Relief Log #3

[modaccount]

I. In The Aftermath

After the mission is complete, the new recruits are invited back to Central Command for a patch-up and celebration to let loose and socialize a little bit.

The first order of business is the patching up. Anyone who was injured is welcome to go to the Hospital, if the injuries are more serious. Everyone else, those with smaller injuries like scrapes and bruises, minor cuts or burns or abrasions, are welcome to come to the Infirmary in Central Command. There will also be attendants that tell returning new recruits that if they'd like to learn a little first aid and tend to their comrades, they can also head to the Infirmary.

In the Infirmary, anyone who's not injured but shows up will be instructed in basic first aid so they can tend to their teammates and friends. Nurses will be rotating around to check in on people and make sure nothing is more serious than it looks, but generally, the new recruits will be encouraged to tend to their teammates in order to encourage group bonding.

II. The Winter Feast

The relief effort comes at about the same time as the traditional Winter Celebration on the Broken World this month. The Winter Celebration is characterized by spending time with family or loved ones, eating a lot of food, exchanging gifts, lighting candles, and usually drinking a lot (for those who drink). Considering how diverse the residents of the Broken World are, the traditions are relatively loose, with variations that can include fireworks displays, airing grievances, special food dishes, and a wide variety of others. Feel free to pick and choose what winter traditions your characters are introduced to and want to observe.

The rebels at Central Command are celebrating this year by opening the kitchens and inviting all the residents, and any extra-universal arrivals, to participate in cooking the winter feast. Anyone is welcome, including those who don't know how to cook yet, as there will be several cooks giving lessons on how to prepare some of the simpler dishes, like mashed tubers, gravy, and roasting various types of meat, usually pork or poultry. Characters who can cook are encouraged to make traditional winter foods from their own cultures, and the recipes will be met with much interest from NPC residents. Those who can't cook are invited to share their traditional winter foods for the resident cooks to try to figure out - how close they get to making your cherished family recipe is up to you.

After all the food has been prepared, characters are invited to help bring it to one of the big conference rooms that's been decorated by NPCs (and those who aren't into cooking are welcome to help decorate). The setting is cozy and warm, with a temporary fireplace installed with bean bag chairs pulled up around it, and in the corner there is a pile of presents with the names of each extra-universal arrival on them. Before any present-opening happens, though, everyone is invited to dish out a plate of food and settle at the table to eat with friends, tethers, and loved ones. There's also an extensive drink bar with everything from egg nog and milk to hard liquor to various wines and other drinks available to help wash the heavy food down.

III. The Gift Exchange

After dinner has been consumed and everyone is relaxing, The Witch herself enters the room and gestures to the pile of presents in the corner. She makes a short speech about the values of the season - togetherness, forming bonds with each other, keeping each other safe, loving one another - and invites the extra-universal arrivals to approach the pile of presents and find one with their name on it.

Inside the package with your character's name on it is one item from their app inventory that has been retrieved by the rebels from Sylphid strongholds in a series of secret sting operations for this specific purpose. The rebels who were involved are invited in as well, if anyone wants to thank them, and The Witch is available for short meet and greets if characters wish to speak to her.

This is also when characters may exchange gifts with each other, a Winter Celebration tradition they would have heard about extensively through NPCs, advertisements, and other media.

IV. Prank Poppers

Finally, after the gifts have been exchanged, each character is given a party popper - a cardboard candy shaped device that can be pulled at either end and open with a loud popping sound. Inside are several pieces of candy, a foil crown to wear, and a little trinket made of metal - these can be almost anything, from a necklace to a useful mini tool to an ornament to a set of measuring cups.

What's special about these trinkets, however, is that once they're handled, they have a variety of effects on people! The effects are temporary and are very much in the spirit of 'trick or treat' - some of the effects are very positive, some are total pranks. Which one your character gets is up to you!

Some of the effects can be as follows, though you are welcome to come up with effects of your own.

⇝ Happiness: Your character will be just unexplainably happy for 24 hours, regardless of what happens or what struggles they're going through. It's not happiness to the exclusion of looking after themselves or dealing with their problems, it's just a feeling of everything being okay in the end and resiliency.

⇝ Luck: Within an hour of activating this effect, your character will receive a random and totally valid deposit of $1000 into their bank account, and the following 24 hours will be marked by incredible good luck, with everything going their way!

⇝ Animal Features: Upon handling the trinket, the character will find that they sprout animal features, as many as the player wishes, from cute animal ears and tail to a full humanoid fursona to turning completely into a talking animal.

⇝ Forced Honesty: Upon handling the trinket, characters will find that they cannot lie for 24 hours, including lies of omission. They're essentially forced to be honest and blab out all their secrets for the duration of the effect.

⇝ Flying: Characters will find that they float up a few feet from the ground and are unable to stand on their own two feet for a duration of 24 hours. They will float around, and are able to fly to the height of a 40 story building for the duration, moving at will in whatever direction they choose. Other than touching the ground. They can't touch the ground.

NAVIGATION

Comments

[chalicejoker]

"How do you propose we do that?" It's not like Hajime has anything better to do, and he's never been one to turn down a challenge like this anyway.

[newmemorywhodis]

"Race!" Link says, catching on quick. And back home he'd done challenges like the shield-surfing trial and the sand-seal surfing race, always trying to beat his best time...he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to do the same as a flying horse.

[fightingevilbymoonknight]

"That's what I was thinking, yeah. You'll have to pick a starting point and an ending point, and you can't take short-cuts if it curves or something," Steven says. "Otherwise you won't know who's faster, just who's more desperate to win."

[chalicejoker]

Hajime looks at Steven. "You pick the track, then. And watch." Offloading this onto a third party only seems fair.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link just turns his big horse head to look at Steven, with an air of expectation.

Clearly, he's waiting for Steven to select the track. And then, Link will win.

sorry guys, totally lost this notif...

[fightingevilbymoonknight]

Steven waits for a second, too, as if not expecting that statement to apply to him, then jumps when he realized it does. "Oh! Oh, okay, sure. Um. Starting here, then." He hops over to the edge of the building's lot, where the street begins. "And you'll have to race around the block to come back here. No cutting corners!" he adds, getting on a roll now. "You have to make clean turns and not fly over the buildings."

no worries!

[chalicejoker]

Hajime eyes the proposed route and moves into an appropriate starting line position. "Fair enough." He is confident in his ability to win and unconcerned about the effects this race might have on any pedestrians in the area.

Re: no worries!

[newmemorywhodis]

Link eyes the track - down that street, around the block, and back. No flying over buildings.

Okay. With the route now firmly in mind, Link also heads to the starting position - and stands, ready to run (or...float), the moment Steven says go.

Re: no worries!

[fightingevilbymoonknight]

This is more responsibility than Steven planned for, on his brief trip outside. Marc is amused in the back of his head, the jerk. But hey, maybe it will be fun? Or funny, anyway.

"Okay. Okay... on your mark. Get set."

He gives them a long pause, then yells, "Go!"

[chalicejoker]

Hajime wastes no time and lurches into motion as quickly as he can. He is determined to win, dammit, he can't help himself. He's a little stressed out with the reindeer thing, and being intensely competitive is comfortable. He's going to give this his all.

[newmemorywhodis]

Hajime's not the only one who is fiercely competitive, however. Whether it's shield surfing, sand-seal surfing, or racing as a pair of floating hoofed animals - Link is determined to win.

He tears through the air, legs running at full gallop even though the motion isn't strictly necessary.

feel free to skip me for a couple tags so they can race :3

[fightingevilbymoonknight]

Steven jogs out into the lane to watch them go, until they hit the corner at least. "I've got to learn a quick scrying spell," he mutters to himself, then jogs instead to the other end of the block, to see them when they come back around.

[chalicejoker]

Hajime is also air-galloping--if it feels like it's going to increase speed, then it's going to increase speed. Probably. His ears are back and he's got his head down, focusing on only what's in front of him, heedless of the fact that he may end up needing more clearance than he realizes on some parts of the route thanks to the antlers.

[newmemorywhodis]

The two of them are neck and neck, neither edging out ahead of the other...until, suddenly, on the street they are racing down it just so happens that one of the pedestrians decides to use their Heba power to let loose a gust of wind.

Their goal appears to have been to let their long hair blow dramatically as they take a selfie...but the wind just happens to blow the same way that Link is running, giving him a boost.

It's an unusual spot of luck...except for the fact that one of the many poppers took earlier has made him very, very lucky for the next day.

[chalicejoker]

Hajime is not running with any additional luck...but he's also got a hatrack atop his head and between that and Link's boost of luck, plus that fortuitous gust of wind causing Link to pull ahead...he is not operating with a healthy sense of caution.

Shame he gets his antlers tangled in those festive streamers stretched out along this span of street. That's going to slow him down by quite a lot.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link pays no attention to Hajime, or his antlers, or the festive streamers slowing down his competition.

There's only the wind, and the drive to go as fast as he can.

Now he starts pulling well ahead - reaching the end of the block, where he starts to turn around. Soon he's starting the race back, on the last leg.

[chalicejoker]

Hajime's also feeling the drive to go as fast as he can, but it is harder than it needs to be thanks to that whole festive streamer thing he's got going. He's still going as fast as he can, but he's not catching up in the way he'd like.

[newmemorywhodis]

Then, up ahead - a pane of glass! Being carried by two people, who are crossing the road at just this very moment!

For a moment, it seems like Link might hit it - but then they just happen to tilt it to the side, giving Link just enough room to maneuver past without slowing.

...And then it tilts back again, now blocking Hajime's way.

[chalicejoker]

Crap crap crap crap crap. Hajime does not really have much of a chance to react--the streamers are distracting and the glass is clear--and so he crashes right through that pane of glass.

It's fine he's fine he's just going to keep right on going, even if he's been slowed down significantly, there's a bit of confused yelling from a great many people, and he's picked up a couple small cuts that are bleeding a rather unusual shade of light green.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link doesn't look back behind to see what the commotion is about. He just keeps racing forward...

...and then he's across the finish line, victorious.

[fightingevilbymoonknight]

Steven saw that glass coming and gave a startled yelp, too late to do any good. And then he has to dive out of the way as Link comes galloping right towards him because he'd been out in the middle of the roadway, watching. Link's good luck only extends to the point where it gets Steven out of his way.

He scrambles back to his feet, looking between Link and Hajime bringing up the rear and bleeding a little.

He's not sure that's a fair race, what with the glass thing, personally.

[chalicejoker]

Hajime is at this point still trailing streamers, still bleeding slightly, and trying to get to the finish line as quickly as he possibly can. It's not enough, and there's a disgruntled sort of reindeer grunt as he passes the finish line. He is a tired reindeer, after all of that.

[newmemorywhodis]

It's only now, when Link is at the finish line and actually stops to look back, that he realises how much chaos has been happening behind him.

"You hit the glass?" he says to Hajime, with a wince in sympathy.

[fightingevilbymoonknight]

"I'm not sure if that was really a fair race, when there were people with panes of glass in the way," Steven decides to say. "But it might not be a good idea to try it again tonight. Are you okay, Hajime?"

He knows the name only because Marc mentioned him, really.

[chalicejoker]

"I'll live." He's just floating there like he's not bleeding green with a streamer tangled in his antlers. Fine. It's fine. He's fine.