MISTLEGLOW: a kissing meme

[riverviewmod]

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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Comments

Orange!

[deploy]

No idea. It's been a while since I've had to deal with seasonal anything. Minus allergies. What's a hipster?

[John glances up at the floating sprig glowing obnoxiously orange just a few feet over their heads.

He jumps up, trying to catch it in his gloved fist on impulse, but no cigar. His hand passes right through. Worth a shot.

At least she's cute, and they kinda-sorta know each other. Not too familiar that he's worried about complicating a friendship, and not so strange that he think she'll call the cops on him if he suggests a solution to the problem at hand.]

So. Do you wanna stand here for a while, or...? I'm good, either way.

Sorry for the delay! Christmas/a cold got me.

[11calls]

[Hipsters makes her shrug and Alex just laughs softly.]

It's a really long story, but you know the people who like things before they became cool? And then tell you about it every chance they get? That's a part of them. A small part, but...

[And then she looks up at the mistletoe that he can't touch and shrugs quickly.]

It's not like it means anything, right? Don't worry, I promise I won't go all Fatal Attraction on you over a kiss. You're nice enough and all but...

[Complicated. She's complicated. Her love life anyway, even if it's not here.]

[deploy]

Oh, those. In my day we called 'em birks. Short for birkenstocks. Nice to know people are still annoying, no matter when you're from.

[John tries not to obviously check her out, but, well, he's checking her out. She's cute. Smart, too, which is definitely a positive.

John's love life is somewhere between dead, and non-existent. Every once in a while the opportunity to 'kirk it up' falls into his lap, but on a day to day basis? He's just too busy, and getting laid isn't anywhere near the top of his priorities.

Alex could be the emotionally distant Cinderella to John's gently-used (understatement) glass slipper.]

I'm not worried. I'm not saying I'm the least desirable bachelor in Riverview, but I probably make the list. Divorced by my ex-wife. Married to my work. Spend all my money on stupid stuff. I mean, not stupid to me, but most women aren't so into skateboards, and surfboards, and golf clubs-

Anyway, uh, what was I saying- good kisser. Yeah, I do that part alright.

[11calls]

They never really do manage to get unannoying, do they?

[The words come with a grin and a sparkle in her eye, because Alex has met with more than her fair share of annoying people. Hell, she works for Public Radio in Seattle, it's practically written on her business card.

But her amused look only grows when he describes himself, until her smirk is a full-out grin that she couples with a shrug.]

Don't worry, I'm definitely married to my work too. I rarely sleep at night. I am definitely too nosy for my own good.... [She leaves out things about demons because yep, insanity thanks. But she does take a step closer to him before she announces confidently:]

I happen to be a good kisser too.

[deploy]

Well, since we're both already married, and both good kissers, we could be doing a lot worse for ourselves.

[John can't help but smirk a little in turn, because there's really nothing more attractive than a woman who knows what she wants, and isn't afraid to get it.

He wouldn't consider himself an especially sensitive man, day to day, but he is aware of himself, and that this is a potentially sensitive position for a man and woman who are little more than acquaintances. Her stepping in towards him, making the first move, takes a load off. Makes what could be a really awkward, potentially traumatising situation (for both parties), into something interesting.]

I like your glasses. [Since she's close enough that he's looking down at Alex, and her eyes, and eyelashes, from behind the frames.]

[11calls]

We're really good. And we're adults, it doesn't need to make things weird. [It's just a kiss, for crying out loud. A kiss never really hurt anyone as long as it was two consenting adults and neither was under any sort of thing that made them nonconsenting. Neither was in a relationship that could conscrew this as bad. (Even if Alex was complicated back home) but for now she just beamed up at him with a little bit of a grin.

Because Alex was short.]

Thanks. [ Her fingers brushed the rims for a moment, because that's not normally what people compliment Alex on. But she returned the compliment with something more conventional.]

I like your smile.

[deploy]

[That makes him smile again, more broadly. A hint of boyish shyness in the way he looks away for just a moment before looking back at her.

John's definitely got height on her. Upwards of six foot, versus her five foot something. He used to be taller, but if you pull enough G's for a long enough period of time, you're bound to lose a few inches to spinal compression. Even worse if you've ejected, which John hasn't had to the pleasure of doing yet. He's become something of an expert at crash landings.

His descent feels a little steep right now, but John's always flown a little fast and loose. In a jet, it's always better to go faster than slower. You never know when you'll get blown out of the sky.]

I'd kiss you without the mistletoe, for the record. If you were into it.

[He lifts a gloved hand to Alex's chin, tilting her face up towards him the same time as he leans down, and catches her mouth with his.

There's nothing rough about the kiss, not from his end, anyway. They may be two consenting adults, but he'd rather let Alex lead than push her any farther than she's comfortable with. He hums affirmatively against her mouth. She might feel John still smiling.]

Sorry for the delay! Holidays are a bitch.

[11calls]

Okay. [The word came with a smile, because they didn't know each other that well, but he was good looking enough, and they maybe had enough in common to see where it went from there. If nothing else, having a friends with benefits situation was never a bad idea. And if nothing else, he was a good kisser, and Alex moved onto her toes a little bit to reach out and wrap her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss just a little bit, but not going crazy with it.

After a minute, she pulls back with a grin and looks up at the mistletoe still above them.]

Huh.

NP!

[deploy]

[John likes the way she wraps her arms around his neck. It's a good kiss. Deep, but not sloppy. He's got a good buzz on by the time she pulls back, his lips still tingling.

The mistletoe isn't gone, and John could stand to be more upset about it. He sighs for dramatic effect, but can't quite wipe the smirk off his face.]

Damn, what'll we do now?

[11calls]

[Alex just laughs softly, for a minute before she gives him a quick shrug. Her voice is light and teasing when she leans forward to whisper in his ear. Or at least moves onto the tip-toes of her boots and comes as close as she can reach with it.]

Well, I guess we have two options. We can either try another kind of kiss or we can just keep kissing and see what happens.

[But despite saying that, Alex does take the initiative and presses her lips lightly to his cheek so that she can at least make sure it's not something as small as that.]

[deploy]

[Her lips moving against his ears, which are particularly sensitive, are almost enough to make him shiver. She smells good. Her hair is soft against his nose, and it takes some willpower not to twist a curl around one of his fingers.]

I like both those options.

[John settles for wrapping both his arms loosely around her waist. He doubts the inhabitants of Riverview have a thing against PDA, given the relative frequency of how often stuff like this happens.

She kisses his cheek, and John turns his head to graze his lips against her ear. Revenge. He kisses the edge of her jaw, to the corner of her mouth, and then her mouth again. Because he really liked it the first time around, and something tells him it'll only get better.

He casts one eye up towards the mistletoe, still glowing. Definitely not the mouth. Not that it keeps his tongue from teasing between her lips.]

[11calls]

[Alex both shivered and chuckled with his lips against her ear. She knows it for the revenge that it is, but she's really not complaining about it in the slightest. Instead when he finds her lips, she opens them with a little happy sound, her hands moving from his neck to card into his short hair.

It's more of a PDA since Alex has done in a while (which was probably at a PNWS Christmas party and probably involved mistletoe, come to think) but she quickly pushes aside all thoughts of home while her tongue moves along his own. Still trapped underneath the mistletoe, but at least this is a far better way to be spending an hour rather than just staring awkwardly at someone.

Besides, they'll need to come across a fix for this eventually, right?]

[deploy]

[So they kiss for a while. A lot longer than is probably necessary, but who's counting? The mistletoe is still lingering, so their time isn't up.

When John's tongue gets tired of twisting, and he's fairly certain Alex needs to come up for air, his lips track a path over her smooth cheek to the curve of her jaw. He likes the way her hair tickles his nose, soft and smooth.

He plants a kiss at the juncture of her jaw and neck, another wetter, hotter kiss just an inch lower, over her jugular. When he gets away with that much, a smirk against her throat before biting lightly, just enough to smart. And to leave a little red mark that'll fade before the end of the day, probably.

And just like that, the mistletoe blips out of existence. John chuckles into her skin before pulling away, his eyes bright with mischief, and something a little darker.]

Say, now that we've broken the ice- we should have coffee sometime. Or a nightcap.