westwhere | you’re the key that got lost

"Good," she said, relieved and wholly oblivious to how he might have taken her words. "I don't, often, with people either," which still sounded very weird, even when she was saying back to him.

Frustrated with herself, and how dismally this had gone Lily felt herself go a deeper shade of red as she forced herself to press on, determined to get her footing (and hopefully her ability to form cohesive sentences) back. "It would be awful if we stopped talking about interesting things, or eating large amounts of meat."

By the time she finished her face easily matched the color of her hair, clueless as to whether or not she was making things better or worse.

Eleven's brows creased watching her. There was an avenue with which to take all of that perfectly innocently but for the shade of her skin. But she'd said friends, and he'd hate to ruin that by reading too much more into anything. Even if..

Uncertainty tore at him. Much as though they were still holding hands, he found himself afraid of accidentally rejecting her by withdrawing- only this time in words. But she'd said..

"Lily," he said, rather fruitlessly as he had nothing to follow it with. After a few moments of floundering, he finally settled on simply offering out his hand.

Edited 2021-09-08 04:36 (UTC)

Eleven was hardly alone in his uncertainty. When he held out his hand she paused, looking at it for a moment before she lifted her eyes back to his face, narrowing them thoughtfully.

In an instant she seemed to make up her mind, slipping her hand back into his - for a terrifying, awkward moment it almost felt like she meant to actually shake his hand for some ridiculous, inexplicable reason, though thankfully Lily managed to get her fumbling under control enough to stop herself.

"What?" It came out several beats too late, and completely ruined her budding streak of not saying, or doing anything too stupid.

For a moment, hope flared, then withered just as quickly. He'd thought offering his hand without pretense to see if she took it might mean something, but now he wasn't quite so sure.

Eleven looked at their joined hands, then gently closed his fingers over hers.

"Um," he said eloquently, raising his eyes to meet hers again and scrambling for something meaningful to say. "I, uh, like your hair."

Edited 2021-09-08 05:09 (UTC)

Pointedly ignoring the little flutter of nerves she felt when he laced their fingers together she laughed awkwardly in response to the compliment.

"I grew it myself," which she knew sounded stupid, but she said it anyway, smiling at him tentatively as she did so.

Impulsively she took a step closer, kissing his cheek briefly. "I think you're a wonderfully good person - it's nice to be with you."

Eleven huffed something like a nervous laugh, then colored once more as she stepped in close. Left to wonder once again, torn between what she said and the implications of her actions. But.. perhaps it was that she didn't know herself.

And really, there were only two ways to resolve the matter for an absolutely certainty. He lacked the boldness to follow her previous example, but.. neither had he ever attempted to ask anyone on a date before. His stomach knotted. With her hand in his, there would never be a better moment to ask.

"Did- um- were you, did you want to be.. just friends?"

Edited 2021-09-08 05:34 (UTC)

"You mean friends without," and then, a floundering pause later - "trees?" She didn't know how else to refer to the realm beyond just friends with Eleven.

Lily looked at him, trying to collect her thoughts and present them at least a little more clearly and usefully. "I wouldn't like it if we couldn't speak to one another properly, or go to the other for help because we treed and it went awry, but," the blush had almost drained away completely before it returned, rendering her mute and leaving her to finish her thought with a shy shrug. "Do you?"

Eleven stared for a moment. Never had he once thought anyone could make trees of all things sound... somehow improper.

The nerves crept up his back and sat discomfiting between his shoulders this time. She didn't want to ruin their friendship if things between them didn't work out, but it was hard to think of a way things might turn so terribly as to ruin their ability to speak to one another ever again. But then, neither had he ever been in a relationship.

Eleven loosed a heavy breath, caught up in the feeling of being on the cusp of something and wondering whether or not it was worth trying or stepping back from. But.. if he stepped back from it, he'd only keep wondering.

"I.. I really like trees, actually."

Well, that just wasn't fair. She had maintained cohesion through at least two and a half mostly informative sentences only to have him fail to answer the same question. Instead of reproach, however, she laughed nervously, looking about the gardens before she squinted at him again, her head cocked to the side.

"Was that meant as an invitation?"

Eleven used only his free hand in an effort to mash his reddened face into submission. He'd only known that he should answer honestly, and that was what had come off his tongue?

"Sorry," he said, wincing and apologetic. "Um, yes. ..I don't know how to do this."

Because he's sure that wasn't obvious already. Why ever had the Goddess given him a voice if he was only going to wield it poorly?

"Eleven!" Lily began with a gentle laugh, catching his other wrist to tug his hand away from his face, ducking her head slightly as she attempting to catch his eye.

"This is ridiculous! If we can survive legions of undead, and unruly ghosts, and whatever those forest people were on about, we can bloody well kiss if we want to." She was still red in the face, but she gave him a rather decisive nod, "near or on whatever sort of plants we might fancy." It was all the plaintiveness she had needed before when broaching this topic in the first place, come a little late, but hopefully not too late. Lily wasn't an expert, but she understood blokes enough to know sometimes a girl had to put her foot down and lay things out.

Put that way, it really did sound ridiculous, but even so, his face deepened a fair few shades with how forthright she was about it.

Eleven cleared his throat again and sheepishly raised his eyes to hers.

"..If you want," he managed, voice somewhat strained despite her sound reasoning. "It would be nice, I think."

Giving his hand a light squeeze before she let him go Lily tilted her head back, smiling slightly. "I think we ought to watch out for thorns and poisonous plants." She was still nervous but understanding what was happening made her feel more sure of herself, and less like she was grasping for words. It was easier to try and make light of the situation and dispel some of this awkwardness, now that she knew what the situation was.

"And I think if this is some intricate tactic to distract me from taking any more cuttings you'll find that quite impossible."

Heartened by that simple pressure, Eleven let her go with a short series of nods. Thorns and poisonous plants would certainly make things unpleasant.

His hands flew up in a swift, abortive gesture of surrender.

"Not at all," he promised. The thrill of their new understanding zipped through his chest. "I'll even help if you'd like."

Lily paused long enough to glance over her shoulder at him, fixing him with a smirk.

"I'm not certain you'd be helpful to my potion stores, as helpful as you might be in other ways." Did she make herself blush by saying a thing like that? Absolutely. But what mattered was that her thoughts had cleared enough to allow her to act normal, and not like someone who had never gone near another person, much less spoken to one before in their life.

Eleven blinked, the moment stretching until the implications caught up to him and swiftly robbed him of his composure once more, red from the growing ache in his face to the roots of his hair.

"Lily," he half-hissed, half-groaned with a mortified grin as he self-consciously glanced about. Fortunately, no one else had yet to approach their garden.

"I meant with- with the plant." But she knew that. Probably. At this rate, he was going to die of embarrassment long before she ever touched him again. And wasn't that thrilling in its own right?

He breathed in a dose of the cool night air in an effort to restore some semblance of dignity. Goddess, what had he gotten himself into?

Hiding a grin as she looked over the blossoms of a flowering tree, presumably to determine if she needed it - though really in part it was to hide a grin. Flustering blokes was familiar territory, and she couldn't help but delight in that slight note of exasperation in Eleven's voice. This was far better than talking about feelings, or the potential for feelings.

"Did you?" Humming in consideration she took a few steps along the path they'd been idling down, tilting her head in the direction of a locked gate. "What do you suppose is in that part of the garden?" If she had to guess it looked like it was some prestigious family's private strolling grounds, and she couldn't help but wonder what sort of plants might be kept out of sight.

She knew. Of course she did. But neither was he at all deterred- rather, intrigued.

Eleven followed her curiosity to the gate and the greenery beyond it, a touch grateful for something else to think about before he spent the rest of the night driving himself to distraction. He peered past it, glimpsing muted spots of color, then back to her.

"..Rare flowers, probably." The gate was tall enough to dissuade ordinary people, but wouldn't keep out anyone with determination and a good physique.

Her eyebrows rose while she considered that, resting a hand on his shoulder before leaning into him enough to bump against his side lightly. "Getting in would count as helping me with plants - or so it stands to reason."

There were more than a handful of potion ingredients on her list she had yet to find in Taravast after all, and while posing that suggestion might be beneficial to her search, Lily would have lied had she tried to claim it wasn't the only reason. There was a certain giddiness about the evening, it was hard not to lean into it with potentially stupid ideas.

His stomach fluttered. It was a stupid idea; they shouldn't break into a private garden. The gate was there for a reason. But, well.. how often was it even used or appreciated? It seemed a bit of a shame to have a private garden off a public space. Whomever owned it surely had a place for it wherever they lived.

"You can't take all their flowers," he cautioned, "Or someone will notice."

But after one last check to make sure no one else was around to see him, Eleven eased away from Lily and with a running start, easily cleared the height of the gate. On the other side, it was a simple matter of letting her in.

"Your garden awaits," he said with another exaggerated, sweeping gesture he'd seen nobles use.

"Merlin's beard I only meant for you to give me a boost," Lily laughed, obviously surprised by the swift effort he exacted to grant them both access. Whether he had meant for it to be or not, she couldn't help but find it rather sweet of him.

Reaching out to catch his hand briefly as she passed through the gate and into the garden she let him go to raise her hand as if making a solemn promise. "Only the rarest flowers," her eyes caught his just as she realized the inadvertent euphemism and she was quick to look away, surveying the garden instead.

"It's such a shame to have such a lovely place locked up."

Eleven hummed agreement with a smile, then carefully eased the gate closed behind her. With how late it was to visit, he expected their chances of discovery were low, but they'd have to keep lower voices.

He trailed after her then and let his eyes wander the array. The touch of overgrowth let him know that the garden wasn't tended daily; he'd guess someone came in every week or so. Neither was it an overly large space, though a crowded one with a willow tree at its center, it's leaves hung down like a natural privacy curtain. Eleven loved it instantly.

"..Do you see anything?"

Once she had walked far enough into this part of the garden that anyone on the other side of the gate wouldn't see her, she illuminated the tip of her wand, looking over the array of flowers and other plants left to grow in seclusion.

"Dittany!" Lily spoke in an excited whisper before crossing towards a mossy wall to study a nearby shrub. "I think it must be," she muttered to herself as she ran a thumb over one of the round, flat leaves. "Terrifically good for mending wounds if it is."

As charming as it was to sneak off into a private garden with a sweet guy - dittany was incredibly exciting. "I'll have to find a way to test it of course, so many things look like it, but it would be brilliant if it were the real thing."

Making off with a few cuttings Lily straightened up again looking pleased with herself as she stashed them away in her bag. "I shall have to talk you into things like this more often if we're fortunate enough to have found dittany in the second garden we've snuck into. You might be rather lucky El."

Edited 2021-09-08 08:55 (UTC)

Pride welled up in his chest, grateful that he could help Lily find something she was so excited for. ..Or at least, he hoped it was what she was looking for; she looked pleased enough about it and that was enough for now.

"I hope so," he mused with a smile, and reached out for a rope of willow leaves with a faint fondness. "But I hope there won't be too many gardens that need breaking into. I'm sure there are plenty of other public ones we'll find around the city however, if you'd like to make it a mission to visit all of them."

"Visit them all?" Lifting her chin she did her best impression of someone who actually needed to ponder the offer before giving Eleven a nod. "With you?" Her eyes narrowed again as she tilted her head from side to side, appearing to weigh out her prospects. "It's a rather difficult offer to refuse, isn't it?"

Lily drew a breath as though she meant to speak again, but refrained, sighing quietly as her expression turned thoughtful.

"I think we ought to be careful to keep this to ourselves." Invasive questions regarding her private life had always been a point of irritation for Lily. She had stepped around and rebuffed them for years while at school - but here the stakes were far higher. She would not risk the group's welfare by becoming careless with the cover story she had been given to adopt.

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