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]

"Damn. I'd have loved to have that on him," he admits, like so many things, perhaps a little too openly to understand.

"We were just talking about the secret garden here. I was pointing how everything in this place is at like— peak sexual maturity. Flora. Fauna. Whatever. It's almost like it's trying to tell us something about sex. He got so busy denying any love life of his own that frankly it made me suspicious."

"So who is that for then?"

[extrasensory_problems]

"Huhn." Carter muses, mulling the theory over in his mind a bit. "You know that's a really good point, but if the island is all geared towards peak sexual maturity then shouldn't there be more babies? Like a result from all the fucking? I don't think I've seen any kids on the island...."

He gives Quire a small shrug, "Just a female friend."

[quire]

"No, that's reproductive. This is everything before that point. Yeah, normally sex means reproduction, but since they've specifically left that out of all this, they only draw more attention to the fact that everything here is always fully D-T-F and it never results in anything."

"Woooow. Shifty," he smiles. He loves other people's secrets.

[extrasensory_problems]

"So it's the island of blue balls and sexual frustration?" He asks with a snort of laughter.

[quire]

"Basically!" he erupts jovially. "Like, I legit think this might be some misguided attempt to get us in the mood. What else is all the plant sex, and a distinct absence of minors, and this feel-good ambience about? Next thing you know they'll be piping Barry White through the PA system."

[extrasensory_problems]

Carter laughs, "Oh man...no offence to Barry White but that so does not put me in the mood."

"But what would the purpose of that be? To watch us all get down and dirty? Is this just an island full of people who don't ever fuck but like to watch others?"

[quire]

"Of course not. You'd have to belong to a generation with an extra dull sense of irony for that. But it's right up there on the list of human foreplay cliches that would fit right in with the rest of this shit."

He shrugs but it's a noncommittal kind of gesture, not an apathetic one. "I've been saying it since I got here, this is an experiment they've branded as a self-help retreat. What do they get out of any of this? Our of our 'personal betterment'," he throws up some finger-quotes for that. "They're not telling us something."

[extrasensory_problems]

"By They do you mean the people on the islands or the thing people are referring to as 'The Ancient One'?"

[quire]

"Whoever's put this whole experiment together," he says waving his hand broadly as if to indicate some unseen source. "I don't suspect it's the locals of this particular island but then again, who knows. Maybe they're part of this whole Truman Show setup. I dunno."

[extrasensory_problems]

Carter's lips curve up into a slanted smile, "The Truman Show? How very 90's...."

"I'm Carter by the way, you mentioned David so I'm assuming you're a friend of his?"

[quire]

"Very 80's, actually. It was based on an episode of the Twilight Zone called Special Service, but if I threw that out as a reference no one our age would get it," he shrugs.

"I know. You're a mutant right? I think I've heard some things about you. Don't worry. Nothing damning," he nods at that question. Or starts nodding anyway. It turns into a bit of a thoughtful grimace. "I dunno if he'd describe me as a friend exactly, but yeah. We're cool."

[extrasensory_problems]

"Oh that's cool, I like the Twilight Zone but I guess I missed that episode."

He blinks, "Uh yeah I am. Wait, heard things?" He pauses and then chuckles, "Ah....you must have met Kyle which means you must be Quentin right?"

[quire]

"It's a classic. And I don't like a lot of classics."

"I hear a lot of things," he smiles. "The same way I suspect you do."

"You got it. Quentin Quire. Kid Omega if you like. And I do know Kyle but I think... I think I knew you before him. Sort of. Or some version of you anyway. You probably don't remember me cause you were pretty little and I was nobody back then. You stayed at Xavier's right? With your mom? A nurse? Ghazikhanian. Kind of a memorable name. What is that Armenian?"

[extrasensory_problems]

Carter takes a moment to digest all of the questions before answering, having a conversation with Quentin is a bit like talking to a ping pong ball. Or thirty of them all at once.

"I think I prefer Quentin." He says and motions that they can keep walking, heading through the market and away from some of the crowds. "And you're correct. My last name is Ghazikhanian, it is Armenian and I was at Xavier's. My mom got hired as the nurse, I was eight years old so if you were there I was probably too shy to talk to you."

[quire]

"That's fine. The other's more of a brand anyway." He's not unaware that he's a lot take— both in content and intensity. He just doesn't seem to bother at all with making himself more palatable to anyone.

"I remember your mom. Briefly. I wasn't exactly wearing a lot of spandex and calling myself some kind of X-Man so you probably wouldn't have noticed me either. But I made of point of knowing all the telepaths. 8 or 80."

[extrasensory_problems]

"Yeah we weren't there for very long, so I didn't really get a chance to get to know a lot of people. We pretty much left after Sammy was killed in that attack on the school."

He moves aside as a group of merchants bustle past them with more armfuls of flowers. "So are you just a telepath or do you also have the extra add on stuff like telekinesis and blah blah blah?"

[quire]

"Well you didn't miss much," he says. An understatement perhaps but it's certainly indicative of Quentin's feelings about Xavier's.

"Oh, I'm the total package," he smiles. "Undercoating, extended warranty and a lifetime membership to the Phoenix Club. Hence the 'omega.' What about you? 'paths usually do pretty well in the mutant-social hierarchy but you sort of like... fly below the radar huh? How come? Not a fan of slurs? It's true, mutie isn't exactly creative."

[extrasensory_problems]

"The Phoenix?" Carter asks, raising an eyebrow. The name seems somewhat familiar but he can't really place it fully, "Doesn't that have something to do with Cyclops' wife?"

"As for flying below the radar, yeah, I guess that's me." He says with a shrug.

[quire]

"Please promise me you'll call her that to her face if they show up here," he snorts with genuine amusement. "Yeah, she had her turn with it. These days though, that bird's been in more mutant than Wolverine."

He looks over yet another plant stand and asks the seller something about the caffeine content of any of these. "How come?"

CW: mention/alluding to abuse

[extrasensory_problems]

That actually gets a burst of laughter out of Carter, he may not know the whole history of the Pheonix but he certainly knows about Wolverine's reputation.

"Side effect of growing up in foster homes after my mom passed away I guess." He says, peering at some of the more unusual plants at the stand. "You get used to trying to stay out of people's sights and fists."

[quire]

Quentin just looks smug. He loves it when he knows his audience.

"Oh hay, fellow foster-fail," he chirps. Both excessively glib and lacking in tact in his ability to find common ground with people.

"You're not like in the closet about it are you? Your mutant-ness I mean."

[extrasensory_problems]

Carter's lips curve up into his slanted smile, "You too huh? Nice. How many foster homes did you get bounced from?"

Carter shrugs again when asked about being in the mutant closet, "Sort of? I guess so yeah. I don't have that many close friends back home so there's not many people I would tell."

[quire]

"Just the one. They didn't bring me back to the pound. They just left me." He smiles and shrugs.

"Where's back home? I mean like. Yes. Earth. I get that. But like what are we talking about here? Philly? Rural Virgina? Yerevan?"

[extrasensory_problems]

"That sucks, sorry to hear it. I was in four different homes, only one of which was good."

His smile widens, "Home home is Jersey, born and bred. But before I came here I was in nursing school in New York."

[quire]

"Tiring," he says with a roll of his eyes that's meant to empathic.

"Uh oh. Don't tell Kyle," he warns. "Nursing huh? I feel like there's some baggage attached to that decision maybe."