pedalbike | Fourth TDM: Winter's breath

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As a quick note: This will be the last TDM and Application Round of the year! Have fun everyone!

Arrival

Not all characters (known as Wickie, singular or Wickies, plural) arrive at the same time, surprisingly enough! That’s life for you. Some Wickies find their way to the island at a pivotal (or very mundane) point in their life, or even after or during their death.

Wickies who were standing or walking often find themselves entering the town South Sister, located on Lighthouse Isle, through an open doorway. Those that were laying down, or sleeping, tend to be found lying prone in beds, bathtubs, showers, couches, and similar places within the cottages on Cottage Row. There’s no rhyme or reason to it all! To Wickies familiar with the era, they will realize that everything looks as if it’s come from the ‘90s.

The house which a Wickie finds themselves within could already be occupied. This includes walking into a fellow Wicke, waking up in the same location, or accidentally scaring a room full of people with their sudden appearance.

Oops.

Start of Winter

Thankfully things have more or less dried out, for the seasons are already changing. Or at least, the weather is, and with it...comes snow.

The grass on the island is covered, various trees lose the last of their leaves, the sand becomes crunchy, and even a portion of the ocean water becomes frozen solid. (Take THAT, water!). And with it, Wickies wake up at their feet (or suddenly in their hands if they don’t sleep) warm clothing and various ways to keep warm- or at least keep the cold from messing with their joints!

And with it, there are snow shovels and boots that are set out neatly by the door. It seems more snowk is expected, and foot protection is more important than ever. While it is possible for some (those who are not infected by the Silence at least) to use the teleporter to get from town to their homes, there are pathways that need to be cleared for everyone.

It might be a good time to offer a helping hand! Especially with some Wickies who are snowed into their homes.

Or it could be a good time to use the shovels to gather snow for snow ball fights, snow forts, and similar winter activities. The nice thing about the winter shovels is that they’ll have them for a few months.

Too bad the ground is nearly frozen solid, and these particular shovels are not good for digging into the ground.

Frosty Protections

While there may be the snow and the quiet that’s coming in, there are other things that are coming into the island too. There are tables that linger day or night, which have tangyuan. Some in the shape of various animals, and some of them that are simply balls of colored dough. They are edible, and thankfully they don’t have a negative consequence to eating them (unlike the mooncakes from before) but there are written instructions, which also proclaim outloud to a Wickie if they linger for awhile:

“For the use of protective talismans! Stick it on your chair, your door, your window!”

Interestingly enough, they do seem to work. Wickies who are Silence infected are repelled by them, feeling uneasy and nauseous around them and touching the tangyuan even with covered hands will cause a burning sensation.

Infected Wickies who eat the treats...they’re in for a rough time. Really rough.

There are also little tables with various drinks, some being fruit juice, sparkling fruit juice, champagne and of similar ilk- but not ever with water. That’s just bad luck after everything.

The inscription for this table, which is again read out loud, “Toast to others health”

Picking up the cups, they will be unable to drop it, and the fluid will refill in the Wickie’s cup until they find someone to toast to- whether it’s in humor or in earnestness.

For the next twelve hours after the toast is made, even if the drink is not drunk after, the Wickie toasted will find they will have better luck in that subject, whether it is in health, love, or friendship, or just in general.

The same applies if Wickies toast together to a group of people as well.

Of hooves and horns

The strangest thing of all isn't the sweet rice balls, nor is it the smell of evergreens heavy in the air. Instead, it's the masks set to everyone, and the ruckus music that thrums through the air, deep into the night.

The masks are of a haggard old woman, well worn and aged, and that of a man with horns and facial hair similar to a goat.

There are different effects when it comes to the masks, both happening at night with the music starts.

Wickies wearing the devilish mask find themselves wearing a ragged fur suit, prancing in the streets, ready to whip other Wickies whose behavior has been suspect or bad as of late. Finding the wicked and punishing them is an impulse, neigh impossible to ignore. And, too, there is a sense of wicked glee when they do punish someone with their reeds and whips. Krampus masked Wickies thankfully can be pacified with rum or brandy. They'll need the help of another to pull of the mask. But once it's off, the costume vanishes, and the chagrin of what happened ( or the satisfaction) follows.

Wickies wearing the woman’s mask will find that they’re not trying to scare people, but instead, they find themselves loping in and out of the crowds, searching, scanning, for certain people, all the while wearing ragged clothing, and often a scarf on their now ratty, graying hair.

It’s with a sickening horror that Wickies will realize there is something in the mask that is watching through the mask itself, and is nodding to itself far away and writing their names on a list.

And it’s not Santa Claus.

The Wickie’s wearing the old woman’s mask can be distracted by scattering seeds or threads in front of them- one inducing a true distraction to count and pick up the seeds, and a rage that comes over that of wasted thread.

Seeds make it easier to pull off the mask, and thankfully popcorn counts as a seed! But thread...well, it is a distraction too, but one that can lead to violent consequences. It might mean some rounds of bait and switching until the mask is taken off.

And that’s when the Wickie who had been wearing the mask realizing the list is of ‘bad’ Wickies, But…

how bad could they be?

Confession network

Yet again, the phone goes off. Doesn’t look like it’s anybody in town, but it’s that weird, cheesy app called The Heart Game. And it’s persistent, too: it doesn’t want to be ignored, making a series of beeps and chirps, much like a pet that wants attention.

The message that pops up is as follows:

We’re back! It’s the time for everyone's favorite game- Confession! So beloved users, our question is:

What do you love about winter? Is it the nip on your nose? The hot drinks? Playing in the snow? Tell us!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(It's true, no one is as powerful as Byleth so Claude is just a free deer here.)

Dragons' Peak, huh...

(Interesting name for a guy with horns and wings. You know.)

Forgive me if this is rude but I've never met anyone like you before. (As far as he knows. But he's trying to be polite right now!!) My guess is you aren't human like me.

(Unless they have different definitions of humans and humans do have wings and horns but you know. He's keeping an open mind.)

No need to worry about rudeness. Draken are famously reclusive, so I imagine most outside of their home have not met one.

[and tbh even if Claude was super rude, Kantera isn't the type to be bothered.]

We are the descendants of true dragons and humans, though in truth we have more in common with the human side of our ancestry.

(First impressions are everything and he only wants to be a sweet, charming, and innocent deer, of course.)

The descendants of true dragons and humans. ("Draken" he'd said? He'll file that away for now.) I gotta know how that worked out.

(There are some logistics there that need some sense like how does a dragon and human make a child... how do they conceive. This is getting into some kinky territory, Kantera. I did not expect my TDM threads to go in this direction but RP be like that sometimes wow. )

... You can spare the... intimate details.

[Kantera laughs, not at all offended by the implication.]

'Tis good you say that, since I have no knowledge of the details to begin with. 'Twas many, many generations ago, and they were not precisely interested in recording their encounters.

Another one lost to time, huh.

(The way things happen in history. Disappointing but not not surprising.)

... Guess this calls for some introductions now.

(He knows what Kantera is now more or less, even if there are still other questions but if they're both going to be around for a while, he can press more later.)

The name's Claude. Just your ordinary, average, run of the mill human.

(Nothing special about him!)

Kantera. A pleasure to meet you, young one.

[You are still 27, Kantera.]

Claude.

(He gives what he gets and no family name means no family name! ... And he gets the feeling it wouldn't matter much here, anyway.)

But careful there... keep talking like that and I'll have to call you old man.

You say that as though I would mind.

[He’s an old man at heart.]

I am far too used to this way of speaking to change now, regardless.

(...)

I had a feeling you wouldn't.

(He seems pretty mild tempered.)

How old are you then, anyway? You don't look like much of an old man to me.

(And yet, he talks to Claude like he is old?)

[He has to actually think about it for a second.]

Twenty... seven, if I am not mistaken.

(And he laughs! He hecking laughs!)

That's all? I'm not that much younger than you are.

(Less than a decade.)

[Kantera isn't the type to take offense to someone laughing in his face.]

'Tis simply the way that I speak.

(Maybe Claude isn't used to people just not being offended by everything he says?)

If that's the case...

(He won't press it, then! He'll let it go. So be it.)

Well then, now that that's out of the way: Are you also new here or are you another worn and weary veteran here?

I arrived only yesterday, as a matter of fact. I am still learning the lay of the land.

[He'd been exploring when Claude beaned him in the horn.]

Then that makes the two of us.

(How long has Claude been here. How long is this TDM. I'm winging it.)

I haven't explored much yet. I spent most of yesterday speaking to the people whose house I stumbled onto.

(And anyone else he could harass into talking to him. )

You arrived in a house? I found myself in a doorway in the town proper.

[Weird!!]

In someone's bath, even.

(Talk about crash landings.)

Luckily, no one was in it.

How embarrassing. Were your clothes soaked?

[rip]

Just a little.

(A lot.)

Poor thing.

[That might sound more sincere if he weren't smiling, but friendly teasing is just what he does.]

Fourth TDM: Winter's breath

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