♥ 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...

---

❥ 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.

---

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]

[Whether it's curiosity or suspicion, Somnus pays Cor no mind. Having visited the library recently, the way isn't unfamiliar to him. They walk side by side and Somnus offers no words—that is, until they find themselves at the entrance.]

What will you read?

[flawed_immortality]

I've recently come into possession of some plants. I need to look into the proper care for them.

[The question surprises him, somewhat. What he did seemed like it would be of little concern to the Founder King. But then... if they're stuck it's something at least.]

Would you like to pick something up to read as well?

[No reason not to spend some time reading for both of them.]

[meridio]

[That merits some thought. Plants aren't easy to come by in the city, yet Leonis is now in possession of them.]

Something from the same shelf, perhaps.

[His goal here is to minimize his presence and observe or learn in what ways he can. If it'll be some time before the sash releases them, a book might teach him something that'll come in handy later.]

[flawed_immortality]

[Cor tilts his head, curious but also not wishing to really ask more deeply.]

If you say so.

[He wastes no time crossing the library, checking to be sure of the section he needs before heading into the aisles to browse titles. He really would rather have physical books to look at but these tablets will simply have to do.]

[meridio]

[Then so he says. With their wrists tied together, Somnus follows wordlessly. He watches Cor, and only once Cor has found the necessary title(s) does he choose a nearby tablet for himself. Is it time to sit down and read, then? Because that'll be done in silence, too, though Somnus won't operate his tablet of choice right away, opting instead to stare at the dark screen with a blank face.]

[flawed_immortality]

[Reading in awkward silence it is, then. Cor doesn't get particularly far before he thoughtlessly reaches up with the hand tied to Somnus. An idle motion aborted halfway to scowl down at their wrists. He sets the tablet down, using his free hand instead so he can rub at his eyes slightly. Astrals but reading everything off a screen hurts his eyes.

Not because he's old or anything. Nonsense. At least it's better than it was a couple months ago. Completely unrelated to the years of youth returned to him. Obviously.]

Aren't you planning on reading?

[meridio]

[The motion draws Somnus' gaze only when Cor stops midway. Perhaps Leonis is tired. Turning back to the tablet, Somnus taps on the screen and proceeds to scroll through its contents.]

Have you visited the archives?

[flawed_immortality]

[The question surprises him, glancing towards Somnus.]

I have. They requested some assistance in early October.

[His tone is very carefully neutral. There is still a lot of anger tied to what he learned then but he has no intention of advertising that fact.]

[meridio]

[Somnus continues to read every other word on the tablet. If Leonis is concealing something beneath that tone, he has no intention of digging through it unless necessary.]

What did you learn?

[flawed_immortality]

A great deal.

[None of which should be repeated in a public space controlled by the natives. His gaze goes to Somnus, intending on trying to indicate exactly that with his eyes. But the other man is still looking at his tablet.

Well... fine, take it as a dismissal then.]

[meridio]

[He sees movement from the corner of his eyes. He can't see what, exactly, but the timing as well as the cagey response imply enough for Somnus to not pursue the topic. Besides, Leonis is here to read and a heavy discussion won't be conducive to that. To show his acknowledgment, Somnus ducks his head in a partial nod before descending into silence.

After some time, he switches the tablet off and turns his head to watch the library goers.]

[flawed_immortality]

[Somehow he didn't expect Somnus to be such.... quiet or respectful company. He'd anticipated demands or some manner of intentional inconvenience. Perhaps because he had done so much to set them all on a path fraught with tragedy and sacrifice he'd expected the man himself to demand more of the same.

Yet, it's surprisingly easy to fall into an easy and companionable silence with him. So much so that Cor doesn't even mean to start posing questions to him, the same questions he himself is trying to answer.]

Have you ever even heard of something such as pineapple mint?

[meridio]

[He's done enough. There's no sense in doing more without cause, but he gives his response easily once addressed.]

Until now, I had not. Is that the name of the plants in your possession?

[flawed_immortality]

Mmm

[Cor frowns at the tablet in his hand, eyes narrowing before he drops it onto the table, freeing a hand to rub at his brow. What he wouldn't give for some paper books.]

The baths we had available in the VR system last month were... excellent, even if it was merely a virtual version of them. I had hoped to be able to make a similar blend of herbs myself. Of all the mints to get I somehow ended up with spearmint, catmint, which I'll be drying for those with actual cats here, and.... pineapple mint? I've no idea what to do with that one.

[meridio]

[Certainly, the baths were excellent at easing the body into a state of relaxation. There is, unfortunately, little Somnus can offer in the way of help other than to pore over the tablets beside Cor. But he does know someone with more experience where herbs and flowers are concerned.]

Have you spoken with Aera?

[flawed_immortality]

Not about this, no.

[He tilts his head, curious.]

You think she'd have some ideas?

[meridio]

The Oracles have a fondness for gardens. She attended to some of her own in the past.

[flawed_immortality]

I know of Tenebrae's gardens but I was of the impression they were entirely floral. Still... she will have more experience than I do. Though I have had some small bit of guidance from one of my Guards back home.

Before we lost Caem.

[meridio]

[There's a pause before Somnus lowers his gaze to the tablet.]

Does its contents not satisfy your needs?

[flawed_immortality]

Not quite as specific as I'd have liked but...

[He frowns even harder, not really wanting to admit this particular weakness but knowing it's inevitable. Someone will find out eventually.]

Reading off these tablets gives me headaches.

[meridio]

Pace yourself. This is a library—take the tablet with you and read in increments.

[There's no judgment in his suggestion. People are built differently and technology is an unusual invention. Somnus himself prefers not to look at the communicator for too long.]