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

Greens

[spacetogrow]

"I don't have much money with me." Ilphyl doesn't spend much time in Elysium, because of their distinctive looks, but they still like visiting some of the Corsairs based out of there, and helping with any herbalist needs they have. And for all that they need their goggles or a good hat (or both) to be comfortable out in daylight, they still enjoy the sun.

Plants also are an interest, so they are looking at the pots even as they apologetically make it clear they aren't exactly on a mission to purchase things.

[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.

Music

[theriflespiral]

She had been hunting, or, at least, planning to hunt. Innistis is hardly Terra Nullius, after all-- no place is-- but she'd planned to hike to a blind towards the new growth, and see if she couldn't find something decently big and nasty. (she would, eventually, find it, but that's a tale for another time.)

Instead, she found herself arrested by the lyre, and, more specifically, by the particular choice of "Moon River".

But, even as she starts to think about the rhythm of it, she stops herself. After the last time she let her dancing get away from her, well.

It's the words that also stop her in place from continuing her day. She's not entirely sure how to deal, now. "Myself?"

[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?"

Music

[newmemorywhodis]

Link certainly isn't someone who shies away from a good hike - in fact, running around and exploring wild places is something he spends most of his time doing.

But this time, rather than the usual quiet sounds of nature, he hears...music. It's a strange sense of not quite deja vu, of when he would run into the minstrel Kass out in the wilds. Except the music most definitely isn't being played on an accordion.

And when Link tracks down the source, it's not a Rito bard who's playing.

"...Hi," Link says, after staring for a moment.

[fair_trouble]

Emery laughs. "Well, that too," he says. Now that he's getting a better look at her- those dark eyes in particular are quite striking to him, and the uncertainty is adorable.

"And what brings such a lovely girl to a place like this?"

[fair_trouble]

"Hello!"

Emery looks at Link with undisguised curiosity. Link's appearance is a little nostalgic- blue-eyed blondes aren't really rare in the Empire but it's the coloration most common in both sides of Emery's family, and Link wouldn't look too out of place in a Sommerheim family party.

...Except for the forest gremlin vibes. That's more his mother's style.

"Are you a hunter, perhaps?"

[newmemorywhodis]

The forest gremlin vibes are indeed strong. But it's tempered a little by his blue hoop earrings and nail polish - and a shirt that's just a bit too nice to be wearing out in the woods. But Link likes being pretty on occasion, so why shouldn't he wear it anyway?

As for whether he's a hunter...he cocks his head to one side, thinking about it. He does hunt pretty regularly, so it's not a wrong assumption. Even if 'hunter' isn't necessarily how Link would describe himself.

He nods - in a vague, ambivalent way that seems to suggest, 'close enough'.

[theriflespiral]

Natalia's still not entirely sure what to make of this fellow. But as for what she's doing, there's a simple answer. She gestures, gently, at the sword at her hip, and the rifle on her back. "I hunt, among many other things I do."

Still, she's more than a little curious about what stopped her in the first place. "It's been a few years since last I heard 'Moon River'. How did you come to know the tune?"

Greens

[frost_and_shinies]

Kaitlyn Saunders was, in fact, heading towards a hike out when she ran into the girl, looking over the flowers.

"... Sadly, I'm not sure I can safely touch them. It's... A condition I have," she admits.

She doesn't recognize this figure yet, but something tells Kaitlyn she's not with the Empire.

[fair_trouble]

A lovely girl who's well-armed, this just gets better and better.

When she mentions being familiar with the tune he was playing, Emery's eyebrows lift, genuinely surprised.

"'Moon River?' Is that the name of the song?"

[fair_trouble]

That's a noncommittal sort of nod indeed.

"Hm... Or perhaps secretly a lost prince?" Emery punctuates this by strumming a random chord. "Never fear, your secret is safe with me~"

[fair_trouble]

At the very least, Emery isn't a dangerous looking figure. She's entirely unarmed and has large, guileless seeming eyes.

Which currently are scrunched in consideration. "Do you have allergies?" she asks.

Hm. Maybe she should have considered that earlier.

[theriflespiral]

She nods. "It is. It's been around for... Quite some time. Old enough it was translated. I... Am not nearly so good at singing as dancing, but if you like, I can sing it."

[frost_and_shinies]

"... My touch might not be the best thing for the plants, to be a bit more precise," Kaitlyn responds.

Fortunately, no. Other than some negative reaction to dust, but that didn't seem to be acting up here.

"I'm Kaitlyn Saunders. You?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link raises the noncommittal nod with an even more noncommittal vague, blank stare. Link is most certainly not a Prince. Or royalty of any kind; that was Zelda's job.

Link was the guy who followed royalty around, stabbing things that dared to endanger her.

But he was also not the kind to refute other people's assumptions about him. Or talk about himself much at all, really.

"...You know songs about this place?" he asks instead.

[fair_trouble]

"Please!" He gives her a bright smile. "I can play accompaniment for you, if you like."

[fair_trouble]

Emery gives her a quizzical look. "So the plants are allergic to you?"

Or more likely she's got some sort of curse... magic... thing going on. There are more than a few situations like that running around the Empire, particularly thanks to Imperial experiments. It would fit with the unusual fashion sense.

"You can call me Phoebe."

[fair_trouble]

Clearly the stare is one of shock, and Emery has hit the nail precisely on the head. This is a bonafide prince he's talking to, Emery has decided.

Anyway, music. Emery glances around the glade. "By 'this place' do you mean this particular patch of woods?" he asks, dubious if there are any songs whatsoever devoted to such a humble location. "Because the answer is no. I actually don't know very many songs." The lyre itself knows way more than Emery does- he doesn't even know the song they just played!

"But if you have any requests I can give them a shot."

[newmemorywhodis]

It's almost imperceptible, but Link's shoulders drop with disappointment, just a little bit.

No song about the area? No mystery for him to solve, no musical puzzle? This bard isn't like Kass at all.

So now Emery just gets a little shrug. That was Link's request; he doesn't have any others.