agentleooc | test drive 02

Entry tags:

!modpost,
!tdm

test drive 02

I know dust grows even when there is a breeze
Can't move, can't grow When you've fallen on your knees

► All TDM threads may be considered canon provided both parties agree and are accepted into the game.

► Canon threads may be redeemed for influence and reputation depending on how you solve the issue at hand or how you engage with the prompt. They also count toward AC.

► Feel free to switch up your character's Jewel from thread to thread. Get a feel for how a Birthright Jewel may limit or enhance your character's abilities.

HOT UNDER THE COLLARD GREENS
The relationship between the Blood and the landens has never been easy anywhere, least of all Draega, and even less so now that the Strangers have arrived. Between Blood and landen, opinions on the Strangers vary wildly. Some Blood believe the Strangers were landen in their original worlds and thus cannot possibly have anything to offer, but some landens think this means that the Strangers will be more sympathetic to them—or that landens could gain the power of the Blood one day, too. Then there are the landens who think the Strangers have sold their souls to Queen Fayura to gain the Jewels and the Blood who think the Strangers have embraced what it truly means to be Blood. Whatever that means.

Tensions are high, and they're highest on the main street of the Old Town Bazaar, where two restaurants have an on-going feud. The Last Meal is owned by a Blood family, none of whom wear a Jewel darker than Yellow. Across the street from them stands the mockingly named Blood and Breakfast, owned by a landen family.

To say these two hate each other would be something of an understatement.

On this particular morning, Lord Harle, the Yellow Jeweled owner and chef at The Last Meal, comes storming out of his front door. "You've done it now, Laney Cook! Soured all my milk!"

Simultaneously, Laney Cook, who is the owner and chef at Blood and Breakfast, comes stomping out the front door of her establishment, brandishing a wooden spoon like a sword. "Aye, and you've replaced all my sugar with salt, you ripe old bastard!"

Without missing a beat, both turn to you and the Stranger at your side. Wrong place, wrong time, friend. The two chefs decide the two of you can be trusted to help them prove the other party guilty of sabotage because neither of you has a stake in this. And, well, if the Queen brought you here, you should be an independent party. Both Harle and Cook seem to think the Queen is pretty okay.

Truthfully, they're both equally guilty. Lord Harle and Ms Cook have been trying to ruin each other for years, but who knows what you'll find when you go searching for evidence. And even if you find evidence that decides one way or the other, perhaps you'll simply lie and manufacture a solution that suits you—or the Queen who brought you here.

TERRIBLE TWO(HUNDRED)S
You're not entirely sure how this happened, but you're starting to understand why Blood females constantly grumble about the caste of males they call Warlord Princes. Prince Loren has, somehow, managed to maneuver you to the place you're at now: the head of a classroom full of Blood children who all look like they're somewhere between the ages of eight and ten. It's hard to tell, and you're pretty sure one bossy little boy declared he was 203-years-old, so everyone else has to listen to him, thanks.

Regardless of how Loren managed to get you there, there you stand. Fifteen energetic elementary school children all wearing Jewels shriek and shout, using Craft to amplify already shrill voices. One girl floats near the ceiling, her face screwed up in concentration as she clutches a Rose Jewel. Two little boys are taking turns passing their hands through their desks, which strikes you as distinctly unsafe for eight-year-olds to be doing. (You're not wrong.)

At least there are two of you, and you only need to babysit these children for the morning. "They're here for Craft lessons. Surely, you can manage until Lady Sheera arrives," Loren had said before abandoning you to a battlefield full of powerful, pint-sized children.

There's a lesson plan on the teacher's desk, but maybe you should lead with the snacks.

REVENGE, SERVED STINKY
The air is crisp and cool; it's still winter, but it's not as chilly as it has been, and so you're out for a walk. You've made your way north through Old Town and now find yourself meandering down the roads in front of the landen Guild Halls. Even though they're all made of red brick, each building is entirely unique. The Hunter and Crafter Hall, the largest of all the buildings, has more in common with a hunting lodge than the university building it once was. The Elektriline Hall might be the smallest building, but it's covered in neon lights and impossible to ignore.

Equally impossible to ignore is Master Tinker Mari and her collection of landen young adults. They're clustered around a storm drain. When Mari sees you, she detaches herself from the group of landen students and bounds over to you. "Ahhah! Stranger! You have been brought here against your will and are surely sympathetic to our cause!" she exclaims.

That doesn't make you feel too great since, you know, you're aware that the Hunter Guild tried to kill all the Strangers maybe two or three weeks ago. They may have mellowed out, or they may just be biding their time. Thankfully, none of Mari's students bear the markings of a Hunter.

She pulls you to the group. Already, canisters have been lowered into the sewers. A handful of students have clambered down after the canisters. "The Blood wouldn't help us repair the damage in Old Town," she says, rubbing her hands together. "Our people's homes were unlivable. So we're going to make their workplace unbearable." She points at the canisters. "Stink bombs."

There's another Stranger in the group, and you make eye contact over the top of the storm drain. Are you of the same mind as each other? As Mari? The choice is yours: agree to Mari's plan and fill the buildings of the Ebon Council with untenable stench or try to convince them there's a better way.

AIR TIME
Whether you catch the news on a Far-caster in the city or you're spinning the dial on your own device, you'll hear…

etiquette with evandra and aren
[Evandra's voice is a little bit rough and a little bit husky, the kind of voice that gives bad ideas to young men and headaches to fathers.] Today we're talking about everyone's favorite subject.

[Aren's voice is chipper and bright. He sounds more like an eager boy than the full-grown man he is.] Food?

[A laugh from Evandra.] No, Lord Aren. Sex and flirting. Culturally, the Blood don't consider it rude to flirt quite blatantly with each other, even when one or both of the parties is married. Isn't that right?

[Aren:] That's exactly it, Evandra. Older males allow young witches to flirt because it's understood that the male isn't interested or available. He becomes a safe partner for her to practice on, and his approval lets her know what is and isn't acceptable.

[Evandra:] What does it mean if a married male or witch flirts with you?

[Aren:] Casual flirting means that witch or male thinks you're safe. It's their way of telling you they feel comfortable around you. Of course, it's always acceptable to ask them to step back! [He laughs.] As we all know, just because you can flirt with a Warlord Prince's lady doesn't mean you should!

[Evandra:] Let's take a look at casual flirtation between different Blood castes…

the weather
[A soft-spoken man's voice rumbles out of the Far-caster. He's pleasant to listen to, with a soothing cadence to his voice.] Warmer temperatures will see melting snow over the next week. Be careful around the Heartsblood River, as the heavy snows will result in flooding along the banks. Need flood insurance? The Transport Guild is looking to expand into…

the news
…amusing to hear that Grand Master Niall blames the Blood for the fires in Old Town. It is my understanding that members of the Blood, these so-called Strangers, went out of their way to rescue both Blood and landen during the fires set by the Grand Master's Hunter Guild. [The man speaking has a slow, clipped cadence to his voice. It's very posh and polished.]

[Another voice, presumably an interviewer:] The Council counts the Strangers as Blood, Lord Grejor?

[Grejor:] What else can they be? They wear the Jewels, therefore they are among our number. [He laughs, and the sound is cold.] The Council is pleased to welcome our new brothers and sisters.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

HOT UNDER THE COLLARD GREENS

[ This is not a situation that Calvin ever wants to find himself in. His way of dealing with conflict is to metaphorically roll over and show his belly to the other side, until they decide they're happy with his apology or find him too pathetic to keep being angry at. It works well for him, but it doesn't seem like that's going to work in this case, considering how headstrong both sides seem to be.

It also doesn't help that they ignored any weak protest he made about not being sure if he was the right person for the job, didn't let him pass the buck to the Stranger standing next to him, and have now stormed back into their own respective restaurants telling the two uninvolved newcomers to come inside their restaurant and have a look around.

This is his nightmare. ]

Uh....

AIR TIME

[ Listening to a news program about flirting isn't that embarrassing in and of itself. As weird as it is Calvin is pretty interested in what he's hearing and stops to listen for a bit--

Up until he remembers that he's out in public, and realizes that someone else is there witnessing him listening to this particular broadcast.

The slow flush begins to creep onto his face as he cuts the feed short. ]

No-- I wasn't-- I was just flipping through channels, and-- I mean...

[ He's making this more awkward than it needs to be. ]

I. terrible twos

[Now, Emil likes kids— honest, he does— but there's not a single demographic he can be put in front of a crowd of and expected to remain... composed? At all confident in what he's doing? It's not that he's intimidated by a bunch of children, but he may have already quietly decided the way a few of them are actually waiting expectantly for some kind of Craft lesson means they already hate him and think he's a stupid oaf.

Of course, they are, like, eight, so who's to say they don't think that already? But probably not.

Either way, at least he's not frozen in place, but he is at a complete loss for how to corral a whole room full of loud and rowdy children. He has little cousins, but they're a) only three in number and b) deeply enamored with how Cool their Cousin Emil is, so that experience is no help here.

He leans over, not taking his eyes off one particular child who is boring holes in his skull with her stare, to whisper to you, his partner and savior:]

I think we should let them spend some of this, uh, energy. Can you fake losing a fight?

[His little cousins are especially rowdy, for this to be his first and genuine suggestion—]

II. stink

[Truthfully, Emil is with the rebellious attitude up to a point. He could be madder about being here in this world, but it takes very little to get him indignantly riled up, and so he allows himself to be swept along for the ride, maybe mostly in it for the encouraging comments and the supposed support from these total strangers... He's enjoying being included in this thing, as questionable as it is, because honestly— well.

It seems... fairly harmless, from where he's standing? All they want to do is inconvenience people a little, and for what sounds like a good reason-! He is not very discerning.

But when their method turns out to be literal cans of stink, Emil's expression twists and he tries to swerve out of the group around the drain, only to be tugged back in by one of the landens. Why!!

His fated moment of eye contact is therefore both, ah, desperate, and kind of grossed out.]

This is completely stupid! [As he jerks his arm out of the grip of the young landen, he adds,] Don't grab me, I am not staying to ruin my clothes with this absolute filth you shoved in a bottle!

[And a very abrupt silence falls over the crowd... ah....... please help him.]

III. obligatory wildcard

[hello from this tiny webcomic rp fandom... still, hit me up with anything?! jewel is whatever for tdm but purple from rng]

[A: hot under the collard greens]

[Ren is the type to get lost at the best of times, so if he's supposed to be helping out here, he figures he should probably familiarise himself with the city a bit. His jewel is stowed out of sight for the moment - even if he were the type to wear that sort of thing on his sleeve, he's not in an elevated enough position for it to exactly be a good idea. While he's certainly not counting on that hiding to last, he'd at least prefer it to not be on the table while he's trying to dig himself into the city a little.

The sound of an argument breaks him from his thoughts briefly, and he comes back to attention(...ish, since Ren's not terribly attentive to most things at a glance) to the sight of two storeholders arguing in the middle of the street. It's kind of funny, but he hides that reaction for the moment, especially once the two chefs turn to him and whoever's unlucky enough to have been walking by him and decide they're getting recruited to resolve this spat.

With a somewhat airy smile, he looks over to the other Stranger and speaks in a light, somewhat absent tone.] Oh, I guess they're probably going to keep arguing if we leave...it might be fun to help out, right?

--

[B: revenge served stinky]

[The guild houses are interesting landmarks in this part of the city, and it doesn't take Ren long to gravitate to the area when he needs to find his way back somewhere. He isn't quite expecting to be flagged down by what appears to be one of the guildmasters, though - he's heard about what happened with the Hunter Guild, but this band looks a little wrong to be that kind of group. In that knowledge, Ren does end up wafting over to the storm drain with them to see exactly what's going on.

He's hard-pressed not to laugh a little when he does. It's pretty cliched, true...but it also sounds a lot like the Council deserves it after what happened, and there are far worse ways these people could be choosing to retaliate for that kind of callousness. One hand curled in front of his mouth as if he's thinking, Ren tilts his head innocently towards whoever's eye he's met across the drain.]

Mmm, what do you think? It does sound like they were a little rude to these people...

[He's not well-established enough yet to take the diplomatic option himself, so he's fine with the non-diplomatic option for now. That said, his tone is one of innocence, as if he's concerned about taking even petty revenge like this, even if honestly he'd be doing at least the same thing in their position.]

--

[C: air time - etiquette]

[It's at least cute that this world still has radio shows, and some...apparently rather interesting radio shows at that. Ren stumbles across the lengthy discussion on social flirtation while adjusting his own Far-caster, and it doesn't take him long to hop onto the text function to see how well that works.]

so they were talking on the radio about flirting being important in the society here...is that something i should be practicing...? unless the other strangers haven't been doing that sort of thing

can someone tell me more? i'm confused now :c

[Spoilers: he is mostly going to be trying not to laugh behind the figurative keyboard for this entire conversation, but it's probably fine.]

--

[D: wildcard]

[[Feel free to hit me up for other stuff at

reviseleviathan!]]

[Two incredibly loud people ordering him to do different things? A fellow Stranger who seems willing to play along? This truly is Lalli's Nightmare Scenario™, which is why he huffs out a sigh as he glances over at his apparent partner. Does this sound fun—]

No. This is stupid.

[But with the number of people sticking around to see how this all turns out, running away isn't really an option... and there might just be a bit of free food waiting for him at the end of this, so! After a moment of clear hesitation, he points over to Blood and Breakfast.]

...I'll go there.

[And he's just going to, you know, set right off toward it, because teamwork? What is that? Feel free to tag along...]

[ Lalli? A savior? Wow, but Emil's standards must be really, really low, because while Lalli hasn't run out of the room yet... well. Both hands are clamped firmly over his ears as he watches that floating girl bump right up against the ceiling. Is this hell...

But covering his ears can only do so much. He can still hear Emil's whispered suggestion, and of course it earns him an incredibly sharp look. Boy??]

Mrr.

[Translation: NO, but just in case there's any doubt, he forces himself to spit out a sentence that is both helpful and incredibly mature:]

You do it!

[Okay, okay, don't freak out. Emil gives him a look for his attitude despite being the one who suggested that horrible idea in the first place.]

Lalli— come here, stop doing that.

[Covering his ears, he means. The children can smell fear. He doesn't have a spare coat to drape over Lalli like he's covering a skinny, moody birdcage, but please... Maybe making sure Lalli doesn't completely wig out takes priority over these children. Emil tugs on his sleeves with both hands, not that he has a solution... Lalli can just face the wall in the corner for a while.

Anyway Emil is Not doing Anything that involves strange kids pretending to beat him up with magic.]

Well, we can't leave. They're only children...

A; collard greens aka diana does her Best

[Diana is admittedly still green (haha gET it) when it comes to the intricacies between Blood and landen, but her help has been requested and hera help her she's here to do her best!! Which is why, after a brief moment of observation, Diana gives a single, decisive nod!!]

I understand. I know the best way to solve this.

[and with that reassuring remark, she starts uncoiling the brightly, glowing whip from around her waist.

HM!!!

She pays no heed to the sudden strange looks both store owners are giving her. Diana's the very picture of sincerity!! She's fashioning a lasso out of this whip for... educational purposes!! She adds as an aside, for her very hopefully helpful partner--]

Do not worry. Once I'm done, we shall know the truth.

[Diana sounds proud for having explained nothing!!! but it's fine... IT'S FINE]

B. the childrens

[Diana was curious to see what exactly Loren needed help with, but the sight of all these (chaotic) children in a single place doesn't fill her with what should be the natural reaction... fear.... Instead, she takes a single look around, mouth parted in surprise at seeing SO MANY KIDS!!! in ONE PLACE!!! and THEY CAN ALL DO THINGS?? that normal children shouldn't be able to do? life is grand. She's excited! She's never had to wrangle children of any ages before.

Her gaze settles on the two(hundred) year old who's still shouting, and an idea forms in her head]

You may be two hundred and three, but I am eight hundred years old. [PROUDLY!!!] If authority truly answers to age, then that should make me the rightful leader.

[There's a brief silence as the children survey Diana for what seems to be a colossal lie, before they all erupt into a clamor of questions ranging from HOW ARE U SO OLD?? ARE U REALLY EIGHT HUNDRED!! to WHAT ABOUT THE PERSON WITH YOU!! HOW OLD ARE THEY?? and well, hm. that's a good question. Diana raises her eyes to her temporary partner, waiting expectantly]

[how old are U, friend]

wildcard;

[hit me with an empty toplevel and i'll write up a starter for u if U LIKE!!!]

[ What....is she dOING....

Frederick can't quite stop himself from raising a dubious eyebrow as his assigned partner for the day starts reaching for the weapon at her hip. She looks the picture of grace and justice, but the limits of his trust only reach so far, especially when it comes to strangers. ]

Surely we need not resort to violence so soon, milady?

[ Emmeryn might be dead and buried in the ground but he can still uphold her ideals!! .....As he stands around wearing a suit of full armor with a lance strapped to his back, it's fine. ]

[It's not a full-blown meltdown quite yet, probably because his co-substitute just so happens to be his one friend, but listening to these screaming children is overwhelming! It takes so much effort to resist, like, pulling away and/or ducking under the nearby desk...

But while the hands are staying put for the foreseeable future, he forces himself to take a breath and at least try to be... somewhat helpful. Maybe. Somewhere, surely one or two kids are pointing at him and laughing.]

Send them home! Or— [What do kids even like to do? He doesn't know, so, uh, naturally—] Do something! They're loud.

[Maybe he'll think of a silence spell or something in a second, but until then? This.]

[ Don't look at Haein, he wants no part of this.

Normally his response would be to shoot the two restaurants a disinterested glance, send the other Stranger a look someone might give to something unpleasant they stepped in, and went on his way, but the commotion has drawn the attention of onlookers.

And Haein suddenly finds that he can't just leave without people watching after him. Wow, he really needs to stop getting himself into situations like these. He'd at least passed off most of the responsibility the last time he'd been asked for help to his partner, but the guy next to him looks hopeless. There's no way... that he's going to have take charge this time... right?? ]

Come on.

[ Might as well at least get inside so people stop staring. He chooses a restaurant at random, starting with Blood and Breakfast. ]

[thank god for that fated moment of eye contact because Diana Understands, she understands completely!! Even if she also let herself get swept up in these schemes that doesn't mean she'll just go along with all of this, especially since Emil is shrieking loudly. She won't let Emil be forced into these!! irresponsible schemes!! so, in a clear voice to fill up that abrupt silence--]

I agree. [She gently pries a hand off her as she moves to Emil, positioning herself so that she's in between him and the bags of stink bombs...] Subterfuge is a feasible option, but if your intention is to improve your circumstances, then these schemes will only hurt your cause.

[also how will it help y'all!!!]

The best way would be... [uhhh, Diana flashbacks to her long repertoire of Amazon history to help her out.] To confront them head-on! How are duels of honor settled in this world? Now that is something the both of us would be happy to help with.

[She smiles at Emil! She's... HELPING!!]

[Just look over here at Emil and/or this nice wall and not the children. Now Emil has one more, bigger child to look after, or rather he already had this one and now he has like 20 more! Kids!!

Anyway, great, now that it's confirmed that he's on his own even though Lalli is here, uh-- he's got nothing. Just another useless tug, like making Lalli turn away from the kids will stop them from staring.]

Hmm, okay. All kids are loud, to be fair. If you stay right here for just a minute, I'll do my best?

[Don't run away and leave him here alone! He can try going to talk to a few of these kids, though. Try.]

[ STARTER ME!!!!! ]

[ Things that should never mix: Haein and children.

Haein and children is a disaster waiting to happen. He has no idea how to handle people, and so what makes Loren think he can handle fifteen screaming not-entirely-developed baby children??

To make matters worse, his partner seems to be encouraging their rambunctious behavior and dear gods, now their attention is on him and this is probably what his personal hell is going to be like. ]

I'm... twenty-one.

[ It takes an enormous amount of effort just for that answer. It's plain to see on his face just how agonizing that had been. ]

[You know, this is... technically helping, surely? Objectively, it's helping, but it's neither the kind of help Emil wanted nor is it something he expected to get in the first place. He really did expect to be left hanging and have to whine his way out, forever rejected by these overly excitable strangers...

So while the landens kind of glance at each other and murmur vaguely about Diana's suggestions, Emil looks up at her with a mixture of surprise and then dread. She wants him to what? Huh??]

Hang on! I can't do that!

[This time he gets a few murmurs from the landens to the effect of "yeah, that seems true"... He's too small and whiny to look intimidating even with a nice Jewel.]

[YEAH FRED EVEN DIANA'S NOT WEARING FULL ARMOR!! She's just wearing this armored bodysuit??? Who is the true purveyor of violence here. Diana looks confused at this actually sensible question for a moment, before comprehension dawns on her face. AH!! She sees how this must look to someone not intimately acquainted with Amazonian history, oh geez.]

That is not my intention. This is the Lasso of Hestia. A person bound within its ropes is compelled to tell the truth, and only the truth.

[she says, as reassuringly as possible now that she realizes the weirdo looks she's getting!! She gives Fred a grateful look like "thanks for calling me out on how sketchy this looks!!']

It may feel warm at first, but I promise that it will bring you no harm. [pauses] Though I cannot promise your safety if you choose to lie.

[these store owners STILL DON'T LOOK CONVINCED DIANA!!! uhhh]

Perhaps, if it may ease concerns... I could demonstrate its effects for you first?

[then... she turns to Fred, with hopeful and imploring eyes.... still with the suspicious whip in hand. let her wrap this around u... buddy]

[Peter was pretty much rushed along into this despite very loud and slightly desperate protests. No kids! He doesn't know how to handle kids! Bad at it! Bad at kids!]

[But here he is, stuck with Diana, in one of his worst nightmares. He's magicked up ear muffs because of all the shrieking. Because they're running wild and some of them have taken over the teacher's desk and chair, he has nowhere to sit, so to get away from sticky fingers and constant bids for his attention, he's climbed halfway up a wall to escape. He sits perched there, back to the wall, feet planted against it to hold him up, arms crossed, shoulders hunched, soundly ignoring the children gaping at him from below and all their questions. "How are you doing that?" "Do you have glue on your feet?" "Are you a bug?" "How come you're wearing ear muffs, are you cold?"]

[(He's ignoring them because he doesn't want to deal, not because he can't hear. He can still hear through the ear muffs. They just makes it a little less loud.)]

[Then Diana looks up at him, and ugh, now he has to interact.]

[He's so bad at this. Miles was an absolute delight to deal with, but he was older. And an amazing kid. And they're all so small. And loud. And sticky. Why are so many of them sticky??]

Thirty-eight.

[That's all he says.]

[And then, hoping it encourages Diana to handle most of this, he adds, brightly:]

I'd help more but I really think you've got this. You're doing so well.

[He gives her a thumbs up.]

[ is this the start to a very suspicious bdsm bondage scene

Fred, naturally, is always eager to keep the peace in whatever land Naga sees fit to send him to, and the explanation of Diana's magic lasso!!!! fills him with much curiousity and pique. And admittedly also some more concern because he's never been the type to simply let a stranger do as they wish to him, but he can't find any hint of malice or impishness in Diana's eyes that would prompt him to otherwise say no.

So!! He dips his head and takes a step forward. Fred volunteers as tribute!! ]

Need it touch any part of my skin for the effects to work?

[ He's gonna have to like....disrobe a little bit if that's the case. ]</small

[Loren probably secretly has it out for Haein lbr!!!

The amount of effort exuded for that answer does not escape Diana. She may have just recently met this young man, but that doesn't mean she isn't... IMPRESSED with how he's cooperating with her!! How friendly!! What a good human boy. Diana gives him an encouraging nod!! tHANK YOU HAEIN!!! except that two hundred year old boy who we'll call Bobby in this thread starts crowing over the fact that he's OLDER THAN HAEIN]

In Sparta, men become fully-fledged soldiers at the age of twenty.

[Diana says, fully believing that she is helping. bobby calls haein a baby. damn,]

The life he's led is different from yours. It would be foolish to assume otherwise. Now, be silent.

[bobby now calls haein a big baby boy. hm]

[ Of course this would get progressively worse. Haein actually feels a little bit intimidated by the children and just the sheer number of them. He would've been content to stand in the corner and stare at the clock until this was all over, but then things had to get personal.

He snaps his attention to this little jerk called Bobby and fixes him with a searing glare. No one calls him a big baby and gets away with it. Not even Diana's attempts at pacifying the situation works. ]

In my world, you would have died a long time ago.

[ Haein!! That's no way to speak to a child!! Great, now Diana has to deal with sixteen children. ]

[Diana is having a trying day.

A day filled with trying!!! She's trying to do her best for both Blood and landens -- though that's mostly just Diana helping out with whatever menial tasks people think they can pass off on her. She'd like to do more, but all of her careful questions of "so... about ares" aren't cutting to the heart of all of this as fast as she likes, so Diana contents herself with just helping for now. An older lady ends up asking Diana if she'd like to help advertise her business..... her soft-serve ice cream business

DIANA IS SOLD!!! though the most she does is hold a tray of soft-serve ice cream samples and harangue random strangers into tasting them while also dressed in like her giant black fur robe... and armored bodysuit... what kind of advertising is this]

You should try this! It is very good.

[Diana says, immediately holding out the tray to the next person she sees -- who just happens to be PERCY JACKSON!!! Diana's been mostly targeting random people without a sound strategy in mind, but Percy looks to be a young man.... in need of ice cream, obviously. Diana Knows this instinctively.]

It's quite sweet, but there are some that taste salty too. Which would you like?

[Diana holds up two samples and attempts to shove them into Percy's hands anyway, QUALITY ADVERTISING]

Thank you.

[Diana doesn't know what the thumbs-up means, but she assumes that it's meant to confer approval. Which she likes, even if it is a thumbs-up from a man stuck half-way up the wall as if he's trying to physically eject himself from the room. Now that.... hm, her brow furrows. This is supposed to be a team effort, Peter!!!!

The children seem to like Peter where he is just fine though. They like it so much that one of them uses their Craft to try and climb up the wall too, though their little limbs tremble a little from the use. Enough that Diana reaches over to peel the child off the wall, holding the little girl in her hands shrieking "UP! UP! UP!". HM]

...If it is up you desire, then up you shall go!

[Diana adjusts her grip, then.... tosses the girl up lightly towards.... Peter...........

THERE SHE GOES!!! CATCH, PETEr]

[~~okay it's true she's seen a naked man before but that was just the one and you know... comparisons would be interesting........~~ I MEAN NO!!!

There's no hint of malice or impishness in Diana's eyes, true, and she also looks grateful for Frederick's acquiescence. But there's (sadly) no reason to ask him to strip at all considering that the lasso of Hestia is very flexible, so she answers him with a quick nod of her head.]

Simply looping it around your wrist will be enough.

[ALAS.... bondage for next time... She'll approach slowly, holding a couple of coils out for Frederick to either take or slip his hand into.]

[Diana tries her best, but her experience with children can be added on one hand. There's nothing to be added SHE'S NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE!!! But before she can try and admonish this young'un for insulting Haein, Haein...

does her job for her???

If Diana had normal babysitting experience, then she'd be OFFENDED that Haein would say such a terrible thing to a young child. But Diana can only flashback to all of her tutors and trainers and Antiope... who would... probably have said the exact same thing, actually.]

You understand now, yes? [Bobby is thunderstruck that someone would be so rude to him like this, so at least he's SILENT] Age is secondary when it comes to experience. He is no child. Now, if you wish to prove that you are the same, then you should apologize to him and promise your obedience.

[haha yeah DIANA IS SLICK!! Bobby squints, but he doesn't want to be seen as a big baby too, so he obeys... with lots of grumbling..... mianhe... haeinah]

[He wasn't loud, which is why he huffs as he reluctantly turns to stare at a stupid poster on the stupid wall. Yeah, sure. Go! He will just be Here, reading this list of rules regarding ~acceptable uses of magic~ as he waits for things to... quiet down...

...Well. It takes a minute or so for things to finally fall into place, but when they do—aha! His Opal is right there in his pocket, because of course it is, and he risks the well-being of his poor eardrums to reach down and wrap his fingers around it. Casting non-Finnish spells still feels? Weird? He's yet to fully master it, but a bit of concentration is all it takes to... muffle... everything going on around him. Much better. Makeshift earmuffs are no longer required.

Anyway, as Emil is privy to none of this since he's presumably crouched down beside a gaggle of children—Lalli eventually wanders over to loom behind him and scowl down at the tiny terrors. He hates them... and they hate him, because one of them rudely sticks his tongue out? A gesture which Lalli promptly returns, much to the hilarity of all. See, Emil! He's helping! And being bullied by pipsqueaks, RIP.]

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test drive 02

Calvin Lee | Original Character | White Jewel

emil västerström | stand still stay silent

Ren Suzugamori | Cardfight!! Vanguard | purple dusk but he's not being v honest about that

collard greens!

kids...you know i had to

the curse gets worse

diana | wonder woman

a

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collard greens.

ii holds emil

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bee.

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the childrens (oh god)

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beeautiful

is you.

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FLEX THOSE DAD MUSCLES PETER

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NO IT'S HAEIN

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