CitrusArms

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..”

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

Different regions could have different slime anatomy

🗡 Roses and Daggers 🎕

Stratya Durmand

Time: 28th Sola, Daytime
Location: Edin Theater
Attire: Military Formal, but in Caesonian colors
Family Dirk + Crest
Interactions: Anastasia @princess, Lorenzo @FunnyGuy
Mentions: Fritz @JJ Doe, Drake @Lava Alckon, Farim

The Princess just made a zombie joke in public, regarding a conversation that- ooh, goodness, she’s not good with legally deadly secrets, is she? Nope. That tracks. The captain smiled, however, “Haha, aye, nae zombies. What a crraze ye were in yesterrday morrn. Maybe ye shoul’ take tae morrnin’ tea, Y’ Rradiance?” It was common for people to drink coffee or, more commonly, tea, to help with mornings, right? Getting your head on straight and all that.

Stratya, skillfullly, gripped the cheese cup in the pinky and thumb tip of the hand holding her pretzel and lifted it from her iced tea hand, then let her cup of tea slide down to free the tip of her other thumb and index finger to receive the cup of cheese, “Aah, aye, I would ‘ate forr anythin’ tae interrupt our Good Duke’s perrforrmance. I mus’ say, I’ll be anticipa’in’ t’ perrformance frrom ‘ome.” The Captain turned and offered the Duke of Vermillion a grin, as she dipped her pretzel in her cheese cup and took a bite. Her home village was in Vermillion, and hopefully he was aware of that.

From the stage, Farim shared a sweet story of his meeting his falcon, after a powerful greeting. Her own encounters with wildlife were scarcely so wholesome, though there the fox her family kept. She was sorely short of a pet, here in Sorian, however.

Farim’s display of falconry was incredible. His bond with his bird was exemplary. Thara undestood each motion the man made, and was trusting and loyal enough to follow them without hesitation. A hand lay over Anastasia’s as the Princess gripped on to the Captains’ arm, “ooooh~! Yes, they’ve a good feel ferr each ot’err.” It had been difficult to watch them both as Thara made her entrance, swooping into the audience before pulling away on Farim’s signal. She managed to catch the impressive feat, however. As the dance continued, the impression did not shrink, “aah, an’ she’s such a focus to ‘err. A fyne beast.”

The knight met the Princess's excited gaze, nodding, clapping with the Royal beside her, quite impressed though she did not rise to her feet “Ooooh, hoh hoh hohoooh, wha’ a
stunt,” A bond like this, a bond formed without shared words, was no meager feat. “Aye, I saw. Their bond is amazing, indeed like they ken t’ other’s mind.. I wonderr ‘ow much tyme they've spen’ on trrainin’?” She went for a whistle, but thought better of it at the last moment.

The orchestra warmed and Drake took the stage, with the trained elegance she’d come to expect from him. A striking contrast to his birthday party performance, though even drunk, he somehow gave an air of refined tastes. She stayed quiet for his mini-concert, nodding to Anastasia as they appreciated the performance. The first piece lead in with a gentle pattern before the pianist erupted into chaos and the orchestra chased behind. Stratya was surprised, she was expecting a piece of beauty, not the uneven, unsteady, tilted energy that came from Drake in the first piece. More to him than meets the eye? Oh, but naturally.

Then, one of the pieces from the party. A slow, gentle melody. Yes, that really set the image for a contrast with his state at the party. Nailing it, Drake. The next piece was a driving and hopeful, balanced against an edge of tension. A song of overcoming a struggle to a brighter future, perhaps? “Aye, qui’e t’ emotional prresence.” The captain clapped and rose with the audience. It was quite moving, reaching them like that with just a bit of music.

She laughed softly as Anastasia mentioned Drake’s front flip off the stage, the last time, “we’ll ‘ave tae le’ ‘im forge’ tha’ eventually.”

When Anastasia took the stage to announce the next person, she was pleasantly surprised. The young Royal was a natural speaker, despite.. Stratya thought for a moment. Had Anastasia done a public address before? The Captain didn’t have the longest memory of Sorian to recall, herself, but she’d never heard of it, either. Which didn’t necessarily mean much, she didn’t expect folks to talk about an address from six or even three months ago.

“Herr Rradiance has such a rrelaxin’ prresence, nae?” Anastasia and Count Fritz had gone to the stage to be Masters of Ceremony, leaving Lorenzo seated with her. She turned her head to face him and noticed the ferret, Kier! She gasped, her hands flying to her face in adoration, her excitement carefully tempered with a soft voice “oh! Ye’ve brrough’ t’ lit’le one~!” She took her glove off and reached her hand out slowly, to let Kier sniff her first.

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

Niara Rootwick

~ Abandoned Farmland ~

@Rune_Alchemist

Niara let out a low whistle as they peeked inside the building together. “yeah, it’s definitely going to need work. We’d better be careful with the building, too.” She looked over the machine inside. It was a big mechanism, alright. Hand powered.. phew. That’s what it was about the well, it was a hand-crank that operated it. She wasn’t use to that kind of thing, but it did make this stuff easy to work on. The parts seemed to have a tendency to be big and roughly shaped. It was refreshing.

She turned away from the mill shed, looking over the field. Clearing it out would take some serious work. How much food did they have, anyway? Some have brought rations, she remembered, but what about that energetic, reckless girl? Hmm. ”I’ll save looking at this thing until we’ve got some big muscle with us. In the mean time.. I think everyone will be assured if we can show them some crops. Shall we prepare a small offering? Let’s prep a small plot, plant our sampling of seeds, then you can leave the rest to me, deary. We’ll have something to show for our troubles, out here.” The Root Elf turned her smile to the adorable birb, “and some food for our friend, as well,” before she started to get to work, clearing out some of the overgrowth. She quickly displayed a knack for being able to pull weeds out with a significant portion of the root system still attached, with a combination of magic, tools, and muscle.

Farming is just macro-gardening, after all.

Umbra Rose Condos

Yumeiko no Akame no Kami

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

The priestess had been so focused on Miyuki, and her senses dulled from taking her human form, she hadn’t noticed - this odor! It brought thoughts of the lobby that morning, and that awful presence there. As her senses sharpened again, however, it became impossible to ignore that foul odor.

Miyuki’s rather pitiful answer drew Yumeiko’s attention again, and she nuzzled softly against her youkai sweetheart’s shoulder, ”ooh, Yuki…” She gazed thoughtfully at the darker fox, wanting to do something for her when her ear perked up to an offer. The golden fox lifted her head and turned to look at the.. woman? Was that smell her? An apparent human, but this wasn’t a place for humans.

Yumeiko stood from Miyuki’s lap, offering a grateful bow, “That would be very kind of you. Are you sure you don’t mind? I, ah..” she straightened back up, an apologetic grin asking forgiveness coming to face Rebecca, “might be able to repay you.” Without a steady flow of donations to the shrine, their spending allowance was determined by their work ethic and entrepreneurship. As Miyuki exercised neither in an actively profitable fashion, that responsibility fell squarely on Yumeiko’s shoulders. It was a good thing they’d found the condos.

“We’re fortunate to have such kind neighbors, don’t you think?” The sweeter of the foxes stepped behind the sour one and placed her hands on her shoulders before starting a massage. Well, that was one problem taken care of.

“I wonder how long the contest usually goes for? Or how many gremlins there are. Have you ever hunted on an empty stomach before, Miyuki?” Her empty stomach that had been about to be filled. Yumeiko frowned, and found her eyes on the food that had been about to be placed in front of them. Ground into the floor, as though adding insult to injury.

“... all that wasted food. So many meals, your meal, our meal, ruined. Hard work, lives, wasted.” She stepped to the kyuubi’s side, laying a hand lightly on her shoulder, “there is a line where mischief must end. An insult to the lives taken and the hard work given cannot be endured.”

“In Her name, I will end this wasteful game.. and win us a prize for doing so.” Aah, but she was also hungry. She placed her other hand on her stomach, grimacing slightly, “hmnn. I suppose.. we should figure out our takeout order first. Shall we see what passes for Japanese food in this city?”