EVENT ★ WINTER WONDERLAND, THE RECKONING

[futurologists]

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! 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.

Comments

a - clinging merriment, naturally

[moneyman]

[ he hadn't been watching where he was going at all. his date for the evening was going well so far—shockingly so, really—but it was on pause so they could both socialize with others, and so he'd been wandering around looking for any of his friends.

right until walking past someone and hitting a conveniently-placed invisible wall, that is. after one more unsuccessful push forward confirms that he's not going anywhere, he starts to panic—he knows about the mistletoe. oh, no. he glances over and sees... Loki. that guy he'd accidentally harassed at the end of the last mission. uh oh.

his eyes go wide and he backs up against the barrier. ]

Oh... oh, shit. I wasn't—I guess I wasn't looking where I was going. Oh, god, I'm sorry. I wouldn't have—

[ ...and then he happens to look up and actually see the mistletoe, at which point he realizes it isn't that kind of mistletoe. he heaves a huge sigh of relief (no offense, man), laughing nervously to himself. phew. ]

—Oh, hey, I saw some of this kind earlier! All you have to do is hug. No big deal, right?

[ right?? ]

[selfimage]

[ Loki only manages a half-turn before he recognizes the voice. the slightly optimistic neatly-bearded dorky fellow from Perdition's Rest, the one that screamed newbie, yes, that one. eyes slide back to him as he hits against the barriers, and there's a moment of brief confusion before the obvious sets in and he glances up to meet the gaze of some menacing looking mistletoe. ]

...

Ymir's balls.

[ he lowers his drinks from his lips. ]

I don't do hugs.

[ he says it so briskly that it sounds like some kind of given fact. they may just have to stand there until the plant dies. ]

[moneyman]

[ who's Ymir? it doesn't matter. how do you not do hugs? who hurt you, Loki? ]

Uhh...

[ he knocks on the barrier, either to emphasize that hugging is inevitable or to triple-check that they are, indeed, trapped. maybe a little of both. ]

Mmmaybe it still counts if it's like, a one-sided hug? Then you wouldn't have to hug me. [ what a depressing thing to hear himself say. ]

[selfimage]

[ Odin never hugged him as a kid, what's he supposed to do about it. ]

That sounds ... terrible. [ and he makes his distaste clear. when he said he didn't do hugs, he meant absolutely no hugs. ] No offense, but I'm not keen to have your arms around me in a dispassionate mock embrace.

[ but he probably wouldn't like anything having to do with hugs right now. ]

[moneyman]

...Oh.

[ really, it's not that he desperately wants to hug Loki, but damn. "terrible?" ouch. it also means Loki would literally rather be stuck here for who knows how long than receive a hug from him.

he slumps back against the barrier, doing his best impression of someone who is definitely not feeling dejected right now. ]

Sooo, uh... how's your night going?

[ why are you ruining Christmas, Loki? ]

[selfimage]

[ Od's blood, Vaughn, why are you like this??? why. so much why.

why does he feel kind of bad. this isn't something that he's used to. he never feels bad about this!!! ]

It's ...

[ ugh. ]

Fine. Fine. Hug me.

[ he sounds somewhat resigned. it's not you, really, it's him. ]

[moneyman]

[ a-ha! there's his ticket out of mistletoe jail. as much as he loves hugs, he's not super excited about hugging someone who very clearly does not want a hug. but hey, maybe he can change Loki's mind about hugs?

yeah, probably not. ]

—Oh, okay!

[ he pushes himself off the barrier, shoots Loki an apologetic look (sorry, dude), and then steps forward and somewhat loosely wraps his arms around him. no need to make it weird. this is a very casual hug. like a 2 on the hug scale.

...and just like that, it's over. that wasn't so bad, now, was it? ]

[selfimage]

[ the bearded puppy is wrapping its scrawny arms around him!!! Loki doesn't know what to do with his hands, or his own arms for that matter. instead of reciprocating, which he kind of should do, he twitches a little in anxious discomfort. Odin wasn't much for hugs, and nor was Freyja for that matter, or any of the royal family. as much blame as he put on that, most of the physical expressions he used were to further points and make others uncomfortable.

strangers hugging him was not up there.

finally, he settles for patting Vaughn on the back. ]

...

Are we done now?

[moneyman]

[ hey, he's not as scrawny as he looks—something Loki would find out quickly if this were a real hug. fortunately for Loki, though, it's apparently real enough to satisfy the mistletoe; as the barrier disappears, he steps back, freeing Loki from this loathsome expression of light affection.

he looks vaguely amused. ]

Yep, looks like you're free to go.

[selfimage]

Goodie.

[ ok, so he's not melting or dead or dying or anything. the physical contact has not, in any way, caused him harm. from the expression on his face it may as well have. with the mistletoe satisfied, Loki gives a trying sigh, as if the memory was plaguing him all over again.

(really, Loki, no one needs you that dramatic.) ]

Keep this to yourself, won't you? My reputation is at stake.

[moneyman]

[ hey, his reputation is at stake, too. what if the team at large found out that his hugs were so unsatisfying? devastating. that said, he still looks pretty pleased with himself, even if he obviously was not able to convert Loki into a Hug Person. ]

Keep what to myself?

[ don't worry, Loki. he's a bro. (and not the bad kind.) ]

[selfimage]

[ there may be a small, super secret part inside of him that likes it. the little part that might lean toward liking affection and a little bit of a romantic; the unfortunate, squishy part. ]

This.

[ he enunciates as if it were obvious, like he was saying yuck. ]

[moneyman]

[ one day, he'll find it. one day.

there's an exaggerated shrug and a look of mock mystification. ]

What? Nothing happened, as far as I'm concerned. We're cool.