ARTIO

THE PLANT MASTER

Master Artio drifted past Rift's group last, and looked over their work. She paused, fingers idly clasped before her, and watched with the faintest tick of a smile at one corner of her mouth as plants grew into full bloom, healthy mushrooms began to coat the forest floor, and clusters of berries began to appear in a burst of bright color across a shrub.

"Well done," she offered softly, from her place in the shadow of the trees. "Gather the others and return to where we started, when you are finished."

She moved off again, doing a final circuit to examine their work with a more critical eye--the work of all three groups. Inwardly, she was pleased. It was work she could have done, but it would have taken far more time and effort. Together, the Gembounds had quickly and easily spread and grown the seeds, digging the holes for them, warming and watering them.

Whenever they returned to her, they would find her somewhat relaxed, and pleased. Her head tipped in a nod of acknowledgment, and one hand lifted as if in some benevolence or other. "You have all done well. You have all earned your rewards; I thank you personally. Choose what you would like. I will teach you any spell I know, or grant a boon of the forest upon your forms. As for who has done the best..." She eyed them all, letting the moment linger for a bit of suspense. "It was difficult to choose. You have all done so well. But I believe The Eyes were granted more life, if only by a little. Your group, therefore, will reap two rewards today." She looked to Maw, Larkspur, and Marigold, and nodded to them in particular.

Ahh, how good delegation felt. A job well done, indeed.

Final Scores:

Rift, Titanite & Clementine: 91
Maw, Larkspur & Marigold: 100
Fahl, Chorus & Calamity: 94

[Quest]: Feeding the Maw is now complete!

Characters may post to choose their reward. Master Artio will then be posted one final time to grant these rewards in-character!

Maw, Larkspur and Marigold, as the winning team, may choose two rewards apiece. All other participants may claim one!

Reward options include a Minor Mutation, with some flexibility, in a plant-like theme, ex. a bark-like texture to the skin, leaf-like pelage, small thorns on the hide, floral scent, etc. Other options are any spell in the Plant category, or the Detect Radiation spell.

@Rift (Chorus) @Titanite @Clementine @Maw @Larkspur @Marigold @Fahl @Calamity

Clementine was cursed with a bout of odd shyness as Artio had come to check the group, but it gave her time to consider Titanite's question. She hadn't considered that people were certain things, that they could be categorised before. She first looked to Rift, a so-called 'cat-deer'. Idly, as she presumably followed the two back towards the meeting spot Artio had set up, she considered what made Rift 'cat-deer'. Truthfully, she didn't have much of a frame of reference for such things.

Her mouth made an odd, squiggly line instead of a smile when she finally answered Titanite. "I'm Clementine." It was an odd answer, but weren't all gembound made in a machine and spat out into the world? Was the Mechanic supposed to give her a designation?

She shook her head, her big ears flapping lightly as she did, and her neck twinging in protest. "You have pretty eyes." Clementine told the Tree Beast instead with a kind smile.

Then, she craned her neck up to Artio, "I'd like people to know I'm nice." She asked, very helpfully, before clarifying "My name is Clementine and I want to clean up the baths-- And if other people come I want them to know I'm nice, like flowers! Or fruit! Maybe a smell or-- Oh! Oh! Flowers like some of the others here, they look so pretty..." She nodded, looking from Rift, to Titanite.

@Titanite (interaction) @Rift (mention thoughts/feelings)

Clementine is asking to have orange flowers grow on her in some way (or to smell like oranges if that is too extreme for a minor mutation).

He nodded to Titanite, intrigued. "Designed after a plant?" Were creatures designed? He felt like that was something that Virosa had been talking about. "Yes, I'm a cat of a sort. I've just changed a bit." A bit was an understatement. The mask ever-weighed on his face, the bare antlers feeling...well, he didn't hate them, but thinking about them made him despise the mask further.

It was on his mind as they returned to the rest of the gembound and he was quiet as he considered something.

To Clementine, however, the idea he'd had some time ago emerged. His tail flicked behind him as he looked to her and stepped up next to her. "That's a great idea. I haven't been to those, but I think...a lot of places in the caves could bear to have some life returned to them. It's sad to have nature so isolated to certain caves while others are left to decay. And sad to have destruction brought here." He frowned. "We shouldn't have to regrow the forest like this again and again. There was once a group here that protected it, and it's gone now...but..." It was hard to say that he had been the leader of that group. Technically, he had, but not this version of Rift. The version that wasn't so close-minded and self-serious. He looked to the gembound gathered around. "If anyone likes that idea, of uplifting and protecting nature, not just here but all over the caves...and nurturing those that need sanctuary and safety, there is a place here we could gather. The giant tree, and the garden. There's safety there, and a good place to rest."

He looked to Artio. "And...may I ask something of you, Master Artio?"

(not pinging everyone but he's talking to everyone)

Pride bubbled up at being declared the winner, and Larkspur preened. From the vermilion berries decorating the trees to the smell of rain and fresh earth in the air, the signs of their success were all around the Eyes. "Yay!" they trilled, zipping in a delighted circle (and dodging the hanging branches all around at perhaps less-than-wise speeds).

The first Gembound to speak up and choose a reward seemed really sweet, Larkspur thought. She hadn't asked them, but they piped in anyway: "I think you're nice! And I like your name." Clementine. "It sounds sweet." Couldn't quite explain why, but it did. "You're cleaning up the baths? Can I help you? I know a little water magic too." Helping people was turning out to be a delight. Larkspur wanted more! And to make nice, sweet friends.

Hmm. As for their own rewards? Their leader had done what seemed like pretty powerful plant magic. Like the spell Larkspur'd used to make flowers and fruit, but it could make lots of plants grow much bigger. That seemed really cool. "Can you teach me the spell Maw just used to make all the plants grow really fast? And... oh, do you know any spells that I could use to help people when they get hurt?" It seemed like everyone got hurt so easily, from lesser rats to Larkspur's friends to even their fellow competitors here. They wanted to be able to do something useful for them if it happened again.

note: asking for Flourish and Weave
@Clementine (interaction)

Maw appreciated the sentiment and spirit of this event. With a mere nine gembound and a healthy dose of magic, Eridanus was now swept over with more healthy, un-Ordered life than it had been before. Maw did not cheer the way Larkspur did when the announcement of their win came through, but she did smile up and watch the bird's daring swoops. Oh, to fly so freely.

Clementine, who had likely figured out gardening by now although Maw hadn't explicitly seen it, wanted to refurbish "the Baths". Maw, who still licked herself clean during idle moments, did not understand what that meant. People seemed to take interest in it, however, so maybe it was a project—and a person—worth keeping an eye on.

Rift offered entry into a group that Maw might have liked, if only it wasn't confined to Eridanus. Eridanus wasn't exactly her thing, which was probably surprising. Pegasus had claimed more of her time and attention since the cave had opened. Eridanus was a little more muggy than what Maw was used to. But, this group she would also keep in mind.

Finally, Maw would step up to claim her rewards. "Maw," she would reintroduce herself in her particularly gesturing way. "Want to grow plants big," Maw made her arms wide, "bigger than normal. And move them." Maw had a dream... a dream of eco-based interior design. Pollinators made their homes in flowers and hives, in trees and bushes. Maw would love to do that too, if she could just find a big enough plant and a way to get inside. Some animals stabbed their way inside, or found hollows large enough for themselves to fit in. What Maw had in mind was a little more advanced.

~~~

OOC: Maw is asking for Growthspurt and Plantcharm.

When Fahl returned to Artio after his group put their finishing touches on the spot of Eridanus they'd been assigned to, he had to keep his head held high all the while. Letting the knowledge of how his foolishness had outstripped any attempt at innovation or efficiency drag his gaze to the ground was unacceptable, whether the slump in mood was presented to his peers or the Master he'd helped once before. Instead he hobbled into view, clinging to whatever dignity hadn't been unceremoniously peeled away by his blunder, injured foot maintained at a careful hover mere centimeters above the forest floor, and settled onto his haunches with a respectful nod to listen to the results of everyone's efforts.

Good that lizards weren't particularly known for their facial expressiveness, else the mentioned offer of yet another modification applied to his form would've evoked a grimace. It'd been enough to adjust to color-changing scales and fins that hindered him in mud just as much as they aided him in fishing, and although the thorns upon his hide had never been a problem despite the pain endured receiving them, he had no desire to chance being bestowed another potentially double-edged improvement. Furthermore, the thought of undergoing another adjustment period for his body sounded inconvenient at best and infuriating at worst. Magic, fickle as it'd proven time and time again, was preferable to that—and yes, even with his currently missing layer of flesh.

Speaking of which, the treated wound fresh on his mind guided his decided reward. "If I may... I ask for a magical method of healing. Not for myself, but others."

Although it wasn't the most immediately impressive spell to request learning, through his brief humiliation he'd received a healthy dose of practicality.

(Fahl's looking to learn Weave.)

Titanite trundled obediently to where he was bidden, considering his reward. He didn't need to be more plant-like. He was already... plant. But he'd noticed in this little outing that he was missing something many of the other gardeners had: the ability to grow plants.

It seemed so... basic, yet he didn't know how. So when his turn came, he requested just that.

"I would like... to be able to grow plants. To be large. Healthy."

His voice was rasping, but his gaze, earnest.

Titanite would like to learn Flourish!

ARTIO

THE PLANT MASTER

One by one, she considered their requests and granted them.

"The baths?" she queried Clementine, briefly puzzled. Tentative realization smoothed her features a moment later. "Ahh... Tunnel S? The hot springs, and the bathhouse? -Tram tracks?" and she smiled quizzically. "If you'll take my advice, you will gather a few military-minded allies and charge an entry fee. The baths, in prime operation, were always very popular. Now, as to your flowers..." A gentle wave of her hand, and a glittering cascade of what looked like bright green pollen drifted over the hybrid. "You will need to rest in your gemstone for this. Not for long; a pair of weeks, perhaps. You will awaken as you wish."

She drifted on, graceful, and held a finger to Rift at his request, as if to ask him for a moment's time.

She moved on then to Larkspur. "My magickal domain is not suited for healing, not particularly. There is this..." She swept down, kneeling before the little Swallow, and demonstrated: a twist of fingers, and grass sprouted, weaving and intertwining. There was a flicker of magicka with it, a Master's magical knowledge, so that Larkspur would grasp the spell, learning it effortlessly. "This, however, will do to close wounds in an emergency. Maintain the plant matter, or replcae it with something better. I advise seeking out Tenzin in his frigid pool if you wish to learn more of mending magic. And as for growth..." A flourish of power, a rising bloom, and understanding was granted. "Do you understand?" she asked, glowing green eyes flicking up to Larkspur's own.

"An easy enough request," was her response to Maw, easygoing. Two more demonstrations of magic were applied: the Master lifted a little flower to grow several feet high, while on one knee before the feline. A second flicker of magic, a wave of her hand, and the flower uprooted itself and lurched, not particularly gracefully, across the soil for a few 'steps' before replanting itself. "Well-earned rewards. Inform me if you need further explanation," she said, and there was a warmth to it--almost a smile--as she looked to Maw.

Fahl was given a gesture, back toward Larkspur. "The mending is as I mentioned. I will grant you the same--and make the same suggestion as to master Tenzin." But she knelt yet again, in a sweep of fragrant blooms, and demonstrated to Fahl the ability to Weave a wound closed... on the grass, anyway.

Last of all, Titanite, she stood before--there was no need to kneel, with him; he was large--and taught him with several sweeping, dramatic gestures how to shape the magic. The sprouts around his root-like feet rose high, and she studied him.
"I would have imagined you would take naturally to this, but it isn't your native element, is it-? How strange. But plants, on the whole, do appreciate their light." A grimace briefly crossed her otherwise placid features. "...if not Light's Master."

With the rest rewarded, she circled back to Rift, folding her hands delicately before her. She studied the green cat, and nodded once, inclining her head in a question. "Ask, protector." Simply said; then she waited.

Spells have been distributed. Mutations may be claimed in Update Me via the form! (I'd fill it out myself but I wasn't sure if they were orange-colored flowers, or flowers from orange trees-)

Mutation periods will have begun on the thread's start date, so as of this posting, the characters may be awake again, and mutated.

@Rift @Clementine @Larkspur @Maw @Fahl @Titanite

He dipped his head, and for a moment, having the Master herself name him "Protector" giving him a thrill of pride. "I know I was not a part of the winning team, but if you are offering us changes..." A paw came up to touch the wooden mask. "I've had this for a long time, but it doesn't feel like it should be there anymore. It belonged to someone else that wasn't me." It was the old Rift that this all belonged to, someone who was paranoid and wanted to be feared. Someone who didn't know what was right and wrong and wanted to hide himself away here. But Rift didn't want that. He didn't know what had driven his past self to be so secluded, what he had done to make so many break away from him, but he didn't want to be that anymore.

That was what he decided. He was his own Rift. And he wanted a new body to suit that new, not something borne out of fear and violence. "Will you...recreate me? In your image?"

Perhaps it was a lot to ask of Artio, especially when he hadn't exactly done the best job when she'd asked for the best. But he hoped his efforts to restore this cave, and to protect it from further evil, would net him enough respect to be given this favor.

A new light sparkled in Marigold's eyes, staring in wonder as seeds all around her erupted into sprouts, then grass, brush and moss all around, tickling her toes as they emerged. She danced around, kicking away the strange sensation of plants growing around her paws - like running away from the breaking waves on the beach, making a game of avoiding the thin sheet of water spreading across the sand.

The victory washed over her. She'd never considered herself a gardener, but it seemed she had an aptitude for digging in the dirt, or otherwise wallowing in the cold, smelly mulch of Eridanus.

Marigold mulled over her options silently, before blurting out her wants all at once. "I want to eat greens." Her eyes darted sideways.

"And I want his face." She gestured to Rift and his wooden mask, before realising the error in her phrasing. "I mean- I want… His face, to be my face. With the wood. Don't take it from him."

"Please."
----
Marigold is requesting the spell Digest, and bark-like growths on her face like Rift's (currently)