TDM 3 ⬡ The Farmer and the Cranes

[liburuzaina]

	Casting Call The Farmer & the Cranes Æsop »» "He expected to scare the Cranes just by swinging the sling in the air, and shouting loudly at them." Name: The Farmer Casting Call: Characters with Unnaturally colored hair Physical Notes: A human of ambiguous age. Strong, and used to farm work. Characters will have powers and weapons available to them. Personality Notes: Usually easygoing, and unwilling to do harm. Brought to frustration easily when it comes to protecting his livelihood. Compulsions: To chase away the flock of cranes come to eat his newly planted crops. Objectives: ⬢ Protect the field, initially without the use of violence. ⬢ Eventually, protect the field by any means necessary. «« »» "At last they paid no attention whatever to the Farmer." Name: The Cranes Casting Call: Characters with White, Black, Grey, Brown, Blonde, or Red Hair Physical Notes: Inhuman - either a bird outright, or a crane-type animal-person. Capable of flight, but no other powers. Personality Notes: Initially skittish, but grow more flippant as they grow more confident. Almost gluttonous, to keep coming back for more to eat, even after eating their fill. Compulsions: To eat those same newly planted crops, and to avoid the Farmer as they do so. Objectives: ⬢ Eat the planted seeds. ⬢ Avoid the Farmer and laugh at his foolishness. ⬢ If unlucky: Die. «« code @ efryndiel The Story Some Cranes saw a farmer plowing a large field. When the work of plowing was done, they patiently watched him sow the seed. It was their feast, they thought. So, as soon as the Farmer had finished planting and had gone home, down they flew to the field, and began to eat as fast as they could. The Farmer, of course, knew the Cranes and their ways. He had had experience with such birds before. He soon returned to the field with a sling. But he did not bring any stones with him. He expected to scare the Cranes just by swinging the sling in the air, and shouting loudly at them. At first the Cranes flew away in great terror. But they soon began to see that none of them ever got hurt. They did not even hear the noise of stones whizzing through the air, and as for words, they would kill nobody. At last they paid no attention whatever to the Farmer. The Farmer saw that he would have to take other measures. He wanted to save at least some of his grain. So he loaded his sling with stones and killed several of the Cranes. This had the effect the Farmer wanted, for from that day the Cranes visited his field no more. Bluff and threatening words are of little value with rascals. The Field ⬡ Common Cast All characters are likely to originate in The Field. ⬡ Literary Description "Some Cranes saw a farmer plowing a large field. When the work of plowing was done, they patiently watched him sow the seed. It was their feast, they thought." ⬡ For Your Exploration The field is freshly plowed and planted, and seems to go on forever. The soil itself is warm and loamy, loose and willing to crumble or compress under feet - both of human and crane. Seeds abound in the soil, arranged in neat, sprawling rows. Dotting the field are small, overgrown sections with old trees and high grass, preserving the integrity of the lands as best they can, before giving way to more neat rows on the other side. In the distance, always on the horizon, but never able to be reached, is the shadow of what can only be a farmhouse. ⬡ Swinging and Shouting The Farmer does not want his newly planted crops to be eaten before they've gotten a chance at life. The Farmer does not want to cause unnecessary death to protect his crops. As such, when the Cranes descend on the newly-planted field, carefully tended, ripe for the feasting, he'll attempt to chase them away again and again and again, in a Sisyphean effort to maybe, just maybe, convince the Cranes to leave without having to cause harm. The Cranes, for their part, will likely find amusement in his attempt - for while his shouting was concerning at first... what will he do? Shout himself hoarse? No harm has come to them yet. ⬡ Sling and Stone Yet. The Farmer does not want his newly planted crops to be eaten before they've gotten a chance at life. The Farmer, when pushed, does not see death as an unnecessarily harsh measure to protect his crops, anymore. Sooner or later, the Farmer's patience will give way to anger and frustration. Sooner or later, he'll see killing the cranes - by any means necessary - as a necessary evil, and will come for them with a vengeance. He may even begin to enjoy the process, eventually. Cranes killed in this way will be expelled from the story immediately, having served their purpose. A Welcome Show ⬡ Fireworks Back at the Library, Characters who venture - or arrive - outside will notice the warm afternoon sky lighting up with a constant, yet somehow calm, fireworks display. The crackles and booms will echo as though they're coming from a great distance, loud but not oppressively so, and the fireworks themselves will appear as bright in the sky as they would if it were night. They'll appear in any color imaginable, and even in some distinct patterns - stars and smiley faces and such. The display will be constant, until February 1st. ⬡ Sparklers! To suit the mood of the display in the sky, characters will also find an array of sparklers (the fancy kind) set out on tables surrounding the entirety of the library itself, accompanied by lighters which never seem to run out of fluid, buckets of water on the ground that never seem to fill, no matter how many sparkler sticks are placed in them, and... first aid kits, with anything anyone could need to treat minor burns. The sparklers, lighters, and water buckets cannot be brought into the library itself, but the first aid kits can. navigation • premise • reserves • faq