stellafortunalogs | august mingle

August Mingle
Welcome to Teyvat - a vast magical world of adventure.
Happy new year....! In Teyvat, that is. It is now January ingame, and Liyue's people go about their disaster recovery efforts with more vigour than before. After all, Liyue's biggest festival is slated to occur in the latter half of the month - the Lantern Rite!

The Rite of Parting - Rex Lapis' funeral - passes without much incident, and Liyue collectively breathes a sigh of relief. With the Fatui being chased out of the yard, it seems that peace will finally return to the harbour city as they rebuild from the storm. You'll also get to watch three million Mora's worth of incense go up in smoke, so there's that.

Eager to focus on the future, Liyue folk have begun discussing the upcoming festival. The Lantern Rite commemorates hope for a new beginning and continued prosperity, and the construction of the festival centerpiece is currently underway. This year's Mingxiao Lantern will soar into the sky amidst thousands of smaller lanterns, and it will take the shape of a fallen Adeptus to commemorate the Adepti's contribution to Liyue's lasting peace.

Unfortunately, you're not quite out of the frying pan yet. With the Fatui gone from Liyue, the Ministry of Civil Affairs turn their attention to solving another issue that has cropped up after Osial's revival and subsequent defeat. Quite a few miners have gone missing from the Chasm, and the likelihood of finding them will only grow slimmer as the days go by. Both the Millelith and the Adventurers' Guild have pitched in to search for the kidnapped people. All clues lead to Nantianmen - and it's just your luck that Geovishaps and their hatchlings have come out of hibernation at around the same time. These lizard-like beings have shells of solid rock, and they seem especially agitated at having their territory invaded. Solving the mystery of the missing miners will take more than just a day's work.

State of the World

With the Lantern Rite set to open on January 21st, all of Liyue have come to visit the harbour to set up their stalls and pitch in to craft the Mingxiao Lantern. Hopefully the miners are found before the festival begins - the Lantern Rite is a festival of reunions, after all. Not to mention the Geovishaps' increased activity will inadvertently lead to them burrowing around in the rocky mountains. There's a small, but non-zero chance of them hitting an ancient seal somewhere and unleashing a buried threat.

Unless... that was their intention all along?

Please direct all questions to August's OOC post!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( while louis is focusing on physical attacks, jinx is launching waves of purple lightning, curling around the sides to avoid him while chipping away at the lizards' both. it's not unlike her magic on some level, directing it like one might change the course of running water. but it is going to take them some time.

maybe they should have had someone else come with? oh well. too late now!

but jinx is a quiet fighter, otherwise- no need for distracting banter against monsters that probably don't care. save for one moment- )

On your left!

( she calls it even as she's directing as much force as she can at the geovishap that's tried to curl it's way behind him, but, you know. pays to know what's happening around you, right? )

[ A flanking maneuver... at least he's got Jinx to back him up instead of being alone by himself. His odds of survival vastly improves with a partner - not that death quite fazes him. He'll just disperse and reform later, though he would prefer to spare a child the horror of seeing him die.

There's no time to bring up his sword in a defensive stance, so he'll just have to punch the Geovishap in the skull and hope it does something. Luckily for the both of them, the lizard is sent careening back onto its back, exposing its unarmoured belly.

Well. ]

Thanks.

[ He supposes they shouldn't be slaughtering wildlife wily-nily, but said wildlife is also trying to kill them. It should be fine if it's in self-defense. ]

( yeah, let's please not die in front of the already-troubled teen. she doesn't need that. but one of the lizards is on it's back now, and it's about to die and jinx is just going to look away- she's keeping an eye on the other one, that's all. )

Yeah, no problem- the other's keeping it's distance now. Think it'll back off?

( she asks, but... it probably won't. )

[ Hopefully the one down will be able to crawl away to lick its wounds. Louis didn't like killing without good reason. He would only do so in self-defense. ]

I hope.

[ If it does come to us again, he'll circle it to try and get a good punch to toss it away. Hopefully it takes the hint. ]

( while he's dealing with the downed one, jinx hasn't stopped watching it's... sibling? friend? and when it charges, jinx makes an executive decision and unleashes a wave of electro to force crystalization- it's shield time! )

Grab the purple crystal, you're closer to it!

( i just wanted an excuse for elemental reactions honestly- )

Alright.

[ Her suggestion has tactical merit, so he turns to pick up one of the crystals and fashion it into a shield using his Vision. It's definitely useful, since he can't conjure a shield easily on his own. He's heard about how Geo Vision users usually rely on shields, but his own power manifested in a different way. ]

Now he'll be able to tank some hits while getting into position for a hopefully final punch. ]

( with louis being protected with the electro energy, jinx is content to keep to the back reassured that they're far less vulnerable now. ... like, she's not out of the woods just yet but the lizard's gotta get past the big clawed guy first. so she can continue witling down the creature's defense with waves of lighting thrown like daggers, instead. )

[ They won't be able to oneshot these by far, but their coordinated teamwork lets them chip at the lizard's health. Unfortunately, it continues to struggle, trying to take a chunk out of Louis and failing due to the crystallized shields.

It's with a certain solemnity that he punches his crimson sword into the creature's exposed belly, only pulling it out once the Geovishap falls still. Sure, he's always killed for self-defense, but this wasn't a blood-crazed monster. It was... something more like an animal, similar to a crocodile. They weren't the same. ]

We should be in the clear, [ he says after a moment, collecting his thoughts quickly. ]

Right- we need to see if we can find the miners, or at least what happened to them.

( she only glances at the geovishap for a moment before looking away. for all she was a child soldier, for all that decay is at her finger tips, for all she's seen in her rotten life, she's still a child. one who composes herself very quickly, already looking for the next step and following it, only pausing at louis's side. )

... You okay?

[ Jinx is perceptive - usually, Louis' moments of contemplation wouldn't be noticed by his teammates... or they knew to not try prying his thoughts out from him. He always kept his thoughts to himself unless they were vital to the mission.

But now that he's been asked, he debates whether he should be honest. He steps away from the body - the lizard is already disappearing, which frees them from the burden of burial. ]

... I'm fine.

[ He closes his eyes, then opens them again. ]

I'll avoid hurting them as far as it's possible.

( 'i'm fine'- ugh. adults.

... like she can talk, though, all things considered. so she won't press- no penny for his thoughts. or mora, she guesses. but she does need some clarification... )

The Geovishaps? Or the miners?

( despite how it may seem, she's not harsh with the question- it's not an accusation. sometimes shit happens. sometimes you have to reassure people that no, the car just ran out of gas early and it wasn't your magic making things malfunction. things like that. she gets it. )

Both of them. The Geovishaps are just... animals. It's not like they have malice. I don't want to hurt innocents.

[ He's definitely thinking about the times he killed the Lost. But that was when he knew he was putting them out of their misery.

Still, he composes himself quickly, and that moment of emotional honesty is brief. ]

Let's keep going.

august mingle

looks at hands why did i choose the fight prompt

it's okay they'll survive... probably

will they... (yes)

through the power of friendship yes

friendship and crystalizing!

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