video ; @aa (backdated sometime before the Goop Festival)

[livingdeadgirl]

[ Ami looks a little different in today's video - her usual pigtails have been swapped out for twin braids, draped over her shoulders like Wednesday Addams, and although she's still got the black lipstick and eyeshadow going on, there's also a smudge of black dirt across her nose. She's vlogging, holding the camera in one hand while she waves to it with the other. ]

Hi, Anchor! It's ya girl Ami, coming to you live from the Agricultural Zone! Which, as you probably already know, has become -

[ She turns the camera around to show off an area that hasn't been harvested yet. It's bursting with colorful fruits and veggies and produce of undefined gender. One bright pinkish-purple shape, though, turns out to be Elleru - or at least her hair, since she's doing her bipedal thing.

Ami finishes her declaration in a goofy voice that probably signifies she's referencing something. ]

- a ROYAL RAINBOW! Haha. Hey Elleru, say hi to everybody!

[ Elleru waves and says something back - the mic is too far away to pick up what, but apparently it's funny, since Ami laughs as she turns the camera back to her own face. ]

Okay, but the thing is - we have no idea what any of these weird fruits are called. So clearly, we're just going to have to make up our own names for them! We've already gotten started.

[ She reaches offscreen and retrieves an oblong, speckled yellow fruit that's almost pyramidal in shape. Since it's ripe, the bottom has flared open to drop its seeds, leaving behind only the juicy, golden flesh. ]

For instance, this one is a hanging trumpet! And this one -

[ Next up: a smooth fist-sized fruit that's such a deep blue it's almost black, but as the light moves across it, it has an iridescent sheen. ]

- is a midnight puncher! Elleru came up with that one.

[ She pauses for a sec before holding up a third specimen, side-eyeing it like she's trying to think of something nice to say. At a glance, though, it looks like a regular ol' Red Delicious apple. ]

This one, uh... well, let me show you.

[ She sets the apple down on a blanket, where it immediately starts jittering around like a four-frame animated gif. Also, as it dances, viewers will soon see its other side, where there's a cartoonish but unmistakable face, wearing a big, stupid grin. ]

This one's just a seizure apple.

[ She keeps the camera on it in silence for several increasingly uncomfortable seconds. It's so... hypnotic. Gaze upon its juicy redness. Observe how it jitters. Witness its doofy-looking majesty.

Okay that's enough witnessing! We're moving on!!!! ]

Anyway! We don't want to unilaterally name all these bad boys by ourselves, and not just because we would definitely forget most of them! So let's make this a community effort.

[ One last camera pan (sorry about all this, by the way, if any of you get motion sickness) reveals a wide assortment of exotic fruits, neatly laid out on the same blanket as before. A smaller rainbow, but still eminently monarchical. 🌈 ]

Pick a fruit, any fruit, and give it a name! And be creative, there are no wrong answers!*

[ * There are some wrong answers. ]


[[ ooc: Ami and Elleru will both be responding below! How this'll work is, you can either have us make up a weird fruit visual, or you can invent your own! THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTERFRUIT. ]]

Comments

[superposition]

Ah. How's that divided up, then? By gender? What's your role in the, uh...?

[ ... tribe? clan? town? He's not sure which one to go with, but with hunting playing such an integral role in their society, his inclination is to think smaller and on the less technological side (though of course either of those could easily be false). ]

[birdical]

[She apparently does, as a text comes after a minute of her admiring his penmanship.]

How lovely! And you write like this all the time? Or is it one of many languages you know?

[birdical]

Have you asked it?

[birdical]

Colony.

[Oh no wait, she should have said town! Uprights live in towns, right? No taking it back now without looking suspicious, but Elleru kicks herself internally for letting that slip. To be fair, she did just admit she's kaulahren, but she's figured out by now that her kind aren't native to this world -- or others -- so people aren't likely to recognize the term and what it truly means.

So... she's probably safe speaking a little more of her home, she decides.]

I am a priestess, if the translation is correct.

[livingdeadgirl]

omg princess thug does a blop!
that is absolutely precious
ok i will give the kooshfroot a try
one moment please

[ A couple minutes pass as she and Elleru figure out how to get this freakin' thing open. And then: ]

mm! its pretty good actually
a little sour but not in a citrusy way
and the texture is more like a peach

[theweakhavepurpose]

[Okay good he was a little afraid she might have died from eating it.]

Thanks for taking one for the team.

How'd you even get it open?

[livingdeadgirl]

[ For a second Ami debates going into detail, but once again, he sheer scope of the context she'd have to provide makes that kind of unappealing. Instead, she just waves off the question with one hand. ]

Haha, it's not important. Other than the faces and the jittering, though, they're exactly like their normal counterparts! They're perfectly edible, just a little bit "special."

[superposition]

[ Well, Qubit has no objection to the term - it turns out uprights also live in colonies sometimes. ]

Hm! We're developing quite the diverse religious landscape here, aren't we? [ You've got Carlisle, and Reynir, and now Elleru. Which makes him wonder - ] Are you a magic-user as well?

[birdical]

[Welp, there's a term she takes offense to. There's an audible growl in her words, a rattle that is less ladylike and more bestial than it ought to be.]

Such foul tricks are beneath me. Do not insult me so.

[livingdeadgirl]

youre welcome
elleru busted it open with her bare hands!
im not even making that up
but the skin is really thick and tough
so it sort of exploded more than opened

[superposition]

[ Whoops. Qubit's not the biggest fan of magic, either, but he didn't expect her to be openly hostile to it. ]

Sorry, sorry - didn't mean to offend. I wasn't aware it was taboo.

[ But how far does that taboo extend? Just to actual magic, or to any supernatural ability, or even to sufficiently advanced technology? Any of those miiight cause her some tension around here. ]

[birdical]

[Yeah, she went from casual to cold in .01 seconds. She seems to dial it back at his apology, though.]

Your apology is accepted. Are you from a world with such abilities?

[theweakhavepurpose]

She did? Holy shit.

So do the rest of us have to run it over with a tank?

[superposition]

... That's correct.

[ His tone's a bit more cautious now. The last thing he wants is to spark a literal witch hunt. ]

Although I'd like to make the distinction that not all supernatural effects are derived from magic.

[birdical]

[She's quiet for a second, though if Qubit listens carefully, he may hear her murmur supernatural to herself, going through every syllable briefly as she parses out the different parts of the word to determine its meaning.]

What other effects do you mean?

[livingdeadgirl]

yes thats by far the simplest and most practical solution i can think of
now all we need is a tank

[superposition]

Any phenomenon that defies physical or natural laws as you understand them. [ beat. ] No, perhaps that's a bit too broad. In particular, I'm talking about such phenomena as produced by individuals. "Powers," for short.

For instance - let's say you met someone who can summon fireballs from his hands. Would that be something you'd consider "magic"?

[birdical]

Yes, that is magic. Is what magicians do.

[But shifting from her natural form to her upright guise? Absolutely not. That doesn't defy any natural laws, obviously.]

[theweakhavepurpose]

We can make a festival of it, lay out all the fruit and have a parade to crush it.

There's some sorta tank things by the big door that goes outside. Well more like ATVs but they have tank treads on them. It counts.

[superposition]

All right. Now let's say that, upon closer examination, you discover a mechanism hidden in his gloves. When he snaps his fingers, the machine activates and produces flame. Without the gloves, he can't make so much as a spark.

Is it still magic?

[scowlish]

This is the language I use most of the time, but I also know Icelandic.

[scowlish]

Do you have a name for them?

I could suggest painajainen.

[livingdeadgirl]

What does that mean?

[scowlish]

Nightmare.

[livingdeadgirl]

[ She laughs. ] Okay, that's pretty good!

Hmm... maybe something in between. How would you say "seizure apple" in Finnish?