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

i

[complementing]

Ow!

[Minako lets out a little shriek for his efforts, slapping his hand away from her arm. And then immediately looks apologetic.]

Sorry about that! You static shocked me really bad just now. It still kind of stings...

[Owww. She flails her arm a little to shake off the feeling, scrunching up her face with displeasure. The silver dog at her feet starest at Lucas with suspicious red eyes.]

[magicdrain]

[ Well, that's probably the right reaction to have after getting zapped by a stranger. Lucas looks slightly annoyed by the slap, but he supposes he had it coming.

What he doesn't expect is the apology. How peculiar when he'd been the aggressor. ]

Oh, I'm still getting used to it. [ Liar. He totally did that on purpose. ] It hurt that much?

[ Interesting and noted. The dog doesn't go unnoticed either, and Lucas glances down at it with equally as red eyes. ]

[complementing]

Mmmm...it's not the worst I've ever been shocked. But it still hurt a lot! Though I guess it obviously would since I'm not wearing any armor right now.

[She turns in her seat to fully look at him, blinking.]

Anyway, did you need something?

[magicdrain]

[ Someone who normally wears armor? ]

Just looking for answers, I suppose.

[ Look at this poor boy. He is clearly lost and confused. ]

I arrived here not long ago.

[complementing]

Me too! I think a ton of people are in the same boat as us, really.

[She kind of wants to get everyone together in a big group to talk about things...but how to go about that?]

What kind of questions do you have? I don't know that much, but maybe I can still help. Or we could even try to find an answer together. The locals are pretty easy to talk to.

[magicdrain]

[ Lucas wants the opposite of that... Sure, he'd like to know more, but not if a whole damn group is going to be involved! He's trying to be a (sighs loudly) lone wolf here. ]

Why don't you tell me what you've found out so far from talking with the locals?

[ That way Lucas can save himself the trouble of doing the same. ]

[complementing]

Oh, sure! But you should sit down first! I don't wanna make you stand up the whole time I'm talking.

[She gestures to the seat across the table from her. Koromaru continues to staaaare.]

[magicdrain]

[ What do you want, mongrel!!

But Lucas will pause for just a moment before sitting down at the offered seat. He's so out of his element with kindness, like. What has he done to deserve this??

Once he's settled, he figures they should at least get introductions done with. ]

I'm Lucas, by the way.

[complementing]

Minako Arisato! And the puppy that's glaring at you is Koromaru.

[She grins wryly, and Koromaru lets out a little huff before setting his head on his paws.]

Sorry. He's normally really friendly, but I guess he didn't like that you poked me earlier.

[And honestly she's a little unsure of him for that too, because you don't touch a girl without her permission! But he's an outlander just like her so she'll let it slide for now.]

So! Was there anything specific you wanted to know about, or should I just ramble about what I think is important?

[magicdrain]

[ It's okay. Lucas isn't much of a dog person. Or an animal person. He's threatened to eat people's pets before, so. Go ahead and glare at him, Koromaru, because he is completely unbothered.

He'll make that especially obvious with how he rests an elbow against the table, then his cheek against the palm of his hand. The very picture of just chilling. ]

Why don't you start with what you think is important?

[ Maybe that way it'll cover the specifics of what he wants to know, while getting in more information he might not have considered before. ]

[complementing]

Sure! Ahem!

[Hope he's prepared to get his ear talked off, because here comes all of the information in a flood: this world is called Teyvat, the city is called Monstadt, the gems that all the newcomers have are called Visions, there are different elements for the Visions, nobody knows how or why the newcomers are here but everyone is cool with it, Monstadt has a delegation from a snowy land called Snezhnaya in it right now and things seem pretty tense, their god is called Barbatos and nobody knows where he is but they all like him, there's seven gods in total, there's a place called the Stormterror's Lair that people don't like to go to, the Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius is off on an expedition and the Acting Grand Master is called Jean—]

And since Monstadt is the City of Freedom, you're allowed to do whatever you want here. Within reason. [She tilts her head.] Was that helpful?

[magicdrain]

[ Holy... information overload, Batman. Lucas struggles between paying attention to what's being said along with staring at this stranger like she's grown a second head.

Has she just been running around speaking to every person available and collecting all of this information right off the bat? Meanwhile Lucas here has been zapping people for fun. What a case of extremes on both sides. ]

You found all of this out in such a short amount of time?

[ THAT'S... highkey kind of impressive. ]

[complementing]

[She laughs and shrugs.]

I like talking with people! And they're all really nice, so it was easy to get answers. They were a little bit cagey about Stormterror's Lair and what Stormterror actually is, so I guess I'll have to keep asking to clear that up.

[She takes a sip of her drink for her parched throat and then tilts her head.]

Buuut not bad, right?

[magicdrain]

[ Likes talking with people, huh... Lucas can't relate. Though Minako's enthusiasm for speaking with others certainly made his life easier. He's learned more than he thought he'd be able to in only a moment's time. ]

Not bad at all.

[ Rare for him to be so agreeable, even bordering on complimentary, but he figures it's deserved in this case. Besides, she hadn't even asked anything of him in return. That's always nice. ]

You seem useful to have around.

[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.

[magicdrain]

[ Lucas can't help the short bark of laughter that follows. He likes this new attitude! ]

Don't people usually talk to one another to find some use in the other?

[ At least, that's how Lucas has always operated. ]

[complementing]

Uh, no? There are a ton of reasons people talk with each other, but that's definitely not one of the main reasons why. Have you never talked with someone about a shared interest? About your likes and dislikes?

[magicdrain]

[ What the... That sounds so boring?? ]

Why would I do that?

[ And waste EVERYONE'S time. ]

[complementing]

To make friends! [She frowns.] You must've had at least one person you've done that with. If you haven't then you're really missing out.

[magicdrain]

I don't have a need for friends.

[ And he's living a fine lonely life as is! ]

There's nothing wrong with being acquaintances, don't you think?

[complementing]

[Ah, he's one of those emotionally constipated guys. Minako's expression goes from peeved to enlightened.]

No, there isn't, but I think being friends is infinitely better.

[She'll do her best to prove him wrong about not needing friends!]

It's fine if you don't want to tell me anything you like yet. I'll tell you what I like instead, and maybe one day you'll feel up to telling me the same!