[ open ] When you light a candle...

[darkcharge]

Who: Vanitas + Open
When: All Iuneril
Where: Various
What: Open Quest Prompts + Closed Prompts | Hit me up at jardaan if you'd like!
Warnings: TBD



( On Fleece )

[ This isn't the first time there's been something going on with the sheep, right? Well the first time Vanitas hadn't been all that interested. Honestly he's not all that interested this time either. However, the reports of sheep with fangs has sort of piqued his interested. The only reason that Vanitas is there is to poke some fun at people. He has no intention of actually helping. So that's what he does. He'll see someone intimidated by one of the wooly beasts and then he jeers. Vanitas mocks and teases. Because that is the sort of person that he is. Who could possibly be afraid of these things?

Of course the tables turn a little, don't they? While Vanitas doesn't help anyone out - not one bit - he seems to have his own following of sheep after some time. They eventually block Vanitas in and he shoves at them. He's not nervous about their forward attitude. ]

Go away! [ Oh they aren't budging. ] Come on! Get lost!

[ The sheep aren't going anywhere. In the process of Vanitas trying to get them to go away, one licks his cheek instead. ]

Augh! Gross!

[ He might have forgotten about the fact that animals like his aura, okay? ]


( Berry Picking )

[ Seems like all of the bakeries are wanting these iunerberries. It feels like pretty tedious work, so Vanitas doesn't really take any interest in it at all. However, when one of the shops is offering double? That is when he takes notice. How hard can it be to pick some berries and get some money for it, after all?

Hence he is out in the fields, with what feels like a bunch of people. Vanitas' basket is coming along fairly well, but he is trying to keep to himself. There are a few people that Van can get on okay with, but for the most part groups still annoy him.

Come bother him? All he's doing is plucking berries. One in particular catches his eye. Just what do these iunerberries taste like? ]


( Candle Crafts )

[ After Irhya drags him to this activity the first time, Vanitas will stop by now and then. How many people have told him that he needs to find a hobby? Thancred sure seems to have been encouraging it. Vanitas would prefer to do something other than create candles for a holiday that he knows nothing about nor cares to but whatever.

He doesn't take to carving anything or designing. Vanitas is pretty content with just the pouring aspect. The staff teaching those that are wanting to learn are used to this, but are trying to coerce Van into learning how to design as well.

The look on his face is one of disgust. ]


( Silent Forest )

[ Vanitas is going to be going out each and every time an infusion is requested. Each and every time he's going to say this: ]

I don't need any help. I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself. Go find someone else.

[ At least that's what his response is to anyone that approaches him. Yet in the end that isn't going to work, is it? In the end someone is going to be stubborn enough to work through his prickly exterior and come along with him, huh? Thus here he is, in the company of someone that he never asked for, walking through the forest. ]

The leyline should be somewhere around here. Let's just get this done and go.


( Wildcard )

[ As always, I am open to any and all ideas. If none of the prompts tickle your fancy, just throw something my way and I'll roll with whatever. Or just get with me and we can do something else! ]

Comments

[omnicrafter]

Yes, I know that must sound exceedingly bad in your ears, but-- Oh.

[She starts talking before he acquiesces as if to try and convince him further, only to find it isn't necessary. So she claps her hands, her tail twitching under the cloak.]

Great! I mean, why not?

[Well, he isn't Mr. Enthusiastic as a rule, but it'll do. Maybe he'll actually turn out to like it. She continues the rest of the way down the stairs and grabs the knob of the front door.]

Let's go!

[darkcharge]

[ Oh? Had she been about to try to convince him more? Van huffs out a laugh. Throwing people off balance is never something he won't enjoy.

Unlike Irhya, there's really nothing for him to grab. It isn't as though the sun will damage his skin any. So he'll just follow her to the front door, hands in his pockets. No, he isn't the most enthusiastic, but there really isn't anything for him to do. At least he can earn some cunes this way. ]

Go ahead and show me where to go.

[omnicrafter]

Yup. This way.

[Having had enough experience exploring large city-states that this one is pretty simple in comparison, Irhya leads him at a surprisingly brisk pace to the Shine a Light On candle shop in the shopping district, which has a brilliant arrangement of lit votives, glasses, and pillars of varying colors in both windows. When she opens the door, they are immediately hit with a soothing aroma, one of melting wax and something less identifiable. The smell of a weathered building, perhaps, of old wood and brick-and-mortar and a small variety of common oils blended lightly together.

There are a few people seated at a long table working on their own candles, pouring waxes and animal fats of many colors into glasses and melting cubes of the materials over a controlled flame. Not many, but there's not an awful lot of conversation going on, as engrossed as they are in their tasks.]

So, you saw the display, right? Were there any in the window that drew your eye? We can probably go take a closer look if you want so you can smell them, too.

[darkcharge]

[ This, of course, doesn't bother Vanitas. A brisk pace is likely for the best. As mild as his temperament can be at times, he still loathes people. He still feels awkward and irritable in crowds. This is the real reason that he barely leaves the house if he can avoid it. So yes. Irhya's pace is a good one for the both of them.

When they arrive, Vanitas scrunches his nose as he's assaulted with the scent of something. He's never taken note in the past whether or not a candle had been scented. Now he sees the mistake... Sort of. It's a little overwhelming.

So much so that he nearly misses what Irhya has to say. ]

What do you mean by drew my eye?

[ Had he supposed to have been looking for something here? ]

[omnicrafter]

Uh...

[Okay, maybe that was a silly thing to ask. She sighs, turning and walking past him towards the table to examine the stock of scented oils.]

Never mind, let's... start with something different. Are there any scents you really like? There's a pretty vast selection here, and it's not just flowery shite.

[She focuses on the shelf, thumbing through the bottles.] Looks like they have stuff like... foods, nuts, spices... fresh earth, cut grass, rainfall... laundered linen... Oh, there's one that claims to be the scent of a cat's fur. Maybe I'll try that one.

[darkcharge]

Aren't you half cat though? Why would you want something that smells like your own fur?

[ However, he is going through all of the shelves, looking at the different scents. Cut grass? No. Rainfall? Heck no, too similar to Aqua's Keyblade.

Then he meanders towards more of the food and spiced scents. Vanitas sees one. Blueberry pancake. Oh it can't possibly...

He plucks it off of the shelf to look at it. ]

[omnicrafter]

I am not half cat, and it does not smell like my own fur! It's... it smells different.

[Listen, she's an expert, she would know.

She does notice something has caught his attention, though, and her eyes drop to the bottle in his hands, leaning over to take a peek.]

Found something good? What is it?

[darkcharge]

You're definitely not pure cat...

[ But she's still a cat! Being a vampire kitty doesn't change that fact! She even acts like a cat from time to time, though Vanitas hardly has any room to talk on that front, does he?

Anyway he holds up the candle for Irhya to inspect. ]

Haven't tried smelling it yet.

[omnicrafter]

[She casts him a flat glance, but takes the object out of his hands and pulls apart the lid, holding it to her nose. Her eyes close as she breathes it deep.]

Ah... blueberry and maple. That's nice.

[Instead of putting the cap back on, she offers it back to him.]

You gonna go with this one? Give it a whiff.

[darkcharge]

[ The flat glance is returned with a cheeky one of Van's making. He isn't going to stop being a brat entirely, right? Yet he watches her sniff the candle and she seems to enjoy it so...

Vanitas leans forward and takes a sniff. It does vaguely smell of maple and another sort of sweetness. ]

I haven't decided yet.

[omnicrafter]

[Obnoxious twerp. She turns on her heel and goes to pick a fragrance from the other side of the shelf, ears positioned just low enough to indicate she's sulking.]

Well, I'm gonna pick something out for me, then. Let's see...

[She's in a sort of mood, so it doesn't take her long, going through maybe four scents before settling on one labeled Cotton Poplin. It's definitely got something of a setting to it... like a full clothesline fluttering in the wind on the edge of a beach.]

Just take a seat when you're ready and I'll show you what to do. They already have everything set up, it looks like.

[darkcharge]

[ ...Look. He's going to get this blueberry pancake one. Just because it holds some kind of significance. Vanitas might not burn it though. What does one do once a candle has completely run its course.

Seeing Irhya sulk does make him snicker. Sometimes it's good to know that he can still get under people's skin. Just because he can. It's nothing personal against her thought, If it had been, then he would have been far nastier. This is just teasing.

Still! Once he is ready and has made his purchase, Vanitas sits down. Waiting. ]