westwhere | the weather vane will say it smells like rain today

Entry tags:

the weather vane will say it smells like rain today

WHO: Lily Evans & You!
WHEN: Throughout early June
WHERE: The farm mostly for now, hopefully branching out to the woods, the trials, etc.
WHAT: A catch-all! Some farm and forest based things, maybe the trials will make an appearance (hopefully)
WARNINGS: None so far, will update as needed

( starters in comments, both open and otherwise, feel free to hmu if you don’t see anything that suits either via pm or on plurk, or toss starts my way, whatever’s clever. if brackets are more your thing i’m good to match format. )

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

1) DRYING OUT – (1-2 days after arrival)

The first day after getting out of the lake Lily had been too shaken up for the extensive weirdness of her circumstances to sink in. It was hard not to think about spending the night in the bottom of the lake, and the hand-shaped bruise around her wrist reminded her of the moment her thoughts strayed too far.

Thankfully, there was always something to be done, and once she had orientated herself at the massive farmhouse, tending to the sodden mess that was her bag and its contents provided her with all the ample distraction a person could need.

Without her wand, Lily would have been somewhat more helpless, and it had been the first thing she checked for after getting out of the lake, between gulping down breaths of air. She felt the same sense of comfort as she did now, pulling it out of the pocket of her slacks as she sank to sit on the ground of one of the storage barns.

Reaching into her bag with a weary sigh Lily drew out the soggy hardcover copy of Wuthering Heights she had taken for the train ride from school. She was careful as she set it on the ground, and winced while lifting the cover to expose the flimsy, soaked, and already warping pages within. It was never going to go back to normal, she hoped the good bits could be salvaged.

With a swift, complicated motion a jet of hot air burst from the tip of Lily’s wand, allowing her to start the long, arduous process of seeing what she could save, working first on the book, before reaching back into the bag for another damp object to try and save.

2) IN THE GARDEN

This was more like it. She liked the garden, she liked the kale - even if she had no idea how to use it, she liked the way it felt just the slightest bit easier to breathe here. It was likely just the presence of old magic, coupled with the way a few plants always seemed to make the air a little sweeter, but she was grateful for it, whatever it was.

Not to mention those spells that hung around this place - however long ago they had been cast were intriguing, and Lily’s interest was all the more piqued when she discovered the rune that seemed to be close to the heart of the magical knot holding the garden’s hospitable nature together.

“Terrific,” she muttered absently, stooping low to study the rune closely before a sound nearby made her straighten up.

Squinting in the daylight she glanced around the perimeter of the garden, stopping when she spotted the other person. Without a moment’s hesitation, she walked towards them, smiling politely as she gave a little wave.

“Hello! Do you know what that rune’s all about?”

Even though she was relieved to be somewhere that wasn’t near that ghastly lake Lily was still restless. For now, she intended to keep close to the farmhouse and collect herself, get her bearings, catch her breath, and prepare herself to try and roll with whatever was going to come her way. There wasn’t much of an alternative, after all.

In a grab for normalcy, Lily set about trying to find the right thing to transfigure to make the nicest cup of tea. Tea was a tricky thing to create, it toed the line of ‘good food’, something beyond the limits of what could be made from another thing. Lily had seen it done by one of her professors, but while experimenting on her own had failed thus far, her drive to get it right was sparked anew because after all was said and done she really, really needed a cup of tea.

It was a few leaves off a properly stalwart weed outside that made the most passable brew, shifting from a pile of green to a stout brown mug, and after a few sips deemed it passable she was off to fetch more from outside, sorting out another cup with a satisfied smile. It wasn’t the stuff from home, but it would do for now.

Carrying both cups by the handles, she headed through the house, checking a few places before catching sight of the other woman. For whatever reason, Lily was rather fond of Winnie, she reminded her of someone that Lily couldn’t quite put her finger on, but after her unexpected arrival, anything that made her feel at ease was a good thing.

“Ah,” she began in greeting, ducking into a room as she held out one of the mugs of tea for Winnie to take. “It’s not quite like back home, but it’s getting a bit closer I think.” And forget about the failed attempts, cooling in odd-shaped cups back in the kitchen she’d come from.

Some nights were awful. It was like those distant voices outside knew just what pitch to take to make her feel like her skin was crawling. It was a bit of a blessing that the farm was large enough to be restless without running that much of a risk of disturbing anyone.

She kept her wand close, the tip illuminated and lighting her way as she kept her eyes on the ground, hoping she didn’t have the misfortune of crossing paths with a rat. While it would be easy to dispatch them, it didn’t mean it wasn’t a horrid idea.

For what had to have been the millionth time she wished she was home, or somewhere with thicker walls and slightly less biting air. Well aware that there was no going back, only forward - or eastward as Karsa explained. Lily thought she was holding up quite well all things considered - and while that might have been the case during the day, the night was just too noisy.

It was wiser to keep moving until she got too tired to do anything but sleep.

One turn after another led her towards the study, catching sight of a light coming out of it and slowing, pausing just at the doorway to look inside.

While she could only make out one side of his face what made Lily gape was the wand the young man was using to light his way, just as she was, and holding hers aloft she stepped inside, her surprise written all over her face.

“Excuse me, you’ve got a wand.” Not the best opener and she knew it the moment she said it, but it was very late, and she was too surprised by the familiar sight of an obvious wizard reading by wandlight to be especially tactful.

A place never really felt secure until you knew the layout. And with everything that had happened to him recently, Slick was not staying here unless he had an escape plan figured out ahead of time. So soon after he arrived, he was doing a full sweep of the farmstead, top to bottom.

Bit hard to think strategically while recovering from a head injury, but like hells he was gonna be settled until he did this.

He walked the grounds as systematically as he could, poking his head in doorways and checking the angles on potential defensible positions. His rifle was all the way back on Christophsis, but he could figure something out, he was sure of that. He'd always improvised with flair.

He was certainly doing his best to adapt on short-notice. He almost looked local, dressed in a shabby collection of stolen clothes, most of his armor hidden in a sack he was carrying with him. But he couldn't hide the black underarmor that gloved his hands and peaked out around his neck, or the white-armored boots. His hair was a couple days out from the last time he'd shaved, but it had still obviously been a painfully sharp military cut not too long ago. The red dye was still in his eyebrows too.

Anybody who knew clones would be able to spot him a mile off. The weird thing was, nobody here seemed to have any idea. It was a big galaxy, but--

"Ah, sorry. Just having a look around." He'd just walked in on somebody in part of the storage complex. Looked to be about senior cadet age--or however the hell non-clones counted those things. Probably another abductee, right? Why the hells were cadets ending up here?

And what in a Hutt's arse was that thing? "What's that?"

Five has seen her. That first day she came in out of nowhere, he'd been aware of the new arrival. Nobody else seems to think it's strange at all to welcome anyone who seems out of place. There's been a number of them recently, and they all seem to gravitate here if they weren't outright invited by those hired to keep an eye out for them. The assumption, he's gathered, is that they have no choice. That they're stuck here together, united in a common goal.

But Five isn't like most people, and neither are his priorities. He doesn't simply accept things because they've got other distractions.

At a distance she seemed perfectly pleasant; barely phased by her situation. He watched her from a distance when she was drying her things not long ago, getting comfortable in their temporary shelter, but waits until he finds her alone in the garden to step forward.

When she comes over and asks him about the rune, he simply smiles up at her. Trying for the disarming 13 year-old boy he's never been that great at impersonating. It usually works.

"Enjoying some gardening?"

After getting through Wuthering Heights and leaving the book off to the side, its warped cover open as the now wavily textured pages continued to dry out, Lily started on her notebooks, not wishing to survey the damage done to one of her favorite novels just yet.

Dismayed by the discovery that her time being held at the bottom of the lake had caused much of the writing to turn into a sad, blurry, graphite smear, she cast the Hot Air Charm again and began to work through the book's ruined pages anyway. She was engrossed enough in the work at hand that she didn't notice the sound of approaching footfalls until they were nearly at the entrance to the barn she had tucked away in.

Nearly to the end of the page she was working on she persisted at her work for a moment longer, long enough that the unexpected arrival could watch what she was doing. The charm's effect cut off when she looked up at the gentleman, caught off-guard enough by the apology at the intrusion to smile at him - cautious but sincere.

Back home the Statute of Secrecy was very strict about who got to know about magic, and who didn't, but after her arrival and meeting the sorcess Karsa, Lily was quick to understand that here, magic simply just got to be. Which was different, helpful, but different.

"It's my wand," she said, lifting it slightly so he could get a better look at it while she sized him up from her spot on the floor. "Cool boots. Do you like David Bowie?"

"Ah." Okay. Sure.

"Maybe it's the translator," he raised his wrist to give the bracelet a shake, "But that didn't really tell me anything." He hadn't really had to deal with them for the few months he'd been deployed, but you got warned to never completely rely on translation. Your own brain could usually do better.

He had no idea how that carried over to bracelets of rocks that spoke directly into your head, but he was trying not to think about that too hard at the moment.

"I've got no idea what a day-vid bowie is either."

Regulus looked up sharply, being called to from the dark like that was startling.

But rats didn’t speak, and the forest people didn’t speak English. It was a voice too substantial to be from out in the night, too kind as well.

“Yes,” Regulus said. “So do you.”

Which should make hope soar in Regulus, this could be a possible familiar face. But just how familiar and from which side of the line? He wasn’t even sure he wanted to see anyone from home. But he supposed he was about to find out.

He closed the book he was more just looking at rather than reading because it was written in characters he’d never seen before. He stepped closer to the door.

“Who are you?”

"No, just having a look around," her smile didn't falter but there was something about the way that the boy looked at her that reminded her of the expression some of her fellow students had while they were trying to get away with something they shouldn't. It was subtle enough that she filed the detail away under 'speculation', and tried the question again.

"I'm Lily. Have you been here for long? Karsa said there were other arrivals like me who have been here a while. Do you know anything about how the runes work?"

Since her arrival Lily had been getting her bearings slowly, piecing together the scope of her situation bit by bit. She appreciated having a chance to talk to anyone who might help her get a clearer picture of what she was in for. Not to mention the apparent influence of magic in this place, this world, whatever it was, was intriguing on a multitude of levels all on its own, and it was something she meant to learn about whenever the chance presented itself.

Someone who might know more than she did was, to Lily, the definition of a chance.

"Oh, right then, um." Lily cleared her throat and looked again at the wand in her hand. "It's sort of a conduit, if you like, for magic." Looking back to him she gave a hesitant nod before turning her attention to the book at her feet.

Once again she used the complicated little hand motion to cause the jet of warm air to return, blowing through the notebook's pages before gently closing the cover.

"Are you," she began, faltering. "Did that make anything clearer?" One of the benefits of the Statute of Secrecy was that one didn't find themselves having to have the 'yes I am a witch' conversation with that many people. She supposed now she didn't have much choice but to learn how - particularly if magic wasn't meant to be some big secret here.

It did make Lily hopeful, although she realized moments after stepping into the library, that maybe it shouldn't have. There was still a war back at home, and eventually, she was going to return to it, and there was no telling who this wizard was, or where his loyalties might lay.

"I'm Lily," she said, her voice quiet but strong as she held up her wand, illuminating her face while she sought a good look at the stranger's.

"Where do you come from? You're a wizard?" Being confronted with an unknown wizard was slightly less daunting than being thrust into a world full of strange magic. This was something she could understand the parameters of, and it inadvertently made her feel braver.

Just having a look around. That's just great. Not that they have any means of screening around here, but she probably supposes dropping Karsa's name is good enough to prove that she's like the rest of them. Far be it for that woman to give any of them a heads up that she's sending anyone, or where they were found.

It's fine. He'll figure it out himself.

"Haven't a clue." And that doesn't chafe at him at all, because he most definitely knows more than she does in the general sense. His smile gets that much tighter as he takes a breath to reply. "My name's Five. You just arrived, didn't you? I don't know if that would have been my first question."

She got the sense he was trying to be instructive, and she didn't appreciate it, and though she kept her face as pleasantly neutral as she could, Lily couldn't stop one eyebrow from raising at Five. Bit lordly of him really.

"Oh? And what would your have first question have been?" Her voice was light, and she didn't point out that his first question had been to inquire after her enjoyment of gardening that day. She wanted to, but that wouldn't have been productive. She wanted information, not to exchange barbs with a stranger.

"And I did, as of a few days ago. I'm trying to get my bearings." It was the truth after all. This kid was prickly, but he hadn't given her a reason not to be honest.

There's always a reason behind what he asks, and it's never really to socialize. Which might account for how he tends to come across. Not that it really matters to him, but Lily seems agreeable enough that he tries to be civil.

"I think I was more concerned about undead warlords than how they grow the turnips, personally." Truthfully, his first question on arrival had been how the hell did they screw up the timeline this badly, but he didn't actually voice it to anyone he expected to answer. He's long assumed he's the only one who can figure that out. And he will, eventually.

"A few days ago. And where did you meet our good friend Karsa?"

"I am. I'm Regulus-" Regulus started to say. But he'd come close enough to see who it was and he... well, he didn't know what he felt. Because on one hand, Lily wouldn't torture him. On the other... the only person Regulus wanted to see from his world was Kreacher.

"Oh, it's you," he said, he couldn't even muster the disappointment. His voice was just a matter of fact. A death and then a week with the forest people and his outlook on the world had drastically changed. "I guess it could be worse than you."

The new people that have found their way to the farm house are interesting, in that way most new people and experiences are for Winnie. Until the shininess of their newness wears off, she doesn't mind at all that at least one of them seems keen to follow her around like a little lost duckling. Granted, even after it wears off, she probably wouldn't mind, such was the nature of her, well, self.

It's amusing too. She's not sure why the woman is drawn to her-- because they're both British, maybe? Something familiar in an unfamiliar world? Was it one of those fabled crushes she'd heard about, a young infatuation?

Interesting.

So Winnie does nothing to deter it, of course, too curious to where it may lead. As Lily found her, Winnie looked up with a look of pleasant surprise, closing the book she'd been futilely attempting to read (it only had boring weather and crop data, boo) to accept the mug.

"Close enough is, well, close enough! I'll accept it." She laughs and softly blows on the tea a little before taking a sip. With a pleased sigh she gives Lily a look of gratitude. "It's wonderful, dear, especially compared to anything else we've had to make do with. Come, come sit!"

She gestures for Lily to sit with her at the nearby table, her skirts swishing about her as she takes her seat. "How have you been settling in? It's all a bit much, isn't it?"

"If you're not going to tell me about the turnips why would I ask you about the undead warlords?" It seemed to her that leading with smaller questions yielded a better chance of getting answers, and any information was useful information.

The way he repeated what she'd had to say before tacking his own question on at the end reminded her of those police dramas her Mum and Dad liked to watch. His question made her shudder, as her hand went to her bruised wrist, grimacing.

"By the lake. That, that thing." Her expression soured, and she shook her head. "That thing in the lake," either unwilling or unable to continue - the ordeal had been miserable and its finer points were still hazy - she held up the wrist she'd been rubbing, letting Five get a look at the handprint shaped bruise around it.

Edited (why oh why do i keep accidentally defaulting) 2021-06-06 15:58 (UTC)

The wizard's name was unique enough that Lily could easily recall the last time she'd heard it.

"You're from the Slug Club?" Horace had his favorites, and the students among those ranks had all been invited to his dinner parties, regardless of house affiliation or year. She was sure that was where she'd last heard the name Regulus.

"The Slytherin Seeker?" she added, continuing to approach him, her eyes narrowing in the dim light cast by their wands, looking at him hesitantly.

"I remember you as shorter."

He narrows his eyes at her first comment, but doesn't quip back about her priorities. If it's not already obvious, he isn't the one maintaining the garden, so it's not like he actually has that information handy. It wasn't really his point anyway. This is much more about finding out who she is than actually filling her in. It just so happens that being pleasant about mundane topics sets off alarms for him.

But when she starts talking about 'that thing' in the lake, his entire demeanor changes. That's unexpected. More than it should be, considering when she came here she was still damp. He steps forward to get a better look at her wrist, frowning when he sees the bruise there.

"The body in the lake?" Now there's an insane conclusion. How brow furrows and he glances up for clarification. "It grabbed you?"

"It hurt me," she answered, quiet but no less emphatic. "It kept me down there," her eyes narrowed as she searched her memory, trying to dispel the cloudiness that lingered around her recollection.

"Those people in the forest, I think they," that thread of a thought was so close to clarity, she couldn't stop herself from prodding at it, despite the way it made her skin crawl.

"Do they push people into the lake?"

He absorbs that information quietly. As reassuring as it is to see her break character, he still finds himself questioning. He's been called paranoid before, and he's been around some terrific actresses who know how to respond in a way that would escape suspicion, but... no, she doesn't seem cunning enough for that. She's too young, and in this case, she has evidence.

"I don't know." More frowning. It seems like she should remember, unless it was all too traumatic. "Others have been drawn to the lake before. Did you see them...? How long were you down there?"

Regulus made a face at the dig at his height. And yet, even as it rankled him, this could all still, it could be worse. Literally. The Dark Lord could be standing in front of him, ready to torture him for eternity. So the comment only rankled him a bit.

He went back to the bottle he'd left on the desk and took a drink. Bottles were quite easy to conjure. Wine was more tricky, but he'd had lots of practice before coming to this place. So it was rather decent stuff. Then he picked up a lit cigarette he'd had propped on a broken and empty spine of a book.

"I see you're still a know-it-all," Regulus said back to her.

He cast her a half irritated look that was really only ire directed at himself. Before he'd died, before he'd staked his life to take a stab at the Dark Lord, before he'd broken himself in service to that same Dark Lord, he would have sneered at Lily, spat cruelty at her in forms of vicious words, made her leave him alone. That was the way that was taught to him growing up. But after all his experiences, plus arriving here, a stranger amongst strangers, Lily's vaguely familiar face was better than the voices taunting him outside the farmhouse walls.

So the look faded, and nothing more cutting slipped his mouth.

Magic. Either the translator was still on the fritz, or she really was talking about magic. Which usually would've meant it was complete slight-of-hand sleenshit, but she had been using the thing when she didn't know anybody had been watching.

And people did refer to what Jedi did as magic, sometimes.

"Well, there's nothing like that where I'm from." Hopefully. It was worth checking, though. He was trying to stay casual, but he wasn't quite managing to hide the tension. He seemed wary of coming any closer. "What else does it do? Move things by wishing it, read minds, that sort of thing?"

Glad to hear that her experiments with the local flora had yielded a decent enough cup of tea to share Lily seemed to relax, following after Winnie towards the table while she drank her own tea.

"A bit much is putting it mildly if I'm honest," she said, settling into her seat with a sigh. "Winnie," Lily started, then paused, looking across the table almost hesitantly before she made herself finish her thought.

"Were you, by chance, at Kings Cross when you ended up here?" It was a little theory she'd been simmering on. Winnie came from the same place, but how she came to end up here was still unknown to Lily, who couldn't help but find herself wondering if they'd both somehow ran afoul of the same train station back in London.

"No, I wasn't drawn." The words came quick on the heels of his last question, as though despite the evasiveness of the memory, she knew that much for sure. Lily looked off to the side, her brow furrowing as she stared into nothingness, her expression pained as though she were trying to solve a very hard math problem with a very bad headache. It was so close, and she wanted it. She deserved to remember all of what happened to her after what that horrible thing in the lake had done to her.

"They put me there, but there weren't any others." Lily looked back to Five, almost relieved to have reclaimed a little more of what had happened, however terrible it was. "They put me in the lake and that thing kept me there," she repeated with new certainty. "It caught me and it didn't release me until dawn. I was close to the banks when Karsa came." The more she talked about it, the more came back.

"Do you know what it is? Or was? The thing in the lake, I mean."

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 5

the weather vane will say it smells like rain today

a smattering of starts, open to everyone

the quest for a decent cuppa, for winnie

the slug club of the damned probably, for regulus

Drying out!

2

no subject

no subject

Re: the slug club of the damned probably, for regulus

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

arrives 15 min later w/tea

no subject

you knew it was coming

no subject

no subject

no subject

He had a late growth spurt!

no subject

no subject

no subject