throw the careful into the crazy

I will not be brave, but I'm grateful to get through

Having spent the best part of the season in Torchline, Everest had built up a fairly substantial tan such that anyone passing by might have mistakenly confused the aviator for a proper Torcher. This didn't keep him from slathering his skin in lotion to protect it from the sun, nor did it stop him from wearing a large floppy hat that some (Flora and Mateo) deemed incredibly lame.

Sat around the Miana Pool with his legs in the water up to his knees, the aviator was surrounded, nay encircled by nearly twenty cats. Some yowled defensively while others tried to crawl into his lap. Some looked on with quiet patience while more still batted angrily at his bag which just happened to hold a tuna fish sandwich. "I really don't think there's enough for all of you, so unless we can all come to some sort of agreement I'm not sure what to do here." The aviator was saying, clearly trying to reason with the cats. Eventually, Everest was forced fully into the pool while the cats decided to take matters into their own paws. Treading water with some effort given he was still wearing a shirt and shorts, he watched on in horror as the felines managed to get into his bag and tuck into his lunch.

Isla

Isla has promised herself several times over the past few minutes that she isn't going to laugh, and every time she's considered calling out to Everest, the urge has become overwhelming enough for her to have to abandon the attempt. As he finally wades into the water, though, she has to intervene, and the cats will clearly notice as she picks her way down to the Miana Pool.

With a banding of freckles across her shoulders and nose and a deep tan of her own, Isla definitely looks the part of a Torcher, though she's come to the pool in the hope of catching up on a few notes from the clinic rather than... whatever this is. "Do you need some help, Everest?" she calls, depositing her satchel back with its files tucked inside.

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard

I will not be brave, but I'm grateful to get through

Far too focused on the situation at hand to notice Isla, Everest only glances up as the cats begin to shift their focus from their meal to the woman making her way toward them. He's too painfully distracted to be embarrassed by his present situation such that the blush on his cheeks is entirely from exertion and desperation.

'Uhm.' Everest sputters, reaching out hesitantly to place his hand on the side of the pool where a rather large cat immediately bats it away. "If you could make sure they aren't eating my notebooks, that would be very helpful." He answers before trying to slyly swim to the other side of the pool. He's followed by one of the cats who merely wants attention, and where it stands mewling for his hands to come and pet it, the aviator is forced to continue to tread water.

Several tails flick out from within Ever's bag where not only has his lunch been devoured, but the corners of a few pages of one notebook that Mateo had thoughtfully spritzed with something the cats apparently found irresistible.

Isla

"I think I can manage that," Isla says, unable to hold back her chuckle at the sight of several inquisitive tails poking out of the aviator's bag. "Alright, all of you. I think you've had quite enough fun today."

So saying, she reaches forward to try and remove the cats from the bag, lifting the whole thing up and out of their reach when she thinks she's managed it. "They're a little nibbled, but I can't see any lasting damage," she tells Ever, collecting her own satchel and beginning to circle around to where he treads water.

"I didn't realise you were such a cat person," she remarks, reaching out to offer the needy little kitten her hand to sniff or headbutt as it pleases. "Unless you aren't, in which case this seems like quite a nightmarish situation to be in."

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard

I will not be brave, but I'm grateful to get through

The sound Everest makes is nearer to the sort of whine you'd hear from a puppy than the sort of sound a full-grown man should make, and yet should Isla glance toward the aviator, the puppy-dog roundness of his big blue eyes would only reinforce that yes, it had been him. "Well, I do have a feline shift." He replies, waiting for a space around the pool to open up before heaving himself out of the water.

"I had hoped only to study being able to call to them. At first, when a few came it was very instructive, but then more kept coming, and...well, I can compel them but.." Wincing as he sits himself down, Everest glances at the state of his sopping wet...well, everything, as if only just realizing he'd not be able to whisk the water away, before sighing. "-I wouldn't like to be compelled, so I didn't they would either."

Then they'd started fighting over his lunch and he'd become overwhelmed, and so obviously he had to flee into the water.

"This is the second time I've been better off for you being around. Thank you."

Isla

Biting at the inside of her cheek as she glances, doubletakes, and realises that Everest is the one doing his best impression of a puppy in the water, Isla clears her throat and gives the kitten an indulgent stroke or two before straightening up. "Oh, you do?" She smiles, before he clarifies further. "Ah, well that explains it. Perhaps it's because you chose Torchline to try it out. As a coastal area, there are quite a few stray cats hanging around the docks."

Stray cats that are now all watching Ever expectantly from the other side of the Miana Pool - apart from the kitten, who has gone trotting up to the aviator for the pets he's thus far avoided. "You're very welcome. I think I must have a sixth sense for you being around," Isla jokes, drawing up beside him with both bags on her shoulder. "Would you like to come up to the clinic to dry off? I only have hospital gowns for you to change into, but there are towels, at least."

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard

I will not be brave, but I'm grateful to get through

"Mmm. A tide jaguar, though it isn't a form I find myself in often." In truth, cats, especially large ones it seemed, were far too luxurious for Ever. There was something altogether too sensual and cunning about their sleek bodies and quick minds that made him recoil.

"I suppose I should have factored that in before I started." He agrees, pushing up the brim of his hand with one finger in order to wipe at his brow. Glancing at his bag and resisting the urge to snap it out of her hands, it was only because he'd seen firsthand the care Isla took with her things that his anxiety about someone else touching his things was kept at bay, Everest made his way to his feet and nods.

"That would be very nice if it isn't an inconvenience to you. This is...very uncomfortable." Folding the fingers of one hand into a fist to keep himself from tugging at his wet clothing, he reached for his bag. "Though I remember where the towels are if you have something else to do."

Isla

"Oh, how beautiful," Isla says before she can help herself. "I haven't seen one in person, I don't think." If she had, it had likely been in the throes of bloodlust, so it hardly counted. "Perhaps next time you ought to try compelling one of your other shifts. You mentioned before that you could become a dog, right? I imagine they are a little easier to instruct, even without compelling them."

Politely handing his bag back to him, Isla shifts her own on her shoulder and turns to lead them back up towards the clinic in the floating portion of Haulani overhead. "I don't mind," she assures him. "I only came to write a few notes in some files. It can be easily done up at the clinic." The company is as much a break as the change of scenery - and she'd gotten to pet a cat out of it, so all's well that ends well, in her opinion.

"I suppose at least you were able to cool off in the pool, right?" She grins.

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard

I will not be brave, but I'm grateful to get through

"Oh, well, if you'd ever like to.." Everest trails off, finding his words sounding suggestive to his own ears even if he only meant them politely. What was most curious, was that he couldn't quite understand why. "That's true. I can't understand how someone could be an attuned and want to compel the minds of the creatures around them." He admits with a slight shake of his head, but then, nor could Everest understand wanton cruelty to begin with.

With his bag in hand, the aviator could breathe a little more easily, even if his mind was still desperate to know just how much damage had been done to his notebooks. "If you're sure." Waiting for her to lead on, Ever did his best not to walk bow-legged despite the way the fabric bunched wetly between his legs.

"Well, I hadn't been planning on it." Holding out one arm and flexing his fingers to indicate his skin, Ever noted the way the lotion he'd meticulously put on early was now nothing more than shiny oil. "I don't tend to swim with my clothes on." He added quickly, just in case Isla thought perhaps he did.

Isla

Were this any other person, Isla might have instantly taken them up on the offer. However, even having only met Everest a handful of times, she instinctively knows that the line between politeness and discomfort is a fragile one. (Even prior to meeting him directly, she remembers him at The Hanged Man). "I can shift into a molten tiger," she offers instead. "Perhaps one day we could hunt together. I haven't tried it in Torchline."

Unsure whether hunting in animal form is any better than merely sitting among a pile of cats for Ever, Isla leaves the offer at that and starts to trek upwards. "I should hope not," she says airily of his clothes and the unintentional swim he'd taken. "It can be quite dangerous, even if someone is a strong swimmer. Clothes can become quite heavy in water."

Drifting off to walk in companionable(?) silence - and trying not to look at the cowboy walk Ever has adopted, or the way the water makes the sun glitter off his tan - Isla leads them up to the clinic the aviator has recently helped to establish. Already it looks more lived in, and Isla unlocks the door and heads inside. "Do you want to use the consultation room to change and dry off? she asks.

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard

I will not be brave, but I'm grateful to get through

'Oh?' Did he know that? Wet and hot and uncomfortable as he was, Everest couldn't quite recall whether or not that was new information to him or not. "I've never been hunting before." He admits as they walk. "I'm not sure that I would enjoy it." This is added almost apologetically; his hangups were normally the sorts of things he'd swallow down for the comfort of others, but hunting? All that messiness and blood ?

"They feel heavy now." Everest agrees with a hint of a smile. "I'm actually surprised how quickly swimming that brief amount taxed my energy."

Halting outside of the door for fear of dripping water all through the clinic, Everest tries to decide if there's a way to keep the floor dry without necessitating him taking his clothes off outside. Deciding there wasn't and then immediately resolving to mop the clinic's floor when he was finished, Everest nodded. "Yes, thank you. I"ll be quick." So saying the aviator hurries to change. Emerging a few moments later in nothing but a hospital gown and with his hair a mess of towel-dried curls, he moved to set his wet clothes outside where they could dry (and more importantly where they wouldn't get anything inside wet).

Isla

"You haven't?" Isla tilts her head back at him, seeming surprised before recalling the fundamental difference between Attuned and Ancient: need. "Perhaps not, then. Though the only other thing I do in that shift is sleep, and that doesn't seem all that interesting either." Allowing the subject to drop despite her curiosity, Isla is already opening windows within the clinic to let it air out, despite only having been gone a few minutes.

"Mm, I'm sure swimming with weights is some sort of endurance exercise," she agrees, nodding and leaving him to go change. Of course, given their similarities, Ever may not be surprised (even if he is mortified) to see that Isla is already mopping up the floor as he returns, and the urge to playfully mop after him as he deposits his clothes outside is barely contained.


"You make a fetching model for the hospital gowns," she assures him with a chuckle, putting away mop and bucket and wiping off her hands. "Hopefully it shouldn't take too long for your clothes to dry off."

Which, of course, is where Isla accidentally curses them. There isn't much to do in the clinic besides work, and in the time it takes to ask if Ever minds if she works on her files at the reception, peals of raucous laughter erupt from outside. And if the aviator goes to look, it will be to see a few youths gleefully taking off down the street with his wet clothes - never to be seen again, naturally.

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard

Come and take what you need

"Sleeping is very important." Ever counters. "I find I sleep more often as a dog. Especially if I'm staying with Mateo." It made the botanist's propensity to envelope him with every limb he possessed during the night easier to bear.

Indeed, mortified is the perfect word for it. {sa}y"No, I would have—" He exclaims, far too forcefully as he reaches out nearly tugging the mop from her. Remembering himself at the last moment and pulling his fingers back, the aviator flushes and drops his eyes. "Sorry. What I meant was that I didn't mean to make more work for you. I should have said before that I would clean up after myself."

As for being a model? "Do gowns normally need to be modeled?" Ever wonders, before spinning on his heel in time to see the towel he'd placed under his clothes outside falling to the ground. Without a second thought, black hair snarled up the back of his spine as the normally calm and slow-moving aviator suddenly pitched forward. Shifting as he went, the dog shot out like a bullet after the teens.

Isla

Feeling strangely smug to have been able to beat Ever at mopping - and having little time to consider whether hospital gowns did need to be modelled - Isla's lips part to respond to the aviator before he's suddenly gone without a further thought. "Oh, shit-- Everest!" Padding out into the midday sunlight after him, Isla has no chance of even trying to catch up with him unless she decides to also shift.

And something tells her that, even with the propensity of Attuned in Torchline, a molten tiger bounding along the streets of Haulani would not be welcome. And so, wondering if he'd come trotting back with his clothes, a vagabond teen, or any other number of things, the medic resorts to taking the towel out to the patio area to hang up and dry (something they may have thought about at the beginning, in truth).

Once done, she ensures there's a bowl of water just outside the clinic door, before leaving it open and returning to the reception desk to work and wait for a potential canine client to return.

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard