Beat Your Plowshares Into Swords and Your Pruning Hooks Into Spears

[tyrants_son]

WHO: Lord Felwinter and yooou
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: Never send a warlord to do a gardener's job
WHEN: During event
WARNINGS: N/A



I. Pruning

Whatever's happened in their absence, it's an annoying setback. Clearly it's more than a case of overgrown weeds.

Stepping outside of the hangar, the warlord looks almost distastefully out at the transformed landscape. His hand curls into a fist before he forces it to loosen. No, he'd have to go about this more cautiously or he'd wear himself out.

"The Agrii were foolish to have us leave everything behind," he says lowly. Yet he's unsure what good any weapon that he currently possesses would do, but he'd still feel better having something.

Without looking back, he begins to step right into the midst of the overgrowth. He'll rip things apart by his hands if he has to, if it'll help to keep the hangar entrance clear for others. Carving a way back to the city and more importantly, the security tower, will likely take more creativity.


II. Trimming the Hedges

Night falls, and not all is peaceful. He can see the movement below, the strange plantlike creatures that prowl. He's unsure who else has become aware of these things, but then that's what brings him out along the rooftops. It's not something he needs to do, even though Tony's words come back to him like some unbidden mantra, but he wants to. Plants cannot stop metal, nor can they stand against fire and void. He has no great designs to think that he alone can drive away these invasive growths, but if he can whittle them away or keep someone from falling prey to these particularly threatening plantlife, then that is good enough for him.


III. Connect the Blocks, La-la-la-la

"I've seen this before..."

As much as he disliked troubling the Exo Hunter for something more suitable than a sidearm, Felwinter hated feeling indebted to him. Or maybe it was the grin that the other always wore whenever he came to ask about a weapon, an expression that came enviably easy to the Exo's face.

Just as quickly as the look of surprise when Felwinter took up the strange bit of painted stone that the Hunter had there on a table. There might have been some strange sense of pleasure in wiping the smug look off of his face, but his thoughts are mostly elsewhere.

His hand closes tightly around it, and he's out the window without another word even after Cayde's "HEY!", greatcoat fluttering after him as he drifts from the old clocktower and to the ground below.

"Who else has these," Felwinter asks himself, allowing himself another look at the piece before he begins to move onward.

Comments

Pruning

[plate_builder]

"I don't think they foresaw this, my friend."

Reeve wasn't really one that was meant to go out into areas of danger, but something had occurred to him. The compulsion to board the ships had come while Reeve was still up late with his work. Which had meant materia in his pocket. Sure, he had only kept one on him in the night because he'd been using the glow of the fire materia for additional light that wouldn't waste a crystal rod, and the lightning materia had been on his table where he could poke it to shock himself further awake. But the ice materia?

That had been in his pocket. The point had been to cool him while he worked in the summer heat. But now...

"Would those be easier to deal with if they were frozen solid?"

[tyrants_son]

"There is no need to foresee what can be avoided with general preparation," Felwinter stated.

His movements probably seemed vicious as he grasped at vines and ripped them up, tossing them aside. Reeve's question had him look back at the man again.

"That it might. I only have solar flames and the void at my disposal, and I fear both would consume too much." Of both his energy and the landscape itself if he wasn't careful.

[plate_builder]

"You might believe them capable of more preparation than they are truly capable of," he suggested right back. What of all they have experienced has implied the Agrii are ready for just about anything.

With Felwinter's readiness to consider it, Reeve walks carefully behind the man, in the limited path he has made. And then pulls a glowing green orb from his pocket. He doesn't need to tell Felwinter to step back, his control is better than that. He clenches the materia in one hand, gestures with the other, and a wave of ice spreads before them, freezing hard around some of the plants before them.

"Try now?"

[tyrants_son]

"I do not. I meant that they should not hinder our own ability to keep prepared."

He waited as Reeve moved closer, helmeted head lifting as ice washed out and over the surrounding plants. Not an element at the command of a Risen chosen by the Traveler, that much, he knew. At Reeve's word, Felwinter stepped forward before drawing a fist back, smashing it through the frozen plants like a wrecking ball through glass.

"Hm. Effective."

[plate_builder]

That isn't a bad point, but Reeve didn't know what to say to that. So he just watched Felwinter break the plants and nodded.

"Well then, allow me to fetch Mini so I'm not leaving him behind, and we will see how far we can get on my energy levels?"

Because he's got a limited amount, but if he keep to the lower cost spells, it should be enough.

[tyrants_son]

Felwinter shook the shards from his hand, looking back at Reeve with a nod.

"If we alternate our abilities, perhaps we will be able to get farther. I can still use the void to a lesser degree than a nova bomb, as much as that would clear out a large area all at once."

[plate_builder]

"That would be a good choice," Reeve agreed, then offered the Exo a brief bow. With that he turned around and returned to the hangar.

While it took a few minutes, he returned with Mini, the feline riding on his shoulders, legs dangling around his neck.

"I don't have my bag," he explained. "Better to carry him so he doesn't get in trouble."

"Aye, an' yah dunnae wanna lose meh," Mini agreed.

Pruning

[crystalmaster]

Radley stares in horror at the scene outside the hangar. "We have to fix all of this?! How?!" It looks completely overwhelming.

He's in disbelief when Felwinter steps out in the mess. "... Is that safe? We don't know what kinds of plants these are! What if there's a giant Venus Flytrap?"

Now that's the stuff of old B-grade horror movies. But here, it honestly seems possible.

[tyrants_son]

"That is likely what we are meant to find out," Felwinter says before he pauses, turning to better appraise the man. A new face.

"It was not like this when we left," he explains. "Something has increased the growth of these plants exponentially." Reaching out he grabs one of the vines. "...I do not know, but I would not be surprised if there were hidden dangers among these," he admits, right before he tears the vine away.

[crystalmaster]

Radley's heart further drops.

"What could increase it so fast? A space version of Miracle Gro?" He doubts it's anything so innocuous. "What if something deliberately made this happen to try to stop us from rebuilding the planet?"

He flinches when the vine is torn away, half-expecting it to retaliate. He absolutely expects hidden dangers.

[tyrants_son]

Felwinter looks at the vine before tossing it unceremoniously to the side. He steps forward to grab a handful of another grouping of plants.

"That is not outside the realm of possibility," he admits. "There are yet many unknowns to this place, unfortunately, but if there is one thing we know for certain, it is that someone is always watching, and does not wish to make the task easy for us nor the Agrii."

[crystalmaster]

Radley slowly follows him, but isn't sure he's brave enough to grab the vines.

"... I didn't hear anything about that in the message I got. So basically all of us left to traipse around some other planet and this place was left completely unguarded even though they know they have enemies?!"

These Agrii need some serious lessons in how to keep hold of what you've got.

[tyrants_son]

Not that Felwinter would recommend it. He's not sure what effects the plants might have on organics, but that aside, they're pretty hardy. The warlord still manages to rip what he's taken ahold of, the sound a meaty one as hauls it from the ground and tosses it over his shoulder.

"It wouldn't have been mentioned. I don't know that they are aware of their enemies. Foolish, yes, but I think that there would have been little anyone could have done even if someone were left behind."

He'd argue that the Agrii needed lessons in many things, really.

III

[quark_assassin]

The answer to Felwinter's question delivers himself to him shortly afterwards. The warlord might catch sight of Dustin's familiar head of scraggly hair on the way down from the top of the clocktower. Dustin certainly spots him. It still baffles him how a man with such an ostentatious and commanding air about him manages to sneak up on people so effectively. Or maybe that's just him.

No sneaking about today, though - Felwinter is just the person Dustin was looking for, so he makes his presence known. "Felwinter," he calls, stepping carefully around a patch of especially spiny-looking grass. It's one of many that have taken over the road from the clocktower to the strip mall, which has so far made it a marginally more tolerable route to travel with his many layers of clothes to protect against rashes. "A favor?"

[tyrants_son]

He'd been a little distracted on his way down, but his Ghost had made note that they were not alone in the area. The warlord stops, looking over his shoulder at the young man before he turns to face him. He casts the piece yet clutched in his hand a look before he lowers it to give his full attention. Dustin had not struck him as someone who asked favors so lightly, especially given his conflictions over the compass.

"What do you need?" Felwinter asks.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin halts several feet away from Felwinter, giving the warlord a respectable amount of distance without having to continue to shout at him. His eyes flicker once to the something gripped in Felwinter's hand, but he can't tell what it is from here, and he's in no position to be demanding information anyway. Curiosity is shelved for the moment.

"I need to accompany you to the security tower," he says. "I understand that you spend a lot of time there, and I need the Communications data point. Name your price."

That last bit might come across as a non sequitur, but Dustin figures that Felwinter is already well aware of how he handles favors. There's always a price.

[tyrants_son]

Ah, the tower. He's not surprised that the boy has observed as much about him. Felwinter nods. It's a simple enough request. He pockets the stone, turning to look back towards the city square, gauging the distance.

"I doubt you have a sword handy," he says, looking back at Dustin, perhaps slightly hopeful that maybe the boy would surprise him with otherwise. "At the moment I can't think of anything else. Otherwise I will call on you later once I do, if that is acceptable."

[quark_assassin]

Dustin quirks an eyebrow at Felwinter and pulls out...not a sword, but a decently-sized working knife from a sheathe attached to his belt, hilt-forward, which he holds out for inspection for just a few seconds before putting it away again. It's been a much more useful tool than his hands over the last couple of days, even if it doesn't have quite the plant-clearing power that Felwinter might be hoping for.

"Fine by me." Dustin gives the warlord a curt nod, turning his head to follow the path he imagines Felwinter's eyes traced when he glanced towards city center. "I imagine I'll have a lot of information to trade once I connect with this data point." His face falls into a frown. "Annoyingly."

[tyrants_son]

Definitely better than nothing. It's why Felwinter had decided to ask for a knife from Cayde. A knife he'd completely forgotten to actually wait to receive once he'd gotten distracted by the puzzle piece.

"That data point seems a specific one to choose in this instance. What is it that you need of? I've possessed the same for some time now," he says as he starts forward. Best to keep towards the roads, for what all anyone could see of them, but he's found most of the plants don't have as deeply rooted a presence there, which makes it a little easier to get through them. Any that look to be a possible hindrance, he grabs and tears it up from the ground to toss aside.

III

[in_extremis]

It was a cruel joke that Tony couldn't make it close enough to the library to call his suit. He had beaten his way as far as he could, finding only thorns that shredded his stick faster than he could bash them back, the choke thick enough to darken his cameras so he couldn't even see where a path might be forged. So he had to carry on on foot, sweating under the leather he thought was meant to protect him from the forge, not the flowers where they bit into him as he tore his way through.

The bag he had prepared to give Cayde and try to apologize was empty. Not even gone, just empty, like whoever had taken the ammo was taunting him. It seemed unlikely that anyone on the Vanquish crew would have done that, and somewhat more likely that Cayde himself had gotten an invitation aboard that Tony had missed, and he was only in this problem because of leaping to accusations. Not only was he on foot, he was empty handed.

Head down and considering trekking back through the path he had cleared, sweeping pollen from his sleeves, Tony was startled by a sudden weight dropping down in front of him and throwing up a burst of petals. In quick succession, he stumbled back and sneezed, and was unprepared for the snag of brambles he had stepped into when he tried to recover his balance.

[tyrants_son]

A hand quickly snapped out to grasp a handful of his shirt to haul him back into a steadier position. Felwinter only held on until he was sure the man wasn't going to fall into the overgrowth behind him.

"-Tony Stark." He'd been quite distracted in his sudden departure, only then realizing just who it was, a hint of that surprise just managing to make itself known in his tone. Felspring's warning otherwise hadn't been quite so informative.

[in_extremis]

It was apparently too long of a hold, because Tony was quickly patting Felwinter's hand away with an irritable frown, even as he bounced around unsteadily on one foot as he unstuck the other, and only admitted, "Thanks," when he did find some balance. One foot still in the air, now covered in burrs that at least weren't itchy where they clung to the leather, he acknowledged, "Cayde didn't tell me you guys were hanging out. Should I be worried? He's a bad influence, you shouldn't feel pressured to commit to any fowl play." Felwinter probably couldn't hear the pun, which might have been in Tony's favour, so he cut off his own belated move to bring up airquotes and waved them away instead. "Is he in there? Did he have a bunch of bullets on him?"

[tyrants_son]

"I needed a knife," Felwinter explained simply, perhaps to reassure Tony that no such 'hanging-out' was involved. "It appears that I have forgotten to receive it." He looked down at his hands, one empty and the other with the painted bit of stone. His fingers closed around it.

"He is there," he nodded almost dismissively, not bothering to look back. "I assume he has no more or less bullets than usual. Perhaps less if he was shooting plants."

[in_extremis]

The completely logical premise that Cayde was a source of knives did not make this any less of a weird answer as they both considered Felwinter's hands, and Tony had to raise a lip and finally stop worrying about his burr-covered boot, dropping it to the ground. "That one doesn't look like it's going to do much for you, no offence. I know a joint that makes a really good one, though, if you're still looking. Might be a bit of a wait. There's a...line," he said, throwing a glare over his shoulder at a vine that looked suspiciously mobile. The library was hard enough to get near, he had no idea what state the forge was in. Spinning a finger around Felwinter's closed hand, he continued, "That thing's not making you crazy, is it? 'Cause I've got one, and I don't have time for that, I got stuff to do and this brain is too valuable."

[tyrants_son]

"A sword would be preferable," Felwinter said, nodding as though they'd come to some strange agreement- or Tony had inadvertently just volunteered his services.

His head lifted slightly to glance where Tony had. "What? Oh- wait, you do?" He glanced back at Tony. "Do you know who else? I took this one from Cayde." So blunt! "I've seen something similar, here."