songerein | { a bit leafy }

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{ a bit leafy }

A BIT LEAFY

More details on everything can be found here.

I. LEAF STORM

II. INFESTATIONS

COMMENTS

I. LEAF STORM

During the first week of November, a storm of leaves will pass through town. It starts innocuous enough, with just a bluster of leaves carried in the wind that looks normal for the changing of the season. But as the days progress, there are large bursts even downpours of leaves that just fall all over town. And with this storm come strange things…

A. Leaf Monsters. As the leaves pile up and people attempt to rake and blow them away, there will be some strange movement...until it's revealed that oddly shifting pile of leaves suddenly rises up to try and attack, blasting sharp leaves and even trying to "engulf" the unexpecting, trapping them in piles of leaves. Time to deal with this sudden leaf invasion! (Note: the leaf monsters will be most active during the first week of the month and then taper off by the end of the second week. By mid-month, only a few will pop up here and there.)

🔥 Burn Burn Burn! Using any kind of wind will only disperse the leaf monster and make them split into more. They need to be destroyed completely, and the best way is through fire. Dreamotion fire especially.
🪤 Trapped. But be careful with that fire! There may be those trapped within the leaf monster itself, and burning it may hurt those inside. This is the one time using wind to disperse the leaves may be warranted, but maybe a "controlled blast" will help to keep the monster from spreading.
🐌 Animal Aid. While fire is the most effective, there are other methods—mainly through certain critters. The chickens around that statue from the Dream Board could probably help scratch and break them apart. Finding some special rainbow snails from the lake just south of town will also help as their glittery slime will not only trap the leaves, but also break them down quickly.

B. Leafever. The strange leaf storm and the leaf monsters are also bringing a strange cold-like disease, likely spread through the pollen or spores attached to the leaves. Those who get caught by the leaf monsters are most likely to catch it. Fortunately the effects are mild and only last a few days, week at most, but can be caught multiple times. There is also a cure, but it requires the same leaves that brought it.

🤧 Achoo! While having the leafever overall feels no different than a bad cold, some of the symptoms and side effects are a lot more…unusual with little consistency between individuals. Some may find themselves sneezing bubbles, others secreting slime as they sweat, and all dreamotion effects going haywire.
♨ Incense Burner. One way to help ease and lessen the effects of the leafever is to burn the leaves in a special incense burner infused with special dreamotion focused on healing and soothing emotions. A special stone must also be used, and it can only be found in the hot spring caves in Dragefjell, Dragon Island.
🍂 Leaf Sap. For the actual remedy, sap must be collected from the leaf monsters. How? Well—that's for everyone else to figure out, good luck. Maybe try squeezing the leaves? Or cook them?

C. Dryad. The most severe side effect of the leafever is the individual slowly turning more tree-like, some becoming similar to dryads. There are no serious side effects and will only last for about a day or two. In fact, those who "turn dryad" will feel healthier and livelier than usual. But it may be an interesting experience regardless.

🌲 A bit stiff. As the skin turns more bark-like and limbs become a bit more "wooden," those affected may find their movements a bit more limited at first. A bit of exercise and a gallon of water dumped on them will help loosen them up.
🌷 In tune to nature. While in this state, there will be an increased sense of awareness regarding all things plant. This includes the leaf monsters, allowing them to sense and pinpoint any that may be hiding or lurking around. There will also be a brief time where they can even control and call upon plants to do their bidding.
🍃 Big shed. When the symptom finally ends, all the leaves, branches, and bark will just fall completely off the individual and they will return completely normal without a single blemish. …And clothes. Hope this isn't happening out in public, ahem.

II. INFESTATIONS

With the changing of the seasons, all kinds of critters are either passing through on their migratory route…or burrowing in to start hibernation. Usually it's not a problem, but perhaps due to all the strange dreamotion energy flux over the past year, the creatures are behaving a little differently and getting in the way more than usual. The storm of leaves isn't helping matters, aiding in some of them to travel through. While some will appear during it, the majority will cause problems from around the second week onward.

A. Bugged Trees. Those living in treehouses are going to have a bit of a time as a number of insects will be looking to find a new place to chill during winter. Specifically, their home. Those who are under the dryad effect may want to be careful of any bugs that may be attracted to them.

🪲 Giant Beetles. Some may remember these fellows from previous years. The beetles are quite friendly, but they are quite large, large enough to ride on. They can also cause some rough damage on gardens and yards, their massive size creating large holes as they burrow into the ground. However, some are really useful with their pincers, capable of pruning unwanted branches. If not chasing them away, perhaps one could use them instead? (Especially against leaf monsters.)
🐞 Ladybugs. These ladybugs are average sized (thank goodness), but they have quite the attitude. Preferring colorful and well tended flowers, they will speak their mind should they find any that are wilting. They will also drop critiques on anyone with poor etiquette and living poorly. Those who have well kept homes will have an easier time with them…and also suffer large groups coming in hosting parties in the branches.
🦗 Crickets. The crickets are of the musical sort, ready to put on a performance to try and endear themselves to receive temporary lodging. Just for a few days! Their range of music is wide, from classical to punk rock to country to jazz to even rap. And while they try to be polite, well… Sometimes music jams happen whether they should or not. Like late at night. Crickets are nocturnal after all.

B. Migration Migraines. As if dealing with bugs wasn't enough, other critters are either migrating or looking to hibernate around town. One would think the Wildlands would have plenty to offer, but some may find the easy access to food in town a bit more enjoyable.

🦡 Honeycomb Badgers. These interesting looking badgers have a honeycomb for a back. While they will dig up gardens in search of tasty flowers, they need to "shed" their honeycomb and are deliberately going to people to offer it. They are not harmed and will just reveal normal fur beneath before a new honeycomb forms.
🦒 Flying Giraffes. A flock of large winged giraffes will be flying in and roosting on various tall buildings. They act a lot like Canadian geese, so…beware.
🐻 Cotton Bears. These cute little bears look like they could be living teddy bears with how small and plush they appear. And for winter, they are looking to sleep somewhere nice, soft, and warm. Like a bed. Now they don't really care if they are occupied or not, so maybe it would be better if some dens and beds could be made for them instead.

C. Field Foes. The farms situated around the outskirts of town are preparing to harvest their fields, but there's trouble. Unless it gets sorted quick, food might be harder to come by for the winter!

🌾 Scarecrow Rebellion. Something is wrong with the scarecrows, but no one is sure what. They're either sitting in the fields not trying to shoo away the numerous wildlife that have decided to come through, or actively waving their pitchforks at the very gardeners and farmers they're supposed to help. Perhaps they feel a bit underappreciated so some word of thanks could help them get back to work. In the meantime, some help clearing out the fields of unwanted visitors, especially the crows, will be needed.
🍄 Hopped Up Hares. Among the unwanted "vermin" are some hares that have somehow gotten into some…strange green mushrooms that have made them behave a bit erratic. They're digging up tunnels, wearing carrots on their heads, and stare blankly out into the distance. Catch them and drive them away! And maybe feed them some special pellets that will help cure them of their, uh, "ailment." It's not recommended to eat the mushrooms should they be found, but if one does…well, enjoy the same dizzying, heightened experience the hares did.
🍆 Oversized Veggies. Some young "genius" thought creating a special formula mixed with dreamotion would help the crops grow larger and faster. However, it only caused the vegetables to overgrow to as large as an adult person and are now rolling dangerously through the fields. Some even get into town! Pumpkins, carrots, lettuce, corn, potatoes, cabbages—all manner of vegetables are rolling around, so stop them before they cause too much destruction.

I. LEAF STORM

II. INFESTATIONS

COMMENTS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Leaf Monsters, Leaf Monsters Everywhere
(You think that just because she is really into plants Isabela will be reluctant to destroy nature outright. Right? Not exactly as she too finds the sudden leaf monster attacks to be just as annoying as anyone else. She can’t use wind magic outright like her first attempt as the winds make it easier for the monsters to multiply.

Right now, she is trying to convince a group of giant beetles to help her in beating the monsters.)

Hi! I’m in the middle of trying to stop a leaf monster invasion. So I would really like it if you can lend some help in stopping the monsters from running amok all over town.

Leaf Sap
Okay. We will need to find a way to extract the leaf sap from the leaf monsters before the sickness is getting to hit more people. Do you have any better suggestions on how to get the sap out of them?

(Isabela is currently looking for a means to get the leaf sap for the ailing town folks. She is testing out some methods like using a pestle and mortar to squeezing them out of the leaves. But she hasn’t any luck in finding the right method so far. Care to assist her in this endeavor?)

Giant Vegetables
(Ah overgrown veggies, we have met again. Isabela is clearly in shock when she first spots giant vegetables rolling towards her and her capybara down the fields. She thinks fast by growing as many sturdy vines as she can muster to prevent them from heading towards Reverein. So far the plan is currently working as she is able to stop several pumpkins with them.

But even then she is clearly struggling and is in need of help in stopping more vegetables from being so close to flattening the town.)

[ Help arrives in the form of a little girl Isabela is familiar with! More vines sprout and twist around the ones Isabela has missed, firmly securing them to the ground. Nahida steps up next to her, smiling brightly. ]

Hello again, Isabela. I hope you don't mind if I assist you.

(Thank goodness that help is on the way. Isabela lets out a relieved smile as she sees Nahida coming to her aid. And just right when she needs it the most: giant vegetables can be a pain to deal with.)

Oh Nahida, hi. Yes please, I could use a lot of help in keeping these vegetables from rolling down the hills further.

[ Nahida looks over the giant vegetables. Mega sized flora isn't unfamiliar to her, as Sumeru's rainforests are full of towering, ancient trees and plants, but they stand out in this town, where the flora tends to trend much smaller.

With another wave of her hand, more Dendro vines sprout to catch the rolling produce. ]

This doesn't seem to be the natural state of these vegetables. What happened?

Apparently somebody tried to boost their growth by using this formula that has dreamotion added into it. But this ended up causing the vegetables to be this big as they grow, which explains why the giant vegetables rolling down the hills and causing a panic among the locals.

(Isabela grows more sturdier vines to catch more giant vegetables and keep them away from rolling down further.)

[ She giggled quietly. An experiment like this is one she could easily see an Amurta scholar performing in an attempt to improve the yield of produce, which would no doubt be followed up by a scolding from the Matra for their mistakes. ]

I'm certain they only meant well, but it doesn't change the fact that it's now a problem for the locals.

[ Another wave of her hand and more giant vegetables are caught in vines. ]

Do you know how much more of these giant vegetables are around town?

Edited 2023-11-08 20:50 (UTC)

I am also pretty certain that they didn’t intend to give everyone a big scare. Although they really need to rework their plant growth formula so we won’t have something like this happening again. They may have gotten a little overboard with the amounts of dreamotion added in.

(She had dealt with this before with Pauline although it didn’t stem from someone’s best intentions to make harvests easier gone horribly wrong. The giant turnip did gave the two of them quite a hard time.)

Well. This is a semi-regular occurrence but it is still a problem though. Whenever someone or something tries to make produce or vegetables grow fast and plentiful, sometimes the best of intention can end up with results like this where one accidentally causes the hormones of each plant to go into overtime.

[ She should speak to the perpetrator of this incident later, she thinks. There are a number of measures she can think of that would make the experimenting safer and easier to contain in case of an accident. ]

So there have been multiple attempts to improve yield, but they've all resulted in accidents?

[ This sounds far more serious than she thought. Was it due to the inherent properties of the dream, or was there something more malicious going on in the background? Either way, investigating the situation further has become top priority now. ]

Unfortunately yes. It seems like an excess of dreamotion energy put onto by the people who made them can be a bit heavy handed. I’m not sure how it normally works with fertilizers and growth solutions but it does sound really terrifying to see the results going south.

Maybe the plants here react to the applied dreamotion energy differently from other lifeforms or even non living things from what I can recall.

Isabela Madrigal | Encanto

Giant Vegetables

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Leaf Monsters, Leaf Monsters Everywhere

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Leaf Sap!!

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