text ❁ keep out of reach of children is an understatement

[roseblooms]

A few brief orders of business:

In the first: a package I retreived from the mailbox recently has afforded me a package of seeds with unusually helpful properties, given the current state of perpetual darkness we've found ourselves in. I've performed a handful of experiments with them and, as best I can tell, they're perfectly normal and harmless plants not unlike dandelions, with the one unusual property that the blossoms are luminescent — while in bloom, they glow.

Mass-producing them shouldn't be altogether difficult for me at my current state of...ability, so for anyone who would find it helpful to have one or several of these as an alternative light source, please let me know. Potting them seems as though it would be the easiest method of transfer, though I suppose if you really had your heart set on my weaving them into a glowing flower crown or somesuch, I could see about obliging.

In the second: in somewhat more alarming news, I also received a secondary package from Retrospec, which I'd like to have examined by...well, someone with some expertise in artifacts of an unusual nature. This request is slightly more...complicated, as I'm not really certain how to explain what it is I'm looking for, other than that if you happen to possess some means of perceiving when a potentially cursed object is actively working its curse, please let me know. I think it's rather imperative that I find out, as quickly as possible, whether this particular object is...operational, or not.

In the third: has anyone felt particularly restless lately, on account of the perpetual darkness or otherwise? I suppose it might just be me, but one never knows with matters including Retrospec, so I thought it prudent to ask.

In the fourth: I'm twenty-four now. Not that that's really an order of any sort of business, of course, but I thought it at least worthy of a footnote.

Comments

[thesettingsun]

Happy birthday, I'm getting you a gift immediately.

I'm a spirit(?) now, but I don't know if I have any particular curse-sensing abilities. If your artifact is a book, I might be able to be helpful.

[roseblooms]

It's a few weeks belated, I'm afraid. My birthday was the 29th of December, so I've been twenty-four for a few weeks now already.

And no, it's not a book, unfortunately. It's an...orb? It's an orb, of sorts.

[thesettingsun]

Doesn't matter, still getting you a birthday present.

I don't think I can go inside orbs, magical or otherwise. Sorry.

[compendiem]

Do the plants require special care, or can the seeds be sown around the city like wildflowers?

[roseblooms]

I suppose it might take me some time to amass a great enough number of seeds, but in theory it could be done. I'm not sure how well or how poorly they might grow on their own in the wild, particularly in winter, but the worst that might happen is they die out — and so long as I keep one, I can always make more.

[crudest]

remember how many roses i gave you
can i get the same number of glow plants
just wondering!

also what's the curse!!

also also i'm always restless

also also also belated hap bap did you get your free drinks at the inkwell

[roseblooms]

I don't see why not, but just as Rome wasn't built in a day, three hundred glow plants aren't just going to spontaneously grow in a day, either. It'll take me a bit to separate and seed them all out, to say nothing of where I'm going to put all of them.

Also the curse involves the stealing of souls from unsuspecting victims.

Also also I know you are.

Also also also I did not, actually, I was a bit preoccupied with other things to do much of anything on my birthday.

[alitaba]

if you eat them, will you glow?

i might be able to help?? i don't remember if it works on inanimate objects but yolo i guess

are you trying to say you're a reverse werewolf

so how does it feel being an old man

[roseblooms]

• Didn't that happen in a video game?

• I'll accept any help I can get. Even a slim chance is better than no chance at all.

• Ah...kitsune, actually.

• Is this the part where I tell you to get off my lawn, then?

[reaquila]

-Wow, you're getting old. Isn't 24 the age where people turn into real adults?

Next thing you know you'll be due for retirement.

- Yeah, I've been restless lately without really knowing why. It's not just you.

[roseblooms]

Twenty should be the age of majority, so I'm up and over it by four whole years now. I think this is the part where I'm supposed to have my life together by now. (I don't.)

Do you think it's a result of the darkness?

[smothershadow]

Such a flower would be of use to me, yes. Do they grow as easily as dandelions?

I'm afraid I cannot assist you with possibly cursed objects.

But this darkness has made me suspicious, yes.

[roseblooms]

They do when I'm the one growing them. I haven't yet had the chance to test how they do on their own in the wild.

Suspicious how?

/private/

[despirit]

i could try to do a purification rite on the object, if you wanted. might keep things under control if you aren't sure.

/private/

[roseblooms]

I'm willing to try anything, frankly. Wards, purification. Destroying it, if possible, but I don't think it really is.

[frisyr]

Whoaaaa, cool. If you have any left after this, can I have a clipping?

I don't need light right now!! But that's really nice of you.

[roseblooms]

Oh, I don't think I'll ever run out of them. So long as I have at least one in my possession, making more isn't difficult in the slightest.

What would you like it for?

[admiringly]

[ A glowing flower crown is something Chiyo would 100% want, but she's not going to ask for that much. ]

first: omg can i have one pretty pretty pretty please? they're like a wish come true this month!
second: i don't have any such ability but i hope you find someone who does soon!
sorry i don't have anything to say on the third but i hope your restless feeling eases!
fourth: belated happy birthday! it's worth more than a footnote! it should be a header? heading? title? one of those!!

[roseblooms]

First: Of course you can. You're welcome to several, if you think it'd help — they're a little plain, but rather pretty in their own right, and they do a marvelous job of standing in for a lamp in a pinch.

Second: I do, as well. This sort of thing isn't something to be taken lightly, I don't think.

Third: Ah...thank you. I have a feeling I know what's causing it, but there isn't much I can do about it, if I'm right.

Fourth: Why, thank you. It sounds as though some of my friends are going to take it upon themselves to ensure that I do something for it, so I doubt it'll go uncelebrated for much longer.

[drizzle]

1 - Those look absolutely awesome! Not scary at all. Will you really be able to mass produce them and make crowns out of them. I'd love to have one made!

2 - .....I would burn whatever it is, tbf.

3 - I have. Are you having trouble sleeping and concentrating too?

4 - Why? Are you a fellow baby face who has been unfairly profiled by society as a whole too?

[roseblooms]

1 - I don't see why I couldn't. That is, I'm not sure about mass-producing, but given enough time and a little effort, I don't see why I couldn't spread them around to anyone who wants them.

2 - I'm a little concerned of what might happen if I do that.

3 - I'm afraid so. I'm not sure if it's cabin fever, a reaction to the darkness, or something else.

4 - Not a baby face, no. But I do think people underestimate me at times as a result of my looks.

[playdolls]

Maybe you just need to get out more.

[roseblooms]

I don't suppose you have a suggestion of where I might go?

[floret]

Happy birthday!

[roseblooms]

Why, thank you. I'm twenty-four now; it's a little hard to believe, really.