February 2023 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

FEBRUARY 2023 TDM

INTRODUCTION

[ TDM Questions ★ Jump to Comments ★ Full Navigation ]
Welcome to Folkmore's monthly Test Drive Meme! Please feel free to test drive any and all characters regardless of your intent to apply or whether you have an invite or not.

All TDMs are game canon. You can choose to have your TDM thread be your introduction thread upon acceptance or start fresh. Each TDM will provide a scenario for how characters arrive in-game that particular month.

Playing TDMs will allow characters to immediately obtain canon items from homes especially weapons or other things they may have had on their person when they were pulled from their worlds! There will always be a prompt that provides some sort of "reward" to characters who complete certain tasks.

Current players are allowed to have in-game characters react to TDMs via the Network or make a log with the prompts. Current players are always encouraged to tag new people on the TDM!

TDM threads can be used for spoon spending at any time by characters accepted into the game.

[ Prompt One ★ Prompt Two]

SPRING BREAKS LOOSE

Content Warnings: extreme weather

the time is near

The earth is awakening.

You are aware of this fact before consciousness truly returns. One minute you were a falling star but as your body reforms you can sense the freshness of spring just around the corner. In your minds eye you can see circling birds in the sky, feel the first warm breeze of the season, and hear icicles melting into crystal puddles.

But something isn't right.

The moment you are truly awake you find yourself in what could generously be described as a shack built in the snowy wasteland of Wintermute. You and another Star Child are at least being kept warm by an electric heater, but there really isn't much in the way of amenities otherwise. More disturbingly, the entire shack has a deeply oppressive aura to it, encouraging the pair of you to leave as soon as you can.

But where can you possibly go?

Stepping outside reveals the answer, as parked not far from the shed is a dogsled, complete with warm winter gear to protect you from the cold.

The dogs themselves are the real marvels; not flesh and blood, the sled dogs are in fact automatons. The winter sun reflects off of their silver and copper bodies and the steady tick of their inner workings breaks the chilly silence. Each dog has a key sticking out of its back, turning slowly.

The oppressive sense you felt in the shack continues to grow. Your thoughts begin to turn negative: sad, paranoid, fearful. It is quite unbearable... until your eye falls on a delicate splash of purple against the snow.

Close to the dogsled, a single crocus pokes out of the ground.

The very sight of it calms you down. Picking it will make you feel happy, and you will find yourself blurting out the first pleasant memory that comes to mind.

The robodogs bark, delighted, encouraging you to climb aboard the sled and look for more of those flowers!

Every crocus you collect will make you feel positive emotions and the urge to share good personal moments with your companion. The more you find, the happier you will be... and you might get quite close to a total stranger as a result as well!

in from the snow

While you are out and about, you'll want to keep an eye on your team of dogs - they can and will lose power after a point. Your job as a good dog driver is to keep them wound up! Yes, you'll have to stop and physically wind the dogs back up when they lose steam.

You are likely to discover weapons jutting up from the snow. These are all unenchanted items, basic swords, guns, shields, etc., but the second you pull them from the snow the weather will take a turn for the worse. You may even be subject to a sudden avalanche! Hopefully you got the dogs wound up enough that they can get you out of there without any damage!

Eventually the dogs will choose to take you to Akhlut Station in Wintermute where you can catch the train somewhere a little warmer.

BUT SO DOES FEAR

Content Warnings: Fungus, spores, live burial, mental confusion and hallucinations.

putting roots in my dreamland

Willow is definitely warmer than Wintermute. The tail end of winter means that while much of the farmland is still blanketed in snow, the more wooded areas have large clear patches beneath the conifers. The ground here is damp and rich smelling. Poking out of the soil are tiny white mushrooms. These fungi glisten wetly, strangely compelling in their little rings of earth. You just want to take a closer look... maybe have a seat under the conifers and listen to the snow melt...

The mushrooms enchant anyone who gets close to them into simply staying put. They cloud the mind, leaving you in a dimly pleasant haze, while your body sinks slowly into the earth. The longer you stay, the more you sink - maybe a passerby can come and pull you out! If you don't wind up suffocated by dirt you will find that your head clears on its own once night falls. You will probably still need a hand pulling yourself out of the ground, but at least now you know what's going on.

The woods at night are not still - there are mice and owls and the usual nocturnal critters. There is also something else, something that moves slowly beneath the trees checking the mushroom traps. About eight feet tall, this lanky creature resembles a human skeleton held together by muscles and tendons of moss and fungus. Its head is a huge mushroom cap, underneath from which glitter a pair of bright blue eyes. If it finds any unfortunates stuck in the traps without anyone to help them, it will push their heads beneath the soil and hold them there until they die.

The sight of this creature inspires feelings of disorientation and hopelessness. These feelings are lessened when you are in close physical proximity with another Star Child, so it is to your advantage to stick together. The mushroom creature's objective remains the same: to feed the living earth with your body.

The creature is not particularly tough - its flesh is soft and gives way easily. You can defeat it easily with weapons or even your fists provided you can get close enough without succumbing to the disorientation and hopeless feelings. Oh, and you may not want to hit it on the head...

The mushroom cap, when struck, showers spores everywhere. These spores burn if they land on your skin, and if they get in your eyes they cause vivid hallucinations of ghostly figures reaching for you, trying to immobilize you. These hallucinations are so real that it is likely you will act as if they are real, standing still as if you are restrained.

If you defeat the mushroom creature, it will dissolve into the ground and leave in its place a wooden chest. Inside each of you will find some canon clothes and/or an item from your homeworlds.

coast is clear

Not far from the forest treeline, a bonfire burns merrily in the center of a circle of light green tents. The tents are kept warm by portable heaters, with some containing food and drink, and others offering small packs of seeds as gifts. These seeds are for common earth flowers and vegetables. One of the tents provides first aid supplies, in case you got roughed up fighting a giant mushroom or something.

The tents are staffed by squirrels and chipmunks. Just plain old ordinary squirrels and chipmunks. They don't speak - only chitter and occasionally screech - but they will help as best as their tiny paws allow.

This is a good time to recover, and also to talk to any other Star Children you may see.

Comments

[defenderoftomorrow]

Jayce does carry some of his forge tools with him in the bag of holding, but a shovel is not one of them. He could add it to his inventory in the future, just in case, to avoid having this sort of situation happen again. Using a shovel runs the risk of hitting her by accident and hurting Mel, so he would still have been more willing to unbury most of her with his bare hands, no matter the pain.

"Relative is not good enough." Jayce answered, brows furrowed with concern, not missing the scratches and burns caused by both the monster's attack and the spore it released as it died. "There's a small camp nearby; one of the tents offers first aid. I'll take you there."

He adds a moment later because having a plan of action will hopefully comfort them both. Jayce can only imagine the anxiety of finding oneself in this position. He has never known Mel to be easily driven to panic in the worst-case scenarios, but still. Once she's free from the Earth, one of his arms wraps around Mel's waist to steady her and hold her close. His other hand moves over her body, either brushing soil off her stained clothes or carefully grazing around the burns to assess the damage.

"I didn't think I'd see you again." Jayce's voice is soft but full of emotion, sentimental as always, and for a few seconds he presses their foreheads together in a show of affection before kissing her cheek. He gives her an apologetic look for the injuries caused by his attack against the monster.

"We all need help sometimes. Knowing, when to accept it, is a kind of bravery in itself." She fought so hard to survive, and now there she is, in his arms again. "If I had only found you sooner."

None of this would have happened, or perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad. Story of Jayce's life, really. He always seems to get where he needs to be a little too late. He looks in the direction of the monster's corpse just to make sure it is not going to rise up and attack, only to find that it had dissolved into the earth and left behind a chest.

"Ah, this was all another of Thirteen's trials."

[somethingrevolutionary]

Mel lets go of her own hand to press one filthy hand, apologies Jayce, into Jayce's chest to get his attention. "Life is not perfect, and neither are we," Mel says, "If you never accept anything less for yourself, you'll only be miserable and—perhaps more importantly to you—make more mistakes that lead to more harm. I don't want that for you, Jayce. No one who cares for you does."

"Analyzing what happened for what we could have done differently, so we can improve in the future, is useful the same way that you and Viktor take run experiments, takes notes, and review the experiments to modify them and run them again in the future. You don't beat yourself up because your experiment fails the first, second, or hundredth time do you?

"Heimerdinger could have studied HexTech and made the same breakthroughs a hundred years ago and saved countless more lives. He didn't. Because you are, because Piltover isn't waiting another hundred years for someone to step up and to develop technology to truly help people in both Piltover and Zaun, countless lives may be saved. Someone may have died last year that HexTech in another year can save, and that is a true tragedy. You and I for all our intellect and power cannot do anything about that tragedy. We can only work to prevent the next one.

"That is what you do with your science. That is what I ask you to do with me. You did not and you had no way to know I was in Folkmore, Jayce. Only blind luck could have led you to me sooner. It did not. It is what it is."

Mel sees the chest in her peripheral vision, but she does not immediately go over to open it and to see what the reward for 'another of Thirteen's trials' is. Mel would pick Jayce's personal emotional growth over whatever is in the chest.

"I know accepting that is hard for you and that you cannot promise to do it anymore than you can promise not to have an emotional outburst when people are being close minded fools. I am asking that you try, for me, because I am asking you to, because you never thought you would see me again and here I am, and because whether you believe everything I just said or not it is important to me and I am important to you," Mel says. That one is simply a restatement of the first reason spelled out. That's okay. Jayce has a very beautiful, smart, and thick skull.

[defenderoftomorrow]

Jayce couldn't care less about his clothes getting stained, feeling her touch is more important. His hands, sleeves, the front of his vest, and his knees are already dirty after doing all that digging, what's a little more? He has missed the comfort of Mel's presence and the strength that often came with hearing her voice. She seemed to have a sixth sense for gauging Jayce's emotional state very accurately, even before the color of his eyes started to give away his feelings.

"We need to live and learn from our mistakes. It sounds so simple when you put it in words."

His features soften and change from an upset to a fond expression the longer she speaks. Overthinking and fearing that people will turn on him if he doesn't measure up, if he is not enough and gets people hurt, are issues of which Jayce is well aware. There are others, of course, and most of them were born the day his apartment exploded, and the council decided that his investigations were too dangerous, that he wasn't worth their time. Thanks to both Viktor and Mel, things didn't end there, but some irreparable damage had been done to Jayce's psyche. And yet, she always seems to know what to say to soothe the hurt.

"It's good to know some things never change, even after all these months." Because that's how long it's been for him.

He doesn't say anything about Heimerdinger because it pains him to think about his old mentor. There's no denying that the yordle's inaction led to problems brewing, and that change was needed and inevitable. That Viktor needed to be saved. That's the rational explanation. It doesn't make Jayce feel any less guilty about what he did to Heimerdinger. To this day, he wishes a different solution could have been found.

"It is what it is." He repeats, acknowledging her words as the truth, and holding her a little closer to carry most of her weight on him. A lot of things have changed while he's lived in Folkmore, in him, and in Viktor. Jayce likes to think that he sees things with more clarity now, even if he's still learning. They need to talk about it, but not now, no when Mel is hurt and still trying to comfort him instead of caring about herself. No, that won't do.

"You're not just 'important to me', Mel. I love you." It comes out easily because it is the truth. Jayce's eyes have taken on a brighter color, more gold than yellow, and there's a smile on his face.

This isn't how he had planned to tell her. Not when they are both dirty and sore, not when they are lost in a world that isn't their own and the future is unknown. But exactly because the future is unknown and life is brief, Jayce doesn't want to waste time anymore.

It is what it is, indeed.

He kisses her again, in the lips and more slowly, but it's still a brief kiss. Jayce does expect her to say anything back, and if she doesn't want to, the kiss is a good enough excuse. After that, he turns again toward the chest.

"That belongs to you. That's usually how things work here. We get put through some difficulties, and sometimes we get rewarded for our pain and worries. " Not unlike life itself, although things aren't always so fair. Some trials are unnecessary. "Let's get it, so I can take you somewhere safe."

[somethingrevolutionary]

All these months, Mel notes. She's no scientist, but time usually doesn't work like that. Oh, Mel supposes that somehow, Thirteen could have come in more than one form, with the one she saw only visible to her and the same true for Jayce, so that they left at the same time. Walking to Folkmore could have taken actual months on her part, thereby explaining the difference between them. Even if Thirteen has Thirteen forms, capable of such things, there are to Mel's impression more star children here than thirteen forms could coordinate such arrivals of people from the same universes. Besides, while nothing has definitively proven it yet, Mel does not want to tie herself in logic knots only for people from another universe to point out that person A comes from a hundred years before person B, but they never went missing from the time person A says they come from per person B's knowledge of history. This isn't logic. It's magic.

Congratulations, Jayce. It's definitely magic, full of magic, even you.

Jayce says he loves her, and Mel's first thought is that it's been mere days since they first slept together. Her second is that Jayce has had months more to ponder her and for his feelings to deepen. Her third is that Jayce absolutely could fall in love with her in the mere days they had back home. Her fourth is that Nothing feels impossible when I'm with you isn't something that started because they had sex. The fact they had sex meant Jayce felt comfortable coming over and laying his head in her lap despite the fact that he had abandoned her in his quarters without so much as a note the night before. Mel is glad, now, that he didn't overthink it and do anything else that morning. All in all, the thoughts mean the kiss runs instinctively for her, not her best work.

Mel turns and stares toward the chest again, glances back at Jayce, and shakes her head. She pulls free of him and walks toward it. "You say 'I love you' and expect me to care about rewards from some chest," Mel mutters mostly to herself but loudly enough Jayce can hear it.

She crouches before the chest, opens the lid, and stops and stares. The answer, apparently, is that yes, she can care about the rewards from some chest. Mel had no real concept of what the rewards could be, not truly. Not that they could be this. Even crouched, her posture straightens. Mel gently reaches into the chest but pulls back because her hands are filthy.

"Jayce," Mel says, her voice soft, wavering slightly, "I need— Are we allowed to take the chest whole? Dirt will damage these beyond repair, and I cannot have that. I cannot." Inside are a collection of scrolls and handbound journals. They were never meant to leave Mount Targon. She's never known them to. She hasn't seen them in over ten years. Some she's never read to completion.

[defenderoftomorrow]

As Jayce has learned, time in Folkmore doesn't make sense and doesn't exist. This is a pocket reality of sorts, unaffected by time and death, magic to its very core. Jayce has been investigating, reading up on magic in Thoth's library —since he's unable to locate Baba Ygaga on his own— talking to spirits, and sharing all sorts of information about magic. But Thirteen remains a big mystery to everyone, and by extension, how her realm came to be. It's both fascinating and frustrating.

They will have time to talk about it and share impressions once Mel's safe, once she's healed and rested. Those are Jayce's priorities now.

While he would have liked to hear her return his feelings after that confession, he doesn't expect it and doesn't rush her. He had time to think about their relationship, to sort out his feelings for her and for others, and to reach a very logical conclusion. As Jayce once told K, one-night stands and casual encounters are not his thing. If he falls into bed with someone, it's because he plans on repeating the experience, and getting to know them better. He plans on being with them no matter what. Jayce also regrets leaving her without warning, but he wasn't thinking rationally all the time, any coherent thought was drowned by his worry about Viktor's failing health. He has to apologize properly one day, and he will.

To Mel, all this is new, and after learning of her upbringing, he knows it's new in more than one way. In fact, it's very fitting for her to take time to assess the situation before coming to a final decision. He does hear her mutter, and can't help but smile in amusement. The feeling only grows when she goes from being huffy to being completely enraptured by what's inside the chest.

Picking up the hammer from the ground, Jayce approaches to look at what got Mel so distracted and places his free hand on the small of her back, then looks down. He's seen enough magic books and scrolls detailing runes and spells in the past to recognize one when it's in front of him. No wonder Mel doesn't want them damaged.

"Yes, you can bring it all with you. I know where you can keep those safe." Jayce takes a step to the side and motions toward the small belt pouch.

"This is a magic bag that can hold many items inside no matter how big they are, and it always has the same weight. Look." In a practiced motion, Jayce opens the pouch and moves the end of the hammer closer to the entrance...and it shifts in size, and the weapons starts to disappear into the bag, head and all. "I can retrieve it any moment, I just have to reach inside and know what I want to pull out of the bag."

[somethingrevolutionary]

Mel looks from Jayce's face to the gestured pouch. She knows the phrase some men cling to that size doesn't matter, it's how you use it. Clearly the pouch is magical or Jayce wouldn't try to pull something over on her. However, it's... not a form of magic she's ever heard of. That speaks to something from Folkmore. She listens and watches closely. Many a man, woman, and child would be won over and cheer and clap for the amazing display. Mel has seen Jayce give so many demonstrations of HexTech where just that has happened. The behind the scenes story is far more harrowing. Her questions generally get asked before or afterward. Here she's an audience of one.

"That's impressive, Jayce," Mel says, "I appreciate that it means you had your hammer with you when you found me." First, the honest compliment.

"I have a couple questions," Mel says with a smile. She stands and rests one hand on his arm before she asks them. "How much do items shift around while they are in the pouch? The chest is protective, but it is not packed full. The texts could still damage each other bumping and sliding. Perhaps they are in another dimension altogether, so the chest is as good as sitting on the floor in a vault somewhere, unperturbed?"

"It's incredible that you can shrink it and carry it around with your arms free should something else attack us, but I value their safety over any injury I will be able to be able to recover from," Mel says. She pauses and rests a second hand over Jayce's heart.

Mel stares up into his eyes, and hers are pooled silver. The silence is heavy, the kind dangerous to break. Mel clearly performs some calculations, though her face gives away nothing of the variables. Even her thoughts occlude the variables, so deeply buried is everything in her history tied to this.

"Some of these writings are my father's, Jayce," Mel says. "I haven't seen from him since I was exiled. They are his life's work. He valued them as much as his life. That is how important this is to me."

[defenderoftomorrow]

Jayce would agree that size is not what matters most, but he still has an inclination toward big weapons, and he cannot lie. He also likes useful things, which is why he gathered spoons and put them to good use.

As Mel watches and assimilates the new information, Jayce reaches a hand up to the side of her face to tuck some of the loose hair behind her ear. He wants to take Mel somewhere safe where she can get healed and cleaned, but for now, this is more important. First, Mel never spoke of her father before, and second...Mount Targon? That's not only the mightiest peak in all of Runeterra, but a place of magic and mysticism. And pretty far away from the likes of Noxus. He wants to know more, but that can wait until Mel is safe and ready to share, if she ever wants to do that.

"It's practical and certainly useful." He says this in response to the compliment, knowing all too well that Mel saying that is practically a formality. He waits for the real questions to happen, and he's not disappointed.

"They don't shift or touch each other; it is as if I place each of them in a different room. I did some tests." Lots and lots of tests. Of course, he did, being a scientist at heart combined with his love for magic meant that he tested the touch for days. He knows the weight limits of the bag, the danger of the fabric getting pierced, and the somewhat breathable atmosphere inside because he put plants inside it as well and they didn't die immediately.

Mel gets close, and he leans in, studying her face but more than anything noticing the change of color of her eyes. Jayce says nothing out loud, only smiling briefly at the realization that she is a Legend like him. She could not be anything else more fitting.

He wraps an arm around her waist, his expression serious as she shares why the scrolls and books matter so much, understanding why they deserve this level of gravitas.

"Then I'd protect them like I'd protect your life, you have my word. I can take us to the tent flying, if you will allow me, so nothing can attack us again while we get there."

If she's unsure about the magic pouch, Mel could hold the chest, and Jayce will bridal carry her to a safer place. No matter what she chooses, he will adapt. Jayce might be (slowly) learning to be more assertive and not be so often controlled by the wishes of others, but this is different.

[somethingrevolutionary]

Mel trusts those four words, I did some tests, and her posture relaxes with them. The silver in her eyes melts and swirls, molten closer toward gold, the two colors mixing together. A visible sign that gives away the internal reaction more strongly than her posture. Mel doesn't know about it yet. How could she?

Jayce reacts to her touch as strongly, more so, because that is what he likes and what he does. Mel imitated him, and for her decision, she's wrapped up in him. For how important the reward is to her, he's sworn on his life. Mel wants to protest. His life is important to her, but she's known him since the incident that brought him before the Council, years since Mel was exiled, years since Mel saw anyone in her family, and years longer since she saw her father. Her life's been a busy one. Honestly, Mel has spent more time with Jayce than with her father, but that's not her father's fault. Mel stands there and takes Jayce at his word, believing Jayce and hoping that he will not need to keep it.

"Thank you, Jayce," Mel says, "I appreciate you being here for me."

She leans in close and unlike that moment in his family's forge kisses him, not to manipulate him or to reward him, because she cares for him and feels much less alone knowing that he is also here in Folkmore. Mel doesn't have to do this alone.

Then Mel gently pushes away from his chest to turn away from his pleasant reach and crouch once more before the chest. She mutters a short Solnari prayer before closing the chest lid. Then Mel grasps the handles on the chest and stands smoothly lifting the chest with ease.

"Spread it wide or... get ready, Jayce," Mel says as she turns back, sideways to him so that the short end of the chest may enter first. Her smirk is hard to make out, but her eyes gleam with humor.

[defenderoftomorrow]

It is an unexpected surprise to see such physical proof of the trust that has grown between them. Since he became a Legend, Jayce has always resented the fact his eyes gave him away, and he couldn't hide his feelings when he didn't want others to know them or to worry. Now, he is thinking that there are some positives to the color-changing eyes. It leaves them bare, true, but it makes them more honest.

As much as Mel is often planning for the future and trying to keep things under control, Jayce noticed that she really asks very little for herself, and herself alone. She has big plans that, more often than not and in the long run, involve other people's happiness and safety, even if that's not always clear. So he wants her to have this because she deserves it. Mel has always worked so hard, and after meeting her mother and learning how she was exiled, Jayce can't help but feel that being here and finding the scrolls perhaps means that Thirteen is trying to help amend some wrongs from the past.

He doesn't get the chance to say she doesn't need to thank him at all before their lips meet, but he has no complaints, closing his eyes and leaning into the kiss to deepen it. It's almost hard to believe that she's really here after so long, but she talks, feels, and kisses like the woman he's grown to love. It feels like a gift. There's a lot he wants to share with her, the good and the bad, and Jayce hopes she can learn to like this new world full of magic. It might not be perfect, but it's a new chance.

He lets out a small, almost imperceptible little sound of complaint when she moves away, but then licks his bottom lip and smiles. Jayce doesn't recognize the prayer, but he's familiar with the language. -he has studied most of the ones spoken through the continent to a degree- and stays quiet as she reverently picks up the chest.

Because of the previous seriousness of the situation, Mel joking as she turns to get the chest inside the pouch has Jayce doing a double take. He is bad with innuendos, most of the time he doesn't realize they are happening, but this...this even he can not miss. It prompts a chuckle before he can stop himself, eyes lighting up with mirth at the view of that smirk.

"At least you gave me a kiss before stuffing me with that. But yes ma'am..." He responds in kind, his voice dropping an octave when he says the last word, and holds out the pouch so she can slide the chest inside it. After that, instead of reattaching the ouch to his belt, Jayce offers it to her.

"Keep it for now. That way you'll always know where the chest is and hold it close. Now, I, will hold you."

The last part is announced with barely restrained glee, and after a moment of concentration, Jayce's butterfly wings appear behind him. They are light yellow and white, glinting in the sunlight thanks to the shimmering scales. Since he hadn't summoned them when he was helping Mel get out of the soil, they are the only part of Jayce that is still spotless.

"Ready for a ride?" Without further ado, Jayce leans in closer, wraps an arm around her back and the other behind her knees, and lifts Mel up, then cradles her against his chest.

[somethingrevolutionary]

Mel's smirk becomes an interested, curious half-smile. They've slept together yes but only a handful of times. "I'd more than give you a kiss," Mel mutters. Perhaps those crocuses have left her tongue a little looser when it comes to the happier side of things. Perhaps it's simply that being with Jayce is the first truly relaxed moment in Folkmore.

"Thank you," Mel says and accepts the pouch with great respect and care. She holds it to her chest, and her eyes look down, remaining on the small pouch carrying such a heavy burden. It may be physically light, but it has the chest, as well as Jayce's hammer and whatever else he deemed important enough to carry at all times. She nods in response to his question.

Immediately, Jayce picks her up with complete ease because no matter that he is a councilor and a scientist trained at the academy, he comes from a family known for building hammers, for working in the forge, and he is built like it. Mel cradles the pouch with one hand and reaches to wrap the other arm around his neck. That's when she gets the view of Jayce's wings. Her first astonished impression is the brilliant golden color, outlining the framework that fills with light. It reminds her of Solnari artwork, of solar magic. The idea that Jayce's form in Folkmore would be so in line with her father's sect takes her aback. A few seconds later, his feet off the ground, already flying them toward the tent he spoke of, Mel notices that they are butterfly wings—a delicate creature for a man built like a Noxian.

Her arm settles around Jayce's neck because it doesn't seem in the way, but Mel continues to watch his wings as they fly. "Jayce, they're so beautiful. Your wings are incredible," Mel says.

[defenderoftomorrow]

Sex is rarely the first thing on Jayce's mind, but there's no denying that Mel, and he had a fantastic time together. He wants to be with her in all possible ways, and he's a sucker for physical affection, so Mel's 'more than a kiss' comment earns her an interested look.

Jayce waits until she gets a good hold on both the pouch and his neck to flap the wings and take flight. In a matter of seconds they gets high enough that any nearby creature can't catch or try to attack them, but not so much that the air would get too cold and be unpleasant to Mel. She weighs less than his hammer, and being a Legend gives Jayce enhanced strength, so keeping a stable flight isn't too difficult.

Head tilting slightly at the mention of his wings, Jayce starts to fight another smile but then doesn't bother. Instead, he murmurs a soft but heartfelt 'Thank you' and holds her tighter. Butterfly wings are something he feels is too delicate for him, and they made him somewhat self-conscious at the beginning. Seeing the way she stares at them makes Jayce feel all warm inside.

"Once we land, and things calm down, you're free to touch them and study them for as long as you want. You should have a pair of wings of your own, too. If I am not mistaken, you are a legend like me. Do you remember the fox talking about it?"

[somethingrevolutionary]

Mel rests her chin on Jayce's shoulder so she can watch Jayce's wings as they fly. They truly are remarkable, like something out of the very scrolls in the chest within the pouch she holds against her. Unreasonably, that makes Mel happy. The magic is not from Runeterra, it's from Folkmore. It isn't solar magic but that which comes from roles. Mel knows all that, but she cannot deny the way Jayce's wings look and how it makes her feel—that they match, that they are similar, that in a small way, this confirms that they belong together.

"I would like that, Jayce," Mel says softly, "I'd like to paint them. To paint you with them." Once she has art supplies.

"The fox told me I was a Legend when she explained everything," Mel says, "Her explanations were both simple and cryptic, much like my father's lessons. I am unsure whether I must earn my wings, whether they shall manifest on their own over time, whether they shall come as part of some trial, or whether her words meant something altogether different. It is easy to make assumptions and hard to parse out exact meaning from a being you do not know about powers you have previously never heard of from a land you've never visited."

She smiles. "They will come, Jayce." Because Mel forges her own destiny.

[defenderoftomorrow]

He tilts his head toward her briefly, his cheek rubbing against Mel's in a brief gesture of affection. Jayce has counted the times he's seen her smile, smile for real, both here and in Piltover. It's happened far too few times, and that's why he treasures her real smiles when they happen. If his wings bring her happiness, if painting them is something Mel would enjoy, who is Jayce to deny it? It makes him a little self-conscious, he's never been anyone's model, but he won't tell her no.

"Then you will. I have some drawing supplies at home, but not the paints you usually use. I'll get them for you." He wants to show her what Epiphany and the rest of Folkmore have to offer, but first things first. Turning towards their left, Jayce speeds up when he sees the tents in the distance, small figures moving around.

"I don't think you could have been anything else. All roles are important in their own way, but Legends represent kindness and selflessness. Protectiveness as well. And yes, the wings will come."

The issue Jayce had with his wings at first is that he had trouble hiding them, not with the summoning aspect. Mel being Mel —hardworking, stubborn Mel— will have fewer problems. He can't wait to see how they look.

It doesn't take them long to reach their destination, and it hasn't been a minute since Jayce landed that little chipmunks and squirrels were moving toward them to assist the newcomers. Jayce gently places Mel on the ground but keeps an arm around her waist as they move towards the tent offering healing aid.

A little later, once he's sure she will be safe, Jayce will leave to find her some clean clothes, and return to instead find Mel gone. Before he has the chance to panic or wonder if he has been dreaming it all, he gets a message from Viktor letting him know where they are. Relief eases Jayce's worries, so much that he only huffs once in frustration at being left behind. Then he heads to the lab, choosing to fly there to get to the building sooner.