Let Love Bloom - Valentine's Event

[Max Lager]

Another year, another Valentine’s drop off and exchange is available on Twilight Isle! Once again, all one needs to do is follow the goblin made signs towards the north and just inside the forest you’ll discover the secret garden, but this year there’s a new twist! You can still leave a gift for your Valentine to be magically delivered of course, but you can also hang a love note on one of the red leaved Valentine’s trees and a blooming flower will magically appear in your hands! Rumor suggests that the flower that appears will be a favorite blossom of either you or your loved one! Is this a happy coincidence or is it budding knowledge known by the secret garden keepers?

Valentine Tree saplings are also available for sale, all proceeds go to the secret garden preservation and protection fund.

What will bloom in the palm of your hands this Valentine’s Day season?

((OOC Note: Feel free to respond below with poems, a picture, descriptions of gifts left or whatever your heart desires! Want to leave a gift in secret? PM Max Lager here on the forums with the exchange and who to send it to and I’ll be happy to post it anonymously! The flower that comes to you and blooms is yours to decide! Feel free to share that below as well! Participation gets an icon! Please have fun and enjoy!! Open from today through Feb. 15!))

[Reira Tanaka]

Her first attempt at a Valentine's Day gift had been a cake.. it burnt because she had been distracted by a phonecall from the very person she was making the cake for.

Second attempt had been cookies — those didn't turn out well since she thought adding strawberry cream to the mix make them taste better. It didn't, and let's just say the cookies didn't look all that great either.

The third attempt, which used the chocolate she would have used to coat the cookies, turned out to be a better success.. Chocolate is great, right? Homemade chocolates are better than just buying them from the store. Needless to say, the kitchen Reira borrowed to do all this was a bit of a mess by the time she was done. Hopefully her cousin wouldn't be too upset.

While she had the idea in mind to deliver the gift personally.. hearing of the Valentine Trees on Twilight Isle and the magical delivery seemed too romantic to pass up. She'd be sure to leave the red rose that bloomed for her on the armrest of Tomo's chair.

__________________________________

Please don't eat all the chocolates before reading this note.
Let this year be another filled with love.
Forever yours,
Reira

[Mallory]

There were many things that the Circle of Genesis could create -- such as the fused, heart-shaped star sapphires that the witch brought to barter for a number of saplings to plant around her disembodied heart. But she was not convinced that it could create bourbon. Scholars disagreed on the exact location of the Twilight Isle demiplane within the Multiverse, but they could all agree that it was not in Kentucky.

She procured a bottle of the Jolly Bird the old-fashioned way, along with a teddy bear to see it safely to its destination. When she went to hang a note, however, she found her hands were filled with soft pinkish-white magnolias as soon as she drew them away.

With the help of one of the Isle goblins, she soon had a vase with water for the magnolias, and a single sapphire at the bottom, beating like a heart and keeping them alive until they were magically delivered and for some time thereafter.

Eri,
His name is Dee Jr. and he's keeping your Jolly Bird company until it's delivered.
The magnolia pollen should keep Kirby from messing with him.
XOXO
Your Malallory

[Yuina Hirano]

It was rare for Yuina to venture too far from the city, especially with the Hanami Harmony practice schedule picking up pace with the approach of the holiday. Nevertheless she found an evening to step through the portal and hang a love note on the tree after hearing a caller on the radio speaking of the event. She hadn't had time to do any shopping at any of her favorite shops, but she found the Twilight Market had just as many fascinating things as the Village/Vanguard store in Kabuki Street!

She found a beautiful clock, and after determining that it had no dangerous magic about it (it had a simple cantrip to wind itself every day), she purchased it and arranged for delivery to Haku Kubo in Seaside. After hanging her note on the tree she found a nice smelling blooming woodland plant had bloomed in her hand. The young singer didn't know what the name for the plant was, but decided it was pretty! Yuina returned to the market and enlisted some help from the shopkeepers to transplant it into a pot along with purchasing some spellcasting to ensure it would survive to make it to Haku along with her gift and the note she scrawled.




Dear Haku,
Our year has flown by, when we were having fun. But I adored every moment that I spent with you.
Love, Yuina

[Andrea Anderson]

Andrea headed over to the Valentine Trees with lotto in hand. Pinning the note up and even adding a red gift box underneath the tree to be magically delivered to a certain she-devil.
____________________________

Light it up.
Get it?
Ha.

Your #1 fan and the person who obviously loves you the most,
Andrea
____________________________

Inside the box:





The back of the envelope holding the free hug tickets reads:

Use 10 and get a spa vacation weekend
Valid for 1 week btw
Better hurry

[Lilith Anderson]

The Lilith stopped by to buy a sapling that would end up planted outside of the Andersons' home deep in the Twilight Isle forest. While she was there, she dropped off a black box wrapped with a red ribbon and bow marked for Andrea Anderson.

Within;

A pop up card that said "I lava you, XOXO Lil"

A box of really fucking spicy chocolate

A suiting cookbook

And a gift card that Andrea would have to smash to get out

But it was good for a brand new gun of Andrea's choosing, so hopefully she wouldn't mind.

[Izumi Takamine]

Izumi found a moment to take a quiet trip to the Valentine Tree when Na-rae and Mini Lisa were making a planned trip to King Burger. She scrawled her note to hang on the tree, and secured a vase to place the red rose that bloomed as a result. She also arranged delivery of chocolates, as well as that one handbag that Na-rae had been eyeing on their last shopping trip but hadn't bought.



Along with the gift was a note, scrawled on passes to the bowling alley.

Dear Na-rae,
I hope when it arrives it will be a special day!
You're still my sweetheart!
Love, Izumi

[Max Lager]

From an Anonymous Gifter

The signs had been easy enough to follow though when it came to the forest, the red leafed trees, and the secret garden a moment of shy hesitancy nearly took hold. It passed as quickly as it came, considering he had not felt like this in a long time. At least since…

It did not matter. This was not a place for the past but for the present and the future which bloomed with possibility all about him. And what he had felt around her—felt right. He was good with those feelings sometimes; prophetic even.

A hard back copy of Goldman’s The Princess Bride was held in a hand. Within the book were two separate pages. The first contained a quote from the story itself and was suitable for framing were she so inclined:

”Her heart was a secret garden and the walls were very high.”

~ William Goldman

And the second was a hand drawn sketch of a key, the style of the art, the colored shading, lotus flower and flowing ribbons all clues, of sorts, as to the secret admirer’s identity should she have an eye for detail. The book, with its two extra pages, was left to be delivered with the simple note: To Josette Wheeler, from an inconceivably shy Secret Admirer.

[Mai Sato]

Even though Mai had not been the one to deliver the gift to the tree — it was one of her choosing, as were the words written on the card attached to it.

While she was sure Saori would enjoy the cake, perhaps the text on the card would mean more.

I'll be home for Valentine's Day.
Let's enjoy a night together.



The cake and note would be delivered on the night of the 13th.

[Josette Wheeler]

After purchasing her lotto ticket, Josette was utterly surprised to find the gifts left for her from a secret admirer. A bright curiosity illuminated the golden flecks within the blue-green patina of her gaze as she looked over each item carefully, fingers tracing over the drawing of the key.

The ballerina took her time to wander the garden with Vie trotting along at her heels. A smile of appreciation for all the pinned notes and the gifts left for loved ones, before she tucked into her bag for a pen and a piece of paper and write her own message from one of her favorite books to leave behind within the trees.

Whether it be for her secret admirer to possibly find, the keepers who created this enchanting garden, someone who was lonely needed a bit lift that day, or a message for the trees themselves that grew within in the garden.

“And the Secret Garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.”

-Frances Hodgson Burnett

Though not exactly romantic in nature, those every day miracles were the kind of love that kept the dancer going. A smile bloomed with pure delight when a lush, pink peony unfolded in her hand after attaching the note. She whispered a few soft words of thanks to the tree, for they were her favorite flowers!

Before leaving, she made sure to purchase several Valentine Tree saplings to give away as gifts and plant in her own bit of earth—especially to help support the protection and preservation of the gorgeous garden.

[Voidwalker]

As official "Valentine Garden Volunteers" - which is worth extra credit in Herbalism - Meira and Kali can be seen tending Valentine Garden. Kali's sweet tooth had gotten the best of her throughout her volunteer work... which may explain the sight of red on her fingers from the love berries she decided to snack on.

Kali had wanted to sneak off for a brief minute or two and try to magically gift a box of Valentine themed lemon tarts to Meira. Surprisingly the delivery happened then and there as she spotted the nearing oracle now opening the very same box!

"I should have just given it to you," she said with a puffing of her cheeks; even though she could not help but laugh soon after.

[Strawberry]

In comparison to the gift Caleb had given her, this had felt so very insignificant. But still, late Thursday night, another gift and note was added to the Valentine's tree for delivery to the assassin.

The small rectangular box was simple, sleeved in white cardboard and tied with red ribbon. It opened with a hinge and within, a pair of seemingly innocuous, polished cuff links. They too were rectangular, forged of gunmetal and smooth save for a raised star-like shape in one corner. A closer examination (much closer really), would find that the dead center of the star held a pinprick opening under which a barely perceptible needle head could emerge. Pressure placed upon the backside of the cufflink seemed to be what triggered its appearance though it couldn't have induced more than a scratch if it came in contact with someone's flesh.



Two notes on small squares of cardstock. The first, an explanation of the cuff links and the neurotoxin contained within the hollow of the link itself, its potency and lethality based on application. That card disintegrated into ash two minutes after being read by the recipient. The second card however stuck around in a far more mundane manner. On it, Karma's handwriting;

'You touch me and suddenly I feel a little less war torn. I'm not sure what peace is supposed to feel like but I think it may feel a lot like you.'

If he were particularly observant, under the soft velvet pillow upon which the cuff links sat, he would find a small wallet-sized, but still remarkably realistic, drawing of the pair of them together. The sturdy paper had been treated with a gloss finish that made it less inclined to wrinkling and fraying. The back read simply; Love, Karma

[Regina Wellston]

The musician had used the portal from The Red Dragon Inn to appear on the Isle. In her hands, a red box wrapped with a white bow. Following the signs north, she smiled to a goblin that had helped her and stepped up to the gifting tree with just a bit of trepidation. She hadn’t had very good luck with magical trees and holidays. Jebadiah’s face sprang to her mind and his smile spurred her on. Sitting the gift by the tree, she brought her fingers to her lips and then touched them to the lid before she stood and pinned a note to the tree. Well, it looked like a note but upon opening it, he would find the original lumber receipt that he had hand delivered to her the first day they had met. Stepping away, she looked down to her hands at the Diphylleia Grayi flower that appeared. Bemused was the smile that fell to her lips as she canted her head to study the opaque petals of the flower. A sudden breeze swept around her and caused a branch from the tree above her to shake, sending small droplets to rain down upon the flower in her hands. To her surprise, the petals of the flower started to turn clear, like glass. It was then she realized what the flower meant and her smile grew. Cradling it gently to her chest, she headed away from the tree to allow the next gift giver a chance to send off something meaningful to a loved one.


Inside the box, addressed to a one Jebadiah Jones, was a piece of petrified wood carved into the shape of a heart.




The Lumber Receipt






The Flower

[Alasdair Galloway]

Alasdair would of course take advantage of magic to help produce Max's favorite flower - it was a difficult one to obtain, even for him! He left a simple note that read: "For the most stellar Valentine ever!"

With luck and magic, Max's favorite flower, the epiphyllum oxypetalum, would appear along with the note!

[Yuzuki Kuwabara]

Of course Yuzuki had to make a trip by the Isle to deliver a present and hang a note for Asami, just a few days after they had celebrated Yuzuki's own birthday. After a long deliberation, she decided that Asami had seemed to enjoy the candy that they'd gotten plentifully at school and got to work in the kitchen making up some of her own to have delivered the the Rappapa sukeban.



There was a note, in the usual minimalist Yuzu style that went along with the chocolate.
- Asami! You are the best. Happy Valentine's.
from Yuzu

After hanging her note, she found the flower that bloomed was one she didn't immediately recognize, nor have any idea if it was Asami's favorite. But she thought it looked quite like the flower symbol shown on their Rappapa flag, so she got a vase to put it in, to deliver to Asami personally.