Blackwood Grove, Wednesday Evening

[witchoftheflesh]

The sauce was simmering on the stove, filling the whole cabin with the scent of roasted garlic, spices, and tomatoes. There was also a freshly baked loaf of bread cooling under a dishtowel, and Adrian hummed as he washed up the dishes from dinner prep in advance of Rey's arrival. Bran was also hard at work, sweeping up the floor of the entire cabin - and sometimes bedeviling Boston as it followed Adrian's familiar from spot to spot, cleaning up any cat hair before it had a chance to settle. The fire was already burning merrily in the hearth, chasing away what little autumnal chill Baltimore had managed to accumulate as the sun headed towards setting.

"All right you two, enough playing," he called, ignoring Boston's indignant squawk. "Rey will be over any minute. Bran, do you want to give the greenhouse another quick once over to make sure everything is still clear?"

The broom performed a small circle and disappeared towards the back of the cabin.

"And Boston--"

"Don't worry about me, Adrian," Boston declared with regal dignity. "I have plans of my own this evening."

Adrian was pretty sure that wasn't true, but Forest forbid Boston should be seen as less in demand than his witch. "Of course," he said.

"I'll go keep an eye out on the porch," Boston continued, sauntering out the door with his tail high.

"Thanks!" Adrian called after him. Dinner, cabin, broom, and cat all accounted for, now all he needed was his date!

[For the lady mentioned and for SP as I deal with enjoy guests!]

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

Rey rarely looked dolled up or anything, but she did make a point of looking nice for date nights. This meant her hair was down, her clothes were helpfully uncomplicated, and she looked happy to be there.

She got up to the house and smiled. "Hi, Boston."

[witchoftheflesh]

"Rey," Boston said, standing up on the railing and padding over to her, ducking his head a bit in invitation for pets.

Dignified invitation, mind.

"Welcome to Blackwood Grove."

[thatwaslucky]

"Thank you," she said, more than happy to reach to give him those pets. "How are you doing tonight?"

[witchoftheflesh]

A low purr as he headbutted her hand in appreciation. "I am well. Adrian gave me fish tonight--" definitely not a bribe, how dare anyone suggest such a thing "--and I have plans of my own to attend to."

And those plans did too exist, Adrian! He had a content to make!

You know, for his Tiktok account Adrian was absolutely not allowed to know about.

"You look very nice this evening. I don't think I see your hair down very often."

[thatwaslucky]

"I don't wear it like this very often. But Adrian's special." It definitely meant she felt at ease enough to not feel like she needed it pulled back for any reason. "And you, of course."

[witchoftheflesh]

"And me," Boston agreed, because he was a cat. He gestured towards the intricately carved front door. "I'm supposed to let him know you're here, so he can make sure he doesn't look foolish when you walk in, but if you'd like to just enter...?"

Again. Cat.

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm so curious now," she admitted. Which of course meant she had to start for the door. Getting to tease Adrian was one of her favorite things. "Have fun with your plans tonight."

[witchoftheflesh]

"Already off to an excellent start," Boston said, leaping down from the porch railing and heading off into the night.

Through the door, Rey would realize that most of the space was taken up by a single vaulted room that seemed to be a combination kitchen and workshop. Where they weren't pierced with tall antique-glass windows, the wooden walls were covered with built-in shelves containing every sort of witchy ingredient from rosemary to dried snakes. One entire corner was dedicated to a fieldstone fireplace with a massive cauldron hanging from an iron chain at its center. The kitchen area beside it had a wood-fired iron stove along with a deep enameled sink and a spice cabinet the size of a wardrobe. Well-used copper pots and pans hung from an iron rack above the wooden island, which had a second cauldron stowed beneath it as well as rows of glass bottles in all different shapes and sizes.

For potions, of course.

A small bedroom lay off to one side of the workshop, and a door out the back led to a glassed-in greenhouse patio that was already full of plants. The ceiling was steeply pointed and braced with massive oak beams, one of which supported a ladder-accessed loft that appeared to be Adrian's office. There were several bookcases up there along with a large circular window to let in the light, a comfy-looking pile of cushions for reading, and, oddly, a laptop computer. Other than that, nothing in the house seemed to use electricity, though the solar panels in the roof suggested it certainly could.

"Is that you, Boston?" Adrian called, glancing over his shoulder. "Is Rey--Rey!"

[thatwaslucky]

"Am I interrupting?" she asked lightly, and was she kind of hoping he was doing something foolish? Maybe. Blame the cat.

[witchoftheflesh]

Did indulging in a rare bit of vanity count? Because Adrian had absolutely been trying to get his curls to lay properly - which they absolutely were not doing - and muttering to himself about having an entire store's worth of hair gel to choose from and foolishly not picking up any of it.

"Ah, no! Just surprised! I though Boston was going to keep an eye out for you!" he said, sounding normal and cool and not at all sheepish. "Welcome to my Grove!"

[thatwaslucky]

You know what Rey would never say? That his familiar sold him out. Because this was cute.

Instead she smiled and walked over to his cool and normal self and said, "I'm glad I'm here. It smells amazing."

[witchoftheflesh]

It was fine. Adrian was going to have a talk with his familiar about what 'keep an eye out' meant, but that was later. Now he was leaning in for a kiss, happy to take her coat or anything if she had one. "I'd give you the grand tour, but you can pretty much see everything from here," he said. "At least of my cabin." He patted the fireplace with a pleased hand. "Traveled all the way from Massachusetts with me without a scratch."

[thatwaslucky]

"I don't even know what it means when you say that and yet I'm not surprised," Rey realized, looking around.

[witchoftheflesh]

"It was pocket-sized when I arrived," Adrian explained. 'Explained.' "When I got here and started the Grove, I put it down and grew it again. I mean, I wasn't going to leave it behind! Do you know how long it took me to build this place?"

[thatwaslucky]

And now her attention was completely on him again. "You made this place?"

[witchoftheflesh]

"Of course," Adrian said proudly. "Not everything - if it's metal, it wasn't me - but most of it. We make everything back home."

[thatwaslucky]

"My idea of 'making everything' is very different than yours," Rey said, turning her head to take in the details. "This is incredible."

[witchoftheflesh]

"It's called witchcraft," Adrian reminds with a smile. "This is my home. I want to know every inch of it by heart. Not just because it helps with the magic, though that, too."

He escorts her over to a small table, where there's a big bowl of garden salad and a loaf of bread that's still letting off steam. "The manicotti still needs a few minutes to cook and then rest, but we can sit. Or, I could let you try to track down my heart if you wanted."

[thatwaslucky]

"Heart," Rey said without skipping a beat.

*rimshot*

[witchoftheflesh]

"I'm very not surprised," Adrian said. "Here, let's go outside."

The sun was just starting to set as they stepped onto the porch. The air inside the Grove seemed to be more; more crisp, more clear, the light a little more golden. He gestured to the woods around them. In the distance, Rey could spot the roof of the creepy not-particularly abandoned mansion through the firework display that was the leaves on the trees. "Onsen to Liliana's to the road to the hermit shack," he said, laying out the Grove's boundaries. "Somewhere, in there, I buried my heart."

[thatwaslucky]

"All right," she said, but the boundaries wouldn't be important for her. "I should only need a minute or two."

[witchoftheflesh]

"Oh!" Adrian said, delighted. "Can I watch if I promise to keep my face quiet?"

[thatwaslucky]

"You can if you keep a little bit of distance," she told him. "Which may be the only time I ever say that."

[witchoftheflesh]

Adrian waggles his eyes at her and sits down on the porch swing. "I'll stay right here," he promised. "Even if it is all cold and lonely and distant over here by myself."

[thatwaslucky]

"A couple minutes and I'll fix that," she promised right back, and headed towards the woods, where she stopped for a moment to close her eyes and focus.

Rey thought this would be a little easier, and was prepared to let Adrian's actual presence fade to her a bit as she turned her senses out into the woods around her. The tricky part was that it all felt a bit like Adrian. So she walked a bit, playing a little game of hot and cold with herself as she felt her way around with the Force.

It really was a minute or two before she stood in front of the correct tree and looked back at him to check whether she was right.

[witchoftheflesh]

The tree she stopped in front of was an old white oak, sprawling and majestic, situated close to the cabin.

"Is that your final answer?" Adrian called, keeping his face carefully blank.

[thatwaslucky]

"Final answer," she said confidently. "It's the one that feels most like you."

[witchoftheflesh]

He broke into a wide grin. "That's because that is, in fact, my heart-tree," he said. "Isn't she glorious?"

[thatwaslucky]

"She is," Rey agreed, looking up into the branches. "And your heart is just under here?"

Suddenly she was concerned she was stepping on it.

[witchoftheflesh]

"It's tucked under her roots," he said, coming to join her and pointing closer to the trunk. "Below the tree itself, you're okay." His arm dropped and he went to wrap it around Rey instead. "Cradled in some of the strongest, deepest roots the tree has."

[thatwaslucky]

She snuggled into him just because she could. "It's still a very new concept, but there's something poetic about it."

(Still weird though, sorry.)

[witchoftheflesh]

"The heart of a witch is the Blackwood, and the heart of the Blackwood is a witch." Adrian murmured. "Although, if you want to get really esoteric and weird, witches like my Aunt Muriel bury their souls."

[thatwaslucky]

"I don't even know how you'd do that, but I'm learning I probably just need to roll with it," she said.

[witchoftheflesh]

"I can't explain it," Adrian said. "Each branch of witchcraft have their secrets and that's one of them."

[thatwaslucky]

"So what kinds of secrets do you have?"

They were secrets, but it was worth a shot.

[witchoftheflesh]

"The Witch of the Flesh kind," Adrian said with a smile. "Of course."

[thatwaslucky]

"Of course. Very silly of me," she said.

[witchoftheflesh]

He gave Rey an apologetic smile. "Anything else, though, I'm an open book," he promised. "Even if I don't want to answer, or don't like the answer, I still will. Because honesty is how we grow."

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm teasing," she assured him. "Though that's a really good take on honesty."

Was there a limit on green flags? Honestly.

[witchoftheflesh]

"You can thank my mom next time you see her," he said with a laugh.

Yeah. Agatha was definitely big on honesty. Which was why Adrian knew who his dad was and also what his mother and aunts were, too, definitely.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey smiled, but told him, "Seriously. I appreciate that."

It'd been kind of lacking in her last relationship, which was what made the end of it so tough.

[witchoftheflesh]

One of the (very few) benefits of the agreement his coven had with the warlocks: no men meant no chance to learn toxic masculinity!

Her shifted, turning them around to head back to the house. "I like that conversation much more than the continued embarrassing adventures of Tiny Adrian."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey shook her head, letting herself be led. "We're going to have to agree to disagree there."

[witchoftheflesh]

"Or you could believe me," Adrian suggested. "I feel like that's also an option."

[thatwaslucky]

"I do," Rey said. "I just like hearing about that sort of thing."

[witchoftheflesh]

Adrian gave her a soft smile, thinking about her own childhood. "I'm going to keep grumbling about it, because it's funny, but you're welcome to keep asking for stories. Your curiosity is one of my favorite things about you. You're in love with the whole universe, and it shows."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey stopped walking, taking a moment to really consider him.

"I'm pretty sure there's no one else who sees me the way you do," she realized.

[witchoftheflesh]

"Really?" Adrian asked, looking at her curiously. "I don't see how they can't. It's so obvious in everything you do."

[thatwaslucky]

"Maybe they're not saying it," she allowed, though she really didn't think that was the case. "But I'm glad you do."