[PRP] Yggdrasil (Nathaniel & Shiloh)

[Melancholies]

Shiloh was standing there, focused, living out the moment in Otherworld. The sky overhead was lacking in rain, but he stopped questioning it; the strange weather in the real world and the absence of it in this one were surely connected, but he didn't have the means to investigate it. All he could do was wait, and waiting ******** sucked, so he took precautions. He practiced. He flexed his metaphorical muscles. He worked his skills with his magic.

His plants—his new, physical status of his Nobility—obeyed him and his thoughts. They did whatever he urged, they hearkened his will like extensions of his bones. Around his wrists and his shoulders were vines of ivy, his arm was outstretched, and his palm was open and facing the earth. His meeting with Heliodora—his lesson with her and Chris and Jamie—it felt like eons ago, but he remembered it well enough. Liken your magic to a thought, believe it to be real.

"Come ON." his hand curled roughly into a fist and his arm twisted upwards. The earth underneath him groaned, the root of a tree ripping upwards from the soil. Success bloomed on his face, showing in a weary smile and a sweat-glistened forehead; he was well worked, but the results were visual. He was pleased, even if his legs felt like giving out underneath him. He sighed, letting his arm fall back down in a far more ginger motion, the root unfurling back into the ground despite the displaced loam. <********' finally..."

His arm dropped to his side as he walked over to the new crevice. When he stooped down, clover and dandelions and bindweed bloomed over the cracks, suturing the earth back together like a healing wound. In a couple minutes, it would look as if the ground had never been touched at all.

And then he would start the process again and again and again until it stopped tiring him, until he got strong enough, until it felt more like flexing his arm rather than lifting the weight of the world. Tiny blue forget-me-not's grew across his knuckles, and he smiled at the sight.

kuropeco

hope this is ok!

 

[kuropeco]

Nathaniel had not meant to spy.

In fact, Nathaniel had not meant to be in Other Ashdown at all. A walk home from work had turned into a walk through a photo negative of the street he'd once been on, and all it had taken was a blink of his eyes and a turn of his head to the left, and here he was.

Spying.

He tried not to think of it that way; it wasn't intentional, after all, but the sight of the vines wrapping themselves loyally around the arms of the boy just up ahead had stopped Nathaniel in his tracks. His efforts to find the exit and continue on home had been temporarily set aside in favor of an awestruck sort of wonder, eyes wide as he hastily shuffled to stand behind a tree, peering out in amazement.

It smelled of rain - even though, strangely, it was not raining for once - and fresh flowers and plants and everything that Nathaniel loved. Green eyes traced the lines of the roots, followed the paths of the vines, then caught sight of the tiny blossoms on the boy's fingers, oddly delicate against his skin.

First Jeremiah and water, now this stranger and flora and fauna. Nathaniel wondered if it was possible he could ever gain such an ability, but hastily banished it from his head. Too ridiculous; he still wasn't really a part of this world, or even regular Ashdown, for that matter.

Nathaniel pushed out from behind the tree, shoved hands into the pockets of his worn jeans, and ambled towards the other, hoping he looked as casual as possible.

"Hey," he said, tone friendly. "That was somethin' real cool you just did there."

Melancholies

it's perfect! <3

 

[Melancholies]

Honestly, of all the things that could bend to his will, Shiloh had expected plant life to be the last of them. It wasn't a complaint; it was just... different. At first the idea of being a living host to flora was vague and uncomfortable, but now he enjoyed the extension. He liked how when his eyes were closed, his arms felt longer, his reach felt wider, his skin felt warmer, and water tasted sweeter. He loved how it felt when sun hit his hair. He could bask in the light for hours.

At this point, he had been spending large amounts of time in Other Ashdown, and that came with its own slew of peculiarities; for one, Shiloh was accustomed to seeing strangers (ones that wouldn't attempt to harm him), people who used to be as lost and confused as he was. True, Otherworld was still vast and scary, but he had a decent enough handle on it now. He knew things that would keep him safe. His plants seemed to like it too—they flourished here.

That much was evident when Nathaniel showed himself, the approach causing Shiloh to startle. He turned on a dime and a blanket of leaves sprung between them, only for them to swirl back around to the ground in a lofty manner. Shiloh was growing comfortable in this place. He deduced Nathaniel wouldn't be a threat.

"Yeah?" Actually, being a show off felt pretty cool. He was pretty cool. It was like when people took notice in his art or his fists and called him talented or strong. That sort of s**t didn't happen very often. Regardless, now Shiloh was the one trying to act calm and casual despite his earlier display; be cool Beaumont, you could rip his ******** throat out if it comes down to it.

Hopefully it wouldn't come down to it.

"So you go around complimenting everyone you see?" He was trying to be cocky, sarcastic, anything to get the high ground on someone that he didn't know. The atmosphere smelled like lightning and dew, and his cheeks became brushed with lazy little buds. For once, he didn't smack them away from his skin. Mostly he just wondered what the hell this guy wanted; if he was trying to be friendly, he probably wanted something, or at least that was Shiloh "paranoid" Beaumont for you.

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

Nathaniel was momentarily distracted by the leaves that pushed up into life between himself and the other. Thick clusters of green swept around the otherwise bare ground, and Nathaniel's wide eyes traced the veins of them, the shape of them, trying, even now, to discern what type exactly they were.

The little blue flowers were still on the boy's knuckles, but Nathaniel couldn't see them very well. He could see, when he finally managed to drag his gaze away from the leaves, were the light dusting of little flower buds across his cheeks, and the charged atmosphere, the scent of flora and the expression on the other's face were all intense enough to make Nathaniel feel a little dizzy.

A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

"Only the ones worth complimentin'," said Nathaniel lightly, hands still tucked into the pockets of his jeans. He came to a stop just before the leaves, not wanting to tread on them as they swirled, and crouched down, eyeing them with wide-eyed curiosity. "I've never seen anythin' like this before. I mean, I saw someone playin' with water once, but not plants."

He stretched out a hand and let it hover above the leaves, not daring to touch, because it didn't feel like his to touch.

"How are you doin' that? Is it just the magic here?" Nathaniel asked interestedly. "It's amazin'."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Honestly, there had only ever been one individual that he trusted from the get go, and that was Jamie "I have nothing else currently in my life" Delacroix (who, he would add, had a plethora of bright things in his life now) but at the time was weak, was shy, was scared and desperate. He had been someone filled with a lot of emotions that Shiloh could empathize with, even though at that point in time he himself had already hardened and grown colder. Nothing like what happened to him in Court, though.

But Nathaniel seemed... genuine enough. He looked at his magic like Jamie looked at his art: wide eyed and awestruck. He watched as his hands grazed above the tops of the leaves like he was afraid of touching them and observed how fondly he regarded the flora here. It wasn't hard to assume that he either had a love for plants or an appreciation for power—or maybe he was so new to Otherworld that he still found magic absolutely wonderful. Shiloh saw it more as a defense policy at this point, but he had been bright eyed and bushy tailed about it once a long time ago too.

Then again, he didn't seem to be terribly new to Other Ashdown, or at least he was taking the whole being here a lot better than some of the people Shiloh had run into (That Kaleb kid came to mind). "I guess, kinda." he finally answered after mulling it over, "I mean, the magic here definitely helps, but I can do this kinda stuff on the other side too."

How many people knew about his powers? Quite a bit; there was Jamie of course, and Thorne. There was Chris and there was Isobel, and that about concluded it for people who had witnessed his chlorokinesis in Ashdown. Powers tended not to translate that easily, because his powers weren't the work of willpower and arcane understanding alone.

"I think a lot of it is like, my status?" he thought about his phrasing for a bit as lush bundles of clover gnawed at his shoes, twining through his laces. Little white flowers bloomed in small bundles among them. "Did you go to the Tithing? The ball... thing?" Shiloh didn't look too happy about bringing up that memory. but he did regardless.

Regardless, he kept speaking without waiting for an answer, "I'm part of the ********' court thing. We all got s**t like this." granted, the ones he could list offhand had abilities that changed their forms and their faces, but they were still startling shows of powers all by themselves.

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

In reality, it was both of Shiloh's assumptions: a love and an almost reverence for flora and fauna that was, at present, unrivaled by anything else that Nathaniel had in his life. That, combined with an insatiable curiosity about the magic in this world, made for a wide-eyed amazement at almost everything that he found interesting.

(The doubles, however, he could have done without.)

His eyes flickered upwards, Nathaniel glancing at the other. "Is it more magical here then, I guess, than the real world?" He asked, letting out a hum of thought. Nathaniel tapped a finger contemplatively against his chin and considered Jeremiah, the water twisting around him, as smoothly and as silkily as glass. He hadn't ever seen that sort of thing in the real world - but then again, Nathaniel glowed in the real world, so it had to be possible.

He was still crouched on the ground, examining the leaves more closely, Nathaniel waving a hand absently over them, still unsure of touching. The boy did not sound particularly pleased at the mention of the tithe, not that Nathaniel could blame him. He did not, however, expect to be told that this was someone from the court.

He rose, slowly, a frown of curiosity tugging at Nathaniel's lips.

"What does that mean, exactly?" he asked. "To be part of the court, I mean. Were you a part of it before, or is it like, a new thing after that...well, whatever it was." Nathaniel waved a hand. "Ball thing. You and whoever else got special powers or somethin'?"

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh didn't bother to address his musing, mostly because he didn't really care enough to, but because Nathaniel would learn that for himself sooner than later. Then again, he didn't feel like speaking about Court either, but...

"After." he said, letting his eyes close. The wind did not blow, but the leaves in the trees and the blades of the grass seemed to ruffle anyway, like a sea of green rippling with the tide. He knelt down too, but unlike Nathaniel he took to mussing the leaves up with his hands, crumpling them in his fist with a satisfying crunch. Autumn was definitely here. "After that whole shitstorm, yeah. It's... complicated."

"We got doubles that took our lives 'n then we had to kill them. It's like a stupid test and the surprise at the end is becoming nobility yourself. And then you get your own fetch and you get to be the one that flies off the handle and abducts people at ********' random." he paused, "Not that I'm going to do that, because it's ********' bullshit." he sighed. Where was Beel, anyway? He hadn't seen the fetch around on this visit. That was probably a good thing.

He sighed. "Like? I never asked for it, y'know? None of us did." he was tracing his fingertips in the earth now, pulling his hand away to rub the dirt off of his thumb. "A noble takes you, they smash you down and rebuild you," his fist thwaped into the ground with a dull sound, "They make you into a noble. ********> I still don't know. They said we were supposed to be teachers or mentors or some s**t, like? Lead, that we had clout in this world or some crap like that." the lack of answers was maddening as always, which was why Shiloh tried not to think about it.

Still, in the same breath, it was sort of cathartic to talk about it.

"So I'm just practicing." he finally stood up again, "Getting stronger. Might as well be able to protect the people I care about." for once he actually did look somewhat refined, perhaps a little more befitting of his title as Nobility. On the other hand, he was still definitely an eighteen year old boy. "Name's Shiloh by the way. Beaumont."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

The crunch of leaves in the other's fingers was somehow oddly musical in Nathaniel's ears. It brought to mind the taste of pumpkin, the scent of apples and cinnamon, the flickering of candles and the warmth of a scarf around his neck and shoulders. It was a satisfying sound, because autumn had always been Nathaniel's favorite season, and it felt - familiar to him, as though he was coming back to something he knew.

He made a grimace, Nathaniel rubbing the back of his neck. "I had the misfortune of meetin' a few of those doubles," he said with an exhale of breath. "I didn't know it was part of some big scheme, though. So what, now you just get a...secretary or somethin', or like, one of those old fashioned manservants?"

There was a pause, while he tried to process all that was being said to him, Nathaniel tapping an absent finger against his chin. If this guy had been made a part of the court because of his double, then it stood to reason that the others who had been taken were part of the court as well - nobles, he had said. Nobles of the Court of the Sorrowful One.

It sounded like a lot of pressure. Nathaniel said, watching the flowers across the other's face, the leaves swirling around them, "Mentors to what, exactly? Like, you teach others about the court or somethin'? It doesn't sound like they gave you much choice about it, did they, that's not really all that fair at all. What happens if someone's a terrible noble?"

Lost in thought, it took Nathaniel a minute to realize he'd almost missed the boy's - Shiloh's - name. He hastily stuck out a hand, giving him a smile.

"I'm Nathaniel Parrish," he said, "And gettin' stronger seems to be the way to go. I'm still not even sure what I'm doin' here in all of this..."

He waved a hand. "Whatever it is."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh was always more of a fan of winter. He liked the bare-bark of trees, their long narrow branches reaching into the sky like jagged teeth. He loved the snow and the red rawness of his fingertips in the cold. The feeling of frost on his skin hurt him and numbed him and brought him feeling he felt he couldn't get otherwise. The frost always faded. It never left anything behind.

"Secretary would be a lot better than that piece of s**t." he laughed, sarcastic, "Beel's a d**k. He's always trying to convince me to be a d**k too; like, I don't need him to be a d**k? But I'm not going to be his level of d**k; y'know, the kidnapping, abusive war-mongering sort of d**k. Just the 'I'll insult you sometimes' sort of basic level d**k." His explanation was all very scientific. PhD Dr. Beaumont was here laying the groundwork for Fetch 101.

"And I have no idea, really." he shook Nathaniel's hand when it was offered, the blue forget-me-not's immediately traveling over, looping little vines along Nathan's fingers. "Huh, they like you..." it was an basic observation, nothing much more than that. "Weird."

Even when he pulled away the vines remained tangled, but rather than finding frustration he only laughed, this sound far less sarcastic than the one before it. "The hell man!" Of course, he couldn't guess that plants had an affinity for Nathaniel in return, but he was starting to question it. Finally the vines broke, and the flowers almost immediately started to wilt.

"B-But uh, yeah, no idea." he shrugged uselessly, "Pax didn't tell us much, and the Court's sort of..." he trailed off, "Complicated. I think it only belongs to the Sorrowful One in her name at this point, but I don't really know the extent of the drama." he pursed his lips, "Though, it did say that Nobles couldn't war with one another. Something about the Moonwalkers enforcing peace; but I dunno how legitimate that is... the current pack doesn't seem too aware about it, so I guess it fell out of practice?" Maybe that's why it's overrun...

"Either way, there's a lot I don't know. A lot we don't know. We weren't allowed to leave. Some of us made it out okay, but others broke. Ezra seemed okay, and Aodelle was kind, but Mel—"

He choked on her name.

"Madam was... ruthless." he mumbled the last part, eyes gleaming with a strange look. "I don't like to think about it."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

There was a bite to Shiloh's voice that almost caught Nathaniel off guard, mostly because he had expected - well, he wasn't sure what he had expected. The doubles were terrible things in the Court, so it only made sense that no one liked theirs now, when they were forced into a position.

Nathaniel felt a little scratching, slithering sensation up his hand and glanced down to see the tiny vines curling around his fingers. A small wellspring of joy burst in his stomach, the simple pleasure of seeing the plants react making him smile, hand turning over palm up so that the vines were more visible.

"I like them, too," he said, with a small laugh. "They're amazin'."

There was a tug, a small snapping sound, and finally Shiloh was able to pull his hand away, though Nathaniel was still inwardly marveling at the fact that they had liked him. Especially since it seemed like Shiloh himself wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows - not that this had ever stopped Nathaniel from talking to someone.

"So...so there's more than one of you, then, that are nobles?" he asked, brushing little leaves from his fingers with absent, reverent gestures. A wince passed across Nathaniel's face. "I'm sorry y'all didn't get to leave, that...I heard about it, about what happened. I mean, I was there at the court that night, but I didn't realize that everyone'd been taken."

The mention of Madam made the wince more pronounced. "Is she...she gone..?" Nathaniel asked carefully. "Or is she - I didn't see what happened to her, at the end."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"She's not gone, no." his voice dripped with vehemence as he focused on the vines around his fingertips. "They saved her. Some of the guests." deep breath—he didn't want to get worked up, let alone take it out on Nathaniel. "They saved her 'cause they thought it'd be morally wrong to let her die, even though she was a monster."

He dropped it.

"There were more of us, yeah. Madam had Thorne 'n I. Ezra had another two, Aodelle had one..." he huffed, "Well, there was another one too, but I guess she'd been there for years. I mean, it felt like years but for the most of us, it was only the summer." he shrugged.

"I guess Nobles have the chance to make more Nobles, but I wouldn't ever put anyone through that s**t. Ever."

Turning his palm upwards, he produced a lofty looking dandelion. "Havin' your identity replaced, knowin' they're ********' over your life..." he spat at the ground, "I wouldn't do the s**t Madam did, but you can't help the other bullshit. The fetches. Too dangerous."

kuropeco

a late tag 4 u!

 

[kuropeco]

She wasn't gone.

Nathaniel wasn't sure what that meant, exactly. Or what it meant that there were people who actually wanted to save her and had brought her from that place. Nathaniel wasn't exactly about killing, and may have tried to save her too - but at the same time, he couldn't remember why there was honor in saving someone like her.

Maybe he was overthinking it.

"She didn' exactly seem like the savin' type," said Nathaniel, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. "I'm glad it wasn't longer than a few months - I mean," he amended quickly. "A few months is still terrible. I'm not tryin' to make light of that, but a year would have been hell on earth, likely, it seems."

He was not the Noble type, Nathaniel running absent fingers along the remnants of the vines still sliding free from his hands. His gaze went to the dandelion in Shiloh's palm, then to his face, frowning slightly in thought, his thoughts shifting from side to side.

"I'm sorry," he said, finally, thought it felt inadequate. "It's shitty that y'all went through that and it still doesn't seem over."

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh seemed... surprised? Nathan hadn't done anything wrong, so why was he apologizing? Maybe that was just a courtesy thing. Shiloh never really learned courtesies. He threw him a weird look, but eventually relented "It's... alright? Isn't like you were the one who kidnapped me."

And he didn't find total fault in his words, either. Sure, his couple months might have seemed like hell on earth, but he couldn't fathom Lady's situation. Years? He would've broke completely. Then again, it sort of seemed like she didn't resist the way he had, the way Thorne had. Melany saw them as a challange and she won.

"Anyway, it was..." he sighed, "What's done is done." That much was certain. "And I don't... I don't think it'll be over for a long time." He remembered Pax and it's words about leaving the cycle, being able to exist outside of the perpetual reset. How long would all of this go on? It was hard to say. Harder to tell. "Can't change it now, so I'm just trying to work with it."

His fingers wiggled again, the dandelion wobbling back and forth. "It gave me all of this anyway, so I guess it ain't all bad." He laughed weakly.

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

He was still watching the dandelion, not noticing the weird look on Shiloh's face until the other spoke again. Nathaniel's gaze flickered up, a little smile tugging at the corners of his lips, rueful and vaguely amused at the same time.

"No, I wasn't," he conceded, with a nod of his head. "But I'm still sorry you had to go through all that anyway."

At least he wasn't there now. Maybe a small concession, or maybe an immense one. Nathaniel wasn't exactly the idealistic, daydreamer sort, except in certain conditions - like believing in magic - but he was the sort who at least tried to find at least some semblance of good in a situation.

Unless the situation was just shitty, in which case...

"The floral thing," said Nathaniel, because he couldn't help himself. "It's amazin'. I've always loved plants." It sounded sort of stupid saying it loud, but it was the truth, at least. "I'm admittedly a touch jealous, it's...it's an incredible ability that you have here."

He glanced at the dandelion again, and then at Shiloh.

"Sorry, you probably here that a lot don'tcha?"

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh laughed, "Actually no, not really, but I only just started messing with this stuff." He coaxed the dandelion into splitting off into other dandelions, "I guess I could see how people might be though. I think I'd be jealous too, if I was talking to a me from a few months ago. I always wanted to be stronger 'cause I felt like I had to, but now that I have this..."

He sighed. "Careful what you wish for and all that s**t." He looked a touch somber for a moment. "I regret it, but I'm not gonna scorn it. S'not like I had a choice anyway, so all I can do is work with it?" He sounded cautiously optimistic. "Figure it'd be a nice ******** you too, taking this s**t and making something out of it." He curled his fingers into a fist, sending the surrounding area into a lush field of blossomed dandelions.

"You could probably learn. I mean, I have this 'cause I'm a noble, but? You can do pretty much anything in Otherworld."

kuropeco

ilu