[PQ] [SE] like the first pioneer

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

Mud is everywhere despite the vast attempts everyone’s made so far to try and clean it up. It clings and hangs in the crevices, smothering the rocks of the usually gold glinted road and caking it in nothing more than slick, wet rivets of puddles. It’s here Sunjata stands, squinting down the path to the businesses with mud coating their windows and doors, a few shop owners trying their best to clean up the paths to their buildings so they can stay open.

Hopefully they’d have a good turn out. And with a break in the rain that had occurred all night. The clouds hang heavy in the sky, blotting out the brief respite of the sun trying to warm everything to no avail. The Flood has come prepared, though, with a cart full of jugs of hot chocolate and hot tea to keep everyone warm in the interim of dealing with the mud – towels and tools to help clean up and buckets to fill with his magic to help wash away the remnants of the disaster that’s struck New Haven.

And then he waits for everyone to arrive as he surveys the area.

---

Open Season Event PQ for cleaning up mud in King’s End! Please have your chars arriving and snagging some tea or hot cocoa if they wanna warm up <3 I’ll move it on in two days to give people opportunities to join!

1. Sunjata
2.
3.
(More can be added!)

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

She's been caught out a time too many lately when she thought she read the clouds right, so dry sky or not she's got her long and thick leather duster pulled up to her neckline. Her hair's braided off to the side beneath her hat, and her jeans are tucked into her boots and beneath some worn and faded chaps. Everything is an effort to stay dry as of late, clean a goal she's long given up on. It could be both wet and dirty is what keeps getting her mood short and brittle these days. Could be lots of things, but she's blaming the sky for now.

"Hey sunshine," she greets the Flood with an easy lightness not bound to remain, but the day's young enough yet she hasn't whittled through all her smiles. She busies herself at the drink table, the first snap coming in on the curve of her lips. "No fucking coffee?" she demands of him with a quick turn of her gaze, accusation narrowing it into something sharp with the disbelief of his audacity to ask for help and not even provide something good to drink. "Hot sugar and leaves?" Where's the ground beans? She huffs, shoving her hands in her back pockets as she leans away from the offerings without taking anything.

---

Colt takes nothing because your options suck

 

Colt

"Not a fan of tea, then?" Alys said, her voice teasing as she approached the table of offerings, glancing over the available drinks before selecting a packet of tea for herself. Pouring hot water over the leaves, she gathered the warm cup in her hands and waited for it to steep. She might have taken the opportunity to enlighten Colt as to the benefits of tea - of which, in her opinion, there were many - but something in the rancher's demeanor and tumultuous emotions suggested that such an opinion might, at the present time, fall upon deaf ears.

Instead, she offered a smile to both Colt and Sunjata, moving to stand with the Archon. "Good morning," she said pleasantly, her gaze flitting around the town. Mud covered everything, not unlike the rest of King's End thus far this season, and the seer wrinkled her nose with disgust. "Do we know if other regions are having as much fun as we are this season?" she asked, lifting her brows. "Or have we been the only ones so blessed?"

---

Alys takes some hot tea and makes small talk.

Alys

i want to taste you again

"The Grounds is sufferin' as well," Jack informs Alys as he steps up on Sunjata's other side, seemingly from out of nowhere. In reality the haze of rain and mist makes it much easier to stay hidden than usual, and he's also got that handy Grey Road perk to rely upon. Like Colt, the collar of his coat is turned high and his pants are tucked into boots he'd been forced to purchase specifically to deal with the mud, the Captain squinting up to the overcast skies as if to try and judge how long it'll be before they're soaked.

"Greatwood didn't look great either. Only sailed over that, though," he continues, drawing one hand from his pocket to uncap a flask of spiced rum, taking a nip from it before raising an eyebrow to Colt and offering it out. No hot leaves and sugar for him, thank you, and wouldn't you believe it? He's not a cocoa man either.

---

Jack brings his own good morning drink in a hip flask of rum, offering some to Colt.

like a secret or a sin

JACK

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

“Cocoa or tea, Pony.” Sunjata shoots back toward Colt as he hides the playful smirk on his face to her greeting. Hearing Alys’ arrival with the comment that she might not be a fan of tea sparks an accented laugh to leave the Flood. “Morning, Alys.” He greets his Seer with a brighter smile, about to respond about the mud in question when Jack appears out of seemingly nowhere.

Nodding in agreement, he steps forward to take some of the cocoa (complete with the tiny little marshmallows thank you very much) to let it steam in the paper cup. “Yeah, Danta said the Grounds got hit hard.” He sighs a little, tries to cool the hot cocoa briefly as he glances around at everything they have to do. “But we’ve got a little extra work to do to make it clean for the fair. And looking at it right now, it seems like it’ll be a lot.” Case in point, the way the Flood’s boots pop when he lifts his boot from the mud underfoot.

“So let’s start with helping the businesses clear out their paths and leave the main road for last so we don’t just muddy it back up in the process. We’ve got buckets and shovels and I’ve got plenty of water to help try to clear it up.” Nodding toward the stack of supplies beside the cocoa and the tea, the Flood looks back at everyone to see if there’s any questions.

---

First things first, cleaning up the businesses walkways! There’s the left side, the right side, and the courtyard that need to be cleared up. Sunjata can float between whomever needs water or additional help!

No post order <3

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

It takes everything in Colt to bite back the retort that rises like bile, not a fan of smart questions, then? Instead, she presses her teeth together and turns her lips up into something that could be called a smile, if it weren't so undone by the rest of the look she slides towards Alys in response. Just a flash, a glint of steel in sun, before it falls and she flicks her attention away before the next question is one she can't help answering aloud.

Jack's voice is a sudden jolt that tugs her focus back, the sight of him, with news of the Grounds, like snap of cold breath. The stare she keeps on him borders on impolite, as if she could yank answers from him with look alone. One of the reasons she takes the flask he offers without question, rather thinking some liquor in her is to the best of everyone's interests right now. The swig she takes is too quick to catch the smell of it until it's already hitting the back of her throat, an immediate and spiced burn. She tilts over suddenly, choking out "rum??" like it's betrayal. Hastily she hands it back, like it might bite her if she keeps hold of it. All things considered, better than tea and cocoa, but fuck's sake not what she wanted.

Still clearing her throat over the lingering burn, she trudges off to the courtyard, working up how she might slip in an ask about what else he knows about the Grounds other than mud. Too in her head about it all she doesn't say anything, just turns and grabs a shovel, setting into the work like it could be some form of freedom. Each scoop of mud she slings into the bucket could be something that clears the walkways and her.

---

Colt gags on rum and takes the courtyard

 

Colt

Alys didn't need a smart response to feel Colt's bite; surprised by the acidity in the woman's thoughts, the seer did her best to keep her face neutral and let the moment pass. She hadn't been trying to needle the rancher, and she regretted her words immediately, but the damage had been done. She was relieved when Jack appeared, offering an update on the Grounds, and when Sunjata took over explaining their task for the day.

Ignoring Colt's emotional jumble - not her business, thank you - Alys was relieved when the woman took the courtyard and was decidedly out of range of her magic. The seer took the left side, grabbing a shovel and beginning to dig out the pathways. It was hard work, especially given that the memory mud had a mind of its own, but it was necessary all the same, and Alys had never shied away from something just because it was a pain in the ass. Every time she filled a bucket, she lugged it over to where it could be safely disposed of, and then she was back at it again.

---

Alys takes the left side and is sad that Colt's mad at her. D:

Alys

i want to taste you again

”Ding ding, give the lady a prize,” Jack drawls with a grin he doesn’t try to hide as Colt takes a swig of the rum that she immediately regrets. He’s inclined to agree, though - still better than tea - and accepts the flask back with a self-satisfied smile. He has expected the whiplash of her thoughts as they pertain to the Grounds, having been speaking with the subject of her pining during his visit, but the sparks that fly between the two women of their group? That’s interesting.

”S’pose I’ll get to it over here,” Jack decides, shrugging and trudging through the muck towards the right-hand side of the road. With the Seer present he’s more mindful than usual of his mental defences, though as he uses a combination of earth and water magic to try and drag away the mud from the business entrances, he can’t help but raise an eyebrow towards Sunjata when he catches him.

”Who pissed in their cornflakes?” he wonders with a soft scoff of laughter.

---

Jack takes the right side and gossips with Sunjata.

like a secret or a sin

JACK

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

To be honest, the immediate betrayal that crosses Colt’s face to taste the rum – as if Sunjata was surprised at all that the Captain would have anything else but the dark, fruit heavy spirit. Either way, he lists off the tasks they need to do and watches as Colt storms off to the courtyard. A small smile is flashed toward Alys as if to say don’t worry about her as she parts off toward the left-hand side.

Which leaves him and Jack for the right, sighing a little once everyone else is far enough away to not hear it. “Eh, last time we all got together it was a lot of digging for flowers and I’m pretty sure Colt never forgave Alys for having to explain she had to actually plant the things.” A lopsided smirk and a quiet chuckle leaves him with the explanation as they work.

In the courtyard, Colt will find a shit ton of mud lingering around the gardens and the pathways within it. The corners of it bear the brunt of the muck, but there in the center something seems to move. It squelches, taking on the shape of a blink hare (if a blink hare was goopy, of course). Spying the Accepted, it seems to freeze, like it’s worried about being spotted.

On the left, the main road is slick with muck and the buildings are caked with dirt and debris, hardening toward the main business where Alys will see an older man that seems like he’s on his last straw – exasperated and tired with a kink in his back, he downs some water before he picks up the shovel and starts to try and move the mud back away from the door, but somehow it seems like it keeps creeping closer with each slow attempt at removal. Upon seeing the Abandoned, he immediately flags her down with the hopes she’ll help him.

For Jack and Sunjata, things are going just about as good as Colt’s experience. The mud clings to the other half of New Haven’s main road, the muck stretching out like long claws across the buildings. And with Jack’s earth and water magic combination, it looks like it’s starting to go well by removing it from the side of the building, but it clumps in bigger messes all across the ground in front of the stones despite Sunjata’s attempts to wash it away with his own water magic.

---

ROUND TWO:
Everyone but Alys rolled like shit LMAO

- Colt, you have a lil memory blink hare mud creature to handle.
- Alys, you have an old man that’s SUPER GLAD you’re there to help!
- Jack (and Sunjata) are kinda making more of a mess so maybe they’ll need to try a different tactic or find a different way to remove the mud

No post order <3

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

Scooping muck to clear your head only works if everything cooperates. Her shovel cuts through enough bulk of it, but it all seems to slop back in shortly thereafter, and it's beginning to feel a touch like baling water from a sinking ship. She grunts as she slides the tool into the effort again and again, hauling the quickly filling bucket to empty it somewhere better than the walkways, again and again.

Some of the road does clear, but the corners are a bitch, the mud there high and dense and all her carving seeming to do little to it. Not worn through enough to be tired yet, the physical work does at least spend some of the frustration out, but giving as much as it takes she finds herself still on an edge. So, when the next scoop unleashes a wriggling little shithead of a hopper, she doesn't stop to admire it one bit. Immediately she takes her shovel and swings with all the force she can muster to detonate its muddy brains against the metal tool. Not bothering to see if it annihilated it, she swings again, and again, and again, until it or her mood is buried.

---

Colt beats the shit out of the memory mud.

 

Colt

Alys worked diligently, but hadn't gotten particularly far when an old man flagged her down. The seer approached with a friendly smile, listening to him complain about the mud and nodding along sympathetically. The old man was exasperated, and apparently had a bad back. When he went to pick up his shovel and begin to clear off a patch of road, Alys stopped him. "Here, let me," she said.

After giving him a recommendation for an herbal tea to help with his back, she considered the task before her. The mud has already crept back to where it had been before, despite the old man's best attempts at removing it. Chewing at her bottom lip, Alys thought for a moment. She came up with a plan - a pretty questionable one, if she was being honest - and within moments had set to work.

The seer called upon her air magic, funneling the wind towards the mud. It wasn't a hard gust, exactly, but more of a steady stream meant to dry the mud out. Maybe that would render it immobile, and then she'd be able to shovel it more easily.

---

Alys tries to use her air magic to dry the mud out before removing it.

Air manipulation (Abandoned/Hybrid): Can manipulate the air. Must be within a 30ft radius and allows the user to levitate medium-large sized objects up to 5ft above the ground . Control is excellent.
Type: Grey | Rank: Upgraded | Cost: Action

Alys

i want to taste you again

"Oh, that's it?" Scrunching his nose and seeming disappointed in the comparatively mundane nature of the drama within the group, Jack turns his attention back to the clearly very good work he and Sunjata are doing with the right side of the road. Only no matter how you parse it, the mud just keeps coming, the Captain's jaw feathering as his usual efforts with his magic make little headway.

Swearing under his breath and taking a step or two back as if that will help him to see the problem better, eventually he settles for trying to deal with it at the source. "I can drag away the dirt if you deal with the water?" he suggests, wondering whether separating the elements will help to persuade the mud to fuck all the way off. With that idea planted, he drops his use of water magic and refocuses on earth, trying to corral it into one area away from the businesses.

---

Jack opts to focus on just earth magic to pull away the dirt, letting Sunjata do all the waterworks (y'know, 'cuz Flood).

Earth Manipulation (Abandoned/Hybrid): Can manipulate the earth. Must be within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent.
Type: Grey | Rank: Upgraded | Cost: Action

like a secret or a sin

JACK

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

As the mud creature tries to get out of the wrath of Colt, it finds its approach very poorly done. The second it looks like it’s about to bolt, like it’s been spotted, the shovel swings down against it in a hard smack! of blunt force. Caving a portion of the memory mud creature in, it tries to rise and reform itself before she’s smacking it again. It’s going to take a bit more work to get rid of it as it keeps trying to make its escape while bits and pieces of it slough off on the shovel Colt uses as it slowly hacks away at the beast.

For Alys, the man is very pleased to offer her the shovel and gleefully taking the recommendation for the tea, the older man carefully plucks his way through the mud and muck to find the specific tea to purchase so that it might help his sore back later on in the day. It leaves Alys alone, the seer able to use her air magic. It dries out the first layer, leaving the under bit still wet and sloppy.

“Yeah, pretty much.” He tells Jack, shrugging lightly. He and Colt had a bit of a rocky start lately, and he can’t quite presume to know what was going on in her head lately. So what he does do, is focus on the mud and water with the Captain’s help, happy to let him focus on the earth. “Sounds good.” Comes the easy agreement, calling upon his water again. As Jack begins to move the mud away, bits and pieces of it come away much easier than the others – sticks and rocks and portions of memory mud that are still stuck together and formed, pulling away from the rest of the water before it starts to get sucked back in.

Maybe that’s part of Sunjata’s fault, though, because he puts all of his focus into being essentially a firefighter’s hose as he brings his water magic to the forefront of his mind, washing the side of the building and creating a wave of mud and water that pulls it away from the building (and pulls Jack’s mud back in with the rest of the water) as he starts to send it away. At least the few buildings they’ve focused on are clean now? That’s a perk,right?

---

ROUND THREEEEEEE

- Colt needs to work on her memory mud a lil more!
- Alys dries the top layer of the mud but the underside remains really sticky :C
- Jack, the separation started out well but Sunjata’s gone and remixed it again. At least it’s not on the building anymore, right? There's still some mud on this side further down that's still stuck to the neighboring building.

No post order <3

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

Each squelch of the monstrous mud flattening out beneath her shovel is something that manages to soothe and stoke in equal measure. On the one hand, watching it pancake into a mud pie beneath the weight of her aggression is fulfilling. On the other hand, watching it squirm back into shape and wriggle away is deeply and terribly frustrating. Oh, pieces of it get carved away into harmless muck, but not enough clearly, as it continues to undulate across her designated sector, a blight against every attempt made to clean this vicinity and be done with the dirty work.

As resilient as the thoughts of a twilight demi-god, the memory mud persists like a giant middle finger to her efforts. "Fuck. You." Her murderous rampage tucks behind the grit of her teeth as her temper catches a second wind. With a grunt of effort she flips the shovel handle in her hands and swings the brunt of its head against the mud. Her whole body shifts with the follow through, toe twisting, hips pivoting, arms locked in an embrace of contact. She means to send the vile blob sailing in a version of a home run.

---

Colt plays baseball with the memory mud

 

Colt