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

[cibarium]

Getting to and from Other Ashdown of late had started getting much easier. That was especially if she made a habit of it, Eve found, likely another aspect of warnings she'd heard from others about how going to that side more often meant it would become even more of a part of you. But she was already a moonwalker. Whatever more she was accumulating didn't really concern her. Instead she delighted in how on the evenings and weekends she'd decide she would end up there momentarily so she could get a quiet moment in the house... and most of the time she actually did.

No other people, no working electronics, no chittering or peeping birds.

Just her, and probably some crows.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

It was an unusually quiet evening in other ashdown. The perfect kind of weather, in fact, for a time of reflection.

To focus.

Perhaps Eve should find a place to sit and relax?

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Eve felt very energetic, which was getting in the way of her original plan to turn into a fox and take a quick nap somewhere.

She still turned into a fox, though, and trotted outside -- willing open the doors of her own house was as easy as breathing, so no hands were needed. Thinking was still different as a fox, however, and the absence of rain flooded her ears with its silence, providing an immediate distraction from whatever had been on her mind the previous moment. She sat on the porch and let the stillness take hold of her mind for a minute.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Silence pervaded, at least for a while, until she would smell something.

Something old, something familiar.

There was the sound of a tail swishing, not unlike her own, and when her eyes opened - when had they closed? - she would see another fox trotting closer.

It's fur was entirely white.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Foxes didn't have the scenting ability of wolves, but scent was still vital to their understanding of the world, and so when the smell of another-me appeared and spilled over the front of her body, Eve took notice. Her eyes snapped open the instant her ears registered the accompanying sound. The full realization of there is another fox here was already there, before her conspecific came completely into focus and she could append that it was a white fox.

And then she blinked, an exaggeratedly human gesture. She'd developed a new intuition for canines recently, so she hoped that the slow step she took forward could be read as the hello she meant for it to be.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

The fox immediately sat down when it was noticed, tail swishing lazily behind it and head tilting to study her.

An obviously human gesture.

It pawed at the ground a couple times, as if it was saying hello in return.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Oh, clever. With a bedrudging little chuff Eve shifted back to human, putting her hands on her hips as she did so. "New moonwalker?" she guessed, with an amused smirk. This was quite a way for them to introduce themselves, so she already liked whoever this was.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

A pink tongue escaped as the fox grinned at her. It's head shook from side to side, as if to say no, before it shifted.

Before her stood a man, white hair pulled back into an elaborate and ornamental bun with jewelry in it. His eyes were blue but there was distance in them as he looked at Eve. The clothing he wore seemed to be outdated and made from flowing cloth.

"Not quite," he replied, giving her a bit of a smile. A tail remained, even in this form, and it swished behind him. "Eve, isn't it? My name is Fionn."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Eve had a tail too, though hers was less swishy. "That's right," she answered, a bit shocked. Old moonwalker, and he knew her already. "Do you know me from another life I've had here, then?"

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

"We never formally met, to be entirely honest." Fionn smiled, tucking a bit of hair behind a pointed ear. "Yet I knew of you, yes. I tended to keep to the shadows than being out in the open."

He was a fox, after all.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

The knowledge she'd been someone worth hearing of made her raise an intrigued eyebrow, but questions in that direction could wait. "And what brings you to my doorstep, Fionn?"

No relation to Aleksy's boyfriend Finn, she figured.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

"Straight to the point?" He gave her a fanged grin. "I like that." His tail continued to swish, almost as if it was reflecting a playful mood as he walked towards the porch to sit on the railing.

Of course there was a railing.

"There's been a lot lost but I'm not sure that you know that ..." He looked to her and then up to the sky. "Moonwalkers are meant to be more than they are now, to be capable of more, and they have fallen so far."

Fionn looked to her, his expression somber. "My time has passed, my cycle failed, and my pack gone but I would do something to help you and yours."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"The Prideful One hinted as much," Eve recalled. "But I was starting to think it doesn't matter this time." Michael was dead, and he was as much a moonwalker as he was part of the cage, if she was recalling everything correctly. "We're designed to uphold a status quo, right? One we're trying to eliminate."

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

"It always matters," he told her, blue eyes bright and focused on her, "but not a specific thing I'm here to talk to you about. I was more of a outlier than anything else and preferred exploring the extents of my abilities as a moonwalker."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

It always mattered? Strange.

"Sounds like we would have gotten along," Eve smiled. "I'm happy to try and learn whatever it is you have to teach me."

ashdown whaler