CHAPTER TWO, PART 1: A LIGHT LUNCH

Event rundown and OOC plotting

Hello, neighbors! It’s February, and romance is in the air—you know what that means, right?

Guaranteed to blow your mind.

It’s time we introduced you lovebirds to what is obviously the most romantic restaurant in town to get together and mingle!

Like with December, this month’s plot month will be split into two parts, the first of which running from February 5 to February 14. A second plotting post will go up on February 13, with the second half of the event running from February 15 through February 28. Here’s what you can expect:

On February 1, characters will begin to hear about a luncheon the HHA is hosting on Friday. Representatives of the HHA will be leaving neatly lettered invitations in mailboxes and going door-to-door to ensure that everybody’s heard about the event — no finding out about it the day-of this time, no sir! But watch out; some of your Robbie neighbors are most insistent that you should come, and they won’t leave you alone until you agree!

On February 5, the HHA luncheon will occur, held at one of Santa Rosita’s many restaurants. Come on over for some tasty food, delicious drinks, and as much conversation as you could ever want! The head of the Happy Homes Association will be in attendance, seeking out new neighbors willing to volunteer their time and skills to help the HHA be the best it can be while keeping track of donations on the side.

Donations? Did we forget to mention that this luncheon is also a fundraiser? The HHA is raising money for the upcoming Founder’s Day celebrations, and the more you contribute, the better the celebrations can be...

On February 10, something special will be discovered. :) We can’t give too many details about this yet (more details will become apparent when Friday’s log goes live), but this is where the sign-ups we mentioned in the EOM post will come into play. Let’s talk a little bit more about those below:

Character Sign-Up Info
As we stated before, we’ll be holding sign-ups from February 5 to February 7 for players to volunteer their characters for special involvement in this month’s plot. The direction of part 2 of this month’s plot will be directly impacted by the number of player signups we receive. Call it a choose-your-own (with 47 of your closest friends)-adventure of sorts.

Characters who are selected for plot participation will not be able to interact with the setting of Santa Rosita for a period of approximately 5–7 days beginning on February 10 (though don’t worry, you’ll still have opportunities for CR during that period and might learn a few things along the way…) and will be subject to Tranquilizing and body horror/experimentation. Some examples of possible modifications include the following (highlight to read; content warning for body horror, surgery, dismemberment): organs such as kidneys, livers, lungs, etc. being removed and replaced (with either natural or artificial replacements); amputation of fingers/toes, hands/feet, or arms/legs; surgical alterations to the face and/or other parts of the body (superficial or major); brain surgery.

We understand that players may be open to some of these things, but not all. The sign-up form will have a dedicated Opt-Outs section so that you can tell us if there’s anything in particular you want to avoid. In addition, any character alterations sustained during this event can be undone via regains obtained at the end of plot months. Character alterations can be healed in any plot month as a regain and do not need to be healed at the end of the month they were sustained in; if you’d like to retain them for a while and heal later, you may.

If you don’t want to deal with the above content, don’t worry — there will still be opportunities to participate in this month’s plot. We don’t want to pressure anybody to participate in an event that may trigger them. If a player chooses not to sign up, we expect players to similarly respect each others’ boundaries (this may be a good time to make sure your permissions posts are up to date!).

With this being said, we do want to be clear and reiterate that the unfolding of the plot for this month — and how it affects the overarching plot — will be affected by the number of sign-ups we receive. Player and character choices can and will have an effect on the way this story resolves. We’re all in this together. And sometimes choosing your own adventure can resolve in a not-so-nice ending.

Whew! That sure was a lot, but hopefully this gives you a little more information on what to expect coming up. As always, this OOC post will also function as a catch-all plotting post. Please feel free to use the space below to connect with other players for potential meetings and CR.

If you have any questions, please direct them to the FAQ top-level below or reach out to us on the Mod Contact page!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Have any questions about the event as we've outlined it? Ask 'em here!

Are there any particularly exciting or worrying details mentioned in the neatly lettered invitations, or is more of a short and sweet, "Luncheon Friday, at [restaurant] at XX:XX o'clock, hope you'll be there!" kind of thing?

Here is what the invitations look like. Hope you like breadsticks, Papyrus!

Edited 2021-02-04 07:15 (UTC)

Petition for a secondary sign-up: who gets lost in the breadstick dimension

heyho modlies!

at the luncheon, will the volunteer work asked for directly lead to the bodily trauma taking place starting 2/10? or will it be related to something else?

if the former, can you give any clues for plotting purposes as to what IC inducements there might be for people to either (unwittingly) lean into volunteering or hang back — as in, what volunteer work will the HHA be asking them to do?

While characters may find that attracting the attention of the HHA isn't always wise, agreeing to help the HHA with your time and skills will not directly lead to involvement in the special event beginning on February 10. We will not select characters for that portion of the event plot unless they have explicitly signed up to be part of it. Feel free to partake of that volunteer work without worry! Why, your neighbors might even decide to bake you a pie to thank you for your efforts.

Rolls in with various questions...!

1. If a character catches the HHA rep dropping off the invitation in their mailbox, what kind of conversation might they expect to have with said HHA rep?

2. With the HHA, are they accepting people donating time (to help with event set-up) versus funds or things of that nature?

2.a) What, if anything, will they be saying about Founder's Day celebrations?
2.b) How do the HHA persons respond to non-serious flirting a la the wink wink and compliment variety?
2.c) Can he help volunteer for a bake sale that he bakes nothing for. He'll flirt to sell you your goods, HHA, tell him about all your plans.

2. When it comes to stating what we're opting out of, is there anything to also indicate the extent of what we're more opting in for? For example, saying "surgical alterations to the body as long as it's not grafting other organs/appendages/changing aspects of physical sex" or "to the level of extensive scarring, leaving the face intact but anywhere else is fair game" or things like that?

This is also to avoid (for now) instances which get repetitive to have to state up front if there's an icon mismatch (so, say, facial scarring not present from canon, a missing ear or eye or eyes) if we have to buy that back as a regain over doing any other regain during plot months. It doesn't feel as, hm, earned as choosing for our characters to do A Thing ICly and having them live with the consequences of having Done The Thing.

3. Is there any chance the upcoming event will involve vivisection of some kind, or non-anesthetic surgery?

If a character catches the HHA representative dropping off their invitation, the representative will try to engage them in conversation. For the most part, the representatives are your normal everyday townies — well-meaning ladies who just want to do their part to make the community a better place! Players can NPC these conversations as they please; the HHA representatives may ask how you're settling in to your new home, ask if there's anything you need, offer to bring by a casserole, or other such neighborly activities. However, there are also a handful of Robbies in the HHA, and they can be a little more... insistent.

While the HHA insists that they've got everything for Friday under control (it's at a restaurant, after all; the staff there does most of the setup!), they'd be happy to accept offers of help for the future! If asked about the HHA's future plans, they'll direct him to talk to the head of the HHA, who will be in attendance at Friday's luncheon. Most of the ladies will titter and blush at any non-serious flirting; what a compliment! If Wei is too forward, he might get a "Why, Mr. Wei, my husband wouldn't be too happy if he could hear that!" or similar response, but for the most part they'll seem to respond positively.

To respond to your questions about sign-ups: At this time, we have no plans for non-anesthetic surgeries or vivisections. While it was only an example in your question, there is no intent to change aspects of characters' physical sex, either, as we realize this could be triggering to many players.

The purpose of the Opt-Outs section of the sign-up form is to ensure we do not accidentally present players who volunteer for this plot with content that may be triggering to them. While we understand that not being able to limit the extent of opt-ins introduces an element of the unknown into what may befall characters (and that this can be worrying as a player), we wish to preserve the horror aspects of the game to their greatest extent and find that uncertainty of the unknown to be an important part of the game's atmosphere. Similarly, the use of the regain mechanic to recover from metaplot-related injuries or alterations is to allow an "out" of sorts from events that might otherwise be permanent. If players are worried about their icons not properly reflecting their character's state, we encourage them to make use of the Identifying Features + Medical Information section in their Permissions post to note any changes that may have occurred.

A calm, unremarkable stay in Santa Rosita is unfortunately not in the cards for any of the characters that have been brought there. We encourage all players to consider carefully whether they wish to take the risk of relinquishing their character's well-being to the mods for any metaplot sign-ups.

Laughs, thank you for all the HHA ladies information! Also for the information re: what definitely won't be part of the sign ups.

For sure, no horror game is something to go into thinking ah, yes, nothing shall happen here! It's also good to know what is not included with opting out, and gives me the information I want as a player to decide if it's something I'm game for (especially brand new here) or not. Thank you for the in depth reply!

Oh, and as clarification on the opting out on sign-ups--while there'd definitely be things I'd be comfortable as a player handling, there are others I would not, hence the kind of "is it okay to say yes to any surgical alteration while asking for it to avoid the face" and leaving it fair and surprise game anywhere else kind of a thing. So as it seems that's not going to be allowed, thank you again for clarifying it's going to be a straight yes/no to which things you're opting in or out of on the sign-ups to come!

So characters that are considered children will be able to attend the luncheon without getting into trouble for not being in school?

Characters classified as children will find that Friday is scheduled to be only a half-day, with the afternoon reserved for a teachers' in-service day. Say hello to Barbara for your teacher if you see her!