[quest rp] Delectable tea... or deadly poison? (eve)

[cibarium]

With that side looking like it was setting up to become more dangerous, Eve appreciated the counsel and accepted it with a grateful nod.

"And how," she asked, "will it be passed?"

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

"You'll have to meditate, to reach within, but I can guide you to it." Fionn pushed himself up off of the railing and came closer, though maintaining a respectful distance. "If you'd allow me?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Sounds simple enough," Eve half-joked. At least that was something she had experience doing. "By all means."

azuredreams

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

"If you would have a seat, sister fox?" A gesture for her to get comfortable.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Eve sat. Objective done did.

She gestured at the floor in turn, inviting him to join.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Fionn did sit down, legs crossing and tail curling around to settle across them. There were only a scant few inches between their knees.

"I will spare you the instructions on how to begin a meditation, as I'm sure you'd probably be better at it than me. I do wish for you to close your eyes, however, and to listen to me. This can be dangerous if done improperly."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"I understand. Thanks for the warning." Eve left Fionn with a sincere smile before closing her eyes, straightening her posture and pacing out her breathing. It wasn't long until she'd settled into a detached and receptive state of mind.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Fionn's voice was soft when it spoke to her next. "The world is open to you, Eve, more so when you are a fox.

"Those senses tell you more than anything your human ones can. I want you to focus on those, on what you can hear and smell now that no other can."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Having her eyes closed made it easier to focus on her other senses. The main thing she could hear and smell, of course, was the 'fellow fox' right in front of her. Fionn's successful first impression meant his scent was pleasantly familiar. What was significant about his voice listening to it as a fox, though?

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

There was nuance to his voice, a soft timbre as he spoke that when one really listened revealed his nervousness and unease.

His scent belied none of this.

"You have to stretch them out, Eve, beyond yourself. Use your fox ears and not your human ones, even if your form is otherwise. Listen as far as you can and tell me the softest noise you hear."

One her human ears would have never heard.

cibarium

what she hears is your choice <3

 

[cibarium]

Changing forms had become a simple matter of stepping into it, but accessing the fox's senses alone was trickier. It had never happened because she'd wanted it to happen. Eve thought someone like Jamie (withdrawn as a human; and alert as a hare) would have been able to tackle this challenge more easily. As it was, she struggled with the task the same way one might taking off a dress that fit a little too tight. There just wasn't a simple way in her mind to make her human hearing expand back out into fox hearing without bringing the fox ears fully out along with it.

She stewed in her frustration for a good half hour before heaving a childish sigh, leaning back and letting her eyes pop back open to stare at the sky.

"There has to be some trick to this I'm missing."

azuredrams

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

"Perhaps ..." Fionn shook his head and shifted to sit beside her instead of front of her. "This is a bit much, what I am asking of you. Especially so early on."

He followed her gaze to the sky before he looked down once more.

"Tell me what you enjoy most as a fox? What is it about those senses that bring you the most joy?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Eve thought for a minute about smells and sounds before realizing that wasn't the only option.

"I like how it feels," Her confession was given in an intensely intimate tone that was almost a purr. "There's always something stirring the air nearby, tickling my face... gives you chills whenever the right smell comes along with it, doesn't it?" She turned her head to look at Fionn, grinning knowingly. There was quite a lot more to it, but swapping stories wasn't the point of the exercise.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

"It does." Fionn smiled widely, a sharp smile not unlike the fox he was. "... and that is what I want you to focus on then. When the wind blows across your skin, think of the sensation along your fur and the smells that are carried with it. The way they brush against you and tantalize your senses."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Eve reset her posture and closed her eyes again, returning to the state of meditation she had been led into before. It was less daunting a task now that they'd talked some, and that the other fox was sitting with her as a friend instead of next to her as an instructor.

As instructed, she focused on the pleasure she got from being touched by the air while transformed. It made her focus follow longingly after each breeze that came her way, each one registering a hair less dull than the last -- until finally one sent a familiar shiver down her spine --

She gasped in a surprise tinted with satisfaction as it drove a crack into the wall cutting her off from the rest of her senses. The next few breaths Eve took were indulgences in the subtler notes of Fionn's scent, and without quite knowing she was doing so, she slowly tilted her head so her ear could more easily follow the breezes.

"I can hear them," she announced. "Even the weak ones, before they get here. And there's a crow preening its feathers on my roof."

ashdown whaler