isleofavalon | best foot forward [OPEN]

🧙 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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes, please! Ooh-- [she scoots, trying to get away from a cluster of these things, to close a door and potential getaway for her target.] Don't let it jump out of this area, or it'll be all a wash!

[He walks slowly over towards the rabbits, trying not to startle them, and then crouches down when he's roughly within arms reach.

How did it work with dogs, again? He holds a hand out, palm down. One rabbit turns to sniff at it, then turns away immediately. Well, at least they're not startled. Slowly, he reaches for the target.

Suddenly, the rabbits bolt in all directions, and Wolfwood lunges across the floor to grab a hold of black-eared animal before it can bolt away entirely.]

[Cecelia reflexively yelps, pressing her back up against the door as Wolfwood dives for their prey. bunnies are scattered, some trying to hide under her many skirts, and what few patrons are actually in this themed cafe are watching with a mix of interest and annoyance, because if this is part of the experience, it seems to be poorly planned.

after swallowing her heart back down her throat, she blinks and looks over at the facedown shape of her old friend. he's probably fine, what's more important--]

Oh, thank gods. [he has it!] Don't let go of it, now! We need to find a rope or a cage of some sort.

[Stretched out on the floor holding on to an energetically wiggling rabbit (are they supposed to wiggle?) does not give one the best vantage point to look for a rope or a cage of some sort. Wolfwood gives the cafe a few sidelong glances.]

A flower pot? [They may have to dump the contents on the floor, but things are already a mess...]

A-- [a flower pot? indeed? she'll just utterly trash the café in dirt, then? honestly...!

she scoffs, instead clearing one of the tables of its décor and flatware, gathering up the spring-themed tablecloth.]

Here, wrap it in this--

[It already has rabbits tracking who-knows-what everywhere, surely the dirt can't make it that much worse.

He gives her an exasperated glare.] My hands are full.

[The bunny continues its attempts to wiggle its way to freedom. It's a good thing Wolfwood has excellent grip strength.]

[she exchanges the glare for a moment before closing her eyes. conceal, don't feel. endure this indignity and get money.

she does not have the animal handling necessary for this. engh. still, she scoots over, bending over the both of them to gradually bring the tablecloth over the squirming rodent-thing, wincing as she daintily tucks it between Wolfwood's chest and the bunny itself in as many places as she can.]

Carefully...let go and...grab hold of that fabric, okay? Make something of a bindle of it, won't you?

[Wolfwood is trying to think of a less dignified job he's had to do. Being a tree for an elementary school kids' play because they broke the actual scenery? More dignified than lying sprawled on the floor while a woman winces at having to tuck a tablecloth over a rabbit in his arms. That he's not sighing or snapping again is a monumental display of restraint.

Finally, he lets go with one hand, quickly wrapping the rabbit up further with his free hand until it's safe to use both and...

There we go. Bunny bindle. He stands up, holding the wriggling bundle at arms length. Now he sighs.]

So where do we take it?

There is a drop-off address. Give me a moment-- [a moment to shake off the heebie-jeebies from just barely even touching the varmint. eugh. she huffs, fishing around secret dress pockets for her phone, futzing around with the seemingly endless array of menus -- torture, honestly -- before reclaiming the quest information and reviewing the location.]

...Yes. Okay. Yes, I have it. We may go. You're unharmed, right?

[from the vicious bunny grappling?]

[He doesn't actually give another glare in response to that, but he comes close. The only thing that's suffered terrible harm is his dignity. (And, whenever he eventually notices it, one of his suit buttons.)] I'm fine.

Let's get this thing back where- [Wolfwood is interrupted by a not-so-polite cough from one of the waitstaff. Who then asks]

Are you guests intending to buy something?

[Cecelia doesn't have time for this. yet for propriety's sake...she does turn to the staff, her nose in the air.

she gestures to her rumpled friend and the bindle.]

We have what we need, thanks. Bought and paid for with our dignity. No extra charge for ridding you of the nuisance. Now, if you don't mind...

[with that, she exits, with all the regal air of a ye olde Karene, huffing in exasperation just once, letting herself express a bit of that frustration openly, as a treat, before her attention goes to navigation.]

This way.

[she'll lead on, hardly looking back, as if the ghosts of the spectacle would be still lingering for her to see.]

best foot forward [OPEN]

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