TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 7

[avalonmods]

✨ Greet new players on the OOC intro while apps are processed HERE! ✨

{ QUICK NAV } Premise ⚔️️ Rules ⚔️️ FAQ ⚔️️ Taken ⚔️️ Reserves ⚔️️ Apply ⚔️️ Locations ⚔️️ Bestiary ⚔️️ Top-Levels Only ⚔️️ 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. *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 special ear buds (the supplier was out of the regular ones) 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 nip bottles. 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. After the new arrivals come in, they'll find that this month they came in on the middle of a rather tumultuous time... people are arguing and debating about a future decision to be made. King Arthur recently tried to negotiate with Celliwig's people to open the doors to Camelot, but they refused, and the people have been left with a decision: 1. attempt long-distance, slow wooing of Queen Elphame via the Elphame Traders of the next couple of months, 2. attempt to prove a balanced and deeper understanding of the need for both pure and impure hearts by suggesting an acceptance of trials from Celliwig, or 3. band together under Camelot's flag to invade Celliwig. Celliwig is a place of communication between Elphame and Camelot that bypasses the need for weeks of dangerous, often fatal travel, so the choice is very important in regards to how Camelot both presents itself to the fae people in the future. To that end, people with strong beliefs about particular choices have arranged gatherings to draw people in to hear their perspectives on what the choice should be. A ⦿ Honey Over Vinegar A wide variety of people have sided with this group, including the Elphame Traders, as cutting Celliwig off from them would mean a much harder journey each month to the city of Camelot. (Though commerce always does find a way.) This group is hosting a Tree-Picking Tournament! Of course, the trees to be picked are out in the farmlands, and members of the lobbying group will be giving people free one-use Farm Totems to get to the tournament. The trees in this grove are a little different than normal trees, however. For one, they don't bear fruit. This is Camelot's cookie orchard, composed of special fairy tree hybrids that grow a variety of sweet treats on their branches instead of fruits. There are your usual chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies, but also little puff-like wedding cookies on bushes or checkboard cookies blossoming out of stems instead of flowers. There are even some trees that have clusters of miniature French macarons! The best part, at the end when you turn in your cookies for the count and get your participation prize (and bonus pamphlet about how slow and steady wins the race), you can totally keep and eat them, so be careful not to drop them! How you get them down from the tree is up to you, of course. Try some magic, or maybe just some regular old tree-shaking will do the trick.. just be careful you don't accidentally knock down any wasp nests. Those stings will hurt bad! B ⦿ A Balanced Approach The party of people who want to try to woo Celliwig over to smooth things over see this little political gathering with cookie-based bribery and quickly fashion their own event to make sure the fanfare isn't all for just the one idea. To gather people in to hear their side of the story, this group has decided to host a bug catching contest! Head out into those flower fields between Camelot and the Red Springs that are now thriving thanks to April's plentiful rains. Whether you use a net or figure out how to use your magic to get the bugs, it's how many you catch, not what kinds you catch that count-- so make it fast and make it plentiful! And at the end of the day, what you choose to do with your captured bugs is up to you. Crush them or free them, keep them or eat them, whatever it is you want to do... ultimately, all moral choices are valid, right? So let's go along with what Celliwig wants! Don't forget that May is the season of the frog, however, and you'll be in competition with a variety of sentient and wise members of the Frog Tribe, a group of bipedal frogs who live in the southernmost part of the lake and come up to the flowerfields to stick their tongues out for some delicious bug treats. They have no problem sticking their tongues right into your captured bug nest, hopping on heads to steal your catches, and do all kinds of crazy interferences like snipping belts and tonguing ankles to trip people. You may want someone to watch your back for this event, lest you get done in by a hopper. C ⦿ A Show of Strength The more war-hungry citizens of Camelot seek to go to war. This whole issue will be over if Celliwig itself isn't the one in charge of communication and it's just made directly between Elphame and Camelot, rather than having a mediator who refuses to mediate. They believe that a show of strength is the only way to solve this problem, and as such, they'll be demonstrating that the greatest rewards come from strength by organizing an expedition to a cave at the base of the Ash Mountains. Taking a path squarely between the Dusklight Woods and the edge of the Lands of Rot to the base of the Ash Mountains, this expedition will lead into a cave known as the Giant Cave. It's a pretty on-the-nose name, since it really is a big cave. One of the cool things about this cave is that it's filled with geodes. Those who have enough strength can use provided pickaxes and drills to dig up their own crystals and gold, both great for jewelry and enchanting. In particular, there is a large amount of: • Rose quartz: dark mages can make their love spells much more powerful and healers can use this to enhance spells that soothe anxieties and self-doubt • Amethyst: siphoners increase the potency of counter-curses and light mages will find this stone makes their hard light shields stronger than ever • Agate: strengthen cognitive abilities like post-cognition for a clearer picture of what happened by enhancing perception, and death mages will find they're able to extend their possession times by about 30 minutes by using an agate to stablize their aura • Moonstones: will increase navigation as a traveler's protection for kinetic users-- no longer will you risk tripping over a rock while going at enhanced speeds, or can be traded to fairies to potentially bring down a steep price to something more reasonable • Black tourmaline: a crystal that shields from opposition/negativity-- for technomancers and elementalists, this means that technology is more likely to side with them over another technomancer, or elementalists will find that when using opposing elements, theirs will come out stronger-- like water vs fire, electric vs rock, etc. • Hematite: can soothe blood, leaving it a good tool to enhance animal and blood magic-- animals may trust you more readily by having a calming effect on them, and blood mages may find that they heal more readily after using their abilities • Boji stone: alchemists will find that this is a good stabilizer for for particularly volatile potion combinations, and the properties of this stone leaves green mages to sense new types of plants they haven't yet encountered in passing, even if they're not looking at them It's not particularly a contest in this case-- you can keep and use what you want, and this show of strength has given you more power than ever, so why not consider the same concept for how to deal with our unneighborly neighbors in Celliwig? It may be sweaty business, but surely hitting some rocks will show you the value of strength! With the surprisingly tame day in the Giant Cave, one would think that the Ash Mountains were something of a safe place. No one really bothered the travelers, but that's because no one had been home at the time. as it turns out, the Giant Cave is home to a giant... douchebag of a minotaur. Not a giant, despite the name. His name is Simon and he doesn't like to share, and now that a bunch of people have gone and taken his rocks (he didn't even know there were crystals inside, nor does he do anything with them). Now he has to take his revenge, regardless of not knowing who actually took the crystals that were never really his to begin with, they just happened to be in rocks near where he sleeps. A ⦿ A Stone's Throw from Revenge The minotaur is a very instinctive creature, and his instincts say that the people of Camelot, the nearest settlement, are the ones who need to be punished for this. He uses his superhuman strength to drag huge rocks and boulders all the way to the north-east edge of Camelot, seemingly for no reason, until he's got practically a wall built. At which point he starts picking them up, spinning, and then vaulting the rocks into Camelot's buildings. You may find yourself inside of one of those buildings and scrambling to check if everyone and yourself is okay, or perhaps you're rushing out to stop the minotaur from throwing another. Either way, it's a sudden attack and you're going to have to act fast. Trying to attack the minotaur will be difficult, since it has superhman strength and durability, sharp horns atop its head, and can smell you coming from a mile away. Get creative, and stop the minotaur before it's too late! B ⦿ There's Safety in Numbers Once the minotaur's attacks stop, it flees to recover its wounds, promising it will come back to destroy Camelot once and for all. It's a time for reprieve and to help clean up the damage. Use your magic to help clean up broken buildings and structures, or heal and help others who were injured in the sudden, mostly unprovoked attack. Many of the uninjured citizens will be going around town and providing drinks, towels, and cups of noodles to those who are helping out. Because of the impending threat of the minotaur's return, it's recommended that otherworlder's use the (Recipe) Buddy System spell. The way they explain it, it's a spell designed to alert your buddy if you're in danger and lasts about an hour. The way it actually works is you must be touching your buddy in any way at all times for the next hour. Unfortunately, it seems like the volunteers sharing the recipe may have missed that it was created in a kindergarten class, not for adults. C ⦿ Gross Thankfully, the Buddy System wears off before the Minotaur is back for round two. When the Minotaur returns, the castle has since gathered forces to the edge of town to defend it from another attack. It's unclear where the Minotaur went to get healed, but whoever he went to apparently had some advice, however, and the instinctive minotaur gave into a different instinct for part two of his revenge. Rather than go right back to his pile of rocks, he instead travels the day to get to the southernmost part of Camelot and barrels into town unopposed, as most of the troupes are where they had thought he would come from again. After all, minotaurs are not known to be big thinkers. Instead of violently destroying this time, however, the minotaur instead heads straight to lowertown's well-- and takes a pee in it. It turns out, not only does he have a giant-- ahem, but he is a giant dick as well. Now the entire lowertown has to be evacuated due to contaminated water up to other areas of Camelot. Many people who live there are relocated to live in extra castle rooms. After all, Minotaur Urine is known to be incredibly potent and stinky. Mages who are able to handle the smell are asked to come help perform a ritual of water purification for the lowertown's water system. This ritual involves multiple groups of people performing synchronic magic, a magic type that requires you to be in perfect sync with your partner. Draw a special ritual circle with four candles at equidistant points. Chant a spell in sync with your partner, and blow a special powder made of ground jasper, charcoal, and rosemary into the center of the circle. It will be drawn into the candles' flames and with enough people doing this, all impurities will be removed from the lowertown's water and dissipate into the atmosphere. KEY POINTS 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. There is a vote pending for Camelot and each side of the issue is trying to engage otherworlders to their side of the vote. The slow/steady approach is hosting a cookie harvesting tournament from a grove of cookie trees, the middleground group is hosting a bug-catching contest, and the group that wants war is hosting a mining expedition. The mining expedition aggros an asshole of a minotaur, who throws rocks at Camelot. Driven away, the townspeople try to help by distributing a spell called "Buddy System" which binds two people together, not realizing it was intended for kindergarteners. (Oops.) The minotaur returns and pees in the lowertown's water, so a ritual of water purification must be performed because it's gross and stinky. The minotaur is still at large. **** The above key points are a new feature we're going to start including on TDMs and Events. Since it's new, the format is still fluid, so please let us know if you have any feedback for this section here. It should just include brief summaries of each prompt to make parsing information easier and more accessible. The original prompts should still be read and referred to for complete information and details. **** 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. • A poll will go up a little later this week regarding the mentioned voting, which should be answered ICly by each character you play. The poll will remain open through the 15th so that newly accepted characters may also vote if they choose to. •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.

Comments

Masamune Date | Ikemen Sengoku | Kinetic + Animal

[onecupdrunk]

Soaking in your Arrival

For all that he was for spotaneity, he didn't appreciate getting dumped into a cold lake out of no where. A loud gasp for air sounds as he breaks the surface, but it doesn't take long for a jellyfish to appear under him and to lift him for the surface. It left the man surprised, and he looked down at it before laughing, shaking his head. What sort of strange hallucination had he woken up in? Maybe there was something wrong with the sake Mitsuhide had slipped him this time. It wasn't making him tired like it normally did, at least.

Still, it was about then that he noticed the little white tiger next to him, seeming to be little more than a wisp in the sun to the point where he wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light. If it was, it was a neat trick, and it made him wonder if Shougetsu would look similar when he grew up. He didn't have time to wonder for long though, as once he was close enough to the shore he left the water and began to look around. There were others like him, and while he wanted to run up and ask questions there was something else he had to take care of first.

He took off his eye patch then, allowing the trapped water to flow away freely as he wrung it out. Underneath that patch was a sword scar on his right eye, and he began to look around again -- this time, for staring. As much as he told himself it didn't bother him anymore, he knew it couldn't be pleasant to look at. And he didn't exactly want someone to lose their lunch over him.

The Red Spring

At least there was one thing that was normal there, and he couldn't help relaxing alongside his little familiar and a large cat... Wait, that wasn't a cat, that was a tiger cub! Said cub seemed to be more curious and restless than the other two, to the point of running around the edge of the water to explore. Masamune grinned as he saw him disappearing on the other side of the steam, confident he'd be able to get Shougetsu back later if need be.

Just how would the other patrons of the hot spring take to a wild tiger cub running around, though?

Honey over Vinegar

"Well, would you look at that."

Masamune couldn't help a mischievous grin at the sight. While he had heard about the trees and flowers producing baked confections, it was another thing to see it in person. Masamune sampled one and picked others, knowing that these were supposed to be used for peace talk meals. It had him wondering if sweets would be enough, and just like that he was thinking of what he could make for such an occasion. He'd have to find good meat and vegetables though, and this orchard wasn't exactly an ideal source for those.

But, he grinned as one more thought came to mind.

"Hideyoshi would lose it if Nobunaga found this place," He murmured to himself, amused at the thought and at once missing his friends and allies. He'd have to find a way back to Azuchi as soon as possible, then Oshu after that. But he could at least trust Kojuro to take care of things in his absence...

Ah, that made him itch all the more to get back though! He'd have his own wild tales to tell when he returned, and Mai would likely enjoy those at any rate.

Wildcard

Is there another prompt you want to use to interact with Masamune? Please let me know!

[[ OoC: Please be gentle, I still don't have a super strong grip on Masamune's voice right now. Seeing how he's going to fit in the setting first of all. ]]

Red Spring

[konpeito_aji]

"Hello Shougetsu," Nobunaga didn't even look up from his soak in the spring at first. Until it slowly sank in. "Eh?" he looked around, figuring the tiger cub must be someone's familiar, not the shougetsu he actually knew! Besides, Date Masamune was almost definitely going to be the last one to show up, he's always late! Nobunaga tickled under the tiger cub's chin and mused that it definitely seemed like Shougetsu. Not that he had THAT much experience with tiger cubs that he could say for certain he could tell the difference! He just counts the stripes and narrows his eyes. It does seem a little unlikely for a coincidence!

"Masamune you around here somewhere?!" He will tackle and half drown his stupid best friend ally.

[onecupdrunk]

Shougetsu certainly seems to enjoy the attention, chuffing in greeting as he leans into the scritching. Don't stop, Nobunaga!

Masamune, however, straightened a little at the shout of his name. It wasn't exactly someone yelling at him to stop doing whatever he was doing, but it was enough to get his attention -- especially if the owner of that voice was who he thought it was.

"Depends, is Hideyoshi going to yell at me for letting Shougetsu roam loose again?" He shouted back, unable to keep the grin out of his voice. He didn't expect Nobunaga to be here, too!

[konpeito_aji]

"No," Nobunaga laughed, and picked up the tiger cub with both hands holding him high above his head so the paws couldn't scratch his face, and just plays with Shougetsu cheerfully.

"You're late, but somehow or another he's even later? Maybe it's so he and Ieyasu can keep governing."

He set the tiger cub back on the edge of the water and beamed at Masamune. He wanted to tell him he missed him! About all the worlds' sweets he's sampled! About meeting another version of Kitsuno! About the frustration of starting over from relative scratch, but also excitement of it! ABOUT THE TIME HE GOT SHRUNK TO THE SIZE OF MASAMUNE'S EYEPATCH!!!! But he doesn't know where to begin!

"How much of this world have you taken in so far? Oh! Do you have another familiar?" Shougetsu was from their own world, so Nobunaga was fairly certain the other world's pets like his Haguro, Mitsuhide's Chimaki, and Kitsuno's Mitsu were additional to the familiars who had to be native to this world, and took on forms to fit to helping their bonded.

He still has a billion things to impart. The social media communicators, the cafes, the CAFES!!! -- Something obvious first. "Mitsuhide is in this world. But there can be multiple versions of us. He's the one we both know, but a lot of timelines believe he set the fires at Honno-Ji and killed me. If Hideyoshi does show up..." Nobunaga just gestured with a hand! Needless to say, they would need to keep Hideyoshi from trying to prevent that alternate timeline or exacting bizarro world revenge or something.

"Come sit!" he gestured next to him, ordering without really thinking about it. Second nature.

[onecupdrunk]

"I'd be surprised if they didn't have a search party out for you. Hideyoshi's reliable like that."

Without further prompting he sat down next to Nobunaga, grinning as if he were speaking with an old friend rather than his superior as he answered, "Yeah, I need to name him. He's a tiger like Shougetsu, though. And yours?"

A beat, and he couldn't help barking a laugh, "It wouldn't surprise me if Mitsuhide started rumors like that himself. Does this have anything to do with that time traveling 500 years from the future business Mai was on about?"

[konpeito_aji]

"He won't know I'm gone," Nobunaga smiled. "Yes. It's called wormholes. It makes time and distance... strange like that. Many people are from the future, several centuries to the future! But other people are even just from other worlds!"

Nobunaga relaxed the second Masamune was next to him. He hated to admit it, but the one-eyed dragon was a little easier to relax around than the others. Hideyoshi and Mitsuhide knew Nobunaga since his childhood. And Hideyoshi seemed incapable of truly 100% moving beyond the reverence he held for Nobunaga such that it always forced him to take a protective role of the fussy best friend so Hideyoshi didn't do something stupid like die trying to save Nobunaga. And Mitsuhide, even if Nobunaga did trust him 100%, they still had different personalities and ways of seeing the world that it caused conflicts sometimes, especially since Nobunaga always got riled up and competitive. Ieyasu and Nobunaga's relationship was always going to be complicated with how Nobuhide (Nobunaga's father!) had kidnapped Ieyasu at six years old, held him hostage for a few years and traded him as a spy. Nobunaga might value Ieyasu as irreplaceable, and the only person he would trust the economics and governance of Japan to (Hideyoshi the army!) but it was still enormously complicated.

Masamune, on the other hand, had just the right amount of irreverence, willing to keep Nobunaga on his toes, say and do what he wanted, respecting Nobunaga's more equal vision without the castes rigid traditional roles, and the right amount of chill that Nobunaga always seriously lacked on his own!

"I named my oni Kimon. He has a permanently blood-soaked club and everything. But Kitsuno stopped our duel to see who was stronger, and we haven't tried it again since." Hmmmm a good name for another tiger. "Hokkaido. Maybe Choshoku," (means breakfast!)

"It isn't just the wormholes in our time, which is how Mai arrived in Honno-Ji. It is alternate worlds. Alternate versions of ourselves, even. That's how it is with Kitsuno. She's not the woman who died," Woman. Lover. Practically the keeper of his emotions. "But rather a kitsune princess betrothed to a magical version of the Demon King." Nobunaga just sort of... face palmed. "It's a headache," he admitted blandly. "Not everyone's even from Earth. There are other worlds with different continents. Sometimes not everyone is human no matter how they look, like Kitsuno. Annnnd anyone Japanese after our time seems to know our names. Usually it's fantastic! But I just got a bit of a slap in the face earlier when someone knew about the Kitsuno of my past." He shakes his head irritably.

But then he perks up and beams at Masamune. "There's one fighting chef you have to meet! The future is a lot more peaceful almost all the timelines, so he doesn't fight to kill, but he told me about mochi ice cream! They make things with freezers, colder than ice, and it's a whole cooking technique unto itself."

[onecupdrunk]

Now Nobunaga had his attention. He was listening with keen interest, People from other worlds, and apparently Nobunaga was supposed to be dead in some of these timelines? It sounded complicated, but also like a lot of fun. Maybe it'd be something he could screw around with, but what was really important was

"Damn... That just makes me wonder what kinds of ghosts I'll end up seeing, and how many I'll have to cut to pieces again," Masamune said it with the slightly manic tone he was known for, but it was followed up with, "But there's methods for making food colder than ice? Sounds like I'll have to get in touch with this fighting chef sooner rather than later. I'm guessing ice cream is some kind of Nanban invention? Or was it from elsewhere?"

Red Springs!

[originaldragoon]

When Rose arrived last month, the spring was closed due to rain. Now that the weeks of rain seemed to be finally over she had decided to check out the spring at least once. So here she was, relaxing in the spring and away from the other patrons, just minding her own business. Her phoenix familiar perched on a rock nearby.

Her eyes were closed as she sighed contently, not noticing the bundle of energy coming her way. By the time she did notice, it was too late. Something pounced her.

"What in Soa's name!?" She managed to get the furry cat thing with sharp claws off of her and hold it out at arms length before she got too scratched up.

[onecupdrunk]

Shougetsu meowed quite loudly then, squirming a little in Rose's grip as he playfully batted at her. He wanted to keep playing, he couldn't do that while he was held in the air!

That got his attention, and he prepared himself to get chewed out as he stood and waded through the water towards the source of the noise. That was when he saw the (quite frankly gorgeous) woman there, and he couldn't help a rather wolfish grin as he approached.

"Is Shougetsu getting into mischief again? Didn't mean for him to disturb your bath."

[originaldragoon]

Oh come on, Shougestu! Don't give her that face! Rose has a weakness for cute animals, even when she's unfamiliar with what the cute animal is. She almost wanted to start cuddling it, but she also didn't want to get anymore scratches.

The sound of water splashing got her attention and she saw the man coming through the steam. Thankfully she was wearing what the locals called a bikini, otherwise she would have a whole other issue on hand.

She arched a brow at him. "Is this yours?"

[onecupdrunk]

Masamune himself was in nothing but a towel, and now that he was really getting an eyeful of what Rose was wearing he let out a low whistle.

"He's mine, but enough about that," Masamune gently took Shougetsu from Rose's arms, holding onto him firmly and petting him to try and calm him down a little, "Is that kind of thing what you normally wear? I've never seen clothing like that before."

Because wearing an outfit specifically for a public bath was the furthest thought from his mind, at least for the time being.

[originaldragoon]

At first Rose was going to protest when he quickly changed the subject. She wanted to know what kind of creature Shougetsu was! It was something that she hadn't seen on Endiness before.

But then she gave him a flat look when it became clear that he was ogling what she was wearing. "No. Normally I wear actual clothes and my armor. This?" She gestured what she was wearing. "Is a type of swim suit that one wears to go swimming in. Did you honestly think I would go around half naked?"

[onecupdrunk]

Well, it changed his nearly-predatory look to a confused one, as if Rose had said something incredibly strange. Which, to him, she had.

"Yeah? Isn't that how you normally enjoy a hot spring?"

What a strange woman... He had to wonder if she was unusually modest or something. Or maybe this was one of those 'modern' things Nobunaga had told him about earlier. Who knew.

Honey over Vinegar

[damn_kitsune]

After Mitsuhide had information on where Nobunaga was most likely getting into trouble. He had his little white fox and his white and black kitsune familiar acting as trackers.

As he went through the trees of the orchard, he was surprise to find, not the Demon King, but a One Eyed Dragon instead. Just in time to over hear that last comment.

Mitsuhide chuckled as he approached the other warlord. "Hideyoshi would no doubt die of stress if he were here. I can barely keep track of our lord as is."

[onecupdrunk]

"So you really are here," Masamune couldn't keep himself from grinning more widely, genuinely happy to see Mitsuhide then and there, "He's probably wondering where we all are now. And he'll yell about me being late to whatever's going on again, too."

He paused for a moment, reaching to gently scratch behind the ears of his tiger familiar (who leaned into the touch with a soft, pleased rumble) before he asked, "You got one of these guys too? This place brought him to me, along with Shougetsu."

[damn_kitsune]

"Indeed I am," Mitsuhide replied with his own smile. "I take then that you have already ran into Nobunaga?" That could mean that he was nearby. Most likely stuffing himself silly.

He gave a bit of a chuckle though. "Ah, we don't need to worry about Hideyoshi while we're here. From my understanding, time has stopped in our world. When we do return, it will be like we have never left." It was actually a huge convenience. "You'll have plenty of time to be late for the next war council when we get back." Of course he had to put in that little jab.

At the mention of the familiars, he looked down at the fox and kitsune at his feet. "Yes. Chimaki was brought here with me, and Sake is apparently my familiar. Everyone who comes here is bonded to a familiar."

[onecupdrunk]

"I did, and he had a lot to tell me. Some of which involved something called Mochi Ice Cream, which is apparently colder than ice."

It was only one of many things he'd learned about by that point, but when he started pointing out his familiar Masamune couldn't help a friendly little wave, "Yo. Nice to meet you, Sake. Though it looks like this place took your unofficial title as a kitsune literally."

[damn_kitsune]

"Mochi that is colder than ice? Wouldn't that make the hard as a rock?" He personally preferred his dumplings firm, but not that firm.

Happy yips form the kitsune, his three tails wagging. Mitsuhide chuckled some. "Is it really unofficial if everyone thinks of me as an actual kitsune?"

[onecupdrunk]

"You'd think, but that just makes me want to see it more. If there's a way to make it good, it'd be great for hot days."

As for if it's unofficial...

"That depends, have you learned how to transform yet? I don't see any tails."

Arrival

[dolcedeleche]

[Helllllo Tall, dark and handsome!]

[Ah no...]

[Dolce quickly looks away, a little too aware she's still in a bikini, cold, and now is not the time, but DANG MUSCLES FOR DAYS.]

[She makes a demure noise to announce her presence, hopping a bit closer in the sand.]

This may be a strange question, but are you alive? [... It's a long story.]

[onecupdrunk]

[ Hm? He looks over at the woman, raising a brow at the question. ]

Last time I checked, unless I'm the first ghost to still have both his feet. Then again, I could be a spirit possessing a body. What do you think?

[ He's grinning a little, perhaps with a little too much mischief. ]

I could try to place a curse on you and we could find out that way.

[dolcedeleche]

[She closes her eyes and nods at the first part. It's true, he does seem solid, but Pico was brought back to life, so maybe he is a ghost!]

[Or just a weird person.]

[He seems like a weird person.]

[At the offer of cursing her she opens her eyes.] Can you do that? [Ghosts usually don't!]

[But there's always a first!] What kind of curse? [Just curious, and relieved secretly that they are discussing something she's pretty comfortable with, to be honest!]

[onecupdrunk]

[ That's not the kind of reaction he was expecting. He does have to think about it though, what sort of pretend curse can he try to inflict? ]

Well... What if you're cursed to dance around town on your hands?

[ Really, he wasn't as good at this as Mitsuhide. He'd have to ask for tips later. ]

[dolcedeleche]

[OH NO! THAT WOULD BE A CURSE INDEED!!!!]

Ah... no... please don't.

[She blushes fiercely, and her familiar Marionetta does a handstand and starts dancing around upside down while cackling Kekekeke!]

You're not helping! [Dolce snaps at it irritably!]

[onecupdrunk]

[ Okay he can't help it. He's laughing, shaking his head. ]

I'm joking. I'm alive, really. Cold, but alive.

Unless this is supposed to be some kind of afterlife and I got killed in my sleep, at least.