TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 10

[avalonmods]

{ QUICK NAV } Premise ⚔️️ Rules ⚔️️ FAQ ⚔️️ Taken ⚔️️ Reserves ⚔️️ Apply ⚔️️ Locations ⚔️️ Bestiary ⚔️️ Top-Levels Only ⚔️️ SUMMARY: New arrivals drop into the lake and have to climb up a cliff to the Rent a Ride, where they are given their device and some headphones and can retrieve their personal materials. They travel to Camelot, which is a multiple day journey, so they stop at the Red Springs along the way and stay at an inn there. A ⦿ Soaking in Your Arrival KERPLUNK, SPLASH! Regardless of what you were in the middle of, you and your familiar have been magically pulled into the world of Avalon just above the Bay's waters. After a brief plunge into the Bay, the rush of water filling your ears and soaking up into every creak and crevice of your body, you may need to cough to clear your airways when you rise above the surface. It's still chilly, but not enough that you can't manage on your own. The Lady of the Lake is swimming around under the water, helping to rescue any wayward travelers who look like they're struggling in the water. This month's helpers are giant pillow jellies, a species of jellyfish that is capable of ballooning itself at the surface to create bouncy pads for characters to hop across to the shore, should they choose or not be able to swim. They come in a variety of bioluminescent colors, but do not seem to be very talkative even to animal magic users. Those who try may find themselves being ignored, even if they hear the jellies talking amongst themselves about this and that. If anyone tries to ask the Lady of the Lake for directions, she will direct you to Archimedes at the Rent-a-Ride. The shores themselves are littered with new arrivals complaining their way up a staircase carved into the walls of the White Cliffs. There is no railing, so be careful, but if you do fall, be prepared for a mysterious sand hand to reach out of the side of the cliffs to catch you. The hand will pat you atop the head twice before retreating back into the wall. This is the Cliff Beast; despite the name, he is quite friendly. (Though.. given how hot and muggy the weather is this first week, maybe you might want to ask him to toss you right back into the lake where the waters are still cool.) *Reminder: Your character's familiar may or may not be with your character in their initial plunge. If the familiar isn't partial to water, it may meet your character on the beach or sit atop their head while they swim. Or if they are, they might splash about and swim alongside your character. Familiars have different personalities and body specs and we leave those up to the players. B ⦿ The Caravan to Camelot Once everyone is wrangled up to the top of the White Cliffs, the handsome owner of the Rent-a-Ride, Archimedes, will distribute smart phones and a pair of ear buds and tell them to "Check the Shit Box." The "Shit Box" refers to wardrobe more formally known as the Wardrobe of Finding, a hammerspace-like wardrobe that opens to each person's items and pets when the person touches the handle. It was recently enchanted by Merlin to prevent people from having to fish their waterlogged possessions and pets out of the water with them. From there, Archimedes directs everyone to settle in groups into modernized carriages pulled by horses and gives them a basic explanation of why and how they've been brought to Avalon: The rest of the universe is frozen in time and your character has been brought here by a familiar that was able to bond with them. They'll have to learn magic to help save their own world from destruction, but first they've got to get them to Camelot. It is here that you have the first opportunity to decide who they will be in their new home. You'll have about an hour to wander around here, meet and greet, and pet the horses before it's time to go. These carriages use fae technology that combats weight, so your character will be able to get in regardless of whether they're light as a feather or weigh two tons. The carts have air conditioning when it's hot, heating when it's cold, and a mystical shield to protect from bugs. There is also a mini-bar that pops out of the console with whole coconuts filled with tropical drinks and topped with tiny umbrellas. Strawberry daiquiris, pina coladas, margaritas, mai tais, and more... all frosty and in the spirit of keeping you cool during the sunny month of August. (Naturally, virgin editions are available for the underaged.) Characters can use their smartphones to connect to Camelot's internet service, avalononline (AOL), to chat with other characters, watch dumb videos, learn about the world, contact Camelot Support (they'll answer any questions they can for you, from how to use a smart phone to where to find quests and resources to learn more about your magic). Be careful if you decide to use your phones while in the caravan-- if you don't use those earbuds and start forcing everyone to listen to your nonsense, Archimedes may make you walk. C ⦿ The Red Spring The journey from the White Cliffs to the City of Camelot is a long one, and the first evening you arrive you'll end up spending at the Red Spring, a booming resort town. Because of the volume of new arrivals and vacationers, inn rooms are assigned two-to-a-room. The rooms have two twin beds, a bathroom, a mini-fridge and microwave, and a TV equipped with a couple of entertaining video games and a few free movies. If you don't want to relax in the room, try taking a dip in the spring for another chance to meet your fellow travelers. The waters have restorative properties that help horses and travelers recover quickly when drunk. It is known to relieve stress, improve energy levels, and mildly accelerate healing. It may be a little chilly when you get out though, so make sure you don't slip rushing back indoors when you get out! The springs are also home to a large training grounds just outside town limits, where there are teachers who will teach basic magic safety and help you discover what kind of magic you have together with other new arrivals. Try target practice, obstacle courses, meditation circles, and other ways to try to figure out just what you can do... if you didn't already have an accidental discovery on the ride there. SUMMARY: The first attempt at using the mounts to travel en-masse up to fae territory is filled with problems: mandrake sprouts caused by recent murders drumming up requests to dig them up, two titanic creatures face off in the lake and catch characters in a maelstrom, and a mysterious underwater town with a strange curse being good neighbors with a last minute save... at a slight risk: becoming a merperson, naga, or cecaelian for a little while. With communications with Elphame in Celliwig disrupted by specters and Arthur temporarily decommissioned, the Hall of Mirrors is temporarily off limits for cleansing rituals. Celliwig has encouraged people to return to Camelot for the time being, which is just as well with all the newcomers flooding in. Last month's new arrivals through the old guard got an introduction to the new aquatic mounts and there are now plenty of people versed in how to handle and work with the magical alpacapies, mossatees, and deinosuchus. As scout parties head out further, there are a few problems that they've run into that need a helping hand from Camelot's otherworldly population. A ⦿ A Mandraconian Task Just as volunteers are asked to bring supplies for the journey to fae territory, a series of grisly murders involving strung up corpses appears around town (see this month's quest, "Not-So-Good Morning" for more details), and the dripping blood and fluids of these corpses seeps into the ground to give birth to strange, leafy plants that sprout leaves in all directions at once. They're small, and the locals seem weary of them, but ultimately they're breaking up pathways and making them into trip hazards... the locals recognize these plants as mandrake root, which is known in different cultures for... very different things. The mandrake root is a cursed plant that screams in a way that curdles blood enough to kill small creatures if they're too close and make a grown person go deaf. The reason anyone would pull them up however... well, their magical properties are astounding. It is said that Joan of Arc carried one in her possession to give her the power to take control of her own fate. Some religions claim that it has the ability to restore a person's fertility, and before clever manufacturers started using the name for tomatoes, Islamic tradition called the "apples of the jinn" and cause strong bouts of lust. Needless to say, a good many people are cautious about pulling them up, but more than willing to offer a fair sum of money to a newcomer who can get them out of the ground. The cause of their sprouting may be tragic, but there's no way that you're going to make it through town center with trip supplies without getting pulled aside and asked to help harvest the mandrake roots for a pretty penny... or maybe you're interested yourself. Either way, it may behoove you to practice a little magic with a friend to try to get them up. B ⦿ Clash of the Titans Finally everyone has gotten going and a mixture of brave Camelot citizens, Celliwigians, and otherworlders have headed back to Albion's White Cliffs to take off with their mounts (and partners... you're going to have to ride with someone, there aren't enough mounts for everyone to get their own!) and things are going well. It's about two days into the waters of Lake Avalon that things start to send a chill down your spine. Back on land, even for the first two days there, the weather had been hot and sunny, a beautiful summery start to August, but as the party starts to approach the southern banks of Dinas Emrys, they see a gargantuan beast run at bewildering speeds off the land and straight across the surface of the lake. The creature appears to be some kind of centipede formed of black clouds and lightning that illuminates its exoskeleton from inside of its body in deep purple and blue hues. Each of its legs kicks up a titanic wave headed straight for the party of explorers as it charges towards its target, what appears to be a tsunami wave containing a dark, shadowy figure emerging at least twenty stories above the water. The only part of it that isn't black are the blank, soulless eyes. As the lightning bug monster charges what some may recognize as an umibozu, it crashes into the tsunami wave and all three fall asunder... which is bad news for the traveling party, as the waters are now extremely choppy and lighting up with charges of the centipede's lightning. The result? As the two monsters dive down below the water, a maelstrom forms in their path and starts sucking everyone down! C ⦿ Fresh Waters Anyone who manages to escape the maelstrom will find that their mounts aren't moving forward this time around and are heading back where they came from, even with lost supplies. You may find yourself having to switch mounts with others nearby or talking to a strange beachball on the back of the alpacapie that's carrying your ass back to the White Cliffs... Or if you weren't so lucky, you may find yourself waking up on a slightly different shore. An underwater shore. An underwater town, in fact. After the initial panic of realizing that you're not drowning when you wake up settles in, you'll realize that you seem to be able to breathe underwater just fine. In fact, the real panic is probably about to start when you realize that like the fine people of this town that saved you, you've been temporarily gifted gills and a bottom lower half of either a merperson, a naga, or a cecaelia. Your caretaker, a nurse of the local town, offers the explanation that the only way to save everyone from drowning was to pull them into their territory, which is cursed to turn them all into sea monsters. Not to worry though, as long as you leave before the sun sets on the third day, you'll turn back to normal just fine. ...Though, they're not really sure when that was or if they battle is over, so you should probably find your friends and any possessions you had with you and start heading toward the surface. Not too much time to explore this strange, underwater town... especially since you don't have much practice not having legs to get you up to the surface. Don't worry, if you don't make it out in time, the Lady of the Lake will come fetch you... though perhaps not in time, so you may need to spend some time back in Camelot seeking out someone to break a curse. SUMMARY:After the recent event, people need to recover and heal. So Camelot's castle opens its doors for an open house, a swap meet and poetry battle auction, and a healing circle ritual. Arthur is injured and recovering, and news has spread on social media about it. There are lots of well-wishers and gifts being sent to the castle... enough that there's just too much for Arthur to do anything with it. He needs time to recover and rest and not be bothered, and as such declares that all those who need it shall share in the wealth and generosity of those wishing him well. The abundance (Especially from guilty Celliwigians who didn't realize what was happening right under their own noses) results in a few things happening... A ⦿ Open House Camelot's castle halls open up to all those who would like to come. Invitations are sent and a feast is prepared. A huge table with all manner of foods from different cultures is prepared. The only thing they ask is that you stay out of the wing of the castle that Arthur is resting in, as he is not available right now. Try new foods made from recipes from all around the different worlds or invite yourself to use the castle's royal public baths, remodeled from more ancient styles to include cool things like old architecture mixing with jacuzzi jets and waterfall shower rooms. There's even a water slide. It's more a water park than anything... Explore the library (except for the forbidden section, which has a very powerful magical barrier preventing entry-- even trying to tamper with it could result in your character glowing colors by their mood as punishment for messing with the magic). Those are dangerous texts in there! There's even a live show with a magician! Which sounds lame, but he's more or less showing off his skills in tricks, knife skills, and has a mean comedy routine to go with it. He's even willing to teach lucky volunteers how to escape death-defying stunts... hopefully. You may want to bring a buddy for backup. Or perhaps you're more interested in heading out to explore the rose gardens or finding a place to stay for the evening... don't worry, if you've had too much to drink or simply tired yourself out, you're welcome to stay in one of the guest rooms during this open house celebration. B ⦿ Swap Meet Not interested in exploring the castle? Well perhaps you'll enjoy the open-market bazaar that seems to have set up in the courtyard. All kinds of oddities are being exchanged in the castle courtyard and you may just find something rare.. or maybe it's a piece of crap. It's hard to tell, and the chances of getting swindled are just as high as the chances of getting an antique masterpiece. There is an auction for those willing to pay more for authenticity, but auctions in Camelot go a little bit differently... to win art, you must first prove yourself worthy of art-- all bid submissions must be performed in stanza. Haikus, rap, short poems-- all are valid, as long as they follow the rules of your chosen form of poetry and express why your bid deserves the win. The last person to falter wins their right to pay their bid, with at least 10,000G upped with each poetic rebuttal. C ⦿ Healing Circle After Party It's good to take care of yourself with a little fun, but if you're still stressed, hurt, traumatized, mildly upset, hung over, or just want to feel better about yourself, consider joining in some of the local witches and wizards in a meditative healing ritual. Step one: Gather herbs from the castle gardens. They've got all kinds, but you're looking for things like yarrow, apple blossoms, cinnamon, and lemon balm. Once you've gathered your herbs, join in the silent meditation circle with an available partner. Anyone is fine, but once you've entered the circle with someone, it's very important that you do not make any noise. Silence is important, and as you burn each of your herbs with your partner, you'll find that the smoke forms a barrier that surrounds the two of you. Put your hands together, and focus on the source of your pain. You will share your emotions with the person you're performing the spell with. They will feel everything you feel in that moment, and be able to share the burden without having to speak of or share what caused this pain. With the pain lightened, you will find that the smoke lights up and dissipates up at the top. Whether or not you choose to share with your newfound partner... well, that's up to you, but they sure are going to know how you're feeling right now, and that definitely wasn't warned about when you were asked to join the healing circle. MOD NOTES: • All test drive prompts are open to anyone in the game at any time to create your own logs with, but this post should have top-levels by potential new characters only. Current characters may reply to any threads, but should not top-level comment on this post. • If your application is accepted, you may accept TDM threads as game canon as long as both players consent. Characters may begin threading as soon as their journal is accepted to the communities. •If nothing here tickles your fancy, try one of this month's Quests for your TDM prompt. • The first "Arrival" prompts are present on every TDM, but contain seasonal tweaks for flavor. All other prompts will change monthly. • Questions about this TDM's content? Comment here! If you have a question about the game at-large, please head over to the FAQ.

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Sothis | Fire Emblem: Three Houses

[sleepqueen]

A. Arrival

Of all the places she shouldn't be, this is probably at the top of the list. She shouldn't be in a strange world and she absolutely shouldn't be getting soaked to the skin in the cold waters of a lake. In fact, should she even be feeling cold? That's an open question and one Sothis isn't sure she's ready to grapple with, especially since she has to haul herself onto the shore. Her usual outfit - all flowing silks and jewelry - is waterlogged and by the time she's on shore, she's trying to wring it out, looking very cross and muttering - mostly to herself. No sign of anyone she recognizes and this certainly isn't a place she recognizes either.

"I am going to have words with someone about this-"

She sounds incredibly frustrated.

"You don't just pick someone up and drop them into a lake-!"

B. Training Grounds

This whole thing has gotten worse the longer she's been here. There's been explanations and people trying to get her to just calm down. She has refused to be calm. She has been icily angry about everything since her arrival and even the presence of a small, cat-sized dragon as a familiar hasn't done her much good. Instead, she's simply been irritable and snappish the entire trip. No familiar faces. Not even the one person she could actually talk to for the longest time - although honestly, the fact that people could see and speak and interact with her was a shock that she had to deal with and which temporarily dispelled her irritation.

By the time they reach Red Springs, she's back to being in a sour mood.

"Allow me to reiterate," she speaks aloud, probably to some poor sod trying to instruct her on magic, "You drag me into another world because my own has apparently been destroyed - and at the same time you tell me that my own magic has been scattered and lost, so now I must learn something new? What on earth is this? Am I to be treated like a newborn pup again? To have to somehow replace my power with - this-?"

Someone save them from the (apparent) young girl. Or maybe get yelled at.

C. Open House

Despite herself, she's actually sort of enjoying the show the magician is putting on. She's trying not to allow herself to be too enamored, but she is watching from somewhere near the front (look, she's short and she also can't float around anymore, it's totally lame), arms folded and trying to look a bit bored by the whole thing.

"Do you think he's going to cut himself on one of those knives?"

Despite the drawl, there's a hint of amusement under there - some genuine enjoyment peaking through her crabbiness. Maybe she's finally swinging around into a good mood?

D. Wildcard

Come up with something or ask me if there's something you'd like to try! Happy to switch to brackets.

B

[hegemonwings]

Now there's a voice Byleth hasn't heard in quite some time. She launches to her feet, stopping the blade sharpening she had been busying herself with. She glances about, and then—there. Solid, standing on the ground, and naturally, arguing with someone.

Byleth moves to close the gap, moving up behind that impossible-to-miss mane of green hair, a smile steadily tugging at her lips as the girl began ranting at the instructor.

"Is this how we would have looked? It's a frightful thought, Sothis."

[sleepqueen]

Sothis is about keep laying into the instructor when someone interrupts. She starts to turn on them before her brain catches up and recognition flickers across her features. Byleth. For a brief, brief moment she's struck speechless and then she sniffs.

"You! I should've known you would keep me waiting - why didn't you find me earlier?"

She is resisting the urge to simply hug Byleth. She's incredibly fond of her, after all. More than she realizes, probably. That won't do, though. She is not, after all, prone to such displays.

"At least I am used to your eccentricities..."

[hegemonwings]

Byleth's eyes light up when Sothis turns around and recognizes her, in a way she wonders if Sothis has ever seen from her. Whether her friend—her great-grandmother, it distantly occurs to her, a very strange thought—is prone to those kinds of displays of emotion or not... Byleth might be willing to indulge them from time to time. Especially since coming to Avalon.

So, she wraps her arms around Sothis—something she's never been able to do before—and huffs out a soft laugh. She won't bother to answer her indignation about her lateness in finding her, either. It's all bark.

"You're the same as ever. I've... missed talking to you like this," she says, letting her eyes slip closed briefly. She sort of... waves quickly behind Sothis's back for the instructor to just go do something else, she's got this.

"What's the last thing you remember, before you found yourself here?"

[sleepqueen]

There's something different about Byleth that Sothis can't put her finger on just yet, but that's brushed aside when Byleth actually hugs her and she squirms a little with a noise of protest, one hand coming up to shove at Byleth's chest.

"I didn't say you could hug me-!"

Even if she does rejoice at the thought that she can actually touch people now. It feels good. She still complains. So after a moment of squirming, she goes still and her arms slowly come up to wrap around Byleth in return.

"The last thing I remember? Giving you my power, of course. Did not I tell you our souls would become one?"

[hegemonwings]

Nope, sorry Sothis, this hug is happening. Byleth's not even much of a hugger, but this is a special case. She laughs a little when Sothis squirms like that, knowing it's just the way she is—and sure enough, when her friend returns the gesture, she stands there quietly with her for a moment.

"They did. I just remember hearing your voice once after that, so I'd wondered if..." There's a moment's hesitation, as she changes gears. "Well, a great deal has happened since then. And I've learned more about what connected us."

B!

[notcethleann]

There are places to train in Camelot, but Flayn likes coming back to Red Springs sometimes. It's a great way to meet new people, for one, and she likes to help out newly arrived healers who are having trouble with their magic.

She's in the middle of trying to figure out how to make...well, javelins out of light, ironically enough, but actual javelins, thank you! When she hears a voice that seems strangely familiar ranting at someone nearby. Familiar, but she can't place it. How strange...

Intrigued, she heads in the voice's direction until she sees the girl - is she a girl? she is certainly very small, smaller even than Flayn herself, but she does not seem girlish in her mannerisms or speech. But her hair...oh, her hair is nearly exactly the same color as her father's, and her ears are just like Flayn's. Surely, though, Fodlan is not the only place among these many worlds with people who look like her family?

"Excuse me," she says, approaching with puzzlement but no lack of confidence. "I cannot help but think that you seem so very familiar to me, and yet I am uncertain why. Do we know each other?"

Flayn herself seems a bit different than she did back at Garreg Mach. Without Seteth breathing down her neck over every little thing, she's cut her hair short enough that sprightly curls bounce at the level of her chin and her long ears are visible just as this other girl's are. Her hair and eyes remain the same sea green that they have always been, but her hair's tips fade into pink and lavender instead at the bottom. She wears modern clothes, ones that aren't nearly so restricting or unnecessarily overly modest.

But otherwise, she looks the same.

[sleepqueen]

The voice tugs at her attention and she turns from the hapless instructor - who chooses to make good their escape - to look at Flayn. She recognizes her after a moment of quizzical study, but only as Flayn. The girl from the Academy who had spent time with Byleth. But just as then, there's something else that grabs her. The pointed ears are new. Or not new. There's something tugging at the back of her mind, but she cannot quite make it out. Cannot make it form into something and coalesce out of the fog of her memory.

"You do not know me," she opines, "But I certainly know you. You're the girl from the Academy. The one who likes fish. Flayn, isn't it?"

There's something more, though. She doesn't know what.

"You cannot possibly know me."

No one else had been able to see or hear her after all.

[notcethleann]

Ah...when the small woman turns, Flayn can see that her eyes are nearly exactly the color of Father's as well. It has to mean something, she's sure of it. Not to mention the crown she wears on her brow, so very reminiscent of Aunt Seiros' own, and the style of clothing that tugs hard at old memories from long ago.

"Yes, Flayn is my name, and I certainly do enjoy fish. But you are mistaken. I do know you. I must. If only..."

If only she could remember. Nabateans certainly have very long and capable memories, but her millennium of slumber muddied some of the older ones from before the war - the first war.

"Oh, how frustrating! But perhaps..." She sighs. After that encounter in the hall of mirrors, she had hoped never to have to claim this identity again, but... "I am also known as Cethleann, if that will help to jog your memory."

[sleepqueen]

The problem with Sothis, of course, is that she's a ghost of herself (possibly literally). She's been asleep for so very long and only relatively recently reawakened within Byleth; her memory is fogged and fragmented and so not everything comes to her. She frowns at Flayn, brow creased - but the name jogs something. She's not sure what. It's hauntingly familiar, but she can't say why. She just knows it sparks an emotion within her.

"Cethleann.... Cethleann...." She murmurs, brow furrowed in concentration, "I know that name. I know it, but it does not come to me!"

She sounds frustrated by the fact and she makes a little noise at the back of her throat.

"...but I will give you mine, in turn. It is only fair. I am Sothis."

[notcethleann]

I am Sothis.

Flayn's hands fly to her mouth, her eyes widen. She trembles, and feels that her legs may not support her for much longer. How can that be? There are people here from the same world who come from different times, but...could this possibly be Grandmother as she was when she was a child? But that would be thousands and thousands of years!

One thing Flayn does know is that it isn't some coincidence. Her manner, her dress, her eyes...peering into her eyes, Flayn can see it. A spark of what Grandmother was when she was alive and whole. Tears are already running down her face by the time she brings her hands down and flings her arms around Sothis instead.

"Grandmother...can it truly be you, after such a very long time? Oh, but we have all missed you so terribly for so long! Father and I, and..." And all the things Aunt Seiros has done in Grandmother's name, to bring her back. A yawning pit opens up in Flayn's gut; could this Sothis be from a different timeline, one in which Rhea's awful plan for Byleth succeeded?

"But how is it that you do not quite remember me?"

A

[leicesters]

Claude's made a habit of checking the bay when new arrivals begin to show up each month. So far it's turned up good results, leading him to either familiar faces or interesting people, and this month, it seems a girl with green hair and pointed ears is something of a mixture of both. That doesn't mean to say she's from his world, of course, but she's still distinctive enough to get his interest, so he approaches and addresses her as she grumbles to herself.

"Hey, short stuff. Want to borrow this?" He's unclasping a yellow and green travelling cape he'd brought with him, offering it her so she can wrap up.

[sleepqueen]

"Short stuff?" She replies, sounding a touch indignant about the title he's apparently decided to give her. It takes her a moment, but she does recognize him. It's Claude - one of the lords from the Academy. She blinks up at him and then takes the cloak and drapes it over her shoulders. It makes her look even smaller than she actually is, since it practically swallows her up in it.

"I suppose I should have expected that from you, though. You always were... flippant."

She's talking like she knows him. Which is probably incredibly weird.

[leicesters]

Huh. So that hunch that she's someone familiar wasn't far off base after all. He's racking his brains for who she could be, but... It can't be true, can it? Better to play dumb and see what she offers first before he jumps to any conclusions.

"Was I, now? And how would you know that, little lady?"

[sleepqueen]

"If you keep referring to me as 'little', I will be very angry with you," she retorts, just to get that out of the way. She drags the cloak a little tighter around herself and stands a bit straighter. It's hard to look regal, though, when your hair is in wet tangles and sticking to your skin.

"I witnessed you and your affairs at the Academy. When you were studying under Byleth."

[leicesters]

Ooh, scary. He'd love to come up with a comeback, eyes shining with mirth, but what she says after that is much more interesting.

"You know, when you say it like that, it makes you sound a tiny bit like a spy. But that's only a small part of the truth, isn't it?"

C!

[sereneadherent]

Marianne isn't sure if the girl next to her is speaking to her or musing aloud. After an uncertain pause, she decides to err on the side of the former so as not to seem rude. "I hope he doesn't. That would be a terrible way for the show to end." This is supposed to be light-hearted entertainment--she'd much prefer to avoid having to watch a medical emergency.

She turns to look at her seatmate and freezes for a few moments, her eyes widening slightly with something that resembles recognition. This girl's face and features aren't famliar, but there's something distinctly Seirosian about her regalia. The ears don't escape her notice, either. Perhaps she's a relative of Flayn's? Or Lady Rhea's?

(That sort of thinking is still so strange for her to consider, but between what Byleth and Flayn have told her...)

Curiosity gets the better of her, and Marianne forces herself to ask. "I'm sorry, but... are you from Fódlan?"

[sleepqueen]

"You're probably right," she allows with a sigh, "Although the thrill is part of the entertainment, is it not?"

She's still getting used to being perceived and heard when she speaks half to herself. It's a little strange, but also rather nice. She's not stuck waiting for Byleth to speak to her and she can actually... do things. Like eat. A positive change, in this case, although she's not so sure about the whole world being destroyed thing. Marianne's question catches her slightly off-guard and she has to give her a second look before recognition settles in. One of Byleth's students, of course. This place certainl was collecting them!

"I am of Fódlan, I suppose," she replies after a moment, choosing to remain mysterious, "Although I do not believe I am quite from it in the usual sense."

[sereneadherent]

Marianne doesn't really have an answer to the response. The thrill is part of the entertainment, she supposes, but that doesn't mean she'd like to see the worst come to pass.

Besides, it's the cryptic response to the Fódlan question that has Marianne's attention. How can she be of Fódlan without being from there? She has a feeling this conversation is going to make her head hurt, but she leave the thread unpulled now. (Perhaps Claude's had more influence on her than she'd care to admit.)

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand."

[sleepqueen]

"Well, I wasn't really born there..." Which is easy for her to say, since she can't remember much about her live before she was hanging around Byleth's head. It's a little disconcerting, honestly. There should be more, she knows. She just can't remember any of it. It's all a shadow.

"But I've spent a great deal of time there. I suppose it's my home."

She purses her lips.

"You're one of Byleth's students, aren't you? I think I remember you."

[sereneadherent]

The explanation makes sense, but it doesn't leave Marianne feeling any more confident in the conversation. If anything, she has more questions now.

"You do?" Is this girl someone that Marianne has met before and doesn't remember somehow? Or someone who lived in the monastery and remained sight unseen, like much of Abyss? Marianne never went down there herself, so that's possible. "Yes, I'm one of her students. My name is Marianne."

A

[flame_emperor]

The sound of a young girl in distress brings Edelgard over; despite how disastrous her last first encounter with someone in Avalon went, she's determined to keep coming, just in case another of her Black Eagles has come (or returned, as the case may be). She doesn't recognize the voice, save that is young, and upset, and that's enough for Edelgard to come, bearing towels so she can dry herself off.

However, when she approaches, she stops in her tracks. The girl is...not who she was expecting. The same shade of green, in both her hair and eyes, and her ears...not hidden like the others (well, not Flayn anymore), and the ornate style of...archaic-looking dress...there can be no denying this girl is another Child of the Goddess.

She pauses only a moment before approaching, and offering the soaking, angry and perhaps not so-young woman a towel. "Here. Use this to dry off, first." She offers. That hair alone! She should have brought more towels.

[sleepqueen]

Well, that's one of the last people that Sothis was expecting to hand her a towel. She blinks, still wringing out one of her braids, and then accepts the towel, doing her best to dry herself off. Her bare feet are still digging into the soil underneath her as she exhales in a long-suffering sigh.

"Thank you."

She grimaces and ducks her head, trying to get her hair from "soaking" to merely "uncomfortably damp".

"You are the last person I expected to see handing out towels," she comments, although she's also still getting used to other people seeing and hearing her (and the whole being corporeal thing), "But it's probably a good thing you're here."

[flame_emperor]

So this girl knows of her. Strange that Edelgard doesn't know her. Did this one stand apart from the Archbishop and the Church? She doesn't seem overly hostile, at least. Edelgard merely nods. "I make the trip whenever new arrivals are expected." She explains. "In case more of my comrades arrive, I wish to be on-hand to greet them."

She looks the girl (no, not a girl, she reminds herself) up and down. "You are of Fódlan, if not a comrade at least. So I am pleased to be here to welcome you, if somewhat perplexed. You are a Child of the Goddess, correct? I don't believe we've met." But she knows enough about Edelgard, at least. She must have had some contact with Seiros, or perhaps Seteth during the war.

[sleepqueen]

Well, she knows enough to know that Edelgard has mistaken her for someone else. Or someone she isn't, rather. She knows (sort of) who she is, but beyond that her knowledge of Fódlan is limited to what she and Byleth have learned together and what fragments she can fish out of her own memory. She blows out a breath - as if she's a little impatient - and shakes her head.

"I'm not a Child of the Goddess, no. I am the Goddess," she glances up to meet Edelgard's gaze, imperious and confident, despite how young she appears.

"You may call me Sothis."