Prompt 17
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…
He really hadn’t been specifically looking for the alien merchant that made himself available every summer, but Rakovanite unconsciously held some sort of expectation that he would be around for the season. Likely in no small part because Rakovanite had seen him every year, like clockwork, for the past three years. This would be the fourth. He didn’t think it was intentional that he came upon Almadel’s barrier, despite it being a bit removed from the busiest parts of the city, but come upon it he did.
And the first thing Rakovanite was aware of were the conspicuous signs denoting what the merchant was after at this point in time.
Some sort of ‘fruit’ pod fresh from the tree.
A ‘fruit’ pod that definitely didn’t leak acid or buzz and hum with any obvious form of danger dwelling inside. Rakovanite found that he didn’t particularly trust anyone that came from off-world (and barely anyone born on it), but he was pretty sure he trusted the merchant less and less each year. Truly nothing good ever came from his presence. But at least Rakovanite knew what he was after. He’d already seen the tree and the things it produced. Why anyone would want one of the pods, he couldn’t say, but it was mostly irrelevant. The insects were already causing enough of a problem that Rakovanite hoped Almadel wouldn’t make it intentionally worse.
He wouldn’t have bothered with the tree or Almadel any further than he already had, except… Except Basyl liked to collect, gather, and hoard, and this was the time of year for it. He was already adding copious charms to Nataniel’s unfortunate growing collection, most recently an amber one that he’d probably picked up from the hospital. If he had access to a whole nother planet of things, they would truly be in trouble. Alas, there was no way for him to have very many space adventures, himself. No way for the senshi to go and rummage through the ruins of his old world for trinkets and baubles of interest, and Rakovanite felt confident that he definitely would have, if the opportunity were readily available.
Rakovanite preferred not to encourage the acquisition of more useless, unnecessary junk littering their home, but the space trader was around one a year. ‘Special’ because it wasn’t something Basyl could do anytime he needed a serotonin boost. And to send this physically pathetic senshi to harvest anything from a where a swarm of angry insects nested seemed… unwise.
Better to take it upon himself.
He’d already handled the oversized cicadas once, and for people of so little significance to him that it seemed blatantly unfair to not do this for Basyl, his love. So Rakovanite would go and find a suitable pod to use as an offering, due to his significant feelings for someone who desperately liked items. Maybe it would be less troublesome the second time around, without so many others causing a scene.
Being obviously alien, it was difficult to judge when he might expect the most activity from them. It seemed like the Earth counterparts really thrived in the early evening and beginning of night. Daytime was probably the best time, if he didn’t want to be attacked by the insects… But it also meant there would be more people around, and Nataniel didn’t want to be caught traipsing through the roped-off area.
He decided on early morning. It was convenient for him, cooler outside, and maybe the bugs wouldn’t be an issue while it was dark? There was little reason to linger, so long as he could teleport in, find an appropriate pod, and teleport out before anything too serious happened. Nothing should be able to damage him so long as he was in and out expediently. That was the plan. Rakovanite didn’t spend much time scoping the area; with a little pulse of energy to signify his movement, he stood directly beneath the tree, dark gaze immediately scanning for anything that may be alert to him.
The dull, droning buzz of something alive was certainly in the air, but it was quiet enough. It didn’t have the loud, chaotic hum of a swarm.
He let his focus slide up to the branches, where he could see more pristine pods (because the merchant had wanted pristine). Another little flicker of energy to bring him up into the sizable tree, enough so that Rakovanite could perch on the lowest and largest of the branches. It still rattled beneath his weight, and a small scattering of leaking pods dropped to the ground with a ’plop’. The thrum of insect humming briefly became warbled and out of sync, but Rakovanite stilled, and it quieted to the typical drone again.
Just remember: he wouldn’t want Basyl doing this, and he was sure his love would be very quietly upset if he didn’t have the inquisitive materials to make a trade.
Rakovanite exhaled stiffly, before starting to pick through his options. Obviously anything actively making a noise was not the right call. Anything soft, oozy, cracked, or bruisy wouldn’t cut it. None of them looked like what Rakovanite would identify as ‘fruit,’ but neither was he an alien. So what did he know?
The one he settled on was, of course, quite attached to the tree. The pods were pretty large and removing them while they were ripe took some effort- and also smeared some seepage across the fabric of his uniform jacket- No one would eat this, surely.
Irrelevant.
Jerking the pod from the branch caused significantly more commotion and rustling than when he’d teleported up here, and when it finally popped off and flicked the branch back into place, the asynchronous buzzing had started louder and harder- And didn’t actually seem to be falling off, this time. Rakovanite only had to catch sight from the corner of his eye of one pair of rapidly fluttering wings, before he teleported off with one pod in hand. It might have been better to harvest as much as he could, but… One would do.
[WC: 1010]
