Blackwood Grove, Saturday Afternoon

[witchoftheflesh]

Adrian turned in a slow circle, examining his Grove from every angle, his brows drawing together and his shoulders slumping. The damage was...extensive. Not catastrophic, thank the Forest, but not far off, either. 'Devastated' might be about right.

Naked branches clawed at the sky. Tree trunks were withered and twisted. The grass was dried and yellow under his feet, crumbling to dust wherever he stepped. The soil was thin and powdery and several of his reservoir rocks had split or shattered. Even the air felt thin here. He laid a hand on his heart tree, the acorns all paper-thin husks scattered across the ground.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to the great oak, which seemed a little diminished under his touch. "I was a poor steward to you. You are my responsibility and I failed. I'm sorry. I'll do better, I swear. Just..." He looked around again. He wasn't even sure where to begin to fix the damage he'd caused. "Just keep going. I'll swear, you'll be strong and healthy again."

"Adrian!" A yowl as a black blur streaked from the cabin to his side. "Adrian, what happened? How did this happen? What did you do?"

Adrian looked down at the accusatory face of his familiar and winced a bit. "C'mon," he said, holding his arms out to Boston. "I'll explain inside. We've got a lot of work to do."

[Open, though Pam's thread is canonically last!]

Comments

[joan_of_bark]

"There was... something in the swamp," Pam said quietly. "It stripped me of the lamia. Gave me back my powers, my life."

She shot Adrian a wry look. "Apparently I'm one of the 'troublesome' ones."

[witchoftheflesh]

"Oh, I am so surprised," Adrian deadpanned. "I never would have guessed." He softened a bit, though. "I'm really happy for you. Even now you feel a little more..." He looked for a good way to phrase it. "Comfortable, I think. In exactly who and what you are."

[joan_of_bark]

Pam held up her arm and watched the moss play along her skin. "It was traumatic, for me," she said softly. "When I was stripped of most of my connection to the Green."

A little marigold sprouted right over her wrist.

"It took me months just to stop... wanting to end it."

[witchoftheflesh]

"I understand," Adrian said. "Or, at least, can empathize. I don't know what I'd do if my connection to my Grove was stripped away. That's...that's one of the things I struggled so hard against being a warlock. Because it would take away all my magic and fill me with his." He pulled a face. "And, you know. The enslaving demons part. Um. Not to make it all about me," he added hastily. "Just saying. I can see where that would leave you traumatized and like part of you was stripped away, too."

[joan_of_bark]

"It's fine, Adrian," Pam said softly. "I'm glad you managed to get out of that. Having yourself stripped from you.."

[witchoftheflesh]

He nodded. "I just don't want to lose sight of the fact that while it was hard for me to watch, it actually happened to you."

[joan_of_bark]

"And I didn't handle it well," Pam murmured.

[witchoftheflesh]

"Can you name someone who would?" he countered.

[joan_of_bark]

"I think most people wouldn't lash out the way I did," Pam said quietly, "Or create the situation that I did."

She tugged on her ponytail. "But it's over now," she said. "I'm whole again."

[witchoftheflesh]

"You gave your life to stop it," Adrian said, just as softly. "Maybe that doesn't mean much to you, but it does to me."

It was funny, how he could have hated something so much but respected it at the same time.

"Now I'm excited to see what you'll do, whole and fully who you are."

But maybe just a little less eating people?

[joan_of_bark]

Adorable.

"I'd love for you to come see the marsh next week," Pam said, with a little smile. "Once we get more of a sense of what it is now."

[witchoftheflesh]

"Well, I did have most of next week blocked off for 'desperately fixing my Grove,' but, uhhh, considering that's handled?" He gave Pam a smile. "I'd love to."

[joan_of_bark]

"Thank you."

Pam put one foot back on the soil.

"And please let me know if there's anything the Grove needs in the next few weeks," she said. "I'm going to have to fix our garden, too."

[witchoftheflesh]

"Yeah, sorry about that," Adrian said a little sheepishly. "I was kinda grabbing from wherever I could."

[joan_of_bark]

"Adrian," Pam said, shooting him a fondly exasperated look. "Honey."

[witchoftheflesh]

"Right, right, no apologizing for things done as part of an emergency response," Adrian said hastily. "Got it."

It was, honestly, a good and fair rule.

"How are Janet and Harley...s doing after all that?"

[joan_of_bark]

"Janet is calming down," Pam said. "My Harley is doing well, though she doesn't like being in the swamp for this long. This Harley... I don't know. I haven't seen her since you left."

[witchoftheflesh]

"I can't imagine," Adrian drawled. "That cabin has such amazing amenities and all."

[joan_of_bark]

"Guys who live in the woods don't get to throw stones at other people's cabins," Pam said dryly.

[witchoftheflesh]

"Are you really comparing my cabin to that shack?!" Adrian asked, appalled.

[joan_of_bark]

"Did I miss you having running water or access to the sewer?"

[witchoftheflesh]

"...Apparently?" Adrian said, looking at her in confusion and growing horror. "I mean, I have a septic tank, not access to the sewer, but otherwise...Do you think I've been running around unwashed this entire time? With Maryland's water table?"

[joan_of_bark]

"No, but I assumed you picked up your water the old-fashioned way," Pam pointed out. "Since the Grove is a little old-fashioned."

[witchoftheflesh]

Adrian continued to look at her, scandalized. "I mean, yes, there is a well system, but it's not like that. It's pumped up from the aquifer below us."

[joan_of_bark]

"So you don't have running water."