♥ 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

[original_is_best]

[He frowned, slightly irritated, but brushed it off quickly.]

That will be rectified.

[this_loser]

[He shrugs. The drinks slosh.]

We'll see.

[original_is_best]

Certainly, you will.

Or you won't, considering your lack of existence.

[this_loser]

Here's to hoping.

[He manages to lift all the drinks in the fold of his arms, like a multi-cup toast. It doesn't work at all. This is totally not where he wanted this to go.]

This got weird. Imma go.

[original_is_best]

[Either ignorant or uncaring of Prompto's discomfort, he continued even as the boy tried to leave.]

I have a question for you.

[this_loser]

[He pauses in backing off.]

Not promising an answer. Shoot.

[original_is_best]

[He had learned quite a bit from reading some personal notes within the soldier's journal. Not everything, but certainly he'd been able to glean some important information, and he decided to carry on as if he were fully informed and spoke with confidence.]

Consider this: the world turning to darkness was all part of the god's plans, with the necessity of a 'Chosen One' to carry them out to the end.

[He paced slightly, as if he was only thinking over this now. But, not really. He was hoping to determine something completely separate from these musings.]

So perhaps the best solution would be to not have a 'Chosen One'. Instead of everything else, what if I simply assured that Regis would be unable to bear a child?

[this_loser]

[That's ... unacceptable. There can't be a world without Noct. But simply saying so wouldn't be enough. He knows that much. So he takes a minute to move past the kneejerk reaction and think about the question.]

What's to say they wouldn't just choose another One? If Regis doesn't have a kid, they could choose Regis himself. Or Luna? Or Ravus? Or ... anyone they wanted.

Or ... What if there is no Chosen One, and they just let the world go dark? I mean, do they even really care if they're letting it happen in the first place?

[original_is_best]

It's possible. However, it's certainly worth trying if it may avoid such a dark future, correct?

[He wasn't absolutely certain, continuing on down the same path and pressing harder. It was rather easy to be nonchalant when one was mostly bullshitting.]

[this_loser]

[He's not even going to pretend to humor this idea.]

No. Noct is important. The world needs him. He has to exist.

[original_is_best]

[He paused for a moment. Well, that did verify some of his hunches.

But, he continued. He wanted to follow this trail of logic and draw out Prompto's line of thinking.]

Why? You yourself said they could choose another should this particular plan fail. So he isn't particularly important.

[this_loser]

I don't know that for sure! I don't know anything about the gods, except that they're big and scare the shit out of me. But if they decided he's the one to save everyone, then... then it'd be stupid to mess with that.

[original_is_best]

And if there's no reason to save everyone?

I have been thinking, considering what you wanted, [Though he really hadn't, he was spitballing off the top of his head to see where things went. Hand raised, he twirled it a bit in front of him as he appeared to calmly talk it over.] I am now aware of many prominent figures that do not yet exist in my time. If I am to make changes to the future, I could certainly do quite a bit if I simply prevent them from being. No doubt that would change our path.

[this_loser]

Of course there's a reason to save everyone!

[Any descent person would want to save as many people as possible!] What good would that do? How would that solve anything?

[original_is_best]

I'm afraid you misunderstand. If the chain of events that led to darkness is broken, then there will be no darkness to save people from.

[Of course, he well knew that plenty had already happened in Niflheim. Where he was from Ardyn had already been freed. Ifrit already subjugated. Many of the wheels were already spinning, but he doubted Prompto was familiar enough with what was happening in Niflheim decades before he was born to argue with him. They hadn't spoken much, and oddly he didn't strike Verstael as the type who did well memorizing exact dates or timelines.

Strange how dissimilar people sharing the same genes could be.]

Therefor, if those who played a role in walking down such a path simply didn't exist, it might avoid calamity altogether. It would be of no particular consequence either way, because should that fail they never existed to begin with. No one would need to mourn their loss nor know any different. It's a victimless strategy.

[this_loser]

Sure. Okay. But how far back would you have to go? I mean, when did it even start?

[He was absolutely not good at memorizing dates and timelines. And until the road trip, he'd never really thought about the world outside the walls, except as some abstract thing that sometimes turned up in news reports.]

[original_is_best]

I can only go as far back as my own time. Some people have already been born. But, plenty have yet to exist.

I'd have the ability to change the Oracle. The prince would be an obvious change. Perhaps people around the prince...

[He went through them, still playing it straight. He would like to hear Prompto's true thoughts.]

[this_loser]

...

No. There's nothing obvious about that. It's a stupid idea.

[True thoughts, right here. Also, getting angry.]

The scourge has been a problem since before either of them.

[original_is_best]

[He gave a short pause of thought, not seeming to react strongly to the insult.

But then he looked directly at Prompto.]

Then shall we drop the dance?

Do you or do you not find it objectionable for me to erase the existence of other people? Or is it neutral?

[this_loser]

Dance?

[Crap. He has to stop walking himself into these conversations. He sighs.]

Of course it's objectionable.

[original_is_best]

Explain your reasoning.

[this_loser]

Am I being graded?

[He's going to have to set these drinks down.]

No one should have their existence erased unless you are 100% sure it's the right thing. Like, if it'll save a whole lot more people in the long run, then maybe. And even then... you'd have to be sure their being gone doesn't make things even worse. Like that movie? The one where the guy who wishes he'd never been born, but then a Messenger shows him how terrible things would be without him?

[Do they even have movies in Niflheim?]

[original_is_best]

You either pass or fail with me.

[He just didn't have time for people who couldn't make the mark.

But now, he was getting straight to the points.]

The MTs. Do you believe they are people?

[He was neither voicing his opinion for or against. After all, Prompto was the only one he'd ever met who was meant to be an MT.]

[this_loser]

[He has to pause on his initial reaction - which is to say no. But he'd started from the same place as the MTs, and he was a person. If he ever doubted it, he'd had Kaname, and now Noctis and Ignis and Cor, to put his head on straight.]

In the beginning, I guess they were. That ends when they become daemons though, doesn't it?

[original_is_best]

[He lifted a hand, palm up with an energetic swing, speaking with his hands as much as his mouth.]

You understand the depth of the request you made of me?

Do you believe yourself an individual?