[OPEN] Inner Glow

[graveling]

Who: Angel and Y'all
What: Springtime shenanigans
When:Anytime between mid-March and the April Event
Where: Various
Warning(s): Mention of minor non-specific injury in first prompt.

1. Got to fill your cup and find the way out of your own maze [Temple]
Whatever one's reason for stopping by the Temple of Sacred Roots, there's a decent chance to find Angel there. Right now, he's doing a lot of cleaning that Degas hasn't had the energy or strength for--dusting high shelves and cabinets, taking down curtains to be washed, doing windows. After all, his beehives are mostly getting situated right now, so he has some extra time to turn to the physical space of the temple.

If you hear singing from where he's working, well. Yes, you absolutely do, but he'll pretend otherwise if called on it.

And perhaps you come on a day where Angel's sustained some minor injury, and there's an unmistakable golden glow as a cut or bruise heals. He does not bleed blood, but on sanctified ground, he bleeds light.


2. Now there's a category for every song [Flowers?]
Angel thought he knew what he planted on the farm, in terms of flowers. But something's popping up, especially near the beehives, that's unfamiliar. Pointed clusters of teal-blue flowers that seem eerily, perfectly bee-sized. It concerns him a little, which is going to lead to Research.

Perhaps you find him in the library, trawling through books about plants. Or if you're known to be a scientist or druidic sort, you're likely to be approached by Angel with a sample in hand. Either way, he's got some funky plants he doesn't yet understand.


3. Don't keep your aching, celebrating, wonder-making heart alone [Wildcard]
Find me on Discord to plot or just throw anything at me!

Comments

2

[decohere]

Guess who is at the library, curiously flipping through a book about bees in a section nearby?

"But how do you get the honey out..." spoken softly to herself.

[graveling]

"You remove the frames from the honey supers entirely, remove the wax caps on the honey cells, and use a honey extractor to spin the frames until the honey flies out of them into the extractor and can be collected."

He's a bit further into his research on the matter than she is.

"The beeswax from the frames can then be cut off and rendered, before you return them to the honey super and then put those back on the hive."

[decohere]

Oh, she hadn't expected anyone to actually answer, glancing over curiously at the man. "This seems more complicated than I anticipated..." Ava admits, understanding maybe half those terms and even less so in context.

"You got some of your own?"

[graveling]

"Yeah, just got the hives set up. If you see a book by Leomund Donder, that's the one that really made sense of the process for me."

The man is pale. Like, corpse pale. And he's not breathing or blinking. But he seems friendly!

"And if you want to look at my set-up sometime, I'm at Kasprak Farm."

[decohere]

There is something uncanny about the man as she studies and sizes him up, but nothing she decides is particularly concerning.

"Ah," Ava shuts the book with a flicker, drifting back to the shelf. The motion is blurred, a composite of herself repeating the action in just slightly a different way, the smallest hesitation before finding that correct spot to put it back. Fingers scanning the spines, one version of her searching left while the other moving down a shelf, looking for the author he found so helpful.

"With the chicks?" she asks, pulling out the book with considerable effort. She's back to one singular instance. Still. But noticeably faded.

[graveling]

"With the chicks. And with Eddie. Do you need help with that? You're...uh." He doesn't have proper words for what she is or isn't right now, honestly. Except, he's quietly pretty sure she isn't dead.

[decohere]

Not dead yet, but getting that way. She doesn't want to spend the time she has left moping around about it. She's died enough times now that all there is to do is keep going until she can't.

"No, no. It's fine," she insists, holding onto the book rather tightly so her grip won't slip. "The chicks are quite cute, getting so big. And Eddie was rather nice to show me how to pet them. Are you two...?"

[graveling]

"Are we what?" Angel has the most innocent face a dead man has ever levied at Ava, like he doesn't actually know how that sentence ends.

(Honestly, though, the end of the sentence does matter.)

[decohere]

Ava looks slightly embarrassed! But. Presses two of her fingertips from opposite hands together and makes a tiny little smoochy sound.

[graveling]

Angel's smile builds slow and doesn't linger, like his face is too heavy to hold it long.

"Yeah, that, we are."

[decohere]

Ava's a shameless shipper, and if there's one thing she knows about these sorts of interdimensional realm kidnapping situations, it's that people really love to hook up.

"That's sweet. You meet here?" Her fingers brush over the edges of the pages, trying to ease her typical meetingnewpeople nervousness a bit.

[graveling]

"We did. It's...yeah. Sort of the first relationship I've been in?" There's a shy sheepishness there, a lack of experience and confidence.

[decohere]

"Ah, it was rather new to me as well..." Ava nods supportively. "Feels like everything you're doing might be wrong or too much. Or not enough. Kinda messed up with my first one, because I got so anxious and didn't know what I really wanted or how to ask for it. But when you're with someone that's patient and helps you feel comfortable with communicating..." Ava smiles softly, because her impression of Eddie is somewhat biased by watching him handle the chicks, but it's enough to come away thinking of him as caring and careful.

"It's nice. Not being so alone anymore. Being able to express things that you've held so deep inside. Never thought I'd get anything like this, and now we have a farm..." a small laugh. "Even if I really have no idea what I'm doing."

[graveling]

"I don't think anyone on a farm knows what they're doing except our goat. And maybe, maybe my horse. But plants and animals like to grow. We just create conditions where they can."

[decohere]

A giggle, she figures it's rather easy for a goat to do goat things.

"Well I know plants and bees like each other..." Ava nods along. "And I figured it'd be easy enough, since I can't be stung."

[graveling]

“Hey, same hat. No functioning circulatory system for bee venom to affect. No inflammation or anything if they do sting me.”

Joys of being a dead boy.

[decohere]

"Ah, I was wondering..." kinda vague wave of her hand. Seems weird to point out somebody's not breathing because he's probably, you know, aware of that.

[graveling]

Angel reaches into a pocket and pulls out a business card to hand Ava:

SO YOU'VE NOTICED THE GUY YOU'RE STARING AT IS A CORPSE.

My name is Angel. I work at Kasprak Farm and the Temple of Sacred Roots. No, I am not a zombie. No, I'm not contagious. No, I don't remember being alive. Further respectful questions are welcome.

[decohere]

It takes a few tries, but Ava manages to take hold of the card. And blinks a few times to bring her vision back into focus, head tilting curiously as she reads. Zombie and contagious hadn't crossed her mind, but she supposes that's the sort of conclusions others might come to. She's used to Darcy, to Skulduggery. She's not particularly squeamish about these things.

"I'm not really sure what's considered respectful, so I'll refrain." She certainly doesn't want to hurt or offend anyone with her curiosity. "But it's nice to meet you."