I saw Mommy kissing Samba-Claus (KISS BINGO EDITION) 💋🌿

[beleos]

QIASU (HIGHSTORM)

On December 15th, the marker of the latter half of Takiltu, Kenos comes together to celebrate unity and togetherness, to come together with friends and family, to be kind to others and share in one’s wealth - whether that comes in the form of knowledge, monetary gains, or the exchange of gifts and one’s time. This celebration is an amalgamation of many worlds’ winter festivals, and as such, is known in the two cities as the Year’s End Festival, or Qiasu as Highstorm calls it.

This part of Takiltu is when Highstorm truly starts to hit winter. Snow is a frequent occurrence, but it’s one that the city welcomes, since with the snow comes a few of the most beloved traditions of the city. By far the most popular is heading to Greenwood Yards. The gardens themselves may be either dormant or showing their simpler winter gardens, but you may have noticed an area by the bathhouses left in surprising amount of disrepair… This is because during the winter months, this area fills up with a natural outdoor hot spring! Take a swim under the moonlight, and even explore some of those ruined old manors, now with their first floors warmly flooded. It’s a tradition to bring in your favorite drinks and spend an evening sipping it in a parlor with friends, and to make new ones by sharing your drinks. Of course, do watch out for the ghosts. They’re mischievous more than malicious, but this is their favorite time of the year too!

You can also head to the Great Tree, which is decorated for the season with glittering glass orbs and is the current roost for the pale Moonbugs of Highstorm. Write a wish on a slip of paper and hold out your hands, and one of the Moonbugs will come sit within them. Whisper the wish to the Moonbug and it’ll take the paper and fly away to find someone to fulfill it. Of course, this also means that a Moonbug is likely to come find you! Besides it being good karma to fulfill the wish, you’ll be given a brief vision of the person whose wish you fulfilled and be blessed by the tree for the duration of the month depending upon your Aspect:

• Advocate: People are more likely to buy you meals/rounds and every recipe you make turns out perfectly.
• Exalt: Animals seem to think more kindly of you, and you'll find them much easier to befriend.
• Harbinger: You're given a more silver tongue as your arguments seem to be better at persuading people.
• Iconoclast: You won't be effected by cold weather in any way.
• Savant: You heal much more rapidly from any injury and are generally the very picture of health.
• Stargazer: Your indulgences (whatever they may be) are both easier to find and are of higher quality.

And of course, there’s one more well-known practice in Highstorm, though it’s more of a tradition of Kowloon’s… The Gävle family is a well-known family who has lived in Highstorm for a long time, and they brought a tradition of building a festive Yule goat made straw in the square outside of their businesses. However, it also happens to be outside of Yura Szczepanski’s home. He’ll never do it himself, of course, but if you manage to burn it down? He’ll reward you, obviously. It doesn’t make it any more legal, so those that try generally spend some time in a Highstorm jail, but it’s an enshrined enough practice at this point that not only has it burned down more often than it’s survived, but there’s even a betting pool in Kowloon for whether it survives or not.

Of course, if these traditions aren’t quite your vibe, you’ll also find the city just generally set up for a metropolitan winter. The Antiques & Baubles Market is rearranged to make room for a large ice-skating rink, Tasseography (the coffeeshop by the Tomes) has a seasonal special for a hot chocolate that will fortify you from the cold for a few hours (and make you fire resistant? Weird,), and the city also hosts a full-size gingerbread house that you can indeed take a bite from, to name a few things. Generally speaking, if it’s something you could do in a snowy city at home, you’ll probably find an equivalent somewhere in the city of moonlight.

Be warned, however, if you are visiting from out of town. Highstorm's reception seems just a touch bit chiller than the weather!

YEAR'S END FESTIVAL (SPRINGSTAR)

Springstar will never turn down a chance to celebrate, but eternally Highstorm’s opposite, this is the warmest time of year. With the sun always shining, some days can get near sweltering, but that just means you have a different set of traditions to have fun with it!

The ivy-like vines that decorated the city in the beginning of the month (November) are now in full bloom, and you’re now likely to learn why the Meri consider them sacred. Wherever the flowers bloom, they encourage feelings of warmth and slightly higher inclination for physical contact within those that encounter their magical pollen*. Holding hands with someone by the flowers will give you feelings of liveliness and happiness, and for a few hours, the positive traits of the person you’re holding hands with become more prominent in you and vice versa. These effects do linger a bit longer, since for a month, you’ll also find that being around this person also gives you both a little boost in energy. It’s very sweet! This also comes with a bit of a further game, if you’re at all a frequenter of Psychagogía...

Madame Dee’s hosts a very popular competition simply called Kiss Bingo. Approach the booth set-up outside the brothel and touch your Shard to a special card, and names will appear upon it. From there, the rules are simple. Just give that person a kiss! It can be on their hand, their lips, their [redacted], all of it counts, and once you do, a little kiss mark will mark their name out. Get a bingo, and you can pick from a variety of prizes such as a ticket for a week’s worth of visits at a local buffet, a shopping spree at a nearby store, or a box seat for a day at the Coliseum. Of course, if you’re really an overachiever, fill out the whole card to get multiple prizes. Madame Dee might just give you a job!

With the promise of home that the Meri deeply believe in, they have their own gifting tradition. The Shard-Bearers know best that it’s possible to receive gifts from the Timestream, and for Year’s End, it’s tradition for the Tribune to pull out all the stops. For a week of the Festival, the Tribune works just outside of Heliopolis, and with the help of priests from the Church of Helios, reaches into the Timestream to produce a gift for anyone that comes to ask. This year, however, he's asked Quetzalcoatl and Samba's elves to deliver gifts, but you might not get anything you asked for (or maybe you did!) but they're all gifts the timestream spit out!

On rainy days (or simply the unbearably hot ones), you can also go to Starlight Park, which offers a reprieve from the weather. Inside the dome, you’ll find a idyllic, snowy valley where you can partake in all the natural joys of winter. There’s (highly) competitive snowball fights, sledding, and skiing to partake in, though you might be cautioned away from one slope. Head down that course and about halfway down, you’ll be chased by… a yeti? Luckily it doesn’t seem to be able to harm you, but it’s still shockingly fast and will catch you no matter how quickly you ski. You can also spend a bit of money to rent a yurt along the river for a relaxing and exceptionally cozy glamping experience. Some Yurts are even adorned with the sacred vines. You know, for no reason.

You’ll also find the Meri heading away from the city of Springstar a bit to head down to some of the beaches that surround Springstar. Being an island within an Island (capital ‘I’ meaning the Kenos kind of island), Takiltu is the traditional start of Springstar’s summer season and all the fun that comes with that. The beaches are bustling, but the cool and crystal-clear waters of the ocean surrounding the city make it worthwhile. Surfing, diving, and sailing are popular activities, but just make sure to stay within sight of the shore. It doesn’t take too long to hit the end of the Island and sailing outside the magical barrier that keeps Springstar floating in Kenos’s starscape generally isn’t survivable.

Just be mindful, if you're trying to escape Highstorm's chill for some summer fun, as attitudes are shifting toward bearers in general, and it might not be as easy as it once was.

NOTES

Weather summary for the second 30 days of Takiltu (NOV & DEC):

• Highstorm is out of fall and into winter. While there are some milder days, snow (and heavy snow at that!) is getting more common.
• Springstar is hot and humid, and it's not uncommon for brief thunderstorms to roll through in the afternoon.

Notable city changes:

• Both cities have experienced changing attitudes toward shard-bearers. You will need to be mindful if you want to travel to a city that doesn't house your faction, as things might not be as easy when it comes to getting around.
• Springstar has had an increase in attacks toward it's citizens, and they are often fatal and destructive. Rumors travel among Springstar's seedier types that these are escaping from Ryad, and they aren't being reigned in. That always comes with a flicker of worry.

CODING

Comments

03. CAN'T REMEMBER which i said initially but let's go brunette teen

[gravings]

[ Gray has not paid as much attention to the papers, and even if she did, she'd probably have a hard time pinning down Kiritsubo. And so the name is a mystery to Gray on her own bingo card, and likely would have stayed that way for quite a while; she's had enough of a time trying to cross off the squares of the people on her card she already knows.

When a girl near her age addresses her cheerfully with a bingo card in hand, Gray stops dead in her tracks with eyes like saucers, a deer in the headlights now facing catastrophic collision. She strengthens her vision — and she sees her name as advertised, right on that card. ]

Y... Yes, that's me...

[ What a thing to be presented with out of the blue. Gray nervously tears her eyes away from the card and focuses on the girl speaking to her. The stranger is pretty, with sharp eyes that suggest a strong personality. There are worse people who could have come up to Gray asking for a kiss... but that's irrelevant. She gulps before continuing. ]

Um — I'm afraid I don't know your name.

[ She's definitely stalling. ]

[tattooism]

Oh, wonderful! I'm almost there~!

[There are quite a few of those names checked-off on this young woman's card, and she seems perfectly, simply pleased with the idea of getting closer to the prize. But when she's asked her own identity she blinks as if surprised it isn't obvious, and smoothly steps forward without any hesitation to tug Gray's card into better view for herself. Though she has a keen eye, and doesn't need more than a second to glance at the paper, she makes a cute little show of leaning in close to look for it, pursing her lips and using an elegant finger and perfectly painted nail to search the text.]

Here I am!

["Kiritsubo". Said with a smile, a casual, sensual closeness, as if simply by having exchanged names they are already perfectly well acquainted and kissable.]

Two birds with one stone, hmm?

[gravings]

[ Gray very much notices the cutely pursed lips and the elegant finger, as well as the girl's close warmth. Gray can't help being reminded of Misa's easy, friendly flirtiness — except Kiritsubo's feels much less about being friends.

Two birds with one stone is correct. There's really no reason for them to not kiss now. Even so, Gray is jittery from the closeness of that flirtatious energy. It's so rare that anyone directs anyone like that toward her, and so she doesn't know what to do with it. ]

R-Right. It's nice to meet you, Miss Kiritsubo.

[ Maybe her tried and true manners will save her. Accordingly, she doesn't lean away as her shyness would like her to. That would be too rude. But she also doesn't know what to do with herself now; it would feel just as rude to conduct a blitz on Kiritsubo's lips, or to put hands on her as if they knew each other at all.

In the end it's all Gray can do to just stand there, her card still held dumbly in hand. Her hood is low on her head as if it could shield her, but she manages to hold her head high enough to at least see Kiritsubo's face. ]

... How should we go about it?

[tattooism]

Nice to meet you, too!

[The response is exactly what one should expect from that greeting, is it not? Never mind that the situation they are in means they could very well be kissing in a moment, that was just what one said back to those sort of words. It comes with a small smile, even, friendly... but no, not exactly radiating a desire to make friends.

It wasn't Friend Bingo, after all.

And Kiritsubo was enjoying herself. No only did she love this sort of flirty game simply for how is appealed to her nature... It also provided a casual, convenient excuse to do some observations up close and personal of the "enemy". She barely considered them that, Meridian, because she barely considered herself a Zenite, but... She had things to learn, things that one never knew when one might be able to use. That this girl, Gray, was shy... Well.]

"How"?

[She plays a moment as if she has no idea what the other girl could be talking about, as if it were obvious. Wasn't it?]

We just kiss, right?

[And before her companion could suggest trying a kiss upon the cheek or the hand... Kiritsubo simply laces her fingers behind her back and leans forward, eyes closed and lips ever so slightly puckered as if waiting for Prince Charming to awaken Sleeping Beauty.]

[gravings]

[ No, Kiritsubo has the right way of things. That's how Gray would like to be, doing the things she's decided to do without hesitation. Fake it 'til you make it, as they say. ]

Then if you don't mind...

[ Looking at Kiritsubo, Gray has to notice again that she's quite pretty, which just makes Gray nervous anew. She swallows her flutters and steps in, touching her fingertips lightly to the other girl's cheek to steady her as Gray leans in for what she hopes is a perfectly serviceable kiss on the lips.

It isn't perky and flirty, nor does it stay overlong; it's somewhere right in the middle, respectfully simple and soft. Past her nervousness, Gray is conscious of doing a good job, so to speak. She isn't physically clumsy, even in times like these.

The memory of Kiritsubo's soft lips lingers like a fog as Gray pulls away, warmth radiating from her cheeks. While this isn't her first kiss, she hasn't exactly gotten feedback either, so she can only hope she hasn't messed up somehow. ]

[tattooism]

[She doesn't seem to mind, certainly, not with how she sort of wriggles her hips and waits for the kiss to come and find her lips. Are they not soft and plush and welcoming? She had crafted them that way herself with this bingo game in mind, after all. Fingertips alight on her cheek and she gives a little hum, and then-

Then, they are kissing. Something chaste and simple, not even really all that sweet even though it was soft. After all... They did not know each other, did they? There was no emotional connection...

But when Gray pulls back, the young woman who has identified herself as Kiritsubo reaches out to take her hands, smiling and putting on a blush of her own atop a little smile.]

Okay... So that one was for your bingo card... Are you ready for mine?

[gravings]

[ Gray is unprepared when Kiritsubo takes her hands and thus defenseless -- even moreso for the surprise that Kiritsubo would like her own turn. ]

Your... um, yes, of course.

[ It's only proper. (Except it might not even be necessary, but Gray is admittedly not thinking critically after kissing a cute girl.) And it's hard for her to deny a smile -- her already pliable nature aside.

Allowing her hands to rest in Kiritsubo's, Gray waits patiently with only a little bit of a nervous jitter. ]

[tattooism]

[Isn't that how this works? They have two different cards, after all, surely it's unfair to kiss just once and then stamp two squares? If she has anything in mind and this isn't just some innocent misunderstanding of the rules...

Alright, maybe once she leans in it might not be believable anymore. She seems a bit too eager to kiss for just trying to win a contest, and once their lips touch... It is no chaste and gentle little thing. It starts soft... but only long enough for the young woman (?) apparently named Kiritsubo to coax the more nervous girl into parting her lips and allowing her tongue in, humming warm and encouraging into the kiss as her thumbs rub soothingly over Gray's knuckles in her hands.]

[gravings]

[ Things start off pleasantly, Gray would have to admit. She's inexperienced enough that the different ways that people kiss are still a fascination to her, and nearly against her will she falls to the allure of Kiritsubo's confidence. Her mouth yields in a daze against those pretty lips. Things would have been memorable enough if they'd stopped there...

But when Gray feels something extra slip past her lips, the shock of it makes her jolt out of the kiss. One of her hands pulls free so that her fingertips can touch to her lips, as if they'd said something unexpected.

Too late, she feels as though she's done something rude. Her other hand squeezes Kiritsubo's in apology. ]

Ah! I'm sorry. I just wasn't expecting...

[ The tongue............. ]

[tattooism]

[The confidence is there, completely natural and seemingly so trustworthy, as if this girl thinks "well, if I'm good at anything, it's this". And she is. Good. When Gray pulls away she almost seems to follow, as if it is her instinct to pursue, but... Her fingers had come up to touch her lips and cover her mouth, and Kiritsubo notices a half beat later. Ah... She should respect it, right... ?

But she's still holding one hand, she receives a little squeeze... and she squeezes back.]

It's alright... Did I get carried away... ?

[Oh, she's still very close though. So much so that her breath is warm and soft on the backs of Gray's fingertips, a little hint of glistening jewel on her tongue visible from their current angle that must be some sort of... piercing? If Gray had not pulled back, she might have felt it.]

You're really cute, so I just... ♡

[She leans in to place a chaste little kiss on the fingers that cover Gray's mouth, her eyes lidded and gaze fairly sparkling.]

Do you not know how... ? I don't mind teaching...

[gravings]

[ Gray is well and truly overwhelmed by Kiritsubo's forwardness. She feels the warmth of the other girl's breath on her hand, the sweet kiss to her fingertips, the unmistakable intent of the eyes looking into hers.

It would be a lie to say that Gray is unaffected. It was an intriguing kiss, enticing in a way she hadn't known until now. It probably shows in her face flooded red, her subtly altered breath. The other girl says she wouldn't mind teaching, and it says enough that Gray doesn't reject the idea out of hand...

What actually breaks the moment for her is that offhanded comment, You're really cute. Kiritsubo doesn't mean any harm by it, but nevertheless. Gray's eyes dim, a frown pulling lightly at her lips as she puts her hands gently to the other girl's shoulders. ]

Thank you for offering, but... I think I shouldn't.

[tattooism]

[Hmm. How unfortunate.

Kiritsubo cocks her head slightly when she sees the light leave Gray's eyes, picking up on it the moment it happens and knowing that it would not be something she enjoyed. Here she had hoped to use this bingo game to advance a bit in her relations with Meridian shard-bearers, but...]

- No?

[The hands bereft now of Gray's to hold wring slightly in front of her as she nibbles seemingly nervous on her own lip.]

So... I was too forward after all? I'm sorry, I thought it was kind of okay while this game was going on...

[gravings]

[ Hello?? Gray hardly says no to anyone, and she's definitely never gotten this kind of reaction on those few occasions. Immediately guilty, she's quick to try to reassure the other girl. ]

N-No. It's not your fault.

[ Probably? Kiritsubo did come on awfully strong even under the auspices of kiss bingo, but Gray is also aware that she's awfully shy. Yes, Gray is probably the problem here. ]

You're very pretty, and, um, good at kissing, so most people would be happy in my position...

[ projection ]

It's a problem on my end. I'm sorry.

[ She retreats a half step and bows a little to put a point on her apology. ]

[tattooism]

[Mm. She looked like the sort of girl who would be guilty about making someone else feel rejected. Kiritsubo was rarely wrong about that sort of thing, whether she used her eyes to try and「see」the answer or not. But this time... She is invested, but not overly, interested in certain bonds, but not intent, so-

Her hands keep wringing slightly, though it slows slightly as Gray explains, stepping back to bow.]

But... I didn't ruin anything, then? ... We could still be... friends, at least?

[She seems to hesitate, her voice quieter when it comes out the next time, awkwardly as if she has realized that might be a weird thing to say out of the blue.]

There's not... that many girls our age in the shard-bearers...

[Right?]

[gravings]

[ Kiritsubo expressing that she wants to be friends does take Gray by surprise -- because who would want to befriend someone as gloomy as her out of the blue? But the reason that follows isn't unfounded, and it does its job in smoothing out some of the weirdness. Gray would know that she's in a rare demographic among Shard-Bearers...

Kiritsubo still strikes her as an unusual sort of person, going from from extremely bold to suddenly shy and vulnerable, but Gray is far too much of a pushover to reject someone's (apparent) goodwill without good reason.

She nods slowly. ]

Friends... I wouldn't mind that. Though I'm afraid I'm not much of an exciting person.

[ Lower any expectations, please. ]