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

[greenjacketed]

My sergeant likes to say it to me when I get into a mood, ma'am.

[wise_maiden]

Do you have these moods often?

[greenjacketed]

[ sharpe doesn't realize the white chocolate he'd had earlier with katniss was still affecting his loquaciousness: ] I was born and bred in the gutters, Miss Sage. And now I hold an office regularly kept for the genteel and the rich. I'm allowed a mood or two when the occasion calls for it.

[ so. yes. often. though his darker moods were rarely taken seriously by the men. they always knew sharpe's storm would blow itself out sooner rather than later. and he rarely took those moods out on them. except poor saintly harper, who endured his officer's hissing and swearing and huffing with utter clemency. ]

[wise_maiden]

Fair enough. Well, at least no one here has said that you weren't.

[greenjacketed]

Haven't they? [ he responds in good humour. ] Everyone's so terribly cheery, most days. Makes a man feel guilty just for not smiling.

[wise_maiden]

Now I'm sure that isn't completely true. Though I suppose with the lack of issues that might plague the day to day activities, it's very much a free ride for some. Imagine if everyone were suddenly faced with the necessity to hold a job. Not that it wouldn't do some of them good for that.

[greenjacketed]

Give a man a job what he can do well and take pride in? And miracles will happen. I've witnessed it. Perhaps that's what this place is lacking.

[wise_maiden]

You could be on to something. Unfortunately that's not easily remedied here.

[greenjacketed]

If they organized their army in a half-decent way, it could be.

[wise_maiden]

Save that most people would prefer not to be organized. We could benefit from knowing more of one another's strengths and weaknesses when we go to battle, but then you'll run into others who'd become suspicious and prefer keep that to themselves. Acting only when they are forced to, and so forth. There's quite a divide in viewpoints on it, though I'm sure you've had more than enough time to witness that for yourself.

[greenjacketed]

It makes so little sense to me, Miss Sage. Fighting alongside your fellows can't truly be so detestable to so many...?

[wise_maiden]

A lot of it just stems from the time and circumstances that people were brought into this world from. Not everyone was a part of the military, or even trusted it, or became used to doing things either individually or in their own groups that they'd rather remain with the familiar. Perhaps some of them would decide to follow a charismatic leader, if they were sorely in need of direction, but then you have those who'd prefer not to fight at all, even for their own self defense. [She shakes her head.] The most I could suggest is talk to those who are running the current training courses, and see how they feel about trying to create a more unified group, but...

[greenjacketed]

...At least one for our sharpshooters, eh? It seems a waste of effort to shoot at a distance without a partner to spot for you. Or reload for you. The Rifles often fight in pairs for that reason.

[wise_maiden]

That doesn't seem like a bad idea. Why not go for it?

[greenjacketed]

...I'm not so sure they'll have me. But I'll try, lass. I'll try.

[wise_maiden]

It all depends on your approach. I'm sure you'll think of something.

[greenjacketed]

Eh. I owe you another story, don't I?

[wise_maiden]

I don't know about "owe", but I do enjoy hearing them from you.

[greenjacketed]

I promised it, didn't I? So I owe it. About Miss Sarah Fry, the governess.

[wise_maiden]

[She chuckles softly.] Fair enough, you did.

[greenjacketed]

Miss Sarah Fry lived with a family in Coimbra, you see? Doing whatever governesses do. She's English, but lived in Spain and taught the children of a Spanish family. But she was trapped, without the money to pay her fare back to England. And with the family she worked for refusing to give her a good reference should she try to leave.

[wise_maiden]

That's quite the set up. Almost as if they were making her a slave... was she there for long?

[greenjacketed]

Too long. And without back-pay. Sounds a bit like the bl--[ bloody ]--blasted army, if you ask me. But when the French marched on the town, and her boss turned out to be anfrancesado--

Anfrancesado. You know this word? [ a pause. ]

[wise_maiden]

Hm... no, I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with it. [It sounds like parts of several words all mixed together.] Though by your previous statement, it seems like it might have to do with the French?

[greenjacketed]

Spaniards, ma'am. And Portuguese. Specifically, those who support and help the French who've invaded their countries and pillaged their towns. They betray the British and their own countrymen just to make quick coin.