[visual]

[thornandmoss]

Briar is stretched out on the peak at the center of a slanted roof, a makeshift shelf for building supplies set up next to him. He has obviously just finished modifying the roof, widening the ridgepole of it. Not to make it easier to reach, but to give him a comfortable seat when he does. Briar leans back and rests his elbows on the lip of the chimney, the weather warm enough that no fire is lit below. Running water forms faint background noise, his home located not far from the river.

"Has anyone else noticed how strange the plant life here is?" he asks idly, alternately basking in the sun and enjoying the view. The garden, the sun, and the cloudwatching are all doing him more good than he can say after recent events. Being up on a roof always did seem to help some.

During Briar's first explorations of the city, he made note of both familiar and unfamiliar plants, anything he could find as many of them went dormant for the colder months. "The weather here fluctuates more than the usual climate for a lot of vegetation I've found. I wondered whether they adapted to cope with a wider variety of temperatures and rainfall levels." He pauses, frowning. "But they haven't."

Briar's garden stands out in stark contrast to the neighboring areas to someone who knows what he's looking for. Seeing it from above only makes what he has already observed from ground level even clearer. "My garden is still growing what I planted in it recently, but nearby? That's different. There's plants that weren't there before, plants that wouldn't have survived the colder months here. Decade-old trees that hate cold temperatures are flourishing, and they weren't in the city when we got snow."

He grins now, informing everyone, "Fruit trees that weren't even around to get pollinated are in season. I've transplanted some vegetables that are near the end of their growing cycle but definitely weren't last time I checked them. If anyone wants lemons or oranges, I've found a lot. I've also got--" He reaches into his pocket, retrieving a brown and fuzzy-skinned oblong fruit. Briar peels half of it with a small knife, biting into the juicy green fruit inside. He chews, swallows, and smiles again. "I don't know the name for these, but they're good."

He shrugs a shoulder. "I'm in the northwest district, Wilde, a mile upriver from the tram line to the center of the city." City still seemed a misleading word, given the massive size of the place. "You're welcome to stop by and visit if you'd like some fruit or some company." Briar adds as an afterthought, "Or a sparring partner. I haven't gotten much practice with a staff lately."

Comments

visual;

[sourcebloodaughter]

"That place looks nice," Ashley offers before she gets down to business. "I'm not much of a gardener, so, no, I haven't noticed. Kinda cool, though. And I don't really have much experience with a staff, but Mom always made me keep my skills up."

It couldn't hurt to train some more, even if she wasn't using a gun or a staff. After the fight with Buffy, Ashley had realized she would need a little more work on dealing with unarmed combat with these new abilities if she was going to survive here.

"You want some company?"

visual;

[thornandmoss]

Briar grins and nods his thanks at her comment. He's quite happy with the house he chose, as well as with his improvement to the roof. The fact that there was no way to comfortably spend time there was the only thing Briar had disliked about the property. And as for the plants, he agrees to a point. "Right now, it's interesting. I think I'll like it until the weather shifts drastically and I have to rescue everything from the garden." Briar punctuates this concern with a small silly grimace, appreciating the opportunity to study unfamiliar plants even with the drawbacks that accompany it.

Ashley's offer draws another grin. "I would hardly say no to company from someone so pretty," he tells her, tone light and friendly. "I'm Briar, by the way. I don't think we've talked before."

visual;

[sourcebloodaughter]

"I take it you're a gardener, then."

She's already getting herself ready to make the trip. But, of course, when he really answers, she has to stop and blink at him in nervous uncertainty. Did he just compliment her? Or was that a flirt? Or both. Probably both. Ashley had never had anyone flirt with her before and the last guy who had asked her out had ended up gutted on the floor. She didn't think the same thing would happen here, but not being well-versed in things like this meant she wasn't quite sure how to react. So she just... ignored it for the moment.

"Ashley. I don't think so, either. But I'll be there in a minute, okay?"

She takes a good look at the surroundings, finding a place not far in the distance that she can use to teleport into and literally half a minute later, she's appearing there in the flash of purple light. She jogs the rest of the way up to the house.

"Hey!"

visual --> location;

[thornandmoss]

Briar nods. "I have a bit of an affinity for plants," he informs Ashley with a smile. This is obvious when she arrives. Every plant in the garden and surrounding his house is thriving.

He doesn't miss Ashley's pause at the compliment; not defensive, but unsure. She probably isn't used to flirting. Briar never lies when he flirts, though, so he sees no reason to regret complimenting a woman unless it really makes her uncomfortable. Whatever Briar says, he means.

Briar raises his eyebrows at her swift appearance. "Not even a minute. Were you nearby, or...?" Briar isn't sure of the word for what she used otherwise. "I'll be right down," he tells her, "unless you want to join me up here."

location;

[sourcebloodaughter]

"Cool." Completely unmoved by the idea of affinity with anything, Ashley makes her way closer to the house, examining the structure and the way some of the vines were crawling up it. "I can come up there," she offers, eying some of the plants up at the top now. "It's a teleportation ability. I don't really use it much, but I thought it would be faster and easier this time."

She still hated what that ability meant, but it was a part of her now and she really needed to get used to using it.

"At least, I cam climb up if some of your plants don't mind me using them as a stepladder."

If he liked plants so much, she figured it was only polite to ask the best route.

[Location: Briar's House]

[allthatlife]

"I don't think anyone else has paid much attention," commented Martha, shrugging off the heavy weight of Project Indigo. She'd materialised at the bottom of the garden and called her answer up to him with a smile, shading her eyes with one hand in order to actually see him.

"I thought I'd take you up on that offer of company," she explained. "Should I come up?"

She'd prefer to keep her feet firmly on the ground, but, given that she'd once travelled through time and space in a blue box, she'd probably cope up there.

[Location: Briar's House]

[thornandmoss]

Briar laughed, sitting up and looking down toward his visitor. "I thought that might be the case. I do pay a little more attention to plants than most people do."

"It's up to you," he called down to her with a smile that only faltered a little bit at the memory of being trapped in the echo of Gyongxe. The only time they'd me since, his concern for Jenna had taken precedence over any memories. Briar did like Martha's company though, and he wouldn't refuse it. "The view's nice, but I won't make you scramble over the roof if you don't want to." The roof here presented a little bit more difficulty than the roof at Discipline had, but since his sisters didn't need to use it, it didn't bother Briar any.

[Location: Briar's House]

[allthatlife]

"And even the most enthusiastic people can't match your knowledge," she pointed out, giving him a wave. "I'll come up. If ... if you tell me how."

She didn't want to try teleporting up there. It would be impossible to make a smooth landing and she'd probably end up back on the floor in a matter of seconds if she tried it.

[Location: Briar's House]

[thornandmoss]

Grinning, he agreed amiably, "Being able to talk to them does help, even if they sometimes can't answer in a way I understand."

She sounded a little hesitant, so Briar offered, "Just come inside and upstairs. I'll help you onto the roof once you're there." As Martha entered the house, Briar slid down the roof to the half-open skylight he had climbed out of, opening it the rest of the way and sitting on the windowsill, feet hanging into the attic room.

[Location: Briar's House]

[allthatlife]

She didn't have any difficulty finding her way into the house and up to the attic. (After a moment of consideration, she left Project Indigo at the bottom of the stairs. She trusted Briar and, if someone did try to take it, they'd soon learn that it was very dangerous to mess with alien technology. She was the only person in Taxon who knew how to work the device.)

"It looks more manageable up here than it did from the ground," she noted, "Move over, then."

[apackofone]

The promise of growing fruit and vegetables has led Remus to come looking for Briar. It's taken some time, since he's not good with using the tablet yet.

His expression is wistful and vaguely longing as he walks up towards the cottage, still wearing his long, fur lined coat (robe?) despite the warmer weather.

"Hello? Is anyone home?"

[thornandmoss]

Briar is down off the roof now, but he sticks his head out the open workroom window with a friendly smile for Remus. Another new arrival to the city, Briar assumes. He hasn't paid as much attention as he ought to lately.

Carpentry seems to be the order of the day, as Briar has also built a shelf onto the windowsill and has to lean around a miniature pine tree to see the newcomer. "I'm here," he answers, "You can come inside, or I'll come out there if you'd rather."

[apackofone]

"Oh, well, it's your house, so really, I'll leave it to you," Remus calls back, amiable to the bitter end.

[thornandmoss]

He nods then disappears back into the house, voice drifting out the window. "Just a minute."

True to his word, Briar appears at the door to the house quickly enough, beckoning Remus over. "I'm Briar." He starts with that, since he hadn't mentioned it when he spoke over the tablet. He waits for the other man's name, then invites him in. "I haven't put a bench in the garden yet, so there's not really a good place to sit out there," Briar explains with a shrug. "What can I do for you?"

He leads the way into the house's kitchen. A plain, sturdy table with four chairs rests under a window with a view of the garden.

[apackofone]

"Remus Lupin." He bows his head and follows as gestured. "I rather like gardening, honestly. I have some experience providing for myself, gardening, hunting, I was rather hoping to keep living that life style here."

[visual]

[hasaheart]

When Cain catches Briar's message, he can't help but feel a touch relieved. After the general stress of the past few weeks, not counting the hardships of the latest city-wide malfunction, he's far overdue for a friendly chat in a soothing environment.

And that house looks like something from his childhood, though the memories are distant and fuzzy around the edges.

"Okay, now I'm officially jealous," he tells Briar over the link, and the smile doesn't feel too strained, even if he can feel a headache coming on.

"That's a real nice place you've found for yourself."

[visual]

[thornandmoss]

Briar smiles, a real one, unencumbered by any memories from recent events. It has been too long since he saw the city's other gardener. "I am rather fond of it," Briar admits. "Taxon isn't home, but this place is pretty comfortable."

Home is complicated, and Taxon is a big beautiful prison, but this house is his. Briar's now flourishing garden is the closest to feeling at home he has come in a very long time.

[visual]

[hasaheart]

Cain's mouth twists itself into a small grin, which in itself is a step up from his initial smile. "There's a saying on the Other Side. 'Home is where the heart is'."

And if there's a dull pang anywhere in the general vicinity of said heart, that's his and his business alone.

"So, you say you don't mind some company? I'd love a tour of your garden if you can spare the time."

[visual]

[thornandmoss]

Briar nods, considering the saying. "This is half-home, then," he muses. "Half my heart is with people back in Emelan, but green things have always had the other half." Briar may not want the girls back in his head, but he really doesn't like the feeling of the magic threads connecting them leading nowhere, cut off by a wall between worlds. And it doesn't seem right to have a garden that's never been so much as visited by Rosethorn.

He brushes away those thoughts and answers Cain's question with a grin. "I've got nothing but time, especially for gardens and people I like."

[visual]

[hasaheart]

There's nothing left for him in the O.Z; nothing he can pin all his hopes on or look forward to. He knows there's a chance his son's alive, but how slim? He'd already gotten his hopes up one too many times before Taxon, and he doesn't feel like he can afford that same luxury here. So that means Cain's heart is in Taxon, by necessity as well as of its own volition. It makes everything that much more fragile, sets everything in a different light.

He nods over the tablet, quirking his scarred eyebrow at the younger man. Better that than be too touched by the sentiment of friendship.

"I'll take the next tram over, how about that? Can't promise I'll be good company, but I just have to see your garden."

[text]

[angry_salad]

The kid on the roof is more relieving than naught--even if the background is all wrong. He's a scrappy guy, a bit wirey. Like himself. It's the plant talk that has Arthur perking up.

He can already hear Eames' mocking tone as he uses his tablet to sent out a quick text:

I'm assuming they have no pesticides on them?

[text]

[thornandmoss]

Briar tilts his head in consideration. The meaning of the word is obvious, though, so he answers.

The ones in my garden haven't been tampered with, nor have the fruits I'm picking elsewhere. I can't vouch for every plant in the city, though.

Re: [text]

[angry_salad]

But yours are free of that stuff.

Oh my god if Arthur could cook again he'd die of happiness.

How much do you want for them?

[text]

[thornandmoss]

He just laughs and shakes his head. Briar still sees no real need to amass the prison currency, particularly not if it means taking it from his fellow prisoners.

I wasn't asking anything. If you wanted to cook something for me in exchange, though, I wouldn't say no.

Briar is still curious what the food is like in other people's worlds.

[text]

[angry_salad]

Cooking is something I can definitely do.