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 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.]

...

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.

[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?

Dance?

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

Of course it's objectionable.

Explain your reasoning.

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?]

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.]

[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?

[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?

Yeah. I do.

Look. The only reason I got to be an individual is because someone [Cor.] saved me and gave me a normal life. Far as I know, none of the others got that chance. They were just bodies to infect so you could have your army.

That is your assessment. A guess, at best.

I have been reading of the future. If you are incorrect, it would be the mass erasure of millions of individuals.

[With a slow step he began to pace back and forth leisurely in front of him, his eyes ahead of him rather than on Prompto.]

In that case, it wouldn't seem you would have any right to make that decision for all of them. [A small flick of his hand and a glance in Prompto's direction.] Perhaps for yourself, but for millions of others? Such a demand should not be made without lengthy deliberation. Have you considered the consequences if you're wrong?

[He spoke not as a man who sounded emotionally distraught, but as a man analyzing it in a logical, distant way.]

Reading what?

[He shakes his head, watching Verstael pace and holding back the urge to grab the man and shake him.]

It's not a guess! I saw them with my own eyes. They were floating in tanks. Most of them were already turning. You needed them to not have a sense of self - that's from your own notes! There were termination reports! You can't tell me millions of clones chose that life. It would be kinder if they didn't exist at all.

[He stopped his pacing, hand on his chin. The sense of self. That would certainly delve into philosophy - at what point was a human a human?]

Of course they didn't choose it any more than a babe chooses what family it is born to. However, have you considered any alternatives besides direct termination?

Like what? Put them up for adoption? Unless you needed to like, replenish the population or something, why else would you need to create a bunch of extra people?

[Kaname had told him once that a war had decimated half her world's people. They increased the population by creating clones. It wasn't weird or abhorrent - just a fact of life. Their world didn't have that problem ~~yet~~.]

The Empire has expanded rapidly. Naturally, a burden of millions more all at once would be a large challenge. However, the question isn't whether we need to replenish.

The question is about erasing existence. Is being inconvenient truly enough reasoning for such a monumental decision.

[He stopped again, turning to Prompto.]

Try answering as if you were speaking of people rather than things. We have many desolate areas of impoverished people who could be considered a burden as well.

I never said they weren't people. But they will never get to ... be people. Not unless you have some other plan for them, that isn't waiting to die inside a tank. You're the one created literal human beings just so you could destroy them. Is that better than them never existing in the first place?

As I asked before, have you considered any alternatives besides direct termination? You are speaking to their creator, so to speak, before anything has happened.

Sure. Don't infect them. Don't turn them into daemons. Don't make them into soulless soldiers. If they want to be a part of your army, let them make that choice. Raise them so they can make that choice. If they're people, they should be treated like it. Shouldn't they?

[He got to have a normal life. They deserved at least that, if they were going to be created in the first place.]

As their creator, what would you do?

I don't know.

[He shrugged a bit. He wouldn't put aside the difficulties it would cause the Empire. If they were simply created and not made into soldiers... That was a lot of people to educate, feed, shelter... Yes, they would be old enough one day to contribute, but it was a major expense to begin with.

It was an honest admission. Something rather extreme from the future had been dumped on his lap - something he had never even considered before. He hadn't been thinking about fathering one child, much less millions.]

It would be a major undertaking for the Empire. We've faced larger issues before, however...

[There was a lot to this. For one, if he went back knowing what he did, he would be the only one there with that information. It would be quite a challenge to explain his knowledge of the future to anyone else. He lifted a hand and let it fall almost as if in defeat.]

There is no simple solution.

[This may be the first time he has ever heard Verstael admit to not knowing something. Part of him wants to take this as a small victory, but he almost feels sorry for the guy.]

No. I guess there isn't. Someone's going to get screwed over no matter how you cut it.

[Namely, the clones. They could become daemon soldiers, wards of their government (and it seems that would be a difficult task), or not exist at all.]

[He saw some parts a little different. Wards of the government was fine to him - but a large burden for an already strained country.]

I will have to consider this matter further. Perhaps I will need His Majesty's assistance.

...Though Regis is but a prince still where I am from.

[Would the government agree? Would the people? The Insomnian government may have welcomed refugees, but the people weren't always as accepting. He'd taken to telling anyone who asked that his parents picked him up in Tenebrae. Who would badmouth the home of the Oracle?]

Why would you have to tell anyone? [Much less the king.]

While I have the respect of His Radiance and other researchers, there are many generals who look down on my work. Niflheim is also strained as it is, we have only just overcome famine. It would not be an easy task to undertake, and it would certainly be difficult to explain the reasoning behind it to anyone who is not in this city.

[There was a reason he worked away from the higher-ups.]

I have a fair share of influence, but I do not have carte de blanche. I would need some form of assistance and Regis is the only one present who would have any ability to provide it.

So...so you would ask for his help?

[Honestly, not what he thought he would hear. But it makes him feel a little bit ... hopeful?]

It seems it may be necessary.

Whether he will help or not is yet to be seen.

[He wasn't as positive about Regis as Prompto was.]

♥ December Event Log

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