cuddlecity | EVENT ▸ welcome week

Entry tags:

EVENT ▸ welcome week

EVENT 001: WELCOME WEEK

MOVE-IN DAY

Welcome to Cadelle, cuddlers! The city is — for the most part, at least — very happy with the first wave of volunteers who have chosen to spend time here! To help everyone get settled a little easier, Mayor Drake and her team have put together a series of helpful booths, each staffed by friendly citizen volunteers who are more than ready to answer any questions characters may have.

▸ First things first: visitors will need to visit City Hall to officially enroll as a Cadelle citizen. Once complete, they'll receive their Welcome Packet, which will include all of the most important items for settling in. Characters will find keys to their apartment and associated mail box, their housing assignment, and their pre-activated CuddleCard, ready to go. In addition, the volunteer coordinators have included a newly printed map of the city, as well as contact information for various city-run organizations, just in case!

▸ Due to the influx of energy from all of the new visitors, the city’s computer systems have been experiencing some "minor hiccups". While this is nothing to be concerned about, characters may find themselves mildly inconvenienced — they may have received keys that don’t work in their door, or been issued someone else's room assignment unknowingly!

▸ If they've arrived during regular business hours, characters are, of course, able to visit the maintenance office on the first floor of each building for help switching out their mismatched keys or determining their correct assignment. However, getting settled after hours will require a little extra creative problem solving — like asking a new friend if sharing a bed for the night seems reasonable, sleeping on the couches in the public lounges downstairs, or maybe even roughing it for the night outdoors. (Of course, there's always the frowned-upon methods of breaking and entering... not that you heard it from us!)

▸ As with any move-in day, there’s bound to be lots to see and do. Characters may need help carrying their things, or even just help finding their way around. If they're lucky enough to find their room without problem, they may not be so lucky in their assignment. They may find themselves living underneath someone who's got to be part elephant (who stomps that much at 6 AM?!) or just above someone who insists on burning every batch of popcorn they make! Get out there, meet the neighbors, and see what this city has to offer!

CITY SCAVENGER HUNT

A few days after the big move-in weekend, characters will find an unread message on their CuddlePhone, encouraging them to check out the CuddleTalk network for a very special message from two very special guests. When they do, they’ll find a cute (but admittedly very cheesy) video message from Cadelle’s volunteer coordinators, Flora and Cornelius. The video highlights a few of the most popular destinations in the city — Blaze Pizza, for example, the home of the ninety-second wood-fired pizza, or Dinah’s, where you can enjoy a literal bucket of fries perfect for sharing.

At the end of the video, a link will come up for characters to click if they are so inclined. They’ll be directed to a sign-up page for a city-wide scavenger hunt, with a grand prize promised for the first team to complete the challenge.

Want to participate?

▸ Characters will be able to sign up for the scavenger hunt either on their own or with a friend. (The prizes remain the same regardless of the size of the team, so if your character wants all the money for themselves, they'll either want to race it alone or pick a very generous teammate!)

▸ Among the many delicious dining destinations around Cadelle, characters will discover three venues that the volunteer coordinators have tapped as their current favorites. Somewhere in those three venues, characters will find a beautiful framed photo of Flora and Cornelius.

▸ When characters find the photo, they'll be instructed to take their best selfie, being sure to capture themselves, the framed snapshot, and their teammate (if they chose to bring one along) in the shot.

▸ The first group to send in all three selfies will win the grand prize — one month's stipend worth of extra CuddleBucks! However, all competitors who complete the challenge will be rewarded with a token of appreciation — one week's stipend worth of CuddleBucks, just for playing along!

▸ While characters explore the city, they just might find some "bonus" surprises along the way. Keep your eyes peeled!

Helpful Hint: To find the secret locations (and any hidden bonuses along the way), check out our CITY DIRECTORY for all the amazing destinations your character can explore! Feel free to sort by category on the left, and click your way through your first big adventure in the big city!

Mod Note: For fairness, the "grand prize" winner will be determined by RNG in a drawing on August 4 at 3:00 PM. If your character would like to be eligible to win the grand prize, please be sure to leave us a comment so we can include them in the drawing!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's not exactly disbelief on her face when she hears him make that offer. She does believe him when he says that he'd be willing to teach her, and if she's really being honest, she wouldn't mind trying it if it meant getting to know him better. But there's a certain amount of skepticism in her eyebrows when she asks a follow-up question.

"Only if you promise not to laugh when you see how little I can do. Especially in the pull-ups department."

Okay maybe it's more of a condition.

And well, when Derek admits that maybe he could benefit from learning more about tech ... she smiles. "And I can promise not to laugh either. Unless you're telling a joke."

A small grin tugs up the corners of Derek's mouth and his eyes crinkle in the corners in a way that only a genuine smile can make them do. "I promise not to laugh; only help you expand your repertoire," he says, holding one hand over his head and raising the other playfully. Of course, he's putting on that playful demeanor, because that's the sort of exchange this one happens to be, but he does genuinely mean that. He won't make fun of her. The fact that she was even willing to try if it wasn't her thing was enough to guarantee that out of him.

"I won't fault you if you laugh. I once mistook a laptop for a book, so..." he says, voice trailing off slightly as his face pulls back in an expression of awkward ownership. "I wish I was joking. So, yeah, if you laugh, I won't even be mad," he adds with a smirk.

Derek takes a deep breath and looks over at the menu, lifting his eyebrows. It's colorful and written in chalk on a huge blackboard hung behind the counter. "Actually, I might grab something after all," he says thoughtfully, looking back over at her. "Don't go anywhere?"

Okay, that grin is adorable. And dreamy, Felicity realizes, as she misses the first part of what he's saying.

Her eyebrows raise and her lips have to hold back a smile though, when he says he mistook a laptop for a book. A book. "I hate to say this to you Derek, but I think you might be as bad at computers as I am at working out. But at least then it'll be a fair trade."

When his eyes wander over to the menu though and he says he wants something, she nods as she sips her drink. "Please, of course. I'll just be here." Admiring the view.

Laughing, Derek shakes his head a little and wrinkles his nose. "I told you I'm bad at technology," he says. In his own defense, the laptop had been in a suitcase sort of case, but he refrains from sharing that at this point, because if he says so at this point, it'll just sound like an excuse.

Derek gets to his feet with a smile when she says she'll still be here when he gets back and he makes his way to the end of the line. Honestly, he's not that interested in a drink, but he's sort of hoping that if he does, then he can have a legitimate reason to prolong their stay.

It takes several minutes longer than Derek would have liked to get to the front of the line, order a black coffee with a double shot of espresso, and get back to the table, but at least it isn't long enough for Felicity to get bored and wander off in spite of her reassurance. He settles back into his chair and takes a sip of his coffee before smiling at her again. "So, is it bad if I say I'm still curious about what you were too worried to share that first time we ran into each other?" he asks, unable to help himself any longer.

She does watch him for awhile as he stands in line, just to see what he likes to do while he's waiting. Some people like her would always be checking their phones. But if he's not into technology, she's curious about what he'd do to pass the time. At some point though, he'll surely catch her looking at him, and when he does, she'll wave a little, slightly embarrassed, and turn back around.

When he comes back, she lifts her head as soon as he comes into view, and sets her phone face-down on the table, next to her own drink.

"Oooooh. Right. That." Haha hum. Felicity leans in towards him, like she's about to say something top secret. "Soooo, can I trust you?"

Derek largely spends his time waiting in lines by scenting his surroundings surreptitiously. Sometimes, he looks around — which at some point he does, catches Felicity, and smiles back, giving her a wink — but mostly, he's using his stronger sense to gather information.

He's admittedly thankful when she turns her phone over face down upon his return. He wouldn't have minded if she hadn't, but it's an indication that she's actually invested in his company, he thinks, when she does and Derek likes that. When Felicity leans in, Derek leans in, too, smirking a little.

The smirk settles into something a little softer and more genuine, though, at her question and he nods. "It never leaves this conversation," he promises sincerely before sitting back a little ways to give her a little bit more breathing room. He doesn't pull back too far, because he assumes she wants to keep her tone down, but he also knows that she's going to probably assume that his hearing isn't nearly as acute as it actually is and he doesn't want her to feel like she has to raise her voice more than she's comfortable doing.

She smiles as she looks into those eyes. She certainly feels like she can trust him, even if she barely knows him. But what's the harm really, in letting him in on this little secret? It's not like he works for Cadelle.

"Sooooo ... I may or may not have been ... trying to break into the orientation wifi network," she says, in a hushed voice. "Nothing nefarious. I'm not some crazy techno-villain or anything, though- that'd be a pretty cool backstory. But I just wanted to see how secure this place is."

Derek's eyebrows lift a little with interest as she draws out the so before actually telling him the secret. He huffs his amusement when she finishes and nods a little. "So what's the verdict?" he asks.

Admittedly, a small part of him had just been tempted to mess with her; pretend to be someone who worked for the city or was a mole or something, but his better judgement reminded him that if she had done something like that to him if the tables were turned, he would've been incredibly put off and put out. Better not to create that situation for himself.

"Are we cyber-safe?"

Felicity shakes her head, eyes big, and she mouths the word right before she says it: "Noooo. We are not." Picking up her cup, she sips again at her coffee. "At least, not on the orientation network. I'm not sure yet about the other ones."

She smiles though, at the fact that he said cyber. It's very 1990s.

"But the last I checked, Cadelle doesn't have any enemy nations trying to hack into it ... so maybe it's not something people need to worry about too much."

As she looks at Derek, she notices the way he seems amused, but she also notices that he's not giving her a hard time, and not threatening to tell anyone. That smile on her face grows a little wider.

"I probably should've told that entire story as a hypothetical. But you seem trustworthy."

His eyebrows lift with a hint of concern, actually, when he sees her face as she shakes her head before telling him in so many words exactly what her body language is already shouting and, admittedly, it's concerning. Derek doesn't know much about technology, but he knows that it can be a dangerous thing in the wrong hands. That much, even an idiot can glean by living in today's world.

But she smiles, then, and Derek's confused until she speaks again. "Ah, that makes sense. ...out of curiosity," he starts, his head tilting just slightly in thought, "how can you tell that sort of thing? I mean...how do you know what to look for? Is that sort of thing pretty consistent across the board between wherever your home was and here or...?"

It's not so much that cybersecurity, or whatever it's called, matters to him so much as he's curious about what things are and what things aren't consistent from one world to another, so to speak.

"I couldn't repeat that story if I tried without mixing up facts and making it sound a mess, so your secret is safe with me," Derek laughs.

Edited 2017-09-10 03:13 (UTC)

"Oh-" The sound of her voice makes it clear that she's surprised, but pleasantly so, that he wants to know the details. "Ummm...let's see, how do I explain this. Technology ... isn't like magic." Yeah, okay, bear with her here. "When you read books like Harry Potter or the Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings, magic is something that's unique to whoever the author was and how they decided it would work. Tech and digital security? They're as real as ... home security."

She spreads her hands out in front of her and knocks on the wood of their table.

"If you're trying to figure out the weak points, you try to see if you can break in. Is the front door locked? What about the windows? Is there a cellar? A back fence that you can unlatch by reaching over it? That kinda thing." She smiles a little though, as her eyes flicker down for a moment. "I uh, again, swear that I am not a criminal. Really. My most recent job back home was ... related to recovering data and following digital trails."

For a moment, Derek looks confused. The hell does magic have to do with anything? And besides, yes, yes it is like magic and that's probably why he has so much trouble with it, thank you very much. The first two series don't ring bells — he's heard of both but read neither — but Lord of the Rings has his attention. And when she finishes with that analogy, it makes more sense.

Although for Derek, home security is his claws and fangs.

"No, no," Derek says, shaking his head when she laughs and seems to be implying an apology for sounding like she's one thing when she's actually another. "No, it doesn't—it didn't sound like that. I follow," he promises. "So how do you look for weaknesses with technology? There aren't any doors, windows, cellars, or traitorous back fences in the Internet, after all, right?"

"AH but there are," she responds immediately, smiling. "It's possible that on different worlds, technology is written a little differently, much like ... different countries have different languages. But the structure of language is always the same. We all need to communicate some sense of people, places or things. And we need to place them into current, future or past tense."

Though, there's a lot to talk about there. Including the theories Felicity's been reading about on how changing an entire language makes a whole society think differently. But that's for another time.

"Well, technology works just like that. It's created by humans, but the general theoretical structure is the same. We all have these little devices-" Felicity gestures to her phone. "-and they need to connect to each other somehow. Not only that, they need to get regular updates from somewhere else. So if you want to figure out the front door, back door, and any other kind of opening, you just follow the trail. How does this little device communicate out? How does it receive data in? Then, the rest is just like figuring out the specific syntax."

A beat before: "Soooo long story short, there are tons of traitorous back fences on the Internet, and how good your digital home security is ... well, it's all based on the person who built the house and how good he or she was at it."

Derek opens his mouth to echo back "there are" in question form, but Felicity keeps going and he figures if he keeps his mouth shut, she'll explain. She doesn't disappoint. Granted, most of what she's just said largely goes over Derek's head, but it's the thought that counts.

"How can you 'follow the trail,' so to speak? How do you get in to see that sort of information? I mean, I can barely text, so maybe this is like trying to teach a blind man to see, but I'm not really sure I understand..." Derek admits.

And he's not sure he really cares, except that he likes when she's talking because she sounds incredibly confident and it sounds good on her. He smiles a little at the summarization. "So basically, they should be putting you in charge of making sure we're all digitally safe," he says, following her lead and dropping "cyber" because it's apparently not the right word and he doesn't want to continue to sound like an idiot.

She'll admit it. When Derek asks for even more detail, Felicity gives him a skeptical look. Not because she doesn't think he can keep up, but because ... well, for a guy who was just being convinced that maybe learning his phone is a good idea ... this is a lot more interest in digital security than she'd expected.

But then again, she thinks to herself, maybe it's just because this is the first time someone's taken the time to explain it to him.

"I can show you sometime, if you want to see." It's easier than her explaining to him that all the Internet is is a bunch of hardware and software written by humans. "How to hack your local wifi can be the class right after how to use your smartphone," she teases a little, biting her lower lip as she smiles.

"Oh well, I don't know about that. I don't want to be in charge of anything on behalf of the city. Protecting the little guy though ... that's more my style."

And good job Derek, on catching that she never once repeated the word cyber. It just ... has a lot of connotations.

This time, when she goes to sip her coffee though, Felicity realizes that she's out, so she sets the cup back down onto its saucer.

Okay, that look... Derek knows that look. He's gotten it a million times, but usually from Peter when he asks a stupid question. He almost backpedals for it, embarrassed, but instead, she offers to show him and that makes him feel a little bit better. Honestly, he could sound like the biggest idiot that ever lived right now and he'd never know it because the context of the conversation is largely over his head. But, she's pretty and he's interested in what interests her. This is it, evidently.

"Yeah, cool, I'd like that," he replies. Then, he snorts a little, rolling his eyes and picking up his coffee again. "Yeah, well...we can't all be technological geniuses. Life would be pretty boring for you if we were, wouldn't it? With no one to teach anything new to, and all," he jokes back.

His eyebrows lift at her response. "Yeah, but if you were keeping us digitally safe, whether you were working for the city or not, wouldn't that kind of be protecting the little guy?" he asks. "But for what it's worth? I'm like that, too. More interested in protecting the little guy. Just...in a different way."

He can't help missing that her cup is empty and Derek looks over to see that, for a change, there's no line. "You want a refill?" he offers, "my treat?"

The longer he jokes, the bigger her smile gets. "I guess that's right," she replies, eyes bright, with a bit of a mischievous flair to her tone. Unknowingly, she runs a finger behind her ear, tucking her hair back.

Felicity nods along as he talks about how it doesn't matter why she's doing it, protecting the city is still protecting people. Where she's most interested though, is when he says he does it too.

"I'd love one," she says, regarding the refill. "But when you get back, do I get to hear about this 'different way'?"

When Felicity agrees to another drink, Derek gets to his feet to go order her one, pausing because he's not really sure what she ordered in the first place, when he thinks of it. Before he can ask her, though, she's spoken again and Derek realizes he opened a door he hadn't actually been ready to walk through with anyone yet. His smile falters a little, but he recovers quickly.

"I guess if you trusted me enough to tell me that, I can trust you enough to tell you about the different way," he agrees and while he sounds confident, he isn't. He isn't confident at all. Because if he's going to tell her, he might as well tell her all of it and rip the Band-Aid off.

Maybe he should order her next coffee to go, to make her life easier... "What were you drinking?"

Part of her catches the way his smile seems to take a pause, but Felicity isn't trained to look for things like that, so she's going off of basic human intuition here. She tries to smile, reassuringly, though she isn't sure what she's reassuring him of exactly.

"A latte," she answers. "Though ... on second thought, maybe I shouldn't have two cups of coffee. Why don't you just get me a peppermint tea instead?"

She doesn't love drinking tea, but it's better than getting too jittery later. Plus, peppermint has a tendency to feel refreshing.

"Peppermint tea it is," Derek agrees before moving away from the table. By now, there's another line, but it's only two people deep, so he's grateful that he won't have to make her wait for long.

Admittedly, he feels a little safer in this place than he probably ought to. If there are hunters here, he can only assume that they would be just as unwilling to jeopardize their potential wish fulfillment by killing another resident, so he tells himself that his life isn't in danger here.

That doesn't change the fact that the concept of werewolves is scary to most people, because pop culture suggests bloodthirsty monsters with an inability to control themselves. Decades of misinformation are typically pretty difficult to diffuse and put right, in Derek's experience, so bringing up the reality of his situation in order to explain how he has the ability to protect against what he protects against is making him a little nervous, if he's honest with himself.

After getting Felicity's tea, Derek heads back to the table, setting the cup down in front of her and picking up his own drink, partially because he actually wants it, but mostly because he wants to stall a few seconds longer.

"So...let me start with this," he suggests before continuing after a brief pause, "if I say supernatural, what do you think of first?"

This time, while Derek's gone, Felicity doesn't do more than glance at her phone once to check for any important notifications. Instead, she spends most of her time alone thinking about him, and trying to put her finger on exactly what he could mean by a different way.

A few pictures get painted in her mind. Maybe he's an undercover cop, not interested in the likes of friendly orientation wifi hackers, but one who's been embedded with a crime mob for so long he sometimes wonders if he's still doing the right thing. Or maybe, he's a vigilante, like Steve Rogers, who, she still can't believe she met the other day. Or- maybe, she watches too many tv shows.

The movement of him sitting back down though, is enough to snap her out of it, and Felicity can't help but feel a little bit excited to know what he's about to say. So, as she pulls her tea in towards her with both hands and blows gently at the top to help it cool down, she waits.

"A T.V. show that had an excellent premise, two beautiful actors, but terrible, terrible plot." It just sort of comes out, because there's no way that she actually thinks he's asking her about the supernatural. She thinks he's just going to use it as a metaphor, like she did with magic, which, also isn't real.

That...is not the sort of response that Derek had been expecting to receive when he asked that question. It shows on his confused expression as he blinks and stares at her for a moment before actually speaking again. He'd assumed she'd mention ghosts or demons — he's not sure where he stands on the former but he knows that the latter are real, at least to some capacity — but she's talking about a television show. ...Felicity might watch too much TV...

"I...okay, that's...not really what I was expecting. What if I said...werewolf?" he tries, looking curious but feeling anxious. He's had to spend his entire life hiding and there are only a handful of people who knew what he really was when they got into relationships with him. Two out of three were out to harm him, anyway, and had either been playing dumb or had lured him into a false sense of security in spite of his better judgement. This conversation will likely be different. He doesn't get the feeling that Felicity is all that familiar with...well. The supernatural.

He's not entirely sure he wants to know what that show is really about, come to think of it...

Shoot. This happened before too, when she was talking about Harry Potter. That confused look on his face, like she didn't just mention something super well-known in pop culture.

She makes a mental note-to-self to try to rein it in a little when it comes to stuff like that. Try, being the operative word.

"Werewolf..." she repeats, wracking her brain for what she knows. Mostly what comes to mind first is Remus Lupin, but also werewolves have plenty of stories written about them so she can list off what she remembers. "Let's see. Um ... they, are humans normally, who turn into wolves when it's a full moon?" She's doing that thing people do sometimes when they turn all their statements into questions, mostly 'cause she feels very out of her depth here.

Oh. Maybe ... maybe this is how Derek felt with the tech talk.

"I remember from fairy tales that maybe ... they can't always control what's happening when they become a wolf? And I think I read somewhere once that they're naturally ... at odds with ... vampires?"

Derek watches Felicity as she considers and he can practically see the cogs turning in her head as she tries to formulate a response. She seems like the studious type; he has a feeling that she's trying to make sure she's not missing anything when she replies. The response he actually gets only further solidifies his thought in that vein.

She's asking more than she's telling him what she knows, but he supposes that's more to do with uncertainty with what he knows and less to do with uncertainty of her own bank of information. Derek smiles a little to reassure her. Most of that is generally what he's used to hearing. The vampire thing is new, though. He's never met one of those.

"What if I told you they were real?" he asks, his eyes moving over her face, searching her eyes and lips for tells that she might be uncomfortable, in which case, he'll drop it and keep the information to himself. What she doesn't know won't hurt her, after all. He would just...prefer to be honest if he's finally in a place where it's safe to do that.

In general, Felicity's very easy to read, especially with someone who can hear and see the things Derek can. Right now is no exception.

"Well, considering that I met a comic book superhero after I got here ... in the flesh ... " She isn't making eye contact, but it's clear that it's because she's trying to weigh the statement in her head. " ... it's not the most far-fetched thing I could believe."

She looks at him then, tentative, like she's trying to decide if he's pulling her leg or trying to get something serious across. "Are you ..." she starts, eyebrows narrowing, "... for real? Werewolves aren't ... myths?"

No part of her is telling him that she's afraid, just unsure about whether to believe something because nothing about the supernatural has been real for her yet. Maybe if he'd asked her after the Central City accelerator explosion, but that hasn't happened yet in Felicity's timeline.

EVENT ▸ welcome week

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