[ The containers mysteriously frost over as if they were housing ice rather than supposedly live plant samples, frost almost tinged black at the edges. Unusual and perhaps even unworldly - such even a mysterious plague have such a power. But stuffed into multiple layers of containers, the chill of the flowers and vines seems to not pose too much of a problem. Not enough for Zhongli to notice as he carries it anyway.
Zhongli keeps two steps behind Gavial as they approach the civilian. This situation had all the forebodings of a trap waiting to catch them unawares, but the vines and roots do not get any closer as they approach - only feasting and twining around what has already captured their attention. The civilian - a younger middle aged man upon closer inspection - does not react to Gavial's calls nor does he tear his eyes away from one perfectly bloomed flower in front of him. He gazes at it in slack-jawed awe, mouth slightly agape as the black coloring of the Blight begins to creep up his fingers and across one palm.
It is that affliction that first catches Zhongli's attention. ]
He is not even touching it, and yet the Blight spreads.
[ Then why had he and Gavial had been spared thus far...? ]
cw: frostbite and disease
Zhongli keeps two steps behind Gavial as they approach the civilian. This situation had all the forebodings of a trap waiting to catch them unawares, but the vines and roots do not get any closer as they approach - only feasting and twining around what has already captured their attention. The civilian - a younger middle aged man upon closer inspection - does not react to Gavial's calls nor does he tear his eyes away from one perfectly bloomed flower in front of him. He gazes at it in slack-jawed awe, mouth slightly agape as the black coloring of the Blight begins to creep up his fingers and across one palm.
It is that affliction that first catches Zhongli's attention. ]
He is not even touching it, and yet the Blight spreads.
[ Then why had he and Gavial had been spared thus far...? ]