ttd {and I'm f l o a t i n g in a most peculiar way} linette

The Caledonian forest was vast and beautiful and there were few joys Aiden indulged in more than hiking where he could. Part of why he loved being a curse-breaker so much, though he hardly ever got paid to explore so close to home. He quite enjoyed getting lost, actually, and he'd already camped out in the wilderness the last three days just enjoying the quiet solitude. He'd already made camp for the night, spreading out his jars of blue bell flames to set up a fixed perimeter of light, before starting on casting a few wards to ensure his throat wasn't slit by either a wild animal or someone with ill-intent.

He had his tent set up, a luxury out here to be sure, but the stars were too lovely. He glanced around, amused, when his gaze settled on quite the familiar looking tree. "Guess I'm in luck, again." he murmured, trying to narrow down how much coincidence he could take. It couldn't have been the same tree, though, surely? Tree's didn't move themselves, no matter how grateful he'd been to rest against it the last few nights so he could enjoy the stars. He was loosing his damn mind as well as his bearings but he swore it was the same bloody tree, mostly because it was the perfect size for him to setup his sleeping back against and use as a backrest. "I'm starting to think you're following me." he muttered, setting up again, like he'd seemingly done the last three nights.

@Linnet Willowsong

Although she dealt with the human world rather well again, Linnet still liked disappearing off into nature whenever she got the chance. Find a forest, walk into it, and become. Sure, the technical term was morphing, she knew that, but it was such a clinical word for something so beautiful, so natural...so comfortable.

She was somewhere in Scotland, she knew that much. Beyond that it didn't really matter, so long as she was in the woodland. These days she took sensible and necessary precautions. A friend had charmed a small backpack to be water repellent to hold her clothes, and as it was one she'd bought from a British army surplus store, it was perfectly camoflaged to tuck away in the undergrowth before she transformed. She'd been doing this for several days, morphing back into her human form when the sun was at it's highest, walking for a few hours and then becoming again. Morph, photosynthesise, repeat.

The strange thing was that she felt like she wasn't alone. In her tree form Linnet was sensitive to certain things, but weirdly it flt like there was a human following her. The same feeling sensation had been there for the past 3 nights, but whn she had morphed back she had been alone. Now, as she basked in the shafts of crescent moonlight that filtered down through the larger trees into the clearing she had chosen, she felt the same sensation again. She reached for the sensation with all her senses - branches, roots, that form of touch which told her where the Sun was in the sky - realising belatedly she'd reached too far, she was changing back into her human form.

Linnet the ash tree became Linnet the witch, unclothed as trees generally are, standing in the clearing, swaying slightly as her human senses acclimatised and her eyes focussed on a young man. "Oh..." she spoke softly, surprised but not overly concerned as she glanced around for her backpack. It wasn't visible so she felt sure he hadn't discovered it, but her mind hadn't quite caught up with her body yet so she didn't move yet, just stared around the clearing, looking for all the world like some ethereal wood nymph.

Being in the line of work he was Aiden was intimately familiar with the sensation of sturdy footing suddenly giving out on you. That didn't mean that the sensation wasn't still foreign and bloody jolting. One moment he'd been sort of snoozing and the next he was on the flat of his back. The stars had been a wonderful sight, actually, but it paled in comparison with what his eyes were currently focused on once he'd sat up a bit. His tree had definitely disappeared and in its place stood a woman. A very beautiful and very naked woman, actually.

"Are you ...lost?" he asked, wondering if he'd somehow gotten lost with a bloody tree voice gruff but rueful, as he blinked, and finally looked away. What had once been a tree was definitely not one any longer, actually, and though he'd admired her stems before it was nothing to his admiration now. "I've got clothes in there." he managed, pointing vaguely towards the tent he hadn't bothered with actually using. His stuff was still inside, though, and he was pretty sure he had clean, dry clothes lying around. "If you erm, want them. And food." it would be sort of funny, how normal he was taking everything.

Maybe he'd lost his bloody marbles.

When one spent so much time morphed into tree form, but wasn't yet so advanced in elemental magic that one could morph clothes as well, nudity ceased to be relevant. It was just something that happened, and Linnet had long since ceased to be embarrassed to be seen unclothed. Besides, because she tended to morph in the middle of forests, it wasn't much of a problem most of the time anyway. Now, she remembered the sensation she'd had a couple of times, that there had been a human in the vicinity. Clearly she had been right, Her tree-instincts were becoming more accurate, or she was getting better able to understand them once she morphed back to human form.

"Are you?" she asked, realising that the man had stopped staring and was actually looking away. That was...adorable. Linnet hardly had much experience of men - at least, not the physical side of things - but she knew they didn't deal well with suddenly finding a naked woman. Speaking of which - it was a little cold in this forest and she should probably do something about that. She turned, giving the strange man a view that he probably would have quite enjoyed had he been looking and surveyed the ground for a moment before she rcognised the right pile of leaves. "Thank you, but I've got some here" she said softly, pulling out her backpack, unzipping it and tugging out her cloak, which she wrapped around herself. There, that was much better. For some reason her feet didn't seem to get cold, and while a cloak would hardly be practical for a town, as far as Linnet was concerned this was all she needed to keep warm here.

Now she had been human for a few minutes, her mind was working that way again. She realised she was grateful for someone who hadn't freaked out or just grabbed her, even though she'd appeared unexpectedly. She quickly crossed to where he was sitting, dropped to her knees, and kissed him on the cheek. "You're a darling" she said, remembering to smile "What are you doing out here?"

"Absolutely, yes." he managed, knowing he'd gotten lost about 2 days ago and refusing to find a solution out of it. He had wanted to see if he could track his way back and had gotten lost on purpose to that end. He just hadn't expected to rest on a tree that turned out to be an extremely attractive woman. Bloody hell, what was even his life? His gaze was drawn towards sudden movement, and he both regretted letting his eyes follow and not. His emotions and responses were clearly warring factions right now.

Blast but ... she was sort of ethereally perfect wasn't she? And he really needed to peel his gaze away until it was safe because, well, it was rude to stare. Even when a person seemed to be completely at peace in the nude. His face was probably Gryffindor red by now, too, which only added to his embarrassment. He hated how quickly his skin reddened, it was an awful tell. He usually tried to keep nice and sunburnt so his feelings wouldn't be so easily deciphered. It also helped that he was very rarely embarrassed about anything. He leaned back onto the ground, closing his eyes for a moment, as the shock of everything wore off.

He kept still even as the rustle of fabric was heard. "You're welcome." he managed, voice low. He could feel her quite suddenly next to him and he blinked teal eyes open as he leaned forward on his forearms. Her lips were on his cheeks suddenly and out of habit he leaned forward. Enough that her lips brushed briefly against his accidentally. "Sorry." he murmured, blinking his eyes a bit harder. Get a grip, Aiden, for Merlin's sake you're loosing your damn mind he told himself sternly, swallowing, as he words finally registered. "Camping. Climbing. Enjoying nature. I like... trees." he blurted out, a bit of a smile blossoming on his lips, as his eyes twinkled mischievously.

He liked climbing tree's. It was, actually, one of his favorite hobbies.

Linnet sat back and crossed her legs, though her cloak - more by accident than design - managed to keep her modestly covered as she did so. She pondered this difficulty. As far as she was concerned, getting lost wasn't really an issue, so long as she returned in time to get back to work. When one could morph and become with the forest at any time, knowing the exact location didn't really matter. But finding someone who didn't know where he was either - that was a bit more of a problem. He said he had food, but he would need to find his way back to civilisation before that ran out unless he wanted to live on rndom fruits. This time of the year, there wouldn't be much beyond a few roots and leaves, she thought.

His cheeks were red, even though it wasn't a warm night. Linnet thought that was a little strange, until the human part of her asserted itself again. Did he think...that she was attractive? The idea made her smile; not because it pleased her but because it was something that didnt seem to be part of her life anymore. She had memories from before her graduation, when she had been desperately fond of a fellow elemental, even imagined they would run away together, but with her year-long morph those feelings had...dissipated. Maybe they would return one day, but for now she didn't miss them. She decided to ignore the blush entirely, pretend she hadn't noticed it.

"Do you want to be lost?" she asked. That wasn't quite the right way to put things, but she was sure she could find her way out of the forest again if it was necessary. At night, follow the stars. During the day, follow the sun. Simple. Though walking when it was this dark wasn't sensible, she realised; they should probably wait until morning. Another thought surfaced; she had a name. She should share it.

"I'm Linnet" she told him belatedly. "And you..." she tilted her head to one side thoughtfully, a glimmer of recognition surfacing in her memory "you were at Hogwarts too..."

He wasn't exactly sure what was happening but he couldn't help but feel an odd sense of familiarity, despite the strangeness of the night. Aiden didn't startle easily, nor did he back away from things that did manage to unsettle him. He'd been trying not to look too deeply, because the woman before him had been quite bare and despite everything Aiden wasn't that much of a troll. She hadn't looked particularly bothered by her nudity but, well, he wasn't even sure what had compelled him to look away other than common decency, really.

Point was he'd been initially distracted by all that skin, then by the situation, enough so that he hadn't recognized her.

"Yes." he said, mouth curving up in a familiar grin, as he finally looked up at her. "Willowsong?" he asked, teal eyes widening in surprise. Bloody hell but... she could morph into a tree? "Its... nice to see you." he quipped, though his smile was gentle. She seemed sort of out of it, though he figured that had something to do with being a tree for who knows how long. It didn't seem like a curse or anything, though, from what he could see. Not all curses were apparent to others, though. "You haven't been cursed have you?" he asked quietly, a little furrow of worry making his forehead crunch up. Maybe it would be a good idea to subtly check...

"Mind helping me find my out in the morning, then?" he asked, though he'd wanted to test a few of the tracking spells he'd learnt. He could try some other time, though, because his concern definitely outweighed his little survival trip.

{out!}

She nodded, not thinking it strange that he hadn't reminded her of his name. The thought didn't even occur to her. He was the only other person here who was likely to answer if she spoke; a name was hardly necessary. She dropped her right hand to the earth, pressing her fingers into the soil and sighing. Being out here gave her a sense of peace like nothing else, even if she knew she had to return to the human world. She liked it more now she'd gotten used to it again. There had been a time when all she'd wanted was to walk out into a forest and become part of it, but now she preferred being a part of both worlds. Tomorrow would be fine to return.

"No...not cursed. It's just who I am..." she said, her eyes on the tree canopy as she gazed up at the sky, or rather those parts that were visible through the branches "...not just me...I wasn't the only one in school. It's not a secret, but we don't always tell people. If you can morph, you can't use a wand..." That was true in her case, anyway. Linnet was vaguely aware that she wasn't explaining herself very well, but she was tired and wanted to rest. Apparently her companion felt the same way; he suggested she could show him the way out of the forest in the morning.

That would be fine, she could spend one more night here, then morph back to her human form when the sun rose. "Tomorrow morning. Yes." and then, after a pause, "Goodnight..."

Linnet retreated a little, still wrapped in her cloak, and settled down once more, peering through the branches at the stars. She could hear the sounds of her former schoolmate arranging his belongings in his tent, and somewhere off in the distane an owl hooted. After a while, her eyelids started to droop, followed by her cloak. Instead of falling asleep the young woman once again took her tree form, resting in the clearing now night had fallen.

[out]