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♥ Who: Era & OTA
♥ Where: Various
♥ When: October
♥ What: catch-all log
♥ Rating: PG-13

•••••

Around the City

It is easy to forget while running. That is why Era has grown so fond of it over the past few weeks — it pulls her thoughts away from the things she has no desire to dwell upon.

The burn of her muscles, the pain in her stomach, the rhythmic, almost meditative breathing, the pounding of both her feet on the ground and her heart in her chest.

She is forced to focus on the now, and live in this moment. Pushing her body to its limits and beyond brokers no distraction.

So she runs and she runs and she runs and she runs, because stopping means everything will just catch up to her again.

Botanical Garden

She misses her garden in Deerington.

It had taken her some months to get it to a point where she was proud, but she managed it in the end. Her sparkling crystal crops and the variety of vegetables that sprouted from the earth, growing each day as she tended to them with great care. There was satisfaction in looking out upon her little garden and seeing all this life she nurtured from seed, creating something wondrous out of something so small...

She misses digging her fingers into tilled soil, unearthing potatoes and carrots, then carefully planting everything again, tucking the promise of life beneath a blanket of soft earth. She wonders if it was all harvested before the first frost. Was there an Era still there, tending to it all alongside her Chocobo? Was someone caring for Peki? Moira certainly would if need be, but it's a worrying thought all the same.

For all that Era disliked it in Deerington she found it infinitely preferable to Havenwell despite all of its horrors.

Not least in part because Deerington at least had forest and wildlife. There were physical activities to keep her active and occupied. In Havenwell the closest she can get to an overgrown forest is the carefully cultivated botanical garden she sits in currently.

There is interesting fauna on display, but it is like walking through a museum. Everything is in its proper place, with placards stating the bare minimum of information about each plant (and all of it ultimately useless). It is frustrating. Her heart yearns for nature, yet there is none to be found. These gardens aren't natural, but it's the closest thing she has.

So Era distracts herself from how miserable she is by taking pictures of each of the plants on display, mentally noting their scents in order to compile a proper reference guide later. Perhaps if she finds medicinal herbs she might convince them to give her some seeds to grow herself to create salves and ointments, since it isn't as though the natives have any available.

Clothes Shopping

For all that Era adores clothes, she rarely has the opportunity to indulge in outfits that have no worth in combat. Even in Deerington she was limited, due to there being so few clothes that fit her frame, for despite being as short as a human child her body is certainly that of a grown woman.

She doesn't hold out much hope that this world will provide her with any more success than the last. At the very least she can always count on dresses, for they require a great deal less alteration than jeans or a properly fitted shirt. It would be nice to have more variety, or a properly fitted, corseted dress — something to make her look more like the woman she is and less like a child.

And, if nothing else, she can simply purchase some fabric and test her sewing skills...

Wildcard

{{ feel free to create your own prompt, or mix-and-match! whatever you like! more general prompts will be added throughout the month. }}

(( things to note:

• Please note if you want her Carbuncle to be around. There is a 50/50 chance it is.

• Era is a 4'8" tall Auri (Raen) woman. Reference imagines/more details on her species can be found in her journal!

• She has an accent that is British with an undertone of Irish.

• Those sensitive to the element of Light will be able to notice she contains a great deal of it.

• Her dream-guide (similar to a daemon from His Dark Materials) is also often curled around her neck. He is a white weasel that lets off a soft golden glow, and will not interact with your character. ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Cor had caught sight of her two streets ago and had done his best to shift his route to intersect with her. She must be fairly new because he hasn't run into her before... then again he and Prompto usually stick to the same route. It's a big enough city maybe they just missed her. If he hadn't missed his usual turn he wouldn't be on this end of the city anyway.

The lack of sleep over the last couple of weeks had left him in quite a state, really. Unable to focus and the sleep deficit he always carried was beginning to affect his day to day life now. So, clearly, the solution was to run himself into exhaustion so he could sleep without dreaming.

He cut across an alleyway to pop out on the same street she had just turned down, a faint smile tugging at his lips. She is smaller, lithe and quick while he is built for stamina. Still he pushes himself to speed up, matching pace with her for a moment. He glances towards her, crooked half smile quirking his lips and then he cocks a brow. A little jerk of his head to indicate a side street up ahead.

Well? How good are you at parkour, Era?]

[ Era hadn't notice any other foreigners during her run, too focused on placing one foot in front of the other. She's been running since the break of dawn and it begins to wear on her, but she perseveres. Pushing beyond her limits is her standard practice, after all.

So it comes as a surprise when she hears a man stride up alongside her, already turning to face him by the time he's at pace with her. Era looks at him, intrigued. His expression is playful and his gesture indicates a challenge.

Well, let it not be said that the Warrior of Light ever turned down a challenge.

She is quick to nod, clearly thrilled by this impromptu companion if the answering lop-sided grin is any indication. There is of course the logical concern of running into a side-street with a strange man that, should she let her guard down for even a moment, could physically overpower her. However, the excitement — accompanied by the relative confidence that should she flare her aether in panic that her associate would come to her aid — quickly drowns out any worries she has. ]

[She veers off to follow him and he takes a brief moment to look around, spotting the curling white trees of Diacht's temple some distance away and pointing it out in the distance.]

Diacht!

[His tone is surprisingly composed and commanding considering how long he's been running, too many years of commanding forces for him to allow his voice to waver at all. Then he's rushing into the alley, Dodging to the side around a couple of trash cans, narrowing the space she has to work with and looking ahead for the next obstacle in their path.]

[ She shoves aside her extreme dislike of this world's gods in favour of enjoying this unexpected challenge. It isn't difficult to match his pace, for though she is small she is fast, and her stamina is nearly unmatched. The garbage cans slow her down fractionally as she jumps over them rather than dodging around them, clearing them with a few feet to spare. ]

[Excellent. She is just as agile as he suspected.

Cor nods, paces himself for a moment to even out his breathing, and then he pushes for a burst of speed, using the momentum to jump and catch the upper lip of a wall dividing some of the businesses from residential areas. Pulling himself up and over is easy enough but the next alley is even narrower with more debris and instead of dropping to the other side he jumps off, hissing when he scrapes his hands on the metal of an awning but again pulling himself up, this time to a rooftop.

And now for the real fun. How far can she jump? Is she going to follow him up or stay on the ground?

The moment she shows signs of using any sort of supernatural abilities, though, he's going to start warping.]

[ Jumping has always come quite easily to her, frequently sparing her from unpleasant fates whilst she lived in the Ul'dahn streets (you cannot be caught if you cannot be reached, after all). And so it is with reflexive ease that she jumps, pushing herself off one wall to the other, giving her enough height to leap atop the roof. Something feels not quite right with how she jumps — she was undoubtedly successful, but it was not as fluid as she would have liked. She brushes it off as exhaustion creeping in and continues on, eyeing the agreed-upon finish line and quickly glancing across the rooftops for the quickest route.

Era leaps upon the top of a lamppost, tail providing balance enough to keep from falling and maintaining it well enough that she can jump onto the next building. There are many reasons why Era adores her tail, and balance is most certainly one of them. ]

Some of the sights in the botanical garden were rare enough on their own. There was someone actually smaller than Era curled up near a display of flowers, pink as a flower herself and with a pretty purple flower in her hair that smelled just as sweet as any of the other ones.

Vianca knew she wasn't very good at being a plant. She hadn't been for a very long time. Sleepy rooms full of books offered her more comfort than the forest or greenhouse ever did. Possibly it was because all of those plants knew she was bad at being a plant too. Vinnie had assured her that there was no way to be a bad one, but...

Even with her hang ups though, she couldn't deny that every once in a while she did feel that pull to be around them. Back home she'd had Cameron the bonsai to talk to, but here there was just... this. So she hoped that no one would mind that she came to visit.

She'd brought a tablet from the library with her at least! She was just going to sit here and quietly read to them. That was the least she could do in exchange for their company.

Era notices the presence of the girl, but also notes that she seems to be occupied with reading a book and enjoying time to herself. Not being wont to strike up conversation, especially when there is reading involved, Era resolves not to bother her, choosing instead to continue taking pictures and searching for plants she knows to have medicinal properties.

Her Carbuncle is less inclined to ignore any curiosities, and so follows the odd scent of not-quite-human until it is a few feet away from the girl. Much like its mistress it is disinclined to get too close, but it gets close enough to sate much of its curiosity. After staring at the girl for a moment longer it promptly turns around and skips away, trotting to follow Era and pass along the concept of flowerperson.

Intriguing, but Era still won't disturb someone's peace and quiet.

Vianca had noticed the other girl earlier, but she'd also been so quietly enjoying (?) her own time that Vianca had just let her go about her business. There was nothing wrong with quietly occupying the same space without saying anything.

It was hard not to notice the soft, glowy friend that appeared nearby. She'd kept up her quiet reciting for a moment, but then she'd let it draw to a soft stop to watch this foxy sort. "Hello," she greeted in a whisper, "did you want to listen too?"

Except that answer seemed to be a 'no' as the creature scampered off. Huh. Well then. Vianca watched them go, then turned back to her tablet. A moment later she set it aside, quietly whispering to the flowers that she'd be sure to finish it for them later. For now, curiosity had gotten the better of her.

So she was just going to carefully tip tap her way around the corner the soft friend had skipped towards, peeking around to see what she could see.

While not unaware that she's being followed, Era chooses to ignore it for now. She doesn't know if the girl is a child or something like a Lalafell, but sees no harm in letting her do as she likes for the time being. Documenting the available flora in order to see what might be useful for creating antibiotics — something apparently lacking in the city, which is more than a little concerning — is of much higher import than a curious tagalong.

Thus she leaves her care to Carbuncle, who makes it very obvious that it is aware of its follower; ears following the girl's movements, and occasionally turning its head to glance back at her.

None of these things were things that Vianca minded. She wasn't trying to be particularly stealthy, just not a bother to whatever it was they were doing. She couldn't really say she'd seen anyone exactly like the lady before-- similar, but the dragon-y looking bits were different from Sasha and Char's.

Her small glowy friend looked awfully familiar though. From a book, maybe? She certainly hadn't seen one in person before! So while she was curious about both of them, it was the foxy friend that held her attention so far. Whenever it'd turn back to look at her, Vianca would give a questioning little tilt of her head.

What kind of friend were you?

There is only so much longer her nerves can handle the growing anxiety of being followed, because regardless of the culprit being a child (or not — she of all people knows not to judge on appearance alone) there is still the possibility of danger. A small possibility, to be sure, but a possibility all the same. Carbuncle is keenly aware of its mistress' nerves and moves closer to her legs, not defensive so much as merely supportive; comforting.

Era doesn't look up from the plant she's in the midst of taking a picture of, nor does she move at all, save for her tail which twitches beneath the long hem of her sweater.

"Why are you following me?"

She can hazard a guess, but she prefers not to make assumptions when possible.

Truth be told, Vianca was hitting that point where she was about to just let this friend go. It seemed like everyone's initial curiosities had all been sated. Except, perhaps, not quite.

She blinked at the call out, raising her eyes towards the lady again. "Not you," she explained a bit bluntly, soft as ever. Oh, hm. Vianca had only meant to state the facts, but maybe that came out a little... rude.

"I apologize, your friend looked familiar."

"It is a Carbuncle," Era explains, having gone through this many times before. At least now she's aware there are versions of the creature in other worlds. Neither of them make any move toward the girl, though Era does at least turn her head to look at her. "My magic given form; an extension of myself. Apparently there are other variants of them in different worlds."

Her voice is louder than the girl's, though not by much — she has always been soft-spoken, almost painfully so. A naturally soft voice turned quiet with the realization that no one really listened to what she had to say, even if she tried to make herself heard.

That's certainly a mood there, Era. A new world had made the pikmin feel more comfortable speaking to people again, but the confidence to raise her voice was still crushed beneath all the flowers that had been ripped from her.

So in its own way it was almost a comfort to hear someone almost as quiet as her. Almost, if only because there'd be no reason to feel the slightest bit self-conscious about it.

"A Carbuncle," she repeated to herself, gingerly crouching back down again to be more at the creature's level. It did sound familiar in the same way a Chocobo had, but the words she were trying to recall were hazy in her memories. That was troubling. "I think I read about them once... I can't remember. Yours is like a familiar?"

"It would depend on one's definition of a familiar, but yes," she offers. "Each Carbuncle is unique to its creator, though they all maintain the same shape."

There's a certain path in the gardens that leads to an out-of-the-way corner where the plants aren't necessarily native: otherworlders can plant here too if they like, with permission and under restrictions. And, of course, if they happened to arrive in Havenwell with the seeds they'd need to do that, or maybe purchased any later. One such plot is claimed by an apple tree. In many ways, it's a stereotypical apple tree such as a child might draw in a landscape. Straight trunk, wide branches, a fluffy crown of perfectly green leaves—and, for about five more minutes, a small crop of red-orange fruit.

But the apples themselves are no ordinary cultivar. Even from afar, they sparkle and glow in the sun like faceted gems. A closer look only raises the question of whether they are fruits or real jewels: each is a grapefruit-sized, glinting orb the color of a dark spessartine, not immediately recognizable as something one would want to try eating. They are undoubtedly growing on that tree, though. A few immature fruits (smaller, demantoid-like) hang alongside them as if to clear that up.

There are only five of the fruits mature on the tree right now, a fact Magolor isn't surprised by, but he's sure not happy about it. He's here to harvest, and he hates being disappointed—as much as he hates any sign that his tree isn't doing as well as he'd like to see. It looks healthy enough, but this yield isn't normal. With a reed basket clutched in one hand, he floats around the tree's perimeter to give it a once-over, then a twice-over, and so on. His hooded brow creases in a frown. And for a while he's lost in thought like that; at last he picks one of the apples and inspects that too before putting it in his basket, floating back, looking at the tree again . . .

And, only then, noticing that someone else has wandered into the area. Magolor smiles like the flip of a switch. His mouth is hidden, but his eyes slit up in the unmistakable cheer that means his face is grinning, and he lifts his free hand in a perky wave.

Hello, stranger!

Era is familiar with a large number of trees, but never has she seen one so oddly... off. It is unsettling in its perfection, yet compelling for the same reason — it does not seem real, and thus does it broker a closer inspection. She doesn't step nearer to it, however, as she is aware of something flitting around the tree and harvesting the odd, crystalline fruit.

It's almost reminiscent of a Voidsent, though Era is keenly aware it isn't one.

When it waves she lifts her hand and waves back, polite and inquisitive. Silent greetings done with, Era gestures to the tree and the fruits the being has gathered in their basket thus far.

For a beat there, before approaching her, he just looks at her curiously from where he hovers near the tree: she's new to him. Humanish, but clearly not a human (unlike most people here), and not an elf either. Well, that's interesting. While the population of offworlders on this planet is far from a hundred percent human, they make up enough of a majority that anyone who isn't gets Magolor's attention right away.

But that moment comes and goes in a blink. And silent greetings done with, he isn't the type of person who ever stays silent for long—so he drifts right up to her, basket in hand, with its single apple shining in it.

"Hey, you're new! I'd remember seeing you around. I bet you get that about as often as I do, huh?"

His little giggle is as rapid-fire and shamelessly outgoing as the rest of his greeting.

"Well, you're a newbie with taste if you're checking out my tree, so let me welcome you a few days late to Havenwell!"

She gives a small shake of her head to his question. "I couldn't say, though I haven't met many others thus far."

Mostly of her own doing, unfortunately, as Era has yet to feel the motivation to go around making friends. Though at least she's found the energy to explore, she supposes.

His welcome is acknowledged with a slight nod, though she struggles to thank him for the welcome and so doesn't force it. She shift the subject quickly back to the tree that caught her attention.

"I am familiar with many trees, but yours is one whose ilk I have never seen before. What species is it?"

"It's a gem apple tree! Not all that common around the universe, as much as I'd like to change that."

All concerns of invasive species aside. It . . . seems to be doing just fine here, at least. And, more importantly to Magolor, he loves showing it off—so he waves the girl closer, leading her back in the direction of the tree. She doesn't seem like the type who'd be here to grab an apple and run.

. . . Well, he of all people knows better than to judge someone based on what type of person they "seem like," but he's still pretty confident here.

"Come on, don't be shy! You could take that as a general piece of advice, too. This planet isn't subtle about rewarding us for getting to know people. You'll have an easier time of it if you reach out! You know, literally?"

"What are gem apples for?"

Era moves closer, though maintains a polite distance despite how visibly intrigued she is by this odd new tree. She shakes her head at his words. "I am not one for physical contact, and have no interest in changing to the sake of ease."

When she stops some ways off from the tree, he just keeps waving her on, even if she shows no signs of coming closer. Long enough to be awkward for sure. She may be slow to warm up, and averse to contact, but he sure isn't—or, at the very least, he can pretend well enough not to be. One of them is plenty interested in acting for the sake of ease.

"Really? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you might find yourself changing your tune. Things here can get a little more hectic than just going broke because you didn't meet your quota of holding hands."

It's genuine advice. In the beginning, it had seemed like nothing more than easy mode profit and a big old guilt trip, both things one could opt out of if they wanted.

But things are escalating, aren't they?

However bad the news is or isn't, he delivers it with a mild smile, finally leaving off of waving to fold his hands in front of himself.

"Anyway, to answer your question, on this planet they mostly look pretty. Aren't they shiny? And of course you can eat them—theoretically. That was an explanation, not an invitation, sorry!"

She shrugs her shoulders, clearly uncomfortable beneath her relatively stoic mask.

"They should have considered that before they kidnapped someone who dislikes such things," Era states simply.

"You've specified what they are for here. I am interested in what they are for, in general. Plants do not bear meaningless fruits — unless that is different in their world of origin?"

Magolor packs that first part away in a box in his head. Interesting. Will she wiggle out of the long grasp of the planet and its system of reward and punishment, or find her walls chipped away, like he has to admit he has himself over the past few months? But there's no more to say about it than that, and no more to do than wait and see. It'll be a curious exercise in stubbornness.

The rest is more immediately relevant, and confusing, anyway: Magolor tips his head to the side and twitches his ears when she presses on with that. Regarding, and considering. Of course every world is different. He has to wonder what hers is like if not like this:

"Well, they're just a fruit in the end. They may be both stunning and delicious, but they still do the same thing all fruit does! They disperse the seeds of the tree. That's how I planted this one and all that."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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Can't catch me, feelings

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this icon is her on the inside

adorable

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how does your garden grow // flip that carbuncle coin

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sorry for slowness! stuck on mobile most of the time lately

Botanical garden! Carbuncle y/n as you prefer

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omg i'm so sorry aksdlgjh i misplaced this notif in my bills folder....................

fitting for him tbh

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