strangetrip | [EP] open your hands if you want to be held

Out beyond the greenhouse and the gardens, in the orchards she'd nurtured with love, and magic, and friends, Regina had stripped her usual business casual battle armor in favor of a softer mien. She rested beneath the shade of a tree, inhabited by an elemental named Manzanita, who understood nothing of fashion, everything of fornication and fertility, and laughed like a babbling brook or syrup sap at the words she didn't understand from the fashion magazines Regina read to her beneath her boughs.

At her feet or more occasionally her head, a puppy-now-nearly-a-dog sprawled, his tail thumping when his mistress laughed unusually loudly. From time to time, inexplicably, a black kitten-cat herded by a spirit Russian Blue appeared to torment the dog. Behind them in a magically constructed paddock, a mare grazed, keeping quiet watch over the antics, and less quiet watch over the picnic basket of fresh fruit (apples, and plums, and pears, and berries and cherries, oh my) on a picnic blanket at Regina's side.

The conversation that was more of a communion took a turn for the sly when Manzanita detected thoughts of a certain wolf in her not-a-druid's mind. It wasn't words, but a suggestion, perhaps Regina might leave this issue of outer-bark wholly behind. Head back, laughing, Regina (briefly, magically) shed her clothes for a light dusting of leaves. (~~Please, let me down, Mama. I'll be good.~~)

On second thought, with a flip of her wrists to replace her clothes, she murmured, "Smelling like forest is freedom enough."

[ooc: Slow because shit is real, but hit me til I scream. Find Regina in the orchards she planted at any time during this post. Avoid seeing her naked if your fireball tolerance is low. Otherwise, fireball forecast: low. Title quote: Rumi.]

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"That's a question only she will be able to answer, which takes us back to trying to contact her." Which he wasn't happy about but was willing to do.

"Mmmm." She smiled steadily up at him. "Two questions. How do you contact her at home, and what does she generally value?"

"She lives in the woods, you go into the woods and you.. find her." It might sound like he's hedging but he's not. "And both times I saw her she wanted what I valued most. The first time I refused, she wanted my wolf and I couldn't imagine what I would be without it. Not even to save my best friend. I assumed that would be what she wanted the second time, and it was... but what I valued most had changed."

"Sounds like Rumpelstiltskin." All magic has its price, dearie. "There are ways to deal with the imp. Ways to defeat his bargains. But I had decades to study him."

Sighing, she reached for the wine glass and sat up enough to take a sip. "It won't do to be at a disadvantage when negotiating with her. How did you come to know she could grant your request? What are the stories you were told about her?" The seeds of the answer would be there.

This was something Regina excelled at. It felt good, too, to let Dyson see this side of her.

"The Norn," and this is where it becomes clear that the word is both singular and plural. "Rule the destiny of gods and men, like the fates. It's said that they draw water from the well of fate and take sand that lies around it, which they pour over Yggdrasill. They are protectors of destiny, and the world tree. and they can be petitioned to change fate, for a price."

The Norn. Yggdrasil. Abruptly, Regina smiled. "I knew I recognized that name. Is it Urd you were dealing with?"

Because if it was Urd, this was a done deal. No one loved a love story more than Urd. If they promised to let her give them a 'special night' or something, she'd give his passion back just because.

And besides, even if Corbie didn't remember Urd, Urd would remember Corbie. She'd do anything for that girl.

"We aren't friends, I never asked her given name." SHe was just... the Norn.

"Mmm." Regina reached for his hand, laced her fingers with his, and drew their joined hands to her chest. "Urd always claimed she was the eldest and strongest." She tilted her chin to look up at him. "Try to trust me, wolf. Magical bargains aren't new to me."

"Being familiar with them, doesn't make them safe." Or easy. or a good idea. But he didn't pull away, he trusted her faith in herself. Even if he thought messing with the Norn was a bad idea.

She almost teased him for being such a worrywart but his Norn wasn't hers, and besides, she rather liked that he worried about her and protected her.

So instead, she murmured, "My wolf, I promise you I won't take my own life lightly. Not when it matters so much to you and my daughter." Mostly him, in the moment, but if she didn't mention Snow, he would, and instead of it being about how much she loved him, it would become something else instead.

She was correct that he would, Snow was important to her - and thus to him. So he often thought of her wellbeing.

"Since I don't think I can convince you to give up the idea, I'll be content with the promise not to be reckless with your life."

Knowing when to leave well enough alone was not a Regina strength, but she had learned, and today she let this go. There was no point in upsetting him over something that wasn't happening now or any time in the foreseeable future.

Instead, she tugged on him and pulled him down to where she could take a kiss, slow, and sweet and deep. "How do you feel about lying here in the sun with me and kissing scandalously for awhile?"

"Kiss me again," he smiled up at her, a teasing quirk of his lips. "And I'll think about it."

Amused, Regina slid her fingers into his hair and took his mouth with hers. There was nothing coy about the kiss and nothing chaste about it either. If he needed a reason to stay, she was going to give him one.

He didn't need a reason, but he did enjoy when she put all her effort into something.

He tangled his fingers in her hair and returned the kiss with equal fervor.

Regina nipped his chin when the kiss broke. "I guess that's a yes, then," she murmured and dove right back in.

[ooc: fade?]

[EP] open your hands if you want to be held

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