UUU: "Tomes and Thymes"

Cast: Nyrandisa (Netha) and Mars (Midas)

TLDR:

Support Points Earned: 2

[8:03 PM] NethaEmerald: Nyrandisa was sitting a little away from the main group, with an assortment of plants, fruits, berries, mushrooms, and other natural greens and such in front of her. She was sorting them into a few piles. One pile was stuff good to eat. Another pile was for herbal medicines, like soothing creams and pain releivers. A third pile was for stuff that could be used for more mechanical functions, like for twine and fire. The last pile was for stuff that was poisonous, dangerous to eat, or couldn't be salvaged for anything useful or stuff she wasn't confident in knowing what it did.. She had just started on the task, and she had a while left to go. She didn't know how some of the party came across the stuff they did, but this would hopefully help prevent people from using stuff wrong and falling ill, wasting it's potential, or worse. It wasn't a very fun task, but something she took upon herself to do. She hoped someone would come by to help pass the time.

[11:31 PM] != Midas: Mars was conversing with the large group of people near the center of camp, discussing many things, including where they were going, if they were actually going to help Savier, if Celeste and her gang could actually be trusted to be escorted, etc. Mars was trying to be a voice of reason, or at least, one of scepticism. After having a small debate with Himaya, mostly comprised of Mars trying to be sceptical and Himaya responding with something along the lines of 'People need to be trusted if you want to help people'. Mars aggreed with this sentiment, of course, but it was like talking to an idealistic brick wall. Eventually, Mars left the conversation, he decided to not challenge Zain's decision of listening to Himaya, and thusly, Mars wondered off to the nearest person he could find. This person was Nyrandisa. "What are you working on? Do you need any help?" Mars said, as he sat across from Nyrandisa, on the ground.(edited)

[11:36 PM] NethaEmerald: As she continued to sword out the natural items the whole group had, a voice broke the silence that surrounded the soft shuffling of items. She looked up to see the group's Anima mage in front of her. She put down one item in her hand, some aloe plant, and responded with "Sorting some items out. More specifically, natural items, like plants, fruit, mushrooms, and herbs. Need to make sure we don't keep anything we can't use or could harm us. I doubt everyone knows what to look out for. Thankfully, I do."

December 17, 2017

[5:07 PM] != Midas: "Ah, now this is something I may be able to help you with. You see, I used to travel Alaros as a mercenary. During my travels, I learned about some of the plants that grew around Alaros, mostly the practical things and the things to avoid should I ever need to eat." Mars was half bragging about his accomplishments. "See, I know that that herb" Mars said, pointing to one of the herbs "gives you a small boost of energy when eaten. And I know that that one" Mars pointed at another plant "is highly toxic. As to the rest of the plants I have no idea but at least I know a little."

[5:11 PM] NethaEmerald: Nyrandisa listened to him speak. She was well aware of the uses for the plants he had just pointed out, but she wasn't going to tell him that to his face. "I see. Well, that's good to know." She said, sorting them out into the piles. "If you have anymore knowledge, or time, I could use some help, or maybe teach you a little." she added once she sorted a few more out.

December 18, 2017

[4:29 PM] != Midas: "Oh. Uh..." Mars was a little caught off guard that Nyrandisa had no idea what those plants were yet was still sorting them into piles alongside what she presumbably had some idea about. Maybe she is sorting them by what she does and doesn't understand?... Yeah, that must be it. "Well, I'm afraid that what I've told you is the extent of the knowledge I have on the plants I can see. But, I do have time to burn right now, so I suppose helping you with whatever need would be a good use of that time." Mars was shifting where he sat. He tried to perish the thought that Nyrandisa wasn't qualified for this kind of stuff, from what he had seen of her, plants were her passion, clearly she had some system worked out for this.

[5:27 PM] NethaEmerald: Nyrandisa wasn't doing anything wrong. She knew exactly what she was doing, and if she didn't? She wasn't taking any chances. There are four piles. One is useful for medical applications. One is for physical uses, like eating and materials. One is for poisonsous/dangerous stuff, and the last is what I'm not completely sure of." she explained as she pointed each pile out. She continued to sort some more, telling Mars "feel free to help out or ask questions about any of this."

December 19, 2017

[5:54 PM] != Midas: "Oh uh, well, what do you need me to do? You seem to have a system for this sorted out, and I doubt that having an extra pair of hands would help improve the speed of the task." Mars said, still trying to make sense of what Nyrandisa had said.

[7:36 PM] NethaEmerald: "If you don't give me a hand, you can at least learn something from me. If you have any questions, please ask. I just need someone to talk to, mostly. This isn't exactly a fun task. Or you can look at the pile i'm not completely sure on and see if you can figure out what they do." Nyrandisa explained. She came across a small, green herb that she didn't know of, and put it in the unknown pile. "Like that one."(edited)

December 21, 2017

[11:33 PM] != Midas: Mars looked at the pile that Nyrandisa had pointed to. He stared at it for a while, not being able to make out any plants he knew. "Sorry, my knowledge is very limited in this field. I only really know of the immediately practical things, if you have no idea, I doubt I'd be any better." Mars continued staring at the pile. "Bah, well. If nothing else we can just talk." Mars said, now shaking off whatever doubt was left in his head.

[11:55 PM] NethaEmerald: She left it in the pile when he mentioned he didn't know anything about much else right now. "That's fine with me. Just don't try and distract or backseat me too much though, okay?"

December 22, 2017

[10:00 AM] != Midas: "Not one for talking I guess. I understand that, I mean, this is my first expedition with other people that will last for more than a week. I mostly traveled alone for this kind of thing so talking isn't something I'm the best at. Usually you just get me failing to come up with good ideas to talk about, or being too intimidated to every begin speaking. But... if there's one thing I've learned from being around people in general, it's that you have to be able to talk with people if you want to help them." Mars finally took a breath. "Well, that's just my take on it anyways. I'm out here to help people." Mars half-lied. "Well, what do you want to talk about anyways?"

[2:50 PM] NethaEmerald: "It's not that i'm against talking. In fact, I love to talk. I just don't know what you want to talk about. I could always help you expand your natural herb knowledge, could discuss more magical topics, or anything else." She explained back. She didn't mean for him to never say anything. She continued to sort more stuff, but eventually took a small break. "Though I have to say... one of your tomes? I've never seen anything like it. I don't know what you call it or which one it is, though."

December 23, 2017

[8:58 PM] != Midas: "Oh... well, you see, that tome is er..." Mars paused "to be honest even I don't really fully comprehend it. It's... alright, let me just show you." Mars stood up and pulled the dark covered tome from his robes. Mars then proceeded to mutter some sort of incantation in an unknown language, the tome burst open, pages were flipped on their own, and finally, the purple outline of a staff appeared in Mars' off hand. "Well... alright." Mars said, seemingly puzzled by what had happened "that's a new one. But, I'm sure this will be useful... I just don't know how yet." Mars said aloud, seemingly talking to only himself, forgetting entirely that he was supposed to be demonstrating the power of the tome. After staring at the staff for a short time he realised that he hadn't done a thing to answer Nyrandisa's question. "So, this tome can seemingly comprehend what is happening and create some object to... somehow, aid in whatever issues I'm having at the time. As to what issue this staff is trying to solve... well... I've got no clue. That's not to mention that, unlike most tomes which has the user channeling either natural, miraculous, or eldritch magics through a tome to cast the spell, this tome also my body as a catalyst." Mars took a breath. "But that's not even the strangest part, most anima tomes that I've read were written in Pallo or Milo, rarely are they written in other languages, and when they are, they could be translated. But this language... it's something different than any other language I've seen in my life. I've brought it to the Archmages of the 6 towers in Alaros, and each one said that throughout the history that they have read about, which basically translates to all known history across the many schools of anima magic, that they had never seen the language either. 1 of them said that it could even be the language of..." Mars paused. "Actually... nevermind. It's just a silly superstition. That archmage must've gone senile in his old age."(edited)

December 24, 2017

[11:36 PM] NethaEmerald: As Mars talked on and on about his tome, as well as giving a demonstration of it, she can't say she's seen anything quite like it. She knew hew newest tome could channel awesome power, but somehow latch to her own body during it's casting. She wasn't sure what it's effect quite was yet herself. Regardless, she nodded in thought. "So it makes something, in energy, for whatever scenario is in front of you? Interesting... I know a new dark tome I got can cling to me if I channel its energy to its fullest, but I don't quite know what my own does. I'd assume yours might be some ancient magic made to be used like anims, or perhaps an element not known to Anima. I'm no expert on Anima magic, however, so don't take my words as truth." She had stopped sorting the various plants and herbs. "Maybe we'll find more about it along our investigations. Just keep an eye out for anyone that might look or seem like they know something about it."

January 4, 2018

[8:11 PM] != Midas: "At this point you can barely even call the thing an Anima tome, it seemingly harnesses natural energy, sure, but instead of keeping it in it's naturally occuring state and simply reforming it, it seems to transmute it down into it's base energy, and then create something with that." Mars paused, seemingly in thought "...Anyways, despite the fact that these are mere conjectures, I doubt that anyone would have any knowledge about a tome like this one. If anything, I'm the most qualified person to say anything about it." "But regardless, let's try and figure out what on earth this staff is meant to do." Mars waved it around, trying to cast something. It failed, obivously, he had no experience with staves barring the occational training session where he used them as weapons. Mars continued staring at the staff before simply casting it aside, the moment it left his hand the outlines grew far darker, and the edges seem to disintegrate. The staff totally vanished before it even hit the ground. "Sometimes it creates something of which I have no idea how to use, or of what to do with. So I simply get rid of it, keeping the item around for too long drains my stamina, and can easily leave me exhausted, so with more abstract items such as a rope, it's much better for me to simply cast it aside and just figure out another option." Mars smiled, glad to share the research he had accumulated over the months he had had the tome with someone who could actually appreciate the seemingly endless mysteries that the tome held within it, and the effort he had put in to figuring it all out.

[8:14 PM] NethaEmerald: Nyrandisa thought for a moment about what the staff could mean. "Hmm... could be a sign of your future potential? I know Seed and Suleiman use staves to heal others. That's purely speculation, however, but one that can't be ruled out." She said as she continued to sort. She was actually almost done with her small task here; just a few herbs and shrooms left to sort through. She picked up the next shroom; an Arbor Mushroom. Upon just looking at it, she put it in the useful pile for medicinal purposes.

January 5, 2018

[6:34 PM] != Midas: "...I mean... I doubt it, the tome tends to offer solutions to problems in the near future. If I had to guess, the staff would've likely healed poison, in case there was a small mistake in the shorting process. But regardless, let's finish up this little task before wondering about grand futures." Mars almost winced at the contradiction to his very life goal that he had just uttered, but kept a calm smile up regardless. Mars sat back down, across from Nyrandisa, and stared at the remaining plants in the unsorted pile. He was just as clueless then as he was was when they had first started sorting. "Well, considering I still have no clue what these are, I suppose you'll just have to point me in the right direction for us to finish this."

[6:48 PM] NethaEmerald: When Mars asked about the current stuff with Nyra's task, she responded with "Well, the mushroom I just sorted." as she pointed to it. "Is actually a good thing to eat. It helps with the natural healing processes in our bodies. It can also be used in cooking, though it loses some of it's healing potential when done so." Once she was done explaining that, the next item was a simple dandelion. "And this? This dandelion can supposedly help with upset stomachs, loss of appetite, and gas problems, but I haven't seen it work enough to know for sure. In any case, it can be used in salads and the likes, so we'll keep it around, if only for that reason."

[7:05 PM] != Midas: Mars listened to Nyrandisa talking about the plants, and sat there for a short time after she had already stopped talking "Oh, you were done talking. Sorry. Old habits tend to die hard, as they say." Mars laughed awkwardly. Mars looked down at the pile, all that was left was some kind of leaf. It wasn't the normal currency, nor was it of any tree that Mars had seen enough to try the leaves of. So, like before, he was puzzled. "Well, before we finish this off, what is this?" Mars said, now grabbing and gingerly holding the leaf.

[7:10 PM] NethaEmerald: Nyrandisa looked at the leaf carefully. It took her a few moments to finally say "Honestly? I have no idea. I'll put it in the pile i'm not sure of, and hope someone else can figure out what it does." as she set it in the proper pile. "And now it looks like we're done here, at least with my task." she remarked. "Well, other than putting them into labelled bags."

[7:20 PM] != Midas: Mars continued looking at the leaf, alongside the other herbs in the pile that Nyrandisa had set them in. "Nope, it looks like I have no information that you didn't already know about." Mars said "But regardless, if you could get these bags, I'm sure that I could at least handle putting some herbs away for you, considering I've done almost nothing for you despite offering my help." Mars said honestly.

January 6, 2018

[12:56 PM] NethaEmerald: The Jera nodded. "I'll need a moment to get some, then. Hold on." She said as she left go go and get some bags. She wasn't sure if there would even be enough. She knew their supplies were dwindled just a little bit. However, when she checked and found enough spares, she came back to the spot and had four bags. "Okay; we got enough. Help me get them into some bags, please."

January 9, 2018

[8:31 PM] != Midas: Mars grabbed one of the bags, it was plenty big enough to hold the piles that had been set out before him. He began loading it with the multiple herbs and plants that had been put in the pile of which neither of them knew what the were. Before long, the job was over, Mars looked up and Nyrandisa and handed the bag to her. "Here, this is the herbs that were in the 'We have no idea what in the hell these are' pile." Mars said, trying again to make jokes.(edited)

[8:55 PM] NethaEmerald: When Mars finished his pile, Nyra got the pile of "non-medicinal use" done. "Heh. It might as well be. Anyways, I can get the last pile of medicinal uses. I don't think we need to bag the harmful ones."

January 10, 2018

[5:27 PM] != Midas: Mars stared at the pile of what Nyrandisa had deemed 'harmful herbs' and got an idea. "You know... poisons are far from useless in this kind of scenario." Mars said, serious "The enemies we've fought previously were carrying poison tipped weapons. If we don't seize this opportunity to gain an advantage after they already have gained the same advantage, than all we'd be doing is claiming moral high ground." Mars continued staring at the pile of herbs. "One thing that I've learned by working as a mercenary for 3 years is that moral high ground is a great thing to have, right up until you get your ass handed back to you because your opponents weren't afraid of stepping off that moral high ground and dragging you down with them." Mars stopped staring at the pile and turned to Nyrandisa "But please, I have no idea on how exactly we'd make poisons with any of these, or even if it's possible. All I'm saying is that it's a tad bit hasty to not bag the ones that are harmful." Mars smiled, trying to play off the mood of him being much more serious than he normally was.(edited)

[7:56 PM] NethaEmerald: When Mars was all too eager to want to use poison on weapons and against their enemies, Nyrandisa sighed. "And that's the problem with the world. Everyone is so caught up in winning battles that they lose things like compassion, empathy, sympathy, and communication. No longer are problems solved with words. Now it's with violence. I might be a part of this investigation group, but that doesn't mean i'm going to stoop as low as that. In fact, I don't even want to be fighting in the first place. I'm doing only it out of circumstance; nothing more. And even then, I look for non-lethal ways." When she was done talking, she let out a small sigh before continuing. "If you wish to keep them, go for it. Just know I won't help you learn how to use them for nefarious means."

[9:16 PM] != Midas: Mars was silent for a short time after Nyrandisa had finished speaking. "That's a shame." Mars began "When I first found out that there was a fellow scholar amongst our ranks, I figured that we'd have a similar way of thinking. Whilst that may be true, it is also clear that we have quite a different outlook on life. I appreciate that you want to keep as many people alive as possible, but you have to be realistic here. This all began with an attack on the Arbor. Whomever is behind this is clearly aiming to do something major to the economy, and thusly, the world. Saving the people you can is good, but any risk that you take is a risk that could jeopardize your life, we need to all make it through this for the good of everyone who is innocent." Mars took a short breath "I wouldn't have even imagined using poison against these enemies had they not already used it against us. Poison is inhumane, I know, but surely there are some non-lethal poisons here we can use to knock someone out, right? Surely, if you only create poisons used to knock someone unconscious then all we'd do is save more lives, both by figuring out who on earth is behind all this, and by presumbably keeping said people alive." Mars paused one last time before finishing with a single sentence. "We both want to end this so as few people as possible suffer."

[9:43 PM] NethaEmerald: "Who ever said I was a scholar? I'm just mostly a chef and herbalist, along with my powers to help us on any combat lines. I grew up in a secluded life for most of the time i've been alive. It's just my set of skills i'm very knowledgable with. And reagrdless of what you say, i'm not going to make any poison. Mostly because, if you knew those herbs, they can only cause pain and death." She took the three more useful bags in her hands. "While I want so few to suffer, i'll go about it through my own means. But by all means, take your own path. Just know it's not one i'll readily follow."

[9:56 PM] != Midas: Mars stood up "Very well then." He started turning around, to go back towards his tent before pausing "I do have 1 question to ask before I go though." Mars turned back "If you would have been able to make non-lethal poisons using those herbs, would you have?"

[9:58 PM] NethaEmerald: When asked that, her response was quick "If I could? Certainly. Depending on the non-lethal poison, like putting people to sleep, could be useful for bodily recovery as they are worked on. Some others have uses too, like heavy nausea if they ate something they shouln't have."

[10:29 PM] != Midas: Mars gave a slight smile "Good." he said before turning around once more to head back to his tent. She and I will get along just fine. Mars thought She's not an idealistic fool like some of the others, she simply has a different set of principles than I. Hopefully I can one day tell her of my goals, she seems like someone who would understand. Mars walked back to his into his tent to finish gearing up for the trip ahead.

[10:29 PM] NethaEmerald: When Mars had left to his own tent, Nyrandisa retired to hers, with the three bags in tow. She would have to make something of them soon.

[10:29 PM] NethaEmerald: ==RP END==