august mingle

[stellafortunamods]

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!

Comments

[drewthetower]

Uh...

[Excuse him while he frantically pats down his pockets and checks his bag--]

Oh. The purple thing, yeah. Why?

[fiddlestick]

Oh! That's an electro one!

That thing will let you summon and control the element of electro - uh, lightning, in other words.

Everyone got one when they arrived, though we have different elements.

[drewthetower]

Uh-huh...

[August looks the Vision, clearly looking for...something. Probably a button.]

How?

[fiddlestick]

Um, well...have you ever channeled magic energy before?

[He knows many people haven't so he'll follow up with]

I can show you, but we should probably get out of this area before more of those monsters show up.

[drewthetower]

Back to the harbor?

[August whistles, causing Julian to stop flying around and to finally come to land on his shoulder (and drop the knife in the bag).]

And does demonic count?

[fiddlestick]

Yeah. Or rather just outside it, if we're going to practice our visions.

[That bird sure is compliant. It reminds him a little of Gaius and Zemo]

Don't know, I've never used demonic power before.

[drewthetower]

Is using this like...channeling something inside or pulling from outside?

[fiddlestick]

Both? Though, I'd say it's more pulling from outside.

[drewthetower]

Yeah, then I got nothing. Do I need...well, no, never mind, this place probably doesn't have electricity so I can't just stick a fork in a socket, huh?

[fiddlestick]

[HE SIGHS]

Please don't stick a fork in any socket. [Even if they aren't here, this is good life advice!!]

Your Vision should give you all the energy source you need. Though you should be mindful of where you summon the energy. Like I wouldn't recommend doing it near any explosive materials.

[drewthetower]

Yes, Mom.

[Not even said with any vitriol, just with the tone of a man who has been told not to do things many, many times. It's almost habit.]

So no need to generate, I'unno, static electricity or anything? Just...touch the Vision?

[fiddlestick]

[He gives a slight eyeroll at the remark but lets it slide]

Yeah. Or just...focus on the vision with your mind. When you do, you should notice a source of energy. And then with your will you...pull on it and manifest it how you want.

Though admittedly, it takes a bit of practice.

[drewthetower]

Got it.

[Maybe.

They're closer to the harbor now, so August stops and looks around.]

Would here be a good place to try this?

[fiddlestick]

[Elliot looks around, considering. It's a pretty open field. Nothing should be at risk]

Yeah, good a spot as any! Let's see what you got.

[drewthetower]

Okay. Julian, if shit goes south, just...don't aim for the eyes.

[Julian caws, and then goes over to sit on Elliot's shoulder while August does this, just in case it gets a little messy and static-y.

Or maybe he's just afraid of paper cuts, as August reaches for the Vision and also the deck of cards in the bag at the same time. And honestly, Julian had the right idea because as August tries to call on the Vision, several things happen in rapid succession:

-The Vision glows
-The cards glow
-August pulls a card
-Everything backfires horribly
-There's a minor explosion
-August is sent flying, landing on his ass and bonking his head against the ground
-Everything stops glowing.

There's a pause as August looks at the card he drew.]

Oh shut up, you stupid deck.

[fiddlestick]

[Elliot has been in enough orbal arts training sessions to know to keep his distance the first few times. He glances at Julian who lands on his shoulder (what a pretty bird), before looking back and watching August.

And then...wincing as he sees that all play out. Ouch. That went even worse than he was expecting.]

Whoa-! Are you okay?

[drewthetower]

[August slowly sits up, checking for anything worse than more bruises.]

I'm fine! No blood, more bruises, but those'll heal in a few hours.

[No, no they won't. He just doesn't realize that.]

So. Something happened.

[fiddlestick]

[A few hours? either this guy has some regeneration power, or very poor medical knowledge.]

Alright...but if you need healing, let me know, okay? I can do that.

[Bruises aren't enough to make him stop everything though. Instead, he focuses back on what just happened]

Yeah, no kidding. It looked like your Vision backfired...what was that card deck you used?

[drewthetower]

[Honestly, it's both, but one is directly the cause of the other so.]

S'what I use back home. Figured I might as well try to channel this...pseudo-electricity through something so it wouldn't electrocute me.

[A deep, deep sigh.]

And then I pulled the fucking Page of Swords.

[fiddlestick]

[he makes an "ohhh" sound at the explanation. he's seen some people use cards in their magic use, so it's not TOO unusual]

"The Page of Swords"?

What's bad about that card?

[drewthetower]

It's a tarot thing. It can have a couple of different meanings, but basically the universe was calling me out.

[Julian caws.]

It does that.

[fiddlestick]

[ 💧 ]

So in other words, you use a method of channeling magic that occasionally...blows up in you face.

[Sounds like uh, a dumb idea]

[drewthetower]

Oh, no, my deck's a literal demon deck so it doesn't blow up in my face, just other people's. D'you not know tarot? Fortune telling with cards?

[fiddlestick]

Um...

[He scratches his jaw]

I know it a little. Mostly that some girls like to use it to get relationship advice.

[drewthetower]

[August makes a face.]

I mean, you can, but they're probably just doing it superficially. Doing it properly and not fucking around is...it's a whole thing. Each person has their own relationship with their individual deck, their own rituals when it comes to doing a reading, and they know how best to read and interpret their deck. It's kind of a joke that the decks call the readers out whenever they do readings for themselves.

[He holds up the Page.]

The card I pulled usually means a lot of different things, like "not thinking this one through". And then in blew up in my face.

[August gestures as if to say "see where I'm going with that one".]