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]

[A wizard and a doctor? And he seems so mature, besides... Rean's definitely feeling kind of shy, here, but he takes that glass and holds it up in cheers.]

Ha... thanks. I really do appreciate it.

Cheers.

[eolja]

[no this quest has to be 50 tags long now,

Seonho pushes most of his hair back so he can look down more clearly, then he moves the dirt off what he's hoping is this ~mysterious blue ore~ that Wagner wants to find so badly,

he places his hand around the object and yanks it out to reveal -- this. nya.]

...Do you like cats, Zeta?

[he holds it out for Zeta because he knows lucas doesn't]

[eolja]

[Seonho almost replies with "drinks and company?" because he knows Figaro is a thot who likes milf courtesans, but instead he nods, the smile on his face a bit more genuine than obviously plastered on. does it truly matter if Figaro's forgotten him? It's not as if either of them had shared secrets or confided in each other.... It's not the sort of relationship where Seonho should feel particularly betrayed over being forgotten. (if only figaro tried to mcmurder him earlier, then he'd be sad)

If anything, he just wonders who exactly gets to decide which of them get to keep their memories, and which do not.]

I never did get the opportunity before. If you let me know a time that works best for you, then I would be happy to indulge.

[seonho assuming that figaro wouldn't want to get sloshed on day one is very funny]

[eolja]

[the chicken's just in the way of absolute success y'know...

after they successfully complete this comm, Seonho will absolutely ask him about the armor, but for now he keeps a careful eye on both Sylvain and the tsundere chicken. at least now that Sylvain's in the tree, there's even less of a reason to throw anything.

the chicken looks even more offended at the sweet term of endearment, and starts shuffling down the branch as far away as possible from Sylvain, which just means she hops onto the thinner, and far more fragile, parts of this tree limb she's perched herself on. Whatever Sylvain's doing, it looks like it's working??]

Try calling her that again.

[call her babe so that she gets right to the tippy tip and just TOPPLES OFF!!! This is a great plan after all? Sylvain is so smart?]

[acquaint]

[ it figures that this chicken is smart and knows better than to be charmed by him, but also makes his job harder than it should be. oh well, this is par for the course, and there's really something totally ironic about this? like, sylvain is a pro at making girls lose interest in him entirely, he just never thought it would also apply to chickens. wild.

so okay, the chicken does not appreciate the pet name, despite how sincere he's being, but pro: she's moving further down this branch, and should it fail to hold her, she will fall into seonho's waiting arms. con: she's moving further down this branch, and should it fail to hold her, she will fall. at least it won't be too bad, though? it's not particularly windy and seonho seems to have good reflexes? sylvain's sword guy senses are tingling. ]

That's it, baby, keep going. Just like that. [ the chicken clucks disapprovingly, feathers ruffled as she makes more of an effort to put distance between herself and sylvain. the branch starts dipping precariously and sylvain glances down at seonho, ] I'm gonna shake the branch a little, okay? Get ready.

1/2

[cranelike]

("That means you’d have to cool off with the “surprises” for a while.")

[cranelike]

(AND HE LET'S OUT A LOUD LAUGH,)

It's because there aren't enough of us that I'll have to work even harder!

[vayuda]

I suppose that is true for most humans.

[ Xiao does not concern himself with that overmuch. No one is going to tell a yaksha they can't glide unless they pass an exam. ]

[vayuda]

Do you not desire the sandwich?

[ He can still take it back?

Apparently he's being entirely serious. No punking is occuring. ]

[pragmatism]

The City of Freedom holds no love for shackles.

[ They absolutely can. ]

No one will give you any orders. It is up to you to choose your path forward.

[pragmatism]

[ One secret shared is to see another returned. Zhongli did not expect Seonho to obey this creed, so he's pleasantly surprised to be offered this information in return. ]

I see. I shall seek him out, then. A friend of yours is a friend of mine.

[ Most of the time. Zhongli chooses his allies carefully, so he can say this and have it be true... probably. It would be wise to encourage cohesion and cooperativeness between the outlanders, and Zhongli sees this as one of the things he has to actively foster.

Though: ]

The fact that he does not remember your disappearance is intriguing. When I returned to Teyvat, I found that barely a day had elapsed since my last memory before departure.

[bowfaire]

...

(There's something amusing about what Figaro's said but Claude is just going to keep it to himself like a nice little secret to himself,)

Well, I gotta admit, I wouldn't complain to knowing what to expect. (He speaks lightly.) Anything to give me the better advantage in the future, you know?

(HEH. As for that last part though? He smiles in response! Friendly and warm but there's that shine in his eye, like someone up to no good. He's trouble. Be careful.)

You mean it? Maybe I'll take you up on that offer.

(Except not really because Claude von Riegan trusts only enough people to count on his hands. Gomen. )

[groundcover]

Don't worry - this isn't a test you can pass or fail. It's simply a way to gather data as a starting point.

[Luckily, no one is currently using the space, so Albedo busies himself with setting up two striking dummies. Then he steps back.]

Whenever you're ready.

how dare you?? I have never made a typo before in my life

[groundcover]

[Since Alice has not somehow managed to cause a chain explosion along all of the leylines, Albedo can only presume her research is going all right.]

Just Albedo is fine, thank you.

[Another droplet of water sliding through the leaves onto his sketchbook spurs him to finally - after blotting it up - put it away back in his pack where it will be safe and dry.]

May I ask what has brought you to Mondstadt?

[complementing]

[scream]

Wait wait wait! You can't just jab that thing in there and expect it to unlock!

[She pulls one of her hairpins out and brandishes it.]

Give me a minute with it and I'll have it open.

[complementing]

[Koromaru grins his doggy grin at Figaro and gives him a wink. Minako laughs.]

Yup! We have an android— oh, that's a robot that's modeled after humans, by the way— but she has a Persona, too! So I think anyone with a strong heart and mind could probably get one. It's more about your ability to overcome your fears than who or what you are or having an affinity for magic.

[complementing]

Mmm, well. I'm not so unused to it. But you're still right.

[She salutes him cheerfully.]

Minako Arisato, at your service! And you probably know that this is Korochan by now, but his full name is Koromaru. We're from Japan...erm, you probably don't know about Japan. Umm, we're from a land famous for cherry blossom trees and lots of amazing sweets!

[complementing]

[Like a switch is flipped, her expression sours and she exhales sharply.]

If you're gonna talk to me in the future only because I'm useful, I'd rather you not talk to me at all.

[complementing]

[Minako laughs with all the fearlessness of a child.]

Roger that! You be careful, too!

[And off she goes...Koromaru looks up at Rean with a look that says something like "thanks for making it slightly less dangerous for her" before trotting over to the wall she's starting to scale, sitting down to watch.]

[extinctive]

[ a chuckle. ]

Well, I'm no human so maybe I shouldn't have to follow the standard protocol here? Not that they'd be able to give us time to give one with these time discrepancies we've been having.

[ figaro continues to hop from one rooftop from another, the wall overlooking the lake almost at reach. ]

[dispassionatedevotion]

[ If he were the type to make more expressive faces, this would be where he'd be giving Rean a change in one (probably a perturbed one), but he really wasn't. ]

...

[ He almost couldn't comprehend the idea of making new friends. Teamwork was one thing, but really...he was far too cold for that. Or so he thought. ]

I don't see myself changing any time soon. But, I imagine we'll see this through just fine, as long as no one tries to waste time getting too comfortable with one another.

[omegathree]

Hmm... Very well! There seems to be some shallow water in that direction. We can scare them that way.

[To the side, the fishing rod lays abandoned.]

[beatnest]

[ Well he recognizes some of those, though he's pursing his lips at the end. ]

More than lanterns can steal your souls.... but I guess it's not that weird. But if you're a sword, why did you suddenly come to life? Is there a fairy tale about a wandering sword that I forgot about too? [ He sounds less sure of himself, so this is a perfectly ripe opportunity to really spin some grand tales if that's what the whimsy of the evening is. ]

[beatnest]

What's that mean in Japanese? Not Latin.

[ Or whatever language they're speaking but Byakuya wouldn't adjust his wording either way. ]

[reglaze]

You're already looking at it... so to speak. I live here, but the country to the southwest, Liyue. This is my first trip to Mondstadt. [Nevermind it's involuntary. Details.

Ganyu points to a small fox creature running away from their approach.]

These are common there as well. It's how I know what we might face on our errand.