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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.
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.
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.
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.
Bonus: music to watch the flowers bloom to.
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.
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.
no subject
But you know as well as I do that it's not the same. Don't try to trivialize the loss. I haven't even experienced it yet for myself, and yet, I find that it is all I think about.
no subject
If you can call it that.
[ but he supposes fenrir would have been a pain without the hulk. loki gives a little huff, his fingers twitching idly. ]
Of course it is. For you, it was a shock. You could not imagine what came to pass.
[ loki could show him, but it is a struggle. there are deeper griefs he's not willing to admit to. I want to go home and the melancholia sweeps it all away. what is home to a loki anymore? ]
I'm a little more used to disappointment.
no subject
[Thor's certainly had his fair share of disappointment, but he knows that there is no comparison to what Loki has suffered in his life. Still, there has always been a part of Thor that wished his brother could see the love that Thor and their mother had always felt for him, regardless of his lineage.
And Thor believes that Odin loved Loki, as well, though their father was more reluctant to say or show it.
He continues to add small details to his drawing in the dirt, scribbling the Norse runes for their names.]
Sometimes I wish I were a possum like these ones. They don't think about things so much.
no subject
but that's not a conversation thor is prepared for. ]
No you don't. You love being Thor too much.
no subject
But if I were given the option to come back for another round, I think I would choose to be something like these possums. Or, better yet, a snake. That would be enjoyable, I think: slithering around in the grass.
Don't you ever tire of being a god? Of all that it comes with?
no subject
Oh, tiring of myself comes and goes. Sometimes it is so overwhelming, you simply want to — [ he cuts himself short there. too depressing. a quiet exhale is heard instead. ] — Perhaps.
But I'm done being ashamed of myself and who I am. And I am done with letting others make me feel that way.
no subject
[Thor scribbles out all of his drawings and lets the stick fall to the ground.] I am proud of who I am, as we were raised to be, but I am tired of the responsibility and the weight that comes with it. I wish I could be as oblivious as a human.
no subject
Ah, yes. It is clearly a human thing and not a Thor thing. You've always been oblivious brother. You just no longer have an excuse to hide behind it. When your friends would let you do whatever you want without consequence.
no subject
You don't need to pick a fight with everyone all the time about everything, Loki. What I and other people say is not always a personal attack. There's such a thing as regular conversation.
no subject
This from the man who told me to know my place whenever I offered advice. All I said was the truth.
no subject
no subject
At least I don't behave like your father and pretend to bury them. If I wanted to bury you under it, I could have.
As I said. You are still oblivious.
no subject
I'd rather be oblivious and kind than hurtful to those who love me.
cw: strangulation mention
Is that so? Then perhaps you have an answer to this. Your father came to you at a time when you needed him the most. Beyond the grave, he sent you visions to aid you. To save you.
I was gasping for breath when Thanos wrapped his gauntlet around my neck. I felt my neck crack. And I was tossed aside. I died.
Neither you nor Father saved me. You just pass along this lukewarm kindness as if it'll solve everything. But I rather have the truth in all its pain than to be fed a kind lie.
We are not the same and Father treated us as such.
no subject
I had an Infinity Stone pressed to my skull. I knew that I was going to die if he kept it there. How should I have saved you, Brother? How should I have changed Father's nature? It isn't right what he did, but you continue to blame me as though it was I who acted as though you were anything but my brother my entire life.
You can be bitter and angry all your want, Loki. You can live in that anger for the rest of your life. Do you wish me to live in with you? I don't know what I could possibly do to get you to forgive me for how your life has been.
no subject
You could at least acknowledge that he hurt me! Why is that so hard?!
[ why can't you pick me over father, he wants to say, but that's a losing battle. and loki doesn't do well with losing. ]
no subject
I cannot fix what's happened to you, Brother. But I'm here now, we're both here, and we can try to make the things ahead of us different.
no subject
You can. I can't. And I can't choose a life like that. The past does not need to be eclipse us, but I can never go back to how it used to be.
[ loki can't pretend that everything was rosy and happy and good neither can he go forward and ignore the implications of his past. both set him on edge, a sense of narrative disparity. twisting it to suit a need.
he doesn't need to twist his story to move forward. ]