my oath shall be sped;

[agogemod]

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? The January TDM.
WHEN? The mythic dimension of Vorspiel.
ANYTHING ELSE? Violence, as always. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence, and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.

JANUARY TEST DRIVE MEME;

Vorspiel; a land of song.

arrival for new recruits

You wake up in a patch of verdant forest, with the birds chirping all around you. You're not in a clearing; your body lies between the trees. Near you, a frail woman with tired eyes rocks back and forth. You have none of your clothing, just black military-issued underwear, and none of your previous possessions beyond the one you chose (if you remember choosing) to bring with you.

When the tired woman notices you've come to, she speaks in a tongue you won't recognize, but somehow understand, in tilting tones that somehow always rhyme. Tired and sorrowful though she is, if you have questions as to what's going on, she'll answer: you are a member of COST, a paramilitary organization of time travelers fighting against the Regency, a tyrannous kingdom of the future who are trying to stamp out freedom and individuality in the name of peace.

She will provide you with the clothing necessary to fit in, and show you how to use your BCE implant to look up information on this dimension and its social and political mores. She won't let you leave until you're properly dressed to fit in, but once you are, she'll wish you luck. She thinks you'll need it.

And, she says as you depart, if you see the Gods, spit on them. They will do you no favors here.

ARRIVAL FOR VETERANS

While on BASE, you'll receive a message on your BCE.

URGENT MISSION: VORSPIEL UNDER MAJOR ATTACK. ALL POSSIBLE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO PROVIDE AID.

ACCEPT: Y / N ?

Selecting 'Y' will instantly teleport you to Vorspiel. Or maybe you're not the volunteering type, but your BCE glitches and signs you up anyway. Them's the breaks.

When you appear in Vorspiel, you'll find yourself in that same forest with the same woman who is ushering new recruits. She will give you clothes and wish you luck-- though luck, she says, is something true heroes have in short supply.

VORSPIEL

Regardless of how you got here, your BCE will have a short rundown of the situation once you arrive.

Vorspiel is a mythical, magical dimension rich in rare and precious resources. During the course of the war, it's been fought over by both sides. The Regency has recently allied with the leader of the misty country of Nibelheim to issue what is known as a Time Break; a sort of spell only possible in ancient dimensions such as these. Essentially, linear time has been destroyed in this dimension. Everything is happening at once, simultaneously and perpetually, a never ending cycle of lives and deaths and battles. While Vorspiel is a vast dimension, its borders have become warped; it is possible to walk from one country to another across the sea in a matter of moments, by accident. While the BCE is trying to send people to Nibelheim, it's entirely possible it misses the mark completely, or sends them to several places before they reach Nibelheim.

This chaos is meant to be a punishment: bow down before the Regency, or nothing will ever be the same again.

There is good news, though. Vorspiel is a dimension of inherent magic; singing or humming or whistling certain magical tunes will have an inherent effect upon one's surroundings. The BCE lists all the spells, though it notes that some have varying results (AKA go wild, guys, have fun), and the ones named after people will do little unless the person in question is present (a statistical unlikelihood).

As you enter different parts of Vorspiel, the BCE will sometimes give you different assignments, prompting you to take this action or that. If you have any questions about how this setting works, feel free to ask!

THE RHEIN

You come upon a giant river with clear and beautiful water. The sun shines down upon it in yellow light, and wherever the light touches it, gold floats to the surface of the water. The BCE will prompt you to fetch as much of this gold as you can-- it is an extremely powerful magical resource, rheingold-- but it will not warn you about the Rheinmaidens.

The rheinmaidens are mermaids, essentially, and at first, they are very friendly and gentle, singing nonsense songs and welcoming you to their home. But as soon as you begin to make any moves toward the gold, they will curse you, dive for you with surprising speed, and attempt to drown you. They will be vicious, and their natural element is water. You're in their territory, taking their things, as far as they are concerned. They have every right to kill you.

Killing the rhienmaidens will work... for a minute or so. And then they will rise again. Wounds will undo themselves-- whether they're inflicted by the rheinmaidens or you. Drowning doesn't seem permanent either-- you're pulled under, and all air escapes you, death befalls you... and then you wake up a moment later, standing on the shore.

Time has been fundamentally broken. Nothing done here is permanent.

WALHALL

You stand outside a fortress bathed in rainbow light atop a glorious mountain. Around you, the air is cool and still, and the roof of the sky seems terribly close. No matter how far toward the fortress you run, you can never make it inside. And thundering footsteps are coming just around the mountain pass, coming for you.

Lumbering giants wander around the fortress, searching for something they mutter and murmur is theirs. If they see anyone around, they will attempt to carry them off, kidnapping them for unknown purposes. They do not seem interested in eating their catch; they seem more interested in kidnapping it. Still, they are dangerous, brutish and sloppy with their strength. It is best to avoid them if possible, hiding in the trees.

Or perhaps you'd rather fight these fifteen-foot monstrosities on your own?

Of course, if you kill them, they just... come back. Death cannot be permanent in a place where time has been caught in an endless loop.

NIBELHEIM

The misty country of Nibelheim is located within a network of caverns dug into the side of a great mountain. It's a foggy, polluted place that brings to mind a city on the brink of the industrial revolution, not unlike Victorian London, though Nibelheim is entirely underground. There is smoke and smog everywhere, and living conditions are generally poor. The rich class is one family, ruled by a Nibelung named Alberich. He has various objects of great power that keep him enslaving his fellow Nibelung, working constantly in factories of his making. He has allied with the Regency to achieve this goal, and the time break within his home dimension is due in large part to his planning and plotting.

Human visitors to Nibelheim aren't unheard of, due to trade, though they are in a minority. Nibelungs, for the record, look and feel and act completely human, but they are ultimately alien, averaging a foot shorter in height at least, having naturally sallow skin, large eyes, hairless regardless of gender, and long, nimble fingers. They are a race of people made to live underground, and it shows; most can see in the dark, and climb nearly any surface. They are famed as smiths and metalworkers. Most just want to make a living and feed their families, though Alberich's clan keeps them in line.

Your duty here, the BCE says, is to try and befriend these people, the average Nibelung, and spark some kind of revolt. There are Regency spies everywhere, however, so be careful; you cannot call for rebellion in an open voice on every street corner. No, it's better, safer, to be subtle about it. Win the trust of a local businessman, seek out influential Nibelungs and figure out their opinions. Be tactical, be clever, be quick.

And avoid Alberich and his family at any cost.

But if you can, try and save some of the Nibelungs. Due to Alberich's machinations, Nibelheim is the only part of Vorspiel that has been untouched by the time break, but that will only stay true for so long. If you can convince any Nibelungs to join COST, they will do so willingly; you'll just have to escort them to safe places in hidden back rooms within dingy bars and forgotten libraries, the places where COST cells have been fermenting under the nose of the Regency. Don't get caught, and be careful; save as many as you can.

AT THE BASE OF A GREAT TREE

A man lays dying. He looks very much like the woman who introduced you to this place. Regardless, he lies in a pool of his own blood, a stab wound through his heart. The time break keeps him from ever truly passing into the next life; as soon as he dies, his eyes open, and he begins the process of his last painful moments once again.

Each time, he begs you to avenge him and find his love (or sometimes his sister; he seems very confused), and if you ask him his name, he will only respond that he is, "the woeful one". And then he will die again, for the hundredth time.

In the trees, warriors watch, poised to attack. They see you communing with their enemy, and they wish to defeat you as well. These warriors care little for your protest; they are locked in an endless battle that they cannot free themselves from, and you have just joined it.

IN THE FOREST

There is a serpent, larger than anything you have ever seen, sitting at the mouth of a cave. It sits upon a hoard of gold that may be familiar to you. It may not, but the BCE will inform you of what it is: rheingold, an incredibly potent and valuable magical resource.

Regardless, the serpent will attack anyone that comes near it or its hoard, even by accident. It, too, is caught in an endless loop of battle long over, for it calls you boy and foolish young man regardless of who or what you are. It speaks in a deep and sonorous voice, and will not stop until its head is cut off. The creature is obnoxiously large and highly dangerous, and battle with it will be long and painful, not least because, like everything in this place where time has been so fundamentally broken, it is very bad at staying dead.

Be careful when you fight it -- if you accidentally get some of its blood in your mouth, you will be suddenly and temporarily able to understand the language of birds. Which is cool, but also, you know, distracting.

The birds will tell you to find the Valkyries, who will bring you great fame and glory. They will also tell you to run, for Fafnir does not die so easy.

AT THE END OF THE WORLD

You are at a funeral. A golden-haired woman stands upon an unlit pyre, standing next to the man who, she sings, is her dead husband. Her song is beautiful and loud and incomprehensible, and when the pyre is lit, the fire swallows her whole. But the burning doesn't stop there; it begins to destroy the assembled mourners, the forest around it, the castle, the very river burns. The fabric of the world crackles and sets to flame.

Run from the flame all you like, but it always licks at your heels.

There is a trick, though, to saving your life. If one is truly unafraid of death, the fire cannot harm you, or anyone you touch. The BCE won't warn you of this; it doesn't know. But if you are unafraid, you can simply walk through the flames unharmed.

It will bring you to a wide field atop a mountain, where a woman lies sleeping. It's the same woman at the funeral, peaceful in sleep, unmoving, unsinged. She can be awoken by a kiss.

Of course, awakening her will begin the cycle again: the pyre, the fire, the fearlessness, the clearing. Over and over again, endlessly, until the BCE manages to pull you out.

This is the will of the Regency.

As a final note: This will not be the main mission for January. This TDM is meant as a one-off to dump characters into a setting they don't have to read a ton of infopages for, while still getting a sense of what Agoge could be (and as always, this TDM is game canon).

The main mission for January will be the Gallipoli campaign, as detailed here. Future missions for Agoge are always listed here months in advance.

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC MEMES PLURK

Comments

Rey | Star Wars | New Recruit | OTA and SPOILER FREE for The Last Jedi

[garbagepilot]

(there will be no spoilers for The Last Jedi. This is a spoiler free zone, so feel free to tag with no worries of finding out something you don't want to know!)

[The Rhein]

[It's not the gold Rey is interested in at all, despite knowing the value of it. She'll take some at some point, try to use it to trade for food if nothing else, but it's the setting that has her lingering here. The sound of running water, a river, all the green, that's what she cares about. She's wary of the strange creatures in the river as she kneels down by it, staff set just to the side in easy reach if she should need it, but when she reaches into the water it's not to take anything.

She just has the oddest urge to touch it, all that fresh water in such a great quantity, seemingly endless, it's like a wonder after a lifetime of living on Jakku. Water there was always stale, slightly metallic after being kept in metal containers for so long, and she can't resist cupping her hands in the river and pulling up a handful of water to drink straight from her palms.

Around her the mermaid creatures seem unsure, a few move towards her when her hands breach the water, but when they see she isn't taking their gold they hover just out of reach. It's not until Rey goes for another handful of water that she realizes she's not alone, glances up at whoever might have just walked up alongside her.]

I don't think they want to share.

[The gold, she means, and she's not exactly warning out of a sense of being concerned about anyone else getting dragged into the water. The thing is, though, if it does happen, and she does see it, she knows she won't be able to just stand there while someone else is attacked.]

[Walhall]

[Is she going to fight the giants?

Hell no. The second she spots one it's right up a tree, an easy climb when compared to the corpses or ships crashed down in the graveyard on Jakku, because at least the branches are easy handholds, not hot enough from the sun to burn her hands even through heavy leather gloves. Before long she's standing on a heavy tree limb watching the creatures lumber around, trying to track their movements and figure out exactly-

But then there's snapping from below and she whips her staff off her back, holds it ready to smack away whatever monster is coming after her... only to realize she isn't the only one who thought to climb up this tree. After a moment, she feeds the staff down, holding tight onto one end.]

Here. I'll pull you up.

[wildcard!]
(feel free to run into Rey anywhere you like! You can also pm this journal or hit me up at blahblahren to plot stuff out!)

Walhall

[ergosphere]

[Kylo wasn't running from the giants, but rather rethinking his strategy, seeing as they wouldn't stay dead. He had an opportunity to retreat while the giant regenerated, but there were very few places to go after that. The fortress must have been some sort of illusion, and the nearest shelter, if it could be called as such, was a tree.

The branches were solid up top, but the first one he grabbed near the ground snapped under his weight. Before he could just jump up, someone was thrusting a staff in his face, offering --

No. He knew that voice. Face twisting in rage, Kylo launched himself up into the tree, landing on the nearest tree limb that would hopefully support him. It was her, of course. The irony of being rejected by her, and then offered help in such a short span of time was not lost on him.]

You!

[garbagepilot]

[Oh.

Well, she definitely regrets not looking harder through the leaves at who she offering help to, now.

Just like on Takodana the urge to flee wells up in her, makes her press back against the trunk of the tree and cast her hand out for a branch above her, the other hand bringing up the staff again, held out towards him, but this time it's to keep him as far from her as she can. She can't help wishing that she had woken up with Luke's lightsaber, Han's blaster, anything more effective than a staff against someone like him.]

Find another tree.

[Maybe not the most mature thing to say, but still. Get out.]

[ergosphere]

[He can't help feeling some satisfaction when she backed away from him, too used to being the one taking up all the space in a room. It was hard to look looming and threatening in a tree, but he did the best he could. He didn't even glance at the staff, not taking his eyes off of her. While she could do damage with it, it couldn't be any worse than the scar she'd left across his face.]

We have unfinished business. You --

[Unfinished business was always being interrupted, of course, and Ren shut his mouth when a lumbering giant came closer towards the tree. He straightened up, casting a look sideways so as to keep the scavenger in sight. His hand reached for his saber, but he didn't ignite it, which was a relief for everybody. This had been the nearest tree, and while there were others... he just didn't fancy running for it.]

[garbagepilot]

[There's a terrible, dark part of her that wants to plant her foot on this branch and just kick him off with the other, launch him at the giant and let it deal with him while she escapes, but what would that make her? No better than him, surely, and absolutely someone she couldn't stand to look at in the mirror.]

Shut up. [She hisses it at him, and if his hand had made it just one more inch towards the lightsaber at his side she would have shifted her grip on her staff, used it like a baseball bat to knock the weapon right out of his hand before he could turn it on.] It might leave.

[If he's quiet, if he just stays still, it might lose interest in their tree and go somewhere else.

Of course, that means she can't climb any higher without moving the branches, rustling the leaves and bringing attention to them herself.]

[ergosphere]

[Likewise, Kylo had to fight the temptation to lop off the tree branch she was on with his lightsaber. They were stuck like this now, far enough apart to be safe, but still too close for comfort. Her staff had greater reach at the moment, and splitting his attention between that and the giant was a strain. He'd trained under worse conditions. Patience was going to have to be the victor here.]

Then be silent.

[He'd already stopped talking when it arrived, so why did she feel the need to tell him that? Despite the need for patience and silence, he could feel fury coursing under his skin, wanting to lash out at her for her rejection, for taking from him what was rightfully his. He couldn't tell if she had it with her or not, but once the giant passed -- then they could talk.

Instead of ambling away, the giant came closer and he could hear it mumbling about whatever it was looking for out here. It was difficult to understand, and Kylo didn't strain himself trying to hear. He concentrated on keeping still and silent, though he hadn't had time to grab the tree for balance.]

[garbagepilot]

[The glare she shoots him is murderous with how angry it is, but for once, she actually listens to him.

And just like on his stupid base, in the face of this danger she closes her eyes and reaches out for the Force. She doesn't know what she's doing, she never feels like she knows what she's doing when it comes to this, but when she just trusts in it, lets it work through her, she comes out on top.

In the fight with him, when she'd escaped that base just a handful of days ago, the Force flows through her and twists up into what she needs it to be. Now, she puts her hand out because it feels like that might help, a physical representation of what she's doing, palm up until she squeezes her hand into a tight fist.

She's trying to pull the Force around herself, around him by extension, trying to cloak them until the massive creature loses interest and ambles off again.

But of course, she's still mostly untrained and grasping at straws. Whether it works or not tends to be a matter of luck.]

[ergosphere]

[The only thing he intended to use the Force for right now was combat -- fighting the giant, or maybe throwing Rey off of her branch. Without him prompting, he could feel it rising up around them, making the hair on his arms stand on end. He barely stopped himself from recoiling from her outreached hand, tensing, waiting for her to knock him down, as he'd just been thinking.

That wasn't what happened, though. He got the sense of what she was trying to do, and attempted to fight it off, letting it slide off of him like water. The fact that she could do this at all, untrained and ignorant, infuriated him further. How dare she?

The tree shook, shifting his anger back to the real danger at hand: the giant didn't appear to have found them, but was... sitting down, back against the tree. Probably sitting down for a nap. Perfect. He glared at her as if it were her fault, and maybe it was. She was powerful, but clumsy with the Force, and that calming energy might have just encouraged the giant to linger. They couldn't speak aloud, so he risked reaching out with the Force.]

You're not helping. Stop whatever it is you're doing.

[garbagepilot]

[It is helping, though, is the thing. A sleeping giant is better than one actively looking for them, she'll be able to slip down through the branches without making too much sound if she's careful and really, she's not all that worried about his escape. Let him clamber down on his own.

But then he's in her head, she can hear his voice like he's whispering in her ear, and her foot slips off her branch in her shock. Her stomach twists uncomfortably as she puts her hand back to grab onto the trunk of the tree for balance, to keep herself from falling, and that hateful glare is right back on her face all over again.]

Don't. [Of course, answering him at all isn't the best way to make it clear she Does Not Approve of this, but she can't help the knee jerk reaction to shut him down.] Stay out of my head!

[ergosphere]

[When she nearly slipped, he felt his heartrate jump. If she woke that giant after all -- but it was pointless to worry. He could just stay up here, let her led it off. Unfortunately, she didn't fall, and their new friend barely stirred below them.]

It's the only option we have, unless you'd like to go back to shouting. I don't intend to find out where these things are dragging people.

[He tested his weight on the branch, confident enough to brace one hand against the tree trunk to maintain his balance. The branch swayed, but didn't break, and he looked up higher. The branches were only going to get thinner, but he needed to take a look around, see where he could run to next without crashing headlong into a giant. Without sparing Rey another glance, he leapt up to the next highest branch, stilling for balance and to listen for the giant.]

[garbagepilot]

[The thing about that, though, is that she should be more focused on finding out where the giants are taking people. Allowing herself to be captured is probably a good way to find that out, but it goes against her nature so completely that she just can't commit to that plan.

And anyway, survival of the fittest has always been what guides her. If other people aren't fit enough to keep themselves safe...

Then, of course, he leaps up into the tree when the clear way out of this is down and she can't help the immediate impulse to completely ignore the demand she's just made of him.]

What are you doing?

[ergosphere]

[Being almost the opposite of altruistic, Kylo would have let her run off to complete her mad scheme. So long as the giants were distracted, it gave him more opportunity to escape, unscathed. Or, maybe he could follow at a distance, see where they took -- but no, that would never work either. They'd proven incredibly capable of working alongside one another. Briefly. Very briefly.]

Getting a look at what else is out there.

[Once he felt the giant hadn't been disturbed, he jumped again, and this time the branch swayed feebly under his weight. It held, but just barely. It would be so much nicer to have air support, or one of his knights to act as lookout. He hadn't worked his way to the top to forget the grunt work, though, as much as he wanted to.]

Tell me if that giant wakes up.

[garbagepilot]

[She doesn't love that order, but what she likes less is the way the branch he's landed on now bends under him. She's watching it closely, watching the very base of it, and she doesn't have a good feeling at all about this.]

You're too big, come back down.

[Before the branch snaps right off and sends him toppling down and waking the damned monster back up.]

[ergosphere]

[He has no intention of coming back down at her command, but the more he looks around the top of the tree, the more he realizes his options are nonexistent. The Force would only be so useful in negating his weight and helping his balance, and he'd have to focus on that rather than looking around. Reaching out, he grasped the nearest branches to keep his balance so he could look back down at Rey. It was not a pleased, or amused, look.]

Get up here if you're volunteering in my stead. I need to know which direction isn't swarming with giants.

[What she did with that information, he didn't care. Mostly. He had the feeling that even if they tried to run in opposite directions, they'd run headlong into one another.]

[garbagepilot]

[She wants to snap at him that he has no right to tell her what to do, that she doesn't need his instructions, he isn't now and has never, will never be her teacher, but it's next to impossible to not see the benefit of what he's doing now that she's trying to look beyond her annoyance.

So she doesn't reply to him, out loud or otherwise. She just moves around to the opposite side of the tree trunk and starts to climb upward, trusting her hand and footholds to get her safely up.

There's a moment, though, as she's climbing past him and having to look for a place to put her hand, where their eyes meet. There's a pull of something and it makes her frown, makes her look away the second she can and just keep climbing while she tries not to focus on-

What was that?]

[ergosphere]

[He watches her ascent like a hawk, and while there's malice in it, there's no real intent to harm. She's moving away from him, so he doesn't sense any danger or possibility of her coming up to knock him down. Not yet, anyways.

When their eyes meet, he lifts his chin, some suppressed emotion twitching on his face. It's her confusion about it that throws him off, and starts to realize their connection is already... different. He thought maybe she'd succeeded in shutting him out, literally closed the door in his face, but now he's thinking otherwise. Now it feels like that bond was only active on his side, and it was trying to find her again. Which didn't make any sense.]

Don't you remember?

[His tone, at least, was a little softer.]

walhall;

[prestidigital]

[In all honesty, it feels a little silly for a wizard like Taako to climb a tree to avoid a giant. For starters, he's definitely fought fiercer enemies who were smaller. For another, he can just make himself float if he really needs to go up in a hurry. But without Magnus to act as a punching bag and Merle to... Okay, well, Merle is not actually that reliable in the healing department, but he sometimes makes a vague effort. Point is, Taako is only one-third of Tres Horny Boys. And he knows better than to bite off more than he can chew.]

[As far as the lack of levitation, well, he thought he could get up the tree no problem. And he was correct! He managed to get a little ways up before there was suddenly a staff threatening to concuss him. But then the staff goes from threatening to helpful and like Taako is going to do any more physical labor (even if it's life-saving) when he's being offered the easier way through this.]

[Taako grabs on.]

Say no more!

[garbagepilot]

[With a pull, Rey helps to get him up a little higher, a little safer, but-]

It might be a good idea to keep your voice down.

[There are giants everywhere buddy what are you doin.]

the rhein--

[fernbeleafer]

[ rey's manner of dress had drawn keyleth's attention at first, material and style evoking that popular in terrah. the woman's quiet enjoyment of the river drew keyleth nearer, and then there was that beautiful staff just begging for admiration.

despite her tall muscled frame and prominent deer antlers curving out from her temples, keyleth's hunched shoulders and tip-toeing tends to put her uncertainty on display. she pauses midstep at rey's observation, stuck between her intended and rehearsed "hi wow i love your staff is that acacia?" and scrambling for some semblance of normal human(ish) interaction. ]

Hmm? Oh! Yeah, uhh. Yikes. [ smooth. ] Maybe they'll get bored if we just ... hang out?

[garbagepilot]

[The staff is made of dented metal, with a scrap of fabric around the center of it where Rey can grasp it and sporting a leather strap that lets her sling it over her back for easy travel, because unfortunately the only thing on Jakku was metal and sand. There were no trees, no branches to make a real staff out of, so Rey had had to get creative.

Now the thing never leaves her sight, but if she's honest a girl with antlers does kind of distract Rey enough from it for a minute. Not the weirdest thing she's ever seen, considering all the aliens and non-humans that made up Niima Outpost, but still enough to give her pause.]

I wouldn't hold your breath. [Is that a joke about the water? WAS THAT A WATER PUN?] They don't seem the type to let their guard down around all this stuff.

[That being the flecks of gold under the water, but Rey's keeping her hands off for now.]

[fernbeleafer]

[ an inelegant laugh that sounds probably a little forced bubbles out of keyleth, and she points at rey in delight. ]

Oh my gosh I just came to ask you about your staff but you're funny, too?

[ staffless herself, keyleth moves closer to peek at the gold below, and sighs at the insistent notification her bce pushes at her. she moans and smiles weakly before waving at the looming protectors of this natural and plentiful resource. her one-track mind takes over, awkwardly forcing the conversation back to rey-- ]

Does it amplify your magic? Maybe a few good spells will send them packing...

[garbagepilot]

[Well, no one has ever accused Rey of being funny before. It throws her for a second, but in that second it isn't hard to tell Keyleth really does mean that, isn't teasing her at all.

She actually thought it was funny, and Rey can't help smiling a little at the thought. But then, of course, comes the magic question. Is the Force something that people can just feel in her, something simmering under her skin? No one has ever guessed that quickly before, save Kylo Ren/]

It's just a staff. My- magic, comes from something else.

[There's no real reason to beat around the bush or lie if Keyleth's already figured it out, right?]

[fernbeleafer]

I'm so sorry-- is it a bad topic for you? I know not everyone wears their spells on their sleeves. I just sometimes get too excited and barf out words without thinking them through first.

[ a shocking revelation, surely! ]

But if you don't want to talk about it, we totally don't have to.

[garbagepilot]

[Keyleth is, honestly, kind of a lot all at once, but it's hard to listen to her, see her enthusiasm and that laser focus interest, and not think of Finn. That immediately is something that raises Keyleth through a few levels of Rey's natural tendency to distrust people, and anyway, why lie about things, hide them, when it's only a matter of time until the next battle and everyone will find out anyway?]

It's not that, it's just- new. I only figured out I could do these things a few days ago.

[fernbeleafer]

So it's natural magic, then.

[ that definitely explains things some. she moves to take a more comfy place near rey, expecting a chat now instead of a potential incident with some mean maids. ]

Which means you're in luck, because I'm a druid. [ she offers her hand with a wide smile-- ] I'm Keyleth, of the Air Ashari.