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

Adela | Original Character | Elemental + Siphon

[enchantressofore]

The Caravan to Camelot

Nehra, she was exhausted. Between the fire, the assailant, and now being soaked to the bone from falling into a lake, she felt ill. Flushed, and resting against the back of the carriage for the moment while ignoring the little winged demon just sitting on her head. Said demon was frowning, but he was quiet and didn't seem to be too intent on bothering her.

The girl (was she a girl? She was small at any rate without much to define her age or gender considering her baggy and wet clothing) was looking around, silent but at least curious. They were in this strange place now, and she still wasn't exactly clear on how or why. Maybe she'd find out, though being this close to so many people was a little too uncomfortable.

The carriage jostled and caused her to bump into the person next to her, and she couldn't help the startled noise she made before shakily speaking, "I-I apologize."

She didn't like this... Not one bit. She couldn't even meet the eye of the person she bumped into, instead taking to looking away and at the scenery for the moment.

Training Grounds

If she was there to learn magic, there was no time like the present. Adela had made her way to the training grounds then, unsure of just what she could do, but wanting to at least make herself useful. Still, the casual mention of magic was... Unsettling.

Still, with so much going on, it was hard not to feel lost. She was stood at the entrance to the training grounds, frowning as she tried to look over everything to figure things out. In truth, she had no idea where to go, what she should have been doing first, or anything like that. Magic seemed to work differently in this place after all, but it was also the aspect at approaching these people that had her rooted to the spot. Maybe it would be for the best if she just watched, for now...?

A Show of Strength

Finally, something she could get into! She arrived at the mine with tools in tow, a smile on her face, and an intent to find something interesting. Even if she didn't find any geodes, certainly there was the opportunity to find some interesting ores there!

It didn't take her long to start trying to split open one of the rocks with her pickaxe, and with a few good strikes the rock split right open, revealing the geode inside. It was then that she crouched down, looking at it closely and completely absorbed in her find. Just what was it? Adela picked up a piece, looking at it more closely and not really paying too much attention to what else might have been happening around her then. Who knew if this was a rock someone else needed or something she could use for herself, it was pretty to look at at the least!

Wildcard

If there's another prompt that you want to interact with Adela for, please let me know!

[[ OoC: Trying this again as I was super late to the last test drive, so it's entirely new interactions from here. ]]

Show of Strength

[konpeito_aji]

Nobunaga faked an over-acted gasp of shock. "SHE SMILES!!!!" He announced far too loudly for the whole cavern to hear!

[enchantressofore]

The sudden shout startled her, and for a brief moment Adela flailed, trying to catch the rock that had jostled out of her hands from her jumping. After catching it she sighed, taking a moment to calm herself before she turned to see what had made that noise.

And the face she made at seeing who had spoken was like she had just eaten something incredibly sour. It didn't take a moment for her to turn back to what she was looking at, though she was definitely frowning instead of smiling.

"Is there something I can help you with?"

[konpeito_aji]

"Ah!" That reaction! WOW!

Nobunaga just does something equally unexpected, and bows apologetically. "Sorry. I was so glad to see you smile, I didn't mean to take it away. Would it help if I give you some distance? You can go back to smiling."

[enchantressofore]

What in the world was he doing?

Adela just stared at him, feeling more and more stiff as he spoke. Oh Nehra, what did she even do with this?

"I-I do not see why my smile would matter to you," She managed to stammer the words out, and she went back to the rock as if it were the most interesting thing in the world and acting as if he hadn't just flustered her, "Look, I... I am grateful for your help from before, truly, just... I do not understand why."

[konpeito_aji]

Oh no, she's being cute!

Uh. Why.

Why?????

"You're all my soldiers here," he answered simply. A beat. "Ah, not that you have to fight if you don't want to, all armies are comprised of more than simply fighters!"

[enchantressofore]

"I am no one's soldier," Adela shook her head, still trying to intently keep her eyes on the geode in front of her (she'd insist that she was trying to identify it if asked) before she spoke, "And it is presumptuous to assume that. Perhaps I am in these lands for now, but I hold alleigance to no one."

Arrival Carriage

[dolcedeleche]

"Don't worry about," Dolce didn't look up from her knitting, not too bothered by the sound, since if anything, she was used to a VERY VERY noisy ghost following her everywhere, and now said ghost was an actual little girl. It's complicated.

Anyway.

"Are you okay?"

[enchantressofore]

"I-I am all right," Adela managed to get the words out, but she just rested against the carriage for the moment and tried not to think too hard. The fact that the other girl had those needles made her nervous, and she couldn't use her magic to protect herself. At least, not in the way she was familiar with, she was apparently supposed to learn more there?

Occasionally she would look back at the other's hands, frowning. She was knitting, apparently, but still... How could the other remain so calm, to be able to knit of all things when they were all in that strange place?

[dolcedeleche]

Dolce put down her knitting slowly, sensing the other's wariness, and her own awkward with people got the better of her. "Want to talk about it?" she offered, fairly nervously herself.

"I'm Dolce."

[enchantressofore]

As far as she was concerned, there was nothing to talk about. Adela couldn't help feeling even more stiff, though she did watch as the other set the large needles aside. She was quiet for several moments, still not raising her head to meet Dolce's eye.

"... Adela. And I would rather not."

She was so tired... She didn't really have the mind to deal with new people, not after what she'd been through. All of it was just... Too much.

As if the weight of whatever was on her mind held her down, she had to raise a hand to cradle her head, as it just felt heavier and heavier as they continued. Could she even stay awake for the whole ride into town? Who knew...

[dolcedeleche]

"Okay."

Dolce usually preferred silence too, and ghosts weren't always the talkative type especially when they were dealing with internal existential crises.

Instead, Dolce picks her knitting back up and goes back to making things. She's calm because she's doing this, actually.

[enchantressofore]

It would have remained a silent carriage ride to town, but unfortunately the irritation in Adela's throat became too much to ignore. She began to cough, trying to clear her lunges of blackened phlegm that had built up by then. The help from earlier had managed to lessen how bad it looked but it still looked... Not great.

When she pulled her hand away she started to try and reach for a handkerchief in her clothing, though that was extremely difficult to do with one hand. Better than to have people questioning her and bothering her about it again, though.

Training Grounds

[forgeabettertomorrow]

It had been awhile since Darin had visited the springs and the training grounds. A nice soak was just what he needed after spending a day in the mines and his forge wasn't properly set up yet.

He wanders out of the baths, towel slung over his shoulders, as he looked out at everyone training. Spying Adela, he makes his way over.

"You look lost. Everything alright?"

[enchantressofore]

"I am all right," It was almost an automatic response by that point, and Adela quickly shook her head before she looked away, mostly trying to find a way out of the conversation nearly immediately, "This is just... Strange. All of it. But I-I will figure it out for myself. Thank you."

That should have been polite enough to get him to leave her alone... Right?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"Lemme guess, you're new, huh. It's a lot to take in. Don't force yourself to adjust all by your lonesome."

Sorry, Adela, but Darin's not the type of person to leave well enough alone.

"Name's Darin. Darin Altway, Master Blacksmith. I've been here for a few months now."

[enchantressofore]

At first, she was going to try and push him away again. But then he said something very interesting.

"You are a Master Blacksmith?"

There was a moment when she wasn't sure if she should have believed him. He barely looked older than her*, and he was supposed to be a master of his -- their craft? But, what overrode that was her own desire to simply know, and there could always be something learned from another master besides her own!

"What sorts of things do you make, if I may ask? And did you achieve your masterwork here, or before arriving? Did your tools arrive here with you as well?"

She may have forgotten that it would have been polite to return his name with her own for the time being, if only because this was actually a completely unexpected development for her. Who knew if she'd get around to it...

[[ OoC: *Noting that I couldn't find anything to indicate ages, unsure if it's because I didn't look in the right places or not so just going off of icon art for now. ]]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[OOC: That's okay! I keep forgetting to put up an info post! He's 24 years old!]

"Yup! Youngest in the guild to ever be granted the title!"

He puffs out his chest proudly as the eager questions pour in. He loves to be appreciated!

"I achieved my title back home but most of my tools made it here with me! As for what I can make? I think the list is shorter if I told you what I can't."

"It sounds like you've got some familiarity with the craft. Do you know the trade too?"

[enchantressofore]

So it wasn't a mistake that he was a master, and when he asked if she knew the trade she nodded, her whole expression brightening as she began to go into detail, "I have been learning since I was a child, and I became a journeyman two years past. I have yet to travel and learn more though, and any knowledge to be gained from another master is nothing to turn away!"

"As for what I can create, there are general metalworks as well as armours, weaponry, and shields, but I think swords will always be a favourite to work on. That said, if what has been told to me of this place is true, there are different styles of all of it from various lands, so there is still much to learn."

Training ground

[picoboo]

Brrrrr, brrrr, brrrrrruuum!!

[A little girl roughly half Adela's size comes zooming around a corner making vehicular noises as she runs. She's remarkably fast, almost as fast as someone actually driving some sort of vehicle which definitely implies her speed isn't normal. She zooms off and around the training grounds doing a lap and making a few people irritated because she comes a little too close and causes a few things to scatter from the wind force around her. Finally she comes zooming back towards Adella looking almost like she's going to collide headlong into the girl.]

Brrrrrr BRRRRRRRR BRRRRRRRRRR!!! EEEEEEESSSSSHHHH!!!!

[She digs her heels into the dirt, sending little specks flying as she does so, but she does manage to slow down before crashing into Adela.]

A successful test flight! The crowd goes wild! Pico! Pico! Now then, master pilot Squeeks? What was our time?

[From beneath Pico's jester hat a small pink squirrel or chipmunk of a thing lifts said hat and seems to chitter something unintelligible to the little girl it's perched upon.]

What?! Only three seconds faster than last time?! How?! Are you sure you're counting right?

[enchantressofore]

What the--

Adela couldn't stop herself from yelping even as she tried to jump out of the way, her hair and cloak whipping around with the gust caused by the other girl. By the time Adela managed to get the cloak off of her face and her hair out of her mouth, she looked a little more worse for wear as she looked at the other. Why... How in the world was the other going so fast?!

It left her dumb-struck, and she was staring a bit. Maybe she should have been a little more angry with nearly getting bowled over, but at the moment she was a little more shocked than anything else.

[picoboo]

"Oh! I'm sorry, I almost didn't see you there!" Pico finally noticed Adela was sort of just staring at her in shock after getting nearly bowled over by the tiny missile of a girl. In Pico's defense she hadn't actually crashed into her, or knocked her off her feet, but it was probably still a little rude not to notice her at all.

"Hey, so how did you like my race engine?! I'm working on getting it and my speed better, but the magic here can be preeeeetty tricky!" Oh, and Pico isn't apologizing for nearly bowling the girl over. Apparently she's more interested in the girl's opinion since she seems stunned silent by her 'debut' of said race engine. At this point, the pink squirrely familiar of Pico's has retreated back beneath her hat, and if one were to place their ear against the hat and listen carefully, they might even hear it snoring.

[enchantressofore]

"I... What? An engine?" The words were so strange to her that she was having a hard time sputtering them out, let alone understanding what Pico was talking to her about, "I..."

After a moment, she tried to shake it off and instead straightened, "I would not know, it was fast but is there a point to moving so quickly?"

[picoboo]

"Yeah, a race engine!" There weren't too many engines in Selphia, most of them belonging to their air-ships, but the Sechs Empire had a ton of them, and Pico had fought some of their war-tanks and other things, and was sort of imitating that with her engine sound effects. The idea of a racing engine seemed pretty cool to her, so she thought it might be a cool name for her speeding around like that.

"BWAHAHAHA!! Don't you see that the point of moving quickly is to move quickly in and of itself?!" She's got her hands on her hips, looking awfully proud of herself for coming up with all of this.

"Let's say Joe-orc wants to smash you into goo? Zoom! He can't touch you because you're too fast! Want to go from point A to point B? ZOOM! You're getting there faster than anybody else and save yourself some time and hassle! What's not to like about going faster?" Especially when you're an impatient little girl with a short attention span.

[enchantressofore]

Was this girl speaking another language? Adela honestly couldn't tell at that point.

"I... See?" She tried, if only to get Pico to stop babbling. She supposed she could see what the appeal of going fast was, but at the same time... Nehra she wasn't sure she could keep up mentally, let alone doing whatever trickery Pico was.