First Chord

[fair_trouble]

There’s a slight possibility you’ve seen them before- a very pretty blonde young man, or occasionally young woman, wandering around Elysium. Sometimes they’re spotted in Flotsam, but never in the Vault. They’re usually hanging out in bars and taverns, smiling and laughing a lot, but saying and drinking very little. At the beginning of Spring they start popping up a lot more frequently, and maybe you'll get the chance to have an actual conversation with them.

Music [Elysium]
Spring is well underway on the continent of Innistis, but there are a few places- particularly on the Northern side of the continent- where the new growth and the warmth are lagging behind, where snow still lurks in the shade, where the lion hasn’t fully turned into a lamb.

This spot is one of them, a glade that’s a good hike uphill from the city of Elysium. It’s more grey and brown than green, and Emery is seated on a rock that has enough sun to be relatively dry. In his hands, he’s holding a battered old lyre, upon which he is playing a pretty little tune.

When he’s done he stares down at his hands in thoughtful silence for several moments, before suddenly turning to look at you.

“That was lovely, wasn’t it?” he says, smiling.

Greens [Elysium]
If you’re not inclined to explore outside the city you still might encounter a certain cheery blonde girl walking around in a green cloak and carrying a tray full of tiny pots. Each pot is filled with soil, with tiny green plants sprouting out of them.

Catch her eye and she’ll approach you, holding the tray out for your inspection.

“Would you like to take one?”

Fists [Vindess]
With the town of Vindess under Imperial lockdown, tensions are running high. The stress has left the tempers of the citizens short, and the soldiers are quick to mete out punishment for any perceived infractions. It’s basically the perfect conditions for fights to break out- such as this one.

Honestly Emery’s not even sure how it started, but this is a pub. People have been drinking. Some people started arguing, the volume grew louder, and then suddenly fists started flying.

Emery is one of the few who isn’t throwing punches, and is instead doing his best to dodge and skedaddle around the edges of the fight. It’s not the fight itself that concerns him, honestly, but the prospect of the town guard showing up.

[[ooc: And our Apollo enters the scene, though he’s staying relatively incognito for the moment. This is mostly a casual introduction post, but is also meant to lead into a player plot where Emery’ll be recruiting some Corsairs to fight a monster. Subsequently the Vindess prompt is your best bet for getting on his radar for that, but it’s not necessary either.

As Apollo, Emery has a couple of abilities that might cause problems for your character, so please make sure to check his permissions post.]]

Comments

[fair_trouble]

This does not deter Emery in the slightest. "Today's your lucky day!" she says. "They're freebies."

Which probably won't be too surprising if Ilphyl looks closely- the seedlings look pretty healthy, but the pots they're in are grimy, ugly things, a mishmashed assortment of old, patched up ceramics and things clearly made by amateur hands.

[spacetogrow]

Excuse you, those are charming pots. Well, they are if you are Ilphyl, but they are pretty sure the local nobility won't agree unless you tell them the 'amateur' was someone they thought of as important. "If you're sure... then, yes, I'd like one. If I can take care of it properly. What do they need?"

Yes, a druid could ask the plant, or read a book. But better to have a conversation, and make sure they aren't going to be finding a place for a plant other than their houseboat.

[fair_trouble]

"These ones are various breeds of lettuce-" she points to the lettuce seedlings in question, "-they do well with cool temperatures, but need a fair amount of sunlight and moist soil. But not soggy soil. I recommend growing them with chives or garlic, to ward off pests."

She gestures to more plants, naming them: "These are kale. These are spinach. They have similar needs to lettuce. This is chard, and it does best with full sun instead of partial sun. And these are carrots, they like slightly acidic soil best."

Internally, Emery reflects that they were really not expecting to someday use their Eiglun upbringing like this.

[spacetogrow]

Ilphyl nodded. This is helping them if they need to know plant names in the local language. "Do you have anything I can keep in a bigger pot? I don't really have space to plant something in the ground."

It is one of the downsides of living in Flotsam.

[fair_trouble]

"Hmm..." Emery hadn't really expected that question, although now that she thinks about it, a lot of people probably don't have their own land to just grow whatever. Still, she isn't discouraged!

"Try this chard," she says, picking up a tiny pot. It's made of a reddish-brown clay with a few prominent cracks filled in with a dingy grey mortar. "Its roots don't grow too deep. A wide, shallow pot would work."

[spacetogrow]

"Thank you. It's nice to have more green things around." Ilphyl might not have grown up with plants, but the flora of hte Underdark was often brightly colored, so the principle still applies.

[fair_trouble]

"It is, isn't it?" Once Ilphyl has the pot well in hand, Emery will scoot in close to Ilphyl's side and speak quietly into their ear: "Be sure to give your thanks to the sunlight if it grows well."

Having done that she cheerily skips back a step or two, allowing Ilphyl a modicum of personal space once more. "It's an old farmer's tradition. Quaint, right?"

[spacetogrow]

Congrats, Emery, Ilphly is easily flustered by a pretty person leaning in to whisper into their ear. "Yeah, but I already thank the ground and the water, so no harm in adding to it."

For whatever reason, sun gods weren't a major feature of druid worship in Toril. Ilphyl's relationship with the divine was complicated but they were on a more comfortable footing with the gods of nature. (Mostly because those were usually transactional, and nature gods didn't tend to have complicated desires towards people.)

[fair_trouble]

Ah, how Emery loves the easily flustered type. One of the best types!

"That's good. That's a good habit to have!" she says.

[spacetogrow]

"Thank you," Ilphyl said. "Not exactly modern of me, I know." Well, modern for the Empire. No one would consider it remarkable back home.

[fair_trouble]

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me." Look at her pretty face, doesn't she seem trustworthy?

[spacetogrow]

"Thank you. So, are you a plant merchant or is this a temporary job?" Look, 'new person interested in plants' is enough to get Ilphyl inclined to make small talk.

[fair_trouble]

"Just a temporary thing," she says. "You could call it an experiment."

[spacetogrow]

"I hope it goes well. I'm not from Elysium, so I don't know if I'll get a chance to hear how it went."

[fair_trouble]

"Mm. It might take a while to bear fruit as well." And then she chuckles a little. "Er, pun not intended there."

[spacetogrow]

"Spend enough time with farmers, and you start using a lot of plant metaphors," Ilphyl suggested.