't look that old..... Arceus, he must have been only a little boy. And he dreams of that every year? How often? In how much blood-soaked, harrowing detail?

Wordlessly, Will turns to pull Miles into his arms. He may not want a hug, but he's getting one all the same.

Miles rejects the offered hug, holding a hand out to stop Will. "You may want to hold on to that," he says sardonically. "I'm not finished."

He grabs his elbow and looks away in that old unconscious tic. The words are coming easier now. "For fifteen years I had that same dream, almost every night.

"Because I thought that I was the one who had accidentally shot him."

"But--then how--?" Will struggles to make sense of the new information. A rigged gun, maybe? Why would a boy that age be holding a gun to begin with, though?

Either way, it adds a new level of horrible. To frame a child for something like that--to grow up believing you kikled one of the people you loved most.....

That kind of wound changes people. How much of who Miles is had been shaped by those scars?

prepare to see a lot of this icon

turnaboutson - 2020-01-12 03:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: prepare to see a lot of this icon

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turnaboutson - 2020-01-13 04:07 (UTC) - Expand

Through his samplings of the drinks, Shinji's found himself more partial to the gingerbread latte than the rest, but... there's something just profoundly relaxing about the ginger and honey tea, too. It definitely helps that he hasn't had much of an opportunity to uncover its side-effects first hand just yet, but also simply having a nice, hot drink to keep his hands warm against the chill in the air should be worth whatever mystery trick is lying in wait at the bottom of that cup. Perhaps.

Regardless, he's content with it for now, enough so that in his more contented state, he doesn't quite notice Miles until he's managed to bump right into him. This is... probably not the kind of tea spilling that was intended.

"Ah-!" How totally careless of him! "Sorry...!"

The ginger and honey tea is something he's quite partial to. If he'd had it back home, it would be an excellent concoction to soothe his throat post-trials. Objecting really ended up rough on the voice after a while. But when he's bumped into, he manages to salvage his drink, mostly.

Miles manages to bite back a scathing comment. At least the kid apologized. "Yes, well...no harm done, I suppose," he says.

"I should have been paying more attention."

He is... a little unsure why he may have said that out loud, it's a bit too self-deprecating for his tastes to be saying to a stranger, even if it's true, but... maybe he's just somewhat worn out. That's not too weird. He can brush it off easily enough if he follows it up with something else.

"You're not hurt or anything, right? I didn't spill anything on you...?"

"As should I."

He frowns. It's not like him to admit fault so readily.

"No, I'm fine. And yourself?" Thank goodness. If he'd had his outfit ruined by someone else's tea, he'd have been a bit miffed. His own tea would have been bad enough, but someone else's clumsiness would have put him in a foul mood for sure.

At least it kind of comes off as a simple, polite, 'it's okay we're both at fault' sort of sentiment. Shinji thinks nothing odd of it.

At the question, he takes a moment to check himself over. He's obviously not injured but... ah, it looks like some of the tea - his or Miles'? Who can really say - got on his scarf. Alas...

"It'll wash out, probably."

"Let me see," says Miles. "I've had a little bit of experience with tea stains." And spilling ink when he used his feather pen. More tea stains, though.

"I don't think it wouldn't wash out, if it's treated properly."

Edited 2020-01-12 03:11 (UTC)

"Yeah," nothing too big that he'd actually be worried about, easy enough to take care of when he gets back. "Better this than someone's hand."

"I've certainly had that happen before, with coffee." When you squeeze a paper cup too hard in anger, well, you burn your hand when the coffee spills out. A simple matter of volume and fluid displacement. Hard to consider it that way when you're swearing in English and German.

"Ah..." Sounds. Painful. "Yeah, at least is wasn't a whole pot of coffee, or something."

That was. Uh. Shinji, why did you say that? It's definitely not the most incriminating thing he could have said, but just specific enough to be potentially odd. He lightly brings his free hand up to his lips, as if that's going to give him some clue as to why that just slipped out, looking thoroughly puzzled.

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♥ December Event Log

Miles Edgeworth | Ace Attorney [Diacht] | OTA

IV

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prepare to see a lot of this icon

Re: prepare to see a lot of this icon

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IIa

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