middaeg | Octeuril Catch all [Open!]

Entry tags:

Octeuril Catch all [Open!]

Who: Everett and anybody!
When: Throughout Octeuril
Where: Aefenglom
What: Gardening, Kittens, Quests- many OTA prompts inside!
Warnings: NSFW in some threads, will mark individually as needed.

[All prompts in header are OTA! Closed prompts will be below and marked accordingly. New and established CR both welcome, plotted or not! Will match format, if prose is preferred over brackets!]

Rainy Days, Here to Stay
A. Gardening for fun and competition

[Everett's cottage was a welcome sight, coming back from Dorchacht. He hasn't been a mirrorbound for long and yet, it felt enough like a home to him. His garden had been well taken care of in his absence, but after gaining so much more experience with his magic in Dorchacht, he was ready to really expand. He could let his neighbors have the more beautiful garden, after all!

He'll be happily recruiting any who wish to help him, offering them garden boxes of herbs and tea plants to take home with them in repayment. His tobacco plants he's protective of, but the lilies are off limits!

If gardening isn't in one's skill or knowledge set, that's just fine, Everett seems to be new to it himself, mostly relying on his magic to grow and maintain his garden. All the same, he didn't want to keep draining himself, so there is a stack of literature bought and borrowed on the subject. He's happy for others to take a look, or to write out instructions transcribed, for home care of gifted plants!

They just need to be mindful none of those books get wet. Everett enjoys working out in the rain, but it's difficult to not trek in the water and muck straight into his tidy cottage...]

B. Shelter from the downpour (aka The Kitten Giveaway)
[Throughout the month, Everett will be out and about his yard. He's landscaping the front portion with verdant rose bushes and hibiscus and ivy to crawl up the front porch of his cottage. Soon enough, it's overtaken with more green and blossoming flowers than it is wooden structure. HIs front gate is always left wide open and welcoming.

On this day, it's really pouring. He spies someone stuck out in it, waving to them from under his porch. There's a basket in his arm and he's stuffing it full of... kittens? Seems a family of strays was taking shelter and he felt a need to help. The neighbors keep feeding the local cats, but this was the first Everett saw of little ones. They should really be brought in.

As should the poor person out in the rain! Everett waves them in, warmly greeting even a perfect stranger. He's always happy to make friends.]

This way! My cottage is warm, do take shelter. It really is coming down today!

A Questing We Shall Go
A. Garden Troubles
[Everett loves him some fresh preserves! He's also just a very helpful man, aiding the old woman with her troubles would be on his to-do even without reward. He's happy to see someone else willing to indulge her. He's glad others are so kind!

He does not expect the issue to be puppies of all things. The same from the dream, even! Same kind of creature, at least. Everett was already very fond of the petal wolves, so he's careful not to harm any while shooing the majority away. One remains and it's a particularly pesky one, he's in need of the other helper to chase the pup into his arms. He catches the dog around the midsection and swings the creature up in his arms, looking it over appraisingly]

Caught you, little one! This is no place for you.... [it whimpers at him and. Oh. Huh.

He could understand just what it meant! How curious that is.]

B. Habitat for Refugees
[While he's more than happy to be out of Dorchacht, Everett is not content to leave the refugees without assistance. They're in real need of support and mentorship, autonomy is a frightening prospect! Everett does not want them slipping back into familiar habits or finding new, worse ones. Aefenglom may be a better place, but it's not perfect and these monsters could easily be taken advantage of if they're not well looked after. Everett is assisting on two, main fronts.

Firstly, thrifting! He's happy to gather some money up of his own and kind donation of other volunteers, using every coin of it wisely. With so many yard sales around the city, it's easy to get practical goods and furniture at a bargain. The housing for the refugees should be well stocked with living essentials in now time! Of course, assistance hunting down good deals and even just moving so much furniture would be very helpful to him.

Second, he's doing much the same as he did in Dorchacht, brightening up the neighborhood with plant life! His focus is on planting herbs, tea plants, and fruiting trees. Plants the refugees can easily tend to themselves and harvest for the local market or keep for themselves. Everett's eye is steadfastly on providing the practical!]

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Of course you do, my dear. [Everett assures, helping to load up the cart further, though his curiousity makes conversation as they work]

What ever does that mean? Dudes-? I've not heard that term. [What a fun word, though! He immediately likes it.]

Go ahead and flip me over, if you can, S, Sokie- [he welcomes it, voice rough and edged with teasing challenge.

He'll pointedly reach to pin both her arms over her head, his hands firmly on her wrists. It's no fun to just let her win, after all! She'd know if he went easy, anyways, the connection between their bond and bodies would make it all too obvious.

That stream of eager emotion between them is liberating, to know he can (attempt) to restrain her without it being unwelcome or alarming. Everett's not a violent man, he just likes this sort of rough play, it's all too exciting to man like him, always so thrilled by risk and reward. It makes him all the more confident and assured, no need to hold back out of concern or uncertainty]

That I am! I was apart of the diplomatic team that went to Dorchacht a month prior. Having liberated these people, it is only my responsibility to continue and support them.

[Everett's not the most responsible person in Aefenglom, but he's always keen to be helpful and kind. Being sure the refugees didn't slip back into old habits and not be able to make it by, that's a duty he should be committed to!]

Are you from the newest batch of Mirrorbound? Or have I simply not seen you around, sir-? [he fishes for a name, before offering a handshake]

Silly me. Allow me a proper introduction, I am Everett Vaughan, ambassador of the Springtide Clan.

I would appreciate that! If you would not mind taking the kittens by the hearth? They were only just plucked from my rose bushes, I believe the need to be warmed up and dried off... [he'll hand her to basket he collected the little ones into, the creatures so youth they didn't even have their eyes open yet. The mother had hid in the bushes and gave birth, only for it to begin pouring rain. Even if he didn't have the new found ability to understand animals, Everett couldn't have ignored her cries in his yard]

With my hands free, I can go fetch their mother from the porch. [she was resting out there, but he's sure she'd appreciate being moved inside to the warmth where her babies were sheltered. Everett moves to do as much, but first gestures toward the couch in front of the fireplace]

Do make yourself at home, my dear.

I am so very pleased with what I've done, though there is always more to endeavor towards. [Everett can only grin with sincere pride, walking her through the space. He'd carefully landscaped and organized the whole of the space, though some was still in progress. He'd get to it all, eventually! Ever the busy body, this man, most Springtide where like that. There are less flowers in the back garden, his front yard mostly blooming roses and flowering hibiscus. The back was where he had mushrooms and tea plants, some tobacco as well. There's many the hanging flower and vine, pots and planters hung up to the trellis to give him even more room for greenery on all sides.]

Is your home a more barren sort of landscape?

What reserved people you have known! To not comment upon your beauty is a true shame. I shall need to make up for their folly in good time. [oh no, Jenn, you've just encouraged him to give more compliments whenever he sees you! What a cruel fate, to be doted on in such a way.]

I will hire you as a flower arranger, if that would please you. I've applied for a space in the Haven, to house a florist and small cafe. Should it be approved by the Coven, consider yourself on board.

[The morning was an odd one, Everett not certain if his rat-like changes would last, but not exactly fretting for it. What had him more concerned was the fear and distress felt through his bond, the previous night. He'd been worried sick about Myr, but hadn't been able to find him.

Much to his relief does he feel his beloved close by. Or, so it seems, the bond feeling odd and weak given they had yet to renew it. The potion was likely dulled and near fading away completely. To Everett, it's the utmost priority to seek his bonded before then and be sure he's safe. There's rushing out into his garden at the feeling of Myr being close, calling out as he strode without much caution, looking-]

Myr? My dear-? Are- [he's... really not expecting the creature he sees, rounding the corner of his flowerbeds. A skull headed monster, with long antlers-

Everett's voice spilled out on pure, thoughtless impulse and shock]

Ah.... A, Adelheid-?

[ ... It's somehow hard for him to believe a land like that could exist at all, let alone the fact people could survive like that. Without any rice, even. ]

So, uh... does that mean that you've never seen the sun?

[...Oh, no. He hadn't really thought this one through, had he?

There's a rustling among the foliage as Myr hears his name, lifting his head at the sound of it (though his ears are dropped low with dismay). He does not want to be seen this way--but neither, and much more strongly, does he want to run from Everett. Eyes blink open as Everett draws near--funny, that they hadn't met in dreams, yet; so this would be Myr's first and fractured sight of him--

Though it would seem as if the older man hasn't been left unchanged by the mist, either. That's... he's still very handsome, Myr thinks, somewhat dazedly. Very furry, but very handsome.

He does not know what to make of being called by someone else's name, nor the feelings that seem to go with it on Everett's end of the Bond. (Shock, he expected. He doesn't look good this way.) So he doesn't--ask, for now, instead raising his chin a little higher and steeling himself against whatever comes next. He can't...quite bring himself to speak, he finds, the words I'm here stuck in his throat for anticipation of disgust, horror, rejection.]

I have, but many of my people have not. I traveled all across the Below Lands and Above World, as apart of my work as a Diplomat. [he explains as he prepares to the food to be served. The salmon would be served uncooked, as Everett likes it best that way, marinated more like a poke than like sushi, it would be good tasting, regardless.]

The first time I saw the sky I was nearly twenty. About your age? I am guessing. [how old are you, Wataru? You have a baby face...]

[Myr can brace for those reactions, but they won't come. Everett's bafflement falls away to wonder and intrigue. Not Adelheid, no, but-]

My apologies, I mistook your beauty for another. What a magnificent creature you are... May I approach? [he doesn't really want to meet the wrong end of those horns, if this visitor is a jumpy one. While he's cautious, it's more out of consideration for the creature than fear for himself.

"Monsters" had never much frightened him. And he finds such astonishing beauty in the macabre, he can only wish to study this new company]

[No--no, that isn't the reaction Myr expected at all, and it leaves him bewildered and awed and humbled all at once.

If he believed Everett had an inkling of who he was he--would not assume deceit, never of his Bonded, but he would wonder if this wasn't a species of tender kindness. But Everett doesn't recognize him and thinks him beautiful all the same...

This is a man who finds a horror in his garden and thinks only to admire it without fear.

The thought makes Myr's heart contract in his chest, his love for his Bonded sudden and sharp and nearly painful in its intensity.]

You're always welcome near me, dearheart.

[It is, and isn't, Myr's voice, clotted and doubled but still recognizably his.]

[Dearheart- now that strikes Everett all over again. Baffled twice over, though when he realized, he laughs, vibrant and relieved! He practically jumps towards the "creature" in his garden, elated]

Myr! It is you that I felt so near to me! [he's quick to rub his hands to the skull snout before him, lovely indeed]

How terribly worried I've been, my darling- are you well? Need you come inside to rest?

[If any doubt at all remained about the creature's identity, it's surely dispelled when he leans his head gladly into the touch. (Though his skin twitches, once or twice, should Everett's hands come near his empty eye sockets.)]

I'm sorry, [to have worried Everett,] Didn't want to be seen this way. Everyone ran.

[Needless to say it would have broken his heart if Everett had, too, whether or not he was braced for it. But that outcome, he knows now, was an impossibility from the start.

He leans more into his Bonded's touch, unutterably grateful for that realization.]

Will rest here, if I can. Feels more like home. [By which, he's dimly startled to realize, doesn't mean Hasmal or even the alienage but Nature herself, spread out beneath a wild sky. It's better out here.]

I wouldn't mind at all! Leave it to me.

[She gently takes the basket, careful not to move it around too much. Looking at those cute newborn faces is enough to just melt her heart.]

Thank you very much, I'll do just that.

[Or that was the intention. But she moves to place the basket safely by the fire and ends up staying with them, using the scarf she'd gotten enchanted to protect from the rain to gently dry the little kittens until they can be reunited with their mother. She can't deny the fire feels nice for her too; drying her a bit.]

[ That was quite a late age to be seeing the sun for the first time... Wataru can't really imagine how Everett must have felt then.

His eyes follow the man as he keeps preparing the food, watching his back. ]

I'm twenty-three. So... close enough?

[ The baby face nearly deceived someone, again! ]

[ ... Rats.

Well, he's put up with worse. And the mention of a job has his ears pricking. Something to do is something to do and it isn't a far cry from the kind of work he did back on Tierra anyway. It's honest work, a decent use of his skills (not as good as actually allowing him to get his swords out, but close enough). ]

Very well. I'll bring Red Wine.

[ The Jerk, not the drink. ]

[Oh gosh. Being called 'dear' again. Rich tends to find he gets very attached to people who refer to him so gently... he is going to try not to let it get to him now, though.]

Oh, uh, dudes are basically how I refer to my friends! Usually guys, but I think it can be used for anyone if they don't mind. My friend Brooke let me call her my dude all the time.

[ Caster shares the laugh, it's full of delight and he even claps his hands. It feels like he's being complimented, truly ]

And you are right on so much of that! Never change Everett! [ Never change garden warfare. Even if his Fae side made it a little more on the extreme side, even on the normal day he enjoys their routine ("routine") greatly. When did the competition of who has the prettiest garden escalated so far? ...hard to say. ]

But do not doubt my intentions, I never lie. [ Sticking to half-truths, or omission is totally fine in his book though ] This indeed is an apology, as some of my spells went haywire.

[ There is a difference between accidental sabotage and deliberate one. Even he has limits, exploding tomatoes are funny, but doing actual damage is against the (unsaid) rules of fair competition. So he hands the round package to Everett, should he unpack it he will find a small but sturdy statue that could be that of a highly stylized wild pig— it has other uses never meant to be "pretty" ]

Winter is coming so to keep your garden lush and green even in these dark and cold days I've enchanted this decoration. It will radiate warmth and I, or any other Witch, can charge it easily.

[The polite thing to do here would be to praise Everett's sense of responsibility, or kindness. Fugo doesn't; he just nods in agreement, as it only makes sense to him. There's not no point in rescuing people from hardship and then later refusing them aid, but in many ways that would be crueler than leaving them to their original misery. He's more curious about the operation itself, although the conversation quickly changes to introductions.]

Pannacotta Fugo. Napoli, Italia. [His eyebrows touch together, as if he's considering something, before he decides on:] ... I work as an accountant, although I don't represent the city.

[Fugo accepts the handshake, then shrugs.]

Yes, I'm one of the new ones. These porch sales are a lucky break. [What with... the winter. And arriving in the city with whatever one has in their pockets, which for him was a grand total of... nothing.] And would you happen to be from one of the older batches?

Ooooh. Denial makes you a fiesty man.

[She laughs, her gaze wild and her teeth bared as she takes the situation in. It's not so much the rough play he's into that he enjoys a challenge...And maybe a little thrill of what she may do. She can be unpredictable.

Especially because she doesn't try to flex and wrestle her arms free right away. Instead, her legs come around, and move to pin him around the hips, a heel digging into the small of his back.]

Don't worry. I'm up for it.

[With a wink, she tried to suddenly jerk his weight to the side using her hips and legs. Gosh, this was fun.]

In such a short amount of time, no less. Perhaps when coin lines my pocket, I'll have to persuade you to offer the same treatment to my dwelling.

[ It was honestly admirable — for him to root himself here and find comfort to grow. Her eyes scan over every blossom and leaf, over every petal and thorn. ]

Yes. I have been across many lands to get closer to my home, but all of them barren in their own ways. The Great Grass Sea nothing but green, but no shade or trees. The Red Waste unforgiving sand. The way to Dragon's Bay all cliffs and water. Dragonstone, all rocks and sand. No greenery such as this — a diversity, if you will.

What fools! To run for this beautiful visage, [Everett's scoffs, only to move to praise, nuzzling his long snout to Myr's boney face. At once, he moves to sit, staying close and so relieved that his bonded has returned to him safely. Tired and in need of comfort, but those are things Everett can help with.]

I will give you all my company and attention, fret not. Can you eat or drink in this form? Should I get you something? [get yourself a ratman who will take care of you like Everett will]

[Retreating to the porch, he'll return with the parent cat bundled up in his arms. Crossing back, Everett joins Towa in front of the fire, letting the mother sniff at her kittens before returning to settle in his lap. Added warmth for her and Everett will indulge her in some soft petting, she deserves the rest.]

Do they all look well enough? I'm no veterinarian, but I could give someone a call to come by and look a them. [they all look well at a first glance, Everett adjusting his glasses some to get the fog of rain off them. All moving about, breathing evenly? Just in need of a dry off and further warmth, he hopes]

Twenty three! [he sounds very much in disbelieve]

I must confess, I was being generous at twenty. Genuinely thought you to be eighteen or less. Whatever goddess did you seduce for such a youthful blessing? I'm terribly jealous. [and that's coming from Everett, who really doesn't look forty, maybe mid-thirties due to the crows feet edging the corners of his eyes...]

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Octeuril Catch all [Open!]

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