sticksandbones | so i'll just wander home

Who: Pure Vanilla Cookie & You
What: Pure Vanilla is familiarizing himself with his surroundings
When: Endish of February
Where: All over the Grove
Warnings: Will edit if needed but nothing so far

a) take me to church - specific for ww but open to all otherwise

[Trying to orient himself more with the Grove, Pure Vanilla has taken to visiting the various buildings. The first place he visits is the one that calls to him most: the Church. It's quiet inside, cozy, and familiar in an unfamiliar way. It reminds him a little of the Solarium of Unity. Not quite in visuals - and most certainly not in the iconography that is completely foreign to him - but in the general feel of the place. There's a peace to it, a feeling of welcome. It sets him at ease, and he visibly relaxes.

He stops next to the pulpit, merely looking around for a moment, before a noise catches his attention and his staff glances up. Oh. While it proceeds to go through the stages of grief and attempts to curl its vines up to cover itself, Pure Vanilla smiles and tilts his head back towards the pigeons in the rafters. Are they mixed with plants? How peculiar.]

Hello there, little ones. I hope I am not disturbing you.

[Extending a hand, he waits patiently and is rewarded with a pigeon fluttering down to it. Because he's a fucking Disney princess and it's canon birds love him. Take it up with his world. The Staff glares at it like it's personally shit on it, but Pure Vanilla ignores it. Don't be mean.]

Do you live here?

[He's not expecting an answer, to be honest, but he is enjoying the bird. It's very cute.]

b) all that wander are not lost but this sheep may be

[Other than the Church, Pure Vanilla can be found in other places, studying them and getting used to them. He may be found in the Bath House, delightedly exploring this bodies waterproofing by taking a dip or two. Only to find out wool is very heavy when wet and waterproof doesn't mean unsinkable. The Therapy Office also calls to him, mostly the Library, where he can be found seated with a few books around him. Though they're mostly self-help, he's never read them before, and he's quite engrossed. He explores the School with the air of a teacher saddened by the state of it, mentally marking places he may be able to aid in refurbishing it. In fact, he may have a little pad of paper and pencil with him to make notes on it.

As promised, he can also be found at the Lab or Clinic so that the Healers there can look him over as they so desired. He will gladly offer any sort of samples that may be requested from him.

And last but not least, he can be found staring intently at the eyeball lemons at Elsword's House. Well, the staff is staring intently, Pure Vanilla looks amused and seems to be trying to convince the staff they're not going to respond to it.]

c) baa baa white sheep asks you for help

[Are sheep common in the Grove? If not, it might be quite bizarre to see a perfectly normal looking ram standing in the middle of the grove near the well. Simply standing there, stock still. Well, almost stock still, it's ears keep flicking up at every little sound. Nearby is a staff that may or may not be recognizable, laying in a puddle of water that had spilled from a drawn bucket, the eye on it frantically looking around.

Should the eye land on anyone, the sheep will twist it's ears in their direction, then turn it's head. It's eyes are open, blue and gold staring almost pleadingly at whomever approaches and it speaks.]

Help.

[Sheep sure did ask for help, do you accept this quest?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Grandpa beam...]

Oh. [He turns to the staff and looks at it.] Sorry, staff, they're just lemons from the demon realm that I planted.

[the truth come out: these cursed objects are NOT native to the grove.]

I don't know why they have eyes, but a lot of demon realm food is weird.

[The Staff'll glance over to Elsword again, then back to the lemons, but now it seems. Dejected. Pure Vanilla smiles in sympathy and taps it lightly against the ground.]

It does quite remind me of several plants back home. My Staff itself, before I ensorcelled it to be my sight, was quite similar. Simply a flower with a closed lid. Are they simply just lemons?

[Pure Vanilla now will investigate one, holding it in his hand as he turns it left and right, pondering. The eye is very convincing, it could probably be magicked into something similar...]

[Oh no he hurt the staff's feelings, he's sorry staff he didn't mean it—]

Yeah, kind of. The eyes look like they're crying when you juice them. [And then look Horrific, downright Hideous, once they've been squeezed. Because there's an eye.] They taste like normal lemons, but maybe a tiny bit saltier? And they're definitely pretty sour. You can make a really good lemonade with them, though. The demons showed me how.

[And somehow he still remembers that, but not like, 88% of his life. So. You know, doing well.]

[Oh. Horrifying, but understandable, the seam looks like it's the best place for the juice to leak from. Saltier - tears, disturbing! - but lemonade none the less.]

How very peculiar. It seems a little macabre, but I do not have much room to talk.

[Everything has a fucking face on it back home SO.]

Has anyone tried to use them as seeing eyes?

I dunno, actually. A lot of the magic the demons could do was kind of weird, so I wouldn't really be surprised if they did. You said you knew how to do an enchantment like that, didn't you?

[It's okay, most demon realm food for some reason has an eyeball on it. No one knows why.]

[Cookie World is just a small Demon World, got it. Pure Vanilla hm's softly, letting his fingers travel down, both himself and the staff pondering the plant.]

Yes, it's what I did to my staff here, to compensate for my eyesight. [Until canon proves it wrong.] May I?

[He gestures to a branch with a singular fruit on it, that looks like it might make a good staff. If not, he can simply break the eye off...]

Sure, knock yourself out. But not literally.

[...yeah he knows—]

[That makes him laugh softly - who knows it might he's not used his magic seriously yet here - and jams his staff end into the ground to keep it there so he can use both hands. Breaks a branch off carefully, tucks it gently under his arm and picks his staff up again to move back some.

Uses the end of his staff to begin making an arcane circle, his eyes actually open as he does. He will not look at Elsword. When the circle is big enough, and there's symbols etched around it and lines, he lays the lemon branch in the middle. Then closes his eyes and looks at Elsword with his staff, smiling.]

Would you like to be bound to it? If it works, it can act like an eye for you, though it may be disorienting.

[Wolfwood may have given him this idea...]

Huh? Sure. Do I get a cool stick like you do, or is it gonna float behind me?

[It sounds like a good idea. Elsword has gotten used to having no depth perception, but you know, it would be nice to have that back.]

Do I have to stand in the circle? [so many questions.]

The form it will take is entirely up to your will and the magic. Should you desire to use it as a Staff, the branch it is on shall suffice, merely will it and it will shift accordingly. Should you desire it to float, break the lemon from the branch. But yes, please, stand in the circle with the lemon. It will be bound to you, and may lay a mark on your body to act as a conduit, but it will not be painful. I... will have to look at you with my eyes open, I'm afraid, to weave it properly. I promise I shall try not Look at anything.

[ "Try" because sometimes the Souljam's Truth can simply make him See, whether he desires to or not. ]

[Neat!

Elsword shuffles into the circle, carefully making sure his shoes don't track through any of the drawn symbols, and then stands perfectly still. He thinks Pure Vanilla means "I'll try not to perceive how horrifying you look with flowers growing out of your fucking skin and eye socket" and not anything else, so his answer is a very simple,]

Oh, yeah, that's okay. I know I don't look great.

[ That makes his Staff blink, and he smiles softly. ]

You look fine, my friend. I do not mean your physical form. I am able to perceive certain Truths of various matters when I open my eyes. Though it is required of me to weave magic properly, it also means some things come to Light which may not be wished to be observed.

[ Which is why he won't do anything yet, his head tilted as he lets Elsword digest this. ]

If you wish me to proceed, I shall and will attempt to not peer too deeply, but if you'd rather not take the risk, I will refrain.

Oh, neat. I don't have anything to hide, though. People say I'm too honest, heh. Do your thing.

[He is 100% unconcerned about this. Seeing the truth of his soul? Yeah no big deal, if he had something to hide he'd be hiding it already. That's obviously how that works.]

Very well.

[ With a smile, Pure Vanilla holds his Staff up, and a brilliant golden light begins to emanate from it. The symbol around Elsword glows, then seems to duplicate unto itself, the duplicates taking multiple positions around him. Pure Vanilla's eyes open and he stares right at Elsword (a brilliant blinding blue void, familiar in a way Pure Vanilla knows when he looks upon his own Souljam. God-like. Otherworldy. Beyond. Power he does not truly comprehend but understands.) and Elsword will feel what feels like fingers gently weaving around him, through him. The touch is warm, kind, a purely magical thing. Somewhere on his body Elsword may feel a faint sensation, like a pen marking a pattern, and the next time he blinks, he has the vague sensation of something else blinking with him.

He may also begin to see through the lemon, the focus wavering and blurry at first, and coming clearer as the binding grows tighter. The sight will overlap with his own, as the Lemon stares in a direction different than him.

And Pure Vanilla will frown a little, staring at the Corruption without meaning to. The souls cling there to Elsword like they did to the insect. It's a bit difficult binding the spell around Elsword without catching the Corruption in it... ]

so i'll just wander home

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