night blooms

Isla

Isla doesn't usually stray from the Hollowed Grounds these days, but with the end of LongNight and the dawning of Flowerbirth, she's in need of more herbs for her Infirmary. The Fields don't offer nearly enough variety or potency, and the Greatwood is off limits, so here she is. Of course, the Barrows aren't the best place to find medicinal herbs, but something else here has caught her eye.

From beneath gentle moonlight, then, the medic roams through the fresh grasses, enamored by the night blooming flowers that open their faces to the moon. They're a soft blue and white in colour, and she can't help but smile as she leans down to carefully unearth a few, adding them to her basket. She'll re-plant them when she gets back home, and perhaps set up a few around the infirmary.

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

LOCKE

He's, mentally, caught somewhere between a rock and a hard place. Can't go back to Torchline and too afraid of wearing out his welcome with his friends. So here he is, wandering towards the barrows of all places. He's not sure what he's looking for except to be away. As much as he likes Nate and Sunjata, seeing them together always makes him sad and he refuses to place why.

So he's snuck off for the night, content to fuck around and find out. The chill still lingers in the night air but thick fur keeps him warm as he stalks through the tall grass. He spots a woman ahead of him and pauses, inhaling softly. He didn't recognize her so he shifts back, making his way towards her. "S'kinda dark to be out alone, ya know?"

I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in-between is mine

Isla

With her senses sharp, even moreso in the darkness, Isla can hear something shifting in the grasses behind her. And although she doesn't move from where she's placing her flowers into her basket, her fingers become tipped with scalpel-sharp blades, in preparation for a fight if necessary. So when she hears a voice instead, she does straighten up, turning to eye the stranger through the ethereal moonlight. "The dark doesn't bother me," she says with a small smile. "And besides, I am not alone any longer, am I?"

Not now that he has arrived. Shifting her basket in the crook of her arm, the blades remain upon her fingertips, but she otherwise appears unruffled by his interruption. (Appears being the operative word). "Also, I daresay I could say the same about you, couldn't I?" She'd step aside as if to let him go along his way, but given that he's stopped to make conversation, she doubts that will happen.

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

LOCKE

He misses her startle, if you could call it that, the darkness simply too dark for him. He does hear her move and it reminds him that cat eyes are not his default. Partially shifting still feels strange to him but at least he can see her better now. Locke tilts his head, "Suppose that's true." He's torn, for a moment, with how to respond to her.

So he just shrugs, "Also true. Jus' wasn't expectin' to find someone out here, I guess." Is she an Ascended? "Kind of a weird time to be pickin' flowers?" He stuffs his hands into his pockets, the cold air much less fun without fur. He studies her for a moment more, trying to figure out why a woman would be alone, in the wilds, during Long Night.

"You an Ascended?"

I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in-between is mine

Isla

He lingers in a way that she can't help but find almost endearing, and despite herself Isla starts to relax. "It's quite a remote place, isn't it?" she agrees with a nod, glancing around at the vague shapes of the nearest barrows in the distance.

"Oh - I didn't come here to pick flowers, not exactly." With a soft laugh, she glances into her basket. "I am a medic - I came here to get herbs and other plants that I can use to make medicine," she explains. "But then I saw these flowers. There aren't many that bloom in the nighttime, so I wanted to take some with me."

He's a forward one, Isla notices, tilting her head and letting her smile grow a little, showing the barest tips of fangs. "I am, yes. How did you guess? I hope it's not a problem...?" Ascended were the Caido equivalent of Marmite, or so it felt like.

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

LOCKE

Remote is a good word for it. Isolated is more what he was thinking though. He simply hums in response. She doesn't seem to mind his presence and he lets himself relax a touch, tucking his hands into his pockets to keep them warm. "I feel like I run into you medics in the strangest places." It would make sense though, with the war coming. As much as he hopes there won't be casualties, it's best to be prepared.

"What do you use the night flowers for? I know there are some in Torchline." Vaguely, he wondered what Safrin would think of an Ascended picking her flowers. "Or are they just pretty?" He takes a step closer, crouching down to look at them better. He can't see very well in the dark, even with kitty cat eyes. They lack the color vision he'd normally have.

"Just a guess. Can't imagine anyone else but Ascended or Attuned would be out in this dark. You weren't shifted so I just went with that." He picks one of the flowers, holding it out to her. "S'only a problem if you make it one."

I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in-between is mine

Isla

"Better to run into us in strange places than in ones where there's a crisis. It means you're less likely to be hurt at the time," Isla points out with a laugh, adjusting her basket into her other arm and reaching out to gently accept the flower he picks for her. "Thank you," she murmurs. "And honestly? These are just pretty. I come from the Hollowed Grounds, and most there these days are Ascended. I thought it might be nice for them to be able to see flowers at night."

Depositing the flower with the others in her basket, as well as the herbs she's gathered, she reaches out this time to offer him her hand to shake. "I'm Isla," she introduces herself. "And as a doctor I do my best not to cause problems if I can help it. Are you Attuned, then? Or just out here to enjoy the silence?"

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

LOCKE

He returns her laugh with a grin of his own, humming in agreement. There are worse ways to meet a medic for sure. "Welcome." He mutters as she takes the flower from him. His head tilts to one side, he hasn't been there in awhile. A long while it feels. "They have some planted in Torchline, these night flowers. For Safrin, I think." He's not entirely sure why he says it but it's what he thinks of. Something picks at the back of his brain but he can't quite puzzle it together.

Her hand pulls him away from his thought and he takes it, shaking it firmly. "You can call me Locke, s'nice to meet ya, Isla." Locke lets her hand go, taking a half-step back to give her space. "Attuned, yeah. But also enjoying the silence. Knew one baby was loud but two? Holy shit." The man shakes his head, "Is there anything I can help with? I got a jaguar shift that's pretty strong."

I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in-between is mine

Isla

"Oh? Is that where you are from, then?" Isla asks, drawing more from the Torchline elements of what he says than the Safrin ones. Perhaps that's intentional, or maybe she's just continuing to try and be friendly. "It's nice to meet you too, Locke. Even if it's quite a strange place to meet someone." Live someones, anyway. The Barrows are filled with bodies, Isla is sure, and if it weren't so sacrilegious, she'd want to examine them.

"Ah, I see - you're escaping from your children." It's with a mischievous and fanged grin that she takes a small step back as well - because what else is she meant to think from that? Similarly, she blunders into another misconception with the remark about his jaguar shift. "I don't really need a cat's claws to collect flowers," she points out warmly. "Unless you were offering...?" Offering the shift, she means.

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

LOCKE

"More or less." Lately, he doesn't feel like he belongs anywhere really. Torchline is stifling but then again, so is everywhere else. She doesn't mention Safrin and he doesn't either. Instead he gives her a wide grin, "Strange places are usually the best places to meet people, I've found." After all, he met Nate at the edge of a waterfall, that's pretty weird fuckin' place to meet someone, right? Maybe he's got a new bestie here.

His grin falls though and he rolls a shoulder, clearly and suddenly uncomfortable. "Not mine. They belong to my friend. Just helpin' out." He doesn't want to acknowledge that fact that maybe he did run away from his own and he wasn't sure when he'd be home either. Locke's head tilts to one side as she speaks, confused at her confusion. And then he remembers that Ascended can steal shifts.

By biting.

"Depends if you want it, I suppose." He meant to lend a helping paw, not a vein but hey. One day he's going to get his throat torn out, isn't he?

I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in-between is mine

Isla

"Oh is that so?" Isla laughs at that, warmed further by the grin that spreads across his face. "Next you shall have to take a jaunt through the Feverlands. That is a very strange place, and if what you say is true, there must be a bunch of people waiting to meet you." Shifting to hold the basket in front of her, fingers grasping the handles, Isla looks more like a maiden than a doctor, and her expression becomes appropriately doe-like as Locke switches from personable to withdrawn.

"I'm sorry - I didn't mean to cause any offence. That's kind of you to help out your friend, though I don't blame you for wanting a break from crying children regardless of who they belong to." She tries a smile, one that inches back towards mischievous as the subject changes yet again, this time towards something that should be uncomfortable, but Isla can't afford to feel that way about it any longer.

She looks Locke up and down as if considering it, before rolling her shoulder in a shrug that might as well be a nod. "I have never been a jaguar before. It might be fun. You're not worried the old gods will look down on you for such a thing, though?"

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

LOCKE

"I actually met another healer out in the Feverlands." He says it off-handedly but gives her a grin anyway. He wonders how said healer is doing, briefly, before moving on from the thought. He tucks his hands into his pockets, watching her as she moves. He lets the discomfort ebb away as she speaks, nodding softly. "They don't know what they're doing either. I like babies though, most of the time." Despite his appearance, he quite likes children and babies, probably more so than adults.

They both act casually, as if he's not offering up a shift and she's not offering to bite him. It would certainly not be the first time he's let a complete stranger bite him either. "It's fun, being a cat. I always feel more.. Comfortable? Powerful. Like I can do anything I want." He leaves out the sadistic urges he gets, she can figure that out herself. Locke tilts his head, if she were to look at his neck, she might see how little he cares about what the old gods think. "I've done a lot worse than letting a pretty Ascended girl bite me, that's for sure. Haven't killed me yet."

Locke takes a step closer, leaning forward a bit, not quite in her space but not quite out of it either. "So, do you want a bite? Promise I won't do anything weird unless you ask."

I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in-between is mine

Isla

"You did? You shouldn't have been so surprised to meet one out here, then. Apparently we have a penchant for wandering about. What was this healer doing? Gathering herbs as well?" Isla's nose scrunches in amusement, glad to see Locke brushing off the shadows that had briefly cloaked him. "I like them too. Not that I can have any, being Ascended. But I feel like parenting is mostly guesswork. They'll figure it out." One way or another.

Nodding gently at his explanation, she almost subconsciously rolls her shoulders, like she's remembering something. "I've been something similar, but there were always other elements warring in it. And I was a lioness once - I feel like they're different sort of cats, though."

Raising her brows at the necklace of bites he reveals, Isla feels herself smiling at Locke in a way that's much less maiden-like than it has been previously. "I have a pretty Ascended boy at home, and he'd probably appreciate it if there wasn't any weirdness. I shall do my best not to ask."

He leans in and Isla doesn't stop him, but she does place her basket down on the ground. "Are you sure?" About his neck, she means. It feels intimate in a way that's unusual between strangers, not that she's backing out of it.

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything

LOCKE

"She was. I helped her keep the vampire gourds away while she worked." His head tilts to one side as he thinks but he shrugs, mostly to himself. He looks back down at the woman, face twisting for a moment. He didn't know Ascended couldn't have children. He assumed Nate and Sunjata hadn't had any because they were dudes, not because Nate couldn't. Well, they still wouldn't be able- He shakes his head.

Locke hums softly, "I do suppose it would be different. Being a lion I mean. All of my shifts feel different." He's not articulating what he means well but he understands what she's saying. He's distracted though, by the smile she gives him. Predatory almost? His definitely is. "No weirdness then. I can be a good boy."

She asks again if he's sure and he's almost annoyed by it. So he tilts his head but also holds out his wrist to her. "I'm okay with either. I have no one waiting at home for me. I would hate to upset your pretty Ascended boy though." Not that he really cares.

I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in-between is mine