mistleglow: a winter kiss meme

[modblob]

mistleglow: a winter kiss meme.

The month of December has been a cold one in Anchor, with the bots working hard to bring a little winter joy to the city. This year, there's a little extra surprise - the bots welcome the participation of the nanites, who are able to join in with the winter holiday protocols for the first time in a long time following their long imprisonment.

And what are the nanites doing? Well...this winter wonderland has been missing a conspicuous offender: the mistletoe. That's where the nanites come in...

▶ The nanites will be floating around in little swarms, lit up bright with various colors, and when they run into any sentient creature, they will enclose them in a harmless invisible shield with a radius of approximately three feet by three feet. Once the characters are entrapped, they'll be stuck for exactly one hour...unless they kiss!

▶ There is no compulsion to kiss, and characters are welcome to just wait out the hour and hope they're stuck with a good conversationalist, but if they want to get on their way, they'll have to kiss their fellow captive, in a specific way depending on the color of the nanite swarm that's trapped them.

▶ The bots will be helping by helpfully informing any trapped characters they need to kiss as they pass by. They won't say what kind of kiss because that would make it too easy. But at least now you know, right?

▶ This meme can be counted as game canon and used for AC if threads continue into January (don't forget: December is check-in only) if both parties wish. Characters who are not in the game are welcome, and threads from this meme can also count for application samples! Come join us!

▶ How to Participate: Just post a top-level detailing the types of kisses you're interested in, and then tag around to other people's top-levels.

▶ Kiss Type Legend:

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

Navigation.

Comments

[braidmage]

[ When Elleru compliments his hair, Reynir can't help smiling. Of course, he doesn't mind the fact that he seems to have befriended a great number of people recently who are shy, or gruff, or grumpy, or some combination of the three. Still, it's nice to get a light compliment now and again, given freely and obviously easily. He doesn't even bat an eye when she picks up his braid and kind of pets it.

When he realizes what she's asking and that she doesn't know how to braid hair, and Reynir just can't allow that! Especially when he only has such a simple one at the moment: ]

Or I can show you now, if you want! It's really really easy.

[ He just loves being helpful! And this is one thing that he feels very confident in his knowledge of, thanks very much. Reynir takes a great deal of pride in his hair. He takes good care of it and it's actually a rather large part of his self-chosen identity. A lot of stuff about himself, he has no control over. His hair, though, is a choice. An expression of himself. ]

[birdical]

Is it? Then yes, show me now!

[As excited as she'd been about that kiss, she's now far more excited about the prospect of someone playing with her hair. Her kind are the type to preen socially, expressing their camaraderie and affection for each other with such activities; she's been struggling to adjust to the fact that uprights are, by and large, not into communal grooming in the slightest.

She takes a seat right on the ground, pulling her long hair from behind her and brushing it over her shoulder with her fingers. She purposefully brings it to the same side as Reynir's braid, hoping to mimic his look.]

[braidmage]

[ Reynir follows suit happily, sitting cross-legged in front of Elleru. There is not a lot of room in the bubble for two quite tall people with long limbs, but since Elleru doesn't seem to mind the proximity, Reynir definitely doesn't. He unfastened the ribbon that is holding the end of his braid in place and begins to unwind it. There is an awful lot of hair, so it takes a few moments, but as he does it he is talking, half to himself and half to Elleru, thinking aloud: ]

It's a lot easier to practice on somebody else a few times, first, so how about I show you how to do it on myself, and then you can try braiding my hair, and then I can do a fancy braid in your hair? I know lots that are a lot fancier than this, I just don't bother most days unless there is an occasion because they are fiddly and take more time and it's too much bother unless someone is getting married or there's a festival or whatever...

[ From his enthusiasm and complete lack of seeming to think any of this is odd, perhaps it will seem to Elleru that Reynir is from some group or culture much more into communal grooming than other people she's met, here.

He gets his hair all unwoven, and fluffs it out so that it hangs around him, a bright red curtain of it. Reynir waits to make sure Elleru is giving him her full attention, asks: ]

Ready? This kind of braid is so easy once you get a bit of practice. All you do is divide your hair as evenly as you can into three sections, and separate them, like this...

[ And he demonstrates, quickly feeling around at the base of his skull and separating his hair into three chunks, two of which he drapes forward over his shoulders, one of which remains flowing down his back. ]

[birdical]

[Elleru nods, mimicking what she sees, starting again when she doesn't get it right, fluffing her hair even further as though it'd help. She's seen Ami make braids before, and it was like magic -- if magic were acceptable and related to hair, of course. Her fingers get tangled in her vibrant strands again, so she watches Reynir demonstrate once more. Separate the pieces into thirds, yes.

Forgive her, she's still working on complicated acts of dexterity with these upright hands; it's clear she has to figure out how to get her fingers to hold all the bits at once, as she tends to want to hold her middle and ring fingers together. She gets one chunk of her hair over one shoulder, another over the other, and has a third in her hand.]

This is harder than it looks.

[braidmage]

[ Reynir is not always patient, but this is nowhere near the first time he has taught someone to do something challenging and tactile. So he has no expectation that Elleru will get it right away, and he's happy to take as long as she needs. When she says it is difficult, Reynir nods emphatically. ]

It is. And I've been doing it my whole life, so don't feel bad if it takes a few tries, alright? Once you have those three strands, you take them like this...

[ He actually just turns around, so she can watch the back of his head, how he is holding the thirds of his hair between his fingers. Slowly and deliberately, he goes through the motions to demonstrate braiding, tucking his hair into a neat three-strand. He gets a foot or so down before he stops, pulling it all out and beckoning her: ]

Here, practice on me, okay? It's much easier on someone else. Once you do it on other people a few times, it'll be easier once you start trying on your own head.

[ And he sits, hair down and unseparated once more, waiting for her to do her worst. He won't mind a bit of tugging or tangling. Reynir loves his hair, but he isn't completely precious about it unlike a certain Swede he knows. ]

[birdical]

[Giving up on her own hair for now, Elleru does as instructed, taking the bulk of Reynir's mane between her hands. She divides it into thirds -- rather uneven thirds, but there are nonetheless three strands -- and then gets started, trying to loop the outside pieces over the middle one.]

Your hair has always been this long?

[braidmage]

[ Reynir appears to be completely comfortable with a total stranger messing with his hair; there's no tension in him and his voice is light and cheerful as he answers: ]

Nope! It took a really long time to grow it out this long. It was short when I was a kid. You're doing really great!

[ That last part he says, peering over his shoulder as best as he can without moving his head too much and making it harder. The braid is nowhere near as sleek or even as it was before, but it's a braid! It's happening! ]

What about you - your hair is dyed that color, right? Was it like that before you arrived here, or did you do it at the spa.

[ Reynir had been gullible enough that he believed Genji's green hair just grew that way, but he'd learned better! He's not stupid, after all, just ignorant about some things. Which means that, when he knows something, like that people can dye their hair strange colors at the spa, he's eager to demonstrate that. ]

There are many different styles of braiding you can do to your hair once you've got a little bit of practice. Most of them are way too elaborate for every day but it's a good skill to have. I practiced like you're doing on my sisters for lots of years and eventually I was the one they came to when there was a fancy occasion and they needed their hair done, not our mom, which I think annoyed her a little until she realized she could get me to do her hair, too, and then she didn't really mind so much.

[birdical]

[Over and under, over and— nope, starting over. Interested as she is in his story about his sisters, she's left confused by his question.]

Died? Oh, dyed! [Those are two different words.] Ah no, this is my natural color. It is how it always is.

[braidmage]

Whaaaaaaaaaaat?!

[ Reynir draws the word out long, a surprised and delighted exclamation. He twists around to see her, forgetting momentarily in his enthusiasm that he will probably mess up her braiding attempts ]

That's awesome! I love it even more, now! Do lots of people from your world have hair that color?

[ Maybe he is getting excited over something completely common and making a fool of himself, but Reynir doesn't care. Her hair is COOL and he won't hide the fact that he thinks that!

But he does realize twisting around can't be helping and says quickly: ]

Oh, right, sorry.

[ And turns so the back of his head is facing her again. ]

[birdical]

[Yep, there goes his hair from her hands and her braid-in-progress. In good news, she doesn't seem too bothered as the strands slip from her fingers -- she does like being flattered after all. She gives him a smile as he turns back around, and collects his hair between her fingers once more.]

Not lots, but some. It is how we know our role within the colony.

[braidmage]

[ Reynir is still fascinated, but this time he manages to be fascinated without turning around to look at her. Still, the two of them here, they have nothing but time to kill, and besides, she might have more luck with the braid if she is talking about something else at the same time. The worst thing for it is overthinking, after all.

So he asks: ]

How does that work? Where I'm from, hair is just... hair. You can tell if people are related if it's the same color or texture or whatever but it doesn't have anything to do with anybody's roles or whatever.

[ Reynir is perhaps a bit naive about the role that hair does and has played in various social hierarchies, but he is also a sweet and naive farm boy, so perhaps he can be forgiven for this.

He is, however, eager to hear more about Elleru's world, especially since it is sounding more and more unlike his own, and there is still that craving for adventure and tales of far-off lands and customs in him. ]