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 Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 10:24 am
 It had taken Ikebana longer than he would have liked to find some kind of solution. He pored over various books and texts, spending long hours in his study, even sometimes zoning out during moments carved out for meditation and reflection. He couldn't quite pinpoint why it was that it mattered to him so much that he find a solution for capturing a mandragora. Was it truly so important?
Yes. It was. He wanted to find one and capture it safely. He wanted Mandrake to have one of her namesake growing peacefully in her garden.
Ikebana had tried various combinations, looked up all manners of plants and illusions and magical potions and scientific discoveries. It was enough to drive him mad. Until, one day, as he pondered the asymmetry of his latest creation, a possible solution clicked in his head.
He did not shout eureka. He did not leap forward and gallop to Mandrake's stable, full of bluster and gasping desire.
He turned the thought over, showered, put up his mane to keep it from getting dirty, packed some supplies, and trotted peacefully to her door. If she was not home, he had a pen and pad with which to leave her a note.
He knocked twice, politely, and waited with utmost patience upon her threshold.
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 10:47 am
It wasn't often that Mandrake had visitors.
Well, that wasn't entirely true but it was rare anyone visited that wasn't her own family. She didn't exactly work out of her home so much as did prep there and any homeopathic remedies she made were sold elsewhere in more bustling parts of Phonyland.
It was rarer, still, for there to be visitors this time of day. So, when the knock came, Mandrake took her surprise with her. The door opened and there she stood, orange eyes bright and curious, with a mouth full of lettuce. She raised a hoof to wave at Ikebana in greeting rather than speak, though some muffled sound of acknowledgement had been given. Once she finished the very unladylike portion of her meal, Mandrake's volume returned full force.
"Hi!" She looked him over, her attention lingering on his supplies. "Whatcha doin' with all that?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 4:06 pm
Well, for a good few seconds, there was chewing. Ikebana didn't feel like he needed to speak before Mandrake, and Mandrake clearly needed to chew the mouthful of lettuce she had in her mouth, and for those few moments there was a prolonged silence where only a soft, continuous crunch as the interluding music.
It would have dampened his enthusiasm, had he been the sort to burst with it. Instead, it gave Ikebana a moment to look at her, at the stable behind her, at the one unruly curl poking up from the top of her head. He pronounced it all charming.
"Forgive my intrusion on lunch," he said with a dip of his head. "I wanted to see whether you wanted to hunt for the mandragora today. I can come back later?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 4:17 pm
"Oh!" she exclaimed before he had even finished. As soon as the word 'mandragora' was set loose, she took up all of the enthusiasm Ikebana didn't give off. "No way! Just give me, like, two seconds. I'll be right back!"
With that, the door was shut. In the relative quiet of the cottage, save a few garden wind chimes, it was easy to hear Mandrake's scurrying hooves all around the floor. It was especially easy to hear a clumsy crash and a short yelp, but Mandrake offered Ikebana little time to respond to that as she opened the door again a short moment later. She wore a bag over her shoulder, filled with a big book and a few tools, and seemed raring to go.
"Okay! Did you come up with any ideas? 'Cause I think I got one." She didn't seem put off or confused by the abruptness of this visit at all. Quite the contrary, it she had been hopeful.
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 4:25 pm
Ikebana smiled despite himself as he heard the commotion within the cottage, but he managed to let that smile melt away before Mandrake Blossom opened the door again. He straightened himself and his own saddle bags and waited for her, turning toward the walk as she seemed ready to go.
"I did," he replied with a nod. "But if you have one, go ahead. Could be better."
He was willing, after all, to defer to her greater knowledge of plants and their habitats. He, on the contrary, was only as good as the books he'd studied. And, well, if they needed anything prettily arranged for a decorative aspect. Lame, he thought.
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 4:34 pm
When he confirmed but deferred to her first, Mandrake Blossom hesitated. She flustered grew fussy with a curl hanging in front of her face.
"Uh, well-- You came all this way by yourself, so yours is probably pretty good! You go ahead." It was difficult for her to admit, as much as she made light of Ikebana's calling, but it was obvious he had far superior techniques when it came to handling flowers. Most importantly, when it came to uprooting them, which would be a key factor here.
Mandrake might have been able to tell all manner of uses for it once it was out of the ground but that didn't do much for them now. As it stood, and as they walked, she felt self conscious. What if he thought her idea was dumb?
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 4:57 pm
They were both, apparently, trying not to look foolish. Ikebana wasn't sure why the dawning realization of that fact made him feel light-hearted, but something about it did. He was smiling although he wasn't particularly sure why-- he wasn't the sort to just walk around with a grin on his face--and he felt returned to the days of his foalhood when he spoke.
"I thought..." His usual laconic way of speaking seemed wrong here. Ikebana cleared his throat and tried again. "I read through some books. Afterwards, I realized all the bad things happen when you wake a mandragora by uprooting it. I thought, what if we dig under it and put it into a jar without waking it? That way you could have one in your garden but not have anything suffer."
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 5:07 pm
She wasn't smiling, at least not like he was. No, while Ikebana mused on some lighthearted nostalgia of younger days, Mandrake Blossom was staring at her hooves as they walked with her cheeks puffed out in anticipation.
As he explained his idea, that changed.
Mandrake looked at the tall, champagne stallion with her lips pursed. The further he made his point, the more her brows settled firmly into what could easily be construed as a glare. Her mouth fell open, all the trapped air she had in her cheeks escaping with a familiar pop. For several seconds, she merely stared.
"That's--" For all intents and purposes, Mandrake grimaced. She looked and sounded both unimpressed and downright disgusted with the suggestion. "--really smart." But that wasn't the case. It was the fact that she was impressed, that she genuinely did think it was smart that surprised her into donning such a rude expression and brusque tone. It was a completely unorthodox method, something that hadn't even once crossed her mind, and she thought he was the one caught up in tradition.
Not to mention, it was a heck of a lot more feasible than her idea. "Let's try it!" What did they have to lose, at this point?
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2016 9:29 pm
For a moment, as Ikebana finished speaking and he looked earnestly at Mandrake's face, Everything seemed to be a Mistake. He could practically hear the chords of 'Sound of Silence' slowly creeping up behind him as Mandrake's face turned into a terrible, horrible grimace. He had made a huge mistake and now was the time to go home.
He opened his mouth, still shellshocked by the reaction, when Mandrake managed to surprise him again. Relief crashed down on him like a sudden summer storm, and instead of a horrified apology, a sigh came tumbling out of him.
"Y--yes!" he managed shakily, turning back toward the path. His knees felt slightly weak with the pull of his relief. "Let's! I, ah... I was thinking we could try the thicker part of the woods first, but if you happen to have any better maps or directions...
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2016 9:47 pm
While Ikebana was internally tripping over himself with relief, Mandrake held her head higher and trotted with more self assurance. Now that they had a solid idea on their hooves, he didn't need to hear her probably silly idea and that made her feel much better about the state of their hunt.
"Actually, they're kind of fussy about that." Mandrake explained with a slight skip in her step. Now it was her turn to show she was knowledgeable and informed. "They don't like dense root clusters, so they tend to keep away from thicker areas. There's a big ol' grove we can look around in, though. I know the way there."
Mandragora liked high nutrient fallow land and most commonly grew around olive plants, she knew for sure. That certainly made the task of replanting one beneath the soil easier as they didn't have to deal with untangling root systems.
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2016 10:23 pm
"I see," said Ikebana, relaxing further as he was able to focus on the plant they were hunting instead of any other (quite ridiculous) thing. He nodded in agreement and allowed Mandrake to take the lead. "So I take it you've attempted this before?"
Usually, Ikebana was much more likely to walk along in silence than attempt conversation, but it seemed to him that Mandrake would not enjoy that. And, while searching for the plant of her namesake, it seemed natural to him that she should enjoy the journey.
"Oh--I brought wax earplugs, also," he said. "Just in case we do accidentally wake it. For while we're running as fast as possible in the other direction."
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2016 11:01 pm
"Mhm!" Mandrake responded without hesitation -- only then did she falter. "Well-- I went looking." She didn't exactly have the tools, resources, or ideas of how to go about it necessary at the time to make an actual attempt. As eager as she was, Mandrake wasn't stupid enough to try it all bare hoofed and unprepared.
At the mention of earplugs, she laughed. "Good idea!" They would certainly need something. "I brought ear muffs, too. They were, uh... all I had on short notice." Though they wouldn't do much on their own, maybe paired together the earplugs and ear muffs would make for better protection.
The journey itself wasn't a terrible one. Mandrake Blossom's cottage home was not far from the forest line as it was, quite purposefully, and though the grove in question did take a rather winding path to get to it wasn't stuck somewhere at the heart of the woods. The expanse was filled with flowering and fruit bearing trees, all of the greenery spaced enough to give animals plenty of grazing room and likewise plenty of room for roots to spread out. Patches of shrugs and brush lay scattered but thankfully it was flowering season for the mandragora and its distinctive purple blossoms would be fairly easy to spot in the sunlight.
"Ready?" Mandrake asked with a teasing grin.
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 12:43 pm
Ike was happy for the relative silence in which they hunted, as it gave him the opportunity to calm (calm!) his slightly rattled composure. It was completely ludicrous that he should be so dispossessed as he was, but he couldn't argue with himself--Mandrake was charming and the hunt was engaging. He hadn't done this kind of thing in so long. Or. Actually. Potentially ever. If he was honest.
At last they entered the area where their search would become more concentrated. Ikebana frowned gently, but the expression faded as he heard Mandrake's voice. He smiled and replied with an easy: "Absolutely. Tell me where is best to look."
His eyes turned toward the pathway, scanning for the mandrake's telltale blooms.
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 12:54 pm
She couldn't help but grin at Ikebana's calm enthusiasm. At least, she was reading it as enthusiasm -- his smile and agreeable reply certainly lent to it compared to someone reluctant, someone perhaps like her brother Lullaby who might shy away from such a venture.
"Good. Then, let's see..." she trailed off a moment and looked skyward. Mandrake's eyes trailed across the arch of the clouds and down to the open grove, over to the moss growing on only certain sides of the trees and felled logs in the area. "Okay, I think our best search area's gonna be there." She pointed a hoof to the western side of the clearing. "It's there and over here that the sun hits the best. How bout you take that side and I'll take the other?" There wouldn't be any point checking the entire perimeter; not only would the light not hit the plants as well there but it was also more densely rooted.
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 7:24 am
He smiled back at her readily and nodded at her instructions. In another moment, he was off and searching, slowly stepping his large hooves gingerly around the vegetation, trying not to disturb any of the existing plants. Now and then, he lifted his head to check on Mandrake's progress, too quiet to outright ask her what she saw.
The sun moved as they searched, and after nearly an hour, Ikebana--his hooves now muddy and his hide sweaty, felt like he could do a little screaming himself. He was getting impatient, but something told him that they were close and not to give up just yet.
He moved closer to her area, finally speaking: "I feel like this is right, but…"
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