Who: Everyone!
What: The event mingle for the And A Happy New Year event.
When: Days 555-557
Where: Anywhere in town!
Rating: PG-13 tops! If it gets worse, move to a private log please.

DAY 555 (Dec 14-15)

As the last of the black ice is cleared from the city - and the last of its natives wake from their gray slumber - a cautious winter celebration begins. The city itself opens its doors wide to the allied forces still camped outside it and the natives invite the Travelers to observe the beginning of Winter and the approach of the end of the Asgardian year with them.

The day begins with what seems like a typical party in the streets. There is food, music, and an attitude of general warmth and hope from the Natives that hasn't been quite so present in a long time. It will be interrupted in the early afternoon by a snowball fight that starts in one sector of the city and quickly snowballs out of control. For a few hours, the city itself will become a veritable warzone, with most of the city's native children and adults alike getting in on the fight! Watch your back and take no prisoners. (NOTE: Please check THIS LINK for player plot information about the snowball fight!)

DAY 556 (Dec 16-17)

Day 556 sees a brief return to old - and maybe familiar - tricks. The festivities continue on outside, but some Travelers throughout the course of the day may find themselves influenced by magical impulse… all in the name of good holiday fun, of course.

The effects of these miniature curses will last anywhere between ten minutes and an hour and happen spontaneously, and most of them are echoes of similar curses that have been laid upon the city before. Travelers may find themselves:

• Unable to lie or actively compelled to blurt truths, consequences be damned
• Only able to communicate in poetry or song
• Given a nagging urge to (sincerely!) compliment anyone they come across
• Compelled to just hold hands with whoever they're near
• Caught under sprigs of magic mistletoe that seem to appear at arbitrary times at equally arbitrary places (though they can either be kissed or just wait a few minutes for it to disappear again)

Your character can be affected by as many and as often as you'd like, but none of them are mandatory. To reward the Travelers for putting up with that silliness one final time, they will find in their rooms that night a basket of chocolate, a horrendously ugly Christmas sweater, and one item from home. The item can be anything that fits within the game's technological and magical rules! If you'd like your character to receive something, please just drop a comment HERE to get it approved.

DAY 557 (Dec 18-19)

Day 557 marks the final day of celebration. That evening, twinkling, magical fairy lights will cover the edges of buildings and the branches of trees all over the city. There are light displays of amazing proportion all over the city, and the Welcome Halls are done up in entirely their signature color. the Travelers will be invited into the castle again for a ball much like the one last year. Thor will announce the end of curfew and tell everyone to party hard, because the hunt for both Surt and a way to heal the World Tree will begin after this.

The party will last until midnight, when everyone will be shuffled out into the courtyard for a brilliant fireworks display. It represents both the victory over Thiazi and the hope that the celebration of this coming new year will not be the last.

[ This is the mingle log for the And A Happy New Year event. Please include your location and the IC day in your top-level comment or your subject line when starting a thread! ]

Who: Killua, Gon, and anyone who wants to come visit!
What: The boys have decided to get an apartment together and have just recently moved in. Any friends who may come looking for them would have gotten a message with the address, so... Housewarming shenanigans welcome!
When: Day 548 and/or 549
Where: Loki Apartments, #103
Rating: PG at most?

( Haven't you people ever heard of closing the goddamn door? )

Who: Hibiki and ~*YOU*~
What: Hibiki's getting a canon update! Unfortunately, it's one of those fancy waking dream types. Some healing may be needed.
When: Day 534
Where: Sigyn district.
Rating: PG for injuries probably!

( Though the curse has ended, a young girl can be found frozen on the streets... )

Who: EVERYONE
What: the Fear Itself mingle log
When: Day 528-531 ( Oct. 21-28 )
Where: all across the city!
Rating: PG-13. Anything higher than that should be taken to a private log, please!

Day 528 ( Oct. 21/22 )

Not wasting a moment, Odin, Hel, and Heimdall will set out for Ginnungagap once again before dawn and the other gods will stand vigil at the city gates. The natives will filter into the streets, curious for all that news of Tyr's very existence is eye-opening for them and reverent for the prospect of a new deity among them. They will pass around candles to any that want one to hold lit for their patrons until the sunlight is high enough to blow the flames out, and then they will mill around seeking comfort in anyone around them, whether to give it or receive it in this strange time between hope and grieving.

By noon, a great rumbling will crackle across the sky like the beginnings of thunder, despite the thinly clouded skies. The air will grow heavy and acrid, almost choking to breathe, as a pressure builds across the city and across the land. Just as it begins to reach painful levels, the rumbling will finally crack as one stroke of lightning spiderwebs to fill the entire sky, backlit by the distant sound of a woman shrieking in pain or anger or agony. The scream dies down just as the light fades and the sky shifts back into blue, the clouds scattered and the pressure lifted. Either the storm has past, or it has just begun; there's no telling for now.

A few hours after that, a strong wave will wash over the city, rustling plants and loose materials, and the Travellers will feel their hearts pounding once too hard, near painfully as though they've just received a severe fright. It's similar to what happened when Freyr was resurrected, but stronger and twisted into something uncomfortable, almost nauseating. The feeling will pass in the next heartbeat and just before sundown, the three gods will return from their voyage to Ginnungagap; this time, bandages will be wrapped around Odin's head and covering his left eye, and his right middle finger will be missing to the knuckle, same as his left index when they returned from resurrecting Freyr. They will make way directly to the castle and the other gods will filter in behind them, so be sure to grab them quickly if you have any desire to speak to them before the coming storm.

By dusk, the Travellers will begin to feel a creeping sense of paranoia, as though there's someone watching them from nearby and flickering out of sight just before they can turn around to catch them in the act. Over the course of the evening, the paranoia will bud into a headache and an itch at the back of their minds, like a thought they can't shake but can't reach either. By twilight, they will start to hear indistinct whispers not unlike the start of the Dream a Little Dream event, but the name of this game is hallucinations.

This first night will begin with auditory hallucinations: as the Travellers attempt to prepare for sleep ( or after long enough of not sleeping ), the whispering a will morph into crisp, clear voices that might sound as though they're speaking over your shoulder or from behind the couch or maybe it's simply inside your head. The voices can be male or female, familiar or stranger, one or a dozen, it doesn't really matter. What matters is what they say. For this stage of the curse, you will hear these voices speaking your character's fear(s) aloud, almost taunting or goading in the clear spelling of them. The auditory hallucinations will not cease at any point throughout the night and may continue on throughout the rest of the event as you please!

Day 529 ( Oct. 23/24 )

Morning brings no relief from the strange sounds, and as the Travellers go about their day, the curse will evolve into visual hallucinations. They will imagine seeing the very thing(s) they fear happening right before their eyes, despite the fact that no such thing is happening at all. It will be like a waking dream, wherein they are conscious and aware but perceiving a different reality built around their innermost fears coming into fruition. Other characters and NPCs can be involved in these hallucinations, but they will not actually be happening; physical contact or very strong words might be able to snap someone out of their visions, or they might further fuel it. Feel free to play around with this. These hallucinations can happen as frequently / last for as long or as short / cycle between fears as you'd like, and can continue to happen until the end of the event.

The general paranoia and unease will continue to grow and the day will pass under constant headaches, like an unceasing pressure inside their heads that follows them around and flares up during any hallucinations. They will begin to feel uncomfortable in their own skin, almost dysphoric with the vague impression that something is wrong and that they themselves might just be the very thing that doesn't fit. Paired with the hallucinations of their fears coming to life, tensions will be running high and even the natives will be affected, keeping to themselves until whatever this is might pass.

Day 530 ( Oct. 25/26 )

By this day, the curse will advance to physical hallucinations. What this means is that your character's fear(s) will begin to manifest in real time, no longer a trick of the imagination but a tangible embodiment of their deep rooted fears. They will be able to interact with their imagined reality, and the hallucinations will interact right back; those witnessing your character's hallucinating will only see the character talking to air, but coming in physical contact with them will absorb them into the hallucination as well. This can be a means of breaking through the episode, or further fueling the delusion.

At this stage, the hallucinations will take on a strength of their own, and they will play to your character's fear(s) to try and draw them deeper into the delusion. They will try to convince you that this is reality, that there is no escape, and that you will end your days shrouded in this fear. These hallucinations can kill your character! They are physical, which means that even if other people can't see them, your character will very much feel the weight of them if they attack or draw you into them.

Day 531 ( Oct. 27/28 )

For the last day of this event, the curse will all come together to result in catatonic hallucinations. This stage is simple: your character will be awake but inert, incapable of moving or seeing past their delusions. They will be forced to watch their fears overwhelm them without any means of snapping out of it by themselves. If your character succumbs to this level of the curse, the only way to break the hallucination will be for someone else to talk them out of it. Again, more on this in the plot notes, as this curse is fairly complicated!

While the majority of the city is either comatose or fighting off ghosts, another wave of energy will pass through the city exactly as it had at the start of the event just before sundown. Plantlife will violently begin blooming, leaves and petals bursting into the wind and carrying across the entire city - and immediately afterwards, they will wither within seconds, shrivelling up and dying on the spot. Vines will rapidly start encroaching across the sides of buildings and across yards, thick tendrils attempting to overtake any available soil and the area around it. Rain will pick up as the city starts to feel lost beneath the general theme of decay, and as the sun is setting, a new face will be seen walking through the Gate of Fire.

Vines will sprout from his footsteps as he sweeps slowly into the city as though in a daze, the storm following him and increasing in strength the further he comes into the city. Travellers can attempt to approach him, but he will be wholly non-responsive, and the pressure in their heads from the curse's headaches will increase the closer they get to him until it becomes debilitating within arm's length.

His path will head in the direction of the castle, but before he makes even halfway there, Loki will be seen running through the streets ( followed closely behind by Thor and Heimdall ) directly towards the new arrival. He will not stop for anything, and anyone in the vicinity at the time can see him use the full force of his running start to punch this frightful stranger in the face. The blow will send him flying a few fair feet, where he will lay prone and unconscious; at this point, the curse will stop, and the three gods will drag the body into the castle without a word. Explanations will have to wait For now, there's some cleaning up to do.

[ OOC NOTES: This is the mingle log for the Fear Itself event! NPCs will be available for interaction on the first day in the log header below. Please put [OPEN/CLOSED] along with the time/location of your character in the title of your comment. Let us know if you have any questions! ]

Who: EVERYONE going to Utgard to gather supplies or get curse-drunk
What: the All In This Together mingle log
When: Days 521-522 ( Oct. 7-10 )
Where: Asgard, Utgard, and the road between
Rating: PG-13. Anything higher than that should be taken to a private log, please!

Day 521 ( Oct. 7/8 )

Early in the morning, a large caravan will be preparing to make way to Utgard for the biggest supply haul Asgard's seen in many many years. The city has been hurting under the shortages and there's a lot to make up for, so the natives will happily and gratefully enlist the assistance of any of the Travellers willing to go with them. The Supplies Coordinators in particular will be organising the wagons by demand, assigning each one with a specific task to make sure that everything they need is purchased. This will take a few hours of coordination and accepting assignments, so work together to form groups and hop onboard for a two-day trip to Utgard.

It's a half-day ride, and the going will be somewhat rough. The ice demolition only cleared enough of the blockade to allow travel; they couldn't get rid of the ice in its entirety, so the caravan will be moving through a long hallway of rough, jagged black ice. It will chill the air, unsettle the horses as well as the natives themselves, and in the eerie silence, the Travellers might be able to hear more indistinct whispering that seems to surround them as they move onward. Touching the ice is still dangerous, so be careful and hold tight until you reach the other side.

Before you can even get started on their mission for supplies, however, the caravan will arrive to find Utgard alive with explosive celebration. The Utgard natives are ceaselessly grateful for the clearing of the ice, and will greet the caravan with bright lights, banners, streamers, confetti, and countless other decorations littering the streets with joviality. As the Travellers step out of their wagons, the natives will be handing them handmade trinkets of gratitude - necklaces, bracelets, masks, even silly hats or capes. These items can be themed in any way you want them to be, or you can have an amalgamated costume of a dozen different things, as the natives won't be any means of conservative in the gifts they shower upon the Travellers.

Among those gifts are booths of free food and drink lining the streets. Be cautious of one in particular, though: the natives seem to favour a certain drink that comes in an endless variety of colours and moves in glowing swirls within their glasses like living galaxies in motion. These drinks will taste different for everyone, calling to mind their favourite flavours that might change from sip to sip, but the effects will be the same. About a half hour after the first drink, people will begin to feel light and bubbly, like the beginnings of being drunk even though the drink itself isn't actually alcoholic in nature, but it will quickly devolve into tactile inclinations ( wanting to touch everything and everyone ) as well as a little bit of character impressions. The partiers will find themselves entranced by bits and pieces of their costumes and start emulating them, acting out the part of whichever character ( or characters! ) they're dressed as.

The curse will wear off as soon as the affected goes to sleep, but the celebration of the Travellers and the reuniting of Asgard and Utgard will go into the early hours of the morning. Everyone will be given a room to stay in in one of Utgard's finer hotels if they manage to make it up to their room!

Day 522 ( Oct. 9/10 )

The next day, businesses will be opening up as the streets are being cleaned of the previous day's festivities. Operating will be sluggish, however, as even the natives are recovering from the evening. Loud noises and the bright sun will be horribly offensive and sales might even be eased along by any offers of helping ease the aches and pains of the nightlong celebration. It'll be slow going gathering all of the necessary supplies, but once it's all packed into the caravan, the Asgard natives will insist upon leaving as soon as possible. Not that they didn't enjoy the festivities, but - well. All good things in moderation, and they still have a long ride back through the black ice channel. Take plenty of water with you!

[ OOC NOTES: This is the mingle log for the All In This Together event! Please put [OPEN/CLOSED] along with the time and location in the title of your comment. Let us know if you have any questions! ]

Who: EVERYONE that stayed in Asgard
What: the Dream a Little Dream mingle log
When: Day 515 ( Sept. 25/26 )
Where: all across the city!
Rating: PG-13. Anything higher than that should be taken to a private log, please!

Day 515 ( Sept. 25/26 )

Progress through the ice blockade will be slow and narrow, as they can't possibly hope to clear the entirety of the forest that has been buried under Thiazi's black ice. Now that they know the source of her magic's corruption, it might not come as a great surprise when cracking open the ice unleashes a strange burst of magic.

At the halfway point between Utgard and Asgard, a pulse of energy will move through the entire city, immediately putting every mortal it touches to sleep. This part of the curse is mandatory and your character must fall asleep; the dream effects of it are not mandatory, and can be played with at your discretion. During this first wave, Travellers will be granted a brief dream - that does not belong to them. They will see, from the dreamer's point of view, every hope and goal and aspiration that the dreamer wishes to complete before the end of days. Whether it's simply confessing their love to an old friend or saving their home planet or perfecting an Asgardian pie, your character will see someone else's ideal resolution before Ragnarok. More on plotting this below!

Upon waking, the Travellers will be plagued with the indistinct whispering of several voices overlapping one another and a slight headache. Both symptoms will gradually increase over time until it reaches incapacitating pain and nausea. The only way to assuage the symptoms is to find the owner of the dream and either maintain physical contact for an hour or discuss the subject of the dream until a full confession has been made. After that, the symptoms will fade and the Travellers will be free to carry on with their day.

There will be other pulses of magic at random throughout the day; these are not mandatory and you can feel free to have your character experience as many or as few dreams as you wish. All dream-sharing will cease by the end of the day, as the blockade progresses past that centre-point of magic.

[ OOC NOTES: This is the mingle log for the Dream a Little Dream opt-out event! Random pairings have already been sent out, but you guys can still feel free to plot with each and pair up anywhere you like. Please remember that these dreams are meant to be positive; details can be found here. Please put [OPEN/CLOSED] along with the time and location in the title of your comment. Let us know if you have any questions! ]

Who: Gon, Killua, and anyone who wants to join them!
What: Gon has recently arrived and Killua takes him to Stride so they can play dumb arcade games
When: Day 503
Where: club Stride
Rating: E is for Everyone

( it's like the early 2000s up in here )

Who: Newbies and anyone who wishes to greet them!
What: Getting used to the city
When: Days 495 and forward.
Where: Anywhere in town!
Rating: PG-13 tops! If it gets worse, move to a private log please.

[ Please include your location and the IC day (ex. Day 43 - this can be found in the schedule) in your top-level comment or your subject line when starting a thread! It can be any welcome hall, major attraction, or just out an about in any district. For newbies making a top-level thread, you may include your character's name/canon/house in your subject line if you'd like, to make housemates easy to find! :) If a God is needed or wanted, please ping the mods and depending on availability we might be able to throw them in where asked.

Also, keep an eye on the event schedule for August. If you're ICly introing during an event, make sure you take that into account. Thank you!

Have fun! ]