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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
Well, you're no qunari. So I doubt if you could be anything all that bad, with the obvious ruled out.
no subject
( One day it might cease to surprise her how no one has seemed all that bothered by what she is. Admittedly, there's an element of waiting for the other shoe to drop. )
I am an android, though. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. It's just... We've gotten along so nicely, I think, and I didn't want to spoil it.
no subject
[ It's rather difficult to get huffy about what she happens to be when he has no earthly (or otherwise) idea what that is, though. She might as well be speaking a foreign language, and maybe it shows on his face, in spite of his attempts to keep the tone light. ]
Is there any reason why that should spoil it, though? If you were an elf or a dwarf I wouldn't look at you any differently, either, you know.
no subject
( She smiles a little. Despite his seeming confusion about what she means specifically, she's relieved that he doesn't appear to care all that much. Even more impressive, and touching, from someone who might not be familiar with what she is at all. )
Well... People don't always like androids. But thank you, Anders. I do appreciate it. You're a very good friend. ( She pauses a moment. ) I hope this doesn't sound patronising but do you have robots where you're from?
no subject
[ Android or not, she's still going to have to deal with the occasional obnoxious wink and grin. ]
Uh, robots? No, not that I'm aware of. Why? What are they?
no subject
( Obnoxious winks and grins are a-okay. It would be far worse if he suddenly acted differently around her. Or if it seemed like he was putting on an exaggerated act of being himself to give the impression all is fine and dandy.
How best to explain? She may not need to. She feels compelled to, anyway. In for a penny and all. )
A robot is similar to an android. It doesn't matter, though. All I'm really trying to say is... where a human is flesh, blood and bone, I'm not.
( To illustrate, she does something not taken lightly. Holding out her hand, her synthetic skin vanishes to reveal the white plastic underneath. )
See? Though if I'm explaining too much, if you'd rather not know, please do tell me.
no subject
What? No.
[ He's practiced his scandalized tone quite a bit. It's very good.
But the sight of her arm like that is rather sobering - plastics are still a new and strange concept to him (as most synthetic things are, to someone more accustomed to leathers and furs and stone and iron). He almost reaches out to touch that eerily smooth hand, but that feels like a rather presumptuous move. Not that his follow up question is much better. ]
If you're not flesh and blood, then what are you? If I'm allowed to ask.
no subject
...You're teasing me, aren't you?
( The tone tries to suggest she's completely in on the joke but there's an underlying note of sincerely checking.
For both their comfort, she lets the synthetic skin flow to cover her hand. )
Plastic. So an inorganic material. Where a human has organs, I have biocomponents that fulfil or simulate similar functions. They're powered by a substance called thirium, though it's also known as 'blue blood.' Hence... the things you've seen.
no subject
[ He smiles in return, and though on the surface it's his usual, cheeky sort, there's less of an edge in his teasing, for a moment. She's far too genuinely kind to really give the run-around, anyway.
Though he is thrown off considerably more by this latest revelation than anything she's told him, thus far. Enough even to seem outright appalled, paling slightly. ]
That was your blood?
no subject
At first she just nods weakly. )
I know it's... I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do and I didn't want you to be hurt so... And it's not really the same as it would be with a person. It's easily replaceable...
( Yes. Because his issue with it is surely to be whether or not she can just top herself up with a big old chug of thirium. )
no subject
[ Easily replaceable almost makes his skin crawl - though his disgust is not so rooted in the obvious as she may be assuming. Using blood to save them in a moment of desperation? The logic is so like that of mages he's watched succumb to the allure of dangerous, self-destructive magics - and they weren't so lucky as to have a simple potion on hand that could cure them of the side-effects.
It's not the same. She's not a mage, not a lure for demons, not dabbling in the sort of power that will kill her or turn her into something worse, irrevocably. But still. He reaches for her hand, expression uncharacteristically sincere. ]
It's dangerous. Promise me you won't do that again.
no subject
Unless...
Her eyes widen as it dawns on her that he might not be saying it purely for her sake. She holds his hand more tightly in hers. )
Is it dangerous for you? Using your magic like that?
no subject
[ Very dangerous his tone says, for once nothing but sincere. ]
Sacrificing a part of yourself like that, it's bound to attract something nasty. Especially when combined with magic. And this whole place sort of is, if you hadn't noticed. I just don't want you to end up like—
[ Maybe that's a bridge too far, in his moment of stark honesty. He falters, diverting from that train of thought at the last second. ]
...like that.
no subject
She gives his hand a squeeze. )
I hear you, Anders, I really do. Whatever it is, I'm sorry. I'm grateful to you for being so caring. And I'm also sorry that I can't make that promise. If something like that happened again, if you could be hurt and that was the only option, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
( She gives him a half-smile. ) Though I might carry a bottle of thirium with me on any spooky beaches.
no subject
[ He isn't worth that. Any world is certainly better served with her in it, if he's the other option.
But this doesn't feel like an argument he can win, and Anders has always done his best to avoid those. He pats her clasped hands before taking his own back, looking around the market again as if trying to recall where they were before this sidetracking. ]
Come on, then. We're not going to get the rest of our shopping done, just standing around.