Dragoncrest Cliffs is she drunk or does she just have bad taste?

The evening sky was brilliant; the setting sun had painted it in a myriad of fiery orange and gold, and rich shades of magenta, disappearing all too quickly past the horizon. Branwen lay stretched out at the shoreline of the freshwater lake as she watched, sand-covered and exhausted. The scent of the sea cloaked her, and beside her were several neatly-sorted piles; sea shells and rocks, and a particularly interesting stick. She may have chewed the stick a little.
It had been a good day, though, spent wandering along the beach, collecting whatever caught her eye. Once or twice it had accidentally been a crab, evidenced by several small punctures in her muzzle. She paid them no mind; the trade was fair enough, in her opinion. Even if she would not necessarily keep her little collection; over the next few days she would scatter them, well away from the ocean's shore. Just to add a bit of oddity, or perhaps magic if they were inclined to think that, to someone's day— no one but Branwen would ever know she had done it, but she was quite satisfied with that.

blixen feels antsy lately. she's not sure if that's better than sad -- it's equally as annoying, if more productive. the other thing about furi and her breakup -- and furi's depature -- is, blix is realising, she doesn't have a lot of friends. she's on good terms with dalia of course, but as much as she loves gardening she doesn't want to spend all of her time doing that. there's rose -- well, let's leave it at that. artaax hardly counts, bobby is gone, ajatar is gone... ugh. it's kind of a bummer.

she's distracted from her thoughts by the sight of a stranger by the lake's shore. curiously the shilkru picks up her pace. there's been a few new arrivals from the farther gedas, she knows, and wonders briefly what it'd be like to visit them. bad, probably.

within earshot, blix lets a low chuff loose, eyes drifting to the strange piles beside her. "what're you doing?" she asks, intrigued.

She hadn't expected company, but it was far from unwelcome. Branwen flicked an ear at the chuff, gaze still caught on the sunset for a few beats. Watching the sunset, The answer came automatically as she finally turned to look at her packmate; the focus of the fiery-hued girl's attention prompted a follow up, Oh— I collected those from the beach earlier. I haven't decided where to put them yet.
A slight pause followed her words; she wasn't keeping it secret, really, but it didn't occur to her to elaborate. She was perhaps too used to familiarity, not quite forgetting that wasn't the case here but not considering all that it entailed. Ironically, it occurred to her to introduce herself. Branwen, She offered, tearing her gaze from her flame-coated companion for a few beats to glance back to the darkening sky. Join me?

up close, the vibrant colors of the setting sun make the girl's markings look striking, nearly distracting her from her answer. (weird.) her explanation doesn't make much sense, making the shilkru tilt her head, raising her eyebrows. "don't they go ...here?" she asks without malice, genuinely wondering if this is some sort of thing she doesn't know about, some practical application of ...seashells, or something.

branwen, she introduces herself as, and asks blix to join her. she nods and steps closer, taking a seat. "i'm blixen," she introduces, "do you stargaze or something?" soon the sunset will give way to the stars, she knows, and the thought makes her chest tighten uncomfortably. furi liked to watch the stars -- they'd watched them together once, but maybe blix should have -- watched them more with her or something. suddenly the idea isn't so appealing and the redhead moves her gaze back to the girl, avoiding looking at the sky at all.

Don't they go here?, the girl asked, and Branwen couldn't help a slight smile. Well, yes— but that's boring. I like to take them inland, and put them where others will find them— unexpected places. Soon, she would travel a little further inland; mostly to explore, but she would take some shells along with her to do exactly what she had said. A trail, of sorts, though not one easily followed.
The girl, Blixen, accepted her invitation, wondering if she watched the stars. Not really, She admitted, hoping this didn't put the girl off, if she was partial to such things. I was just resting. Stars aren't really my thing— they're beautiful, but, I don't know. They've always seemed too unreachable, to me. Do you? Her gaze sharpened with interest. Branwen may not have been much for stars, but she was not opposed to stargazing if her company enjoyed it— nor would she turn down the opportunity to learn something, if the red-furred girl had any knowledge to offer.

blixen doesn't get it, but, well -- blixen doesn't get a lot of things. electing not to comment, she can't help but feel relieved when branwen responds in the negative. "they're pretty but i don't really have the patience for that sort of thing," she admits with a slight grin. it fades with the next sentence. "my um, my ex-girlfriend liked stargazing." hi branwen my name is blixen and i am a chronic over-sharer, nice to meet you.

She was about to respond, but then— oh. That was awkward. What was she supposed to say? Yeah, I have an ex-girlfriend I like to mope about too, but not to people I just met because that's weird please don't do this to me! ? No, probably not. Branwen paused for several beats, ears flicking uncomfortably.
Well, mine liked boys, She said finally, voice thick with dry humor. So, could've been worse. Thoroughly done with the topic already, Branwen searched frantically for something else to say. Anything else. So... what do you like to do?

maybe the revelation of branwen's shared... taste would be surprising to some, but blix still more or less operates on the assumption that all women were gay until proven otherwise. or at least like, kind of into women. instead she barks a laugh, her mouth curving into a slightly toothy grin. would it have been worse to be jealous over a boy instead of rose? she can't actually picture being jealous over a boy.

she doesn't get a chance to say as much before branwen changes the subject. luckily for her, blix has a relatively short attention span in conversation. "i'm shilkru," she explains proudly, puffing up a little. "and i, uh, garden sometimes, like a hobby." something she's been putting off between all the relationship drama and her newborn siblings, to be honest.

belatedly realizes blix has naturalist/is going for botanist as secondary trade
HELLO BRANWEN IS TOO

Relieved that Blixen allowed the change of topic, another tentative smile curved her lips. Shilkru, She repeated softly, a little impressed; the fiery girl seemed younger than herself, and had already accomplished much more. Her eyes lit at the mention of gardening— several times since leaving Trigeda, Branwen had lamented abandoning her little garden.
Oh, I love gardening; I really miss my garden at Trigeda, Branwen admitted, tail swishing slightly across the ground. Maybe we can do some gardening together sometime. The suggestion came without a second thought, pleased as she was to have already found someone else interested in it.

blixen beams, pleased at the reaction. she's proud at what she's accomplished -- even if it isn't cheka, she likes shilkru, likes knowing she's earned nomi's trust. and once she's proven herself she'll ask again, until nomi accepts her as her cheka.

for the first time in a while, the redhead feels something like excitement when branwen professes to also like gardening. rose and dalia -- well, again, complicated -- anyway, it might be nice, she thinks, to have a friend without any baggage again. like hux, before he vanished. "there's a garden near the graveyard," blix says, "i want to fix it up but i've been -- distracted. we can work on that together if you want," she offers, smiling. maybe branwen has some more experience than her and can help her fill in the gaps in her knowledge, she thinks, where hux hadn't yet. especially with the warm and wet weather.

shoves another shitty wrap up post at u

Blixen was easy to talk to, she decided. She agreed easily to the other girl's suggestion, lingering a bit longer to talk. The day had been long, though, and lethargy was beginning to set in. Eventually she could hardly keep her eyes open, so she decided it was time to part ways— the last thing she wanted was to fall asleep on her new friend. Her first friend at Drageda, actually. But she did plan on taking her up on that gardening offer.