The Beach by Midnight Manor, Saturday Afternoon

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Okay, so the stuff Dean had given her had tasted horrible but had worked wonders. She still wasn't up to snuff - she got tired and winded easily and she was still pretty pale and sore, but she was no longer alternating between chills and fever and that feeling of something off, something wrong had gone away, flushed out with the last of the bronze. She'd lost enough weight that it was noticeable and not in a good way, but she'd at least escaped looking gaunt. In short, she looked like someone who'd gone through some kind of dreadful wasting illness, but at least was now on the mend.

Which, you know, made sense. She wasn't exactly sure the difference between a severe poisoning and a severe illness in regards to toll on the body, but she guessed that they weren't too dissimilar?

Either way, she might look like she'd been dragged down a mile and a half of bad road, but that was still an improvement overall from looking like she'd been dragged down six miles of that very same road, and was celebrating by leaving the roof for a little while and heading down to the beach. She didn't get far before she had to stop and take a rest, but progress was still progress, dammit. She'd successfully made it here under her own power and she'd make it back up to her nest the same way.

...She might just be here for awhile resting up for that climb. Maybe she should let some folks know she was here since she was likely not going anywhere for a hot minute.

[Open!]

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[what_big_teeth]

Eleanor had put together a few things for Arden. Nothing too complicated or involved, just a lot of the most simple, rudimentary combination of plants and herbs to aid in recovery, in potions and tinctures and teas, salves for soothing muscles and better breathing, little bundles meant to go under pillows for better sleeping. She didn't know if much of it would work; she felt that this kind of magic was mostly just a little bit of basic homeopathy and a whole lot of willful, wishful thinking, but this was her first big step toward following in Persephone's footsteps. This was what her grandmother had done, mixing together concoctions and bringing them to the villagers, to ease their pains or worries or heal their wounds both spiritual and physical, to bridge the gap. To keep the pitchforks at bay. To maintain the peace between them and the monsters on the hill.

Granted, she didn't exactly imagine she had to pacify Arden, she was just doing it as a friend, but as she gathered the things into a basket--as well as a few other things, too: a small book of poetry, a fancy little journal with a nice pen, a book of crossword puzzles, and a small box of candy--she couldn't help feeling like maybe she'd finally started working toward the things her grandmother would have been teaching her to do if it weren't for her untimely death at the shock of reading Eleanor's future.

But that was neither here nor there, as Eleanor started her way toward Midnight to visit Arden and give her her little care basket. Of course she'd taken the way along the beach, and a good thing, too, because there she spotted the exact person she was looking for.

"Hi, Arden," she said, coming up to her with a small smile and shifting the basket a little. "How are you feeling?"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden glanced up at Ellie and gave her a tired smile. "Tired," she admitted. "And, believe it or not, this is way better than I've been since last weekend."

Had it already been a week? Had it really only been a week?

"How're you? I'm sorry I've been monopolizing all of Kam's free time."

[what_big_teeth]

Smiling faintly, Eleanor shook her head. "It's alright," she said. "I don't mind sharing.

"Would you like company? I was actually on my way to bring this," she lifted the well-packed basket for emphasis, "to you, but I can just leave it for you here or at the house if you just want to be by yourself a little."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden patted the ground next to her. "I like talking to you," she said. She also needed to talk to Ellie, but she was pretty sure that if she said that, Ellie's anxiety would skyrocket. (Mood)

"Come sit and tell me what's in the basket?"

[what_big_teeth]

"It isn't much," Eleanor admitted, as she went and sat down, the basket between them so she could rifle through it as she explained, "and I'm not even sure how well any of it will work. You're actually the first person I've made any of this stuff for, but it's...I don't know, my grandmother would call them potions and tinctures, but they're just stuff to make you feel better. Some teas that are supposed to help but taste terrible. These sachets are probably the best, they're supposed to go under you pillow to help you sleep better. And other stuff to help make it easier to just sit and rest, some books, puzzles, poetry, snacks..."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Ooh," Arden said, looking through the basket with curiosity. "This is what you wanna do, right? Make teas and potions and things? I think we talked about that before. Apothecary things."

She lifted up the one of the sachets and inhaled. "Ohhh this one smells really pretty."

[what_big_teeth]

"That's from the lemon verbena, probably," Eleanor said, with a bit more of her smile because of course that would be the one Arden liked, too, it seemed pretty popular all around. "It's also supposed to help give your dreams a sense of lightness, nothing too heavy or intense, you know?

"But, yeah. It's what I've been learning to do."

Saying it was what she wanted to do felt pretty generous, especially when obligated to felt more accurate.

"It's what my grandmother used to do. So sort of the family business."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Considering her dreams were the one thing that wasn't improving with the onset of Dean's antidote, Arden could use some of that. "I'll tuck this under my pillow as soon as I get back up to my nest," she said. "I could use a few nights of light dreams."

Kamala and Cal would probably appreciate that, too.

"I think I remember you saying that, yeah. About your grandmother. Are you getting a botany degree?"

[what_big_teeth]

"I sort of need to worry about getting that high school degree first," Eleanor admitted a little wryly.

Ah, to be in that awkward transition class in the shift toward higher education...

"But that's not all bad idea," she aallowed. "I haven't really given it much thought yet."

Her head tilted curiously at Arden.

"How about you? Do you know what you want to go for?"

[napking]

Gray had been out flying when he noticed someone on the beach and came in for a landing.

"Well, you look like trash." Great, Gray. Great opening.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Flying. It was a good thing Daman wasn't here at the moment.

Arden stuck her tongue out at Gray's comment but couldn't contest facts. "And this is after a week's rest and healing," she admitted.

[napking]

Gray put his wings away before he offered, "I might be able to help with that?" with a little wiggle of his fingers. "I'm not quite as good as Al, but." He shrugged. Al was Al.

Raiden would probably be more help, because one look at Arden would send his feed people instincts into full overdrive.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Raiden's approach wouldn't be the worst one, honestly.

"Is anyone as good as Alastair at anything?" Arden asked with a smile and a 'feel free' gesture. "I really appreciated him coming over that night. I know he said it didn't help much but it made a world of difference."

[napking]

"Depends on who's answering," Gray sighed as he flopped down on the sand next to Arden. "Al or Pride. We're not strong healers, at least not on our own. I've known witches who could do way more. And Pride hates that. But how are you doing? I haven't seen you since...before you had nails put in your arm..."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Back at his place, Adrian was nodding.

"Does it help to know they were flat, at least?" Arden asked. And then heard her question and immediately shook her head. "Probably not, sorry. Wanna skip to the part where I'm doing better? Look how far I walked!"

She pointed to the top of Midnight, where her nest was, down the set of external stairs that appeared when needed, to their present location on the beach.

This was very exciting for her, Gray. Please clap.

[napking]

Gray just let his expression speak for him in reply to that first question: no, Arden. No, it did not help.

He knew from Sloth how far 'across the room' could be sometimes, so he said in all earnestness, "Wow, good job," before asking, "You gonna need help getting back up there? Or nah?" Because he also knew allllll about not wanting the help.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

She shook her head, looking stubborn. "No thanks," she said. "I'm gonna get back up there under my own power."

Just...not right away. She was enjoying this nice patch of beach. In October. Sure. Although now that her powers were working again, she didn't really notice outside temperatures, at least not until they dropped below freezing or rose above about 85 degrees. Between those two, the air around her warmed or cooled to a comfortable temperature.

"I'm not used to recovering this slowly, so it's nice doing something to prove that I can, you know? Even if it's just something as silly as walking down to the beach and back."

[wildgalegirl]

Charlie was wandering about, as Charlie was wont to do of a Saturday morning before heading out over the Causeway for some fun, when she saw a familiar rather bedraggled looking figure.

"You look terrible," Charlie said honestly, and wrinkled her nose a little, "but you feel better to me. Beach helping you?"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Everybody keeps saying that," Arden said, laughing weakly, though the wheezing rasp was gone. I feel a bunch better. And beach is just about as far as I got under my own power."

[wildgalegirl]

"Pretty impressive given you were practically dead the other day," Charlie pointed out as offhandedly as if mentioning the weather. "So good work and do you need someone to carry you home?"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"The nails were in my skin long enough to start having my body absorb some," she said. "Which meant that I had residual bronze in my system. Dean's antidote fixed that problem, and it's amazing how much better you feel when you're not still low-key being poisoned."

At Charlie's offer, though, she shook her head, looking determined. "I got here under my own power, I'm gonna get back by it, too."

And then was going to collapse back into her nest and pay for her bravado, which Charlie was absolutely allowed to send 'I told you so' vibes across the aether about.

[wildgalegirl]

"Can I watch while I eat popcorn and cheer you on?" Charlie asked, strumming a few chords of 'Brave Sir Robin', which might just have carried a strengthening and encouraging charm along with it. "I promise I'd be well behaved."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I'll believe that when I see it," Arden snorted. "But sure. When I head back you are free to watch me stubborn my way up to the roof. Just promise me you'll ignore any indignities and will swear to everyone else that I was the epitome of grace and poise."

[wildgalegirl]

"But of course," Charlie said. "To do otherwise would break the friendship code, so I would never."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"See? You understand," Arden said with a firm nod.

It was like how she always gassed up Eleanor to Kamala's family. Friends help friends.