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Post by Briar on Jul 31, 2021 22:33:51 GMT -6
At last there was a job that Briar felt comfortable dealing with on the job board. Most of the requests were out of his comfort zone, some radically more than others. Occasionally there would be something related to gardening, but more often the requests were bizarre favors, troublesome pests, or even invitations to events. Some of them were dangerous too, and Briar didn't take those on no matter how much he needed the money. Well. The request this time had been about pests too, but at least they had been of an ordinary garden variety, and not something monstrous and possibly tainted with magic. Yeo-reum had elected to come this time too. Briar would have thought that the Tat would prefer to remain hiding out at the edge of the city, but so far he had followed Briar to a lot of places, including the Gracehaven estate -- though he still made his den outside the grounds.
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Post by Briar on Jul 31, 2021 22:37:37 GMT -6
He would have been touched by the loyalty if Yeo-reum wasn't so obviously on edge and unhappy. He was touched, but he didn't like the idea that he was burdening Yeo-reum, weighing him down somehow by choosing to stay in the city. Still, he had made it clear to the Tat that he was free to go if he wanted, and still, Yeo-reum had stayed.
On this particular excursion though, Briar wasn't as worried as he could be. They would just be going to a garden, where no one else was present, and dealing with some bugs. Whether Yeo-reum managed to be of any help didn't even really matter. After a little searching, they arrived at the location specified by the man -- someone named Turner, who ran one of the shops in town apparently, though Briar had never had a chance to visit. He hadn't been free all that long, and shopping hadn't been high on his list of priorities.
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Post by Briar on Jul 31, 2021 22:42:32 GMT -6
For most of Briar's life, he hadn't had money or the option of leaving the home of his masters, unless they were taking him with them somewhere, which had only really happened once or twice. Now he could go where he wanted, and Noa paid him a stipend, but he preferred to save it for things he absolutely needed, rather than things he just happened to want. And money wouldn't have gotten him what he really wanted anyway.
Just as this Turner's request had said, the berry bushes were all infested with bugs. It wasn't to the point that they were crawling like some sort of writhing mass over it, but as soon as Briar got close, he could spot several of them. Considering the fact that they ought to be trying to stay hidden from predators, that meant there were way more than he was seeing.
Fortunately, since he had anticipated this, he had come prepared.
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Post by Briar on Jul 31, 2021 22:52:54 GMT -6
Some natural pesticides would hopefully do the trick, and he would remove as many of the bugs by hand as he could. It wasn't the most pleasant job, but he had done worse things, and there was something soothing about going through a process he knew well.
He started with spraying the bushes down with the solution he'd brought with him. It wasn't the kind of thing that showed immediate, dramatic results, but he had been working his job long enough to know that it was effective. By this time tomorrow, there would be a pretty dramatic reduction in pests, and if need be he could leave some more of it here for Turner to use himself.
Yeo-reum watched him at it, though he seemed as if he had something he wanted to say. Briar glanced back at him, and Yeo-reum walked over to where Briar was standing, sniffing at the bushes.
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Post by Briar on Aug 1, 2021 12:54:20 GMT -6
But as soon as he did so, he wrinkled his nose in distaste and backed away. Briar eyed him, while Yeo-reum settled on his haunches. Was he... Was he planning to eat some of the bugs? Briar knew that Tat-lung ate all sorts of things, even if they liked gemstones the best -- and that Yeo-reum's tastes were maybe a little more eclectic than that of his fellows because he generally didn't have access to gems. But he hadn't considered the idea that Yeo-reum might eat bugs.
Either way, the spray put the idea firmly out of his mind if it had ever been there. Briar shrugged, and began picking off the bugs, squishing them dead and putting them into a bag. They could probably still be used as some sort of fertilizer; after all, the solution that he had sprayed on to get rid of them was just unpleasant, not toxic.
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Post by NPC on Aug 1, 2021 19:04:53 GMT -6
Congratulations, you've successfully completed the quest! Your QP will be added to your bank shortly.
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