event pt 1 | full moon & litha

[moustre]

Event Log: June, A Midsummer Night's Dream

I. IUNERIL 17TH - THE FULL MOONS The days leading up to the full moons are the same as last month: Monsters are a little itchier and a little easier to agitate, whether they mean to be or not, which becomes increasingly noticeable the day before the full moons. But of particular note is that this may be the second full moons that some arrivals have experienced, and with that comes greater risks, greater agitation, and further reminders to take care of themselves. Weather fair, despite the worries of the city, Monsters will find that the Sisters aren't blocked away by clouds this night. The moons cast their light down on the city, and the pull is strong for even the veteran natives that call the city home. The Coven is offering potions and charms, in an attempt to encourage those without a Bond to ensure that they will be able to keep their wits about them throughout the entire stretch of the Sisters' time in the sky at their fullest. They're always allowed to reject the offer, but it's with a warning: if they let their newfound instincts overtake them, then they might find themselves back in the Coven under worse conditions. But the Sisters rise framed in stark red skies, even as evening falls across Aefenglom, much to the discontent of the city. Streets that are rarely dim are lit up even moreso, now, in the face of this omen, lanterns and candles leading all the way to the Harbor District. Their colors flicker with shades of blue, green, violet - anything to offset the red. Boats that come and go along the river also carry a lantern or two with the same intent, and ships in the harbor are decorated with magical faerylights, strung across hulls, masts, the works. There's no place in the Harbor District untouched by light, with nary a sign of red in the midst of their goods. Tensions are already high, between the humans and Monsters of Aefenglom. It's especially noticeable on this night: full moons already cause everyone to be a little jumpy, but with the red tidings for Litha, they're more on edge than ever. Some blame the new arrivals, though never directly to their face, especially when they don't know who, or what, someone might be. It's always a there-and-gone whisper, it seems like. Gossip. Distrust. Unease. It doesn't lend well to the full moons, but there are still those that want to help. Many will notice that there's already activities and decorations up for Litha, some of them still under construction despite the fast approaching festival. The most notable of all are the hedge mazes that have been constructed, both by hand and with magic to encourage their growth. Behind the festival organizers' backs, a group of people - both man and beast - are offering Monsters a chance to burn off some of their energy by embracing their instincts in a more... constructive manner, with native Witches and Monsters alike prepared to intervene if things get a little too violent. In a sort of mockery of Litha's traditions, they're partnering Monsters up with a willing participant to run the mazes, with a variety of options that they will list. The partner - or partners, if there is a party looking to go in together - can be either Witch or Monster, and the people organizing this won't judge as they inform the interested individuals of their options: a. A-HUNTING WE WILL GO, allowing the Monster to either hunt a small livestock or game animal (a piglet, fowls, rabbits, the like) or to hunt down their partner through the maze they've chosen. This need not end violently, and can become more of a game of hide and seek meets tag. b. EVERYBODY WAS FIGHTING, where one maze in particular has been devoted to a makeshift fight ring at the very heart of it. The organizers hope, somewhat, that by making the Monster(s) in question run the maze first they'll be a little tired out already when reaching the ring. c. UNDER THE PALE MOONLIGHT, because instincts don't always call for violence, the organizers offer a more intimate experience here, whether it's sexual or nonsexual. Maybe you just want a good cuddle..? The organizers emphasize the idea of consent, and will not force anyone against their will into the hedge mazes, no matter which one it is. They also want to make sure that they will step in to help if called upon, in case someone gets a little too overeager. Witches looking to use magic this night will, peculiarly, find that their magic is a little less... cooperative. Many of the Coven Witches speak of how they specifically wait to cast powerful spells on the night of the full moons, to ensure that they have the greatest chances of success with the help of the Sisters. However, Witches of the new arrival persuasion are much weaker on full moons. Their magic is still there, and they can still draw upon it for spells, but they'll have to put greater effort if they want to cast a spell with any significant amount of power. Overexerting oneself while doing this is entirely possible, so it's best to try and find some sort of balance, lest you find yourself exhausted and without a means to defend yourself. We ask that any and all NSFW threads be marked accordingly, or otherwise moved to a locked post on the log community or an entry/inbox on a character journal. Remember to please be excellent to each other, and respect all limits that your threadmates might have, if you explore the more sexual or violent aspects of the offered prompts. If things get OOCly out of hand, please let us know; if things get ICly out of hand, please let Nessie and Mhairi know.

II. LITHA - IUNERIL 21ST TO 23RD Despite what chaos there might have been on the night of the full moons, and the subsequent day after as things began to calm, Litha still arrives as scheduled on Iuneril 21st, as the sun begins to set. The summer solstice reaches its peak the following night, and the festivities wind down the third dusk. While certainly still lively, it isn't as completely festive as Boaltinn, most certainly because of the red skies, and the natives are obviously trying to make the best they can of what they perceive as a poor situation. To say that the natives are on edge would certainly be an understatement. Whatever happened in those hedge mazes is untraceable, now, and everything looks pristine. Faerylights decorate every awning, overhang, and eave, magical and twinkling with colors to offset the red skies. There are no bonfires, this go around, but much like the fires it seems that the lights all lead to the primary area of celebration: in contrast to Boaltinn, Litha is celebrated in the Entertainment, Shopping, and Harbor Districts. Doors to businesses are wide open (with many even having large signs indicating VAMPIRES WELCOME HERE - those that don't make a clear statement), and stalls offering wares and foods and activities alike are set up at nearly every corner alongside preestablished businesses in the market. The harbor is especially lively, with many sailors coming and going as they prepare for setting sail. While ships themselves are always coming and going in the port, Litha is an important time for the more longterm voyages and those meant to carry some significance, and each ship departing is bid farewell with equal fanfare. Fireworks and celebration that is, at least in some part, genuine, but does carry a certain level of enthusiasm that borders on force of will. a. ASKING FOR A LITTLE COMPANY Though all businesses in the Entertainment District open their doors for the festivals of Aefenglom, the brothels of the city in particular are offering a warm welcome this Litha to anyone who might be interested in spending some time with someone - or, multiple someones. They have open rooms for mingling, lounges with floor pillows and low tables where customers can partake in spiced and unspiced drinks alike, where the unspiced are lacking in the potions and near-aphrodisiacs of the spiced drinks. Private rooms are also available for those seeking a more... intimate experience, however one may take that to mean. The brothel workers are more than happy to attend to any interested parties, but also aren't against randomly pairing individuals up, based on their specifications. And, after a little misunderstanding regarding their classes, the Head Madame of the guild has decided that they will be offering chances for individuals to perform at their establishments. She was rather charmed by the mishap, bless your souls, as were the rest of the guild, so the new arrivals have endeared themselves to the brothel workers. Dances, conversation, assorted busking - whatever skills that their quest-takers learned, whether it be of the more sexual nature or not, they'll provide whatever they might need to put on a show and attract or entertain clientele. b. I'M WISHING FOR THE ONE I LOVE Anyone interested in making their way into the Shopping District will find just as many open doors, as well as numerous stalls interspersed where they weren't before. Vendors hawking their wares and goods like always call out with Litha specials, and businesses set up temporary stalls to draw attention to themselves, with promise of greater bargains and products to be found at their main establishment. There are many that sell spiced foods and drinks, with varying degrees of strength depending on how one wants to feel. Others are selling candles and lanterns, offering a magitech version of a lighter at a steal, depending on how much you purchase otherwise. The largest stalls, and the biggest displays at storefronts, are the flowers though. Every single flower shop in Aefenglom has come out full force, practically painting the district in a myriad of non-red colors as they put their stock on full display. They offer deals for those who wish to buy bouquets for a sweetheart or someone they admire, as well as anyone wanting to make flower crowns for those they care for. Each of the seven largest shops are also handing out a single flower for those partaking in festivities to place under their pillow to dream of future partners, the flower they're typically most well known for; this varies from shop to shop, but the up and coming Rose Bush certainly isn't going to let superstition stop them, and are handing out red roses. It's a bold move, but one that causes the tizzy that they were intending it to. And if one is feeling particularly whimsical, they can go to any well at night, looking into the depths in a bid to see their future spouse and true love within. Perhaps making an offering of a flower would bring good luck..? Just don't linger for too long, as there's a rumor that someone is pushing unfamiliar faces into the well, likely targeting those they think are new arrivals. c. GET LOST WITH ME Though the Harbor District has some bleedover from the Shopping District in terms of festivities, their streets and warehouses are where the most room is available for the hedge mazes. Some are sprawling as they fill the streets and alleys, spilling into the towering buildings that have been empty to load the contents onto waiting ships. They create their own environments, with flowers from the flower shops blooming in the rows and creating archways at entrances and exits. Some are enchanted to seem neverending, although there always is an exit, if one can only figure out the puzzle. Each maze has a different method to its madness, and arrangements that those running them have decided on. (Some faces may seem familiar, to those that encountered them on the full moons; they'll feign otherwise, focused only on the now and refusing to draw attention to any recognition.) Some mazes send in the partners together, randomly selected and tasked with figuring out how to reach the end of the maze together. Others will send the partners in from different ends, with the instructions to find one another, whether in the center of the maze or in its winding path. Another variety offers something reminiscent of the hide and seek meets tag game, tasking one as the hunter and the other as the hunted, a game of pursuit meant to replicate the "playing hard to get" variety of courtship. There's no restrictions on how many times one can enter the maze, as it allows one to forge many bonds - and possibly Bonds - and replicates the process of finding your true love. Or, loves; no one here is going to judge anyone. They certainly won't judge, either, if participants opt to take a swig of something for luck in love before they go in. However, some mazes have been tampered with: rather than opening out into somewhere safe on the street or in a building, they empty out unaware participants into the port itself. Hopefully you know how to swim. Once again, we ask that if any threads take on a NSFW nature that they be marked as such, or otherwise moved to a locked post in the log community or an entry/inbox in a character journal.

Welcome to the event log, part I! While mingling on the log itself is highly encouraged, feel free to make your own logs; take the prompts offered and go wild, go crazy, go stupid, have fun. As ever, if your character is getting into any Shenanigans, let the mods know, and if you have any questions about the log, ask them here!

Comments

a.

[ishisstrength]

[Justine has her own drink, one of many, and is looking for someone who captivates and arouses her beneath the pleasant intoxicant of the mixed spices. She doesn't just search for beauty but something different, new and exciting.

She spots the SQUIP leaning up against a wall and subtly alters her path to met his position. Justine mistakes him as a man at first, his figure lean and his skin deliciously dark, but she soon realizes that he's far more interesting than just that. It's eyes watch people pass as if taking in the setting and processing it for later.

It's curious and Justine wants to know more.

"Mind if I join you?" She slid up next to it's side, standing too close for someone who'd just met. "I saw you watching the street. What is it that you're looking for?"

[fromjapan]

It saw her approach, of course. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to elude its notice entirely, not only because of the fixed way it watches the crowd pass. It caught her glance, the subtle altering of her approach.

Interest. Potential arousal. She's a conventionally attractive young woman, a low-risk experiment for it to give this newly physical form a bit of a test run.

It watches her coolly as she approaches, never fully turning its gaze toward her; it watches from the corner of its eye, taking a sip of the odd beverage it was given by a nearby vendor. It tastes like heat-- not only spice, but physical warmth that spreads, the nerves of this new body faintly beginning to warm, to light up.

Interesting.

It's only when she speaks that it finally acknowledges her, and still only from the corner of its eye, the slightest tip of its head.

"I don't know yet," it says, its voice chilled, even. The edge of its mouth turns up into a smirk, and it glances back to the street ahead of them, the people passing. Other women, men, other creatures more strange in form-- some drinking, chatting, flirting, others becoming a bit more... physical than that. "I think I'll just see where the night takes me."

And then it does look at her, turning its mismatched gaze a bit more fully her way.

"What about you? What brings you to this side of town, on this of all nights?"

[ishisstrength]

Justine was beautiful in a girl-next-door kind of way. Her features were cute and innocent but she moved with the unconscious skill of a harlot, enticing the eyes to trail down her lovely frame and thoroughly inspect her curves.

She was, in every way, a contradiction.

She remained close to it's side while a light smile touched her lips. "That doesn't sound unlike what I'm looking for." She had a rough idea of what she wanted from the evening but there was something exciting about leaving it to chance. "Though I am actively searching." Her dark eyes glitter in the dim lighting of the evening.

"So far that search has lead me to you."

Justine takes a small sip of her drink before continuing. "You're interesting, something new and that's what I'm looking for."

[fromjapan]

Something new. They had more in common on that night than it would have guessed... and that drink was sitting heavy within it, waves of an alien, yet familiar heat pushing it to lean in closer, to reach and brush long fingers over the hair that hung near her face, its slim frame turning to close the distance between them.

"Well, then," it said, its voice low and warm, "I guess we both found what we were looking for."

A hand moved to rest at the curve of her hip.

[ishisstrength]

Her lips part as a Justine inhales a sharp breath. Tendrils of heat seep from the tips of its fingers at her hip, coiling in her abdomen as if ready to strike through her. It's a pleasant shiver and undoubtedly magnified by the spiced drink in her hand.

"Is that so?" Her lips tug into a warm smile. "Lucky us." Her voice lowers and she leans forward slightly, inviting him to come closer.

"Should we exchange names or leave it to the unknown?"

[fromjapan]

Revealing its name would only end in the distraction of revealing its inhuman nature; that could wait for later. Disturbing the flow of this encounter would be... unfavorable, particularly given the beating warmth building in its head, its stomach, lower.

"That won't be necessary," it says, unable to entirely remove the artificial stiffness from its words; the hand that isn't at her hip moves to catch her chin, and it dips in, its lips almost brushing hers as it speaks. "I think we've done enough talking already."

All at once, she's tugged against it by the grasp at her hip; it teases, brushing so faintly over her lips, before it instead leans aside to press its mouth at her neck, breathing warm over her fair skin.

[ishisstrength]

She can hear the stiffness in its voice and distantly wonders if this stranger was in some way like Connor. The thought fled from her mind, with all other notions and inclinations, as he leans forward and whispers those sweet enticing words against her lips. She feels the heat of his breath and then the tug of his palm against her hip as she's pulled forward.

Her hips meet its while a soft gasp catches in her throat. Its lips are warm, teasing and then gone, moving away from her mouth and instead kissing her neck.

Justine moans softly, her body pressing flush against its as her fingers rise and cling to its biceps. "You're such a tease." She gasps softly as her hips began to press and pulse against its, feeling the eager tension and heat rising through her scrumptious frame.

[fromjapan]

It chuckles against her, low in its throat, tracing a trail of heated kisses along her neck, over her jaw; it pauses at the edge of her lips, and it teases her just a bit more, still just avoiding direct contact, giving her the slightest little touch, the faintest brush of its lips over her own.

"You like it," it breathes there, against her lips; a statement of a simple fact, before it closes the distance at last, kissing her slowly, deeply. The hand at her chin goes to thread fingers through her hair, the other moving to press at the small of her back, before drifting just a touch lower.

It wants more. Its body wants more. It isn't used to feeling this, not this directly, not so... pointedly. It's beginning to understand how humans, with their simpler brains and poorer decision-making skills, manage to get themselves into so much trouble driven by this urge alone-- it's powerful.

It pulls away to breathe, "Shall we find somewhere more private to continue?"

[ishisstrength]

It's laugh echoed against her skin and sent a pleasant shiver down her spine. Her corset suddenly felt incredibly tight as she struggled to inhale and deep breath of the cool night air. It's lips trail fire in the wake, teasing her lips with its. Another little moan catches in her throat as she's gently pulled towards its kiss.

Justine didn't have time to respond. It was kissing her and it was easy to let the pleasant heat seep into her and sweep her away. Her thoughts slipped through her fingers like sand as her lips parted and she breathed it in.

"Yes. There are many empty rooms tonight." It was far closer than trying to go back to one of their homes and Justine didn't want to wait. It was teasing her and it was working.