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DECEMBER EVENT PT 1
DECEMBER EVENT PT 1
premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation
→ 12/3 Lockdown
- The wind picks up at midnight, flowing through the streets but softened by the snowflakes that drift down from the sky. Over the full hour of Lockdown, the snowfall dampens the wind and makes it harder to follow the stream than before, blowing out from the forest and towards the center of town where a snowdrift builds up against the shut doors of the hospital's main entrance. Defeat the Daitengu, and the next dungeon appears the month after... During Lockdown, black blobs of Shadows continue to seep out of the hospital, shrine, lake, and school, but with the third Daitengu defeated, the wind doesn't howl as strongly and the snowfall is light, leaving the town dusted with snow the next morning that easily melts by mid-day. The town is cold, quiet, and still, almost as if holding its breath, but perhaps it's an illusion created by the townspeople staying indoors to keep out of the cold, and that everybody who had arrived from the alternate Hirajiro has been spirited away overnight, gone without fanfare by the time the wind dies down at the end of Lockdown. The only thing left behind is a complete deck of tarot cards with no duplicates, neatly stacked and set by the entrance of the honden, with a heavy stone on top to keep the cards from blowing away in the wind.
With the wind picking up around the shrine, a slow, deep ringing can be heard from a large bell that has been tied up above the offertory box with a thick rope, swinging with the wind; the offertory box itself is emptied of gemstones at the beginning of the month, but will slowly fill back up if the Persona users continue to donate the stones dropped by defeated Shadows, with the understanding that any boon they receive comes with strengthening the Kotengu as well. As if called by the toll of the bell, it seems like all of the crows in town have congregated around the shrine for the winter, perched on the rooftops, lit stone lanterns, and even the torii, all peering down at whoever enters the shrine and keeping an eye on them all the while they stand on sacred land. Although the crows seem unbothered by the ringing bell, the resident fox skitters away whenever it hears the noise, although it will always return when the wind dies down, or if the bell is otherwise bound and still. The sign that's supposed to contain the shrine deity's name still lacks the name, but this time, the sign is painted over with solid black, the paint layered on so thickly, you can see where the trails of paint are pulled to the bottom of the sign, under which dry spots of black paint can be seen before covered by the dusting of snow.
Near the path leading from the shrine to the castle, a large area of trees has been demolished in a vaguely serpentine shape, the trees lying splintered and fallen but far enough to pose no danger to the castle. Unlike the shrine, there are little to no crows that hang around the structure, the same two stories with the broken stairs up to the incomplete third floor becoming hazardous to climb with the falling snow and the wind that blows through the open windows of the second floor, making the castle howl. The throne sports a new cushion and a thick woollen blanket draped over the back of it, but with the ofuda door containing just the same two as before, the castle remains stuck in time, and the night goes on.
→ 12/3 - 1/2 Town events
- It snows on and off over the next few days, getting steadily colder as the month progresses. While the snow is powdery and easy to clear, there's a lot of it that piles right back up by the end of the day, creating a constant demand for help shoveling the roads around the neighborhoods and marketplace to keep them clear, although the Persona users will have to keep the path to the castle and shrine clear on their own, as none of the townspeople are concerned about the forest in general. In town, all the extra snow initially gets pushed towards the center to dump into the lake, but after the lake freezes over after the first week of the month, the excess snow gets piled into a large hill and packed down to be perfect for sledding, with makeshift sleds ranging from laundry baskets to trash can lids left lying around for people to grab and slide— and pray they don't veer off course and crash straight through the ice covering the lake. A Persona may be able to thicken the ice and make it safer to skate on, but in the meanwhile, people will just have to watch out for the spots where the ice is thin and easily broken. Please don't fall in, unless it's near midnight and you fall straight into a random floor of the lake dungeon.
Strings of plain white Christmas lights adorn the trees in town and around the outskirts where it borders the forest, leaving the entire town lit with a soft glow after sundown. Throughout town, the decorations are similarly subtle, with fancier decorations seen in storefronts rather than people's homes, and instead of a single Christmas tree towering over the town, a set of four smaller trees line the back of a large stage set on the lakefront across the school building, which has made its appearance for summer festivals in the past. Surrounding the stage are many stalls that make up a holiday craft market that will be open all month. For a small fee, anybody can purchase a spot at the craft market to sell their own crafts, most of which are intended to be decorations for people's homes or to be given as gifts for Christmas and the New Year. Among the crafts are traditional gifts like knit scarves and sweaters, as well as clay figurines, beaded crafts, painted plates, and any manner of handmade items people have to offer. Although the main focus of the market is for crafts, there are also stalls selling refreshments such as hot chocolate and baked goods.
On the stage itself, each of the four trees is topped with a bird-like angel painted in soft reds, blacks, and golds, and rather than lights and ornaments, the trees have emas hung on the branches, with wishes written on the small wooden plaques. While emas are traditionally hung at a shrine for the kami to receive them, the emas here are for the community to offer and receive: for every wish you hang up, you're encouraged to take at least one other ema and fulfill that wish in return. Some of the wishes are very general, such as asking people to do good deeds to make the world a better place, wishing for the exams at school to be a little easier next year, or hoping everybody in the hospital will get better. Other wishes are more personal, such as wanting to learn a new skill, receive a certain toy, or help cleaning out a basement, and these personal wishes contain the person's name and contact information to indicate who to report to grant the wish. Not all wishes can be granted directly, but the effort put towards them still counts. There is no payment or other incentives to fulfill multiple wishes other than good karma, which will surely be returned to you in the new year.
→ MOD NOTES
- ⬥ Each character may make one free ema wish in the top-level below and the mods will reply with how the wish is fulfilled. Note that personal wishes will be signed for everybody to see, and while ICly all wishes will be fulfilled by the townspeople and not the Kotengu, for this first wish, a crow will occasionally swoop down and take an ema, so you guys can get your stat boosts and skill upgrades.
⬥ Additional ema wishes may be made for every thread reported that involves fulfilling one of the townspeople's wishes and must have a minimum of 5 comments from you. There is no limit to how many ema wishes that can be made, but all threads are due by 1/3/2020 when January's dungeon log goes up. These extra wishes will be fulfilled by the townspeople, so they might not know what to do with wishes like "+1 to all stats." You are still welcome to try, though, and they will do their best.
⬥ Part 2 of December's event will go up on 12/15 to encompass Christmas, New Years, and tragedy.
⬥ This month, the full moon occurs on 12/11 - 12/13. While Personas are stronger around the time of the full moon, they are more difficult to control and may behave strangely and disobey orders around these dates. This is an optional mechanic.
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Try to shake it off!
[ He's a bit loud, but it can't be helped. He runs up to Kido, intent on prying the Shadow from her. ]
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Tears roll down Kido's face while she lashes out at Yamato, screaming except silent, as if her voice doesn't work. It's small blessings that when her fist connects, the punches don't hurt as much as they should with Yamato's resistance, although they're still very heavy due to Kido's strength. Even when his Counter activates and her fist is thrown back and she recoils, she doesn't seem to register it at all.
The Shadow keeps a tight grip on her. Kido is strong. With her, it could probably take down everybody who ever passes through these doors. ]
no subject
Come on, you can do it! Stay with me.
[ He loathes to use his Persona on an actual individual, but it seems he has to. Along with Bishamonten, he tugs at the Shadow's blobs, wishing he could hit it without hurting her. ]
no subject
She can't see Yamato and her mind is locked up in her nightmares, but at least Kido is never one who takes things lying down. She struggles, screaming and crying and lashing out hard enough that even the Shadow has a difficult time holding on without covering her completely. It'll be easier to get the Shadow off of her if she's knocked out, but good luck doing that when she's null physical. Maybe he can suffocate her or something and make her temporarily pass out from that, idk. ]
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Good thing she doesn't seem to take any damage. He isn't as crass to use his gun on civilians, let's hope his unrestrained physical assault works. ]
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This is gonna be awkward, but better alive than dead. ]
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Hey... you okay?
[ Whatever she had seen, it wasn't good. ]
no subject
I'm fine.
[ She'll be fine. It's a nightmare she's had to sit through every few days for the past two months, and it doesn't get easier. ]
That didn't happen last time... I didn't hurt you, did I?
no subject
You didn't. We've got the key, though.
[ Seems like the next time they come in through here, they should find that blobby thing and then kill it. ]
no subject
Alright. We got the key, so we can move onto the next floor. Ready to go?
no subject
[ If Kido is able to nuke everything they pass with that Persona, then fighting shouldn't be a problem. Though, that means he needs to train his Persona as well, especially since he can't use his Legion yet. ]
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Kido immediately takes Yamato's wrist in a deathgrip, not moving a single step from the doorway. ]
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What the fuck? ]
Do we need another key?
[ He can go in there if he needs to, but Kido might not. And he needs her ability to hide, otherwise he'll have to fight his way through... ]
no subject
Yeah.
[ Her voice is tight and small, like she's about to throw up if she speaks any louder. ]
I don't know where it is.
no subject
We need backup.
[ If they rush into that mob or somehow get exposed, they'll both die. ]
no subject
[ Phones don't work, so there's literally no way to call for backup unless there's others around. Kido takes a step back and tugs Yamato back to the second floor, so they at least don't have to listen to the sounds of screaming and sobbing from down the hall. ]
Let's try again another night. This is enough for now.
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[ He turns away from that stairwell and exhales deeply. It doesn't bother him enough to make him physically cringe, but... ]
Thanks for the help.
no subject
[ There's the sound of somebody begging— almost a human voice, but none of the words are distinguishable. Kido bites at her bottom lip and hurries back up the stairs so they can get out of here. She'll come back another day... ]
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He's quiet until they make it completely out of the hospital, letting out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. ]
Take a good rest.
[ She needs more sleep than him, from the looks of it. The thought brings up an unbidden memory of his sister, which he tries to brush aside. ]
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You too. Night, Yamato. I'll catch you later.
[ She hurries home, not wanting to linger. Hopefully Yamato has a place to sleep... There's always the castle or the Velvet Room, if he doesn't want to pay for a place around town. ]
no subject
[ Yamato is still a Dumb Protag so he's going back to the castle. Hopefully their next outing will be less traumatic. ]