EVENT ✨ Wolf's Moon

[avalonmods]

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The Fairy Queen sends out an invitation for all otherworlders to an eccentric party with ulterior motives that aren't necessarily bad.. after all, they're protecting players from a ritualistic curse cast by escaped convicts from the Elphame prison. But that doesn't mean it's the party's entirely safe either.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

• 1st Prompt: Mild elements of body horror in the fairy queen's description (paragraph starting with "Opening the message"); this paragraph is description only and may be skipped without loss of content.
• 2nd Prompt: Ball prompts include reference to drugs, alcohol, smooching, and fake murder.
  
• 3rd Prompt: May have potential for mild body horror depending on player preference, as it features cynanthropy/lycanthropy.

The night before the full moon, a message is sent out to all the otherworlders in the land. In each person's inbox, the message sender reads simply "ELPHAME" and appears to have a verified account, despite that looking into it doesn't seem to reveal much content. The profile pic is simply a picture of a mushroom. Opening the message will reveal a video recording. For the first full minute, a woman simply stares into the video through one pure white eye and one wholly black eye. Her hair is white and fair and longer than can be seen in the video of her torso. Her skin is sallow, gray more than any other color, and her décolleté is peppered with what seems to be shells of mushrooms growing out of her flesh like they would on a tree, patches of bleeding tooth mushroom creeping down the side of her neck.
Atop her head, a headpiece made of platinum formed into the tiniest branches, filled with leaves of precious stones- diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and moldavite trailing down in long chains that keep her hair out of her face. Her lips are just slightly parted, painted in what seems to be an enchanted design that shifts patterns as she moves, as if they were a green screened galaxy in real life. There is a stud in the bow of her lips, and the top of her clothing appears to be colorful, but is only visible toward the top of her frame, as her top is low-cut to account for the fungi. A number of small stitched scars are visible, but largely healed. She tilts her head slightly. Even though it's only a video recording, it feels as though she is looking directly at your character. "You are busy bees..." A soft voice speaks, almost as if the wind itself is whispering in your ear and not from a recorded video. "Busy bees could barely bother, but bother is basically all you do. I bequeath you busy bees a bidding. Bother blithely, busy bees, in Elphame as bristling beauties are bound to do. A ball before you, beneath the Wolf's Moon big and bright, betwixt burgeoning fae blooms. Do not baa, do not bray, bruin nor boar will keep big bad wolf at bay. Bop and bounce, ballet you may, or brawl your basest behaviors in my ballroom before break of day. Broadcast not your boorish bumf, though, or busy bees will be broken brisker than bats banished from Beelzebub's borders and bound. Bless my bestowal and with bated breath I shall bade you betokened truth, if truth be told." Whether or not your character understood what was actually said or their brain shut down in the middle of those barely benign instructions, they may additionally notice fairy circles made of tiny mushrooms start to crop up regardless of where they are in Avalon.
	Once night falls, if a character dances in them they will be transported to a costume party within the ballroom of the fairy queen in Nicnevin. Costumes will be magically applied upon arrival, based on a favorite childhood fantasy. (Did they want to be an astronaut? A dinosaur? A cowboy? A cat? That's what they'll appear as.) You can choose from any age of childhood for your character, depending on whether you want to go funny or more serious about their later childhood dreams. Whatever your character chooses to do as part of the party, the following party happenings should be noted:
1. If your character or anyone they know uses your character's name or reveals enough information about themself, they will become unable to disobey the fairy queen in future events. They've technically been warned about this in the fairy queen's message, even if it wasn't easy to understand. B. Alternately, you can have your character's name be captured by a more mischievous party guest fae and play with that as you will. You can be released either by someone else killing your captured fae for you, or the fae saying your name backward. So if your character's name is Stevie, they would have to trick the fairy into saying Eivets. This option to NPC your own fae captor is endable on your own terms, but 1a will be on the fae queen's terms down the line. 2. The party itself is a protected area; refusal to attend or leaving the party before sunset will subject characters to the Wolf's Moon, which has been put under a ritual by a prisoner group released from the fae prison during the previous dark web quest, Banyanished. This ball is being held as a gift to otherworlders to protect them from the second part of this event. (See below for details.) Characters will be told that they are in a protective area if they try to leave and to trust the fairy queen, but will not be forced to stay against their will by the fae. The only people who may try to stop your character from leaving beyond telling them this information are other player characters. 3. Dancing, food (fairy food*), psychedelics and drink will be provided to those of age who want them throughout the night. If the partygoers don't seem to be having a good time or the party grows dull, the fairy queen (dressed in the award-winning submission to the Elphame Trader's contest some time ago) will make a demand participation in a party game. If your character is standing around and not participating in the general activities, they may be coerced to participate. Anyone may join willingly as well, of course. The following party games will be played throughout the night:

Spin the Bottle, Elphame Rules: Fairies are quite randy creatures at times, and the first game played is none other than spin the bottle. The rules are as such: when it is your turn, you are blinded by fairy magic and must spin the bottle. Once the bottle stops spinning, the person the bottle lands on will kiss them. The person who is kissed must guess who from the circle kissed them; a correct guess will mean they stay in and the blindness spell will be lifted. An incorrect guess will eject them from the circle and they will wander around blind for the duration of the game until a winner is declared. Feel free to play out gameplay or your character needing assistance after being ejected from the game circle.

---

Truth or Dare: The standard game of truth or dare. Don't forget to be very careful, as certain truths may have dire consequences. (See point 1, be very careful.) You can play issuing and completing dares or asking and answering truths with other player characters or receive dares from NPC'd fairies, which may escalate to dangerous and magical lengths. The only solid rule is that no dares are permitted to require exiting the party to complete, and lying during a truth gives permission to fairies to steal your tongue from you if they discover your lie at any point, even after the party is over.

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Balloon Game: Everyone loves a good murder game! Everyone is outfitted with a single balloon. You may secure the balloon to yourself for 2 minutes before the start of the game. In the center of the game circle is a pile of close-range weapons varying in usefulness from binoculars and pots to knives, slingshots, axes and more. Magic is also permitted. If your balloon "pops" you are "dead" and will float to the ceiling to fly around until the end of the game, out of harm's way. Do not commit any actual murder or the balloon of the deceased will immediately wrap around you in a full rubber bodysuit and imprison you until the fairy queen can deal judgment. (If this happens, notify a mod so we can discuss Queen Elphame's judgment with you OOC.)

Helping to empower otherworlders to improve their chances of saving the world is the kind of task that can be a little.. subjective. A little questionable when it comes to consent, at times. After all, no one is here with their consent and no one was bonded with their familiar or given magic with their consent. What's a little more empowerment? Certainly, a group of imprisoned lycanthrope wizards seem to think they have something of a solution to increasing other worlders' potentials: a ritual using the Wolf Moon of January's full moon cycle to transform unprotected otherworlders into fellow cynanthropes or, in layman's terms, werewolves and other types of weredogs. Anyone not protected (at the party) will be affected by the curse ritual.
Cynanthropes in Avalon have the following characteristics: Character is now able to transform into a humanoid dog or wolf form to the extent the player chooses (go ears/tail or full-furry) Experiences enhanced strength, enhanced sense of smell, night vision, blood lust, and characteristics similar to the character's dog or wolf breed. These effects are only applicable the day before, the day of, and the day after the full moon from sundown to sunrise on each day. Note that new weredogs/wolves do not have control over their instincts for the first few months of transformations and will behave aggressively. If in an emotional state, they can lose control of their transformed form regardless of how long they have been cursed. Though characters can be killed by normal means throughout the month, they can only be killed by silver bullets during the 3-day full moon cycle Full-time side effects include cravings for meat, animal mages having mild influence over them, being able to eat food from Elphame without being bound to the land, and the occasional hair ball. It is up to players how painful they want the transformation to be/not to be; you can play this how you want and chalk it up to ritual reaction variation. Cynanthrope ritual curses are particularly strong and require at least two siphoners working together to break the curse, a counter-curse potion (only available through events), or a deal with a powerful being such as the fairy queen or Morganna. If your character did not attend the party, left the fairy queen's party, or wasn't at the Red Springs (protected by the mysterious crystals that turn it red during the full moon-- conveniently for your excuse not to participate in either prompt if you want to opt out!) they will become a werewolf or weredog.

Comments

[rediscovering]

Those aren't imaginary stories — that's a normal story in my world...! And even then, I know of very few deserters, in any case. All I'm saying is, marriage between different nations is highly unusual for many reasons, and most people don't travel across borders freely, unless it has something to do with the war, or they're trading... legally or not.

[ He scowls vaguely. That's all he's really got to say about pirates. He's not a pirate fan. Likewise, not a fan of being told to calm down when he feels perfectly calm...!!! So his perplexed, indignant look lingers on Gokudera's face as he sighs and massages his temple, but doesn't leave him even after he looks away. After a beat, Zuko sighs, too, finding this whole "prompt" a bit odd, but... he's not mad. He's not taking it as a big deal. He's just perpetually too serious. So, as if in resignation to that fact, he lazily wraps his arm around Gokudera's shoulders, drawing him closer into himself against his armor, keeping his face guard in his hand draped over his boyfriend's right shoulder. He casually sips his tea in his free hand, avoiding eye contact as he turns his gaze back onto the crowds in front of them. ]

[bakudan_bambino]

…

[So Zuko can come up with hypothetical things, but clearly not for fun. Gokudera just keeps rubbing at his head, then there’s an arm around his shoulders. He can’t come up with good conversation, is so far from comfortable, and while Zuko is touching him, which is expected, honestly… Gokudera is not having a good time. He’s trying and failing.]

Fine.

[He’s too irritable to be patient. Whatever.

Gokudera stares on at the fairy food, knowing he can’t eat it. His hand drops from his head and those cuticles are being nibbled at while he stares off with a clearly frustrated expression.]

[rediscovering]

[ Zuko lets a silence settle for a moment, keeping his arm around Gokudera all the while as he tries drowning this little hiccup in tea, but after a few seconds, he does glance awkwardly back to read Gokudera's face. And... he looks aggravated, that much is clear. Why's Zuko always so bad at this stuff — parties, flirting, silly conversation... It makes him feel like he and Gokudera both had been been trying to rise above their shared but muted agitation at this event, both feeling out of place, but Zuko just dragged him back down with him by being too staunch, as usual... His own resting pout lightens up slightly with this sentiment, becoming a bit more apologetic and concerned, eyes stuck on Gokudera's profile a moment longer.

As soon as Gokudera notices he's being stared at and makes eye contact again, though, Zuko will snap to attention, throw his glance aside awkwardly, then turn back to him with a strange expression, an unusual hesitance in his voice, letting his eyes continue to scan the room as he speaks up again... ]

...Um... It's loud in here. Do you wanna find somewhere quieter...?

[bakudan_bambino]

Yes!

[There is absolutely no hesitation in his answer. Gokudera was wanting to find somewhere but didn’t want to leave Zuko feeling like he might be part of the problem.

This is all just a lot.

The look he turns on his boyfriend is nothing short of desperate and slightly pained. The headache may not last for very long, but it is intense and dizzying. The lights are too bright, the noise is too loud… It feels like his eyes are stinging. He wants nothing more than a quiet place.

With Zuko, who is comfortable and familiar.]

[rediscovering]

[ The desperation startles him, but after a beat, he smiles and nods, setting his tea aside and replacing his face guard, only to return his arm around Gokudera's shoulders once more to lead him away. He guides them out of the ballroom into some corridor, a small smattering of other people hanging about to escape the crowds, but even that's too many... He lowers his arm to hang round Gokudera's waist instead, and falls silently in stride with him as they take some unknown door down some unknown hall. There seem to be no guards about, so if they've gone somewhere off-limits... That's not on them, he figures.

Bright moonlight floods half the hallway from the tall windows, leaving the inner walls in shadows due to the high vaulted ceilings, the ornate designs of the metal frames casting elegant patterns on the stone floors. There's a shallow alcove set into the wall a way's away, a rather fancy chaise longue tucked away beneath a growth of indoor tree branches with fungi and moss contrasting yet complimenting the elegant filigree on the wood frame and green velvet of the upholstery. It catches Zuko's eye, situated just between two windows across the wall, out of the bath of moonlight but still near enough to the light to see clearly. The indirect lighting leaves the whole hall drenched in a pale blueish glow, making it seem even more surreal and ethereal than this whole evening already is. It's mildly unsettling, for some reason, but much calmer than the raucous ballroom they'd just snuck away from, so much preferable.

Zuko points to the small seat in the shadows, and quickens their pace a little on sight. ]

There. Let's sit down.

[ They're probably not supposed to be down here, he's figuring, since nobody else is in this hall... But, on the other hand — nobody else is in this hall. If they're discovered, they'll apologize and go elsewhere. ]

[bakudan_bambino]

[Gokudera is walking, wondering why there aren’t guards about. Maybe the fae are mostly gathered in the ballroom? They can always say they got lost looking for the restroom… or something?

It’s beautiful in an eerie, otherworldly sort of way, the same kind of way Queen Elphame is. Gokudera is not entirely comfortable, but there is more silence here, the dim light of the moon familiar. It’s not cold or warm in this space, but the stone makes him feel cold. He worries that someone may happen upon them and drag them back. That he may earn the Queen’s ire.

But… it’s not like he plans to be away for long.]

Alright.

[Gokudera steps away from Zuko, looking at the green velvet and running a hand against it before moving to take a seat. He then looks up at Zuko, and while they’re both in shadow and dim blue, his boyfriend seems so rigid.

He feels guilty, as if he were the one to propose this silent retreat amidst the party, as if he took Zuko away from the festivities.

The silver-haired teen leans forward and pushes his palms into his eyes gently, his elbows propped on his thighs. He rubs them in and gives a groan that sounds both pained and satisfied.]

Thank you

[He loosens his tie, nibbles at his lip some more, then glances up at Zuko.]

Sorry… I’ve been kind of a killjoy.

[rediscovering]

[ Zuko takes his seat to Gokudera's right, and removes his helmet shortly after he does, setting it beside him as he leans back against the wall, stretching his legs out. He even undoes his top knot and wraps the ribbon that had held his hair up around his wrist cuff, long, shaggy dark hair falling in his face. He rests his head in the palms of his hands, fingers laced together with his arms raised behind him. His body language is the exact opposite of Gokudera's now, immediately less rigid as soon as he exposes his face and takes his helmet ofd and has a moment to sit down in silence. He hums softly in acknowledgement when Gokudera thanks him and closes his own eyes a moment, but when Gokudera apologizes, it catches him by surprise and he opens his eyes again to glance down at him in turn. ]

What? You haven't been. I thought I was being a killjoy...

[ If this exchange doesn't speak to something deep-set in the essence of their dynamic together, then I don't know what does. ]

[bakudan_bambino]

No… you haven’t.

[Gokudera says and looks on at Zuko, realizing that his hair is down. It wasn’t before. He reaches out and gently pushes some of that hair aside to get a better look at the firebender’s face. He seems like he’ll need a haircut, unless he’s intentionally growing it out.]

Why would you get that impression?

[Because you are? Both of them are.]

[rediscovering]

[ Zuko's taken aback by Gokudera reaching out to clear his hair from his face. It widens his eyes and slackens his jaw, lips falling open slightly. He leans forward, moving slowly to turn to face the bomber better. His eyes fix on Gokudera's, and it takes him a second to respond, looking at him as if he'd been stunned. ]

I... I dunno. I'm not good at hypotheticals or stories, a-and— jokes and... stuff like that...

[ There's something distant and distracted in his voice, a little enchanted-like, but also something bashful. ]

[bakudan_bambino]

[Gokudera catches the way Zuko’s expression changes, and is endeared by it. His own softens and his hands draw back.]

I put us on a subject that wasn’t even entertaining or fun. It’s not your fault.

[He picks at his cuticles, glances down, and absently stares off at a space on the ground before them. Who knows what he’s thinking, but he doesn’t seem upset, just a bit uncomfortable.]

[rediscovering]

[ There's the ghost of disappointment over his face when Gokudera withdraws his hand, just the slightest shift of the muscles, something in his eyes, but Zuko still doesn't tear his gaze away from Gokudera for another moment longer, even as the bomber looks away from him. He's fixed on his face in the indirect silvery lighting of the stone corridor washed in moonlight, examining how the shadows fall, the highlights in his silver hair, the curve of his lips, all these little details, and doesn't say anything for a moment. It takes him a moment to register that he should say something back to that, distracted by just looking at Gokudera in a fond trance, but then another moment to find the right words... because, well, yeah, actually, he agrees with what Gokudera said, but it doesn't really matter that much to drive the point home. It's done with. He glances aside, lowering his lashes as his hand gently rests on Gokudera's leg, always these little affectionate touches, and something more tempered and tender comes into his tone of voice. ]

...You look nice tonight.

[bakudan_bambino]

[Gokudera looks at that hand on his leg, blinks in a bit of surprise at the words that follow that action, and looks up with confusion in his expression. He’d tried to dress nice for this party that Zuko and Aurora were excited about attending. And then his outfit changed when he got here.

He takes off his hat, frowns at it, sets it aside and then looks at Zuko with doubt.]

Are you serious?

[Gokudera, when isn’t Zuko serious?!]

I’m dressed like my dad.

[rediscovering]

[ The reaction draws a twitch of a smile on his lips, not expecting such doubtfulness and surprise. ]

Well— you look nice anyway, then.

[ See, he can joke?! ...But he's still being totally serious, too, yeah... ]

[bakudan_bambino]

[The doubt remains and Gokudera scoffs, shakes his head, goes back to chewing his fingers and looks away.]

Uh-huh. If you say so.

[He doesn’t take compliments well.

But it’s nice to receive them.]

Thanks.

[rediscovering]

[ Zuko waits a moment, letting that obvious unrest settle slightly, before lifting his hand from his leg and instead reaching over to take the hand Gokudera's chewing on; he leans forward a bit as he draws the back of Gokudera's hand to his lips, kissing it softly. He lets his lips linger there a little longer than needed, raising his eyes to meet Gokudera's with a pointed look, but then simply lets his hand go, dropping his own back to Gokudera's leg where it had rested before. ]

[bakudan_bambino]

[Gokudera looks on as his hand is taken from his mouth and his eyes widen in soft surprise as it’s kissed. When their eyes meet, he draws in a breath and then leaves his hand there, watching as Zuko’s drops. His gaze is almost apologetic and he seems like he wants to say something, but doesn’t know what.

He moves closer, leans some of his weight against Zuko’s shoulder, and closes his eyes. Then, he’s turning his head to press his face to rest his cheek against Zuko’s chest.

It’s so quiet here.

His tension headache pangs regardless of this moment, though, and he looks like he’s bracing against something.]