Fourth TDM: Winter's breath

[upcyclingmod]

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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!

Comments

[binghua]

Upon hearing his friend come back to the house, Xingchen sighs fondly and starts to put his robe back on. If there's one thing he's learned over the years of having this particular lodger in his company, it's that he is active - or maybe just stubborn - enough to not let the elements defeat him so easily. Once he's back in the house he should be fine in no time, so Xingchen closes the door behind them. "I was going after you, of course. You called for me."

And he's been found, or rather he found himself for his friend, but that's neither here nor there. Instead he just offers a smile and begins to walk toward the kitchen, speaking as he goes. "I take it you've just arrived here. You must be hungry." When isn't their little group at least marginally hungry, though?

[murdergremlin]

Xue Yang follows him inside, shivering from the temperature change for just a moment more before letting the warmth of the inside make things better. By Xingchen's response it seems like he is a little late in his arrival and that the other man has been in this strange place for awhile.

"If you have food then I will eat it." Because Xue Yang isn't going to turn down anything that Xingchen gives him. "I just woke up in that tub. How long have you been here?"

Because he is sure he saw the man when he closed his eyes in Yi City so either he has been sleeping a long time or there is something odd going on here.

[binghua]

The enthusiasm to eat is good to hear, even if Xingchen knows he isn't the world's best cook. But he can get by and his friend knows this. So he carefully pats his way around the kitchen, gathering up the necessary items to cook something relatively quickly. Nothing fancy, but sometimes food is food.

As he works, he continues the conversation. "In the tub? I hope you aren't too sore. I can't imagine that was very comfortable." Says the guy who had been sleeping in a coffin for how many years, but details. As for that question, Xingchen pauses and tilts his head to the side, clearly thinking. "I think it's been around four months, now? I'm not positive."

[murdergremlin]

"It was terrible to wake up there, Daozhang but I've slept in worse. I'll stop being sore after awhile." He doesn't let a few aches hold him back from anything. Not when he's experienced far worse things in his lifetime.

He was playing with something on the counter when the man tells him how long he has been there. He nearly drops it, but it does make a loud clang when it makes contact with the top.

"Four months?? How is that possible?" He knows he just saw the man...

[binghua]

"Stretching your limbs should help, if you still feel sore after a while." It's easy to fall back into the life he's been living for the past few years, just talking about little, inconsequential things like this. Having Song Lan here has been such a blessing, and Xingchen treasures every moment he can share with his dearest friend again, but he also can't help but feel that nagging strain at the back of his mind. All is forgiven between the two of them, and yet after all they've been through, after how they parted ways, things just aren't back to the way they had been, as if nothing had happened. It's unfortunate and he hopes everything will heal with time, but he can't deny that conversations like this just...come more naturally at the moment.

He'll never admit this to either party, of course, knowing how easily feelings can be hurt. It's not anyone's fault, either. He just has to do his best to give everyone their due attention.

The noise takes him by surprise and his hands flinch back from where he's been working, unsure if it was his doing. But then his friend's voice, clearly distraught and confused, answers that question for him. Right. That probably does come as a shock. "Ah, I'm not sure. I'm still trying to make sense of this island as a whole, but it seems we've somehow been taken from our homes and brought here in order to help fix it, along with ourselves." A pause, because that still sounds ridiculous, no matter how many times he tries to reconcile it in his head. "Time doesn't seem to apply here like it should elsewhere."

[murdergremlin]

"So you...you've been here alone?" Why does that bother him? Xue Yang can't even begin to explain when he started to feel comfortable at the coffin house and in Xingchen's presence. It was slow, but eventually he stopped wanting to hurt the man. So to hear he would have had to endure this alone for months makes him feel...strange.

"I'm here now so we will figure out a way to get back." Because if anyone can find an answer, it is him. He hasn't been slacking in getting stronger even though he has found a quieter life in Yi City. And he is smart enough to be able to figure things out if he has a few answers to go by. He'll get them both back home no matter what. Although..he will say that the thought of being in a place alone with Xingchen, without that annoying Little Blind is very enticing.

[binghua]

Xingchen is unaware of his friend's little epiphany and just continues getting some food going. Rice is easy enough, and chopping up vegetables takes more time when one is blind, but he's been doing that his entire stay here, too, so it's not so bad. He smiles at his friend's concern, though, something that isn't always expressed under that more carefree and blunt nature. "I haven't been alone, exactly. I've made some friends here. And..."

Ah, his hands pause in their work as he thinks this next part over. "Do you remember when I told you and A-Qing that I used to cultivate with someone? Well. He showed up a few weeks ago. I've been well taken care of, so please don't fret." As if he expects his friend to admit to such a thing, but Xingchen can tell. He goes back to work. "I believe you. You've proven yourself to be quite adept in the past, after all."

[murdergremlin]

Xue Yang's hands clench into fists as they sit on the countertop. Song Lan is here? He can feel the scowl form on his lips as that name makes his blood boil. He may have gotten used to Xingchen..accepts him in a strange way that he never expected. But he doesn't feel the same kind of connection with Song Lan.

"I remember..." It's hard to keep his voice steady, keeping it masked and not letting the malice drip from every syllabal that he speaks. He doesn't know what kind of encounter that would be if they meet..which seems inevitable given they both have ties to the daozhang before him. Xue Yang doesn't know fear so he certainly won't be fearing for his life should they meet, but there is an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach about what will happen when Song Lan informs Xingchen about who has really been walking by his side all these years.

Deciding to move away from that conversation before he gets really angry, "Daozhang, when you questioned if I was hungry I thought the food was already done!" Not that he is actually starved any more then usual or in any kind of hurry but he can't help himself when it comes to teasing the man.

[binghua]

He finishes cutting up the vegetables and finally scoops them into a pan to fry. Again, he's oblivious to his friend's thoughts and obviously can't see the silent reactions he has to the knowledge that Song Lan is here. All he gets is that acknowledgment and Xingchen simply reads his tone as jealousy. His friend isn't clingy, but he does like to spend time with Xingchen - and, really, the lively company is a welcome change from the loneliness he had endured after leaving Song Lan with his master on the mountain - so it's understandable that he might view Song Lan as a sort of threat. Which is silly. Xingchen treasures both of them for different reasons. He just shakes his head and continues cooking.

He falls for the bait in topic change, too, thinking nothing of it. This sort of harmless complaining is normal, after all. "My apologies. What a dreadful host I've become." He continues to smile, though, and after a few more minutes, which must feel like a lifetime to his hungry companion, he fills a bowl with rice and lays some of the vegetables on top, offering it to the other man. "Eat as much as you like."

[murdergremlin]

"I'll let it go for this one time." Xue Yang smirks at Xingchen's response and starts to wander aimlessly around the room as he waits for the food to finish. His mind wanting to go back to the fact that Song Lan is around, causing a kind of restlessness inside of him the more he thinks about it.

Finally when the food is ready he returns to Xingchen's side to retrieve the bowl. "Are you going to eat as well, Daozhang?" He carries it over to a table and sits himself down with it. The house is in better shape, the food looks fresher..but overall everything is as it always is back home. Minus one extra person of course.

[binghua]

The silence that surrounds them is comfortable, more peaceful than what he's used to with A-Qing and this man's nearly constant bickering, but still good. And when he's questioned if he's going to eat, too, Xingchen exhales, having been caught, and scoops out a bowl for himself before settling down carefully at the table. If his friend looks closely, he'll notice Xingchen has filled his bowl considerable less full.

But as they eat, he lets the quiet continue, just happy to have another friend around, even if he shouldn't be glad they're stuck on this island that demands seemingly impossible solutions. It's selfish of him, sure, but he can't help what he feels. "Are you feeling better now?" It's amazing what food can do for one's temperament.

[murdergremlin]

Xue Yang starts to eat, hungrily helping himself to the large bowl while occasionally secretly adding a little more to Xingchen's. If there is all this food then the other man should be making sure to eat well.

"Of course it is better now, daozhang." He could have helped with the cooking. Has taken over it on occasion to the point where he is getting pretty good at doing some parts of it. But it was more fun to watch the other man navigate the kitchen without his eyes.

"Since you've been here, you're going to have to tell me all the stories of what has happened. I hope you've worked on your story telling abilities."