LATE AF SEPT CATCHALL

[impostorsyndrome]

🧙 WHO: Kadoc and a bunch of people, including perhaps your character?!
⚔️️ WHAT: There sure is a lot of dumb shit happening in the month of September. Both OPEN and CLOSED prompts, the latter in the comments!
🕒 WHEN: IT'S—the month of September. (More specifically, the span from the beginning of the month to the first part of the event, ending before any dragon problems!)
🗺️ WHERE: Here there and everywhere, including Celliwig, ~the club~, straight up prison, and other assorted places around Camelot.
⚠️ WARNINGS: Eventual branding/tattoo/pain stuff, the subsequent servitude that comes along with that prompt, language, sexual themes in ~the club~, likely violence/actiony antics in the jailbreak, animal capture and implied slaughter for food in the event prompt, and I'll add anything else!


1. Kadoc the Stubborn Husky (early Sept., OPEN, thanks a lot Claude)

[Kadoc needs a second opinion. Maybe even a third, fourth, and further opinions. Claude is a lovable scamp and all, but Kadoc is a paranoid bastard, and he can't quite convince himself that he's not being had with the whole—howling thing. He sounds fine to his own ears! He's probably not an Animal Mage, although boy would this be a typically embarrassing way for that to make itself known if he were!

He needs confirmation, but after how that went with Claude, he can't quite bring himself to walk up to anyone and just start talking. What if he really is making dog noises?! So, instead, he's gathering his courage to approach people he recognizes as offworlders and . . . hold up his tablet, on which he has a Notes file open, with this typed in a large, visible font:]

I NEED YOUR HELP. NOTHING DANGEROUS.

[ . . . This could have been an email a network post, but he's not exactly on his game right now. Who can blame him?]


2. Jailhouse Rock (early Sept., CLOSED to Kate, Jailbreak quest)
Here!

3. Amanita Bigger Basket (early Sept., CLOSED to Ritsuka, Celliwig's month of magical mushes)
Here!

4. Super Smash Bros Part 2: The Revenge of the Smash (mid Sept., CLOSED to Itaru, The Pain-Tolerant Badass)
Here!

5. Your Obedient Servant (mid Sept., CLOSED to Rinea, The Caring Badass)
Here!

6. Lukewarm Knights (mid Sept., CLOSED to Gareth and Ritsuka, Hot Knights quest)
Here!


7. Jailbreak Part 2: The Great Goosening (late Sept., OPEN, the cute part of the event)

[Kadoc has had, to say the least, an unlucky month—but here finally there's a break, or at least a small pleasure. He's already spent plenty of time out in the wilderness gathering mushrooms this month and was debating whether to bother going on an end-of-month hunt, only for the hunt to come to him for once. A chance to grab a pre-fattened goose for their table to go with all those mushrooms? Don't mind if he does!

The geese have other ideas, of course. By now, Kadoc's managed to humanely return several of them to the farm; his Light magic helps there. It's no big deal to snap them up in cages of hard light and then carry those back to where they belong. But geese are smart. Geese are watching him. And when he finally snaps up the fattest of the geese he can find to take home for himself, shutting it up in another light cage and hefting it under his arm, that's when they make their move.

Catch Kadoc racing down the streets of Camelot, vaguely in the direction of his home, but mostly just in any direction that's away from the ten furious honking geese in hot pursuit of him. He's only barely watching where he's going. Watch out, or you could get swept up in this disaster and end up a feather pillow yourself!

Or save him. Someone, please save him from this entire month.]


(( Check out my plotting meme post here if you're interested in setting anything else up with Kadoc this month outside of the upcoming event; I'm happy to oblige! Also if I forgot to get one up hmu. It was a lot lol ))

Comments

[impostorsyndrome]

[Meanwhile, in the middle of all the shoving and catcalling,

—Okay, Kadoc had absolutely not done that with his shitty lightsaber, and he knows it. Gareth is the only explanation . . . how did anyone fall for that trick? But what matters is that they did! And damn, it had looked cool. He's going to have to ask her what actually happened just then later. For now, he needs to not get caught up in how fake-cool he'd looked just then and keep on his guard—because another person is approaching, grabbing a wooden leg off a chair that'd been a casualty of the whole scene to brandish at Kadoc. Shit, Kadoc thinks, I'm lucky this is a tutorial mode level battle. This could be so much worse. What if one of these guys whips out their magic on me? He is going to be thoroughly fucked if someone jumps in with kinesis or a well-aimed hex or something.

But for now, it's a matter of swinging his "sword" at this next approaching person and praying this scene remains this relatively easy for long enough that Fujimaru can duck out with her crew.]

[beaumains]

[ And, once more, Gareth ducked in low to raise her palm up and once more send a jolt of lightning into the attacking man. Honestly she was small enough that the bouncers just barely seemed to notice her moving, but she was sure by now Kadoc had to have noticed what she was doing...

But even if he hadn't, someone in the audience had.

"HEY IT'S THE CHAMPION FROM THE CELLIWIG TOURNAMENT!"

Oh no. They now no longer had the liberty of time. Gareth had been recognized. They needed to make their exit now. ]

[fujimaru]

Whoops, that's our cue.

[ Years of experience with free-for-all events means Ritsuka can say that smoothly, like it's no big deal. She's gotten very good at that, even if internally she's screeching nonstop. Oh shit, oh shit, we've gotta get out of here before we lose Gareth to this place!

And as she says it, she starts gesturing at the gathered knights. None of them look terribly pleased at being shepherded by a small noodle of a girl, but it's not like they haven't heard the shouting. It's pretty obvious this is the turning point!

As she goes, Ritsuka tries to catch the eye of one of the others. Gareth or Kadoc, as long as they can see her make a quick gesture to a side door. She's taking her group this way, so at least they'll know which way to go to meet up again. ]

[impostorsyndrome]

[It's a lucky thing that Kadoc does catch her eye—mostly because he's already scanning the room to try and get a bead on an escape route, which they're going to need right about now. Now that Gareth's been noticed, the crowd is closing in: people who want to take a shot at the Celliwig Champion, and disguised club employees who want to get their hands on yet another Hot Knight. The Celliwig Champion in a bunny suit! They can't let that slip through their fingers!

It's a good thing only one of the three of them on this mission is a very noticeable person.

Kadoc's options are limited. He only has one magic type, and he's not going to swing his way out of this one with a shitty lightsaber. But at least the type he does have is a good one for making a getaway.

. . . Gareth's still within his reach, so Kadoc reaches out to her, claps a hand over her eyes, squeezes his own eyes shut, and sets off a bright, blinding flash of light—not a laser this time, but just a light bomb to hopefully stun enough of the people surrounding them that they can push through and run. Run, run, run!

Also, hopefully Ritsuka and her group have scooted out by then. Uh oh.]

[beaumains]

[ Yeah it was definitely time to get the hell out of Dodge. She probably could have set off a spark bomb to stun the crowd, but she hadn't refined it enough to not have it also hit Kadoc, so this was probably the best possible solution. Gareth clung herself to him even after the flash has subsided, trusting him to get her to Ritsuka and the rest of the party on their way out of the building.

Honestly, she felt like they hadn't stopped running for a good minute or so before anyone finally thought to stop and see if they were being pursued. Somehow, some way, despite... well, all of that, they'd managed to pull it off.

Rescued knights? Check. Ritsuka and Kadoc? Check. Herself? Check. Her dignity? Well... sacrifices had to be made, one supposed. ]

[fujimaru]

[ If there's one thing that Ritsuka has learned, in her years as Chaldea's Master, it's how to sustain a marathon run. She's the last one out of the door of her group, which means that she sees the flash of the light bomb reflected behind her, but she also knows better than to turn and look. Whatever it was, it was probably enough? But no point in checking--if Gareth and Kadoc don't make it out, she'll figure out how to bust them out later.

But she's certainly relieved when they catch up a few seconds later, tossing a brief wave without slowing her pace. Honestly, they've got enough of a head start that they're probably okay, but there's no harm in still going. Just in case.

So finally, when they stop, Ritsuka looks around to take a quick assessment of things... and then she slowly lifts both arms up slowly over her head, a slow motion hurrah. Her voice is completely deadpan. ]

We did it. Yayyy.

[impostorsyndrome]

[The only response that, or any of this, deserves, is Kadoc sinking to the ground with a wretched-sounding groan to sprawl out and put his face in his hands. He'd better hope there's no one pursuing them still at this point, because getting up again just yet feels both physically and emotionally impossible. He's one with the grass now. His ass is grass.

Well, at least the rescued knights are still with them, and now that they're out in the open and freed, they'll probably have an easier time fighting off any pursuers if it comes to that. But it doesn't sound like it's going to. No approaching footsteps; just an awkward silence in the wake of Ritsuka's comment. . . . One single knight begins to clap softly, only to be shushed by one of the others. Kadoc's a little glad he can't see which two just had that exchange.

Then one of them clears their throat. That may have been a disaster, but it was still . . . a successful disaster? Citizens, begins a voice that sounds older and female—but Kadoc refuses to look to confirm—we thank you for your . . .

She(?) trails off. Ah. Well, what do you say, really.]

[beaumains]

[ Gareth didn't mean to interrupt, but some part of her just seemed to take over once the captain of the knights began to speak. She put herself to one knee, kneeling before them, but keeping her head raised, smile shining through despite the fatigue and, well... everything. ]

Sir Gareth of Orkney, Knight of the Round Table in Service of His Majesty Arthur, King of Britain.

... er... A different one...

[ A-anyways. She continued, shaking her head. ]

You need not give thanks or praise. Particularly, I know... that was hardly clean work of a proper knight like myself, but even son, it has been my honor to do this work, and that honor alone is all award I need.

[ Those words would seem doubtful and almost certainly insincere coming from almost anyone else, but it was hard to look in Gareth's eyes and find anything but a keen, shining truth to how she spoke. For her, this was simple what it meant to be a knight, an execution of those ideals she held closest to her heart. ]

[fujimaru]

[ While Gareth is doing that, Ritsuka wanders over to nudge Kadoc's side very gently with the toe of her shoe. Just to see if he's conscious or has just simply passed out from sheer embarrassment. ]

I'm glad everyone's okay, too. I'm also really glad it didn't come down to a full fight back there, because oh boy.

[ Oh boy! Things could have been so much worse! ]

...I guess if I were going to ask for anything extra, it would've been a blanket for these two, but I think I'm the only one who's reasonably dressed, here...

[ Thanks, mystic code! You came through in the end on sheer aesthetics alone! ]

[impostorsyndrome]

[Ohhhh lord. Kadoc swats at Ritsuka's foot, then stumbles back to his feet. He's showing enough skin in this awful thing that even his shoulders are blushing. Here's Gareth, being gallant and earnest, and Ritsuka is at least nicely dressed and composed . . . and here he is, a complete mess. Ugh! He fusses his hair back into place, then wraps his arms tightly around himself again, taking a breath. Eye contact is impossible right now.]

Dammit. . . . Sorry about all that back there. And this here, too. This goes without saying, but none of that was according to plan. I guess if it worked, it worked, but unfortunately for all of us, we had to witness it. . . . Good thing I didn't exactly plan on going back to that strip club ever.

[Ugh, okay. He steels himself again, managing to at least look around at the others, only some mortified.]

[beaumains]

After all that happened tonight, I doubt the establishment will even still be there by morning...

[ They did, after all, take their key performers, and likely the constable would be around once the knights had given their story to them...

Not that was important. ]

If there's nothing else, we should escort you to the city constable, I believe...

[fujimaru]

Right, right, let's get everyone indoors in a legal and completely non-sketchy place, so everyone can get properly dressed and--

[ And this is where Ritsuka's stomach makes a growling noise. At least the timing isn't as bad as it would be; she pauses again, and then starts to laugh, rubbing the back of her neck. ]

--maybe get dinner. One thing at a time, right?

[impostorsyndrome]

It's almost like you did that on purpose just now.

[Fujimaru?! Do you have conscious control over your digestive reflexes?!?

Kadoc looks back in the direction they came. They made it out far enough that he can't see the place anymore, but he can hear the commotion back there. Gareth's probably right. There's not going to be any worrying about that place for a while, at least.

Then he turns back to the others with a little nod, still bundled modestly around himself. His midriff . . . it's cold . . . ]

This is like the ending of a sitcom episode or something. . . . But at least that means it's over. Let's get inside.

[Cue laugh track and star wipe.]