EVENT LOG: FEATHERLY HAVEN RESORT & SPA

[lucetimods]

Who: All the lovebirds!
What: A bit of pampering and hijinks. Original event post here.
When: Feb 17th
Where: The Featherly Haven Resort & Spa (aka the hot springs)
Rating: If you feel your thread is heading for something steamier, please either fade to black or take it to an appointments post.

Also -- don't forget to add in your own character tags!

On the 17th, all characters will find an embossed invitation tucked inside the front cover of their journals, asking them to gather up by the hot springs for a marvelous party at the Featherly Haven Resort & Spa. Upon arriving, they’ll find that the area has been temporarily transformed into a luxurious vacation retreat. Although the weather is just as chilly as it should be in mid-February, the hot springs are compellingly warm and once the sun sets, the area is lit by grand torches. The usual hot springs buildings are somewhat incredibly replaced with what looks like a swanky resort -- though the building itself will disappear soon after the Shift’s end. There is a sizeable lobby, complete with plump couches and a droid-staffed bar. Each and every one of the hotel’s rooms is a honeymoon suite, stocked with champagne and fondue and yet more platters of fresh fruit. Courteous (albeit stoic) droids tend massage chairs and manicure stations on the resort's first floor, shaded by billowing, cream-coloured curtains. Others will be passing around festively coloured drinks, platters of fresh fruit, and -- of course -- huge complimentary towels to wrap up in once your soaking is complete: the whitest and fluffiest and most spa-like towels you ever did see.

Available both in the rooms, outside by the hotsprings, and in heaps inside the lobby, are little foil-wrapped and bite-sized chocolates. As with other items in previous years, each of these chocolates comes with a dizzying side-effect upon consumption:

White Chocolate will overwhelm its consumer with the desire to talk and -- more specifically -- the desire to share. Upon eating this treat, characters will want to chat the ear off of anyone near them, perhaps spilling some personal details in the process. But being chatty is a two way street, and so they will also press upon their conversation partners for details of their own lives. It’s a lethal combination: a nosy over-sharer.

Milk Chocolate will flush its consumer with the desire to be warm and affectionate with those around them. Hugs and kisses on the cheek will abound. Upon eating this treat, characters will want to throw their arm around those near them -- clasping close friends and associates alike. Personal space is no longer an issue.

Dark Chocolate will inspire quite another flavour of affection in its consumer. Upon eating this treat, a character’s libido takes over the driving seat. Many people around them become terribly terribly attractive and, as lust courses through the character’s system, they’ll hope to convince someone back to their suite for a little hanky panky.

Chocolate Coated Marzipan -- smooth and silky on the tongue -- evokes a spontaneous sense of...marital bliss. Those who chow down on this treat will find themselves tracking down someone they know they simply don’t want to live without. Whether this is someone they were previously attracted to in the week or a total stranger, your character will find themselves proposing marriage. And, (in)conveniently for them, all marriages may take place in the resort’s own Vegas-style wedding chapel! All ceremonies will be performed by a droid-officiant who looks disturbingly like Elvis Presley. Witnesses are optional but encouraged.

Comments

[universal_charm]

Oh really? And what circumstances might those be? Stepped on a pretty damsel's toes?

[abjurer]

Eh, more like my roommate hates the universe and everyone in it. Not the best atmosphere to bring anyone back to.

[universal_charm]

Ouch. Who's your roommate?

[abjurer]

He's called Brendan. He's not here. He has... issues.

[universal_charm]

All right, I'm guessing we shouldn't really go there with that answer.

So okay, back to business! Politics! And magic. Or science. Whichever comes first.

So, does America exist at all in your world?

[abjurer]

Preferably. It's not the most comfortable situation.

[He gives a somewhat wry smile shaking his head. What an understatement.]

America exists, yeah. It's very... isolationist. I've never been. Getting a visa is a pain.

[universal_charm]

_{[He raised a brow.]}

Really? In my world America is... nosy to say the least. No one can afford to be isolationist if they plan to perform on the global stage and most modern countries have taken that to heart. Even England, even if it is tinier.

[abjurer]

Really? That's... I mean, it tried to be for a while in the 50s and 60s. Penninsular War kinda killed that I guess.

It keeps itself to itself, has a few border arguments with Canada, throws threats at the Soviets. Has a few interests in Europe but... mostly keeps to itself.

[universal_charm]

Okay, wow, your world has got to be a total 180 of what mine is then. Don't get me wrong, I love my country, but even I can agree we might have our fingers in to many pies.

So, what about India? Do you guys still own that? And Hong Kong? God, what about Australia?

[abjurer]

Seems that way, yes. The differences are pretty startling. I take it your America is
rather more prominent then?

We don't own any of them. They're member states. It's like asking whether New York owns California. But yeah, they're all part of the Commonwealth.

[universal_charm]

Yeah, a major world power and home to Star Fleet Academy.

Oh, that's... that's cool. It's so weird though. England gave them back in my universe... Christ, wasn't Hong Kong in 1999 or something? India was before that, well over 100 years ago.

[abjurer]

Star Fleet? Either you have space travel, I'm guessing, or someone's been watching too much science fiction.

Gave them back... they'd have been swallowed by the Soviets or America back in the 50s. It's one of the reasons the Commonwealth worked in the first place.

Hong Kong was... '97. The lease should have been up but the government forced a vote and it was for Commonwealth membership. China's not up to starting a war over one island.

[universal_charm]

Space Travel! Teleportation, interstellar communication - the works.

Huh, weird. Russia hasn't had that kind of power for awhile, and certainly not after World War II and Communism took their tolls. America has enough holdings in the form of workshops and out sourcing its debated who owns who sometimes.

And really? I guess that makes sense, Hong Kong had been working with British Rules, so I was never sure how happy they were to go back to China's more communist style.

[abjurer]

That's pretty cool. There's been a bit of space travel back home but it's not really a concern where I'm from.

Wow, that's... very different. Communism is still going strong in the USSR. Can't see it changing anytime soon.

It didn't take much to convince them to stay I don't think.

[universal_charm]

Well, it's worth looking into, trust me. There's so much more to see than Earth.

Communism collapsed not to long after it really began. Russia's people were basically starving and the KGB wasn't popular either. I just think the country was way to big for that method to work, and in the end it didn't, though they had America scared for awhile there.

I don't think it would, but I'm not sure Hong Kong had a choice.

[abjurer]

Oh well, that I do know and you don't even have to go into space to do it.

Things do get... dicey from time to time, I admit. There was one ten years or so ago. Something in East Berlin. I was in Moscow at the time so that was fun.

[If by fun you meant terrifying and paranoid.]

Maybe not.

[universal_charm]

Moscow, huh? I've never been. What's in like there? Do they have those brightly colored building tops you always see in the pictures? That's Moscow right?

[abjurer]

Well, in fairness, I did spend a lot of my trip under protective custody in the Commonwealth Embassy. Like I said, things get dicey.

But yeah, that's Moscow. It's got some real pretty buildings. Some complete wrecks too.

[universal_charm]

Under protective custody? What, were you a runaway? Or a secret agent whose mission went bad?

[abjurer]

I wish. No, my eldest brother is a diplomat to Japan and my second brother is something in the government. My family has influence. It's how I managed to even get a visa to go to Russia in the first place.

[universal_charm]

So your family's got the big punches and you enjoy the benefits? Not a bad way to live, if you ask me. Biggest punch I had was my Uncle owned a snazzy car and my mom worked in Star Fleet and my dad was a dead and gone hero.

[abjurer]

Gotta have some perks. Less fun when your brother has you stalked by secret service guys for two years.

A hero, huh? That's gotta be fun to live up to.

[universal_charm]

Oh, yeah, that doesn't sound like fun. A little to big brother if you ask me.

And... I dunno, I guess. I never knew him, really, just heard the stories and read the papers on it. My uncle couldn't give a crap and my mom... she's not around much to talk about him.

[abjurer]

Yeah well, he's an arse when he wants to be. Which is all the time where I'm concerned.

Sounds tough. The joy of famous and heroic relatives.

[universal_charm]

Right?

But at least you sound like you have some neat perks, if you got into Russia and they're as badass about their security as you make it sound.