[open]

[refire]

Who: Alphen and Everyone
Which: it's an open log + catchall
Where: various places
What: road repair quest log prompt + training + eat alphens cooking at your own discretion
Warnings: Too much Spice



1.

[There's the sounds of lots of shouting and yelling. Alphen's trying to work up a sweat by swinging his sword around in the open field. Lately he's restless and staying active helps him clear his mind. So now he's training with a makeshift training sword. In a split, second the training sword breaks half leaving nothing but the sound of clang. Alphen then sighs looking slight disappointed. ]

Not again. This isn't working out like I thought it would.


[Fighting battles with a sword is just about the only thing he can do right. Alphen is a warrior and his skills are better used on the battlefield. He's got years of experience with the blade so he thought it'd be interesting to see what happens if he uses new training equipment. The results speak for themselves because off to the side there are several broken blades.

Those training swords came from Rokurou about a month ago and now they're practically unusable. ]

Are these blades supposed to break so fast or am I using too much strength?


2. quest ; road repair


[ It's another busy day and this time Alphen is occupied with manual labor. He wanted to help with the road repair efforts so he's carrying a heavy bag filled with cobblestone. Honestly if anything it looks like he's struggling with it because it's a lot of work for a single person. Alphen's just unloading more bundles of cobblestone with his physical strength because he never thought to terraform the land using dreamotion. Taking this approach to the situation is just going to leave him exhausted. He eventually collapses on the floor from working too hard.

Help maybe??

A guy roughly around 5-7 to 5'9 tall guy wearing armor who just drops on the floor suddenly. It might be nice to help him out or you can kick him awake too. That works. ]




3.


[The first thing you'll notice is the smell of food. There's an apparent thick aroma of spice lingering in the air as well. Alphen walks up to you with a bowl of grilled mushrooms. He's looking awfully confident that it will taste good!]

Feeling hungry? Look no further! Today I'm presenting you a dish with flavor that's out of this world. Come try some if you'd like! There's plenty for everyone.

[Of course, there's reason to doubt this will turn out well because the amount of spice looks over done and part of it looks a little burned too. Take Alphen's food at your own risk.]

Wildcard

[Feel free to pm this journal or contact me at springbloom

Comments

2

[dangoism]

[ it's a complete coincidence that she's wandering along the stretch of road that needs repair, after all, it's not as if she had any actuall intention of helping with it. Sorry, not sorry, Road Safety Committee. Ferris is enjoying the air and her dreamotion-created dango, the only thing she really knows how to do (or wants to know how to do) even if they aren't quite right (this is still a work in progress--)

But it's hard to ignore the man lying randomly on the ground next to a sack of rocks. Is he even lazier than Ryner, and just likes to nap anywhere? Or is this something else entirely?

She prods him (somewhat??) gently with her toe, but he seems to exhausted to stir. Ah well, she can do him one favour...

Which is dragging him off to the side of the road so there's a less chance of someone hitting him. Note, she's none too gentle about it. But she settles in against a fencepost nearby to finish her dango (and maybe dream more up) to see if he'll start to stir. ]

[refire]

[ Well, this is embarrassing. Normally he'd say something like a polite greeting back but he's in no position to do that. Instead, Alphen's barely conscious. He can feel some kind of pain and discomfort which makes him wake up with a grumble under his breath. Gods this isn't how he imagined his day would go.]

....? Did you just wake me up?

[ Everything hurts. He might have tripped and fell somewhere after working too hard. Alphen would be grateful if Ferris did in fact wake him up. ]

[dangoism]

[ she waits until she finishes her bite of dango and tosses away the stick, which disappears as it leaves her hand, its dream usefulness coming to an end - ]

Not especially.

[ She says it bluntly, casually, as if she's commenting on the weather. ]

I pulled you to the side of the road. Not what I would call waking you up. You were having quite the nap.

[refire]

I should probably thank you. Picked a poor sleeping place.

[ He can't really expess proper thanks without knowing who he's talking to. That's a bit of a shame in itself. Alphen lets out a brief yawn.]

Hey, you can just call me Alphen. What's your name?

[dangoism]

[ a very poor sleeping place, but eh, she's seen worse, honestly. But thanking her? For doing the bare minimum, if you could even call it that? Hm. Her expression doesn't change, but she gives him a once over. ]

Ferris. Do you fall asleep like that often?

2

[luciing]

[ Whenever he comes to, Alphen will find himself on the side of the worksite with a familiar steely figure towering over him. Remnants of a crystalline blue light flicker out of existence; whatever power, magic, or item had been used to restore him has since faded to nothing. ]

You are awake, Warrior.

[refire]

Oh yeah, I am.

[ Alphen stretches out his arms and legs then he nods. He feels a lot better than he did before. Somnus presence is more than familiar to him now. They've been working on smithy for some time. ]

What was that light I just saw?

[ For a moment there was something like a blue light. ]

[luciing]

A healing tonic, nothing more. [ He replies, vaguely, and then moves onto the topic at hand. ] You were laboring in full, armored regalia… Wherefore?

[refire]

I appreciate your help.

Yeah, I was working earlier and I must have passed out somewhere. It's a good thing you dropped by when you did.

[luciing]

[ There's a long pause preceding his next words. ]

Wear armor only as necessary, Warrior.

two, too!

[dethorne]

( she'd come here with him, intending to help with the repairs. the sounds of hammers banging did feel strangely nostalgic to her, almost as though she had heard it hundreds of times before. over. and over. and over...

but there's another familiar sound too, that catches her ears. the clanking of armour suddenly hitting the hard ground, all five-feet-seven-inches of it.
the stones that shionne had been floating with magic dropped to the ground too, her eyes lighting as she cast her spell quickly— )

Resurrection —!

( god dammit, alphen!! )

[refire]

[ Alphen can feel the warmth from Shionne's magic and he immediately regains consciousness. He recalls how she helped him during his nightmares too and he really wouldn't know what to do without her. ]

Why did you heal me?

[ He's just giving her a blank stare like he's still spacing out and hasn't fully comprehended what's going on. Slowpoke.png]

[dethorne]

To stop you from dying?

( and she scoffs. you know the one, alphen.
seriously my dude have you learned nothing during all of your self-care lectures?? )

Seriously, what were you thinking trying to carry all of that on your own?

[refire]

[ He's got an extra thick head so sometimes it doesn't sink in even if you tell him a bunch of times.]

I was used to working with heavier loads back in Calaglia. They gave us no choice.

Dahnans just lived that way as if it were normal, but not anymore. I won't let things stand as they are now. We have to fight to see more change.

[dethorne]

That doesn't mean you don't have a choice here.

( the angle of her jaw tightens, and she frowns. )

I know you just want to help out, but you won't be of any use to anyone if you're passed out on the ground. Why... don't you try some different methods? Rather than working yourself to exhaustion.

3

[darkcharge]

[ There's two things to immediately know about Vanitas. First of all, he doesn't like people. He genuinely doesn't care for people outside of his small little group that he's collected and accepted. When really they are the ones that have taken to him So being approached out of nowhere ( to him anyway ) doesn't exactly endear him to try anything. Rather, he's liable to throw the bowl in Alphen's face instead.

The second is that well he won't do that because food is involved. Part of him finding out who he is where Ventus isn't has been a journey of finding what he likes and doesn't like. Honestly, Vanitas is like a feral cat in the sense that he can allow things to slide if there's food involved.

So instead he raises his brow. ]

What is it.

[refire]

Grilled mushrooms! Not only does it taste good it's also very addicting so you're going to want to come back for seconds.

[ That's up for debate. Alphen's tastes are extremely strange and he doesn't take things the way normal people do. ]


When you eat this you'll see what I'm talking about. So do you want to try some? I promise you won't regret it.

[ This might end up in regret anyway. ]

[darkcharge]

Mushrooms. You’re claiming that I’m going to be legitimately addicted to them when it already burns my nose.

[ Of course he has no idea that this is an indicator of something being super spicy. At least Vanitas can’t tell that anything is burned? ]

You’re not really convincing me that you knew what you were doing, throwing it out there like a sales pitch.

[refire]

"Like a sales pitch?" This isn't what I had in mind. It's only strong at first but then you can really see how all the spices blend in.

Do you not like spicy food?

[ Alphen knows a lot of people who can't take spice too well. It's entirely possible that Vanitas just isn't a fan of it. ]

[darkcharge]

[ Yeah, Vanitas is still looking super wary here. ]

I don't think I've had any. Not really.

[ Because he's not lived with anyone that has a taste for it, no. ]

1

[spryite]

[The distant shouting is what got Jude to admittedly take a small detour on his way, thinking to himself that it sounded strangely familiar. He gets his answer once he steps into the open field, and finds...

...]

Hey, Alphen. Do you... need help?

[did he accidentally step into some sort of sword graveyard, WHAT HAPPENED...]

[refire]

[ They're literally standing in a sword graveyard, yes. So many of them look like they've been outright demolished. Alphen has broken over a thousand blades, unknown to life nor known to death. ]

Hi, Jude. I've been testing out some training equipment. Didn't go the way I thought it would and the result is...what you're looking at. [ A disaster. ]

At first I thought it'd be cool to train with two swords. That just ended up with double the amount of work and clean up.

[spryite]

[Yet will his hands hold anything? All his life, unlimited war and strife...

...

Tentatively, he picks up one of the sword remnants. What material is it made of? Wood? Metal? Something else? How have they been broken? Shattered at the hilt? Snapped clean into two halves somewhere on the blade portion? He's an observant lad sorry he'll take in ANY detail...]

Was that the only reason you tried dual wielding? Because it could be cool?

[He's not judging. ...He swears. But he IS asking, because he'd like to hear the answer while he gives these poor useless swords a better look. Alphen...]

[refire]

That's not the only reason. I already fight with two swords but I never thought to use them at the same time.

[ They're essentially wooden swords with all different shapes and sizes. There's no consistency to them and some of them even look beyond destroyed. ]

It'd be a good challenge to try. Do you have a lot of combat experience, Jude?

[spryite]

Twice the sword doesn't necessarily mean twice the power. [That's not how it works, Lloyd and Rose.] You need better coordination and technique for starters, I'd imagine, though I don't use blades myself so I can only make guesses. It's fine to experiment on your down time, I guess, but is it really necessary if fighting with one sword at a time works for you already?

[Fight addicts... Jude can never be like that, smh.]

...More than I'd like, but yeah, I do. [He's very much admitting it with open reluctance, after putting down the broken sword he was scrutinizing before. He's lowkey afraid to ask wtf Alphen's done to them now, with how there's absolutely no rhyme nor reason to how the wooden swords have been destroyed. Are you some kind of monster, Alphen...]