glocksuke | Jingle Mingle...3!

Jingle Mingle...3!

Ah, yes. Third verse, same as the first! For some of you, the sudden onslaught of crystalized, chilly snowflakes may come as a surprise as you’re swept up in an icy sort of cyclone. Some of you may have already been bracing yourselves as the storm set upon you. But regardless of whatever group you’re in, you’ll soon find yourself being lifted off of your feet and tipping forward, free-falling through a whimsical, colorful interdimensional space. A door opens before you, and soon you tumble out of…a tree?

Yes. That’s right. You find yourself falling out of the trunk of a tree at the top of a snowy hill, looking down at a small village adorned with twinkling lights and the sound of music in the air. Too bad you can’t turn back now. The door has swung closed and all you are faced with is a painting of a Christmas tree.

Right then. Best to explore! There are plenty of places you can go and things to do while you’re here, but the proprietor of this village kindly asks that you do not resort to murder. For real. This is a place for winter fun and not bloodshed, and should anyone resort to violence they will find a large pile of snow falling straight on their head to cool off. There’s a little something for everyone, and all it takes is a little bit of adventure to find your holiday magic.

❄️Skiing, snowboarding, and toboggans, oh my
Even before you make your way down the hill and toward the village, you’ll find a building nestled among some trees holding all sorts of winter items including skis, snowboards, snow mobiles, toboggans, and sleds. The snow is fresh and the hills are alive with the sound of laughter. Challenge your friends to a race or two, or just take a test run down one of the many slopes scattered around.

❄️Sleigh Rides
For those of you who don’t want to walk down to the village, the sound of jingle bells will soon reach your ears as a horse-drawn carriage arrives. Climb aboard and settle in for a cozy ride over the river and through the woods. The horses are friendly, and while seating might be a little cramped it’s a good excuse to snuggle up to someone, don’t you think?

❄️ Christmas Market
Upon reaching the village, you’ll find that several of the buildings are lit up and decorated with holiday decor galore. There are kiosks serving all kinds of winter treats and drinks (both non-alcoholic and alcoholic in variety), and the best part is they’re free! The doors to the shops are open for all, inviting you in to browse the holiday wares available. You can find just about anything here for that perfect Christmas gift. There’s no limit to what magic can do, even for the casual window shopper. But if you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for…?

❄️ Santa’s Workshop
Ho ho ho? Oh ho! On the outskirts of the village sits a large, multistory building. Should you be brave enough to wander inside, you’ll find all sorts of rooms for arts and crafts to build your own gifts. There’s art studios, pottery wheels, power tools, fabrics, sewing machines, instruments and more. Scratch that creative itch and let your imagination run wild!

❄️ Ice skating
In the center of the village is a large ice rink with a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the middle. Skates of all sizes are available for anyone to borrow and the ice is always clean and smooth no matter what time of day you come by. Show off some fancy footwork…or just laugh at the poor, unfortunate souls who can’t quite stand still.

❄️The Party
Or maybe you’re only interested in catching up with people you know? As is tradition, there’s always a party for the social type. Hosted at the largest house in the village, there are rooms with fireplaces, games, food and more. There’s an indoor pool in one room with a water slide for those of you feeling a little more daring, and in another room there’s a large projection screen playing countless holiday classics. The music is just as loud here, and just like last time should you require anything special the staff and their assistants will answer every beck and call. Icicles cling to the outside of the house in beautiful patterns, frost drawn across the windows spreading messages of holiday cheer and the occasional game of tic tac toe. The garden out back appears to be more of a Christmas tree farm, boxes of ornaments set in accessible locations for those who wish to do a little bit of decorating.

But it wouldn’t be a holiday party without the time-honored tradition of mistletoe, now would it? Despite having more space than ever, the longer you’re around the less likely you are to escape unscathed. The tricky little plant can appear at random in places you might not expect, and often times it will show up at inconvenient moments. That’s a little troublesome, but worry not! You’ll probably come up with some way to avoid it if you really want to, right?

Good tidings we bring to you and your kin. Embrace this moment and make some new memories.

[ooc: it's once again mgcu mingle time, but there's a twist! this mingle is open to characters from the following:

reapsody,

grimmoired,

plasmatio,

subdivided,

thotordie,

bluesclues,

tropicalgetaway,

notagain,

redactable,

snowend,

7rings,

seasonality,

chasma

uturns,

chroma,

courtrooms, and

suitedreams!

however. you may also bring special guests in the form of characters you considered playing in previous games or characters you are anticipating playing in the future. this also includes any characters you may have brought to past endgame mingles for extra shenanigans. have fun mingling with strangers!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[i love meow wow more than life itself]

Jesus. [she says, with a low whistle.] Sure, Taako. What do I have to do with this thing, do I just like - is it the kind of magic where you think of someone and then it's whatever is the best thing ever for that person? Or what?

Itttt's a thing where you tell me who you're thinking of and I find the perfect gift in Santa's bag because he was already prepared. [it is possible santa is synonymous with "sora" right now but that's okay. into the pile he goes!] Do you guys have anything like Christmas?

Kinda. It's called Candlenights, and it's all the same beats, but like, you know. Fantasy. It's kind of whatever traditions you have with a warm fire and presents.

[a beat.] Anyway, you ruined my totally cool surprise with Santa's sack, but uh, what do you have in there from me to you, then? Don't say nothing, I don't want to have to beat Santa up.

That sounds kinda cool. Sometimes we'd make a bonfire on the beach during Christmas back home, but I don't think it's the same thing.

[but he stops looking through the bag for a second to grin up at her.] I thought you said you were the gift. That definitely counts.

[c:?]

[is he prepared for a nose honk because he's getting one.]

While I am very rad and totally the cooler twin, you're not getting away with not getting anything for yourself, you terrible child. [...] I'm also the coolest Lup? I saw another me running around. Now that was some mind screwery of the highest degree.

[no! he gently swats at her hand but otherwise doesn't fight her off much. terrible.]

There's plenty of stuff for me, I promise. You got me the best thing imaginable, but the box is pretty far down. [at the mention of the other lup though, uhhhhh...hm! he kind of looks off to the side and then back at the bag.

in this moment, he remembers lup does not actually know he went back to be an npc in another game. whoops!]

That would be pretty weird to see a whole other version of yourself like that. But you're right about that. You're always gonna be the coolest Lup there is.

[he better tell her or he's grounded]

You know I don't believe that for a second, right. [huff. she pulls herself up to stand and just drapes herself over his shoulders instead?] You're getting tall. Stop growing.

[a beat.] Yeah? Know that from experience? Did you talk to the other one? Is she awful? Is her sense of style the pits? I bet it is.

[STOP, SHE'S YOU]

You should! It's definitely there, right under the really big box for Taako and the other one for Blanca and you. [but he lets her drape over him, leaning his head against hers briefly and forgetting about the gifts.] Can't help that. At least I'll never be as tall as Riku.

[but hm. hm! hm. if does make him laugh a little.]

Her sense of style's exactly like yours, quit that. You both dressed fine and she was, like, okay I guess. I mean she was nice and everything and we got along because she was still you in a way but it still felt really different sometimes.

[she's very amused and way too proud of this? she is the superior lup. all other lups bow down to her.

she'll get back to the gifts in a second. first, though:] Well, yeah. You didn't unlock her whole friendship path like you did with me. I'm the most finicky route in the game, you just got lucky with your dialogue branches.

[she leans her head against his in return.] ... How long was that conversation you had, huh? Did you meet her here?

[okay but he would agree with that? she is the superior lup. sorry other lup. he does nothing to push her off still, and meow wow promptly sits on lup's foot in agreement.]

You were never finicky, you know. It always felt so easy with you. [so THERE. but the problem with lup being the best and sora indulging her constantly is that it means he also can't lie to her, so he worries his lup a little and looks at meow wow instead.]

It was like...eight weeks? Give or take. I haven't seen her here though. Just you.

[eheh.]

[thanks, meow wow, she appreciates your butt.]

I'm telling you, you got lucky. I'm mean. You ruined my reputation. [she hums, but. there's a pause, and then:] Wait, I'm sorry, eight weeks - ohhh, my god. Did you get pulled - like Taako?

[HOLLERS] Sora!

You're mean to other people but you could never be mean to me. [he says, very stupidly confident about this while knowing lup is about to spend the next 20 minutes yelling at him. so he stalls for a second.]

Um...not exactly like Taako? More like the other you. [he has no idea if lup knows the other lup was an npc, actually.]

[well, he's mostly right. she finds it very hard to be mean to him, but she is, in fact, going to yell for the next twenty minutes, so.]

The - other... what does that mean? [????????

she's now leaning on him with all her weight, which is like ten pounds, but listen. she's determined to squish him with the power of mom guilt.]

[it's what he deserves. he does find himself bending his knees just a little to accommodate the fact lup's trying to crush him into the dirt.]

Like...you know how we had Wolf and Swan and the others...? It was kinda like that.

[there's like, a long silence. she has to sort of deal with that, because not only was she an NPC in some other timeline, sora also was? and he was in another one of these, and

she hates that, a lot.

finally:] Are you okay? Don't lie to me.

[he knew that was coming, at least.]

I'm okay. I didn't die or anything. The staff made it out fine and we saved everybody just like in the Realm.

Okay, but you and I both know dying has nothing to do with being okay or not okay.

[she reaches to tug at his hair.] ... I'm glad you all made it out. I hate that it wasn't me there. You had enough responsibility with the chess stuff, let alone...

Where was it?

Yeah, well, it helped at least. [he makes a face when she tugs his hair.]

The you who there wasn't so bad. We talked enough. And she didn't know me at first, but eventually I think she managed to get some of your memories and remembered me. [he brushes past that though.]

It was a hotel. We were all members of the staff, and everybody playing was a guest. They signed a contract to play the Nightman's game.

[the memories part makes her go ?? ??? ? again but she puts that aside for a second.]

Gross. Why did she sign the contract? Did you? [she's still hanging off of him, also, just interrogating him.]

[mom...he allows it, having conceded to the fact he's going to tell lup everything.]

Hostage situation. The Nightman selected a bunch of people from places where they played a game before and made them a deal. They had to play for the people he kidnapped in order to keep him entertained. Only people who made it to the lobby for check out would be free to go. She was playing for Taako at first.

[but he shakes his head.] I didn't have a contract. None of us on the staff did, but that's because we got to the hotel earlier than we should've and took over. All of the other staff members either disappeared to find answers or we threw 'em in the floorboards. Except for Shinnosuke. He was helping us.

[she was playing for taako makes lup's expression shift into something sour, but she, to her credit, patiently waits for him to finish talking.

and then, immediately, honks his nose, and shakes his face a little. gently.]

You staged a coup! I can't decide if I'm very proud of you or very terrified! Both, probably. My little protagonist, all grown up...

Stop, stop! [there's an equally gentle swat while she's busy messing with his face.] Yeah, okay, we staged a coup but we had to! The staff that was there was mostly really scary. There was, like, a cannibal? And a couple of people who would've just tortured the guests so we took over to try and minimize the damage and get as many people out as we could.

[thinking, thinking.]

Clementine and Cloud were there. So were Bucky and Zuko. There was an older version of Claude and a different version of Hua Cheng and a different version of Alphinaud and Emet-Selch and then the other version of you. It was...kind of a lot to take into consideration.

[read as: it was a lot to deal with all at once.]

[this makes her pause for a long moment, kind of just. taking that in.]

Boy, you really start to see who is popular in the multiverse with these things, huh? [stop breaking the fourth wall] Ah, jeeze, I don't want to ask, but I kind of do want to ask? About - Cloud and Clementine, wow, it's weird not calling him Wolf!

[she's not going to talk about the staff just yet because she doesn't want to think about sora having to do all this without her. he got along fine before she came around, sure, but. still.]

Jesus. Every day a brand new grey hair.

[lup your fourth wall. but he doesn't comment on that even if there is a nod of agreement. he fidgets for a brief moment.]

Ask whatever. About them or about what happened. I know it sounds kinda unbelievable.

[hmmm. she reaches her hand around him and takes his, linking their fingers together. just the little comforts.]

Did... they make it through? I mean, everybody is safe now, obviously, or you wouldn't be here talking to me. You'd be off heroing about.

Jingle Mingle...3!

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