The Tangle Settle down, it'll all be clear

(For @Aure)


Things had settled down some at the Hollow, enough for Gannet to feel alright taking an extended trip out. He wanted to see what he could discover along the coast, and perhaps if anyone knew anything about the discoveries. Even if no one could help, surely seeing new things and finding new plants would be useful.

He hit the tangle before the ocean, and while the sea was his final destination, he couldn't help but stare with awe at the stones rising up. What had put them there like that?

There was a quiet reverence in him as he wound his way among them - he was normally ghostlike when he traveled anyway, but now he felt almost like he should be submissive as well beneath the giants.

i would like to thank sixteen candles for ruining my writing groove

It’d been a while since the herbalist had taken leave of the cliffs. Truthfully, Aure didn’t know what had urged her to the nefarious Tangle. Perhaps it had been how tangled she’d been feeling within, as of late — and possibly to forage out of restlessness.

For one thing, getting wound up in a thicket had been the very last thing she’d longed to seek. 

What she had initially sought was just a bit of green, a bit of anything in all of this doom-and-gloom; and as such, some nameless god must have heard a nonbeliever’s prayers, for said green had caught her eye. It’d winked at her, then, coaxing her to solider through the thicket that she’d found no other entry through.

And so, as thoughtless as ever, she’d made to brave it — and that’d been quite a while ago. Since then, she’d wrangled them, she’d throttled them; oh yeah, she’d devastated them. And since neither would let the other go, the adversaries of earth and breath had drawn into themselves. As the brambles toed about her tufted, scarred brow, Aure had bid her time wondering whether Dragomir and Isilmë would suitable names for for her copii and buffing her claws.

It seemed that the more she squirmed, the more the briars caught, and the quiet whimpers of frustration would’ve reached the ears anyone managing to pick their way by. But, with her rump free of briars and tragically sat to stone, scenting someone was a dilemma.

So, in the past hour, she’d resigned herself to the fact that the kru would believe she’d tumbled into the gorge, her beloved(?) would rip into another tree in anguish of her tomfoolery, and her name would be remembered as Aure the Asinine.

Still, she gave one last, little whine, in the hopes that someone would mosey on past. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

He heard the whines before he saw her, mainly because he might have walked right past, thinking her a part of the bush she was stuck in. Are you okay? Gannet asked, frowning at the brambles. She didn't look okay, but from Gannet's experience it was always better to ask if help was needed than just dive in and start going.

Hopefully she was nice and let him help, because if she was from here then maybe she'd agree to talk. He'd been looking for a nice one but from his recent track record, he wasn't going to get his hopes too high. It was okay if she wasn't, he'd help anyway.

She froze, and what parts of her ruff wasn’t snagged quivered to life; her tail, feathering helplessly, fluffed itself up in alarm. Who was this?— But she was in no position to flee, or spit at him with her frustration. ”O-Oh, I am rather well. I, I, er... ahm, uh, I w-was just sleeping! A-and, I, well...” Either way, the herbalist supposed that if she asked nicely enough, this unknown male would help her? ...Right?

”Oh!” she cried softly, giving a sad little stamp of a snowshoe hind. ”Might I a-ask for assurance— assistance! Assistance, please? I am so tangled, and I only wanted to see what this vegetation was beyond here!” Plume of her tail curved, distraught. ”And, well, I-I thought this was ze only way in. I thought I was small enough; everyone on ze cliffs is so vast. But I did not think at all, of course...”

She was sleeping, in there? He gave a long, quizzical look at the bush, but didn't respond yet. She also talked a lot, enough that it made Gannet not being able to see her features somewhat uncomfortable. He was used to tracking faces as he listened.

I can help, he said, coming a bit closer so that he could look at the brambles in more detail. They were snagged rather well, and there were a lot... best probably to start and just work bit by bit. I can get them out? He added, with a slight question at the end to be sure she was on the same page. He didn't want to assume that was what she meant by assistance since she was strange enough to be sleeping here and all.

”I think that would be b-best,” she stammered, her posture gradually withdrawing into something meek and helpless — validly so. Made herself simmer down the writhing and wriggling for this wanderer to , and so the brambles wouldn’t snag further. All the while, there was a part of her which remained unaware of how much she truly ran her mouth; but it was probably from being spoilt rotten by her many exchanges with Verx.

In the meantime, she pressed a scarred chin to her paws, set her bum down, and gazed at that insolent bit of green just beyond the brambles with an almost girlish, beaten petulance. Aure decided, then and there, that even if it took the rest of her life, she would discover what that sprig was. Damn it.

Ok He stepped up alongside and, after only a moment more looking, began to work carefully at some of the brambles ties up in her fur. Hopefully he could work the free without too much trouble, but likely some spots would snag and hurt.

He'd slowly work his way through, though, pulling the ones he got free away so that they wouldn't snag again. The process might take a while but Gannet was a patient soul. He wouldn't let himself feel rushed, and gently instead proceeded at a nice and calming pace.

mayhaps black sock boi makes my heart cotton candy im Soft-

It wasn’t the wanderer’s fault that she was about to fall asleep; the care taken while nosing and nudging wasn’t unlike the bliss that she’d quelled her Stormborn into. Lashes began to list at the cheekbones, and although there were most certainly many twinges and nipping pricklings to be had, she faced them — metaphorically, duh — with eyes easily warbling with silly tears, despite the lethargy.

And it, too, seemed that a century passed, and her mind was on the verge of slumbering there and then when she felt a sudden unsnagging from all about her. With the traveler’s help, of course, she soon squirmed free of this clutching thicket, and in time whirled to her savior —

”H-how may I ever thank you, revia? I might have been stuck there for ze rest of my days, had you not come along!” Her own ivory pelt wisped with each breath, and her countenance was a bit breathless, somewhat flushed, and immensely appreciative.

Eventually, finally, she came free. He stepped back and as always when he was able to help, his face broke out into a beaming smile. There were few things that made him happier than feeling as though he'd been a service, even to someone who wasn't a packmate.

You were looking at plants? He asked, easily returning to the mention she'd made earlier. He passed over her thanks; also as usual, he didn't have much of a response for it. What plant?

A shrug of delicate shoulders followed her next words, "No plant in particular, truth be told. I only meant to see if this Tangle ever produces some kind of shrubbery. I'm sure that it grows fungi, and such, as this place is always so shadowed." Giving a cant of her body, distributing her weight, she now took in the dark contrast of his legs against the silver of him; noticed the scent.

"Are you a traveler, if I may ask? What has brought you to ze coasts?" The scent in question smelt familiar - it brought to mind the excursion to Diaspora she'd taken some months ago, looking for Vonnaruil. He didn't smell of Diaspora, though... but she was patient otherwise.

Shrubbery and fungus. He didn't know what either of those were good for. I'm from the Hollow, he said, distracted by thoughts that were goin a bit too fast to keep up with. She knew plants. Did she know what they did? Was she a healer? Would she teach him?

I want to learn to heal. What plants are good. He answered, after a beat, when he had caught up. The biggest part was the which to use part. He could help in some simple ways, but true sickness and pregnancy were beyond him. He wasn't sick, or pregnant, so he couldn't test on himself. Not like he could with stomach help or pain help, things that he kind of knew how to treat now.

So that’s where he was from — Lost Creek, near Diaspora. Aure herself had no time to dwell on this new insight, since there were a myriad of them being presented to her at this very moment. So she tethered herself to the Creek-male’s words, and her fragile ears quivered forward in genuine interest.

He wanted to heal? That was good. ”And what about ze bad plants? I would hope you’d like to learn of those, too?” Her voice was a gentle tease, and she gave a shrug of thin shoulders, beckoning him along into the gnarled hinterlands and away from the treacherous drops.

Of course, she intended for them to skirt through the least precarious pathways. In her honest opinion, the skayona believed that a bit of dabbling in the practice — healing — never hurt, whether you caught a splinter or something worse in your system. She said as much: ”With your interest in remedies, you are already a step further than most I know are willing to go.”

Gannet had never quite managed to capture the essence of a joke, so when she asked about the bad plants he looked a bit taken aback. Not by her question, but by the fact that he simply didn't know why he would. No. He replied, sitting down. Just helpful ones.

It was good to hear he was ahead. Either way he would take this chance to know everything she was willing to tell. Are fungus good or bad?

wrapping up oocly

Aure considered his words, his questions — answered him what she knew, and even with what she didn’t know, in the hopes that he might take her words to heart in some form, for more out of his sake than her own. Either way, she lead him from the Tangle as their discussions became more depthful; favoring a less precarious spot for both of their well-beings.