papaya pickin'

wherever life plants you

Even in Deepfrost, the Oerwoud seemed to be brimming with life. She had thought finding a fruit with seeds would be difficult this time of year, but it didn't seem like that would be the case. "It seems Torchline isn't the only lovely place in Deepfrost." she said to Remi, eyes up in the treeline. "Maybe I should have brought Mateo here. He probably would have enjoyed it more than the tar pits." she said with a bit of a grin. His curiosity and fascination with plant-life has been lovely to see, and she had promised him a book on herbology next time she saw him. He might not read it, but he could enjoy the pictures at least.

Brown eyes scanned the trees as they walked, trying to spot any fruit that might carry seeds within it for the purpose of her quest. Even if she couldn't reach it, at least Remi could fly up and knock it down to her. Teamwork made the dream work and whatnot.

Phoebe

bloom with grace

Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

Chuckling under his breath, the alchemist shrugs a touch roguishly at Phoebe's side. "I'll take the quiet of the Greatwood over Torchline's heat any day." He counters crookedly. Torchline, while warm, was also full of more drama than Remi cared to ever encounter again in his life. Though living at nearly the opposite end of the continent was by accident, he was more than pleased by where he'd ended up.

"So did Frey say what sort of fruit was needed?" He wonders, eyeing the ground around them warily. There had been vines that snarked out of the darkness when last he was here, and though he was quite certain he could handle any that appeared, he'd be far more content if he saw the attack coming first.

wherever life plants you

"Oh but the warmth is one of Torchline's redeeming qualities." she said with a light laugh. It did seem the place had a way of garnering the attention of the overly dramatic. Perhaps it was a touch of heat stroke actually making the residents a little bit mad? Certainly one be one of the more explainable afflictions she would have encountered since arriving in Caido.

"Frey said a fruit with seeds or a pit inside of it. So like a peach or a papaya or something like those." she said, eyes still up in the trees. "To be fair though I don't really know what is around here. But Frey isn't one for giving a lot of detail like Ludo or Safrin I suppose." she said. Frey tended to leave things just vague enough to require the person to be creative or thing outside the box in order to fulfill their tasks. They were fluid and changeable, just as the god was themselves. Speaking of the others though..."Have you seen Ludo lately?" she asked, curious as to how the raggedy god was doing.

Phoebe

bloom with grace

Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

"You can soak it up for me, then." Remi remarks dryly, shooting his friend a smile.

Seeds or a pit...Nodding thoughtfully, Remi keeps his eyes narrowed, but is quite sure that they're likely to stumble upon that sort of fruit tree sooner or later. "Ludo's instructions are normally quite straightforward." He says with a small shrug. Safrin's...both were and weren't, he supposed. "Ahh.." Narrowing his eyes, Remi looks up into the treeline for a moment. "We called it down in the Greatwood, for a quest to keep the ascended out. I believe that is the last time. The time before that when I called, it was Mort who answered." He'd told her about that already, though, but still the memory colours his cheeks.

wherever life plants you

"I'll do just that and send you warm thoughts." Phoebe replied with a bit of a smirk.

Her own eyes also scoured the trees for any sign of a fruit that might contain what she needed. "Did they give you one? I suppose as their demigod you aren't as likely to fall victim to their tricks now. The last one was awhile ago, wasn't it?" she said, suddenly unsure of the timeline of anything really. So much had taken place in the few years since they all found themselves in Caido, and lapses of memory from months spent in a cocoon made it difficult to tell what had happened when precisely. Sometimes it felt as though she had met Remi just yesterday, and other times it seemed lifetimes had passed.

"Oh! Look up there! Do you think that will have seeds in it?" she said, pointing up to the tippy top of a tree where a few oblong fruits hung on over burdened branches.

Phoebe

bloom with grace

Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

"They did. We are going to have the trees secure any ascended who enter. Sort of like the handmines on the outskirts of Stormbreak." Remi replies. "Mmm, tricks? Not as much as before. Punishments, though?" He pulls in a breath, his eyes raising as he gives his head a solemn shake.

"Let's find out, shall we?" So saying Remi reaches a hand up toward the fruit. His arm suddenly grows longer and rubbery with his partial shift as his forearm becomes more kraken-like than human, extending his reach significantly. Plucking down the fruit, Remi retracts his strange appendage to hand the papaya to Phoebe.

wherever life plants you

"Trees that can grab people? That's an inventive twist on the hand mines." she said with an approving smile. Not that he needed her approval, nor even that he wanted it, but it was usually heartening to have the approval of others nonetheless. "Punishments? Like what?" she asked, concern turning her tone.

Phoebe took the papaya from Remi, still a bit amazed at his half shift to reach the fruit from the tree. Then from a pocket of her skirts she revealed a small knife - because how else would they know if their finds had seeds or a pit within? Carefully, she cut a small circle in the body of the fruit, using the leverage of the blade to pop the piece out. And it seemed they struck gold, as the fruit was overflowing with small round seeds. "Oh! This will do perfectly!" she said with a grin, turning the fruit for Remi to see the seeds inside.

Phoebe

bloom with grace

Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

Smiling faintly at Phoebe's approval, the mirth falls off of Remi's lips as he frowns down at the ground. "Well, there was the time it removed my memories of those I loved simply because the mask it had given me had been stolen." Remi replies with a long exhale. "More recently...it told me that should I ever stop listening to it, or ceased to become useful, that it would simply do away with me. That I would be replaced." The muscles of his jaw tense for a moment, before he shakes his head.

Holding out the fruit for Phoebe to cut into, the alchemist peers over as she holds out the fleshy inside for him to see. "Oh, good." He says with a tentative smile, glad at least that getting Phoebe's quest item hadn't invited any dangerous creatures to try and block their attempt.

wherever life plants you

Phoebe had forgotten the time, ironically so, that Ludo had taken Remi's memories. It seemed so long ago it felt as though whole lifetimes had passed. But the newest punishment seemed particularly cruel, and Phoebe frowned deeply. She held out a hand to take his, squeezing it in comfort. "I should doubt such a time will come." she said. Remi was the best of them after all, easily the strongest and most powerful. To do away with him would be shortsighted indeed.

But it seemed there was no reason to dawdle. So holding the papaya in one hand and Remi's in the other, she turned to head back out of the Oerwoud the way they had come.

-FIN

Phoebe

bloom with grace

Code blatantly stolen from the fantastical, wonderful Odd