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 Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 12:35 am
PERNIKLE FAMILY FARM OPEN A farmhouse with a barn on the outskirts of the two kingdoms Carmillion and Eldrin serves as a farm as well as a home for the couple who runs it. The farmhouse itself is painted in pastels while an old brown barn sits on this plot of land. As far as farms go, this one is relatively modest. There are a few different fields of crops, but then main yield of this place seems to be the pumpkin harvest. For some reason, the entire farm smells faintly of Witches, the race that came to wreak havoc on the world.
This property is open to possible customers as well as family. Thanks for stopping by!
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Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 11:11 pm
* Sōji Hashimoto * ------------------------------------------------- "You may say that apathy is a disease, but I think emotions are. They confuse you, make you say things you don't mean, and they cause people to become invested in each other when they don't need to be."  ---------------------------------------------
Sōji was tirelessly hacking away at the stems of pumpkins, trying his best to carve away their roots so that they would be easier to pluck from the ground. After all, they had sold quite a number of them over the last few days and their shipment needed to go out soon or they would be behind. As such, his tireless job had become twice as tedious as it had before, demanding far more effort from him than he could have anticipated. I didn't sign up for this, not any of this. I was supposed to live a cushy life, with a cushy job, and no cares in the world. This kind of physical labor is best left to those that dedicate their lives to being idiots. Sōji thought to himself as he lifted pumpkin after pumpkin up, carrying each one over to a cart. All he needed to do was the load the cart up and tell the old man that it was ready to be transported. Then he could take a break, probably drink some sweet beverage that the old lady had made during the day, and try his best not to think about how much he missed his former world. Just a few more... and then I'll be done for the day.
What did not help his situation at all was the stalker that had started showing up around the farm recently. While he had not noticed at first, he slowly began to realize that various possessions of his were turning up missing, sometimes for days. He would always get them back... but they would have a scent on them, something very different from his own, very effeminate. Sōji had originally assumed it was the old lady... yet he had never smelled the fragrance around the farm until his possessions started blinking in and out of existence. Even today, Sōji could not find one of his history books that had fallen into this world with him. While it did not matter too much whether or not he had it, it troubled him that such things were just disappearing for days at a time, as if someone were taking them to read through them all. What was the point though? The subject only served to frustrate Sōji, and he would rather avoid it at all costs. Even if I am being stalked by someone, it's best not to try and confront them and just let them do what they want. Once they finish taking all my stuff, they'll probably tire of me and leave me alone. Sōji thought to himself as he loaded the last pumpkin onto the cart.
"It's ready old man! Just take this stuff over to Carmillion." Sōji called out to the man, backing away from the cart as the old man started leading the horses forward. It was not long before the cart was moving along at a nice pace, and the old man was quickly disappearing from sight. "Now I can finally enjoy some piece and quiet for a couple hours... maybe even a day if I'm lucky. The old man won't be back for a while if he's going to deliver that stuff to Carmillion. And he didn't even leave me any work to do while he was gone. What kind of luck is that?" Sōji began muttering to himself, very content in the fact that he was free of physical labor for the time being. Of course, the old lady could easily remedy that situation by giving him more work to do, as she was in charge of the farm as well. While that was something that could happen, Sōji thought it was very unlikely to occur. She seemed to have taken a liking to him for some odd reason, and tried her best to pamper him rather than actually make him work. It made him think of some dotting grandmother or something like that. Not that I'd know what that's like. Sōji thought to himself as he began to stretch his arms while standing in the middle of the field.
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Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 4:40 pm
Ϻ A R G A R E T __ G R A F I N E ⓜ ⓘ ⓝ ⓞ ⓣ ⓐ ⓤ ⓡ ◇◇◇ I so hit the jackpot here! Maggie thought to herself as she thumbed through the pages of the history book she'd gotten her hands on. Normally, the minotaur found such a subject to be boring and useless, but not this time! Although, it didn't help that most of it was unreadable to her. No, there was a place for more interesting than Yuki no Okoku! It seemed quite similar overall, but it had technological advances as Carmillion or even Eldrin. At first, Margaret had thought such a place might be connected to Yuki no Okoku, perhaps a sister kingdom they'd kept secret for their own protection during the establishment of communications. The styles of writing from both places were at the very least alike. There was something curious about the place, however, for it seemed fundamentally different than anywhere on the continent. Even the maps in it made no sense! She'd holed herself up in the barn to have a decent place to read without getting caught, lounging in the upper part of the barn, Maggie continued to flip through the pages. The tail that was usually hidden by the tails of her coat could be heard making a distinct swishing sound as the text piqued her interest. There were a couple characters she could read, but overall, the photographs and examples of art throughout the thing were mostly only on what she could focus. I do not know more than the general knowledge of magic and magecraft. Such things are beyond me, but perhaps this sort of place has something to do with them! It can not be anything short. This guy, Soji... to have such wonderful things on him, there must be something more to him than just a cute farmboy. If he was a magus, then he was definitely Mage-material! He was already her type which is why she'd stuck around in the first place, but there were many confusing things about him that led her to believe that he might be a magus or a scholar at the very least. A sudden voice tore her attention from the strange map she'd been studying. Up until this point, all that could be heard outside were the sounds of manual labor. It seemed the work was done for now.
That was one thing the young man did not seem fond of doing. Even now, his muffled voice sounded grateful that he was done work for the day. Through the cracks in the barn's paneling, she could just barely make out Soji stretching out in the middle of the field some distance away. To be fair, all Margaret could really see was a dark blur, but his scent was there. That one was a strange case to crack. He smelled more like magic than cute Yuki boy, and it coated most of this area. Those were not the sort of things the mino dabbled in, however, so the reason for this was completely beyond her. No, her interests lay in the book about this place called Japan. "Hmm..." Maggie's gaze moved up to the cracks in the ceiling, lines of light covering her body. It was nice and sunny outside today. The weather was beautiful but probably not very good for hard work. At least it was nice and cool in the barn, great atmosphere for reading! Has he noticed that his things have been going missing? I have been returning them...despite wanting to keep one or two. I'm no thief, after all! I am tired, though. It's so nice up here, I could just fall right to sleep. I wonder if he'd tell me about these things if I just asked. No, no! Can't do that... Then he'll know that I've been going through his stuff, and I'll look creepy. "Hey, there. I know we've never spoken, but tell me about the place you're from and maybe be my Mage?" That would certainly look suspicious, even Maggie was capable of seeing that! "Sometimes the hardest battles we fight are against ourselves..."
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Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 9:33 pm
* Sōji Hashimoto * ------------------------------------------------- "You may say that apathy is a disease, but I think emotions are. They confuse you, make you say things you don't mean, and they cause people to become invested in each other when they don't need to be." ---------------------------------------------
After stretching for what seemed like ten minutes or so, Sōji figured that he had worked out the kinks in his muscles from all of the hard labor he had taken part in. "I guess it's time to head inside..." Sōji muttered to himself... but found himself staring at the old lady. Great. I wonder what she wants me to do. It doesn't look like she brought me anything to drink... so she obviously has work for me or something like that... Sōji thought to himself, taking note that the old woman's hands were suspiciously lacking a cold beverage of any sort. While she still seemed to be in a rather nice mood and chipper, she obviously wanted him to do something for her before he was allowed to stop working for the day. That rang true when she asked him to head to the barn and fetch a few things for her. She needed a stepladder, a few knives that were in the barn, and he needed to bring some hay that she was going to use to cushion a basket. Overall, it did not seem like it was going to take too much effort on his part, and it was something rather simple.
"Right... I'll get it done." Sōji stated to the old lady with a rather half-hearted tone to his voice. The young man had been expecting to get off for the day... but instead he was going to spend a bit of extra time helping out around the house. While this did not make him too happy, at least she was not making him snap a chicken's neck or something equally unpleasant. His life could have been a lot worse on the farm. I just have to keep up this little act I committed to. As long as they think I'm some adventurer that did not make it big, I can stay here just about as long as I want. I've pretty much got it made. Sōji thought to himself as he turned towards the barn and began to walk towards it. When I first showed up, they were pretty skeptical about letting me stay with them, and they didn't really seem like they believed me when I told them I came from a nearby land. They even said that my clothes looked weird... which is kind of worrisome. Still, I've gotten their trust over the last month...I can't afford to mess it up now. He thought to himself, trying to figure everything out in his mind.
After a few minutes of walking, Sōji finally made it into the barn and walked into the building, yawning a little bit. Having worked for a while, he had grown fairly tired over the course of the day. Let's see... stepladder... stepladder... Ah... There it is. He thought to himself as he began to move around the building, looking for the things he was assigned to search for. While it did not seem like too difficult a task, the crowded barn made it very irritating to try and locate anything. Animals blocked off a lot of places, and some stuff was simply too difficult to locate in the midst of all the other farming equipment around. Just locating the knives was a difficult task, one that he might not even be able to accomplish. "Who leaves knives in a barn anyway? That's like telling the animal that you're going to wring their neck. Kind of barbaric to be honest..." He muttered to himself as he searched through piles of junk and equipment, trying his best to locate the items the old lady wanted him to find. This is impossible... I'm never going to find this stuff. The hay and the stepladder were easy... but these knives are too much. He thought to himself, almost ready to give up on the task at hand.
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:36 pm
Ϻ A R G A R E T __ G R A F I N E ⓜ ⓘ ⓝ ⓞ ⓣ ⓐ ⓤ ⓡ ◇◇◇ Having been absorbed back into the foreign book, it was a little too late to escape the barn as her recent target of...borrowing approached. The sent of the boy that lived here suddenly sneaked up on her. Internal alarms going haywire, Mag shut the book quickly and quietly, turning her head toward the approaching danger. Would he send her away if he saw her? No! There's so much I need to learn, to know! I can't allow for such a thing! Up here, though, I doubt he'd even see me. Trying to make herself as small as possible, the mino woman just watched as the young man went about his business. It isn't as though she had thought he'd found her out, but being this close really put her in a questionable position. What is he even doing in here anyway? she wondered, keeping an eye on Sōji. From how he was going about things, it seemed he was on some kind of errand to fetch items from the barn. Slowly, however, he seemed to becoming somewhat displeased. Mag could only assume it was due to him not being able to find something. For a moment or two, she just watched him struggle, not sure whether to take pleasure or give pity. What was he looking for? To be fair, the place wasn't all too organized. Was that what happened when things were left to old folks? Sure, perhaps the inquiry was a bit harsh, but this barn certainly needed some serious spring cleaning! There was no denying that.
Knives? Is that what you're looking for? The woman's blue eyes scanned the area. At the very least, she had a bird's-eye view from up where she sat. Maybe that would be the edge that was needed for finding these elusive tools. It didn't take too long for her to spot them. Sniffing them out would've been no good. There was a little too much going on in this barn between hay, animals, and rust. She did, however, plainly see what was most likely them. At the very least, it looked like a folded pouch of what probably held knives. That's the sort of thing sets were kept in. They weren't very far from where he was now, laying within their safe cocoon on what looked like was supposed to be a workbench for building or other sorts of things. Even if that had been its intended purpose, the only thing it served for now was holding clutter. Margaret's expression fell when she realized that Sōji was unlikely to find these. I guess now's a good a time as any. Maybe it will show how useful having a Knight around can be! Something in the back of her mind told her, however, that it was a little too late for that to be the guy's first thought, but- Ah well. Leaving the book where she'd just been sitting, Mag stepped out onto the framework of the barn and quietly hopped over to a beam where she could reach the knives, just barely. Making sure that Sōji had no intention of turning in her direction soon, the minotaur held to the beam with her feet as she reached down and slipped her sheathed blade under the knot that held the pouch securely closed. She pulled it up to herself while pulling herself back up to a more comfortable less upside-down position. The faint clinking of metal from within the folded leather told Maggie her suspicions about the thing had been correct. This most certainly held knives, but were they the ones for which he was looking?
"I'm not sure such gentle creatures can really comprehend the dangers blades are composed of. Unless they are being used by one with ill intent, they're just another object in this messy barn." A surprisingly melodic voice would ring out from above the young man before a lavender-haired woman dropped down to the dirt floor near him. It would've probably been a better idea to cut him off from the entrance to the barn in case, you know, a busty cow-woman startled him enough to cause him to book it straight back to the home in which he'd been staying. Margaret looked up with a small smile, holding the pouch out to him. For a moment, she was the one who was surprised. This was the first time she had a chance to really examine his face, and she realized that his eyes had a hue in them she didn't normally see. Oh wow... They're probably brilliant, aren't they? Maggie blinked and shook her head. "You're looking for these, aren't you?" she asked, holding out the case of knives. Don't run. Don't you dare run. If you run, then I have to chase you. You wouldn't get very far, Sōji and just force me to look worse than I do now. I'm not weird! I promise I'm not weird! I really, really hope you haven't realized I've been borrowing your things. Gimme a chance... Her train of thought had quickly devolved into unintelligent whining as Mag slowly realized how strange this situation may have actually seemed. However, she was ready to pounce on him into a pin if he made a break for the door. There wasn't a need to worry that poor old woman when there was no threat. "Sometimes the hardest battles we fight are against ourselves..." OOC: She's so weird xD
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:25 pm
* Sōji Hashimoto * ------------------------------------------------- "You may say that apathy is a disease, but I think emotions are. They confuse you, make you say things you don't mean, and they cause people to become invested in each other when they don't need to be." ---------------------------------------------
Well, I guess I'll just have to disappoint the old la- And that was about the time that Sōji's thoughts were completely interrupted by the voice of some woman who was in hiding. Confused, he looked up towards the roof and watched a rather... unique event unfold. He was unable to form any coherent thoughts as a woman literally dropped from the sky above and held out some sort of pouch to him. "What the hell..." He muttered to himself, unable to comprehend the situation as a very disdainful look slowly started making itself apparent on his face. This expression only intensified as she continued to speak, the smile on her face only making this situation even worse. What is she supposed to be? Is that a katana or something? And what's with that smug, cool-guy look she's trying to pull off? I can practically see the sparkles shimmering from how cool you think you look right now. Sōji began thinking to himself, his mind racing as he tried to find some sort of explanation, some way to write this off as something else rather than what it actually was. There was no way some crazy person would just randomly...
Wait. She had those knives... and they were missing up until she suddenly had them. And there was no way that she just happened to be here at the right time in the right place. There was never anything so convenient, especially in a fantasy world like this. That was when the realization dawned on him, and a rather apathetic look appeared on his face as he simply stared at her for quite a bit. Then, politely, he took the knives from her and spoke. "Thank you. I'll be taking my leave now." He stated rather simply, politely removing the pouch from the woman's hands and picking up the stepladder he had nearby. Grouped with the hay that he had collected earlier, he, very naturally, began to make his way out of the barn. The best way to deal with a stalker is to simply ignore them. By ignoring them, you deny them the very thing they want, especially once they've finally revealed themselves to you. By making them feel just like they're just some ordinary person to you, they lose their sense of self-worth and their feelings of attachment. Thus, you remove stalkers in your life by simply treating them like any other decent human being. Sōji contemplated, revealing a complex plan and analysis that was going through his mind.
In reality, there were always some stalkers that were just too far gone to be saved this way. These were politely labeled, "super-stalkers." Unrelenting, and unwilling to take a hint, those kinds of stalkers would simply follow someone to the ends of the Earth no matter how many times a person denied any sort of familiarity with them. "Super-stalkers," however, were so rare that only a few of them showed up every decade or so. Most cases, of course, ended with the murder of the stalkee, or even a forced, double-suicide. Those were the rare cases... and the most frightening. Luckily, Sōji had always been so bland that he did not have to worry about stalkers. This, unfortunately, was his very first one, and the only one he hoped to test this method of rebuking them out on. Hopefully, she would take the hint and return his stuff before leaving the farm forever. If he was unlucky, however, his very first stalker may end up being one of the legendary "super-stalkers." Let's just hope that I'm not that unlucky. Sōji thought to himself as he finally made it to the entrance of the barn, ready to make a run for it if the woman seemed like she was going to try to stop or chase him. He was not going to be caught by this woman, especially someone so... not normal in any sense of the word.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:53 pm
Ϻ A R G A R E T __ G R A F I N E ⓜ ⓘ ⓝ ⓞ ⓣ ⓐ ⓤ ⓡ ◇◇◇ Up to a point, Margaret had in fact been at the right place at the right time. She had nothing to do with the knives being missing, just found; however, she ended up finding them due to the single fact that she was up in the barn "reading" the book she'd "borrowed," not the first item that had randomly and momentarily got missing from Sōji's things. The woman had very clearly been the culprit behind all that but not the case of the missing knives. If anyone were to blame for the instance, it was the old folks that lives here who let this barn get as disorganized as it was. Mag beamed as she held out the leather pouch to the young man. Oh god, there's no way he's going to take my seriously! Look! Look! I'd like to be your Knight, if you need one! My talents are looking great, finding missing items...and making items go missing. Hardy, har, har! Here are those knives you were looking for! Despite her hopeless string of thoughts, the woman continued to stand there with her offering hand and gentle smile. It was strange that he only looked at her for a moment with some sort of unamused expression on his face. What was even more so was his... very normal response to her simply dropping in and saving the day.
Leaving? The woman blinked, rather surprised at such a regular statement. She simply stood there as Sōji began collecting his things after taking the pouch of knives from her hands. A sudden look of realization crossed over her face as the dark-haired man turned his back to her. Wait, wait, wait. That was far too normal. Does he understand? Why do I feel like if I let him leave now that there no longer would be a point to hanging around. She'd already revealed herself. Did he know? Had he noticed his things going missing? Would he after this? Now that whatever secrecy she had was destroyed, now would be the best time to confront him about her questions. Uwah! I can't allow for this, not if I wanna know more about where he's from, more about him! "H-hang on a sec!" Mag reached out to him with her right hand as he moved before moving herself. With a swift step, the woman moved in an attempt to cut him off at the entrance of the barn. She wasn't very fast compared to to other Knights, especially those with a mana source; however, compared to magi who spent their lives studying magic or students who spent theirs learning, the mino definitely wasn't slow. If he made a break for it, then he'd certainly surprise Margaret if he was capable of getting away from her. Even regular farm work seemed to exert the young man. How long had Sōji even been here? Surely he'd become more accustomed to it after some time. How recently had he shown up? If he didn't run, however, the violet-haired woman would simply step in front of him, waving her hands in front of her, palms out. "Wait, wait, wait! H-hang on a sec," she murmured again, not entirely noticing that she was repeating herself at this point. "I wanna ask you something! You got a minute?" "Sometimes the hardest battles we fight are against ourselves..."
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 6:00 pm
* Sōji Hashimoto * ------------------------------------------------- "You may say that apathy is a disease, but I think emotions are. They confuse you, make you say things you don't mean, and they cause people to become invested in each other when they don't need to be." ---------------------------------------------
This stalker's pretty persistent. I wonder how I should deal with this, or if I should deal with it at all. The old lady would undoubtedly protect me... but can I really rely on her in this type of situation. This seems like a job for the guards... and this woman looks like she's built to take some punishment, definitely. I just don't know what to do... Sōji thought to himself as he observed the minotaur woman, unsure of how he should go about dealing with her. Obviously, she was going to start becoming a nuisance not that he had discovered her, but he really did not feel like dealing with her all that much either. I know what I could do. I should appeal to her desires and convince her to act a certain way based on them. That way, she will be so smitten with her own self-righteousness and confidence that I'll come to care for her that I can easily get out of this situation, at least for now. What comes after is alerting the guards to the presence of a trespasser and having her locked away in prison for ten to fifteen years with nothing but thoughts of the ocean to keep her mind at bay. He thought to himself, now knowing what his plan was.
"No, I don't. I'm very busy, and I don't really have time to play around with you. The old lady gets mad when someone isn't quick with their chores, so it's a real pain trying to find things that are lost like this. If I don't get back soon, then she'll probably just throw me out of the house and I'll have to survive in the wilderness. Imagine that, poor me in the wilderness, surrounded by monsters and animals. It'd only be a matter of time before something came along and gobbled me up like a deluxe meal at a burger joint. What a sad life that would be, huh? And you'd be the cause of all of that because you didn't let me get these knives to the old lady in time, because you stalled me to ask some questions. Are your questions worth that? Are they worth my life, lady? If so, then please ask, you're taking a really big gamble but go ahead. If not, then I'd like to make sure that I survive for at least a few more months before I'm inevitably kicked out of this household." The young man stated, obviously trying to use his knowledge of her being a stalker to his advantage. She would probably care too much about him to risk him dying over something like this.
With this, my victory may be very well assured. By denying me leave, she denies me life. By granting me access to leave the barn, this situation ends immediately. It's the perfect problem to place on someone who only knows how to use force to get what they want. And judging by the way she's blocking off my only exit, force is the only thing she knows how to use. Sōji thought to himself as he watched her carefully, his expression having not changed in the slightest. Was that off-putting at all? The young man's face making no change whatsoever as he proposed the possibility of his own demise being a result of this woman's ignorance in the affairs of the household that he lived in? Such a blank look, an uncaring look, probably had a lot more to say than what he was actually stating currently. "Well, are you going to let me pass or not. She doesn't like waiting." Sōji stated to her, fully confident that his plan would work out perfectly and this woman would be defeated before the battle had even begun.
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Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:31 pm
Ϻ A R G A R E T __ G R A F I N E ⓜ ⓘ ⓝ ⓞ ⓣ ⓐ ⓤ ⓡ ◇◇◇ Play around? Hey, I'm not some kind of kid! Maggie watched Sōji with his blase expression for a second before responding. "If a few extra seconds could get you kicked out, then what would have been the consequences of returning half-handed?" Mag asked, cocking her head to the side. She was, of course, referring to the fact that he wouldn't have acquired the knives he'd for which he'd been looking without her assistance. Would he have been outed all the same or given some sort of direction? From what the woman understood during her time around this place, the folks weren't pushovers. Surely she hadn't misjudged them. They did not seem the type that would throw out their hardworking tenant at the first sign of issue. Of course, the minotaur had only been hanging around the property for a somewhat short amount of time. It wasn't as though she could be a fair judge of the people that lived there. That was why she had so many questions for the man before her. "Besides," Margaret started, crossing her arms under her chest, "the wilderness is no match for me! It wouldn't be a match for you. Even if I was the cause of you no longer having a home, then I'd have no choice but to offer my services and protect you from the harsh elements of the forest! You wouldn't die. Not at all. At least not from anything violent." Although...given the terms and circumstances of things, one of her questions could very well be one day worth his life. You know, if he agreed to be my Mage... and then something bad would happen, but it wouldn't because I would stop it from happening... Yeah, just like that. It'd be great. Her tail moved back and forth under her coattails. Mag narrowed her eyes at the young man.
"Hmm...One question couldn't hurt, could it?" she asked, negating her inquiry immediately. Already, this was her second question since asking for permission for questions, a question within itself. Maggie, of course, was not one to pay attention to such things nor did she plan on holding the one to which she was referring back. She simply locked eyes with the man before her and stepped forward. Unless he moved, the mino-girl would come quite close to him, probably an uncomfortable amount for most people. She planned on asking despite what repercussions he oh-so eloquently described in his explanation. Surely he wasn't living with people so cruel that a single moment of hesitation would get him kicked out. Bringing her face as close as she could to his as possible without having to cross her eyes, Mag smiled, one that was almost smug. "You don't have a Knight, do you?" You could have just asked if he'd be up for having a Knight like you! This... Things aren't as going as well I'd like them to be. I'm going to be honest.
For some reason, he's making me feel creepy. I am totally not creepy...
just... inquisitive? Nngh... "Sometimes the hardest battles we fight are against ourselves..."
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