[PRP] Moving a Tree (Sephos and Nucleo)

[DraconicFeline]

Do me a favor...  

[DraconicFeline]

Sephos hadn't been down to Four Fronds in a long, long time. It was a very rare occasion that saw him outside of his forest home these days. He was busy with taking care of Maku - who was still dormant and recovering - and taking care of the forest and his garden, and he had little desire to enter the resort town besides. Or any town, for that matter. When he needed supplies, he could often ask Rastin for help in getting it. When he was lonely, there was always Rastin and other trolls in the area besides. Everything else, the forest provided. The forest was home.

However, this time he had products for trade that he couldn't very well ask Rastin to do. For one thing, he knew he shouldn't impose on Rastin too much - Ras had his own things to do. And the other side... some things had to be done himself.

Sephos stood by his stall, the smells of the whole large wagon-ful of cut flowers and fresh herbs floating around him. After so long in the woods, mostly alone, seeing so many trolls in one place was strange. He'd rather not be around them and their... technology... but he needed beetles and items, so he had to handle it. He had only really just begun selling and trading for the night, but, as he fidgeted with the bouquet wrappings, he couldn't wait to leave...

doutei

 

[Doutei]

Stretching out his arms as he walked, Nucleo was surprised at how pleasant tonight's air felt. It'd been a long time since he'd felt so spry and adventurous. He missed it, he missed how his younger self had been so adventurous and spontaneous. Maybe it was time to go back to his roots. A scent caught his attention and feeling inspired by the night, Nucleo decided to follow it.

The breeze led him to a stall full of all kinds of flowers and herbs on display! Impressed by the display, Nucleo looked to the stall owner and gave the boy a smile. The greenblood looked a little bit nervous, fidgeting like that, but Nucleo knew how to behave himself and decided he wouldn't be too troubling to talk with.

"Hello, what beautiful flowers! Could you show me your pink ones?" Starting off with an easy question to answer, Nucleo glanced at the herbs curiously as he waited for the other greenblood to reply. He'd ask about those next and see if he could use any for his shop!

DraconicFeline

 

[DraconicFeline]

Doutei

"They are." Sephos nodded in agreement. Flowers were beautiful, and these were an especially lovely batch.

He smoothed out the wrapping, hoping that it wasn't so wrinkled that he'd have to toss it out (such a waste) and stood. "Yeah." he said gruffly, voice rough from the compounding factors of lack of use and puberty, "Got a few of 'em." the young greenblood began to sort through his flowers, picking out the pink ones he'd separated out, "Some light, some darkish..." he laid them on the table as he found them, the care he took at odds with his brusqueness. "It's a good color." he added. Well, they all were.

He set out a nice selection, studying the customer slightly beneath his bangs. He knew this greenblood, in contexts relating to Busthind and... Panili? Huh.  

[Doutei]

"I'll take two of each of these. And one of that white one over there. Along with anything green that can be filler." Nucleo smiled, picking out some flowers to form a bouquet.

"So how've you been? Since, well... you know." The barista asked, trying to be discrete but also genuinely curious. He vaguely remembered Sephos from back with Panili but couldn't say he'd ever had a private talk with the guy. He seemed rather quiet and withdrawn... but with a lot of interesting details to notice about him! Such as those herbs he was selling! Nucleo couldn't fight it and the words escaped him before he could stop them any longer.

"And what are those?" His eyes glanced over a the herbs.

DraconicFeline

 

[DraconicFeline]

Doutei

"You want those wrapped up?" Sephos brandished (or offered, the latter being the intent) some bouquet wrappers, "Helps keep the stems safe."

"Since, uh..." Sephos hesitated, "... the Space Tower...? he asked, just to be sure. Yeah - he'd definitely seen this troll at Panili's place in Busthind, and he remembered his voice from the walkie-talkies. Him and... some other greenblood. It took him a while to remember the name of the place, forever emblazoned in his mind as 'that place with the robots' and 'hell'. But it was definitely the Space Tower.

"I've been okay. Here." he said simply, "A lot of gardening."

Sephos moved to his herbs selection. "Herbs - I gather 'em wild in the forest and I grow some in my greenhouse." He set out herbs, tied together into units. "Mint, nasturtums, parsley, oregano, sage, Summer Savory, sorrel, tarragon... he brought out a few others, "Agrimony - makes a medicine tonic for colds, fevers... other stuff... May apple, poisonous but can be used in medicine. Fruit's ripe, so you can eat the flesh of it. It's not bad. Angelica, can help with the, uh, the things that make wounds go all red and not good. Good on broken bones and swellings, too. Blackberry..." He stopped before he explained it's medicinal use, and that he had berries as well (they were in full view), distracted by a parcel of fuzzy silver and purple flowers. In a rare example of caring what the other troll percieved, Sephos took one of themand held one of them out for him to smell. "Lavender." he said, lips twitching in a possibly smile-like way arond his jutting teeth, "Real nice."  

[Doutei]

"Yes please!" Nucleo nodded at the offer to protect the stems. As Sephos worked, Nucleo watched in curiosity.

"Wow! You've got a lot of options here!" The barista looked impressed as the other greenblood pointed out the different herbs and explained what they were. He tried to keep track of each one but knew he was bound to forget them in a short amount of time. As the gardener held out a pretty purple flower, Nucleo took his cue and leaned over to inhale it's scent.

"Wonderful. How much for one of those?" Nucleo inquired, wanting to take one home and show it to Amonee. The jadeblood loved lovely things like this and would be delighted.

"It's amazing how much you know about all of these plants. Could you show me which ones would be okay for mixing with a hot drink?" Immediately Nucleo wanted to see if he could use any of the herbs with his coffeeshop. Then, another thought occurred to him.

"Or... a smoothie?" It was a longshot but Nucleo remembered he'd decided to sell smoothies and juice at his booth for Bloodfest this year. He'd better bring something unique and special to the table to leave a lasting impression on his customers!

DraconicFeline

 

[DraconicFeline]

Doutei

"I grow 'um." he said, as if that explained it. "Got a nursery." It was fun to grow all of those plants, seeing which ones grew better in which soils, and how long they took to germinate. Sephos would never have considered it science, and certainly had no data or anything of the sort, but it was rewardng to do.

Sephos listed a price that sounded fair to him. He preferred to barter, but beetles were always a good go-between, and it made sense. "Have some tea blends. And theres spices that dissolve real well." Rastin had taught him so much about teas, more than he'd known before. It was a little amazing that one could blend so many plants together to make one, really nice taste. "If you use this one, here, you'd have to take it out before you drink. Like tea." he said, "It's got a sort of, uh..." Sephos hesitated, "... it's a taste. Bitter. Spicy. Sweet." Tastes were hard. However, he thought it could work in some sort of hot beverage like tea, or maybe coffee? Coffee beans didn't like growing in the nursery and his part of the forest wasn't really their... cup of coffee? But he knew about them.

"Smoothie?" Sephos handed him the wrapped up bouquet, "What's that?" It sounded strange, but it made him think of soft cotton, or a handful of clumped-together milkweed seeds.  

[Doutei]

"A nursery? Wow! It must be an amazing sight!" Nucleo had tried his hand at gardening a small plot next to his hive but it was a small and simple thing. He wondered what plants an actual gardener with knowledge and experience could grow. He wished he could see it!

"Really? I’ll take some of those then!" While Nucleo’s main product was coffee he wasn’t opposed to selling tea and experimenting with those as well. Accepting Sephos’ recommendations, the barista was excited to see how they worked out. He was always trying to think of new ways to expand what he was already doing. It was fun to see how people reacted.

"A smoothie is when you blend up fruits to make a drink! It’s thicker than when you juice them." Nucleo explained. Unfortunately he didn’t have anything with him to help demonstrate.

"I’m setting up a smoothie shop for a booth at Bloodfest, if you’d like to try one!" Nucleo reached into his bag to pull out a business card. It was for his café The Nightly Grind but hopefully it would help Sephos to remember the name.

"Since you’re giving me such a great deal here today, you can have one for free!" Nucleo offered.

DraconicFeline

 

[DraconicFeline]

Doutei

Sephos took the business card. The writing was meaningless, but at least it had a symbol on it. "Okay." he said - and why not? The idea of a smoothie was interesting - kind of like a fruit mud? Sephos had made mushy fruit things before with overripe fruit, and he'd made jam, too. How was this different?

He flipped over the card - Busthind. He could read that much.

"... Busthind is pretty far off." he mentioned, remembering. Why come all the way to Four Fronds to get flowers? Or herbs? Or anything? They had perfectly good types of both in the mountains.

But then again, why not? Trolls from the outside world, the sort that would make cafes and be baristas and make coffee for others - lightseeker or not - were still so strange.

"What's it like?" Sephos asked, "Bloodfest."

He was a little curious, after all.