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

[fiddlestick]

Alright, you got me there.

[He's smiling. It's easy to fall back into step with Crow]

I've missed your eye for surprises. So many performers in this world play it way too safe, you know?

[bad_crowmance]

Now that's a disappointment. It sounds like a world in dire need of a shakeup.

[ His eyes are sparkling with anticipation. ]

[fiddlestick]

I'd say so! I spent some time in their city of music, and everyone there only used lyres to play tavern music.

Lyres, Crow.

[ITS SO PRIMITIVE???]

[bad_crowmance]

....Lyres? What about lutes? Guitars? Do they even put on a decent show? No, obviously they can't.

[ This is actually painful to hear and he's not even half the music nerd Elliot is.

(To be fair, no one is.) ]

[fiddlestick]

Barely any of that stuff, from what I've seen. My violin gets treated like an novelty.

[Its wild man]

I have heard of one girl that uses a guitar and uses a pyro vision for pyrotechnics here in Liyue. I was hoping to catch one of her performances to see what she does - you should come with me!

[bad_crowmance]

Hell yeah! Just let me know when and I'm there.

[ Please, Crow wants to see every interesting thing he possibly can before he goes and pyrotechnics is absolutely on the list. ]

[fiddlestick]

[Hush you'll be fine Crow have a snickers.]

Great! I'll keep you posted!

[YAAAAS. Well this day was turning out to be awesome]

So have you settled in ok? Knowing you, I'm sure you tried to get a lay of the land before approaching us.

[bad_crowmance]

[ SOUNDS UNREALISTIC TO CROW. ]

Yeah, that's what I've been working on. I'd even heard I've got a couple friends here.

[fiddlestick]

[Sir you are an undead dude who pilots a magic mech. Your whole life is already unrealistic.

He nods.] Got that right! Rean's here too.

[bad_crowmance]

[ Yes but he's never expected the laws of reality to break entirely for him! ]

Rean's here?

[ Considering the last time Crow saw Rean, he wasn't in any state to do much of anything except growl and snarl. Maybe mutter "D͖͕̖̥̰E̷҉͔̩͉̭̪̟̣̳ͅS̨̗̲̼̘̺̬̥̪͡ͅP̵̷͙̩͟A̹͚̳̦͇I̛̺͉̖̝͠R̷̯" a few times. But Elliot doesn't even seem worried. ....Maybe the power of friendship had broken through? ]

[fiddlestick]

[Elliot looks confused at Crow's reaction. Because yeah, it's been AWHILE since Rean got over his snarls stage]

Yeah? Why are you surprised by that?

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow rubs the back of his head. ]

Oh man, do you really have to ask? Last time I checked, he couldn't even form complete sentences, never mind helping out some other world.

[fiddlestick]

Huh?

[Confusion rising!]

What're you talking about? I know may we may've went a little overboard with the drinking last time we hung out, but it's not like Rean stayed drunk all this time.

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow's own brow knits together in confusion. ]

What are you talking about? Last time we hung out, none of us were even legal.

[ Which definitely didn't stop Crow from having a few drinks on the sly, but definitely would have with Elliot and Rean. ]

[fiddlestick]

What? No, we-

[Annnnd then it clicks]

Gah, crap. Not this again.

[He sighs.]

I thought your hair seemed a little lighter. We must be from different points in time.

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow opens his mouth to say something, but cuts himself off before he's even really started. He contemplates that for a moment, no less confused but it's in a different direction. ]

Is that even possible?

[fiddlestick]

I'm afraid so. Rean's from several months before us, and when I left it was early September.

Don't ask me how it's possible, I just know it is.

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow scrubs a hand down his face. Early September? Goddess, he's surprised he even managed to live that long. He figured he'd be out of the picture for sure before he'd ever get a chance to go drinking with anyone. And he didn't miss that comment about his hair but he doesn't even know where to start with that. ]

Definitely some kind of time fuckery, then. It was early August last time I looked at a calendar.

[fiddlestick]

Early August huh...

[That must've been....Ah. Right.]

Mm, yeah. A lot happened between our two points in time, I'll say. [...]

We managed to stop the Great Twilight. The war too.

[bad_crowmance]

[ Wait a minute.

If the war is over....

....and the Great Twilight has been stopped....

....then that means the Rivalries have been completed....

....

....but then how could he have been having drinks with Rean and Elliot?

He doesn't actually say anything but the blank confusion must be palpable. ]

[fiddlestick]

[The confusion is palpable, and it's not hard to guess why. While Crow is more enigmatic than Rean, Elliot still knows him well enough to have a good guess to why]

C'mon Crow. I know I'm a little tougher than I was back when we were in school, but do you really think I wouldn't be a crying mess right now if you weren't alive and well back home?

[he offers him a gentle smile]

It's a long story, but...you made it through.

[bad_crowmance]

[ He hears the words, but they don't make sense? ]

....If you know why I'm confused, then you'd know why I think that's impossible.

[ He's not arguing Elliot's point, he believes Elliot is making sense but. How???? ]

[fiddlestick]

Yeah, I know. You made your thoughts very clear about the situation.

But, as it turned out, we got very lucky and it was yet another thing on the list of stuff you were wrong about.

[Like the time Crow was convinced they'd never convince him to come back! Or the time he thought his feelings for them were fake! And so on]

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow sighs, shaking his head with a smile. ]

Someday, you're gonna have to explain how the hell you guys pulled that one off.

[ He'll go along with it for now because Elliot's reactions don't make sense otherwise, but he's sill having a hard time conceptualizing it. ]

[fiddlestick]

Hehe, sure.

[He'll smile lightly]

It is a long story, but for you I suppose I don't mind.