cuddlecity | EVENT: THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE.

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EVENT: THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE.

This just in: water is wet. You already knew that, though, didn't you? So smart, so wise — and yet, here you are, in a city that's somehow managed to displace an entire group of people with one tiny drop of a shovel. One might assume that flooding a set of recently inhabited buildings and stopping a brand new construction project would be enough damage done for one accidental swing of a shovel, but you know what they say about making assumptions. The fact is, there's always more to the story... and it has been raining quite a bit lately. In fact, it's been raining nonstop for the past few days.

If you've been wondering why, wonder no longer. At precisely noon, a chime can be heard all around the city. Its tinny vibrations are impossible to miss, and those who have been around the block might recognize it from a long-ago treasure hunt — it's an all-call, a broadcast sent simultaneously over local television & radio stations as well as citizens' personal CuddlePhones, containing a message from Volunteer Coordinators Flora & Cornelius.

Like your favorite weather reporters, they've come out to the center of the action to report live on the recent happenings within the city — most notably the curiously shimmering rainfall and its potential impact on those who are exposed to it. It's Flora who delivers the bulk of the message, clearly reading off of a teleprompter in her slight twang, and looking quite confused by the entire ordeal. Also, she's drenched, the rain pouring down on her which she tries desperately to smile through, undeterred.

"The city's scientific community, after much research, has concluded that the pipes affected by the — er, puncture under the building site were filled with water typically filtered by the Energem. Due to the recent, totally innocuous, tooootally nothing to be concerned about fissure — oopsie-daisy, I wasn't supposed to say that — it appears that some of the Energem's magic has also leeched into the water during the fil-ter-ing pro-cess.

While the flooding has now thankfully subsided and the standing water has receded back into the underground reservoirs, it appears the affected water has at least partially been absorbed into the atmosphere, where it is being released in particularly ... enthusiastic rain showers. The rain itself seems to be affecting those who come into contact with it, making them less resistant to unfiltered communication or confessions. Did y'all know that I'm not a natural blonde? It's true! Ahem. Anyways! The current hy-po-thesis, while not yet confirmed by the city administration — well that's silly, we're the city administration! — is the Energem's intention to foster intimate connections has imbued the rain with, um, encouraging properties."

Finally done, Flora offers an friendly, reassuring smile. A voice can be heard clearly from behind the camera, male, and most definitely Cornelius: "Good job, darling! Except you sounded terrible. — I mean! I didn't mean that! I don't know why I said that. Hey, Flora? Do you think we maybe should've brought umbrellas before we —" And then the feed cuts off abruptly. Huh. What did she say about a fissure again? Could that have been a result of the recent earthquake?

Before anyone has too much time to overthink, the chime once again echoes out into the city. This time, it's a text bulletin from an account simply named THE CITY OF CADELLE. Fancy.

The city administration and local scientific community have advised that it may be in your best interest to remain indoor until this weather pattern subsides.

Naturally, such an advisory might make it difficult to attempt moving back in to the recently re-opened Welcome District, so hotel accommodations will be extended for the time being. In addition, complimentary umbrellas, raincoats, wellies, and galoshes will be available for pick-up at City Hall, should you have a need to venture out in this weather.

What will you do? Among the many, there are a few options to consider:

▸ You could decide to continue on, business as usual. It's just rain, isn't it? A little water never hurt anyone, and besides, you've got nothing to hide. If the Energem wants honesty, well, by golly, that's what it's going to get.

▸ You might prefer to be prepared — gather your umbrella and your wellies and trudge on, soldier. Try as you might to stay dry, a few drops might hit you here and there, but you're not panicked. You shower, you brush your teeth; what's a few raindrops on top of that?

▸ You might want to investigate! Collect samples of rainwater, and try your best not to be exposed to it too much in the process. The University's chemistry and life sciences departments are paying handsomely for well-preserved samples of this unique weather event, and while you'll have to battle the elements to get there, the monetary reward might be worth it for you. Or the satisfaction of contributing to scientific exploration, if that's more your thing. Either way!

▸ You may, however, not want a thing to do with it. Stay home — or in your new home-away-from-home, if that's where you're at — and more importantly, stay dry.

The city hopes that all of its citizens do try their best to stay dry and therefore unaffected by any unintended effects of this quite unseasonal rainfall.

Isn't this fun? Characters splashing about in shining, shimmering ~~splendor~~ puddles, getting soaked to the bone with magical rain that makes people want to spill all their secrets? Or perhaps avoiding it all by staying inside with a warm cup of hot chocolate and their favorite book. Of course, it's one thing to have rain that makes you truthful... but quite another to assume the rain just disappears. Any fourth grader will tell you that's not quite how things work.

You see, there's this fancy thing called the water cycle, where rainfall finds its way into groundwater sources, which are then filtered and utilized for city water supplies, which then feeds into all sorts of water-dependent utilities inside. Places like a shower, or perhaps a sink where people brush their teeth, or the tap water used to make coffee in the morning or to boil on the stove... the sky is the metaphorical limit here.

Feel free to get creative — maybe your character doesn't want to heed the city's warning, and continues on business as usual. Maybe they've already been exposed to enough rainwater to feel particularly chatty. Maybe they hole themselves up inside their room, but continued exposure to water via their daily two-hour bath or excessive showering habits (hey, we're not judging, maybe they're part mermaid) has lent its magic anyway.

Of course, you always have the ability to opt-out of any event, including this one. While the rain's effects are certainly encouraging, no one is ever forced to tell the truth — resistance might give someone a bit of a headache, or a queasy stomach, but characters will not drop dead or find themselves grievously ill unless you particularly want them to! (Please don't kill your character.)

Citizens may also respond to Flora and Cornelius's network post! Yes, it's true, we've got Cuddle City NPCs out and ready for action at long last. While they may wait until they return to the office to respond, feel free to speak with them via text, video, or audio and they'll be happy to chat. Simply respond to THIS COMMENT for a little interaction from Cuddle City's favorite (and only) Volunteer Representatives!

As always, your mod team is here for you with answers to any questions you might have, whether related specifically to this event or the game in general. 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 fun out there — good, old fashioned, honest fun!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It's not because of you, anyhow, it's him," is the response with as much vitriol as he can fit into the word, pointing a finger down the way to the man with the ugliest pants he's seen in a very long time. "That, it's what distracted me."

True, he hadn't needed to insult them, but something he caused his mind to want to, coaxed to telling the truth. He's as soaked as she is, which is sending chills through him. "We really shouldn't be out here like this. You know somewhere that we can warm?"

Jyn craned her head to the side, her eyes widening just so as she took in the sight of the cause of their crash. "Oh. Oh. Who let him outside looking like that?", she asked, her voice tinged with distaste. She'd seen a lot of people in her time, a lot of species and ... interesting fashion choices, but ... "Those are by far the most hideous pants I have ever seen in my life."

Usually, she would've kept an opinion like that to herself, but here and now, it flowed from her lips with an uncomfortable ease.

"Pretty sure that half of my building is still completely underwater", she answered, huffing a frustrated breath. "The only other place I know is my hotel."

She paused, shrugged, and sighed her resignation.

"I'm new. Thought today would be a perfect day to explore. Clearly, my judgement is a bit ... lacking."

"See?" He feels snide to have to be so forceful when it comes to being so vindicated, but he thinks that if someone is going to wear something so awful, they deserve all the nasty comments they earn about them. "Worse, not only is everything starting to flood, but apparently, it makes you tell the truth."

It's something he's still getting accustomed to, being someone not so prone to truth-telling, but here he is. "Which means that I can tell you that I'm not new, but I still feel like it. No matter how many months that pass, I am still feeling like I don't know anything."

Because out of nowhere, it will start to rain and suddenly, you start to tell the truth.

Jyn would have to agree - even though, normally, those sorts of thoughts would stay safely locked away for her own private amusement. At least she wasn't the only one succumbing to the compulsion to say everything she was feeling, although ...

"I don't know whether I should feel relieved that it's not just me, or worried about what might happen next", she offered, along with a small, wry smile. "How long have you been here? And do you ever think it'll stop feeling like we're ... constantly trying to find our way along?"

But then, that wasn't exactly a new feeling for Jyn. This was just another new location.

"Few months?" Vasquez hasn't exactly been keeping track with a calendar, but going on dates with Buffy and being with her means that he tries to keep time somewhat, just in case he has to remember when it began. "I don't think I'm ever going to lose that feeling, but where I come from, it's nothing like this."

"I'm from the past, people tell me. So it's more different than I know how to deal with, especially here. Too much technology," he says with a scowl. "One thing is the same, though. Drinking. Want to get something?"

She'd have to start keeping track more closely, then, just to be certain, just for her own peace of mind - if she could find any. Jyn was about to ask where he was from, but before she had the chance, he continued, and she caught on quickly enough - people from different places, times. She couldn't be sure of how or why, but here they were.

"Not enough technology", she answered, chuckling wryly. "At least, not exactly the same sort that I'm used to. Dunno if that means I'm from now or ... later."

For as glum as she'd been about getting soaked, and then, not being able to keep her mouth shut, Jyn certainly found herself perking up at the offer of drinks. She could use one - or many.

"Gods, yes."

This is the first time that he's heard about anyone coming from further in the future. All those that he'd known told them that they came from about this time, so it's something strange for him to hear that someone is used to more technology that this.

He can feel the swooping in his stomach, a discomfort that he's out of his skin and depths again, so he's glad when she agrees to the drinks. "Good, I know a place," he says, thinking of the Deviant where he can at least curry some favour to get the drinks he wants.

Though, it could backfire, if he's telling the truth. He'll have to take his chances, here.

Well. Jyn hardly knows when she's ended up, but she'd made as educated a guess as she could. But the thought of being so far removed from everything she was used to made her dizzy, and quite frankly, sick to her stomach, so she tried as valiantly as she could to push those thoughts away and just get through as best she could.

Sometimes, she succeeded, and sometimes not. The promise of a drink or three, though, helped immensely. Anything to forget, if even for a little while. "Excellent", she answered, nodding decisively. "But if I'm going to drink with you, don't you think we ought to introduce ourselves properly? I'm Jyn."

Usually, one of her aliases would have sufficed. But if indeed the rain was forcing her to tell the truth, perhaps it made sense that the name that she offered was indeed her own.

"Vasquez," he replies, because she didn't say which of his names she'd wanted and while the truth is very difficult to escape from, it also doesn't mean that he plans to give away his first name so easily. There are things to be wary about and that's one of them. Walking towards the deviant, he expects Jyn to keep up, even if he keeps a glance over his shoulder.

"You always need to know people's names before you drink with them? Must be a very friendly person at a bar," he jokes.

She was small, but quick, and even if she wasn't interested in keeping pace, she would be eager to get out of the rain and dry off a little bit. Usually, she'd be okay with doing that on her own, but surely it couldn't hurt - just this once - to be a little social, to try to begin making connections so she didn't feel quite so isolated.

Jyn huffed out an amused little breath and shrugged in response. "Usually, I don't care enough to ask. But then, usually, when I drink, I drink alone. I thought it was only polite."

"Drinking can be done anytime," he opines, mainly because he had only drank alone when he had the option to. Plenty of the time, he had no choice but to wear his hat as low as possible and dress up in ways that couldn't be recognized if he wanted a drink.

"Of course, not for me, not back home," he admits, that damned truth spilling out. "But better to be sober and alive than well-drank and dead."

"You've got a good point there", she conceded, huffing out a softly amused little breath. "I haven't had a drink since my arrival. I think it's high time I rectify that situation." And then, a little more quietly, mostly just for herself - "I just need to forget for a little while."

She glanced back up, a flicker of understanding lighting up her face. "Better to live to fight another day."

"Really? I haven't gone a day since I arrived without a drink," is his reply, faintly amused by the wordplay of this as he chuckles, shaking his head. He gives her a curious look, because living to fight another day had been exactly what he'd managed to do. "That was my day. I lived that day after a big fight, but I don't think that there will be many more like it."

"It's very quiet, here," is his opinion, with a shrug like it's not such a bad thing, but he hasn't entirely decided if that's what he's going to stick with.

Maybe Jyn had gone about coping with her new surroundings in exactly the wrong way, but it did help to know that if all else failed, there were places where she could drown her sorrow. It was interesting, she thought, to have run into someone who might have some understanding of the things she'd seen and done in order to survive. In that, she didn't feel so very alone. "I'll be going right back into it - when I'm allowed to return."

It's very quiet, he'd said, and Jyn hardly knew if she should feel relieved or unnerved to hear it. "Quiet. I almost don't know what that's like."

"You think you're going to somehow get out of here?" Vasquez isn't so keen to do that now that he's found good reasons to stay (one very good, very attractive reason in particular), but he always gets curious when he hears about other people who seem determined to do it. With this strange rain making him tell the truth, he thinks that maybe it's the best time to ask about it.

"How? How will you escape?" he demands, not very gentle in his question, but when he wants answers, he's not very charming.

"I couldn't possibly begin to say - ", she started, her features pulling into a frown, and that was the honest truth. She needed to get back, she was absolutely needed elsewhere, but Jyn didn't even know how she'd been brought here, much less how to return.

She was hardly startled by the change in tone, and didn't appear very rattled at the suddenness of it. It was just hard to articulate plans that she hadn't seriously made yet, and hard to say if those plans would ever even come to pass. "I don't know yet, but there's got to be a way. There's always a way."

Damn, and here Vasquez had been hoping that with the truth, she would have to confess to him exactly what her plan was, but it looks like he's not going to get that kind of information, though it's been worth a try. Besides, he's not so sure he wants to go, but it's nice to know that he could, if he chose.

"Well, when you find one, I want to know," he insists. "It's not that I want to go and abandon Buffy, but I'm also not so good with being responsible and it's good to know when and where I could run to." Not so great to admit, possibly, but he's being honest.

Unfortunately, Jyn had been speaking in only the vaguest of ways, with no real plan in mind quite yet, and no knowledge that even if she had a plan, it would even work. But she didn't quite want to believe that there was only one way out of Cadelle, and didn't want to simply accept it without doing some exploration first.

Her eyebrow raised just a little higher, although she couldn't help in feeling some sort of kinship in sharing that thought. "I've always been best at looking after myself first and foremost. But if I learn anything, I'll pass it on."

Best to try to help out where she could, right?

"You and me both," Vasquez says, hating that he's saying it, but not surprised anymore. Confessing that he only looks out for himself and responsibility is something he tries to shirk is one of the few truths that he'll give, but doesn't really like to.

It makes him sound bad, after all. "I do appreciate it. Not sure I want to leave, but good to know how I could, if it ever turns bad."

Who would like to admit something like that out loud? Who would want to expose that part of themselves to a complete stranger? At least Jyn could take solace in knowing that it wasn't just her. Self-preservation was a hell of an instinct. Anyone who said that they could ignore it altogether, she thought, was deluding themselves.

"Can't hurt to make contingency plans, in my experience."

"My life used to be full of them," he promises, because when he'd been on the run, it had been very important to always have a plan like this, because who knew when he would be found out. "Made the difference between being alive and dead."

Grimacing, he's glad for the alcohol, since he really doesn't want to be saying this out loud.

Jyn huffed out a breath, understanding the sentiment all too well, agreeing with it, since she'd lived most of her life in the same way. She could totally understand how getting used to a place like Cadelle - a place where danger didn't seem to be lurking around every corner - would be difficult.

"And here we are", she replied, nodding gently. "As alive and well as we might ever truly be."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT: THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE.

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