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.

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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

[bakudan_bambino]

I haven’t.

[He’s just been trying to stick to the wall and mind his business. The cold might not feel great… but the fresh air might help.]

Do you know where I might find one?

[Are they going to do this at every party? Seek out balconies to have fun on? He wouldn’t mind.]

[beautyrest]

We could find one together, if you like? [She asked, holding out her hand, smiling at him.]

Or we could play one of the games her majesty insists upon.

[bakudan_bambino]

That sounds lovely.

[Gokudera smiles at her and takes her hand.]

I’d just like to get away from the bustle.

[He’s not as jovial as he was the last party he attended. It may seem he’s just a little under the weather or tired, though, not actually ill. Being around Aurora helps, though, because she is neither noisy or demanding. Her patience with him has always been something he’s appreciated.]

[beautyrest]

[She pulls him closer to her, running a hand along his shoulders.]

Look how dashing you are... [She pulled the cigar out and put that in the vest pocket, she caressed his jaw. As both of their outfits lacked "masks" she knew they had to pretend not to know one another, but how could she resist one of her beloveds? She ran a thumb along his cheek.]

What keeps you here, hmm?

[bakudan_bambino]

[Gokudera’s cheeks go pink at her compliment and the touch to his shoulders. He wants nothing more than to hold her and let this party carry on around them, just to be comfortable. When she takes his cigar, he heaves a little sigh. He doesn’t want it, anyways, and the caress has him turning his head to follow that hand.]

Y-you do!

[Her and Zuko, but mostly Aurora. He knows that despite not knowing many people, his princess girlfriend and his prince boyfriend both fit here, and Aurora is far more outgoing than Zuko, more keen to dancing, enjoying the party and the gathering of familiar people and friends.]

[beautyrest]

Me? [She grins, running a finger along his jaw and then down the front of his throat.]

We've only just met, sire. Are you so easily enchanted?

[bakudan_bambino]

[He has no idea they should be acting like strangers. This little game has him stunned and the touch of her finger sliding against his skin gives him a shiver and makes his heart throb.]

It’s uh-! H-hard not to be…

[GULP.

There is no way he can play this as smoothly as Zuko has and will likely do tonight. Gokudera isn’t trying to compete, but he can’t help but feel a little pinned and excited by Aurora’s interest and advances. His palms are getting sweaty and she’s too close, and warm, and pretty, and he is swooning, pink-cheeked and dodging his eyes to the side. Looking at her is almost like looking into the sun. Golden warmth and sweet comfort and… he could just melt.]

[beautyrest]

Is that so? [She grins, leaning forward.]

And as I keep you here, so deeply enchanted, what is it you wish to do, hm? You have my full attention right now, after all.

[Fortunately for him, Aurora is smooth enough for all three of them and she's delighted he's swooning over her. No one has swooned over her!]

[bakudan_bambino]

Yes.

[Without hesitation he says so and feels all the more nervous with her leaning forward. He’s a downright mess for her, and the smooth advance has him even better pinned before her. Gokudera takes off his hat and worries the brim of it against his pinstriped vest in his fingers.]

I uh- well… that’s to say I really uh…

[This does not feel fair. He’s got her full attention but she’s the one pinning him here with her enchanting beauty!!! He’s trapped!]

Didn’t think I’d even.. get your attention a-and uh…

[He’s getting pinker by the minute. It’s not a bad color on him.]

I didn’t think this far ahead!

[Gokudera isn’t often the one making advances. He’s completely off any kind of game here.]

[beautyrest]

[She has to press her lips together to hide her smile. He's so adorable, and she loves the pink along his cheeks. She walked two fingers up his chest.]

Shall I show you what I would like to do to you, my dear enchanted?

[bakudan_bambino]

[He’s getting a bit dizzy with how very quickly heat is traveling through him. It’s been a while since he felt like this, excuse him please. Have mercy! The walking fingers just feel like they strike his heart to a faster pace and he can’t even really answer, worried it will come out at too high a pitch. Instead, he nods his head vigorously. Yes.

Whatever she wants. YES. PLEASE.

His poor hat is getting pretty crumpled in his sweaty hands just beneath her own.]

[beautyrest]

[She moved her hand into his, giving mercy to that poor hat. But she has no intention on showing HIM mercy. She ran a hand along his jaw and pulled him closer to her.

And then pressed a kiss to his cheek, pulling away with a giggle.]

[bakudan_bambino]

[He honestly has no idea what to expect and when she pulls him in close and kisses his cheek, it’s enough. More than enough. Gokudera feels a bit wobbly at the knees, and slumps forward, cheeks feeling permanently too hot and he’s blinking slow and dazed.

Oh it was a K.O.!

He’s not even gonna complain because why ever would he?!

Gokudera sighs at her, honestly hooked at just that. Now he may just follow her around if she goes anywhere. She’s got him hook, line, and sinker!]

Oh~

[He reaches out to take her hand and kiss along it, then up as far as she will allow. She can have all those little kisses, and they won’t be anything as stunning as the one she pressed to his cheek.

Gokudera wants to kiss so much of her, but hey, let’s start with the hand and wrist and inner forearm and really, as far as she will allow!]

[beautyrest]

[She lets him kiss her hand, her knuckles, her wrist, up her arm. She can feel his lips all along her bare skin. When he moves to the inside of her wrist, she inhales. Then he moved his kisses to the inside of her elbow and when he reaches her shoulder she catches his chin with her fingers from her other hand. She leans forward, her lips a breath away from his.]

Later, darling.

[She whispers before pulling away, leaving him unkissed, but even she is red in the cheeks.]

You are deeply enchanted, I see.

[bakudan_bambino]

[Gokudera feels drawn and he watches Aurora’s lips as she speaks. Later… later… those words are an echo in his mind that has him nodding dumb and slow.]

Uh huh…

[More than enchanted, probably.]

[beautyrest]

[Aurora pushes some of his hair away from his face and pauses. He felt incredibly warm. Was it from the blushing or something else?]

Are you feeling well?

[bakudan_bambino]

Yeah.

[Far better than he was before. Gokudera’s head still hurts, distantly. It’s worth it, though.]

[beautyrest]

Then is this flushed state and stuttered speech my doing?

[She smiles, happy to know she makes him so in awe, happy to be at the center of such a thing.]

[bakudan_bambino]

If you would like to take responsibility for it, you can be my guest.

[He means that to sound flirtatious, but it’s coming out cautious and hopeful in tone.]