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Kayla is down in the hallow room, doing a touch of mundane gardening with the various mushrooms and other vegetation that's been growing there, watering and gently checking for signs of health declines in the various plants. Magic woven into her pattern in their usual shielding practices.
They're wearing black sweats, a black hoodie, all loose and their hair is damp from a recent shower. She interrupts her mundane activities by bouts of deep, calming, breathing before resuming. @Laura/Atalo/Harmony
Quiet footsteps sound on the steps down before Mary enters the doorway, leaning slightly against the frame. Dressed in practical and dark clothing she also has her sword sheathed on her back. A small smile curves her lips as she observes Kay, though it seems a little drawn. "Hey you." She offers after a moment, speaking up to draw their attention.
A smile appears and Kay turns to Mary, after setting down her gardening apparels and tool. "Have you been here long, I've been trying to focus so hard, I might have not noticed much." They stand and dust the knee part of their pants and move to greet Mary from closer, a hug offered. "Happy to see you!"
Arms go around them as Mary returns the hug tightly, taking a breath. "I needed that." She rests a hand on Kay's temple, studying their face. "Long enough to see you were lost in your work. And it's always good to see you."
Kay leans into the touches and sensation of the moment, closing their eyes for a brief moment as she brush the side of their face against the warm touch. Kay's face shows sign of fatigue, likely she's been crying a bit more often and maybe even recently given how red her eyes are. As her eyes reopen, she looks to Mary again gently pulling her back toward one of the nearby comfortable seat.
Mary blinks, then exhales, fingers running over Kay's face. "Tell me?" She both asks and offers quietly, letting them lead her to the seat where she can curl up against them, removing the sword from her back and setting it to the side. A kiss is lightly dropped on Kay's forehead as the two of them settle.
"I've got a lot on my mind lately, It's been paralyzing, I've been trying to work through everything and steady myself. Because it's not about to slow down." Kay says, simply and resting calmly against Mary. "I feel like my supernal self is hitting its little toe on every piece of the fallen world. I'm trying to process the loss of Balm and what I've... learned from that happening." A pause, a deep breath. "And then what I learned when I went to the Underworld Tree again. It's been so much, so... much." A shake of her head. "The context of every single thing happening isn't making it easier either."
"I've tried my best to go through all of it without using my mind magic too, Ironically, I feel like that's helped my understanding of it."
Mary draws in a breath, nodding. "Your soul has grown, developed. You're struggling with the confines of the Fallen now?" She hums softly, considering Kay. "Maybe the reason you're struggling to process is because you can see so much now.. Looking into the Supernal."
"I've seen Balm Ascend, I've see things while it happened, I was in her mind when it happened... and then... I just felt it again when she died." A shake of her head then. "And since then i've only felt the growing pain from it." a deep sigh. "I've been angry, happy, overwhelmed... by everything."
Another deep breath. "It's a lot of talking for me to be doing. A lot of it already processed, some of it not." Kay looks up to Mary and blink away some confusion. "What about you, how are you? What are you up to?" It's a genuine question, but it's also a gentle, quiet request for a distraction or someone else than herself to focus on.
"If you need anything from me, you know it's yours?" Mary asks, taking Kay's hand in her own. "We face together, support one another." She settles closer, resting her head on their shoulder. "I've a choice to make, and, I don't yet know which is the best course. I've got about a day to decide." She smiles weakly. "Someone took action that by rights, I should report. But if I do, I risk consequences to.. well, everything. And it feels like things are on a knife edge and I could knock them off if I do what I'm meant to."
"Does this have to do with the future things that's been happening a bit? Or are you being vague for other reasons?" Kay asks, calm and soft, nuzzling into Mary's shoulder a little bit, watching her response to their questions.
"Both." She runs fingers through Kay's hair, tugging her a little closer. "It's put me in a place where I don't know how to act, what I should do. I can't do the same to you, not with everything else you're facing. If you don't know the details, you're not in that position."
"Okay, so, because I know you... at least a little...." Kay teases, booping Mary's nose. "May I offer insights I think might help? I might be completely off the track, I might not be, but I think I can offer something helpful."
"This isn't burdening me, By the way, helping you, listening to you and talking and offering whatever insight I'm capable of. I need this kind of interaction now more than ever."
"You know me a lot." She chuckles lightly, leaning into the gesture. "Please offer away. I could use that right now." Mary nods at Kay. "I get that. Though it's not just about avoiding burdening you, it's about not putting you in a precarious position. One way or another, I've a choice to make and that choice will exist whether or not you know the full details." A ruffle of Kay's hair. "You have me by the way, me and interactions. But then I think you know that." A wink.
"The way things are going, the way our enemy are fighting right now, they're using every level of what they know, of what they can bring against us. Everything." A look to Mary with a shrug. "They probably know, or at the very least, guessed accurately, that we'd hesitate, be conflicted and chose to do things the way we're familiar with."
"The rules that are being followed, the traditions we cherish, the people we love, the people we hate. The system in which we exist. American, Philly, The Consilium, The Assembly and the orders."
"Our favorite food, our TV shows, our dreams and the things we do in the dark." A shrug and a sigh. "Time fuckery on that scale shows us they're desperate, that we were or are actually winning, we got each other. You and me, and the other people aware of this."
"I don't feel safe trusting systems and ideologies and great concepts I've been hurt by all of them, Even the Children. Systems are tools and I feel like they're out of our hands in great part right now. Maybe they never really were in our hands" A beat. "I'm not saying they're ill intentioned, but I'm saying... I feel like there's a trap somewhere in there."
"So my advice is, whatever choice you make, I'd gently urge you chose people over systems and their tools."
A slow nod. "The Assembly, it's meant to be about people. Operating together, united. But you're right. Orgainsations are inertia, relatively predictable. People are variables, and if more are acting apart from that organisation, that means more variables, and it's much harder to predict. And they're the ones on the back foot now." She leans in, kissing Kay. "Maybe I just needed to hear that, to understand it myself. Thank you."
"Something like that, yeah." A beat, they respond to the kiss, gently. "And you're welcome. I based it off of my own insecurity about the time stuff and what I feel is the right way to go about it." A shake of her head. "I might need to start growing all of my food here or like, have groceries delivered too." a bit of a topic switch there, clearly an inspiration bubbling out of their brain right this instant.
"You know your girlfriend is pretty good at making things grow?" A wry smile. "If you want all your food from here, that's easy enough to arrange. Don't worry, I won't do everything. I know you like gardening with your own hands."
"That might be simpler, I just can't walk into a grocery store without seeing, feeling how miserable the cashiers are, or why the boss gets so mad at one of the butcher..." A shake of their head. "I have to actually limit my own abilities with magic if I want to go out or it hurts." Kay sigh lightly. "It litterally feels like stubbing my supernal toe on the fallen world."
"Also, Do you think Hearth would appreciate a cow in the basement? You know, for milk?"
"I.. do not know." Mary ponders this. "We could try and find out? I'm sure she would forgive us, and the old saying is that it's easier to do that then ask permission." She laughs quietly, then hugs Kay again. "But not all emotions are painful? What about, hm? I wonder if we could use some rest? And magic can make things cosy, and highlight other things." A slow smile.
"I think I'd rather just grab the blanket and cuddle for now, I could use some non magical cuddling for today." She chuckles lightly, looking around for the nearest blanket.
"You don't need to persaude me." Mary smiled warmly, curling up against Kay. "I could use that too right now, all things considered."
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