• PM To Join • [Sweetsong] Orchards Walk

[Kisaik]

Orchard Walk Planting

A very special day for Scalvoris was approaching. The very next day, in fact, and Kisaik had something in mind. He wanted everything to be perfect and ready to go when the people made ready for Ashan's Walk festival. Nobody would be allowed to work, but would make their way to the Sweetstone Tree in order to leave devotional offerings to whatever spirit, deity, or ancestor they revered. It would be marvelous, and everything was coming into focus as Kisaik gathered with several of the settlement's gardeners. Aida was there, so was Flo, and there were others who'd offered to lend a hand in manual labor, for the actual planting and sowing of seeds.

Kisaik had even extended an invitation to his special friends, Lady Vega, Aesir Jasper, and Winston. Rabu was indisposed, currently out in the field gathering herbs for medicines.

The tunawa waited for his friends to arrive, but was not idle as he did wait. Remembering the texture of the seeds and leaves of the trees they'd be planting along the walkway between the Oasis and Sweetstone, he conjured a bunch of seeds of phoenix trees, charwood, and even yellow dragon seeds, from his hair. He had a layout in mind, but perhaps one of the others coming would have a better idea how to line up the Orchard Walk. Kisaik could grow anything you asked him to, just about anywhere, but he wasn't the best at laying out an organized plan for such.

So he waited, and tapped his feet, happily plucking the seeds from his hair. "Ouch!"

[Winston]

Did someone say seeds?

Having spent the morning preparing some snacks in the form of Rainbow Crackers that turned you rainbow coloured and the latest incarnation of his signature honey-nutmeg cake, he fluttered along the path, with

Chest

and

Angela

in tow. Joe was almost certainly around somewhere, but for the time being whatever he was up to was a secret.

"You can sit on my shoulder if you like?" Offered the young girl hopefully as Winston bobbed about in the air beside her, his wings making a little flippy-flappy sound as he attempted to fly without jittering about.

"Noh tanks."

"Why ARE you a fairy anyway? You know you don't have to turn up to every party as a Fairy?"

The Fairy-ferret giggled. "Dat may be a matta af opinion." He replied with a sly grin. "Bot me want tuh immers meself en being a Fairy. Me 'opin' tuh get betta at flying an' maby betta at understandin' Fairies." He sounded very philosophical, but Angela was less than convinced.

"I've tried your Glitter crackers. You understand Fairies just fine." She said with a giggle as they spotted Kisaik.

Angela waved and Winston called out. "Cheeeep! Aida! 'ow yuh din'? Yuh lookin' lovely as usual Adia." Making their way over to them, the tiny ferret gave them hugs, mostly just hugging their shoulders due to the size difference. "Me brat som fud an' gifts..." Chest produced some crackers. "Oh! An ef yuh want dem, me gat a lat af interesting seeds dat me don't know 'ow tuh grow." He said with a hopeful tone to his voice. If prompted, he would produce said seeds. Otherwise he would let the comment pass for later inspection. "Et wud be great tuh grow some af dem, me jost nat very green finga'd.

The teenage girl laughed in response to this. "Yes. If the brown, potted stick in the kitchen is anything to go by, I'd say you'd be saving them from a fate worse than death."

Seeds Winston would produce

A sample of all 5 fruit/seeds from Rynmere, as detailed here.

Fairy Berrie seeds:

• Blueberries - Turns you blue.
• Huckleberries - Causes hiccuping and bouncing in the air.
• Cloudberries - Makes you completely weightless so that you might float and even blow away in the breeze.
• Youngberries - Turns you into a child, around a few archs old, just out of toddler stanges. Changes your size/mass to that of an average child of your race.
• Bearberries - Turns you into a giant, stuffed teddy-bear.
• Elderberries - Ages you to within a few months of your race's natural maximum life span, with all typical ailmnets (e.g. poor eye'sight and/or things like arthitus).
• Wolfberries - Turns you into a wolf. Your size/mass does not change.
• Buffaloberries - Turns you into a waterbuffalo. Your size/mass does not change.

He would greet anyone and everyone with great vigor and excitement. Offering cake and crackers (that turn you rainbow colour) by reflex.

All template credit, love and admiration goes to Pyrre Ej'qy

[Vega]

Gardening was an important part of Sweetsong and Vega knew that Sir Chip was one of the key people there. She was excited for Ashan's Walk and she knew that Sir Chip had all sorts of things planned. Vega had , in her hands, a most unusual fruit , native to Scalvorisand something that she hoped they might plant.

As she arrived, clutching the Sunburst Fruit in one hand with her infant daughter, Akor, on her hip and Conlan toddling next to her, holding on to Joy's hand. In Joy's other hand there was a quite other kind of fruit . However, when they arrived their attention was somewhat taken by Winston - in full-fairy-form. "Wotcha," Vega said to them all, including Angela and those with Kisaik.

"I didn't have the sense to bring seeds," Vega said with a grin. "But me an' Joy brought these two. This is a sunburst fruit. It's like three fruits in one. The heart of it is very different to the middle which is dif'rent again from the outside. You reckon we could do somethin' with it what dedicates it to Ashan?" She gestured then to Joy and she grinned. "An' my Ipi here, she's brought a Snekvine. We'd love to have some Snekfruit, if we could. It's refreshin' an' that struck me as really Ashan, because what's more ref'reshin' than spring?"

It made sense to her and Vega was clear. If they weren't any use as things to plant or grow, then the fruits were tasty and refreshing and that would be something to share. She was very happy with how the gardens were turning out and she wanted to make them the best that they could be. Sunburst fruits and Snekfruits would help, she was sure, with the cooking and the variety of food that they could produce. She hoped that they'd be part of things here, but at the end of the trial it was up to Sir Chip as to what he'd do. That being the case, there was only one thing to do and that was to ask a specific question.

"So, Sir Chip," Vega said, looking around. "We're all here an' very happy to be so. Where do you want us to go an' do?"

[Jasper]

Jaspers Stats
6 Feet 3 Inches
205 pounds
Brown Hair
Brown Eyes
Scares on Right Arm
Tattoo on Left Arm - Matches scares
Moon Tattoo on Left palm
Sun Tattoo Right palm

Orchards Walk

It was Ashan’s Walk here in Scalvoris, and the Melrathian couple were growing used to the presences of the Immortals in the daily lives of people in this new land. Jasper had now chosen to receive Ashan’s mark and so found his own special meaning to the trial. Jasper wouldn’t say he was worshiping the Immortal, but he did honor the Immortal of freedom, spring and spirituality. More importantly he had always worked to increase spirituality in the world. Freedom was a something he was also very passionate about which some may have found odd given the closeness of the small town he came from, but there they were taught freedom, but also the cost it came at. Jasper didn’t have to long to reflect upon his spiritual side as the daily tasks intruded themselves. Astra was finishing feeding the last of the boys, a task that Jasper just couldn’t help with, so he was instead running around getting everything else prepared. Unlike some of the others who had explored and found exotic and unique plants and see, Jasper’s own travels had been more limited though he wasn’t with out his own simple contributions. He had with him a seed granted to him by the Dark Mother to be planted in this new place. He also brought with him grain seeds that had come with him. At the root of it he and his were simple people of the land.

Finally the two were ready. Jasper was dressed in his ceremonial clothing, of his black colored wrap, with the black matching sleeveless vest. Astra was dressed in a green dress that hugged her figure, and Jasper couldn’t help noticing with a grin, that it emphasized some of the changes becoming a mother had brought on. The dress was beautiful but simple relying more upon the woman who wore it to emphasize the beauty verses adding adornments. Collecting their sons, the two left and were joined by their brothers and Dasjat as they came over to where Kisiak and the others were waiting. Jasper noticed that Winston had gone fairy again. He smiled at that even as he laid down a blanket on the ground that was close to the event but far enough away. Together him and Astra carefully arranged the snoozing boys so that they could watched while things occurred.

[Jasper’s newest Dirri, Wynthir settled next to them and Jasper placed a pile of papers next to him. The Dirri was enchanted with the boys and loved to read and so found reading some stories that Jasper and Astra had written down for him to read to the boys wonderful. They also appreciated cause it gave them a babysitter. Smiling the two joined the growing crowd around Kasiak with there small contribution to the event.

Passive Active Effects

Spirit Meld-When near a spirit, can mental sense its emotions.
Spirit Sight-Perceive all spiritual forms within a ten foot proximity.
Rupturing-Detect all motions within 20ft.

Post Specific Effects

~NPC~

Astra

Rewan

Bryil

Eldloga

Dasjat

Lanquin

[Kisaik]

Aida just about fainted when Winston hugged her, although it was mostly feigned, in order to get him to hold her upright, until she got herself righted again on her feet. Sappy blush flushed her cheeks as he started handing out gifts and foods. She sampled some of the crackers on offer, and giggled, twirling in place as she became rainbow colored.

Kisaik for his part was very serious about this occasion. He didn't quite see it as an occasion for a casual party, but a very serious task was ahead of them all, and Kisaik was central to its potential failure or success.

He smiled and waved at Winston, nevertheless, glad that he was here to bring up the spirits a bit with his food. When offered snacks, Kisaik turned them down. "No no, I need to save room for the fruit and seeds you've all brought." He smiled.

Vega arrived, with Joy in tow. Both of them carrying two fascinating looking fruits. The first looked very pretty and interesting. "Oh no, that's perfect Lady Vega. I need only task the fruit of the plant to produce seeds at will!" Kisaik was quite proud of that ability, having worked hard to understand the ins and outs of gardening, to the point where he was almost as good a gardener as existed on Scalvoris, perhaps Idalos itself!

"May I?" He asked, and if she consented, along with Joy, he'd take a nibble of both fruits in turn, frowning as he pondered their texture and flavor. "Hmm very interesting. yes Sunburst fruit has many uses in culinary arts, and the Snekfruit is surprisingly versatile in its uses. It can be a delicious fruit, a potent healing agent, or a deadly poison. Very good Joy!"

This said, he smiled as Jasper arrived, and was glad Dasjat was with him. It was good to have a tunawa that wasn't necessarily part of their tribe around, although Kisaik hoped he'd consider joining them regularly during celebrations and other activities around the Sweetstone Tree. He was certainly welcome, at any rate.

He did wonder if Melrathi Tunawa had any special secrets that were different from what Desnind Tunawa such as Kisaik knew. He was eager to find out, and if not to teach Dasjat a little of what he knew.

"Welcome Jasper and friends and family! Welcome all!"

"Now, I must confess that I'm not the best organizer. I can plant and grow anything, just about anywhere. But I'm at a loss for the organization part of that. I just tend to spread seeds where I will, and sow wild oats where I can." Kisaik chuckled. "Now, let me tell you what I can do, and we'll figure out by committee how we'll use my talents."

"What I can do, is learn all the secrets of any plant, seed, or fruit you give me, merely by eating a part of it. And when I eat a part of it, I can grow the seeds for that plant at will, from my body. In addition, I've managed to figure out the secrets of splicing plants together, two properties of any plant can be applied to any other. We could end up with snekfruit trees, or Bushes of up to three forms of fairy berries. The posssibilities are quite dizzying as you can imagine, so I'm at a loss for how to do all of that."

"I do have one request however. Any seeds we plant today, must go through me, so I know their lore and what they do, and can thus inform you all of their properties."

In the short term, Kisaik would sample any seeds they'd brought, if they were willing, and give them information on any and all that they allowed him to injest. The only exception to these were the fairy berries, which Kisaik was already familiar with, and didn't want to accidentally throw a wrench into the works by ingesting the magical fruits.

Once they were done, and all the properties of those plants were revealed in turn. The tunawa stood before them all, and said, "Well, let's hear your ideas! I think the Wickon Plants would make for excellent defensive traps, that are not threatening to the lives of those trapped within them so long as one can be heard. We should probably place those in the perimeter, around key areas... Perhaps splicing their branches and leaves onto smaller plants so they can stay low to the ground? What do you think? Any other ideas?"

[Winston]

A killer homestead

"Veeegaaaaa!" He yelled as she appeared and welcomed them all. He fluttered over and hugged her shoulder in a full, inch-long bodilly fashion.

Kisaik was clearly on a mission. A mission that everyone present seemed to be very happy to help him with. Winston however, could not bring himself to behave so strictly. "OH! Af cars. Well, dere es plenty far latta ef yuh change yuh mind." He reassured the knight cheerfully.

Winston watched with great anticipation as his friend began to dispense information like some kind of plant-fact vendor.

As always, it was with a palpable sense of purpose that Kissaik set out why they were there. The fairy-ferret nodded as the announcements were made. The idea of creating brand new species of plant that could do any number of things felt like a fable. "Wow! Dat's like alchemy an LIVIN' tings!" He was not really sure if that was good or not, but it was unquestionably clever.

He listened with great interest as the properties of the plants were described. The grappling leaves of the Wickon Tree were of particular interest... if only he could work out how to preserve the effect beyond the leave's death... The great many properties of all the other plants were of great interest. the alchemical potential seemed almost limitless.

When Kisaik asked them for suggestions, Winston was already a mile down the creative path. "Oh yeh, mun! Yuh cud 'ave leather-armour that attaches itself to the wearer with dat... Oh..." He looked a little sheepish for a moment. "Yuh mean like as a living plant? right, yeah... Et's gonna be tricky tuh create a livin' ting dat farms a defence dat would nat also be an inconvenient nuisance far os, noh? Like, ef we put grass ar bushes dat tangle yuh up all around Sweetsang... Den well, et's nat only gonna tangle peopal dat mean 'arm. Et will create fields an' farrests af 'ostile tings for os all... noh?" He delivered the comment with his best and most understanding smile and felt pretty bad not to be anything but the voice of support for his friend. Truth was however, that he didn't really feel like living in the middle of a field of plants that would attack him and his friends as they passed by. "Unless dere es a way tuh, like, turn dem an an' aff?" He looked around at the people around them in case anyone had any suggestions to this affect. "Also, Ot'Tuck might nat like et ef our defences start attacking de native creatchas af Sweetwine."

He was desperate not to shoot his friend's idea down and to come up with a good way forward in the effort they were they to support and as such, he proposed a slight change.

"Me tink tuh 'ave access tuh all dees tings far our alchemy, far meself,

Cho

,

Cenija

and

Tovan

tuh use

far deployable alchemical defences might be invaluable doh

?"

He decided to offer something of help in the wake of his failure to support his friend. "We cud make nets an' rope dat grapple people. Aurmor dat cun attach etself quickly in an emergency. OH-OH!! Bandages dat attach demsleves and 'eal wounds!" He was very clearly not done as he stopped, hoping that his outburst was well met.

All template credit, love and admiration goes to Pyrre Ej'qy

[Vega]

When Winston the Fairy hugged her, she laughed and answered. "It's nice to see ya, Winstaaaan," she said with a smile. "Why are you bein' a fairy?" There was no suggestion that he shouldn't be, just a wondering why he was particularly doing it right now. She wondered that as she handed the two fruits to Sir Chip and then watched in delight as he ate them. Joy - who had eaten something and was currently also rainbow-Joy grinned in pleasure. She had waved at Winston and Jasper and Angela and everyone there, but had done so shyly, keeping herself close to Vega. Vega hadn't pushed her, but was glad that she'd been brave and tried some of the food. It was Joy's nature to be cautious, so her rainbow-coloured daughter was a good sign of progress made.

However, Vega understood that they were here for something serious and so didn't eat - yet. But she nodded and waved to Jasper and his family too. "It's nice to see you. I'm righ' glad you're here an' that we can all," and of course, she meant all of them, Winston and Angela and everyone included, "share this special day with Sir Chip an' give thanks to Ashan for Spring an' freedom an' all that good stuff."

The talk then turned to what they could do and how they could do it. Vega listened to both Sir Chip's idea and then Winston's answer to it. She understood both the need to defend the place and the need to keep it so that Ol'Tuck was happy and that it was accessible. It was getting a middle ground that was important. "Can you make it so that those plants could grow without light, Sir Chip? Like, splicin' that from a mushroom or somethin' else what doesn't need light? Because if so, we can put them in pit traps?" She wanted to understand the whole picture before she committed.

"Also, there's a plant ... the Birdflower, that's it. They react to music an' sound, but only in Sweetwine. Can that be used at all?" Thinking about it, she added. "But the fruits an' vegetables, I'd like to get those growin' an' in the same area. I can do a thing as a Daia-marked that means I can help things to grow, even if it's not their natural place to live Daia mark - ability called "Wild Dance" here if that helps?"

Looking around, she considered. "I think, unless we can get it so that we can activate it somehow, havin' attack-plants is not ideal. But is there a way that we can do it, do you reckon, Sir Chip?" She had to agree with Winston, but equally she knew Sir Chip of old. If anyone could work miracles, he could.

Joy looked around and then she spoke up. The small red-haired girl asked. "Could the plants make a noise so no one can sneak up on us?"

Vega glanced down at her daughter and she gave a smile."That's a really good idea, Joy. I like that." Joy beamed a rare smile of delight at her mother's praise and she looked at Sir Chip eagerly.

[Kisaik]

Supposing Jasper was being shy because he wanted to do his planting of his special seed a less trafficked place, Kisaik jumped ahead to the planning phase off their gardening. He rubbed his hands together as they all brought a little bit of everything to his feet. Genuinely, Kisaik felt like a child in a candy shop and in perhaps almost the literal sense, as he began nibbling on each sample they brought along. He didn’t nibble a lot off of each one, each seed, leaf, or fruit. Just enough to get a sense of what each plant was and could do.

Kisaik first approached Vega’s offerings, giving her a nod and a smile, and then running his teeth along the fruits. “Hmmm, Snekfruit… Yes this could be very handy with our healers and even as a delicacy, if one knows how to prepare it.” Next, he moved onto the cluster type fruit, brightly colored, “Sunburst Fruit. We can use some scalvoris sand as the growth medium and it’ll grow just fine.”

He went on to look at the bird flowers, and tasted them. “Birdflowers, wonderful. And very beautiful. We can certainly use these in a number of ways. Perhaps as an alarm? What a brilliant idea, Joy! We can certainly do that, with a bit of creative gardening and alchemy I’ll wager, we’ll be able to craft alarms for all the tents in our village, and the major paths in and out.” Kisaik nodded, thinking to himself how else the bird flower might be useful. “Well I’m not the greatest at music and acoustics…” Kisaik admitted, “But perhaps you Vega could find a way to help that sound travel? With blue sand or some other wooden artifice? I’m sure Winston could give you a hand with the alchemy involved in that, if you need.”

“As for lightless growth! YES, I have JUST THE THING.” So saying, he drew out of his large satchel bag from Slate’s baggage, a sweetwine vine. “This is a Sweetwine Vine! Very good for cooking, and chewing even. Very difficult to grow but then you all have me and Aida to help with that! What people don’t realize about the Sweetwine Vine, it grows well in darkened or shaded areas. Almost as good as any forest mushroom.” Kisaik smiled, and then lifted it up with an arm that stretched about three feet over his head, for Vega to inspect. “This is the key to that!”

“Your points, Winston and Vega, are all well taken with regards to plant traps. I’ll just put a cork in that for now, something to consider for later.” Kisaik chucled, “But yes, we can consider the crafting possibilities once we’ve planted the native vegetation that we want for the Orchard’s Walk.”

Kisaik listened to all of Winston’s ideas for crafting, and bandages that were form fitting seemed a novel and useful idea. He nodded along. “Certainly that can be done with plants. So many things are possible with plants! It’d be easier to tell what isn’t!”

And so, Kisaik got to work marking along the walk, based on light levels, and ideal growing conditions, where each of the things should go, including the Rynmerish plants, and the vines, and bird floweres, and fruits. Also the Riversteel trees which were to be planted along the nearest body of water, the oasis. Then going on from there, a few golden dragon trees, and further along phoenix trees.

It was going to be a productive day, he was sure! “Alright, everyone, I’ve gone ahead and marked areas where they need to take seed. Normally we’d use incubation to keep the plants healthy, but we have Ashan’s Bounty, and also the Sweetstone Tree on our side to expedite their growth! Won’t be a problem here!”

That said, Kisaik joined them as they all worked.

[Winston]

Singing while you work

He paused for a moment at Vega's question, as if he was considering inventing a reason on the spot, before going with the truth. "Noh reasan. Et's jost fun." He said doing a clumsy little backflip, before dropping a foot or three in the air and hanging in the air with a "Tadaaaa!" and a giggle just a short dinstance from the rainbow coloured girl.

"Oh! 'elllooo, Lady McRainbow-draply. 'ow de devil is yuh?" He asked Joy with a bow and a positively terrible impression of the 'upper crust' of Scalvarian society. "Duh yuh tink we cun get everyone tuh be rainbow coloured totrail?" He asked with a little impish grin. Apparently, that there might be seriousness afoot, didn't much deter the Ferret's antics.

When the suggestion of night-dwelling, pit-trap tanglers was made, Winston let out a slow gasp in awe of the idea. "OOooooooo... Easy tuh cantain. Won't spread like wildfire anywhere dere es trial-light, but cun be deployed in defences." He nodded at Kisaik, checking if he agreed. "Dat's why she's de bass-lady." He proclaimed happily.

When Joy offered her idea, Winston let out a little meep of excitement. It would be easy to imagin the little ferret-fairy idolised Vega and Kisaik... Because he did... So that her offspring was so clever was a surprise he should have been able to predict. "Oh-OH!! Yuh es de cleverest af os, far shar. OH also! Ehem... Wait..." He darted over to Joy and like a little angel over her shoulder... or a devil, interpretation is key... He whispered into her ear. "Yuh cud use de Veternum Plant also, so et will trigga sound only wen dere es a predata..." He encouraged the girl to add the addendum to her already excellent idea.

As Kisaik picked up the suggestions and began forming them into actionable ideas, the fairy-ferret bobbed about merrily. The only thing better then spending time with friends, was spending time with friend doing interesting things!

As the Tunawan went about setting out the planting areas, Winston did whatever he could to help, whether that was dropping in some seeds, marking something out, or just providing moral support and food.

"Yo-ho! Diggin' a hole, 'opin' tuh find a friendly mole.
Yo-ho! Sowing the seeds, givin' dem aaaaall de light dem needs.
Yo-ho! ..."

He sang (badly) as he worked, making up silly meaningless lyrics about whatever he happened to be doing at the time.

His chorus of ferret's joining in as they went

. He was no good at singing, but he was very good at enjoying it regardless and encouraged other to join in, should they wish.

All template credit, love and admiration goes to Pyrre Ej'qy

[Vega]

The ideas seemed to glisten and bounce like bubbles, Vega thought - each person added to the others and they all made what would be the finished product better. Joy giggled at Winston and nodded, then whispered "If everyone is rainbow, that would be amazing" she said.

Joy was delighted when her idea was first praised by her mother and then by Winston. She nodded at his whispering and she pulled her shoulders back a little, building herself up to speaking again. "Winston and I think that we could use the Veternum Plant in the pits, so that they only respond to predators?" Joy mostly understood what she was saying, although she was sure that there would be little details that she didn't know. Vega looked at her daughter and smiled, proudly. Pride for her children shone out of Vega at all times, and this one was no different.

Sir Chip's actions were delightful to her and she considered what he said. "I don't reckon we need to put a cork in that idea," she said, "But maybe lets try a small pit trap, with those plants as Joy an' Winston suggested, an' give it a try?" That made sense to her, but at the end of the trial it was up to Sir Chip. This was, after all, his rodeo.

Then, they got to work. Vega made sure that Joy was engaged and involved. Winston's singing was, frankly, awful and so Vega decided to take matters in her own hands. She began to danceVega has developed the ability to not just instil hope in others by her actions, but to also get them to act as ambassadors of hope, too. This capstone allows her to imbue those who see her dance ~ or who join her in doing so ~ find themselves energized and enthused for a full trial. They will feel awake, refreshed and filled with hope as though they had just slept an excellent night's sleep. This doesn't, of course, heal wounds or anything, it simply gives the people who dance a burst of adrenaline which lasts for the rest of the trial. and sing along with Winston - she didn't want to drown him out because his voice (whilst horrifically out of tune) was beautiful because he was singing from his heart.

Vega was a reasonable gardener, but she was very much aware that she could improve. She watched his technique, observed how he put seeds in, what he did to prepare the ground and what he did afterwards She sang and she danced but more than anything, Vega was focused on making sure that she learned from Sir Chip and that she did well here, but more than anything, she was focused on making sure that they all worked together. Joy, for her part, danced along happily and skipped around with both Winston and Sir Chip, if they were happy to do so.