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

[mislike]

Is it painful? [She approaches slowly. It's a personal thing to ask, but Sansa has been through a lot herself.]

I don't really study. Not at the University at least. I spend most of my time in Parliament, learning from the witches there. I study in the evenings. I do not know much myself, but I am learning. Mostly defensive spells.

[reborningreen]

[ Oliver shakes his head. ]

Not normally. The shift when the moon rose was, a little, because the chabge went a lot further than before, but normally, the fur and all just itches some as it comes in, and is a little awkward.

[ He shrugs then, eyes on her. ]

A lot to get used to.

Sounds like a good thing to learn.

[mislike]

I do not-- I don't know how it all works, but if there is something you need, please let me know. My name is Sansa Stark. I want to help those like us who found ourselves here suddenly.

[In a way they have become her people here, and she will try and represent and do what she needs to for them.]

I have never been much of a fighter. That was my sister, but I can still learn.

[reborningreen]

Thank you.

[ His smile, even in the bearlike face, was gentle to her and he raised a paw-like hand to her in a gently kind of reach, if she wanted to feel the fur. ]

If you like, when I am not like this anymore, I can help you train. I taught my sister how to fight, some.

[mislike]

You are kind to offer, [She says as she touches his paw.] I'm no fighter though. My sister is. I have my spells now, other talents to keep me safe.

[But she doesn't want him to think she's turning him down altogether.] So you only look like this during the full moon?

[reborningreen]

[ He shivers at the touch and nods as she speaks. ] Alright.

[ And ] Yes. Most of the time, I am still mostly human. I just started the normal changes. Nails becoming more like claws, and some fur on my arms.

[mislike]

I've heard about some of them, but I-- I confess I do not know many monsters, as they call you here.

[She looks up at him though, knowing true monsters.]

I don't think you are one though. A monster.

[reborningreen]

Thank you.

I feel less like a monster and more like... an imposter inside my own skin. This all... [ and he gestures down at the bearish body. ] doesn't feel like me. The movements, the weight, the height, it is all wrong. And at the same time...

[ He hesitates to go on, but she pulls at his senses and he lets go finally, the words coming out. ] at the same time, it also feels more right than anything I have ever known before. Like this is something that was meant to happen. And that scares me.

[mislike]

[She listens, looking up at him.]

They say-- they say it will get worse without a bond. I feel it, too, sometimes. Like there is this power in me that I could do these great things. Sometimes terrible.

[It's not that it isn't in her, the wolf as her father used to call it. She was a polite lady, but she could be pushed.]

[reborningreen]

I know the feeling. A pulling at you, as if power could go out of control. As what they call a monster, it feels like my body is vibrating almost.

And I don't know how to ask someone for that, for something like a bond, which seems so intimate.

[ He felt uncertain. ]

[mislike]

[Her eyes drop, knowing what he means. It seems like a very intimate thing between people, and it's very hard for her to get close to people, to be able to trust again.]

The bond is a very serious thing it seems. I do not know if I will ever be ready for it.

[reborningreen]

Same. I... heck, I was barely ever able to think about marrying someone, and this is... getting into their head and them into mine. And I wouldn't wish my head on anyone.

[ Oliver rubs his forehead, putting his fur out of line, but he doesn't care. ]

[mislike]

[She falls silent when he tells her that. Sansa can relate. She knows how she comes across, but there's so much she keeps from people, barely letting anyone in. Making friends is one thing, but this is different.]

I was wed-- twice. Neither of it was my choice. I was 14 the first time, wed to my family's enemy. But Tyrion was kind. He didn't-- [She swallows and looks up at him, not sure how far she should delve into her own past.]

But I escaped. I ended up back home, but the only way I could stay there was by marrying the son of the man who killed my brother. And he was not so kind.

[reborningreen]

[ Under his fur, Oliver goes pale and then growls, it is anger at what was done to her and he gently touches her shoulder. ]

I am sorry you had to endure such a thing. Where I am from, we would have strung the one who did that to you up, or put an arrow in him.

[ He knows from experience, because he has done that. ]

All I know of true intimacy is that it should be with someone you choose, and with someone you trust. But here, where we know people hardly at all yet? How are we supposed to build such bonds?

[mislike]

[It's hard not to tighten when he touches her shoulder, but she tells herself that he's just trying to console her. Her expression drops when she talks about Ramsay again, remembering what he did and what happened to him.]

He got what he deserved in the end. He used to starve his dogs and set them on women in the woods. When my brother came to reclaim our ancestral home, we captured him, and I set his dogs on him.

[And there are no regrets for it, a hardened tone in her voice of a girl long gone now.]

I do not know. It is hard to trust anyone where I am from. I think in part that is what this-- Lithia is for. I do not want to see the person I love. Before coming here I did not want to get close to anyone again. I just wanted to be in Winterfell, helping my people.

[reborningreen]

Good. He deserved no batter. [ Oliver gently squeezed her shoulder again, then let go. He smiled fiercely, eyes bright. ]

You are a formidable woman, and I admire you, the more i know of you.

[ He listens and nods. ]

Yes. I just want to get home, and if I am stuck here, I have no hurry to join with anyone like that.

[mislike]

You should have seen me back home. [Where she should be. She smiles proudly, chin raised.]

At least they are not forcing us. It will get difficult for us. But-- mayhaps if you and I get to know one another better, if there is none you get closer with, mayhaps we can work on a bond.

[She did just open up to him after all, probably from the drinks here, but she doesn't regret it. Or at least she hopes she doesn't.]

[reborningreen]

[ Oliver nods. ] I would like to see that, to see you in your rightful place.

[ He nods again, at her words, slowly, and considers them, before smiling as well as he can. ]

I think that there is none I have wanted to be close to, like I have opened to you, and you at least... I find I trust some. I am willing to explore that avenue with you, to learn if we are... compatible.

[mislike]

It took me a long time to get there. I was not expecting to leave it so suddenly.

[She inhales sharply, steeling herself to how much she truly misses home again. She'd fought so hard to return.]

Likewise. I don't-- I am not good at opening up and trusting anyone. But you are kind, and that is not something I am afforded to overlook. Here nor back home.

[reborningreen]

I can imagine so. I hope you'll get back there before you know it.

[ Even if he already feels like he would miss her some. He gently touches her shoulder, taking a slow breath. ]

Perhaps we can take it slow, and learn together.

[mislike]

I would like that. [Her eyes catch down at her shoulder where she touches before looking back at him with a smaller smile. At least she didn't flinch or shy away. That's progress.]

[reborningreen]

[ Seeing her look, he nods, and he realizes she makes him think of his past, and of some of the ways he has reacted in the past. The island changed everything for him, and her look, her offer, almost, in not pulling away, it seems to him, is the sort of thing he cannot refuse, and will not refuse to accept. He slowly pulls back his hand from her shoulder and wags it in front of her. ]

I think this world is a mess, but if I am trapped here, then I think I would rather be trapped around people who make me think, and make me feel, and you have done both. I am not prone to trusting, and never have been. Life made me not want to.

[ It is an offering of his own, a piece of his past and his self, out of his shadowed keeping that never lets go of such things. It is dangerous, a part of his mind screams, but he offers it nonetheless. ]

[mislike]

[Her blue eyes are steeled, but she’s not as stern as she was. It’s nice to find someone who sees things similar.]

I understand. For true I do. It would be good to see you again. Soon mayhaps.

[reborningreen]

I would like that, too. Maybe we can try it once this moon is passed and I can feel myself more.

[ Oliver pauses, then shakes his head. Words feel tangled right now, just like his body and mind. Its like when he was younger, and got drunk or tried drugs, a thing he cannot even imagine doing now. There is a disconnect between him and himself. And he does not like it. ]

I mean, when I feel like myself more.

[mislike]

I understand. [She gives a dip of her head.]

If you should need anything, please reach out.