Treespeak II (4/28)

00:29] Asta squints at Tonak, then somehow manages to look at Bella simultaneously while not even facing her. Like she has total, 360 degree vision.

She actually, literally, does! No hiding from her!

She then directs her strangely-glowing spectral eyes over to the girl, sizing her up. She might feel something inside of her. As if something invisible was invading her body and probing deep at the barrier of her very soul.

No secrets from the High Lady of Myllenoris.

She clasps her hands together and turns to face her, not reacting at all to the lead placed upon her.

She speaks as if she's reciting something from a script. It sounds a little robotic. "I am High Lady Asta Hargrave-Grimmore of the Kingdom of Myllenoris. I am the highest druid, but I stepped down as Archdruid of Myllenoris when I took on the title of High Lady." A small smile creeps on her face.

"Are you a druid?"
(Asta Hargrave)
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[00:30] Bella backed away slowly.
(Bella Senatus)
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[00:30] Yersin says, "G'luck with yer druid trainin', Lenny. We're headin' t'Os."
[00:30] Yersin sliiiides on out of there.
(Yersin)
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[00:33] Huh. She did seem like a lady of high station... so the fact that she did in fact have the wherewithal to field her questions happily wasn't wholly surprising. This much wasn't Armondt's bag, but he did have this much to offer: "Ah." He bows his head forward, a penitent purse drawn across his lips. "Apologies, madam. High Lady, as it were. Ma'am ain't quite the epithet befittin' your station."

With a respectful dip, he takes a few steps back and sits upon the stool, ready to watch and learn as Leni spits a barrage of inquiries. Or maybe she wouldn't? He always had room for surprises. The drifter remains placid and still, leaning his cheek against his fist. Might be that there's a thing or two for him to learn here, as well.
(Armondt)
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[00:34] Looks up at Asta in awe as those luminous eyes scan over her. Two little headlamps that poke and pry at her very being. Her eyes are wide. Then her nose crinkles. She huffs, huffs, huffs-
And sneezes a little cloud of pollen. Atchoo! She wipes mucus and spores alike on the back of her sleeve. How pleasant.

A lot of the titles and all that stuff flies right over her head. All the grandiose social malarkey gives her a complete miss.

"I'm Leni- wait, did I say that? I think I said that. You have really nice eyes, they're kinda' cool! I don't think I'm a druid? They told me I should come here to ask about druid stuff, so I don't think I'm one. How do you know if you're a druid or not? Is it like inny and outty belly buttons? Do I just gotta look down and check?"
(Leni)
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[00:35] Saya Solstice asks, "Hmm anyone wanna buy power x potions ?"
[00:37] Theo stares at Finley with a : )
(Theo)
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[00:37] Finley shakes his head.
(Finley)
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[00:37] Theo nods his head.
(Theo)
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[00:37] Finley shakes his head again.
(Finley)
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[00:37] "There is a difference," Asta begins, ignoring the attempts at small-talk by Leni, "between being a nature mage, and being a druid." Asta raises her right hand up to the air, splayed out, facing up. Flowers all around her begin to erupt from the grass and blossom into a variety of different species. Roses. Daisies. Sunflowers. Poppies. There's even a weird mushroom thrown in there.

Just a new patch of fauna among the endless beds of flowers in Moonfall Valley.

"A nature mage commands nature, makes it do what they want. Spawning toxic flowers. Commanding vines to attack."

She inhales deep.

"A druid is more than this. A druid is one with the unseen world. A druid does not command nature to do anything. A druid coerces the sprites of the natural world to help them."

"A druid is the evolution of a nature mage. One who has combined with nature."
(Asta Hargrave)
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[00:37] Theo reaches down and picks up a centipede.
(Theo)
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[00:38] Finley gives Theo a FIRM shake of the head.
(Finley)
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[00:38] Theo exclaims, "Then come up with something better to do!"
[00:38] Finley says, "Go bother Flotsam."
[00:38] Finley says, "Here."
[00:38] Finley says, "Follow."
[00:38] Theo exclaims, "I literally guarded the Vale -all- day and you didn't even thank me!"
[00:42] It's rare that something makes her marvel and sit still for beyond a fraction of a moment. This display somehow does both. All the vivid colors, the abundance of life sprawling out at Asta's suggestion, catches the entirety of her attention.

Why, she even hunkers down just to speak to them. Even the odd one out, the strange mushroom gets her attention. It hadn't escaped her notice. Leni reaches out to daintily touch its cap as if to welcome it among the others.

"I don't do that. I don't make them do the things they don't want. That's not good," she replies, rocking back and forth on her heels.

"I uh. I don't know about that other stuff. That sounds like a lot."
(Leni)
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[00:45] Demios uncoils himself from the seat, giving Evergreen a small pat on the shoulder, before wandering off.
(Demios Arborea)
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[00:48] Asta smiles down at the child as she toys with the single mushroom among the new bed of randomly-assorted flowers. She folds her hands behind her back and raises her eyebrows.

"Nature is like any other aspect of the world we live in that mages bend to their will," she says. She raises her left hand up to the air, cupping some invisible object. Then, a strange multicolored mist bursts into life, swirling all around her hand until it focuses into a single point.

Hundreds of millions of fragmented particles begin to assemble into the shape of a solid gem of ruby. It all takes about a few seconds.

"Some can manipulate water. Some can manipulate fire. The earth. The air. I can tap into the latent flow of the stream of life and take from it raw mana from which to form crystallized constructs of magic."

"I am taking something, and willing it to action, because I am making it do what it would not ordinarily want to."

The ruby gem cracks, and dissolves into mist that is carried away by the winds. The energy, thus, is recycled back to the stars. The progenitors of all magic.

"Is this bad? In your opinion? It's no different with flowers, grass, trees."
(Asta Hargrave)
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[00:53] It's a day of wonders, including Asta's display of magical mastery. From the wellspring of life before her very eyes, to the formation of the crystalline construct seemingly out of thin air. She pops up and can't quite reign in her impulses. Leni reaches out to try and touch it.

But before she can it's dust, carried off by the wind.

The Druid gives her what is effectively homework, a monumental task. Thinking about something for more than a singular instant.

"I don't think that's bad! Like moving wind and all that stuff's okay. And I guess...moving trees and plants and stuff isn't bad either? Maybe it's- maybe it's why you're moving and stuff. I move around flowers sometimes to take them to new places! Sometimes I want to take them just because they're pretty, or their petals are soft, but I don't do that because that's...

That's selfish!"

She hones in on the word she was looking for, finally, after all that rambling. It was a winding path, but eventually she gets there, damnit.
(Leni)
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[00:57] A silent pardner to the end, Armondt stays leaned over onto the table, quietly absorbing the information being bandied about. Knowing absolutely nothing of magical theory, he now learns that the foundation of magic lies in manipulation. Manipulating reality itself to one's own ends. That much information gives him pause; he looks again to the sky, now bathed in sunlight.

While the sense he gets of the lone star is vague at best, he still now feels it. Even so, he wonders about the implications of connecting to his star. If he were to manipulate cosmic magic, would he be imposing upon it? It brings the question to his lips, but it's a question he doesn't deign to ask. Perhaps that was only business for him to settle between his newfound celestial friend.

He proceeds then to hear what Leni has to say about nature, especially in regards to possessing it and manipulating it. A tiny smirk plays on his lips, his eyes cast off to the side.
(Armondt)
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[00:59] "Selfish. Yes, perhaps," Asta says, lowering her hands back down to her sides.

"We influence the natural world and change its natural state because we, as beings of the world, ordained change to facilitate our goals. A fireball, conjured from air, taken from the flames of the sun, to strike down an enemy. Plants stirred to life to feed you because you're hungry."

She shrugs with her arms.

"The reasonings ultimately don't matter. That is the opinion of Aschea's Faith."

She faces east, now folding her arms.

"But the druids don't make nature do anything. The druids transcend such trivial chains of causality. No, the druids themselves become vessels of change that they infect the world with." She gives Leni a cautious look.

"Being a druid is no joke. You should first figure out some things on your own, before deigning to dip your toes into this."
(Asta Hargrave)
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[01:05] Asta offloads a lot on her at once. It's really, really hard for her brain to keep up without straying off course. She earnestly tries. Hel, she even picks up on most of it.

Sixty percent. Ish. Something about Asta's cautious look makes her shrivel for some reason, as if she's being judged. It's not a feeling she likes.

"I don't want to make the flowers and stuff do anything, really. I like to help them and stuff when I can. But this sounds...really hard. And not really fun. Do you think it's fun, being a druid?"

As much as she loves the flowers, and the plants, and as deep as her reverence is for the interconnected tapestry of life that her forebears instilled in her-

A great deal still comes around to that strangely fey priority.

She looks up at Asta, this imperious figure, and waits for an answer.
(Leni)
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[01:05] Carlisle exclaims, "Hey, they have an arena now!"
[01:06] "Fun..."

Asta's gaze softens, a little bit. She looks away, toward a patch of grass nearby.

"Well. I don't really... concern myself about what's fun or what's not," she says.

"When I want to have fun, I play with my three year old daughter or go on trips with my husband. When I want to do things, I use magic." There's a nervous hand that runs along Asta's hair. Her speech changes, somewhat. It becomes less formal and robotic, and more uncertain.

"Suppose I've never thought about it. Maybe it's fun, sometimes."
(Asta Hargrave)
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[01:11] "Gonna have to trim that down later for her," Armondt mutters to himself, watching idly as Carlisle and company wander about the village. Among the few competencies he can claim to have, summarizing things adequately was at least a pretty handy one given the company he's currently keeping. He mutters somesuch to himself, mulling over how exactly he can truncate this particular lesson.

To hear speak of the druids being vessels as opposed to actors certainly piqued his attention. It was even a fair source of concern. There were other implications that such might carry. Those implications nettled him enough that he finally chose to speak up. "Vessels of change... so they're becomin' nature. Combinin' with it, as ya say."

He pipes up and looks towards Asta, opening his lips slightly as he processes the notion. "Druids... are still their own folk though, yeah? Leni here becomin' a druid, she'd still be Leni at the end of the day? Not... y'know, Leni as far as what nature tells her to be?"
(Armondt)
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[01:12] Asta Hargrave says, "Leni would be Leni, but the process of becoming a druid has been known to... change you. Somewhat."
[01:12] Asta Hargrave says, "Not completely, just subtle changes."
[01:12] Asta Hargrave says, "It is normal."
[01:15] Armondt asks an excellent question. She nods back at him exuberantly and awaits Asta's answer. Thankfully, it comes swiftly.

"It still sounds hard. Do I have to, like, wrestle bears? I can still go different places, right? Will I have to wear leaves? I think I could wear leaves, but do I have to?"

Leni's hesitant, but she's not writing it off entirely. Mostly because Asta had admitted that it was maybe at least sometimes fun.
(Leni)
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[01:17] Alyssa Solstice exclaims, "Get yer potions here! 180 coins each!"
[01:19] Asta laughs and shakes her head.

"No wrestling anything," she reassures.

"Just... be yourself. Practice your nature magic. Perhaps, if you'd like, you can visit the Vale. Practice... communing with spirits, in there. It will help you on your path."

She smiles.

"The path to being a druid... is your own. You decide what it is you need to do."

"That's really what you should take from all this."
(Asta Hargrave)
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[01:21] Leni smiles, and also looks immensely relieved. If this required wrestling bears she'd definitely have to walk away from this one. No way is that happening.

"Okay, yeah! I was gonna do that anyway," she replies. That makes this sound a whole lot easier.

"I can go in the Vale then? That's okay? I'd been in there before, but they said the Mistcloaks and stuff could only go in there. And the druids."
(Leni)