[Nov Catchall] ✵ Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected.

[cantgetanyworse]

🧙 WHO: Jane Porter (cantgetanyworse), Thanatos (inevitablerest), Poison (writtendestiny), Red Wine (judgementor), & Mogget (themogget)... and perhaps you.
⚔️️ WHAT: TDM things, quests, general prompts, closed prompts for November. Drop me a prompt to answer if you like!
🕒 WHEN: Through November
🗺️ WHERE: Noted in prompts.
⚠️ WARNINGS: Warned where required.


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✵ Jane Porter
  +

✵ Thanatos
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✵ Poison
  +

✵ Red Wine
  +

✵ Mogget
  +

Comments

✵ Jane Porter

[cantgetanyworse]

Quest: Alms for the Gore

[angel_of_death]

[It is later on in the afternoon that Walter is out and about. Early in the month, he has yet to hear about the spreading magical influenza, and thus has yet to don the mask he'll be seen in later on, but as usual he isn't mingling into large crowds.

He does, however, appear to be close by a rather gruesome-looking humanoid, regarding the bowl it attempts to lift with trembling hands with a sceptical look before he sighs, reaching into the thin satchel slung across his body like a messenger bag to retrieve an apple from within.]

I'll be running out of apples soon...

[And he'd stashed so many, too.

Nevertheless, he sets the red fruit into the bowl.]

[cantgetanyworse]

[She doesn't approach him while he deals with the fear gorta, because, god, why would she? Jane hasn't swayed one way or another when it comes to dealing with the creatures - she hasn't tried to hurt them but hasn't gone near them either - but seeing Walter behaving so calmly when approached by one...

Hm, maybe there's something to it after all.

So when the creature shuffles away (or when Walter move away from it) she approaches the young man with a warily curious expression.]

Ah, Walter... what were you doing just then?

[angel_of_death]

[A flash of confusion flickers across the boy's face before it settles. Even though people have gotten a chance to become more acquainted with the existence of other, non-human creatures and peoples, it isn't too much of a surprise that they should still be unacquainted with the more macabre types.]

I was offering it food. That seems to be all it wants.

[Not too different from a passive zombie, although the use of the bowl strikes him as an uncommon behaviour for a zombie. Begging for alms... could it be a fear gorta?]

Say, Miss Jane, are you familiar with Irish myths?

[cantgetanyworse]

Irish myths? Oh... only a little.

[Banshees and the like - the kinds of things that have crept their way into English folklore as well. She knows some, but she would definitely not call herself an expert in any regard.

She has, unfortunately, definitely never heard of a fear gorta.]

Is that some kind of fae?

[While she may not know exactly what it is, she catches what Walter might be inferring almost immediately and frowns as she watches the creature shuffling on away.] ... How sad...

[angel_of_death]

Most likely.

Irish folklore features a handful of faerie that serve as omens of misfortune. While most of the ones generally spoken of warn of impending death, there is one that warns of famine instead.

[Considering the damage wrought when the wards to the Land of Rot broke the first time, and the sudden influx of refugees following the fall of Lestari and Celliwig, he supposes he shouldn't be surprised.]

You should stock up on food supplies, if you are able. The Elphame Traders sell a spell that will let you grow a potato even if you don't have green magic. You should consider purchasing it if you haven't already.

[cantgetanyworse]

I usually have some kind of snack with me...

[Her lips twist thoughtfully. Jane doesn't approach the traders often but maybe Walter has a point - a spell like that could be useful even outside of this peculiar scenario.]

Does it need to be something special, or does it not matter?

[God knows she doesn't want to accidentally offend any kind of fae by giving them the wrong kind of 'offering'.] And... do you need more apples?

[angel_of_death]

Food would be best, I should think. I expect their appearance is frightening to some. [To a lot of people, probably.] Seeing them eat an apple or anything that isn't meat would likely help to do away with any ideas that they might eat people.

[It would be unfortunate indeed if they were mistaken for ghouls. The panic alone would be horrendous to deal with. And that isn't even considering what sort of resentment might occur if the begging faerie are slain.]

Having a few more apples on hand wouldn't hurt, I think. Mushrooms were also recently in season, but certain varieties of apples keep much better.

[cantgetanyworse]

[Jane is really not a combatant despite having the skills to at least - she thinks - take out something like that... but she's wise enough not to cause harm to the fae even if she isn't sure what they want from her and would be more inclined to hang back much like she had when she came upon Walter.]

If they don't mind what food they're given, then we should get whatever is easiest to find.

[Be that apples, or mushrooms.]

And... perhaps we could spread the word that they aren't dangerous.

[angel_of_death]

[Apples are relatively inexpensive, so he'll favour getting those over mushrooms, given a ready choice between the two.]

Right. Where do you suppose we go to have the posting corrected? The place we normally turn in evidence of the results to, perhaps?

[cantgetanyworse]

Wouldn't that be a little too late? [Jane frowns to herself, curling one hand up near her chin.]

Though admittedly I don't... embark on these requests terribly often. What do you think?

[angel_of_death]

It might stop new people from attempting to harm them. However, the ones who read the quest posting as it is now may still be going about under the assumption that nothing has changed.

Perhaps some manner of notice may be actively sent out? A network posting might go missed by those less-inclined to be social, but perhaps some manner of announcement can be made...

[cantgetanyworse]

I don't see why we couldn't do both of those things. [Jane says thoughtfully, bringing one hand up to her mouth and curling her forefinger against her lower lip.]

And it might not hurt to have a walk around and make sure no one is harassing them because they don't understand what they want.

[angel_of_death]

[Harassing, murdering...

If only he could track down the idiot who made the posting in the first place and give them a good thrashing.]

If I get my hands on the wanker who got the brilliant idea to set a mob upon beings that haven't even attacked anyone...

[cantgetanyworse]

It does seem to happen with astonishing frequency here, doesn't it.

[And it both surprises and saddens her, with how much magic and fae creatures there are in Avalon. One would think that the locals at least would know better than to put up postings like this, and by now that the otherworlders would know better than to simply take such requests at face value.

She puffs out a soft breath.]

What ever happened to live and let live, I wonder.

[usedforcepalm]

(ooc: Please let me know if anything needs to be changed. Since they spoke on the network about training before, I thought it might be fun to do that)

[Hanabi is already at the training grounds when Jane arrives. At 4'4", she's rather small, but on the plus side, she has plenty of moves suitable for fighting a larger, physically stronger opponent. It's kind of a necessity, really.

When she notices Jane's arrival, she greets her with a polite bow of her head.]

Thank you for joining me. Let's start with some warmups and stretching first.

[She's already done both, but if she's going to try her hand at teaching, she would be remiss if she didn't introduce good training habits right from the beginning. She doesn't want Jane to pull a muscle, after all.]

is good!

[cantgetanyworse]

[Jane has been through similar things before, with people training her who didn't necessarily look like they were up to the task, and she tries to assume absolutely nothing at all about the diminutive young lady who greets her when she arrives.

She politely bows her head in turn and sets her things down. Utterly abandoned are the usual long, elborate skirts and blouses that she usually wears day to day - for this she has chosen a very practical outfit that allows movement, thinking that would be far wiser.]

Ah-- yes, of course. Thank you for inviting me to join you!

[There had been a little warming up before she came out, but it won't hurt to do some more.]

[usedforcepalm]

[Jane's clothing is well-chosen, Hanabi mentally notes with approval. It looks comfortable and easy to move in, not to mention something that wouldn't tear easily.]

We can jog a little to start. Let's do the perimeter of the training grounds twice.

[Something to get the heart pumping, and the legs moving. She planned on a series of exercises to get the whole body warmed up before they stretched, ensuring that their muscles would be ready for proper martial arts training. That being said, she gives Jane a moment to ready herself before she begins jogging along.]

How long did you train before?

[cantgetanyworse]

Ah, all right.

[Jane does a couple of stretches, shaking herself out for the run. Though she's out of practice with actual combat she does at least try to make sure that she keeps herself fit. After all, if you can't fight something you should at least be able to run away from it.

She falls in beside Hanabi and jogs easily, keeping her breathing steady.]

How long? Oh... That's a complicated question. [So she'll try to be succinct.] I have memories of things which... I'm not entirely sure actually happened. Years of learning combat techniques and firearms. But as for the actual physical training, I only managed a few months of that before I ended up here.

[usedforcepalm]

Did those memories happen on another world that you were pulled into like we were here?

[She knows from speaking with Gokudera that Avalon isn't the only world that does such things.

She keeps a reasonable pace, enough to get their hearts pumping and their bodies warm from the effort, but nothing too intense.]

[cantgetanyworse]

In a way.

[Jane doesn't keep the fact she has visited another world secret, though it isn't something she talks about without the right prompt. This particular aspect of it though... that's a bit more complicated.]

It was... a world within that world. Something happened that sent us to an alternate timeline.

[usedforcepalm]

[Hanabi glances over sympathetically.]

If it's a timeline issue, I can see how it might get confusing.

[One of the two other people from her world is a little over three years behind her point in time. The other is roughly where she's at, if not a little ahead of her. It makes things awkward.]

I wonder if those alternate timeline memories are also part of your muscle memory.

[It's something that will be interesting to test out, although she'll start slower and without putting much force into anything if they spar, just in case the muscle memory wasn't retained. She doesn't want to hurt Jane, after all. She just wants to test what she's capable of.]

[cantgetanyworse]

Oh, they are! I was able to do some training after everything was set right. I can recall how to do things, I simply lacked the physical conditioning.

[At the time she had been able to make something of it, even get on the way to getting close to how she had been in that alternate place, but then she had come here and all of that had seemed somewhat less important.

After all, being able to use a sniper rifle matters little in a place where sniper rifles don't exist.]

I'm sure it will come back to me!

[usedforcepalm]

In that case, training will probably go much faster. I think we're warmed up enough here. Let's stretch now.

[She starts by sitting on the ground, legs in front of her to touch her toes.]

If you remember it, then we can spar and I'll see what you can do.

[She'll stay purely on the defensive first, and see what comes back to Jane before striking back. She needs to know where she's at to help her grow, after all.]

[cantgetanyworse]

Ah-- right.

[Jane joins her on the ground, stretching her legs out and leaning forwards. She's able to touch her toes without much difficulty, much to her own surprise (and satisfaction).]

I do appreciate you taking the time. Some people simply don't have the patience for it.