LOVE POTION #9

[metamods]

LOVE POTION #9

LOVE IS... not in the air! The reintroduction of Confluences into this world has left it rocked, so the season of love is not quite as lovey-dovey as it usually is. People are stressed and anxious. Valentine's events are being cancelled left, right, and center in fear that a Confluence may catch young lovers unawares.

Unbeknownst to mortals, the God of Love really can't afford his month to be ruined by a few little dimensional catastrophes. This is his month! ... And for whatever reason, he seems to be stranded on the Earthly plane.

Surely he can fix things. Push it along a little. Though Gods don't usually meddle in mortal affairs, this is a personal catastrophe. All it takes is a few drops of love potion on a token of affection, and voila! Instant-connection.

(This event has a blanket warning for dubious consent of the love spell variety. To opt out completely, characters can simply not be in Sunset Falls at the time of the event, which runs through Valentine's Day.)

WHITE HEARTS FESTIVAL

Welcome to Sunset Falls, the most magical place in all of America! Literally. The streets are charged with magical energies, and while it won't be spinning your words into spells, it will give anyone who is magically inclined a comfortable little buzz. Maybe it's the boost you need to get a spell working, or maybe it's just a pep in your step. Confluence-displaced metas who take the Guilds up on their offer to tour the new housing will arrive just in time to witness the an annual tradition: The White Hearts Festival, a festival dedicated to all forms of love - familial, friendship, and romantic.

The whole town is decked out in pinks, golds and reds. Town square has been overtaken by food booths peddling elaborate meals and desserts with various magical effects. (It's probably better not to ask why some of the cookies being handed out are in the shape of anatomical hearts.)

• Eat an emoji cookie and find yourself sprouting heart-eyes, or gaining a flurry of hearts above your head.


• The Bolder Biscuit - by far and above the densest thing you've ever tried to eat - makes you bold. It compels you to march right up to someone and tell them what you think, good or bad.


• And there's also the Firework Delight cake, which makes you shoot off literal fireworks the moment you touch that special someone that makes your life complete... but honestly, they go off when you touch anyone. Sorry if you end up giving off the wrong impression!

In addition, pop-up craft stands sell trinkets that guarantee you'll be together with your people forever and ever. The most popular item on sale this year appears to be the Eternal Bond - which is just an enchanted finger-trap that refuses to let go unless you tell someone a deep dark secret.

There is an altar at the town park where you can make your offering and give prayers to the God of Love in hopes he will smile favorable upon you. Lay your chocolate heart at its base and offer up a prayer to the God so that your life will be full of love and connection.

Truthfully, when it started it wasn't as cutesy as it is now. It became a lot more wholesome when people began to offer only chocolate hearts to the God of Love. Now it's fun for the whole family! ... So long as you don't veer into the woods. Some people still practice the old ways, and there are (what you hope to be) animal hearts nailed to trees. This is Sunset Falls, after all. Weird often goes hand in hand with terror.

LONELY HEARTS

For those of you who don't yet have those special people, lonely hearts still single can collect white rose enamel pins from the festival committee. They're expected to pick someone to give it out to as a declaration of their attraction by the end of the festival. However... there seems to be an issue this year. There's more pins here than there are people in town. Committee members start handing them out to anyone, single or not, and from there that's where things start to get a little weird...

You clip the pin onto your shirt and at once, your life has suddenly become a romcom. Everything is just a little brighter, the sounds a little more musical (sometimes literally), and you're suddenly compelled to reach out and find connection.

And the universe is conspiring to bring it your way! Cliches won't stop happening around you. Suddenly people are determined to give you a makeover so you can catch the eye of an admirer. Your friends are betting on your romantic future. A complex love triangle is springing out of previously platonic friendships.

You're not not limited to one partner, and that partner doesn't need to be romantic. It could be a best friend, or a nemesis that you're compelled to fight over and over again for the joy of it. What matters is the connection and the way the world seems to stop at nothing to give you that perfect three act structure: You Meet, You Lose, You Get.

Reach the end of your romcom's little arc and you'll find yourself freed from the spell... and probably will have some choice words for its caster.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Regardless of how you participate in the festival, everyone is at risk when the town itself falls under a love spell.

This may be unlike anything you've known before. Perhaps it's the first stumbling steps of puppy love. You want to be with this person all the time. Hold their hands and work up the courage for a kiss. Or perhaps this is something fierce and passionate. You want to be kissing them always, pursuing these passions heedless of consequences.

This doesn't need to be a romantic love. It can be strong and familial. Perhaps the sort you've always desired but never had. You could fall into a family unit with others affected by the spell. Compelled to hug each other and say words of encouragement or praise. Perhaps you, while living your own love story, are the best friend in someone else's - offering up the speech that tells them they deserve more than they think they do.

Whatever your flavor of love may be, you're prone to dramatic declarations. Confessions at the drop of a hat. It's go big or go home, and since nobody's going home right now, you might as well go as big as you can. Perhaps you're arranging for Flash Mobs to declare your feelings! Or making plans to move in together despite only having met a few hours ago.

This is all fine and well at first, but it may become clear pretty quickly that characters who try to hold their burning passions are likely to burn themselves! If you're the repressed type and you try to resist the compulsions that the love spell puts on you, you might just burst into flames, and someone will need to put you out. Don't worry — move quick enough, and there won't be any lasting damage, and if there is, the Guilds' healers can help you out.

MEET CUTE-PID

For those paying attention to that sort of thing, one constant of all these wild declarations can be spotted in the background. A tall man with curly blonde hair and an all too charming smile never seems to be far from the romance.

Those who are curious enough to follow will find he retreats to a lavish mansion on the outskirts of town. The mansion has the gaudy and abundant decor of a honeymoon suite on the Las Vegas Strip, with lights attuned to music and a massive twirling heart above the roof of the building. Peer inside and you will see hundreds of tiny viewing windows, each depicting a different romantic story unfolding outside of town. The door to the mansion appears to be locked tight and the windows are magically sealed, but some quick thinking may get you inside.

If anyone wants to engage him, HERE is a top level where we will summarize encounters. The more PCs involved in an encounter, the bigger its outcome will be. We will determine the impact on the god of love on Valentine's Day, so get your comments in by end of day on the 13th! You may also use this top level to ask event-specific questions about the effects on this page! (Please refer general questions about the setting to the FAQ, and refer any player plots to the PLOTTING page.)

Comments

[helpdesk_hero]

[Vidana, you're going to make him snap some day and go crazy. And then where would he be?]

We have very different ideas about communication and understanding one another. I want someone I'm allowed to understand, that I can come to know. Who I can have as a friend as well as a lover, and know them as deeply, perhaps even more deeply, than I know myself.

[A romantic, that's what David is. A deep, hopeless, truly far too sweet romantic. Who rarely even bothered to see what was around him or chase it.]

[highborn]

Oh, come, don't we all?

[ That's with an airy, dismissive laugh, as she moves in to once again take David's arm. Not with the intent to drag him anywhere this time, she's content to walk alongside. ]

But such things are tricky to come by, yours truly has been giving that a shot for over a century. I really find it's best to simply take your pleasure where you find it.

cw: discussed murder, sorry but he's not dancing around the bush on this one.

[helpdesk_hero]

[He lets her have his arm, though he does sigh when she does that.]

The last person that I had a casual hook up relationship with killed me, Vidana. Turned out he was secretly a bit of a serial killer, and I died while he choked the life out of me. It didn't really work.

[highborn]

[ Oh, well, now she's yanking them to a halt as a startled laugh escapes even despite the hand to her lips, and her incredulity lands squarely on David. That sure is something to just say to someone. ]

What — are you serious?

CW: discussion strangulation

[helpdesk_hero]

[Laughing? Vidana, he's been murdered twice by serial killers at this point. He's not joking. He stares at her, face completely blank.]

After Damian went home, to a happy life thank any gods out there, I started sleeping with a housemate. He was basically the one that took me out drinking when I lost my boyfriend. Months later he choked the life out of me. While I was trying to protect other people from him, not that I knew it was him doing it. I died, looking him in the eye. Yes, I'm serious. That would didn't let use stay dead either. So I got to wake up, days later, knowing how he'd betrayed me.

I don't sleep with people I don't know and trust with my life. Not anymore.

[highborn]

[ She dutifully listens, but not too closely. She would have to care if she really took the time to consider this scenario. ]

Did it? I was going to ask how you came back. [ Her smile quirks with mischief. ] Would you believe nearly the same thing happened to a lover of mine? She had her heart ripped straight out of her chest, she was buried and everything! How droll.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Heart. Ripped. Straight... David jerked away from her, stumbling back a step, his hand coming up to cover his chest, rubbing where the memory of scars told him he hurt. Hurt in a way he didn't have words for. His face was ashen and he was absolutely shaking. No. No he doesn't want to remember it.]

That isn't something to fucking joke about.

[highborn]

[ Hmm, maybe he's a little more shaken than she'd initially expected. Her mirth dims a little, but doesn't quite go. ]

Who's joking? It left her a terrible, dead mess. [ Which is a little uncomfortable to think about; Tessa is someone she likes. Not caring for the thought that maybe she should be a little more sympathetic to someone she's considering liking, she instead veers: ] And I'd like to point out that I had every opportunity to kill you with a twitch of my finger, when we met. So, evidence suggests you can trust me with your life.

[helpdesk_hero]

[The crushing pressure, the agony, the fear. It's all swirling around in his head now, and David takes another step back. She needs to stop talking about it.]

I don't want to hear about this. And no, you failing to kill me by accident isn't trust. It's... I'm not talking about this. I'm not talking about any of this.

[highborn]

[ She's not typically one to just lay off of a juicy topic like this, but — the vehemence in him is strong enough to be near unsettling. She hesitates for a moment, considering the options.

Finally, with a glance away and the uncomfortable sensation of admitting defeat (because that's easier to consider than guilt over upsetting him): ]

Well, then take us somewhere else. You brought it up.

[helpdesk_hero]

[His fingers still rubbed the area over his heart, worrying at a scar he didn't have anymore. Pain and fire and blackness. No, he can't think about it.]

H-how are you adjusting?

[highborn]

[ Her eyes linger on his chest, curious. His behavior is plain — he's acting like this is something else he and Tessa have in common. But how many times can one man die?

Regardless: ]

Oh, perfectly well, credit cards are wonderful. If I could take just one thing back with me, it would be that darling little rectangle.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Too many times, Vidana. Far, far too many times.]

And you've been trusting your financial advisor? It's easy to burn through money on a credit card, and you won't always be on the guild's penny. I'd hate to think you fell into deep debt.

[highborn]

Of course — it's in her best interests to ensure I don't fall into destitution, isn't it? It's all quite fine. [ This is a bad topic he's picked, actually. Don't make her examine her spending habits. ] Oh, on that note, that's another thing I quite appreciate about this world — there's no end to the variety of luxuries one can spend on! Spa trips are just thrilling.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Of course she's like that. David sighs.]

You definitely seem like the manicure and mud bath sort.

[highborn]

And you seem like the sort who could use more of that. [ An airy shrug. ] Come with me sometime, hmm?

[helpdesk_hero]

[he frowns. David's as much of a fan of a spa day as the next person who enjoyed them, but it could be expensive, and he didn't think he should spend money like that.]

I'd rather carefully save money for now.

[highborn]

Oh, come now! I'll cover you, of course.

[helpdesk_hero]

[He shouldn't but...]

Alright. I'll let you. Once. But no couples' massage.

[highborn]

[ That gets a laugh, delighted. ]

I hadn't even realized there was such a thing! What does that involve?

[helpdesk_hero]

A massage at the same time on tables next to each other.

[highborn]

Only that? That's nothing at all. [ She huffs a sigh. ] Why the resistance? A perfectly good way to chat.

[helpdesk_hero]

Because shirtlessness.

[highborn]

[ There's a pause, like she's waiting for him to make it a list, say something actually scandalous. After a moment: ]

Is that all?

[helpdesk_hero]

Yes. It's not appropriate!

[He's not a prude, but he believes in careful liens.]