isleofavalon

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🧙 WHO: Emerald & YOU!
⚔️️ WHAT: Top is open prompts, individual prompts in comments.
🕒 WHEN: Early to mid-March
🗺️ WHERE: Various
⚠️ WARNINGS: None yet, will add as needed.

A. Flowers and Dragons (TDM Prompt)
[ Emerald isn't much of a flower person. She doesn't mind them, but in the grand scheme of things, she's more a fan of realistic wants and needs-- she's not the type of person to get drawn in because something is pretty. The baby dragons are kind of a menace though, and without her aura to protect her, she'd rather do things the peaceful way...

At least her particular style of magic is especially useful for this kind of a mission. She may not have mastered hard light by any means, but in the months she's been here, she's become very adept at illusion and glamours. It's more a focus of familiarity and want, but right now, it's got her with one hand up to hold an invisibility illusion up while a dragon is mere feet from her and she's kneeling down with a basket full of little purple chive blossoms. She's doing her best to fill up the basket with one hand, but it's obviously a little messy.

If you come near her, she'll stop to put her fingers up to her lips. She can't control what the dragon hears, after all. Please don't alert the baby, she's trying her best to get this done without disaster. ]

B. Homesick or sick of home?
[ While Emerald's happy that they have inn rooms to fall back on, it's a stark reminder that it's still not a home. There's no one there waiting for her, and the longer she's here, refusing to let anyone get close (even if some people are clearly trying) the more it reminds her that she's alone. It also leaves her to think a lot about what a home means to her, and why she wants one here. It would be natural to want to stay in that inn if she felt like she had a place back in her world. Because the inn should be temporary-- a reminder that this is not forever, that they'll all go home one day. It's getting harder and harder for her to see why that's a good thing, the longer being here reminds her what it's like not to spend every day in a constant variable state of terror.

And yet, she finds herself wandering around an open house. The place she's at is too big for her to live at alone, for sure, but anyone can wander in easily and see her looking caught up in her own thoughts. If she does catch you looking though, it'll quickly be covered up with her narrowing her eyes. ]

Do you want something? You're supposed to be looking at the house, not me.

[ Well, she's still got an attitude problem whenever she's caught having feelings. ]

C. Wildcard
[ Write your own prompt or contact me and I'll whip up something for you! I can be contacted at

tartetatin or taylotjelly#4556 on Discord. ]

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I think those are chives that I grabbed.

[ She'll probably save whatever they don't use for dinner. But, you know, not the flower part.

She balances cleanly while she waits for him to heal it. She lets out a breath she hadn't even known she was holding when the pain goes away. ]

Back home, I can just heal from stuff like that. I've felt a lot of crap so I can handle it, but it feels a lot better now. Thanks.

Chives meaning 'usefulness', if I'm not wrong.

[How nice that it's not something negative otherwise it would have been a waste of time.

When he was done with the healing he moved back to keep a respectful amount of space between them.]

Even if it's not the worst you've had there's no point in suffering an injury when there's an easy solution. [But also.] Were you a healer?

Devotion and usefulness. [ Hahahahahaha. Story of Emerald's life. Maybe it'll work out for her this time. ] It's not the worst message to send.

[ Still, she rolls her eyes and gives him a little lip for his comment. ] It's not like I knew you were a healer before you said or I would've said something. [ She shakes her head. ] I had a thing called an aura-- a lot of people in my world have them. It's a way to bare your soul outward to use it as a shield, or to heal injuries you didn't manage to block.

[ It's not infinite, but something like this would've been nothing if she could still use it. ]

[He didn't mind the lip, really. Though he is a little concerned...would she only admit to an injury only if there was a solution rather than to let people know she had been hurt? But it was a small injury and it's hard to say if that wasn't the reason.

Either way, he only smiles in response.] Perhaps I should mention that first in the future.

[Aura...how fascinating. It wasn't a surprise that other worlds would have other forms of...magic, for the lack of a better word but he's still interested.]

I would like to hear more if you would be willing to share. [He holds out his basket.] Perhaps we can exchange some flowers and make crowns while you do so.

[ Emerald isn't exactly the type of person people care about; she's grown accustomed to it. What she wants or needs will always come second-- whether because she's a street rat or because to get out of that life, she promised to devote herself to someone else, and that someone else didn't value Emerald at all.. even if Emerald herself desperately clung to the idea that she did. So the idea of bringing up an injury, a vulnerability, with a stranger who had no stake in her or ability to heal, seemed pointless for now. ]

We could always make all the healers wear little hats or badges.

[ She jokes, though it would be useful. Probably not for healers who just want to be left alone, though. ]

Like what? I'm not an expert so I can't get too technical with it. I know how to use mine, but.. [ She didn't go to school for it, not like most people did. She learned because she would've died if she hadn't figured it out. ] I can't tell you why it works, just that it does and how it does.

[There's a conversation they could have about that one day...though in his case, the person he's devoted himself to does care. But even if he didn't, Chang Geng wouldn't even mind.]

That's not a bad idea though I doubt everyone would think so.

[It would be interesting to imagine though.

He made a thoughtful hum..]

While the mechanics of how something works is fascinating, it isn't the most important thing. A person who raises crops may not know why plants grow but that doesn't mean what they do know has no value.

[Then he smiled a little wryly.]

If you aren't an expert, then I am even less of one. [After all, they didn't even come from the same place.] That is why, whatever you are comfortable sharing is fine. And, in return, if you want I can share knowledge about something from my world as well.

Maybe like a map dot on the phones. So you can pull up a map and go to the nearest green dot for healing, but it doesn't say who it is and healers can turn it off if they want to be left alone...

[ At the very least, Emerald is capable of empathy. Even if that empathy is toward the 'god, I would want everyone to leave me the hell alone' end of the spectrum. ]

Aura is like... There are combat schools that teach people how to activate it and basically bring kids up as warriors, but some people activate theirs long before they get to that point because Remnant sucks-- that's our world's name. Our superpowered monsters are around every corner, so you either live safe and sound in the middle of one of the four successful kingdoms, or you learn how to survive really fast. People can focus on baring their souls to absorb blows from claws, weapons, explosions, elements and temperature.. all kinds of stuff. We can use it to fortify our weapons too, or make weapons out of something that shouldn't be. So if I had like, a rolled up newspaper, I could fortify that and hit back with the same force as if I had a baseball bat or a hammer. Which when you have real weapons can be a lifesaver if you're cornered.

[ All the while she's doing her best to explain, she's trying to tie the flowers together but like.. she's never done this before so it honestly looks kind of garbage and Emerald's looking more irritated as she goes. ]

That would be convenient, wouldn't it?

[Especially for those people who may not know who to go to in a pinch. He likes the idea in theory but he doesn't have the ability to suggest nor implement such a thing.

He works on his own flower crown while she speaks. He doesn't know all the words (for example, what is a baseball bat?) but it was easy enough to figure it out from the context.]

It sounds like a useful ability. Though it's unfortunate that those who live on the fringes are left to fend for themselves. I assume that the middle of those successful kingdoms also happens to be where the wealthy and the powerful live?

[That is the case in many places and times, isn't it?

He doesn't often make flower crowns but he'd done it once or twice for some village children on his travels so while his isn't anything spectacular, it is neatly woven together.]

There's a trick to making these. [He says without any teasing or humour. Just the same patient, mild tone he's taken this whole time.] I can show you if you'd like?

Center and on-high, yeah. In the northernmost one, they have a section of the city floating above the rest that the rich people live on. [ In case people didn't understand the metaphorical "above you" and needed a literal example, she guesses. Like honestly, she's not sure what the point in it was besides to really drive home that Atlesians were better than their poorer Mantle counterparts.

That said, despite her sometimes sharp personality, she's actually pretty open to learning and she moves closer so she can see, holding out the flowers she was working on. She appreciates when people are willing to show her things because she's had to figure out most things on her own without anyone caring for her. ]

Yeah.

Of course. {That is usually how things go, isn't it?] Hopefully that won't always be the case.

[He sets his own half finished crown on his lap. Then he reached into the basket and pulled out two flowers with longer stems.]

It's easier, to work with the ones with a longer stem. [He crossed the stems and twisted one of the flowers, pulling the stem so the two would be parallel. He does this slowly and deliberately, trying to keep it clear.] Then you take a third one and place is just like the second except you wrap it around both.

[He demonstrates, then hands it over to her, this freshly started flower crown already with three flowers attached.] See if you can do it.

Pretty sure it won't be.

[ Her last memories, after all, involved an invasion of the kingdom. Who knows how that's going to go. ]

Like this? [ She copies what he does. Emerald picks up on things quickly-- her semblance, a key part of who she is back home, requires her to be observant. She does a few and holds it up. ]

[He nods.]

You're a fast learner. [Because he knows, positive reinforcement is a useful thing.] Just keep going until you feel it's long enough and I'll show you how to finish it.

[He picks up his own flower crown to keep working on it.]

Is there some point in these besides decoration?

[ She doesn't say thanks for the compliment, but she does appreciate it, if the way her demeanor softens just a little is any indication. She's not used to getting complimented and doesn't know how to accept them. She works as quickly as she can without messing it up. ]

Mostly I believe it's made by children for play. Though I've heard that some young lovers may give them to each other as gifts.

[He works on his crown with deft fingers.]

Though it may seem a little pointless, I personally think it has its own charm. After all, it's something anyone can do regardless of whether they have money or not, whether they have power or not. If more things could be like that...perhaps more people could live well and with dignity. [He says this very calmly, but though the words were a little naïve he didn't sound wistful. He said it as if it were something achievable.]

Well, the dragons are babies. I guess it makes sense, unless we're getting real weird with dragons by the end of the day.

[ She gets to the end of her string of flowers and holds it out to show him, but jokes as she does. ]

I'll pass if that's where it's going.

[He doesn't laugh but his smile widens a little.]

I doubt that's where this is going.

[He pauses his own crown weaving to take a look at her handiwork. He nods a little, before holding out his own crown.]

Your previous weaving should have made some gaps where the stems are braided. You just have to slip the other end into one of these gaps. [He demonstrates.] Then you can tie over it with a piece of long grass for extra stability.

All the stems don't poke you in the head?

[ She does as he says, giving it an uncertain look. Hers isn't graceful, but it's mostly done right. ]

You can tuck them into the gaps between the flowers.

[He reaches out and tucks on in to show what he means.]

Then you can cut the excess end if you want, afterwards.

[ She does that, but she doesn't bother cutting it. The only thing she has to cut with is Thief's Respite, and she's not going to awkwardly try to fit the tip of a sickle into a flower crown. ]

I think it's done. We just offer these to the dragon baby right?

That was what I understood.

[He finished tucking the ends in until all of it looked smooth.

Then he stood up, looking in the direction where the baby dragon from earlier had been.]

I suppose we'll see if our handiwork is acceptable.

[He's smiling because he's joking...but also not entirely. There's always a chance their offerings would be rejected he supposed.]

It better be. The alternative isn't us getting burned to a crisp.

[ She'll fight a baby dragon and drag it where it's supposed to be in chains before she lets it fry them. But she's definitely all for the flowers working. ]

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