cuddlecity | EVENT: #HIGHENERGY

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EVENT: #HIGHENERGY

It's that time of year again — when the temperature starts to dip down, making way for thick cable-knit sweaters and coffee drinks flavored like bright orange gourds to pop up around every corner, and the long days of summer fade out in favor of early twilights and cool autumnal breezes. That's right, it's nearly fall in Cadelle, and you may have noticed the city's busy bees looking a little busier than usual around the city center.

The Energy Festival takes place in time with the changing of the seasons — a time when energy is high in the air, ripe for the harvesting; it's a time-honored tradition in the city of Cadelle where citizens gather together and work towards doing good deeds for our fine city and for cities near and far. In keeping with the city's emphasis on charity and compassion, citizens both new and old will find a variety of opportunities to give back, all while enjoying the very best that the season has to offer.

▸ Give thanks for good fortune, health, or friendship at the nightly lantern release. Decorate your own lantern at an arts & crafts booth sponsored by Colortopia, the local art supply store, or purchase a hand-crafted lantern from local merchants — all proceeds are donated to the city's volunteer organizations! At night, meet your fellow citizens on the beach to release your lanterns up into the milky night sky. At last, you might just see the light!

▸ Enjoy a sweet treat, like creamy white mooncakes filled with the season's harvest or a tart glass of freshly pressed apple cider. If sugar and spice isn't your bag, dive into something savory — the city's food venues have come out in full force to showcase their new fall menus, which feature such city favorites as creamy pumpkin soups, hearty meat pies, and other stick-to-your-ribs comfort foods.

▸ Make like a tree in autumn and shed your leaves at the clothing donation drive! Come drop off your gently-used garments in exchange for tokens, redeemable throughout the festival for souvenirs, treats, and more! You can even browse the sorted racks of your fellow citizens' donations and find some new digs of your very own! You never know what you might find — good or bad. (Please, no intimate apparel.)

▸ Share your talents at a variety of volunteer-hosted giving circles. From knitting and quilting blankets for the children's wing at the hospital to sorting donated canned goods for the food pantry and soup kitchen to simply offering a helping hand in carrying heavy boxes wherever they might need to go, your time and energy are always appreciated! There are plenty of volunteer citizens around to point you in the right direction... or, at least, what they think is the right direction. Fingers crossed!

Of course, good deeds aren't for everyone, and the city administration has certainly noticed a particular proclivity in its newest citizens for the newly discovered — er, alternative means of energy generation. (Ahem. You know what we're talking about. Don't make us say it.)

Not wanting to pass up such a perfectly-timed opportunity to maximize on this discovery, the administration has tasked sweet, innocent Flora & Cornelius (the poor dears) with determining an appropriate venue for encouraging this unique form of energy generation.

While they're not exactly sure where the idea came from, they're delighted to announce the city's very first Togetherness Tent! Hosted in the city's smaller Eastern Gardens, there's plenty to see and do for those that may prefer something a little less charitable...

▸ Feel free to explore the OUTDOOR SEATING AREAS — there are plenty of places to relax and get comfortable, with both single chairs and larger booths all around. With a cool breeze in the daytime and a roaring firepit in the chillier night hours, and a carefully selected catalogue of instrumental music to enjoy, your hosts hope you'll be plenty comfortable while you chat and get to know each other!

▸ Just beyond the outdoor area, you'll find an assortment of beautifully decorated BEDOUIN TENTS. Some are completely open to the public, with various couches and pillows and comfortable blankets in the main spaces, and others offer more private, curtained-off areas for the shyer (please read some air quotes around "shyer") sets.

▸ If you're not much for sitting pretty, or need a little liquid courage before you start exploring, there's always the OPEN BAR, where talented (and attractive) bartenders will mix up anything under the sun with a smile. Feel free to linger, or take your drink to go. Request a little extra something in your drink (and be extra nice to the bartenders), and they just might be able to add a drop of a golden substance to your beverage that makes you even more keen to meet new people — and maybe even a little braver, too.

▸ Just like a mouse with a cookie, your hosts know that any good drink needs something savory (or sweet!) to go with it. Just beyond the bar, you'll find an expansive display of SNACK TABLES, each filled to the brim with city specialties sure to encourage a feeling of goodwill and togetherness in anyone who eats them!

▸ The center table, decorated with a simple cream cloth, features your standard party fare. Finger foods are the name of the game here, with everything from your grandmother's favorite spinach dip and vegetable crudites to upscale bites like fried ravioli filled with only the richest cheeses. Sprinkled around the table, you'll also find more classics like tea sandwiches, petit fours, and other party planner staples. Everything here is perfectly safe to eat, and shouldn't offer any side effects other than a potential stomach ache if you decide to overindulge.

▸ The table to the far left, however, is a little cooler. Decorated with a rich navy blue cloth, the table is full of small bites and chilled drinks all catering to a very specific, very cool theme. Whether you try Flora's favorite chocolate spearmint cupcake (please don't tell her the icing looks like toothpaste) or a frosty glass of blueberry apple cider, each bite is sure to leave you tingling from new sensations. Treats and sweets from this table will, depending on what's chosen, offer tantalizing side-effects ranging from a literal chill in the air to phantom touches that encourage the eater to seek out the source, or even the sensation of time slowing down around you — eat too much at once, and these side-effects might just overwhelm you! Be sure to read the menu carefully before you choose your bite.

▸ On the far right, draped in a deep red cloth, lies the last table. Like its blue-hued sister, this table is themed around heat, with a variety of items sure to tempt even the shyest into exploring their inner spice champion. Cornelius' favorite cinnamon sweet potato cupcake takes center stage here, but you'll also find other sweet and savory snacks, as well as both hot and cold beverages like the classic hot toddy or crimson-hued sangria to wet your whistle. Items sampled from this table will provide encouragements ranging from a pleasant flush to sudden desires creeping up from your subconscious, or perhaps the immediate urgency of a well-known battery bunny. Forget to pace yourself on these small plates, and you may wind up moving too fast for even a speedster to keep up. Be sure not to speed-read over the menu before loading your plate. (We're looking at you, Mr. Allen.)

As may be expected, Flora and Cornelius aren't exactly the most experienced at planning a tasteful, sensual affair in Cuddle City, so they've enlisted the help of caterers from a nearby city that specialize in aphrodisiac cuisine. However... they may have failed to overlook that those available at short notice aren't always the most qualified for the job. There's a reason, after all, that they're available when others aren't.

The caterers certainly meant well, and they did their best to provide the high quantities requested within the ridiculously short time frame allocated, but consistency isn't exactly their best attribute. Some batches may have come out a little more concentrated than others, while others may lack any oomph whatsoever. Eat a bite-sized chocolate spearmint mini cupcake and maybe your touch will have a pleasant, icy tingle to the recipient, or maybe you'll smooch them and it'll be like a scene out of A Christmas Story. Pop a spicy Red Hots bite-sized cupcake into your mouth and warm your companion right up, or maybe you'll just singe a handprint into their clothes.

It's like Russian roulette. With cupcakes. Normal, right?

It's like Forrest Gump would say. Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get. In this case, life's like a giant batch of cupcakes, and you never know which one's gonna make you want to tear your clothes off.

Howdy, cuddlers, and welcome to your first Energy Festival! This is the first of a quarterly event series, themed around the four seasons and timed to align with the solar calendar. While the city certainly emphasizes the charitable options available in the town square, and we are thrilled to see what sort of hijinks will ensue, we know there will be plenty of excitement (and plenty of questions) on the Togetherness Tent and the opportunities it provides.

As a reminder, consent is extremely important both ICly with the city administration and OOCly with our player guidelines. Characters will have full opportunity to know the effects of anything they consume, as labels will be available as well as descriptive menus above each table. There are also NPC'd catering staff as well as party hosts available, should a character have further questions about a specific item's effects or ingredients. However, as players, it is always up to you how thoroughly you wish to have your character read the fine print before diving right in. Should you wish to have your character ignore the menu and all printed warnings, eat an entire plate of cinnamon candies and wind up feeling an irresistable urge to disrobe, you're certainly welcome to do so! We simply ask that you keep in mind our policies on consent-based actions, and should your character's urges involve another character, that you obtain the appropriate IC and OOC permissions before moving forward, and please remember to utilize any content warnings in your subject lines if applicable.

If you have any further questions specific to this event, we encourage you to ask away on our QUESTIONS COMMENT here in this post. If you have general questions, or prefer a more private venue, our GENERAL INBOX (and SCREENED INBOX) is always available for you. In addition, if you've got an idea for a future event, feel free to drop us a line at our EVENTS SUGGESTION POST.

We hope you have tons of fun out there this month, cuddlers, and we'll see ya around!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Vasquez.

[ He's starting to think that everyone here has some very strange names, given the people he's met in his time. He's not judging them for it, not exactly, but maybe a part of him thinks that the future is filled with people who get very bored with normal. ]

Come on. If you're almost finished, then it's a better excuse to get a new one. Maybe you can tell me what other things I've missed, bumping into pretty women.

Sure.

[ Like she's gonna turn down a free drink? Besides, Waverly should get to know more people here. The bar is as good a place as any to do that. And given that Vasquez here reminds her of Doc, she's interested in getting to know him better. ]

So where are you from?

I don't know if anyone here has ever heard of it. Rose Creek?

[ It's not where he's from, but it'd been the last place he'd been. Given that he doesn't actually have a place he calls home anymore, he thinks that's as good as any, even if he'd been riding away from it before he got here. ]

What about you? Or do you live here, where there are so many places where you can get drinks?

[ Rose Creek. She can't say that sounds familiar to her. ]

Purgatory. Most people here wouldn't have heard of it either. And yes, that is the actual name of the town.

[ Waverly shakes her head. ]

I came here to help my sister, sort of. And well it just seemed like a unique and exciting thing to participate in.

How about you? What brings you here?

[ Learning about people can be awfully interesting too. ]

You come from Purgatorio? Are you alive?

[It seems like a normal question to him, because who would actually name their city that? Wouldn't it actually be the place between living and the dead? It's a little on the nose, seeing as Vasquez had felt like he'd lived in purgatory for too long himself, literally trapped being alive with a dead man]

This is the wish thing, yes? The why I want to be here? Where I come from, it's not much of a life, not really. Being here, I can talk to people, live, not have to worry about a bullet in my brain.

[ Waverly laughs. ]

I look alive, don't I?

[ Then again, so did the Revenants sometimes. So she can't really blame him for asking that question. ]

Yes, I'm alive. Purgatory is a town in Colorado.

[ She nods. ]

Not having a bullet in your brain is definitely preferred.

I don't know, I have never seen someone from Purgatory before. Maybe you all look as alive as you do right now.

[Colorado, though, he knows. Why hasn't he been through the town himself? He should have been, yes? He's travelled enough through it, but never stopped in such a place. Maybe because he knows better than to tempt fate and the warrant on his head.]

I noticed that people here, they aren't wanted the same way as home, sometimes. Is this part of the magic, too?

Maybe. But I'm pretty sure I'm alive.

[ Waverly's curious what he means by that. It's kind of an odd question. Then again, he doesn't seem like a normal guy. And he might have actually been from the past. ]

Wanted what? Like dead or alive?

[ Score some points for the Bon Jovi reference. ]

[He scowls when she makes the reference, not really angry with her, but the whole situation that wound up with him being wanted, dead or alive. People seem to make this reference plenty, here, enough that they are comfortable with it even though it's not there.]

Yes. Like that. It doesn't matter, though. I think maybe because of these wishes?

[He says that word like he's not sure he believes it and he's still on the face.]

So this? This is not an actual Purgatory, either?

Sorry, I guess you don't really know who Bon Jovi is, huh?

[ She's caught his scowl, and turns a bit red, feeling bad about it. ]

No! This is basically the opposite of Purgatory. This is a good place.

[ She puts on her best smile, still sorry she may have offended him. ]

Tell you what, next round is on me, okay?

[ She doesn't have much money because she doesn't have a job yet, but she's hoping to change that really soon. ]

I don't know a Bon Anyone, but he sounds Cajun.

[They have fancy, flashy, strange names down there, things that Vasquez doesn't understand, but still respects. When she says it's a good place, he's still a touch doubtful, because he's not always a good man.]

You don't have to pay for me. It's rude, no? I should be buying them for you.

Italian, actually. At least I think so. His last name is Bongiovi, but they called the band Bon Jovi. They're pretty good, actually.

[ She smiles. He's sweet, she has to admit. ]

Well, if you insist.

I've never met an actual Italian before. Maybe. Some men they say they're from Italy, but they just sound like more Americans who have been around too long.

[Smiling back at her, he lifts a hand up get the bartender to their attention, waiting until they've wandered over so he can lean his body forward on the bartop]

Lady's choice. Whatever she is drinking, so will I.

Think he was born in Jersey.

[ Not that Vasquez here will know what that means. ]

But he's got some great music, I'll give him that much.

[ She orders her drink and then smiles at him again. ]

Bet you're glad I didn't want an appletini, huh?

I don't know what a Jersey is. Isn't that a type of cow?

[He's frowning, his forehead furrowed with little lines that prove that Vasquez definitely doesn't really know half of what anyone is talking about here, which only gets worse when Waverly talks about something called an appletini. The lost look on his face is probably clear and he feels like he should be apologizing.]

What's an appletini? I mean, I assume it has apples, but I'm lost from there.

New Jersey. It's actually a state.

[ She can tell she's overwhelming him a bit, and she feels bad. It's okay that he doesn't know. He's obviously from a different time. Doc's still learning too. ]

It's like a martini but apple flavored. It's considered a pretty girlie drink.

[Oh, he knows this state, doesn't he? It's just that it's so far East that he doesn't bother to actually think about it. Ever, not really. It's too cold to go up in those areas of the country, so Vasquez chooses to avoid them, very helpfully.]

I don't see how it could be. What's in it, other than apples?

[He's also very dubious that any alcohol should be girlie, because he's seen how it's brewed, how could it be?]

Basically the same thing in a martini, it just has apple flavoring. And I think they usually skip the olives.

[ She wouldn't want to make anyone an appletini with an olive in it. Just seems wrong. ]

Alcohol has evolved a lot, I'd say.

Don't hate me for saying, but I also don't know what's in a martini.

[It's becoming very clear that she's right and alcohol has changed. He gives her a rueful smile, like she ought to anticipate what he's about to say, even though it's not her fault if she doesn't.]

Now, I think we need to have appletinis, just so I know what they're like.

I don't think you'll like it very much, but we can try them.

[ She smiles again and orders them both appletinis. ]

And for the record, there's not many people I hate. And certainly not over a drink preference.

I don't think there's any alcohol I wouldn't like so long as it does the job to get you drunk.

[After all, that's what it's for, right? It's not like Vasquez is drinking it because it's fine and cultured and wonderful. It's there to serve a job and if it does that, so much the better.]

No? Not even those who insult you? Try and tear you down?

It's a little fruity, though.

[ She'll be surprised if he does like it. But stranger things have happened, and it's a good experience for him. ]

Well, it depends on who. But I don't pay most of them any mind. Besides, almost everyone loves me.

[ With her cheerful demeanor, it's hard not to. ]

[ Vasquez gives her a look, because as far as he's concerned, who cares if there's more fruit to it? It's just something that will be with the alcohol, and now he stubbornly wants to try. ]

You are a very happy person. [ Said in a way that implies that Vasquez isn't usually around that many happy people. ]

Okay, I've decided. Let's have appletinis.

[ Good thing, because she's already ordered them. ]

For the most part, I am.

[ But she can be scary when she does get upset. After their drinks are made, she passes him one. She's genuinely curious to see how he will like it. ]

When's not the most part?

[He's not exactly thinking about poking and prodding at her to find that out, but it's a curiosity that tickles at him now that she's mentioned it, because he always knows that people have a point where they break, where they aren't so nice. It's just interesting to see when that is?]

Hopefully, I won't find out how that 'most part' can be pushed, but still good to know.

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