Cryogenic Crisis (1) : A strange phenomenon has overtaken the flora of Destiny City. Most prevalent in large trees, but occurring also in saplings, bushes, and any wooded plant, the color seems to be completely draining and the plants are becoming oddly crystalline. Leaves and bark especially almost seem to be turning to ice, and observant passersby might notice that the trees seem to be crystalizing. They are cold to the touch and even seem to melt under heat. The increased weight has made it dangerous to walk beneath any of these trees; branches also snap and fall, and even leaves and small twigs can become dangerous projectiles. Scientists have said there is a pollutant in the water causing a strange chemical reaction, but there’s still something suspicious about it. Destiny City has employed some specialists to treat the afflicted trees, and some already seem to be in various stages of recovery–but if you’re out and about, chances are that you’ll still find a few of these arborous anomalies.
There weren’t a ton of places left open after the restaurant closed for the night, but Calder was well aware of where to find his favorite treats to reward himself with after his shift was over. There was a food truck parked near a gas station way out by the city’s limits, on the road headed west. Buildings were sparse and the scenic forests of Virginia were starting to take over the view. Calder felt pretty confident this was just the end-of-day location, to entice whatever stragglers were coming back to the city from a late work shift into making a quick meal purchase.
It was not on Calder’s way home. It was, in fact, quite far from his house.
But this dinky food truck sold the best, giant chili cheese dog he’d ever tasted, and man, he might actually murder for one at this moment. He’d had to take a pass on his favorite sloppy treats for the past week or so due to unforeseen circumstances limiting what he should reasonably be consuming, but he’d endured all he could of that. He’d suffered, gone to work, done his time, and now he was going to have his ******** treat.
It was an abhorrent, monstrous, messy delicacy, and at the thought of not having this massive dog inside of him right now, Calder sat on the hood of his car in the gas station parking lot, taking gross chomps out of his chili cheese dog, and looking out to the forests beyond.
Where there would, theoretically, be nothing worth taking note of, right? …Right?
Well, most people probably wouldn’t have seen anything, but ever since this whole… awakening thing, Calder had become very slightly more aware of his surroundings, just in case there was some shady s**t he needed to get away from. And he thought, between a few ashy-looking tree trunks and tall white snowbanks, he saw… something green shuffling about. Nothing serious. He squinted, peered harder-
And oh, God, that better not be the fluttering fabric of a sailor collar.
It was definitely a person, he could see that much now. And they were definitely, scuffling around in the snow, and he didn’t know what for, and it was frankly none of his business, and if they weren’t doing anything to him, surely his best bet was to leave them alone? …Calder wasn’t great at leaving things alone.
He hopped from his perch on his car and scooted closer, powering up once he thought he wouldn’t be noticed by anyone who might be close enough to see him- like he’d just seen whoever this was. And- yes, as soon as he was wearing Undine’s guise, he could sense the aura of a Senshi. They seemed alone, just… out here in the trees, looking… a bit lost and bewildered.
Undine was still cautious as he approached, though he expected his aura had been felt already. “Hey,” he said once he was near enough. “Are you… good? I didn’t think anyone would be scrounging around in the trees so far from the city proper…”
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 5:41 pm
With his nightly visit to the clearing where he met Villion out of the way, Erinome was wandering looking for more plants. It was getting harder to find things as the snow started to fall and the temperature dropped and the little moth-like senshi was getting sluggish from the cold as well.
Brushing aside some of the loose powder snow from what had looked like a bump, he found what he'd thought might be a plant but it was a crystalline-looking fallen branch. He'd tried to nibble on a few of them already but they were so cold it burned his tongue.
It wasn't something he wanted to do but he liked the wild plants more than the things in the store Ian brought him to, even if they were something he'd been told time and time again weren't good for humans to eat or touch. Nothing had caused him and trouble so far other than thorns here and there so as he went to brush off another loose snow drift, he heard a voice and jumped.
"Ah!" Spinning to look, he felt that they weren't one of those chaos ones like Villion but it had still startled them that they'd appeared out of nowhere.
"Cold... no plants." Speaking a bit disjointed as always, he looked at the taller person as they approached. His antennae twitched as he watched them and slowly stood as he held the half-wilted dandelion. It was something at least and he started to nibble at it as he looked at them.
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Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2024 3:39 pm
Sara Draconia
Oh. Maybe the Senshi hadn't felt him power up. The guy seemed way more startled than Undine would've expected him to be- more than he would've expected anyone with powers to be, honestly. Tiny, jumpy thing.
And weird.
Because it was weird to just be out here alone, right? Scuffling about in this frozen clearing, searching for... dandelions. The Senshi had one sad little stem in his fingers, and judging from the exactly-three-words he'd said, the current season was lamentable. "Uh, yeah. That is how winter works," Undine agreed, dragging his gaze away from the Senshi and around the wooded area.
Admittedly, this was a rather strange winter. These crystalline trees were beautiful but unusual. He might've thought they were decorations if they weren't so far out of the way for anyone to see them. "I've never seen any trees quite like these, but- Are you eating that?"
He'd glanced back just in time to see this strange kid nibbling away at the scant green portions left on the weed he'd collected, and Undine's eyes darted up toward the twitching green antennae on the boy's head. Real? Were they real? They didn't seem to be attached to anything, though it was rather difficult to tell with Senshi fuku's which bits were just adornments, and which bits... weren't.
"Uh, you- you're hungry? And you're eating... that..."
Which was a gross upset to Undine's refined palate, but if this was one of those space Senshi...
Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2025 8:58 pm
Looking at the man and then following where they looked, he wondered if the way things were frozen wasn't as normal as winter was. Or how it worked.
"Yes, dandelion. Want one?" Pulling one from subspace that he had grabbed earlier, it was in better shape than the one he had in his other hand. Ako had said they were made into tea too so he knew it wasn't so weird which was why he had made it a habit to share at least the yellow flowers aside from the fruit he normally carried from home.
Tilting his head and looking at them he nodded after a moment. "Yes, eat or drink." Tucking one of the stems into his sash, he pulled his glass tumbler from subspace and showed them. In the little diffuser part were dandelion petals alongside other tea herbs. The bottle itself had little stickers all over it that had come from the farming game Ian had been showing him on the console he played sometimes.
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Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2025 3:13 pm
Sara Draconia
"Ah. No. Thanks. I appreciate the offer." The clipped tone and pinched expression suggested that he did not appreciate the offer to ingest some wild weed this weirdo found in the dirt- but it wasn't like Undine had been setting particularly good eating habits for himself just a few minutes prior, either... Whatever. Irrelevant.
With a curious tip of his head, he peeked inside the tumbler, spotting some crinkled yellow petals poking out of a diffuser. "You're making tea from them?" Undine asked. He had... heard of such a thing and was aware that it was supposed to be good for you... But had never had much interest in trying it himself. -Which was maybe a little shameful. He shouldn't be afraid to expand his palate! But what he 'should' do didn't really change how he felt about eating weeds.
And it didn't stop him from thinking this guy was still weird.
"Uh, is this the best place? To find dandelions? You've gotta be cold." And the foliage around here seemed to be just. Slightly. Off. Like maybe even if there were still any green plants around, if they were growing so close to those crystal trees, maybe they shouldn't be eaten. "There are greenhouses in the city. They'll have dandelions for tea. And probably whatever other herbs you want as well. There's one I get fresh work supplies from."
Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2025 11:36 pm
Nodding even as they rejected the tea and flower, he sipped at the warm drink and smiled contentedly. It did help with the cold but they weren't wrong about it. Ian had given him a coat here and there but he didn't always were it when going out.
"Not best, cold bad." There certainly were a lot fewer plants around with the cold weather and this was much colder than he had ever experienced on his planet. The foliage and greenery there were second to none when it came to what took over a majority of the liveable space there.
Here things were so different, electricity hummed in the air almost everywhere and there were only small patches of trees and plants between the solid pavement.
With a curious head tilt at the mention of greenhouses, he was curious if that meant the color of the building or if it was because they had herbs and flowers. "Close by?" If he could find out then maybe he could ask Ian to summon a machine to bring them both there, a... car? Yeah, that's what he remembered it was called or was it called an Uber? Something like that either way.
"Supplies? Plant grower?" What was the word humans used... his face scrunched up as he tried to remember. "Garden...er?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2025 1:59 pm
Sara Draconia
"Uh. Right." Not the best. Undine could look around and see as much. This little splodge of trees was forested enough, but it wasn't like he'd advise anyone to go looking for food of any kind out here. This poor guy had to be exceptionally desperate. And given how close they were standing now, Undine was pretty sure those little antennae weren't on a headband. 'Real' seemed more and more likely. "Is that all you can eat? Dandelions and flowers and stuff?"
Must be a curse during the winter. And with the strange ice making things even less herbaceous, it certainly felt like a bad time to have a specifically-flowers restricted diet.
"Close enough," Undine replied with a shrug. "I wouldn't walk there or anything, but there's a few greenhouses in the city. Some of them are even a bit of a spectacle." With pretty fountains and eve trees and a wide array of flowers, even off-season as it was. "Er, a phone? Do you have one? I could put the address in for you so you could find it later. Oh, but if you do go, you can't eat anything there. A lot of them have herbicide- that's poison- on them, so bugs stay away." He narrowly avoided the impulse to add 'like you,' because it was hardly a fair comment.
But this little senshi had to have some sort of insect sphere or something going on, and he was struggling with words, like maybe he wasn't... that bright...?
He didn't know the word gardener. "Huh? Oh, me? Am I a gardener? No. I'm a chef. I cook for people. I mostly pick up herbs from the greenhouse, like mint and basil, stuff like that. I'm Undine. And you are..? Where are you from?"
