January Town Event Log

[kaisoumods]

January City Log
Dominant Element: Water
Waning Element: Fire

Full Moon: January 12th - 14th

※
The true winter now grips the city, making the weather turn bitterly cold, with temperatures very often dropping below zero. You will have to wrap up warm if you want to go outside. Huge snow drifts can be found dotted around the city, along with patches of treacherous ice that simply cannot be melted away easily. At least the spirit vein provides a nice show, as it turns to beautiful hues of blue with the changing dominant element. Everything else is pretty miserable though.

Midwinter

Despite the horrendous weather, Kaisou is trying to make the best of it. While the Christmas market is packed up and put away for another year, there is still plenty to do outside if you're willing to brave the elements. Shopping Street has an ice rink set up, with people of all ages taking to the ice to test out their skills... or fall flat on their backsides. A few stands dotted near the ice rink offer hot chocolates and warm doughnuts to help take off the worst of the chill.

Kami state park has tried to set up its usual ice palace, with ice and snow built to make impressive walkways, light up with pinks and purples, trying to create a magical experience for people to sightsee. Unfortunately, after November, Kami State Park has been fully dropped into the spirit realm, and that imposing mountain looms over it ominously. On occasion, some Cryo Whopperflowers wander into the attraction to cause problems for the guests. If you could help keep them at bay, the people running the ice palace would be very grateful!

The Kitsune of Blue Fish Park are up to their usual nonsense. This time they're selling ice dresses. The dresses are extremely beautiful, and as they are magical, they can be immediately altered to any size or body shape. The dresses are blue-white, and sparkle like ice on a beautiful fresh morning. They don't feel cold to wear, and you certainly turn heads if you choose to wear one. Maybe this time you have had an actual good thing from them? Except... no. The second you step inside, your ice dress will immediately melt, leaving you wet and in your underwear. Embarrassing.

Festival of Ice

♪- Winter Festival

You will find flyers dotted around the city, inviting you to visit Stardew Valley. It states the realm has its annual "Festival of Ice" going on and welcomes Kaisou citizens to come and partake in one of their favourite holidays. If you hop on the train from Central Square, you will soon be in Stardew Valley, and will find the place a winter wonderland with ice and snow everywhere. It's still as cold as Kaisou itself, but the little farming community is alive with hustle and bustle.

A travelling merchant with a cart pulled by a... pig wearing a fez and spectacles can be found near the main hub of activity. The merchant has a lot of winter-themed furniture on sale, such as white rugs, blue "ice" banners, and a snowman shaped scarecrow. There are also warming foods on sale, such as pumpkin soup, stuffing and cranberry sauce. Nearby the merchant, you can find Stardew Valley residents hard at work building ice sculptures and igloos to be judged for a contest. They welcome you to give it a shot, if you want. You don't actually win anything - bragging rights matter a lot in this town, it turns out.

The crown jewel of the Festival of Ice is an ice fishing contest- of which there are multiple throughout the holiday. You will find holes cut in the frozen pond, ready for you to drop your rod in. If you need a fishing rod, you'll find Zodiac has put up a stall nearby, selling all sorts of rods, lures and bait. How much help you'll get in finding the prefect equipment really depends on what Zodiac employee is manning the store at the time- maybe you'll get the best for the job, or maybe you'll get something that couldn't even catch a boot. Always playing the corporate game, you will also find lots of Zodiac-branded items on sale. Such as a Stanley Cup (LIMITED ZODIAC SNOWFLAKE EDITION!!!), scarves and hats covered with the Zodiac logo (stylish!) and Zodiac hand warmers.

Once you're ready to start, you are told the rules are the first person to catch five fish wins the contest! It's a real test of your fishing skill, especially against the cold weather. While you fish, a strange looking white wolf might suddenly dart in and steal one of your fish - she's gone before you can catch her, but she seems to be having a lot of fun! Should you be lucky and win the contest, you will receive a prize ticket from Mayor Lewis. You can exchange this with the merchant for a small carved animal from the Chinese Zodiac (plus the cat). Partake in a few fishing contests and try to collect them all!

OOC Notes

The dominant element this month is Water! Anyone with an affinity to the water element will find themselves boosted throughout the month. This could mean a boost to their power, having more energy, feeling more inspired with creativity, having better luck on different attempts -- the boost can manifest in all sorts of different ways. By contrast, anyone with an affinity for Fire will be experiencing the opposite. Perhaps their powers will be weaker, they have less energy, they're having a creative block or general worse luck - again it can manifest in all sorts of way and players are free to play with this mechanic as they'd like.

The original OOC plotting post for this event can be found here. There will be a second log about the spirit realm event and a midmonth Zodiac posted on the 15th.

Comments

Riku | Kingdom Hearts | OTA!

[fightbydawn]

Midwinter
1. Local teen hates the cold, loves his bat

[It's been... an exhausting time, since November. Honestly, Riku had needed all of December to try and finish setting up his new apartment, recovering from the invasion in November, and just... getting used to the city.

And apparently what that culminates to is wandering through the paths of ice being set up at Kaisou's winter festival.

He can be seen, during the entirety of that event, wandering around and taking in the sights, nursing a cardboard cup of hot cocoa the first few days and a thermos later on, watching people ice skate (good luck getting him to try doing that himself), and just generally people watching.

But if you're lucky, you might see him sneaking snacks into the strange front pocket of the sweatshirt he's been wearing-- or you might see a strange little hand or fuzzy purple head poke out the top. Someone is enjoying the outing while still remaining nice and cozy and warm, at least.]

Festival Of Ice
2. Do you wanna build an architecturally sound abode out of ice and snow?

[Beach bums and ice don't get along very well, but some nagging feeling made Riku wander from his apartment to Stardew Valley, some strange anxiety that only started abating when he found himself in the center of all of this wintery madness.

And while he didn't exactly want to go to a social gathering in the cold, he definitely didn't want to be caught up with igloo making.

But yet here he is, keyblade in hand, absolutely trapped by a swarm of kids who keep pushing him to various ice piles and telling him to Cut, cut, cut!.

He just... can't tell them no. So here he is, trapped for hours and hours during this festival, cutting down larger ice blocks for these little pipsqueaks making their insanely cold ice houses, awkwardly finding himself promising to come back the next day to help them finish their little snow village up.

For anyone passing by, if he catches sight of and recognizes you at all, there will be such a pleading look on his face as he mouths h e l p, but otherwise, once the kids get bored or run off for hot food and drink, Riku can be found still hovering around the ice and snow..... poking and prodding at cut bricks of ice almost like he is trying to subtly build his own little house, too.]

3. Oh, to be a fish

[Riku's no stranger to fishing- it's hard to grow up as a wild child by the ocean without making at least one makeshift rod, but dealing with the surf and saltwater fish is way different from ice fishing.

Honestly, he wasn't going to try this part of the festival, but what people were saying about the strange white wolf that kept showing up piqued his curiosity, in the end.

So, during the heart of the fishing competition, Riku can be found off to the side of the more competitive participants, bundled up in the warmest jacket, scarf, and hat combination he could find, slowly and clumsily fishing up some small fish, looking around, and then tossing them towards the edge of the bushes around the lake.]

Here, boy. ... girl? Quick, while no one's looking.

1!

[ampersand_me]

Knuckles wasn't really the festival-going type, but rumor had it that there were monsters needing to be fought, and that was more than enough to get him to show up to patrol.

Which meant there was a weird red, alien echidna... thing just walking around the place. Yes in the open, outside of October he took full advantage of the fact that most people's weirdness filters made them mistake him for just a kid in a weird outfit. Even better now, when they seemed to be assuming he was just wearing a hooded red snowsuit or something.

Well, okay, some of the awwws and questions about where his parents were definitely got old, but look. Knuckles was on a mission here, as he patrolled the edges of the ice palace grounds looking for monsters to pummel.

[fightbydawn]

It's a testament to how much Riku has remembered of his past life that catching a glimpse of a waist-high anthropomorphic echidna doesn't seem to phase him. Honestly, he'd almost completely passed it off as normal until something pinged in his mind, some strange bit of half-remembered nostalgia. A... mentor, not too dissimilar from the small red guy being baby talked at by a small group of strangers.

So, Riku pauses, letting the Noibat in his sweatshirt pocket poke her head out curiously, as well, watching as Knuckles seems to stride on off with purpose. He should leave the guy alone, but...

"Hey," in the end, he just couldn't leave well enough alone. Maybe it's whatever weird curse has been making him be more social lately, or maybe it's the fact that he's a bit more comfortable with large talking animals than other humans, both in this life and in his last. "I'm going to guess you aren't someone's lost toddler."

Yes, Riku. That sure is a way to say hello, nice to meet you.

2

[droptheious]

[Varian only came to Stardew for some iridium, it was supposed to be a quick in-and-out activity, but here he is, looking at a guy who's been captured by children and given the choice to save him or keep walking.

...Knowing he's going to regret this, he sighs, wandering over.]

Hey, guys, watch'ya doing? Building a snow village? You know, there's a way more structurally sound way to build this!

[fightbydawn]

[Oh thank the gods, he's being rescued.

The look of relief on Riku's face is so obviously comical as Varian attracts the attention of the kids that had been harassing him. And, you know, if he was anyone with good decision making skills, he might take this as an opportunity to try to escape, to free himself of the situation and let Varian find his own way out after him, but...



Damnit, now he's curious.]

... there is? [Congratulations, Varian, you have a group of curious kids and the six foot behemoth they trapped ready to learn how to build a proper ice house.]

1

[illucesco]

[Noctis is actually ice-skating! Or, well, he's being pulled gently along onto the ice by his Pokémon and is mainly just watching over them, keeping them from getting too rough on the ice. Occasionally, he even creates a little ice bridge for them to skate over.

Eventually, Litus the Spheal begins to flag, so Noctis picks her up and goes off to let her rest in his sweater. Fluvius and Fulgur can look after themselves for the most part, so long as he doesn't go far, so he makes his way over to where he sees a fellow POKEGO member hanging out.

Litus pokes a little flipper out of his sweater and waves at the Noibat. "Spheal!" she calls, sounding a bit worn out but quite pleased to see another.]

Hi. Princess guy, yeah?

[fightbydawn]

[Oh, Riku knows this guy! It's.......... that guy!

... he should really sit down and learn the names of the people in POKEGO, at least. But after the hell that was November, he's still trying to get his feet under him. So until Riku feels his Noibat squirming in his sweater, poking her head up a little further and shoving her wings out of the sides of the pocket to excitedly flop her wings in a returning wave "Noinoi!" he'd been honestly unaware of Noctis' approach.

And, well, by the time he remembers where he recognizes his face from, he just looks tired.]

... that really is all I'm going to be known as for a while, isn't it?

Yasuho Hirose | JoJolion | OTA

[youwouldntdownloada]

[OH, F!SH]

[If you've come for the fishing competitions, you've come to the right place. Look at all those people casting their line! One would think a fishing boon a...well, boon here, but Yasuho's seasonal affect seems to be having a bit of a time with that, so there's no guarantee for her.

Or maybe it's the Other Thing that's getting in the way of her success.

See, on the dock, there is what looks to be a small, teal-green reindeer with pink antlers, wearing an astoundingly warm coat that barely allows their buggy wings to be seen.

It also has a long, similarly colored fish tail dangling from under the coat, instead of hind legs.

Upon being noticed, Yasuho just tries to focus on the fishing rod gripped impossibly in her hooves.]

Don't. Ask.

[she's not pleased about this either]

[NETWORK - UN: MUSICOLOGYMINOR]

[BEHOLD! A photo of...wow! Six of the Thirteen figurines! Not too shabby, is that? A little Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Monkey, Rooster, and Cat, are all lined up,]

i'm not leaving my house until march

[u good over there girl???]

text; un: photocutie

[trailblazingspirit]

What? Yasuho what??? AWWW these are so cute!!! Where did you get them?

[youwouldntdownloada]

I'm tired and I wanted the full set but I kept having an ENTIRE FISH TAIL while FISHING

you have to win per statue...!!!

Eren Jeager | Attack on Titan | OTA

[liberios]

1.Festival of Ice

[There’s so many winter festivities and Eren found himself speechless. He had no idea how these people could be so carefree and live happily. Maybe he just doesn’t understand them because he could never live like that.]

I need to calm down and focus.

[He sits on a frozen bench and lets out a deep sigh. A perpetual scowl rests on his face as he grumbles under his breath. He takes a deep breath. His attempts to calm down just didn’t seem to work. Why were his emotions getting the best of him? He thought he had more control over it but he doesn’t. After getting frustrated at himself he storms off on his own leaving a trail of footprints behind him.]

What the hell am I doing?

[He curses himself once more and tightens his fist together. His eyes wander to the stalls. Eren goes to one of the stalls for a drink. It might clear his head and make him feel better. There are other people sharing drinks and meals together. Eren keeps an eye out for anyone he might recognize. In the meantime, he’ll try some pumpkin soup. He drinks it quickly to shake off the cold.]

This tastes sweet. Have you tried some of the food? It reminds me of the meals I used to eat back home.

2.Training

[Eren struggles to catch his breath. His chest tightens and he’s sweating from head to toe. In the cold winter forest, he’s jumping from treetop to treetop to increase his agility. He equipped his Omni Directional Mobility Gear and scouting cloak. He’s a soldier and he’s dedicated himself to achieving his goals. His movements are quick and decisive. Eren needs to work harder so one day he can destroy all of the titans. ]

[He’s been training hard like this for hours pushing himself to the brink. Eren’s exhaustion caused him to lose control over his movements. He comes crashing down and braces himself for the worst.]

Look out!

[He doesn’t want to crash into anyone nearby. Eren drops onto the snow breaking his fall. His breathing is ragged and he collapses on his knees.]

3. Wildcard

[hit me up with anything or contact me at springbloom]

2

[ampersand_me]

Eren wasn't the only one who liked to take to the woods to train, so when Knuckles heard the commotion of someone flitting amongst the treetops he naturally came to investigate. Which happened to be just in time to see him come crashing to the ground.

"Ah! It is you." A pause as he cocked his head to one side, taking in the gear curiously. "Did your equipment malfunction?"

[liberios]

No, that's not it. I just screwed up.

[Eren takes a moment to catch his breath and looks up. He remembers Knuckles and they fought together during the heartless invasion He calms down once he knows it's someone he recognizes. His expression changes from a scowl to a more neutral expression. At Knuckles question he pauses-]

I'm not strong enough to move the way I want to so that's why I fell.

[He hates himself for being so weak. He wishes that he could change it but it's not that simple.]

How come you came all the way out here? Are you training too?

2

[hoshikiri]

[Takame had good eyes. He saw someone moving about in the forest, too tall to be local fauna or monster, too fire-aspected to be a lingering heartless.

Unfortunately he approached too late to keep Eren from falling into the snow. Even with the large snow banks it's still a hard fall, so before Takame approached he shot a light regenerative blast towards Eren from his Gunblade before dismissing it and going to the young man's side.]

Are you alright?

[liberios]

I'm doing the best I can and it's not enough. I keep messing up during training and it pisses me off so bad.

[He tries to catch his breath in between heavy pants. He's exhausted, tired and worn out from training. When Takame uses his regenerative blast Eren feels slightly better. His legs don't hurt as much and his libs stop being so sore.]

Did you just heal my injuries?

Hermes | Stray Gods | ota

[doublethumbsup]

☃️ MIDWINTER ☃️
[Now that Hermes has their Doorway power returned, they feel... better. They feel like the world isn't so intimidating. If something does go wrong, they can just be on the other side of the city in a heartbeat. So nothing is there to stop them from checking out the ice rinks.]

[Or the hot chocolate. They've had three. With marshmallows, sprinkles, and whipped cream.]

[Needless to say, they're skating. They're going a million miles an hour and in good spirits about it all. Godspeed if you want to keep up with them.]

[You might have better luck when they're stopped by the kitsune, whose offer they look reluctant about.]

Uhhhh, nah. Nah, I'm good. If you have one in like - a hoodie? That'd be cool?


❄️ ICE FESTIVAL ❄️
[Are they here to build a snowman? Or iceman?]

[Nope. They're here to chuck snowballs. And duck behind trees and/or igloos once the fight is joined. All while laughing. But hey, it's about time they were actually happy about something. They haven't felt this upbeat since before October, rare for them.]

[Eventually, they notice the ... pig? cart? and end up skidding to a halt in wherever it is they're going, staring.]

Whoa. Am I the only one seeing this guy or...?

ice festival

[trailblazingspirit]

[Oh no it's the god she killed oh shit. March, snapping pictures of the contest, freezes up in shock and turns to blink at them, before she coughs. Casual. Yeah. She can do this. She can definitely do this.]

Nope, here, I took a picture! [It's an adorable little picture of the pig with the absolute cutest fuckin' filter on it. Look! There are sparkles!]

[doublethumbsup]

[Oh no it's the girl who stabbed them.]

[The sound of her voice is... they don't like to admit it, but they jump. Their back is to one of the igloos, and they debate trying to doorway through the entrance.]

I... uh. It's - it's nice. It's a nice picture.

[Hermes you barely looked at it.]

midwinter

[thewarriorqueen]

"Even if they did have something like that, you're probably better off not taking them up on it. Anything they're selling is a gamble, at best."

Doubtless the kitsune would loudly protest this assessment, but Meredith was going to call it as she saw it.

[doublethumbsup]

"What, really?"

They back away a few steps. Away from the cute critters and their outfits.

"Do they like... do the emperor's new clothes thing or...?"

Yugo | Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V | OTA

[oneracetrackmind]

1. Ice Skating

[Yugo is great at motorcycle racing. On a bike, he's in his element.

On skates? He's a different story.

Yugo is awkwardly circling the ice rink, one hand on the edge wall for balance. He's upright, but considering how wobbly he is, who knows how long that'll-]

Agh!

[Ah. Yugo fell. Give this guy a hand?]

2. Festival of Ice

[Somehow, Yugo got roped into the ice fishing contest.

He's not too cold - his new cold resistant jacket is doing a good job of keeping him warm - but he is bored, visibly grumbling while waiting for bites. To make matters worse, it seems the fish aren't really biting for him. He got one fish early on, only for that strange wolf to swoop in and steal it minutes later.]

Why did I agree to do this...

Cotton Cookie | Cookie Run Kingdom | OTA

[creamcottonshepherd]

[ZODIAC SWAG]

[Who doesn't want cool ZODIAC merch right? Hats?? Scarves?? Hand warmers??

Well whatever the case the employees of Zodiac are stuck selling them, and Cotton is no exception. The wee old lady is sitting there more often than not with another employee, knitting away carefully at what looks suspiciously like a much nicer hat.

She'll do her best to hem and haw and offer certain fishing goods of course. But...the winter wear...]

Ohhhh... ...well, between you and I dear, they're just a little...thin...

[She has standards.]

[ZODIAC CHILL]

[Apparently Cotton's standards can afford a bit of a drop when it comes to machinery, at least when forced to sit at a horrid little booth where only one person can get to the space heater. The Festival of Ice is a lot more than just one day, and frankly, one day was plenty enough for Cotton to experience a heck of a chill. She has a heat resistance.

That, is something else.

So, with a bit of the 'youtubes' and a prod at some more craft-minded folks (perhaps even a coworker), she brings...something to the booth.

Another heater, made with a fan, propped in a way that it should be able to cover...most of the rest of the booth. What's odd is the barrel of water it's connected to. The one Cotton occasionally puts a hand to while muttering something.

She smiles at whoever catches her, but she looks....tired.] Just a little something to...hopefully keep us a bit more toasty, don't worry about me, dear. I just need a little more tea I think, hohoho!

[....Water month, ah.]

Bailey (Byleth) Eisner | FE3H | OTA

[rupturingheaven]

Festival of Ice - Traveling Merchant
[It was the pig that got Bailey's attention first, and there's a part of them that suspects that may have been the intention. It certainly drew her over to look at the merchant's stock... Not that there's a lot that grabs her interest from the furniture. The food, though--the food's a fantastic idea, actually. Warm food's perfect for the bitter cold like this, and they have a contract price to fulfill anyway.

Though, perhaps ordering two things at once was not their brightest idea. Once they've gotten some distance from the cart, Bailey looks between the soup in one hand and the stuffing in the other, before turning to someone who approaches.]

Might've let impulse get the better of me here... Want one of these?

Festival of Ice - Fishing
[Honestly, Bailey doesn't actually care about the prizes--though, they do seem like they'd be fun to collect. Might as well give it a shot.

But really, she's mostly here for the ice fishing itself--it's a new, novel experience and she's having fun. Bailey isn't as laser-focused as they may look, though, pile of caught fish on one side and a treasure or two they pulled up on the other. They won't be too bothered if you address them, though. Linger long enough without saying anything, and she'll look up and wave.]

fishing!

[actnormal]

[Caleb, used to and expecting Noct levels of hyperfocus, very quietly and slowly comes over to Bailey (he's never met them but they look familiar, probably the app) and just.

Gently sets down a thermos of hot soup in an effort not to distract her.]

[rupturingheaven]

[Bailey, for her part, is not hyperfocused at all, so she's aware of Caleb approaching to leave the thermos.]

Oh. Thanks.