songerein | { bite sized problems}

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{ bite sized problems}

BITE SIZED PROBLEMS

This log is open to everyone and doubles as a "Character Intro" for new characters who were just accepted this round. As a reminder, new characters are welcome to carry over their TDM threads backdated to Gingerbread event and after (27-31) so that they're not really "new" if players wish to do so! Starting fresh is also acceptable.

I. AROUND TOWN

The curse from the witch may have been dispelled, but the magic was strong and remnants of it still remain. A bit of clean-up is required.

A. Gingerbread Revolt. By now many people are likely tired of gingerbread after having to live as one for a little while. However, the witch's magic still lingers and has brought all baked gingerbread to life. While some live out their running trees, others have armed themselves with forks, knives, toothpicks, and—are some wielding a nail gun?? They've begun to rally around various food eateries. While most of them are bakeries, they're also going up against restaurants and even local houses. One might think it would be easy to deal with them, but here's the catch—not only are they fast and can use magic, if one of them is broken they immediately reform into another cookie. That's right, they're just like hydras, and the only way to destroy them for good is to destroy the red candy ball embedded somewhere in their body. It's different for each cookie, and it will change locations if a part of it is broken. They do taste delicious, though.

B. Oven Malfunction. Stoves of all shapes and sizes are also having a rebellious phase, with many malfunctioning in different ways. Some are light and just won't turn on or spit out smoke in people's faces. Others have decided to choose violence and release their fire; throw whatever pots, pans, spatulas, and knives that are nearby; spit out coal, logs, or fire cores; or even explode. Some are even baking out those gingerbread cookies, so stopping the ovens will help fix that problem. While completely destroying them is one way to do it, dreamotion will also go a long way. Using water or ice to douse their flames will help simmer their tempers. Praising the ovens for their hard work and trying to show utmost care will also help. Perhaps some ovens are cranky for being overworked. When was the last time they were cleaned? Just don't sing it Christmas songs—they'll go berserk.

C. Candy Forest. With many requests for fresh new ingredients from the newly formed section of the forest, many will make the short trek over to check out what all is there to find. And yes—everything, everything is made of candy and sweet treats. From taffy grass to peppermint bark lollipop trees to flying marshmallow peeps and snickerdoodle badgers. The problem is, a lot of the "flowers" produce a pollen that permeates through the air and will give anyone who passes through a severe case of sugar rush. Overly excited, faster than usual movements, inability to think straight. The only way to counter this is by eating vegetables of any kind. Eating anything directly in the forest will produce an even greater effect, to the point where someone might start hallucinating and get the giggles. Some folks may need to head in there to help those stuck inside. At least there's nothing dangerous in there…yet.

D. Jumping Snowflakes. Jack Frost briefly stopped by and decided to leave a little gift for everyone to have fun with: giant snowflakes that start at the top of the Tree of Stories and ascend and circle around the town from high up in the sky. Some snowflakes form a stationary pathway for people to walk over. Some will move around and can be controlled by one's will and dreamotion, similar to a magic carpet. Then there's a "challenge" where participants are to jump from one snowflake to the other before it disappears. This trail will lead up to a giant chest that contains a random drop of one of the following:

a special ice crystal that can be used to keep anything cool no matter how hot it is outside and will never melt (perfect for ice boxes)
magic winter beans that will grow any vegetable of one's choice through any hard, frozen soil (but will not grow in warm weather)
a mini snowman that will not melt and will bounce around the house to help keep it clean and add a little bit of snow for fun; will be great when it gets hot as it will produce cooling air
The challenge can be run as many times as a person likes, however they will only be able to receive each special prize once. So after receiving all three special items the first time, their only reward is chocolate silver coins.

II. SHORT STORY HELP

As requested by William Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe, the libraries in the Tree of Stories have gathered various books that everyone will be able to dreamwalk into. Even the books themselves look a bit tattered and more worn than usual, showing signs of the Story Eater's nightmarish corruption. A set of objectives for each chosen story will be given out so everyone will have some guidance, as well as a special amulet to wear that if snapped will immediately eject the dreamwalker out of the story back to Songerein. The Story Eater's minions are in a few of these, and any injuries sustained will carry over. The problems will arise several times so repeat visits will be necessary. For each objective attempted, a unique energy will be generated and captured by the librarians for the writers to use. Completion of an objective is not necessary, but it will give a bigger boost.

A. Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Upon entering the story, everyone will be inside the three bears' house…dressed as Goldilocks, regardless of gender. And the three bears are not happy. The original Goldilocks has already gone mad and tore through their home, scaring the baby bear with nightmares. The objectives for this story are:

Help repair the damage by: 1) fixing the kitchen and preparing new dinner for the family (not porridge); 2) fix all the broken chairs; 3) get new pillows and blankets for their beds.
Grab a partner and perform a puppet show for baby bear, preferably with a lighthearted, fun story (players can decide if they are successful or fail in their attempt).
Track down Goldilocks in the woods just outside the house and capture her. Her corruption is mild and casting a sleeping spell or using some kind of sleep aid will help calm her down. Channeling positive dreamotion energy will also help.

This story will increase the Book's proficiency in healing and purifying the Story Eater over time.

B. Three Little Pigs. Upon entering the story, everyone will find themselves in a large brick house and be turned into pigs. Not costumes, not partial, just full blown pigs. Fortunately, they can still "walk" and talk and move around. Clothes are optional (one can either appear completely without, with the clothes they were wearing upon entering, or find some in the closet). The objectives for this story are:

Reinforce the brick house and turn it into a fort. The original pig brothers left behind instructions on how to build cannons, barricades, and traps outside of the house. This can be done magically via dreamotion or through physical labor. Handling a hammer with hooves will be surprisingly easy, as if they all now wield anthropomorphic magic…
The defense is to keep small black wolves made of ink at bay. They will charge at the house without mercy to try and destroy it. Fortunately, they seem to lack much control and can be easily fended off, especially with the traps and weaponry installed.
There is only one big bad wolf, and it looks like the Story Eater is trying to corrupt it. It keeps mumbling about being on a diet and tired of blowing buildings down, yet it staggers on and controls the black wolves that try to attack the house. Help purify the wolf by preparing a special porridge for it to eat. It'll take several bowls and some additional positive dreamotion energy channeled into the wolf.

This story will increase the Book's external sturdiness so that it will not break from external forces.

C. Humpty Dumpty. Upon entering the story, everyone will find themselves dressed as a knight of some kind. There is only a giant, crumbling wall and the ground is littered with eggshells, so be careful walking around. Some eggshells are white but many are an inky black that appear to be melting on the ground. There's far too many to have come from the eggman himself, but said eggman is missing from his perch. The objectives for this story are:

Find the large egg pieces that have bits of clothing and face on them and piece Humpty back together. He'll try to help by calling out and he'll promise he's fine—happens all the time. However—
The Story Eater's minions are around, and they'll form from the black eggshells, create hideous versions of Humpty to try and attack and explode on them like rotten eggs. Handle with care as they are quite dangerous and can inflict severe damage. Better to take them out with ranged attacks.
The minions are coming through the many gaps and cracks in the wall, and one can even hear them scratching through the other side. If the wall goes, this entire story is finished. There are some native knights and other people trying to repair the wall, but dreamotion will help reinforce it. The broken eggshells can be used as bricks and mortar as they will immediately expand and cover the missing areas.

This story will increase the Book's internal defense so that it will not break from the inside.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(Anya is also in the same situation as Childe with how her appearance is somehow getting the bears all rilled up. She really hates to see them so upset and the baby bear crying his eyes out so the Grand Duchess is willing to team up with the guy in a dress to tell a story with puppets.)

Oh yes, sure. I can help in finding the puppets in the cottage. I think I saw some over there.

Splendid. Hmmm...

[He turns to the bears, giving them an apologetic look.]

Sorry, could you give us a few moments to set up for this?

[He turns back to Anya, nodding.]

Actually, allow me to join you. It'll give me a chance to explain the story to you. It comes from my homeland of Snezhnaya, a legend that surrounds our archon, Her Majesty the Tsaritsa.

[He sounds so reverent when referring to her, proud and loyal.]

(Tsarita, that was just one of the ways one could have addressed her Grandmama and Mama as the Dowager Empress and Empress of Russia. Plus the name of the place Childe is from, Snezhnaya, would not sound out of place in the Russian language. But she has no time to notice the similarities, she has puppets to find.)

Ah, she does sounds very majestic and regal for an archon. Do tell me, what is she like in Snezhnaya’s tales? And what does the legend we are going to tell to the bears is about?

Haha, all of them are a bit different, but one thing that connects them all is how her people show their love for her.

[Looking forward, he begins to give the abridged version of the fairy tale, one that sounds like he's known ever since his childhood.]

In the story, hundreds of years ago the Tsaritsa once had a lover who went off to war to fight a king who sought to overthrow her reign and rule over Snezhnaya. However, he was caught in the midst of the war, and in all her benevolence, she disguised herself as a wandering musician and entered the king's court. She made sure she was disguised as a male as well, so the king didn't think to try to take her as a wife. Not that he would have had the chance to, [he laughs, thinking how ridiculous it would be to force a god to marry.]

Anyway, she convinced the king to allow her to choose a companion to take with her, and chose her lover. Neither the king nor her lover knew it was Her Majesty who had come to save him, and she parted ways with him on the journey back. She made sure to arrive back before he did, but he grew angry thinking she'd been unfaithful to him because she'd disappeared from Snezhnaya. Now, Her Majesty is a divine being, so it's hard for me to believe that a mortal such as himself would hold any sway over what she chooses to do. But the Tsaritsa is a gentle soul, and revealed to him that it was her all along who had come to his rescue.

[He holds his hands out- that's the short version of it.]

I've never asked her personally if this story is true, but I feel that it's better this way to celebrate her and her benevolence.

Awww, that is really brave of her to come to her lover’s rescue when he was caught during a time of conflict. It is not everyday to hear a story where a woman gets to save her beloved from harm’s way.

(That is definitely getting her reminded of her stepping on Rasputin’s reliquary to save Dmitri from being attacked by the possessed stone horse in Paris. If she had to go through the experience again, she would not have it any other way.)

And honestly, that king has most certainly picked the wrong woman to get into a marriage proposal with or to overthrow. She already has her eyes on one man and she is not afraid to protect her kingdom and the ones she cares the most.

You hit it right on the nose, haha. It sounds like the story is to your liking.

[His hand comes up over his chest, happy to hear her approval of the fairy tale.]

Would you do the honors of portraying Her Majesty in our little play? I'm more used to playing the bad guy in these scenarios.

(Childe, you sure have the bravery to have an actual royalty to be the Tsaritsa. And she has experience with acting out roles in the past, with her siblings or participating in the Sugar Plum Beast campaign.)

Would I? Oh yes, I would be honored to play as her, Sir.

Splendid.

[He's happy to hear that, though he shoots her an apologetic look accompanied by a small laugh.]

You'll have to forgive me, I've forgotten my manners. You can call me Childe.

And you can just call me Anya then. It is very nice to meet you, Childe.

(She hasn’t feel the confidence to tell that many people about her actual Imperial lineage and real name just yet, but that can be for a later date.)

The pleasure is truly mine.

[Introductions aside and puppets now gathered, he walks back with her towards the baby bear who sits with anticipation for what these strangers are going to do with their toys.]

By the way, I know that Snezhnayan fairy tales are a bit on the heavy side, so why don't we change the story up a little bit for the little one here. I'm not fond of introducing the idea of cheating in a relationship or war to someone so young.

Hm you do have a point. The little bear is too young to handle such heavy topics at this age. Maybe we could change the war and kidnapping parts for something else. Got any suggestions?

Hmmm...

[He thinks for a moment. It shouldn't be too hard to substitute something else here.]

Perhaps maybe instead of going off to war, something more fantasy-like is in order. As in, he accidentally wandered into the lair of a great dragon, and the only way to retrieve him was to play beautiful music for it.

[That sounded pretty good to him.]

I think we can leave out the entire part about how they get back to the motherland. That's not strictly necessary for a happy ending.

Oh hey, the man accidentally walking into the dragon’s cave plot sounds like a great idea! Plus the idea of saving the guy through music is a pretty neat idea to work with.

(Sounds like a great plan, Childe! Anya definitely approves of it very much.)

I think that there is a dragon puppet that we can use for us to tell this baby bear friendly retelling. It would make for a great presentation.

Splendid. I think we've got everything we need then. Shall we? I'll be more than happy to narrate, and I'll play the dragon.

[Walking back over to the baby bear, he smiles at the small child who's been waiting for them to return, still looking upset but at least a little calmer.]

Sorry to keep you waiting, are you ready to hear a grand tale of a goddess and a dragon?

[The little bear looks a little excited, wonder in its eyes as it waits for Childe to continue.]

Alright, good. Now- there was once a kingdom with a goddess and her beloved, but one day he wandered into a giant cave with a great dragon, and never returned to the castle.

[He uses the dragon puppet and a smaller puppet to simulate that happening, winking at Anya for her turn.]

(That is her cue. Anya proceeds to bring out a female puppet meant to be the Tsaritsa who is looking for her beloved.

The following scenes go like: The goddess was worried that her beloved didn’t return to the castle. She knows very well that dragons wouldn’t let the people who stumble upon their caves to go home easily, so she comes up with a plan to get him out of the dragon’s cave safely.

She then switches up the puppet to reveal that the goddess puppet in her musician disguise carrying a lute in order to distract the dragon by playing a beautiful song to it, thus allowing her to save her beloved from being trapped in there.)

-and then they returned to the castle, her beloved safe with her once again. The end.

[Childe narrates the end of the scene, smiling happily back at their sole audience member. The little baby looks a lot happier now, and Childe gives a small bow to end the performance.]

Go ahead and run back to your parents, now. I'm sure they'll want to hear all about your afternoon.

[The baby bear gets up to go, finding the two older bears in the house. Once it's gone, Childe turns back to Anya with a relieved sigh.]

Seems it went well enough. Well done with your role, I'm sure the Tsaritsa herself would have appreciated the performance.

Oh why thanks, Childe. I’m quite flattered to hear it. I do hope that I did justice in portraying her with puppets.

(Thank goodness that the little bear is much happier than when they started out planning the puppet show. Anya is relieved to see him telling his parents about the goddess and dragon story and they look like their mood is also starting to look much better too.)

Haha, you did just fine.

[He affirms that, giving her a thankful nod.]

In turn, thank you for allowing me to share that little piece of our culture with you. For as long as I've been away from my homeland, it's nice to be able to reflect and reminisce on the snowy skies of Snezhnaya, the hoarfrost of Zapolyarny Palace, the ever-frozen lakes that litter the pure white landscape...

[He closes his eyes to imagine it all in his head. He misses home.]

So perhaps I too, should be thanking you for helping bring that to life.

Oh yes, that is really good to listen a lot about your country’s culture and legends. It feels similarly like home to me as well, and while I don’t know if we have someone akin to the Tsaritsa acting as our archon or guardian, my country in my world does share a similar culture, geography and weather to Snezhnaya.

Well you’re welcome anytime. I am glad that we did what we can to lighten the little bear’s mood today.

I am too. No child should look as frightened as they did when we first arrived.

[He feels very strongly about that, and it shows in his tone of voice. Poor kid, shouldn't of had to endure nightmares and the like.]

You'll have to tell me more about your homeland. Since it's similar to my own, I'd be very interested to hear about it a little more.

Oh certainly. Russia is a country in a world called Earth on its northern portion.

(It is currently called the Soviet Union by the new people in charge but Anya decides to ignore their name suggestion anyway.)

It is a vast nation covering various cultures and ethnicities, and snow, ice and mountains are quite common in there too. The night skies over there don’t look like it’s entirely dark due to its geography. At one point, it was a big place for the arts to thrive on during my parents and grandparents’ time.

That's pretty fascinating, [he admits, tapping his chin.] It's almost exactly like my own. We too, had our own time for the arts to bloom, though now I'd say we've entered more of an era of military might. Our technology far surpasses most of Teyvat at this point.

[If she let him, he could wax poetic about Snezhnaya forever, but he'll stop himself before he bores her too much.]

Ah, but perhaps I should save that for another time. We wouldn't want to outstay our welcome, after all.

[He wonders if the bear's parents will come and kick them out.]

(Anya quietly nods in agreement. It does appear that Russia these days have been radically changed from what it used to be her family’s time under the new people in charge in recent times.)

Yeah, I agree. It is probably for the best to go on our merry way than prolonging our stay here. The bears do need their space after all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

{ bite sized problems}

Baby Bear Babysitting

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BTW i'm ok with small 4th wall things like telling him snezhnaya is a river in russia etc

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