Beneath the Heart Tree, if Afternoon Tea Party ever makes a come back! Thanks to all writers involved.]
November 25th, 2015
Too much time had passed, and with no contact from Cris, and no Taneth sightings (at least by himself) Mesteno had decided to press matters by showing up uninvited at the little cottage at the misty woods. This time however, he meant not to approach the mind-muddled Gardener alone, not when his track record during such events had been so poor.
There was a card tucked in his palm, a little warped about the edges from the nervous pass of his thumb in the pocket of his jeans. Thrice in the ever-spring garden outside the cottage he spoke the name inked there, as if calling on some fey creature, his murmurs barely audible and his shoulders stiff with tension.
Pharlen, Pharlen, Pharlen - Can you even hear this shit" He was, as ever, polite.
"I can." No special effects, not even a bamph. She stepped alongside Mesteno as if she had merely been a few paces behind, tucking a pen behind her ear. Oh so nice and neat a Pharlen today, though the white lab coat was a bit stained - that's what it was for. Goggles slung around her neck and the smell of ozone and old electronics clung to her. "Taneth...?" she presumed, as she knew it was the Gardener's land. Spring never ended, after all. "You summoned me, this can't be good." Mesteno being a less than social soul, she assumed!
Mesteno let slip another expletive, but he'd grown somewhat accustomed to certain individuals and their teleporting, so at least he wasn't startled into looking like a spooked rabbit. In sharp contrast to the sturdy armour he'd been wearing last time they'd ventured out together on Gem's behalf, Mesteno was clad in a simple henley and jeans, and his boots had been discarded in the foot-well of his van. Why not make the most of the warmth harboured here"
The garden itself remained unchanged. Swaying to a nice breeze, musical in a floral way and vibrant. The actual forest, however, seemed different. Wilder, a little unruly, and entirely not as serene as it usually was.
"Taneth," he confirmed, with an abbreviated seeming nod. "She agreed to me bringing you to see her. Judgin' from that," and he lifted a sinewy arm to point towards the wilderness beyond the gardens, "I shoulda asked earlier. I think that's where we'll find her."
She frowned faintly, tilting her head and adjusting her glasses, it seemed. Scanning through the green for any sign of Taneth. "It does seem like it's run rather wild here." She noted, "But I'm not so sure earlier and later are concepts that Taneth really attends to." Another lift of her chin, taking in the scents, sifting through them for Taneth's particular odor, and the freshest. A flare of nostrils, her brow knitting faintly. "Tell me what you fear, what is happening, what needs to happen...?" Gemethyst was easy, they could yell at each other and get things worked out before they'd actively strangled each other to death. Taneth was a handful of orange Jell-o ready to squirm out at the lightest touch.
And the gardener would squirm out at any moment she desired; however, she doesn't yet seem to be in the general vicinity. There might be a faint scent of her here and there but nothing that seemed to pinpoint a location. Maybe she was....everywhere.
Pharlen was almost as much a mystery to Mesteno as Taneth, though he'd been exposed to her particular brand of 'how the fuck did she do that"' enough of late to be comfortable expecting the unexpected. Now he watched her, the situation lacking the combat extremes and far more delicate, yet still he trusted her.
"I don't know how much Benjamin told you, but her mind hasn't been the same since she woke. She went to ground to try and heal, and for some reason, I think because Cris and I were so eager to see her recovered, she came up early before the process was complete. There are things she left behind down in the place we put her or....everywhere. But it seems to be strongest where she slept. She's," he paused to gesture emptily with one hand, "hollow almost. Blank slate. And she seemed to leave it behind deliberately from what little we managed to get out of her, 'cause she was scared."
"Some," she admitted of Benjamin's insights, and when Mesteno suggested that Taneth was strongest where she slept, she nodded, and gestured for him to lead the way. "It seemed she was made to tend this garden, the remnants of another place and time, perhaps. To learn to be humanish, maybe. Maybe to learn to be a goddess, who knows?" she chuckled, a little dry, a little droll. "Or perhaps simply to be herself, and without knowing what you are, that can be very difficult. I can see if she's left behind shards, pieces of herself. Maybe use those to seed her insides to grow again." Pause. "I did not mean that as creepily as it sounded." Humor, then she eyed Mesteno as they walked. "Where is she within you? You're pretty selective about those you care for. You don't take up with just anyone."
If Pharlen can feel her shards then she might feel them all scattered about. Seems someone has made it difficult to locate her pieces. Before they wandered too far into the forest, a masked blonde leaps from a tree with a dagger. A shriek of birds as the masked crusader shrieks. "Who are you?!"
Answers for Pharlen would have to wait! From docile lassitude to a wild slip of a thing - he barely recognised Taneth to begin with, and he drew up short of a collision, insinuating himself between the Gardener and the Mariner not because he feared Pharlen couldn't handle her, but because he meant for Taneth to see he disapproved.
"Taneth, there's no need for that. You gave me permission to bring her when we spoke. This is Pharlen. You remember the name?" Could she even remember him!?
November 25th, 2015
Too much time had passed, and with no contact from Cris, and no Taneth sightings (at least by himself) Mesteno had decided to press matters by showing up uninvited at the little cottage at the misty woods. This time however, he meant not to approach the mind-muddled Gardener alone, not when his track record during such events had been so poor.
There was a card tucked in his palm, a little warped about the edges from the nervous pass of his thumb in the pocket of his jeans. Thrice in the ever-spring garden outside the cottage he spoke the name inked there, as if calling on some fey creature, his murmurs barely audible and his shoulders stiff with tension.
Pharlen, Pharlen, Pharlen - Can you even hear this shit" He was, as ever, polite.
"I can." No special effects, not even a bamph. She stepped alongside Mesteno as if she had merely been a few paces behind, tucking a pen behind her ear. Oh so nice and neat a Pharlen today, though the white lab coat was a bit stained - that's what it was for. Goggles slung around her neck and the smell of ozone and old electronics clung to her. "Taneth...?" she presumed, as she knew it was the Gardener's land. Spring never ended, after all. "You summoned me, this can't be good." Mesteno being a less than social soul, she assumed!
Mesteno let slip another expletive, but he'd grown somewhat accustomed to certain individuals and their teleporting, so at least he wasn't startled into looking like a spooked rabbit. In sharp contrast to the sturdy armour he'd been wearing last time they'd ventured out together on Gem's behalf, Mesteno was clad in a simple henley and jeans, and his boots had been discarded in the foot-well of his van. Why not make the most of the warmth harboured here"
The garden itself remained unchanged. Swaying to a nice breeze, musical in a floral way and vibrant. The actual forest, however, seemed different. Wilder, a little unruly, and entirely not as serene as it usually was.
"Taneth," he confirmed, with an abbreviated seeming nod. "She agreed to me bringing you to see her. Judgin' from that," and he lifted a sinewy arm to point towards the wilderness beyond the gardens, "I shoulda asked earlier. I think that's where we'll find her."
She frowned faintly, tilting her head and adjusting her glasses, it seemed. Scanning through the green for any sign of Taneth. "It does seem like it's run rather wild here." She noted, "But I'm not so sure earlier and later are concepts that Taneth really attends to." Another lift of her chin, taking in the scents, sifting through them for Taneth's particular odor, and the freshest. A flare of nostrils, her brow knitting faintly. "Tell me what you fear, what is happening, what needs to happen...?" Gemethyst was easy, they could yell at each other and get things worked out before they'd actively strangled each other to death. Taneth was a handful of orange Jell-o ready to squirm out at the lightest touch.
And the gardener would squirm out at any moment she desired; however, she doesn't yet seem to be in the general vicinity. There might be a faint scent of her here and there but nothing that seemed to pinpoint a location. Maybe she was....everywhere.
Pharlen was almost as much a mystery to Mesteno as Taneth, though he'd been exposed to her particular brand of 'how the fuck did she do that"' enough of late to be comfortable expecting the unexpected. Now he watched her, the situation lacking the combat extremes and far more delicate, yet still he trusted her.
"I don't know how much Benjamin told you, but her mind hasn't been the same since she woke. She went to ground to try and heal, and for some reason, I think because Cris and I were so eager to see her recovered, she came up early before the process was complete. There are things she left behind down in the place we put her or....everywhere. But it seems to be strongest where she slept. She's," he paused to gesture emptily with one hand, "hollow almost. Blank slate. And she seemed to leave it behind deliberately from what little we managed to get out of her, 'cause she was scared."
"Some," she admitted of Benjamin's insights, and when Mesteno suggested that Taneth was strongest where she slept, she nodded, and gestured for him to lead the way. "It seemed she was made to tend this garden, the remnants of another place and time, perhaps. To learn to be humanish, maybe. Maybe to learn to be a goddess, who knows?" she chuckled, a little dry, a little droll. "Or perhaps simply to be herself, and without knowing what you are, that can be very difficult. I can see if she's left behind shards, pieces of herself. Maybe use those to seed her insides to grow again." Pause. "I did not mean that as creepily as it sounded." Humor, then she eyed Mesteno as they walked. "Where is she within you? You're pretty selective about those you care for. You don't take up with just anyone."
If Pharlen can feel her shards then she might feel them all scattered about. Seems someone has made it difficult to locate her pieces. Before they wandered too far into the forest, a masked blonde leaps from a tree with a dagger. A shriek of birds as the masked crusader shrieks. "Who are you?!"
Answers for Pharlen would have to wait! From docile lassitude to a wild slip of a thing - he barely recognised Taneth to begin with, and he drew up short of a collision, insinuating himself between the Gardener and the Mariner not because he feared Pharlen couldn't handle her, but because he meant for Taneth to see he disapproved.
"Taneth, there's no need for that. You gave me permission to bring her when we spoke. This is Pharlen. You remember the name?" Could she even remember him!?