Laying the pipe (Ask before you post)

[John Asher]

John was an engineering student. Designing things was kinda what he did all year long at school, and when he leaves school in a year it's what he will do for his whole life. Creating things was typically where he excelled and this was going to be no different. Her words had played in his mind over and over. "You're first task is figuring out how to make our paths cross again" he had said aloud as he stared out over the back part of the farm land near the lake. Since their meeting, he had spent far more time reading and studying on plants and materials than he probably should have, but he had an idea, and it would be one that everyone would benefit from. Plus, it allowed him to work out the thoughts in his head, plus working with his hands was another favorite past time of his. He had picked up some used parts that were not options to not have in this, but their carbon foot print would be minimal.

Orion hauled over the next line of eco friendly recycled piping he had managed to swindle off one of the distributars. Sometimes it was good to be a student, and Orion had the gift of persuasion. Not ure if it came form him or his lion, he didn't care it worked. "John, you sure you don't want help putting this together? I mean, thats a lot for one guy... Sure learning the ways of the green peace force is worth all this?" That brow arched up as he lugged over the last line of the pipes and turned back to his friend who smirked. "O, I am glad for you helping me get the materials up here, but I assure you I want to do this solo, probably will help me work out some stuff in my head" he grinned to his friend. Orion looked over his friend and nodded to him. "Alright man, text me if you get to something you actually need help with." John nodded and then began to work.

Hoe, shovel, rake and spade. Each used, each more importantly used carefully so as not to cause to much unneeded damage to the lands he was working. Any trees that couldn't safely be replanted elsewhere were left. He had enough of the pipe for a 25 foot by 25 foot square area. All the things he read would allow him to use that for a small area to grow plants, rehab plants, and the like. Looking up at the sun it had to be somewhere near lunch time since he had started early. He needed to work on getting the piping up and into the grooves he had just created, and after another three hours of straight work, more than a few cuss out sessions, he finally had all the piping laid out and drying from the poxy he used. Sending a text to Orion he asked the plants he had be brought over from where he had moved them near the barn. Orion pulled up in a rented truck and helped John move the plants from the truck to the ground, he had each one in it's own spot. And again when the task was done John shooed him off. Orion knew when John got into a mood where he was in his head, might as well be talking to a door so he returned the truck and went back out.

By the time the sun was setting, the plants had all been planted, and he was working on the finishing touches to the water pump he was going to use for the moment to make the water go where he wanted. In time, and once he did more research he planned to make it a self sustaining circle of movement, but it would allow him to water some more than others, make sure they could be tended after. Looking over the plants arranged, all were right for the climate, but some seemed sickly, half lost in dead branches praying to survive, others poorly tended too. He had looked over what would help them grow, bring them back without causing problems for the rest of the land, it had kept him up nights, and busy during days, but in the end when it was finished and the night was taking over he looked to what he had done. Noted how well it turned out, and as the water pooled into the ruts he made to allow each plant to get water he grinned. Curious if this would send out the bat signal to his new teacher.

[Arcadia Caughey]

Arcadia was a creature who traveled far and wide, and when it came to her roost she didn’t reside in this realm.  She had roots and a regular presence here, however, because of the medical clinic that she ran with Donald.  While it wasn’t her way to walk in the sun, it wasn’t uncommon of her to work a shift at the clinic through the afternoon into the early hours of the evening.  She had ways of keeping the thirst at bay, and in the moments when she was truly honest with herself she knew the beast in her blood could only reach so deep anyway.  She was Idunn first, and always would be.

It was when she was with her last patient, a young lass that was suffering the winter flu, that she felt significant shifts in the root system of the land.  Were it the warmer months of the year, when it was common for the land to be cultivated by farmers’ aims, the sensations would have been written off without question.  The idea that someone was brave or foolish enough stir and work the earth when it was at its coldest, however, was worth exploration.  In good time, anyway.  There was still the matter of her last patient that she had to tend to, and Arcadia was never one to rush matters of healing.

By the time she shed her lab coat and slipped her grey duster over her simple scarlet dress, the sun had completely set below the horizon.  Arcadia elected to leave through the back door of the clinic, assuring that there were no eyes watching as her womanly shape disappeared and what surged forth was no more than mist on the wind.  She traveled this way for a good distance, leaving the center of town behind and swooping down to touch the ground again once the landscape below her became more rural.  When she reformed, her boots and stockings were gone, allowing her bare feet to touch upon the earth.  The ground was cold, yes, but so was she whenever she allowed her vampiric blood to dominate her physical state, and she allowed that more often than not.

Through the connection of her feet to the earth she could read the root systems - directly below her, always, but the wider she opened the divine channel within her the larger her range of connection would become.  Fortunately for her, her estimation of where these shifts in the earth had come from was a good one, so when she touched down she could feel their location just as she was without having to relinquish herself to her truer state of being.  Unsurprisingly, she found a farm was her destination.  It was the first time she’d been to this particular part of Rhy’din, and she was not a creature of haste, so barefoot and with her long grey coat flowing gently in the soft wind that always surrounded her, Arcadia took her time getting to know this land before she made her way over to the place where she could feel so many roots trying to make an adjustment to their new home.

The gifts of her blood alerted her to John’s scent before she came upon him.  Indeed, his scent was rooted to this place as well as any of its flora, which is why Arcadia’s steps were weaving through the pipes and plants of his newly cultivated area instead of seeking him out directly.  She already knew he was here.  For now, her focus was the plants, not the system which sought to water them.  Many of them were struggling, it was hard for her attention to go anywhere else.

When Arcadia spoke, her voice would carry, her wind taking care of that.  “A farm?  I thought ye wished to learn about the wild of the woods.”  One of her wry little smiles was cast in the direction of John’s scent before she turned back to a modestly tall and ailing tree.  Petting her hand down its bark, she gave the tree a gentle command with a soft nicker of her tongue.  Sure enough the tree responded, bending the lowest of its healthy branches down to waist height.  Arcadia smoothly hopped up, keeping her balance with ease as the tree lifted its branch back into proper position.  As soon it was settled, she got to work.  She made quick business of pulling the dead or deeply ailing branches from its body and casting them to the ground, but what might be strange about her method was that there wasn’t a single crack of wood.  No, she was peeling them off, as smoothly and sweetly as one might rub a bit of mud from a child’s cheek.

[John Asher]

John had no idea his soon to be, and much to her chagrin mentor was around town as well. He by no means had been looking for her, nope, he had been nose deep in trying to figure out exactly how to get her attention as she had asked. Nothing small would work, that much he knew, so doing his research, and by the Gods there was research, he managed to learn all he thought he needed to know to make this whole thing work. He couldn’t account for the weather, and he had built up quite the sweat, but to his credit, he was doing it to begin with.

Day had turned to near night by the time he was finally finished, and to say he was a fool for working the earth at this time a year was not something he hadn’t called himself at least a million times, probably more like 10 million, but who is counting right? Lost in his work, making sure all the irrigation was set and would work, that the blanket he would need to lay over the arbor like structure he made to keep the frost off the fragile limbs, had it not been for a shift in the wind and her scent carrying itself on it he would have been none the wiser of her approach, silent as it was.

Her question caught him only off guard for a moment before he cleared his throat and spoke. “I do wish to know about the wild of the forest, so I learned about the trees that surround this area. When I felt confident enough I went out and looked over the trees surrounding the farm, along with a few that needed saving from some fool who had them in to small a pots down the road. So, I made this, I can keep them here, tend to them and get them better on their roots before I place them back in the spot they were as they are all color coded and marked” he pointed to the plant tape around one of the limbs. “But, if this doesn’t suit them I can take them back now and let them die without any attempt to save them” He was being slightly cheeky and it was perhaps the chill starting to finally get to him. “How have you been Arcadia?”

[Arcadia Caughey]

From her perch, Arcadia looked amused with John’s reply.  Neither his words nor his approach pulled her attention from removing the dead growth from the tree that she was currently sitting in.  Adding to the quickly growing pile of brittle sticks littered around the base of the trunk.  She did tisk her tongue, however, in response to his sass.  “They won’t die, John.”  A knowing smile curled her lips after she spoke that calmly and with the utmost confidence.  He’d drawn her attention to these sweet beings of nature; on them her attention would linger to keep an eye on their well-being.  Should he abandon his efforts down the road, the task of keeping a few trees well was as easy to her as breathing was to most others.

Once all the dead brush within her reach was cleared away from this ailing tree, her attention turned to the ground and her violet gaze settled upon John.  “Perhaps ye should use the color codin’ to do the opposite, aye?  After all, these trees were each strugglin’ for a reason.”  And she was suggesting that an ill-fitting location could’ve have been a large part of that reason.  Simply because a seed found its way into the earth and grew tall, that didn’t mean that it had been fortunate enough to pick the ideal location to spread its roots.

“M’sure this will suit the lot o’ them just fine, once their dead weight has been shed and they can put the full o’ their energy on healin’ up.”  Arcadia’s ease as she scaled the tree a bit higher was a gift of her vampiric blood, too fluid and quick for a human.  The branch she balanced on now was also considerably thinner than the former one, and should have been bending under her weight had it not been for the clever application of another one of her preternatural gifts.  She made quick work of pulling the final branches, careful not to cast them in his direction as she tossed them to the ground.

Once the task was complete, she gracefully dropped from the tree to the ground, bare feet landing not far from him.  Captivating violet eyes sparkling with whimsy as she cast one of her close-lipped, knowing smiles at him.  “Do ye climb, John?  Or at the least have a steady balance on tiptoe?”  He had quite a few trees here, after all, and each could use some pruning.  And surely some were short enough that they didn't need to be scaled?  Her smile grew impish then.  “Or do ye need t’ find your way out of the cold?”  It wasn’t exactly a mild time of year, she did remember that.  Even if the chill didn’t seem to bother her or her bare feet in the least.  

As for how she'd been, it seemed nothing she said or did would address that.  At least not yet.

[John Asher]

John watched as she worked to preen the trees. It was a bit marvelous to watch, not because it was some hot chick all bent in odd positions and such to pluck so expertly at the limbs, but because of the tenderness with which she did it, the expertise with her precise touch. That was marveling to John, and on a technical level it made him Jimmies get rustled. Mentally mind you, downtown was still all limpity biscuit. Hearing the casual air to her tone in her response his gaze lingered back from the schoolboy awe to the work he had spent his day on. “I hope not, I was trying to do what was best on a scale I could, for the moment.” But it did give him quite the educational inspiration. And he had no current plans to abandon this batch of misfits, it was his own little island of misfit toes.

But he was listening as she spoke, hearing the words she was dropping and absorbing them just as fully as she was hoping he would. Moving them back may only cause them more harm, and perhaps here was a good spot for them, all trees that could be worked, maintained and perhaps even farmed from for their own attributes. What he had no idea, but google was a mighty God he prayed too on the daily. “Then here they shall stay, some may be relocated to a spot a bit more suiting to them and myself, but I doubt it, that’s so much stress for a tree.” He offered as he looked over her a moment and thought curiously while looking back over the small grove.

He noticed how easily she flitted about the trees, how simple twigs barely bent under her weight, that was marveling to him, she was a defiance to science, nature and engineering. His poor little mind would be blown if it weren’t for the fact he was a panther. However as she dropped his gaze fell to hers and that violet gaze had him almost sputtering and forgetting his name, but he was doing a fine job of keeping his cool. Her knowing smile didn’t help, casting his gaze back to the trees because those seemed safer to look at he chuckled. “Being a panther, climbing kinda goes with the territory, I’ll be sure to get the dead limbs off these guys as they get bigger.” And with the spell of her eyes out of his mind he was back to being brazen. “So… do I get a job well done?” He asked as he finally dared to turn his gaze back towards her he even had a playful joking smile on his lips when he said it.

[Arcadia Caughey]

Arcadia was on the ground now, but she didn’t stray from the tree she’d just finished pruning.  She knew full well that it could nurture itself back to health now that its dead growth was cleared away, but..it was against her nature, really, to turn her attention away from a tree in need.  “Aye, they’ll be right as rain in no time…” It was murmured softly, crooned to the tree as much as it was directed at John, as her hand smoothed over its bark.  She shared one of her knowing smiles with it as she added, “especially after a rain.”  Violet eyes lifted to the sky above, before her gaze turned to study the system of piping.  As tempting as it was for her to stir the weather, she knew John’s system if successful would provide water enough.

So time to focus on the tree, then.  What happened next would be familiar to him, a similar application of her power to what he’d seen when she’d mended the wounded tree they’d come upon in the woods.  Except this time, the golden light that she released drove deep in the earth as well as into the trunk.  Arcadia’s focus withdrew from John long enough for her to open her senses to the tree's root system beneath their feet, her guidance and fortifying energy literally aiding the tree in strengthening and stretching its roots.  It made the roots ready to receive, with Arcadia's power urging the earth to release sustenance they needed to drink up.

The effects were immediate.  The tree's coloring, the texture of its bark, the angle and resolve of its limbs...even though it grew no leaves because it was not yet spring, it had a vibrant majesty to it that was absent before.  And the effects upon her, immediate as well, her indigo black hair streaked with a radiant sun-kissed gold that matched the golden hue of her eyes.  And her skin...a subtle healthy glow had crept into it that was not her usual pallor.  Her change went no further than it had the last time they’d shared company, but were she to do what she truly wanted to do - sink her fingers directly into the earth to do the same for the rest of the trees that she’d just done for this one - well, she was resisting that urge, that’s all that was important for now.

Perhaps that’s why she said nothing of it, choosing instead to focus on his words.  “At the right time of year, placed in fitting soil, to be moved would be just fine.  They’re a hearty sort, and when looked at in the grand perspective their needs are few.”  There was that cryptic curl of her lips again, the ghostly smile of a woman who had moved many a tree from one location to another...in a far more unconventional way.  She watched him looking over his new collection, brow lifting in amusement. “Of course, if you’ve taken a shine t’ them, there’s no reason they can’t stay.”

If Arcadia knew he thought her in defiance of science, nature, and the like, she would have laughed.  Because she’d thought the same of herself, was quite ashamed in fact, when she was much younger in this life.  Too many pieces of the puzzle had been missing back then, which had since been found.  “Don’t ye think the good job should come after you’ve taken care of all this pruning?”  His cheeky words deserved some in return.  His smile received a wry smile in return, which like all her smiles had yet to reveal a single glimpse of her teeth.  She was quite adept at underplaying the vampire in her, right down to how she spoke her brogue with such reserve that the thrall which could drip from her syllables didn’t show itself at all.  

[John Asher]

John always appreciated the connection that Arcadia held with the trees, the way that she seemed to lose all perspective of her surroundings save the tree her focus was currently settled on. Hearing her half-murmured words, he smirked a bit towards her knowing her focus was lost on him almost completely for the moment. He watched her eye his glorious pipes, okay so he was proud of them, he did a fine job of erecting them, and it took him all day to get them laid right. “Well, to loosely quote Luke Bryan, ‘Rain is a good thing’” he offered a light grin to his voice. He knew a few songs here and there.

He watched again as those familiar sights and such were once more shown to him. Still it left him in awe of the power she held given the ability she let him witness a few times now. He watched as he had the times before with the look of a child on Christmas morning awe at the ability to do such. Looking over the effects it had on the tree more than anything else, even small they were there, and they were noticed.

Remembering what happened afterwards last time he cut a gaze towards her to see how she was doing after this display of power. He could again see a resistance to her once she finished and he wasn’t bold enough to ask why she resisted so, not tonight anyway. Perhaps their next meeting they would discuss such.

Hearing her words about the right time of year, he shifted his hues back upon her and nodded. “Time will tell if moving them is what is done” right now he had no immediate plans to move them, although he felt her gaze upon him and turned his hues towards her. “Just because I have taken a shine to them doesn’t mean they can’t be moved. After all it’s not about my needs, but what is best for them. So, we shall see” he played into her hand in a roundabout way, silly boy.

John was moving to a new tree to work on the pruning, and had shot out his cheeky words, knowing the playful banter was part of the learning, and he rather enjoyed the back and forth. However, when she said that about the good job until after he grinned a bit. “Well, then how about a good job drink when we finish the pruning. One drink then you can flitter on back to your dwellings until I manage to do something so miraculous as to gain your favor once more” it was an offer for a friendly drink. No murky words or ill intent in any of it. He truly did enjoy the company and the banter between them both.

[Arcadia Caughey]

Those who knew Arcadia, even those who knew her well, found her maddeningly silent when the topic of conversation turned to...well, her.  It wasn’t that she was averse to being around people, she just wasn’t the sort who liked to have the spotlight turned toward her.  Which meant she wasn’t often the sort to volunteer information about herself, either, especially when it came to the more curious facets of who she was and what she could do.  She did answer questions though, in that cryptic way of hers, when they were asked by folks that she held in good esteem.

“Aye.”  His comment about time was met with a cheeky little smile.  “Spring isn’t long off, and once the season takes hold of the roots it will be easy to see which of the beauties will struggle here and which will flourish.”  No pressure, John.  But she honestly didn’t mean it to come across that way, if it did it was simply because Arcadia could be a bit intense with her stoic sort of way.  

Her hand pet down the bark of the tree she’d tended before turning her golden gaze upon him.  “We do have to let things go sometimes in order to give them what’s best, aye.”  Stoic and intense indeed.   And, well, being let go was something she felt passionately about - she was ruled by her impulse to wander the land and holding her back when she got the hankering to go deep into the wild had never ended well for any who tried to keep her still.  The source of many a fight between Arcadia and Archer, to be sure.

When John moved over to another tree and started to prune it, he’d find that Arcadia followed after him.  Her bare feet making no sound upon the earth as she moved, she had an uncanny gift of knowing just where to step to keep in union with the ground.  She remained behind him as he worked, but she made no effort to hide the fact that she was watching him as he tended the tree.  There was no need for her to have children when she was such a doting mother hen over plants.  Brow lifted when he mentioned having a drink, and there was something to her smile that said her mind was likely on a different track than his.  She’d come straight here from the clinic without hunting, after all, and his scent was rich and his heartbeat was strong.

Yet those thoughts stayed within.  “What sort of drink are you offering?”  Asked with curiosity before amusement crept into her golden features.  “And I never said that ye had to do somethin’ miraculous to capture my attention, I simply said ye had to figure out a means of gettin’ in contact with me.”  She’d lived in this modern age for nearly a lifetime, and yet she remained distant from it just as she’d been raised in her village long ago.  It made her a challenge to get a hold of, unless one had the right tricks up their sleeve.

[John Asher]

John looked towards her as she was silent, and contemplative or so he seemed to seem that’s how it was, least that’s how he saw it. John didn’t push her, let her say what she wanted unless it was something he thought he needed to know, but at present, he hadn’t found anything like that, so far. He however enjoyed giving out tidbits here and there. Without even knowing it, sweet guy, right?

He listened as she spoke about Spring being close after she helped that lil ole tree wanna be. Still an amazing sight he wouldn’t tire of seeing. However, he was thinking a moment and looked about the trees. “Well, then it’s a good thing you haven’t given me any pressure at all. None. I feel completely without pressure” a grin played his lips as he looked over her a moment, he hadn’t taken it that way but his humor had and she would easily see he was messing with her.

Hearing her about the letting things go he turned from what he was working on to look at her with a comically arched brow. “Oh well, I mean now that that escalated quickly” he winked to lighten the mood and then looked back to the trees. “It they seem more inclined to slip away than grow skyward, then who am I to not let the tree do what it desires? I just may need an expert to consult with it, you don’t happen to know a tree speaker, do you?” His face was full on curious, he was pulling off the humor like no bodies business at the moment, another slow grin and he chuckled some going back to the tree he was working on.

It wasn’t until he moved onto another tree and had for the moment been lost in his task that he realized she was following him. Physically biting the inside of his cheek to keep from letting loose a comment he wasn’t sure how it would go, he managed to behave until he said that about a drink. If he was smarter he would have realized for once, he was in the prey seat, but he wasn’t that smart, ahem.

To her question of what he was offering he turned and looked towards her. Looking over her as she was talking about how she didn’t say this she said that. His hues were watching her a moment before a playful smile of his own, very cat ate the canary… ironically. “Well I am feeling a bit… adventurous after this hard days work to get your attention and maybe a lesson on the woods…. So, your choice. After these trees are pruned I am free. Meaning you get to determine when you get sick of ole Johnny boy and what we do. Deal?” He asked again, habit came to life and his hand was out for her to shake on it. Man, this boy will never learn to stop offering her the keys to the chocolate candy shop.

[Arcadia Caughey]

Arcadia tilted her head to the side, her rich golden gaze studying him in a moment of contemplative silence.  “...ye don’t feel any pressure?”  She let a second, doubt-casting silence hang in the before adding a thoughtful, “Hm.”  She said nothing further as her eyes turned to the tree that he was working on, Arcadia rounding its trunk at a pace that was painfully slow as her fingers carefully explored the contours of each spot where John had just pruned.  Her humor was rather dry and perhaps Fallon was right to taunt her by calling her Librarian, but her deadpan in moments like this was quite masterful.

By the time she came around the other side of the tree and into his line of sight again, she was wearing one of her amused little smiles.  “Ye ask such as a joke, but there are some who can commune with plants quite well.  First step is provin’ yourself enough through your communications that it will do ye the kindness of communicatin’ back.  The second is realizin’ that they communicate through movements, a sort of subtle dance more often than not unless they’re feelin’ particularly passionate about somethin’...aye?”  Arcadia reached up to give the tree John was pruning a bit of a tickle in a spot where one of its branches met the trunk - one of the tree’s armpits, if you will.  The tree’s response was quite sudden, all of its branches on that level and the level above it lifting upward at the same time much like how a flower shuts up its petals.  A wry look was given to John.  “Many of them feel quite passionate about bein’ tickled.”  Now would the tree have reacted that way if John had tickled?  Not likely.

She caressed her hand down the tree’s trunk a few times, her way of promising the noble being that she wasn’t going to tease it with any more tickling.  In response it lowered its branches again, at a pace much slower than it had picked them all up, like a long lazy sigh.  She gave it a soft pat before she continued to follow John, her honied eyes giving the work he’d done on this particular tree a slow, measured look before she turned those eyes upon him.  “Adventurous…” A little shake of her head followed after she’d murmured that word to herself.  Even if he was willing for an adventure, taking him to those woods would hardly be fair.  The particular forest she was thinking of literally did have a mind of its own, to the point where precious few humans dared walk that wild.  Precious fewer ever came back out.  

“M’ sure somethin’ will come to mind by the time you’re through.  You’ve given yourself a sizeable nursery to care for, after all.”  A wry smile curled her lips as she made that observation.  Gaze glanced down at his offered hand, but she moved past it with a shake of her head.  “I’ll not make a formal deal of it, however, do ye realize how recklessly ye phrased your desires?  By your words you’d never be able to resume your life as scheduled until I deemed that I was sick of you and gave you leave.”  A cluck of her tongue, and her best chiding look to boot.  Were she a different creature...or, more precisely, had she been in a different mood, she would have taught that lesson in a far less selfless fashion.  Perhaps she still might.  He did say he wished adventure.

[John Asher]

Hearing her question about pressure John looked towards her, he saw the doubting glance and he heard the Hm, but he didn’t respond, not right away, letting her mull it over on how serious he was. “If I didn’t feel pressure you wouldn’t be doing your job as my…. instructor.” He countered looking towards her as he studied her a moment while she studied him. Perhaps it was just his stupidity, but by the looks of it to him, she seemed to pretty relaxed, at least for the moment in their back and forth.

However, as she popped up on the other side of the tree he looked to her about the joke and he studied her a moment. He was listening as she spoke about the trees and their movements and how they spoke, looking up to the tree before him he watched as she in effect tickled it, he even half smiled and seemed a bit more in awe of her. “Well, then I shall do my best to let you do the tickling, and I will do the tending. Tonight at least.” Good boy John for biting back the second half of that comment. “So then teach me how best to not only communicate but understand what these beings of patience need to thrive?” he offered as he looked towards her. “Plus, its not just these trees that feel passionate about tickles. Probably one of my least favorite things. I can empathize with them.” Without thought he affectionately patted the tree, running his hand down its trunk a moment before he moved to the next one.

He could half see she was sizing up his ability to work on the tree once he left it, which he had truly expected. However when those honied eyes turned on him he looked back into them a moment. “Adventurous” he repeated in case she hadn’t grasped it the first two times, and then looked back to the tree while he was thinking. John had no idea what he was getting himself into with her, but no matter how often he was in that position, for some dumb reason he never seemed to back down from whatever potential challenge she tossed at him. Even when he probably should have. So far anyway.

Hearing her about something coming to mind by the time he was through he looked to the few remaining trees and then towards her once more. “I enjoy the task, and the peace it brings. Plus on rare occasions such as this I get to spend some fine quality time with one of my favorite people. Or at least she might be becoming one” he offered with such absence in his voice one would think that should have been in his head more than it was aloud, but here they sat, well stood. However looking to his offered hand and then back up to her he was curious as he listened.

A half smirk spread his lips to her words and he looked over her a moment. “I find that offer you such deals comes easy, why I havben’t the faintest, but giving you deals that… seem silly to you come more than easily for me when I am makng them with you. Besides, I can be pretty annoying, and you would be bored with lil ole me quick like anyway. After all… whats a panther to a tree speaker?” He asked because in his world, he was lower than her, and in the real world, he again was lower than she and he seemed to know that. But he foolishly seemed to trust her without real reason too, and he was oblivious to it as well.

[Arcadia Caughey]

Her smile held amusement.  She’d just been teasing him when she’d said those words about pressure, but she was so stoic at times that her playfulness was too understated to catch.  “Aye, I’m told often that meetin’ my expectations can be...challengin’.”  Were some of her former students here, they likely would have protested at the way she’d just understated the rigorous standards she kept, for both herself and others.  But such was Arcadia, it was how she’d been raised in this life since she was young and so the habit was deeply ingrained.

“Ye already are learnin’ how to better communicate with them.”  A nod down at the action of his hand as he pet the bark of the tree.  “You’re not relyin’ on words.  As for givin’ them what they need to have the trust to communicate back, well that takes time.  More than time, it takes acceptance on your part that the decision is theirs alone to make, and each plant and tree makes it on its own.  Ye might have great success with one plant someday and yet the one next to it remains as still and silent as a statue no matter how ye try.  No different than people, really.”  Her lips quirked in a knowing smile.  When it came to people, she tended to be that stubborn plant, who hung back from social situations and who tended to be choosy when it came to who she allowed to engage her in conversation.  

“Peaceful, aye?”  A full, elated smile broke free upon her lips.  The timing was convenient - as he stood with his back to her, it meant that not only did he likely miss her blooming grin, it also meant he missed the rare sight of her two sharp eyeteeth as well.  It was a rare day when Arcadia heard someone express joy at tending plants, and it pleased her to hear that the task brought serenity to John.  It was hard for her to explain the nature of what she felt when she was deep in an exchange with the earth and what grew from her soil, but peace was certainly a wondrous part of that overwhelmingly ecstatic state.  “Perhaps I should strap a pack to your back and demand ye spend your days in the local forests so they’re tended in between m’ visits.”  There was a sparkle of whimsy in her eyes which was also heard in her voice, but that didn’t mean she was necessarily joking.

Arcadia slipped around the tree he was working on to the one in front of it, which was one of the shorter in the bunch.  Sliding her hands over its trunk, she gave it a bit of a massage as she crooned soft words at it a language that was foreign to these parts.  Her palms were channeling golden vitality up through her and into the tree, thickening and strengthening its bark which gained a much healthier color.  “I didn’t say I was surprised you’re so willin’ to offer yourself up.”  Because she wasn’t.  She spoke the words over her shoulder as a soft rain of twigs and small branches fell around her and the tree as it shed its dead growth as easily as a human shrugged off a jacket.  One of her cryptic little smiles upon her lips.  Many found it hard not to offer themselves to her, especially in recent years now that she’d embraced who she was more completely.  

By the time Arcadia drew her hands back from the smaller tree, it was fully restored and even had small green buds peeking out here and there.  As for herself, the gold in her hair was becoming quite pronounced, so much so that it seemed her hair was that straw-kissed blonde streaked with indigo black rather than the other way around.  Her complexion had also deepened, nearly losing its pallor.  She paid no mind to this, her focus instead on the tree as it bent a few of its branches into an egg like shape perfect for sitting in.  Arcadia hopped up into its offered with ease, reclining back from this new vantage point to watch John continue his work. Considering how natural she looked lounging in such a seat, it was probably easy to imagine that she did such quite often. “I’m more than a tree-speaker.”

[John Asher]

He may have caught the amusement, but something wanted her to know that he did take this seriously and that she was actually pretty damn good at that whole instructing thing. “Well, I mean women generally tend to have ridiculous expectations” he winked completely joking with her about his chauvinist comment. “But, I find those with the most rigorous expectations, leave the best and most lasting impressions, and generally tend to teach you the best lessons you didn’t know you needed” he offered back to her. Look at him toss out them compliments like candies. He was in good spirits now.

He hadn’t even noticed his hand and the affection touch he had given the tree, but he was listening as he worked, looking over the barky beast before him still in its saplinghood he would guess. “So in essence, it’s like every other relationship in that there is a give and take, and a need to feel like you can trust the other. Time, patience and proximity will either produce a conversation or not, since nothing is guaranteed?” He sounded like that was right, but well he was wanting to clarify which was a wise choice most likely. He tended to be the stand in the back as well, but it could also be dependent on the situation.

He didn’t see her smile, but he heard it some in her voice and he had missed those teeth. However, to her question she received a nod “peaceful, like sitting in the middle of the forest letting the world just spin around me” something he did as often as possible, even before he became a panther, but now that he was he did it as often as possible. It was settling, easing and if he could get that same feeling and at the same time return the favor by fixing the trees he loved getting lost in, hells bells yes he would do it. However, hearing her he turned and looked towards her. “I would ask you wait until summer break, knowing you would want me to start then, but I gave my word Arcadia and I wouldn’t back down from it, that’s not my way.” Period, end of sentence for him. But he hadn’t missed the sparkle of whimsy, it was yet another ticker to the list of why he enjoyed her company. More and more Gods help the poor fool.

He saw her flit past him to work on the tree before him, lost in his task his sight now on her and not overtly paying attention to her more the tree and listening he missed that she was just becoming more and more not her by the moment, and he didn’t notice until she spoke and he came around the front of the tree. “You didn’t need to say you were Arcadia, it was…” that was about the point he looked up and he swallowed a bit harder than he intended too. “You uh, your um… Violet, you’re turning violet, Violet” yes he totally went full on Charlie and the Chocolate factory quote on her and cleared his throat. “What I mean to say is, you seem to be… glowing and I have had my pants on and I don’t know your bidniss to know why you would suddenly be all kinda glowy” not that she was some glow worm standing there, but given her normal it was different.

In fact she was so not the norm he missed the fact she worked on a tree for him. “Thank you,” he nodded towards the tree she worked on and then looked towards her again before it made an egg shape and she popped a squat. Continuing to work he heard her about the tree speaker and he half grinned. “Arcadia, with everything I don’t know about you, all the vibes I get off of you, and the elusiveness with which you are with me and I assume most people, it doesn’t shock me you are more than a tree speaker….” He looked up from the tree near the end of the line he was working on towards her. “But, lucky for you, I don’t think I am foolish enough to ask what more you are right now. Not unless you want to tell the simple man” he winked towards her before he went back to pruning the tree he was working on some more.

[Arcadia Caughey]

When John said that women tended to have ridiculous expectations, her brow slowly rose in time with the smirk that curled her lips.  She knew he was joking, but she wouldn’t be Arcadia if she didn’t say something like this.  “Rigorous and ridiculous, more often than not there’s a great bit of distance between the two - but I won’t argue that many a person mistakes the one for the other.”  She’d watched that mistake made firsthand many a time, and for whatever reason an exchange she’d had with a certain guild leader nearly two decades ago sprang to mind.  A shake of her head, and that undesired face and name left her mind.  For the best.

“In essence, that’s part of it, aye.”  Notice she was careful not to suggest that it was all that was involved in cajoling a tree to be responsive.  She’d spent many an hour, many a day trying to get Donald and the flora to open up to one another, but while he was a brilliant doctor the man failed miserably when it came to tending plants.  An easy shrug followed.  “Many are surprised to hear it, others refuse to believe it, but in truth it shouldn’t seem all that farfetched.  Plants and trees are livin’ things, and all livin’ things share some behaviors and needs in common.”

The peace John spoke of seeded an impish smile.  “Mmm.  I often plant m’self in the earth to have that same feelin’.”  Did she just say plant herself?  Well, where she was from individuals were capable of rather incredible things when it was connected to their calling, and she was no different.  Her brow furrowed at his next choice of words.  “Break from what?  Oh, your schoolin’.  Aye.”  It took Arcadia a minute to make that connection - that kind of life was eons away from her world.  She’d made existing distantly from modern life an artform.

When John referenced a change in her appearance, she was completely unsurprised.  With a smooth gesture Arcadia scooped up one of the remaining locks of indigo black hair between two fingers, studying it with a look on her face like she had a mind to sigh.  But she didn’t, her demeanor remained as neutral as ever.  “Aye.  The strongest truth always wins in the end, even when it comes to appearances.  The simple magic I wield to glamour my appearance is no match for the power that flows through me when I’m tendin’ the earth.”  Arcadia’s potent vitality outshone all of the mortal magics she’d learned over the years, unraveling them with ease much to her chagrin.  Her divine wellspring also suppressed her vampiric blood when she opened herself to it completely.  Not common for her to do in front of others.  With a shake of her hair, the remains of the enchantment faded completely leaving her entirely blonde, and with the sort of complexion that reminded a person of the deep days of summer.  A far cry from the dark-haired, dark-eyed, porcelain appearance she’d come to favor.  “I wouldn’t say I’m glowin’, though…”  Glowing people drew attention to themselves, gods help her if she was glowing.

Reclined comfortably in her tree branch lounger, she cocked her eyebrow at him when he said that last bit.  “A man who shifts into a panther is no simple man,” she retorted dryly.  Resting her head back, her eyes looked up at the sky as she was silent for a moment.  Likely thinking of a distant world that was too far away for her eyes to see.  “I feel like givin’ names to certain things changes how a person is perceived...certain labels come with a lot of baggage.”  Clearly not for the better, in her mind.  

[John Asher]

John heard her and grinned a bit. His hues lingering over her a moment when she responded. “Most mistake one for the other, convenience is a bitch for that. However, while most would label yours ridiculous, even in my annoyed moments I know they are rigorous, and for a reason” he nodded towards her as he was looking over her a moment and then he looked back to the tree he was working on.

Hearing her agree without commitment to his wording he nodded with a side smirk. “Good, means I am not learning the wrong things in our meetings” he chuckled towards her some. However, he listened further as she spoke about the surprised to hear it. “No, it really doesn’t seem that far-fetched in all honesty. I mean, they breath in carbon dioxide and breath out oxygen, they have their own type of blood if you will and their own type of heart… How does that seem far-fetched?” Yeah, he was questioning how that seemed to be out of somethings ability.

John looked about the trees and then towards her when she had that smile and said that about planting herself…. A slow crooked smile played his lips. “You know if anyone else said plant I would think nothing more of them popping a squat on the ground, but why do I feel that word has a different definition with you?” He asked with a grin and not really needing an answer. However, he heard her question his break, but she figured it out before he needed answer that he was speaking of school. But she didn’t say she would wait or not or if she was even going to call on him. Regardless he would be there. He had given his word.

John looked over her as she seemed to want to sigh but didn’t. He took in a breath as he watched her true appearance out on display before him. He listened as she spoke and he made sure to mind his eyes but he didn’t not take in her beauty. He was a man after all and she was one hell of a work of art in his eyes, be it with her porcelain skin, or this more…. Exotic look she had. However, once she shook out her hair and she was all well, even more her herself he swallowed a bit. It was hearing her voice that shook him from his thoughts where those hues of his turned to look to hers. “No, glowy not in the pregnant way. More in that…. Other worldly glow, like there is something more to you that being able to be fully you seems to set off. Don’t listen to be, but not glowy in the expecting way” he chuckled fumbling his words a moment.

Seeing her reclined in that tree contently as she said that about him he studied her a moment. “Oh, but he is. Being a panther is all I have, and in all honesty its all I want truthfully. I mean by way of not normal gifts. Being a God has its goods and bads, and same with a vamp… I just don’t know if I would want to be either given the restrictions that goes with those. I mean, being a panther I just have to not kil people, and I learned shifting in front of people can be a bit much” he chuckled as he finished with the last tree and looked towards her when she said that about the labels. “Well, good thing I wasn’t asking for them. The only label I hope to ever truly hold with you is friend.” Friend was broad enough to mean many things and John knew that, but being someone’s friend was probably one of the best things one could do for another, in Johns eyes. “So… you ready to kidnap me for a night of drinking and debauchery if you feel so inclined? I mean I did promise you my companionship until you were bored with me” He grinned towards her holding up the last dead twig he pulled from the last tree needing a good pruning.

[Arcadia Caughey]

“At least ye hope so.”  That she had reasons for all her rules and demands.  One of her cryptic little smiles playing on her lips after she said that, an easy shrug followed.  “Of course, to that end, I’d make sure ye knew if ye were learnin’ things wrong.”  Sometimes by simply telling him, yes, but Arcadia was also a fan of setting up circumstances where her students discovered their misunderstandings in a more...hands-on fashion.  It made the correct information sink in better.

She studied John with her golden gaze after he said the truth of plants’ behavior didn’t seem farfetched.  “Then I suppose your schoolin’ is doin’ you well.  Most others are blind and deaf to such ideas.” She glanced down at one of the branches of the tree she was sitting in; some of the small twigs had been batting against her fingers like the tree version of a thumb-war, and with a flutter of her index finger and thumb she had them all caught up.  The branch shook its other smaller stems in protest, and Arcadia laughed softly.  “No one likes a sore loser, aye?”  It was murmured to the tree with an affectionate pat of her hand against its bark.

Indeed, she didn’t provide further explanation for what she meant about planting herself.  Her attention not shifting to him directly until he started on about the nature of her glow.  Her brow rising sky high as soon as he dropped the word ‘pregnant’.  “Well I certainly hope not in the expectin’ way,” she scoffed.  “Quite impossible for me to be glowin’ in that way, in fact, thank ye very much.”  Arcadia had always been relieved about that, as any semblance of a maternal instinct she possessed had always been focused on properly tending the earth.  The ground and what grew from it were what she nurtured, she’d never felt the need to have children and she's probably make a right awful mess of child rearing if she ever did.

By mentioning pregnancy, John had started to dig himself a hole, and gods did he dig it deeper when he just so happened to mention the two labels that pertained to Arcadia.  “A god…a vampire...what exactly compelled you to mention each of them?”  Not only was it a coincidence, but he was going on about the burden of restrictions that came with those mantles, which in turn seeded Arcadia’s intense scrutiny of him as she slipped out of her comfortable perch in the tree.

Her bare feet kissed the earth without a sound, but even if there was a sound it wouldn’t have been heard over the sound of the sudden and strong with that surrounded them.  The phenomenon wasn’t uncommon when she was rattled.  John held out a stick, he asked her a question, but she wasn’t answering him.  Instead she folded her arms across her chest and waited for his answer to her own.  

[John Asher]

He did rather hope that she had a reason for it all. Well, actually he didn’t put much thought into it. Something about her said that he could trust her. No one said inside him was smart mind you. John looked towards her when she said that about the to that end and she would make sure he knew he was learning wrong. “Well, then I don’t see a problem” he nodded rather firmly about that one.

John felt her gaze and didn’t waiver from it, his hues lingering along her own a moment as she spoke about his schooling. “Yes, Science seems to be on the lower end of the importance in learning spectrum. Anyone with a half a brain cell and an ability to form intelligent thought can see those processes for what they are” he shrugged as he looked back to the branches and thought a moment. Chuckling as he did so from her apparent thumb war with the tree. John heard her voice but not her words and without so much as a bat to his eye, or even much notice he didn’t think it unnatural she was conversing with a tree she had just played Thumb Wars with.

John seemed to, with all of his firsthand experience in laying the pipes earlier, be digging himself a hole with his whole continued words. Her reaction plainly said his mouth and his brain were having a serious disconnect. Or he didn’t grasp conversation with women who were different in a good way than others. Her tone caught him and he looked all the more befuddled by his words, cleared his throat and looked towards her. “What I should have said is, you look different, more natural and in a way at ease. Forget I said anything ever about glowing. Terrible choice of words, absolutely dreadful, I am clearly an idiot” he nodded firmly as if that would make it all better. Dumb fool.

John apparently was all about digging holes, because when she repeated the completely random beings out of his catalog of known weird beings he seemed to have struck a nerve. For as good as Johnny Boy was at digging those holes, he was terrible and trying to get himself out of them before they collapsed. “Hmm, well, seems I can’t win at the moment. I chose those two because they happened to be on the forefront of my mind. I was researching some Gods the other night, so that was at the front of my mind, not that I have met one but I heard they were real, and given I’m a panther why wouldn’t that be possible, and I said vampire because I watched Nosferatu a week or so ago and it was fresh in my mind. I didn’t mean to strike a nerve.” Oh, he didn’t miss the wind, he just knew better than to muck with it and her at the moment. Well the wind he knew, her it was a guess.

[Arcadia Caughey]

In answer to his remarks about the position of science within the hierarchy of education, Arcadia gave a small shrug.  “M’ afraid I wouldn’t know.  Because of where I was reared up, the priorities ingrained in me seem to be much different than most, I’ve learned.”  That included both where she’d been reared up in this recent incarnation, and where she was reared up in the bigger picture.

As for the rest of it. She simply let John talk, and keep talking, without interruption.  The only movement from her was her brow slowly arching higher and higher as he went on, unless one counted the fact that the wind was still whipping around them.  Arcadia was staring him down with a look on her face that suggested he’d be hard-pressed to convince her that it was happenstance that he’d just pulled those particular types out of thin air.

Then, in her silence that followed, the wind quieted and the surrounding trees were still once more.  Arcadia nearly sighed, but she bit it back, and the only way it manifested was in the slump of her shoulders as she eased off on her defensive posturing.  “I am what I am.”  Spoken simply, as a fact, one she knew she couldn’t escape from.  “Whether that be glowin’ or otherwise.”  Her way of admitting that she couldn’t fault his observation when it was true.  The pregnant word, though, that had opened an old sore wound for reasons she’d likely never bring up.

John hadn’t met one but he heard they were real.  Arcadia pursed her lips, shifting her gaze to look behind him at nothing of consequence - she just needed to look away as she was holding her tongue until she was certain she’d not say something she’d regret.  “Is researchin’ deities part of your schoolin’?”  Arcadia had no idea how institutions of learning handled that topic; where she’d grown up in this life, well they didn’t believe in gods or higher beings of any kind.  How ironic, considering who she truly was.  

She was supposed to be holding her tongue, but as she feared it kept going.  “And what exactly have you read of them, that you’re talkin’ of how their burdened?  The fact is, those who get dubbed deities are no different than anyone else, y’ know.  They’re just fancy beings that make their messes on a grander scale.”  It was not a flattering picture to paint, and it was motivated by Arcadia’s reticence to really reconnect with that community.  She’d become such a hermit, and it was a long habit so there was quite a bit that needed to be untangled before it could be broken.

[John Asher]

John heard her and thought a moment. “Perhaps one day you will tell me about it” not wanting to be pushy, he had an idea doing so might not be perceived so well. If only he knew he would trigger her moments later. Silly boy.

John spoke, noting her lack of movement and he watched, more importantly, her brow, a woman’s brow said a lot. Least in his eyes anyway. He could always tell if his sister was gonna blow by the height of her brow mind you. However, her stare down was met with one of his own. He was unwavering in his words. He had no idea what she was, only felt something about her that was different. However, given her defensive posture, it didn’t take him but a second to put two and two together.

John wasn’t about to break the air with his stupidity, but he didn’t back down either. When the wind settled, he chanced a step or two closer as he looked at her, his eyes trying to pick up on anything he could from what she was displaying. However, when she slumped he calmed, and let out a breath he hadn’t realized had been held after the trees quieted. Hearing her say she was what she was he stilled in his movements, letting her speak and not pull her from her thoughts. He didn’t bring up the fact he was right she had been, but he could see it was a subject she seemed unwilling to speak of and he didn’t ask her too. “I’m sorry for that, I speak before I think about my words sometimes.” His words finally broke, soft and empathetic to what seemed to bother her.

He watched her seem to look off anywhere but him. He swallowed and slipped his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching out to her. Why he had no idea, he just felt she needed a hug or something he didn’t know. Either way he refrained, to her question though his brow picked up. “No, none of my classes are in mythology. I just like the subject, so I read on my own.” Again, his answer was honest. Curious though in her line of questioning, but assumed she wasn’t familiar.

However, as she continued he looked towards her. “Sounds like a lot of experience in those words Arcadia…” he was mildly fishing. Her outburst had pretty much confirmed he hit a nail on the head somewhere. “Not the mess part, the no different than anyone else” he offered as he looked at her a moment in curious thought. Taking a breath he swallowed and looked towards her. “I’m sorry for causing you to get upset Arcadia, and it’s clear this isn’t your favorite subject, we can change it if you want?” he asked her curiously, giving her an out not that she needed it.

[Arcadia Caughey]

Arcadia’s golden gaze returned to John when he drew closer and apologized, faint surprise flickering across her features.  “No matter, John.  As I said, I am what I am.  Ye obviously meant no harm by it.”  Her rhythmic brogue was back to its common even-tempered tone, just like the trees were now still and the wind little more than a whisper.  To see her temper was a rarity unless you were Archer, as she usually kept a better handle on herself than what had happened a moment ago.  When it flared, however, like John had just witnessed, it burned hot and fast, gone as suddenly as it sparked.

She looked away, turning her attention to the tree next to her, fingers fiddling with one of its small twigs.  Fidgeting, in essence, as she attempted a casual air.  “Does it?”  Arcadia paused, silent for the remainder of John’s words, silent as he apologized for a second time, silent though she did grimace, providing a rare and quick view of her teeth.  “I’m never m’ favorite subject, as a matter of practice.  But experience, aye, both in bein’ no different and makin’ grander messes.”  She couldn’t absolve herself of that, she could make a tremendous tangle of things at times.  Case in point.

Her next words, well she advised him with a touch of petulance in her tone, “And ye should be careful with all that, easy to pick up a book that’s total bollocks when it comes to that subject.  Much of it’s no more than folks lettin' their imaginations run wild, really, or embellishin’ things somethin’ awful.”  Or perhaps some of it wasn’t embellished at all, and it was just difficult for Arcadia to view those texts objectively.  She couldn’t deny that there were some that were spot on.

“Tell you what.”  She turned to face him, rubbing her palms along the sides of her simple dress.  One might think she did the gesture to smooth out the fabric, but in truth it was to hide the means in which a lush golden apple came to be sitting in her right hand as she extended it outward.  “You take this, and should you ever figure out the meaning behind it, you can ask me what you like on the subject.”  Brilliantly colored as it was, the apple was a true apple, one that had grown on a tree just like any other.  It just so happened that this apple and its mates grew on a very special tree in a very special place, and as such it would never rot.  And if it was ever eaten...well in addition to being the most delicious thing that touched the tongue it would have an interesting effect.  

“I haven’t the faintest idea of where to get a proper drink...no wise ideas at least.”  The change of topic was sudden, and switched without apology.  “And unwise ideas, there’s a time and a place for those.”  The unspoken implication was that she didn’t think this an appropriate moment to be unwise.  

[John Asher]

His eyes studied her and he noted the hint of surprise her in eyes but didn’t call her on it. Nope, he took the point from her last outburst and opted to mind his tongue a little better, if it were possible. Hearing her words, he looked over her a moment, studying her actions as best as he could with the knowledge he had of body language and common sense. “I like you, whatever you are. And not in some weird Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lector way. But as a friend.” He offered as he was studying her trying to pick his words as wisely as he could.

John spoke and when he did, he also paid attention to her, and he did apologize because he was truthfully and heartfully apologetic for the whole debacle in his mind, though he had a feeling she took it as a slight maybe? He wasn’t sure. He was trying to figure that out while they spoke. However, he did catch her grimace and a look at those teeth wasn’t missed but wise as he was trying to be he didn’t speak on them. Another subject for another time probably. Hearing her speak about not being her favorite subject he thought a moment. Hearing her words though kind of confirmed what he already figured out, her teeth and her words confirmed it all completely in his mind. “Well, then I guess you are in good company. I do a fine job of making grand messes” he grinned given what had just transpired and he was making light of it. “Just, let’s not make it a contest between us” he nodded not sure he wanted to have something like that.

Hearing her words about the books and the being careful he studied her a moment. He took in a breath and turned his gaze over the trees he and worked to make comfortable all day, that brought her hear this night. A hand absently reaching out to caress down the bark while he listened and thought before he turned back to her and canted his head. “Well, could always add that to the list of things you teach me” nope, he wasn’t kidding. “Or at least guide me in the right direction on what falls under truth, and what falls under a lie” his eyes watching her a moment.

When she smoothed out her dress John missed it as he was looking towards the trees again, making sure he hadn’t missed anything, also giving her a moment to not have his dumb mug looking at her. He looked just as she extended the apple and spoke about the meaning behind it he could ask her he looked to it and then to her and nodded. He looked it over as he took it carefully, careful not to brush her fingers, not wishing to cause any more ire in his direction and when her fingers were free of it he let it fall to the palm of his hand. Fingers taking in the texture of it, studying it a moment, a deep inhale to try and catch any odd scent from it. But he didn’t take a bite, looking towards her as he grinned a little. “I assume this would most assuredly keep the doctor away” a chuckle to his words as he looked over it.

But hearing her change the topic he chuckled and looked over her. “I would ask the unwise, but the disagreement earlier was enough to keep me from that line of questioning. So, in regard to wise places to drink, there is um….” He ran his hand absently over his short-cropped hair and thought a moment, drawing in a deep breath and looking from the trees back to her. “The Inn would be wise, it has public…. But it has public. I guess you would need to better define your version of ‘wise’ “he offered with air quotes, he wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings.

[Arcadia Caughey]

His reference made Arcadia quirk her brow. She was momentarily silent, as she unsuccessfully scoured her limited knowledge of the modern lexicon. Finally confessing with a ghost of a smile, "I've no idea what you're referencin'.  I don't read much when it comes to fictions, and I've never bothered with the stuff that's on screens of any kind…”  She never bothered with telephones of any kind, either. Especially the ones people carried now on their person. What was the point of getting lost in the wilderness only to have someone demanding her attention through a device?

“But the sentiment is appreciated.” Added with a nod, her golden eyes meeting his.  “For as we know, I’m not the easiest person to befriend.”  Impishness crept into her smile then, as she knew that statement was both true and also her own doing for being so...well, separate from the rest.  And because of her frankness, and her high standards, and probably for several other reasons that hadn’t even occurred to her.  She put that frankness to good practice by adding, “Aye, your mouth does have a talent for makin’ a mess.  You’re wiser when it comes to considerin’ your actions.  Ye don’t have to worry, though, I’ve no mind to make it a contest.”

Once he took the apple from her, Arcadia started walking.  At a languid pace, clearly she was in no rush, though she was moving in the direction she’d come from when she’d arrived.  “A desire to study the gods, that’s a formidable undertakin’.  Spannin’ time, cultures, geography.  I can only speak to my experience...and what I know to be true from memories.  Which are...spotty, at best.”  A touch of a frown as she made that admittance.  Mostly because she knew her spotty memory was of her own doing, as it was rare she ever opened the channels of her divinity fully.  She was stubborn in this life.  So stubborn.

A glance over her shoulder at him when he commented about the apple.  “Aye, it would.”  Spoken with absolute seriousness, for the apple he held in his hand was a potent wellspring of vitality.  Its sweet, crisp scent was so succulent that sniffing it alone would likely make the mouth water.  It would smell like a delicious apple, yes, but there was something more to it that was so exotic it defied explanation.  “Discover its significance, and you’ll find you also have a proper way to contact me.” It was a lot easier to get in touch with one such as Arcadia when you knew their true name.

When he second-guessed whether or not ‘the’ inn would be wise because it was public, Arcadia laughed.  He was starting to know her.  “Depends on what inn you’re thinkin’ of.  But to answer your question, a simple bar, likely off the beaten path and thus uncrowded or often forgotten, which knows its job is to provide drink and thus it doesn’t get fancy with decoratin’ or anythin’ else and focuses on providin tables, chairs, and a tender who keeps the drink flowin’, that’s my definition of wise for tonight.” A crowd would only tempt a different kind of thirst.

[John Asher]

John watched her seem lost at his reference, and it saddened him. “I got that by the adorable lost look on your face” a playful wink but nothing behind it but humor. “That saddens me beyond measure, and while I would offer to watch it with you, I don’t think you would like it, let alone want to even sit through it to watch it.” He wasn’t dumb. She wasn’t one that went with modern technology. The fact that she never seemed to have it on her, and just what he figured out from her alone he knew that wasn’t high on her list of things to do.

Hearing her about the sentiment he grinned some. “I find the ones who don’t want it the most, make the best friends once you chisel away the wall they have up.” He shrugged, it was a truth, those who you took the time to get to know beyond the façade they put up, turned out to be the best of friends. But hearing her about his mouth, and seeing the look when she said it he playfully wiggled his brows and smirked a bit. “Well, glad its not gonna be a contest, and my mouth does a fine job, luckily I have a quick brain to figure out where I fucked up and how best to fix it. Usually…. Sometimes.” He wasn’t silly.

But once he had the apple he looked over it and just held it while he kept pace with her. He followed whatever direction she led them, and he kept whatever pace she set. Looking here and there at the apple in his hand, and about while they walked, he heard her words and looked towards her. “Well, then I suppose that’s no different than any sort of history we have. I mean, hell the Bible itself is roughly translated through multiple generations, and who the hell knows whats true and whats fodder.” He shrugged. It was all perspective if you thought about it. History was recorded but not as it happened, generally in a favor that made the best light be shown on those that wanted it shown on them. In his eyes. “But all I am hearing is, yes John. While I can’t say it will be as accurate as it could be, and it may not be much I will teach you about the Gods and such that I know” he winked playfully towards her then kept on walking along with her. Least he tried to keep the light air and the humor going. Props for that.

Hearing that it would he took in a bit of a breath he smiled towards her. “Good to know” he offered a bit towards her. He did smell the apple and it smelled much like an apple, an incredible apple and despite the mouthwatering smell of it, he refrained from eating it. Merely holding it in his hand while they walked and talked. Hearing about the significance and a proper way to contact her he chuckled. “What, making grandeur efforts to gain your attention isn’t working for you? I find it to be amazing practice for when I find someone worth putting a ring on. I will already know to think big.” He chuckled a bit joking with her some. “Thank you for the apple Arcadia, and everything else you tolerate to let me call you friend.” He offered towards her.

Hearing her laugh about his quip for public he grinned some. “You laugh like you find it funny I picked up on that with you.” He smirked a bit and then looked about until she finished speaking, “I was thinking the Inn with the bar in it. I don’t know what its called truthfully, and I don’t know many of the places around here. So I guess, you would be the better one to pick a spot. I'm not opposed to grabbing some whiskey at the liquor store, finding a nice field and watching the stars while we drink and talk. I’ll make sure I keep my hands to myself if the whiskey goes through me” he chuckled a bit towards her.

[Arcadia Caughey]

Adorable lost look?  Arcadia clucked her tongue and added a shake of the head.  That chiding look turning into something akin to prideful triumph as she replied, “No, I wouldn’t.  Besides, I don’t think I sit all that long for anythin’.”  Too much wanderlust itching at her, there’d been many a time in her life when a loved one had to intervene and tell her to slow herself down for a little while.  

“But aye, you’re right, m’ strongly loyal sort to those in my circle.”  It was just that she kept a fairly small circle.  And that her vagabond habits made it hard for some of the folks in that circle to keep tabs on her.  She definitely wasn’t the type of friend a person could count on to make it to their son’s first birthday party, or anything of that nature.  Yet she was still there, remaining distant in her own hermetic way.  His waggling brow and cheeky words drew a soft scoff from her, an a cheeky look of her own.  “Mm, a quick brain but a quicker mouth - seems like you’re your own contest, laddy.”  Takes one to know one?  Arcadia was definitely her own contest in a few ways as well.

Another light laugh came from her when John offered his interpretation of her words, and she glanced over at him with a small grin.  “Aye, your quick brain has heard correctly.”  For that is exactly what she’d meant when it came to the matter of the divine.  His lessons would begin immediately, thanks to his goading comment about grand gestures.  “Aye, myth shows that grand gestures can be quite effective, doesn’t it?  The Tower of Babel went well...eatin’ the cattle of Helios certainly went smoothly...m’ sure if the health of the trees in your little tree farm suddenly decline you’ll be just fine.  No worryin' about wrath needed.”  There mischief glittering in her eyes and wearing in her smile when she glanced over at him.  Her gaze lingered as she added actually useful information.  “Words, too, when carefully chosen and focused with care, can be just as powerful.”  If not moreso.  

“You are welcome, John.”  It was a gift she wouldn’t give to just anyone; because of the potent capabilities of the fruit, yes, but also because of what it would reveal to him about her if he successfully did his research.  So placing one of her apples in his hand was a gesture of trust.  And perhaps a bit of a test.  This was Arcadia, after all.

As for their walking, she kept the pace at a stroll, never hesitating with any of her steps even though she was walking over the bare earth in bare feet.  At some point during their conversation they’d made it to the nearest road, though she was walking beside the road in the grass.  They were headed back to town, though she hadn’t paid much attention to the distance when she’d traveled here on the wind.  “M’ laughin’ becuase I don’t like inns as a general rule, their always lookin’ for you to grow roots there even when all ye might want is a drink.  And while your plan sounds like a fine plan, I can’t make the same promise.”  He wished them to drink whiskey when she hadn’t fed - she was simply being honest.  

[John Asher]

John looked towards her and chuckled a bit, nodding as he heard her response and saw that prideful triumph. “Depends on the movie on if I can manage to actually sit through it.” He offered along with a simple shrug. He could understand it, and given what he knew of her he almost expected it.

Hearing her about being strongly loyal he nodded. “I had a feeling we would share that in common. Better to have a small handful of close friends than a large handful of hardly known ones. John preferred to know the few he enjoyed sharing company with and staying in their company than to branch out and seek out other friends. That was first off, too much work and second, it was just tiring to always meet new people and not know them. His attention was once more returned to her when he heard her voice over his thoughts. “Some days, some days” a playful grin spread his lips.

Hearing her laugh he gave a genuine smile as he looked over her, chuckling about his quick brain. “Oh phew, I was worried I hadn’t heard exactly what I thought I heard” he winked teasingly before he looked about at the trees when she spoke about the myth and all the examples she gave, his hues landed on hers about the time she finished, catching the glitter of mischief. “Oh, I know if these trees don’t make it because of something I did, I need to fear, I need to fear a lot. And knowing you, you will make me sweat it out till you think I have had enough, then make me wait a little more before you popped in and strung me up with the help of one of the trees I almost killed.” Vivid imagination he had, wasn’t it? Hearing her words though he looked over her, studying those eyes without being completely creepy in doing so before he turned his own away towards the trees in question. “Words are far more powerful than anyone ever gives them credit for, that I can confirm.

If it wasn’t a test john would piss himself, not even gonna lie about that. But the fact she gave him something, and if his guess was right, it was something he shouldn’t take lightly so he wasn’t. It was a gift he would treasure, as soon as he found out what the fudge it was.

John hadn’t paid much attention in their walk, he was merely keeping up the pace with blind trust. Silly boy, but it did kind of clue in when he looked beyond the dark trees and clutter of saplings at the forests edge he saw the lights he looked towards her when she said why she was laughing. He drew in a breath and he heard her words, and to his credit he took them how she probably intended them to be. As a warning for the teeth he saw earlier. “I didn’t ask you too. Pretty sure we are both adults, and I am fairly confident you don’t drain me” he offered coolly as he looked to her while they walked. But looking forward again he studied the view as they walked. “Consider it my returned act of trust as I presume this heavenly apple is.” He offered looking towards her.

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