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Entry tags:
- !event,
- arknights: gavial,
- ennead: set,
- expanse (the): amos burton,
- fate/: gray,
- fate/: rin tohsaka,
- fate/: sakamoto ryouma,
- fire emblem: byleth eisner,
- fire emblem: shez,
- fire emblem: yuri leclerc,
- forgotten realms: raphael,
- granblue fantasy: eustace,
- haikyuu!!: atsumu miya,
- jinba: hayame,
- legend of zelda (the): link,
- made in abyss: bondrewd,
- marvel: nebula,
- orv: dokja kim,
- practical guide to evil: akua sahelian,
- vampire hunter d: d,
- zone-00: kiritsubo
I saw Mommy kissing Samba-Claus (KISS BINGO EDITION) 💋🌿
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:
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!
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.
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.
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.
- 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.
no subject
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. ]
no subject
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?
no subject
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. ]
no subject
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.]
no subject
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............. ]
no subject
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...
no subject
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.
no subject
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...
no subject
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. ]
no subject
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?]
no subject
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. ]