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π₯ March 18th, x800 π₯
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"Your eyes, my love, are clear and green, sweet as honey and warm as spring," Catie sings to the flowers as she waters them, and they seem glad for the attention. "Their color being all I know, to the Beyond, I'd gladly go."
"That is an interesting song," says a man with a thick accent, his tongue rolling the "r" heavily. "It is popular in Fiore?"
Catie's voice catches in her throat. Her face warms, and she tries to hide behind her sunflowers.
"I didn't realize someone was listening," she says.
"Ah. I apologize." The man bows his head a bit. "I heard singing and followed. Your voice⦠it is..." He pauses, trying to remember the right word. He settles on "lovely," with an emphasis on the "v."
The heat in her face spreads to her ears and neck, and Catie takes a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart. She peeks up through the flowers with narrow eyes.
Bors Gaheris is a broad, stocky man with short spiky brown hair. His nose is crooked, his eyes are gray, and on the left side of his face is a scar the size of a fist. His left eyelid and part of his mouth sag slightly from paralysis because of the old injury. He wears a white shirt with a padded brown gambeson over it, a pair of loose-fitting black pants, and ankle-high dark brown boots.
He's one of their newer members, and Catie has only interacted with him a handful of times, one on one. From what she can tell, he seems genuine in his compliment. The heat spreads to her chest, and she ducks behind the flowers once more. She must be redder than a tomato.
"Thank you." She goes back to her watering. "My⦠Someone taught it to me when I was little, but I haven't heard it anywhere else."
"I see," Bors says. He seems to notice Catie's embarrassment and changes the subject. "Is Master in? I would like to speak with him."
"He's in his office," Catie says, "though, could you wait an hour? He stayed up all night, and I'd like him to get at least a little sleep."
"Yes." Bors nods. "It is not urgent. I will wait."
Catie gives him a bashful smile. "I made breakfast. Help yourself to whatever you'd like."
"Thank you, Catrina." Bors dips his head at her and walks towards the guild with quick, long strides.
She watches him go and waits till he's out of earshot to hum to herself. A mild grin graces her features as she tucks some of her hair behind her ear.
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"This is the Nightshade Forest," Ria explains as she and Ranmaru enter the woods. "It's easy to get lost in here, so stay on the path and try not to travel when there isn't light to guide you. If you do get lost, you can survive off the red mushrooms that attach themselves to tree trunks, but make sure you avoid the blue mushrooms; they induce vomiting and hallucinations. Here's a rhyme to help you remember: eat the red and you won't be dead, eat the blue and you will be dead."
"Actually, studies have found that using rhymes such as those are easy to confuse and misremember, especially in a potential life or death situation. Also, that isn't a well-constructed rhyme, as it breaks the pattern in the second line and rhymes 'dead' with 'dead.' I doubt it would be helpful."
"I think the new girl is right, Ria!" Someone calls from slightly off the path. "I always get that rhyme mixed up." Simultaneously, Ria and Ranmaru turn towards the voice, to find a young, thin boy hanging from a tree branch by his legs with his arms stretched towards the ground. "Last time I ate the blue mushrooms, and Ms. Apolla made me stay in the infirmary for a week."
No older than fourteen, Razi Bharx has jet black hair with a pair of wolf's ears atop his head. His left eye is red, and his right eye is green, both of them standing in stark contrast to his pale skin. He wears an open black furry vest over a white t-shirt imprinted with the yin-yang symbol in the center. He also wears a pair of puffy black breeches, with a hole cut out for his fluffy tail to fit through. Dangling from his neck is an amethyst necklace in the shape of a crescent moon.
"Raziβ¦" Ria sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What are you doing?"
"Leflin said if I hang upside down long enough everyday it'll make me taller. Yesterday, I did it for five minutes, and I grew a full inch. Today I wanted to try ten minutes. I don't know if I can, though; I'm getting pretty dizzy."
"He was just messing with you! Get down before you make yourself pass out!"
"...Can you help me? I think my legs fell asleep." Ria and Ranmaru rush towards him, and up close, they can see his face has turned fully red. Together, they manage to get Razi right side up, albeit on shaky legs. The boy wrinkles his nose, his ears flattening against his head as he whines.
"I hate that tingly feeling."
"That's what you get for taking Leflin seriously." Ria roughly ruffles his hair with both hands. "Why do you listen to him, anyway?"
"He's probably the smartest person I know." Razi bats Ria away, turning to Ranmaru with wide eyes. "You sound pretty smart too, though. Can hanging from a tree make me grow taller?"
"I wouldn't say it's impossible, as we live in a vast and unique world with endless possibilities," Ranmaru says. "However, you're more likely to reach your full height potential by eating a varied and nutritious diet, exercising regularly and getting plenty of sleep."
"That's means 'no.'" Razi pouts.
"Basically, yes," Ranmaru says.
"Why are you trying to grow taller, anyway?" Ria asks.
"I don't know." Razi shrugs. "I just think it'd be cool to be really tall."
Ria sighs and ruffles his hair again, though this time more gently.
"Come on, let's go to the guild. You know better than to stray off the path anyway."
"But Evander always goes off the path."
"That's because Evander is an idiot."
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The sun settles firmly in the midmorning sky, its light shining through the canopy of the Nightshade Forest, and Evander takes advantage of the increased visibility to use a shortcut through the woods instead of the well-trod path; he ducks beneath branches and hurdles over rocks and roots. Several times, he nearly trips or gets lost, but somehow he makes it back to Barberry in half the time, only a little breathless and slightly worse for wear.
He sprints to a small cottage with a tiled roof and knocks on the door of his neighbor, Calypso Iscar.
She doesn't answer.
He knocks again.
She still doesn't answer.
He rings her doorbell.
Still no answer.
He rings her doorbell over and over and over and over and over and over, over, over, over, overoverovervoverov-
"You can cut that out now! I'm in the garden, Evander!" Calypso shouts, her tone laced with annoyance.
He chuckles as he hops her fence.
And a Viper Vine nearly ensnares him.
Only just dodging at the last second, he yelps and falls into a nearby shrub.
"Perfect timing." Calypso pulls him to his feet. In her late thirties, she's a tall, thin woman with short, amethyst hair and almond-shaped jade eyes. "Help me wrangle this. Valerie's throwing a tantrum."
"You named your deadly plant Valerie?!" Evander asks, but Calypso ignores him.
The vine swings towards him, hissing and trying to sting him with its venomous thorns. Evander leaps over it. Valerie doubles back and knocks him down. If not for his jacket, he'd be on the ground in writhing pain. Valerie doesn't give him time to think, and slams its full weight down. He rolls out of the way, narrowly saving his face from becoming a pincushion. The vine shrieks as it tries to yank its thorns out of the dirt.
Evander takes the chance to jump on top of it. The vine thrashes and hisses but can't quite shake Evander off, though it's a struggle to maintain his grip without getting pierced by the thorns. He bites his tongue. Twice.
Still, he holds on, and eventually, Valerie tires itself out and goes limp.
Breathless, Evander releases it, limply falling on the ground beside it.
"You poor thing," Calypso says, kneeling beside him. She gathers the vine in her arms. "You bruised your leaves, and you've broken off some thorns. See what happens when you act out?"
Valerie gives a pitiful attempt at a hiss as Calypso ties it back onto its trellis with twine.
"Yes, I know. You're a big, scary vine." Calypso places a kiss on one of Valerie's leaves, then turns to Evander. She holds back a laugh at his rumpled appearance. "Come on then. Let's get you cleaned up."
"Can't you be as nice to me as your plants?" Evander pants, covering his eyes. "What am I, compost?"
"I have that special tea you like."
Evander gets to his feet with a jump.
"What are we waiting around for, then?"
Inside, Evander sinks into Calypso's soft, off white couch as she walks to her kitchen to brew them some tea. Made from a blend of herbs from her garden, Evander has never tasted anything else like it; naturally sweet, with a floral frangrance, a single sip manages to warm him fully from the inside out.
"Now," she says, "what can I help you with?"
Evander downs the rest of his tea in one gulp. "You know my gauntlets?"
Calypso raises a single brow. "Yes?"
"I broke them."
"Evander! How?!"
"Not important. I need to know where you bought them from."
Calypso sighs. "I didn't buy them. I made them."
"Really?" Evander asks.
"Yes. I looked into buying something similar, but you needed them custom-made to work with your⦠limitations."
"You wouldn't have a pair of extra lacrima lying around, would you?"
"No, but I can get more. I extracted them from the Obsidian Mountain's peak. It's a dormant volcano, Evander. Residual magic forms fire-based lacrima out of dormant volcanoes all the time. I'm nearly certain I've explained this to you before."
"If you did, I don't remember!" Evander stands. "Let's go! If we leave now, we can make it back just after sunset."
"Not so fast!" Calypso holds up her hand. "The Spring Equinox is almost upon us. I have to make preparations for my garden. I can't leave until it's over."
"I'm supposed to go on a mission with Ria tomorrow! I can't wait."
"I'm afraid you'll have to. Besides, it's your fault for breaking them. Come back in two days, and I'll take you to harvest the lacrima. If you bother me before then, I'll make you wait longer."
Calypso pushes him out her door before he can protest and locks it behind him.
Evander starts spamming her doorbell again, but she disables it. He tries to pound on the door, but she's cast some sort of spell that doesn't allow him to make contact.
"Dammit." He kicks a nearby rock and considers his options. He has half a mind to camp on Calypso's porch until she agrees, but he has a feeling she'll kick him off.
I know where they are. I can just go myself, he thinks. It'll probably be faster if someone helps me, though.
With a turn of his heel, he begins the run back towards the guild.
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Barberry, as small as it is, doesn't have a public library, or even a bookstore, so whenever possible, Leflin Utgard takes the train four stops east to reach the slightly larger town of Amaryllis. A place of trade and travel, Amaryllis had no real homes, few locals, businesses that were always changing, and one of the most diverse libraries Leflin had ever seen.
A young man of nineteen, with a tall and lean build, Leflin's bright blue eyes scan page after page of the books piled before him. His messy, neck length red hair curtains his face as he scribbles extensive notes in a leatherbound journal. Wearing a sleeveless brown shirt made of wool and a pair of black pants, exposed on his shoulder is a blue tattoo of a raven, and on the back of his right hand is his blue Phoenix Refuge guild mark.
After a moment, Leflin pauses his reading, running a finger down the crease of pages of the book before him, an encyclopedia of known snake species in Earthland. It's been done well, and anyone else wouldn't have noticed, considering the page numbers were changed to match, but Leflin is certain someone has meticulously removed a page from the book. This is the fifth book he's found tampered with, all of them on snakes, and all of them missing one snake in particular:
The Ivory Serpent, a beautiful creature sought after its pearlescent scales, native to the country of Seven. It is said that a single drop of its venom can incapacitate a wyvern, and once bit, there is no hope for survival; the victim must deal with the painful shutdown of all of their organs as the venom travels in a strange pattern that leaves behind rosette bruises on the skin, commonly known as the Mark of Death.
(Allegedly, Phoenix Refuge's first Guild Master fell victim to the Ivory Serpent's bite, though Leflin has found asking anyone in the Cinerus family to confirm this results only in silence and half answers.)
It's odd for someone to go through so much trouble to remove any mention of the Ivory Serpent in these particular books, especially since the medical journals Leflin cross referenced still had entries regarding the Mark of Death, and another book specifically about the fauna of Seven also mentioned the creature. It's an enigma, and unfortunately he doesn't have the time to further explore it.
He closes his journal, and checks out the books with missing pages to further investigate later. For now, though, he has sufficient information for his job tomorrow.
And he should make it back to the guild in time for lunch.
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"CATIE!"
She sighs.
Of course, Evander would come to disturb her.
"CATIE!" Evander yells again as he emerges from the woods. He's covered in mud and leaves with tiny scrapes all along his arms. When he spots Catie crouching amongst the flowers, he makes a beeline towards her. "I need your help!"
"Hello, Evander," Catie says as she trims back a sunflower. "My day is going well. Thank you so much for asking. How is yours?" She looks over his sorry state. "Did you fall into a Thornberry bush again?"
"Yes." He grabs her wrists and yanks her to her feet. "I need you to come with me to the top of the Obsidian Mountain."
Catie pulls her hands back. "Why? I can't just leave, you know."
"I'll explain along the way, but we really need to go, or we won't make it back in time to help Ria." He places his hands on her shoulders and looks down at her with wide and earnest eyes. "Please. It's important."
He looks so serious, Catie can't help but reach up with both hands and ruffle his hair. He squawks and pulls away.
"Alright," she says and flicks him on the nose.
With a grin, Evander whoops and scoops Catie up, throwing her over his shoulder as he runs towards the mountain, Catie protesting the whole way.
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Credits:
Bors Gaheris: Torsa
Razi Bharx: MaMcMu
Leflin Utgard: Malfel