songerein | { when it snows }

WHEN IT SNOWS

All items on this post will last/be available for the entire month! So timey wimey shenanigans are allowed.

More details on everything can be found here. We will request any thread submissions for certain prompts during A.

I. REVEREIN

II. DREAMS

COMMENTS

I. REVEREIN THAWED

After freeing the Ice Queen from the glass shard from her chest and clearing the dreamscape, the blizzard that affected not only Reverein but the Wildlands and beyond finally dissipates and soon everything returns to…mostly normal.

A. Glitter Snow. While the freezing sleet and ice of the blizzard is no more and a more gentle winter has entered Reverein, the fresh new snow that falls is not one one might want to stick their tongue out to try and catch a snowflake. Unless one likes the taste of glitter.

🎉 Good luck getting it out. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad if the glitter melted like snow, but it does not. It sticks to everything everywhere and while some might like a splash of colors, others may not.
🔮 Dreamglobes. Some fae are passing out empty spherical glasses, suggesting those who are interested to collect some of the glitter snow into them and then set the snowglobe next to their bed before sleeping. Whatever dream they have will be captured into the glass and upon waking will create a physical representation of the dream to create a little special "dreamglobe." Hope it's a good one!
✨ Glitter Collector. There are a number of people and shops that actually want the free glitter and ask for anyone to collect as much as possible. Works well for those trying to clean up and not sure what to do with it. What kind of products will end up coming from them well.

B. Mari Lwyd and Family. Mari Lwyd has finally returned to Reverein, and she's bringing along some family she's found. However, they can be a bit of a handful. Some are friendlier than others while others are going to make full use of this glitter snow with pranks and mischief. But they all just intend to have a good time, something that everyone may be in need of after that blizzard.

💃 Little Pranksters. The young Lwydlings cannot sing or speak, but they love to dance around and make all manner of noise—they also bite if you're being a big fat party pooper in their presence, and are a lot more likely to pull a few harmless pranks than their dear older cousin Mari Lwyd is. Very quick, they have the same vanish-and-leave-you-with-bad-luck if harm is attempted on them. Have a dance off with them, or aid them in pranking those who are being big fat grumps/meanie-butts.
🔥 Bonfire. One of the merry friends looks like a very tall pile of long hair and arms, but with them they seem to be carrying a basket and filling it with sticks and other kindling. This is for giant bonfires! Help gather wood and kindling to make a great bonfire to welcome some warmth in this winter, and aid any lost to not wander in this cold.
🥜 Nurturing Gifts. There appears to be another skull-faced being wandering around with their own 'little one' in tow—and despite the horned and frightening appearance of the larger fur and hyde clad figure there are small gifts to be shared. An act of kindness rewards one with a bundle of magic beans that if nurtured and cared for will bear a great gift come spring. Great.

C. Hot Springs. The dragons are holding an open invitation to anyone who wishes to use their hot springs to warm up after that frigid blizzard. The dragons in particular will be practically living there, so hopefully others can squeeze in a spot. Rooms will be available for anyone who wishes to stay the night, and all amenities will be available: food, recreational games, etc. Just beware of the monkeys that have descended down from the mountain seeking warmth as well. They are prone to stealing things, particularly clothing—and wearing them.

D. Dream Board. This is the perfect time to do many of the Dream Board prompts, and while the full details are on the notes, here is the quick list of what they are:

Dream Board List:

⛄ Snowball Tonics: Transform into massive, different colored snowballs.
🔔 Bell Choir: Grab a bell and play for a concert!
🧣 Never-Ending Scarf: Help untangle the beautifully, extremely long crocheted scarf, dodge cats, and get the whole thing together in one place.
🍻 Keg Brawl: A game where one must carrying a keg of ale from one end of a field of ice to the other while avoiding the other team trying to stop you.
🐶 The Inugami. Help a pair of spirit dogs find each other.
🌠 Falling Stars. Make wishes upon the falling stars before they cause too much damage!

II. SHATTERED DREAMS

Although the Dreamwalkers were successful in removing the strange glass shard in the Ice Queen's chest and ended the nightmare dreamscape that caused the blizzard, the Ice Queen still has yet to awaken. Jack Frost has taken her to Orkili to try and purify her with the pods, yet it only caused an adverse reaction, prompting the Orkilins and Jack Frost to ask for help from the Dreamwalkers once more. Isolated in a separate room where neither dreamotion nor nightmare energy can enter, those who are willing to investigate the Ice Queen's dream will be able to freely dreamwalk, with the warning that she seems sensitive to positive dreamotion so everyone should take caution when using it.

In the meantime, there are some other happenings going around in Orkili, including investigation into some nightmare crystals.

A. Piecing it Together. Those who enter the Ice Queen's dream will find themselves free floating in a dark void with large reflective glass-like shards with blurred, fogged scenes reflecting on their surface. They float aimlessly through the space, and a closer inspection will reveal that these shards can fit together and likely form a larger image. The goal is to now try and put the pieces together, though it's not as easy as it might seem.

🪞 Nightmare manipulation. For whatever reason, those who either have high nightmare resistance or can control nightmare energy will be able to move and be around the shards with very little effect to them.

💥 Too much of a good thing. Because the shards are dark and clearly exude nightmare energy, there will be those who will try to use positive types of dreamotion to purify the shards. Some dreamotion will be safe to use and will help clear up the image on the surface. However, too much focus will have a negative feedback where the dreamers are pushed back with a freezing gale and the shard they are focusing on will crack and break into smaller pieces. Nightmare energy can help mend the cracks, so it's better to try and use both at the same time.

💔 Blurred visions. As the surface of the shards clear up, various scenes of different themes can be seen, both good and bad. Love, heartbreak, hatred, anger, joy, jealousy, loneliness, fulfillment, family, abandonment. Those who experienced the ice mirrors in the previous dreamscape will feel a strong familiarity with these larger shards, except these are clearly towards the Ice Queen herself.

This is where we want players to come up with any scene that the Ice Queen may have experienced that could be reflected on the shard! We'll request submissions and piece together a story based on player input. Don't worry about any contradictions, we'll work it all in one way or another. The only constant is that Jack Frost and the Ice Queen do have a close, romantic relationship, which is why Jack is very worried about her.

B. Unwanted Intruder. While in the dream, a grotesque looking noctaere will appear and try to attack and consume the shards. Should it succeed, the Ice Queen will receive physical damage that everyone will be able to hear and feel inside the dream. The void will contort and turn more like sludge. Attempts to use dreamotion will only worsen it, but those who can control or absorb nightmare energy will take it away from the Ice Queen. How it affects them however, will vary between dizziness to momentary lapse in judgment and may need to leave the dreamscape.

Those monitoring outside the dream will witness the Ice Queen scream and her skin blackening as if charred by fire. Same thing applies here: those who try to use dreamotion to heal her will only worsen it, but those who use nightmare energy to either draw it out into some other container or absorb it themselves will be able to pull it out of the Ice Queen. Those who absorb the nightmare energy will have similar varying effects, from just light dizziness to becoming more irritable and hostile. Attempts to try and directly pull out the nightmare energy otherwise will be unsuccessful—it will only work when the noctaere has consumed a shard and caused the physical side effects.

No one will turn noctaere through this method because not enough nightmare energy will have accumulated.

As for the noctaere, it will sometimes appear outside the dream, and those who encounter it or deliberately try to hunt it down either within or outside the dream will find both dreamotion and nightmare based attacks effective against it. However, it's a very tough and difficult foe, so while it can be damaged, it cannot be defeated at this time. Those who investigated the claw marks from a few months ago will notice it leaves behind the same claw marks. Those who witnessed it will also find it familiar and can safely say it's the same.

I. REVEREIN

II. DREAMS

COMMENTS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bwuuuuh!!

[Takes a step back and falling into the accursed snow pile in a puff of glitter and snow.]

[Whatever Link was about to do --make a smart-ass comment? challenge Beat to a race? mention the glitter? who knows!!-- is lost by the wayside as Beat...tumbles back into the snow, creating a cloud of glitter in his wake. Link's eyebrows lift, first in confusion, and then in amusement (sorry man). It's been a while, hasn't it? Beat hasn't seen him wielding...the arm.

Okay. Time to make this weirder, dumber, and funnier all at once. He grabs onto his shield using Ultrahand and uses it to scoop Beat out of the snow. Now the hand is glowing. Is he hoping for a freak-out or something? Maybe. He's a gremlin.]

Alright there, Beat?

[link, you little shit]

[Not even needing to fish himself out of the snow, Beat finds himself being lifted out of the snow and into the air. Just what was going on?

...

He squints.]

Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up, yo! [Cue the freak out as flails his arms before pointing at Link's glowing arm.] What the hell's up with that?

[He's not squirming out of the shield. Yet. But at the rate he's going, it can definitely happen.]

It's a hand.

[The most useless answer. But to be honest, it's just a delaying tactic while he figures out how to explain. There's really no good way, so he settles on,] ... I lost my arm back home. Got a new one, though.

[Yeah, nothing's ever going to make that easier to summarize. Anyway, he gently puts the shield down on the snow for Beat, and the arm stops glowing.]

[Beat wasn't sure what kind of answer he was expecting but it certainly wasn't that. His expression softens, moving from surprise to confusion as he's set back down on the ground. How was he even expected to respond to that?]

Got a new one sounds like you jus' picked one out while shoppin', yo.

[But he makes light of it, chuckling as he gets back on his feet. If Link wanted to say more, Beat knew he'd would do it on his own time.]

[The levity is appreciated more than anything else; the whole situation is strange, and if he stops to think too much about it, somewhat sad. Is the zonai arm permanent? Will it disappear at some point? If so...what's going to happen to him? Perhaps he should start learning to use his left arm, just in case.

...

He'd much rather joke about it than think too hard.]

The selection was-- [what's the term?] --ah, "slim pickings."

[There's a curve of smile in his expression as Beat gets to his feet. Link reaches out and brushes some of the glitter from his arm.]

How've you been?

[Beat tries not to stare, but his eyes find its way towards Link's arm once more, lingering for just a little longer. He can't even imagine the circumstance leading to losing an arm... Something like this was better than erasure, right?

But Link helping him brush off the glitter takes his attention away from it.]

Leas' it looks like you got some cool ink 'cause a' it.

[He starts to dust himself off, only for their hard work to be undone when he reaches to find his snowboard that had been buried in the snow.]

Doin' aight, yo. Was plannin' on doin' some boardin' while the snow sticks 'round. Could use some company if you's up for it.

[Despite his words, there's already a smirk plastered on his face as if he already knows his friend's answer beforehand.]

Ink? [Ah, that's-- tattoos, he thinks? They weren't entirely common in Hyrule, but...not unheard of, either. He glances at the hand again, and then shrugs, nodding. It looks more like rings, to him, but he can see how one might think tattoos.

Still. Beat's assumptions are correct. He'd much rather have the arm as well as his life, rather than the alternative.]

Great minds, [he responds with a smile, picking up the shield he brought for that very purpose.] We could race.

[There's no way this could possibly go wrong!]

[He wasn't thinking that far but now you're talking his language, Link.]

Hell yeah! We talkin' uphill, down, or both?

[If it were up to him, it'd be both.]

[Listen, this is just how they are. Link pauses, thinking about the options. Since they're already at the top of the hill...]

Down, up, down? Best out of three wins.

[Because you know they gotta make it a competition.]

[Oh, don't tempt him with a good time, Link. Glitter or not, this was going to be a blast.]

I like what you layin' down, yo!

[He leads the both of them to a smooth incline, one with a few obstacles littered down the hill just to keep things interesting. Once he's strapped in, he looks over to Link, reaching out his arm for a fist bump.]

Let's do this, yo. Count us down.

[Goddess, but he has missed this. Reverein is a tangle of feelings, for Link -- the standstill of his quest at home matched against his ability to see people like Beat again, like Zelda... He's torn about whether he wants to be here, or at home. But in moments like this...well, he's glad for this world.

They reach the top of the hill, and he surveys his shield again before putting it down in the snow. He may have no straps to put on, but he does take a moment to steady himself, to make sure his feet are positioned just so. It has been quite a while since he's done this, but it still feels good. As for the fistbump, he's not going to leave Beat hanging. But he does use his funky clawed hand for it.]

Three, two, one...

[A dramatic pause, as he makes eye contact with Beat one last time. There is no visible smile on his face, but it's somehow present in his expression as he nods, tipping the shield forward just as he says--] go!

[The clawed hand is something he will definitely still have to get used to. But hey, the more Link messes with him about it, the more he'll become accustomed to it, right?

Once Link gives the signal, Beat leans forward, and off he goes down the slope. The glitter isn't as securely packed as snow usually does, so it takes him a bit of maneuvering to get his balance just right. But that also meant that a lot of the glitter was kicked back behind him as he sped past.]

Try not to get too much in your eyes, yo!

[The snicker that accompanies the warning makes it sound like more than a taunt. Beat leans into the board even more, swerving past a rock as he tries to get some distance ahead of Link.]

[Oh, is that a dig about Beat making it out ahead of him? Very well. Two can play at this game. Link brushes some of the glitter out of his face and crouches lower, picking up speed.

More than that, though. There are two paths down the hill: one fairly straightforward, the other at a steeper incline, with a few jumps between it and the finish line. It's a little closer, and the speed difference would be quite an advantage...but it is also more precarious. One false move and you'll end up face-first in a snowbank.

So of course Link takes that path. It's the only way to catch up, at this point.]

{ when it snows }

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