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

[wolfish]

Why indeed... I can think of at least a few, even from my own small corner of the world, I'd choose over myself.

[ Yuri makes no bones about it. He may be surpassing in tenacity and self-reliance, but as far as calling upon someone to determine the fate of the universe? He's a crimelord with noble intentions. Who summons someone like him for such a purpose? What will would choose him, among lords and gods of their own worlds?

The mixture of those meant to grapple for the Oracles is so peculiar that Yuri doubts he could nail down a selection process. Even if their aspects are a determining factor, Harbingers run their own little gamut in terms of nature. ]

It'd be nice to know the nature of what we're trying to collect, but as you say, we're not privy. Expecting us to open ourselves to the influence of something we don't understand in exchange for the possibility of being informed is a little demanding.

[ The edge his tone adopts on those last words suggests the understatement. When they've already been pressed into service, demanding further harmonization before yielding basic information is a bridge too far. Meridian and Zenith, whatever these forces are, can already read their natures. What would willfully accepting their further inflience even do to them?

He doesn't trust it, just as he doesn't trust anything that can encroach on his mind. ]

Hell, they don't tell us what further harmonization truly means.

[furibund]

[ The woman makes a non-committal sound, a grunt, but says nothing on the matter. ]

[ She has no interest in stating her own what ifs of who should have been here. It does no good now and all she can - and would do - is swear by their words and lives she'd act with their intentions and do the right thing. It's all she had to go on. ]

Sitting by doesn't get you that knowledge, either. Something has to give. [ Maybe, in some ways, it was against her own nature to note devote her entire self to something. It's what she was taught and bled for and at least in this cause - if it meant her family, she has no qualms sacrificing her life for them if it came to it. She does not share this fact. ] Whatever we believe, they are in conflict and we're the pieces on the gameboard. Who the victor and the results are is all we have to work for.

[wolfish]

Who said anything about sitting around?

[ His eyebrows lift curiously, if only for a moment. Yuri smooths the reaction away shortly thereafter. Granted, he has been doing a lot of sitting lately. Byleth returned from death with the hallmark symptoms of illness, and he was well-equipped to tend to someone in that condition, so that has been his priority.

If he can't get his people home in one piece, what is the point? The thought of losing them to this isn't one he finds acceptable, much less tolerable. He suspects Nebula is no different, if only because of the items she dismissed as unimportant but pursued anyway. While he could be wrong, he thinks it the case. ]

But if we don't know the win conditions, and we can't be sure we do, it's as much a problem as inaction.

[ While Cyrus had denied him any details, he observed him telling someone else that anything short of one side having every Oracle was a wash. Failure for both sides. What does that mean for them, when already neither side can have all? ]

[furibund]

You're kidding? [ She snorts, inclining her head as if to say 'look around you'. ] If something's not happening, people seem to think it's fine to play house with their enemy.

[ She intones the last word and with a certain amount of severity, but it's more a statement of fact. She sees no point in making nice with Zenith more than necessary (*children withstanding) ]

All of it's a problem.

[ Simple. Dry. ]

[wolfish]

[ Wisely, Yuri opts not to mention that he's on good terms with a number of Zenites himself. Some aren't so dedicated to their cause, others are young... Odd how it's Zenith that draws the teens. ]

It may not be possible much longer, the way things are headed... But maybe it isn't all folly — sometimes seeing the other side as human has its benefits.

[ A beat, another idle shift of weight, and he thinks to save her the trouble with an addendum. ]

And sometimes it doesn't. Still, the chance exists, not that I know how much others consider such things.

[ Yuri does, as a product of a life in which survival relied upon it. ]

[furibund]

Seeing them as human doesn't mean putting yourself in a position for them to stab you in the back.

[ What she means without saying, perhaps, is that while she may never choose to take a life these days she's also wary of letting them in. Getting close, letting them have a chance, because ultimately her goal is more important than befriending people who would deter the cause. ]

[ But yeah :/ Zenith has a lot of teenagers and this poses a threat to her particular. ]

They aren't. But then, this place wants soldiers and they're recruiting children.

[ Stupid Zenith kids indeed!! She says it with an amount of unbridled irritation at the idea; There's more than just children. There's that woman claiming to be a pacifist and a few others to think of. She thinks of what Hayame said and how most aren't reliable - maybe she's not wrong. ]

[wolfish]

One should never position themselves for a back-stabbing.

[ Yuri should know — he's stabbed a few (quite deserving) backs himself. It's best to be wary, even among those who seem amiable enough to pass one's usual suspicions. Perhaps all the more, considering how dangerous charmers could prove to be.

He'd heard of at least one such figure within Zenith. Considering his own way of getting by back home, it's not unfamiliar. ]

It does concern me how young some are here. While I can't deny that some of us grow up damn young, most of the ones I've met were civilians. All of this...it's wrong, dragging them into it.

[ Then there were those like Rudbeckia, who wanted no part in the fighting at all. He'd rather it be left to the fighters. ]

[furibund]

If they do they're idiots. And they deserve it.

[ How serious is she about that? Nebula, if she were to reflect later - she won't - couldn't even say for sure. But from the too quick drawl and straight answer it is certainly possible she believes it. ]

[ Her mouth twitches. ]

[ She doesn't disagree to this much. Nebula lost her home as a child, too young to remember it. Had the sentimental part of her heart twisted and destroyed not much longer later. ] The universe does not care about how young you are. All that matters is how strong you are. If you have the will to do what it takes to survive.

[ And she had. Because it's all she could do. Her gaze is serious and then it drops. This isn't what she believes, but it's what she was taught - what she struggles to fail to believe. Even as she strives to make a better home than she had. The home she never had. ]

They are here. There is no changing that. I killed plenty of people at their age - [ Which is trying to be reassuring? Or maybe it's not? But her meaning is clear: If they are here they will have to learn to be capable if they are not already. ] we don't need to coddle them.

[ Help them. That's different. Maybe. Probably. ]

[wolfish]

I was the same... well, maybe not the same, that's going too far.

[ Yuri believes that he can safely surmise that Nebula has led a rough life just as he has. The details of that may be wildly different, judging even by her appearance. There are no such metallic additions to people where he heals from. ]

One of the very few ways a kid could earn money where I came from was as an assassin. No one suspects a child.

[ Despite his eyes being on her, it's evident that he's mindful that no one is within earshot. People may well have guessed at his background, seeing as he'd intentionally drawn Childe into a dark chamber to fight him and clearly knew how to maneuver in total darkness. The fact that his footfalls are often all but silent to those who don't possess Hayame's sharp ears is suggestive in its own right. ]

I don't want that for the ones here, but it's not about what we want... So all we can do is enable them to survive this.

[ Even if they are with Zenith right now. They're young, at least some of them inexperienced, conscripted into a war with supposedly countless lives on the line. ]

[furibund]

[ Nebula doesn't respond immediately. A grace, because in the past she would have vehemently have said something along the lines of "no one was raised like me". Some part of her still feels that true, but she's also too aware of how callous the universe could be of children. Even if some part of her mentally tucks away he probably had it easier - money? what money, Thanos had no care for it only power and control - the part of her that tries for more empathy is willing to listen. ]

[ Still, she does not respond to the mention as she gives a sharp nod of her head as if in agreement. She chooses not to say more on her own experience, because what was needed has been said. She doesn't question his either. ]

Those are their choices. Survive or die. [ The remark is biting - bitter even. "Surviving" isn't easy. Surviving means throwing away parts of yourself. Is it better, to say you're alive? She thinks it is. ] No one can make that choice but them.

[ This much she believes. ]

[wolfish]

[ Yuri couldn't gauge who had it harder or worse, but he counts himself blessed he had his mother. He was born dirt poor in a village so small it didn't warrant mention on maps, so what he had in the world was her, and that was enough for him. It wasn't enough to put food in their bellies though — not with her persistently frail health.

Yuri spoke of child assassins because that is what he became in order to support his mother after, by extreme good fortune, he was saved from dying of disease. Poverty is a scourge he knows all too intimately and it's the very thing he hopes to eliminate after this war and the one he was in the middle of back home.

But as the impression goes without words, Yuri's past remains with him. ]

I said nothing about choosing for them. Enabling's its own animal. Not everyone led the harsh lives we did, so they don't have the same tools needed to survive.

[ "We", because he knows the harshness of his own life, and it's clear that her own was in ways he does not know. May never know, depending on whether she ever feels talkative in that arena. Where she had to throw parts of herself away, Yuri traded his. Such is the cost of survival. ]

Kid I spoke with a while back didn't know that, for instance, throwing sand in an enemy's face is a viable tactic when you stand no chance in a square fight.

[ And if the enemy cares nothing for an honorable, fair fight, why should someone just trying to live? There's no reason to get crushed pointlessly by the powerful. ]

[furibund]

They live it now.

[ It's not meant meanly. It's not meant to throw away more comfortable lives, but rather or not they did or didn't in the past doesn't matter. In the same way as so many others, they would have to figure out how to live or crumble in the face of it. ]

That just means resourcefulness isn't their strong suit. [ She shakes her head, just a touch. A fair fight when it's for your life is unnecessary - Nebula knew all about unfair fights. She'd faced many with her sister. ] Maybe we can help them, but the this place is - they'll need to learn it on your own.

[ Not that she sounds happy about it, but that's neither here nor there ]

[wolfish]

They do... I just don't like it. Had I the luxury of choosing, I'd rather they left kids out of it.

[ No matter how capable or resourceful some of them are, it leaves a bad taste in his mouth. They shouldn't have to go through this, any of this, yet here they are.

More than anything, what he wants to change back home is that others endured what he did or died due to poverty. All this...it reminds him so much of that. They can only choose to fight or be trampled. ]

Not that we've got any say in that.

[ He shrugs, well aware of their many limitations. ]

...But why don't we — in this time between one skirmish and the next — think up something that'd make it easier for them to learn? I'd say we've both got relevant experience.