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[VIDEO]; UN: [USERNAME NOT SET]

[The time away from Deerington has definitely not improved Ariadne's skill with a camera. The feed immediately pops on too close to her face, more or less framing nothing but her gray eye. She quickly realizes her error and pulls it back, the feed shaking and rattling until she manages to steady it.

And there she is. The face of an idol. Or possibly someone familiar.]

Just to be clear, I'm not Padmé Amidala and I'm not Jane Foster.

[Her voice is light and airy, like a little, trilling bird. She offers the feed a sympathetic look, as if apologetic that she's neither of these women. She's heard so much about them. They seem pretty great.

Ariadne is...not as great.

But she clears her throat and continues.]

It's me, Ariadne. I...well. I'm sure everyone is confused. I know I am. And if you need to talk about it, I'm happy to listen.

But, uh, what I really wanted to say is that somehow, my orchard is here. All of my trees. And some of them even have fruit. So if you need something fresh to eat or...just something familiar, you're welcome to come spend some time with my trees.

I think I might start a garden. One that everyone could use. Someplace to think. I don't know...

[And she's lost in thought for a moment. Ariadne knows nothing about starting a business or anything. But how hard could it be?

After a moment, she shakes her head.]

I hope everyone is all right.

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[Ariadne curtsies to Varian as well, giving him a shy smile.]

And this is Sophia.

[She pats the trunk of her pear tree.]

She was the first of the trees to just appear in Deerington. They all started growing on the roof of the Davis apartments.

[Rapidly, she points to each of her Deerington trees. Her introductions are completely serious.]

Jane, Toby, Araceli, Morgan, Dagmar, Sara, Tyler, Zabrina, Alison, and the avocado tree is Kevin.

[Oh. The trees have names. That's adorable. He smiles, watching as she points at them in turn. He'll raise his hand in greeting to the trees- because honestly there's a chance they might be sentient and given he's dating someone literally made of grass this would be a real weird time to question the tree's sentience. ]

Uh. Nice to meet you, trees. [He glances at Ariadne.] They really do look very healthy! It's fortunate, given everything in this town, it might be a lucky break for everyone in town.

[Having never ventured up onto the roofs of the Davis apartments, Fern isn't too surprised to hear that's where they were. Being a plant who like to be up high, it makes perfect sense to him. He glances over at the trees, also unsure of whether they're sentient.]

Hey, guys.

[There's a thrumming at the back of his mind, something that feelings wholly uncomfortably to him since it feels like it's coming out of nowhere. What, is he nervous to meet a bunch of trees? Ugh, seriously?

He's a little distracted by it, so he just nods vaguely at what Varian says.]

I can smell something like ozone, so I have to assume there's some kind of magic involved.

[She lovingly strokes the pear tree's trunk, before walking over to the gentlemen.]

But that's all I know for sure. I've never had any magic of my own. My teachers always made me sit out of the magic lessons the other children attended...

[A long-suffering sight. No one ever gets over being "the weird kid." Even in a missionary school.]

Huh. I never thought about magic having a smell before- I was always busy trying to avoid it...uh, killing me back home to notice. I'll remember that.

[He really is going to commit that little tidbit to memory- maybe see if he can test it out some. It'll give him something to do while he's trapped in fits of wakefulness.

He does catch Fern looking off, and he raises his eyebrows in concern- a silent query to his wellbeing. ]

Yeah, me either, until now, anyway. I've always been focused on science, having magic is... it's taking some getting used to. But you had lessons? So it was widespread?

[Fern, meanwhile is totally on board with magic having a smell. He tries to shake off those weird feelings, chiming in.]

Wizards back home had special Wizard Vision, so there being a smell too makes sense.

[Anyways, while they talk more about magic Fern walks on over to the nearest tree, crouching down and shoving his hand straight into the dirt. From there his roots extend from his grass, and he'll start doing the whole plant thing. It's weird. His body is weird.]

[Ariadne blushes a furious shade of lavender, shaking her head.]

I'm no wizard. Just...

[It's still strange to say, even after all she's learned in Deerington about how little Alastrians are known.]

...just an Alastrian. Which means I have a very, very good sense of smell.

[Varian doesn't bat an eyelid as Fern does his weird plant thing. It's nothing he hasn't seen a thousand times before by now. He offers Ariadne a smile.]

Oh, that's cool. How far can you smell?

[Varian, you can't just ask a girl how far she can smell!! He glances over at Fern for a moment.]

Got anything?

[Hey, he knows who else has a great sense of smell - ]

Like my brothers. That's cool.

[Anything Jake and Jermaine (well, mostly Jake) can do is cool, which automatically makes Ariadne cool too.

Fern shakes his head, still poking around at the dirt, extending his roots a bit further.]

Not yet.

[She can't help but turn her attention to Fern, wonder what he hasn't "got" yet. While she's good with plants, he actually is one. What is it he's looking for?

Ariadne hopes he finds it.

With a shift of her weight, she turns back to Varian.]

Depends what's around me and what I'm trying to find, I suppose. Trying to sniff out a single Human in a forest is easier than trying to find the same single Human in a busy marketplace.

Let me know if anything gets weird so I can pull you out.

[Or hack the limb off. Either or. He turns his attention back to Ariadne.]

I guess that makes sense. It'd be an over-saturation of the same kind of smell, right? Harder to pick out a single smell there. What do humans smell of? Generally?

[He's curious!]

Will do, V.

[That seems reasonable. For all they know the reason the dirt in the city sucks is because it's full of monsters or something? If this place is anything like Deerington then something like that is always a possibility.

He keeps on rooting around, waiting to see if he can pick up any nutrients in the soil, or if this dirt is the same as the other dirt he's tried. It's not an immediate process, but eventually his body starts reacting - sort of like how a person's body reacts to eating vegetables versus a greasy burger. This stuff tastes good, in a healthy kind of way.]

... Wow.

[It's hard to answer Varien's question. All Humans have their own individual scents. And then a common scent on top of it. She's never had to explain it before and it's a struggle...

...fortunately, Fern distracts her.

She turns sharply to look over at him.]

Wow? Good-wow? Or bad-wow? I hope it's good.

It sounds like a good wow.

[He hopes, he glances Fern's way too, trying and failing to hide the worry.]

It's... it's a good wow, right?

[Fern looks up from his spot next to the tree, not retracting his roots. It's way too tempting not to, as weird as it sounds this is refreshing after all the poor quality dirt he's tried to eat.]

Good-wow, it's a good-wow. This dirt tastes pretty good, more like the stuff from Deerington.

[She's too intrigued to consider what dirt might actually taste like. As much as she loves plants, she's never gone quite that far.]

Well, I guess that makes some kind of sense? I mean, the trees themselves are from Deerington.

And by all logic, they shouldn't have survived...everything.

[Varian's definitely tasted dirt before. For science. He isn't keen to try most of Trench's dirt, though. ]

That is true- maybe the dirt got imported with them. Like whatever plucked them from Deerington to bring them here took them and their dirt in a huge chunk.

[Fern nods at Ariadne's and Varian's theories. That all seems reasonable to him, though he's no scientist.

He pulls his roots back into his arm, then yanks his arm out of the dirt and sits, back, shaking the limb to try and clean it. Some sprigs of lavender, yarrow, and smoky-gilled hypholoma mushrooms sprout in his hair.]

That's real lucky. Seems like these trees stand a chance being here. It might be a good idea to get samples of this stuff, too.

[Ariadne find herself trying very hard not to stare at Fern's hair. She knows what that feels like and it's awful.

...but wow.]

You're welcome to take samples, if you like. I don't know if any of this can be replicated.

[A pause.]

Is the soil quality very important to your health? No, no, no. I know that's an indelicate question, so you don't have to answer. But if it is, I want to help any way I can.

[Varian's used to Fern sprouting flowers everywhere, he doesn't even bat an eyelid at it. He's too focused on the soil, as if staring at it will give him all the answers he wants right now. ]

Samples would be great! I can study them- if I can't replicate it, I can at least figure out where your soil differs from the soil here- try and find a way to replace the chemical makeup of the unhealthy soil with that of the healthy soil. Maybe.

[It won't be easy at all, but it's a start. He leaves Fern to answer that question, instead pulling some empty test tubes out of his backpack to fill them with soil- being careful to not disturb the trees. ]

[Fern notices the staring, and after being in Deerington for so long he should really be used to it, but he isn't. His cheeks tinge a darker shade of green and he looks away, letting Varian take over with the science talk.]

Uh, it's cool. I'm still a plant and gotta photosynthesize like normal plants - [He pats the tree's trunk.] So yeah, it's really important to me.

[Ariadne immediately knows she's made a mistake. She blushes herself, a shade of purple, biting her lips together and looking guilty.

But then, she looks up at the sky, her expression turning pensive.]

Then we'll have to do something to get you more sunlight too. Trench is so...hazy.

[And yes, she did say "we" because she's just going to casually made herself a part of Team Help Fern. She loves all plants. And that's going to go double for sentient ones.]

[Varian turns his head up to the sky, ignoring all the awkward like a pro. He hums softly.]

Yeah, I've created some lights that simulate the sun - they help a little. It's not quite the same thing, but it's better than nothing. I can bring some up here, if you want, for your trees?

[Fair's fair, after all. Team Help Fern needs to share the wealth. ]

[Look at least he isn't the only one here who blushes a weird colour. Solidarity!

It's a little weird that so many people are willing to help him, a grass garbage dirt boy, out, but he's been getting better at not questioning it. He just has to remind himself that his own self-loathing doesn't enter into it. He nods a little.]

If the weather's like this all the time then the more ways to get sunlight the better. [In other words, he definitely won't turn down her help.] Varian's lights are pretty good, they kept me going during one October.

October.

[She can't help but shudder a little bit.]

I hope the Octobers here aren't like the ones in Deerington. Those were pretty brutal.

[Although a turning point, in a way. They helped her to stop feeling so afraid all of the time, to start being more herself. Especially since no one seemed to care that she was sometimes a little green.]

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