Hiatus/Slowatus notice

[honourboy]

As you might or might not have realized, I'm barely around already for the past two weeks so I'd figured I should call it a hiatus. (Though knowing me that it's a slowatus anyways xD).

To make the long story short, uni is pretty much eating me up and leaves my motivation a bit down the gutter. That might still go on for this week and I'll be hopefully fully avaiable again from next week on.


This affects

Kanetsugu Naoe honourboy
Ryunosuke Ibuki servant_dog

EVENTS - Valentine's Day

[rubycitymods]

It's that time of year when love is in the air. That's what they like to say anyway. Love is in the air, but it's not alone. There's a rather impressive helping of mischief lingering in the atmosphere along with it.

At least it's the sort of mischief that doesn't tend towards mass casualties -- well, physically anyway.

For Valentine's Day, Ruby City will be having an event in two parts.

PART 1: Conversation Hearts
That's right. Those chalky, ubiquitous little hearts with grammatically awful phrases on them? Hope your characters like them, because they will be popping up all over the place. Characters will find them in fancy little dishes all around their homes and in any of the shops or public buildings they visit. And much like what happened at Halloween, there is a strange compulsion to munch on one or two. Even once characters realize the candies are to blame for some of the strangeness, they will likely catch themselves tossing one or two into their mouth without even thinking about it. And all these little candies are to blame for a long list of oddness, the little sayings on them something more than just sweet nothings.

Effects from the conversation hearts will last 1-2 days. You may choose multiple effects at once. You can also choose to do effects one after another until the event ends.

So what are these effects? Well, here we go.

UR LOOKIN GOOD - This candy sets the character who eats it in an extremely elaborate outfit. Hearts, lace, ruffles. Poofy sleeves. In fact, let's go so far as to call it ridiculous. No matter how hard they try though, these clothes just don't want to come off. So they probably ought to get used it for the time being. Hopefully they aren't too shy.

STUPID CUPID - After eating this candy, characters will find themselves costumed as a stereotypical cupid. You know, mostly naked save for a couple conveniently placed strips of fabric, little wings, little bow with heart-tipped arrows. The wings, as a matter of fact, are functional and let these cupids fly about. The arrows, however, do not inspire love in the people they strike. In fact, mostly it just stings. This is too bad, considering these cupids will feel compelled to try to stir up love and romance -- by playing winged matchmaker whether their targets want them to or not.

UR MY BBY - These little hearts, once eaten, will make everything else seem much less little. Except for you. Characters consuming these hearts will find themselves proportionately shrunken down -- anywhere from the height of a child, to the height of a doll, to completely pocket sized. It sounds like some Alice in Wonderland sort of stuff, doesn't it? Funny you should mention that...

TALL DRINK OF WATER - Uhoh. Instead of turning tiny, you're getting a bit, well, too big. It might become a problem, really. Your clothes can only stand so much stretching, after all. Characters who eat this candy will find themselves having trouble fitting inside buildings. The limit for bigness is about twice the height the character normally would be. And why yes, you can try to eat the opposite candy to come back down to size. Or eat this one to size up from teeny tiny. But good luck getting the portion size right.

HUG ME - It's cuddle time. No matter how uncuddly your character may normally be, now they're seeking out snuggles and cuddling from, well, pretty much anyone. Have a mortal enemy? Maybe he'll come around after some hugs. It seems like a perfectly logical idea at the moment.

SEXY & I NO IT - Self esteem is suddenly not a problem for the characters who eat this particular candy, no matter how shy they may normally be. They are drop dead gorgeous and they know it. They'll treat the entire city like it's a catwalk, and they'll shake their little tush on that catwalk. Male characters may go the Matthew McConaughey route and strip out of their shirts for no appreciable reasons. Female character will be masters of the hair toss and the hiked up skirt.

TIME 2 DANCE - Can you feel the beat? Well, your character can, even if there isn't any audible music playing that anyone else can hear. Characters who find these hearts will be compelled to dance -- all sorts of dance styles. The moves just never stop. In fact, good luck getting much sleep.

OUTTA MY HEAD - Somehow your thoughts are not where they should be. Instead of being safely tucked away inside your head, they're out in the open for everyone to see. In fact, it's a bit like there's a little thought bubble following you around, flashing brief images as they go through your mind. More than that, your emotions are joining them. Little hearts float around you like bubbles when you're feeling loved. A dark little storm cloud thunders grumpily when you're unhappy.

DREAM LOVER - For the most part, once a character has eaten this candy, they'll feel pretty much like they normally do. In fact, it seems they've come out unscathed. That is, until they go to sleep. Their dreams will certainly be a bit, well, steamier than normal. That's right. Those kind of dreams. Of course, as good as they are, they likely have your character talking and moving quite a bit in their sleep. Maybe even sleep walking while in the midst of it all. Good luck explaining that to a roommate or housemate.

PART 2: Cupid, Draw Back Your Bow
In contrast to the characters-turned-Cupid by the candy hearts, this particular archer has arrows that always hit their mark, and inflict love and lust rather than draw blood. Though mostly unseen, characters who are targeted by this cupid will feel a small prick that's what she said and find themselves overcome with feelings of love, affection or physical attraction for the first person they set eyes on.

Who Can Be Struck? Anyone, even if they don't have a physical body, or are somehow not human. Love conquers all guys.

Is it always in couples? Goodness, no. It can be, but not always. Sometimes cupid is kind and strikes both characters involved with a love dart. Sometimes he's a little less generous and only hits one with the love spell. And at other times he's outright cruel and creates something of a love triangle, where one is made to love another who loves yet another, and so on.

How strong is the effect? It's pretty strong. Even if your character is the shy and introverted type, the love/lust they feel will be pretty intense and drive them towards at least seeking out the target of their love to spend more time with and shower with affection.

How long does it last? Anywhere from 2 days through the duration of the event. This is up to you. In characters who already had feelings for the target of their magically inflicted love, the effect may be stronger and last a great deal longer.

Great. I'm in! Now what? Now, you figure out who you want to inflict your love struck character on. Please get the permission of the players of other characters you want your character to be mooning over. We encourage you all to conspire in the comments here about who will be affected how. :) If you don't have anyone in mind, feel free to comment with that as well, so other people will know and more plotting can be done.

And that's a wrap, kids. The events will both begin Tuesday, February 14, 2012 and all effects in either case will end by Tuesday, February 21, 2012.

Any questions, please comment on the QUESTIONS thread below. Otherwise, use this post to brainstorm and plot with your fellow players! Thanks, guys!