#scene.

hhhhr gg.

Hubs: I bet I could get her to eat this sweet potato out of my mouth.

Me: DO IT, YOU WONT!

Hubs: *puts LARGE chunk of sweet potato in his mouth*

PAUSE- in case you’re not sure, giraffes are HUGE. Their heads are enormous, so just imagine how long their big purple tongues are.

Okay, PLAY.

Giraffe: *wraps entire tongue around hubs’ face.*

Zoo keeper: *flustered AF* SIR! Please keep it in your species!!!

Me: 🤣🤣🤣📸📸📸🍿🍿🍿🦒🦒🦒

Evelyn Morley was not herself. As delighted as she was to have Balfour home, it wasn’t necessarily a good sign. And that was only confirmed when he shared that Feiyan was in pain. Feiyan is in pain. Feiyan is not okay. The thought bounced around her skull, violently, leaving a headache as it impacted against her temples. 

Like always, after every tense meeting, Eve went towards the gardens, knowing she shouldn’t bother Balfour unless he sought her out. Questions later. Right now, she needed the steadiness of her flowers and plants around her and the comfort of their whispers.

Angry grey clouds crawled across the sky, swallowing the sun. The heavy heat of a storm was low in the air, tight with a tension desperate to snap into place. A drizzle, light enough that she could ignore it and sit cross-legged in the grass and under the protection of a thick canopy of trees, eyes closing, sinking into memories and worries.

The rain came stronger and when she opened her eyes again, after what seemed like a while, she registered the way her clothes were clinging to her skin and her hair was slick. Blinking against the drops, her head tilted up, a gasp at the attack on her face escaping her. There was no ignoring it any longer, even if she hadn’t had the chance to calm the racing of her heart. She reached out, pressing her hand into the dirt. Close. A hum of magic poured out from her veins and into the earth, closing the petals of the delicate flowers against the storm.

Only... they didn’t listen. She could feel the resistance of her garden, fighting against her and Evelyn recoiled back as if she had been slapped. Instead of closing, everything started to grow. “No. Stop. Stop.” A muscle in her jaw jumped, eyebrows tight together, as she willed her garden to do her bidding, memories of before she had control of her magic blinding her, panic a tumour in her chest she couldn’t breathe around. The garden ignored her still and she jumped away from the tree to her feet, feel the bark moving around her, the roots starting to make the earth rise as the tree shot towards the violent sky.

“Stop. Stop. STOP. Fuck, fuck, shit, fuck, shit, fuck. Stop, stop, stop.” She swirled around on the spot, watching her garden go from beautiful and neat to wild and untamed. “KIAN––” Evelyn shouted, because he was the one person that always made her feel safe and she had learned to control her powers by his side. 

“KIAN! SOMEBODY! PLEASE!”

Tomorrow was for packing; for wild whirring around the Lair and handing Daniel a list of the plants in the garden and the tending to they would need while she was gone. Today was for preparation. The morning had been disappeared, stolen away by the haphazard research she’d done. Her eyes had barely roamed over the page before she was on the next, looking for anything that jumped out at her, breakfast tasteless as she wolfed it down, knowing Kian ( and Marcella –– she had cooked for her, after all ) would have wanted her to mind herself, even in the spinning chaos.

Once she had decided there was nothing valuable in the books Ziyu had pulled, ( they’d had to clean messes before but not quite to this extent ), there seemed only one thing left to do in advance of her travels.

And so, her eyebrows knotted together, feet planted apart on the ground. A muscle in her jaw jumped with tension as she dipped down into her magic, feeling it blossom, tasting it in her mouth. 

Practice.

The oak tree was one of her favourites and she had asked it first, before she started her little experiment. It was heavy, strong, its roots creeping deep; which was why it was such a good choice. It wouldn’t be easy to move. It shuddered and was soon kicking up the earth as it started to stand and lift up from the ground. 

She felt the presence beside her and although she didn’t look away from the tree, a soft smile pulled at Evelyn’s lips. Sweat beaded on her brow as she loosed her magic. “I doubt it’ll be so... easy in Toronto.”

Disappointment tasted bitter. It still stung, and it had stung the entire walk back to Marcella’s. They’d found nothing. It was a long shot, but one she had crossed her fingers for nonetheless. It’s okay. It’s fine. But it wasn’t because she had failed Feiyan and broken her promise to her first self. She needed to find her. Time was slipping by, violently now. Evelyn sunk into the couch, chin propped up by her fist. “I’m sorry for dragging you out today. I’m sorry we didn’t find anything.” Her eyes cast up, catching Marcella’s, and even in her disappointment she couldn’t help the very real awareness of being in Marcella’s apartment, far from her cozy room in the Lair. With that awareness, echoes of the determination that had set in when she put on the wreath of flowers. When she had seen the ring on her first self’s finger. 

The same determination that clung to her all day, in the moments she cast a glance to Marcella to see her sharp cheekbones, the shape of her nose. “Thank you, though. For trying.”

It was late, but that didn’t matter. She’d spent a long time in her room, too long really, with the wreath of flowers on her head, watching the vines gently winding their way around the room. It was a poor imitation of how she’d felt when she had met her first self, but echoes of that warmth had kept her in her room, lost to the moment. And finally, although she worried that if she left the magic might fade, she closed the door behind her, because she knew she had someone she needed to talk to.

She knew where to find him too.

“Daniel–––” and worried as she was about the leylines and Feiyan and everything in between, Eve burst into a familiar smile. She’d been gone from the Lair a whole eighteen days.

She was allowed to be excited about being home, about seeing everybody again.

Besides, she did have wonderful news to share. 

“It’s really good to see you. Really, really good. I missed you. Toronto was crazy, which is exactly why I’m here. You might want to sit down for this. I mean, you already are sitting down, but sit down figuratively.” It seemed like a good idea for her to sit down too. She pulled out a chair, arms crossing to keep herself from fidgeting as she spoke. Her knee bounced under the table, giving her a slight tremor and making sitting down entirely pointless. “Okay so.” She took a deep breath, trying to find the right words.

They didn’t come.