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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's easier to get the things I want this way.

[Cuteness gets you far with the gullible.]

It's like the cute version of honey trap... That sounds dangerous.

[ He laughs a little. ]

Do you think you can get the prize out of the UFO catcher by doing that to an arcade employee?

Actually, I was thinking you should play the UFO catcher game.

[RIO???]

[ ... ... ...

Terry tilts his head to stare at Rio. ]

Bold of you to assume that I'm good at the game.

Edited 2019-12-19 17:43 (UTC)

Don't worry about that. It's h100 per try, so even if you're awful at it, it should take about h500, or five tries to get what we want.

I can give you the money now if you'd like.

[ Last time he had to play this, he just cheated and grabbed two game consoles out of it... ]

At least tell me why you don't want to play it despite picking up the ema.

It's not that I don't want to do it, but we'll definitely be successful if you do instead.

[ With that wording in mind, Terry wonders if she has a plan, so he concedes. ]

Alright, fine...

[ They finally arrive at the arcade and Terry eyes the UFO catcher. What's the prize this time... ]

[It's... a dog plushie?! Whoa. So those actually exist here. Amazing.]

Ahh, there it is! I want it, I want it!

[Her voice is just a touch louder than usual as she dashes up to the game and presses her face against the glass, and inside, the arcade worker glances over their way.]

[ Terry inserts a coin that he gets out of his wallet and attempts to get the dog plush.

He's not that successful.

He tries again four more times, but it's as if it refuses to be picked up. ]

Ugh...

[Rio makes a lot of excited noises every time it looks like he's getting close, sighing with disappointment each time he fails. By now, it's definitely attracted the attention of the arcade worker, who walks over, a pitying look on her face.

"...Here, let me..."

She takes out a key and Rio watches with wide eyes as she opens up the case, picking out the dog and handing it to Terry. It's really a cheap plush; they've already made their money back.]

Ahh, you got it, you got it!

[The arcade worker may just think that Terry's kind of pathetic for not being able to get the prize for such a little girl. It's probably fine.]

[ Oh.

...

Terry gives it to Rio and tries to make it look like he got it for her. ]

Here, for you. It's yours.

Kyaa, thank you!

[She hugs it close to her chest, looking exactly the part of an excited child. The arcade worker smiles at her good deed done for the day and returns to the building.]

Should we head back now?

[To the place they need to deliver it.]

Yeah, let's go.

[ Rio's charming display really amazes Terry sometimes when he sees it in action. He thinks back when he helped her for the first time... he would have helped despite her cutesy act, but he keeps quiet about it as he leads her out of the arcade. When they're pretty far away, he finally speaks. ]

... I can't believe that actually worked.

Well, it's depressing to watch a boy try and fail to get something nice for a girl, isn't it?

[Very matter-of-fact.]

... Not really?

[ Terry doesn't get the sentiment even after trying to place in several people in those scenarios. He'd want to help, but maybe if they were like... siblings. But not much in a relationship-sense. ]

Trust me, that's what the worker was thinking for sure.

If you say so... it must be handy since you seem to understand people a lot.

[ Unlike him anyway. ]

It's what we were created for. That's why we're so dangerous.

[Ah... this must be the house. She'll set the plushie in front of it and head back to Terry.]

[ "Created for", huh... When Rio comes back, he attempts to ruffle her hair. ]

But you're good with things other than people too!

[Uwoh, hair ruffle. She does pause at that.]

All to make me more effective at my purpose.

[Which leads into a wry smile. But whatever.]

-It's fine, though. I'm already defying that fate. It's just something to be careful of.

[She was gifted with many talents for nefarious purposes.]

[ Terry withdraws his hand. ]

Sometimes I wonder what I would have been like if I tried to be more like my original in terms of capabilities... getting all the useful skills, but turning it around to do good things like how you're doing. But I just ended up rejecting all that and I have mixed feelings about it.

I'm not in a position to reject them. They're why I was able to survive this long... even if they're also why I was hunted in the first place.

[It's a catch-22. Even if the Blade Children did nothing, they would be suspected of scheming. And when they really did do harm, it was "because they're the Blade Children."]

But- someone told me that those who have made mistakes and sincerely worry that they may make that mistake again are more suited to understanding others' pain, and finding a way to guide them.

[Even if mistakes can also mean murder.]

[ Big freaking mood, Rio. Being hunted is never fun. ]

So... as long as you learn from mistakes, there's meaning to them?

Right. And, if you want, you can take what you've learned and guide others so they don't make the same ones.

(no subject)

overstrain - 2019-12-23 14:30 (UTC) - Expand

toybombs - 2019-12-24 02:29 (UTC) - Expand

overstrain - 2019-12-24 17:33 (UTC) - Expand