open | a merry meri mingle

[sterngaze]

Who: Meridians new & old!
What: Cookout mingle
Where: Alenroux
When: Mid-March, after Vander's rescue
Warnings: Potentially alcohol consumption and violence, for the rowdy

After the initiation of Springstar's invasion plans for Alenroux, tensions among the Meridian-aligned might be a bit strained. The move comes as a surprise even for many of the shard-bearers within the faction itself, to say nothing of those whose livelihoods depend on the farms here. It's not yet clear what Highstorm's response will be, but one will certainly be coming; when that happens, someone is going to come out on the bottom, and their blood will be at least partially on Meridian's hands.

At times like this, the importance of maintaining morale can't be understated. A call goes out to the newest generation of those harmonized with Meridian's light: it's time to have a party!

PREPARATION:

Those who can are invited to help with the set-up. There are drinks to procure, foodstuffs to acquire and prepare, canopies to erect for shade, entertainments to organize. It's not meant to be a grand affair — the gathering is private, intended to foster camaraderie among the shard-bearers after long days and nights of work — but it will be a comfortable one, with edibles and enjoyments to offer to those taking solace in the company of their fellows.

It takes one of Alenroux's long days to make all the necessary arrangements — and then, late the following morning, after the night's monsters have slunk back into the woods, things are made ready. All that's left is for the guests to arrive.

THE EVENT:

Spring is still in the midst of taking hold over Alenroux, so a tall bonfire at the centre of the gathering place offers a toasty place to linger and chat throughout the day. Hot drinks and a variety of fire-roasted foods are on offer, including an entire deer helpfully supplied and prepared by Liem. Logs and stumps provide simple seating, and nearby canopies provide shade around the tables of food and drink. A little further away, sturdy tents provide more private gathering places for those wishing for a break from the hubbub.

And there will be hubbub. To break the ice between unfamiliar faces, a variety of contests have been set up over the course of the gathering. These range from simple arm-wrestling competitions, to three-legged races, to friendly sparring matches for those so-inclined. Gathered Meris are encouraged to spectate and bet amongst themselves on contest outcomes — and better yet, to volunteer to participate themselves during the next round.

For those who have already had a chance to relax and let off some steam, the gathering is a perfect opportunity to get to know one's fellow sect-mates a little better, and to reaffirm why Meridian called to them in the first place. Those gathered are encouraged to take the chance to tell a few tales about the place they came from, and to share the visions inside their Sunbeam with those from other worlds. A favourite place, a cherished person, an unkept promise, even an old enemy: all could be worth revisiting for a moment with new comrades in arms.

Comments

HAYAME (JINBA) ➳ ICONOCLAST

[warmare]

01 ↣ THE HUNTRESS ↣ 鹿はどうぞ

[Hayame didn't necessarily approve of this. Even if it were during the day, allowing this much of their forces to relax and cavort instead of keep watch or remain vigilant... She stands on the edges of the party with a sour look on her face. A couple members of the military's archery unit greet her as they creep past towards the food or the games, but she is curt and short with them. Fine, go frolic like a fool for all she cares!.

Eventually, she just leaves. Maybe she got fed up with things? But later on... she's back, actually?, with a deer slung over her withers. With nary a "hello" or an "excuse the blood" she finds a spot at the forest's perimeter near the fire pit (and the quickly vanishing deer meat on the spit there, which people are enjoying), hangs her kill... and silently sets about dressing it, the movements of her knife precise and quick.

Give her a few minutes, there will be more food on the fire.

Or, you know, tell her to take that mess even farther away. Whatever.]

02 ↣ THE WRESTLER ↣ 自信満々

[With the day wearing on... Hayame seems to have at least found some sort of team spirit. Or perhaps she's just been worn down until she agreed to take place in the arm wrestling competition. A simian woman and a six-armed man have appointed themselves as cheerleaders, much to her chagrin, and Hayame... is so-far undefeated at the "arena" made of a few stump chairs dragged up to a flattish rock. (Not that Hayame needs the chair- her equine half is sprawled half on her belly to get her down to the right level for her opponents.)

As one of her archery students flexes their biceps and taunts the crowd with a "Step right up and taste defeat at the hands of a jiiiiinnnnbbbbaaaaaa"... Hayame makes a face that conveys a mix of annoyance and embarrassment. But if someone takes them up on the invitation...]

- Are you sure?

[She has very well-defined muscles in her arms and shoulders, visible in her sleeveless robe as she wipes her hand with a cloth to clean her last opponent off her skin.]

03 ↣ THE THINKER ↣ 見せない世界

[Others are sharing the images of their worlds through their iliachtida, but Hayame... is not. Some have curiously asked her, but she has rebuffed them. There is a golden chain that disappears into her clothing, but the bead is nowhere in sight. Later, though, once she has taken herself to the half-privacy of one of the open tents, she pulls the sunbeam bead from the tight binding around her breasts and looks at it. Really looks at it.

If anyone enters the tent, Hayame can be found looking at the bead in her palm, her consciousness divided between reality and the vision of her own world. She is just distracted enough... that she doesn't quite notice her visitor yet.]

04 ↣ WILDCARD ↣ 鬼札

[Hit me up on stormcoming or Discord chat ping if you'd prefer a custom starter/want to discuss a specific thread! ❤️ Hayame will be hanging around the mingle but largely wallflowering and judging unless dragged in.]

wildcard/huntress-ish

[bakedapple]

[ Serendipity is a funny thing. Whether you believe in it specifically or call it something else — fate, coincidence, luck — probably depends on the event you're labeling as such, and how you feel about it. And in this case, it might just end up feeling more like misfortune than felix culpa.

Link himself had slinked away from the party, for similar reasons and motivations as Hayame. He isn't very good with... that. Social gatherings. He doesn't know what to say. It's so much easier when he's speaking to others, meeting them, with a purpose in mind. But just... mingling? It's odd. Did he do that before? Was he ever good at it? He didn't forget other skills during his time in stasis. No, he's... probably never been good at that sort of thing.

But hunting, providing, he can do that. In a way, it would be his method of greeting everyone, and showing his worth as an ally, and maybe getting across his well-wishes to his new companions in a way he can't with words. Perched in a tree, he has an arrow notched and aimed at a full-grown doe in the clearing below him. And then... it falls to the ground, victim to an arrow that isn't his. Struck by confusion, he does not move or say anything. And then, something even farther beyond the realm of expectation happens right before his eyes. A creature, half-man and half-horse, clops across the clearing with bow in hand. He watches silently, in awe, as it bows down with outstretched arms and heaves the felled animal up from the grass.

They say this place that Highstorm and Springstar are fighting over is infested with monsters. While this one obviously isn't a Lynel, the resemblance is unmistakable.

He waits for the creature to turn its back to him. As it starts to walk away, he pulls back on the bowstring, aims carefully, and fires an arrow at its right hind leg. ]

[warmare]

[She had once been asked if she felt strange about hunting deer, as if she should feel kindship with an animal simply because they both had four legs. That person had regretted very quickly asking that question, because Hayame was not just a skilled huntress- she was also a proud woman inclined to violence. That inclination, however, does not prepare her for changing from the hunter to the hunted so suddenly. Not on this day, not in the day.

It isn't skill that prevents her from being shot. It is pure luck that the deer on her back shifts and she has to move to the side to prevent it slipping, intending to secure it more firmly over her withers...

And then an arrow slams into the dirt near her fetlock.

In an instant, she is transformed. The six foot long bow in her hand comes up to bear, an arrow of her own is ripped from the quiver, and in the space of seconds it is fitted to the bowstring, aimed in the direction the offending arrow had come from, and shot. While it's still in the air, her prey is dumped back to the ground with a thump... and Hayame springs into flight, dodging into the protection of the brush and trees to gain time to find her attacker.]

[bakedapple]

[ At first, Link can't tell whether he hit it or not. It seems to flinch, dropping its kill. His attention is further wretched away by the arrow that comes whizzing into the tree he's hiding in, fired from that massive longbow. The arrow thunks into the trunk of the tree, but Link is immediately impressed at the speed with which it shot back — and so accurately, too, as it dashes away in a panic.

He does not fire back. The woods are silent. Squinting, Link finally spots the fletching of his fired arrow, peeking upright through the grass. It was a miss, then... Damn. It knows someone is here now. A wasted advantage.

For a second, he wonders whether he should fall back. He could probably slink away, especially if it decides to flee or focus on hiding, and then wait it out like he would with any other prey until it decides the coast is clear and lets its guard down again. It's unlikely to abandon that deer, he thinks to himself.

One thing he has to do is leave the spot he's in now. It knows where he is. After yanking the creature's arrow from the tree and tucking it into his own quiver, he starts to climb around the other side of its branches, away from the direction it ran in, so he can more safely climb down in the veil of its thick leaves. His movement is quiet, but not silent, as he does not want to give the creature too much time to evaluate the situation. ]

[warmare]

[The first thing that comes to mind is Zenith.

It has to be them. The monsters of Alenroux not only did not show their faces in the day, they also did not use the weapons of man. They were beasts the same as the deer was, only more powerful. So if someone was shooting her with an arrow...

The arrow that her enemy rips from the tree and adds to his own quiver is noticably thicker and longer than his own, fletched with the brown feathers of a sea eagle. Arrows more fitting for a warrior whose bow is far larger, far more powerful at the draw.

But more importantly... Hayame doesn't like losing arrows. As she disappears into the brush, trained to do so despite her large size, she finds a place to hide herself, regain her sense of the location, get her breathing under control... and listen. She doesn't hear any other movements, with ears more advanced in sense than a human's, so this should be a scout at best, not a whole battalion... So after a moment, she raises her voice to call out into the wood.]

I'll be wanting that arrow back, Zenite!

[There's another one notched on her bowstring already, just waiting for signs of movement or a more noticeable shift in leaf and branch.]

03

[sterngaze]

[Although Liem has been busy for the last several days, helping with the Alenroux occupation, participating in the investigation of Aetós's hideout and organizing this gathering for the sake of his fellows, on the day of the party itself, he looks livelier than he has for most of his time in Kenos, never mind compared to his condition when they'd first begun their invasion. His eyes are a little overbright with Discord, but the shadows under them have all but disappeared, and some of the pallor seems to have receded from his skin. As he welcomes people to the gathering, cloaked as he often is in his mantle of shadow, his manner is cordial and unburdened. Perhaps a little too cordial, for those familiar with his usual cool distance, but if he is putting in a little extra effort to play host, it is only reasonable. The point of this party is to encourage people to relax.

Also rather atypical is the short, neatly groomed beard he seems to have grown in the past week or so. (This too is a symptom of his Discord — or at least, a result of his Discord in conjunction with how little time he has had for himself of late.)

He finds Hayame when he ducks into a nearby tent, in search of a moment's privacy in which to enjoy some quiet. He isn't expecting to find another person within — but when he sees Hayame, he does not immediately retreat to seek a less-occupied tent. If he is in search of quiet, he doesn't expect that Hayame, who has never been free with words, will pose much of an obstacle.

It is only as he allows the tent flap to fall closed behind him and takes his first step further into the space that he notices the focus of her attention.]

[warmare]

[Hayame is alone with her thoughts for a moment longer, even past when she ceases to be actually alone. In the cradle of her rough hands, which have never known how to be gentle, she tries to hold the sunbeam like it is precious- because it is. She does not often let herself channel Meridian power through it and look, because... because she does not deserve it, because she should not let her thoughts linger on it, but...

Matsukaze is there. The yearlings she'd been teaching archery were there. If she thought about him, the landscape would change, and her brother was there...

But eventually she notices. On instinct, she immediately shields the jewel from sight with a protective cup of her fingers, lips already twisting into an automatic snarl until she realizes it's-]

... Liem.

[Her hackles slowly lower, her fingers remain cupped but less defensive over her sunbeam bead. She had seen him only recently in the Below, but even still... She tries to think of something to say that isn't a demand to be left alone.]

It is yet strange, to see that hair upon your face.

[sterngaze]

[He's considering saying something, or maybe just turning around and slipping back out to give her her privacy when Hayame lifts her head to snarl towards the tent's entrance. The reaction doesn't surprise him. Although others in Meridian have been encouraged to share glimpses of their own worlds, Liem was never under the illusion that Hayame might share something that precious so publicly.

He meets her stare through the dark lenses of his sunglasses — a barrier that is less important now that he can use magic to shield himself from the sun, but one that he nevertheless maintains for appearance's sake. At her comment about his beard, Liem blinks. But the signal to keep the focus of any conversation away from herself is clear enough.]

I'm not used to it either.

[He lifts a hand, absently, to rub at the greying hair on his jaw. Even now, while the vitality Gray lent him is still easing the harsher lines and shadows of his face, the beard makes him look considerably older. But he supposes that's a little more honest, if anything.]

I just don't have the time to keep it shorn. If I shave at dawn, the stubble is back by mid-morning. And I'm too busy to be loitering in front of a mirror every few hours to attend it.

[Easier just to trim it, to keep it from getting wild. His hair is a bit more of a lost cause; he can't trim it himself, and although he makes an effort to keep it combed back from his face, in the week or so since he was last at a barber it's become more than a little fluffy.]

[warmare]

You look like an aging barbarian.

[… Blunt??? But, perhaps, that is not a surprise either. Her own culture much preferred a clean shaven face, relegating the image of a bearded man for depicting the indigenous people considered different and lesser than the Emperor’s court. The pale men from across the sea, too, had great bushy beards, she had heard. It is strange, and she simply says so.

Perhaps if it had appeared gradually, an obvious choice of a man changing his style…

But it hadn’t. And seeing as she wasn’t so quick to forget what had happened to her own hair when she was suffering the effects of Discord her first few months in Kenos…]

You have time to host whatever this is, but not to tend to yourself?

[She doesn’t mean shaving.

She hasn’t put her sunbeam bead away, merely tightened the curl of her fingers upon it.]

02

[hauntedking]

I'll try.

[ Dimitri seems confident enough. Although perhaps he's cheating a little because heh as a crest... ]

And if I taste defeat, it's to a worthy opponent. Besides... it seems fun, doesn't it?

[ He knows he and Hayame have butted heads (to put it politely) before, but he doesn't see any reason to let that interfere today. This is supposed to be about coming together as a group, isn't it? ]

[warmare]

[Hayame's expression... decidedly does not look like she finds this fun. In fact, it's very put upon. But that might be because her subordinates... are having all the fun for her. The simian woman fairly backflips into view over Hayame's withers, posing with arms crossed and a you'll taste defeat alright, the six-armed man nodding sagely with a to a worthy opponent indeed...

And their instructor's brow twitches.]

Excuse them.

[They might be going to start collecting gambling bets on this match from the people around watching.]

Sit. You look strong for a human.

[It's been tough trying not to break arms.]

[hauntedking]

No, no, it's quite alright. Their enthusiasm is... infectious.

[ He laughs and strips out of his coat and down to his shirtsleeves. He's actually got some impressive strength under there. The gambling he will politely ignore, for all of that. He settles down and starts to situate himself, getting a little comfortable. ]

I have no small measure of strength. Although arm-wrestling isn't something I do often...

[warmare]

Infectious...

[Hayame mutters it as if it's far more negative a trait than he's viewing it, but the two don't seem phased at all. In fact, they're already busy going to hype the crowd up (and maybe take bets). As Dimitri sits, Hayame watches his arms, sizing him up as she wipes her hand...

And then holds out the cloth.]

Me neither. Wipe.

[All this bare hand touching in front of a crowd... disgusting, even as a battle contest. If it wasn't actually life and death, was it really a battle? He says he's strong, but-]

Aren't you human?

3

[leicesters]

[Claude's of a similar mind to Hayame with regards to the gathering. He's finding it harder than usual to feign good cheer, between the invasion here in Alenroux and the events down in the Zoo, and he keeps turning everything that has happened in that brief window of time over in his mind. Was taking Manon to neutral ground the right decision? What about Adelfoúla and letting her lead them right down to her destruction?

In Fódlan things tended to spiral wildly outside of his control, but he was able to react to events because he had his army, and he had better knowledge of the land he was in. He had Byleth. As for Almyra, the worst he had to worry about was courtly intrigue, but that was predictable, a manageable danger. Here, though, the more he tries to influence anything to go the way he wants it to...

He still has his blade at his hip and his bow and quiver are stashed nearby; even if this is supposed to be a relaxed gathering, he doesn't feel it, and would sooner be ready for anything than caught off guard out here. Eventually, he ducks into one of the tents to have some time with his thoughts, and he spots a certain someone who had the same idea already. It takes him a moment to realise what she's looking at, and he lingers at the mouth of the tent, wondering if he's intruding.]

Hayame...?

[warmare]

[Hayame hasn't let go of her weapons either... though she had conceded to beginning to use magical ones that were more easily transportable and concealable. It was difficult to carry a bow and naginata that both were about six feet long, even though she totally would have if that were her only option in this place. Even though this event had been billed as a party, something for relaxation, her quiver is still on her belt, alongside what looks to be a truncated spear haft and a bow grip.

But in her hands is her sunbeam bead, cradled in fingers that are calloused and used to hurting, training, killing more than they are at protecting something precious like the only vision she has left of her world. Others are sharing their worlds outside, with each other, but she... How is she supposed to show strangers the sight of the few people she'd ever cared about, the people she had to return to in order to leave?

Instinctively, Hayame curls to hide the iliachtida from sight when she notices someone else has entered the tent, but... the second after, it registers who the intruder is. She does not... stop hiding it, but. Her posture relaxes slightly from the more on guard reaction. But the only thing she can think to say at first is-]

... Claude.

[Pointless-]

Am I needed outside?

[leicesters]

Nah, everything's fine, so you can take as long as you need.

[She hasn't shooed him away immediately, so he takes that as an invitation to enter the tent properly, moving to take a seat.]

Was I interrupting something? You don't need to stop on my account. [Better to pretend he didn't get a glimpse of what she was looking at and play dumb than to put her on the defensive, he thinks.]

02

[fishfearme]

[At a glance, Byleth seemed almost waifish compared to Hayame - especially without his cloak bulking out his otherwise slim shoulders - but his muscles were well-toned, and he had a slight unfair advantage due to his bizarre biology: being a dragon-human-homunculus hybrid meant his physical strength was slightly above average for a human, and his slim frame was denser than any human's ought to be.

Not to say he was inhumanely strong, though. He admitted that his talents lay more in his agility and precision, rather than brute strength... so why was he stepping up to the figurative plate to arm wrestle a woman who might be able to fold him like a pretzel with little to no effort?

He was intrigued. He had witnessed these type of competitions often in his world, but no one had ever dared to invite the 'Ashen Demon' into a friendly arm wrestle. Here, the shadow that title carried didn't mark him... also he had drank quite a bit, which had placed him into a curious and agreeable mood.]

Yes. I wish to gauge my upper body strength against yours.

[Um, weird way to put it, Byleth. He sat down across from her, and pinched the tip of his gloved finger.]

Should I remove my gloves for this? Admittedly, it's the first time I've arm wrestled, so I'm ignorant of its etiquette.

[warmare]

[In Byleth's defense... there were only a few people in the Meridian forces that Hayame considered a match for her strength when it came to sheer muscle mass, and none of them were human. As human-like as her upper half looked... her musculature and skeleton was subtly different beneath the surface, and her strength was anchored in the heavier, more powerful equine frame of her lower region.

So if he wants to test his strength, well...]

Keep the gloves on. I don't want your sweat on me.

[She's ignorant of the etiquette as well, but she doesn't want more flesh touching flesh than there needs to be, especially with a man she barely knows. Not if she isn't going to be murdering him, anyway- she didn't quite care when it came to battle, but here there were far too many gawkers.

Two of which are actually her... hype men, apparently, who leap at the chance to boldly announce: Look's like we have a challenger! Gather round, gather round!]

[fishfearme]

Understood.

[Byleth adjusted his glove to ensure it was seated properly, and mimicking what he had observed others doing, he set his elbow on the, er, not-quite-flat rock that was serving as the table between them, his palm open. Hayame's hype men didn't even garner a bat of an eyelash from him - considering how his gaze was laser-focused on Hayame, it was almost as if they, and the racket they were making, didn't exist.

It was how he was: his opponent was before him, and his opponent was his world until their conflict was resolved (and doubled as being an unwitting intimidation tactic, as many at the receiving end of that stare confessed it felt like being in the crosshairs of a wyvern).]

Please don't hold back. I wish to witness your full strength.

3 i'm sorry lmao

[hyperpotamous]

[ john is quick to check out when the iliachtida start getting brought out because this isn't what he's here for. he doesn't need the inevitable questions. he doesn't need anyone trying to get close.

he doesn't expect the tent to be occupied. ]

Oh, for fuck's sake—... didn't know it was taken...

[ it's not exactly an apology but he's about to turn and leave when a thought clicks into place somewhere, and he looks back.

yeah.......... that's what he thought. centaur??? ]

Huh. Cool.

[warmare]

[It is indeed a centaur (or a creature comparable), a woman whose lower half resembled a dun mare.

But though she may look it, she doesn’t react to the intrusion in halves. Though she is a beat too slow for her tastes, distracted by what she was looking at privately in her sunbeam bead, the presence of another cuts the connection when her focus turns sharply outward, and as her fingers curl tight around the circular crystal her tail lashes out angrily, a hoof scrapes the tent’s dirt floor, and she rounds on the intruder with a curl of lip that reveals canines too sharp to look like they should be attributed to either human or equine.]

What do you want?

[- She didn’t actually hear what he’d said.]

[hyperpotamous]

Oh, hey—... yeah, you were pretty in the zone there, huh?

[ he at least has the sense to look embarrassed, although only so much can be done about his monstrous eyes. ]

I came in here by mistake, not realising the place was occupied. Couldn't help but notice...

[ at which point he should have just left, but there's no easy way to say he got held up because he'd noticed the other half of her. ]

I mean, people like you are legends where I come from, so I mean no disrespect.

[ he's a big fan. ]

wildcard

[diversionist]

[ eventually, cassian makes his way to alenroux.

he hears about the invasion with the other unharmonized shard-bearers, with the rest of the populace, with no faction head to give him either warning or response to the situation. he hadn't gone to see it prior to the occupation, more interested in the home cities for the respective factions, and having heard dire warnings about monsters after dark. still a priority, but less of one.

until the open hostilities, such as they are, draw his attention.

he goes — carefully. he's here to observe. takes in the agriculture, smilingly makes purchases at the fruit stands, spends some time traversing the parks as he eats. and more than that, too, of course. while he tries to keep a safe distance from the budding outposts, from the soldiers, he doesn't avoid them by any means. he wants to see the tenor of meridian's efforts, their attitudes, their numbers. he wants to understand what he's looking at. old habits, maybe. but in a new and dangerous world where he — and jyn — have unsteady footing, being informed is critical.

and thus hayame likely finds him during patrols. he strays near some encampment deliberately, one of the days, moving at a relaxed amble — hands in his pockets, a half-smile playing across his face. there are nearby trails, so surely he's just a harmless tourist, right? probably lost? it'd be a reasonable assumption...if one's inclined to trust. ]

[warmare]

[Hayame keeps track of the comings and goings near the outpost she's been stationed with a unit of one of Springstar's archery troops. This is the sort of work she's been trained for, that she's used to. Unlike the Oracles, full of unknown variables and magic, at least this she understands. Scouting, stockpiling, defending, hunting, fighting...

She is not good with names in Kenos. There are too many that sound absurdly foreign to her ears. But she is good with faces...

And this face she has seen before. Not at the farms, not a worker in one of the nearby stalls... perhaps a "tourist". But who goes on tours to occupied territory? Who casually walks about to look at trees off the trails with no basket for gathering herbs or hatchet for wood? It is enough that she leaves her position... and the sound of hooves soft on dirt and leaves is audible just before a voice rings out from the brush.]

You, there. What business have you here?

[The figure is still half obscured by the shadow of the trees, but it is... large. And carrying something long and slim.]

[diversionist]

[ the sound of hooves is distinctive.

it's fairly unfamiliar to cassian, in fact; everywhere he's ever lived, there were no mounts or technology used instead of living creatures. he's been riding speeders since he was 10, more or less, and you can find some variant of them on most planets. he's spent most of his life in urbanized areas besides, whether living there, hustling there, seeking out marks, extracting information from targets. where would he have encountered a horse? so: in some ways, he has no frame of reference for hayame's appearance, scant clues as he has right now.

but in other ways, he has all the frame of reference he needs. he's met countless humanoid species, speaks some of their languages, has in fact found it noteworthy and strange how many shard-bearers are humans. in other words,

the sound of hayame's approach is audible enough to catch his attention, though he doesn't visibly react until she calls out to him. he pauses as though surprised, turning towards the voice, doesn't seem put off by the height. ]

Do I need business to be here?

[ his tone is pure bafflement. isn't this a public area, gosh. ]