rosy gardens (mostly)

[catnyap]

WHO: Rose (and their weed)
WHERE: Rose Barn
WHEN: Day 22

[We have things to do and a quest to finish!!]

Comments

Door Quest

[catnyap]

[Having been given a quest to see through, Rose will be greeted this early morning with a summons from their weed. The sun is up so naturally he is yawning, but he seems rather alert. He smiles sleepily, waving people in as they show themselves.]

Before you all go off to do whatever it is you like to do during the day, there's something important I'd like to finish. I know I shared this information with a few of you, but not all, so I'll explain it first now.

As an apology for my unique circumstances, Blossom gave me a small quest in order for us to obtain an additional room. The original idea is that it would be mine but... well, it seems better to give the fresh one to our newest.

In order to do that, however, I'll need a drop of blood from each of you. In my palm. Once I have some from each of you, I'll be able to place my hand on the wall anywhere to create this new room.

Re: Door Quest

[pleasantmisery]

Really? That's it?

Re: Door Quest

[catnyap]

That’s it~

I can place it anywhere our new member would like it.

Re: Door Quest

[pleasantmisery]

[well, thanks to Rose Powers (TM) she can have fangies whenever she wants, so... she'll bite into a finger tip and squeeze out a drop of blood onto his hand]

Oh, that's nice! You could let her pick where it goes, she might like that.

Re: Door Quest

[wants_the_phd]

She only asked you for a drop of blood?!

[HER BLOSSOM QUEST FOR THE SAME THING WAS SO MUCH HARDER????? WTF???? BLOSSOM????]

Re: Door Quest

[catnyap]

Well, several, to be precise but— yes. That’s right.





…did she ask you for something different?

Re: Door Quest

[finalbows]

Huh.

_{[ he does that literally just to undo/re-arm his door's zap fence. ]}

Finally, some magic that makes sense. _{[ Angie bites the pad of his thumb to make a pretty decent hole-- with his suddenly present rose fangs. ]}

Hand, please.

Re: Door Quest

[catnyap]

A fitting bit of magic for us, yes~

[Akuki holds out his hand with a smile.]

Thank you kindly~

Re: Door Quest

[strateelgic]

She owes you something simple, at least.

[Pond Fiend doesn't need to grow fangs, his teeth are already sharp enough on their own. He pierces a finger with one, holding it out so Akiku can collect the drop.]

It had better be as good as all the others.

Re: Door Quest

[catnyap]

Mmn, mmn~ I agree.

[Akuki carefully collects it, so as not to risk wasting any of it.]

She seemed sincerely apologetic about the whole matter so I trust we won’t be disappointed with the results.

[themanofyourdreams]

Sure, no problem. Now? Are you ready?

[He is already pulling out a knife to prick himself with.]

[catnyap]

Mmn~ Ready.

[Akuki extends his hand to collect the next drop of blood.]

Re: Door Quest

[catposting]

Who knew Blossom could be so generous?

[ pierces his palm with a claw, holds it out ]

FOUNTAIN

[catposting]

Re: FOUNTAIN

[pleasantmisery]

[When Shadow Fiend's coin hits the water, a night scene ripples into being on the surface. (CW: violence, gore, largely glossed over in this summary).

It's night, and the pasture is gathered in tense silence, watching Blossom chanting before an altar piled high with sacrifices--an egg, a fish, a bucket, and other miscellaneous animal-related items. The crowd has quite a few familiar faces, but just as many unfamiliar ones. Notably, Shadow Fiend doesn't have the shepherd's staff in this memory, but is wearing a normal red collar and bell.

Blossom turns around to speak to the crowd, but she's interrupted by a massive, shadowy figure erupting from the altar to possess her. The demon's horrific, indecipherable speech is translated to a thundering screech. It seems the demon is displeased with the pasture's meager offering. Extremely displeased.

The ground rumbles violently as long, sharp bones and thorn erupt from the ground, dragging everyone into cages with their respective flocks. The Rose cage contains Shadow Fiend, Blood Fiend, and Angel Devil, but the other members of Rose are strangers.

This is the first ritual performed in the pasture since the new flocks arrived. It did not go well.

The demon's first question ("WHICH LAMB OFFERED UP A CHILD, HIDING COWARDICE BEHIND MANE LONG AND WILD?") leads to a lot of frantic shouting. Tart tosses Rose under the bus, Rose tosses Daffodil under the bus in return. Shadow Fiend pipes up an answer to the demon's question but is otherwise preoccupied with the fact that, uh, some people's arms are visibly and painfully rotting. Fantasia tries to take credit for fucking up the sacrifice. In the end, the demon punishes Biscuit, crushing one of his hands.

As the bone cages start trying to crush the people within, the demon asks its second question ("WHICH RAM IS A KING, PROUD AND BOLD, BUT ONLY OFFERED A BIRD! WHAT RESOLVE DOES THAT HOLD?!"). Once again, Tart throws Rose under the bus, but he shouldn't have bothered as one of the unfamiliar Roses takes credit for the bird. This is shortly followed by Shadow Fiend also taking credit, much to the unfamiliar Rose's displeasure. The result is the unfamiliar Rose getting his arm stabbed to heck by a giant bone hand.

The demon's third question ("WHAT WEATHERED WETHER WILL NOT GET THEIR WISH, IN EXCHANGE FOR FREEDOM THEY OFFERED FISH?") doesn't devolve into shouting and bussing, mostly because the demon decides that it was Lily's fault and fucks one of them up. The bussing comes after that, when the demon demands that the pasture choose between Rose, Daffodil, or Lily to be sacrificed.

This time, Shadow Fiend volunteers Rose. There are many objections from the rest of Rose, but it's clear that Rose had actually privately agreed to volunteer as sacrifice if it came down to it, but most changed their minds after the ritual began. Shadow Fiend politely and cheerfully reminds the shepherd that shepherd's not the boss of her.

Eventually, the voting narrows down to Lily or Rose. The demon forces Sonata to flip a coin. The coin lands on Rose. Boney hands erupt from the earth to grab on to the rest of Rose, digging into their flesh and, well, literally tearing them to pieces. There is a lot of shouting and screaming and blood. The memory ends when Shadow Fiend loses consciousness, but by then, it's very clear that there's no way Rose could have survived their wounds.]

Haha... Wow, I haven't thought about that in, um, about two days!

Re: FOUNTAIN

[wants_the_phd]

[She realizes what, exactly, she's watching as the memory plays. She has been told about this on a number of occasions already. But this is more vivid than anyone could have possibly described.]

[There's a lot that someone could react to, here. Instead, she gives no reaction at all, just stunned silence as the memory ends.]

Re: FOUNTAIN

[catposting]

[ laughing ]

I haven't thought about that since I told Azdaja about it.

... That was this morning. You win, Shadow Fiend.

Re: FOUNTAIN

[finalbows]

_{[ for some of them, it really could have been the first time they'd gone through a pain like that... ]}


...I'm sorry, Shadow Fiend. There was a lot we could have all done to avert how bad it got. I certainly gave into a baser, petty side, in the moment...

Re: FOUNTAIN

[strateelgic]

[Watching all of this quietly for a while with a frown.]

... She would have known.

open to crossteam cr

[finalbows]

_{[ He sits down on the rim of the fountain, taking a minute to buff the red coin on his yukata. The moons are high in the night sky, their reflections shimmering on the water...
He holds up the coin in front of his face, speaking to it. ]}

...No damning revelations today, please. It's been an overall decent one, and it will hardly be of any use to me right now.

<sub>[ he tosses it in the water.

It's Angel Devil wandering the busy streets of Treno! He's made it down near the waterfront, where all the fanciest of fops and most armed of guards are. The people around him almost look more like him than he does; he's sporting the red hair, blue eyes, and lack of feathers or tail again. His clothes look very... lowkey slutty wanderer of the land. Listen, it IS still Angel Devil.

There's little interactions he has, with passers-by, that can subtly tip you off he's no longer all that socially inept, in this scene. But he still looks wide eyed and overwhelmed, taking in the forever-dark city and its throngs of people... on a grassy stone pathway, he walks directly by a blond man in a pointed wizard hat who he looks, maybe, passingly similar to. It's in the height, mainly; he could be Pond Fiend-high. There are people parting so he can pass. Angel Devil notices the man's given him, for whatever reason, a lingering gaze.

Once he's at a safe distance, Angel Devil inquires quietly who THAT guy is, that everyone's acting like this.

"Do you live under a rock? That's Lord ■■♤■!"

That's odd. That the name's censored.
Yes I know that I let the name go uncensored in the past but I changed my mind now, it's gone now.

...Angel Devil steals away out of sight, into a dingy between-space of one building to the next, and conjures up his little Scan orb.
"That one, with the pointed hat... go follow him," he tells it, and it goes flitting off. He waits, completely still, in place. The ambient light doesn't change, but one of the lanterns nearby burns down and goes out. There is a small slice of the street visible, with people passing by.

Eventually, the Scan returns. Angel Devil holds up his hand to receive it, and it melts away into his palm.

From the fountain's point of view, there's no way of knowing what he saw. But he gets a... small, cryptic smile.
"I see... so that one really is one of the most powerful of this city's 'nobles.'"
He idly twirls his crimson hair around his fingers...
"...Gaians are really all the same. I could probably cause a lot of them to die, without having to do anything at all, if I got close to that man..."

The memory fades, leaving only the faces of the moons. Wordlessly, Angel Devil stands up, and clears the way. ]</sub>

Re: open to crossteam cr

[electricflock]

[there's a skittery THUMP and SCRAMBLE from the nearest rooftop as a gryphon lands, realizes the fountain's in use, and tries but fails to bail out of the vicinity in time]

Re: open to crossteam cr

[catposting]

[ there's a longing(?) in his eyes as he stares at the memory. he recognizes this city, somehow. ]

...

Did you... show us this place before? ... Before the eleventh day.

day 22 post-tanabaata fireworks; ota

[catposting]

[ backdated out the wazoo. Dispel trainwreck aside, today wasn't bad!

tosses coin. plunk.

no cws this time! ]

Re: day 22 post-tanabaata fireworks; ota

[pleasantmisery]

Aw, you were so cute as a kid! I did kind of wonder whether everyone in your plane was a catboy like you...

Re: day 22 post-tanabaata fireworks; ota

[finalbows]

<sub>[ Dove's sitting on the mouth of the fountain, and watches... that old drama... play out over his shoulder. He doesn't say much, at first. Flashes a reflexively vile grin when Shadow Fiend pipes in...

...but it melts away, as with the faces of the two boys in the water. He locks up to the starry sky, ribboned, now, with puffs of drifting smoke leftover from the fireworks show. ]</sub>

...I've heard the phrase, before. That fealty is its own reward.
I have never... quite been able to agree, before.
Especially...
When it is not returned.

How do you feel about it, nowadays, cat? As a philosophical curiosity.