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Post by Briar on Feb 22, 2022 19:05:48 GMT -6
Briar made the first cut, and then the second. After a while, he fell into something like… well, not a rhythm, exactly, but a place of focus. This wasn’t the sort of thing where he could simply let his hands take over and turn his brain off for a time. It wasn’t merely a dull and mechanical sort of cutting, but an assessment of each tree, to see what, if anything, needed to be trimmed away to prevent problems. He had to keep in mind what he wanted from them, the sort of growth and shape that he wanted to achieve, and what each branch or twig might mean in the overall scheme of the plant.
And each tree was different, even if they were the same type -- but especially if they weren’t, since then there would also be the differences in species to account for too.
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Post by Briar on Feb 22, 2022 19:06:00 GMT -6
It had taken him longer last year not only because the pruning hadn’t been done in so long, but because he had to learn about each tree as he went through it. It was faster now, though still not ‘fast’, exactly. Maybe if he took care of the same garden for another ten or twelve years, he would be much speedier at it… But even then he somewhat doubted it. A tree wasn’t a machine, and the course of its growth could take unpredictable turns. And each one would still be an individual, even once he had learned the intricacies of that individuality.
He had come into it rather abruptly, and it was probably due to a stereotype about Sprites that his old masters had first put him to the work, but Briar really did like gardening most of the time. There was something curiously soothing about the work.
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Post by Briar on Feb 22, 2022 19:06:13 GMT -6
He didn’t think it had anything to do with the sort of mystical connection to plant life and nature that most people attributed to Sprites, but he was glad that it had worked out that way. There was little enough to be thankful for in his life. It was just as well that he managed to glean some enjoyment from his job, rather than being miserable for the entirety of it.
He felt that thought flit through his mind, and paused to linger on it a bit longer. It was a nice thought, and it was a true thing. These were the sorts of things he needed to hold onto, to keep himself sane if nothing else. He had seen how anger could consume a soul, the way it seemed to have done for Yeo-reum; and even those without their own share of misery sometimes seemed to him deeply unhappy.
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Post by Briar on Feb 22, 2022 19:06:28 GMT -6
But there was no sense in being like that all the time if he could help it, and if he did his best to linger on the good and precious memories, the rest of it became a little easier to bear.
A slight rustling caught his attention, and he turned to see the King of Evergreen picking up the twigs and branches that had been left behind by his work. He would have kept them back, for composting or to dry out for firewood or something, but generally he left the tidying until everything else was over. But now that the King of Evergreen was collecting them up, he wondered if he would get them back.
-What do you mean to do with them?- he signed, but it was all for his own satisfaction. The King of Evergreen wasn’t even looking at him, and of course there was no hope of receiving a satisfactory answer from it.
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Post by Nadia on Feb 22, 2022 22:43:25 GMT -6
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Post by Briar on Feb 24, 2022 17:55:35 GMT -6
He would have to wait and see, though perhaps he wouldn’t find out, in the end. If this was some small and secret project of the King of Evergreen’s, to take place deep in the woods, then Briar might never see the results. But he didn’t mind, not really; it was almost comforting to think that other creatures had their own secret lives well away from his own. It made him feel like it was possible for himself, too, to have that sort of privacy, though how true that was in a household like this, he couldn’t say. The King of Evergreen might have been insignificant enough to be beneath Noa’s scrutiny, but evidently Briar wasn’t.
… But then, he supposed he hadn’t done a very good job of making himself inconspicuous. There was a lot to mislike and mistrust about Noa, of course.
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Post by Briar on Feb 24, 2022 17:56:29 GMT -6
But as far as Noa’s suspicion of him was concerned, he couldn’t in good conscience fault the man for it. In his position, Briar would have done the same.
After all, Briar had broken the one major rule Noa had imposed upon his arrival already, and they had met when Noa had discovered Briar trespassing on his land.
Briar himself knew that he had no sinister purpose. He cared little for Noa and what Noa was doing, but he didn’t care to involve himself with it if he didn’t have to. If it had been possible to simply ask about the whereabouts of the boy he was looking for, and have a reasonable chance of getting a straight answer, he would have done it. But having seen what he had already of the household, he wasn’t stupid or naive enough to try that course of action.
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Post by Briar on Feb 24, 2022 17:56:49 GMT -6
Mastery of the estate had changed hands -- Noa wasn’t old enough to have fathered a child so many years ago, not nearly -- but the new master seemed no more lenient than the one that had come before.
But as much as Briar understood the logic of his surveillance, neither could Briar be dissuaded from his own goals, so the two of them were stuck playing this game against each other. And if he was being honest, Briar didn’t really expect to win. He was only hoping to last long enough to find out what he could, and from there… Well, he didn’t know. It might all be for nothing, in the end; and Yeo-reum certainly thought it a fool’s errand. But he had to know, and anyway, the value of his own life was not so precious a currency that he would regret having spent it this way.
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Post by Briar on Feb 24, 2022 17:57:45 GMT -6
His thoughts were taking this dark turn when something came at him. Instinct alone prompted him to flinch slightly to the left, and it flew harmlessly past his head. He turned to look in the direction that it had come from, dread threatening but not quite coalescing in the pit of his gut, and saw that the King of Evergreen had flung something at him.
-What was that for?- he signed, dumbfounded. It had never shown aggression toward him before. But studying its features, he thought that it probably wasn’t being aggressive now either. It didn’t look on edge, but seemed to be watching him expectantly, as if for a reaction.
For a moment he thought it might have sensed his mood, and tried to cheer him out of it. It brought back memories of his time with his previous master, when Yeo-reum had still been a fish in the pond.
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Post by Briar on Feb 24, 2022 17:58:05 GMT -6
His temperament had been sunnier then -- so much so that the creature he had become now was unrecognizable as the same individual -- and he had made many a valiant effort to cheer Briar up. The memory stung, and he felt all the more keenly the loss. But the feeling, and the moment, passed; it was too long ago now, and there was no undoing what had been done. Yeo-reum held that past self in contempt, and denying his current state would do no one any good.
Besides, it was probably conceited of Briar to think that the King of Evergreen cared to such an extent. They were friendly acquaintances, but not close, and they didn’t spend much time together outside of winter. But perhaps what this was was an invitation to play. He had never seen the King of Evergreen in a playful mood either, but he hardly presumed to know everything about it.
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Post by Briar on Feb 24, 2022 17:58:18 GMT -6
After all, not long ago he had been thinking about how much he didn’t know of its private life. Perhaps it played these games with other friends that he had never met -- the Koguma, even.
In the time that he had taken to think all this through, the King of Evergreen had grown impatient, and now it tossed another stick at him. This time Briar didn’t simply move out of the way. With more time to prepare, he snatched the stick out of the air.
That seemed to take the King of Evergreen by surprise. It stared at him; maybe it had meant to throw a third stick, but now it paused its movements. Briar smiled, and thought to sign something, but before he could, the King of Evergreen recovered from its momentary surprise. Having done so, it renewed its assault… and this time with much more vigor than before, throwing as fast as it could, sometimes even a handful of small sticks.
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Post by Briar on Feb 24, 2022 17:58:31 GMT -6
If it had been hoping that Briar would catch them all, then it was sadly mistaken on that account. Briar was a little nimble, and his small size made it easier to move around quickly, but with so many projectiles coming at him, catching them all was impossible for him. He was not an athlete, by any means, nor did he have the sort of training that would have prepared him for this. All he could do was dodge them to the best of his ability, with all thoughts of catching any abandoned. If he concentrated on trying to catch any of them, he was sure he would be struck by some of the rest. But maybe that was what the King of Evergreen was hoping for. He had no way to gauge how sadistic a game this was, whether the goal was to strike your opponent, such as it was, or simply to make them dance.
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Post by Briar on Feb 24, 2022 17:58:50 GMT -6
Eventually the King of Evergreen did run out of sticks, but by that point several of them had struck home. It was inevitable, with the barrage that had been raining down on Briar until the King of Evergreen no longer had the means to do so. Once he realized that it was over, he stopped to stare at his assailant. The King of Evergreen’s pointed ears were pricked forward, and its tail swished back and forth in a motion that might have indicated satisfaction. At the very least, Briar hoped it was satisfied.
-That isn’t a very nice game,- he remarked. If he had known that this was what the King of Evergreen had been collecting all the debris for, then he might have tried to put a stop to that sooner.
Was he supposed to throw these sticks back at it? Was that what the game was?
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Post by Briar on Feb 24, 2022 17:59:03 GMT -6
The King of Evergreen seemed to be expecting something, and as nothing better was occurring to him, Briar picked up one of the smaller twigs and tossed it at the King of Evergreen just to see what would happen. It wasn’t a hard throw, and probably wouldn’t have hurt even if it did connect, but the King of Evergreen reached for it as it flew.
Maybe it wasn’t used to catching things. Briar had seen it hold things in its hands, but that was different from plucking something out of the air. It made contact, but didn’t manage to grab the stick, and could only reach down and retrieve it after the fact. Then, quick as anything, it threw the stick right back at Briar.
But it wasn’t a hard throw this time either, and it was only the one stick, so Briar caught it without much fuss.
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Post by Briar on Feb 24, 2022 17:59:15 GMT -6
He threw it back to the King of Evergreen, making a conscious effort to adjust the speed and aim so that it would be easier for the King of Evergreen to catch. The King of Evergreen didn’t catch it this time either, though it seemed to get closer to managing it, at the very least. It was probably an issue of the motor skills involved, more than anything, and those couldn’t exactly be developed over the course of two attempts. But the King of Evergreen seemed invested now, and disinclined to give up. It tossed the stick back almost immediately, and stared at Briar expectantly.
Briar was just as glad to move to this new game, which didn’t involve testing his reflexes quite so strenuously as the last one had done. It hadn’t hurt much to be pelted with the leftovers from his pruning efforts, but he wouldn’t have marked it as an enjoyable experience either.
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