UNDYING ASPHODELS (Open to all!)

[coulee]

undying asphodels

tuesday @ burlington, vt

While non-Explorers are usually highly discouraged from entering the Riftlands without a good reason and an Explorer escort — and can even face disciplinary action for doing so! — the station has arranged a trip into Burlington for anyone who wants to see the Undying Asphodels bloom.

IRIS vehicles take participants to the edge of Burlington, where they're divided into groups led by volunteer guides Dr. Lou Sweetapple, Minty Payne, and Noah Moon. They'll have to walk on foot from there as the roads are so broken up and cut through by Asphodels' vines. Please don't wander away!

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Undying Asphodels are tangles of black vines with vibrant flowers crawl up and wrap around the buildings and break through the pavement. In the late spring and early summer, the pollen from these flowers fills the air like mist, giving the town an ominous atmosphere and making the streets dangerous to explore. The plants are as happy to take root inside a human body as they are anywhere else. They aren't dangerous yet but they will be soon, so anyone who wants to get a gander should get it in now!

Comments

Lou & Undying Asphodels & Lenz

[lenzpolzin]

"You think so?" Lenz responds, "I'm more of a tansy guy, myself." He hadn't so much approached Lou as he had appeared behind him, stepping out of a dark void and into the older man's space simply because he'd spotted him alone and looking contemplative. And he's nothing if not curious.

"Were you trying to commune?" he asks after pausing to light a cigarette and give the strange flowers on their twisted vines a pointed look. They're deceptive little things. Just looking at one and not the whole, a person would never know how monstrous they are.

Lou & Undying Asphodels & Lenz

[loudon]

Lou crosses his arms and tries to think of a way to articulate feeling some difficult-to-describe thoughts on the murderous flowers.

He settles on: "Yeah. But they're assholes. Like nothing I've ever experienced before. I'm not really sure what to make of 'em. D'you have any thoughts?"

Lou & Undying Asphodels & Lenz

[lenzpolzin]

"So you're seeking insight from another asshole you don't understand?" Lenz inquires wryly, smirking and deliberately blowing a bit of smoke in Lou's direction. "Unfortunately, I don't have any."

He turns his pale eyes toward the flowers again and considers them and taps a bit of ash off the tip of his cigarette, deliberately avoiding the Liminal plants. Just in case. Then, finally, he speaks up again. "...Fucking strange they haven't made it past the city limits, though. Given how fast they took over, you'd think the whole area would swallowed up by now. Enodia included." It's not a new revelation, of course. He knows that. But there's never been an answer and it's always stuck in his craw. "You ever ask them about that?"

Lou & Undying Asphodels & Lenz

[loudon]

"Sometimes an asshole on the outside has a perspective you hadn't thought of yet," Lou says, scowling at the smoke. "Like, are you aware that you're ruining your lungs? That sort of thing."

He continues to frown at the plants as he speaks, "I really don't ask them anything, per se. It's more of just like... a vibe I get. They want to spread. They want to multiply. They're voracious in that way. I reckon that if they haven't moved beyond the city limits, it's either because conditions are less favourable there for whatever reason, or else there's just nothing appealing about it. They probably would have already moved beyond that if it was feasible."