spirit_touched | Lost in the Gardens

She didn't know what it was, a sharp pulse in the air that took her breath away. Tim, her boss, told her to drop what she was doing and go look, a strange knowing in the shamans eyes. Distrustful of that expression, Ana was reluctant but went anyway, gathering her back and her magically charged coat.

Prepared and protected, the coat like armour to most things, Ana latched on to the residual touch of magic in the air and followed it to it's source, quickly finding herself in the Gardens of her city. Following the main path, and cutting across a neat green lawn to the gathering of figs close to the university, Ana slowed as she felt herself get close. Reaching for her personal wards and readying them, she peered into the shadows. Someone was there. Someone vibrant, their aural signiture like a brilliant band of colour.

What were they?

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Lips that were so close to her, on a handsome face that was watching her closely, concerned for her welfare.

'Is this place safe? Is there somewhere you'd like me to take you? I take directions well.' it's meant innocently enough, yet.

Anas cheeks burn but she nods. "Ah... yeah. I work not too far from here, but this place is pretty safe. No wild beasties here."

Except for him. And... her.

She figited in his arms. "You can put me down you know."

'As you like, my Lady.' he sets her down, carefully, though doesn't step away from her, he's only inches, now, in case she will fall, if she does she will only land against him, or in his grasp.

She manages to stand and away from him her head begand to clear and she felt a gentle reprimand for letting herself get so carried away but a simple touch.

Sighing, knowing she will pay for it later, Ana gave Torin a small smile.

"Ah. I have to go work but... my hospitality is yours and my help. If there's anything I can do."

'Where should I go? In this Bris... bane place?' he really doesn't no where to go, other than stay here, in the trees. 'I suppose I could stay here...'

"You could come with me. Better than being alone in a place you don't know." And there was the matter of Tim.

"And I know someone who could try helping? He's a shaman."

'Would that be all right? If magic isn't so common, perhaps I ought to stay out of sight.' disappear into the woods if he must.

"You wouldn't be the first stray. So to speak." She stepped away, heading for the path.

"It's a strange world this one. Better with friends."

'Then lead the way, my lady.' he smiled then, though still faint and concerned it was like sunshine after a shower.

Ana gave a small smile before stepping into the warm sun. trusting him to keep up, Ana started walking for the main gate.

"You might want to glamour away your weapons. People don't carry them upon their person normally. Just asking for trouble."

He does keep up, easily, though unless she can see him, she probably wouldn't know it for as quiet as he walks. 'People do not?' yet he takes her word in spite of his own confusion, and the weapons are quickly out of sight, though if he merely hid them or put them away somehow, isn't entirely clear.

"No. It's actually frowned upon." Unless you looked like were in costume... Which he did but that was something she'd deal with later when they got to it.

She glanced over her shoulder to check he followed and led him oput of the gates towards the road where the traffic passed with the sounds of engines. It was always a sad thing stepping out of the gardens to return to the city, moving from one territory to another.

She was just glad there was as much green on the streets as there was.

Only, he all but freezes, still as a statue when he spots the first car and it all sounds so loud. He's never seen, or heard anything like it though it sounds distinctly unnatural and he wants for nothing more right now than to vanish into a forest.

She stops and after a moment swears before back tracking.

"hey, hey, easy. We just have to cross the street and we're home, okay?" She pointed out a store, built like a two storied family home that stubbornly contrasted with the city around it.

"You don't have to be scared."

'I...' it's not fear so much as it is complete bafflement, and an utter lack of comprehension, he's never seen anything like that, not even a little and he doesn't understand what his eyes are showing him, or the noise of it.

'What is...'

"They're transport. Like metal carriages." Gingerly she lays a hand on his shoulder, braced for the feel of his magic.

Her legs don't buckle. Good.

"I'll explain later but it's best if we get inside first."

It's like putting a fish in a desert, but he follows her, if she wants to lead, which would be best so he didn't walk off into a car by accident.

'It's so loud.' More so to his ears.

"You get used to it." She said leading him to the intersection to cross. She presses the switch and waits. "When those lights go red, those cars will stop and we can cross."

'But this is not magic.' he put his hand on the pole and he can't really feel anything but the cold metal, which he doesn't like and moves back, unconsciously closer to her, to the blip of warmth, other life within all this mess of manmade things.

"No. it's technology. Science." she said as he stood close to her, again aware of his warmth. "But I promise you, inside the store... Life everywhere. Herbs, crystals, plants. Growing living things."

It helped that the shop itself was like a TARDIS, bigger than it looked, bigger than what was possible for what looked lijke a two story house.

She leads him across when the traffic paused and up to the house. Crossing the threshold to the property, she feels the thrum of all the energy gathered there. The trees in the yard that hid the patch of grass and growing garden from outside eyes, the house that almost seemed alive in it's own right and Tim's signiture thrum of power.

'Science?' he'd never heard the word, the place he's from is, well, worlds away from her, in so many more ways than magic or fashion alone. Still, he follows her quite closely even as he stares, until he's inside the store, which is slightly better.

'This place, it's very loud...'

"Very crowded." Ana says. The storefront is filled with crystals and other items. taking him by the hand, she leads him through the main area to the back where it was much quieter, only the whsipered hush of herbs and books to disturb the silence.

"Sorry, not every day we get a... What.. What are you if you don't mind my asking?" she asks, not noticing that her hand still holds his.

That's even better, and he focuses on her again, on the hand in his which he gently rubs, traces lines over with his thumb. His hands are strong, not entirely calloused but they're not just smooth, either.

'My father is an elf, my mother a nymph, a bit of a half breed.' but he doesn't sound like he minds, or that it's an insult.

"Oh... oh." She's not that far away from him. "Elf and nymph. That explains the... Presence."

And just why she feels a desperate need to get closer and touch him. Why wasn't Tim coming down to see them? Where was he?

"I'm... sorry you're very... Are you aware of what you're doing?"

'I'm still holding your hand?' he says, with a mild shrug. 'I can let go if you don't like it?' otherwise, no, it's not intentional, it's just him. His warmth and presence and magic that isn't likely to go anywhere anytime soon.