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

[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.

[eolja]

[AHHH DON'T CALL HIM HIS FRIEND DAD!!! but wait he's distracted]

Truly? So the time we spent in South Sister... [doesn't reflect the time they've missed back home? Seonho can't recall if something like that had been asked or explained back in that town... But he's undoubtedly surprised at this new piece of information.

Does that relieve him or discomfit him, to know that if he returns, then it will be as if nothing has ever happened? That should comfort Hwi, Seonho thinks, before catching himself. ugh.]

It may be that time did not pass -- or that he had no reason to notice. [Seonho's managed to be honest thus far, but this next part is...] We do not spend much time in each other's company, unless it was necessary.

[they're not friends zhongli it's fine ]

[pragmatism]

Is that so?

[ Zhongli peers at Seonho, looking him directly in the eyes. Surely there must be a reason that Seonho cares about Hwi enough to tell Zhongli about him. If Seonho is trying to lie, there's still time for him to correct himself. ]

I see.

[ This means he should probably ask Hwi about Seonho once he has managed to befriend the other young man. There's definitely more than a simple dispute or feud here, but Zhongli has plenty of time to untangle it. ]