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

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:

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

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[STOP THIS. Be kind to Eustace, dammit.

Speaking of, Eustace is being unusually more lenient with him, and the idiotic feelings of comfort and altruism get bigger. Please stop saying nice things to him when he is being controlled by weird Springstar pollen. His hand sort of squeezes Eustace's gratefully, without thinking.]

There isn't anything I want. [This is extremely sad, but actually true.] Being allowed to stay is enough.

[Eustace truly doesn't grasp how many thousands of years he has gone through people treating him poorly because he's half vampire. He has simply come to expect the difference others him, and he'd rather humans be comfortable than scared.]

[ D.....please manifest more desires in life, ideally easy material ones that can be granted by the various members of the household.

But since Eustace and D are cut from the same cloth, it would be a lie to say that Eustace doesn't understand how D feels in this area. His own wants, up until very recently, had been few and far between, and those desires that he had allowed himself had always been related to work instead of his personal life.

He's realizing, as they stroll along the street, that he really knows so little about D. Despite sharing a house and the occasional empathic bond, there's not much else he knows about the man. Maybe he should correct that now, now that they have some free time and the looming threat of the Oracle isn't right behind them. ]

Were vampires mistreated, where you came from?

[ Okay, maybe he shouldn't have phrased it like that, but it's not though casual conversation is one of his strengths. ]

[No......

This is fine. Eustace isn't asking him deep, intrusive questions, and he is actually a pretty big nerd... so talking about vampires isn't so bad.]

Vampires ruled the planet for many centuries. They enslaved humans, using them for blood and servants, killing them indiscriminately. Very few cared for humans at all outside of a necessity.

They are feared. Encountering one is often a death sentence.

[So, naturally, humans would be afraid of a man even half a part of such a lineage.]

[ Thanks for the deep vampire lore, D, even if it was pretty damn depressing. A contrast to the merry crowds and bright sun filling up all of Springstar. It's also a contrast to the vampires he'd (briefly) interacted with back home, who had possesssed incredible power but had always largely kept to themselves.

Truly amazing how much races and people can differ between worlds.

That makes it all the more interesting to think about D in the context that's been given. D, who has always been unfailingly polite and courteous even when treated less than such. ]

What made you decide to stray from that path?

[ Sorry, it's personal hours now... ]

[Ur welcome.

And yet, Eustace made it personal. He has to hold hands with a guy posing him intrusive questions now. The loyal, confident, well-mannered being is still transposed right over to Eustace. A low, smooth warmth extends between them. Maybe what D registers as friendship.]

I'm a dhampir. The Nobility see dhampirs as diluted pests. Humans are afraid of them. They aren't welcome in either vampire or human society.

The only path for me was becoming a hunter. A way to stay out of human's lives, and a way to stop vampires from preying on humans.

[ Sorry, it's his job to make everything personal now (as long as it's not about him).

The answer is, perhaps, not surprising given the information he's just learned minutes ago, but it is (even more) depressing in its own way, knowing that D had been pushed onto path not out of his own desires but because of bigger matters of race and discrimination. But isn't that the way of the world? Fear turns into unjustified hatred, and said hatred propels people into acting rashly and without thought.

D might radiate soft friendship vibes, but there's only melancholy from Eustace's end, settling in the downcast turn of his eyes and the deepened frown on his face. ]

It must have been lonely.

[ Born of both sides but welcomed fully by neither... Maybe that's why Dokja had invited D to live with them. (kronk voice) oh yeah, it's all coming together. ]

[WHEN WILL EUSTACE ANSWER PERSONAL QUESTIONS!! Why do I play someone who maybe wouldn't ask a whole bunch of them?!]

There has never been any point dwelling on it. That is the life all dhampirs on the Frontier have.

[It was lonely, but he did not think about it too hard. Sure, there may have been peculiar villages where humans and vampires coexisted for a time, but those aren't places D would stay. (Ignoring the places humans tried to get him to stay, like Doris and her brother.)]

I hope yours had been full of more people.

[This is earnest.]

[ :) :) :)

He can't really fault D for simply accepting that way of life as his own, not when he would have (and to an extent, had) done the same for himself, though admittedly his own isolation had been self-imposed rather than foisted upon him by the rest of society. Still, it's sad to think about, especially when they're surrounded by such large crowds and lively merriment.

In response to the question, there's a slight nod, but in true Eustace fashion he chooses not to elaborate. This still ain't about him. ]

Are you happier here then?

[ In Springstar. In the Dokja household. ]

[:\

Don't just nod and say nothing. WHY ARE YOU SO MUCH LIKE HIM, stop. He's going to drop Eustace's hand and leave. (no)

He doesn't answer right away, less because he doesn't want to admit to a bad answer and more he's trying to think of how to word what he wants to say.]

My presence is a burden to others wherever I go. [He's not entirely sure why he's saying this, but if he had to say it to anyone, he thinks he'd rather it be Eustace.] Things would be easier if I were on the Frontier.

But I'm not ungrateful to have met you all. [UNFORTUNATELY, for as little as he admits, the fucking Feels are there. He's happy they are happy? With or without him.] Are you?

Knowing that the outcome we want could mean we will never see each other again.

[ stop turning all these threads DEPRESSING, anna!!!!!

The honesty is appreciated,and even if Eustace thinks that particular belief is stupid as hell he can see where the other man is coming from. Given his nature and predilections, it's not hard to think that his existence might cause strain in an otherwise happy community. (And almost had, if Eustace hadn't made an attempt to fix his own misconceptions.)

D's Feels™ are cute at least, the very faint tendrils Eustace can sense enough to make him smile a little (but on the inside, where D can't see, thus saving them both the embarrassment of having to be Perceived). ]

You're always welcome, burden or not.

[ This once, he feels like he can speak for everyone in the house.

But as for him… Cue another five seconds of silence as they walk along. (Are they ever going to make it to the pet store at this rate…) ]

I traveled with a group before this, even though I knew I wouldn't always be able to stay by their side. [ Wow, look at him offering up all this information about himself free of charge. ] There hasn't been a lot of permanence in my life up until now. [ And somehow his tone of voice seems to suggest he still doesn't expect any. ] I'm grateful for what I've been given, and the experiences I've had.

[ He glances over at D, somber. ]

So yes, I'm grateful to have met everyone as well.

[ Even if it means they will never see each other again after all this is concluded. ]

[ME? EUSTACE IS ALSO AN EMO!!!

Good talk, fellas. Agreeing solemnly with each other that they would rather have experienced happiness and friendship with people than not, even if ultimately hey may think they're undeserving of it.]

I think they would tell you they feel the same. Kim Dokja and Gray.

[No reason. Just in case Eustace is kind of doubting, or whatever.]

Do you miss the group left behind?

[He asked Atsumu a similar question once: if Atsumu had missed the friends Atsumu had left behind, if Atsumu had missed the school spoken of, the normalcy of an ordinary life. Not that D thought Eustace (or himself) had any kind of normal life.

Maybe Eustace is Meridian because he wants to bring them back, what does D know?]

[ Eustace is Meridian because Dokja and Gray are Meridian....his priorities are truly totally misaligned with the rest of his faction. But at least he would be honest about it if asked. Hopefully no one asks though, so he doesn't have to admit how selfish he truly is. ]

Sometimes. [ He can be honest about this too. ] They were the first friends I'd made in a long time.

[ It's only natural that he would miss them, even if there's not that much emotion in his voice. Maybe D can sense it internally though, that thread of wistfulness that coils around his heart that unravels and fades by the time it reaches his throat. ]

But there's no point in thinking about it too much. Sentiment won't win us the Oracle.

[ Though he's not sure there's much he can do anyway, weak as he is right now. Anyway, they've talked about depressing shit long enough. TIME TO MOVE ON. ]

Did you get a card?

[ Apparently he is moving on in the worst of ways. ]

[Don't just be Meridian because your boyfriend and daughter are Meridian...... D would only judge him a little because he understands. Sometimes, a dogman is gay and attached to a fleeting domesticity.]

It won't, but the faster you forget, the faster you turn away from the sun to the night.

[He could have said this literally any other way besides this cryptic nonsense.]

I didn't. [Because the self-esteem is bad.] But I saw them.

Did you?

[Do you need another kiss, Eustace?]

[ What the fuck is that cryptic nonsense.

But also! D!!!!! Shakes him for his self-esteem!! He would get a card and the whole world would be falling at his feet to kiss him. Actually, maybe it's for the best that he doesn't have a card then. ]

I did. They weren't so bad last year.

[ Eustace says that, but he didn't participate last year even after getting his card so did it really count? But it's also been a tolerable experience this year. (He says, only kissing three people this year. Will he ever truly participate in the spirit of the game....stay tuned.) ]

You should try it.

[ Can't believe Eustace the lineface is actually encouraging D to go out and get smooched. Truly the world is shifting on its axis. But also: He stops them at a street corner, then lifts up their (somehow still) linked hands to press a really quick kiss on the back of D's hand. ]

For the card.

[ Thanks for helping him out, buddy. :) ]

[IT IS WEIRD TO HEAR EUSTACE SAY KISSING BINGO CARDS HADN'T BEEN BAD AS A GENERAL STATEMENT, ENOUGH TO ENCOURAGE HIM.... Who is this man? What did they do with their gruff Eustace?

D does not know Eustace didn't hecking participate at all despite saying this wild thing to him. Now he's like Gray, innocently wondering if Eustace has a fever, is sick... Is it the heat? Heatstroke..... He should do thr shopping and send Eustace home.]

Others shouldn't have to...

[?!

He never emotes, but the hand kiss is so unexpected that it shocks him considerably. The only reason the surprise fades when it does is because Eustace says it's for the card. HELLO! DON'T SCARE HIM. He thought he was going to need to move into the woods because he is a homewrecker. This was supposed to be the kiss he gave Gray, but she smooched him...

Sorry that Eustace gets this bizarre jumble of emotions. When you're soft, but surprised, but also guilty. Self-hating, resilient, unashamed. A mess!!]

If I didn't know you were an honest man, I'd assume this had been a trick.

[ insert cathehe meme once again

Truthfully, if he hadn't met all the people he had in Kenos, he wouldn't be in a place where he could so easily kiss another man's hand as a joke (but also for real). So D can thank Gray and Gen and Dokja and also himself for having had a positive influence, enough to loosen the stick up his ass and yank it most of the way out.

D's jumbled mess of emotions (on the inside) are actually so funny that it's impossible not to crack a smile (of wholesome enjoyment, not mockery). ]

It could be both.

[ Both an actual kiss for his card and also just a move to get a reaction out of D... Regardless, why does Eustace sound so satisfied by this? Maybe it's just because he's learning more and more about D, and about that squishy interior that's hidden away behind D's normal mask of indifference and stoicism. Very cute, either way.

But, now that he's fulfilled this impromptu mission of his, they can get back to the matter at hand. ]

I promise I won't do it again though. You don't need to worry.

[ Now they can walk the rest of the way to the pet store IN PEACE....wraps up this thread so we can do something in january...though idk what ]

[DON'T JUST SAY IT COULD BE BOTH!!!

Eustace is playing him like a fiddle, but he can do nothing about it except be perplexed and stupid...]

I'm not worried.

[About Eustace doing it again, but also.... about kissing Eustace. HE SOULD RATHER IT BE EUSTACE THAN SOMEONE STUPID.

They can continue their domestic shopping in peace now. Dokja remains forever ignorant about their kissing. Until Eustace vanishes and then I make D tell him so he breaks (no).

What moronic activities will January hold for us... At least they aren't naked having tea.]

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

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