songerein | { when it snows }

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{ 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

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[Drats. Not that it's much of a surprise; keen-eyed Hiyori misses (almost) nothing. He offers her a somewhat sheepish smile as his thumbs brush over her knuckles, his own face heating up from both embarrassment and something else entirely. A pleasant little something that makes his insides flip like pancakes.]

What can I say? It's a luxury I haven't had in quite a while! And you gotta admit the beds they have here are soft as hell.

[So springy, too! He jumped on his for like ten minutes straight when they first picked out their house. ~~And fell off, but that's neither here nor there.~~]

[ almost nothing, yeah. she doesn't miss how he hasn't stopped touching her as tenderly as he is. the brush of his thumbs on her knuckles. part of her wants to jerk her hands back because she can't handle it.

the other part doesn't want it to stop.

latter wins out this round. ]

For as long as I've known you, you've slept in. [ #BUMLIFE.

they are soft, though. and he's so childish for jumping on them. this isn't novel news.]

[ maybe it's that they're alone. maybe it's everything on her mind muddling her reason. maybe it's how much yato has changed since she's known him. maybe it's the accumulation of their conversations. maybe it's her revelation. maybe it's just that current and kind touch, but she boldly - perhaps recklessly - does something.

something similar to how yato turned her hand beneath fireworks. she maneuvers her fingers with his, clumsily pushing the tips between the empty spaces until their palms rest together and she's weaved them more closely.

once done, she looks up from their hands to his face and stares at blue for a moment or so ]

[ promptly blushes brightly.

furiously.

as what she's done sets in. ]

[ and tries to pull her hands back from his, holding them up by her face. ]

UM.

I.

DONT KNOW WHY I DID THAT.

[ WRONG. SHE KNOWS.

she tries swimming (unsuccessfully) away for whatever direction they were headed before. by flopping into the water again very inelegantly right in front of him. ]

Like I said, it's been a while! I'm trying to catch up on my beauty sleep.

[What a load of bullshit. He hasn't look unkempt or tired since Yukine was stinging him. #bumlife for real. Also #NEETlife at times. He's just a lazy butt, no two ways about it. Though at least he's getting better about it to a degree? He's trying, anyway. It's not easy to change hundreds of years of habit, not in such a short span of time.

Even with the ever friendly help of his shinki beating him with a pillow.]

[What he's not so good at is dealing with situations like what follows. At first he doesn't think much of her changing the position of their hands; he figures she's just gotten tired of his sweaty palms and has decided enough was enough. That much he could handle, even if it'd kinda suck.

Instead, though, she gets them closer by twisting her hands around and interlacing their fingers together, pressing her warm palms flat against his own, immediately causing his cheeks to deepen to a vibrant red.

His hands shake ever so subtly as he dares to give hers a gentle squeeze, hopefully showing how much he appreciates the gesture. It's not glaringly obvious to outside observers, of which there are none where they're at, but this feels like a new level of intimacy between them. Like Hiyori wants to keep him close, doesn't want to be parted from him.

...maybe that's all in his head, yet it's still enough to make his head pound all the way up into his ears. He's still dumbfounded as she abruptly revokes the handholding, leaving him watching her fumble and flail about in the water. When she goes splashing down like a fish, he wades around to her front in order to catch both her hands and help lift her upright. Plz don't drown on his watch, Hiyori;;]

I-It's alright! We can forget about if it makes you feel better...!

[Except he'll be thinking about what's happened all night and probably most of tomorrow, as well.]

[ hiyori might've blurted something like "you don't need beauty sleep" because yes, that is some Bullshit.

all her no thought head empty action went into lacing their fingers like she did. they've never done it. it is some level of new that she didn't think she would dare to try. not without a lot of hyping herself up, anyway. or experience. either.

it's not all in his head, in any case. that isn't a fantasy of his. water drips off her nose and chin as he lifts her out of the water. ]

N, NO. [ forget? no. never. that's a hell of a reaction, though, hiyori. almost a bit telling. what follows, too. ] No, forgetting would not make me feel better. I just...

[ what, then? they're back at holding hands again. straightening herself out, she looks between them and how his fingers still tremble as he holds her so cautiously.

to prove it, she's fiddling around until

they're palm to palm once more and, this time, she doesn't let go. committing to memory how this feels right now because she would often smother any sign of it before now. she hasn't stopped blushing. ]

W-wanted to try holding hands like this.

[Thankfully, she did not, otherwise Yato probably would've derailed the conversation in an effort to sidestep Feelings.

Even if her head is empty, it's still the most beautiful one he's ever seen, water rolling off her included. It just makes her skin shine in the light and seem to almost glow. Or maybe that's just his dreamy perception of her getting the better of him. Sometimes it's hard to tell the line between reality and fantasy when it comes to Hiyori.

If he didn't know better, he really would think this is just a dream of his. A very realistic, convoluted dream, but one all the same. He continues gripping her tightly as she rights herself, making sure that she won't slip and get hurt.]

O-Oh, okay. Whatever you want... [Since it seems that physical contact is what she desires, he doesn't release her hands once she's stable. His eyes drift down from her face to where they're connected, signs of his own uncertainty adding to the color on his face. Get a grip, Yato! And not just to Hiyori--!

...who is adjusting their hold to be palms together again. Her confession coupled with the action backing it up makes his whole body grow warm and causes his toes to wiggle in delight. They're really doing it...! They're really holding hands like this! It feels like they've taken a major step forward, because there's no way this is just two friends holding hands.

This is something more. Something special. Just for him. He hopes. Slowly, a smile spreads across his face as he squeezes her hands gently and returns to gazing at her expression, his own reflecting gratitude and no small amount of happiness.]

I see. ...how is it, then? Do you like it? Because... I really do.

[ it could also be all the steam that's making his perception so dreamy.

with the heat in her face, from him smiling at her and gripping her a little more tightly, she's afraid she's contributing to the steam factor. hiyori suspects that yato lives in his world at times but, in this case, it's her. in a way, it's the truth. songerein is a world of dreams. they're all dreaming together.

does that mean that, secretly, she's always dreamed of being like this? this... extremely This is No Longer Platonic connection. there's no going back after this and she can't bear to look at him any longer. especially if she really does look. ]

I... yeah. I-I like it. [ she directs the answer at his chest quietly and lets herself be honest with herself. and him. for once. with thanks to his gentle squeeze and his gentle demeanor and how intimate and special and theirs this feels.

I like it too much.

not that honest. this much: ]

I'm glad I did it. [ it could be the heat of the hot spring or how overwhelming this all is (in a good way) but hiyori tips just slightly forward and plants her forehead on his shoulder. don't look at her anymore...... she'll collapse..... ]

[Steam? What steam? Surely all this mess is coming from them and their overheated skin-- Oh no, wait, that's right, they're in the hot spring. For a moment he got lost in her eyes and forgot where they were.

In some ways, he almost hopes to not wake up for a while yet. To lose how far they've come in these past few months would be a blow that would crush his lovestruck heart. Even if he's yet to fully articulate to Hiyori those feelings he's been holding deep inside for so long, he holds on to the idea of eventually revealing it all when the moment is right. When he's ready. Which isn't just yet.

While this has been an eye-opening experience, he's still not completely sure that the feelings she holds for him are the same as what he harbors for her. So it'd be less painful to just keep them to himself rather than be rejected upfront. Maybe... someday soon he'll get a sign that it's not just him pining after her. Then he could literally sweep Hiyori off her feet and heap on the affection he's been so desperate to share.]

Ah, that's good...! [His words come out in a rush and only after the fact does he realize how it might have sounded. So he tries again, more calmly, quietly.] I'm glad...

[Pressing their hands together a bit more, he has to resist the urge to drag her closer. Although not for long; not when she falls forward to lean against him, causing him to stiffen briefly. More than anything, though, worry comes to the forefront, and he squeezes her hands to get her attention.]

H-Hey--! You okay, Hiyori? You're not about to pass out, are you? [If it didn't require letting go of her, he'd be carrying her back to the changing rooms about now.]

[ y-yato. you sap. you smitten sentimental dear nerd.

(not that similar thoughts haven't passed through her mind with how impossibly blue his eyes can be. how ethereal and inhuman. small reminders that he's yato. who needs flowers? just stare at her.)

when hiyori thinks about waking up, she's conflicted. just as he believes, reverein offers them a space where they can live in a way she never imagined. or, if she did, it was only in the deepest corners of her mind. together. mornings they have breakfast. the first person she usually sees is yato, bed-headed and in pajamas and a bit bleary. thinking of it now makes her chest warm with affection and--

this other, new thing she's finally figured out - that hurts as much as it is warm.

ignoring his squeeze, she just gives him a small shake of her head. all but rubbing her nose along his skin. damn close enough. physically, she's fine. she clutches his fingers and inhales deeply for her favorite, comforting smell. ]

I, I don't know. Lately, I don't know. Just don't let go.

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