IC INBOX: ISLE OF AVALON

[impostorsyndrome]

INBOX text / audio / video / action This is Kadoc Zemlupus. . . . Leave a message, and I'll get back to you. code credit

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text; un: beaumains

[beaumains]

[ It's late, but that never seems to stop someone like Gareth. So it's no wonder his phone lights up with a notif for... ]

Hey! I'm bringing you an egg tart, so I hope you're hungry!

[impostorsyndrome]

Do you even know where I stay?

[But that's not a refusal. Kadoc has never had company in his room in the inn . . . two texts in and he's already resigned to the fact that this is going to happen, because Gareth is not easily stopped. Shit. At least his place isn't a total mess, even if it's not necessarily prepared for company either. Time to get up and do some last-minute picking up.]

Text : Un; Caster (forward-dated to 27th, late evening)

[colchismagecraft]

[Siren hell...existed. Caster hated it, she hated seeing the illusion of her Master there so soon after learning of his death, hated how she fell for it immediately without even caring it might be fake.

But it struck her when she had finally made it home and collapsed on her bed that she probably wasn't the only one taking this mess horribly. After all, if her reading of Kadoc's reactions were accurate- he'd lost a Servant he cared about deeply, hadn't he? She understood losing that bond far, far too well.

Had the Sirens toyed with him, the way they had with her? Despite her exhaustion, she couldn't help the twinge of worry.

...Hopefully he wouldn't mind the horrifically typed message.]

itrust youi jmatde it outof tthe mess in wone pieece

["I trust you made it out of the mess in one piece?"]

[impostorsyndrome]

[Exhaustion is tonight's mood; Kadoc is lying flat on his back in bed, just kind of staring up at the ceiling, when his phone buzzes. He doesn't even look in its direction to grope blindly for it, curling his fingers around it and bringing it up to his bleary-eyed face. What's this about? He doesn't get many texts. A network update, maybe? Someone asking about the morality of crushing your Siren under a boulder in the hot springs?

But it actually is a text. Despite how incomprehensible it is, he actually can comprehend it. Caster . . . she's always bad at typing, but she only tends to be this bad at it when something's wrong.

He can guess.]

Want me to just call you?

I'm alive. Obviously

text; un: beaumains

[beaumains]

Can we talk?

[impostorsyndrome]

[This isn't a surprising text. Kadoc doesn't spend long staring at it before replying.]

Yeah. How? Text? In person? Anything's fine with me.

Action

[loyalbreed]

[ Here comes Gawain showing up one day earlier August - whenever you want. With a cute dog tail, and dog ears. To pick out the type of dog he is, easily would be a Labrador. ]

Good day Kadoc, will you open the door and let me in? I've brought some sweet that you may come to like.

[ Its roasted sweet potatoes, with cinnamon sprinkled on them. ]

BEFORE ANY NEW ARRIVALS, otherwise whenever

[impostorsyndrome]

[What the hell?! He's bringing sweets?! Is the whole family just like this? Kadoc has more and more questions about Gaheris the longer he knows Gawain and Gareth, and part of him is convinced that one of these days he's (she's?) going to also show up and immediately offer Kadoc some cupcakes, possibly while threatening him.

That said, he swings the door open, rubbing his face. He himself isn't affected yet by the animal curse, but that's coming. That's coming later!]

. . . Hey. You know, if you're actually here for Gareth, you can just say that.

[Action]

[scriptwriter]

[So whenever it came to meet ups, Kotarou could kind of flippant sometimes. Whenever Yoshino would challenge him to a 'duel', he'd just usually forget and go on with his day until he finally remembered and got beaten down later. He took club meetings far more seriously than random challenges out of the blue like that. But this case was far more serious than he was willing to admit. A part of him was still embarrassed for pouring out his feelings like that. Walking over to the address that was sent to him did help with getting him moving...

Though he still felt those depressing rain clouds in his head. He had to make sure that he could still smile properly in the mirror before leaving. And Kotarou had to slap his face a few times to make sure that he didn't look gloomy. Right, be cheerful even if you gotta force it a little...! That's never stopped him before whenever it came to building up that 'fake' mask of his. Ah, 'fake'... He hated that word since he knew that he was the fakest of the fake. But that's the personality you needed to get along with anyone, right?

Soon, he'll be knocking on the door for Kadoc to hear. Then a sudden thought goes through his head: "Waaaaaait a second... Those two are living together, aren't they? Am I gonna see something interesting?"]

Heh heh... I'm gettin' really motivated now! I might see something naughty going on here.

[impostorsyndrome]

What'd you say?

[The door swings open, and there's Kadoc on the other side, giving Kotarou a once-over—with some suspicion. Actually, he hadn't heard any of the specific words Kotarou had said just now behind the closed door, just the fact that he'd said something, and that something wasn't necessarily suspicious. It could be, but it could not be! But no, what Kadoc's mostly interested in is exactly what mood Kotarou is going to be presenting when he shows up. On the network, it'd been more obvious than ever that his mood swings aren't just zany weirdness. They're not even necessarily manipulative in the same way Kadoc had suspected, though in another sense . . .

Well, he wants to talk about that, and a lot more. That's why they're here. He opens the door to let Kotarou in, and no, there's no immediate sign of anything naughty happening in this house.]

Text ; un: Caster (Backdated to start of the month)

[colchismagecraft]

[So having had an awkward run-in with the Master of Chaldea herself, Medea knew her priority should be letting her own Pseudomaster know what was going on- especially given the history between them.]

we might have a problem
i ran into a master near by the bazaar
ritsuka
i believe shes chaldeas

[As she'd needed to retrieve her phone from home to send the message, though, there was a good chance Kadoc had already run into Ritsuka himself by then.]

[impostorsyndrome]

[This is before Kadoc runs into her himself a couple of days later, so as soon as he sees this, he grabs his phone and gets up from his desk to pace around, staring down at the message. Uh oh.]

That's Fujimaru, yeah. Humanity's last Master.

I had a feeling she'd be finding her way here sooner or later.

What happened?

Sent throughout the week of 8/15-8/20

[fujimaru]

[ There are no captions on any of these texts, submitted without comment: one, two, three, four. ]

[impostorsyndrome]

[After the fourth one, he finally responds:]

The first one.

backdated to 9/20

[fujimaru]

[ Today, what Kadoc gets, as his randomly texted photo of the day is a shot of a candlelit neighborhood street, with a single line of commentary: ]

I didn't expect a European country to have a tradition like this

[impostorsyndrome]

You recognize it?

Where I come from, I'd expect something like that more around Christmas than in September.

[It's pretty, though. Kadoc hasn't gotten caught up in the hype, but maybe he should go out for a walk and take a look at the other displays . . . ]

Delivery >> 25th December, Morning

[peninhand]

[ A small package arrives at her place on the morning of Christmas. Inside is a friendship book. It's meant to be filled in— There are 200 pages and room for 50 friends, four pages for each friends. There are sections to put a picture of them, write a little bit, have your friend sketch something in, etc. Monika has already filled a page with her name and a silly sketch of stick figures cheering up a Kadoc-looking stick figure.

There is a poem on the card, about confidence and friendships. It's signed by Monika. ]

text

[impostorsyndrome]

[This is so much. These are a lot of feelings to have on Christmas! Kadoc takes a while to sit and page through the book, looking over the card and the poem and the picture, before finally grabbing his phone. At least there's no mystery where this gift came from:]

Thank you. This means a lot to me. It's the kind of thing only you would give me, which is a compliment, just in case that wasn't obvious.

Merry Christmas.

dec 25th gift delivery, except it's in person because they live together

[beaumains]

[ Well not fully in person. He got to have plenty of the truffles she was working on for others, given many spares wound up being made. But he'd also find a wrapped gift with his name on it under the little tree she'd put up for them.

Inside, he'd find some of the fruits of the alchemy she'd been practicing; a necklace made from silver, and a pendant bearing one of the crystals she used as mana shells. It had a charge, as well, glowing a gentle blue, and if he held it, he'd find it would help warm his whole body if he ever found himself feeling chilly.

With it, a card; ]

"I can't give you any sort of gift that will mean as much as your friendship has meant to me, but I feel like this is a good place to start. Consider it a piece of my heart, something that will be with you, even if I'm not. And no matter what happens next year, I hope you'll keep it close..."

uwweeehehehehweh

[impostorsyndrome]

[For a couple of minutes, he just holds the necklace in his palm, closing his fingers around it, feeling the warmth. It's more than a physical sensation. Kadoc considers himself lucky that she doesn't just walk in on him there, holding it with his eyes closed, zoned out, feeling his feelings.

But she doesn't, so instead he slips the necklace on—the pendant is hidden under his high collar, but the chain is visible, and he's not usually wearing one—and goes off to find where she got off to this morning.]

One more gift being sent via mail

[resistetmords]

[As promised, she sent him one more extra gift, labeled by herself. Need to make sure to cover her tracks here! Anyway, congrats Kadoc, you get the latest, hit album of Blinking Dark along with this bitchin' medal laid on top of it.]

Sorry, it's not much but I hope you enjoy it. The medal's a symbol of courage and humanity. It might not be the best thing to give you... but I feel like you deserve it anyway.

Please take care of yourself,

Anri, The Koninkrijk België

Christmas Delivery!

[colchismagecraft]

[One of the best uses for moving through shadows, as Medea discovered, was to slip out the shadow, sneak presents (wrapped in a cloth gift bag far more suited to Halloween) on the doorstep and knock- then slip back into the darkness again before the people could catch her. Just evil witch things.

Kadoc will receive a couple of potions in round-bottomed bottles- one sunny yellow, with a faint citrus scent, labelled 'Afypnízo (Awaken)'; the other a deep blue, with a lavender scent, labelled 'Nanourízo (Lull)'. Hopefully that would help him avoid sleep or sleep better...

She'd also included a small, handmade charm that resembled a wolf and would fit easily in a pocket. Medea may not have had her supernatural item creation abilities, but she hoped it would keep him safe.]

[impostorsyndrome]

[Ah, this one . . . there's no question who it came from, considering the gift, but also considering the wrapping. He'd had it narrowed down to a handful of people before he even opened it. He turns the bottles over in his fingers, observing the liquid shimmer, and tucks the charm into his pocket with a faint smile and a strong, comforting sense of superstition. Then he sends off a text:]

Thanks, Medea.

Jól gift

[beewulf]

[Kadoc... much like most other servants, is going to be getting one of these as a gift. The tag just says from Beowulf. Merry Christmas?]

[impostorsyndrome]

[YULE GOAT. Hey, he's seen these before! He's going to hang this on their tree with a smile, and then, after overthinking it for much longer than it really deserves, he responds by taking a photo of it hanging on the tree and texting that to Beowulf.]

backdated to 2/14

[fujimaru]

[ Did you think she'd forget, Kadoc? Hopefully not, because pretty early on the morning of Valentine's day, his phone is buzzing with a text notif: ]

Heyyyyyy
Where are you?
I've got stuff for you

[impostorsyndrome]

[Oh he didn't forget. He knows what this is about! Luckily, because otherwise he'd be very confused right now.]

At the shelter. You know where it is, right?

Audio; un: Caster (Backdated to 20th, after soul pods before 4th wall)

[colchismagecraft]

[Well this was a problem- Medea was frustrated by the soul pods throwing her out, of course, but that was a minor annoyance at best. Perhaps it was too much to expect they'd give her a third form of magic after all.

It only took her about half an hour to realise the actual issue that the situation had caused.

The ebb of her mana moved through her in a way it hadn't since she'd arrived in Avalon. Once again, she could float, and dematerialise her body. Medea didn't dare try to call on her more destructive magic, all of it felt shaky and unstable inside her as if it were still new. And besides, she couldn't afford to burn through her mana without any method to replenish it... sure, she could last a couple of days unaided, but she had no intention of waiting that long.

She began to fly towards Kadoc's place even as she made the phone call. And, well, would persistently ring until he answered.]

Kadoc- I trust you're at home? Are you available?

...Is Gareth with you?

['Have you already contracted with her?' Being the real question she didn't voice directly.

She knew he wouldn't abandon her, but the churn of anxiety was heavy in her heart all the same.]

[impostorsyndrome]

[He picks up right away when he sees who it is. Of course he does. If she's calling instead of texting, it must be urgent; Medea may not be very good at text, but she still usually goes for that first. This is worrisome. And if there's anyone he'll leap to the aid of when she needs it, it's her.]

Yeah. Yeah, I am, and no, I'm alone. You want me to call her too?

[He can't tell yet from the tone of this whether Gareth not being there is a good or a bad thing.]

Post day one of CameCon, whenever that technically was

[fujimaru]

[ It's early evening when the text comes in, with a photo of a few relatively dour-looking small figurines. They don't have nendroids in this alternate universe Camelot, but that doesn't mean there isn't still merchandise. ]

Blind boxes will be the bane of my existence
Anyway I've got duplicates (￣┰￣*)
Want any?
They're supposed to be the Knights of the Round Table, though they don't look like any of the ones I know

[impostorsyndrome]

[Fujimaru. This is so dumb. . . . Like he didn't go himself, though. Of course he did, because look, he's a mythology nerd and always has been, and he's got to see what an actual version of Camelot's take is on its own legend, convention-style?! It's an eternal battle between his cringe and the part of him that cringes!]

Who are these ones even supposed to be?

text

[silvergarden]

Kadoc?

[Rinea usually opens her texts with greetings like she would a letter, but she's a little too frazzled to stick to convention at the moment.]

Are you still in Avalon?

[impostorsyndrome]

Yeah. I'm here. What's going on?

[He immediately has a sinking feeling, getting a text like this. It's unnerving anyway, and coming from Rinea, sounding uncharacteristically urgent? He feels a chill.]

Action - Backdated to June after the event (lmk if this is cool)

[colchismagecraft]

[So, the ritual had been completed, the Fisher King was taken care of... and the aftereffects of the eternal night were starting to sink in (it surprised Medea, really, that she hadn't even needed to convince anyone that this side-effect wasn't her fault).

It was as she was coming off the high of truly being a hero- and reassuring herself that the ritual had gone well- that the darkness made her quick to realise another fact. One she'd tried to avoid thinking of since her housemate Maribelle had left.

She hated being alone.

And well, she didn't want to go back to her own, quiet house or shop when it was all said and done. So, much like an annoying cat, she decided that instead of going back, she'd go and bother someone else at their house instead. After all, Kadoc was alone now too, wasn't he?]

...I trust that you won't object too greatly if I stay over, will you?

I AM SO SORRY FOR MY DEATH BY WORK

[impostorsyndrome]

[Kadoc likes being alone . . . kind of. Maybe it's more that he's convinced himself he likes being alone, and how true it is is something he's tried not to think about for years now. Or it might be that he likes being alone in certain situations: he's never complained before about camping out alone, spending a night by himself with nature under the stars. Some hobbies are given to it.

But this is different. This is the first time he's been alone in months now. Gareth's presence in his home had been large, in a way he'd worried he might one day come to resent, but he never had. There was a comfort in its largeness. He'd felt the freedom to be as small as he wanted without feeling like the place was empty because of it.

Now the place is empty, and it's like a splinter he can't dig out, making every step he takes in it hurt a little.

So when Medea says that, he lifts his head a little too quickly to look at her, and the gratitude is probably obvious on his face, even though he's trying to play it cool with his response:]

. . . It's cool with me. If you need a place to crash, for however long.

text; un: jean

[rustyhonesty]

Hey. Do we have room at the shelter for three new horses? I was on patrol to check on the towns that were affected be carnivirous plans a few months back and there were few horses lose that didn't seem to have anywhere to retun to anymore.

I'll ask Archimedes if we don't have the room, but I thought I'd ask you first.

[impostorsyndrome]

Hey. Yeah, we've got the room. I'd like to say some crap like we might have to boot them out if paying customers need those stables, but you and I both know I'm not actually gonna do that.

Are they all right? Any injuries?