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XOXO ❅ VALENTINE'S EVENT
One major problem with being the group that's responsible for solving all kinds of problems in the myth world is other myths can kind of be dicks about it. That's why, on Valentine's Day, Cupid shows up, quickly offloads his kid (the toddler Baby Cupid), and runs off to take care of spreading love on his holiday, with barely a how'd you do. He doesn't even say thank you.
To be fair, you can't fault him too much for only trusting the Guardians to babysit his kid in these dangerous and uncertain times, especially when children at risk against the fearlings.
Still, that means there's a giggling toddler, about 2-years-old in appearance, but maybe with the mental age of a 4 or 5 (he is definitely old enough to understand he's being naughty and deserving of a time out) flitting around the Pole causing all kinds of Valentine's related problems. Fortunately, the toddler has learned that he's not quite old enough to know the right times to help people fall in love (Adult Cupid just helps things along when they're already falling, or when they need help falling back in love, of course).
Instead, Baby C is doing what his father taught him to do and causing all kinds of tricks to try to get people to admit feelings that already exist or manufacturing ways for them to become closer to each other.
HONESTY ARROWS ♥ Baby Cupid isn't shooting magic arrows that cause anyone to develop feelings for each other but he sure is trying to make sure people talk about whatever feelings they have. Anyone hit will be compelled to blurt out various truths about themselves, their personal history, and their feelings to whoever is around them and will have difficulty stopping or drawing themselves away. In fact, if someone walks away they'll feel compelled to find someone else to confess to. The effect wears off anywhere between 5 minutes to a half hour.
TATTLETALE ROSES ♥ Vines of roses are now growing all over the Workshop. For those who are in love, they take the form of the face of the person they're in love with. The more they try to hide it or deny it from someone they're talking to, the more of them bloom with the person's face.
THORNY VINES OF CLOSENESS ♥ The rose vines have their own annoying purpose: bonding! For people that clearly need to become friends, fall in love, or fall deeper in love, thorny vines will wrap around both people, forcing them into a little cage together. The thorns fortunately won't poke them - they seem to be maneuvered in a way to just make sure there are no gaps to escape through. The vines are magically reinforced and can't be opened with any physical or magical means. After that, one of two things will happen:
1) A card will fall from the ceiling of the cage saying: Tell each other how you really feel about each other!!! This will happen if the cage thinks they need to affirm the status of their relationship, whether they need to admit they're in love, admit they've been bitten by the friend bug if they're reluctant to, or really need to talk about how much they mean to each other as friends. Only then will they be let out of the feelings shame corner.
2) If the two don't know each other, or both people could afford to get to know each other better multiple cards will drop from the ceiling with icebreaker questions, as if they're a bunch of new hires at an orientation.
How many will they have to answer before they're released? Who knows! But they have to answer them honestly or the cage won't open.
CANDY LONELY HEARTS ♥ People who are on the lonelier side and in need of support might find a candy heart on a random surface. The messages on them are on the platonic side (Like "You rock!" or "Shine on!") They'll feel compelled to eat them (even if they're on the floor). When they do, a glowing red thread will appear and tie itself around their finger. Briefly, in the air, the glowing string will form into letters that tell the person what they need to do to be release, whether it's telling someone they're lonely, asking for some kind of support, or admitting a vulnerability.
Then it'll whip out and grab someone else nearby, wrapping around their finger as well. Sometimes, two people might eat a candy at the same time and each have a string appear and they'll tie in the middle.
The strings are unbreakable, and they won't be set free until whoever ate a candy talks about their loneliness or vulnerable feelings - regardless of whether or not the other person is an eager listener.
❅ Starters: You can make up your own wildcard effects, feel free! If you do, please consider posting it to the Wildcard comment below so others might be able to pick up the same effect as well if they like them.
❅ Multiple effects: Feel free to have characters slammed by as many of Baby C's traps in the same thread as you want. No reason someone can't have the worst luck and trip three Cupid traps at once or several of them in a row.
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I can carry you or you can hitch a ride again.
[ He points a thumb at his back ]
Your choice.
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[He goes for the piggy back ride, because at least he's doing that under his own power.]
[He wraps his arms around his thick, muscular neck again.]
Floor. Now.
[It's only the tiniest hint of Starfleet decorum that has him follow up with:] Please.
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Coming right up, your highness.
[ The 'please' does not spare him from sarcasm.
While they're all snuggled up together, it is easier to notice the smaller movements of Miguel double checking the distant floors for discarded candy with his accelerated vision. Maybe it was a bit much, but he does not want any more forced honesty surprises.
After a few subtle, hawkish turns of the head to survey where to go, his body tenses and leaps towards the direction of the Dens down below.
The first few seconds of swan dive is the most terrifying part, but the ride smooths out with a careful application of light-web to smooth his descent and land them on the right floor. He even angles the arc well enough to land them fairly deep inside! ]
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[Like gravity.]
Yeah, I want to be an un-high-ness now, oka - aaaaaugh!
[The scream is because they're suddenly falling again.]
[They land and he still clings for a second too long but it's purely because his eyes are closed even after the swing evens out and they safely land. After peeking an eye open, he finally lets go, literally dropping a few inches because Miguel is just that tall]
[Now that he's safely on the floor, Boimler takes advantage of it to ruffle his hair into something less tousled and straightens out his uniform. He has to redo some of the Velcro at the top of the uniform flap on his chest.]
[He makes a mental note to ask the yetis to add some snaps because they made him a few duplicate uniforms and his one from home is clearly superior, not because their handiwork is bad but because a few hundred years and the invention of replicators does wonders for textile engineering. The fastener strip on his original just holds up a lot better under pressure while still being un-fastenable.]
[The yetis are clearly professionals, though. They'll figure something out.
[Boimler looks around and gestures at the candy-less floor in this area.]
How hard was that?
[And why did Miguel like to do things the hard way so much? Instead of going with the simple approach of "let's see if there's a place to work on this that's free of candies, where I don't have someone attached to me like a toilet paper stuck to a shoe." Nah, instead it's "let's dangle several hundred feet up, with someone inconveniently clinging to me."]
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[ Miguel does not sound thrilled at all about the upcoming task waiting for them.
For what it’s worth, he gives Boimler a once over, and he seemed healthy enough even if his hair was tousled a bit by the wind. No injuries, aside from a lightly bruised pride maybe. And they’ll both be having that in a moment.
So Miguel turns around and skulks on ahead into one of the rooms. ]
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What message did yours give you?
[So they know what magical bullshit requirements they have to each meet.]
We're not going to get around having to do what the strings say. I already got caught with some other people and tried to analyze it for a weakness.
Scientifically speaking, the string is made of [he breaks off into a vague hand gesture and a shrug.]
[It's made of shrug. That's what it's made of.]
Hitting it with a phaser didn't do anything to it and it can't be physically broken.
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Yes, I've noticed that.
[ The red thread gets plucked like a guitar string by a curved talon. It does not fray at all from the sharpness or the friction. They were well and truly Stuck Together. ]
You've been trapped more than once. Did your string say the same thing each time?
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"Share your insecurities and make a new friend."
[He rolls his eyes at the corniness of it because even he, a cornily idealistic Starfleet officer, still has his limits on things that are twee.]
Every time.
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[ a vague admission. He omits the part where the thread encouraged him to open up about his feelings. What a horrifying concept.
And to do it with Boimler? Well, he supposes it could be worse. ]
Doesn’t fighting the same ancient evil count as friendship? It feels fairly close.
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[And then there are friends, who you play Klingon tabletop games with and play pretend with on the holodeck.]
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[ he sighs, the big shoulders slumping a bit. His one friend he felt he could really count on was an AI he made himself. What does that say about him? ]
Maybe it just got complicated once there’s a hierarchy, even if it’s a loose one. You have to conduct yourself with a certain face.
[ excuses, excuses…]
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[He looks over at him curiously.]
I don't how know it works with superhero...ism...stuff. But don't you ever have downtime?
I can't believe I'm the one saying this but sometimes it's good to have some time you're not worrying about looking professional.
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[ Superhero stuff trampling all over your personal life is part of the deal for Spiderpeople, but especially for Miguel, who doesn't have much of a personal life to begin with.
He waves his hand around dismissively. ]
You don't have to worry about it. It's not like I get exhausted the same way an unmodified human would.
[ he's very good at hiding it. ]
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I don't mean a vacation. I mean a few off-duty hours each day. Back on board the Cerritos, it'd just be a half hour to have a drink. An hour or two in the holodeck.
[Emphasis.] With friends.
It's not like we leave the ship if we're not on leave, so we're always still right there if there's a red alert.
[Boimler looks thoughtful. He's not always the most caring or gentle person. He cares but he's not always good at empathizing or extending a kindness.]
[But there's something about this that's at least a little bit familiar.]
[And something a little sad about someone who clearly cares about helping and protecting the dimensional fabric not really seeming to have connections.]
You know, at one point all I cared about was work. In my case, I wasn't trying to save the...universes, I was just trying to get promoted, but still, other people weren't much of a priority. At least socially.
[Or even worse, he saw them as a hurdle, worth throwing under the bus to advance, like when he almost narced on Mariner just for a chance to impress Captain Freeman, over Mariner's genuinely benevolent extracurriculars that cut past Starfleet red tape to help people.]
But it wasn't until I started to make room for them that I started to feel like - like I'm actually getting closer to...whatever it is I'm trying to be.
[Something better.]
Sometimes you need to make room for some good influences. [A pause, as he considers Mariner's...everything.] Or bad ones helping you shake things up a little.
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[ the remark comes out stern and steady. His face is the picture perfect image of a hardass that might scold you for arranging the napkins wrong at the dinner table.]
What I need are people I can count on. We don’t need to be friends.
Excuses to goof off seem to come readily supplied, while reliability is not. Sometimes it seems like I’m the only one handling all of our work with the gravity it deserves.
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I trust my good and bad influences with my life. And I've always been right to. They've always come through for me whenever I needed them. And they've always come through for everyone else, too. They know when to stop joking around and focus on the mission.
Crazy thought, but sometimes people can handle work with the right gravity and goof off, as long as they nail the timing on which to do when.
[He looks at Miguel and his expression would be mystified if not for the fact that some people in Starfleet could be very self-serious.]
And it's possible to have friends you can count on.
Just, y'know, something to think about.
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I'd challenge you to visit HQ for ten minutes and see if you keep that opinion.
[ bad influences.. he tosses his hands up in frustration. ]
I'm the one holding it all together so it doesn't dissolve into a giant stew of bad influences. Nothing would ever get done. And then the multiverse falls apart.
It feels like the only person who I can rely on at all is Lyla - and I built all her hardware and base personality myself. There aren't enough hours in the day to goof around.
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[A pause.]
You're not the only one holding it all together here, at least.
[All the Guardians were doing what they could when they could. It wasn't always easy to figure out what to do next, so there was sometimes downtime, but Miguel was far from the only one trying to optimize their base at the Pole or figure things out.]
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[ Hey, how did Miguel end up being the first one to open up? His face twists up as he realizes this. ]
You get the picture.
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I trust my best friend to absolutely have my back, especially if things get actually bad. I know if I was really in trouble, she'd grab a bat'leth and start mowing down any obstacles.
Buuuut...she can be a handful. She can be unfocused. She can be impulsive. When it really, really matters, she doesn't actually let it get in the way but it does mean she sometimes needs her friends to point her in the right direction.
The thing is, I know I can be a handful in different ways, that she has to deal with. So at least I'm not the only one left holding the bag.
[He gives him a knowing look.]
Pointing your friends in the right direction: that takes a specific kind of energy. And it's harder if you and the people you're working with don't always balance each other out on who's doing it.
That doesn't make it easy to have a friendship of equals. But, by that same token, it's important to recognize if you're in a new situation where you're not the only one herding targs.