deercountry | Sun rises, night falls, sometimes the sky calls...

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Sun rises, night falls, sometimes the sky calls...

Who: Ariadne and various (hit me up if you want a starter!)
What: Ariadne keeping busy and being bad at processing her feelings
When: Throughout January
Where: Various, but mostly Serenity Garden

Content Warnings: Backstory trauma likely to come up, discussion of Jedi/Sith violence, will update as needed.

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The fact of the matter was that sometimes, trees were easier than people. For one thing, trees didn't kill people. At least, not in most universes, including Ariadne's. For another, trees were much better listeners than people. Part of that was probably because they couldn't talk back. The other part was that they were rooted to the spot and couldn't avoid you and ignore you. And yes, it was a certain Anakin Skywalker that Ariadne found herself comparing (unfavorably) to trees lately.

Ultimately, given the fact that the trees had come with her from Deerington, Ariadne had begun to think of her orchard as the closest thing she had to family. With everything going on around her, more and more, she found herself bundled up in her cloak, walking around the orchard purely to have someone she could share her troubles with.

Of course, it didn't help matters that she'd named all the trees.

Her morning routine was always the same. After washing and getting dressed, she'd go down to the orchard and say good morning to each of them by name. "Good morning, Jane! Good morning, Araceli! Good morning, Tyler!"

They were all her trees and she loved them. But somewhere along the line, she'd decided that her pear tree, Sophia, was the best listener. So when she didn't have pressing matters, she spread out her cloak underneath Sophia's winter branches and shared all of her troubles. Today was one of those days. "Sometimes," she said, a hand on the tree's trunk, looking down into her roots, "I regret not learning to take up the sword. I don't like swords, you know that. But it seems like they've become a kind of language around here. It's really quite horrible."

Since Ariadne's trees were her pride and joy, she was always excited to show them off. It was, she imagined, the same kind of thrill as a noble might get, showing off a grand, new palace that they had finally finished building. A chance to show the world who they were and what riches they possessed. She knew, of course, that her trees weren't silver or gold or stained glass. But they were beautiful. And magical. And had survived all of the terrors of Deerington, just like Ariadne herself.

So yes, she was excited to have Ezra over.

It boggled the mind a little, how often she was drawn to the Jedi and the Sith. She was beginning to think it was no accident. It was some kind of destiny--if you believed in such a thing. In any case, she liked Ezra a lot. They had some kind of kinship, which was very rare for Ariadne, being the only one of her kind and all.

All that to say, she was excited to know he would be visiting.

She spent most of the morning--as she spent every morning--clearing away the fresh snow in the orchard, checking to make sure none of the branches were damaged, and otherwise just having a very lively (albeit one-sided) conversation with her fruit trees. "I can't wait until the spring," she said to Jane, her nectarine tree, as she brushed snow off of the trunk. "I've really been in the mood for nectarines."

Tragically, while Ariadne knew quite a lot about gardens and plants and herbs, she knew next to nothing about running a business. She barely knew about shopping and bartering, having first lived in the rain forest, and then in a palace, where such errands were left to someone else. Now, she felt completely spoiled by all of it. And building something herself felt like a high challenge.

But, she figured, the best way to start was with finding a way to advertise what she had to offer, without making a sign. The locals were strangely squeamish about signs.

The idea came to her in that place halfway between sleep and awake. And it felt brilliant at the time.

Which was why, that morning, Ariadne was sitting on the roof of her shop, hanging upside down over the edge, carefully carving the shapes of trees and leaves into the stone over the front entrance with her talons. She was no artist, but she could make basic shapes. And her talons were sharp enough to cut many surfaces, including granite. So while she looked ridiculous, she figured the plan wasn't entirely without merit.

It wasn't her 'scene,' as they said. Actually, she couldn't remember who 'they' were, but she was absolutely sure it was a figure of speech. And a good one. Because it really wasn't her scene. Ariadne liked taverns well enough, but the Snake's Den was something a little more than a tavern. And yet...there she was. Something just told her that it was where she needed to be. An instinct maybe? A spell perhaps? Didn't matter. She was there. And enjoying some sweet and fruity drink that was approximately the color of a pink tulip.

She was curled up in a big, squashy chair, her feet tucked under her, her cloak loose around her shoulders to keep her warm. Not that she needed it. The whole room felt warm and cozy and homey.

Nothing like she would have expected.

Feeling delightfully lethargic for the first time in...possibly forever...she turned her attention to the stage, where a violin player had just finished and ducked back behind the curtain.

When she first decided that she wanted to live openly and honestly, Ariadne thought it would be a simple matter of telling the truth once and being done with it. But she realized now, that was palace life talking. The mindset that the people she lived among would never change, that the same faces would pass her in the hall again and again.

The multiverse wasn't like that.

She was beginning to understand that her idea of permanence was...misplaced. And an unfortunate side effect was that there were a lot of people around who hadn't heard her initial announcement and had no idea who or what she was.

The idea of making the announcement again and again actually made her physically ill. So as a compromise, she decided she would start spending a few hours each day in her natural state.

Which meant there she was, out in her orchard, quietly clearing the snow away from the trunk of her lemon tree. In her natural state: Skin green like the underside of a maple leaf, hair blue as candy floss, lips a deep, dark purple.

Also part of her natural state? Talking to her trees.

"You're looking lovely today, Dagmar," she said sweetly, as if she expected the tree to return the compliment.

"Oh, whoa...what...?"

Even in the bone-chill of winter, a place as well curated in its foliage as this sure can stand out -- especially after dealing with a rampaging monster around town! Manabu stops near the fence line before the ring of trees and garden fixtures and gawks.

Was this...always here? It's possible; he's not really one to stop and smell the roses...or garden trappings, as it stands.

His gaze moves toward the building proper, searching out for signage. If this is in Willful Machine, then it's a business, right...?

[Anakin has been spending most of his time by himself recently and it's unusual to find him at the Snake Den, but there had been an irresistible draw when he had found those posters so here he was. It had worked out in the end, the crowds didn't make him anxious and in fact did the opposite. There's a warmth and inner peace that he hasn't felt in a very long time. If he hadn't been so grateful for it he might have realised this wasn't natural.

He doesn't feel any guilt over what happened to Dean. Maybe he went a little too far, but he didn't regret stopping him. It was disgusting how he had stuck so close to Padmé to feign friendship and then he had jumped immediately to do the same to Ariadne. He hasn't yet realised that the Winchester's aren't actually from a galaxy far far away like him.

Running into Ariadne gets a small nod in greeting. He knows she isn't entirely happy with him at the moment, but he had no ill will towards her.]

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For Illarion

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