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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:26:25 GMT -6
It was mere happenstance that the lepus came to be in the predicament that he rather unexpectedly found himself in. A fine garden of most exquisite flora, carefully tended and well-established. And yet him stood there with a task he didn't quite know how to accomplish at all.
The day had begun in a far different manner, with the lepus finishing any lingering house duties and choosing to take a stroll on the city, as means of fresh air. Both for himself, and the small flower child, whom he had now come to know as a strange sort of nymph or sprite, and not at all a being of plants as he had erroneously assumed at the start. A chance meeting with a woman at the breeding centre had come to turn his life about in such as way as not yet graspable by future means.
And rather not unlike the method with which they came to find the madam Alura.
|1| Ellèbore-Maylis: 0 (1/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:26:57 GMT -6
There had been parts of the city he had seldom visited, by means of distance or simple disinterest. Whichever force drove him to chance closer to the questing board that day seemed to also decree that he chance to notice a letter tacked onto it. On the surface, it appeared a simple enough request, and although he considered his skills as a gardener yet to be humble, the thought occurred that any kind of help might yet prove to save the day.
A woeful understatement of the truth, as he quickly discovered upon arriving to the herbalist's quaint shop. When it had been mentioned that something was amiss, he had not expected it to be a nyssa. The lepus found himself far too embarrassed to admit to having little to know veterinary skills, even ones applicable to plants, and it was the presence of Lili that quite endeared the madam Alura in allowing him to try.
|2| Ellèbore-Maylis: 0 (2/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:28:00 GMT -6
The small sprite child had found herself a new method of being carried, following the further embarrassment at the breeding centre, which left the lepus to starkly realize the sprite was, in fact, classifiable as an actual child. A plain matchbox adapted to a type of cradle simply didn't do.. In its stead, he had sought to order a type of hair clip which would fit her comfortably, while appearing much more refined in style.
For quite obvious reasons, he could not wear such on the head, and instead the clip was fashioned to the out breast pocket, in place of a handkerchief. This allowed the young one both comfort and view of their surroundings, keeping her engaged with their surroundings. It was this outward openness that likewise allowed the herbalist to remark on her bright smile and excellent health, a fact which perhaps made her all the more certain that he might be able to help with the issue at hand.
|3| Ellèbore-Maylis: 0 (3/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:28:37 GMT -6
Within the garden, the lepus initially felt a sense of being lost. While his own garden was by no means small, there was a style and an order to the location of each crop, berry bush and tree. The garden here had a definitive structure to it, but one he was having trouble grasping. The madam Alura had advised that he review the saplings nearby, while she would attempt to locate the suspicious factor at a secondary growing area opposite. A few uncertain steps eventually began to lead the lepus down the instructed path.
In passing the flowers and blooming trees, Lili was quite transfixed by the sheer degree of colour. It reminded him that perhaps introducing a bit more of it to the house would be a positive change, though one he hadn't really considered for himself. If the sprite is indeed a child in actuality, one must adopt the proper responsibilities for her development, even at the cost of simple aesthetics.
|4| Ellèbore-Maylis: 0 (4/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:29:13 GMT -6
"B'oom," the child cooed, a hand smaller than a match reaching out from her crib towards the flowers.
"A 'bloom'," the lepus absent-mindedly corrected, not unkindly. A proper education must also begin with proper language, after all.
They soon passed the flower beds and reached the small grove, where the saplings could be found. In truth, where the lepus might yet have doubted his experience in some areas of the garden, he did have quite the personal experience with a few types of nyssa. Far from it to become an expert, though not an average novice, either. One a timberot, the other a rosebush, the two nyssa could not be further from one another in their natures. However, the ones here appeared to be more of the common type, of oaks and maples, a few sakura hidden further back. It appeared there was also quite an amount of them, which was another thing he had not expected..
|5| Ellèbore-Maylis: 1 (0/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:29:41 GMT -6
A small horde of eyes turned to inspect him, as he halted at the entrance to the grove. The trees surrounding them were not other nyssa, though he couldn't quite be entirely certain of that statement, either. Presumably, then, only the saplings existed in this natural corral, each and every one of them appearing a mixture of curious and cautious about this stranger.
The lepus leaned both hands on the walking cane, the formal attire picked at the start of the morn feeling ever out of place among this space of hard work and labour. Then, a small voice, a simple giggle followed by, "T'hee!"
"Yes, trees," the lepus corrected again, and his brows raised slightly soon after a thoughtful hum, "Presumably, at least.. We must find out if that's the truth, little Lili." He inclined the head to look down, and a pair of bright eyes watched back with earnest glee. Something within felt uncanny, a softness.
|6| Ellèbore-Maylis: 1 (1/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:30:08 GMT -6
He'd rather forgot how bright an earnest smile could be, for all the propriety and standing on custom left such little room in most social circles he had grown accustomed to. "Tooth!" she giggled, understandably missing the purpose of the conversation they were having, but causing a smile to briefly creep on the lepus' face all the same.
With a clearing of the throat, he composed himself, and regarded the nyssa once more. They had not moved by much, although the eyes in themselves gave the impression of a particular visual pattern, ever in repeat. The first ones in sight appeared ever as normal and hale as he could assume a nyssa sapling to be. This then brought up the question of before, which was that what would a herbalist such as madam Alura consider 'strange'? Surely someone of her expertise and skill would have found the cause and solution to this perplexing problem rather easily.
|7| Ellèbore-Maylis: 1 (2/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:30:56 GMT -6
Alas, it was not his place to critique such, considering his own limited experience. Perhaps the issue was less in academic or field experience, and more lined up with perception? If one was to consider the sheer amount of the nyssa present, perhaps even merely in the number of hands to check them.
While not a veterinarian, one must approach this in the manner a doctor would, the lepus concluded. A proper review, followed by the identification of any symptoms, concluded with a treatment based on the assessment. A process that might yet take some time, considering the volume of involuntary 'patients' but a process that much be started at some point in time.
The lepus approached the saplings, allowing some to scatter while leaning in to inspect the closest that remained. The front of the pack did not appear to exhibit any particular signs of malformity or illness.. At least in no manner outside a nyssa's capability, when keeping the timberot in mind.
|8| Ellèbore-Maylis: 1 (3/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:31:25 GMT -6
He continued to wade through the sapling crowd, careful to not lean so far as to cause Lili to drop from the crystalline cradle. Another group appeared quite normal, by general standards. Skittish, perhaps, though the impression madam Alura left implied it had to have been a physical manifestation of some sort. Admittedly, the lepus rather regretted losing the opportunity to ask her for a better description of what she had come to notice thus far, as he was far too caught up in the realization of being out-skilled.
The lepus continued moving onward, the semi-sea of saplings moving away and around him like magnetic fields. By and large most remained attached to their perception of one group or another, moving with them, rather than scuttling about in individual patterns. And even the few who did were not quite nimble nor fast, for the nyssa weren't known for such ability, after all.
|9| Ellèbore-Maylis: 1 (4/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:31:49 GMT -6
It was four groups down that the lepus happened to notice something indeed odd about the grove. While the nyssa themselves had all been quite plain up until this particular point in time, the ground on which they walked wasn't quite so. As a couple of the nyssa scattered, the lepus leaned on the walking cane and gave a small wince as he crouched closer to the ground. The hands found an imprint in the dirt and dried mud, likely from a rainfall not but a few days ago.
An imprint that he rather recognised, eerily so. To an untrained eye it appeared similar enough to a nyssa, being two-toed in a similar manner, but the shape and outline were that of a kito instead. He had seen such many a time when Èpiphanie was yet small enough to fit into a flower pot.
"Der'," the small sprite cooed from the cradle, in a tone sounding curious at what he had been pointing to.
|10| Ellèbore-Maylis: 2 (0/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:32:14 GMT -6
"Dirt, indeed," the lepus added, far too preoccupied with this new info to even give a proper correction. A kito would not be a danger to nyssa in any inherent fashion, as the latter were far too large a prey for them to consume even if this one had been fully grown. However, he could understand the confusion, if there was a random putesco or fenestra loose in the garden. On outward glance they weren't too dissimilar to a nyssa, if within a crowd, though one would have to discount the amount of teeth in the process.
Another pained wince followed as the lepus rose to his feet and leaned upon the cane, casting his eyes out to the crowd of saplings. Far too many to distinguish. The pattern far too complex to notice as subtle a difference as mere teeth. And this presuming that the kito had remained with the saplings, rather than find its way elsewhere in the garden.
|11| Ellèbore-Maylis: 2 (1/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:32:41 GMT -6
To find the truth, the lepus would have to winnow the chaff from the wheat, in a manner of speaking. Although many plant creatures shared similarities in their make-up and life styles, not quite all of them were made the same. A noctis kito, for one such example, would sooner hide from the light than chase it. A nyssa, however..
The lepus held up his palm and a bright mote of light stuttered to life over it. A small piece of arcana, yet with the appearance of a miniature sun, casting luminance to quite a distance. As one, the saplings turned towards it, and although their expressions were minimal to begin with, there was a sense of renewed hunger at this source of growth and nutrients, so much close than the one normally high in the sky.
Even the sprite managed a wonder-filled coo from her cradle, small hands reaching towards the bright object.
|12| Ellèbore-Maylis: 2 (2/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:33:11 GMT -6
"I'm afraid this one's not for you, little Lili," the lepus intoned, and moved the mote through the air away from them. A little light was all well and good, but too much could end up blinding the young one, particularly if her eyes were not as accustomed to it as his own.
The mote drifted through the grove, just above the heads of the saplings. As one, each turned towards it, not unlike the heads of sunflowers, for their purpose was much the same as said plants. The light provided nourishment, their green blood synthesizing sugars and necessary proteins from the energy it was casting off.
As the mote passed, the lepus cast his own gaze along the ranks of the saplings, watching the pattern of eyes shift and turn towards the light.. That is, until there was a disruption in the pattern, a pair of eyes remaining quite fixed on himself.
|13| Ellèbore-Maylis: 2 (3/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:33:35 GMT -6
A pair of eyes that appeared almost in every conceivable way to be the same as an oak nyssa, but belonging to a face that had far more teeth than it should have. "Found them," the lepus noted to the sprite, and his hand moved to make a small snap through the air. The sound was akin to vacuum, as if reversed from what it should have been, but it brought to being a pushing force that surrounded the fake sapling and rose it up into the air.
There was silent struggles, the kito not known for their vocalizations, but unable to escape the arcane grasp as the lepus drifted the creature closer to them. Once before them, he studied the patterns and colours of the kito with the fascination of a scholar. "Interesting.. By shape it appears to be still a kito, and yet it has adopted the perfect camouflage of an oak nyssa.."
"O-ok," the sprite happily added.
|14| Ellèbore-Maylis: 2 (4/5)
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Post by Evainmoire on Aug 2, 2023 16:34:16 GMT -6
"Oak, yes," the lepus' brows raised slightly. Thus the missing piece of the puzzle, it appeared. Madam Alura couldn't find what she had been looking for, because the subject had made itself appear like the very things she wasn't looking at. And a curious development at that, for the lepus could not happen to wonder if this had been a natural development of mere evolutionary genetics, or perhaps there had been some manner of cross-pollination between any resident kito and nyssa?
Ah, to be sure, perhaps it was best to allow the herbalist to answer such questions. Reminding himself of their quest, the lepus turned and began to gradual walk returning to the back porch of the herbalist's above. The unfortunate faux kito could but squirm, as it drifted through the air beside them, proof of the findings for this 'strange effect' the nyssa were alleged to be under.
He could only hope that the madam would allow him to take notes on any research she ends up releasing on the matter.
|15| (counted) Ellèbore-Maylis: 3 (0/5)
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