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DECEMBER EVENT PT 1

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→ 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

[ She's sitting on a part of the second floor where the ground's still sort of caved in so she can swing her legs through the gap, but she hops up onto her feet when she hears Jiro call her name, pointing at him and—-

He must have told Kano his name, but Kano ignores names and makes up his own, and Ala can't remember Jiro's. Doesn't matter, because she deems him, ]

A trespasser!!

[ She doesn't look all that bothered by it, though, running up to him and looking down at what he's left at the top of the stairs, if there's anything tasty. ]

What's all this? Dinner?

[She wasn't as... boisterous at their last encounter. Just holding cats and staying out of the way for the most part. Jiro steps in front of her to grab the ham. That, she can have and he hands it over. He points at the cat food cans.]

No.

[Some people here eat soap and cat food; she might be one of them.]

[ She looks at the ham and stares at it for a moment, but it's hunk of meat and doesn't look very tasty, so she sets it down in front of whatever cats are around; they can have it. Honestly, the cans look much tastier? She can't tell what's inside them, but she sees a colorful label and pull tabs are fun to open. ]

What's in the can? Can I have one?

[ ...It's a pun, Jiro. Laugh. ]

[Oh my god. She's a disaster like the rest of them, and that pun is horrible, but it gets a snort. He will now collect the cat food cans and then point at the cats. It's for them.]

[ At least she doesn't have to eat and won't ever get sick and die like Toki and Rei... Don't be stingy, and let her taste cat food.

She turns to look at the cats and her eyes light up, because oh, it's dinner for the cats and Jiro will gnaw at the boring ham, that makes sense. She picks up a cat just because she can, and nods firmly at it. ]

It's dinnertime! I think there was... let's see...

[ The cat gets set in Jiro's arms as she heads off deeper into the castle, looking around for spare caches of stuff Kano should have left hidden around the place.

...

...

She comes trotting back ten seconds later and holds a closed fist out towards Jiro. ]

[He needs to find a new place to live if Ala's still here tomorrow. Jiro shifts the cat to his shoulder, and holds out his hand for whatever she's decided to bring to him.]

[ lmfao Jiro's running out of places to live... He could find shelter at the shrine, if he can stand the noisy crows.

Ala doesn't have to eat or sleep or any of that, though, so she also has no reason to hang around the castle. She only did because that's where Kano and Ellie stayed, but there's no point anymore.

It's a handful of butter mints, Halloween candy that she got from Toki, and a single hot chocolate packet. ]

You eat this sort of stuff, right? Sugar gives you energy, and it makes you happy.

[Jiro looks down at the candy, then puts it in his pocket. He might use it to cater favour with Minato later or something. Maybe he'll dump the hot chocolate packet into the shrine water and see what happens. Apparently, he's prevented Ala from eating cat food for the moment, so now he wonders why she's here by herself, when she seemed attached to Kano.]

Where's Shuuya?

[He tries to enunciate the syllables better, but it's not working too well, so any extra words and profanities are omitted.]

[ Maybe the disaster befalling the rest of the month will be because Jiro decided to make hot chocolate in the shrine water.

For whatever reason, she looks really happy to hear somebody call Kano by his given name, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking back on her heels a little. ]

He's with the Boss' snake, but I can't reach him right now, so I can't help if you want to talk to him. Is everything okay? You're talking weird.

[Oh my god.

Jiro looks a bit confused, raising an eyebrow at Ala. He's met Orien once, but he doesn't relate that snake to this Boss' snake. The "boss" he knows is the Kotengu and not Terry.]

Shuuya's with the Kotengu's... snake?

[The fuck is happening? Her question is ignored, because there were more important things.]

Huh?

[ Is Terry a Kotengu? They're not exactly Personas, so she can't inherently tell that bout him. ]

Um... I dunno, but it's the snake that lives in the house with the flimsy door. I don't know the street number, but I could show it to you?

[The Kotengu lives in a house? Nothing makes sense. He'll have to start at the beginning.]

Who's the "boss"?

[ Maybe the Kotengu lives in the mountains but ditches his snake to live in a house instead. It would make sense, but Jiro asks for clarification and so he'll get an answer that makes more sense. ]

The Boss is Terrence Nowell! The tall one with the dumb look on his face and... um...

[ What other distinguishing physical features does Terry have... she can't think of anything else. ]

[Terry is obviously not the Kotengu, so this has all been some miscommunication. At least Jiro knows who the snake is now. So Shuuya is in that house somewhere. Maybe he's a zombie. Yeah, that makes the most sense.]

Okay.

[His ponderings on Kano have be quelled.]

[ "Okay." Jiro is very good at ending conversations, but it just makes Ala a little antsy, like she isn't properly pulling her weight on her end of the conversation. It's why Kano is a chatterbox too. ]

Do you want to go over and play with the Boss sometime? Shuuya used to go over a lot, but the Boss is no good at games.

No.

[Ala can chatter all she wants, but she's getting simple and concise answers.]

[ So they aren't friends... It's understandable. Terry can be hard to be friends with, but he's funny so Ala likes him. ]

Then... How about we play? You and me and your Persona?

[Ugh. She's not going away any time soon. Jiro now keeps his omamori on a string around his neck, since he no longer has gloves. His shoe was considered for only a minute, but it was annoying. He summons Priam, not because he wants to play with Ala, but because a lion is a big cat and maybe she'll be distracted.

The chimera tilts his head at her and lifts one massive paw.]

[ Ala is successfully distracted, which means she won't be going away any time soon. Smiling at Priam, she also tilts her head, mirroring the gesture, and lifts the same hand. ]

Hi~ I'm Ala, from the Moon Arcana! What about you? And, um... I forgot your name.

[ The last bit is to Jiro. She doesn't want to just pretend she knows his name until somebody happens to mention it, so help her out. ]

[Priam just makes a little pleasant lion-y growl, if they can be pleasant. Jiro gives her a weird look. From the Moon Arcana? The fuck? Is she one of them? Kano can't be a zombie if his Persona is out wandering around, can he? None of this makes sense, so Jiro just sighs and answers her questions.]

Priam. Chariot. I'm Jiro.

[Maybe he should have just let her eat the cat food.]

[ The sentiment gets across, and so does the weird look that Jiro gives her. ]

Chariot... Hehe, yeah, I can see it~ Nice to meet you, Priam! Jiro too. You took care of Shuuya lots of times, so thanks for that! He never got the chance to say, so I'm saying it now.

[ He's dead, bro. Doesn't even exist, neither here nor back in France. ]

[Jiro doesn't remember doing anything particularly nice for Kano, but whatever. The never got the chance is a little disturbing, particularly after Ellie. Now that he's thinking about it, Jiro never saw Kano again after that day, or the lizard. He must have been mauled too, but then the snake comments make no sense.]

You're... welcome?

[Priam lowers his paw, and he's decided he likes Ala. He likes everyone, though. He looks down at the floor a little sadly. He doesn't get to come out as much as he'd like.]

[ God, what happened to Nightmare... After both Ellie and Kano are gone, she either froze to death in this castle somewhere, went into hibernation, or took refuge inside the Velvet Room; it's a mystery. ]

Ehe~ Why is that a question?

[ She sure is welcome. And she scoots over a little to sit next to Priam; she'd give him a bandaid for looking sad, but she only had one to begin with and it got skewered by Terry's arrow and he never gave it back.

She can't tell what Priam's thinking, even though they're Personas, but sadness is always an obvious emotion and she pats him on the head. ]

Are you getting along with Priam, Jiro? Are you guys happy?

I dunno.

[He doesn't know why it's a question; mainly because Ala is weird and confusing and he's trying to figure her out. The same response works for both of the Priam questions. Jiro hasn't really bonded with him. He's just kind of there, and sometimes Jiro forgets he exists until there's something in the dungeon he needs Priam for.

Priam leans into Ala's touch, and Jiro awkwardly reaches out to pet the lion too. He may have been a dick to the poor guy; only calling him stupid when he's done something Jiro asked him to do and it went badly, and never praising the chimera for a job well done.]

[ Hosts suck, news at 11. She glances over at Priam to see if he looks a little happier with the attention, which she hopes he does and at the same time would be sad if he dose, because that means he's starved for attention. It's how it is; she gets it. Personas are tools of battle and their role is a protective on, first and foremost. It's silly to make friends with yourself, when it's everybody in the rest of the world you're supposed to get to know. It's still sad.

She leans against Priam and uses him as a pillow, nice and warm. ]

I hope you guys get along. The Boss and Vassago didn't get along before, and they almost killed each other over it. I don't want that to happen to you too.

DECEMBER EVENT PT 1

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ 12/3 Lockdown

→ 12/3 - 1/2 Town events

→ MOD NOTES

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