Darklina Prompt
Based on a Hallmark trilogy called the Wedding Veil Trilogy. Altered so it can be a mixed friend group
Alina and Inej met as roommates in undergrad, Fedyor was the TA for their general history who they helped save from a bully and Matthias is his favorite cousin, who wanted to get away from his strict religious parents after he was able to accept Fedyor who came out to him. So after his first year at college in Fjeda, he transferred. It didn't help that they kept trying to force women on him so he could find the "perfect traditional" wives.
The four of them have stayed friends and make it a point to meet up every four months for a two-week travel vacation where they get lost in some random tourist trap city. On their current trip to Bhez Ju, they find this random broach that has a very old symbol of luck. It's said to bring the owner luck where they needed the most. Inej, in a completely out-character move, demands that they buy it and Alina should be the first to have it. She finally ended the toxic mess that was her situation with Mal. Calling it a relationship is an insult to the word. They all agree and split the cost and return home.
Except for Matthias, who is in Halmhend (Fjerdan border town), the others are scattered all over Ravka. Alina is in Os Alta as a curator for their Ravkan Art Museum. Inej is in Novokribirsk, running a program for abused and kidnapped children. Matthias works with a security firm in IT and as one of their translators, he speaks Ravkan, Fjerdan, and Shu. Fedyor runs a culinary department at a small university in Adena.
Alina meets Aleksander at a food festival, he runs the charity division of his family's foundation. He was looking into donating funds to their restoration department, which has been losing funding and painters regularly for the last few years.
Inej's program is at risk of losing its building. Some company is buying up older buildings so they can knock them down and build some hotel or other building. Aleksander puts her in touch with his frat brother, Kaz, and his assistant Jesper, who is very good at finding ways to help create funding for programs like this.
Nina, Kaz's foster sister, is a type of federal law enforcement and needs some specialty digital assistance. She's trying to link a group to a very big crime and needs a good codebreaker and linguist. Matthias is recommended to her.
Ivan, Aleksander's cousin, joined the university as a language professor. He and Fedyor's offices are right next door. They barely talk outside of pleasantries. Something happens, then bonding, followed by some slowburn. The entire university is shipping them.
