spellbinders | (no subject)

Who: Haru & YOU.
Where: Haru's Garden on the outskirts of the forest or the mansion garden.
When: Day 88 ( pls correct me if i'm wrong on the day)
Open/Closed: Open to all! But there will be a few closed prompts in here!

[Now that everyone is back on the island hub, the work begins again. For at least the last couple of days Haru has been going in-between two gardens and making sure that she is prepared for the worst. One garden she hadn't even had a chance to start planting... the other? Well, it was in a sad state. The already sad looking mansion garden just looked sadder without her there to take care of it.

If one would happen to find her in the mansion garden, she will be on her hands and knees pulling a monstrous amount of weeds out of the garden. She looks a little worn out and perhaps that is to be expected for a huge garden that got completely out of hand while she was away.

At some point she is sending out a mental message to anyone in her vicinity:]

This is Haru speaking, if someone is free... could they come to the mansion garden? I think I may need a hand out here. Thank you!

[Later on in the day if someone were to find her in the garden by the outskirts of the forest, she is still preparing the ground and the soil for a project garden. It's a hard job to do by yourself, but Haru wasn't about to drag someone out here to do it with her if they didn't want to.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

How are the maps coming along?

[Haru feels like she slacked on helping with that. But she HAS been busy with helping other parts of the coven. She does trust Jay's capable mind though.]

Hmm, well, if I asked people help. But if I don't ask I don't expect people to help. I've been working on them a little bit each day.

I think there are people who would be happy to help you on a more regular basis, you know. You could ask around.

[Said with something of a smile.]

The map is coming along well. We just covered the near western side of the island--it's odd, some regions down there are almost tropical-looking. And we found a few more beach huts.

I just wouldn't want to trouble anyone with this. I know that might sound silly.

[She definitely knows she should be teaching more people rather than just doing it all herself. She is well aware of that fact.]

Oh? More beach huts? What kind of condition were they in? Are they usable?

Perhaps a little. You're making this garden to benefit all of us, after all.

[As for the beach huts . . . he stops momentarily from where he's pulling up a particularly nasty patch of weeds and frowns.]

It was . . . even more odd, actually. They seemed recently lived-in--they'd been modified to have lofts and shelves and things, and there were cans of food inside.

I see, well... I'll ask for help more often.

[She raises her brow, stopping to look at Jae.]

That's...more than odd. What would cans of food and a recently lived in hut be doing out here? The cans of food are what grab my attention.

[They're out here scavenging for food and growing food... and someone is hiding in those huts? Able to have the luxury of canned food.]

[He nods, acknowledging the point.]

We didn't see anyone while we were out, so I don't know what to make of it. But there are other signs that people lived here not that long ago. I wonder whether this island used to be attached to a planet . . . or whether the people here had some other way of traveling between worlds, like we do.

What if they were here for the same purpose?

[... she doesn't want to make this connection, but:] What if they couldn't complete the tasks?

. . . that's more than possible.

Although--if they were brought here by Qri, one wonders why Genette and Brie haven't mentioned it.

They say they tell us everything, but... is that really the truth?

[She pulls another weed.] I'm trying to give them benefit of the doubt. But there are still too many unanswered questions for my liking.

[Right. Weeding. He returns to that.]

If they're lying to us, they're fairly good liars, but I wouldn't put it past them to be hiding something from us 'for our own good.' I suppose the easiest way to get more information would be to ask directly.

I tried to voice my concerns with Genette not too long ago. She acted as if it was strange that I doubted Qri in the first place, and her motives. Though... of course she would doubt it. She does serve Qri after all.

[Aaaah, this is frustrating.]

Genette is . . . .

[He frowns, and looks out towards the trees.]

I think she believes in something like fate. Or signs. She considers the power Qri bestowed on her itself to be evidence of Qri's inherent goodness. She believes that being taken by Qri is proof of her worth, and that her purpose is to serve Qri, her charge. If Qri isn't someone who should be served, she has no clear purpose here. Maybe she finds that idea frightening.

That's a good way to put it.

[Another weed thrown, and a thoughtful hum.] Perhaps Genette doesn't know what to think either then.

[He nods.]

I think she prefers not to think about any doubts she may have.

Isn't that just looking away from the reality of this situation though?

[A sigh.]

It is. I didn't say I-- [He winces, gritting his teeth as he yanks out a particularly difficult patch of weeds--] agreed with her approach.

[He stops, considering what he's pulled out before tossing it into a pile to the side.] But it may be difficult to convince her to think differently.

I don't know if any of us could convince her to look at things differently, honestly.

[Which is saying something. Haru tried already.]

No, I suppose not.

[A pause. He looks out towards the trees again before saying, almost lightly,]

It's difficult when the person who's our only connection to Qri doesn't seem willing to question her.

It's not only difficult but it's frustrating. Because it means we have no answers. Having no answers gets us nowhere.

[They're like puppets. Pawns in a grander scheme.]

I know some of you have been working hard to get answers, so I can imagine it must feel worse knowing you tried.

Edited 2017-10-25 02:16 (UTC)

We're still trying. I haven't given up. We've prepared a list of questions for Qri, and Genette has said she'll relay them to her.

. . . it's also possible that if we practice, we may be able to communicate with Qri someday.

Should Qri choose to want to communicate.

[Who said that Qri wanted anything to do with them anyways.]

If she doesn't, we ought to give her a reason to.

[Meaningfully.]

Oh? What kind of reason?

[Jay-kun do you want to cause trouble....]

[Maybe.]

Something like what we wanted to do by withholding the Elto bones from her. We should tell her that if she wants our help, she should talk to us. That's only fair, I think.

[He says all this very mildly, but it's a deceptive sort of mildness.]

Oh, it's fair. Especially since we feel like she is still withholding so much from us.

[She's starting to trim up some of the herbs and bushes.]