socialcapital | [ JACKSON HEART ]

Oh, little kids are everywhere. A lot of them are even working, which is not the sort of thing that happens in Estoria, but... well. Creation is different.

[well then he'll try to find a little gaggle of three of them and wave them down, holding the red bean buns up]

Hey, think you can answer a few questions for me? I'll give you the rest of my buns if you do.

Three scruffy urchins immediately hop to attention. The oldest of them is an old hat at this 'randomly giving info to strangers in town' thing. This is what street urchins do best.

"Yessir! Whatcha need?"

[points to the massive greenhouse]

Is that open to visitors, by chance? And does it have a name?

They look up at it.

"Oh! That's Mahalen's Glass Palace! Dunno if it's open. Fancy people own it."

Mahalen...like the royal family?

[his mind flickers back, faintly, to a memory he's seen before]

Hmm. In that case, I'll have to check it out myself and see if I can take a peek.

[offers the boy the bag of buns]

"It's the country's, but the royal family takes care of it. That's what I heard anyway."

He grabs the buns and scurries away like a squirrel.

[calls after him]

Make sure you share those with your friends!

[and then he makes the rest of the walk towards the greenhouse while munching on his own bun]

The greenhouse is magnificent. It's enormous, even moreso up close, and made of gorgeous clear glass in honestly a needlessly ornate design. The doors are open, with a shimmery curtain acting as insulation to keep the warmth in.

Inside, you can see tons and tons and tons of plants. Some you recognize; many more you don't. Every plant you can recognize is an edible plant or fruiting tree or bush.

In front of the greenhouse is a massive conspicuous bloodstain. It's easy to walk around if you want to avoid it, but you do have to go a little bit out of your way to do so.

[um

well

is there nothing nearby to clean the bloodstain up with? like...a watering can to wash away some of the blood...or anything like that]

There doesn't seem to be.

[WELL. HE'S GONNA GO AROUND THE BLOODSTAIN AND CHECK TO SEE IF THERE'S ANYTHING INSIDE THE GREENHOUSE THAT CAN HELP WITH THAT!]

Inside the greenhouse there are lots of beautiful edible plants and fruiting trees! There isn't really anything for cleaning up blood. Contrary to the low tech level of the market area, this greenhouse in particular seems pretty advanced - timed automatic sprinklers water the plants instead of there being any watering cans or hoses or the like.

[not even a single washcloth lying around smh

but it makes sense, if it's a fancy greenhouse that's open to the public, that supplies wouldn't just be lying around.

he walks a little ways onto the path inside, looking for any trees that he might recognize as ones Tali would like]

There are tons of trees with familiar and mysterious fruit.

He can hear children playing from a bit deeper in.

[he gave all the buns away already, he has nothing to give random new children :(!!!!!!

but he's going to follow the sound anyways, winding around the trees towards the noise]

In fact these new children are NOT random. But it's okay, they're well-fed. It's baby Firuz and Azir running around playing tag in the garden! They're about five, dressed in identical cute outfits, and they're full of energy.

[NOOOO THOSE BABIES ARE SO CUTE!!!!!!!! BABY TALI IS SO CUTE!!!!!! (he's seen them before) (they're STILL CUTE)]

[Eugene River you cannot be weird at someone else's kids. be normal. be normal. be normal.]

[composes himself. takes a deep breath.

rather than immediately approaching tiny royal children as a complete stranger, he looks around for any adults nearby! he can try to talk to adults before the kids]

There seem to be no adults in the immediate vicinity. Little creatures made out of leaves and sticks and flowers scurry around in the plants, tending to them, but that seems to be all the supervision they have right now.

[

ok fine he will approach the kids since they've apparently been left unattended which is just irresponsible!!! HE will watch them!!!]

Uhm. Excuse me.

While he went on his adult hunt they scooped some berries from a nearby plant and both jump guiltily when he approaches, but then rally to look cute.

"Um?"

"Hi!"

I--

[what's that you have in your hands, kids]

--don't eat those, they're dirty. At least wash them first. Wait, to begin with, are they edible?

[holds his hands out for the berries]

While I'm sure this is a safe area, you shouldn't be running around without your parents.

One twin starts to hold the berries out, but the other immediately shoves his in his mouth. ... So the first twin puts one berry in Eugene's hand like he was asking to try one and then eats his.

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