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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Oh, good. Not realizing why he backed away from the wall in the first place, she's relieved to see him moving closer to it again, giving her somewhat better access to his back once more. She can return to rubbing oil into it without stretching her back until it aches.]

Right, of course. Just knowing if someone might be nervous could tell you if they're lying, or scared...

[Or if their present circumstances has them worked up.]

Erm... right. Is there anything else it can do? ... your blood magic, I mean. [This is a transparent subject change, isn't it?]

I...I haven't really looked into it that much.

Trying to focus on learning healing magic first...you know?

How uh...how's it going back there...?

[She's been at it for awhile...]

There's quite a lot of tissue here... [It feels a little strange to describe the scar like that, but how else can she phrase it?] Is it still helping? Because if so, I don't mind continuing...

[Is getting too uncomfortable for him? Or worse, too comfortable?]

You're focusing entirely on healing? But it seems as if blood magic is far more powerful, offensively...

Yeah but...what about you...?

[He means 'what about your bath?' But it could very easily be misconstrued as another offer.]

I'd...rather put all of my attention on one school and master it before I try and focus on something else. Especially if the magical focus is my own blood...

[Sorry, the topic of blood magic is going to get shelved for the moment. Because...]

What... me? I mean... I suppose it does seem rather nice, and I could stand to give my hands a break...

Oh...yeah, sure.

...Go ahead...?

... ... ...

Erm... shouldn't you go ahead? I left the bottle right there, near you...

[Her back is turned to you, Darin.]

...Wait.

You...want me to...?

Your um...your back...??

[His voice is almost jumping an octave with every other phrase.]

[She jumps. There's a lot of fairly obvious reasons why, including — well, are human voices supposed to do that?]

I... yes? [She looks around a little, as if she's searching for someone else to validate that this is a weird way to react to an offer he just made. And then she narrows her eyes at him, intensely confused.] Were you not offering...?

I mean...um...

A-Are you sure you're okay with...me...?

[Oh man what did he get himself into?]

With how considerate you've been so far? You'll do fine.

[She declines to point out that there's not exactly anyone else here that could help her. And trying to do it herself would be difficult, even with her flexibility.]

But if it bothers you, I won't force your hand. [After all, she's tried the oil on the extremities that she can reach. She can accept that that's enough.]

N..No. No, it's okay...

[Honestly, if he backed out now, could he really call himself a man?]

A-Alright...I'm turning around now...

[Slowly, he turns and takes the bottle of oil, pouring a healthy amount in his hands while he looks Allura up and down.]

[Somehow, she just knows he's getting an eyeful. She folds her arms up to cover her chest, with a hand on each shoulder, as if she's worried he might catch a glimpse of the other side, whether in a mirror or otherwise.]

[But even from the back, he can tell that there's more differences between Allura and the siren than the chest size. Her body is actually remarkably toned, almost the body of an athlete. However, it's incredibly lean muscle, which is why it could hide itself so well underneath the form of the dress.]

[She mulls over what to say to him. Somehow, telling him that she's ready feels odd in this situation. So she settles on the somewhat more stilted...]

... go ahead.

[He tries really hard not to focus on what can and can't be seen beneath the water...]

[Even though it's likely he can see her ass. And he can't really help but look.]

[But with oil dripping out of his hands and into the water, he shakes himself from ogling her backside to rubbing the thick lotion between his hands.]

[Slowly, shakily, he presses his hands to her bare back and kneads it into her skin and muscles.]

[And he tries really hard not to picture what her front looks like. Which...admittedly, is incredibly hard.]

[~~And speaking of incredibly hard...~~]

H...How's this...?

It... it feels nice...

[It feels remarkably nice. Not just because of the oil, either. Darin actually seems to know what he's doing. Or is it just because he has such strong hands?]

[Another factor, of course, could be that Allura has sorely needed this as well. She does spend a lot of time going on quests, after all, and not enough time giving her body the rest and relaxation that it needs. Really, it's remarkable that she's as limber as she is despite the knots.]

[But she can't help but ask...]

... are you feeling all right? Your hands feel like they're trembling...

I um...

...I'm a little nervous. If...I'm being honest.

I see...

Would it help if I said you were doing a great job...?

[Because that's what he's nervous about, clearly. How well he's performing.]

[He laughs.]

I'm glad but...

This is still...um...

[He rubs between her shoulder blades and begins working on the lumbar.]

It's weird, right? I've taken measurements for countless warriors. Men and women alike. But this...

I mean...I feel like I'm a bundle of nerves. Like my heart might beat out of my chest.

[Granted, when he was taken measurements, the people in question were clothed but still.]

It's not that strange... in fact, it's downright normal, I think. [Especially compared to before, when he was so unconcerned with his own state of dress.]

After all, it's not really the same thing as taking measurements, so... [A beat, and then she volunteers:] Would it help if you thought of it as if it were? You know, to make this all seem more professional?

N...No, that's okay. I don't think you want me getting those measurements when we're...like this...

Wh— no! What?! I was not about to suggest that you — that you actually —

Just... imagine that this is all business! That you're — erm — trying to study its form!

I have been studying your form! How could I not?! You're like the most beautiful woman I've ever met! How much more do you want me to study?!

[Her body stiffens when he says it. And there's a momentary impulse to grab his arm and flip him over her shoulder, slamming him on the surface of the water in the most painful of belly flops. Not merely because it was so much more simple and comfortable when they were feuding enemies, but because she's not one who normally takes well to shameless flirting.]

[But she calms herself, because after a moment of reflection, she decides that he probably wasn't intending to flirt. It was, in all likelihood, just the simple truth.]

Th... thank you?

[And then she swallows, as if to clear her throat, and attempts to state with more confidence:] But I merely meant — look, you must have a certain mindset when you're doing that work and taking those measurements, right? Can't you try to get into that sort of mindset now?

It's...it's really not that simple...

[For one thing, he's not insanely attracted to those people.]

L-Look...this is...this is my problem to deal with, you know? Trust me when I say you've done nothing wrong...now brace yourself, I'm doing the lower back...

Wait... brace myself? [She does unfold her arms, putting them against the edge of the pool in a bracing stance. But...]

What are you planning on doing, exactly? [Because given the context of the exchange they just had, she's wondering how far down she should expect the hands to wander. After all, it doesn't seem like it would be getting more painful — and even when he's worked on tight, sore knots, it's been bearable so far.]

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