Ryu Budding Catch-All: The Rainy Streets of Maerlys

[soldragon]

WHO: Ryu 1/8192, Odjin, various
WHAT: Ryu Has Several Awakenings
WHEN: March
WHERE: various places, but especially Maerlys
WARNINGS: Internalized transphobia, and in-thread as needed.

How is it someone can make detective after getting stabbed in the throat off the force? (Sure, he was kicked off, too, but it sounded more dramatic in his head.)

Still, his cover only allowed for so much investigation; legwork only carried him so far. It was time to ask more careful questions.

Comments

1: For A Fist Full Of Blossoms

[soldragon]

Learning about the foreign coins had taken but a little time and getting change from just about any trader who had done foreign trade, and the deeper he dived, the more he wondered.

This thought in particular was a dead end. But the various ideas behind it-- a foreign actor?-- were... Plausible, but also extremely deniable. Without something more concrete than a few scant coins, Ryu was left to ponder what else he could be doing.

At least his particular talent for managing a business was already starting to pay off. Arbitrage had proved as relatively profitable as it always was.

It was also a good chance to talk shop with the foreign merchants, getting a good idea of what the temperature was off the island.

2: To Imprint Steel And Thread

[soldragon]

His promise to Dainsleif, to trade Impintworks on a regular basis, has lit a slight fire under Ryu; and his own style is so idiosyncratic that it's difficult to deny his purpose overall.

... Though, perhaps, he should admit to himself that it was as much about his own talents, as it was about winning someone else's heart.

Still, he works just as often in the Geranium barracks as he does in the forges; as often in the trade guilds of Maerlys as in the castle proper. It lets him learn of ecological disasters, past and present, and while he's happy to help, he's also going to be asking questions.

If you want a little trinket, he's happy to provide! as long as you answer a few questions.

3: To Grasp The Threads Of Bloomcraft Itself (Amourian Library)

[soldragon]

On days when he's not doing all of that, he is, instead, in the Amourian Library, looking for records of past disasters, when they struck Rosavelle, and if root causes were ever discovered. How often do they happen? Is it on a regular schedule?

Most importantly, what was the health of the Everbloom when it happened?

He might be a season late, but he's hitting the books hard now.

4: Poesy and Proesy

[soldragon]

While on his usual rounds, Ryu has found himself occasionally stopped by someone else, and here, now, he's suddenly the subject of something dramatic.

Here, on the bridges, where everything is declared loudly and proudly here someone is proclaiming their love.

His heart seizes. His words are in his throat. A crowd gathers and starts to cheer.

Ryu puts a hand to his chest, not entirely sure what to say. He's not sure why anyone would confess to him, never mind the many days he's put in questing.

5: Fun with Meramancy (various, OTA)

[soldragon]

Having been encouraged to work on it, Ryu has decided to mess with his appearance via Meramancy. It might not directly hold up, and he's sure people can... probably see through it.

But! He's trying out wild colors and carefully projecting various images of himself. The hair, especially, has changed colors nearly every day since the Unbirthday in February.

Today it might be a wild shade of pink, or a plain brown, or any of a fine array of anime colors and styles.

Hit him up! See if you want to do anything with yours! It's all fun and games until the waves sink the island.

[hallucinogem]

Em catches Ryu while she's on her way to a lesson, but she's made a habit of leaving places early, so she's definitely got time to slow down and catch up. "Hey!" She greets him, points at his hair, and flicks her Semblance on to turn her naturally green hair into a vibrant yellow beyond just blonde.

"How have you been since the party? Anything exciting going on?" She asks it with the cadence of someone who kind of has some stuff to share of her own, but she's more interested in what Ryu's been up to. Especially after he'd come up with Yayoi recently.

[soldragon]

"Well. A little bit. I've been trying to get a corral on the sprites running everywhere, and, I, uh... I..." He realizes, belatedly, that when his hair is loose, it will gladly blow in his face if he even so much as turns wrong.

... Ryu sighs and puts up the hair. "something else, then..." Though today, it's exceedingly Porple.

"Anyhow, that and looking into recent events has been most of my week..."

[hallucinogem]

She nods along as Ryu describes stuff that she has not felt confident enough to insert herself into yet. Helping out at the dock in her first week or so here had taken a lot out of her, and she'd much rather spend her time learning who the important people around here are before she starts diving in to help them. Or something like that. It's not a strong justification, but it gets the job done for now.

"It looks cute like that," she says while Ryu's putting his hair up. Just giving that a shot while she can sneak it in there. "That's more Meramancy, right? Have you been learning it from anyone or is this just what you've figured out on your own?"

6: Cinnamon Challenge

[soldragon]

Thankfully, this one's one he was already in the area for. He's been trawling the shops for ages! But he decided to ask others for help.

Worse, it seems he's plenty attractive to the sprites already. They cling to him like a buzzing swarm. He doesn't even smell of cinnamon. They follow in procession behind him.

He... Probably... shouldn't try the tincture, if it works... But at least there's plenty of sprites nearby to figure out if the stuff works or not.

[monsterdaddy]

"...Snghphk."

Yoojin is doing his manful best not to giggle at Ryu's precious predicament. It's just. It's so cute. Poor guy.

"B-buddy, here." He makes a 'gimme' gesture for the tincture. "I guess I should be the one to test that, huh? To see if it's enough to draw them off you, at least."

[soldragon]

"... Please? I don't know why they keep following me around, but it's been this way since this mess started."

As soon as he stands still, several sprites alight on his clothes.

"In fact if you have any ideas let me know."

[monsterdaddy]

"I mean, when I get swarmed, it's usually because I, uh... give a certain eau de dinner."

Yoojin uncorks the tincture, starts to lean in for a curious sniff, but whips his head back immediately. "Oh, wow, that's strong. I'm gonna smell like a hotteok stand for a month..."

That doesn't stop him from dabbing some onto his wrist and raising it to see what the sprites do.

[soldragon]

"I am pretty sure that sprites don't eat what I'm made of," Ryu responds. "Still..."

And, well, there's at least some news-- it looks like the tincture in question actually does repel the sprites, at least for now.

"-- it's finally relatively silent. I could hug you."