House Of Parliament [OPEN]

Sorrel We’ve been dreaming but who can deny, It’s the best way of living, Between the truth and the lie. It had been nearly two weeks since finding herself in this strange, new world, but Sorrel was finally beginning to think that maybe she could one day feel at home. After being led to civilisation (barely) with Adam’s help (again, barely), she’d managed to find shelter in what looked like it had once been a pleasant little cottage. Dilapidated but not beyond repair, and the presence of a house nearby covered in flowery murals had seemed like an auspicious sign. She’d crept in and been pleasantly surprised to find it retained a small, dusty bed and apparently functional fireplace; slept like the dead, and felt radiantly alive by morning. Much as she preferred to avoid it, she knew when tidying and a bit of manual labour needed to be done. So she...did her best. Cleared what dirt and rubble she could, tried to make it look merely ‘lived-in’ rather than ‘decrepit’. And after a few days of work it was livable. A space in which one could breathe without succumbing to a hacking, coughing fit. Sorrel even found a few twisty, curling flowers growing through cracks in what had presumably been a kitchen, and cut them, placed them in a small pot for colour. Petals pretty and delicate, and most certainly likely to be useful for her studies of this world’s flora. Inspection revealed lots of these little things, as well as what were presumably weeds, threading themselves throughout and around the cottage. They peppered the stone front of the building, rose in a spray towards the window. Sorrel missed flowers. Her flowers. Flowers she knew, could use and bend to her needs. Here, in this strange place, flowers were a stranger. A strange something to be puzzled out. So when she woke, slid like a root into the crack of morning, she set to work. She made her way outside, where the early light was right for inspection, and pressed her face close to the petals across the stone. After a time, she drew a stick of charcoal from her skirts pocket, and began sketching shakily in the pressed parchment of her herb book. The book and her pouch of vials were all that had followed her through to Caido, and she wanted to set about refilling them as soon as possible. Add new knowledge to what was no longer relevant here. So, she drew the pretty flowers that kept creeping into the cracks of her new home. Considered the possibilities of their uses based on what similarity they bore - if any - to the flowers of her old world. Maybe good for pain in the joints, she mused, drawing one twisting stem, then another. Or maybe merely purgative. Anything that doesn't have another medical use usually is. The street around her faded into nothing as she worked and in the silence, and despite the absence of anyone, the feeling she was home seemed to only grow. Absorbed in her task, and comfortably blind to the world around her, Sorrel drew.

EVIE

I want your midnights

It had never occurred to Evie that this charade of hers might not last forever. She was a fairly accomplished liar, how hard would it be to continue to convince the world that she was in fact a very accomplished apothecarist? Nevermind that she hardly knew a thing about botany, with her magic actually doing the majority of the work, surely' she'd never actually be questioned. What did it matter if the roots she was waving around as heal-alls were nothing more than dead branches, when they could do marvelous things in Evie's hands?

Further, who would believe the golden Wordsworth twin was something as horrible as an abandoned, anyways?

All that to say Evie was certainly not paying attention as she walked down the street, the basket of random plants and flowers hung carelessly over her arm. It was because of this that she was entirely unaware of Sorrel's position, thus explaining how it came to be that she tripped clumsily over the woman's feet, falling with a clatter to the cobblestone.

"Ow!" The copper-haired girl instinctively whined. Having braced herself with her hands, her palms were littered with small flecks of stone which had drawn pinpricks of blood. She'd skinned a knee too, but at the moment her stinging hands were her primary concern. "Wha—" She mumbled, rolling into a sitting position and looking up harshly towards Sorrel as if to judge whether or not the woman deserved any blame for Evie's untimely tumble.

Table by Sky!

Sorrel We’ve been dreaming but who can deny, It’s the best way of living, Between the truth and the lie. The sound of a body hitting the ground startled Sorrel from her musing, and she turned to look at Evie - if not bothered then at least mildly concerned. She took in the sight of her, the spilled basket, and slowly closed her herb book. ”I give it a six. Maybe a seven if you’d stuck the landing,” the urge to be flippant came reflexively, and Sorrel floundered for a second even though the words were her own. After a moment she recovered, and instead looked over the woman before her. At least people are the same here, Sorrel mused, and let herself be taken, momentarily, with the brightness of her hair. She put her book aside, and bent over to offer help - then reconsidered, at Evie’s stern look, and instead scooped up some of the plants strewn across the ground. Some of them looked similar to what she’d used in the past, though she couldn’t be sure they’d have the same uses. Mostly they looked vibrant and healthy. She held on to them, uselessly, and turned her gaze back to Evie. Considered her, really. She didn’t look anymore a herbalist than Sorrel did, but presumably that was the only reason someone would have collected quite so many of the damn things. She also didn’t look injured - though she did look like someone who wouldn’t appreciate Sorrel’s usual song and dance when it came to medicinal concoctions. ”Need a hand there?”

EVIE

I want your midnights

For a moment the younger girl merely regarded the older woman, wondering whether to bristle or laugh it off. Years of an ingrained pessimism about society and her parents's constant reaching for superiority suggested she ought to do the former. To snap and sneer and say something about stuck-out legs and common courtesy. But gods she was tired, and so with a roll of her eyes, she did indeed chuckle.

"Well had I known I was being judged I might have added a bit more flare on the way down." She replied, watching without interest as Sorrel scooped up the plants. Presumably she should have said something like be careful! or those are valuable! but of course they were just for show. Bent, broken, scuffed, damaged, it didn't really matter.

"Do I lose points if I say yes?" The younger replied, stretching out a hand and letting Sorrel help her back to her feet. With a soft huff under her breath, Evie dusted off her knees and the back of her thighs before looking with a frown towards her overturned basket. "Well, that's a bit of a waste now." She observed, running the back of her hand across her forehead and subsequently smearing it slightly with dirt.

Table by Sky!

Sorrel We’ve been dreaming but who can deny, It’s the best way of living, Between the truth and the lie. Something like relief unfurled in Sorrel’s stomach when the younger woman responded in kind to her joking. At least a punch wasn’t coming her way. Sorrel smirked - turned it into a toothier smile when she remembered her audience, and tucked the crumpled plants into the cradle of her arms. “I think we can call it exceptional circumstances,” she said lightly, “rather than taking points from you outright.” Then she peered at the plants in her grasp. All vaguely familiar in that they were, in fact, plants. Plants were plants, she’d found out, regardless of what world you found them on. These ones looked not unlike those she’d use for pain relief in her old life - not that that meant they did anything of the sort. She still had yet to learn more beyond the basics of the herbs in his land, and asking strangers on the street wasn’t, in her experience, the best way to learn things. She looked at Evie and considered her, her apparent lack of concern for her crushed cargo. “I’m sure you could find some use for them. You seem like a clever girl,” Sorrel paused, wondered if ‘girl’ was patronising, and found herself watching the trail of dirt Evie left on her own forehead. Felt a little endeared to her, and offered the plants back in her direction. She didn’t seem the type to be merely picking flowers for an arrangement, if their current state distressed her so.  Sorrel wondered if maybe she was someone who could help with filling the gaps in her knowledge of this world’s plant life. Well. It’s worth asking, she thought. She could be what I need to get back to peddling poultices and potions. Sorrel affected a curious air, smiled charmingly and forced herself to look away from the dirt smudge on Evie's forehead - adorable as it was. “If you don't mind my asking, what...exactly were you using them for?”