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Post by Briar on Mar 5, 2020 23:46:26 GMT -6
It was another month, which meant another visit to the questing board. It wasn't exactly at the point where Aubrey considered it habit, but they were getting there! And now that the weather had warmed up, he was feeling better! "A-choo!" ... Mostly. Yeo-reum, who was accompanying him, as usual, eyed Aubrey as Aubrey rubbed at his nose. It wasn't the first time that Yeo-reum had heard him sneeze, but it was probably beginning to concern the Tat that it was happening so often. It hadn't before. "It's allergy season," Aubrey explained. "I don't know why I have it so bad this year either. Usually I don't, though I guess I used to be a lot smaller..." There were other changes that came with the new body, but considering his natural affinity for plants, he wouldn't have thought that a pollen allergy would be included among those. Just goes to show, he supposed.
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Post by Briar on Mar 5, 2020 23:52:08 GMT -6
You can never anticipate how things were going to go. Especially with big life changes, and doubly so for ones you hadn't exactly planned on having.
Yeo-reum nudged Aubrey with his nose, and Aubrey laughed, reaching up a hand to pet the Tat's head. "Don't worry, I'm not getting sick. It'll go away soon." 'Soon' being a relative term, of course. Spring could be a pretty long season.
At least there wasn't anyone already at the quest board when he arrived, so he wouldn't horrify anyone else with one of his sneezing fits. "Alright, let's see here... Hmm." Perusing the board, he had to squint at each entry; there were several where he had to give up almost immediately, as the handwriting was well beyond the scope of his poor reading skills. They were improving with practice, but not to the point where he could decipher some less well penned scribllings.
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Post by Briar on Mar 5, 2020 23:55:48 GMT -6
It was a shame, since he was sure no one meant anything bad by it, and these were probably perfectly nice, perfectly reasonable requests. Maybe the people who submitted them were children, and this was the best that they could do, since they were learning too. But he couldn't help what he couldn't read, and so he passed them over in favor of something he could more easily comprehend.
Even then, he didn't want for selection, though it did take him some time to get through each one. He had gone through a few, and was deliberating whether he wanted to take up one or another, when something caught his eye. "Oh look, this one has a package attached," he said, pointing it out to Yeo-reum, who peered in to inspect the request in question. Aubrey recognized the packet at once as being the kind that held seeds, which he had often seen for sale in garden shops.
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Post by Briar on Mar 6, 2020 0:01:44 GMT -6
"What's this doing here?" Without really thinking about it, he unpinned the request from the shop and gave it a read. "Nature month..." After squinting at the note for a long moment, Aubrey's ears twitched. "They want people to go out and plant trees? Oh, let's do this one, Yeo-reum. It'll just be like gardening! Won't it be fun?" Aubrey's pleasure was written all over his face, brightening his features. Yeo-reum, for his part, looked dubious. At first, Aubrey wasn't sure why; Agate Tat-lung were supposed to be nature aspected themselves, weren't they? And what could he possibly have against trees?
But then he remembered. "Ah, don't worry, Thistle won't come. It'll be around town, and I don't think she'd care for all the hubbub anyway."
At this, Yeo-reum brightened immediately, which just went to show that he did understand at least some of what Aubrey said--- word meanings and all, even.
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Post by Briar on Mar 6, 2020 0:06:08 GMT -6
Aubrey was definitely going to tuck that one into the back of his mind the next time Yeo-reum played dumb. They were getting to be a little too familiar for that kind of thing to work.
But for now, it wasn't a concern of his. He was just happy to see that Yeo-reum seemed game for it. "These must be wildflower seeds," he murmured, opening the packet to see. Letters might not be his thing, but he knew this. "They're all local, that's good. Sometimes people don't think about what they package into these, and you end up spreading invasive species..."
Putting the seed packet away in a pocket, he said, "Let's go see where we can pick up these saplings. Was there a 'Questing Association' building around here somewhere? I don't know if I've ever been." Yeo-reum looked around too, but that must have meant he was just as lost as Aubrey was.
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Post by Briar on Mar 7, 2020 10:05:56 GMT -6
And so there was nothing for it but for the two of them to wander around, asking for directions on where to go. At least it wasn't the first time this had happened to them, though Aubrey had lived in the city just long enough now that he felt bad about still having to ask people for directions like this when it came up.
He stayed near the quest board, casting around for anyone who looked more or less friendly. This was actually easier said than done. A lot of people in the city were perfectly nice, reasonable folks, but there were also a lot of dangerous people. The laws were, as he was learning, a bit loose in some regards, and the ready availability of all manner of powerful and possibly magical creatures had to be pretty tempting for unsavory types. Heck, even Aster, if he'd been a stranger, wouldn't have been someone Aubrey approached in the street.
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Post by Briar on Mar 7, 2020 10:09:47 GMT -6
But then, Aster wasn't the type of person who would give you instructions on how to get somewhere either. Aster would have ignored anyone who asked and kept walking. Aubrey knew that it was less about whoever was asking and more about the fact that Aster didn't want to talk to people period, but... Well...
It would be easier, even, to ask Rabbit, the TROD that lived on the estate. Maybe what he ought to look for was a robot, and not a person at all.
But just as he was thinking that, Yeo-reum tapped him on the shoulder and pointed out a middle aged man out walking a Felusine. "Oh, you're right, thank you," Aubrey said. They'd done this often enough now that Yeo-reum could sort of tell what Aubrey was looking for, and the man in question certainly had a friendly looking face. Not to mention that it was a Felusine he had with him.
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Post by Briar on Mar 7, 2020 10:13:23 GMT -6
Considering all the possibilities of what one could be going out on a walk with, a Felusine seemed pretty mild. There were Thundergugs and Wiurns; and even some of the smaller creatures could be dangerous. As far as he knew though, the brownish looking Felusine didn't have any nasty surprises up their proverbial sleeves.
But on that note, he turned to his own companion and said, "I think you had better stay here. We don't want him to think you're about to eat his pet."
Yeo-reum snorted, as though the very idea was preposterous, then made a grimacing face of disgust with his tongue hanging out. Aubrey giggled, but then he said, "None of that, okay? If they see your teeth, they might get the wrong idea. Just stay put, alright?"
He didn't know if Yeo-reum would stay put, but he had to hope. With that, he made his way over to where the man was walking.
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Post by Briar on Mar 7, 2020 10:17:37 GMT -6
"Sir? Excuse me, sir?"
The man looked up as Aubrey approached, calling out to him. "Yes, can I do something for you?" said the man. He looked a little surprised and confused to find himself being addressed, but not overly so. Unlike Yeo-reum, who looked imposing sometimes simply by virtue of his size and what he was, Aubrey's appearance was much less alarming. He was short for a humanoid, and his face was young. The man was already offering him a not unkind smile by the time Aubrey was within proper talking distance.
"I'm just looking for some directions," Aubrey explained. "There's a place I'm looking for, the..." Oh, what was it again? He'd been so busy looking for someone to ask that he forgot. But after a moment of his brain stalling in place, it came to him. "The Questing Association," he said. "Would you know where I could find it?"
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Post by Briar on Mar 7, 2020 10:22:01 GMT -6
The man brightened. "Ah, the Association, was it? You're taking up the spring planting initiative, aren't you, young man! Good on you!" he clapped a hand to Aubrey's shoulder, meant as a friendly gesture, but it quite staggered Aubrey over. The man was of a stout, sturdy build; and Aubrey himself was small and slenderly built. Any wariness in the man's countenance had vanished, and Aubrey smiled back despite having briefly lost his footing, feeling encouraged. If the man knew about the request on the board, then he probably knew where the Association was too.
"It's not far from here," said the man. "If you just follow this path, you'll come across a few buildings. It should be the first one on your right." The man pointed out a path leading away from the quest board, and Aubrey nodded.
"The first one on the right. Okay, I think I can find it. Thank you so much!"
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Post by Renathan on Mar 8, 2020 18:26:01 GMT -6
There are plenty of people around along the way that are busy planting trees everywhere. It seems that everyone is quite happy as well! A few people even have pets that are helping them as well, how cool!
[No success yet.]
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Post by Briar on Mar 29, 2020 18:23:58 GMT -6
Newly armed with directions, Aubrey collected Yeo-reum, and the two of them found the place in short order. They were given a shovel, and since they had no way to carry any saplings with them, they left with some seed packets and a few more instructions on where to go if they wanted to give a hand with planting some trees.
There were a few different places they could have gone to join in the planting, but Aubrey opted for the park. They could relax here and enjoy the day afterwards, he thought, and since it was the park, they were less likely to mind that he had a creature as big as Yeo-reum with him.
It was a good thing they hadn't given him any saplings though. By the time they arrived at their final destination, Aubrey was pretty tired just from the effort of carrying the shovel all the way here.
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Post by Briar on Mar 29, 2020 18:36:15 GMT -6
He didn't say it aloud, but someday he thought he might want to look into getting a beast of burden trained up. He could never ask it of Yeo-reum--- as friendly as Yeo-reum was, even he must have had his pride as a Tat-lung--- but it would be a really big help.
Or maybe he ought to just start working out. How strong could he get, as a Sprite? Even he didn't know, and there wasn't really anyone he could ask about that sort of thing either.
Wiping at the sweat on his brow, he took everything in. "Boy, there sure are a lot of people here." He was happy to see them, since this sort of thing was more fun with more people, and it was heartening to see everyone gathered here to help plant things and beautify the community. But it was also a little overwhelming, since he wasn't used to crowds of this size.
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Post by Briar on Mar 29, 2020 18:41:03 GMT -6
Movement somewhere in the crowd caught his eye, and Aubrey turned to see a dark-haired young man stake his shovel into the ground, before tugging ineffectually at it, then finally yanking it out of the ground only to fall flat on his back as the momentum of his pull tipped him right over. A... dragon of some sort, a breed or species that Aubrey wasn't familiar with, stood to one side, watching the whole thing dispassionately.
Aubrey winced.
"Do you think he's okay?" he whispered to Yeo-reum, who turned to look in the same direction. Aubrey could hear a quiet huff of laughter. "I don't know about this," Aubrey said. "I've gardened before, but I've never tried planting trees. If that guy can't dig a hole, I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it either."
At least he had an example of what not to do now, he supposed.
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Post by Briar on Mar 29, 2020 18:47:37 GMT -6
Yeo-reum didn't have any advice for him, but the Tat did give Aubrey a nudge in the back with his snout, as if to tell him to get on with it. And Aubrey supposed he did have a point there; he wasn't going to accomplish anything just by standing here, watching other people.
"Well... Here I go," he said. Picking a likely looking spot to begin, he placed his shovel against the soil, then gave it a hard shove in with his foot.
It didn't work. It was as if he hit a rock or something. He glanced beside him to see if anyone else was digging a hole, to see if he could watch and learn from their example, and spotted a woman industriously digging into the dirt. She was using the same technique, more or less, but with a lot more efficiency and confidence than Aubrey's awkward, single attempt.
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