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sticksandbones2024-02-01 10:46 am
sticksandbonesmods) wrote in sticksandbones2024-02-01 10:46 am
Entry tags:
EVENT 009
RULER OF MY HEART
HOW SWEET IT IS
As time ticks on in that strange, wobbly way it does in this place — where the nights feel like they last days, and the days feel like they’re only a few hours long — the fog, ever so gradually, rolls back in, until it’s that oppressive black wall it normally is. It means no more trips into the greater forest for the time being, though the surrounding ring of treeline around the Grove and the burned town to the north remains readily accessible.
The woods, now awake and alert, sends its regards with the occasional roar of a beast in the far distance, and the occasional biblically-accurate deer wandering into the Grove proper to nibble on grasses starting to spring up through the snow. Speaking of things springing up through the snow, there are some new trees near the riverbank, sporting perfectly normal lemons that are growing perfectly normal eyeballs. It’s fine, they’re edible, although they don’t seem to be native. Hmm.
All is peaceful thus far, until you open your dresser drawer. Suddenly, a little creature flies out at you, or cries out angrily because you woke it up. Perhaps, that creature climbs on you instead, shuffling into your pocket to snuggle up. Or, maybe you lay down for a nap, and your pillow feels just a touch lumpier than normal, and when you move your head, something squeals at you. No matter where you find them, even if they’re being a nuisance and eating your shoelaces, these creatures are harmless: they’re merely cold, and you, a Warm Thing, will now be their space heater.
The woods, now awake and alert, sends its regards with the occasional roar of a beast in the far distance, and the occasional biblically-accurate deer wandering into the Grove proper to nibble on grasses starting to spring up through the snow. Speaking of things springing up through the snow, there are some new trees near the riverbank, sporting perfectly normal lemons that are growing perfectly normal eyeballs. It’s fine, they’re edible, although they don’t seem to be native. Hmm.
All is peaceful thus far, until you open your dresser drawer. Suddenly, a little creature flies out at you, or cries out angrily because you woke it up. Perhaps, that creature climbs on you instead, shuffling into your pocket to snuggle up. Or, maybe you lay down for a nap, and your pillow feels just a touch lumpier than normal, and when you move your head, something squeals at you. No matter where you find them, even if they’re being a nuisance and eating your shoelaces, these creatures are harmless: they’re merely cold, and you, a Warm Thing, will now be their space heater.
I REALLY LIKE YOU
One of Ydalir’s secret passions is cooking. You would not know this, because she doesn’t have the ability to eat, but that doesn’t mean she lost the ability to cook. A holiday is coming, you see, and it’s tradition for everyone to partake in cute chocolates and have candlelit dinners! (She will not be providing the dinners, that’s on you.)
What feels like early on in the month, Ydalir will approach everybody with a box of chocolates customized for each person with their favourite flavours. For those of you who don’t eat human food, don’t worry: These are safe for consumption for vampires and robots alike.
Like with most things here, though, things are not as they seem. Eating one of these chocolates suddenly makes you feel very, very cuddly, like suddenly you wouldn’t care who you snuggled up to right now so long as you were comfortable. With the candy in your system, you feel affectionate to anyone who you come across, even if you may not have liked them previously.
As it turns out, mixing magic with cooking makes a potion. Ydalir swears up and down she didn’t mean it, but enjoy your cuddle-chocolates anyway!
What feels like early on in the month, Ydalir will approach everybody with a box of chocolates customized for each person with their favourite flavours. For those of you who don’t eat human food, don’t worry: These are safe for consumption for vampires and robots alike.
Like with most things here, though, things are not as they seem. Eating one of these chocolates suddenly makes you feel very, very cuddly, like suddenly you wouldn’t care who you snuggled up to right now so long as you were comfortable. With the candy in your system, you feel affectionate to anyone who you come across, even if you may not have liked them previously.
As it turns out, mixing magic with cooking makes a potion. Ydalir swears up and down she didn’t mean it, but enjoy your cuddle-chocolates anyway!
LET’S STAY TOGETHER
Sometimes, when you touch another person, your mind goes elsewhere. This isn’t a result of the chocolates, but rather some other force at work. If you see two people asleep somewhere — the ground, the couch, the kitchen counter — it’s best to leave them where they are, unless you want to risk passing out with them and seeing what they see. They’ll wake up in a little while.
What those who get dragged into their own minds see depends on the person, and what lies within their heart. These “heartspaces” are made up of core memories to the participants — important locations, emotional states given form, meaningful items, or anything else, really. When in contact with another person, these heartspaces will combine into one, perfectly interactable and wanderable at your leisure. Touching objects within these spaces will play a core memory before your eyes, or even change the scenery a bit, depending on whose heart it is you’re messing with.
Perhaps now is a good time for bonding and learning about one another, in the comfort and privacy of your own minds. After all, you won’t exit the heartspaces for quite a bit.
What those who get dragged into their own minds see depends on the person, and what lies within their heart. These “heartspaces” are made up of core memories to the participants — important locations, emotional states given form, meaningful items, or anything else, really. When in contact with another person, these heartspaces will combine into one, perfectly interactable and wanderable at your leisure. Touching objects within these spaces will play a core memory before your eyes, or even change the scenery a bit, depending on whose heart it is you’re messing with.
Perhaps now is a good time for bonding and learning about one another, in the comfort and privacy of your own minds. After all, you won’t exit the heartspaces for quite a bit.
PAIN IN MY HEART
…just try not to break anything while you're there.
It might be an accident. Maybe you walk backwards into a table containing a framed photograph, and that photo falls and the glass breaks, the picture inside the frame ruined. Maybe you broke that cheaply-made but still-important toy while fiddling with it. Or, perhaps, it wasn’t an accident at all: You broke that thing on purpose, you punched through that wall, you set that fire.
Whatever broke the thing in question doesn’t matter in the end. What matters is that the memory associated with it begins to fade away like smoke on the wind. Fixing the broken object will bring that memory back, but failing to fix it before you wake up from the dream will have that memory gone forever.
Although, there are some pretty bad memories out there… if the memory broken was terrible, or if the item in question showed someone a dark secret you didn’t want them to know… shouldn’t it stay gone?
It might be an accident. Maybe you walk backwards into a table containing a framed photograph, and that photo falls and the glass breaks, the picture inside the frame ruined. Maybe you broke that cheaply-made but still-important toy while fiddling with it. Or, perhaps, it wasn’t an accident at all: You broke that thing on purpose, you punched through that wall, you set that fire.
Whatever broke the thing in question doesn’t matter in the end. What matters is that the memory associated with it begins to fade away like smoke on the wind. Fixing the broken object will bring that memory back, but failing to fix it before you wake up from the dream will have that memory gone forever.
Although, there are some pretty bad memories out there… if the memory broken was terrible, or if the item in question showed someone a dark secret you didn’t want them to know… shouldn’t it stay gone?
SPARK NOTES
CLICK TO EXPAND!
HOW SWEET IT IS
The fog is back. The creatures are clinging to you because they're cold. The eyeball lemons are, uh... lemon...y. Enjoy your completely normal slice of nature.
I REALLY LIKE YOU
Ydalir has made everybody chocolates! They're delicious and induce feelings of affection and a deep need to cuddle others. Surely this won't go terribly awry. Also, she's very sorry.
LET’S STAY TOGETHER
Sometimes, touching someone else takes you to a combined mental space made up of the important things to you and the person you touched. You can touch things within the space to play memories, or explore the environment together. Outside, you're just asleep on the floor somewhere probably, so hopefully no one trips over you.
PAIN IN MY HEART
Be careful in the heartspaces. Anything you break will take a relevant memory with it. If you can find a way to repair it, the memory will come back. Although, sometimes memories need to stay gone, don't they? Maybe leaving it broken is okay?
OOC
Happy February! The mod team will not apologise for the amount of pink in this event log. If you'd like to plot with people for this event, head over to OOC plotting. We will allow you to make up various plantanimal creatures for this event, they don't have to be like the images linked as examples. Have fun, enjoy creatures, they're here to stay. Reminder this month will have Heimrquest, so if you want to sign up, please do so on the OOC plotting post.
UPDATES
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SUBMISSIONS
no subject
It's so...
Sesa takes a deep breath, his tail flicking around behind him like a contented cat. He expected Pure Vanilla to be soft, but not THIS soft. Soft and warm, a warmth rivaling his own. He smells like a bakery, the scent of soft vanilla present but not overwhelming...how could Sesa ever resist returning the embrace, wrapping his arms all the way around the shorter man...goat...sheep.]
You, my friend, give excellent hugs.
[Why does he feel like he's going to cry-]
no subject
And it feels wonderful, to hug and be hugged. Pure Vanilla would not call himself touch starved, but he very much is, often seen as untouchable due to his status back home. So Pure Vanilla, as soon as he is assured the hug is welcomed, sinks into it himself. The comment gets another laugh, another sort of Grandpa chuckle and he squeezes gently. Pat pat against the back. There there.
Grandpa loves you and Grandpa is proud of you.]
You as well, my friend.
no subject
Get hugged, loser.]
You smell very nice also, if that isn't strange of me to say. Like vanilla.
no subject
Oh! That's not strange at all! I am baked with vanilla after all, hence my name!
[Squishy goes the hug. No wonder Hollyberry likes giving them, there's something satisfying about trying to hug someone into a pile of goo.]
You are so very warm!
no subject
[His tail gives another happy little wiggle.]
Us Vouivre tend to be. I'm glad to hear that I have retained some of my body heat...I've not been fairing all that well this winter since the climate here is much colder than I'm used to.
no subject
I must disagree! I am familiar with a scent that may be similar, and I think it's pleasant!
[The sound of the tail wiggling makes his own wiggle again. It's a feedback machine.
The word Vouivre makes him hm, and excuse him as he turns them just a bit so his staff can see better.]
Vouivre... I am not familiar with this term! And I'm sorry you are not faring so well! To be warm blooded and in a cold environment...!
[ This will get Pure Vanilla to pull back. But only so he can remove the large outer portion of his robes, the waffle cone patterned fabric promptly being draped around the other, leaving Pure Vanilla in his normal robe, but the wool keeps him well warm enough. The blue gem shines with an inner light as he attaches it to keep the robe secure, then brings the hood up to help settle it around Sesa's horns.
It is very warm and smells of vanilla.]
This should help!
no subject
[He just isn't made of candy or cake. Sad. u_u
Sesa doesn't mind their horns knocking together- he's used to this, this probably happens a lot, including when he tries to walk through doors- but what he is surprised by is the way the Minotaur suddenly steps back from him. For a moment, he wonders if perhaps the hug has lingered overlong (the heart is willing but the mind understands that they're kindof under the influence, currently), at least until he sees what Pure Vanilla is doing, and...
Ah.]
Ah-?
[Oh. Oh, he's placed his robe around him...it leaves Sesa looking very cozy and warm, and like he's from a different place entirely. Certainly not how someone from the Sargonian sands would dress.]
Oh, thank you...but you didn't have to do this. I would be loathe to take your coat from you, even for a short time...!
[...it's so soft tho...he rubs at the inner material idly with his fingers.]
no subject
[It reminds him of the Dragons taking Cookie form.
When Sesa thanks him but says he didn't have to, he merely raises his hands and smiles a peepaw-beam.]
Of course I did not have to, my friend, but I wished to! I am warm well enough, the wool is insulating, and it should aid in warming you to help you feel more comfortable!
[And now that he's coated, Pure Vanilla can pull him back into a hug that speaks of a Grandpa doting on a Grandchild. He fixes the coat to make sure it doesn't snag on his horns any, fusses a little, then snuggles Sesa in again to rub and pat his back as well.]
no subject
So when Pure Vanilla takes him into his arms, Sesa doesn't fight it. He probably wouldn't have even if he wasn't still influenced by the chocolates, to be honest. He merely wraps his arms back around the other to return the embrace, going so far as to rest his cheek gently on top of his head just between his curled horns.]
...in that case, I appreciate your generosity immensely. I will have your coat back to you once I have come in from the cold, alright?
no subject
[Normally Pure Vanilla would have moved on by now, unused to such prolonged shows of affection, but even if the chocolates weren't influencing him, he seems to sense the other - perhaps - needs a touch that shows pride and warmth.
Which is what he tries to put into his hug. And he is proud, that Sesa would gladly hug a stranger afflicted, even if he himself is afflicted, one could resist. Simply find someone else. It speaks of kindness. Which he is gonna say.]
Thank you for being so kind, my friend.
no subject
[More happy tail wiggling ensues.]
I just hope this feeling doesn't fade entirely, once this affect wears off.
no subject
And tries really hard not to give into the urge to clunk his forehead in a sheep-like headbutt against the other. ]
If it begins to fade, then seek me out, my friend, and I will gladly give you more. It would do us both good, I believe.
no subject
I could not agree more. Perhaps this mistake is a blessing in disguise after all, no?
no subject
All mistakes can lead into something wonderful. Even if it's just a hug when it is needed the most.
no subject
[You know talking while they're standing there hugging in the middle of the open nbd]
no subject
Oh, I do! I would gladly visit if you would have me, and when I have my own place, I do hope you come and visit in return!
no subject
[Wag wag wag goes his tail.
He will finally let Pure Vanilla go now that they've been hugging for five minutes straight, carefully adjusting the coat he gave him around himself.]
We could use more individuals like yourself around here. Things in the Grove haven't been all positivity and warmth as of late.
no subject
It is understandable, sadly, but I feel as if it's in good hands with yourself, my friend.
no subject
My home...my actual home is no stranger to it, after all.
no subject
You are quite right, my friend. For better or worse, this is our home for the time being, and we must take care of and look out for one another. You have my word, I shall always be there to lend my aid - or a simple hug - to those who need it.
[ Sesa included of course. ]
no subject
I tend to get a bit...wordy when I speak, otherwise I would have volunteered long ago.
[He is also a fucking chuuni so nothing he says makes sense ever.]
no subject
[ King, and all. He adjusts the hood around Sesa's horns again, fussing a little, then smiles at him. And luckily Pure Vanilla has no idea what a chuuni is. ]
I know many sometimes need someone talking at length with them!
no subject
[He should know, he's currently sleeping with one-]
no subject
It is usually that way with those who need it most. It is not their fault, they find ways to help themselves, and become set in them. Whether they are healthy or not. Now, young man, you should head inside and warm back up. When you are done with the over coat, please simply send it to the Inn, I will find it.
no subject
[Sesa will wave with one hand, his other tucked into the soft, warm inside layer of the coat before he heads back into the inn to curl up on the couch there for the foreseeable future.
Knowing him, though, he'll probably eat more chocolates and start the cycle all over again...]