stellafortunalogs | october mingle

october mingle

October Mingle
Welcome to Teyvat - a vast magical world of adventure.
The Miko of the Grand Narukami Shrine has arranged for your passage out of Ritou and into the Inazuma islands at large. The nation has been gripped by an oppressive atmosphere ever since the enactment of the Vision Hunt Decree, and only someone unyoked by the Electro Archon can hope to break this stalemate.

Konda Village sits on the outskirts of Inazuma city. A pillar of its community now seeks to move out after losing his Vision. A samurai employed by the Shogunate is being accosted of hiding rations by his neighbours, and he has no recollection of ever dealing in such matters. Forgetting something seems to be the thread that links every former Vision holder's story together, yet their tragedies differ greatly in circumstance. Is the loss of a Vision truly so profound? If so, then why did the gods deliver such a poisoned gift to their people?

A mysterious priestess approaches you with a sincere request - Kazari seeks your aid in purifying the Thunder Sakura around Inazuma, as well as the Sacred Sakura on Mount Yougou. She tells you that these trees absorb the evil from the very land, but cannot dispel it without outside intervention. Here's where you come in: you need to dispel the sealing sigils around the holy trees, so that the filth accumulated within their roots can take form and then be swiftly cut down.

The seals, the trees, and Kazari herself are relics from the olden days - the mystical Inazuma, where kitsune and tengu lived and worked alongside humans and their god. But those days have since ended, and all that is left is a stifling eternity.

State of the World

The Land of Eternity is not without failings. By pursuing 'Eternity' and closing the doors of her nation, the Raiden Shogun has only made the lives of her people more difficult. Exploring the country may give you some clues as to how you can break her enforced stasis. You must first understand the situation of the nation, and then find the natives who also wish to change their world.

Please direct all questions to October's OOC post!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Jun goes quiet, feeling rather unused to this level of empathy being directed towards him. He's had people care about him, certainly. In Morimiya, on South Sister, and here. There was a lot of people who'd worry about him being so young, or try to help him.

But still, it's never easy being confronted with those feelings so directly. Or have his own actions being pointed out. And it's not like Rean was wrong either. But still... ]

Ah ... it's feel a little awkward having you point all that out like that...

[…Ah.

Yeah, honestly, Rean can get that. It’s easy for him to just speak from the heart, but… he knows from experience it’s not always the easiest to hear it.]

…Yeah, sorry. I’ll drop it. The last thing I want is to make you feel even weirder about things.

I just… I wanna look out for you, is all. A teacher’s gotta look after students, and all.

[His expression will soften a little at the apology]

...Haha, it's okay. The teachers back home that knew my situation felt the same way. [Even if Gorou-sensei never said it directly towards him, it was clear those feelings were there from the actions he'd take.] I'm just not very used to being fussed over that much. Even when my friends back home would do it, it'd get a little much...

[Craig the Red would be the absolute death of him. ]

Oh, but I can do one thing for you. [He'll dig into his bag and pull out a black photo album with a gold cross on the front. He flips through a few pages, before showing this photo to Rean]

Here. This is from a Summer Festival we attended with Kou's club friends.

"A little much" is basically how I operate, yeah. [Rean rubs the back of his head with an apologetic smile.] I'll try not to fuss too much, but I can't make any promises.

[But oh? What's this? Rean leans over to look at what's being offered.

Immediately, his expression softens. It reminds him of the class photo he has back at home. And if he looks closely, there's Jun's version of Towa... ah, poor Towa.]

This is great... you all look so happy. [Okay, maybe not all, but... Rean knows "annoyed" expressions like this well. It's joy, at the end of the day.] Let me guess...

[He points at the boy in red, followed by the boy in the bottom right.]

Kou and Ryouta?

Edited 2021-10-09 01:45 (UTC)

It's okay, I get it. [That's just how Rean is. Jun understands that.] I'll tell you to stop if you get overbearing.

[Towa was trying her best but it was a tough time.]

It was a great day. [One of the best, really. ] And you got it! Good guess. Shiori's the girl in pink.

All right. Thanks.

[He looks back at the picture to pick out Shiori, then nods.]

Haha... looks like Towa's having a rough time of it there in the back. [He sighs fondly.] That's something that would totally happen to my world's version, too.

[His world's version- oh right, Rean mentioned one of the other teachers at his school was named Towa. That whacky coincidence. At first he thinks nothing of it. ]

Haha, yeah I think she tripped on someone's bag or something like that? She's Kou's cousin and the club advisor along with Gorou-sensei, so she was tagging along.

[-- Theeeen it clicks]

Wait, how did you know that was Towa-sensei?

Edited 2021-10-09 02:36 (UTC)

[...Oh!]

Oh, um.

Well... she looks exactly like my one friend. She's also a teacher with me, and her name is Towa, too.

I just kind of figured... if we exist in your world as fictional characters, I guess it's not too weird if there's... I dunno, another version of someone across our worlds? And I guess that's Towa, for us.

[He laughs a little.]

I mean, if anyone was gonna cross over, it ought to be her. She's the most responsible person I know.

Huh? Really?

[Jun pauses, thinking this one over. Multiple versions of Towa across worlds? Sure there was the stories about Rean and the rest of Class VII in their world, but a copy of a whole person?

Then again]

Well... true. I guess if multiple versions of Earth all have Jesus, why not Towa-sensei.

[Yeah, Towa being on the same level of Jesus for performing miracles? Sounds reasonable enough.]

Edited 2021-10-09 02:51 (UTC)

She's pretty much one of the only reasons the school functions nearly as well as it does. If anyone could manage to exist in multiple worlds... it could absolutely be Towa.

Doesn't surprise me that she took up being a club advisor. She was student council president when we went to school together, and she's always looking to help out wherever she can.

[ ... 💧 ]

Is she? I could see her doing that... [The more he hears about Rean's school the more worrying it gets...poor other Towa-sensei. The one he knows does a lot too, but she's a new teacher so it's not like the school would fall into anarchy without her...]

But that does sound like her. Towa-sensei doesn't have a Soul Device, but she still provides useful support on Eclipse-matters where she can. And she teaches math in a way that's easy to understand.

[Which the latter is probably even more crucial for him, because look. Mathematics wasn't a high priority in Seal Knight training ok]

Edited 2021-10-09 03:12 (UTC)

[The Thors Branch Campus is extremely worrying, but Towa's got this.]

Yeah, that sounds exactly like the Towa I know. We...

[He pauses, realizing he's probably never brought this up before. Oh, well. May as well be honest, but make it quick.]

Ah, there was a civil war in Erebonia right before she graduated. We rallied up Thors students to assist in the effort so we could take back our school, with royal backing.

They lent us an airship, and she was the captain. Never came into battle with us, but we never would have made it through without her.

[...]

And, yeah, she's always been great at teaching. She didn't have time to help me when I was studying too often, but I still have a number of passing tests I owe to her. Not to mention lesson plans.

[Math sucks, he gets it.]

Although, I meant to ask... you mentioned multiple versions of a "Jesus" a second ago? Who's that?

You were all in a civil war...?!

[WHAT THE HELL MAN. Civil war? Royal backing?? And Towa captained an airship??? There's AIRSHIPS??]

That's...extreme. I'm starting to think the story of Magical Girl Alisa is mundane compared to your actual life...

[But nevermind that because uh...boy...asking who Jesus is...

He pauses, trying to work out how the hell he's supposed to answer that one without this turning into a long theology lesson. ]

Haha, let's just say for Seal Knights, he's the #1 senpai~!

[CLOSE ENOUGH!!!]

Aha... ha. Yeah. [Rean rubs the back of his head nervously.] Near the end of our first year at Thors. Long story short, a bunch of the nobles in my country attempted a coup because they didn't like that common people were gaining power.

We didn't want to get involved with all of that. We were kids, we knew we couldn't decide the future of our country. We just wanted our school back. So we fought for it. Of course, there was no avoiding winding up on the front lines of some of the major battles, not with me in a Divine Knight... but for the most part, it was just for us.

Along the way, we wound up helping out a couple members of the royal family, so they helped us out in return.

You're probably not wrong about reality being stranger than fiction. It feels like fiction to me, most of the time.

[SIGH!]

[But re:Jesus—]

And senpai is... upperclassman, right?

[Calculating...]

Okay! That makes sense. I can see why someone that important would keep reappearing across worlds, too.

They attempted a coup because they didn't like commoners getting power... [Man] Mm. Sounds like something rich people would do.

[THAT LINES UP. Seal Knights tried to stay out of global affairs that weren't related to the Eclipse, but that doesn't mean they were unaware of them]

I'm sorry, that sounds like a lot to deal with.

[That civil war must have something to do with Crow's death, considering how violent that was. But Jun knows better than to point that out. ]

Yeah, something like that. [At least he seems to get it] It's strange to think about even for me, but if it's someone like Towa-sensei appearing across worlds, then that's not so bad.

Pretty much.

[Rean, local Son of a Rich Person, agrees heartily. Rich people can be dicks.]

It... sure was a time, yeah. And it's changed a lot of aspects of my life now. But working alongside my friends like that... I wish the circumstances had been different, but I wouldn't give that experience for the world.

Yeah, I mean... it's still mindblowing even for me? But you're right. So long as it's good people like those two... it's not a bad thing if they keep showing up.

[Well that's a surprising view of it. Normally he'd expect someone to react to being stuck in the middle of a civil war as "yeah it sucked, wished it never happened" - not to be able to find some positive spin on it.]

Working alongside friends is that much of a valued experience huh...

[Look he really does treasure his friends, but he's still working on that whole "working with a team" thing, often opting to work alone. Working directly with Kou and the others during the Autumn Festival incident had been a really interesting experience, but...]

Mm, I agree. [All worlds could use more Jesus and Towa. So Jun takes no issue!]

Yeah.

[It makes him a little sad that Jun doesn’t seem to get that, but he promised not to fuss. He’ll just have to make it sound as great as it is!]

I always questioned myself before. Always walked on eggshells, worried the people I cared about would leave me. But after all of that? No matter how bad my anxiety gets sometimes, I can’t question them.

I know each and every one of them cares about me just as much as I care about them. We were always friends, but we’re irreplaceable to one another now.

I never would have found that if I had forged through alone. And I never would have had the strength I’ve needed to push through even greater obstacles since without the knowledge that they have my back.

[Jun goes quiet for a moment, thinking. The way Rean describes it...thinking back, it was true that Kou and the rest of the XRC did seem to get closer the longer they worked together. Not only that, they gave each other strength, allowing them to overcome obstacles that would even give seasoned professionals trouble.

Him on the other hand...]

...Guess that's another mistake I made...

[it hadn't always been completely intentional, but there was no denying all the times he held himself back away from everyone. At the time, he had a dozen rationales. But now, looking back on everything, they didn't seem to hold up so well]

[THIS IS NOT WHAT HE WANTED???]

…Hey.

Whatever “mistakes” you made… if they’re your friends, and if you make it clear you want to change, they’ll accept you.

That’s part of the beauty of it. You can make mistakes. Aidios knows I’ve made more than I can count.

[he shakes his head a little]

No, it's not that. I know they'd accept me. I was the one always being standoffish, looking back.

[There'd been loads of opportunities for him to reach out, and he'd keep passing up each one.]

It's just ... Kou's club, the XRC, only formed to investigate the unusual Eclipse activity in Morimiya. But now that it's been resolved, there won't be a need for it anymore. Most of them are planning to return to their normal lives. And once I get a new mission, I'll be leaving Morimiya.

...I missed my chance, in other words.

[Oh. That... does put a damper on things. Rean brings a hand to his chin, thoughtfully.]

That... does make it difficult, yeah. But... I don't know.

Maybe I'm just overly optimistic, but I don't think it's all just over. Just because the adventure of the moment is dealt with doesn't mean another won't come up. And just because everyone's going their separate ways for now doesn't mean you can't still keep in contact.

And besides... it doesn't really need to be combat that brings people together.

Have I ever told you about the concert my class put on at the school festival?

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