MISTLEGLOW: a kissing meme

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mistleglow: a kissing meme

Some residents may remember that back in September, a love-drunk and confusion-spell-addled newlywed mage from Gramarye Magic Research let loose some pretty little fairy lights that trapped people in the city in little invisible bubbles until they kissed (and any kind of kiss would do). Well, the same slightly-less-newlywed but no less romantically-inclined mage happens to really, really enjoy the winter season, and thinks it's totally romantic. That particular sentiment is pretty common in the Quarantine - while Hygge is the celebration of familial love, the residents of the Quarantine all agree that that family often includes partners and lovers. Besides that, the folklore of mistletoe as being representative of love and friendship is something that the Quarantine has in common with the universes many residents inhabit.

So, as the last week and a half of December rolls around, residents around the Quarantine will see the result of the resident romantic trying to share a bit of Hygge love - small, glowing sprigs of mistletoe will be floating around the Quarantine, ready to trap people up and make them share a bit of affection.

how it works

● Two or more characters walking under one of these glowing, floating sprigs will get stuck for one hour, trapped inside an invisible enclosure with an approximate three foot radius. The only options are to either wait out the hour, or to kiss! Characters will know they're meant to kiss, because part of the magic spell is the sudden and intense knowledge that they should kiss in order to break free. There is no compulsion to kiss, just the knowledge that that's how to get free. This time, instead of any kind of kiss working, there will be different types of kisses that will work to release the trapped residents depending on the color of mistleglow:

RED: MOUTH ● ORANGE: NECK ● YELLOW: CHEEK
GREEN: FOREHEAD ● BLUE: HAND ● VIOLET: BUTTERFLY

Trapped residents will not know what kind of kiss will work for each color and may have to experiment before finding the right one.

● Post up a top-level for your character with the types of kisses you're interested in threading out, and then go forth and have your character kiss (or refuse to kiss) others!
● This meme is for characters already accepted into the game to play with the mistleglow prompt from this month's test drive meme. If your character is not yet accepted into the game, please use the TDM post!
● This meme is GAME CANON, so any threads played out in this meme can be carried through into the actual canon of the game.
● Much like the TDM, threads on this meme can count for Activity Points, but not the monthly Activity Check.

header image is from santa's factory by Clement Danveau

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finn | ota

[bythehand]

[ this week, as the world turns, finn probably walks right into an invisible barrier face-first about 75% of the time, because he's so busy trying to avoid one magic kissing plant that he activates another's trap card.

this is.... the worst. ]

U CHOOSE

[volitaunt]

[ Poe had been trying to catch up with you sorry about that Finn. He was like. Right within shoulder-grab-and-greeting distance when The Mistletoe happened.

He was trying to escape someone who was trying really really hard to get him under another sprig.

And now he is capable of knocking on the air around them and there's a very annoyed looking man being forced to go about his business. ]

Uh.

[ Kriff. ]

It goes away after an hour.

[ He's had to kiss a lot of people today, Finn. ]

rng said yellow and my ass agreed

[bythehand]

[ He spins on the spot in order to better stare Poe down. The spinning is maybe less easy than the staring, considering how little space there is, but Finn manages. He's long used to operating without personal space.

But boy, he doesn't like this setup. He doesn't like that there are only two options and they seem stacked to encourage one in particular: it gets his hackles up. It's not fair. So the first thing he can think to say, perhaps about as determinedly as humanly possible, is: ]

We don't have to do anything.

[ This is not so much directly to Poe as it is for himself. But he figures if Poe needs to hear it confirmed out loud as much as he kind of does, at least it'll be out there.

Finn glances up at the plant-based sower of discord like he's considering the merit of throwing his shoulder into the invisible wall out of spite. I say "like". He is legitimately considering it. Not for the first or last time since he got here, he wishes there was a person to directly punch in the face or something to shoot to fix this city-wide crisis. Then, almost as an afterthought-- ]

I told you the next holiday wouldn't be as good.

oh no it's gon be cute

[volitaunt]

[ For a second, Poe just stares at Finn, and then he cracks up laughing.

Of all the encounters he's had today, this is the one, the one where he doesn't even entertain the idea of being trapped or afraid. If he's with Finn, one way or the other he'll be fine. ]

Means the next one has to be better though.

[bythehand]

[ Okay, Poe laughing does inherently take the power away from Finn's reactionary tension. At the very, very least, this means there won't be two panicking people occupying the same three-foot space. Which is sort of the ideal for these situations. It takes him down from an 8 to about his default 3 or 4 on the relaxation scale.

HE WOULD STILL THROW HIS HANDS INTO THE AIR IF IT WOULDN'T PROBABLY SMACK POE IN THE FACE IN THE PROCESS. But now for different reasons. Finn finds his way around these limitations, with much exasperation. He doesn't skip a beat: ]

No optimism or enjoying yourself in my half of the invisible magic trap.

[volitaunt]

[ Cue Poe shifting so he can throw an arm across Finn's shoulders, wearing his near-customary shit-eating grin. ]

I told you to practice. Did I not tell you to practice?

[bythehand]

[ Rude. ]

You told me I could pick one thing to practice on. This is definitely not worth practicing on.

[volitaunt]

Sure it is! Master the little things, the big things come easier.

[ He leans back against the barrier, arm still over Finn's shoulders. ] Besides, this is great for me. I could've been stuck with that other guy.

forehead

[worldsaway]

[It's been some time since Thor originally encountered Finn, but he left with overall positive feelings about the man. Probably not positive enough to relish being trapped with him, but he's not upset about it.

Much.]

This is just how I wanted to see you again.

[bythehand]

[ One day, surely, Thor will meet Finn in a situation where he's happy, calm, or at least in the position to be doing something he's competent with. He's calm and good with so many things.

Today he's mostly vexed about how this keeps happening. On the other hand, it's a good internalized vexation that hasn't yet led to yelling or hitting people with plates. Also, he forgot how massive this man is. How is this humanly possible.

Equally deadpan: ]

That's because I'm charming. [ Poe said he was one time, it counts. ] You have an hour to kill or am I keeping you from something?

[worldsaway]

[It's inhumanly possible, Finn, that's the secret.]

That is true. [Thor agrees, easily.]

You're keeping me from giving you a smooch, obviously. [Thor folds his arms over his chest, as if he's sincerely bothered.]

[bythehand]

[ I mean, fair. Finn did not expect the agreement, though, that throws off his whole game.

Actually, he feels like he missed several important steps in the process that led him here. It doesn't get him up in arms as much as it leaves him vaguely mystified. ]

First time I've heard anyone call it a smooch. [ He also folds his arms. When in doubt, subconsciously mirror. ] I'd say it doesn't sound dignified, but we're standing in an invisible box. A lot of things went out the window.

Butterfly

[ragnarsson]

[There's a very long sigh that turns into a groan from the Viking. Really, this is like the worst concept ever. Not that he particularly minds the company, it's better than getting stuck with one of his mortal enemies. (Yes, of course he has mortal enemies, he's a Viking.)]

I suppose this could be worse.

[bythehand]

[ Oh, hey, he remembers this guy. Animal-catching guy. Long-nicknames guy. Ivar.

What Finn's learning today is that it's a good thing he likes to have a memory for names, because there have been a good few second meetings taking place in a cramped invisible prison. ]

I was thinking the same thing. More or less. Got a busy schedule today?

[ He personally prefers to cut down on his enclosure time, but he'd probably rather die than push someone on these issues, so he's learning to make peace. ]

[ragnarsson]

[Ivar remembers this guy mainly because Rey had mentioned him later on. Where Rey was concerned, Ivar made all things his business.]

Fortunately, I have the time if you want to just stay here for an hour.

[He'll leave this up to Finn as to whether or not he wants to try kissing his way out of this.]

Besides, I have one or two things that need to be talked about.

[bythehand]

[ So there's not too much urgency one way or the other here. That's good. Time to think it over better, anyway.

The followup takes Finn a little by surprise. He doesn't... think he's done anything especially offensive to this guy. But his natural assumption is usually to think he's in trouble for some reason. Which is weird to think, because he's pretty sure he's older than Ivar. ]

-- what are those one or two things?

[ragnarsson]

[While they're stuck here, Ivar might as well grill Finn until he's satisfied with the answers. Finn might want to start thinking of a kiss or two to get out of this.]

Rey. What is your relationship to her? And what are your intentions towards her?

[Don't mind the fact he's just pulled out a grinding stone and taken the axe off his back to sharpen it with. It means nothing. Really. All lies.]

[bythehand]

[ Finn's face probably takes a full journey between confusion and mild offense. Of all the questions he expected to get from anyone in his lifetime, he thinks those were the actual last. ]

What? [ ????? All he can really come up with in the moment is: ] Should I be asking you that question, too?

[ragnarsson]

Where I'm from, we have a curious custom. The one with the sharp weapons asks the questions and gets the answers.

[He points the axe at Finn in a manner that says he'll use it if he smells anything like bullshit.]

Now, start talking.

[angelic_archer]

[Alec had been careful and hadn't been caught by the weird mistletoe unless he was with Magnus. But luck and reflexes can't always compete with slippery, ice covered ground, no matter how good his balance might be.

Looking at the being who's caught with him, Alec thinks he looks vaguely familiar. Maybe he's seen while he's been training with the other Guards or he was friends with one of them?

Scowling at the mistletoe, he lets out a sigh.]

Do you know if platonic kisses work?

[bythehand]

[ See. This guy gets it. And he's familiar enough in the face to Finn, too, who tries to make a point of being good with things like names and faces. Perimeter Guard, but not the section Finn enlisted for.

That's moderately better than getting stuck with a complete stranger, if only barely. Finn still can't say he's a fan of this enterprise. He can say, however, that that's a fair thing to want to know. ]

If they don't, I've got a few people to talk to when I get back out of here.

[angelic_archer]

I'll be wanting to have a talk with them too before my husband starts turning people into ferrets.

[Magnus would understand if a non-platonic kiss was needed, but he wouldn't be happy about it. Neither would Alec, but he can't turn people into small, furry animals when he's annoyed.]

Have you been caught by this stuff before?

[bythehand]

[ Ah... more magic. It's always magic. Turning people into things. Presumably.

Sometimes Finn is just kind of glad magic doesn't really happen in his corner of the galaxy. He's pretty sure things in his life could have gone a lot more wrong with that many more ways to go wrong. ]

A couple of times. The colors are supposed to be specific, but I don't know what all of them mean.

[angelic_archer]

I didn't notice there were different colors. [He'd been a little distracted when he'd been caught under the mistletoe before. Scowling up at the offending magical item, Alec tries to remember anything he might have heard about the mistletoe, but most of the beings he knew had been avoiding it.] Do you know what orange means?




(ooc: the random number generator gave me orange. I decided to go with it since it will make Alec grumpy.)

[bythehand]

Orange. I haven't gotten orange yet. I think it's...

[ He tries to place that one. Sort of grimaces. ]

I mean, it's not mouth.