steepwithdead | Folkmore

Ah, that's alright. I bet you're a quick study. Follow me.

[Out of the kitchen! He heads for the tower stairs instead, leading the way up and trusting her to follow. His pace is not especially hurried, so she can take a few beats to decide.]

[She does hesitate, she looks towards the door. It would be so easy to just leave... but--

Shaking her head, she follows him up the stairs.]

Do you have a garden on top of your house?

Mm, I do. It's in terrible shape right now, though. Everything in Willow was aging rapidly, so plants grew, died, and regrew over and over, without care. It really is a wild garden now.

[Thankfully they're not all dead, and the tree, while damaged, could live for centuries, so it's... mostly fine. But it really does need work.

It's a quick trip up the stairs, opening up to his simple bedroom hut, and through a door to the garden proper. It is as he describes: disorganized and untamed, flowers, greenery, and a multitude of colours scattered throughout. It is very pretty, but in more of a field of wildflowers way than a proper garden. This place has always been left a little wild, but not like this. The tree stands tall and strong, 60-feet up like always, but many branches have fallen, and it's lost some of its luster.]

Oh wow!

[She's immediately enamored when she sees it, all panic she felt earlier eased by the wilderness that is this man's rooftop garden. It was beautiful but also a bit intimidating. He was going to try and fix this? It would take weeks!]

It's amazing but yeah... it's definitely kind of more a wilderness than a garden. Are you trying to restore it alone? That'll take you forever.

[He smiles softly, walking towards the tree, stepping carefully around the wild growth.]

I expect to do most of the work, but I won't object if anyone offers to help. It's alright either way. I have time to spare, and nature is in no hurry.

[She follows, matching his much bigger strides to make sure not to step on any plants if she can help it. Looking ridiculous as she has to almost hop between spots.]

... I mean.. I could help for a bit? [A pause and then she admits her train of thought.] Um, if I leave now Akechi will get mad about me giving up or running away. So, it would be better if I spent some time here so he doesn't think anything of it.

[She shrugs.] Besides, I don't want to waste your time when I don't need counselling.

[She certainly is resistant to the idea. It's understandable, based on what Akechi had said. But he wonders at the wisdom of forcing her into this before she's ready to try. Someone needs to be open to the idea in order to talk about their problems.

He doesn't want to trick her into it either - he'd been open on his intentions with Akechi, despite the devious accusation after the fact - but perhaps a gentler way of forging a bond of trust will help lead them towards that needed communication. So:]

I'd love an extra pair of hands, truly. You're very kind to offer. You can just tell Akechi we're taking the slow approach.

[She brightens when he agrees, because he's not trying to force this, wasn't saying she needed therapy or anything, just calmly accepting her help and nothing more.

It might be a trick, but she's keeping an eye out on it. If it at all feels like probing or something she will just leave.]

Sounds perfect and I've always wanted to learn to garden, but... my thumbs aren't very green.

Well then, this is a good place to start learning.

[He crouches down in the section surrounding the tree, offering up a spare trowel.]

I thought I might begin with transplanting the excess growth around our big friend here. It's grown over the shrine, and too many plants can choke at the roots. Many can be returned to the forest below, where they have more space to develop.

[Here she thought she'd be ripping up plants, not transplanting them but... well, she likes that better. It's not the plants fault that they grew there afterall.

She follows after him, crouching down next to him and taking the trowel. ]

Okay, so... but digging them up will be cutting into their roots right? Will they survive that?

Roots for plants of this size generally don't go down too far. If you dig under the majority of 'em, they'll survive just fine.

[He'll demonstrate with one of the overgrown flowers nearest to them, digging his little shovel deep beneath, carefully carving under the dirt to get around the bulk of the root system without cutting through or causing too much damage.]

[Watching closely, she nods once she thinks she's got the idea of it and tries it herself. It's not perfect, it's definitely the attempt of an amateur, a little clumsy and... the flower will probably survive. ]

There's not a lot of space for gardens where I'm from. Too crowded, too much concrete.

[It's probably fine. Any plant that dies will become new growth and fertilizer for the rest. Caduceus looks pleased by the attempt nonetheless.]

Really? That's too bad. Is it a big city?

[Such places are usually terrible for nature, in his experience. Everything chokes too easily, trapped under a sky of too many overhanging buildings.]

Oh yeah, huge. It's a lot like Tides but even bigger and far far more crowded.

[She starts to dig another flower up, a little more carefully this time. Thinking about Tokyo... she doesn't really miss it. She's been getting used to having space, it's more the people and purpose that she misses about home.]

There are some green areas, but not much.

It's hard to envision. I'm still not really used to big cities, even after all this time. I suppose that's why I settled here so easily. The neighbourhood reminds me of home.

[He moves the flowers they both lifted into a small wagon off to the side of the tree, continuing the process. The repetitive motions of digging up plants is soothing.]

Do you miss it?

That must be nice to have something that feels like home.

[She keeps working, placing the plants she digs up in a spot for him to transfer them. At one point a purple flower breaks from it's stem, so she places it in her hair without thinking.]

Not really the city itself... I miss my family. I miss having a goal and purpose, but I think those are normal to miss.

[He smiles when he notices the flower. It suits her well, and he has absolutely no protest. Let her feel welcome in this place.]

I think so, too. I feel exactly the same. A place can feel a lot like home, and remind you of good things, but when the people or purpose is missing, it's not quite the same.

[His family, his purpose, the voice of the Wildmother... there's too much missing to truly call it home.]

What is your family like?

Um...

[She tenses a little at the question. It seems to bother her but she also thinks it's a pretty natural question... but it...]

Dad works a lot, mom too. Grandma took care of us a lot growing up. Normal stuff.

[There's a pause before she takes a deep breath and forces a smile.]

What about yours?

[The tension and pause has him more attentive than before - mostly since she just mentioned her family, so asking about them felt natural - and it helps him key in on a possible discrepancy. Parents who work a lot, Grandma took care of "us"? Who is us?

The immediate evasion has him knowing better than to push on that right now, though.]

We all lived together in our family's temple, so it was quite a full house! My parents and my aunt helped to raise the four of us: my brother, myself, and my two sisters.

Oh wow! Four of you and your parents and aunt?! That's so many.

[And she thought her house was full growing up, that's nothing compared to Caduceus' family. And so many siblings too, having Kasumi was enough to keep her hands full.]

Did you get along well? Or fight a lot?

A bit of both, for sure. My brother Colton and I have never really seen eye to eye. Calliope was more sensible, but it was hit or miss if we got along most days because she loved winning at every opportunity. My sister Clarabelle and I were thick as thieves, though.

Oh! You all have names that start with C too! And that's so fun... I--

[She hesitates again, because... she wants to mention Kasumi but he's a councilor, this could be one of those tricks. It's why the mention of family made her tense up. But... right now this seems like such a normal conversation.

It's safe right?]

My sister and I were close, though we had our moments at times.

[Ah. There it is. He makes a thoughtful noise.]

I think it's very natural to fight with siblings at times. Live with someone for long enough and you have to fight about something. [Especially when you've lived with them for like a hundred years. You can have so many fights in a century.] What was she like?

[She gives Caduceus an assessing look, unsure if she's being therapied or if he's just honestly curious. But she brought Kasumi up and normally she wouldn't have too much issue talking about her sister, bit it's the fact that he's a councilor that has her on high alert.

He wasn't safe.

She doesn't feel safe.

But she turns away to focus on digging up a flower and takes a breath.]

She was really wonderful - smart, funny, outgoing, talented. We're twins but... we had similar interests, but we were very different people.

[Caduceus either doesn't see or doesn't notice the look she gives him, focusing on a particularly stubborn thick root beneath a larger fern bush.]

It's nice when that happens- when you're close to someone so different from yourself, yet you find common ground regardless. Clarabelle was like that with me. She was headstrong and loud while I was quiet and more... well, malleable. She loved to argue with our parents when she didn't get her way, which was often.

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