TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 15

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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 chilly 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 paralyzingly cold for a few seconds before you're approached by the Lady of the Lake beneath the water's surface. She puts a vial of a vibrant, glowing red Everwarm* potion to your character's lips.
The icy water doesn't feel so icy once consumed and you'll be able to move your limbs enough to swim to shore on your own. She can't stick around to explain, she's got to get this to all the new arrivals! Many of which you'll see plopping in around you. If you can't swim, a handful of helpful ice turtles will scoop you up from beneath and drop you off at the shore. It's a fast process, though they do take their time as they need to go around hitting the ice that keeps forming on the surface with their shells to keep the surface open for the falling arrivals. If anyone tries to ask the Lady of the Lake for directions, she will direct you to Archimedes at the Rent-a-Ride. If anyone with Animal Magic asks the turtles, they will give the full spiel, but very slowly, and they like to get off topic and gossip about other turtles you've never heard of. 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.

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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 a special feature for warm winter drinks like hot apple toddy and butter beer. 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. Newcomers get free inn rooms for their one night stay on the way to Camelot, containing two twin beds, a bathroom, a mini-fridge and microwave, and a TV equipped with a couple of entertaining video games and movies.   Don't want to relax in the room? Take a dip in the communal hot spring. The waters have restorative properties that help horses and travelers recover quickly. 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.

 

---

 

 

Last month, players were invited into the fae territories in Elphame for the first time for the Winter Solstice celebrations while King Arthur and Queen Elphame enter talks regarding the next steps toward saving the multiverse. In the meantime, a special camp hosted King Arthur's knights has been created on the riverbank just inside of the Forest of the Felled to act as a midway point for travelers going between the two points.

 

A ⦿ Snow More Cold
	The Forest Camp is quite a stunning outpost for Camelot. Given the snowy, cold weather, the campsites have been built with the knowledge of some of the snowier fae in mind and have resulted in what some are referring to as "Igloo Glamping." Artfully carved out group rooms, dining halls, and storage for supplies, and more have been carved out of snow to create a surprisingly warm solution to keeping safe as a Forest halfway point. Admittedly, it's not the your standard glamp-- but there are TVs, board games, and long fur-lined beds to keep you and four other people warm cuddled up together at night! There's also a snow port-a-potty that you probably don't want to face, but sometimes we face challenges in life. There are also a number of planned activities to keep people out of trouble while they stay.
...Or if they do get themselves into trouble, they can also end up in snow jail, a special igloo built with extremely tough ice stalagmites that will be hard to break out of until authorities can come pick you up and take you back to Camelot.

 

---

 

B ⦿ The Great Avalon Bake-Off
One of these activities is inspired by a surprising store of buried baking supplies like flour, sugar, butter, yeast, and eggs that was found in the forest. It's been there a long while, but it seems to have been protected through magical preservation, so there's really only one thing to do about it: a bake-off! It's a little tricky out in the snow, so outside of the igloos, a trench has been dug and all contestants have been given a campfire. Alchemists have helped by creating clay ovens in the snow for contestants to bake their culinary creations in. The most impressive confections (not just the top scorer) will earn a copy of (Spell) Thirst. This spell can make someone feel thirsty, even if they aren't.

 

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C ⦿ Ingredient Hunt 2022
	The real trick is finding ingredients to make your confection something to stand out and come up on top of the contest, which you may need to wander into the Forest of the Felled to look for. There are a variety of winter berries able to be found, herbs and flowers buried under the snow if you can find them, and most importantly, a couple of truffle bushes from which chocolate and vanilla truffles can be harvested. There are quite a few tasty flavors to be found throughout the forest, and since it hasn't been repopulated yet due to the harsh winter, it's relatively safe to wander around no matter who you are. If you feel like you need protection though, maybe ask around camp to find someone who can fight for you.
Just be wary as there are a few ingredients you can find in the forest that may cause a few unintended side-effects to your taste-testers: Cider Berries: These berries appear to have a fiery glow coming from within. That is because they will temporary cause anyone who consumes them to breathe fire when they exhale for about 10 minutes straight... definitely a problem when you're living in an igloo. They have a great apple-y smell though! Strangler Figs: These fig trees grow around other plants and strangling them as if they were anacondas around prey. They produce the most brilliant looking and tasting figs, even in the winter time. Unfortunately, having been in Avalon long enough, they have absorbed magic into their roots and are now able to defend their fruit by creeping up anyone who touches them and trapping them in their grip. They cannot move while you are looking at them, so don't blink and hope you can outrun them. Little Leeks: These are very, very small leaks that seem to be hanging out in small vials found about an inch beneath the surface of the snow. They all seem to have different faces painted on the front of the vials, though the vials do seem to be a part of their body. The simple faces match the effect you'll get-- a crying face will result in your character having an uncontrollable sob fest, a happy face may make it seem like nothing phases them, some angry eyebrows on a frown could result in your character wanting to fight everyone in a fit of anger, and so on. The most tragic part is that these will continue effecting you until they are fully digested-- so it could take hours to stop bawling.

 

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Back in Camelot and Elphame, trouble is brewing of a different variety.

 

A ⦿ Calls You Daddy
Strange eggs with even stranger tiny legs have started wandering into the city and making their way into peoples' homes. Inn rooms, houses, apartments, tents, tree trunks, igloos, even townships have found residents waking up with a tiny little egg snuggled up to their side to keep warm in the morning.  These eggs act just like babies too-- they cry when they need to be fed (they'll roll around in the food to absorb it), are extremely picky about their food (and each egg has its own unique palette), need to be cleaned after eating, and they need to be kept warm or they will perish.
One touch of an egg to direct skin will result in a parental instinct being imprinted upon whoever touches them, so you may find yourself wanting to care for this egg as much as it wants you to care for it. Eggs come in a variety of colors and designs and will seek out at least two parents, so you may find yourself in an unlikely relationship for the next week or so until they hatch...

 

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B ⦿ Aurora Bearealis
	After about a week, the eggs all seem to be antsier than before. Many of their legs disappear and their colors start to glow gently at night, as if some kind of strange nightlight. Eventually, the top of the egg will burst open and out of it will hatch a slightly oddly shaped bear creature, which looks almost like a living teddy bear. The bears themselves have strange glowing markings that match the outside of the egg that they used to be in, and when they step out, a mysterious flow of light comes out of them- like an aurora borealis. At this point, there are two real problems that have started: Touching the aurora borealis lights will also make you glow with aurora borealis lights for 48 hours. They are bears and they act like bears and they get into everything and fight everyone like bears, except their perceived parents.

 

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C ⦿ Go on, Git. CW: Mentions of poaching, beheading in last paragraph.
	These fierce little aurora bears are causing destruction and pain in both Elphame and Camelot alike, so a decision has to be made: the bears need to be led by their parents and some fighters out to the nearest forest and set free to live in the wild, as they probably were intended to. Those in Camelot who release their bears there will find a heart-wrenching goodbye interrupted by a rather dramatic battle. The natural predator of aurora bears, the flaming lions known as Fogueria, have come out of the Land of Rot to hunt them down. I hope you brought someone with you to help save both you and your beary good friend from this flaming enemy. Fogueria cannot be defeated without using magic, so you've got your battle set out for you!
For those who have taken to Elphame, they are not faring much better. As it turns out, these little eggs have made quite the impression on some goblin poachers released from prison last month. These goblins are hunting down the newly released bears for capture to sell them as circus side-shows, food, and more to more devilish creatures. They love gold much more than they love anything else, except perhaps the fierce beast that accompanies their party to help them devour anyone who would try to stop them: a gashadokuro, a fierce skeletal demon formed of the bones of fallen travelers. It is known to bite off the heads of travelers and drinks blood. You'll have to defeat the whole party to ensure your newly released bears remain safe.

 

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• All test drive prompts are open to anyone in the game at any time to create your own logs with, as the events within are considered game canon. • This post should have top-levels by potential new characters only. Current characters may reply to any threads and may start their own logs off-post, 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 usually 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.

 

Comments

Felih Tia | FFXIV WoL | Endwalker Spoilers likely | Healing & Green

[seasoflight]

A. Arrival

At the very least, being dunked into icy water is less and less of an unusual occurrence for Felih these days. That still doesn't mean he likes it, though.

He crawls back up onto the beach shivering and growling faintly, muttering about rude spirits, and something vaguely audible that sounds like, "I have a room, couldn't they put me back there?" He takes a few moments to just breathe and look around, before spotting a familiar little kitsune kit who has come to greet him with fire and yips. With a soft laugh, he cradles the kit against his chest and lets his familiar dry him off with its magic.

"Thank you, darling. I've missed you, too," he coos, scratching behind its ears before he stands. He'll look around, checking for anyone who looks like they need some help adjusting, and offer a helping hand.

"You alright, there? If you've need of a bit of extra warmth, ny familiar can dry you off," he offers.

B. The Red Spring

Felih is so sick of cold places, which is why he immediately goes to take a dip in the hot springs once he's settled. Folk around will see a Miqo'te man with long, silky, fluffy scarlet and gold fur happily sinking into the steaming pools, or even swimming around like a fish in some of the bigger and deeper springs, looking far more at home in the water than any would expect for a feline being.

"Thank the Twelve for these springs," he says, before boredom and curiosity inevitably make him seek out someone to pester.

Mischievous as ever, he'll try to find someone unsuspecting in the springs, or even just walking by them,, sneaking up on them silently...

...and then splash them with a rather impressive little wave of water.

"Aren't the springs lovely?" He'll cheerily greet his target, after they've been thoroughly splashed and soaked.

C. Coming Home

Felih is relieved to find things in Camelot proper more or less as he remembers them, and even more relieved that he still seems to remember the way home. That means that most folk who knew him before may spot him on his way through the city, a familiar fluffy ball of red and gold all bundled up in winter gear.

Or, in one particular case, knocking on the door to his old home, lacking the key now, and hoping the same resident still dwells within its walls...

D. Wildcard

(Free for all! Have at! Contact me on Plurk at FloralunaAria, or on Discord at Kitty#8991)

C

[emet_sulk]

There's a knock on the door to the shop. The sign on it says 'Closed', which usually deters everyone but those desperate for a potion. Winter sees him do brisk business due to illness and other maladies, so he isn't terribly surprised at the disturbance. But he still opens the door looking tired and reluctant.

"Yes? What do you--"

He freezes.

[seasoflight]

Felih's ears droop just slightly, apologetic or perhaps sheepish, and he offers his mate a relieved smile. He doesn't know how much time has passed here, but he hopes it hasn't been too long...

And after all he has experienced in the time he was gone, seeing Hades again brings tears welling up in his eyes.

"Hades," he breathes softly, "You've no idea how glad I am to see you again..."

[emet_sulk]

He stares. And stares. And stares some more...

How...? No, when? Is this a trick of his exhausted mind? A trick by the fae? Felih is gone. Their bedroom is cold and dark and empty, filled with nothing but the echo of someone he once knew.

His hand starts to lift as though to reach out and touch Felih's cheek, but he jerks it back. It's cruel to offer him hope like this, he thinks angrily. Hasn't he had enough taken from him already?

"I don't know if you are some shape-shifter or illusion-weaving fae, but I'll not welcome the likes of you past this threshold," he growls out.

[seasoflight]

"Hades," Felih says pleadingly, eyes shimmering with tears. "It's me. Please... I'm sorry. How long has it been? So much time has passed in my mind, and I- I've longed to see you again. Please."

More softly, he murmurs, "I'm home, so please let me in."

[emet_sulk]

In spite of logic telling him otherwise, Hades can feel himself wavering. The temptation is too strong and he has ever been slave to sentiment - a tendency that had only grown worse in the absence of everything.

Felih will see the slow collapse of his expression, from stony frown to a more conflicted mien. But no, no he has to be certain--

"Before I do, tell me how we first met," he says tightly, fingers digging into the door frame.

[seasoflight]

Felih feels a wave of relief, and he smiles feebly.

"It was in a city called Duplicity. I stumbled upon you testing your creation magics, where you had created a beautiful pair of flying fish, and I pestered you with questions about them, about you. And you gifted them to me," Felih answers, heart swelling at the memory.

"I'm sure at the time they meant little to you, but I adored that pair. Soon our home was filled with a school of colorful little fish."

His ears perk up hopefully, just a little, as he dares to step forward and reach for his beloved.

"Please, my love," he murmurs quietly. "I'm home from my wandering, and I've many stories to tell. Won't you let me in...?"

[emet_sulk]

He closes his eyes and exhales, shoulders slumping. He steps back to allow Felih over the threshold and shuts the door behind the other man once they do.

"You're back. You're really--" His throat seizes up and he chokes up, eyes brimming with hot tears. He tries to dash them away on his sleeve but they continue to come, until he ends up falling to his knees on the floor, weeping openly.

[seasoflight]

Felih enters, relieved to have won over his lover, but the moment Hades collapses onto the floor, Felih rushes to settle beside him. He loops his arms up around his neck, hugging him tight and trying to make his way into the other man's arms and lap, purring away to try and soothe him.

"I am," he murmurs. "I'm so sorry, darling. You know I wouldn't have left without a goodbye if I had any say in it," he adds, before taking Hades' face in his hands and using his thumbs to wipe at the tears, leaning in to press their foreheads together. "But I'm here now. I'm here..."

[emet_sulk]

He leans forward and wraps his arm's tightly around Felih's sleeker frame, continuing to cry quietly into the other's shoulder. 'Don't you dare leave me again,' he wants to shout and shake them until their teeth rattle out of their skull. He cannot claw them out of the void or aetherial sea here.

"Where did you go...? I looked everywhere... There was no portal indicating your passage."

[seasoflight]

Felih holds on tight, melting into his mate's embrace, nuzzling into his hair as Hades places his head on Felih's shoulder. He even wraps his long, fluffy tail around his lover, coiling up around him as much as he can.

"My dearest," he murmurs softly. "I went back to my realm. Though I remembered naught of this place when I returned there... it seems that I have been plucked back into this realm once more," Felih says, fingers combing through Hades' hair. "I'm here. I'm still yours, darling, I still remember it all..."

[emet_sulk]

"You had best remember," he growls, voice yet unsteady through his tears. "After all those promises and the hope you foisted on me, I would never forgive you if you forgot."

And there is the morose Hades that they all know and love. Ever poor at expressing his affection except in the most irate of ways.

He squeezes Felih one last time before leaning back, cupping the other man's face between his hands. "What happened?"

[seasoflight]

Hades' growl makes Felih laugh faintly, the sound of his grumpy voice a comfort after his absence. After what Felih has experienced, hearing Hades' voice, seeing his face, being able to embrace him... it's another chance he feels incredibly grateful to have.

He melts into his beloved's embrace, and when Hades takes his face into his hands, he leans forward and tries to silently beg a kiss off of him, ears low and pinned back as his eyes shimmer with an ache and sorrow yet unnamed.

"It's so much, my love... I... I thought I had lost you..."

A

[sandinmyhair]

Someone's next to Felih, a lump of soaked fabric and hair, facedown. There's movement and a tiny whiskered face peeks out from the dark curls--a rat emerges and shakes itself dry before looking up at him. Then it squeaks and scurries behind its waterlogged human.

"I don't think I remember what dry feels like, anymore...." the lump laments, voice muffled.

[seasoflight]

For a moment, Felih hesitates at the sight of the rat, trying to figure out if it's a familiar... or a rat. Or maybe a pet rat?

Instinct tells him to hunt the vermin, but he resists, mostly on account of the fact that it seems very familiar with the man beside it.

"Darling," Felih chirps patiently, an amused glint in his eye. "Stand up and let my familiar dry you off. The longer you lie in the cold, wet sand, the more it'll come back to bite you when the warming potion wears off."

He crouches down, tail swaying behind him idly, and tries to haul the man to roll over. "Come on! Up you come!"

[sandinmyhair]

Right now, this man's clothes and hair probably weigh more than he does. With Felih's help he heaves himself up, rubbing wet sand from his face. The rat sits on his shoulder, hiding in his hair, peeking out. When he stands he's scarcely taller than Felih.

He could comment on being called 'darling,' or on how catlike the person talking to him is, but instead his brain latches onto:

"Familiar?" It's something to start with, anyway.

[seasoflight]

Hells. It's not often Felih finds a man as petite as he is. (At least, not ones that aren't Lalafellin.) He tilts his head, before beckoning to his fox kit, who dutifully scurries up Felih's clothing and onto his shoulder.

"In this realm, there are creatures called familiars who aid in learning your magic. This one is mine," he explains, giving the fox a few little scritches under the chin as it happily yips. "Dry him off, will you, dear?" he says to the fox, who puffs up and seems to focus hard, before a whirlwind of hot air swirls around the other man, sapping the water away from his clothing and body to leave him dry.

"There! Much cozier," he hums, "Though we should get you a cloak from the guides sooner rather than later. Ah! Where are my manners- I'm Felih. And your name?" he asks, clapping his hands together, each slender finger capped with a very feline looking nail. The closer Bruno looks, the more Bruno will find is feline about the man: the markings under his eyes, his ears and tail, the claws on his fingers, the furred feet and claws- and most strikingly, yellow-gold eyes with slit-like pupils.

[sandinmyhair]

"Right. I think I remember hearing about that, inbetween the drowning and the... more drowning." He's so lost.

When he's dried off, he blinks, pleasantly surprised. A beat later his hair puffs out in a cloud around his head. "..." Oh, well, dignity hasn't been a part of his life for a long while. Just ask the rats. Rat.

An instinctive trepidation seizes him when he's asked his name, but he quickly squashes it--this is a place so far from home that he's certain nobody's heard of him or his family or his... gift. He almost doesn't answer, as fascinated as he is with, especially, the other's eyes.

"Bruno Madrigal," he says, putting out a hand to shake.

[seasoflight]

Felih tries hard to keep his composure at the delivery of that line, his full lips pursing as he fights off a laugh.

"Oh, yes, that would be disorienting for most folk, wouldn't it," Felih murmurs, more as commentary to himself than a real question, before he finally loses it and laughs as the man's hair puffs up. "My. I'll have to groom you properly. Do you still have my brush, dear?" he chirps to the fox, who does a somersault on Felih's shoulder and manifests a rather ornate brush into his hand. "Thank you."

With his free hand, he takes Bruno's and gives it a shake, though he seems a little intrigued by the gesture. It's actually not very common in Eorzea to offer one's hand like this, now that he thinks on it... It's usually mostly merchants who do such things.

"A pleasure, Bruno. Your name has a lovely ring to it. Bruno Madrigal. It doesn't sound like any I've heard before," he chirps, ears perking forward. He then lets go, and steps forward to start brushing and combing down the man's hair, apparently quite tactile and friendly. "Let's tame this mane of yours first. Do you tie it up? I'm sure I have ties and ribbons if you need one."

[sandinmyhair]

Conjuring. Well, that's something he's not quite seen before. Plants out of no-where are one thing, but this? Near-drownings and potions and sea turtles, cat-people, all this magic everywhere... the enormity will come crashing down on him soon enough. Right now he's going to take it moment by moment until he can hide and let his mind fall down.

So there he is, having his hair brushed by a complete stranger, in a completely unfamiliar place, and it's the first time he's been touched by another person in ten years, and it's a lot all at once. It's a lot and he has no idea what to feel first.

Don't think about, it, then.

He melts into the touch, a soft smile crossing his face. He remembers to answer, though. "I usually just leave it as it is..." Truth be told, his hair isn't something he's thought about recently.

[seasoflight]

Felih hums, considering that answer. "Well, I think it would do you favors to tie it back. As it is, it seems to hide your face, darling," he says simply, brushing away, careful and gentle, until he seems satisfied with his work. With that, he uses a green ribbon to tie Bruno's hair back, and then looks over the man's clothes.

Hm. That will have to change, but it can wait. They can start by grabbing cloaks from the guides.

"Come, let's get some cloaks and into a carriage. It'll be quite a long ride until we reach the springs, if I recall correctly, so I may as well use the chance to help you settle in to this place. And, ah..." He pauses for a moment, looking at the rat that had (until moments ago) been hiding in Bruno's hair.

"...is the, ah... rat... your familiar?"

[sandinmyhair]

He's touched by this. Don't wibble. Don't wibble. He doesn't quite succeed in not getting misty-eyed. "Hey, well, I can see better, now." A beat. "Thank you." He's got a pleasant enough face, the nose notwithstanding.

Bruno looks down at his clothes as though just realising he really isn't dressed for this kind of weather. It's entirely possible his feet might be turning blue. "That... yeah, that sounds like a good idea." He's getting colder by the moment.

"Hm? No, I don't think so, unless familiars come with you from home...."

[seasoflight]

Felih notices the effect his gesture seems to have on Bruno, and he feels a twinge of concern. But perhaps, it's better to wait until they're in the warmth and safety of a carriage before delving into that.

"'Tis my pleasure, darling. Come, you look nearly frostbitten," Felih frets, and he takes Bruno's hand to hurry and tug him along. Felih's little fox kit jumps down, hopping through the snow and leaving small circles of melted snow and warm grass for Bruno to walk in, sometimes even weaving around between Bruno's ankles to spread magical warmth from its fluffy body to his feet. "As for familiars... sometimes they follow you from home, sometimes they don't. This little darling is a friend of mine from home," he says, gesturing to the fox kit as it works.

Felih gets them both proper winter cloaks and manages to procure a basin of warm water, ushering Bruno into the carriage and sitting him down, setting his feet in the warmth of the basin. It’s not hot enough to shock his cold feet, but warm enough to help start alleviating the cold.

"There. My little darling will keep the water warm as long as you need," Felih chirps, setting a few small towels beside the other man. "The hot springs will do you good once we arrive, I'm sure." His fox kit puffs and fluffs up again, looking dutiful and determined, sitting by the water basin and using its kitsune fox fire magic to keep the water warm.

[sandinmyhair]

He honestly thought he was fine with no-one to care about him but his rats, that he needed no kindness from others. A decade of I'm fine on my own, it's all for the best. He sees now that he couldn't have been more wrong. With every step he realises it more and more.

By the time they're in the warm carriage and his feet are soaking and Archimedes is giving his explanation in the background, a small battle wages in Bruno's mind between just how massively relieving this warmth is and a small point in the explanation that's snagged itself on his thoughts.

"Wait, what does he mean, 'time stops where you're from'? Time doesn't stop. The future is always there, following right behind you, trust me, I know...."

Whups. Said too much. He almost seems to shrink into himself.

"You've been very kind... and-and I'm thankful, really, there honestly aren't any words for how thankful I am, but...." Here he lightly taps his fists on the wood of the carriage and then on his head. "Knock knock knock, knock on wood," he mutters before taking a deep breath. "You'll find out soon enough, I guess, why we don't talk about Bruno. Everyone does."

[seasoflight]

"Time stops when something is removed from its grasp," Felih begins softly. "You are here, and so your world stops and freezes until your return. Whatever futures may or may not await, it all lies still until the worlds all return to the way they were. Until we solve the problem, until we go home."

When Bruno cuts himself off and begins knocking on the wood, he tilts his head, an ear twitching. Superstitious, perhaps? Then again, perhaps in his realm, he too must protect his words from reaching the ears of the fae. And this is a land full of them, after all.

"Darling, I've no clue what you mean," he says simply. "I doubt anyone in this land has heard your name before, if you are newly arrived as the many others washing up on the shores. Besides, many of us here have reputations in our own realms. If anything, 'tis but another reason for us to be drawn here."