isleofavalon | ✵ [April Catchall] Gather in the summer, gather in the winter;

Entry tags:

✵ [April Catchall] Gather in the summer, gather in the winter;

🧙 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 April. Drop me a prompt to answer if you like!
🕒 WHEN: Through April.
🗺️ WHERE: Noted in prompts.
⚠️ WARNINGS: Warned where required.

✵ Jane Porter
  + Toss a Coin to your Healer! | OTA
✵ Thanatos
  + Springtime for Skeletons | OTA
✵ Poison
  + The Unnamed Marshes | OTA
✵ Red Wine
  + [Quest] The Missing Mindful | OTA
✵ Mogget
  + [Quest] Garrrrr! Goyles | OTA

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[With all the battling going on around outside Camelot and further afield, Jane decides to take it upon herself to keep an eye on everything going on. Because you all simply can't keep yourselves out of trouble, and any healing mages with offensive abilities who are out there would surely have their hands full with matters which would preclude them from being able to stop and heal anybody.

Anyone limping their way back through Camelot's gates or taking a breather on the rear lines as they try to keep the skeletons back may well find a bright-eyed young woman fluttering about nearby, getting near once she sees that you're carrying a few cuts and bruises.]

Hello! Are you all right? [And that's a bottle of water in her hand, being offered out with that same cheerful smile.]

You look like you could use this, and I can take a look at those injuries for you if you like.

[Jean definitely hasn't escaped a few bruises and stuff, even while trying to dodge skeletons with animal magic. There were just a lot of them which made it harder to try and avoid getting hit.

He takes the water bottle with a smile. A tired one, but still a smile.]

Thanks. And yeah that'd be great... I have healing for secondary magic, but I think I need all my magical energy in fighting with more of those.

[Since he tends to use his magic a lot.

But at least he only has some scratches here and there, maybe a slightly deeper one on his arm, but nothing that is very serious.]

Oh, my pleasure.

[She ushers him gently into a seat. Jane is not a short woman by any means but it definitely makes things a lot easier when she can get her patient sitting down.]

How is it all, out there? [Comes the question as she gets to work on the deeper laceration on his arm first and foremost. The rest of it is far less urgent-looking.] I thought about it... but I fear I may just get in the way.

[While Thanatos has always been more comfortable with death and the dead, the strange juxtaposition of life and death taken on as the Fisher King's curse withdraws from the Land of Rot is something that he hasn't seen before. At first it had been jarring to see it, but as he spends more time on the borders of Camelot turning the tide of the skeletons ambling their way towards the city it's hard not to see a certain kind of beauty in it.

Not that that keeps him from tearing into the things when they get close.

Even without the use of the power he would have in Hades and his epithet of the God of Gentle Death, Thanatos is a formidable force on any battlefield. He takes out several of the shuffling skeletons at once with wide sweeps of his scythe and uses a sword should they move in close enough for him to need it. If you happen to find yourself getting overwhelmed or hemmed in by the skeletons, you may just find a blade comes sweeping in to give you some breathing space.

But the dead deserve some respect as well, which is why he can be found later in the day using kinetic magic to gently separate the skeletons into separate piles to make sure they can't reform themselves. He has his scythe and sword floating along beside him as he does this, just in case someone else isn't quick enough with taking the skeletons they managed to fell apart.]

[Ever since Robyn had first arrived here, she's never liked being faced with the undead, whether they have flesh or not. Seeing people who are supposed to have passed on ambling around like that just doesn't feel right to her. She'd managed to hold her own against those skeletons well enough, but that didn't mean she liked it.

Later on, she notices Thanatos separating the skeletons into piles. She wishes she could swallow her discomfort enough to do something like that.]

Those won't come back together...will they?

[She isn't the only one who doesn't much like the idea of seeing people who should not be walking around ambling on like this, but Thanatos is accustomed enough to dealing with death that it's more the concept of the undead themselves that bothers him than actually putting them back where they belong.

He notices the girl watching him before she speaks, but the death god is not opposed to silence. If she wanted to simply watch then that was fine. But then... ah.]

The idea of splitting them apart like this is so they can't. [Thanatos tells her as he draws another skeleton apart with kinetic magic.]

I expect the remains will be appropriately dealt with once we're done..

I see...

[That does sound like it makes sense...though Robyn still can't help but picture those bones still trying to reassemble themselves anyway, and that makes her shiver a little.]

I hope so. I mean, the dead are supposed to be in their eternal rest, right? [At least, that's what she's heard a lot of priests say.] They shouldn't be walkin' around like they were earlier.

No, they should not be.

[Thanatos is quite content to meet someone else who isn't accustomed to the idea of the dead continuing to walk the earth. The idea unsettles Thanatos in a way he can't quite explain, but as this young girl speaks he is able to narrow it down.

They should be in their eternal rest, and they most assuredly are not.]

There's vile magic at work here. The most we can do for them is ensure they are able to rest, as they would likely wish.

[She needed another person to help with the raft if she wanted to get anywhere fast, but Poison looks more than at home on the marshes. The young woman stands on the raft steadily, the pole she's using to push it along held firmly in both hands, and she peers into the fog around them without a single hint that she's worried she might not know where she's going.]

I grew up in a place like this marsh. [Poison says, her voice quiet in the still, damp air.] There are ways to keep track of your position even in weather like this.

[With the unsettling screams of banshees in the distance and the various creatures that are far too interested in the raft for her liking, though, she is looking somewhat more nervous by the time she and her companion come across the candle-lit lanterns floating through the marshes.]

... Wisp lights. [She mutters, huffing out a sigh.] Of course it's fae nonsense again. [Of course it is.] We can follow them, what do you think?

[Searching for missing people is hardly outside of Red Wine's range of expertise, though he could admit that he has never had to search for people in a spa before. He has also never had to search for people in a spa which magically makes you naked, but...

The disappearance of his clothes is a surprise and slight annoyance (at least until he realises he will get them back, though how he's going to get home is another matter entirely), but is someone like Red Wine really going to be embarrassed about anyone seeing him completely naked? The answer to that one is a resounding 'no', given that he's as sure of himself as someone so prideful about their appearance might be expected to be.

Resisting the allure of the treatments on offer is a task in itself, and on another day Red Wine might well be back to try them out, but he has a task today. He spends a little time carefully questioning a few of the spa's staff and patrons, though turns up nothing but nervous responses at the most. Enough to know that something is going on but that nobody wants to say anything. There isn't much mind paid to any other off-worlders he sees in the spa, save for the occasional nod to any he might recognise, but it doesn't take long for him to realise that he's probably going to need some extra brainpower here.

So, he sidles up to the nearest likely-looking person and cocks his head, looking away to observe the people milling about.]

There's clearly something going on here. Are you investigating, or just here by chance?

[Since spending a day sleeping and then waking up with a renewed sense of purpose and satisfaction with both the world and his existence as a whole thanks to no small amount of recovered memories, Mogget decides one day to make himself useful by assisting with one of the many quests that are posted out for the off-worlders of Avalon to fulfil.

This is how a small white cat ends up trailing after somebody who is clearly hunting down the gargoyles, observing them closely until he works out their intentions. For the most part this seems an easy task, though he would not like to find himself on the business end of those nasty-looking stone claws. While their pranks seem harmless enough Mogget is not surprised to know that the quest poster wants them removed.

Most people seem to be managing well enough with it, but when the person he is following suffers a small misstep, a brief moment of not quite paying enough attention, they will find the swipe that the gargoyle sends their way blocked by a shimmering barrier of hard light.

And there's a cat sitting nearby, just staring at them.]

You're welcome.

[It being an easy task is why Garnet is inclined to try the job for herself, packing a knife hidden under her waistband as she goes. As is unsurprising for a novice, though, she does find herself not paying attention at some point, only realizing once the gargoyle hits the barrier that she's just been saved.]

Ah!

[Before turning to check who has erected the barrier, she decides to pull out her trump card -- a large bear she has asked to come along with her. Killing it seems unlikely, so scaring it off is the only option. Fortunately, bears are quite good at that, particularly when they stand on their back legs and start swiping. Unwilling to be on the other end of those claws, especially when it is not fully nighttime yet, the gargoyle darts off at the first opportunity. It may come back once the sun sets, though...

But for now, she glances around, looking for the person who saved her skin from petrification just a moment ago. The only one around, however, is the white cat, staring steadily at her.]

...A cat?

[It doesn't seem like that much of a stretch for a cat to have magic here, but it's odd... She crouches down to bring herself to his level.]

Was that really you?

[The cat - a small, white creature with very bright green eyes and a red collar - blinks once at Garnet when she turns her attention to it. Then it speaks again in that same peculiar, mewling voice.]

It was really me.

[The tip of his tail flips back and forth against the ground as he looks at her, then he shifts his attention off in the direction of the retreating gargoyle. Hrm. They are very troublesome creatures.]

Yes, I am a cat. I am not a human currently shaped like a cat. Nor am I somebody's familiar. Does that answer all of your immediate questions?

[She gapes. Pauses.]

...Yes, actually. You must hear that quite often.

[Why else would he be so prepared to answer? Well, there are stranger things here than a magic-using cat.]

It'll be nightfall soon... the gargoyles become bold under the cover of darkness when they can't be hurt, it seems. I was out trying to chase off the troublesome ones, but I should probably stop before the sun sets. Are you going to remain out here?

[Far more often than he would like. Mogget does despair of the lack of imagination that some people have...

He stares at her, then his bright eyes close in a slow blink. Something else he has noticed is that people tend to be concerned about him, small and cute as he is, and though such worry is entirely unnecessary he doesn't mind it quite as much.]

I see no reason why not. [Mogget drawls out lazily. His tail swishes back and forth behind him.] Not everyone is going to be so cautious as you, and one can never have too many favours owed to them, don't you think?

But you don't need a reason to help someone, right? It doesn't have to result in a debt.

[Totally borrowing a leaf from Zidane's book there. She's reminded a little of his relationship with Amarant, actually.]

You should find somewhere to take shelter. What if they become brazen and try to attack you? It'll be difficult to chase them away until the sun rises again.

[The cat lets out a little purr.]

Maybe you don't need a reason.

[But Mogget, at least this version of Mogget, is overtly selfish and often uninterested in helping for helping's sake. That isn't to say he never does it... but he would never admit that he does it.]

But they're not interested in me, I'm just a cat. [... Decidedly not a cat, or 'just' anything.] Perhaps some kind soul will have left a window open for me tonight.

Well... perhaps so, but...

[Still, she hesitates, tilting her head curiously.]

The street is still no place for a cat to be out in the open at night. I don't mind lending you a windowsill if you should desire it.

[Again, he stares at her, apparently thinking. His ears twitch and the restless swishing of his tail stops as he curls it back around his paws again. People are always so concerned about him. It's interesting.]

Hmn. Very well.

[He doesn't warn her as he springs up from the ground to land on her shoulder. Mogget manages to balance without the use of his claws, leaving her unscathed in that regard... if perhaps a little startled.]

You may call me Mogget.

[Indeed, it does startle her, but she manages not to fall over, instead rising to her feet carefully so as not to knock him off balance and force him to use his claws for purchase. Turning her head a little so that his fuzz is rubbing against her cheek, she smiles.]

Nice to meet you. My name is Garnet til Alexandros XVII, but you may call me Garnet or Dagger.

[Like all cats, this one seems to have quite the personality already. It's only appropriate, actually.]

We have a capybara, but he does not pay much attention to the windows, so I don't think he will bother you. So you're free to use it as long as you like, or at least until the gargoyle issues are solved.

Garnet or Dagger? Which do you prefer?

[Mogget does indeed have quite the personality. For a being who would often claim to not be entirely a cat, he definitely acts like a cat a lot of the time. Especially when he's being haughty about things.]

And what is a capybara?

[The Old Kingdom does not have capybaras, and Mogget does not often come across things he doesn't know.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

✵ [April Catchall] Gather in the summer, gather in the winter;

✵ Jane Porter

Toss a Coin to your Healer!

no subject

no subject

✵ Thanatos

Springtime for Skeletons

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

✵ Poison

The Unnamed Marshes

✵ Red Wine

The Missing Mindful

✵ Mogget

Garrrrr! Goyles

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject