isleofavalon | (no subject)

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final fantasy dimensions: barbara

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🧙 WHO: Barbara and vous!
⚔️️ WHAT: Doing things in April
🕒 WHEN: April various! Some open & a closed prompts.
🗺️ WHERE: Various places around Avalon!
⚠️ WARNINGS: Violence in quest things.

a: Spirits of Brocéliande

[Barbara moved into the woods quite soon after her arrival in Avalon. The big, high-tech city was a little too much for someone who spent most of her life as the lone human in a village inhabited only by dragons and moogles.

Unfortunately, the woods have their own hazards. Barbara's always been very grounded in the physical world and not the spirit one. Earlier today she walked right through one of the paper ties.

Which means that the tent and firepit that she's established as her home are not so well-kept when she comes back from training. There's something luminous and colorful flitting around just out of sight--which you may see when Barbara is trying to clean up her camp, snarling as she turns around to see a tent stake freshly pulled up or her pile of firewood scattered again.]

b: How Do Groceries

[It is sometimes necessary for Barbara to take an extended trip into the city. She can hunt for herself well enough, but she doesn't have the means to bake bread, and it's still too early in the year to forage for most fruits or vegetables.

So she's at a grocery store, with all its white glaring light, rows of boxes and bottles and things in baskets, and zigzaggy signs proclaiming sales. Barbara is standing in the freezer section, in full armor, with Moogle on her shoulder and her basket gripped in her hand like she's ready to haul off and swing it at someone.]

What... "french bred pie-zza?"

🗡 SPIDERS: for Link

[So, they have to get spider venom. Giant spiders are nothing unusual for Barbara. The only odd thing about it is that they aren't supposed to actually kill the spiders.

She's teamed up with Link, who she sort of remembers talking on the window-thing device back when she first got here. In person it looks like he's the same kind of person as Cecelia Ardenbury and Lavellan, elves. Which just goes to show how you really can't expect anything specific from elves.

She surveys the bewebbed hills consideringly.]

Good at fight?

🗡 LIBRARYNTH: for Alisaie

[Barbara isn't here for the pumpkin pie. She's here because she had to run away from a bear in a stone maze and that galls her, galls her enough to be back here two months later. With her spear. And Alisaie. Who she also fought alongside in her dream... or... something...

anyway Moogle made sure she bought a box of "plastic bags" that is now stuffed into her belt for the slimes, whyever the petitioner wants them. Barbara takes the lead into the labyrinth, sniffing the air.]

Hn. Library floor not have this monster smell.

wildcard:
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compassinks!]

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Um... excuse me?

[ She might not hear him at first, because he's quiet despite the very weighed basket in one hand. A blond-haired boy in a long dark coat steps up alongside her, gazing up into her face, curious. She looks like she could use some help... if she's open to it?? He doesn't know that yet, but as a cook, he can't walk away without trying! A little louder this time, Emil asks, ]

Are you looking to buy one pre-made or bake one from scratch?

[Barbara notices, but she does also notice how quiet it is, and that's strange to her. It's as though he's trying to get her attention without being noticed? How does that work.

But, all right, it's a young boy, and it seems like he's trying to be helpful. If he can answer her question, that's good.]

Don't know what is. Strange food.

Oh...

[ Emil blinks, openly surprised. It's a simple dish in terms of the ingredients and preparation; he wouldn't have thought it strange. Maybe it was called something else where she is from? ]

It's a thick piece of bread that's been toasted in an oven with tomato paste, cheese, and slices of sausage on top. It's very easy to make, and a lot of people like it.

[Okay, so those are all things Barbara knows about. Not like hot peppers. And she's certainly eaten sausages, and bread & cheese is one of those staple meals--looking at the box again she can pick them all out reasonably well.]

Like trencher. [...] Too expensive.

[did she look at the price? no. but that's her assumption, because eating from trenchers is more a thing for kings and lords than it is for dragoons.]

Yeah, exactly.

[ See? It's really easy to understand! Everybody puts things on bread, after all. However, his smile fades at her next comment. ]

Was bread expensive where you're from?

[ Not many places to grow wheat? Grain shortage? (That's hard to imagine...) ]

[Barbara stares at him for a moment, feeling the by-now familiar sensation that they are saying things to each other that are not striking, like a pair of archers that can't manage to hit the target.]

Trencher. Bread plate, kings and lords. Normal bread fine.

[ That arrow flies far over his head. Bread is bread? And don't nobles eat off delicate plates? Only the lower classes and travelers use bread as trenchers. Unless... maybe the nobility where she was from used some kind of special recipe for their bread? (That he could imagine.) ]

Um... this isn't a special bread. It's regular bread. It's like... the bread people normally eat with cheese? Like bread you'd find at inns, or eat while traveling.

[OH. okay. Now this is starting to make more sense.]

Oh. Food all together one spot. [She looks at the pizza again.] Smart.

[Because that saves time and space--you could even roll up the pizza and eat it like a pasty.]

Pizza on your world?

[ Ah, finally. Emil withholds a sigh, studying the box. Had he seen anything exactly like this before coming here? All that comes to mind is toasted sandwiches and meat pasties. ]

Not quite like this... I mean, I put meat and cheese with toasted bread all the time, but not tomato sauce. It was good though. [ A pause while he reads the ingredients. ] I think this one could use more spices, but only if you like spicy food?

[Barbara pulls a face. She had her first encounter with spicy food at the banquet last month, and she did not enjoy it.]

Barbara not afraid of pain in battle, struggle.

Barbara not eat food meant to hurt.

[ Once again, he has to wonder what food was like where she's from. ]

I don't think you'd have to go that far...

Oh, is that your name, Barbara? I'm Emil, nice to meet you!

[ He'd offer his hand but he's loaded down with a basket of... a lot of food, actually. Mostly raw ingredients ranging from vegetables to proteins. ]

[Barbara nods, both to the question and to the boy giving his own name.]

Emil, outlander or Avalon?

[ Outlander...? Oh ]

I'm from another world, yeah. You must be, too?

[She gives a curt nod.]

Barbara, Luxendarc.

[She doubts that's where Emil is from; so far she's the only one from her world she's encountered.

And with her questions about the pizza answered, she takes a box and puts it in her basket. It says something on there about ovens and microwaves, but she's confident that her campfire will be just as adequate.]

[As nice as Avalon was, Darin liked to go on hikes through the woods more often than not. The wilderness around here reminded him a lot of the forests on the outskirts of Kenmore, and there was no shortage of monsters or creatures roaming about that he could use to test his skills on. He might even, on the rare occasion, find a rare material or fell a unique monster that he could skin and bring back to town to make some extra gold.]

[He wasn't expecting to come across a friend fixing up a tent today. And when he hears her snarl, he throws his hands up in a placating gesture.]

Barbara? Is that you? It's me, Darin!

What are you doing out here?

[Oh hey, it's her battle buddy and sparring partner! What's he doing out in the woods, Barbara wonders--as far as she knows he doesn't make his home here. But it's a big forest, so maybe she's simply not encountered his camp yet.

He asked a question first, though, so she'll answer it.]

Barbara live here.

Why Darin here?

[As she's speaking, one of her blankets is being slo-o-o-wly dragged out of her tent by... something.]

You live out he—

[He blinks as her blanket seems it wants to go on its own adventure.]

...Barbara? Your uh...your blanket is making a break for it.

[wh--WHAT THE.

Barbara dives, landing on the blanket before it can make any more progress. A bright little light fwips behind a shrub.]

This keep happening! Camp not do this before!

...You know, I think I know what the problem is.

A couple of months ago, I got a chance to speak with the Lady of the Lake. Apparently the fae around here are mischievous.

But they're also pretty mistrusting. You gotta earn their approval before you just plunk down in their woods.

[Lady of the Lake... ah, yes. The one who shuttle them to Avalon in the first place.

Barbara doesn't look pleased, but part of her is thinking that it's not exactly unreasonable; it's not like she was remotely happy to see the Warriors of Light turn up in her valley. So she frowns, but thoughtfully.]

How get fae approval?

[Theoretically, she could just live in the city, but she doesn't foresee herself being comfortable there anytime soon.]

Well...I think you need to respect their territory.

[He thinks.]

You grew up with dragons, right? Are they territorial in your world?

[Ah... at that question, the problem becomes much clearer for Barbara. It's hard to imagine who is more territorial than dragons. Especially Barbara's dragons, who distrusted humans so completely.]

Very.

[Barbara rolls up the blanket thoughtfully. She can see the little flash of light fwipping behind a rock.]

How tell fae territory?

...I think all of Avalon is fae territory. I mean, we all just kinda got plunked down in here.

Maybe you can give them an offering? A gift? How did you make peace with the dragons?

Wind drakes partner to dragoons, generations. Wind drakes raise Barbara.

[So it wasn't so much a need to make peace. But the idea of an offering is something to try. She has food, but she doesn't know if that's what fae eat. And she remembers the trouble with the nectar from a couple of months ago. Maybe something sweet, like honey...

She stomps back over to her tent to hammer the stake down, not wanting it to fall in on her later. Something else Darin said nags at her.]

Fae here first, not humans?

It definitely seems that way but...to be honest? I'm not sure.

[He steps into her camp to look around.]

What's it like for dragoons that aren't raised by dragons? How does that partnership come about?

[Barbara shakes her head.]

Dragons and dragoons, tradition. Before Barbara born. No dragon, no dragoon.

[Not like humans and fae, it seems, who became neighbors recently.]

So you guys took care of one another. Like a cycle.

...So, maybe we can start something like that with the fae. I mean...there has to be a way for us all to co-exist, right?

[Hmmm... yes. There must be things that humans are capable of that fae aren't, just as there are things humans can do which dragons--for all their fearsome capabilities--can't.]

Yes. Barbara not want hurt fae. Their land, their right.

Find out what fae need.

[Darin considers this. They couldn't just ask them outright what they need, could they?]

...There has to be someone who can help. Maybe we can seek an audience with the Archivist? He might have some answers in that library of his. What do you say?

[Hm. They did talk to the Archivist before, and that was helpful information for dealing with that problem. Barbara nods.]

Smart. Archivist know lots about Avalon.

Yeah! And I'll go with you so you don't have to take the trip by yourself! I'd love to learn ways to pay tribute to the fae here since I plan on living here.

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Groceries!

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Spirits!

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