CitrusArms

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

Niara Rootwick

~ Abandoned Farmland ~

@Rune_Alchemist

Niara continued to breath and sit, smiling under the compliments from the farm girl. “A priestess? Nooo, not me.” After a moment, she rolled over to take a knee and then up she went, to her feet. “Back on the Islands, I was one of the folks that would go around and treat people’s plants. There were some really particular specimens, I’m not ashamed to admit. Some of them needed constant adjustment. Or someone kept coming along behind me and undoing my work..”

Though she was on her feet, Niara still took a moment to stretch her back a little and breathe deeply. “whew, haven’t had mana sickness in a while. You’d think I’d be old enough to know better..” A moment more passed before she approached the rice, and squatted down in front of it, “hope the edits I made turned out well.”

As the other started to head back, Niara looked quickly between the plants and her departing cohort. It was grown, they should gather some! Quickly, she harvested a bit of the tea and more of the rice before following behind.

“Coming, coming~ the elf was careful as she hurried, to not bounce the rice too much and lose a bunch of grains. “I wonder if there’s a better place to plant the rice? We’ll have to see if this batch turned out. I’ve never worked with rice, myself, only learned about it..”

Umbra Rose Condos

Yumeiko no Akame no Kami

Location: Building #1; Cafeteria
Interactions: Miyuki @Xaltwind, Velvet @Lemons, Rebecca @Massasauga
Adjacent:

Miyuki’s lack of luster for the hunt gave the golden fox pause. She found herself stunned. Miyuki would settle for anything? Her voice sounded so flat and lackluster. Her demeanor was so defeated.

It made sense. She couldn’t run wild or express herself like she normally would, her. Miyuki had to be civil, and she was trying so hard. The effort was taking its toll on her, and of all things to make it worse,

These little cretins wasted their F O O D.

“makasete kudasai..”

She took a deep breath as she turned to face North, and drew a leaf from somewhere on her person. Velvet would feel that familiar nausea intensify. “As she said, anything will do. Velvet, may I suggest you clear out quickly? Erm..” Yumeiko paused to consider how to say it in English, before giving up, “zenryoku wo tsukushimas.”

She slowly raised the leaf over her head, and her tails, all five of them out now, rose to point at it in unison. Slowly, the leaf started to light in her lavender foxfire, but it didn not burn. The magic flames enveloped the leaf like an aura of power, before the flames spread down along her arm and over her body. Slowly, a snout formed from her face, her body was covered in fur, but still she remained upright. A demi-human, a demi-fox, her most sacred form. She dropped the leaf, and as it fell through the lavender power, it transformed and spread over her body, covering her in her sacred priestess robes. Prayer beads rested around her neck.

Some part of her wanted to go with the two. An idea struck her, and she produced a small, humanoid paper cut-out from within her robes, tapping it with her foxfire and then tossing it aside. It would fly, despite her reckless flick, and find its way outside, where it would transform into Yumeiko's human form and go to find Velvet and Rebecca, who couldn't have gotten too far.

“Heey, wait for me! I had an idea~!” This copy of her was definitely not sacred.

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

The secret is earth magic, deary <3

Umbra Rose Condos

I'll whip something up after work when today

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

I'm not sure if our imaginations are agreeing on the size of Niara's suggested "sampler crop" xD

🗡 Roses and Daggers 🎕

Stratya Durmand

Time: 28th Sola, Daytime
Location: Edin Theater
Attire: Military Formal, but in Caesonian colors
Family Dirk + Crest
Interactions: @princess Anastasia
Mentions: @samreaper Kazumin, @FunnyGuy Lorenzo

The moments leading in to Kazumin’s dance had Stratya wondering what the man would do. A play? She didn’t often see them. “Aye, ‘e’s been done up well,” the knight agreed with Anastasia, though, when he fell and she pleaded with no one in particular, Stratya had to turn herself away and stifle a giggle, pressing her fist to her lips. Her wooden son? Oh my.

“Aye, aye, up ‘e goes. Steady on.” The Captain was impressed with Kazumin’s ability to convey such emotion with his movements. The struggle of something animating for the first time was not a simple emotion.

The Princess’s quiet, whispered interjections were heartwarming. It was a reflection of the Princess’s goodly nature. When the Princess mentioned him being perfect, Stratya shook her head, “who needs ‘perrfect’? Just go ‘bout i’, yer grrand.”

Themes of loss. Difficulty communicating, letting your emotions run away with you, something beautiful lost before it could blossom.

Interrupting her digestion of the dance was the king’s bellowing. Ooh, he’d really gotten into that one, had he? Stratya’s gaze turned to the Royal Box for a moment, attracted by the noise, and almost got back to the stage when,

“I MUST OWN HIM!”

She almost, almost snapped back to the Royal Box. She caught herself. What would she do, glare? A careful breath steadied her, and while fighting the urge to go and hide Kazumin from the King, she realized.. had she seen- yes, there he was. Prince Callum. He’d be happy to hear the news she’d discovered yesterday. She’d have to tell him and Anastasia, later. Today, preferably.

In the meantime, Duke Lorenzo took the stage. H-.. how.. does a Duke have less decorum than herself? As Duke, he should be pretty good at this, right? She realized and wondered, then, how she kept forgetting his reputation. The princess decided to indulge him, and set the musical stage for the poem to follow.

Blink and you’d miss it, as they saying goes. It was wine. He struggled with drink. Stratya leaned back in her seat, taking a slow breath of understanding. And to admit it here, on stage, was this a sign from him? Was this, perhaps, his way of pushing himself to do better, to overcome his addiction? She would have to support him, if that were the case.

Before she could consider such things for too long, Anastasia announced Darryn’s murder to the room, expressed how important he was to her. Her emotional statement had a strong start, but as her performance ended, Stratya was dissatisfied. The Princess cared so much for her departed friend, and yet her purpose in this was so.. wistful and emotional. She had so much power and influence, to waste it like this, when she had the opportunity to make a stance of strength and command.

Right.

As Anastasia’s performance came to an end, and Stratya saw how the Princess was winding up, she rose from her seat and made her way to the sidestage. Once the performance was over, and Stratya was sure, she strode out, kneeling near the Princess and speaking softly, for her ears only.

“Prrincess Anastacia Danrrose. I ‘ave ‘eard yerr caring message. I do find it lacking. Imagine, ferr a momen’, tha’ t’ one tha’ did tha’ to ‘im is in this room, tha’ they’re listenin’. Wit’out lettin’ on wha’ ye do or donnae ken o’ them, withou’ scarin’ t’ poor innocent folk, what ‘ave ye go’ tae say t’ them?” The knight looked out over the audience before turning back to the Princess, “ye’ve said ‘ow ye feel wit’ a beautiful song an’ sta’emen’, now what will ye do abou’ i’? Can y’ musterr y’r strrength thrrough yer tears for y’ fallen frriend, Prrincess?” A beat, and the knight smiled warmly, “make ‘em jit’er in their shoes.”

Knight Captain Stratya Durmand, Defender of the Realm, was prepared to stand to the Princess’s flank, should she decide to make a more powerful statement.

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

I'm chill with that.@Rune_Alchemist

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

I thought I'd let Rune have their turn.

Umbra Rose Condos

Having such a powerful sense of smell would make the shoggoth odor even more unbearable, but that seems like a powerful stench that might defy logic and containment.

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

Niara Rootwick

~ Abandoned Farmland ~

@Rune_Alchemist

Niara was quick to agree, “a small patch would probably be best, yes.” She didn’t want to waste seeds to roaming birds. They’d have to build a fence, to keep them safe. Much and more needed to be done, but what did she expect, when she left the safety of the islands? Maybe even more difficulty, if she were honest. She hadn’t even had to fight anything on landing. Fortunate.

Together, the toil went quickly. Funny, how dividing the work in half does that. Once the seeds were planted, Niara stretched out her back with a grin. The other wasn’t used to magic, perhaps? Or didn’t expect a magic like hers, at the very least. Niara chuckled softly at the farm girl’s doubtful tone. “Normally. Let’s keep the crop small, for now.”

First, the rice. Rice normally grew in paddies, with a layer of water overtop. Very, very moist conditions. Flooded. This was, needless to say, much dryer, and trying to grow tea in rice conditions would result in tea destruction from moldy roots. So, modify the rice, then. “This was the rice, right?” Niara turned to Yingmei for confirmation before she knelt down and put a hand over either side, closing her eyes and taking a stilling breath. Soft, green currents of light reached out from her hands and into the soil, moving along and finding each burried see, “should have asked to see them first. Ah well. This rice may need extra boiling.” The wisps of light faded away after a moment, and Niara rose to her feet before coming to stand in the center of the worked area.

“And now…” Niara took a deep breath, putting spreading her arms out and slowly bringing them together in front of her, lacing her fingers with her palms down. Slowly, her fingers unfurled and more green light came, this time pouring down from her hands and into the ground, and working its way through the ground to the dug troughs.

Niara took a deep breath. The light poured into the troughs and flowed along them. The light reached into the soil, finding each seed and beginning to soak in.

Another deep breath, and green shoots rose from the earth, leaves unfurling. With each breath she took, it seemed like the plants grew more, until they had a small, small, grown crop of tea and what certainly looked like rice.

“Whew!” Niara had herself a seat right where she was. “That was a lot of growin’. I usually only do one at a time, like that..”