SEPTEMBER CATCH-ALL

[leicesters]

🧙 WHO: Claude and you!
⚔️️ WHAT: September shenanigans - potion mishaps and pain-tolerant badassery
🕒 WHEN: Throughout the month
🗺️ WHERE: Around Camelot
⚠️ WARNINGS: CWs for branding and consensual submission for the second and third prompts.

1. POTION DISASTER
[Potions had become something of a side hobby for Claude since he arrived on the island earlier in the year. Much like his fascination with poison back home, he liked experimenting with different ingredients and seeing what kind of -- hopefully non-lethal -- effects he could produce. Who knows when that knowledge could be useful one day? However, without a magical talent for alchemy granted to him on arrival, his actual ability is still... quite some ways away from mastery.

Which is why he has a case full of dud potions he's dutifully carrying back to the nearest apothecary where they can be disposed of responsibly, or, at the very least, salvaged into something usable by someone who actually knows what they're doing.

Should you be unfortunate enough to pass by him, it's at that exact moment that he trips, and he watches in horror as the case upends right out of his hands and sends a potion (or two, or three, or five) crashing into the unfortunate victim, drenching them.]

Gah--! I'm so sorry! Let me help--!

[Feel free to choose whatever disastrous effect you want the potion to have, or RNG something from this list. Just keep in mind Claude hasn't mastered potion-brewing so the effects are going to skew negative or just plain weird from his mess-ups.]


2. THE PAIN-TOLERANT BADASS (cw: branding)
[Having gotten wind of preparations for the autumn equinox, and being well aware of what nasty repercussions could happen when spirits are allowed to move about unchecked in Avalon, Claude decided it was best to help pitch in and take on one of the spirit guardians. He's not sure he trusts the entire process, honestly, but the locals seem to swear by it, and the costs of not having enough volunteers probably outweigh the risks of helping.

Which is why Claude is stripped down to the waist, sitting on a block of obsidian and eyeing up a potential volunteer to help with the preparations.]

Are you sure you want to do this? I may be gorgeous, but this won't be pretty.


3. THE CARING BADASS (cw: consensual submission)
[For anyone who wants to volunteer to take care of Claude! As this will vary according to CR, feel free to write your own starter or comment and I'll write a personalised starter. Claude will only agree to this with people he has preexisting CR with and who he trusts; feel free to hit me up via PM/moonsilver#4734/moonsilver if you're not sure.]


4. WILDCARD
[Choose your own adventure! As above, write your own starter or hit me up to plot.]

Comments

1!

[silvergarden]

[Thanks to the familiar competition and the Hall of Mirrors scuffle back in Celliwig, Rinea has gotten a little better at using kinetic magic specifically to stop things from hitting her.

Still, her reflexes are not exactly harmonious.]

Eep—!

[Rinea seizes up in a flinch as if she did get hit, handbasket dropped as her arms jolt up to protect herself.

…]

…Claude?

[She cracks one eye open. The spilled potion… hangs suspended in the air between them. Ah. ]

[leicesters]

[Claude freezes -- he'd been about to grab the potion, but disturbing it where it's hanging in the air is only going to make the situation worse and spill it all over her anyway, so he quickly retracts his hand.]

Rinea! Is that your magic? [He guesses so; he can't use kinetic.]

Let's just... both step back, and you can drop it, okay?

[silvergarden]

Oh, oh dear. Oh, goodness. [The arrested potion shudders dangerously in the air as Rinea's hold on it shifts from subconscious to conscious; she hastily skitters out from its aborted flight path.] Yes, okay!

[Once they're both safely out of the splash zone, Rinea does her best-- but oh god, she hasn't practiced slow descents yet. She manages to let the bottle down about halfway before it slips the remaining distance, landing with a sharp clatter and spilling its contents. The liquid bubbles ominously on the sidewalk.]

Gracious! [Rinea is so startled by the affair that her voice comes out slightly more admonishing than she means.] What manner of concoctions have you been making?

1 because i need zero braincells options

[snaccs]

( who knows what this potion was supposed to achieve, but its soft pink glow and pleasant scent are good indicators that it can do something nice.

or at least, something funny for the players.

Maruki tries to dodge the deluge, tries to block the splash with his coat, but it splatters everywhere, seeping pink into fabric and getting droplets on his lips. and one or two drops shouldn't be too bad, right?

... where would the fun be in that?

Maruki shakes some off the liquid off himself, tries his best to dry himself off, and then looks up.

oh.

was Claude always this pretty? )

A-are you alright? Can I help you?

( are Maruki's cheeks pinker than the stains on his clothing? yes, yes they are. )

hell yea

[leicesters]

[Claude notices the pink cheeks but puts it down to embarrassment at the whole ridiculous situation.]

Er, me? But I was the one who made a mess of you. [He shakes his head, apologetic, and he's shrugging off his jacket and offering it to Maruki.]

Want to wear this? It'll be better than walking around in wet clothes.

[snaccs]

( well, he's certainly embarrassed to be caught looking like this in front of—

seriously, was Claude always this pretty? he's finding it hard to keep his train of thought going. especially when he's offered a jacket. )

That's... Yes, thank you! ( gosh darn it. his tongue's all tied up. this isn't fair. but he'll scramble out of the coat and reach for the offered jacket.

right. c'mon, brain, you can function!!! just. talk about... something that isn't Claude's pretty eyes. )

Maybe we should, uh... try to clean this up?

( totally not an excuse to spend more time with Claude, nope. is his heart rate picking up? huh. )

[ichoosefight]

[ Steph made the terrible mistake of trying to catch the falling bottles, only to have one spill on her shirt and another break in her hand. She pauses, waiting for the liquid to melt her clothes or burn her or something. It doesn't, so instead she pulls the bottom of her shirt away so it can drip over the ground instead of onto her pants. ]

It's fine, no damage done.

[ Her tone is definitely annoyed, but it's a waste of energy to direct it at the stranger. She makes a face over the weirdly greasy feel of the potion on her shirt.

After a moment a red liquid starts dripping along with the green. Her hand is bleeding, profusely. ]

[leicesters]

Not so sure about that.

[She must've cut her hand on some shattered glass. He doesn't wait for her to respond -- old battlefield experience has taught him it's best to treat wounds quickly before finding a healer -- so he puts the crate and the surviving potions down, then tears at one of his sleeves, removing enough fabric to make it into a makeshift bandage.]

Here, let me bind it up for you to stop the bleeding.

[ichoosefight]

Huh?

[ She's too confused by the blood to react at first other than letting go of her shirt and staring at her hand. She had felt the cut, but it felt like a small scrape. The injury itself is hard to see under the stream of blood its producing.

She should be doing something about this, shouldn't she? She's worked triage, she even has healing magic, it shouldn't be so hard to remember what to do. Put pressure on it, right? She presses her other palm into the injury, making it sting a little. That seems odd, but so does the spinning sensation in her head.

He was saying something. ]

What?

potion disaster

[feisticuffs]

[It had been a routine trip to the apothecary, all told, largely focused on restocking personal supplies with just a bit of browsing. There was something nice about the comfortable routine of running errands, something Jade had become quite accustomed to during her time here in Camelot. She, in fact, found herself at such ease that she didn't give what was ahead of her much thought as she let herself out of the shop and called back to the proprietor over her shoulder, proceeding to head through the front door without looking.]

Thank you, I'll let you know next time I—

[The collision happens so suddenly that she doesn't have time to process it or even recognize it for what it is until she finds herself on the ground in front of the apothecary's steps, having landed on her backside and catching herself on one arm before she could find herself fully flat-out on the ground. She shakes her head as she looks for the other participant; easy enough with Claude scrambling to help.]

Claude! Apologies, I didn't see you— what is this?

['This' being the viscous green liquid that's splattered across her right hand and across her forearm up to her elbow, with a broken potion bottle on the ground nearby.]

[leicesters]

Um-- a failed experiment, shall we say?

[In other words, don't ask him what that potion does, he has no idea. He's put the crate of potions down and is taking off his jacket, offering it to her and looking rueful.]

Quick, you should use this to wipe it off, then we'll get you cleaned up.

rolls a d100

[feisticuffs]

That's comforting.

[However, never one to sit idly for any reason, Jade takes hold of his jacket when offered and quickly starts to wipe away the offending potion. "Wait and see" was never really a wise tactic when it came to finding out what magical potions did.]

Thank you, I—

[Whatever she'd meant to say next, he may never know. The fingers gripping his jacket suddenly go slack, and the rest of her follows— going remarkably still for half a moment before she goes entirely limp, collapsing to the ground in front of him unconscious.

Welp.]

Potion Disaster

[sapphirecontess]

Aah!

[ The potion hits Musse square in the gut, causing her to double over a bit in surprise as it splashes her with an angry orange liquid. She stands there momentarily stunned, before quite abruptly falling to her knees, drained of all physical strength ]

Uhhh... excuse me?

[leicesters]

I'm really, really sorry.

[He offers her a hand to try to help her back to her feet.] Are you hurt? Can you walk?

pain-tolerant badass

[sereneadherent]

[For her part, Marianne gives Claude a small smile.]

I promise to look away if it gets to be too gruesome.

[Marianne appreciates the levity of their conversation as she prepares for the ritual. It's far better than acknowledging the truth--that, as a war medic, she's seen far worse than anything that is likely to happen here.

She's volunteered to help with the autumn equinox in this capacity because she feels it's the best way she can be of use. Even if her healing abilities are far from what they are back home, she can still be on standby if something unexpected and terrible should happen to Claude or any of the other volunteers during the ritual. And, truth be told, she'll probably keep a close eye on the people she sees here today in case they need any healing or related assistance afterward.

(Which demands that she not be at a specific person's beck and call. Otherwise, she might have volunteered to be an official caretaker.)]

I believe the egg is ready for you whenever you're ready, Claude.

[leicesters]

Alright! Wish me luck.

[Claude's maybe not the obvious choice for this -- he's certainly not Edelgard's or Dimitri's levels of tough, and tends to stay out of direct combat as much as he can rather than in the thick of it. But he's no stranger to pain all the same, which still makes him a better choice than many other candidates here who've never seen combat at all, never mind war.

He moves to lay down on the obsidian, putting a piece of cloth in his mouth to bite down on to avoid injuring himself, and gives Marianne a thumbs up over his shoulder.]

how many times can Claude fuck up in this post (another 1)

[impostorsyndrome]

[Whoops. Apothecary crash, the most dangerous kind of crash! Kadoc was headed there himself with a sack of poisonous mushrooms, and it's a good thing mushrooms are not a liquid, because those also go flying everywhere—more harmlessly, though. Unless someone nearby is really, really determined to test the five second rule, and also never learned not to shove strange mushrooms in their mouth.

They can probably wait for a minute. First Kadoc has to sputter in shock, reeling back and automatically trying to brush the potion off his body. That doesn't work so well with a potion. Eugh!]

Shit—sorry, I—what the hell is this?!

[ . . . That is what he says. And that's what he hears himself say.

However, this is what Claude will hear him say.]

[leicesters]

[Claude is about to apologise too and help him pick up the mushrooms (he's sure he recognises those from his own poison-making adventures...) but he does a double take and stares at Kadoc, bewildered, when he makes those noises.

It sounds like... an animal? Some kind of dog, maybe?]

Excuse me? [He blinks.]

It's another 1 for poor Claude ;)

[colchismagecraft]

[Caster had just left the apothecary in question, basket of potion ingredients in one arm. But whilst she was carefully checking between a paper list and her basket to make sure she had everything...suddenly, Claude happened.

And that was when she found herself completely doused by a couple of his potions. Well, there was only so much her creepy witch cloak could do about that.]

Ahh...! Watch what you're-!

[And then her anger seemed to change to confusion as, well...she started to shift from evil, suspicious looking witch, to a rather disorientated looking 14-year-old.]

H-huh...? ...You're not Jason.

[leicesters]

[Claude's about to apologise to Caster profusely lest her provoke her witchy wrath, and suddenly... she's not quite so witchy looking? He stares at the girl now standing before him, trying to figure out what, exactly, had just happened.

Was she... younger? She didn't seem to recognise him, either.]

Er, no? I'm Claude, remember?

1 again geez claude how many times can you fuck up

[excalibeam]

[ Saber was mostly only here on a whim of curiosity, wondering what kind of potions were available. Heck, maybe she'd even find something she'd be interested in.

And then, Claude appeared and Saber was the unfortunate victim of this spray of potions. ]

W-What the...!?

[ Perhaps it's just because of the reckless and sudden mixture of potions, but there's a sudden pop as white smoke starts to rise around Saber, obscuring her completely.

When the smoke clears, however... well, physically nothing actually changes, but her hair is in a ponytail rather than a bun, and her blue armor is replaced with a white dress resembling that of a Lily.

If Claude had a nickel for every time he turned a Servant into their Lily form, he'd have two nickels... which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice now. ]

too many times

[leicesters]

Ah! Sorr--

[Claude's immediately apologising when he realises the terrible mistake, but the puff of smoke obscures Saber, and he coughs and takes a step back until it clears.

He stares... and blinks. Those potions didn't do that... did they?]

Um, what's with the makeover?

@ flayn

[leicesters]

[It's been a few days since Claude initially got his tattoo and -- so he's been told -- the guardian spirit he's supposed to be carting around along with it. He won't believe it until he sees proof of it with his own eyes at the solstice, but until then, the numbness to the previously blistering pain is a fair tradeoff.

It's also pretty dangerous, and he technically is still injured, so he's been ordered to take it easy and have a caretaker follow him around each day to see to his needs, which has lead him to meet Flayn in one of the main squares in the city.]

Hey Flayn! I appreciate you coming out here, but you really don't need to do this.

[Having her spellbound under his command just doesn't sit right with him, even though he knows she trusts him.]

But if you're so set on it, maybe we could hang out? Or... you could take me back to your place? [He gives a suggestive wink. Of course it's just a teasing suggestion, though, not a command. He's really fine with just spending time together without her needing to necessarily do things for him.]

[notcethleann]

Good day, Claude! I certainly understand that I do not need to do it. But I suspect that if I did not, you would refuse to heed the advice to 'take it easy,' as they say, and overexert yourself. I am here to ensure that does not happen!

[Flayn giggles at his teasing.]

Of course, I am perfectly capable of keeping an eye on you and 'hanging out' as well. But my place is small and really quite dull. I would prefer to visit your treehouse again, if that is all right with you.

1 - truth serum or transformation potion, take your pick!

[grimaoire]

[ Here Robin is, minding her own business, off to explore this city a bit more in an attempt to get used to things. It's supposed to be an uneventful outing, but instead chaos decides to find her, as bottles go flying and the tactician is splashed with a silvery potion. She shrieks, stumbling back a few steps, the front of her covered with the shimmery solution.

Give her a second to parse what just happened--and why she feels kind of weird now. ]