[video]

[bulletbiter]

[ the feed opens to julius in the garden, standing beneath a fruit tree - a young man in his early twenties, with blond hair and clear golden eyes. he looks a tad tired, with dark shadows under his eyes - but for those who knew him from before, he appears to be in better condition than they last saw him.

notably, he wasn't at the icebreaker. but - those are minor details. ]

Hello, everyone. My name is Julius.

[ he gestures to the greenery behind him with a sweep of his hand, a slight smile tugging at his lips ]

I'm interested in developing the garden - we may need to upkeep it ourselves in the future, and I would imagine the relevant skills would be necessary in other worlds for ensuring a consistent food supply. However, I don't have much knowledge on cultivation myself. If we work together, we'll have a better chance at succeeding.

[ his expression settles back into its usual quiet seriousness now, as appropriate for something more dangerous ]

I was a soldier back home, and I used to teach drills to my teammates. In the interest of keeping our skills sharp, I would also like to propose some sparring sessions and other exercises.

[ a pause, before: ]

If you're interested in either of these, please let me know. I look forward to working with everyone here.

Comments

voice.

[look]

[ Will also wasn't at the icebreaker, but he appreciates the practicality of this post. Also technically this is video? But he's not actually making any attempt to film himself so it's just a motion sickness blur of shirtsleeves and sky. ]

Figuring out our food supply early is a good idea. I don't know much about gardening, but I wouldn't mind doing some. And I can forage just fine.

[bulletbiter]

[ voice is enough, he can work with that. ]

Thank you. May I know foraging in what sort of ecosystem?

[look]

Woods, I guess. And the riverside. I know how to find a meal in water.

video;

[sunborne]

Hey there!

[ daylight waves at the camera when he finally settles down long enough to record and reply. there's a big grin on his face as the glow from his optics blooms bright in friendly greeting.

judging from his backdrop, he's somewhere still inside. a little drone flits back and forth in the background, seemingly inspecting the room for whatever it deems necessary. ]

I can help you out if you want. I kind of know a thing or two about gardening. [ not a whole not compared to his mother, who apparently had a green touch rather than a thumb but eh. details. and daylight's inferiority complex flaring up what. ]

[bulletbiter]

[ they've met once in passing, so it's always great to see a familiar face. and he had empathized with daylight, for more reasons than one. so, with a light smile: ]

That would be great. What sort of stuff do you know?

[sunborne]

Ummm... I know about composting and plant propagation and, um, seed harvesting. That sort of thing.

[ he smiles back, this one a little softer and nervous.

perhaps a touch more nostalgic since recalling this stuff reminds him of the days back on dust tumbles, hands deep in mulch as he helped uncle leeds prune his mom's prized gardens. ] It's all flower gardening stuff but I hope I can help out! It's really neat of you to think about this.

( video | locked )

[insubordination]

[ ah, julius. it's good to see him. and know he's in one piece. that's one less concern he has to be bothered with. and roy takes a quick survey of where julius seems to be (the garden, good), and will begin heading there to speak in person. but first: ]

Can you still turn into a tree?

[ did roy go through the effort of figuring out how to make this a private conversation just for this sole stupid comment?

yes.

yes. he did. ]

im screaming

[bulletbiter]

[ julius shakes his head just once, seriousness crystallizing in his expression ]

I can't. I asked Astoria about it, and it was that she had cast some sort of enchantment on me. I asked her if she would be willing to reverse it just in case, but she didn't give a definite answer.

[ he had been polite then, because he is generally polite to everyone. but: ]

Whatever she did, it reduces the pain I feel from my condition. But I still feel uncomfortable with the seal, as I've decided to call it. What if I do need to use my abilities, and I can't?

auhsfkjasdfs

[insubordination]

[ huh. well, at least julius isn't in pain, so roy supposes that counts as a good thing, but . . . the seal makes his skin itch, too. that's a massive amount of power to take away from someone without much choice. how violating. ]

She seems to be genuinely interested in making us all as comfortable as humanly possible. I'm not really sure how I feel about it.

[ grumpy, is probably the word for it. ]

If she wants me to save the damn universe, she can give me my damn alchemy.

[ WHY IS THE WORLD THIS WAY ]

video.

[efface]

[ her own feed will open to a soft smile. because yes, okay, she's definitely one of those who noticed that he does seem in better condition. much better. ]

It's good to see you, Julius.

[ and then, you know - the topic at hand. ]

I have a very basic understanding of simple gardening, if that will help?

[bulletbiter]

[ the more familiar faces there are here, the better he feels. it skips the whole 'having to filter and select for people to talk to' thing. ]

That's more than I do. [ a nod, and then: ] We can meet up and discuss sometime, if you'd like?

[video]

[rootbound]

Garden. Yes.

[never let it be said Vern doesn't get to the point]

[bulletbiter]

[ getting to the point is good. thanks, vern. ]

What sort of garden stuff?

[Video]

[tranquilforest]

It's a pleasure to meet you, Julius.

[She's maybe a little more informal than she would normally be, since this subject is near and dear to her heart.]

I happen to have a few plants and seeds with me from home, so I tried to plant them a few days ago. I'm afraid I have no idea how well they will do in this soil and climate, [Plus, this place is weird.] and it will still take at least a season before they can be useful as food. But there is plenty to do in the meantime about preparing the ground and the layout, if this is truly something we can do

[A pause and a slightly uncertain expression enters her eyes.]

I must admit... I am concerned about trespassing too much on our hostess' hospitality.

[bulletbiter]

[ he's talking to an older woman. it's. not something he does often, for there had been a conspicuous lack of people older than fourty years old back home. (they were all dead, or retired.) the fact that he's speaking to a middle-aged person thus throws him a little off - best to be polite, the thing he falls back on when he has no prior experience. politeness works for everything. ]

Yes, it's a valid concern. We should preserve our independence just in case.

[ and he says it on the network even though astoria can read this, because he believes everyone should have alternatives. ]

Is it alright if I take a look at those seeds? I have no background in cultivation whatsoever, but my power allows me to speed up the growth of plants.

video;

[parttimes]

[Yeah....... now that this guy brings it up--]

Drills might not be a bad idea. I don't want to be totally helpless if we do end up in some sort of dangerous spot.

[He didn't use to be helpless with his Soul Weapon, but now he's kind of stuck, and he hasn't practiced martial arts seriously in years.]

I'm way out of practice.

[bulletbiter]

[ hey why is a teen fighting? certainly there should be more worlds out there with conditions that don't force child soldiery?

... but ANYWAY: ]

Sure. What sort of weapon do you use?

[video]

[lonered]

[Okay. So one of those things is really appealing to Keith.

It's not the gardening.]

I have no idea how gardens work, so I won't be any help there. At all. I lived in the desert. Nothing grew.

[That said.] Sparring and training though, that sounds pretty great. So count me in for those. I'm used to having a training deck or simulator nearby.

[bulletbiter]

[ fair is fair. maybe gardening isn't everyone's cup of tea. ]

A simulator? Can you tell me about how it's like?

[ that's interesting. he's dealt with his share of the stuff - it's not something they can replicate here, but it would let him judge the average familiarity of combat of the people here. ]

Voice;

[moneytwin]

I don't have much of a green thumb, gardens were more Keyleth's area of expertise. But I can tell you from personal experience that we'll want to be wary of anything taken from the Feywild. Plants here, if this forest is anything like the one I know from my last trip to that plane, have a mind of their own.

If meat is required, Trinket and I should have no problems securing that.

[bulletbiter]

[ feywild... so she's been here already? ]

I'll keep that in mind. Maybe, we can focus on propagating what we already have? I am not familiar with the process, however.

video

[imsorey]

[there is, apparently, no recognition on this end of the video feed, but Sorey is nothing if not enthusiastic.]

It's nice to meet you, Julius! I'm Sorey. I can do gardening, and I'd be interested in keeping up with training. In the interest of making sure we have a consistent supply of food, though, gardening should come first.

[bulletbiter]

[ ......... that's odd. maybe he should ask something about this, but - that seems rude. maybe he can suss out the reason later, bit by bit ]

Thank you. I'm horribly uninformed with gardening, I'm afraid... there are plenty of plants here, but I'm not sure where to start.

[action]

[rootandbranch]

[Geir's missed a lot of the communicator watch's messages lately -- he doesn't feel comfortable with its buttons, and he doesn't like how it sits on his scales, and it seems too small and not-made-for-him altogether. he hasn't completely abandoned his, but he does leave it off more than Astoria had probably meant him to.

he misses Julius's message. but he doesn't miss the garden. when he sees the swell of green under his wing in one of his lazy sweeping flights around the temple area, he stretches his shoulders out and angles into a slow spiral to the ground, settling with surprising softness on a clear space in the grass.

his descent is probably more obvious to anyone in the garden than it is to Geir that he might have company. for a moment after landing, he's distracted, stretching out his nose to sniff at the plants.]

Oh, this was here...

[bulletbiter]

[ - that's geir, evident by the wash of his wings. julius turns off his watch and quickly strides over, his walk almost bordering on a jog. ]

Hello!

[ he waves to try and catch geir's attention. it's strange to raise his voice beyond speaking volume. he hasn't had the need to, in a long time. once he's closer: ]

Hey. It's good to see you again.

[ and he smiles, because the pain here is less. astoria sealed his powers, to his chagrin; but at least it spared him half the burning in his veins. ]