TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 17

[avalonmods]

	QUICK NAV: ⚔️️ Premise ⚔️️ Rules ⚔️️ FAQ ⚔️️ Taken ⚔️️ Reserves ⚔️️ Apply ⚔️️ Locations ⚔️️ Bestiary
⚔️️ View Top-Levels Only ⚔️ IMPORTANT NOTE 1: For the month of March, magic is acting unstable! Magic fuck-ups are at least twice as likely to happen, so new characters may find it harder to do basic magic.  IMPORTANT NOTE 2:The sky is not normal anymore! The calamity is visible in the sky as of February's event.

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. The water is cold, but not enough that you can't handle it on your own. The Lady of the Lake is nearby, but seems to be focusing on coordinating a band of mossatees to help rescue any wayward new arrivals. Mossatees are a special Avalonian manatee that is green in color and has what appears to be a patches of grass or other short plant life growing on its back. While some are fully green, others sport small flower blossoms that haven't yet grown in or various types of mushrooms. Green mages will be able to note that the plants growing on its back seem to give off "surfer dude" personalities.
If anyone tries to ask the Lady of the Lake for directions, she will direct you to Archimedes at the Rent-a-Ride. Those with animal magic may get their info from the mossatees, though may notice that they're really overly friendly and have zero concept of personal boundaries. Everyone may notice they have no concept of personal space, as they will happily run right into someone's belly for a snoot squishing. 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.

---

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. 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, but... Hm....

---

When everyone arrives it seems like during the siege on Camelot the training grounds were absolutely trashed!

A ⦿ gArBo HuNgErS
	With everyone focusing on recovering Camelot main and the bulk of the resort facilities at the Red Springs, the training grounds at the Red Springs have gone a little neglected.. at least enough to be taken over by a band of local decay sprites. Now, these fairies aren't what they sound- they're not dead, they're little garbage sprites. Perfectly harmless, they often go around picking up trash from natural habitats. They look like garbage bags and bins with googly eyes.  However, the Red Springs's magical attributes combined with magic going a little haywire have caused them to go a little off. Right now, their googly eyes are flashing angry colors that should come with a seizure warning straight out of an old Disney cartoon. They're not just picking up trash, they're eating everything!
What's more, they grow in size each time they eat something new, so some of them are already big enough to swallow an orc! Don't worry, the trash goes into a hammerspace to decay over a long period of time, so if you get swallowed, there's still a chance for someone to get you out... which they can do by fighting the decay sprite. Decay sprites can suck things up similarly to Kirby, though they do not gain your powers, so finding a way to keep your feet on the ground with magic should be your first step. Beware though, defeated sprites will spin in a circle and fall over, and everything they've eaten will spill out onto the ground... so you're going to have to clean it up yourself.

---

B ⦿ Slightly Shabby
The state of Camelot isn't exactly great when everyone arrives. It's been ravaged by siege. Things are broken, scattered, and though many of the buildings are still standing, most people are focused on things like taking care of kids, rebuilding, or rerouting the new arrivals since the inn is not available right now. The castle rooms are already pretty full of people whose homes got trampled during the siege, so new arrivals are going to have to find their own place to live. Thankfully, some tag-alongs who came down from Nicnevin with the Elphame traders have got the solution! It's the Wink-Wonk Dream-Donk: a ball you can press the button on and it will suck you inside for a state of stasis! Good dreams guaranteed! Side effects that the mystery helper doesn't mention are that you can't get out on your own, someone else has to press the button, and you'll have warm, vaguely submissive, fuzzy,
kinda clingy feelings toward anyone who lets you out. Though acting on it can be fought with strong enough willpower, it's certainly going to get you and a stranger much closer than you planned a lot faster. It looks like you may have gotten caught up in some kind of dark web experimental product... oops.

---

The start of the month begins with the usual March rituals like the Lesser Banishing of Frost Fairies before flowers start to bloom throughout Avalon. Once things start to get cleaned up, some Camelot citizens think of ways to get Camelot back to its normal glory.

A ⦿ Running of the Moon Rabbits
Doing the Lesser Banishing of Frost Fairies often attracts Moon Rabbit kits. These friendly small rabbits do eat a lot though, and it's important right now that the youngin's are nourished without depleting Camelot's food stores.  Thankfully, the Moon Rabbit Kits love to play tag. So throughout Camelot, people have started playing a massive game of tag. The rabbits will chase you around, so the goal is to chase people and head out toward the Broceliande to get the Moon Rabbit kits out to nature where they're intended to be. Per Camelot rules, if you're touched by someone's magic it is considered as being tagged-- so hands or spells will count as a tag.. just be careful, magic is a little unbalanced right now! Be careful not to step on any of the little rabbits while you run!

---

B ⦿ Eggxacting
	With the streets clearer and Camelot finally starting to look more like its former self (albeit a little sparser) a culinary wizard has taken to trying his hand at a kind of magic that should help to quickly decorate the city and encourage floral growth. Using a wild combination of animal magic and green magic, the wizard created a special brand of eggs he's calling Oeufs de fleurs. He's selling them for a low price (hey, he does need to bring in some income to afford his expenses) for everyone and new arrivals get half a dozen OdF eggs for free! Just make sure that you follow the directions and there won't be a problem! The directions included with each pack of eggs states: 1. Blue eggs should only be thrown at night. 2. White eggs should only be thrown at day. 3. Do not eat them. More information is available on the chef's Instagram page, of course, but that's all that's included. The further information lets you know that blue eggs are
photosensitive and will turn into bear firs if thrown during the day, but if used correctly will blossom into moonflowers at night. The white eggs react to the moon and will grow into 60 foot tall trees if you throw them at night... but if you're throwing them during the day, they will become beautiful morning glories that only blossom during the light. Lastly, foolishly eating a flower egg is known to result in latent hanahaki disease. If you don't love someone now, this may appear at any point in the future when it does happen. It can only be cured by a skilled green mage. These eggs do expire, so make sure you use them by the end of the month!

---

• 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

i feel like SOMEONE has to apologize for him

[bardicdisaster]

[Rapunzel, no.]

[He says nothing that would remind her that he would have no way of knowing about any such desire to meet a bard, as he has no intention of making her feel foolish. Especially when he spots how flustered she is by the end of their introduction to one another. In her own way, Rapunzel is naturally just as charming and Jaskier has no trouble allowing himself to be equally as charmed even if he does not appear quite as giddy.]

Oh, you are too kind, [he says with a smile and hand coming to rest at his chest for a brief moment.] I would be most grateful on both counts and indebted to you for the latter, Rapunzel. I've managed to figure out a good deal about those little devices on my own, but we still deal in coin where I'm from.

[That sort of technology doesn't exist anywhere on the Continent, but Jaskier has always been a quick study once he puts his mind to it. So, working through the basics didn't take particularly long. The time spent in the caravan from the lake was enough to get him at least acquainted with most of what it could do. In fact, he has a small inkling he's already worked out the money system here as well. But he'd honestly rather be absolutely certain he's worked it out and receive a potentially redundant lesson from someone who has been here long enough to know over the other consequence of being potentially swindled.]

I hope you won't think it rude of me to ask, but I am curious just how long it is you've been here.

[closecut]

[ Rapunzel yes ]

Of course! I'm happy to help. I was lucky enough to meet someone when I got here to help me learn the ropes. It only seems fair to pay it forward, right?

[ But it sounds like Jaskier comes from a world not too dissimilar from hers or Zen's, and that's kind of exciting. She wonders what he thinks of all of this technology and how he'll find life in the city. She listens attentively as he speaks, then nods with a smile and opens her app in preparation to give him a run down. Maybe a demonstration would be a good idea, too. ]

Me? Oh-

[ Her eyes are still on the screen as she thinks about the answer, by now more accustomed to tapping and swiping away at the screen. ]

Of course I don't mind. It's been... nearly fouuuur months now, I think...? Where I come from we still use coins too. I mean, I think we do.

[bardicdisaster]

[Four months isn't a terribly long time in the grand scheme of life, but it must certainly feel like quite a length of time to be separated from everyone one's ever known. He doesn't ask any further as far as that part's concerned though as that seems it could accidentally give her an acute sense of homesickness and she most certainly does not deserve that kind of heartache.]

[But it does catch his attention the way she ends that statement about money in her world. It's not something he would assume anyone to say. Even people who are terrible with their coin know the worth of it. Jaskier cocks his head slightly to one side before he asks,]

You think you do?

[Some might ask that question with a bit of derision or mockery, but Jaskier approaches odd with genuine curiosity rather than disdain. Was there some sort of upheaval in her world that hadn't yet been determined? An advancement to technology similar to this? Or was it something altogether? Either way, Rapunzel just keeps finding ways to make herself more interesting.]

[closecut]

Oh, yeah, well... I've... kind of lived in a tower my whole life-- a very nice tower, though! Not like a prison.

[ Except for the part where it was missing a door.

If he just knew the truth, that aside from a little bit of missing her mother, and mostly disappointment about having to wait to see the floating lights, honestly there's not too much homesickness to be found. She carries herself with the sort of energy someone experiencing life for the first time does, as exhausting as that might seem to others to still be maintaining after four months out in the world. ]

I was on my way to the city of Corona, but I showed up here before we'd even made it halfway, so I'm actually not sure if they still use coins, like I've read.

[ She looks a little embarrassed through no fault of his. ]

[bardicdisaster]

[The embarrassment is understandable even if Jaskier would disagree that she should feel it. (She may be a bit on the older side in terms of her level of experience with the world, but who cares? Everyone moves at their own pace and it sounds as though she was under extraordinary circumstances.) When one doesn't have much direct experience in the world, it's hard not to feel as though you are lacking in some manner. And anytime someone feels as though they are lacking, embarrassment is bound to make its appearance eventually whether it comes out a little sheepish like her or blustering as it might for another.]

[But if he wasn't already curious, he absolutely is now. Jaskier trusts her in that the tower wasn't a terrible place to live. She seems to be in good health after all, and four months would not be able to undo rotting away in even some of the nicer cells Jaskier managed to get himself tossed into in his youth.]

What was it like then? The first time you left your tower?

[Any sense of decorum or treading carefully has been completely tossed aside. Unlike before with his idle curiosity in knowing more about her, Jaskier's hunger for inspiration has been stirred and that is far greater than any gold she might pass along to him. Gods, he wished he had something to write with to take notes and be forming the beginnings of verses for what is obviously an interesting and unique story. While he could technically make do with his own phone, typing feels unnatural to his creative process and he would rather not disrupt it and risk the muses slipping from him right now.]

[He supplants the need to write words by sliding his lute back around from his back to in front of himself. If he can find the right melody, it will be easier once he has paper in front of him to recall all the details. He just has to find the right sound for her. His fingers already start moving, experimenting with the sound.]

Spare no detail, if you wouldn't mind.

[At least his manners somewhat return for the moment now that his hands are occupied.]

1/2 - This is cheesy and I'm sorry. LOL

[closecut]

[ That he doesn't call any particular attention to it helps the feeling to remain a fleeting one, and the question and his actions that follow are more than enough to distract her from it besides. The memories may be four months old by now but for someone like her (Or perhaps for people like them?) they're as vivid as if it were day one. She'd dreamed about those first sensations for nearly two whole decades, after all, and the reality was at least as fantastic as she'd hoped. Her heart begins to pound just remembering it, and as curious and riddled with anticipation as she is about what he might do with that instrument in his hands her eyes do finally draw away from Jaskier and his lute to close, and it's very obvious she's reliving the experience.

Just smell the grass, the dirt! Just like I dreamed they'd be!
Just feel that summer breeze, the way it's calling me!
For like the first time ever I'm completely free! ]

It was... everything I always imagined. It was bright, and fresh, and open, and exciting, and completely terrifying!

[ Wait what? Why is she smiling like that, with that look of wonder on her face? Oh- and now she's moving, walking a few paces away and giving an excited spin, hood falling loose to show a flicker of green and a shimmer of wings as a hummingbird zips free and a tiny chameleon squeals excitedly from her shoulder. ]

It felt like I could've started running and just- never stopped!

2/2

[closecut]

I could finally see the sky for what it was, and not just out of my window! I never realized just how big it was- and bright.

[ The hummingbird is zipping circles around her as she gives another excited twirl, and the normally soft hum of its wings is somehow loud enough that even at a bit of distance it could be heard, taking on a musical quality as she seems to feed off of Rapunzel's excitement, flashing, shimmering, iridescent colors.

Rapunzel, meanwhile, has stopped her spin (two cycles was enough, more than that and she might actually get dizzy) even though her excitement hasn't really subsided. There's an energetic flush to her face, making all the little freckles around her nose more pronounced for a little while. ]

Oh! And I wish you could've seen the flowers...! There was an entire hill and field full of them, like a blanket of sunshine. I could've laid there all day but there was so much more to see and do. Like-

[ And if he lets her go on Rapunzel will give him a fun but full run down, because lord can this girl talk. This may be his only chance to ask her to slow down if he needs it. ]

nooo raps is so wholesome ;w;

[bardicdisaster]

[While Jaskier is typically deprived the moment attention isn't on him, he doesn't actually particularly mind that Rapunzel slips away from him and into her own world. If it brings her back closer to that experience and pulls for more details and information, he's more than happy with that. He is a little surprised at the emergence of some smaller critters from beneath her hood as she begins to move about, and that causes his hands to still a moment. But Jaskier is quick to regroup, assuming one to be her familiar and the other to be a pet.]

[He doesn't interrupt though. Even with as frenetic and almost manic she's being in her storytelling at times, moving from one thing to the next as it occurs to her, Jaskier doesn't ask for any clarifications or for her to slow down. This is, in essence, what he asked for. And if he has any hope of capturing what it is like to look at the world for the first time with such hope and enthusiasm, well, he has to witness it first. And, honestly? He's a little happy for her, too. Even if the world had been (and probably continues to be at times) an overwhelming and scary place, Rapunzel clearly had the courage to take it on. No matter the anxiety, she didn't let that stand between her and her newfound, unbridled freedom to go and do as she pleased.]

[Naturally, they draw a bit of attention, and those that pause a moment to watch to see what all the commotion is about couldn't really be faulted for thinking it was some form of performance. Jaskier's improvisations as he follows her thoughts and reactions seem to be just as natural as the pace and amount that Rapunzel speaks. Somewhere in there and along the way, he thinks he finds it—the sound that reflects the way she sees the world—even though he keeps playing, keeps changing the melody in little ways as she talks.]

[And what a fascinating perspective it is.]

Well I'm glad you liked it!

[closecut]

[ Welp. There it is. That's how it happens. Jaskier doesn't see fit to stop her or interrupt, and Rapunzel is happy to recount all the things she'd gotten up to in that first... hour or so of freedom, like circling around the trunk of the biggest tree she could find, the way that the leaves scattered and fluttered around through the air like flower petals, rolling around in fresh grass and-- ... Is he sure this isn't too much detail?

She remains largely oblivious to the attention they're gathering, clearly lost in the sharing, because hey- up till now Zen's the only person who's allowed or encouraged her to chatter away and lay it all bare like this. The melody that's taking shape on Jaskier's lute definitely encourages her though-- she might've started sing-songing in places like describing her encounter with the ruffians ("I mean, at first I was sure they were gonna kill us, but you know, they turned out to be perfectly reasonable and relateable once we started talking and singing."). She's absolutely going to ask about it when her head comes back down out of the clouds. ]

I mean, I'd spent my whole life just doing what I was told and wondering what was out there. I don't think I can really put it into words how it felt to finally be free...! Like, like-- suddenly being completely weightless, and the sky is the limit!

[ She finishes with her arms stretched out and up (basket hanging off her shoulder in the process) before letting them fall back down to her sides again-- catching the basket in the crook of her elbow and taking a deep breath. ]

Sorry...! [ The laugh is breathless and sheepish, self-consciously tucking some hair back behind her ear. ] It was a really busy day...! Was that too much?

[bardicdisaster]

[Her laughter is infectious as Jaskier's fiddling around with his lute comes to an end for now. Really, even he almost feels like she deserves a round of applause after all that and keeping the energy up for so long. But he refrains, merely slinging his lute back into its place on his back.]

Not at all! The perfect amount. I'm so glad you had such a wonderful first day.

[And not just for the selfish reason that this will serve as an excellent song, but that she genuinely got to experience life, truly experience it, for the first time in such a wonderful and varied way. No part of it to him was dull, not even the bits about running around a tree. And with the right words, he's certain he can capture that same excitement for others to feel, too.]