An afternoon filled with geology and botany
Interacting with:@Patton Carrington Date: 23.01.26 Dialogue: 225700 Words: 473 ────────────────────────
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
Not many were seen out and about, just a few having a blast with a snowball fight. Max laughed and waved at them as he passed. If they were still here when he finished he could always join then. If they would let him of course. He walked at a brisk pace across the school ground, his course straight to the forbidden forest.
As he closed in on the looming trees he changed direction and slowed his pace. Instead of walking into the forest he walked along the edge, critically scanning the ground. It was a bit early, or late for that matter, to be searching for leaves at this time of year. The wait had been so long already since the ground had been covered in snow. But he had to try now. It always calmed his mind when it was at its worst racing. Besides, his sister Drew had been so unhappy when he went back to school after the holidays, and no amount of letters or promises to be home in time for easter seemed to do much of anything. She would surely perk up upon hearing about a leaf he found!
Even as close to the forest edge he was walking, there were no signs of leaves anywhere, not even a hint of a decaying one. Maybe he should have brought a shovel? He didn’t bring one with him to school, just the equipment for herbology, and that small spade was no match for all this snow.
As he walked he closed in on the great lake. Maybe some could have blown over there, and then been covered in ice, or just stuck under a rock? It was definitely worth a look. He made his way over, and sat right down on one of the bigger rocks peaking up from the snow. The walk from the castle and here weren’t too long, but outside of the cleared paths it was a struggle to make his way. He was winded and more than a little warm. So he tore off his scarf and gloves before he sat back to properly enjoy his view. Just as he started to truly relax he heard shuffling in the snow behind him and turned around to look with interest. Maybe he wasn’t so alone in wanting a bit of quiet and solitude after all?✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
PC: Maximilianus Kenneally Vidler—————————"Life is short; make it weird and slightly chaotic."
iNPC: Harvey Dunn—————————————————————Roadhouse Radio
An afternoon filled with geology and botany
Interacting with: @Max Kenneally Vidler
Patton had always loved winter. The sun hardly shines, so it meant he could be outside more often than he could during other seasons. Even so, he took careful steps to ensure he would be prepared for any unpredicted sunlight that could pierce his pale skin.
So here he was, dressed in a coat whose hood covered half of his face, gloves, and a scarf, traveling through whatever shadows he could find to keep out of the sun. His goal? To find some quartzite to add to his collection.
His path followed the edge of the lake, creeping along the shore, eyeing the ground and picking up any rock that caught his attention. Pockets stuffed with what could be granite, gneiss, greywacke, and maybe agate or jasper if he was lucky, he continued his search, his coat bumping into his waist with every step he took.
Nearing the part of his route that passed by the forest, he spotted another student outdoors, seemingly scavenging for something as well. He walked closer, picking up a few mote rocks, these ones a light reddish brown hue, matching that of the quartzite he had seen around his home.
Once he reached a spot a couple meters behind the other student, he was stopped by the student turning to face him. He gave them the tight lipped smile Pop taught him and a nod as his arms were a little preoccupied with the rocks he was holding.
Patton had always loved winter. The sun hardly shines, so it meant he could be outside more often than he could during other seasons. Even so, he took careful steps to ensure he would be prepared for any unpredicted sunlight that could pierce his pale skin.
So here he was, dressed in a coat whose hood covered half of his face, gloves, and a scarf, traveling through whatever shadows he could find to keep out of the sun. His goal? To find some quartzite to add to his collection.
His path followed the edge of the lake, creeping along the shore, eyeing the ground and picking up any rock that caught his attention. Pockets stuffed with what could be granite, gneiss, greywacke, and maybe agate or jasper if he was lucky, he continued his search, his coat bumping into his waist with every step he took.
Nearing the part of his route that passed by the forest, he spotted another student outdoors, seemingly scavenging for something as well. He walked closer, picking up a few mote rocks, these ones a light reddish brown hue, matching that of the quartzite he had seen around his home.
Once he reached a spot a couple meters behind the other student, he was stopped by the student turning to face him. He gave them the tight lipped smile Pop taught him and a nod as his arms were a little preoccupied with the rocks he was holding.
An afternoon filled with geology and botany
Interacting with:@Patton Carrington Dialogue: 225700 Words: 281 ────────────────────────
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
After thinking for a moment he decided to voice his question and potentially his concern as well. «Are you… collecting or throwing them?» He tilted his head for a moment before adding «I don’t mind either way, but if you are throwing and happen to spot a leaf, could you try not to hit it? Continuing to study the boy it became clear whom he was. They shared a couple of classes. Though Max had no more clue which ones now than he did right after leaving the class. His name was a long one too. He was almost certain it began with a P… but what more? Taking a bit of a leap of faith he added «No matter your intent, your free to join me… Peter» The name were a wild guess at best, so he could only hope it wouldn’t insult him.✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
PC: Maximilianus Kenneally Vidler—————————"Life is short; make it weird and slightly chaotic."
iNPC: Harvey Dunn—————————————————————Roadhouse Radio
An afternoon filled with geology and botany
Interacting with: @Max Kenneally Vidler
Text color: 001E71
Patton watched as the kid stood to face him, taking note of how he looked somewhat familiar. Though it could just be him making things up, he swore he recognized him from somewhere. He glanced down at his rocks, trying to remember, as the kid began to speak.
He could feel the thousands of rocks digging into his sides through his coat as the boy took a stab at guessing his name. Peter, what a guess.
“Close, but no. My name’s Patton. You did get some of the sounds right, though.” He tried to subtly shift his coat a little so the rocks in his pockets wouldn’t leave bruises on his waist later, nearly losing one of the rocks in his arms to gravity.
“And did you ask me to be careful of… leaves? Do you like plants or something?” He asked, his tone full of genuine curiosity, hoping his natural awkwardness and alarming nature didn’t make the question come off the wrong way.
Text color: 001E71
Patton watched as the kid stood to face him, taking note of how he looked somewhat familiar. Though it could just be him making things up, he swore he recognized him from somewhere. He glanced down at his rocks, trying to remember, as the kid began to speak.
Patton looked up as the boy continued.“Are you… collecting or throwing them?”
Patton smiled. “I assure you, I’m not throwing them. I’ve worked way too hard to find quartzite to just throw it away faster than a dhampir can release their fangs.” Okay, Patton, that might have been too obvious, no one says that. But, whatever, he decided to just move past it without clarification.“I don’t mind either way, but if you are throwing and happen to spot a leaf, could you try not to hit it?”
He could feel the thousands of rocks digging into his sides through his coat as the boy took a stab at guessing his name. Peter, what a guess.
“Close, but no. My name’s Patton. You did get some of the sounds right, though.” He tried to subtly shift his coat a little so the rocks in his pockets wouldn’t leave bruises on his waist later, nearly losing one of the rocks in his arms to gravity.
“And did you ask me to be careful of… leaves? Do you like plants or something?” He asked, his tone full of genuine curiosity, hoping his natural awkwardness and alarming nature didn’t make the question come off the wrong way.
An afternoon filled with geology and botany
Interacting with: @Patton Carrington Dialogue: 225700 Words: 267 ────────────────────────
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
«Patton of course!» He parroted the name before after a second of silence adding his own. «Max is mine. My name that is» He added a bit of a sheepish grin «Yeah, be careful. They are hard to find this time of year, the cool ones at least» He shrugged a bit before continuing «And yeah, I love plants. But a potential leaf is actually to have a story to tell my sister when I write her next» A warmth spreads across his face as he talks of his sister. «We usually compete to see who can find the coolest one. But what about you? What do you do with the stones when you have collected them? Which is the coolest you have found today? Or ever? Well, when Max gets started he gets started. Question after question is fired off with little to no time to respond inbetween. «How many do you have? What do you like about them? Do you have many different types?»✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
✧
✰
PC: Maximilianus Kenneally Vidler—————————"Life is short; make it weird and slightly chaotic."
iNPC: Harvey Dunn—————————————————————Roadhouse Radio
An afternoon filled with geology and botany
Interacting with: @Max Kenneally Vidler
Text color: 001e71
To Patton’s surprise, however strange the Dhampir comment was, Max didn’t seem to pay it much attention. He listened as Max introduced himself and explained the leaf thing. An amused look crept over Patton’s face as Max launched himself into a flurry of questions.
“Whoa there, slow down.” He gave a wide smile not realizing he was revealing the gaps where his canines should be, before he continued. “I’ll answer all your questions, just give me a moment to actually respond, please?” He took a deep breath to prepare himself.
“Okay, so, to answer your many questions, I have a shelf at home for my rocks. I have many different kinds of rocks, the most notable being lapis lazuli, jade, quartz, rose quartz, and angelite. The coolest ones found today are hopefully quartzite and maybe some kind of jasper. I’m not sure what all I’ve got today, I have yet to take a closer look at them.”
Patton glanced down at the rocks in his arms. “Though, I’m pretty sure this one on the top is gneiss. And the one next to it might be greywacke.”
He looked back up at Max and gave him a small tilt of the head. “What about you? What do you do with the leaves you collect? Do all of them go to your sister? Or do you keep some on a shelf somewhere?”
Text color: 001e71
To Patton’s surprise, however strange the Dhampir comment was, Max didn’t seem to pay it much attention. He listened as Max introduced himself and explained the leaf thing. An amused look crept over Patton’s face as Max launched himself into a flurry of questions.
“Whoa there, slow down.” He gave a wide smile not realizing he was revealing the gaps where his canines should be, before he continued. “I’ll answer all your questions, just give me a moment to actually respond, please?” He took a deep breath to prepare himself.
“Okay, so, to answer your many questions, I have a shelf at home for my rocks. I have many different kinds of rocks, the most notable being lapis lazuli, jade, quartz, rose quartz, and angelite. The coolest ones found today are hopefully quartzite and maybe some kind of jasper. I’m not sure what all I’ve got today, I have yet to take a closer look at them.”
Patton glanced down at the rocks in his arms. “Though, I’m pretty sure this one on the top is gneiss. And the one next to it might be greywacke.”
He looked back up at Max and gave him a small tilt of the head. “What about you? What do you do with the leaves you collect? Do all of them go to your sister? Or do you keep some on a shelf somewhere?”
An afternoon filled with geology and botany
Banner By Julia Evans—— ✰ ——Interacting with: @Patton Carrington—— ✧ ——Date: 23.01.26—— ✰
—— ✰ ——Dialogue: 225700————————|||||—— ✧ ——Words: 268||||—— ✰────────────────────────He had to laugh by his own rapid fire questions. When he thought of something he simply had to share, otherwise the question would be lost for probably all eternity. And it was not every day he met someone who actively collected something. As Patton explained he stood up and shortened the distance between them for a better look. He could almost picture a large shelf stuffed with rocks. The names did not mean much to him, but the difference in color of the ones Patton was holding close was more than clear. Looking up to meet the boys gaze he hesitated for a moment before speaking «Jade is green… right? Have you found any of those around here?» Growing in confidence once again he added «Green is my favorite color!»
His eyes widened a bit at Pattons next question. «Oh, I don’t collect them! I’m pretty sure there isn’t a house big enough for that, even with a magical extension!» He gave a crooked smile and shrugged. «I like the part of looking for them more than actually keeping them. They do more by being composted and bring nutrition back to the soil where they are.» He cast another look at the rocks. It would be cool though, to have a collection. He suddenly itched to touch the one on top. Patton had called it Grey whack or something. But he knew well to keep his fingers to himself and finished his earlier train of thoughts. «But maybe in the spring, if I find a really special one I might keep it for a couple of days.»
PC: Maximilianus Kenneally Vidler—————————"Life is short; make it weird and slightly chaotic."
iNPC: Harvey Dunn—————————————————————Roadhouse Radio
An afternoon filled with geology and botany
Interacting with: @Maximilianus Kenneally Vidler
Text color: 001e71
Patton smiled when Max joked about there not being a house big enough for all the leaves he wanted to collect. He listened carefully to the rest of his answer, head still staying at an incline, but nodding along as Max told him about his leaves. His explanations made sense to Patton, after all, leaves do help to make great composters.
“Aye, I realize they probably are hard to collect, y’know, due to their lack of sustainability, or whatever, but I suppose you could, like, use photography, right? I mean, that way you could, in a way, keep them forever. Have a binder of pictures or something like that.” He shrugged, a poor choice as he then watched three of his rocks come tumbling out of his arms.
He sighed and stared at the rocks, now splattered with mud and definitely soaked in water from the snow they had fallen into. He opened his mouth with the intent to ask Max to pick them up for him, but realized he had no idea if Max would be okay picking up things covered in mud, so he just muttered “Dang it.” and let them be.
He sighed again and looked up at Max, giving him an expression that communicated something along the lines of “Can you believe this?” before giving him an awkward smile.
Text color: 001e71
Patton smiled when Max joked about there not being a house big enough for all the leaves he wanted to collect. He listened carefully to the rest of his answer, head still staying at an incline, but nodding along as Max told him about his leaves. His explanations made sense to Patton, after all, leaves do help to make great composters.
“Aye, I realize they probably are hard to collect, y’know, due to their lack of sustainability, or whatever, but I suppose you could, like, use photography, right? I mean, that way you could, in a way, keep them forever. Have a binder of pictures or something like that.” He shrugged, a poor choice as he then watched three of his rocks come tumbling out of his arms.
He sighed and stared at the rocks, now splattered with mud and definitely soaked in water from the snow they had fallen into. He opened his mouth with the intent to ask Max to pick them up for him, but realized he had no idea if Max would be okay picking up things covered in mud, so he just muttered “Dang it.” and let them be.
He sighed again and looked up at Max, giving him an expression that communicated something along the lines of “Can you believe this?” before giving him an awkward smile.
An afternoon filled with geology and botany
Banner by Julia Evans
Interacting with: Dialogue: Date: Date:————————— Words:
«It’s a good idea, but I don’t think so. I guess looking for, and finding it, means more than the leaf itself. If that makes sense?» He didn’t wait for a response before he scrunched up his face and continued. «I like the other parts of it too. The leaf itself will eventually turn brown and start to smell. They won’t if I take a photo, but it still won’t be the same, you know?»
It was first at the «Dang it» that he noticed the few rocks that now lay on the ground. He found himself wondering wether Patton had dropped them, or if they were truly that easy to find. Nevertheless he got to his feet and stalked over. Bending down, he grabbed all three of them. Clutching them carefully, he blew a breath of air over them. It did not do anything worth mentioning, Buthelezi supposed maybe he got rid of a few particles of dust.
«Here!» He held the rocks out. Seeing that the boy didn’t exactly have empty hands to accept, he lowered his own slowly. He might as well help carry them. Or hold them was perhaps a more fitting term. «Do you often find rocks to add to your collection?» He asked suddenly as he closer inspected one of the rocks.
PC: Maximilianus Kenneally Vidler—————————"Life is short; make it weird and slightly chaotic."
iNPC: Harvey Dunn—————————————————————Roadhouse Radio
An afternoon filled with geology and botany
Interacting with: @Maximilianus Kenneally Vidler
Text color: 001e71
Patton nodded throughout Max’s explanation. He did find it a little strange that Max liked the smell of rotting leaves, but he figured he was in no place to judge, considering that he had his arms full of rocks.
He nodded once Max asked if he found rocks often. “Aye, I’d say I find them often, but it mostly just depends on whether or not I’m paying attention to my surroundings.” He resisted the urge to shrug, learning from his earlier mistake, settling for a little head bob instead.
“I do spend most of my time looking for them,” he continued. “You can imagine the amount of sunscreen I go through.” He gave a small laugh, hoping using a lot of sunscreen is something normal people do, not just dhampirs.
“It doesn’t even have to be a fancy rock that I know the name of for me to take it. It can be one that looks cool just because it’s really smooth, or a pretty color, or something like that.” He attempted to tap one of the rocks on the top of his pile in his arms with his chin, failing miserably and instead hitting himself in the forehead with the rock. He winced slightly, but ignored the pain and moved on with his little speech. “This one I took because it looked pretty, I have no idea what it is.”
“Do you know what the leaves are when you pick them up? Or do you just go, ‘oh, cool leaf’ and take it?” He asked, turning the conversation back to Max’s leaves.
Text color: 001e71
Patton nodded throughout Max’s explanation. He did find it a little strange that Max liked the smell of rotting leaves, but he figured he was in no place to judge, considering that he had his arms full of rocks.
He nodded once Max asked if he found rocks often. “Aye, I’d say I find them often, but it mostly just depends on whether or not I’m paying attention to my surroundings.” He resisted the urge to shrug, learning from his earlier mistake, settling for a little head bob instead.
“I do spend most of my time looking for them,” he continued. “You can imagine the amount of sunscreen I go through.” He gave a small laugh, hoping using a lot of sunscreen is something normal people do, not just dhampirs.
“It doesn’t even have to be a fancy rock that I know the name of for me to take it. It can be one that looks cool just because it’s really smooth, or a pretty color, or something like that.” He attempted to tap one of the rocks on the top of his pile in his arms with his chin, failing miserably and instead hitting himself in the forehead with the rock. He winced slightly, but ignored the pain and moved on with his little speech. “This one I took because it looked pretty, I have no idea what it is.”
“Do you know what the leaves are when you pick them up? Or do you just go, ‘oh, cool leaf’ and take it?” He asked, turning the conversation back to Max’s leaves.