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Curious Findings (17) : Maybe it’s got something to do with the weather, or the construction, or all the other general oddities that seem to occur in Destiny City, but for the first time in nearly fifty years, the historic tree in one of Downtown Destiny City’s parks has woken up. While the tree was known for being alive and growing despite a lengthy hibernation, this is the first year that it’s sprouted leaves–but that’s not all! The unique tree has now also started growing strange pods. Because of the trees legacy–and not at all because of the oddity–the area has been taped off, but that really hasn’t been enough to stop anyone curious enough to investigate. The tree itself is several feet wide and stands roughly fifty feet tall; it’s branches spread significantly and seem like they can hold a lot of weight–which is good, because the pods growing on it have a hard brown shell and can grow up to the size of a soccer ball. Sometimes, the larger ones seem to tremble and shake in place. Maybe it's an animal trying to nibble? Maybe it’s just the wind? Maybe it’s something else. The pods can be pulled from the tree or collected from the ground; the shells are incredibly difficult to crack open, and some of them leak a strange, acidic sap that is strong enough to cause skin agitation–and in some cases there are even reports that it’s burned through wood or fabric. Sometimes, the healthier looking pods that aren’t leaking anything even seem to shake on their own, which is a mystery in itself. Another mystery is why Almadel seems so keen to trade for them…
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Three words, that is all it took for her to actually touch that nasty tree. Three little words. Technically two but who wants to be that pedantic. ‘Will reward handsomely’. That's all that mattered to her when she saw the sign. The description of the ‘fruit’ was bizarre and just down right gross the more info she read. What kind of fruit was hard, brown, leaking, and apparently didn’t rattle when shaken. Strengite’s first thought was that one strange person was willing to pay for some crappy coconuts when she heard some passing civi’s mentioning an old a** tree was growing again. It took a while for her to pinpoint the rumors and the whispers. There was this particularly helpful teen at one of the star festival booths who just gushed about how historic it was that this old a** tree started to sprout and bloom again after ’like forever’, before she was handed this dangly little red charm.
Strengite had to make sure her ears weren’t bleeding after that encounter. God why are kids these days just freaking annoying? Like was there something in the water? Or were they just always this annoying and she was just able to ignore it? Either way, she got the information she wanted, plus a cute little star charm thing. A bit more work and she was standing in front of the nasty a** tree that had growths all over it. “Remember the reward. Remember the reward.” She had to keep saying it to herself or else she would leave this whole thing behind and go actually do her job as a negaverse; gathering energy and starseeds.
It took a lot more mental fortitude to actually pick any of the gross ‘fruits’ from the tree. The ones that nearly made her screech were the ones that seemed to shake. Like there was something inside of it. The reward had BETTER be worth it or someone was going to get it. Strengite’s mental curses took on a much, much darker tone when she realized that her uniform gloves started to be burned through when she touched the sap that leaked through the desired ‘fruits’. That was a simple fix since she just bundled the few little shells up in a hand then wrapped the gloves around them after stripping them off but still! Who wanted acid fruits that shook and looked nasty as all hell?
She was really, really, really starting to second guess her decision to get some quick cash but she was committed now so it was with a few seed pods wrapped in wad of cloth carried in a old plastic bag that she made her way towards the location that Strengite had gotten from a few drunk frat ‘bros’. Ply someone with enough substances and they would tell you their bank codes… if they remembered them. She didn’t quite understand what they were talking about when they mentioned ‘answering the call’ but she still went in the direction they drunkenly pointed out.
It wasn’t until she was much closer that she understood what the term ‘call’ ment. “Now that's not eerie at all,” She snarked as she hiked up the hill in heels, also muttering under her breath about how no one in this damn city took into account women’s fashion. Why? It was hard enough fighting in heels on solid, even, ground but now she had to trek across a grassy hill? The end result better be worth it.
