best foot forward [OPEN]

[sighsheavily]

🧙 WHO: Cecelia & OPEN
⚔️️ WHAT: assorted happenings/questings
🕒 WHEN: early/mid-march
🗺️ WHERE: in & around Camelot!
⚠️ WARNINGS: none in prompts; if issues arise, the content will be tagged


o1. the cinderella situation - camelot, shopping areas
[Cecelia Ardenbury is not very great at the pauper life, and she knows it. she grew up wanting very little where material needs are concerned, and her understanding of "making do" is skewed by the world of fiction.

still..."make do" she must.]

Have you...any system in place of...lending your wares? [her smile is a touch pained as she speaks to one of the workers at a clothing boutique. her hand goes up almost in pefect timing with their eyebrows at the inquiry.] I know. Strange, yes? And you've got little cause to trust me. But is there any collateral I can offer in exchange? Surely others from other lands have found themselves in such a situation, and as it stands, I can't work in this...

[she sighs down at her gown, utterly ruined by the days of travel and strife she's found herself in upon arrival.]

...Unless you have some simple cleaning that needs done in exchange instead, I suppose...

[or someone with coin to spare feels moved to lend her a hand.]


o2. the sorcerer, re-apprenticed - outside camelot

None of this magic is really mine, is it?

[a small tongue of flame dances above hand, bouncing from fingertip to fingertip while she's seated on a stone along the side of the road leading back to the city. her journal is in her lap, and she scratches away notes while idly juggling the flame. a slender, goat-sized unicorn lay at her feet, seeming to doze while the half-elf woman murmurs to herself.

a chilly spring breeze snuffs the flame out, and Cecelia sighs.] Not mine in the slightest... [her spark,the flames she could conjure on her own from her own blood and heritage...

she shivers, hugging her arms to herself.] Nh. I'm...not used to feeling the elements like this, either... [she sighs.]

One hell of a square one...this is so vexing...!


o3. wabbit season - Camelot
[ye gods, the indignity... fetch questing?? what is she, level 2?

be strong, Cecelia. it's just a dumb animal. and at least it's not like she has to crawl through mud or brambles? this is actually quite gentle. yeah! this'll be fine! this...this is fine.]

Right, then...

[animal handling: one of her greatest failings in her ages of training. Cecelia frowns down at the array of fuzzy lumps currently populating this little cafe, then at the photograph provided by the app.]

Is it you, hm? I'd quite like this to be over quickly, so--

[she puts her phone away in some hidden pocket within her dress and tentatively reaches down to pick up one of the bunnies, looking like she's about to lift something potentially radioactive, letting it dangle at arm's length until, naturally, it begins to fidget. the second it does, she yelps in alarm, letting it drop and bound over to whomever else is on the case.

still in bunny-hold pose, her expression struggling to contain her disdain:] Gods...


o4. the randomizer - varied -- Camelot adjacent (this bitch can't afford a ride yet)
[wild card me, i fuckin DARE U.]

Comments

[sighsheavily]

[arching an eyebrow:] Not in the slightest. You don't see me running around trying to solve every problem here, do you?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Internalizing and solving are two entirely different things and you know it.

I know what you're about, you know. You play things close to the chest. You watch. Burdened with knowledge but choosing not to intervene.

[sighsheavily]

And? [irritably:] Are you to lecture me on the failings of how I operate, then? I'll have you know I've heard such before.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

No. Honestly, I feel bad.

It's gotta be lonely.

[sighsheavily]

If you mean to pity me for it, kindly do so without telling me; it's demeaning. And depressing. What good will that do?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

I don't pity you. You're making a sacrifice.

I respect you.

[sighsheavily]

[she squints, quiet for a beat, rolling for insight.]

...You are simultaneously the most perplexing and straightforward person I have met.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Yeah, I'm the whole dang package.

Look, you know what I am. Or...was. I'm willing to bet my life on it. And if you know that, then you know I refrained from any...meaningful relationships out of fear.

It's the worst thing in the world. Wanting to be close to someone and knowing you'd bring them pain. It's this...dark...hollow thing. In your chest. Your only solace is that you're doing it for the right reasons.

You'd rather hurt than have someone else hurt.

And it also kills me to know that you're doing the same thing in regards to me.

But I also get that there's no chance of you stopping. So...I respect you.

[sighsheavily]

[she lets herself chuckle a bit in an exhale.]

No, I think you think you refrain from meaningful relationships, and then flinch in dread and guilt when you look down at the heart in your hands and find just how many threads and chains you've bound it with.

Your worries are true, just as true as those connections.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

So, you do know what I am.

[TIME TO DEFLECT.]

[sighsheavily]

[UH HUH.]

We established that already, yes. Do you require deeper insights into the obvious? Is that why you wished to speak to me?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Is it so unbelievable that I enjoy talking to you?

[sighsheavily]

At this point? A little, yes. [a beat.] Though I suppose most walls don't talk back as much, hm?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[He laughs.]

You're a challenge. I enjoy a good puzzle, even if it sasses back.

[He shoots her a smirk.]

So yeah, I enjoy spending time with you.

[sighsheavily]

That speaks more to the quality of persons here than my own character, I'd wager. Doubtless that means you'll grow bored quite quickly.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Bored? Of you?

I still don't even know your given name. Trust me, you're a mystery I'll be tracking for a long time.

[sighsheavily]

[okay, she does let herself roll her eyes at that.]

I'm a curiosity to figure out. How lovely. It's a wonder women don't swoon on the spot.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Whoa, hey, I never claimed to be interested in a relationship.

With anyone.

[sighsheavily]

[a dismissive sniff at that, flipping her journal open and plucking her quill out from the binding, twiddling it between her fingers.]

You don't have to, remember? [dryly, scratching some notes down:] Since I know so much. But that's of no matter in the present moment.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

...What are you writing? What are you gonna write?

[sighsheavily]

[after a dramatic pause:] Words.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

About me? What are you writing about me?

[sighsheavily]

My, that would be something, wouldn't it. [she doesn't lift her gaze to gauge reaction.] No, I'm making a note to myself, lest I forget. Goodness knows where this conversation will lead me next and when I may find another moment to jot it down.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

...Oh. Okay.

Sorry, you just seem the type to make notes about people.

[sighsheavily]

I am the type. [she dots a letter and looks up, arching a brow.] People and other things, naturally. Having a solid record of things does one far better than ambling around without one, no?