Summertime. {open}

[.:Zodiac:.]

It was warm out, but the heat was not in any way oppressive. Gravel crunched beneath his boots as he made his way into the town. It was nothing like Ost, with its towering buildings and bustling streets, but it would have to do. It was mostly small houses and shops, with one main road running through its center. He walked along this road, hands in his pockets, looking into the dull shop windows. He hadn't brought any money, so he wouldn't be able to get anything- even if he wanted to. Most of the Iton employees spent their days off in Gypsum, shopping or mingling with locals. Siem wasn't here to do either of those things, but he had run out of books in his room. I wonder if this pathetic excuse for a town has a library. he wondered, fiddling with his necktie. His deep blue eyes scanned the rows of buildings, disapproving of what they saw. A couple of people passed him on the street, not bothering to greet him. It was pretty slow for such a nice summer day, but he slowly realized most people would be working in the mines. He huffed, and eventually came across a small bookstore. It looked as if it might be closed, but he tested the door and found it open. With an uncomfortably loud creak, it closed behind him and shut out the cheery summer light. "This is more like it." he murmured, picking up the nearest book and brushing the thick layer of dust off its cover. He glanced over his shoulder, and spotted someone who must be the owner of the store behind a desk. She was plump, with thick curly hair held up in a ponytail, and sleeping. He let out a small snort of contempt, and preceded to open the small book.

The History of Gypsum.

Delightful.

[atomiczebra]

Everything was so beautifully enveloped in that gracious ball in the sky! Originally sent to The Borderlands to receive a small shipment of rare silks, recently popular with gypsy culture as of late, yet the beautiful weather had Jasper traveling rather whimsically. He couldn't really help it, everything was so alive! He felt so alive, full of this almost uncapped energy that wanted to spring from him. The cons of this were that rather thick ivy branches hung and slide along the ground behind him. The plants happened to be happy for once! Well, they usually were happy outside of the less densely populated parts of this region. He felt like his head was level, no complaints, just contented silence. "Hoo' my... Ooohhhh my, oh my, oh my, oh my...." He murmured, his voice rising before it started to shake and fall into a cracked minor key. Through his days of travel he had eventually reached Gypsum and though arrived and with a mission Jasper found himself stuck at the town's entrance. Laying face down, knees still offering that barrier between the grass and his chest, Jasper enveloped himself in the euphoria of nature. Arms outstretched as if he were attempting to hug the earth's surface, fingers spread as ivy vines coiled themselves out of his sleeves and rooted themselves beneath the green pasture. He called this "connecting" - the physical act of rooting himself, giving him access to all the plants within a fifty mile radius: their senses, feelings, and energy as well as the presence of all those people who happened to be within the plants vicinity. When lacking strength, Jasper had recently discovered he could call upon the energy of nearby plants to empower himself, though after effects meant the death of the victimized plant... something he had a hard time doing. As joyous as his little hippy tea party went Jasper was of course oblivious to the many eyes warily glancing over at the weirdo face down in a cow pasture, his butt occasionally raising skyward and waving before he plopped back into a dormant state. This odd ritual continued on for a good few hours until the sun's position cast the nearby oak's shadow over the bizarre man, thus disturbing his sun revelry. "The silk... THE SILK!" He suddenly shouted, his unfortunate revelation coming as an upsetting shock. Shooting to his feet before yelping at the uncomfortable jolt of forcibly uprooting his vines, Jasper took off into town while quietly whispering self-deprivating curses.

[.:Zodiac:.]

As he leafed through the yellowed pages Siem realized the contents of the book held little interest for him. He flipped it closed and placed it back where he found it, continuing to scan the shelves for anything worthy of reading. He ran his pointer finger along their dusty spines as he walked past, wondering if anyone in this town even bothered to read. It sure didn't seem like it. These books looked like they hadn't been touched in years. As he wandered around and got a feeling for the shape and size of the store, he realized it was quite small- and holding a sad selection of books. There were a couple volumes on Alchemy and Atomic Theory, but he recognized the authors as ones he had already read. Quickly deciding that this whole trip to Gypsum had been a waste of time he debated on searching for another bookstore. And even though he was enjoying the cool darkness inside, he wondered what the shop owner would think of him when she woke up. The thought of going back out into the cheery sunlight made him grimace, but he pushed open the creaky door anyway. Ugh... could it get any brighter outside? He raised a hand to block out the sun as he let his eyes adjust, staying put as he worked out where he would go next. As moments passed, and the world was no longed enveloped in overwhelming brightness, Siem decided it was time to move on. He lowered his arm back to his side and stepped into the street, letting his feet take him down some of the winding side-roads.

Buildings cast meager shade on the ground closest to them, which he clung to happily. There still seemed to be no one out on the streets, and many shops had closed for lunch breaks. His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't brought any money. He began grumbling to himself about wasting time as he stepped back onto the main street. He shoved his hands in his pockets, wondering if he would make it back to the train station in time to catch the two 'o clock train, and then going on to wonder what time it was. He pulled out his ticket home and fiddled with it as he went along, only stopping when he spotted a man entering town. His concentration on the ticket broke only long enough for him to register that this was the first person he'd seen since leaving the bookstore, something he didn't find all that important, so he went back to worrying over what time it was. Maybe I should ask. He turned his attentions back to the man, which soon became something less of a man and more of a.. plant-thing? By any chance, he had never seen anyone who looked like that before, but it didn't really matter as long as he knew the time. Siem smiled as he grew closer. "Excuse me?"

[atomiczebra]

Jasper's panicked rush came to an abrupt stop when he noticed a singular person addressing him. "Excuse me?" The statement hung within his head for a bit too long for social etiquette before had the means to response. "Eh? Umm... Ummmmmm..." Jasper froze, his eyebrows twitching with ridiculous ferocity as he registered ordinary responses in his head. Then his responsibilities came once more to nag at Jasper's head reminding him he had very little time before he could catch the next train. "You're excused? No, wait! I apologize, I hadn't noticed I had bumped into you" He sputtered, the speed of which his words left his mouth made half the response nearly unrecognizable. Of course his response was incorrect to what the man intended; this was a very common thing for Jasper...
Once he had felt satisfied with that particular social interaction, Jasper shot off once more only to pause a few feet ahead of the pale faced gentlemen. "Oh, ah, ummm," A moment to recollect himself and re approach the man, "Do you perhaps know where the local tailor is?" He asked, trotting back up to stand in front of young man while cupping his hands in front of him- adding a bit more of a hunch to his stance to emphasize his hurry. Now that he finally made eye contact with the man he began taking in details rather quickly: his somber presence, the suck of energy within vicinity, the musk of an unbathed body- 'or perhaps unwashed clothes?'-, stance of confidence- comfort with body-, more than what he seems. 'Always more, always more, always more... hmmm hmmm hmmmm.' He thought rather rapidly, the vines beneath his sleeve swaying to some internal rhythm... a rhythm which his eyebrows began wiggling to as well.

[.:Zodiac:.]

Siem was beginning to get the feeling that maybe this man wasn't the best to ask for information. He seemed somewhat.. impaired, mentally speaking. He scrunched his eyebrows together, quickly loosing his patience with this conversation. The strange man turned to leave before he had even gotten the chance to ask him the time, and he was already searching for someone else to ask when he heard the voice again. "Do you perhaps know where the local tailor is?" Siem was taken aback. How are you going to start asking me questions when you never let me finish mine? Instead of coming up with some sort of rude retort he gave a simple- "No." But since this guy actually seemed to be paying attention now and he didn't see anyone else in the immediate vicinity he decided to try his question again. "And you wouldn't happen to know the time, would you?" He tried to loose some of the impatience in his voice, for he had a feeling this would just send the man into another fit of mumbling. Actually, he was beginning to think that any question whatsoever was too much to ask, and was about to just give up on any hope of getting any sort of understandable answer. If worst comes to worst, I'll just have to spend some time sitting at the train station.

[atomiczebra]

The man's irritation and impatience seemed to radiate from his being like black sunlight, or so it felt to Jasper. Once the new information entered his slightly tampered mind, Jasper nodded violently and suddenly realizing his previous misunderstanding. "Oh! Oh, my..." Jasper quickly dipped his head before apologizing, "I thoroughly apologize, I have been a bit distracted... You know, the seasons and all." Now, for his answer, Jasper raised his head towards the sky focusing on his hand as vines slowly but surely reached for the sky. "My prediction would be sometime between four twenty-five and four forty-five PM," He said smoothly before he dropped his extended limb and walked past the dark stranger. "Oh!" Hopping over to stand before the sir who seemed overall unaffected by Jasper's ailment, "Good day to you, mildly polite bein- I mean sir!" And with that a polite flourish for good measure before he continued on his way. 'Rather smoothly if I do say so myself,' He thought confidentially 'A lot smoother than my conversation with the opposite gender...' 'Well actually... yesterday at the baker wasn't so-' An abrupt pause when he noticed a man trotting in a rather furious hurry towards the mayor's hall, taking the shorter route by plowing through beautiful garden patch of tulips and lavender the process. He smelt of dirt and various ores... most likely a miner or a contractor, yet beside the point of this unfortunate realization! This vile man with his heavy leather boots was crushing the life out of this patch before Jasper's very eyes! Leaving a trail of tattered death... broken, sad... Jasper could feel every crunch as if they were his roots being suppressed, or his arms broken. It sent the most disgusting throb through his body and upset his stomach... a minor offense so he didn't quite react as he usually did: which was an unattractive splurge of vomit. The inconsideration caused Jasper's brain to drop into what textbooks called "instinctive action" as he attempted to pick up the pieces of his self-control. Perhaps it was the energy of the day, or the unison cry for revenge... a chorus of plants which had recently become quite aware of Jasper and his capabilities. Rose thorns began to poke their way out of his cheeks, forehead, and all along every visible section of skin as Jasper covered his left eye to vainly attempt to stop the surge of pain that throbbed through the roots within his body. "S-sir?" An attempt to get the man's attention as he reached towards him. "SSIIIRRR...SSSS-AAAAHHHHHHH" His original warning towards the oblivious man turned into a cry as he fell to his knees. With his human form so indisposed, Jasper's roots shot out of him with a savage hunger. First they violently drove themselves into the ground- two of the main "cores" (like the trunk roots of his being) pushed Jasper into the air as four vines of ivy shot from out of the ground beneath the violator. Once given a limb to grab the surprised man was tossed into the air like a rag doll towards Jasper and like a mite to a baseball, a vine swirled into a circle shape to caught him before entangling him entirely. 'This is why we don't travel, THIS IS WHY WE DON'T TRAVEL!' Jasper's mind screamed, keeping him from driving a thorn the size of his head into the shrieking man. "Stop, stop, stop, stop...." Jasper murmured again and again as he restrained his shaking body that seemed so determined to end the life in front of him. 'He didn't know! He was in a hurry, one mistake! Surely not something to kill him for....' He pleaded to the plants, though he wasn't sure if they'd listen or hear him... this whole telepathy things still freaked him out, made him feel... crazy. And almost as quickly as it happened, it ended, Jasper's roots receded into his now wrecked outfit dropping the unfortunate man to the floor as Jasper fought to catch his breath on all fours. "Sorry! Sorry.. S-sorry..." He exclaimed, waving his right hand into the air. "Circus is over... Circus is o-over!" Waving at both horrified and curious onlookers to attempt to dispel the attention, before fleeing in the direction in which he came. 'I thought we'd been through this, breathing.... breathing, lots of breathing and happy thoughts, just... ignore the impulse... just, you know... -' "-just... ignore it! IGNORE IT!... Ignore it, ignore it.... ignore it," His mad ranting becoming a bit of a shaky song as he half-ran half-flung himself towards the cow pasture he had been spending a rather pleasant time in earlier, abandoning his previous responsibility to his job to save himself the consequence of his actions. Or better the actions he had unhappily been apart of.

[bladdercase]

Abby had dreamed of thunder the night before, though the storm was not harsh, and the winds did not howl like the ghost they could be. No, it was a summer storm with the heat warming the rain so it tickled the skin and washed the soul with good emotions. She had woken refreshed and itching to read a novel about such a storm; maybe a book about a sweet but wiry country girl and her dreams and aspirations.
"Excuse me." She spoke quietly, but her voice had the ring that could be heard in a crowded room. The man that had been standing before her, facing the opposite direction on the road, quickly moved aside, and smiled. He was elderly, pushing a cart of produce to his stall. This was being watch by a much younger looking version of himself, Abby assumed this was his son.
She was in the market place, with the sun over head and warming the ground. Abby wondered if it would be nice to walk bare foot at this temperature, and decided that was a good passing of time for this afternoon, if she could find a nearby park. But no, not yet. First would be the bookstore, then the fabric shop for yarn and thread, to mend any holes in her dresses.
After politely asking the man from before if he could direct her to the previously mention places, she turned a full 180 and went west, on Walroth Street.
Soon the bell of the door clanged, and Abigail left the heat of the day for a much cooler shop, where the smell of paper and leather gently washed over her.
She paused a moment to breath it in, then continued down an aisle.
She herd not so distant conversation, but she could not see the speakers, nor did she really find herself concerned with their conversation, dismissing it as idle prattle.
The books she was browsing through at the moment were of pirates, sword fights, and swash buckling adventures that Abby herself could only dream of. But that is how she liked it. From her past suitors and callers she had heard many a story, from ship captains and merchant traders. Distant lands did tempt her at times, but for the moment all Abby searched for was silence, calm, and redemption.
'The Tales of Mumsy Lee,' one books' title read. Abigail picked it up, feeling the crack of the spine, the wear of the pages. This book had been well read.

[.:Zodiac:.]

Siem grimaced at the odd man's answer, turning his face to the sky as well. If thats the case, I had better get going. The five o'clock train to Iton is the last until morning. He was disappointed in himself and his time-telling skills, because he now realized they were worse than he previously thought. It was then that he became distracted from the goings on around him, eyes fixed on the sky as he became lost in thought. It sure hasn't felt like I've been here long. Whats that old saying? "Time flies when you're having fun?" Have I been having fun? He wrinkled his nose, going over the events of the day. I think that saying is flawed. His mind was drawn back to the present when he heard some sort of commotion going on to his left. He turned, wondering what it could possibly be this time, but couldn't quite determine what he was seeing. The strange man he had just talked to was, well, acting even stranger. He wouldn't have thought it possible, but now that he saw it he was sure. That was definitely pretty strange, though oddly enough, it didn't phase him too much. In his defense he had spent time in a war, worked in a penitentiary, and killed people for a living. He wasn't one to be easily phased. He studied the scene for a moment- the strange tangle of roots and vines, the man dangling in the air- and took a couple steps back, just to be safe. Whatever was happening seemed to stop almost as quickly as it began, and Siem was left puzzling over the scene. There was only one conclusion he could come to. That man was obviously mad, and had some sort of terrible affliction. However, the rest of it was none of his business, and he would just have to leave it be.

A memory returned to his mind, maybe a little too late, but he clearly remembered seeing a tailor on his way to the bookstore. He hadn't thought much of it, except for that the clothing display looked nice, and that if he ever returned to this funny little town he might stop there to purchase a suit. "Oh, and uhm.. sir.. the tailor is about two blocks down. On the right.."