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Eternal Summer

✖ The Isle That Blooms

Ⅰ. ALWAYS BLOOMING, NEVER HARVEST
July flowers bring, well, August flowers.

Another month has come and gone, and you may have noticed things haven’t changed much. Everything is still beautiful. There are still no signs of babies or prepubescent children or young animals.

In fact, if you’re paying close enough attention, you may have noticed there are no fruits or grains or vegetables that have come from the constant riot of color and pollen. Only flowers, always flowers.

You still have access to the city’s temple and the baths. The High Temple’s doors are open to everyone.

Some of you may still be dealing with the unpleasant side effects of the Ancient’s now dead and gone Flower Oracle, but it should wind down before the end of the month. Or maybe you already faced your demons.

Hiding out in the Temples for the rest of the month is always an option, but be careful not to get too stagnant. It would be a shame if your ScryWatch stays stuck on the same color forever because you, too, decided to stop growing.

Ⅱ. FLOWER MARKET FESTIVAL
CW: Optional Alcohol/Drug Consumption.
You didn’t think the celebrations would be over just because the Flower Oracle came and went, did you? There’s always a new event, a new thing to do, a new way to make some benefit off the Travelers who pass in and out of the Isle looking to take something away from this place.

This month it’s the Flower Market!

During the days, stalls bloom beneath the elevated buildings and in the empty center where the Flower Oracle once stood. There are flowers, of course, in buckets, arrangements, wreaths, crowns, growing in tiny little pots, made into cakes, salsas, and snacks! Artists will find pigments, paints, inks, dyes, and papers. There are perfumes, lotions, oils, soaps, and more. Spices and herbs are abundant; you’ve certainly never seen saffron this cheap. If you haven’t gotten enough tie-dye from the temple, you’ll find beautiful batik clothing, purses, and even jewelry. Everything is bright, everything is for sale.

At night, the stalls are all folded away and instruments come out. Little stalls sell flowery alcoholic drinks and did you know or remember that cannabis is a flowering plant? The locals certainly remembered to make the edibles. Careful, though, drink or imbibe and you’ll find yourself talking about the things you need that you cannot buy. The things you are aching for.

And you won’t stop until someone acknowledges it.

Notes:
1. If you want it and it’s made of flowers, it’s here. No drugs or alcohol during daylight hours.

2. The Temple gives a small amount of spending money daily. Save up and get fancy, or buy a little bit of everything.

3. There is a tiny group of unknown Travelers that show up for the market. They don’t seem to have access to the same network as PCs, but their watches flash green, blue, or purple. They seem to be avoiding PC Travelers and disappear into parts of the Temples that don’t seem to be open to our group yet whenever they get too close.

Ⅲ. POISON GARDEN
CW: Poisons, narcotics, ect.
As you wander the now familiar village, you will notice a new pathway has opened at the edge of the village. It leads to an area with a high stone fence and a heavy gate. A skull and crossbones are painted on the gate in bright white paint, but there’s nothing actually stopping you from opening the gate and walking in.

The garden is beautiful, but surprisingly formal after the chaotic abundance of the rest of the Isle. The paths are wide and there’s space between the plants. Each one is meticulously labeled with a stake in the ground.

Do you read the labels? How long does it take you to realize everything in the garden is toxic or poisonous? There are so many options from hemlock and oleander to aconitum and angel’s trumpet and beyond.

Welcome to a study on how not everything that's natural is good for you as you continue to wander the fractal paths. Of course, not everything that's poisonous has no purpose. By the opium poppies there’s a sign that tells you that you can choose to wander the deadly garden until it kills you or you can own up to a toxic habit or behavior that you need to deal with.

Notes:
1. In theory, a character could wander forever without touching or consuming any of the poisons. For plot/fun reasons, feel free to make it a little more difficult. And remember, some of your characters can be poisoned to death.

2. Acknowledging bad habits or a need for change in an honest way is very likely to result in a shift in a ScryWatch color. Remember, the Ancient is looking for growth and improvement, not moral perfection.

3. Characters can collect poisonous or medicinal plants but will be at risk while doing so.

Ⅳ. FLOWERY FIELDS FOREVER

Maybe you need to get away from the fuss at the market or just want to stretch your legs, but it’s time to explore the flowering landscape around the village. The villagers have baskets waiting at each of the outbound trails with the request that you come back with the basket full in trade for the picnic lunch they provide.

Wander the rolling hills and you’ll find a surprising amount of wildlife for an island without offspring. There are hummingbirds the size of chihuahuas, tiny pollinating bats, nectar eating possums, giant stingless bees, and more butterflies than you can shake a stick at. All of them seem entirely unafraid of humans despite being wild animals. If you get bitten or pecked, it’s your own fault.

As you fill your basket, you’ll notice patterns in what blooms. All kinds of plants bloom outside of reason and season and traditional need because the land is trying to talk to you through flowers. What did you need to hear? The villagers can help you translate when you come back from your adventure.

Notes:
1. The giant orchid mantises are still there! Thank Gideon and Harrow for negotiating a truce, so they probably won’t eat you. A mantis might even have a conversation with you if you ask nicely, (Quentin managed somehow,) and they have their own knowledge and worship of the Ancient.

2. Feel free to use any reference for plant/flower meaning. Here’s one to get started!

3. Don’t get too attached to any of the critters, they will stay here at the end of the month.

Bonus: music to watch the flowers bloom to.

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Jean-Paul, who had been lounging inside the High Temple the way only Jean-Paul was capable of doing, looked up. His rather lazy expression turned sharp in a hurry.

"Alright," he agreed mildly, sitting up and gesturing to another comfortable chair.

"What is it, David?"

This isn't the place he'd want to talk to Jean-Paul, of course. It's a relatively public location. Something, he supposes, can be addressed if it's needed. He could be wrong, after all. But he moved at the suggestion and settled into the chair. He swore quietly under his breath, a colorful Krakoan turn of phrase comparing the situation to one of the less polite plants on the planet and was normally used to express frustration with the world around them.

"The Gala. We need to talk about the Gala.

Jean-Paul's eyebrows stayed arched high up on his forehead for a long moment as he studied David carefully. Then he sighed, expression made softer only by sympathy.

"So we really are from the same point in time," he said. "I cannot say I'm happy about that."

Ah. Confirmation then. David leaned forward in his chair, arms braced against his legs to hold his head up. He felt so... so heavy now.

"And it never occurred to you to fucking say something? I spent so long trying to pin you down on when you were without ever specifically asking. Turns out I should be applauding you for not laughing your ass off over me getting done in by a serial killer twice with that other world."

Seriously, how the fuck had Jean-Paul resisted a bigger reaction when David had explained the whole 'sleeping with a guy and didn't know he was a serial killer until he strangled me to death'. How could he not react when it apparently wasn't even the only time David would die like that?

Jean-Paul held his hands up. "I didn't say anything because I wasn't entirely sure when YOU were from. What if I'd been wrong, David? 'Oh, so good to see you, are you aware you were murdered where I'm from too?' Even I'm not quite so heartless as to have that be my hello, David."

He leans forward a little, frowning. "And I would never laugh about that. It's horrific what happened to you."

"I had already known I was murdered, Jean-Paul. I knew since I woke up. Josh took me aside after they put my memories back and we spoke for a bit."

He wasn't a Crucible revival. It wasn't a big party with him. It was a private thing with a close friend. He hadn't had what even Sofia had. He wants to laugh, because Jean-Paul didn't know how silly he sounded.

But horrific? He bursts out laughing.

"I got my own ass killed because I thought I could do things on my own that I shouldn't have begun to risk. I put other people in the position to get hurt, to die, because I thought I was smart enough to handle it. And as a fucking game left bread crumbs. I'm pretty sure just about everyone would say I brought horrific shit on myself."

Jean-Paul shrugs and spreads his hands a little, as if to say c'est la vie. He was not privy to every moment of everyone's lives.

At that laugh his frown deepens and his eyes grow dark with concern. "David," he says, on the edge between soothing and scolding. "I cannot think of anyone who would say that. It wasn't your fault. You understand that, don't you?"

"Have you seen the video I left for myself? Are you far enough head that you've taken my old phone, or had Aurora do it?"

His voice is sharp, hurting, fearful. Because David had been taken from when he'd finally made it back to the party, from finding Wanda. He had no clue how things played out from there. But he knew he hadn't given Jean-Paul anything yet.

And another part of him, a morbid one, wondered if Jean-Paul had seen his body. Were Aurora and Akihiro even back yet?

Jean-Paul shakes his head. "You'd just gotten back to the party," he explains. "My sister and Akihiro had gone to get you after Trevor tracked you down, and then they were dealing with the man who killed you.

"I was going to follow up with you, but... Wanda..."

But Wanda. Yeah, that sounded about right. Perhaps it was for the best too. Because with Wanda, David had avoided the question of how he was. A question he didn't know how to deal with some day.

"Trevor really was MVP," he sighed, "trying to take care of me and watch my back and then trying so hard to protect Tommy from that. Guess I have a new least favorite day of the year."

"He is," Jean-Paul agrees softly.

"David... It wasn't your fault. All that bullshit you just said? Is precisely that: bullshit. Did you do some stupid things? Ouais. But that doens't make it your fault.

"He was a sick, murdering fuck, David. HE killed you. You didn't kill yourself."

Was it though? Because David had chosen to put himself into a bad position. He had put himself in someone's crosshairs, and let himself fail. In his own words, he'd fucked around and found out. And, in the end...

"I almost broke our laws, Jean-Paul. I wanted to kill him. I just couldn't."

He hadn't had the strength to do it.

Jean-Paul's lips thin and he looks away. "None of us would have judged you for that," he murmurs softly.

Then he sighs and looks back. "David. You are a victim here, but not in the way you seem to be determined to be. You're not weak or stupid. You were the victim of a monster."

"Krakoa would have," David countered, his voice soft. So far as David knew, no one had broken that law, save for X-Force in the defense of their nation. No one knew what the punishment was.

"A monster I courted. And a secret I hid from the team."

That was perhaps the worst part. He'd chosen to ignore it.

David, bless him, didn't know quite what some of his team members were okay with.

"You were trying to be a hero. None of us could claim we've never done that."

He studies David, his eyes still sharp but lacking their usual coldness.

"I'm not saying you didn't make a terrible mistake. I'm just saying that you seem awfully determined to take on blame that isn't yours."

No, he knew Akihiro would never judge him for it, and that if there had been more time and less lives than David's alone affected, the man would have been dead. But that wasn't what had happened.

"I died," David answered, his voice a whisper, "because I didn't ask for help. I lied to everyone, to my team, and hid it all when I knew something was wrong. And I..."

He died. It made him sick. He pulled his feet up onto the chair and against his chest.

"And you died," Jean-Paul repeated softly. He looked away, wanting to allow David some privacy if he needed a moment to collect himself.

Should he collect himself? He's still so young. Maybe he needs to break down, process it.

He sighed and looked back. "I know it is not the same, but I remember how much dying sucks. And I remember how stupid I felt, thinking back on it."

Trevor had said something similar. About how he needed to cry.

"What happened to you wasn't your fault!" David processed, getting to his feet. "No one is responsible for happened to Logan or you except for the people that used him. That used you!"

Don't tell him he's a hypocrite. He is, and he isn't ready to hear it.

A pity Jean-Paul was never terribly good at timing.

"David," he said, "how is that any different than what happened to you? You're a smart man. You know that you are not responsible. You were a victim, David. That's hard in its own way, but it is NOT your fault."

Oh damn you for hitting him with the truth. He didn't want it. And it hurt. It hurt so much. Because if it wasn't his fault (and he would argue it had to be in some level), then the world was still like it was when he was a teen and the bigots had come for the school.

Cold and painful and needlessly cruel.

"It was for nothing," he whispers, his voice starting to break. "Everything was for nothing."

Edited 2021-08-07 05:54 (UTC)

Jean-Paul got up out of his chair and moved to lightly touch David's shoulder.

"You found him, though," he said in a low voice. "You found him, and now he can't hurt anyone else."

The world was no less cold, no less brutal. There was no point in lying about that. But it wasn't for nothing.

"He's a rich white guy that killed queer black men," David counters. "The system isn't always against them."

And if something about his death ruined the justice those young men desired, he'd hate himself forever."

"I know," he said. "But in this case, he's beyond fucked. I promise you, David."

That made him bite his lip as he considered it. Promises him that. He... He thought he knew what Jean-Paul meant. Even if the case didn't succeed, David had seen Akihiro that day.

He should hope he went to jail.

"I'm so tired of this, of feeling like I deserved it. But I don't know how to make it stop."

Jean-Paul's face cracks a little more, showing a deep concern not many would think him capable of.

"I know," he says. "And I wish I knew how to tell you to do that. Time helps. Which is not exactly useful to you here, in this moment.

"I'm so sorry, David."

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CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation

CW: Discussions of violent murders, strangulation