Summer Festival in the MGU

[crashout]

Wherever you are, whoever you are, one minute you’re at home minding your own business and the next you’ll see a shower of sparkles before you blink and find yourself teleported elsewhere.

The elsewhere, it seems, is an open grounds lined with stalls, pathways and gardens. Lanterns light up the pathways in soft glowing oranges and pinks, and even though it’s evening the weather is warm and enjoyable for a fun summer festival.

As you set off to explore, you’ll find that there are countless stalls with every type of treat you can imagine from a variety of cultures (including some from your own home worlds, strangely), all of which smell delicious and enticing. There are other stalls available with different carnival games as well. Go ahead and give it your all! Win a prize for that special someone, or just keep trying out of sheer stubbornness. Other stalls seem to be selling wares such as clothing, household items, flowers, and other things that can be given away as gifts. It seems that every time you look around, a new stall opens, almost as if this festival is responding to your every wish.

Speaking of wishes, there’s a small cluster of bamboo trees nearby as well, tables set up with baskets of arts and crafts supplies to write your wishes on the colorful paper and tie them to a branch. It’s a sweet thought, no?

And of course, what’s a festival without fireworks? Every now and then fireworks will light up the night sky, bursts of color in fun shapes such as stars, hearts, faces of people you know, whatever! Sparklers and bubble wands can also be found to play with throughout the evening near the viewing gardens. Flowers bloom and cover the area, though the paths lead to several small alcove-like areas and gazebos for those of you who wish to have a little romantic privacy. No matter where you are though, you’ll always be able to see the starry night sky.

Do try to play along and enjoy yourself for the evening. It’s only when the last firework bursts several hours later that you can actually leave anyway. Have fun!

[ooc: you know the drill, past mg characters from any of our past games, please don't make me list them again but go nuts.]

Comments

[impurities]

[ SUURPRISE GU YUN HE'S LIKE TWO YEARS YOUNGER THAN YOU INSTEAD OF SEVEN ]

Isn't it only fair that I start to win prizes for you now, as well..? [ the silence sort of clues him in that something is off, but gu yun like. doesn't fucking age. so he hasn't realized just yet that something is amiss. just that they've been whisked away, yet again, but that there's no murders they're supposed to be doing at the moment. ]

[liuli]

Have you finally decided to become filial? Will you actually be taking care of me when I've reached old age after all?

[ gu yun looks very amused at this, laughter in his voice as he holds his expectant hands out for the prize. he's so wildly shook by the fact that he has to look up to look at chang geng (he has to look up!!! the brat was still practically drinking his mother's milk when he left home?! hello?!) that he's distracted, and therefore, chang geng may notice something unfamiliar on the palm of his left hand. ]

Let's see it, then.

[impurities]

You say this as if there was ever any other option. [ half a joke at gu yun assigning him this when he was shen shiliu, half genuine because why would he ever not take care of him? the filial comment is glossed over. ] That's if you let me take care of you, though.

[ wouldn't it be funny if i handed you a furby

no it's a, like, plush tiger or something for the canon humor. but he does notice that there's something on his hand, because unlike some people chang geng is used to looking down at gu yun now. something curious twists into his expression as he passes the prize over. ]

[liuli]

[ there are no furbies allowed at this festival i've decreed it

anyway he will take this tiger, looking it over with the keen eye of a man who understands stuffed animals (bullshit), even adjusting his liuli glass. ]

It'll do. [ is what gu yun declares cheerfully, taking the thing and putting it under his arm. as ever, gu yun is observant, and that curiosity on chang geng's face doesn't go unmissed. ] Strange things do seem to be afoot, don't they? Spare me the answer to a question.

[impurities]

[ you say this, but one is going to show up somewhere. calling it now. ]

I suppose it depends on the question. [ considering, you know, every possible question they'd have for each other. chang geng is considering them, thoughtfully eliminating ones that he can answer by observation and experience. ] But these strange things are more preferable than the last time I found myself suddenly transported to a completely foreign location, so I'll take it as it happens.

[liuli]

[ oh he doesn't like the idea of chang geng being in a murdergame and though it doesn't read super obviously on his face, chang geng, who knows him, probably sees it immediately. ]

No need to overthink. [ it's not a crazy question. well. it kind of is? ] How old are you, currently?

[impurities]

21. [ he does see that, when he knows so many others wouldn't. and chang geng isn't dumb by a long shot - with the mark on his palm, and the reaction he's had to not only him but their situation, he can take a few guesses. ] There's a time discrepancy, isn't there.

[ not a question ]

[liuli]

[


he just mouths

"twenty one" to himself ]

[liuli]

[ and then recovers, thankfully, even if the entire universe is WRONG ]

Well. The last I saw you, you were sixteen. [ which makes gu yun a grand total of...23! wild. absolutely fucking wild. he's a little aghast at the fact that chang geng gets this much taller than him. this is an atrocity? he doesn't deserve this? ] So, I should say so.

[impurities]

Sixteen... [ he's thinking - ] Ah, Commander Huang Qiao and the Eastern Sea raid?

[ wow he's so much closer in age to yifu now... that's definitely wild. but he just looks down at him still, brow a little pinched, considering the years that have gone by since then. the way that gu yun was, when they were about to board the buses, to head home. the difference, now.

it definitely stays his hand, that's for sure. ]

[liuli]

Correct - at least, that was what happened before I was transported off to the station. It's been a few weeks since my return.

[ to his nice great liang that is now completely peaceful. he worked very hard for that wish. and... honestly, he doesn't quite catch the furrow on chang geng's expression, because gu yun's mind starts churning at about a hundred li a minute. ]

So, five years in the future - what's it like? Are the Heavenly Tribes still pressing on the border? What about the Westerners, have they quieted any - [ muttering to himself ] they accepted the terms of His Majesty's treaty, but that treaty was an unbelievable concession, they must have moved beyond it in attempt to take over anyhow - what's the state of Great Liang? How's the Emperor? My troops?

[ can you manage like one question at a time ]

[impurities]

[ wow. but despite all of the questions? ]

Yes, they're still pressing on the borders; no, the Westerners haven't quieted at all, which answers the next question. The nation is currently under siege but is pushing back all invaders; the Emperor was being taken care of the last that I saw him, insistent as he was to be on the front lines of an attack on the Capital, especially after he tried to pass the responsibility of Great Liang under attack on to me like an idiot; your troops, and you as well, are present at the front lines and staving off the enemy forces.

[ he doesn't miss a single beat, methodical and quick. ]

[liuli]

[ the look on his face is briefly approving.... you did good, chang geng. give him a moment to process that information. he called the emperor an idiot? funny. true! funny. ]

...interesting. [ gu yun puts a hand to his chin, thoughtful. ] I suppose that must mean timelines do diverge, in some ways. I did meet someone here earlier who I had known at the station who had no idea who I was, so the evidence stacks accordingly.

... The Westerners and the Heavenly Tribes alike have backed off from Great Liang's borders, and a total peace treaty has been signed. Any attempt at movement against the treaty has been quelled, so far, though we're in the process of delineating special forces to erase any skirmishes before they start.

That is to say - the place I was in came with the caveat of a wish, and one that was granted. [ their beloved great liang, at peace. at least in his line. ] - Yours didn't?

[impurities]

[ his brother is an idiot for that. chang geng rightfully ignored him and told him to get his shit together. (that's now how he's going to take the throne.)

there's quiet, considering him, as he processes that. with people from different worlds, and their TPK game, he can't say he's too surprised by the fact that there's more than just a time discrepancy here. a station? a wish? a peace treaty? no, they don't have anything like that, and he's a little embittered by the thought.

after all, the last thing that he was doing before being taken to the lodge was watching as artillery fire was coming right for him. when he was certain that gu yun was in the thick of it, himself, as the capital fell around them piece by piece. ]

No, there wasn't a wish, and Great Liang was far from peaceful when I was plucked up. Our situation was just the host of the lodge we were at wanting us to leave, when we arrived unannounced. Everyone had to die to make it out.

[liuli]

[ oh, any of the lighthearted, amused joy on his face vanishes. ]

What?

[ WHO HAS TO DIE ]

[impurities]

[ he's pretty clinical about this, to be honest. ]

Everyone in the lodge had to die to make it to a parallel space, a winter village with a bar we arrived in. We could see them from there - and help kill them, as well, to get them to our side.

[liuli]

[ hmm.

he smiles. ]

Are any of your comrades here, then?

[impurities]

Most of the faces here aren't familiar to me. [ he knows why you're asking. ] Though I did catch sight of a clown, they seemed more docile than the last I saw them.

[liuli]

[



he honest to god forgot that limbo was a clown of some kind so immediately he thought of molly, which gets him to stop Smiling Politely for .2 seconds before he skips over it. right now he is much more concerned with finding the person who killed chang geng for no reason at all :) ] Perhaps you'll introduce your yifu to the ones that were? I should like to meet them, then.

[impurities]

[ smiling politely in return, placid as he just: ]

For this, I will not, yifu.

[liuli]

Oh? You've grown up and made friends, and you won't share with me? How very cruel of you, your highness.

[ do you want to play this game, you little bastard ]

[impurities]

I feel as if you cannot be entrusted with this knowledge, marshal? Though I will be glad to meet the friends you've made during your stay.

[ they are just going to smile pleasantly at each other and not budge, aren't they. a younger timeline gu yun and an older timeline chang geng is so dangerous. ]

[liuli]

First, a loss of trust, and now - have we grown so distant you'll no longer call me your yifu, even?


[


laughs ]

[impurities]

Perhaps we should get to know each other again? After all, it'd been quite some time before the siege on the capital since I'd last seen you, you know.

[


do you really want this in your life gu yun ]