epidemiology | EVENT ★ WINTER WONDERLAND, THE RECKONING

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EVENT ★ WINTER WONDERLAND, THE RECKONING

HAPPY (NONDENOMINATIONAL) HOLIDAYS

When recruits arrive back at Oska, they'll find the place already full of other ALASTAIR teams visiting Oska, and the castle and grounds entirely decked out in festive cheer. The castle is draped in purple and white finery, with a light dusting of unmelting snow everywhere -- even inside, somehow. Don't worry, the indoor snow has been enchanted to be strangely warm.

Dagny has taken it upon herself to add a little plant life in and around the castle: mistletoe, of course. It can be spotted growing in little sprigs out of chinks in castle walls, around from wooden doorframes, or even sprouting out of other, unrelated trees. You're never really safe from mistletoe. And what would the use of mistletoe be without the enchantment?

Dagny has made sure that there are enough variant species of the mistletoe to offer something for everyone. Recruits may find themselves stuck under any manner of mistletoe, trapped until they fulfill the mistletoe geas.

The Classic: This is the standard magical mistletoe, that traps people in a lightly shimmering sphere until they exchange a kiss. Any kind of kiss will do, just pucker up!
The Papilion: This is similar to the classic, but its berries come in brilliant shades of orange and pink. It will only release its catch after a butterfly kiss.
Clinging Merriment: This mistletoe is all wrapped up in itself, and climbs whatever surface it's on in twisting spirals. All it wants from its catch is a hug, but make it a good one!
The Lively Stepper: This mistletoe seems to shiver in some unfelt breeze, and if you listen closely enough, there's a gentle chime of bells that fades when you lean away from it again. People stuck under this plant will have to dance together, to whatever music they can find or make.
Whispering Mary: This mistletoe comes with deep purple leaves and seems to hide within itself. Only after a secret has been shared from each person trapped under it will it flower open and release them.
Evening Gown: This mistletoe is a gaudy display, with brilliant green leaves and splendid white blossoms instead of berries. It will only release its catch after they compliment each other -- and the Evening Gown always knows when it hears a genuine compliment, and accepts no substitutions!
Catflowers: Dagny didn't put this kind out, and has named them after the suspected perpetrators. She's been trying to take them down when she finds them, but there might be a few she's missed. This thorny sprig of mistletoe will only release its catch after they've punched each other. Sorry about that.

THE WINTER BALL

Exciting news, passed from recruit to recruit and team to team: the castle will host a ball soon! It's set to be on the second night of team Audentes's arrival in Oska, and it's going to be a truly extravagant affair. Nothing to wear? No fear! The wardrobes in each recruit's room will open upon an enormous display of fancy clothing in a multitude of styles. Once you've settled on one (and somehow, the wardrobe knows the difference between trying on and settling on), the rest of the outfits vanish the next time it's closed.

The festivities start as soon as the sun begins to sink. Music filters through the air, growing louder to guide partygoers through the castle and into the dance hall, which was definitely not a room in existence until today. The music flows from no discernable source, sometimes swirling orchestral pieces, sometimes something with a heavier beat, for a different kind of dancing. The selection is as varied as the ALASTAIR teams tend to be. Listen long enough, and you might even hear something from your own home universe.

A large glass flower shimmers in the center of the room, under which various recruits have taken to leaving presents for one another. Be sure to stop by and check the brightly wrapped parcels for your name!

MirrorBowler

Team Audentes in particular gets a special gift. The north side of the room is decorated in an unmistakable Christmas theme, complete with an enormous, glittering tree. The care put into these decorations definitely has a personal touch, it might even outshine the rest of the hall's decor. Each member of the team has a lovingly wrapped box complete with a bow under this tree, and upon opening it will find a small, intricately detailed, never-melting ice sculpture of themselves -- very possibly in a ridiculous pose. Those who were acquainted with former teammate Nicholas St. North will find that their sculpture features two figures: themselves, and North himself.

And of course, what party would be complete without the food? The kitchen has really outdone itself with its spread of delicious foods, suited to all appetites and palates. From gently steaming roasted bird to strangely colored foreign piles of tiny quivering spheres, there's something for everyone. Including the alcoholics among us: the punch is delicately spiked with that incredibly strong drink of Nalawi, which leaves a pleasantly fruity aftertaste and an immediate alcoholic burn. (Any children partaking will find that their cups have somehow filtered out any alcohol and are strangely juice-only.)

ICE MAZE

Outside the castle, the courtyard has been transformed. Giant shimmering ice walls have sprung up seemingly overnight, forming endless, winding pathways: an ice maze.

Stepping into this beautiful, gleaming maze immediately cuts off all sound from the castle life around, so loud just a moment ago. Inside the maze is only the crunch of light snow underfoot, the sound of one's own breathing, and the echoes that bounce faintly here and there.

Throughout the maze one might find bits of warm, inviting clothing. A pair of bright red mittens, a puffy coat that fits perfectly to the wearer, a scarf woven in brightly colored, warm wool. If a maze-goer chooses to ignore and walk past this clothing, they might find that something begins to follow them. It starts as just an unsettling feeling, but put off accepting the clothing for long enough and it may turn into lurking shadows in the corner of an eye, a black shape that's there in one second and vanished in the next. A faint yowl may float down a corridor, vaguely feline if only it weren't so deep. Whatever that came from must have been large.

Accepting and wearing just one of the offered clothing chases away this unwanted visitor immediately, and in just five minutes more the ice maze will finally bring you out the other side. Don't take any of its gifts, though, and the maze may just lead you to meet the Yuletide Cat instead. (Which just so happens to be Cherenkov and Crowley sharing a giant cat costume. Don't laugh, they worked hard on it.)

THE VILLAGE

Far outside the castle, the village has been brought back to warm, glowing life. Or at least, that seems to be the case. Team Hearthstone was recently on a mission to recover an item called the Time Catch, and has used it to temporarily, visually turn time back to a time when the village of Oska was populated and lively.

Humanoid villagers, all in various shades of purple and blue, hurry to and fro, talking and laughing in a language that goes untranslated by the magitek jewelry. They don't react to any of the recruits, though, and trying to touch any of them will have your hands passing straight through them. Even the restored village around them is just an illusion. One can walk straight into one of the villager's houses and find the warmth of the fire and aroma of the roasted fowl to be completely believable -- but trying to take a seat at the set table will send you crashing straight to the ground to sit in the illusion-covered rubble.

THE SQUIDGE PARK

After the festivities wind down, you may want to visit the newest addition to the Oska grounds -- the brand new squidge park. After Audentes's success in its mission on Zeta-12, ALASTAIR has been gifted with a clutch of squidge eggs to look after. Audentes need not worry about the squidges in their absence; there will always be someone in Oska to make sure the jelly-like aliens are being nurtured properly.

The squidge park is located off the greenhouses in the courtyard; it's an enclosure containing many artificial habitats so the squidges may interact with different environments to help them grow. Right now, they are just eggs, but with enough love and care, they may "hatch" (read: their amorphous blob selves will grow limbs and enter the larval stage) before Audentes even ships out again.

OOC NOTES

Blind date assignments for those working to complete the Lonely Hearts Club bounty can be found here. ICly, the match-ups are publicly posted in the ballroom for all to see.

The other ALASTAIR teams present consist of everything from humanoids to strange creatures; feel free to handwave them in your threads! The only stipulation is that transferred characters (ex. those who have dropped) are not present. The party lasts for one night, and the following day the rest of the teams will pack up and leave Oska to Audentes. The ghostly village-that-isn't will revert back to ruins at this point, as well. However, all other winter amenities will remain for the holidays!

Following the party, characters can expect to be in Oska for several more weeks, with the next mission starting in late January. A more detailed calendar for next month will be up soon!

Questions about this log, Oska, or the game in general should be directed to the FAQ. You may submit mission ideas or player plots at any time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Generally, Keith can ignore Loki pretty well. Outside of their brief meetups along the way, he's done a good job of trying to avoid him. Yes, Loki has generally always been right. And yes, Keith feels a tiny, tiny sliver of guilt over the realization of this. But that guilt is easily outweighed by how much he finds Loki annoying.

So, he's pretty ... rudely intending to give him the cold shoulder when he finds himself stopped in his tracks. He strains against the mystical force and then looks up at Loki grimacing. (He looks up in part because he's not terribly tall, either.)]

Ugh, what did you do now?

[ Keith is fun to poke, but he generally retreats very quickly. unluckily for him, Loki is rather tenacious, and isn't discouraged by sass and sarcasm. there's a low hum of jingle on his lips, and he's about to say something when Keith says the magic words. ]

Why is it always something I did? I didn't do it. [ and then he turns his head, speaking mostly to himself. ] Not this time, anyway.

I could actually do something, if it would prove to satiate you. [ he gestures, waving his fingers.

but he's already feeling the tug, and an exasperation grasps him as he looks up to see the familiar looking plant above them. out of all the strains of mistletoe, he knows this one the most intimately. ]

It's because you seem like the type of guy who does stuff. Have you ever heard yourself talk?

[Never mind the fact that most of Keith and Loki's conversations end in Keith stomping off and Loki later being proved correct. That doesn't make it any easier. Somehow, he's way more annoying than Lance. Then again, Keith has some theories as to why a lot of people are growing to be more annoying than Lance.

Uh, anyway—

He looks up, frowning.]

But what would you do? If you were looking to satiate me.

[ Keith does seem to have really nailed down the whole "stomp away" routine.

when he's stuck, he makes a lot of grumpy noises, only half of which Loki's hearing (the other half he's assuming are little barbs sharpened with fuss). ]

Well, that depends. [ his eyes are on the mistletoe. ] You don't know the myth, do you? Everything comes from somewhere, some tales are told so long that they hold power. Resonance, kinda-sorta.

[ then he makes the kinda-sorta gesture with his hand. ]

What myth? ["You know the myth, don't you?" Come on, Loki, does he seem like a guy who knows a single drop of Norse mythology? That would be easily characterized as "stuff I don't think is important" by a guy like him. What he knows about space is constellations, and the Romans and Greeks squared away that market for most people fairly early on.

(And let's not give Keith too much credit there: he knows about that stuff for navigation purposes.)]

You act like everyone can follow what you're saying and like they're idiots if they can't. We come from different worlds. [Throwing the multiverse stuff back in Loki's face many months later! Yes!]

[ Loki shouldn't be satisfied by that answer, but after a momentary pause, he certainly looks it. he tips his head into the edge of Keith's personal space, looking like a cat who's gotten a bit of cream. ]

That's the thing about resonance. I didn't want to assume you didn't know something, that would be downright rude. Old traditions tends to carry through worlds, the multiverse isn't full hard corners and strict barriers. Some people have more than one take on the same thing.

[ but he has Keith stuck here for the moment. ]

I was curious if you had your own.

Every universe has myths. I bet even this place has its own weird ideas. [It occurs to Keith quite suddenly that the whole Timeline thing could be a myth. Yeah, watch as Keith decides that he doesn't want to focus on that at the moment. The boy is surprisingly good at evasive thinking.]

I just don't know what you're talking about.

Some are still the same. There are those here that are the same as some of those that I know.

[ he waves a hand up at the mistletoe. ]

They've just been changed over the years. Mistletoe is supposed to represent protection, the kiss meant to be shared as an expression of that protection. It means never forget.

The romantic kissing thing—ah, well, who knows where that came from.

...

Is that better?

[ he offers a half shrug. ]

Edited 2017-01-06 00:40 (UTC)

Wait, we were talking about mistletoe? [The fact of the matter is that Keith has a really hard time following Loki's unusual and chaotic trains of thought. He knows what has to be done here, even if he doesn't like it. No, he hates it. Why couldn't he punch him? Why not?]

Nothing about this is going to be romantic. Just to be clear.

[ you can still punch him, Keith. he won't deny that he has a very punchable face.

there's a moment where that last sentence was so absurd that his brows pinch together and his lips twitch up at the corners at the idea of it. as if to solidify his own thoughts, he takes a glance down at Keith's edged expression. ]

My hopes and dreams, dashed.

[ in an easy motion, he turns toward him. ]

I'll make it quick.

If it was anything but quick, we'd have a problem with it. [Keith doesn't like this one bit, and even if there's a chance in hell that he'd like it (unknown to him, Loki is the type of guy who has a lot of experience in this business), he's too ... anti-Loki for his own stupid biases to even allow that as a possibility. Which, to be fair, is probably a good thing. For both of them.]

You're the tall one. Bend down and get it over with. [Context.]

[ we'd.

Loki repeats internally as if there's something amusing in that. there's a sigh of resignation, and he examines Keith's face once more before leaning in to close the gap between them.

it was this kind of physical exchange that never bothered him. it was easy, and he went through the motions as if he knew them well. there's no hesitance, no fuss, and no dramatics. it's all exchanged for the taste of something breathy and light. he brushes his parted lips against Keith's, lingering for barely a moment before drawing back again, satisfied. ]

You don't tell all the boys that, do you?

[Thankfully, Keith isn't clueless enough to fail to get Loki's remark at the end there. His eyebrows furrow in irritation—or were they already like that?—and he takes a step back. So far, so good. He might be free.]

I don't make a habit of telling anyone that, but here we are ... or were. Then again, maybe I'd just save it for you.

[Because it is in the name of getting it the hell over with so he can go back to acting like Loki is an annoying but unimportant presence.]

[ Keith's face is set in a perpetual state of disgruntled. there are times when Loki wonders if it's stuck that way. ]

That's a touch flattering.

[ there's a distance between them that Loki lifts a brow at. ]

I didn't fart. [ it's a joke enough for him to look slightly smug about it. but he follows it up quickly, waving a hand outward. ] Let's try this again, shall we? The New Year is coming, and that means new starts.

[ there's a cant of his head. ] Would you like to put mishaps and unfortunate miscommunications aside for the sake of me extending the olive branch?

[Keith might be one of the most difficult people to have a conversation with, in part because he's caught in a mixture of miscommunication and being overly temperamental. When the two blur together—as they often do with Loki—he finds himself unable to think clearly.

Just the same, the attempt from Loki is enough to startle him to filter away all the nonsense and uneasiness in his mind. He knows what this means. Heck, he did this with Lance not so long ago.]

... Are you sure you want to?

[In a way, there's something earnest about how he's asking that, like sense has finally knocked him in the head in the form of a brick. A very hard brick that's left a dent.]

[ it's always difficult to gauge just how earnest Loki is being. even when he is, he covers it in piles and piles of jokes, usually in poor taste. there are certain ideas, more akin to a god of chaos (see new starts, for instance), that tend to give him more of a reason to be earnest. ]

Should I give it a second thought?

[ there's a tilt of his head. ]

That's not what I said, [he says, a bit snappishly. Keith admittedly doesn't know what he said, but he knows he hadn't said that. He looks agitated for a moment before rolling his shoulders back.]

Doing things differently will mean making sense more of the time. Can you do that?

[ this again.

a sigh comes after that, and he cants his head to the side, surveying him.

though, you know what? he'll bite. ]

That's subjective, with circumstances considerably specific to you. You'll have to cut me a little slack and tell me where I'm not making sense. I take my new starts very seriously, surprisingly. If I make a promise to deliver, then I'd not skirt the detail.

[ then he shrugs. he can't say that he likes Keith making demands of him, but it's as he said, he does take new starts with a certain weight. part of his flippancy has dissipated around the idea, and he can't decide whether or not he's better for it. there's also a prospect of planning here that makes him somewhat uncomfortable.

however, he makes good on it. ]

I wasn't exactly keeping that to myself. [Keith does point it out. In fact, he does it every time. The problem is that he doesn't do it in a way that any normal person would be receptive to, much less someone as whimsical as Loki. This is something that he doesn't recognize just yet. Keeping a cool head is hard ... and sometimes, it's more than that. It's impossible feeling.

The thing is, Loki's making a similar point to what Ahad said before. About it being subjective to him, to Keith. He's been accused of being selfish before. Maybe it is just him. The thought eats at him, but he doesn't let it swallow him whole. If it comes up again, maybe he'll deal with it later.]

But I ... can try to make it more obvious when you're confusing. ["I can try to be more patient when you're confusing" is what he should be saying, but.

Keith.]

[ he's never done well with demands, and when he's not scheming in some way or another, the knee-jerk reaction falls into the realm of defiance. the way Keith frames it has always been grating, and Loki tends to tune out certain key words find their way from his mouth. ]

Not just when, but also on what. [ Keith gets frustrated easily. while it's occasionally fun to poke at, it's gotten stale. Loki never likes things that stay the same for long. the when part was easy enough to read, but the you're not making sense without specifics doesn't do much for him. ] Specifics are good.

I'll catch on to the what part soon enough.

[ he's good at that. ]

Deal?

[ he draws back for a moment, and then offers him a hand. ]

[There's a brief grimace, in part because half the time Loki is being confusing, Keith can't even begin to guess what he's trying to get at. But maybe this can work. And if it doesn't, no one can say he didn't try. He breathes in and out, maintaining his patience with ... himself, if nothing else, and then extends his hand forward.]

It's a deal.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT ★ WINTER WONDERLAND, THE RECKONING

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