February Catch-All

[angel_of_death]

🧙 WHO: Walter C. Dornez and anyone!
⚔️️ WHAT: Closed and open prompts. Open prompts include training, healing ingredient collecting (nuts and poliwag grass), and (eventually) battle-oriented quests for February.
🕒 WHEN: Throughout February for most open prompts!
🗺️ WHERE: Red Spring (Training), Camelot, Brocéliande (gathering nuts), the hills southeast of the Red Spring (poliwag grass), Camelot -> south beach (Save a Beast, Kill a Man)
⚠️ WARNINGS: Allusions to WWII (an ongoing thing for this character), references to systemic cultural and religious homophobia in the closed thread/prompt 2, references to rape and related themes in the Save a Beast, Kill a Man prompt.

1. Red Spring’s Training Grounds (Open to All)

Even though he had trained rigorously before, King Arthur’s words have given Walter extra incentive to put his all into the effort. To not only regain what abilities were lost, but to keep what they have gained so long as they become ‘entrenched enough’… he wants to believe it is possible. If he could keep both, he would have a fair chance of overcoming the challenge that awaited him back in his world.

He runs the obstacle course, pushing himself harder, augmenting his speed, forcing his leaps higher; the usual routine. But, this time, he adds something new.

After running the course through ten times, he heads over to the target range. Though his weapons are the two lengths of wires Emet-Selch transformed his rings into, he picks up a handful of rocks, scattering them about and throwing a few so hard into the ground and targets that they become embedded into the soil and target faces. However, it is only preparation for what he intends to do next.

A few moments later, Walter is on the ground, palms and shoe-tips pressed into the dirt as he faces the targets. Then, in focused movement, he pushes himself up, from low against the ground and nearly a foot into the air. He repeats the act several times over, getting high enough into the air to bring his knees up and his feet underneath him before going back down—training for a quick recovery from a prone, face-down position. It’s strenuous enough work, but to this he adds one more manoeuvre. Clothes sticking to his body from the sweat on his skin, he focuses his mind, channelling his magic as he pushes off the ground to dislodge stone after stone from the assorted surfaces he drove them into before, sending each of them at a different target from their original position.

It is as he is nearing the end of this first test run of the regimen that he picks up on the presence of another—perhaps approaching, or perhaps finally taking note of someone who has been watching him. Either way, he stops, pushing himself all the way to his feet and coming to a proper stand to address the other person.

“Do you need to use the range?”

2. A Little Chat (Closed to Gu Yun)
Walter has had a lot to think about since the tournament. That little prank the clowns had done with those balloons had ended up bringing an aspect of his friend to the forefront of his attention. He hadn’t brought it up then, but having had some time to think over it, he is certain; Li Min is attracted to Gu Yun.

It was more than the prank that clued him in. Li Min’s demeanour has always been slightly different when it comes to Gu Yun. He is both warmer and gentler when speaking of the man, even for such a placid temperament such as his. Li Min had also asked Walter to look out for Gu Yun—or more precisely, to watch his back when he could, as the man was better at taking care of others than seeing to his own safety. And if there were any possibility for doubt with those two things, his words during the bravery trial they participated in together cleared them up entirely. There is a man Li Min fears harming—that he would rather die than come to harm.

’ I will choose to die before I hurt him.’ The phrasing reminds Walter so strongly of Mina Harker’s sentiments towards her husband that, in combination with all else he has pieced together, he can only conclude that Li Min’s sentiments towards Gu Yun are much the same.

But how does Gu Yun feel…?

The water in the kettle is hot enough now, he observes, not acknowledging the feeling of heat upon his cheeks as anything other than a product of standing over the stove. He takes it off the burner, allowing it to cool slightly. The optimal temperature for steeping green tea is lower than that of black tea, he has read. Due to the war, he hasn’t had much experience with preparing green teas, what with Japan having invaded China. Naturally, he’s trying his hand at one processed in the style more affiliated with the latter nation, and given that his friends are both from Great Liang, he very much wants to get this right.

“There’s an illness going around right now. It’s not listed among the top quests for people like us, but they’re asking people to help gather ingredients so the healers have enough supplies to cure all the patients coming in. I was thinking of going out and bringing some extra back here.”

He definitely wants to bring some back for them. Li Min has been working on his magic, but Walter thinks it could also be beneficial to branch out into multiple facets of the discipline. It might even help enhance his already-developing talents.

Yet in the end, it’s also a means of broaching conversation and transitioning into what he really wants to say.

“…I… also wanted to talk to you about something. But I’m a little embarrassed to ask.”

3. Ingredients Three: The Second Ingredient (Open to All)
This isn’t the first time Walter has been in the Brocéliande by a long shot. Nor is it first time Walter has gone out for the star-shaped nuts. But he has a friend with healing magic that has taken on clinic work, so he’s more than happy to go out to gather supplies. Yet, having frequented the Broceliande, he is familiar with the threat posed by the Bear Firs. Which is why, when another appears to join him in his task, the first thing he does is give them a good look to see whether or not they are someone he knows.

OPTION 1:
If they turn out to be a new face, he asks: “What sort of magic do you have?”

OPTION 2:
If, indeed, he does know them, and knows them to have elemental magic, he asks: “How comfortable are you with fire magic?”

OPTION 3:
If, as it turns out, he knows them, and knows that they possess something other than elemental magic, he comments idly: “It’s a pity they specified that magical fire was necessary for fighting off those Bear Firs. If only normal fire would do the trick…”

4. Ingredients Three: The Third Ingredient (Open to All)

House and yard work is nothing for Walter. He’s a butler, and he is more than accustomed to doing the simple tasks the trolls request in exchange for their assistance in acquiring the poliwag grass. Dusting the house from top to bottom? Done. Washing dishes? Done. Stripping the floor of wax and rewaxing? Done. Sweeping, mopping, trimming trees and shrubs? It’s all in a day’s work for him, and he progresses through each, save for the waxing, which simply requires time, at an impressive speed.

He’s in the yard tidying up the trimmed branches when he spots another person approaching. He calls out to them while picking up sticks.

“If you’re here to find the grass for the healers, be prepared to work for it. I’m guessing they’re not friends with any Brownies here.”

5. Quest; Save a Beast, Kill a Man (Combat Quest, Open to All)
Once again, Walter is checking the listing of quest, and once again he is greeted with the description of something not quite right.

I'm a selkie. Years ago, my husband stole my pelt and forced me to marry him. I would like to go back to the lake, but can only do so if my pelt is returned. If you have to kill him to get it back, I won't complain. He's on his own quest right now to slay a fresh-water kraken that's been hanging around the south beach. It's making people nervous, but hasn't harmed anyone, so I'll double your pay if you get there before the kraken is slain. 

The quest for the pure of heart and the call for the testing of Cupid’s arrows had both rubbed him the wrong way, but this one leaves him angry in a completely different way. A stolen pelt, a forced marriage; he’s familiar with the lore, and while he doesn’t have definitive proof that the quest-giver is speaking the truth, he has every intention of finding out what that truth is.

“So he’s headed to the south beach, hmn? Isn’t that where those little elves have been parading around lately?”

Comments

[shiliu]

Low-angle winter sunshine streams through the window, lighting up a spot on the sofa in their shared house, where Gu Yun is stretched out, cat-like. He is pretending to be lazy, but the truth is, the warmth seeping through to his skin is soothing to his body, worn down, beaten, and injured beyond his years. But when the aroma of tea wafts past his sensitive nose, Gu Yun props his head up on one hand and gazes at Walter, whose lips he can’t quite see clearly. Through his monocle, however, he’s able to detect there’s something up with the boy, cheeks flushed and reticent, as if he wants to talk but also doesn’t. Gu Yun, naturally inclined to mischief, sits up fully and pats the space next to him.

“Hm? What is it? Come over and talk to me.”

Quest: Pure of Heart

[kiss_it_better]

Something about this whole thing didn't sit right with him. He had stared at the potion for a little while, considering the way Morgana had talked about it for a moment.

Then he pocketed the bottle and texted Walter, explaining briefly the request and the way it was described to him and added.

There is very likely some sort of trick at play here though I am uncertain what it is at this point. What do you think?

5 (Lucy); CW: forced marriage

[scarredhorns]

Lucy just happened to be near him when he wondered that thought aloud. The selkie quest has also captured her interest, not just because of the (claimed) forced marriage, but because the selkie didn't mind if her husband died. And Lucy didn't mind getting her hands dirty if need be. The thought that the quest giver could be lying doesn't cross her mind upon first glance.

"I think so? I didn't volunteer for that elf quest, though. I'd probably be too short."

At 5'1" she is not the tallest person around. Not that it makes her any less dangerous when she wants to be, albeit she no longer has her original powers.

3. (MoM AU)

[cantgetanyworse]

It's actually been kind of nice to feel like she can do something useful with the powers she has this time around. Though she has missed the general chatter of animals around her, the silence and simple joy of actually hearing animal sounds for what they are is something she missed far, far more.

In hindsight it would have been wise to find someone to go out here with her, but Jane doesn't know anyone here yet to ask... and she hadn't been able to resist the urge to just get herself out into nature again. City life was just not her cup of tea.

"Oh--" Snapped out of her thought, she looks Walter's way. "Healing, I suppose. I haven't used it too much yet."

Red Spring's Training Grounds

[itsmypower]

What's he doing?

How it's appeared, or what Shoto's imagined, is "Aizawa-style training". And while his memories leave him winded, he's missed his months of being in class, filled with pride, and bruised growth. Enduring the Hell his mentor's known for.

But the magic's unfamiliar. His accuracy with stones, mixed with arrow-like precision, makes it seem like an illusion. He's seen Quirks with comparable actions before, though without his same grace.

He wonders. If he's asked to become his opponent, could he raise his skills too? Unavoidably, too often, the fastest route to strength is force, and so he's sparred a lot with others to win, since he was 5 and still fragile. He doesn't mind bruises; the injuries he's sustained completely ignored in favor of giving. Though in truth, he feels soft. He's known worse through competitions before, and through particularly contentious fights, he's learned to seek rivals.

But his rival seeks him. He thinks of shadows, and of bright, blue flames; how there's precious little time to spend, to prepare his own counter. That he'll need to start, here.

Without as much as an introduction, he's moving before his mind's caught up. And then, before he's thought his words completely through, he's showing the starts of crystal.

Blooming frost across his cheeks.

"I don't, but, would you train with me instead?"

There's something almost shy, but nearly urgent beneath his asking.