Painting the Roses Red

[Sayyida]

Come morning, the first person to enter the conservatory might notice something amiss. It was subtle, not immediately obvious. Well... not until one passed the first grouping of once-white flowers that grew near the paths, anyway.

Someone had gone through the conservatory overnight and painted almost all of the white flowers growing there in a variety of colors. Reds, blues, greens, and especially yellows, with the occasional purples, pinks, and oranges. A rainbow of color had showered down upon those once-pure petals, and some flowers had been painted more completely than others, who'd only received a splash.

The paint itself was watercolor, and thus theoretically less harmful to the flora than other, heavier paints might have been. The painting had also been restricted only to white flowers. None of the naturally-vibrant blossoms, nor any of the furnishings, nor the floors or walls had been touched. As far as illegal activities went, this was fairly unimportant... though it may well be impossible to restore the pale flowers to their original colors without magic.

[Ameera Nasrin]

Upon entering her Conservatory later that day Ameera would certainly notice something was amiss. The smell of paint in the air to be exact, a scent that would easily stand out to the blind femme. Someone had clouded the scent of her conservatory with paints! Naturally this alarmed the doe; who would come into her sacred space and tarnish it like so? Upon discovering that the paint was on her very flowers, not on the walkways or walls as she had hoped and prayed, her immediate thought was to try and rinse it away.

Watercolors should not even be able to stain her beautiful flowers, the natural oils in their petals should have repelled such colorful and unwanted additions! When, however, such paints did not come free as they should have a loud cry of lament would be heard coming from within the glass-walled building, disturbing those near enough to hear it.

While a more savvy businessman would naturally cry outrage because of the damages to their stock, Ame's true outrage and despair was that someone had seen, smelled and touched her unfinished masterpiece, her work in progress, only to deem it lacking. That they had treated it like a blank canvas that was not theirs to paint. Her lifelong desire and efforts to recreate the olfactory symphony she once knew as a child, now drowned and unfamiliar; her task now even further from completion than it was before.

To say that the petite doe was utterly distraught was an understatement! What would she do about her commissions? The requested orders that called for white, sweet smelling flowers? What was she to do with all these decorated buds? Who had done this?

Once she was able to calm herself the doe sent word to Master @Dralt to inform him of what had been done to her stock as well as to seek his advice on how to proceed. Next was an inquiry sent to the guard ( @Alhsom ) to entreat their help in tracking down who was responsible for what Ame could only deem as vandalism. After that she informed her staff that the Conservatory is no longer to be open to the public after sundown and is to remain locked until dawn each night.

Her final act - until she receives some manner of advice from Dralt or Alhsom - was to locate and document each flower, bush and vine whose delicate petals had been painted so... And calculate the cost of the damage. Whoever had done this was going to pay dearly. A very, very pretty penny.

[Ameera Nasrin]

In the days since the painted flowers were discovered the Conservatory has been in chaos; the stone courtyards and water fountains littered by a colorful carnage of flowers of all types. All the offended blossoms had been cut away, leaving many a bush, vine and trellis as nothing more than green leaves and stems, their flowers left to grow and bloom anew. The stone fountain in the courtyard and the pool for aquatic flora overflowed with white flowers, splotched with multi-hued paints. The colorful array spilling over the cool stone walls, some had stuck and dried on in the noonday sun while others wilted in shallow puddles.

Some citizens about the town and harbor would notice many flowers of the same nature floating along the coast, pushed and pulled by the flowing rivers before tumbling free of the freshwater and ensnared by the salty sea-spray and the oceans demanding current. There were not enough to clog the waterways as in the Conservatory, but it was enough to create quite the multi-hued spectacle.

By Saturday morning the courtyard was clear of fallen flowers, the fountains still filled to the brim with the colorful display while every last painted bud, stripped away from their place, now sat gathered in baskets, vases and pots intended for market. By the end of the day half of those stained blossoms that had been collected and deemed fit enough for use by the public, would be delivered to Sunrose Art Supplies with the hopes that someone would find a use for them. The rest would be seen displayed in unique arrangements lining that of the Conservatory's Marketplace stall, housed in tall thin pots and multiple small glass vases of varying shapes. A friendly young chipmunk attended the cart during market hours, happily selling all arrangements at half their worth due to the artistic additions weighing on the sheer white petals.

Come nightfall on Saturday the 26th, with still no news of those held responsible, the Master Horticulturist closed and locked the entrance to the Conservatory. And so they would remain locked for the rest of the week to see to repairs, first and foremost. But also to get started on the decorations for Draum ( @Draum ) and Delysia ( @Rose ) Snowe's vow renewals in a week's time. The only persons allowed entry would be staff, what few others who were assisting in the repairs and preparations, and of course the happy couple who had reserved the space for the entire week more than a month ago. Any other visitors will be considered trespassing and will be escorted out by security staff.