Eternal Summer

[polymods]

✖ 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.

Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

Comments

[quire]

"If there's something you wanna know about me all you have to do is ask," he says with an annoying flippant little shrug.

It's a worthy quest perhaps, but it would be a lot more efficient if he had any idea what he might be looking for. Instead, he moves from plant to placard looking for anything that might strike epiphany in him.

"Quentin Quire," he says. "Kid Omega if you prefer."

[wwrench]

Really? Wrench purses his lips and gives a tight smile. The kind that indicates he might just be willing to take the kid at his offer, and that might lead to a few places that could cause him to regret it. All right. He seems to hold the suggestion in his back pocket for a minute, not hurrying himself to get around to much of anything, save plucking a few brightly colored flowers carefully from one of the bushes, and stowing them away in another little satchel he's brought with him.

It's your name, he volleys back easily. I don't have any preference about it. At the start of this all, the very idea of the latter wouldn't have made any sense to Wrench. Now, it gives him exactly the opening he needs to test the waters on that offer.

You're from Earth. Are you human?

[quire]

"Sure. I don't have anything to hide." Least of all, he thinks, from a bunch of strangers on this God forsaken island.

"What's that one?" he asks, without looking over his shoulder. It's a wonder how he even noticed the tall blond had found himself another plant worthy of his collection.

"Pftf, no. I'm a mutant. Homo superior. Emphasis on the superior."

[wwrench]

It's a strange little novelty that the ScryWatches allow them to go on conversing without the need to pay much attention to each other. Wrench is still getting used to the ability to remain immersed in his own world and stay tuned in to others around him. It's a far departure from needing to demand the attention of others just to try to make himself understood.

Larkspur, he notes of the flowers he's gingerly collected, though Wrench seems no more interested in sharing their potential use than before.

He considers that new knowledge with all the interest of someone who's asked a question they don't truly know what to do with. It's a realization he's only beginning to play at, but what it means and why he should care eludes him. All Wrench knows is that he's starting to feel like the only one that doesn't have some greater sense of purpose already given to him by his abilities. Different Earths, I guess. Do you fly too?

[quire]

That earns him a stern look over the top edge of Quentin's glasses. "Larkspur he says. Like that's supposed to mean something to me. I can read the signs you know? What do you want it for? Flower crowns?"

"I can," he nods. "Maybe the least impressive of my skills, but sure."

Of course the word too implies something. "Who did you meet who can fly?"

[wwrench]

Figured you were just making polite conversation. Wrench isn't sure just how much heavy lifting the ScryWatch does when it comes to conveying tone. It's not as though the text that flashes across the face of his own changes color to indicate sarcasm. Should his own need punctuated, he turns toward Quentin and returns the same world-weary sort of expression.

This has a few hundred varieties, but you can see how the leaves look like a palm and the sepals are exaggerated. Even with one hand out of commission, Wrench does an impressive job mimicking the construction of the flower with the pinch and spread of his fingers. You can use the leaves and the flower to kill small bugs, and in small doses it can be a sedative. It can also paralyze the nerves and stop breathing.

Wrench shrugs at the question, as though there have been too many to name. A guy named Jean-Paul. We fought these huge insects.

[quire]

"I don't do polite conversation," he says. "I barely do polite."

His expression starts out suspicious that the man is dodging his question when he goes on about leaf structure— surely he doesn't want it for decorative purposes. When he gets to its real utility Quentin smiles. "Handy," he says. "You met one French guy and already you're planning on paralyzing someone? He must have made a hell of an impression."

[wwrench]

All right, Wrench notes. He's never particularly minded straightforward conversation, though these days he's still likely to take whatever amount of it he can get. Still, it leaves the door open to the question he'd really like to ask. So are you asking because you want to learn something new, because you think it'll tell you something about why we're here, or because you think it'll tell you something about me?

He doesn't mask his amusement at Quentin's question, though the snort through his nose might sound just as long-suffering at the man's brand of humor. I'm leaving my options open, Wrench notes. It's a joke, of course, but he doesn't strain himself to make that much about it obvious. Instead, he turns a thoughtful circle and gestures around them.

You remember which way we came in? Nothing looks familiar.

[quire]

He looks at the man a long moment as a slow smile builds. "Why can't all three be true?" he asks through an impish grin that refuses to let him be pinned to any particular motive.

"Probably wise. He's annoying I know, but I can think of at least two or three more deserving people. You could be kicking yourself if you end up on an island with Wilson or Mister Snikt and no poison plants to be found."

He's already looking at new placards when the question causes him to whirl around. "Course. We came in— oh. Great. Whatever. One of us can fly, remember?" Of course, it would track that whoever designed this place and filled it full of super powered people might well have considered that.

[wwrench]

Suppose it can be, Wrench considers. He might've been expecting that response after feeding Quentin such easy answers, but no single option would've told him any more or less than he thinks he already knows. Wrench just assumes most people are sizing each other up anyway. You're just a student of the world, he smirks.

Mister Snikt? Kid Omega? He can't help but scoff to himself at the absurdity of the names. Wrench doesn't say as much, but he spares more than a moment to wonder who chose them and what they're supposed to indicate.

The least interesting of your powers, right? he snarks back at Quentin. The loss of a clear path to the gate is certainly concerning, but Wrench doesn't seem particularly distressed about the idea that they might've gotten turned around in here. At least not yet. Several plants down, the placard might change that. For now he squints to the sky. If it's Audrey feeding time, you just tell her we're her biggest fans.

[quire]

"Please. The world is tiny. I have universal ambition," he smiles. Quentin would agree with him here. This isn't the only little dance he's done recently with a stranger trying to figure out the motives and patterns of this place that he might be connected to.

"Least interesting? Yes. Least useful? Not necessarily," he says, traipsing through the garden rows with his finger in the air like he's orating to some imagined onlookers.

When he rounds the end of the row his voice cries out. "Are you fucking kidding me?" And before he stops to explain himself that pink aura that follows him changes shape. Taking the form of some kind of some kind of RPG that rests along his shoulder. He aims it at the sky and when it hits some invisible barrier above them it dissipates across the surface of that unseen ceiling like ripples on a pond.

[wwrench]

There aren't a lot of men who Wrench can say he's truly known over the course of his life, but in his limited experience, he's rarely found unbridled ambition an admirable trait. What it is, perhaps, in a man of Quentin's age, is hopeful. He doesn't even try to mask his smirk. I don't know, I think I'd have to live my life a few times before I made a dent in understanding just my corner of things. He doesn't seem altogether hesitant or ashamed to admit it.

Neither does he try to interfere when Quentin seems to see an obvious path forward. Wrench is happy to plod along behind him, keeping an eye on the signage they pass along the way. He doesn't seem interested in interfering, but if they come across a plant that he knows to be a physical irritant, he's prepared to guide Quentin out of the way. It's his nonchalance at their current circumstance that makes his sudden disbelief almost laughable. Wrench nearly jumps out of his skin when that missile weapon seems to appear out of nowhere, and Quentin launches it at an unseen barrier that quakes and reverberates, but doesn't let it through.

What the fuck was that! For once, the ScryWatch doesn't need to do the heavy lifting in interpreting tone, because Wrench practically growls the words as he signs them.

[quire]

Their conversation largely forgotten after such a distraction, his weapon dissolves in his hands, leaving him rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"We're stuck in this stupid Secret Garden," he moans pointing at the sign amongst the poppies he's stumbled upon outlining the conditions of their stay in this place rife with miserable growth.