#EBG Scenes: May 2024

[sandboxscenes]

EBG Announcement & General Event Info!

Per the theme change, I'll be participating in the Extreme Bias Game (EBG) from May 3rd, 2024 9:30pm (+8) GMT to May 10th, 2024!

During this time, I'll be trying to write as much as possible for Lyney, and I won't be able to acknowledge my original bias. At all. Anything with my bias (Ayato) will be treated as a sabotage.

I'll be using the #Genshinblr EBG May 2024 and tagging (@/xianyoon) for any works I make, and any shenanigans for this EBG (for asks, sabotages, out of the ordinary posts, etc) will be tagged with #EBG Scenes: May 2024.

Many thanks to Xianyoon for putting the event together!

Rules for the event

Original Bias List & All Participants

Points and Strike List (as of the last day of EBG)

General Event Tag: Genshinblr EBG May 2024, genshinblr may ebg 2024

Time Zone Calculator

Results

It'll be my first one, so I'm excited for this.

Good luck everyone, and let's do our best!

In case you need a starter...

Additional Notes:

Clarification on tagging system for the event

Clarification on responding to asks and strikes

Clarification on acknowledging OG bias's existence

[sandboxscenes]

𝗔re 𝘆ou going to do 𝗮nything in 𝗉𝖺𝗋𝘁𝗂𝖼𝗈𝗅𝖺𝗋 𝗍𝗼𝖽𝖺𝗒? -❄️

Hm, nothing much. I have some stuff I have to do, which will keep me out for the majority of the day.

After I finish what I have to do today, I'll probably play some Genshin.

Provided it (Genshin) and my computer don't crash. Again.

Honestly, given all my computer glitches lately, I wouldn't be surprised if I need to start looking and saving for another computer.

[sandboxscenes]

I am once again asking you to go back to Ayato

Of course I'll go back to Lyney! 🪄

He's been here the whole time.

[sandboxscenes]

N█ st██le co█ne█tion . . . .

I tr█ to se█d it ag██n, here!

(https://youtu.be/s3ok84NeMdU?si=DV6SxlgVbLPPeE6K)

You know that grandma meme of where she has to lean in and take off her glasses and see what's on the screen?

That's what this ask reminds me of.

I feel like I'm going blind. I look away for one second, and like everything on the screen ends up unreasonably far away.

It's like my computer's playing tricks on me!

Also, your URL in the parentheses worked! I appreciate it. The music's really nice. I've also been jamming out to some other tunes as well.

It's always nice to have something else on in the background when doing other things if you ask me.

[sandboxscenes]

Hello!! As you know, I am together with Thoma!! I've been wondering if you want to visit us two with your dearest <3

Heyo! Congratulations on being together with Thoma. I'm so excited for you!

Apologies for the late response.

I saw the ask and then my computer glitched out on me. So I screenshotted what I saw when my computer came back online.

I didn't want to lose my response, so I ended up typing it out on a different document.

But uh, since you do have Thoma, I came across this note while I was reading.

I can't read it.

Maybe you or he can read it?

[sandboxscenes]

EBG Starter (May 2024)

Solitaire is a single person game.

Create a sequence from King down to Ace, and then separate each card in their respective suit pile.

Simple.

Solitaire can be relaxing. While the rules stay the same every round, where the cards are and when they come up, can be different every time. In that sense, it's predictable. But due to variation, every experience can differ.

And sometimes that means, bad luck after bad luck.

So after you did another round of solitaire, a sigh left your lips.

You lost again.

Your head fell onto the keyboard as the screen seemed to mock you. You could see the piles of cards left haphazardly in different piles. You hoped that this time would be different. You lost the previous four games because you ran out of moves - the cards were not in your favor. You lost again for the same reason. Your losing streak continues.

"It's the fifth time tonight! This game must hate me."

You pounded on the table in frustration.

"If it wasn't for that stupid Ace of Hearts blocking my next card, I would've won." You crossed your arms, sulking.

Your eyes wander to your phone charging next to you. 9:30pm.

"I guess now is a good a time as any to stop for the night." Your fingers travel to the laptop's power button.

"Oh wait!"

You pull your fingers away from the laptop's power button, and pull it towards the trackpad. You move the laptop's cursor and click on a program.

"Alright. Let me do my dailies, and then I'm done for the night."

Throughout your entire Genshin Impact playing session tonight, you were yawning. Your eyelids grew heavier with every passing minute. Despite the sleepy haze you found yourself fighting through, one by one you finished the game's assigned daily commissions.

After finishing your final daily commission, your screen froze. You pressed some buttons on your keyboard to open Genshin's menu. Nothing happened. You leaned forward to listen and find out if the game itself froze. You could hear the game's music still running in the background.

"Great. Just great."

You got out of your chair to get ready for bed. You would deal with this later.

After twenty minutes, you finished getting ready for bed. You returned to the desk to see if Genshin was still frozen. You approach the dark laptop screen and click on the buttons. The laptop surges to life, but instead of Genshin, another application greets you on the screen with a blank page.

"What?"

Torn between your urge to investigate what was currently on your screen and your sleepiness, in the end, the urge to sleep won out.

You take a deep breath. "Look, I don't know who you are or why you're in my computer. But do you mind if we talk about this later? Preferably at a more reasonable hour?"

Silence.

"Right. Computers can't talk. Alright then. I'm gonna turn this off for now, and I'll deal with this tomorrow."

You watch the screen go black as you turn off the computer. You close the screen, and walk away. Once you get into bed, sleep quickly takes you.

In the middle of the night, there is a crack of light that seems to spill out from your computer screen. The light appears only for a moment and then disappears just as quickly.

[sandboxscenes]

"I thought I'd be able to last, but I'm too tired."

[sandboxscenes]

Familiarity in the Unfamiliar (Summer Festival Prompt - 2/2)

A/N: Based on Obon Festivals and Dances like this one here and here. Done in conjunction with @xianyoon and their summer festival prompt for EBG. (Part 1)

Genre: Fluff

Summary: You take Lyney to a Summer Festival in Inazuma, and after introducing him to the festival, you propose a challenge to him.

Word Count: 1378

A Yagura.

That is how you introduced Lyney to the giant wooden tower erected in the center of the city. As you and Lyney sit down on the grass lawn and eat the Inazuman delicacies piled on your plates, you decide to take this time to explain more about the festival.

In between bites of piping hot Yakisoba noodles, you explain to Lyney that the Yagura is an important part of Obon festivals.

"It's like the main stage. People dance around it as a way to welcome their ancestors. From how my friends explained it me, they tell me that when they dance, it's like they feel their ancestors are right there with them."

Lyney ate another bite off of the Yakiniku skewer you held out to him. "Is it like a vision?"

"Not quite. Well, sorta. Those dances don't fill you with power per say, but you do feel something when you go out and dance. If I had to compare it to something, it's kinda like a prayer. That's how it feels to me."

You look at the people dancing around the Yagura. You quietly watch them as you hear the drums resound through the air.

Thump, Thump, Thump.

For those brief seconds, your heartbeat and the drums become one. Everyone dancing in the center of the Yagura seems to move in unison to the beat of the drum. In your head, you can count the beats of the song and remember its movements.

One, Two, Three, Four.

One, Two, Three, Four.

You thoughtfully look at Lyney as you take a bite of the Yakiniku skewer he holds out to you.

After you finish your bite, you smile. "Tell you what. When we're done here and after we rest, how about we try a song?"

Lyney's eyes widen. "Really? You won't even come on stage with me for any of my shows, but you'll dance here?"

You shoot Lyney a deadpan look. Both of you knew very well how stage shy you were when it came to public events with him. Unless he insisted on it, you preferred to spend your time watching his shows from the stage wings or from the audience. Despite how long you two have been dating, you immediately rejected him when he asked if you wanted to play a part in one of his tricks. You declined.

If you didn't have to stand in the spotlight, you wouldn't.

You shrugged. "I think it's because there's people to follow. And everyone here is doing the same dance, so as long as we follow along, we don't stick out."

"I see." Lyney takes a bite of the Yakisoba from your fork. "Do you remember the dances?"

"Not all, but there is one I want to do with you."

Lyney raised his eyebrow. "Which one?"

"It's called the Fukushima. It's a fast paced song that can sometimes last for fifteen minutes or more. They play it at Obon festivals, but the steps here are local. There's actually two variations here. I want you to do the fast version with me."

While you explained the Fukushima, Lyney listened intently. His eyes never left you. In the time it took for you to explain, he finished off his Yakiniku skewer. He washed his Yakiniku down with some water.

"So," Lyney said, a mischievous grin on his face, "what will you do if I can last? If I can do the dance for the fifteen plus minutes?"

"I'll buy you ice cream," you said.

"And?"

Now it was your turn to be confused. "And what?"

"And I want you to kiss me and tell me that you love me."

Your eyes widened. You told him about the Fukushima partly because you were excited, but also because you really wanted him to do it with you. But as past experience has taught you, you figured that if you and him tried going for the whole fifteen minutes, both of you wouldn't be able to move the next day.

You felt your cheeks heat up once more. "Maybe let's just do whoever can last the longest. No bets or things like that."

"Why? You made the offer. And it would be heartless of me if I didn't accept your offer to dance."

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"So you don't want to dance with me?"

"I do! But…"

"But?"

You looked towards the people dancing in the center. "But I want you to have a good time too."

Lyney winked at you. He pulled you into a hug. "Let's dance together then, okay?"

All you could do in his arms was nod.

After you finished eating, both of you sat and talked for an hour. Then, when you heard the telltale yells and drum beats coming from the Yagura, you and Lyney rushed over to the center like two excited children, hand in hand. You told Lyney that to do the fast Fukushima, you had to both stay in the center.

Surrounded by other people, neither of you could fully get a good look at the people in the center who were doing the steps correctly. As a result, the song began, it took a little while for both you and Lyney to get the steps down for the song. In your case, it had been years since you danced to it, so the quick steps got you twisted and messed up your timing. You ended up having to count the beats aloud so that your steps matched.

But both of you got the hang of it fairly quickly. Once you saw that Lyney got the steps, you decide him to show him another variation of one of the dance steps. Instead of clapping your hands together at the end, you would clap your hands with each other. The first time you did it, Lyney wasn't sure what you wanted to do. But after a couple of rounds of doing the steps, he understood. In the final step of the dance, he clapped your hands together with his, before doing it all over again.

As the song continued, you felt your legs, calves, and arms burning. It had been ages since you did something this strenuous. You looked over at Lyney and despite his perfect steps, you saw the sweat on his brow.

The song continued. It felt like you were doing these steps forever.

Then, suddenly, you heard the song start to speed up. Despite how tired you were, you perked up. You and Lyney were right there. It was the light at the end of the tunnel! If you and Lyney could last through the speed up, you will have succeeded.

Both of you pushed through, and finally, the song ended.

As people left the middle of the circle, it felt like you could finally breathe again. You didn't know how stressful it was trying to keep up with the steps of the dance, and your body felt like jelly. Everything was burning: your legs, your arms, and your lungs. You felt the heat radiating off you as the wind tried to wick away your sweat. You pinched the side of your waist as you tried to stand tall to catch your breath.

"So, we did it," said Lyney, smiling.

At first glance, it seemed like he wasn't as out of breath as you was. But when he got closer, you could see the exhaustion in his features. You could see the heavy sweat on his brow. You could see the tired look in his eyes. You could hear him panting.

Running on pure adrenaline, you held out your hand up for a high-five. Lyney obliged.

"We did," you smiled back. "We lasted for fifteen minutes! And you did really well for your first time too."

"It's a good thing we have a day off tomorrow too," Lyney said slowly.

"Yep." You nodded.

You gently place your hand under Lyney's chin and guide his gaze towards you. You leaned in and briefly placed a kiss on his lips. You hold his gaze, and look into his violet eyes, hoping that you can get your feelings across to him.

"Thank you for dancing with me and for bringing me to the festival tonight. I love you, Lyney. Now, let's go get some ice cream."

[sandboxscenes]

EBG May 2024 Masterlist

EBG Announcement and General Information Post

EBG Scenes: May 2024 - Collection of Lyney and other miscellaneous posts for EBG

Starter Post

Floraldresvi asks: [1], [2], [3], [4]

❄️ anon ask: [1]

EBG Works:

Familiar in the Unfamiliar: (Part 1), (Part 2)

You Can Do Magic!

You've been challenged! (Pokemon AU)

Impasse

Betrayal (Pokemon AU) - Scene Continuation

Unguarded