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

2

[drewthetower]

[August does jump, and his raven makes the most offended noise.]

What the hell?!

[cranelike]

(He looks absolutely proud of himself! Beaming innocently, he holds out the fortune teller still,)

Choose a color.

(Did he stutter, August and bird friend???)

[drewthetower]

[God, he hasn't seen one of these since elementary school. He glances at Julian, who decides to pick for August. He pecks the blue corner.]

[cranelike]

Oh! What a clever friend.

(Of course, crows and ravens are known for being intelligent and Tsurumaru has always had a soft spot for other birds. He counts out the letters and then reveals a set of numbers: 1, 12, 26, and 53. Did he just write some random numbers for people to pick? He sure did.)

Which one do you pick, little friend?

(Is he now talking exclusively to Julian? You better believe it.)

[drewthetower]

[Honestly that's fair, the raven is way more sociable than the human.

Julian caws and taps 53. Have fun with that one!]

[cranelike]

(That gets a laugh out of him! He doesn't seem to mind and counts out loud in a sing-song voice before revealing... the same set of numbers to them!)

Lucky you. Or are you? (He doesn't control people's fortunes. He's just a humble crane messenger.) This is the last one. Choose carefully; this is your fortune for the year.

(1, 12, 26, or 53... what will their luck be!!!)

[drewthetower]

[Ah, it's one of those type deals, not just some rando playing a kid's game.

Okay then. Julian goes for 12 this time!]

[cranelike]

(And the result is... a single character: 中 )

Medium luck. Nothing surprising.

(He speaks with a matter of fact tone, like there's nothing else to really say about their luck. And there really isn't because there's nothing else written there.)

Well, make of it what you will.

[drewthetower]

[Okay, that makes August snort.]

What, getting dragged to an entirely new world is just "medium luck"?

[cranelike]

(And if he can make someone laugh or smile, it makes his shenanigans worth it because Tsurumaru Kuninaga is a simple spirit,)

Mhm! Imagine what "big luck" or "big misfortune" would be! (If being pulled into another world is just average luck, then the big stuff has to be really intense,) I can't even imagine what a surprise that would be.

[drewthetower]

I mean, can it get any weirder?

1/2

[cranelike]

(smiles vaguely.......................)

[cranelike]

So you're new here?

(HE SURE DID MAKE A POINT TO NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION.)

[drewthetower]

[The obvious avoidance all but answers the question anyway, let's be real. August and Julian share a Look.]

Yeah. That obvious?

[cranelike]

(Look he doesn't know what world August is from but Tsuru is used to most people thinking it's really hecking weird for him to be a cranekin that's also a sword and he hasn't even told anyone he's a time traveler yet. That's not even getting into the shenanigans in this actual world.)

Well, you'll see eventually. I'm sure you'll be in for many surprises. How lucky!

(He folds his fortune teller and tucks it into his sleeve for now,)

Tsurumaru Kuninaga. And you?

[drewthetower]

August Villareal. The bird is Julian, and if he comes at you with a knife just throw something at him.

[The most offended caw.]

[cranelike]

Eh? (He lights up! He looks absolutely excited,) I want to see!

(KNIFE BIRD KNIFE BIRD)

We're almost the same, after all.

(It's almost like he's trying to not make sense on purpose sometimes.)

[drewthetower]

[Julian caws as August reaches into his bag for Julian's knife; the raven promptly grabs it in a claw and flies around to show it off.]

Just don't piss him off. He divebombs with that thing.

[But also: how??? are you??? the same???]

[cranelike]

(He claps his hands! Absolutley thrilled!)

Right, right. It's always the little ones you have to watch out for, after all.

(Oh, he loves it.)

I'll have to be careful... Or maybe we can train together!

(Implying he won't be careful if he trains.........)

[drewthetower]

[????]

Julian doesn't train, he just gets ideas in his head and...does...them?

[cranelike]

Even better!

(Compared to August's growing confusion, Tsurumaru seems to be thriving and getting more excited as they continue,)

I'm sure it'll be a surprising session.

[drewthetower]

Yeaaaah, maybe if Julian ever wants to train.

[What the fuck.]

He probably won't, he's too lazy for that.

[cranelike]

Eh? (Oh no... now he looks disappointed,) Not even for a gift?

[drewthetower]

[August glances at his bird.]

...what kind of gift?

[They're not going to take it, but he can humor this guy for a sec.]

[cranelike]

A surprise, of course.

(Yeah.)

Ah, don't worry, don't worry. A crane always repays favors fairly.