isleofavalon | EVENT ✨ The Answer is Always C

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EVENT ✨ The Answer is Always C

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This is the event log for IC comments only! Ask OOC questions/plot/view event notes HERE or use the FAQ for general questions. Click here to view top-level comments only. A poll to collect results of the trials will be posted this weekend and stay open until the end of the month to give people a little time to see how their threads are going.

KEY POINTS

Arthur announces the results of the polls and that he spoke to Celliwig's people, they will be testing Camelot the week of the full moon.

A series of choice-based enchanted scenarios is presented based loosely on a modernized seven sins/virtuous responses (power imbalance, cruelty or mercy, excess/greed or restraint, sloth or work ethic, desire/lust or self-control and bravery or cowardice, and sacrifice or self-preservation)

With the polls closed, the decision is made, and King Arthur takes the opportunity to address the kingdom via a streamed press conference. Though it is not an open post, anyone is welcome to comment on it and talk to each other about it. However, it is unlikely that Arthur himself will respond to comments. A notification does appear on everyone's smart devices to invite everyone to watch live; if they tap it too late, it'll still show the recorded stream.

"People of Camelot, I wish that we had better news that spoke of an easier path to the calamity that stands before us. Celliwig's charge is with protecting Avalon even in the face of protecting Camelot and those of you who chose to use your voices have shown that you choose to respect their way of handling things. However, it was only just over half of you who chose this path. I think it is important that with such a great portion of people believing that bypassing Celliwig and going directly to Elphame, as much as it may take patience, we take this action into consideration. There is no sense in ignoring the voices of so many when there is nothing to say we cannot approach from two fronts. As Camelot's king, I have issued our intent to accept Celliwig's challenge to a descendant of Glewlwyd, a man who was much trouble for my knights in our time. They have said after failing one, we shall be tested on multiple fronts, the week of the full moon's rise. Bear in mind that this is our final chance at this."

Merlin sidles up to Arthur in the video, one arm around his shoulders and leaning in to speak into the mics in a much-too-familiar manner. At least his sunglasses are off this time.

"Now then, anyone who wanted to go to Elphame, you'll want to head to the docks around, oh, say, the first of June. Step one to flirting with fae is to put on a good show before the traders leave. It's a good time whether the Celliwig's dooming us or not."

A wink accompanies that odd note, and Arthur orders him off stage before thanking everyone for their time.

With the consent of its people, Celliwig performs a ritual to place Camelot under a rather strange spell. Much is the same, but there's a sense that everything is just slightly off from what it should be. Fog covers the grounds throughout the entire city throughout the entire day. It's just a little too quiet, the usual hustle and bustle of the city falling just a little too distant on your ears. You can go about your day as normal, but feel as if something is simply off. And eventually, you'll walk through a door, and it will be. Part of the enchantment, however, includes a strange inability to connect these doors with being part of a test-- they seem real, regardless of how absurd the scenario would be were your characters thinking straight.

Day One: Power Imbalance
The door you walk through is into a club of some kind. It wasn't your intended destination and yet, here you are, and you're being handed a glass of your favorite drink and being ushered to your seat. The show is fantastical, some kind of circus-esque show with gymnasts and magical effects making it impossible to take your eyes off of. That is, until the spotlight falls upon you and urges you down to join the show. A volunteer! Well, one of two. Another volunteer is brought up along with yours, and the ring leader of the circus gives you both bracelets-- one with selenite embedded in it, another with andara. The ring leader explains that they're both known for creating high frequency connections, though one is known to spiritually be associated with finding one's path and the other with manifesting one's true self. When enchanted together, this makes it so that the person with the andara bracelet can order the person with the selenite bracelet to do anything they please-- making their true self the person's purpose. Very dangerous, very intruiging, very tempting, very morally wrong to do it for real, so please keep it to the stage! A quick demonstration of this dark use of magic as part of the show... and it seems that afterward, they forget to take the bracelets back. What will you do with your newfound control over your partner? The choice is, after all, yours. (Or theirs, if you're the unlucky partner with the selenite bracelet-- only the person with the andara can remove the bracelets, after all.)

Day Two: Schadenfreude
Yesterday seems like a dream, and you may even feel the need to write it off as such unless you run into the same person again and realize no, they too remember it. But if that's not the case, it doesn't matter. You'll be able to find yourself in your definitely normal and usual mideval city, where someone is in the stocks. Your memories seem a little fuzzy on whether or not you're supposed to be in medieval times or not, but this seems right, and there's a fruit vendor right next to you selling soft fruits to throw at the poor sap in the stocks. There are also a number of other ways to mess with the person, including feathers to tickle them, a riding crop, some ink if you want to grafitti the person.. a good number of ways just to humiliate the person without causing them permanent harm. The crowd is cheering you on, but you also see the keys to set them out just sitting on a table nearby. Do you engage in a little sadistic fun or do you embark in a daring rescue? (Or are you the punished in someone else's scenario?)

Day Three: Indulge Me
Back to the modern day like it didn't happen, you and a friend walk into a door to your favorite convenience store and as you finish up your purchase, you win an all expenses paid trip to the Black Knight's Castle, formerly the home of the Black Knight and turned into a lavish tourist attraction by Yvaine and Laudine's descendents, who have become worshippers of Dionysus. You're transported there in a puff of sparkling magic dust, right before an extravagant golden fountain in the middle of the lobby. The owners explain their policy for the Black Knight's Castle that you can have anything you desire, however much you desire. Anything at all, consequence free. The only thing that they ask is that you give a blood offering to their god to help feed his dead worshippers on the other side of the veil, which will ultimately tie your soul to him as well. Just a quick cut of the palm and you're welcome to come back any time, have anything you want, for the rest of your life. Taking the deal means you really will get what you want! ...For the day, anyway. (This is just a spell, after all, even if your character doesn't want it.) If you choose not to, you'll find yourself magically deposited back to the convenience store.

Day Four: What's the Meaning of Stongehenge?
This fourth day, there's certainly something to be said about a hard day's work. When you walk through today's door, you find yourself in the middle of a grassy field, strange markings on the ground, and surrounded by oddly shaped boulders. The markings on the ground seem to indicate where some the stones should be placed. There aren't really any directions, but there's always the option of waiting for someone else to solve this problem for you... There is a very comfortable looking patch of grass anyone able to relax in. So the choice is yours: wait for someone else to move the rocks or move them yourself?

Day Five: Pooling Desire
Day five is a trip to the pools. But not just any pools! These are special, underground pools hidden deep within a cave. You're sure whoever told you to head through this door mentioned something about them being a special relaxation package at the Red Springs. As you head into the pools, however, you find someone in there with you: the subject of your desires. Regardless of who or what they are, they seem to have a crown upon their head, aren't wearing anything in that water, and seem to have a lovely singing voice judging by the tune they're humming to lure you in before you even notice they're there. It is at that point they will try to seduce you, even if that same person is standing right there with you. The seduction, of course, needn't be sexual-- a strong lusting for a turkey leg wrapped in bacon may be just as powerful as a desire for a brand new Ninblendo Swatch or something you should definitely label as NSFW if you want to thread it that way. Give into them, or.. maybe listen to the person who came in with you that they're definitely some kind of weird half-otter bottomed monster under the water before they try to drown you. Or if you're the one trying to stop this, are you brave enough to get in between a stranger and a monster to try to snap them out of the siren's thrall, even if it means fighting both of them?

Day Six: #ChaliceChallenge
The sixth and final door sets you walking outside on a beach. There's nothing else there really except for nature. The sounds of the waves crashing against the sound is soothing, and real, and sharper than anything you've felt in the last five days of haze. There is no fog today. Clear, blue skies stretch forever above you, not a cloud in sight. The only man-made thing you see is a small woode table and two chairs. Upon that table, two chalices. Nothing will happen and there seems to be no way off of the beach until both parties sit down at the table, at which point a strange old man with huge, rippling muscles of at least 7 feet tall and a long, scraggly beard will appear. He informs your characters of the rules: in one chalice, deadly poison. In the other, water and bitter flavor. Each must drink from one cup, or you will both perish of starvation on this beach. Choose wisely.

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[Allura stops, hearing him out. And when she responds, her voice is soft, but...]

Because I don't believe any of that...!

[She hadn't intended to let her own feelings start bleeding into her voice. More than that, she's surprised that it's not a tone of anger, but one that betrays her own hurt and frustration over having tried so much for naught.]

I've never believed that, and yet... it seems like the more I try to convince you otherwise, the more you've heard me saying the opposite...! That for all you talk about yourself like a walking disaster, you've been helping people and trying your hardest — and none of that should be discounted for any of the problems we've had! And yet, the more you convince yourself of being unfixable, the more you've made it into a self-fulfilling prophecy!

And... I don't want you to feel that way. So the more you resign yourself to it, the more it feels as if...

[As if she's getting pushed away, for no reason.]

You don't even know me, though! You don't know what I am...! And if you did...

[He sighs.]

[Doesn't look like there was much of a choice. He places his hands on the edge of the pool and hoists himself up so he's sitting on it. Hey, she's likely already gotten an eyeful so modesty shouldn't matter right now, right? At least he's faced away for the moment so all she'll see is his bare ass.]

[Oddly poetic since he's about to bare his soul.]

...My twin brother and I are reincarnations of an evil Archfiend god. Back home, I'm prophesied to destroy my world. And before you say things like 'you choose your own path' you can save it. I've been doing that and I still manage to screw up most any chance I get.

It's not about 'fate.' I think that, sooner or later, I'm going to become the thing I'm meant to and I'm going to destroy everything. It's...biological. I don't know how I know I just...feel it.

I am a walking disaster, Allura. I'm just pretending to be something I never can be. So stop blaming yourself.

It's not your fault I was born to be a monster.

[He lowers his voice to a hushed whisper and...for a second it's unclear if he might be crying or not.]

It's not...It's not your fault no one wanted me...just by existing I condemned my family. Just by existing no one wanted me...

Maybe I'm lucky the siren manifested as a version of you because sometimes all I really want is to never have existed in the first place. Gods above know you'd probably be a lot happier...

[You know, she is about to comment on him standing up without any clothes on. Modesty does still matter! It might seem like there's no way the mood in this room can get any worse, but it can still get far more awkward on top of everything else!]

[But then he starts talking about his history, about the terrible things he had eluded to during the masquerade, and... raising an argument about his backside right now seems a little less important.]

[As long as he doesn't turn around, she'll allow it.]

... I... already knew some of that. After the masquerade, there was a pool where I saw visions of you fighting with your brother. Of how he was pushing you towards it...

And I can't help but think if it was actually inevitable, you wouldn't need pushing.

[She starts walking towards him. Not enough to completely close the gap, but... perhaps closer to better hear him when he drops his voice. Or closer to better be heard.]

Nothing you've said... none of that sounds as if it's your fault. Nor is it fair to conscript you into such a fate. You can't blame yourself for it, certainly not when you are trying to fight it — and not merely because you have moment where you falter.

... besides that... wouldn't that prophecy already be starting to break? You're away from your home, and if anything, you're now in a position to save it from calamity.

He doesn't know what'll trigger it. Neither of us do. For all we know it could be biological...we're about the right age for when the prophecy was meant to come to pass.

[He's not surprised that Allura saw what she saw. After all, a bunch of people saw more of his life than he would have preferred. Of course she'd see him fighting his damn brother...]

He was pushing me because that's what he does. That's what he always did before he was...he was taken from me.

[Because how do you explain that he was dead and now he's not?]

As for the prophecy, it only says I'm going to destroy everything. Can't think of a better place to do that than this universal nexus we're all stuck in. I'm still very much a ticking time bomb.

You had the right idea. You should walk away while you can. Let this mess deal with itself. I don't want saving...

[Even though he probably needs it.]

I will not abandon you.

[Did he actually expect that would work? From the very start, she's been stubborn about leaving when he tells her to. Granted, the reasons are different now, but not by much: he's still insisting that he should be handling something himself when he's hurting himself in the process. And Allura...]

I can't simply turn my back on you when you need it... no matter what comes of it. Whether you want my help or not, you shouldn't have to face this alone.

[As always, those hero instincts run down to her core.]

Allura, I've been facing it alone. My entire life. My mother died because she couldn't handle giving birth to twin gods. My brother and father were murdered by angels who were trying to get rid of my brother and I for the crime of simply existing.

I was orphaned at five. For almost a year I lived in the burned out ruins of my home because no one wanted me. They thought I was cursed and were afraid to take me in. I was barely allowed into town and when I did go, kids threw rocks at me.

I got this far on my own and the kindness of one man who became my master. Everything else? The personality I've crafted so people don't get to know the real me? My mastery over my craft? Everything I've done now...it's been me.

I don't want a hero...

[Because it will always remind him of what he'll never be...]

... ... ...

Then what about a friend?

... ... ...

And what makes you think you won't immediately regret that?

[She steps closer, holding a hand out as if to touch his shoulder... and hesitates, unsure of how he'll react.]

Because I already know I'll regret it if I don't.

...[He sighs.]

I know better than to argue...it won't get me anywhere.

[She touches him, as if experimentally, to see how he might react.]

[And then she steps in closer, and embraces him in a hug, the way she hugs all her friends.]

[After all, if nothing she says seems to reach him the way she would want, perhaps actions will.]

[He does tense up considerably; muscles like steel cords. He might not have the strength he once had, but he's still spent the better part of two decades in a forge.]

[But that might not be the only reason why he's tensing up. After all, there's only her spa robe separating the two. And the last time he checked, that was barely on. And now that he seems to have accepted her...he's keenly aware of that robe and how much it may or may not be covering.]

[Though, Allura is likely also experiencing some sensations. Like her hands on his bare chest. And depending on where she's resting her head, she might be getting an eyeful over his shoulder.]

[...Regardless, he's not pushing her away.]

[She is doing her best not to pay attention to that particular detail. Really, her intentions were completely pure! But something about the way his body jolts is enough to communicate to her that no, this is not being taken as a friendly gesture.]

[See, this is why maintaining a certain level of modesty is important!]

... s... sorry. [And as soon as she says it, she remembers that he asked her to stop apologizing. So she feels even more self-conscious about what she's doing.] Should I stop...?

[Because she will, but she doesn't want him to think that she's changed her mind and is pushing him away again.]

N-No. No...I...

Um...this might sound weird but...

I haven't been hugged in over twenty years...

[He reaches up and takes her hand, turning to look at her a bit.]

...It's nice...

[The Siren might have had nefarious goals, but the oil she spread over him does smell nice. Like a flower garden after a summer rain.]

[Her face flushes red at the thought of him smelling nice. Clearly, the circumstances are making her thoughts stray. It's hardly been a long time since she's hugged someone else, but in such an intimate setting? That's a first.]

Wait... over twenty years?

[As she shakes off the inappropriate thoughts, her brow furrows in thought.]

Look, please don't take this the wrong way, but... how old are you?

[Because she thought humans aged fairly quickly compared to Alteans. But that means he couldn't be much older than twenty, right? Meaning...]

[She's hoping this is some sort of math mistake, rather than the idea that he hasn't been hugged since he was a small child.]

Um...Twenty four...?

...Twenty five in a few weeks if my math is correct.

Why?

But then... the last time you were hugged...

[She hesitates, but ultimately decides that she needs to ask directly.]

You must have been so small. Do you even remember that far back?

...Course I do.

The last time I was hugged...

It was by my dad. Before he...

Before he was killed...

Kinda pathetic, huh...? Twenty years without so much as a hug from someone else...?

I'd almost forgotten what it felt like...

[She listens to him talk about it, and then...]

[He'll feel her squeeze him tighter. Not enough to hurt him ~~much,~~ but as firmly as she can, despite the circumstances. As if this will make it a more potent, more memorable hug, one that will make up for the years in which he's been deprived.]

I'm sorry. Not just over the hug, but... that you've spent so long alone.

[Because this has driven home how lonely that time must have been.]

[He doesn't tense up as much this time. But he does squeeze her hand to reciprocate as much as he can.]

...Hey, it was only twenty years. You...you lost everything. Your entire world...

[He turns a little more so that they can at least look each other in the eyes. And at this close proximity, they can practically see each other in them...]

...For what it's worth...when I make Avalon my new home...

...I could always make room for someone else...

Yes, but I had a long time with my family before that...

[Was that better, though? Was it better to know the embrace of family and then lose them, or to only be able to imagine what it was like?]

[She returns his gaze. Hey Darin, does your Blood Magic let you feel that slight spike in her pulse?]

I... I would like that. After all, this wouldn't be home without anyone else here.

[He certainly does, and while he's not sure what it means...it's not stopping the lump from forming in his throat.]

[He tries to remain focused on her face. On her eyes. But now, up close, he's realizing how strikingly beautiful she is. His cheeks start to flush and suddenly he's finding it easier to look everywhere else but into her eyes...]

Y...Yeah. Yeah there can be...a lot of people...

Otherwise it wouldn't be home. Homes should be...should be big...

[Can she see his cheeks suddenly growing more and more crimson?]

[Boy, there's a lot of things that could be read into what Darin just said. ~~Trying to move fast, aren't we?~~ Fortunately, Allura doesn't pick up on it — or if she does, doesn't point it out.]

Well, in that case, we might need to start talking a lot of others into it. I'm not sure how many of my friends were interested in staying as well...

I...yeah, of course. The other paladins.

You should ask the others.

You...don't have to stay here with me...

Darin, of course I'm going to stay here with you. You're still the first other person I've met who actually wants to make this realm your new home.

But you don't want to stay here only with me, do you? Wouldn't you rather have as many friends as possible living here with you, as well?

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