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

[unholey]

Oh. [It's amazing what a single word, a single exhalation, can convey. Surprise, but also relief. Self-consciousness over asking something that Giorno sees as so simple. But then his thoughts catch up with his heart and he remembers.

Fugo looks down at their hands; without realizing it, his grip on Giorno's hand has gone tight enough that his knuckles are white.]

Giorno. [His shoulders curl. He doesn't want to say it, but he has to.] There aren't any windows here, or in any of these rooms. [He looked. He opened door after door, trying to find one with even the smallest of glimpses to the outside.] And I haven't been sleeping well, lately.

[He doesn't ask Giorno if he's sure. He knows that Giorno's certain in what he wants to do. But he has to say this. Sharing a room with him isn't just annoying, given his insomnia, his habit of leaving the door open behind him, and his inability to sleep in the dark. It's dangerous, considering Purple Haze.]

[digiorno]

[Fugo's grip is so tight it hurts. That's just the truth of it: it hurts. But Giorno doesn't mind. If Fugo needs in this moment to cling so hard it hurts, he won't begrudge him that.]

[He wears a soft and playful smile. At least at first.]

Purple Haze? You know he's a friend of mine, don't you?

[But it wouldn't do to tease Fugo too much about his fears, especially when they're so terribly valid. His smile morphs into something more somber, serious. He's thought about this. Of course he has.]

Fugo.

[He doesn't let go Fugo's hand. Of course he doesn't. But the hand that's been looped around Fugo's waist comes up to card softly through the hair at the nape of his neck, brush his bangs out of his face. Gestures both possessive and reassuring. You are mine, and I know you, and I will take care of you always.]

I will find us a room with windows, Fugo. If I have to construct a whole new castle, I will. But in the meantime, I am the best defense against Purple Haze. In this castle, in this world, in any world.

I know you don't want to hurt anyone. I know you. So let me help. Let me meet you this way, so you don't have to carry your fear alone.

[unholey]

[Two weeks ago, Fugo hesitated on the edge of a ruin he later learned was the Temple of Apollo and desperately tried to think of a way to kill Massimo Volpe when he could barely stand and couldn't see through the black spots in his vision. But he could feel stone underneath his hands. And so he remembered another ruin, the look of dawning horror and disgust on Illuso's face when he realized that Giorno had somehow convinced Purple Haze to give him him a capsule, hidden it in the palm of his hand, and let it shatter when Illuso's Man In the Mirror grabbed him.

On the drive back from Pompeii, when Fugo had anxiously pressed Giorno about his method of retrieving the capsule all Giorno said in explanation was this: I asked him and he gave it to me.]

[Purple Haze doesn't have friends. He can't recognize them in his fury, or tell them apart from enemies. But if anyone in the world could call the hideous monster that is Pannacotta Fugo's Stand his friend, it would be Giorno Giovanna-- who reached out with gentle hands and pried out one of the unbroken capsules from Purple Haze's too-long, spidery fingers and lived to tell the tale. Giorno knows, intimately, the pain it brings to the infected: after all, he turned himself into a vector to force Illuso back into the real world and trapped him in a corner he couldn't escape from with Purple Haze.]

[Fugo closes his eyes, just for a moment, to the light in the room. He's so tired. But so afraid to sleep, because he knows that all the awfulness he's been trying to keep an arm's length will catch up with him. And if his dreams are especially bad, he'll wake up in a cold sweat to the sound of teeth grinding and acid sizzling in the corner-- because, second only after anger, Purple Haze is drawn to and reacts swiftest to his fear.

Giorno has reached out to touch him. His fingers are light on the back of his neck and then on the border of his hairline; the touch is both comforting and entirely foreign. His skin prickles while Giorno builds off of the foundation of their promises-- half of a step and if grief anchors your feet-- and reaches out as far as he can to meet him. It's not an order. It's an offer; a request. Let me help, Giorno asks him.

Giorno knows him. Giorno trusts him.]

[Fugo opens his eyes, stares at Giorno's face, and swallows-- before nodding stiffly, throat closed up with a tangled emotion he's too tired to work through to speak properly. His fingers twitch around Giorno's and slowly, slowly he forces them to relax. With his other hand, he reaches up to stubbornly push at the corners of his eyes.]

Okay. [And then:] Sorry.

[For being so tired. For all the good nights of sleep he's going to ruin. For the inevitable annoyances that will come from living so closely together. For all the ugly parts of him, including but not limited to Purple Haze, that are so difficult to live with and work around.]