JANUARY MINGLE

[stellafortunamods]

January Mingle: A Ballad in Goblets
Welcome to Teyvat - a vast magical world of adventure.
You open your eyes to an unfamiliar sight. A cool breeze flits through rustic buildings and sunny streets, carrying the smell of flowers and wine. The very air itself seems charged with mana, the warm pulse of the land palpable beneath your feet. This is a new world, a world where the elements compose all of reality. Before you is a bubbling fountain, and a key is entwined between your fingers. And that weight on your hip? A sparkling bauble that you've never seen before, yet it feels natural, as if it had always been there.

Asking around nets you the name of this world - Teyvat - and the name of this city - Mondstadt, blessed by the Anemo Archon, Barbatos. Your new home is accessible with the key placed in your hands, though this also brings to mind another question. How will you get money? Food isn't free, after all.

Luckily for you, there's plenty of jobs available for the enterprising Traveler. Be it taking requests from the Adventurers' Guild, or working part-time at one of Mondstadt's many food establishments, Mora is to be had when hard work is involved. The cuisine of Mondstadt is best paired with its wine, served at bars or enjoyed in private with a few friends.

And about that shining gem. locals will tell you that it is a Vision, a sign of favour from Teyvat's elemental gods. With the Vision on hand, you find yourself capable of commanding one of the seven elements. What will you do with this newfound blessing? Use it for good... or for evil?

Mondstadt's liveliness doesn't diminish when night falls. Bards sing through the wee hours of the night, and the lights of the city help keep most evildoers at bay. All seems peaceful, a pastoral idyll of a life that seems more at home in a storybook. Yet for those Travelers who venture out beyond the city's walls and into the ruins dotting the landscape, they may discover hints of a bloodier past now forgotten.

Glancing at any of the calendars in the city will tell you the current date. August 10th was the day you arrived. As soon as the last minute of August 16th slips away, the world around you changes. A blink, and time itself rewinds by seven days. Looking outside, the mown lawns have regrown, the windmill needs fixing again, and the well is once again full. Just what is happening here? It seems only you, Traveler, remembers the week that never was.

State of the World

For the first two weeks of the game, IC time will be looping from August 10th to August 16th. It's currently late summer in Mondstadt, and the trees are just beginning to turn out their autumn colours. The weather is cool and pleasant, with light showers on Tuesday (11th) and Friday (14th). It's also a good time to go out gathering berries and nature's bounty from Mondstadt's forests and valleys.

These two weeks will let us trial out our commissions and regains system and craft improvements for February onwards. There will be no activity requirements for January, so all threads started during this time period can be used for regains!

For all questions regarding January's mingle and events, please head over to our OOC post.

Comments

[sufferean]

[Rean is coming in right after her when he hears that warning, and it is enough to, thankfully, stop him for a second.

...Oh. Well. Red barrels = explosions. That's good to know! Rean is pretty much certain he would have found that out the hard way if not for that.]

Thanks for the heads up!

[He'll have to thank her more sincerely once this fight is over. In the meantime, he doesn't seem to be utilizing his Vision, instead relying on natural speed, power, and technique to take down a couple more hilichurls.

He seems to step between them in almost a flash, quickly slashing whichever one he gets near before stepping back and unleashing a final blow to all of the ones he'd hit previously. Still, his movements aren't anything unnatural, simply the result of years of training and practice.]

Watch out, I'm going to aim for one of the barrels!

[And with that warning given, he dashes forward to slash open a barrel nearby a couple more hilichurls, leaping back and out of harm's way before it can go boom.]

he looks like such a cat in that icon

[masking]

[it definitely doesn't! no way! which is why kaeya laughs, a quiet, albeit genuinely amused sound meant to let xiao know... that he gets it. okay, buddy, so you're sharp...]

A loner needling others... [hmm, hmm, hmm, x 2.] We'll say that he's blunt, instead. The type of person to tell others exactly what he thinks of them.

[another look back at mr. mingle, who is still scribbling notes. this is a very detailed layout of his main-character-to-be.]

No charm to speak of. I wonder if he has any friends...

[sufferean]

[Ah, good, he understood. Rean nods in response to his question.]

You can say that again. [About the shock part, not the training.] I'm pretty worried about it, but there's not a lot I can do other than just try to get my bearings.

[And about the training part...]

...Ah, thank you, but I wouldn't say that. I think my caution is more a result of just being anxious than anything I've trained for.

[That is a sheathed sword at his hip, though, so there must be some kind of training going on.]

I could say the same of you, though. [Rean nods toward Serpico's sword.] Better to be safe than sorry in an unknown place, yeah?

[sufferean]

"Months?" That was a couple weeks ago...

[...Okay, he has to ask. This is nuts, but he has to.]

Say, Elliot... what month is it for you, exactly? Because for me, it's May. Late May.

[sufferean]

[Well, that explains the bigass and all the symbols all over his shroud and whatnot, but it doesn't really explain why Jun couldn't lift it.

Rean can only assume there's a plausible explanation, here, so he just continues.]

...well, I'm no "holy knight," but I know my way around a battlefield. [He says that confidently enough, but his gaze is definitely drifting away from Jun, like it's something he's ashamed of. He closes his eyes with a sigh to re-center, then continues.] I suppose if this place has some sort of problem to be solved, then it's just one more task being dropped onto my plate to handle.

[...How many "tasks" do you just take without question, Rean?]

Would have preferred them asking first, but I guess we're stuck here whether we like it or not.

[fiddlestick]

Few years ago, huh...that must've been something.

[He's curious and wants to ask more about this guy's life, but he does know they are exploring this world - he should focus on that.

And boy...that statue is massive. Elliot looks up, a little bit in awe. It's a moment like this that makes it really hit home that he's in another world.]

Yeah...it reminds me a little of Aidios, but...not.

[A similar theme, what with Aidios being a goddess of the sky. But at the same time...he could tell it wasn't. It was a little surreal, staring at it.]

his true illuminated beast form

[vayuda]

[ Honestly, it isn't often that humans needle him. The last one to do it...probably the ever irreverent Hu Tao. Mostly in Liyue he is feared and avoided, for all that people leave him offerings.

It suits Xiao, he thinks. When he thinks of it.

The friendless accusation doesn't rattle him. It has always seemed to be more of a human concept to him. They tie one another together in such strange and desperate ways, so many words for different degrees of knots and tangles. Xiao once had comrades, and perhaps he might have called them friends -

But they're long since dead, now. ]

If you need to pretend to have friends, I wouldn't say you have them.

[fiddlestick]

May...!? Seriously?

[But that was so long ago! Like twenty years, considering everything that's happened]

W-Well, um, it's September for me. Mid-September! -- You're sure it was May?!

[Look it's hard to believe!!]

[whiteshroud]

[That's an interesting response. Jun is a little curious about Rean's battlefield experience. Was that how he wounded up working a military academy like he mentioned before? And...why did he give such a strange expression about it? Like he felt shameful? It reminded him of looks Gorou-sensei would give sometimes while discussing missions, but it's not like he understood those looks either.

Besides, more importantly-]

Are you saying you're planning to help them out? Even before we know what helping out entails?

[Jun lives for missions as much as the next Seal Knight, but man you are volunteering yourself QUICK]

[masking]

[well! he was talking about their friendless main character (and thus xiao by extension), but—okay, okay. friends.]

And I wouldn't disagree.

[even though kaeya's friendships are kind of... well, you know what? it's not about him! don't @ him!! shit's complicated when you are secretly [redacted].]

I take it our antihero has few friends, then?

[he's going to say antihero as many times as he can, just because. suffer. but as he looks back at xiao, canting his head to the side:]

c

[flamesofdawn]

[ It wasn't quite unusual for him to show up around Angel's Share from time to time. He did spend most of his time at Dawn Winery, but today he had come to discuss something with Charles regarding a particular shipment he'd made an order for.

Diluc had taken barely a step inside when he heard the newcomer speaking to Charles, listening to it for just a second before exhaling a soft sigh. ]

If it's a job you're looking for, he's not the one you should be talking to about that.

[ Hiring people was kind of not entirely up to Charles to be doing without his explicit permission anyway so yeah. That was a thing. ]

[vayuda]

[ If Kaeya can @ him he can @ Kaeya, it's the Law. Honestly...

...Xiao doesn't know the answer to that. Surely calling Rex Lapis "friend" is something he cannot dare, and as to the other Adepti...they're comrades in arms, certainly, but they can go decades without crossing paths and Xiao never seeks them out without cause. ]

Your kind would more enjoy a story about a true hero. Perhaps one of the Seven.

For Zhongli

[groundcover]

[ Today the winds bring the promised rain, soaking the earth, swelling the streams and rivers, and wetting any who leave the protection of a roof or an overhang with a gentle, steady shower. In other words, it is an ideal day to gather certain plants to replenish dwindling alchemy supplies. Damp soil makes gathering delicate roots without damage much easier, after all. So it is that Albedo finds himself meandering the Mondstadt wilds, enjoying the fresh air and minding the downpour little as he stoops now and again to unearth a particular botanical treasure - or even scoop up a frog and gently scrape a bit of its slime into a vial ere letting it go once more.

Of course, it wouldn't be Albedo if he didn't pause from time to time to sketch an unusual cluster of leaves on a bush or a trio of slimes balancing in a precarious stack. But even with such delays, he does eventually make it to Windrise, where he'd planned for a short break under the vast canopy to eat a small lunch. However, he finds his plans a bit derailed as he sees someone he does not immediately recognize standing amid the roots.

Albedo stops some distance away, transfixed for a moment by this stranger and the picture he makes in contrast to the tree. In the misty, dreary light, he seems almost unreal. After a few moments of simply observing, Albedo pulls out his sketchbook and - while carefully angling himself beside the statue of Barbados to try and shelter the paper from the rain, he begins to block out this man, straight and steady amid the curving roots, grounded where the crystalflies float idly by.

He doesn't spend too long on the sketch, as it's more the contrast and the silhouette of the man that interests him than the particular details, but soon enough it's done, and he considers it for a few moments. Then, a decision having been reached, he carefully tears it from the sketchbook's binding and approaches the man.]

Hello. [He speaks up when he draws a bit closer, waiting only for Zhongli to give some indication he heard before continuing:] I hope you do not mind, but I took the liberty of drawing you a moment ago, and I thought you might like to have the sketch.

[Despite his best efforts, the paper is a bit damp, and a few more droplets make their ways through the leaves overhead to spot it. But well... maybe it will simply add to the feeling of it or something. It is, after all, the feeling of the moment Albedo sought to capture.]

[extinctive]

[ damn, for chickens they sure are brave enough to throw the dirtiest looks at an angel and a wizard capable of toppling mountains. but they can no longer do that while they're here, aren't they...

figaro blinks, and focuses his eyes on the chicken hoard. some of them seem to be emitting translucent light-blue energy, making a trail heading towards the nearby wood. ]

It's Cryo energy, and it seems to be heading that way. Come on.

[ sandalphon will have to leave the chickens behind if he doesn't want figaro to get to them, before heading towards the trees. at the bottom of the cliff lay some sort of portal - a domain, that's rippling with more cold energy. ]

Some sort of pocket space? Interesting. [ hmm. ] Are you ready to go? I'm not one for combat, but I can heal you if you ever decide on taking them head-on.

[masking]

[this is mondstadt, baybee! kaeya is free to do as he pleases, sans repercussions—and kaeya also sees this subject change, sir. not sneaky in the slightest; almost certainly deserving of ridicule, actually, but while kaeya enjoys pushing others, kaeya knows when to (temporarily) back away. time to cross his arms, lazily lifting one shoulder in a sort of half-shrug.]

Oh, I'm sure there are enough of those. We're looking for something that will stand out, aren't we?

[mr. mingle nods! probably throws in a comment about, like, cornering an undiscovered corner of the market.]

We humans like to connect with characters. An antihero with few friends—why, that could be anyone! That's what makes them interesting. [hmmMMM—] And who knows? Maybe they secretly want to make new friends in new places.

[hangfire]

[In contrast, the redhead's contempt can practically be tasted for how his expression sours further.]

Are you stupid? That's not what I fucking meant.

[In contrast, the redhead's contempt can practically be tasted for how his expression sours further. "Right"? What was right about it? Food was food, and it's not like he was going to be let near any of these market stands without resorting to begging. That's just how the world worked, right?

His mouth curls up in the bare starts of a snarl before he forces his gaze back to what he was doing.]

This-- [He holds up what remains of his meal of choice.] --is the fucking workaround. I know how to cook. Get to the point where you don't have a choice, and then come preach to the random street swine about how they should stay alive.

[vayuda]

[ Honestly, he doesn't even see himself as an antihero. Xiao is a weapon - nothing more or less. If he performs any acts of heroism, the praise is deserved by Rex Lapis. If he sins...

The consequences for that he will bear alone. ]

If someone wanted to make friends, they would. Perhaps what this "antihero" wants is to do away with meddlesome sorts.

[extinctive]

[ in one ear, and out the other. ]

Now, don't be shy! Come on, let Doctor Figaro treat you to a round.

[ he's going to slam the door open and lead them inside let's goooooo ]

[hangfire]

[He doesn't have bullets anyway, so Zhongli gets to be gunshot free for another day...]

You thought wrong. It's not like I'm a monster. You don't need to be subtle about it.

[His lips thin as he looks back out at the coast.]

The hell are you doing all the way out here unarmed, anyway? You got some kind of death wish?

b

[flamesofdawn]

[ Whether he's in Mondstadt at Angel's Share working or at the Dawn Winery, Diluc was always generally busy but also tended to be observant. Especially when it came to the people that showed up, so the one afternoon he was at the Winery, he heard some of the workers speaking of an odd woman wandering about the vineyards.

It had his attention so he excused himself to find the source of this himself. There didn't seem to be any harm, but it was his duty to look into it incase it changed.

After a bit of searching, he'd spotted it. A woman with vivid blue hair and clothes that distinctly did not at all speak of Mondstadtian attire in the slightest. Couple that with the horns and it was enough to have him coming closer, his gait calm but entirely assured. ]

We don't normally tend to get arrivals from Liyue unless they were here on business.

[ Once he's close enough, red eyes calmly take her in a bit, though never once seeming invasive. His expression almost hard to read. ]

Is there any particular reason you're wandering around like that?

[masking]

[this is the term kaeya has chosen, and this is the term kaeya will use! he's annoying like that, albeit for a reason. always looking to provoke... always tracking reactions...

anyway, time for yet another laugh. haha, sir.]

It seems our friend is taking this commission quite seriously. Jumping right into the story... oh, such talent.

[thanks for acting ic, xiao. way to really larp this guy. all this earns you is... a bit more teasing, because hey:]

Tell us, then: what is our character looking for? A whirlwind romance? A short, but passionate affair?

[mr. mingle did say he's looking for some help with the romance, so you know. enjoy being put on the spot like this, bud.]

[extinctive]

[ what the fuck is a vampire ]

That's the thing about promises, unfortunately. Sometimes you forget the fine print until it's too late.

[ his smile is wry. ]

And you were fighting the government back home? Was it a revolution?

[vayuda]

[ Xiao's interest in romance is like, negligible. Even if it did occur to him with someone, would he believe he deserved it? Unlikely,

There's a short sigh. ]

That's a terrible motivation. If your antihero is a loner, connections with others will not be his goal.

[masking]

[bruh! this commission is all about the romansu! kaeya is merely doing them both a favor (while having a bit of fun in the process), and thus kaeya shakes his head.]

Come now! Maybe he's tired of being alone? Maybe he just isn't sure how to go about changing that.

[so you come somewhere new, and you meet people who have no idea who or what you are, and...]

[vayuda]

[ Kaeya's just getting a blank stare. Xiao would have preferred the non romance book options... ]

Some people prefer solitude. But if you want to write yourself some sordid human romance, go ahead.