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

🥩 curse you meat 🍖

[hangfire]

[Oh boy, one of the artsy types. Before he can ask why, the sketchpad is turned around, and despite himself Lutha is making sure it's as Albedo says and not some sort of notes. No, most of it is scribbles, the fleeting placement of shapes and shadows--

But his expression twists up sharply at the third picture.

Sorry, Albedo, he's grabbing for your sketchbook, voice cold.]

I'm not a damn animal. Find something else to study.

🥩 🍖 oh no what cute little meats!

[groundcover]

[ Albedo is not holding onto the sketchbook particularly tightly, nor does he expect it to be taken, so it's quite easy for Lutha to snatch it, drawing a surprised noise from Albedo. But though he frowns, dismayed and a little worried that Lutha might damage it, Albedo simply holds his hands out in hopes the man will return it. ]

Ah -- If you wish, you may keep the sketch to do with as you like, but please give the rest of my notebook back.

[ There are no notes on this page save for a date penciled in the corner, but previous pages in the notebook have a variety of notes, observations, other sketches, and even a bit of experimental data, should Lutha choose to flip through it. ]

I do apologize if I have offended you in some way. I like to draw that which I find interesting, and both your determination to salvage that bread and the markings on your skin are striking.

[ Nothing about his tone is mocking or insincere. ]

[hangfire]

[Yeah he's just ignoring those outreached hands for a hot minute, flipping back a couple pages to make sure there wasn't anything fishy... which is awkward to do when you're missing one hand, but he makes it work. It might seem like he's ignoring Albedo's apology, except that he stiffens visibly when Albedo gives his reasoning.

The honesty in his voice just makes it worse.

Lutha's face twists again, caught somewhere between offended and confused, seething out a breath as he turns his eyes away and shoves the book back into Albedo's hands with a little too much force.]

You... tch. No, fuck off. Nothing about it is "striking". Adjust your fucking eyes.

You can burn it for all I care.

[groundcover]

[ Albedo stumbles back a step with the force, but he manages not to drop the notebook. He glances down to make sure it isn't torn in some fashion, before he looks up at Lutha again, perplexed. He's never had someone grow so angered about a portrait before.

He knows there is nothing wrong with his eyes, but he is also aware that his art is not perfect. There is always room for improvement. ]

Is... there some fault you find in the drawing? I could try again.

[hangfire]

No, you won't. For fuck's sake, do I look like a damn critic?

[Is this guy just dense???? Clearly, because that's the only thing that makes any sense to Lutha. Not that he's choosing to answer that question with any sort of honesty - no, there's nothing wrong with the drawing.

Just the subject.]

I told you, find something else. Don't draw the trash in the corner of town just because you think it's fucking interesting, because it's not.

[His eyes flick back to the sketchbook, gaze thinning as he straightens up as best he can, the contempt he projects heavily muddled with something hard to place - like watching an animal raise its hackles to appear much more intimidating than afraid.]

If I catch you doing that again, that whole book is going out to sit at the bottom of the damn lake. Got it?

[groundcover]

[ bro consider grabbing a snickers instead of moldy bread next time

Albedo just... looks at Lutha, bewilderment shifting to contemplation as he considers both Lutha's words and his demeanor. It's clear he has misunderstood the situation, but hearing the man's words, Albedo wonders if this stranger might not also have misunderstood his own intent. Uncertainty grips him - what is the best course of action? Would it be better to acquiesce? Or would it be worthwhile to continue attempting to reach a mutual understanding?

It strikes him as strange to hear such a fascinating person refer to himself as 'trash in the corner of town', however. Is that how this boy feels about himself? Or is it how he assumes Albedo feels? Or perhaps both? Maybe it is the wrong choice to pursue trying to understand that, but well... curiosity go brr.]

Do you believe yourself to be trash?

[He doesn't even acknowledge the threat - it feels empty to him. If Lutha were going to enact violence upon Albedo's precious notebook, he probably would done so when first he grabbed it.]

[hangfire]

[There's a crack in his composure, slight but noticeable, Albedo's question one that he hadn't been prepared to answer. A retort, sure, or perhaps more pointless drivel.

Not this.

He swallows roughly, silent, as though waiting for Albedo to crack some sort of joke. But it doesn't come, and his anger deepens with a subtle sense of hurt.]

What else would I be to people like you?

[He shoves his collar up against his neck as he takes a couple steps back.]

Look, just leave me alone. Keep those kinds of stupid questions to yourself before other people hear you... spirits, and if you're going to bother studying shit that in depth, at least go find someone that will pay you to do it.

You're wasting it.

[All said without any eye contact, because the second the last syllable spits out of his mouth, he's immediately starting to walk away.]

[groundcover]

[ Albedo notes the cracks, the subtle shifts in expression, the failure to meet his eyes, and the way Lutha withdraws. He cannot say he understands the depth of what the gestures are telling him, but he does recognize a sense of hurt and an effort to distance, to isolate.

There is a certain indescribable feeling in his chest as he sees this and hears Lutha's words - a sadness for which he doesn't quite know the right words or what to do about it. But there is no time to mull over that feeling, because at the forefront, the words still don't quite make sense. ]

People like me...?

[ He echoes softly, uncertain what Lutha means; the sentiment is too undefined. And what follows after - it was Lutha who approached him to begin with, and he fails to see what's stupid about the question or why anyone hearing would matter save perhaps as a point of pride, maybe. It is, after all, the City of Freedom and the people here tend to embrace that, welcoming any and all, asking only that they do not do harm to others. Not that all subjects are suitable for open discussion with just anyone, of course, but simply asking questions is no crime here.

But before he can quite articulate a response, Lutha is already walking away, and Albedo is left staring after him, puzzling over if he has indeed truly done something wrong or if the strife simply lies within this stray stranger.

He does not call after Lutha, nor does he chase him. He just watches him leave and contemplates. After a while, once Lutha has passed beyond view around a corner, he looks down at his notebook and the sketches he drew in silence for a time before smoothing out a crinkle in the paper and turning to a new page whereupon he begins a new drawing. Further documentation of Lutha and the shifts in his posture and demeanor.

With enough study, surely anything can be understood.]