isleofavalon | chocola-ta-ta-ta-ta

🧙 WHO: Stella and you!
⚔️️ WHAT: Between the quests this month, the upcoming Valentine's concert and getting her own cell phone back as a regain, Stella's been hit with a lot of reminders of home! So she's throwing herself to working her butt off in hopes of dealing with her homesickness. This means a whole lot of laying around sadly and listening to music, rehearsing for the Valentine's concert and helping with the Cupid's arrow quest while lookin absolutely cute as hell.
🕒 WHEN: The last week of January & the first two weeks of February prior to the planned Valentine's concert
🗺️ WHERE: In and around the inn for the first two prompts, and then out and about the city in general for Cupid Time.
⚠️ WARNINGS: None come to mind!

1 – inn, last week of jan/first week of feb

[ If you've been staying at the inn for long enough, then Stella will have eventually become a familiar face – she's reliably at breakfast most days and also she's just the sort of person who will strike up a conversation with a floormop if no one else is around, so you will have almost certainly been Incessantly Chattered At at some point or another, provided you're here for any length of time. The last few days, though, she's been a little withdrawn and quiet but quick to perk back up to her usual levels of energy if someone talks to her.

Things don't really come out of the bag until the first week of February where, in any number of the common areas of the inn, Stella is busy laying around and what could charitably only really be described as moping. This is unusual enough for her, but the real kicker is the fact that she's committing the worst sin known to man – listening to music on her phone without earbuds. She's just got it sitting on her chest, blasting music out of the speaker while she thousand yard stares off into the distance of whatever direction her head head happens to be facing. It's not super loud, but still. C'mon, Stella, that's obnoxious.

Those of you who happened to get hit with a wave of Stella Vibes during the MagiCast tests might find some of the songs familiar, though – she's looping through a few albums from the performers of those songs and even though the music all, admittedly, kind of slaps, it's just making Stella look depressed as hell.

If someone approaches, either to see what's up or just tell her to turn her dingdang music down, she'll sort of blink and take a moment to process that there's now someone else here, in the manner of someone who'd been half asleep before she half-heartedly blats at her phone screen to pause the song. By the looks of things this does actually appear to be Stella's own phone from home as opposed to the Avalon-issued one she's been using. Music now silenced, Stella forces a sheepish grin. ]

2 – public parks around avalon, first two weeks of feb

[ It might be the butt-end of winter but that doesn't mean anything when there's practice to do!

... Okay, that's a lie. It means that, despite her best efforts to find somewhere to practice, Stella's kind of having a hard time finding anywhere that's actually, you know, dry. Her first instinct is to head for the public parks where she's not going to be bugging too many people and she's got the space to move around. As long as she stays off the grass, it'll be fine, right?

So if you're out and about during these first few weeks of February, it's not that hard to stumble across Stella, hard at work and rehearsing. She's used to having an instructor or at the very least the other girls when it comes to learning choreography so this is a little out of her comfort zone but she's managed to make it work. She's found a gazebo with a table underneath and set her bag and her phone on it, so she can record herself while she rehearses.

It's a cute, energetic dance and from what's audible of the lyrics as she sings, the song itself is just as sugary sweet and cute as well. It's very... Stellacore, for lack of a better word. And she's nailing it pretty well, too – seeing her like this definitely gives some weight to everything she's babbled on about being an idol since getting here.

Of course, with the weather being what it is, her practice is frequently broken up by rainfall sheeting down from the skies and under the gazebo she goes to wait it out. She's got snacks and drinks and her phone, she'll survive.

Then, when the weather finally clears up a bit, she's back out to rehearsing again. She's usually at it for a good few hours at a time before she finally heads back to the inn for the afternoon but then she's straight back at it the next morning. Looks like she's taking this concert pretty seriously. ]

3 – cupid arrow quest, all around avalon, first two weeks of feb

[ As busy as she is in the lead up to the concert, Stella doesn't really have time to help out with any quests. She doesn't even really look at the app usually, but she happens to check it out of curiosity when the month rolls over and pauses over the Cupid Arrow quest. She really, really doesn't have the time to help out with something like this, but...

But...

But Citrine would go crazy over something like this. She'd get all amped up with Stella and Amber, and the three of them would drag Violet along too, with Rain and Vera hot on their heels to make sure they don't get into too much trouble. Celeste would be chasing after them, telling them they didn't have time for something silly like this, but then Citrine would snicker behind her hand, say something about how Celeste was chicken and then Celeste would be chasing Citrine all up and down Avalon with a whole quiver full of cupid's arrows. They'd all work on it together. So, Stella doesn't really have time to volunteer for a quest like this... but she goes ahead and volunteers anyway.

And then promptly goes out to hunt for guinea pigs. What, did you think she was gonna go stick herself with this thing? Come on, guys. Even she's not that dumb. But she is going to have a little fun with it. ]

[ That loudmouth calling out to you as you go past is Stella, stood on any given street corner in Avalon, absolutely decked out in a cutesy Valentine's outfit that she's trussed up with her light magic – she's got a pair of chubby cherub wings made of neon light at her hips that are fluttering excitedly to themselves and a hardlight quiver full of Valentine's arrows on her back.

It's... quite possibly The Most Stella She Has Ever Stella'd. ]

The bold faced lies!!! Cupid would be proud. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As long as you don't make me regret it, sure.

[ He has a feeling he'd regret it, but at least it'd be a good way to distract him from the other things going on in his life. ]

I'm always willing to try things at least once.

Oh, huh? For sure?

[ Stella waggles her eyebrows at him – and then bursts out laughing. ]

God, I'm not gonna hold you here and make you listen to everything! But I could dig up one of our first albums if you want?

Uh, yeah, if I wasn't sure I wouldn't be asking.

[ He joins her in laughing. ]

And proceed to possibly destroy your whole image with that first album? Sure, go ahead. Do your worst.

Uh, hey, don't diss, our first album is super good! I mean, of course it is, I'm on it.

[ She fiddles around with her phone a bit more and then with an 'a-hah!', she nudges a bit closer and holds her phone up so he can see. It's a cutesy dance video of four girls – Stella herself, a young woman in indigo, a girl Stella's age in purple, a pretty young woman in green, and younger girl in blue. ]

Maybe it's kinda cheap showing you one with just four of us but hey! It's one of my faves.

I'm going to because you made it easy to do.

[ He takes a peek at the video, and as he did, he was trying to figure out if he liked the song or not. By the end he nods. ]

I don't think it's cheap, because you're all great singers! [ The honesty was palpable. ]

Right, right?! I'm still catching up 'cause I'm the newbie but everybody is seriously so good!

[ Despite her bravado, she's a little relieved to hear his approval. It'd be one thing for somebody to dislike something she sings, that's whatever, but she's seen how hard the other Prism Maidens work. She doesn't want someone getting a bad impression of them! ]

I'd been just like, a regular fan for so long, it's still kind of crazy seeing myself in videos and stuff.

You're a newbie?! Damn, you could've fooled me!

[ Naoto honestly couldn't tell-- she looked extremely professional in the video! Man, the life of an idol (? naoto wondered if she counted as an idol) was hard work. ]

You've got some serious talent, that's for sure.

Yup! Pretty impressive, huh?

[ She's not even going to pretend to be modest about it. Praise her!!! ]

I've still got a pretty long way to go until I'm seriously on everybody else's level but I'm catching up super fast!

[ He nods. You go girl! ]

I can see you have the drive for it! You'll do great things, I'm sure. Got any other song and dances of yours to show me?

I've got a couple songs, but I'm not really in any videos yet – just kind of in the group with everybody. I'm still kind of a newbie so I haven't got a whole lot of stuff out yet. But! Lemme see what I can find!

[ And she starts tapping away at her phone again. ]

I've got a whole bunch of stuff from the generations before us too, but that's a totally different sound...

New gen, huh…? How long has your group been doing the idol thing?

[ Now that’s new. But another thought crosses his mind. ]

How much storage do you have on that thing anyways?

Oh god, don't ask me that. It's been a super long while, though. I mean, I've been watching them perform ever since I was a little kid and there were Prism Maidens around when my Dad was younger...

[ So it's definitely been A While. ]

Anyway... this thing's like, two TB? Why'd you ask?

Damn, so they're a long running idol group. Not bad on getting in.

[ Laying on more praise before hearing the size of the phone's memory. Wow. But also... That cheeky grin is unmistakable. ]

Hm.... if it's that big on space, then you probably have some embarrassing photos!

Oh yeah, duh! For sure. Like, what else are phones good for, right? But I'd never share them with anybody in a million years. You could never convince me.

[ ... so she says, furiously wiggling her eyebrows at him. She's gonna show them. ]

[ Oh he sees you Stella. He sees and his grin gets even cheekier. ]

Share and I'll cook you dinner for a week.

[ With absolutely no hesitation or apparent shame: ] Deal.

[ Then she sticks her hand out for him to shake. ]

But we gotta shake on it, 'cause then it's official.

[ Naoto immediately takes the hand and shakes it once, grinning. Yes, the good spicy stuff! ]

Deal. Now show! You can't hide it any longer, Stella!!

[ She fakes a swoon. ]

I guess I have nooooo choice!

[ She flips through a few thumbnails, trying to track down the really embarrassing stuff and then with a triumphant 'a-hah!' she clicks onto a particular image and then holds the phone out for Naoto to see.

It's a little blurry, like it was taken in the midst of some degree of chaos but it's otherwise pretty clearly a photo of Stella trying fruitlessly to wriggle out of a pretty legit headlock she's been put into by a blue-haired girl. It's not immediately obvious that this is Stella getting owned by a twelve year old girl, but the height difference is enough to make it clear that this is a pretty embarrassing loss. ]

[ As soon as he saw the picture, Naoto let out a very ugly snort before dissolving into a giggle fit. ]

Did a literal baby get you in a headlock?! [ He's teasing her all the way, that's for sure. ] I didn't take you to be a pushover!~

[ She splutters, caught between laughing and defending her honor(????). ]

Oh my God, she's not a baby, she's– [ "twelve and also, not even five feet tall". Stella dissolves into giggles. ] Okay, maybe she is a baby but hear me out! Her thing is gravity manipulation so it's totally not even a fair fight!

[ The admission makes Naoto laugh even more, wiping tears away. ]

That doesn't sound any better, yknow! This knowledge is very useful for sure!

Oh my God. Are you planning on kicking my butt too? Should I feel threatened?!

[ She snickers to herself, as if the very idea is hysterical. ]

I don't know, do you want me to?

[ :3c

She made it so easy. He breaks into laugh again. ]

Anyways, anything else you have in that treasure trove?

chocola-ta-ta-ta-ta

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