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[sparkstrikes]

Who: Lightning Farron & Geralt of Rivia
When: Sometime in October
Where: The Wilde
What: The truth about Shamblevine blossoms
Warnings: N/A

[Lightning and Geralt have been scouring the Wilde for hardly any time before she starts to feel her impatience settling in. She has no idea where these Shambevine beasts like to graze and hide, nor does she know any way of drawing them to her. Not to mention the thickness of the trees lining their path that make it that much harder to see anywhere past ten feet in front of them, and she even pauses every now and then to walk up and bush their branches aside. To no avail. Rustling and footsteps could be heard in the shadows, but they turned out to be nothing more than large birds flying off at their presence or squirrels foraging for food.

Enough is enough!

Eventually, she breaks the comfortable silence between the two of them with a groan.]

Gotta be a way to snuff them out. If we keep going like this, we're not gonna get back before dark.

[And she does not want to be out here past sundown...

She casts a sideways glance at Geralt, her lack of patience getting the best of her.]

There anything you got?

[You know, as a "Monster"... God, she still hates that word.]

Comments

[gynvael]

[ Geralt, by contrast, seems to harbor the same amount of patience from start to finish: that's to say, it's hard to tell exactly how he's feeling in the first place. The only thing he's got with him is a partial map of the Wilde, a copy of the contract, and his sword. In the interests of not scaring off these walking bushes, he's left Roach at the edge of the forest.

When Lightning finally breaks the silence, he's in the process of snapping a branch on a tree in half. Just to make sure they're not going in circles. ]

Mm. They didn't have one for me to smell. [ Is he serious? (He is, kind of. Scent is the easiest way for him to track anything.) Still, that's not the only way to track something down. What were these things? Foragers?

He makes his way forward, clearly with a direction in mind. ]

Saw some boars this way last time I was here. [ If there's a reason he's looking for another species entirely, he doesn't explain. ]

[sparkstrikes]

[Of course they didn't. That would have made the job easy, and anything worth any decent amount of money around here isn't ever that. Lightning can't exactly fault him for it, and doesn't, but she does raise a brow when she follows behind him, unceremoniously smacking branches out of her way as they move further into the trees.]

You think the boars'll lead us to the Shambevines?

[If there's a reason he thinks so, then she'll go along. She hopes there's a reason, otherwise she'll be taking this next set of leaves in the mouth for absolutely nothing, and from beside him, on the other side of a low-hanging tree they pass, Lightning sputters and curses under her breath.

The wilderness sucks.]

[gynvael]

Same diet.

[ Mutated bush or not, there's one thing that drives all creatures: food. They undoubtedly forage in and around the same areas.

Up until now, Geralt's been ignoring the sounds of Lightning slapping branches out of her face. Or the branches slapping her in the face. Either way, he's let her take care of herself. The tenth time it happens, he can't help glancing over his shoulder. Amusement crosses his face. He lifts the branch for her. ]

Fond of nature, I see. [ A genuine question lingers beneath the comment. She's struck him as a mercenary or a soldier of some kind; he's figured she'd be used to traveling and hunting. ]

[sparkstrikes]

Not really. More of a city person.

[Bodhum was her home and where she spent most of her time training as a soldier, and only when she became a l'Cie had she ventured out into the wilderness that is Gran Pulse. It was beautiful, but nature can be a handful sometimes. Nothing quite like this, though... Not with the thick pined trees and bushes with thorns!

She sighs with a quiet thanks underneath it as he lifts the branch for her.]

Don't think it's fond of—

[Her comment is cut off when she spots it several feet away, grazing in a small clearing. A giant Shamblevine, much larger than she imagined it would be... it's the size of a large bear, and when it hears their footsteps, it stops tugging on mushrooms in the ground to stare back at them.]

[gynvael]

City guard? [ He hasn't actually ever asked what she does. Or did do. Despite his tendency to keep a distance, they've bumped into each other enough times now he figures he might as well know.

Geralt stops short as the vined-covered creature looms into view. It's big. A hell of a lot bigger than he expected. The notice hadn't lied about it being a blind badger beneath: the way it stops to sniff the air, staring in the direction of the noise but not as if it sees suggests it has no vision at all.

They did not, however, mention that it was a badger the size of a fucking bear. Although --

Geralt squints at it. He can't tell if the creature beneath is that size or if the vines atop it have simply grown out of control. They've warned of its effects; unknown as it is, Geralt's packed a few generic antidotes and hoped for the best. As much as he dislikes it, he's accepted preparation only goes so far when this world has thrown most of his knowledge out the window and then shit on it.

He takes a careful step forward, avoiding snapping twigs on the ground. His gaze shifts to Lightning -- to see if she's a spell up her sleeve before he simply throws a net over the damn thing. Although given how much noise she's been making through the branches, he's got minor concerns. Might have to forgo stealth altogether. ]

[sparkstrikes]

[She has no time to answer the question, with the beast's giant thorny paws crunching and breaking against the ground as its loud sniffs lead it in their direction. It doesn't move, but stomps its feet gently in warning, trying to ward them off before it has to attack. Nice that it has the courtesy to do so, but they've come here for its blossoms, and aren't leaving without them.

Lightning catches Geralt's gaze just as he glances her way, and she gives him a nod, understanding what needs to be done. She has something up her sleeve—an idea—although she isn't sure how effective it will be without practice. She's never done it before, so this could go really well or really terribly.

Only one way to find out. Run in guns blazing, right?

She motions throwing a net with her hands to be sure that he's ready, and then raises her own, letting the magic take over them again.

...

....

After a moment of concentration, her fingers crack unexpectedly loud as it shoots off a spell, and spooks the Shamblevine and startles Lightning. It growls low and rolls its head left and then right when the spell only barely nicks its side, the vines thrashing around as if it's trying to hit them before it.

well shit.]

[gynvael]

[ While Lightning concentrates, Geralt silently makes his way around to the other side of the creature. For a moment, it seems her spell is well underway.

Then it crackles in the air. And does nothing at all.

Ah, fuck.

He freezes, hoping it might calm down if it senses no approaching threat. They need the flowers intact; it means wrestling it into the net is out of the question. So is stabbing it just to steal some flowers -- both because he'd rather not do so and because the flowers aren't much use bloodstained.

It doesn't calm down. The Shamblevine picks the target closest to the sound -- Lightning -- and charges directly at her with a forceful headbutt before bolting, dragging its blanket of thorny vines behind it.

Well. At least it leaves an easy trail to track from here. ]

You okay?

[sparkstrikes]

[Lightning had managed, somehow, to dodge out of the way of its headbutt, leaping to one side to avoid it from tipping her over and stomping all over her, but she can feel the immediate burning of a scratch on her thigh. It had managed to nick her on its way out of the clearing and into the trees, but thankfully, the physical wound is nothing too serious—more like a papercut than anything else—but she knows what will come out of being sliced with one of their vines once the wound begins to worsen and whatever poison the vines are tipped in starts to settle.]

It got me, but I'll be fine... [Might as well have been a curse under her breath.] Guess my magic's not up to snuff yet.

[Which is annoying!! She mastered her l'Cie magic so quickly, so why not this!? Ignoring the consequences that are likely to come, her gaze follows the trail its left behind.]

Tch. Can't go far with all these trees, but let's not lose sight of it.

[gynvael]

[ It got her? Geralt peers at her leg with mild concern. Normally, he'd say with a witch, they won't be short on healing. But Lightning seems to have not as much of a grip on her magic as some of the others. A consequence, no doubt, of her lack of a bond.

Not that he's judging. He knows how it is. Guess they'll see what happens. ]

Just tell me if you feel...out of sorts.

[ He glances over in the direction the creature's run off to. Now that he has its scent and a fresh trail, there's no hurry to catch up. He bends to gather a handful of the mushrooms and moss it was rummaging for. Then he heads off, following the dirt tracks. ]

How's your sneaking?

[sparkstrikes]

[She doesn't feel quite as out of sorts at the moment, save for the strange tingling at the center of the wound. Besides that, she can walk on it well enough.]

Pretty good, if I'm not getting smacked around by trees.

[The bushes are easy to avoid. It's the low-hanging branches that are the issue, and just as the thought occurs to her, she stops short of walking into another.]

Why, you got a plan with those mushrooms?

[That hopefully doesn't involve magic, because that was an embarrassing back there.]

[gynvael]

[ Geralt accepts that answer, moving forward. He ducks through the low hanging branches, pushing a couple aside for her. Just so the snapping doesn't scare off the creature. ]

Bait. [ He stops short of the clearing up ahead. The Shamblevine has resumed nosing along the ground, digging into the dirt. ] It can't feel the flowers coming off. Come up behind when it's eating. Pick some off.

[ A few have fallen naturally -- brushed off the vines by the bushes it bumps into it in its blindness or because they've wilted off. Either way, seems not to bother it much.

He steps silently into the clearing, crouching down with the mushrooms in his hand. He's still, watching it amble around until it catches scent and begins cautiously approaching. ]

[sparkstrikes]

[Sneak up behind it and pick them off while it's eating?]

Not that good, [she blurts out, but pauses, lips pursing together in confusion. Did she mean to say that, or...? She's able to brush it off easily, shaking her head at herself as she crouches down in the trees, moving so that it puts her at an angle that's easier to approach from behind.

The Shamblevine sniffs at the mushrooms in Geralt's hand and it makes a low noise of approval(?) before approaching close enough to snatch them from him.

Lightning slides out of the bushes, keeping low to the ground and maintaining a safer distance this time. An arm reaches out to grab at a flower that's blossomed near its leg and she plucks it without a hitch, and she stuffs it into her pouch before trying for another. Except... the next one she sees is...

Will it feel it if she plucks a blossom from its rear?]

[gynvael]

[ One eyebrow lifts. Is she...? Geralt decides not to ask for now. They've come this far; he fully intends to take these damn flowers so he can ride back and have a drink.

So here he is. Baiting this creature. Lightning plucks the flowers at the back while Geralt quietly picks at the ones gathered atop the mass of vines on its back.

For a minute or two, it goes well enough. Then Lightning reaches for the blossom on its backside. The Shamblevine tenses with its snout buried in the ground and his hand still in the vines. Then it jumps, snorting in indignity.

He jerks back. The sudden shift of its body twists the thorny vines around his hand. It turns abruptly, kicks dirt in his direction, and flees. ]

Ah, fuck. [ He sighs, inspecting the scratches on his hand. So much for that. Still, they've got a handful of flowers. Un-crushed. The pay that adds up is almost worth the hassle.

He gets up. ] Remind me to gather flowers from stationary bushes next time.