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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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[ A (self-proclaimed) friend! Ala liked 45 even though Kano was always sort of wary of being shot in the face, but she runs up to her and stands before her, wringing her hands on the hem of her jacket so they have something to do. ]
Shuuya's not here, so it's just me now! He's still with the Boss' snake, and I don't know when he wants to come back out.
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I guess we'll just have to leave that up to him then.
[ His choices and all that aka stay stuck forever kano. bye... ]
Waiting for the Dungeon to open?
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Mmhm! I'm feeling pretty lost and confused and anxious tonight, so I'm going to vent out all my frustrations here! What about you? Are you playing with Malphas tonight?
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[ She looks up. Right. It's a full moon phase. ]
Yeah. He's a hardworker, but he also wouldn't mind hanging out. Right, Malphas?
[ Malphas is summoned out of 45's shadow and looks over at Ala. He was super calm before, but upon seeing Ala, he looks excited through his body language and waves at her. ]
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Let's play tag with the other Shadows in the maze tonight!
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Malphas is abnormally tall, shooting past 6' 6" or something, so it's fine. He seems to be worried on what to do for a moment, but then 45 gestures to him that it's fine. Go hug her back, and so he does. He missed her too, and nods to Ala's suggestion. ]
I'm sure he'll have a blast. Right, Malphas?
[ He wants to show how strong he got, so he looks eager too. ]
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Yeah!
[ The hug makes her beam up at him, and when she's let go, she looks pumped too. She feels stronger with the full moon, but she's also weaker— she's forgotten how to do some of the spells she learned before too, but she's sure it'll come back. Kano never used her much for fighting anyways, and she doesn't need to be strong to play games.
The world blinks and turns dark, marking the start of Lockdown. ]
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[ Malphas takes the lead this time to go into the school Dungeon. 45 leisurely follows. She's just here to sit back and have some entertainment. Nothing big. Malphas gets some training too, which is great. They enter the first floor with all the Ravens and Hybrids. Malphas looks like all the ravens' conductor or something as he raises a hand to cast Masukunda on all the Shadows. ]
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Ala lifts both hands up in the air and happily starts zapping the ravens out of the air. Her power is super weak, but it doesn't matter as long as she hits weaknesses. ]
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Kano hated fighting and refused to do it, which she didn't understand. Fighting is fighting. You have to get stronger somehow, and the little stones that the Shadows drop are pretty. She likes things like that, so she hops down from the wall to pick them up. ]
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Are you going to keep that or put it in the offertory box?
[ Casual conversation while Malphas is blowing things up in the background. nbd. ]
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Hmm... I don't know! They're pretty, so I want to keep them, but that's a waste, isn't it?
[ Kano never fought much in the dungeons, so she didn't get to pick up a lot of stones. But she inherited Kano's joy of picking up junk, though the shiny pretty things interest her more and she won't keep the useless stuff he would. ]
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[ Or a ring......... ]
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Ohh, do you know somebody who can do that?! Shuuya knew, but I can't ask him anymore.
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[ Hm. Hmmm. ]
Want to work out a deal?
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Okay! What sort of deal?
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[ Malphas seems happy at the suggestion. ]
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Yeah! I want to play lots with him too! We can collect lots of rocks together, and make a necklace around...
[ She takes a step back, and goes through the motions of hugging an imaginary Vassago, trying to remember where her arms cross when throwing them around his neck for a hug. ]
...this long!
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[ Either way, it's a lot of rocks, so Malphas also works on helping Ala out to collect them. ]
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[ Vassago's is just going to have to be very big, so she's going to let the blacksmith do it while she tries smaller ones, haha ]
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[ He seems surprised. They're shiny rocks and he doesn't particularly like shiny things. 45 knows that though. ]
It'll have to be made from something different, because he doesn't like shiny things.
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Something not shiny...? What about colorful things, like dyed string?
[ She likes shiny things and brightly colored things. Truly she's Kano's Persona, the Persona of a five-year-old. ]
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[ 45 looks over at Malphas with a smile.
oh no.
Malphas is embarrassed. ]
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[ Ala
also looks over at Malphas with a smile. If he's embarrassed, she either can't tell, or is just barreling through regardless. ]
A tie-dye string necklace is okay, right?
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