It's the end of the world... and you don't feel fine. Discover your past reincarnation as a member of Camelot. Discover the saboteur who has infiltrated your ranks. Discover that nothing is as it seems and that everyone and everything is lying to you. But that's fine... Y̥͑̅̌̔̉ͯo̼̩̖̓ͪ̽͢ǔ̢͢͏̫͕͋'͎̬́͐ͥ᷇͢r̉͏͍̾᷉̓̓e͓͕ͦ̿᷅͆͠ l̜̻̈̅̃͢͞y̡̬͙̪̦̦ͧi̘᷅̓͒̐̍͑n̰͈᷅ͯͥͨ͜g̯᷾̒̑᷄̕͟ t̶̙͍̏͊᷈͠o̙̟ͦ̏̄ͭ͂o̥̮͆ͤ͐͝͠.̛͚̎᷇̍̕͜ King Arthur x Among Us (Apocalyptic Roadtrip)!
One Knight Stand - King Arthur x Among Us Apocalyptic Road Trip (Interactive Fiction)
It's the end of the world... and you don't feel fine.
It's just another humdrum day as the weekend winds to its inevitable end. All is as expected. The pandemic has stretched on for a decade now. A new serial killer stalks the streets. And your completely normal club is waiting. Just another ordinary day.
Just ignore the sounds in your living room. Just ignore that shadow scuttling across the floor. Just ignore the lies of the 'friend' who's known you for years. He's lying. She's lying. That stranger on the street is lying. And the voices whispering in your mind are definitely lying.
Everyone is lying... especially the traitor who's infiltrated the group.
Update 7 : (12/1/25) Chapter 2 Part 5 (The Reconnaissance)
Further Details Here
**Sound Effect Alert: Turn Down Your Volume At Start of Game**
• Total Word Count: 1,200,000+
• Including Code: 1,500,000+
• Average Playthrough: ~88,000+ words
• Average if you play 'ask Adrian and Merlin five million questions around the city' and text message everyone: Considerably longer
LINKS: PATREON | COG FEEDBACK THREAD | REPORT BUGS & STATS | FAN DISCORD | FAN WIKI
You're a Harbinger of the Apocalypse... or so it's been claimed. The destined reincarnation of a legendary hero from the time of Camelot. For the sake of the world, reclaim your past memories & powers and discover the true identities of yourself and your current companions.
For the sake of your survival, make certain that you're a member of the successful Greater Circle... because in the end, only thirteen are needed and it doesn't have to include you. The two previous Circles have failed and all their members paid the price for it...
...but third time's the charm, ̷r̸i̷g̵h̴t̶?
Everyone is lying. That most certainly includes you. And one is an enemy infiltrator who's entire purpose is to (murderously) sabotage this last and final circle. Who will you trust and who will you trick? The fate of both you and the world hangs in the balance.
Genres: Dark Urban Fantasy (with mystery/thriller/horror elements). The Camelot flashback sections are more High Fantasy.
Play Among Us/Werewolf/Mafia/The Thing/The Mole/Danganronpa/Town of Salem/etc Arthurian lore style! (Also don't forget the apocalypse, that's kind of important)
Lovingly craft your character in intimate detail or slap down that [Randomly Generate Your Appearance] button like I do.
Choose your sad childhood background and your potentially even sadder (or more traumatic or more traumatically evil) deep, dark secret which must be hidden at all cost
Play one million questions around the city with not-so-random people or go "Screw this lore dump, I'm taking a nap!"
ᕕ(✿ ᐛ )ᕗ <- Merlin on their way to a six hour lecture because you had to ask every single question in their dialogue tree. I mean, there's an Achievement for doing that, so you do you.
Spend the entire time during this IF about Arthurian lore going "Who is Arthur and what's a Camels-a-lot?" (Yes, this a legit strategy to get through the game)
Figure out your previous Camelot reincarnation from amongst four different potential backgrounds (determined by your actions in the Camelot flashback sections). Or go "Nuts to this mystery!" and just wait to get your magic powers already. (Uh, you probably should still try and figure out who's trying to kill you, though)
Act like a saint, act like a psychopath, or randomly burst into song & dance like you're trapped in a Disney musical at the most inappropriate moments.
Survive the night... or die horribly and collect the Dead Ends like pokemon who give clues to what's happening in the greater narrative. (You won't be the only one... dying, that is)
Get randomly turned into a water fowl (I mean, it's Merlin, after all)
Look out that window... you know you want to.
Features creepy sound effects (which you can turn off from the main menu)
(Yes, this is basically Red Flag the Romance. Yes, there are ROs who can have a perfectly healthy relationship with you... and there are also ones who'll just kill you. Good luck figuring out who is who. Also platonic buddy versions are a go. Physical descriptions here. And heights here.)
MERLIN (M/F/NB)
The nominal leader of this motley crew and the only one who knows what's truly going on... or so they claim.
A shape shifting incubus who takes on the most appealing form of whoever is viewing them. Always elegant, always smiling, always for the greater good... a beautiful facade that hides a heart that's entirely inhuman.
Unlike the others, they will never directly lie to you... lies of omission don't count, right?
"Dear child, that's for me to know and for you to find out, as they are wont to say. Shall we try again?"
ADRIAN BENONI (M)
A close friend, an unrequited crush, a passing acquaintance, a suspected stalker... the tone of your relationship may change, but what does not is that you've known this guy for years. A familiar presence within a world that's suddenly become ever-so-strange.
But what darkness hides behind the ever amiable front that he always presents around you? Well...maybe not always. Why does he seem so desperate to like you even while keeping you an arm's length away?
"I'm sure that if we all just came together in solidarity that we— h-hey you don't have to laugh *that* hard about it!"
PERCY T. LONGSPEAR (M)
Someone who marches to the sound of his own drum... on a different planet somewhere in a galaxy far, far away.
Most assuredly the most strangely perceptive of the group, if only anyone could understand exactly what he's saying. A potential soulmate to a very certain version of the MC.
Who his past reincarnation seems to be is so blatantly obvious that it's the very height of suspicion.
"Why did I come in through the vents? Why would I use a *door*?"
CASSANDRA DE VAUX (F)
A detective who intercepted the group during an investigation of... well, it's not exactly complete chaos that you're leaving in your wake, is it?
No-nonsense when on the job, but playful during down times, she joined with little convincing or fanfare... but has she truly allied with the cause or is this just another sting operation to her?
And why does she seem so much more... wait what were we talking about again?
"Scintillating. Now please explain again from the top... you were doing *what* in the museum that night?"
GWYNETH REYNARD (F)
A vivacious and sweetly cheerful member of the group that pulls off true optimism far better than certain other members... even if she wears that sunny disposition like a suit of armor.
You found her wandering in an abandoned nineteenth-century mental asylum. A perfectly normal place to meet. (After all, you were there too!) And certainly there's a completely sensible explanation for why she doesn't want to head back home as well.
"Oh, are we making claims on who we want to be now? Then I want to be Buttercup from the Princess Bride!"
LORELEI GUERRIER (F)
An Olympic archer who is as unflappable as she is coolly distant. She has the rather laudable capability of beating down a lesser hellhound with nothing but a mop for a weapon.
Certainly her joining would be nothing but a boon to the group. Too bad she possesses nothing but cynicism and antipathy for the idea of chivalry and knights in shining armor.
But surely she's a champion of Camelot, right?
"The virtue of a knight? Someone that parades around in self indulgence, all for the glory of their own pride, while better people are left wanting. That's the true face of your so-called *chivalry*."
BRODERICK DOE (M)
A grumpy, recalcitrant, and somewhat foulmouthed addition to the group. He really, really doesn't want to be here. He thinks you're all insane. (He may be right in certain instances.)
But someone has to keep an eye out during all this craziness, right?Especially if there's a kernel of truth to this apocalyptic nonsense.
Of course, there's no one in this city, this state, this country registered as 'Broderick Doe'.
"And let me be clear here... I don't trust a single one of you chucklefucks!"
CAMELOT ROMANCE OPTIONS
(Currently sealed away, so you can only interact with them in dreams and flashbacks)
ARTHUR PENDRAGON (M)
The Once and Future King, the doomed High King of Camelot who is fated to return at humanity's greatest moment of need and lead them in survival during the end times.
The ideal that always had a surprising streak of pragmatism to it. If only he would wake up. He's so very, very late you see. And things have spiraled wildly out of control in his absence.
A figure that's currently haunting your dreams.
"You think I missed my calling as a troubadour? Mayhaps... for what is politics but a form of mummery?"
VIVIAN (F)
The third and current Lady of the Lake. One of the fae who is aligned with your side through blood oaths and promises as strong as compulsion.
One of the ones who sealed Merlin away and who remains bound at the very edge of the Veil even now. The tales never mentioned the part where she's a mari-morgan that drowns people, did they?
"Hear this song... come along... just drift a little closer, pretty thing of mine. Simply a step closer... merely a bit *deeper*."
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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As suggested by the Greater Circle and voted on by the Greater/Lesser Circle tiers, it's the July Question & Answer session, coming in at 4254 words. And today's guest star of the session is most certainly... Mordred.
Yes, it's definitely Mordred Time today.
Percy: *off-stage* Sus.
Merlin: Ah, that one continues to haunt the narrative, even as he fails to win any more dedicated drabbles on his behalf despite people suggesting him over and over and over... well, ahem. I fear, dearest one, that all those questions you wished to avoid made it into today's session.
Arthur: *simply sighs*
Adrian: Why do you all keep bringing up Mordred, of all people, all the time? Especially when Arthur is on-stage! It's like you're purposefully trying to salt the wound and— *keeps fussing*
Lorelei: *off-stage* Yeah, no, I've got to agree, it's always him or Lancelot! What's with the strange fascination with those two lunkheads? Because of all the morally bankrupted knights out there, that pair certainly have the lead!
Merlin ever retains their seat at the center of the stage with Arthur to their right and Adrian to the High King's right. The stage remains otherwise empty until a pouting Gwen and a grumbling Broderick enter from stage right and stage left respectively, claiming the seats next to Adrian and to Merlin's left.
Gwen: *still pouting* You know, for all your complaints about being on stage, you sure do get here early, Adrian.
Merlin: He's secretly tsundere, dear child.
Gwen: *snaps fingers* That makes so much sense! 😲💡
Broderick: What's a 'tsoon-deh-reh'?
Random Audience Member: Okay, that's it, we're having a group anime marathon S.T.A.T.
Confused Audience Member: Never mind that... who's 'More Dread'?
Broderick: Really, MC? Even I know who's Mordred at this point.
Merlin: Sometimes I fear for you, Aux innocents les mains pleines MC...
Adrian: *still fussing*
This Q & A session stars Adrian, Arthur, Broderick, Gwen, and eternally Merlin. Available on my Patreon for quite a while now.
Broderick desperately quested through the fields, across meadows so charred that it was hard to tell if those twisted limbs belonged to fallen branches or the blackened bones of enemies and allies alike, and past groves full of shriveled trees, as was only suitable for those touched by the hand of Famine.
And then in the midst of all this, she just fucking flew off from their core group of Harbingers without so much as a 'by your leave'. Or any lick of sense or tactics in that empty head of hers.
Not again. Not again. Not again.
The shadow of Death fell everywhere as fall gave way to winter. It suited his mood well enough. ▇▇▇ gone, lost to the sands before a tardy king ever woke up. ▇▇ ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇ ▇▇ ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇, oblivious to the hell that'd been left behind. Let everything else die and join them. Including him!
Especially him.
Broderick topped another hill, fearing what he'd see.
Blood on the ground. Blood in the stream that even now wisped and evaporated away into nothingness beneath the blow of a strike that could level cities. Blood on the face of Gwen as she chased wildly after their king in pursuit of Death itself.
He could be bleeding out right now. Broderick wouldn't even be surprised. That one would ride to his own death. Yes, there was a familiar kinship there... like calling like... the roiling suicidal tendencies of survivor's guilt. There was plenty enough of that going around for everyone!
Vengeance could only take you so far in the end.
Broderick Doe living in the land of ▇▇▇▇ now.
And the second-place winner for July is "Sassy/Hidden-Sweet Changeling!MC goes missing after a battle; post-subplot Broderick can't find them (they are tsundere for each other) (please make the MC female and a dragonfly fae)" at 1557 words.
Another AU, as pretty much anything to do with Changeling MC in anything but the very early stages of their plot will inevitably be, so we're going far alternate universe future here.
Available for quite a while now on the "Rider Groupies of the Apocalypse" and higher tiers of my Patreon.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
As in my previous post, here are a few screencaps for the minigame I'm making a demo for. It's a long post, so read below the cut. For any typos, I'm still tired, so I apologize.
I'm still not all that confident releasing the minigame publicly, as it's roughly 18000 words or 8-12 meaningful choices.
This is an Arthurian high medieval fantasy, court intrigue minigame, with elements of horror and very messy romance. I made a medieval theme; for screencaps, I'll only use whitemode after a first preview.
Fair warning, I write sci-fi and contemporary murder mysteries, so historical fiction is far from my norm. I'm really trying—even if it doesn't look like it.
All right, now in whitemode.
By the way, I added tooltips because I wanted players to get information quickly. I know that an official release means no fun themes or tooltips. But, as a WIP...
In the minigame version, you initially play as Arthur Pendragon, brother to Mordred and Artorius Pendragon. Each of you will fight for your right to rule the throne! The (incredibly pending demo) will have a key difference to this.
(I needed to hide some of this because it was too spoilery.)
You get a lovely inventory system to learn more about the world around you. There is also codex, both in-game and open-able in a new tab. The codex is alphabetical, categorical, and searchable. It also uses several sub routines to reduce word count.
And there's a brief interactive (or skippable) prologue segment.
Amid the minigame are components such as a note writing and reading system and ChoiceScript checkpoints that, in theory, won't delete prior saves in a playthrough should you go back to older ones.
Hmm, there's more, but I've realized this is getting way too long.
I'll conclude by saying that it's not a given I'll post this publicly. I don't have expertise in high medieval fantasy or Arthuriana. I do hope someone else could do it? For now, though, I am trying very slowly to make a little more Arthurian content.
Thank you for reading this far! Thank you for the well wishes; it does help my recovery.
Looking good! I don't think you need to worry there... most people writing Arthurian pop media don't have expertise in high medieval fantasy or Arthuriana either.
Using my Tomodachi Life Miis as references, I drew the Harbingers who haven't officially appeared in the game (@oneknightstand-if).
Here's also a group photo of the Lesser Circle…
…and the RV. Due to technical limitations, the front of the vehicle looks a bit flat. You can imagine it got flattened after ramming into a certain building.
"Oi, stable boy! What scurrilous mischief are you engaging in over there?"
Arthur Pendragon, High King of Logres, the Red Dragon of Britannia, and current scurrilous stable boy, whirled about in a seeming panic, readily and unwittingly slipping into the proper stuttering mien of the disguise he now wore even as his mind wrought forth and discarded a plethora of possibilities.
A familiar voice. An unfamiliar tone. Only so many had the right to enter the King's Stables. Only a scant few would dare to do so uninvited even when it lay strangely emptied of attendants as it remained presently.
Even before he completed his turn, he knew who twas that confronted him. Or rather, suspected. There was still the oddity within the intonation and the strangeness belying this manner of speech and verbiage. Twas not normal for that one to reproach others so, commoner or not.
▇▇▇▇
"Oh, tis you," Arthur nonchalantly replied, his posture relaxing, even as his eyes drank in every detail of the sight of the ▇▇▇ standing before him with an uncharacteristic playful smirk upon ▇▇ lips.
Or was it?
And the winning drabble for July is "Arthur's POV of a Lucid Dreamer Camelot MC who spends both sections with him" at 2070 words.
Remember way back when I mentioned that Arthur's internal reactions to Camelot MC flirting with him could range from "Oh, that's cute" to "Did you fall on your head?" (Pepperidge Farm remembers!)
Well, here's "Did You Fall on Your Head" MC!
A very specific Lucid Dreaming Camelot MC showing up here. One that Arthur might or might not suspect to be currently possessed at the moment. Not that you could tell in the game...
Fie upon all of you cuckoo Lucid Dreamers that Merlin now needs to teach a fifth-century warlord about air-speed velocity!
Available for quite a while now on the "Rider Groupies of the Apocalypse" and higher tiers of my Patreon.
New Mini-update: All versions of the game hosted on my site (so, not the Itch.io version) have been updated to include a modded version of the previous save system smPlugin that now allows exporting & importing of the save slots (including in bulk) as .json files.
I decided to go ahead and push this through ahead of the big upcoming Chapter2-6 update (right now on line 18504 out of 24215 in the revision process) for all those whose browsers have been going “That’s a nice save file you have there… it’d be a shame if something happened to it *purges all data*.”
If you don’t see the new save system at the top of the game, you’ll need to clear the cache for the OKS website. If you’re on desktop, you can also try a hard refresh (CTRL + F5 on Windows, CMD + SHIFT + R on Mac) first and see if that works.
Note: This won’t do anything about Choicescript saves corrupting after a big update, but at least it’s a nice backup for those whose saves kept mysteriously going missing.
It’s a bit tetchy. Sometimes you’ll need to reload the page to get the save slots to properly populate (particularly if you’re doing a large bulk import of saves). Sometimes the browser will hang a bit the first time you try to load a newly imported save (it seems to be as fast as ever after the first time though).
And then when I tried filling out all 100 slots to test the bulk storage, I ran face-first into the QuotaExceededError at slot 88, as it seems Supermium has the OKS localStorage capped at 5.7MB (gee, thanks, Supermium!)
I believe most people not on CogDemos have moved on to using the newer ChoiceScriptSavePlugin instead of smPlugin, but if there’s anyone out there still using smPlugin that would like the modded code for importing/exporting save files, just hit me up for it.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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@oneknightstand-if the code is held together with plaintext, javascript, and html—which is to say it is very inefficient for long-term use.
for my silly little projects, the code is sufficient.
i, however, am craving more arthurian ifs but am coming to realization that, if i want to play more arthurian ifs, i must make them.
(and if you all wish to have a person—mind you, who thought king arthur was with the spanish inquisition—making your arthurian ifs, i don’t know what to tell you!)
Alas, if only it were plaintext and HTML, it could probably get officially published, but CoG are real sticklers with not adding in any customized JavaScript.
There's this list of Arthurian IFs, but that's from 2 years ago, so it's missing anything newer than that.
Have you been posting your Arthurian IFs to CoGDemos?
As suggested by the Greater Circle and voted on by the Greater/Lesser Circle tiers, it's the June Question & Answer session, coming in at 3927 words. And today's guest star of the session is... not the Magic 8-Ball this time (even though it's once more here), but Sir Not Appearing in This Q&A himself, Adrian!
Magic 8-Ball:
Merlin once more sits at center stage, clutching the aforementioned Magic 8-Ball in hand with a dolorously sighing Adrian to their right and a scribbling Cassandra to their left. Percy has reclaimed his rocking horse to the further right, the rider bedecked in a full diving suit, while the horse is wearing a floatie ring. A raccoon industrially chewing on a corncob is seated behind him.
Adrian takes one look at the rocking pair and sighs even harder.
Adrian: I don't even wanna know what's going on in that branch of the story.
Random Audience Member: Yeah, about that... how good are you at jumping between glass display cases?
Percy: Always knew we should’ve taken that left turn at Albuquerque.
Adrian: *sighs even harder*
Merlin: I see that someone's bender around the world has finally come to its inevitable end, as all good things must eventually.
Adrian: I'm just surprised it took this long before I got recalled back.
Cassandra: *squinting over at Percy and taking even more notes* Unfortunately, before my turn as babysitter.
Merlin: And I also see that we are a rather small contingent on stage this time.
Cassandra: That's right. Unlike you—
Merlin: ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧
Cassandra: —everyone else left backstage doesn't want to be here either, or has already been on-stage quite a bit lately.
Gwen: *off-stage* Tee hee.
This Q & A session stars Adrian, Percy, Cassandra, the Magic 8-Ball, and eternally Merlin. Available on my Patreon for a while now.
The ground quaked beneath them, sending the rest of the group reeling, scattered to the four corners of an abandoned street whose asphalt split and ruptured as if the very earth sought to swallow them up. Dangerous footing for the others, where a wrong step could plunge them to their doom.
A mere annoyance to Merlin, who was not bound by such frivolities as gravity. Even as MC stayed warily by their side, crouched down to retain her precarious balance upon the bucking pavement.
Something was cresting. Something that ought never to exist in this world. Still, the seals held, what little of them remained, fraying away into nothing for these past thirty years. The Otherworld should arise, its Veil tumbling down, before Hell would be allowed to sink its putrid fangs into the Earth.
Until the other side bared its own maw from the Heavens.
A rusted vehicle — classic Fiat 500 from the 1970s, someone else's memory informed them — hovered slightly in the air, faintly surrounded by a nimbus of green, until ▇▇▇▇▇ strode up and cleaved it in half with a fiery gold-hilted sword, stooping to offer a hand up to the cowering Gwen.
"This city is lost. We should retreat to the banks of the lungotevere and regroup with— oh, for the balmy love of the forsaken gods!" Merlin exclaimed as Percy and ▇▇▇ ▇▇ ▇▇ raced past them, back into the shadows of a tumbling basilica, while stone crumbled to ash all around.
"Still ngam... there's still a chance if we can kill the original spellcaster, is it?" ▇▇▇ said, a flash of iridescence and white bone in her hands taking the form of a sword that belonged to someone else, even as ▇▇▇▇ tossed a silent thumbs-up behind him.
This is what came from consorting with 'heroes', as Merlin should well know by now. Although they distinctly remembered that she was supposed to have more sense than him back then.
Merlin turned, a pivot that had nothing to do with physical form nor the corroded laws of the mortal realm. It shook through the fabric of reality itself.
Something was coming. Not the Princeps Inferorum who slavered to take the Earth for themself, but something dangerous enough. After all... only two Riders of the Apocalypse yet walked the world.
For a nonexistent heartbeat, exhaustion pressed its heavy hand upon them, as ever-present as the eternal watchful eye of the negligent Almighty. They had cast off so much already. A feeling that manifested not one whit in their pristine form mirrored in the gazes of their companions.
They reached, nothing but intention manifest, and lifted. Gwen yelped in dismay, perhaps seeing more here than their other companions, as ▇▇▇▇▇ merely squinted over at them — or where they would appear to be — in appraising calculation, while the two ▇▇▇ were forcefully reeled back from the jaws that erupted like an unending tunnel at the edge of the boulevard.
And at their side, MC merely smiled, hair whipping within the storm of their passing. Simply smiled, while the sight of a pale woman with wild silvery hair flaring around a perfect visage only touched by the faintest shadows of tiredness reflected in her eyes, as she shoved, her own will made manifest.
"Get to safety," MC's silent lips mouthed the words.
Shoved Merlin, and thus everyone else, a few stuttering steps away, as the walls of the time bubble rose to the uncaring heavens.
And the second-place winner for June is "Romanced!Merlin's POV as Serious/Sweet u_hero High Magic MC traps themself and a powerful enemy in a time bubble in order to buy the others time to escape. (Merlin is exhausted and unable to intervene) " at 1905 words.
AU not only because of taking place so far forward in time, but also because Merlin would probably be dead before they couldn't pop a time bubble in this sort of situation.
Merlin: You underestimate my power! (✿｀д´)9
Available for a while now on the "Rider Groupies of the Apocalypse" and higher tiers of my Patreon.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
@myeraland replied to your post “Was Lancelot a black knight in OKS lore?”:
seeing this makes me remember how a mere four months ago, i was so unfamiliar with king arthur that i thought monty python and the holy grail was about the spanish inquisition (i didn’t even know who lancelot was; imagine my shock when arthurian lore newbie knew more than me! the only things i knew were merlin and excalibur… thanks to the legend of zelda.)
and now, here i am, reading celtic arthurian tales, generating a personal wiki, and going through arthurian media week by week 💀
Merlin: ( •᷄ὤ•᷅)？Dear heavens, what have they been teaching you in school these days, poor child?
Yeah, the Spanish Inquisition is more Flying Circus than Holy Grail.
Otherwise, you might soon surpass me in recent Arthurian media at that rate. It's been... awhile... since I watched any western TV series or movies.
Dang, a Choicescript version of tooltips! That certainly would've come in handy before I went all crazy with the wiki links. I really wish CoG would let Hosted Game authors use their own scripts for things like this and the save plugin.
They met on the piste that day, both clad in their fencing whites, Adrian in a common silvery-gray lamé, while MC faced him down in a custom golden vest, much to the approval of Zain and Gil, with their own nonstandard colored equipment.
Salute and bow to each other. Bow to the waiting Hjördis as referee. Bow to the scattering of their fellow fencing mates, most who've stopped their own training to gather round and watch.
Gil was even giving a thumbs-up right now as he leaned against the nearby vending machine, a suspiciously bright blue neon drink in hand. Adrian swore that some of those so-called energy drinks weren't actually potable.
Behind his own well-fitted fencing mask, the world was quieter. Darker. More focused. For a brief moment, he was safe within the eye of a storm.
Despite them both being guys, he and MC hadn't shared the men's locker room. Not with the other man rushing in late from his job as a security guard once again. Not with Adrian having no reason to wait, today's planned bout partner or not.
Too strange that. It's not as if they were actually friends.
One'd think that pulling the night shift would leave them free for club activities well enough in the late afternoon, but everyone was pulling overtime, double duty, triple duty nowadays. Everyone else except him... being an independent contractor certainly had its benefits, even if taxes weren't one of them.
At least neither of them was in health care. That'd truly be a horror show.
Adrian lightly stretched, nimbly rising on his toes as MC continued to fumble with buckling his fencing mask around the low, twisted bun of his hair. He stomped down the urge to help even as Aegon catcalled, "Aaany day now!" from across the room, standing stolidly within the taped practice lines on the floor as Brenda flailed wildly at his side with her own foil.
Being beginners, MC and Brenda normally faced each other during these matches, but sometimes they seemed to mirror each other's mistakes as well. And so Hjördisoften liked to set them up against a more veteran opponent. Hence, here was Adrian once again.
Yes, he was well used to facing down MC and Brenda both. He always won, of course he did, but he could drag out the matches long enough. Lightly enough. Allow them their fair share of touches and points for practice. Dodging lightly in quartata whenever Brenda attempted a nut shot.
Again.
Even though that area was off-target in foil!
Because the only other choice there, if Hjördis was to remain acting as referee, was to let Aegon smash and barrel his way over the poor newbies, beating them mercilessly without a single iota of a thought in his head about holding back.
That reminded him too much of someone else.
And so here he was again, waiting patiently as Hjördis reached up to help fasten the velcro buckles around the far taller man. Taller than Adrian and far broader too. MC certainly looked the part of a proper guard.
"Finally!" Aegon snorted, as if he'd been the one waiting this entire time, as they took their respective spots upon the metal piste, electrical lines trailing behind them to the glowing scoreboard.
"En garde!" Hjördis once more stoutly called out. "Prêts? Allez!"
And the winning drabble for June is "The first time Adrian lost to MC in fencing (Bold/Acquaintances MC preferred, but really it’s whatever. Masochistic awakening optional.)" at 2321 words.
So... not exactly a normal fencing match here, but I'm not sure you'd get the requisite "masochistic awakening" if MC was fencing properly. You're not exactly wrestling or whacking your opponent with normal fencing!
MC going all HEMA here for... reasons.
Available for a while now on the "Rider Groupies of the Apocalypse" and higher tiers of my Patreon.
