[Catch-All] Moving Forward

[inemeraldfaith]

🧙 WHO: Aerith Gainsborough, You
⚔️️ WHAT: Catch-All for August / September
🕒 WHEN: August / September
🗺️ WHERE: Aerith's flower shop, Camelot, and wherever else we need to be.
⚠️ WARNINGS: TBD

[They drop down! Click if you don't see them.]

► [01. Flowers, Flowers Everywhere]

[Aerith's flower shop has seen a lot more activity than she's expected. When she initially opened it, she'd assumed it would be a relatively calm pastime. She's not prepared herself for just how many visitors she'd get.

The upstairs loft painting has finally been completed, though it looks a... little like a child did it in some places. (That's Aerith's masterful painting at work there, along with some help from Nanaki—but the latter's was better.) She's made it less cluttered in most places, creating a nice comfortable little way off to the side where there's some in-house teas available at no additional charge. The patio outside now has a few smaller tables and chairs for those who want to sit in the sun and enjoy the sights. The other portion of the store holds a curtain of hanging ivy and other blooms that pave way for a plant paradise right within, though it can get a little warm and humid in there.

In short, Aerith has been busy.

Today, she's in the midst of writing some instructional cards for some of the newer plants that she's presenting in the front window. She tucks them in all nice and neat and catching the eye of the next passerby, she lifts a hand and offers a welcoming wave and a bright smile.]

► [02. A Real Place]

[Aerith... has never gone house shopping before and realises that as she's begun to look at new residences, she has no idea what she's actually gotten herself into. She's been using her phone to get around to the best of her ability, but with no real idea as to where she should be heading next or what seems to be the most logical course of action in terms of distance, she really spends most of her time wandering from one district to the other, stopping occasionally to examine some of the houses.

In the midst of still peering at her phone on the way to her next misadventure, she lifts a hand to grab onto the person nearest her, tugging on the arm.]

Hi, excuse me. Can you help me find this place here?

[And then she lifts up her phone. It's a nice, small, very modest looking place. Can't be more than two bedrooms at the most, if even that. Definitely bigger than the apartment she's currently stationed in, however.]

► [03. Lending a Hand - Don't Treep, Man]

[It's another moment where she's almost a little envious that she doesn't have green magic. It'd certainly make her growing anything significantly easier. But maybe that's a little too easy. There's something to be said about the achievement of hard work and earned success.

Not part of the green mage collective, Aerith helps around the farmland by doing a little bit of everything that she can get her hands on. Her favourite thing to do, however, is the watering. It's easy to find her going down a line of very small sprouts that have only just begun to pop right up out of the ground, modestly watering them.

And talking to them. Because that's a necessity, you know.]

Oh, look at you! [She croons happily.] You're looking so good! You're gonna grow up nice and strong, right? [In fact, Aerith is probably a little too excited about something as trivial as watering plants. But seriously—talking to them is good for them.]

► [04. Wildcard]

[As it reads on the tin. Wildcard option available for those who aren't looking to use the above prompts. If you'd like to do something special, please either PM, PP at ofthesky, or contact via Discord. We'll set something up!]

Comments

[garyoutensei]

My only real skill is killing, so you can imagine there's generally not much for me to do.

[ Baiken shrugged. ]

People want muscle in some of these freelance jobs, but they usually want someone with two hands...

[inemeraldfaith]

["My only real skill is killing..."

Somehow, she doubted that. Baiken had only ever been most keen on saying as little about herself as she possibly could. The path of least resistance, it seemed. As little as she could get away with where others would stop prying for information. Aerith was not one of those so easy to concede defeat, regardless of the form it might have come in.]

Oh, I'm sure you have more skills than that... [As she thumbed at her chin, she found herself continuing. The arm—] Come to think of it, I don't think I realised you were missing the other. I always thought you were just hiding it or you were comfortable keeping it hidden. [Or the greater likelihood was that she didn't want to pry. People who were missing appendages, usually didn't take kindly to having that sort of thing brought up. Besides, missing a hand, missing an arm, these kinds of things didn't detract from a person.]

[garyoutensei]

[ Normally that sort of thing would sit poorly with her. The insistence that she could do differently, do better. Or even Aerith's observation about her arm. But... it was Aerith. And she knew enough about the girl by then to know she was being sincere, and well... Baiken did leave the loose sleeve hanging, after all, rather than pinning it up.

She pulled her pipe out from her kimono, as well as the small bag of her smoking grass. While doing so, she made it a point to grab the empty sleeve, in demonstration. ]

Nope. Nothing there. Lost it a long time ago.

[ ... Oh wait. ]

Is it alright if I smoke in here?

[inemeraldfaith]

[Not that she hadn't taken Baiken at her word...

At her question, Aerith cast a look around the flower shop. It probably wasn't going to be extended exposure, but maybe in the future, she'd make a note about that kind of thing outside. It wasn't like it was a question she'd really been much asked in the past. It wasn't exactly one of the questions she expected or had been ready for.]

Uhm. Should be fine.

[This once. Aerith takes a long drink from her tea.]

I don't think it's necessarily important to have two hands for everything. You seem pretty capable as you are.

[garyoutensei]

[ She demonstrated as much, managing to stuff and light her pipe with a single hand with what was probably pretty fascinating dexterity, puffing briefly before letting out a trail of sweet-smelling smoke. ]

Yeah, well... not everyone is as generous with their benefit of the doubt as you are, hanako.

[inemeraldfaith]

[In comfortably holding her teacup between her hands, Aerith settled for simply tapping her fingertips along its side. Baiken was right in that assessment, too. Aerith wanted to believe that most people were inherently good. Not necessarily true and she knew that, but it was a thought she'd certainly entertained more than once.

In Camelot, she wanted to observe first and judge later. It had yet to bite her, but she also liked thinking she had a relatively good intuition.]

That's true. [She agreed with a short little nod.] Tell you what—I'll keep my eyes and ears open. I know some of the other local business and shop owners here. Maybe they'll be able to point you in a direction for employment. Something that might suit your talents, at that.