Starglow Basin Morfeo

Stars were visible from horizon to horizon, with the milky way splitting the sky in a stream of sparkling mist. The heat of the day lifted, and the cool seeped in like heavy liquid. Flowers closed their petals, pried open only by hungry kangaroo mice hoping to find an insect within. The waxing gibbous moon softened the red sand to a shade of silver. 

Haruto returned to the basin carrying a bundle wrapped with yellowing striped maple leaves. He'd spent the afternoon and evening rummaging through the nearest prairies for herbs, and had found himself concocting not one batch of herbs, but two. It had been difficult to wrap them up, given how dry leaves were becoming nowadays- but the one benefit of the striped maple was the sheer size of the leaves. Even when drying out, they were still massive, and somewhat floppy- pliable enough to be folded without cracking and falling apart. 

He set the bundle down when he reached the scent markings, and paused to sniff again. He had wondered once or twice throughout the afternoon if he might be picking up on the scent of some malady, not a medicine, but he felt more certain now that he had sniffed it twice. He pulled the bundle apart gently, unwrapping the two leaves and sorting the collection into two piles. 

There was now a blue pill and a red pill. 

A choice.

You actually showed. Idiot.

Tierra had curled up nearby, waiting for him but mostly expecting him to get some sense and leave for good. Worried about it too. What he’d offered had been on her mind all day. At this point, it was a practice in self discipline not to jump his piles immediately.

Her eyes kept going to them though. She couldn’t keep the impatience from her voice as she spoke. What is it?

And, of course, what did he want for it? She didn’t have a lot to offer. But, eyeing them hungrily, she knew she’d give whatever it took. Just so long as these made it all go away, even if just for a little while. All she wanted was to escape.

She emerged from the darkness, a moving shadow at first, her pelt so dull and dark that it seemed to absorb the moonlight. It was harder to tell if she felt any better or worse when he couldn't see how deep the shadows were beneath her eyes, and how sharp her jawline might be. Disguised in darkness, she looked somewhat improved; the redness in the whites of her eyes was lost, but the hunger was more apparent than before. Especially now that he came with medicines. 

He blinked at her when she commented, but withheld a reply. He'd returned- and so had she, to the same spot, at the time when he'd specified. There was a chance she was simply on patrol, but the neediness of her gaze implied that she'd come like a fish to a lure. 

He pulled the two leaves closer to himself. He didn't want her to try and snatch them, devour recklessly. 

I need to know what you've had. He stated. Drug-to-drug interaction. Some things don't go well together. An honest enough reason, he felt. She would know, then, that he had no intentions of causing an overdose. If you don't know exactly what it is...Then the best description you can give- of the plant, if you've seen it, and how it makes you feel. He didn't want to shame her for a lack of knowledge, and would accept whatever she had.

More questions. She tried to contain her irritability but her words had a bite to them anyway. She wasn’t here for an interrogation but he clearly was. And, once again, she found herself in a situation where she held none of the cards.

We… I had the green. It makes everything clearer. And makes you feel like you can do anything. Even talking about it, the longing slipped into her voice. It’s been weeks. I’m done with it. She couldn’t anymore, not without him. She already couldn’t handle the nightmares, the way he was torn apart in her dreams.

But I can trade. Maybe he was interested in the rush. There weren’t many things that she’d tried that could match it, and she’d been fucked up more times than she could count. The corners of Tierra’s mouth twitched up in a weak smirk, though her attention was still glued to his bundles. Some of ours for whatever you’ve got in there. Unless there’s something else you wanted?