[SE] you can't plant flowers if you haven't botany

DEIMOS

Deimos was pragmatic by nature; any actions had some rhyme, reason, motivation, ambition, and goal intertwined; whether it be amusement, a necessity, or anything else lacquered in between. Today’s ventures included taking Idalia to see the greenhouse (given her awe over the treeflits in the Oerwoud), snagging some fruits and vegetables for dinner, and seeing if he could grab anything for flower festival offerings.

The humid means were still a shock to the system as soon as they entered, and he peeled off jackets and layers from himself and the youth, while she giggled and he re-strapped her to his chest. With the youth’s eyes widening, he snorted, watching as she made grabby hands towards the multiple leaves, branches, and boughs they passed along the way towards apples, oranges, and lemons. The Sword unfurled quiet grumbles her way as she giggled and laughed. A preference, really, over the way the infant could scream. Perhaps she'd sleep better that evening.

Once they’d snagged enough citrus laden sweets, next were vegetables, each carefully placed in his bag or tiny pieces torn apart that they could share. While Idalia munched on the smallest portion of a strawberry, his long limbs took them towards potatoes and contemplating rows of herbs.

think about this
you have the ability to survive anything

i fell in love with a war

The humidity wasn't always preferable to the endless bite of Halo's cold, especially for one as embittered in it as Icarus has -- he often liked to joke he crawled out of a snowbank instead of a womb -- but sometimes he wanted to feel the sensation of something like and growing under his fingers instead of the endless pain of the wind. Perhaps he'd even make it to the flower festival this year, instead of volunteering for extra patrol duties for others to go: his compatriots have vowed to 'get him drunk for the first time in his soldierly, stick-up-the-ass life,' but if he's going to drink the mead from the flowers' honey, he certainly wouldn't show up empty-handed. 

The greenhouse exhales a blast of humidity onto his face, conjuring sweat nearly instantly, and he sheds all his winter layers until he's in the barest of his soldier's garments, arms bare. A few inches of jagged, brutal claw-scar climbs from the low collar of his undershirt, ending just at the base of his throat, but he's too relieved to no longer have humidity of the greenhouse under his layers to pay it any mind.

He exhales, smile bursting across his face as he takes in the bright and beautiful things adorning the place, reaching out a hand to ever-so-gently feel a bright pink petal under his fingers. That is until he sees Deimos, big and broad and commandeering as ever, but with a little baby strapped to his chest. She looks comically small compared to the enormous Warden, but Icarus is too shocked at Deimos' appearance to let a chuckle escape. Instinctually, his body snaps to attention, but a soft, fond smile lingers on his face as his eyes stay glued to the baby. He'd wanted a sister once. 

"Sir," He says in that quiet way of his. "Apologies. I didn't know you'd be in here."

Icarus

and nobody told me it ended

DEIMOS

Prying his long hair out of his face and into a messy bun, Deimos and Idalia contemplated their choices, more so the former over the latter, before moving onto the array of blossoms nearby. When another entered, presuming for much the same reasons the Sword and his daughter had, both heads turned towards the newcomer. The Warden arched a brow as he was suddenly bombarded with the soldier’s snap to attention, but the infant gurgled something incoherent, then went about her business with placing sticky fingers into her mouth.

The regret baffled him – but he paid it no mind, shaking his head, granting an amiable greeting. “No need to apologize. Everyone is welcome here. It is why we have it.” A place to snag and have food and resources that, without the greenhouse, would otherwise be unavailable to them, save for some expensive importing. He surveyed the warrior for a moment, a brief scrutiny, wondering if everything was all right or something else was lingering below the surface. Icarus always came across as far too serious. And that was coming from someone like Deimos.

Plucking at a few stems and flowers, each in a deep shade of blue or green, he brought them over to the closest worktable. No longer occupied by her own digits, Idalia loosened a squeal at the soft petals, but he kept them firmly out of her reach, opting to address Icarus once more. “Were you looking for anything in particular?” Given Evie and Amhran’s time within, it’d even been the location for his and Evie’s wedding, he knew his way around the building; could probably point the youth in the right direction.

think about this
you have the ability to survive anything

i fell in love with a war

Icarus’ shoulders slump a little at Deimos’ casual, friendly tone, releasing himself from the taut posture of being a soldier at-ease. He couldn’t quite turn into a carefree, exploring youth, didn’t have it in him, but a little rush of tension leaks out of him. With a touch of self-consciousness, he pulls the collar of his undershirt up just slightly, enough to cover the gruesome imprints of old jagged claws peeking out. He doesn’t realize he’s doing it, an old tic cemented into habit, and he rubs it as he wanders a little closer to Deimos and that cute, giggling baby. She squeals and giggles and waves her little hands around reaching for petals just out of her reach, and the affection grows on Icarus’ face. His hesitant grin grows wider, softer, and he gives her a little playful wave.

”Nothing in particular,” He reaches out to touch another blossom, feeling the velvety petals under his callused fingers. ”Just collecting something for the flower festival. Some of the guys said they’d bring me and—“ He cut himself off, realizing he perhaps shouldn’t confess the unit’s plan to get their unit’s young member thoroughly sloshed for the first time, to their commander. His cheeks redden just a touch and he switches his attention from the blooming blossoms to the bouncing baby strapped on the Warden’s broad chest.

Icarus nods at her softly. ”What’s her name?” He asks quietly, like he’s reaching for some grave, sacred secret. ”Is she yours?”

Icarus

and nobody told me it ended

At the edge of a drift sits a round, compact lump of snow and ice, threaded through with broken twigs and frozen grass. Its surface has been polished smooth by wind and weather, blue-white in the cold, with a handful of brittle branches protruding from one side. A shallow furrow cuts across the packed snow behind it, interrupted by long stretches of untouched white. Frost gathers thickly between the sticks, concealing the barbed points beneath translucent layers of ice, and the occasional faint crack comes from somewhere inside its frozen shell.

Ice-crusted limbs can snap outward from beneath the snow with sudden force. Their grip is sharp and cold, their poison an unpleasant companion to already-numbing winter air, and the creature’s snowy core slowly draws anything caught within its frozen exterior.

---

You've encountered a Tangleweed Variant

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Tangleweed Areas Found: Hollowed Grounds, King's End, Hak Etme — Common Appearing like nothing more than an amalgamation of sticks, the Tangleweed is actually an arguably sentient creature. For the most part it appears spherical in nature, keeping its many limbs tightly pulled against itself to form a round shape. It moves as if blown by the wind, suddenly rolling forward on the hard packed earth and then stopping just as suddenly. Having almost no natural predators, these creatures are found in great numbers especially along large, flat areas. It is often impossible to tell if a Tangleweed is dead or alive unless they are touched. If interacted with, the branch-like limbs will lash out and close quickly on whatever they can grasp, at which point a poison is released which causes the skin to numb. Then, quite like other species of carnivorous plants, the Tangleweed slowly begins to digest its prey. Challenge Rating: Easy HP: 30 | To Hit: 2 | Dmg: 14 Movement: Roll 20 ft.; Lurch 10 ft. (limb-propelled); Creep 5 ft. (against wind) SPECIAL SKILLS Lash & Latch: branch-like limbs whip out and close quickly and effectively on anything they can grasp; Numbing Poison: contact venom causes skin to go numb where seized; Slow Digestion: like other carnivorous plants, it digests prey over time once secured; Grip Net: multiple limbs interlace into a living snare that tightens with struggle

TRAITS Stick Camouflage: looks like an ordinary tumble of twigs and branches; Spherical Compact: limbs tuck tight to form a rolling, round body; Wind-Feign Locomotion: advances in sudden windlike rolls, then freezes; Dormant Deception: impossible to tell alive from dead until touched; Field Congregation: commonly accumulates in large, flat areas; Few Predators: little in the wild bothers a tangleweed’s dry, woody mass ACTIONS Sudden Roll: bursts forward in a short, windlike tumble to collide with a target; Limb Lash: snaps out hooked twigs to seize wrists, ankles, or gear; Numbing Seep: exudes the numbing toxin along gripping limbs to deaden sensation and resistance; Enfold & Digest: wraps prey into its core and begins a slow digestive process