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 Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2021 9:28 am
Quote: Prompt 6 (Mysterious Mail): The mail is always bad this time of year, but it seems like something's gone a little extra wrong. You’ve received something that’s not quite right. Maybe it’s a box that looks like it’s from a completely different era, wrapped in brown paper and tied with dark twine. The box has scuffs and scrapes and a yellowed name tag--with your name and address on it. There is no return address and no indication where it came from. If you open it up you will find some sort of timeless item that feels as though it is easily decades old. It may not be particularly valuable, but this item seems to have been lost to time--and somehow ended up in your possession. Any time you look at it you are filled with the same sensation of timelessness. Maybe it’s an old letter with no return address, no name on it; it's impossible to tell who it is from or how it got there, given that it might have arrived in your mailbox, your front door, or maybe it even just showed up inside your house. If you open it, the letter is dated from decades ago and contains some surprising information; it is a letter lost to time and contains some secret. The content of the letter is up to the player; it might contain a confession of love, an admission of guilt, the secret of some crime--no matter what the letter contains, it leaves you with news to reflect on. Do you try to seek out anyone mentioned in the letter? Do you investigate or try to hand the letter over to someone else? Does the content of the letter reflect your life in some way? ...Do you have to worry about someone breaking into your house to leave strangely coded messages? Maybe you’ve gotten both and really need to phone up the post office to see what’s going on.
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Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2021 9:30 am
Briar felt very much out of touch with the comings and goings in Destiny City–
Although that was probably down to the fact that he'd been away and out of the country for most of the year and whilst he did keep in contact with Peter and Kirra, it wasn't quite the same as actually being there.
But he was back, well at least for the winter break, and maybe just maybe he could catch up on things whilst he was home - and more importantly, try to catch up on what he may have missed whilst he'd been away–
Such as aliens. Well at least Briar was vaguely sure that Peter had mentioned something about aliens in one of his letters, although he'd been in the middle of end of year exams at the time. That and he couldn't exactly hop over to Destiny City just whenever - at least not at the moment.
Ironically he hadn't planned on going abroad to study at all, had been instead been planning to go to DCU - but then the opportunity to go and study in Dublin had come up and whilst Briar had spent a while hesitating over it, it had been something of a once in a lifetime opportunity, even if a part of him still felt a little guilty about the fact that taking it up had meant that he wouldn't be able to see Peter or Kirra or Tomlin for large parts of the year–
And he wouldn't be able to power up as Oort either.
Instead it had meant settling into new routines and student accommodation - that and getting used to the fact that people in Ireland drove on the opposite side of the road to what he was used to.
For now however he was back, and if the news reports about runaway reindeer was right then it seemed like things hadn't really changed too much whilst he was gone.
The holiday weirdness certainly seemed to be about the same at any rate - and the holiday weirdness was why he happened to be out and trudging in the direction of the post office with a weird and somewhat scuffed up brown paper-covered box with twine that had been haphazardly been re-tied–
Because whilst the package had been addressed to him, it had been kind of clear that the antique pocket watch wasn't really for him - especially given the note in elegant cursive font that had read simply: ( To my dearest Arthur, ~ Winifred) Guine Hope this works as a start but lmk if not and I'll tweak smile
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 6:34 pm
Peter was excited to see his friend after what felt like forever, but when they couldn't just run around in the night and hang out at parks and chase after youma like they used to as kids, this was the best Peter could ask for.
"Briar!" he greeted with a grin when he saw him out, almost to the doors of the post office. "Oh man, I had a feeling I should have brought the cookies mom made. I didn't know you were in town today!" he let out a dramatic sigh, but that was just how things went.
"How long are you here for or-- Oh, is that a gift you're trying to send off?" he wondered, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. It was cold out, but he didn't bother with a heavy coat, just a puffy vest, hat, and scarf. He had a messenger bag over his shoulder, although whether it was filled with school supplies or his youma notebooks was unknown to the average passerby.
To those who knew Peter, it was a little of both.
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Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2021 8:09 am
Briar had practically reached the the post office door when he heard a familiar voice calling his name.
"Hey Peter" Briar called back, half turning as he raised the hand not currently holding the box with the haphazardly retied twine in a small wave.
"I've been back for a few days" he admitted as he stepped slightly away from the entranceway so as not to block the door, he wrinkled his nose slightly as he continued "But my Aunt's over for a visit."
A slightly long-suffering note crept into his voice as he added "And she and Mum have been doing the fussing thing."
His Aunt had kept going on about how he'd grown (he hadn't - well at least not since his last growth spurt at any rate) and going on about how she hadn't seen in forever (not quite true as he'd seen her at the family Christmas thing) and his Mum had joined in as well.
Briar didn't comment on Peter's messenger bag - after all he tended to wander around with a rucksack himself - and today hadn't been an exception to that even if for once it only contained a couple of notebooks with his foraging notes that he'd been planning to go over later.
"I'm only really back for the Winter break" he admitted, because his classes were starting back up relatively early into the new year and so he couldn't really stay for too long past New Year's day "But I promised Mum that I'd try and come over my Easter break this year."
A puzzled look flitted across reddish eyes as Peter asked him about whether he was trying to send off a gift, before Briar remember the weird package.
"S'not mine" he admitted, "But it kind of turned up whilst I was away so Mum and Dad thought it was for me" although that was most likely down to the face that it had been addressed to him.
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Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2021 4:44 pm
"Oh no, the fussing thing," Peter made a face, knowing all too well what the fussing thing was. Naturally adults had to make a big deal out of nothing because they had nothing better to do. Or something like that. He didn't look forward to the fussing he was probably going to be getting. Especially if they started getting curious about the angry red scars on his hands. He intended on wearing long sleeved shirts so at least they wouldn't be able to fuss even more about the state of the rest of his arms.
As it was now, he didn't intend on showing off his new scars to his friend. It wasn't really anything to show off about, anyway. But it happened and he was over it.
"What do you mean? They thought it was for you but it's for someone else?" Peter tilted his head curiously to the side as he eyed the package in Briar's arm. "Someone just… mailed it to your house and… was it addressed to someone else?" Because why wouldn't his parents just return it if it wasn't for him?
"You'll have to let me know when you're back in town for Easter. We should all try to get together. Lots of weird stuff," he said, shaking his head. "I hope you're being safe." He didn't want Briar corrupted or worse.
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Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 11:34 am
Briar had no idea why adults felt like they had to do the fussing thing either, but for some reason his Aunt had gotten upset on the last occasion when he'd pointed it out to her and then he'd ended up getting in trouble with his Mum.
To this day Briar couldn't understand why - after all his Aunt had been being stupid and all of the fussing over his hair and his height and all the other things that she had come with had been stupid too–
But he knew better than to say anything if not asked directly about it, and his Aunt hadn't asked him directly.
He shook his head at Peter's question "No weirdly the package was addressed to me, so Dad put it aside as he knew that I'd be home over Christmas break" he wrinkled his nose and huffed slightly as he added "But when I opened it up there was some kind of really old pocket watch inside and some note addressed to someone called Arthur."
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:15 pm
Peter frowned thoughtfully as Briar explained what was in the package addressed to him. Then again, there were some pretty weird things happening around Destiny City.
“You don’t know anyone named Arthur? Anyone in your family? Or…” he paused and shook his head. That was too weird to even think of suggesting but… He needed to make sure.
“Do you know what you were called… in your past…?” he asked, his voice quiet so no one around would overhear them. He knew Chris and Paris frequented their World and Wonder because of their transcendence, but he wasn’t sure if Briar went to Oort that frequently to know.
“Oh… I don’t know my name,” he quickly added, because he didn’t want Briar to think that it was a common thing to know. Or maybe it was and he was the odd one out.
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Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 4:19 pm
Briar shook his head "No" he admitted "And I checked with Mum and Dad too" the long suffering crept back momentarily into his voice "And my Aunt" because he'd had to put up with more fussing in order to ask her.
"And as far as I know, we don't have a Winifred in the family either" he admitted "Although I think that the Winifred person might be the parcel sender since that's what the note to the Arthur person was signed from."
There was a slight frown as Peter asked about his past, although it wasn't directed at his friend "No I don't" he admitted, his voice just as quiet as Peter's had been "I haven't been there that much."
He hadn't really been to Oort that much, less than a handful of times really - and that had been when he had been more active back before the whole studying in Dublin–
Because it had been a while since he had even powered up - studying overseas had kind of put a spanner in that.
The parcel coming from Oort somehow wasn't something that he'd initially really considered, even though he'd been Oort for long enough to know that magic could do some pretty weird–
But even so there was a part of Briar couldn't help but hope that past-Oort had had a cooler name than 'Arthur'.
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:50 pm
The suffering in Briar’s voice made Peter cringe, because he could only imagine the fussing that he’d gone through. As someone from a large family, Peter often had to deal with the fussing as well. Now that he was working on his degrees, he didn’t get as much fussing, but it was still there. And it was so frustrating sometimes because they just didn’t get it!
Well, how could they get the fact that he (and apparently the rest of his family) were powered. Speaking of……
“Maybe that’s something to look into. If you need someone to go with you, Haven and I are around. But I don’t know, I’ve been too busy babysitting here,” he signed, even though he was still curious about the pocket watch and the package itself. How did it end up being sent to Briar…?
“So, it turns out my parents are knights. Just. You know. Poof. Suddenly magical, right? It’s so annoying. Mom’s really excited about it,” he frowned, because it was dangerous, and his parents were old. Okay, not old old, but older. “Which means I’m the only… like you… in my family.”
He was still cautious about saying the word ‘Senshi’ in public places.
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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2022 8:33 am
"I do want to go there" Briar admitted, with the same stress on the 'there' as before. "And I'm hoping to maybe get a chance before I go back to Ireland."
Family things and the upcoming run up to Christmas meant that he hadn't had the chance to as yet - but Briar knew that he still had some time before he was due to go back.
Maybe he'd try after Christmas, in that small stretch of time before the new year.
"I wouldn't mind the company though if you want to come?" A half question, although Briar wasn't going to push.
He raised an eyebrow at Peter's mention that his parents were seemingly now powered too, because whilst he had known about Peter's brothers from back when they had been on Celsus with Skadi, it seemed like his parents were a more recent thing. Maybe from whilst he'd been away.
"Wow - that's pretty big - although I guess though at least you don't have to sneak around over it" he kept his voice very quiet, as he didn't want it to carry. "Are they really into Jupiter too?"
And whilst it came out slightly awkward, Briar didn't think it good idea to up straight out ask if Peter's parents were also Jupiter knights - given where the two of them currently were.
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2022 10:50 am
“I’ll make sure we have all the proper gear packed for anything and everything,” Peter said with a thumbs up, because obviously he would want to make sure they were prepared for any adventure into the unknown. “And food. It’s always important to have food, too.” And water, and something to help build a shelter if needed, but he wasn’t going to get into all of that. Worst case, they could come back to Earth and try again with better supplies.
“Dad is, yeah,” Peter said with a grimace. “Mom’s more of a, uh, Cosmos--” he said quietly, eyeing a couple people as they made their way passed. He didn’t want to be too obvious, but. Briar obviously knew what he was saying, because he’d been the one to ask about Jupiter.
“I haven’t had to do much sneaking around since moving in with Michael, at least. He’s grumpy about everyone getting into dangerous things, but…” Peter paused to shrug.
“But… If you can’t figure out where that package came from, you might want to hang onto it,” he suggested, looking at it curiously. He didn’t want to get too nosey about it, but it seemed too coincidental to not be something linked to Oort… But Peter had obviously been wrong before. Like trusting Lyndin.
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Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2022 10:34 am
If the comments about having proper gear and food and stuff had come from most anyone else, then Briar probably would have been somewhat annoyed at best and downright frosty at worse, given that he was perfectly capable of doing all of those things himself–
Even if 'food' would have probably ended up being something like a whole bunch cookies and some bottles of water.
But instead he nodded with a slight smile, because he'd gotten used to it being a Peter thing - and Peter had never tried to treat him as just a kid, even though he was slightly older.
But Briar was still planning to bring cookies when the time came though as a 'just because' - especially if he was able to get his hands on some chocolate chip ones.
He nodded quietly, but didn't comment as Peter mentioned that his Mum was more into Cosmos, the smile fading into a more neutral look as a couple of people made their way past them into the post office.
He considered Peter's suggestion about potentially hanging onto the package, a slight frown flickering across his features as he thought it over for a few moments.
Truthfully, it was something of a weird coincidence that something would turn up for him, misaddressed or otherwise - but Destiny City was kind of weird like that - and truthfully it wasn't the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him–
And it wasn't exactly certain that the post office would actually even accept the package back given that there didn't appear to be a return address on there - well at least he hadn't been able to see one.
"Yeah, I guess" he said finally. "It probably won't hurt to hang on to it for a least a little longer."
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 1:41 pm
Peter nodded to show he was obviously still in support of whatever Briar decided. If he kept the package, then great, if not, then that was fine too. For all they knew it was probably cursed. Not that he was going to mention that to Briar since it seemed as though he decided to hold onto the package.
After a moment, Peter pulled out his phone to check the time and made a face.
"Hey, I have to get going, but you'll let me know if you find anything out about that package and when you'll be back to visit, yeah? Haven is gonna be doing some skating competitions so, uh, I was going to the rink to show my support."
Not that Haven seemed interested in him other than as a friend, but friends were important to support each other, right? Just like he was going to support Briar with whatever happened. Horrible curse or not.
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 2:18 pm
Briar nodded as he stepped away from the Post Office entrance proper as there was no point in hanging by the entrance now that he'd made the decision to hang onto the strange package–
Well at least for the moment.
"Yes" he agreed "I mean I'm around for a little bit and I'll definitely let you know my Easter dates." Briar thought about it for a brief moment "And maybe call you sometimes whilst I'm in Ireland." Because he knew that he hadn't really been the best email slash letter writer.
No scratch that he'd been a pretty terrible email slash letter writer.
It would mean having to figure out time zones and such, and also to consider maybe picking up an international phone card - but it was totally doable...
And maybe he'd call Kirra too.
Maybe, but for now Briar was going to focus on what he was going to do with the weird package once he got it back home - and maybe see if there was any cookies around at the house to scrounge up–
For help-to-think purposes.
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