December/spring catch-all

[feralheart]

WHO: M-21 and anyone!
WHAT: Open + catchall
WHEN: All spring
WHERE: All over the island
WARNINGS: none, TBA if needed. Plotting here!


i. what do you mean 'consequences'

[ On one specific, highly cursed day this month, M-21 can be found lurking forlornly outside the island's little clinic. An internal war seems to be going on; he takes a grudging step towards the doors, then stalks away again. As if unaware he's doing it, he reaches down to rub irritably at his lower back. Maybe someone's a little less suited for farm work than everyone else? ]

This is so stupid.

[ He shoots a mutinous look up at the sky like he'd like to direct a complaint right to the management but doesn't quite dare. Then he's back to his pacing, with an occasional sideways glance thrown in towards the vet. Or he can be found draped somewhat pathetically over the nearest fence-shaped thing he can find, apparently no longer willing to move.

Help. ]

ii. like herding cats

[ On days when the weather is sunny and cooperative, despite all complaints, M-21 is hard at work in his fields. Reluctant concessions to farmcore have been made to spare what's left of his suit, and a sturdy pair of farming gloves covering his hands well past the wrist spare what's left of his palms from the sub-par farming tools. Things are coming in pretty nicely, especially the new stand of trees. They're full-grown and leafy and already showing a crop of... one fluffy orange kitten with oversized paws perched on a branch, chirruping furiously. ]

You got yourself up there.

[ Rescue? Or wait another few seconds to catch M-21 sighing and stripping off his gloves as he goes to climb a tree for what appears to be the five hundredth time that day. ]

iii. wildcard

[ Catch me on my planning link or PM if you want a starter! I welcome any and all bingos or just chaos. Or just hit me with anything, he'll be Around. ]

Comments

[chronosynthesis]

Thank you. [He doesn't consider it doing much, but he won't argue.

He rests one arm over his leg, getting comfortable.] So, what sort of world do you come from? Anything like this one?

[feralheart]

Hn. Earth. If this is Earth. [ He sighs, and preemptively adds: ] The planet, not the... ground. I've never seen the countryside like this, but I guess it's about the same. You from Tyria too?

[chronosynthesis]

The planet is called Earth? [That's kind of a boring name, why would you name your planet 'dirt'?]

I am, yes, same as Trahearne. [Though of a... different year. But that seems like a lot to get into with M-21.] We are friends and siblings.

[feralheart]

I didn't name it. [ He knows, he knows. He keeps hearing this from off-world people. ]

...Siblings? By blood? [ A moment belated, he realizes that expression might not quite apply on plant-people. ] You don't look much alike.

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya chuckles.] No, rarely do we look so similar except for twins. But my people all come from the same mother tree.

[Mostly. Anyone whose existence is acknowledged in the open.]

[feralheart]

All? Then how many siblings do you have? [ The mental image he is having right now... this 'mother tree' must make Trahearne look tiny. ]

[chronosynthesis]

Thousands. [They haven't really kept up with specific numbers very well, though. Syrlya knows least of all with how far he's wandered.] Trahearne was--is the oldest of us. He and eleven others make up the Firstborn that awoke years before the rest.

[feralheart]

[ He cocks his head a little at that 'was,' frowning a tiny bit. ]

Either he's older or he's not. [ ...Probably. The other reason for past tense doesn't make sense. ] How old are you, anyway?

[chronosynthesis]

Ten years. [Give ot take a season, but long enough he only starts updating his age by the year now.] Trahearne is older, for sure. He is Firstborn.

[feralheart]

Ten? [ Trees... grow fast. Alright. Tree lore will continue overwhelming M-21 until further notice but he'll get there. ] Huh. You seem older. By human standards. Or your years are long.

[ Firstborn, though. ] ...So he's important? Or just special.

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya can't help it: he laughs.] Trahearne is special and important.

We are fully grown when we are "born", so ten years of age for me is different than you.

[feralheart]

When you put it like that, you might be older than I am.

[ But the way he talks about Trahearne pulls a smile from M-21 in turn. ] It's good. That you have someone you know here.

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya freezes for a second, his gaze averting down to the ground at the weight of that.]

I--yes. [He speaks softly.] I'm glad he's here.

[Genuinely, he is grateful to be able to see--to feel Trahearne again. Even if... it also rips the loss of him back to the surface.

He clears his throat, pulling his gaze back up.] I'm sorry--you are alone here?

[feralheart]

[ Hmm. M-21 blinks slowly for that, tilting his head a little bit. He's not certain he'd sound like that about it for Tao, or Takeo. ]

It's fine. This place is close enough to home for me, anyway. [ So he doesn't need the comfort of the familiar, or something. He jogs his leg a little restlessly and he looks away. ] ...We're all in the same situation here. It's not the same as being alone.

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya raises a brow.] ... I suppose you are right about that. We are all bonded by our circumstance, even if our familiarity with the things and people here is different.

[Still, he's glad to not be the only Sylvari here. And he's glad it's Trahearne.]

[feralheart]

[ M-21 nods brusquely, more satisfied by Syrlya's way of putting it. He might not have yet committed to calling the people here comrades like his experiment brothers, but it's... something. ]

That's it. The marriage part might be easier if you knew someone before, though.

[ He turns his head aside again to scan for the motion that keeps catching his eye, missing Syrlya's expression. ]

[chronosynthesis]

[Now, why would knowing someone from home make getting married easi--

Syrlya chokes on a strangled sound tipping sideways and he raises his hands and waves them in the air. His face flushes a pale gold, but it's easy to miss around his vibrant glow.] H-Hold on, I haven't made any plans to marry Trahearne!

[feralheart]

[ Well, that's enough of a fuss to scare off any nearby wolves. M-21 glances back quickly in surprise. ]

Isn't that the fastest? [ There's a definite bemused 'why not' scrunch to his forehead now. Trahearne's nice. ] ...You'd be going back to the same place, though. That's more complicated.

[chronosynthesis]

[Well, not exactly the same place. Which is also a complication.

But Trahearne is nice. He presses a hand to his face, turning away slightly to try and hide it.] Perhaps but--there has never been anything romantic between us. I certainly could not ask him to marry me.

[feralheart]

[ M-21 doesn't know what a plant blush looks like. But flustered body language isn't so unfamiliar, and it makes the impulse to bully a tiny bit irresistible. He lets out a quiet snort. ]

Wouldn't be that hard. [ A beat. He's just watching now. ]

[chronosynthesis]

Perhaps not the words itself, but emotionally? [He shakes his head. If it were really that easy, surely people would be far more direct with their feelings.] Besides, marriage for our people is purely an expression of love. I cannot imagine he'll agree just on practicality and that isn't how I imagined it for myself, either.

[Because he didn't imagine it for himself at all, but.]

[feralheart]

[ Well, Syrlya knows Trahearne better. And it's not like he doesn't have a point. But the reality they're left with is still pretty simple. M-21's face is making the absolutely imperceptible transformation from deadpan: teasing to deadpan: contemplative. ]

So are you just planning on staying here? Or you think you'll fall in love?

[chronosynthesis]

[Ah, well. Syrlya's hand slips down, though he doesn't look back up. He has been in love, but it was something that had years for him to put to rest, so that he at least wasn't pining after what didn't happen. But now Trahearne is here and it's raw all over again.

At that, he can only shrug.] I don't know, that's never been something that was really an option for me before. Pursing a relationship, that is.

[feralheart]

Nothing but time to think about it now.

[ The look on his face says he wants to ask more. It kind of feels like prying. But on the other hand... Syrlya was the one who agreed to camping with him. And apparently talking is what people do. So he can probably be excused his nosiness, since that strikes a chord with him. ]

What do you mean, it wasn't an option?

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya leans back, propped on one hand as he glances back to M-21.] My duty to Tyria meant constant danger and movement. So long as the Elder Dragons existed I needed to fight them.

[He looks up into the trees.] I couldn't very well ask someone to follow me into that, or wait an undetermined time until my Wyld Hunt was over. So I never looked for it.