(Rotten Roots) Orchard Observations
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With Sera to aid them in their journey to the ruined orchard she takes them passed the 'gate and onto the Trail that should lead to where they need to go. But This is the Hedge, and from what they know, the Orchard hasn't been operational in months, longer probably now. They were hopefully trying to find a Hollow-that-wasn't, and in the Hedge that was less like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but a needle in a needle-stack.
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Presence
Striking Looks
Distinctive Voice
New Identity
Mantle (Spring)
Would the Orchard still be there? She wasn’t sure, she just knew going through the Hedge seemed like the safer route. Circe had put a lot of bullets into Anne. Like, a LOT. And while that had been two years ago, she didn’t know the state of the warehouse, who held it or anything. So best go, well, around, until they could get eyes on it.
But what would they find? Only one way to find out. So she came dressed for the expedition in black cargo pants with numerous pockets, they even had a small patch that was a water drop, steel toed boots and a long sleeve fitted black shirt. Her long hair had been tied back into two French braids, the newly formed green color blending effortlessly with the silver. The ears were hard to hide, but she was actually proud of them now, a side of her had awakened. Thankfully, it was harder to notice the slits in the skin behind her ears, that was taking some getting used to.
The spider silk of her Hedgespun coat cling to her upper body in a protective hug. The necklace around her neck danced with multiple colors, always shifting. A messenger bag was slung over her shoulder and had some supplies in it, even a couple of things for trading just in case. Best to be prepared for everything.
failure
Hedgespun jacket(+1 INT, +1 DEF), Hedgespun Necklace(+1 singing), dagger, steel toed boots, 2 bottles of water, bag of trail mix, gauze and medical tape, costume jewelry for trading(one necklace, one pin) sun catcher for trading, small tins(3) one with coffee two with tea (lavender and rose) notebook with pencil
Health 7
WP 3
Glamour 10/10
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Presence
Hidden Life
Distinctive Voice
Giant
Mantle
Harden Mask, Harden mask
Open gate, Pathfinder Catch met, Think really hard!, Understand the swarm, Ogre blessing + Scare off(wp), Troll tongueThis was going to be tough. A true test of his sense of self and restraint. Daily battles in which he contests with his own nature, sometimes in duels of words, sometimes in acts of physical control. And composure was not any Ogre's strong suit at the best of times. It would be tested today.
Somewhere on the brighter days when he won he knew she had not meant it but when someone rips apart of you away, trust goes with it. Only now he was going to knowingly walk into who knows what danger side by side with the one who had taken that part. It was antithetical to what instinct beat through his skull.
But he had said he would do it, promised to help and besides, Isn't that what he wanted? to help without just being used as a knee breaker or tool to inflict pain?
Uh. It's enough to drive an Ogre mad.
His leather shoes are shone bright, and he wears heavy jeans and flannel shirt, his long coat over all, knife on one hip, fire axe on the other, machete over the shoulder and hammer in his arms be it cutting thorns, breaking rocks or chopping through a door those obstacles, those would be no problem. Thee is one fairly significant change to his attire today though... the Hedgespun fedora of Autumn leaves with custom made holes for his horn nubbins and its sackcloth scarecrows is gone. In its place a patched and mended sleeping cap, perfectly mundane if not also clearly made to fit over his horns, and with springs of autumn leaves (the ones used to wrap the parcel) braided in with some care.
Today would not be the day to bring this into the open, to have it out, to much danger, to much else to strain his attention and focus but that, the cap, was his sign that the he was trying inspite of the worst of himself. That he would keep trying until ... well that's best not thought about.
To much to worry about indeed.
Calm, Calm. He intones as the director comes into view. Illusory candle flames spark around the ogre, tiny bursts of light. Remember she is risking today to, she leading this little expedition. She does so because she does care. And he makes the effort to listen to that voice over the hungry consuming shadows.
The looming giant approaches, not to close but close enough to ... deep breath through battered nose and forced open jaw, exhale and ... ''Uh. Hi Sarah.'' Normal conversation.
stats and equipment
Saber Sloth liked this post
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Presence
Striking Looks
Giant
Strength
Hidden Life
Beast's Keen Senses (Catch met), Pathfinder (Catch met), Armor of Element's Fury (catch met), 
Jasper knows very little about where they're trying to go. He trusts that Sera will let him know what he needs to know and so he arrives at the meeting point that had been arranged. He had sharpened his senses as he travelled, brushing his hand over the shirt he bought so long ago, one that he bought largely for a friend now gone but now he wears in their stead. He brushes his fingers over the canine on the graphic tee, using its touch to substitute as fuel for the shaping of his glamour into a clause. His fingers brush the inner fur of his leather coat, wolf fur to go with the wolfskin he fashioned the coat out of. The thought of that day also brings back memories of friends lost and still not found. His breath catches for a moment as his clause takes effect.
His senses sharpened, he lets out a shaky breath and starts to walk again He smells the Vernal Queen before he sees her, as he comes up along the hedge. The smell is familiar to him, freshly cut grass on a spring breeze, perfect for the season. His own mantle is less noticeable, decidedly weaker than the Queen's, scented with honeysuckle and something more primal. When he comes into the meeting point, he tenses ever so slightly at the sight of Kray. He had smelt the Ogre as well, but the scent was still fairly new to him. He watches those flames flicker around in the Autumn's mantle, lost for a moment in memory, before he shakes himself and he steps forward. His gaze is alert, his nose flaring as he takes in the scents around him. "Hello, Sera. Hi, Kray."
Stats and Equipment
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Sera, worried over Queen Anne and the possibilities that await them, notices nothing. Kray, looking to Sera as their guide, but remembering the end of their Oneiromachy lesson, is lead likewise
Jasper invoking his bestial senses, catching the bright hold Spring still has upon the Hedge, scenting how he and Sera belong, Spring and spring alike. Firmly setting the Ogre as out of place, with his Autumn countenance, his illusory flames.
But it's fairly evident that as they continue forward that they've lost the path.
I'm going ot need some more Wits + Survival rolls, and perception (remember clarity!)
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Presence
Striking Looks
Distinctive Voice
New Identity
Mantle (Spring)Seemed her senses were off. Maybe it was her mind being a mess of memories from the last time she was headed out this way. The last group she was with. The last person she was with. Her heart ached a bit, but she clamped down on that, this was not the time nor the place for such things. No weakness in the Hedge. And anyways, he abandoned her.
Thankfully, the appearance of Kray snapped her back into reality, back into where they were and what they were doing. She still wasn’t sure where they stood, nothing had been said since the Dream, nothing had been said since she had fixed his sleeping cap. But she had to hope maybe he would talk to someday.
Maybe that someday would be this day. For he was wear the sleeping cap she fixed. Here. In the Hedge. Aquamarines widened a bit in surprise, glowing a bit brighter. Was the gift accepted?
“Hi Kray, it’s good to see you.” Tone gentle. She wanted to ask how he was, but worried that might be too much. She had fucked up, she knew it, he knew it. And this would be hashed out when he was ready, and not a moment before then.
You know what makes a girl feel safe in the Hedge? Well, aside from Sonnie and Circe?
Two Giants. One an Orge and one a Beast. She was tall, close to six feet, but she was dwarfed by the two with her. But she felt safe and comfortable.
A warm smile to Jasper, “Hi Jasper, glad you could make it.” Would be fun working with her fellow Spring.
“So needless to say it’s been over a year since I’ve been to the Orchard, but I’m confident I can get us there. I’m hoping they haven’t started up operations again, Rhodes used an Autumn Contract on the trees, but, you never know with the Hedge. And the Orchard was connected via a Gate to the Warehouse Anne was using. So lots of moving pieces. I can try and answer questions as we go if you guys want.”
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Presence
Hidden Life
Distinctive Voice
Giant
Mantle Harden Mask, Harden mask Open gate, Pathfinder Catch met, Think really hard!, Understand the swarm, Ogre blessing + Scare off(wp), Troll tongueThe sound of approach as they are joined by Jasper catches him a little off guard, not being particularly aware of his surrounding and so it is not until the fellow giant speaks does he turn quickly to see who. ''Oh. Hey Jasper.'' Quietly glad for company on this trip, it would make things less difficult. Well I hope so. For the benefits of the beasts senses, the scent of raw meat and blood are on the Ogres breath, the sweat of stress on his brow and the odour of being more generally unkept.
To say he had no clue where he wears going would be entirely true it was why they needed Sarah, why he had to push through the jumble of emotions, find a way to trust she was not leading off track and hold himself in some form of composure inspite of the shared Ogre curse of finding that oh so very difficult. ''Yeah.'' Come on you can manage more then that. ''Thank you for fixing my cap.'' That was the easiest topic to broach an act of kindness. But he does not ask after her well being either. Such a small pleasantry, a common of conversation, yet a hazardous spark that set of a something much bigger, better had not here and not now.
The issue when your grip on lucidity weakens is telling what is real and what is not becomes just that much harder and it shows. Kray focuses on things that are not present, mutters indiscernibly to himself stops to investigate completely meaningless nonsense before moving on.
Suddenly amid his clearly incoherent behaviour an outburst. ''Uh. We are looking for remnants of Ann's crew right? Trying to see if this rust issues has anything to with them.'' And if it is what will we do with them? ''Or rule them out of the equation.'' They served an autumn queen, maybe they know something. ''Uh. If they farmed fruit, might be worth asking them what they know even if they are not involved?'' Providing we find any of them of course. ''Because that kind of seems like the skill set we need to know about right now.'' Why waste a trip if they aren't part of it, still something we could learn.
stats and equipment
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Presence
Striking Looks
Giant
Strength
Hidden Life
Beast's Keen Senses (Catch met), Pathfinder (Catch met), Armor of Element's Fury (catch met),
Jasper grins as he scents the smells of Spring in full force in the Hedge, his ears perking up as he looks around. It feels good and right, not necessarily safe, as it's still the Hedge but it's a Hedge he feels more at home at. The contrast of the Ogre's scent and presence is enough to make a lip curl, but he manages not to let it happen. The scents of meat and blood are not something he dislikes after all, sweat and odor are things the homeless Coyote is more than familiar with. It's the feeling of Autumn that seems most wrong to the Spring Beast. It might fit the Ogre, especially with how Jasper's reacted to him in the past, but out here, amongst Spring and its Courtiers, the Ashen Courtier sticks out like a bit of rotten meat. Again, not something the Beast is fully against, just obviously out of place.
The giant Beast follows along with the group as they start to explore, keeping close to Seraphina, whether consciously or not, it's hard to tell. He did notice a bit of tension between the Vernal Queen and Ashen Ogre. He didn't know the reason for it, but then he and the Ogre also had some tension so maybe it's just a mutual thing. "Okay.. And we're trying to find the Orchard or the warehouse or both?" he asks, glancing down to his Queen near him. As he walks and listens, he'll stray a bit towards the edge of the trail, pausing long enough to reach out and pluck one of the long and sharp thorns off of the brambles that always surround the Hedge. He winces as he does so, purposefully pricking his fingertip on the point of the thorn as he meets the catch for the clause he then enacts with surprising ease.
Stats and Equipment
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Sera knowledge of the local, she's quick to reorient herself, Kray still off balance, fails to do so. Jasper is quick to call upon the Pathfinder clause, blood fresh on the thorns stills as knowledge flows,
...a well traveled path is near...
...a blushberry bush is off the path...
...there is a group of hobs traveling the path...
...and a pack of briarwolves are hunting the hobs...
Even without the contract use, Jasper, like Sera glimpse the well trodden path northwest of their current location. Close enough that they're not really lost, but far enough that it's easy to see how they'd gotten turned around.
Kray liked this post
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Presence
Striking Looks
Distinctive Voice
New Identity
Mantle (Spring)How long was this going to go on? This back and forth? Because in her opinion, they should sit down like adults and discuss it. But, she had hurt him, and they were on his time table here, so she would have to simply bite her tongue and let him decide when he was ready.
“You’re welcome, it seemed important to you.” On some level, even a small one. And if not, then it was still a gesture of friendship on her part. For whatever it would be worth to him.
Nodding, “Yes. She had an Orchard at one point, and I don’t think we ever narrowed down what she was growing exactly. So, it seemed like a logical place to look.” And, well, why not. “Even if the Orchard isn’t functional, maybe we’ll come across a clue to lead us in a new direction.” Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? "Even in death, there were those who still seemed loyal to her, so they very well could be continuing with whatever she was doing, or doing something else." hard to tell.
Looking to Jasper, “The Orchard and Warehouse are technically in the same place. The Orchard has a barn, well, what’s left of a barn, that has, or had, a Gate that led directly to the warehouse. The Gate broke when Anne was killed, if we needed to get one up, we might be able to.” But yah, same area.
Pausing, she takes a moment to look around and figure out where they were. Well, as much as one can while within the Hedge. “There we go.” A translucent hand point towards the northwest, “There is a path right there.” It was so easy to get turned around in here.
Hedgespun jacket(+1 INT, +1 DEF), Hedgespun Necklace(+1 singing), dagger, steel toed boots, 2 bottles of water, bag of trail mix, gauze and medical tape, costume jewelry for trading(one necklace, one pin) sun catcher for trading, small tins(3) one with coffee two with tea (lavender and rose) notebook with pencil Health 7
WP 3
Glamour 10/10
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