The marshland of Kawai Nui was particularly verdant given how close to the truest time of cold would be in the year. It helped to have the consistent water and the steady influx of different cattle and grazers coming around to keep it trimmed, but plant life flourishes here like it had no reason than to glory in its own life. Flowers of several kinds were peppered around the area, some of them still open from the day, and some of them opening particularly because the evening had fallen. The scent of rich, heavy earth and sweet, succulent night blooms warred with one another to combat the smell of dampened peat and other mosses to give the place a heady, nearly intoxicating fragrance.
Feeling more medically fit and able, Conni has decided to continue with her exploration of the island and it's interiors. She's very much dressed for the outdoors, that or she's cos-playing and has taken a wrong turn at the convention center. A light blue camisole covers her top, the garment weathered and with stitching across one side showing an in-expert repair of three gashes. Her shorts and belt are far more rugged, as are her walking boots and the tube she has slung over one shoulder.
Panting slightly from the exertion and using a staff to help with her footing, Conni is making determined progress across the marsh in the direction of the city, not quite wanting to spend the entire evening here and ending up feeding the mosquitoes. She takes frequent stops though, the scenery just too beautiful to ignore.
Aolani is sauntering through the marsh in her barefeet, a pair of barely-there leather sandals dangling from her fingertips while her feet squish over damp earth. The bronze-skinned woman bends to smell one of those ravishing blossoms, letting her long-lashed, gently slanting eyes flutter shut, a thick shock of loose, silken dark hair tumbling over her shoulder. She hums in perfect contentment as she starts on her way again. She could have been coming from Burning Man based on her outfit: a pair of faded cut-off shorts that show off the tone of her legs, and a layered pair of loose, linen tank tops in pale sage and rose, layers of handmade string bracelets stacked on her wrists, and a necklace made simply of a carved kukui nut on a leather thong, the pendant hanging loose on her chest with the slack of the leather cord wrapped three times around her neck like a choker.
The half-Filipino Hawaiian woman spots something tall and very white amidst the marshes. "Conni!" she calls, making a beeline for the Danish woman. "You look like you're ready to climb Le'ahi!"
Not too far away, a car is heard rolling away, followed by a shout and the sound of glass breaking. It will be a few minutes afterward when Lola makes her way into the area. The road, not too far away, is a roundabout path that could lead one to the city eventually. But the direct path is this way. And she has, apparently, decided to risk a direct path to safe time. Not that she's too happy about it. Purple and white today, she makes her way through with a dour expression. Her clothing not at all suited for the environment. Lightly clad, a lot of skin showing. But she seems intent to simply bull her way forward, damn the discomforts if she can get to civilization faster.
Wren was out on the Marshes, heaven only knew why, but the farmer did seem to get his way around the island at times. Perhaps he was searching for a thrown shoe from some horse that had come through earlier, perhaps he was looking for a missing kid (of the furry variety), or perhaps he'd just come to enjoy something other than his own plot of land after a long day's work. No matter why, he was here now and seemed to be completely at ease, wandering on soft earth with an easy, hospitable smile on his face.
Wren had dressed in a set of worn, well fit blue jeans that looked like they'd seen a good bit of work and grime in their time of service. His feet were covered in a set of black galoshes that covered clear up to his knees and looked decidedly wet, like he'd been walking in the almost knee-deep water somewhat recently and only just come back up onto the drier land. For a shirt, just a simple, dark grey T-shirt that had one arm rolled up to the shoulder while the other arm had come unrolled and looked decidedly damp, as if he'd reached into deep water and hadn't quite managed to keep all of his shirt dry. His longish, blonde hair was pulled back into a knot fastening, keeping it out of his face and off of his neck while he'd been doing whatever it was he was doing.
Like a sprite in the meadow, a tall, lithely built, blonde woman was wandering barefoot through the ankle-deep watery area of the marshland. Her humming was soft and sweet, and carried on the gentle breezes that carried the scent of heavy rain down from the mountains. All of her long, thick hair was allowed to flow free, which meant it danced around just as much as she did, almost in time to counterpoint the song she was humming along. Over her arm, the willowy blond held an old-fashioned, woven, wicker flower basket designed to allow stems to remain uncut. Her clothing was simple, a long, gauzy dress made of almost transparent, light green material that came down to just below her knees. Of course, with such a sheer material, she had to wear something underneath or be indecent, and she'd elected for a simple, quite short, white sheath dress that only barely kept anything to the imagination, while leaving the suggestions completely obvious.
Every so often, the tall, blonde woman leaned over and plucked up a gorgeous, ripe blossom. Once she'd done so, she carefully brought it from the earth as far as she could, then snapped its stem, leaving it as long as possible. Her basket was starting to fill up with a myriad of colors and sizes of blooms, of which she'd every so often take a deep breath.
"Aloha Aolani! You see, now I'm worried that I'm going to tread on something important." Conni grins as she calls out to Aolani, finding what seems like a safe path as she heads on over to her friend. "I needed a spot of exercise after being cooped up at home and just found myself here. I can see why you like it though." Stopping nearby, Conni spends a moment examining how Aolani has dressed. "I'm also feeling that I perhaps overdressed for this, apparently pyjamas is enough to get you through here. Oh well, I will remember for next time."
The sound of breaking glass has the Dane looking over her shoulder, her brow furrowing as she tries to figure out what is going on and it doesn't take her long to notice Lola walking in the same direction. "Oh my, I wonder what trouble we have in store. The hooded one is capable but she looks like she has been drinking vinegar today." Shrugging her shoulders, Conni continues to survey the marsh, spying a Wren as he wades through the area. "Wren!" Conni jumps and waves, then checks herself, perhaps feeling a little exposed. "Hey Wren, what brings you out here?" This is said with a much more moderated tone, conni looking to Aolani and loosening an imaginary collar.
Aolani laces her fingers behind her and rocks on her heels, grinning broadly at Conni. "The fresh air will do you more good than all that so-called R&R, anyway. It's good to see you up and about. Isn't this gorgeous? It's looking particularly lush. Hi'iaka's been working overtime here." She smiles fondly, creasing the corners of her eyes. "You can wear pretty much whatever you want, but you're probably going to get chilly. It is almost winter...though I'm guessing winter here looks nothing like it does in Denmark."
The dark-haired woman turns to follow Conni's gaze, chuckling back at the tall woman's description of the new arrival. She raises a hand to greet Lola. "Aloha! You okay, there? I thought I heard a crash." She follows her friend to meet Wren next, her thumbs stuck in her back pockets, tipping a wink up at the jumping Dane. "Well well, the sights around here are gorgeous, aren't they? You'd better introduce me. Aloha!" she greets the studly fellow, with a cheerful wave and an impish eye slanted at Conni. That slanted eye lingers on Clover as she gathers her flowers. "She must be selling them..." Aolani says, out of the blue.
Lola is having a little trouble with the terrain, but only because she's taking care to avoid anything too marshy when she can help it. Seeming intent on not getting herself dirty or the like. At least, not as much as one could, stomping through water in a pair of Converse. The greeting from Aolani gets her attention and she looks over, schooling her expression back to something a bit more personable and less irate. "They didn't crash, unfortunately," she states ruefully. "But that's not important now. Where is a straight path to the city? I need to get out of this.. place." A hint of huff in her mention of this 'place'. The beauty seems largely lost on her. "I don't know why I let him convince me to come out this far from civilization." The flower girl? The guy? Looked at, but she's more interested in her path out for the moment.
Wren's attention came from whatever he'd been looking at and zeroed in on Conni when he heard his name called, a grin forming on his mouth that was quickly followed by a chuckle. He started slogging through ankle deep water her direction, lifting a hand up to give a friendly wave in greeting. "Aloha ahiahi, Conni." His warm voice was filled with amused kindness and he didn't actually speak until he'd come close enough to not have to call the greeting. He turned his attention to Aolani, fixing her with bright blue eyes before he nodded his head to her gently. "Aloha ahiahi to you as well, Miss. I think I remember you from that night in the fog, with the huge turtles. Though it was so foggy you could have cut through it with a knife and seen better, I believe I'd have a hard time forgetting such a lovely face. Forgetting that you might have seen me there, however, is completely forgivable as there was so much else going on that night. I'm Wren Atworth, a pleasure to meet you." Hearing the approaching Lola, Wren looked her direction and offered her a smile and a nod. "Aloha ahiahi, Miss. If you're looking to get back to Honolulu, you'll want to head up the road that way." He motioned to the road, then pointed out the direction. "If you need a ride, I'm going to be heading back towards the city myself, as I'm all finished here for the night. I can promise I don't have any ill intentions, but you can always ride in the back of the truck if you'd rather not be stuck in the cab with me on the ride." Wren't words were delivered with an easy, gentle tone, and he motioned to the parking area just off the preserve, where his light beige farm truck waited empty.
The lithe, blonde woman with the flower basket continued to pluck blossoms to fill up the wicker container. When she spotted the people that seemed to be congregating, she offered a wide, happy smile and lifted her hand, splaying her fingers in greeting. "Aloha!" Her voice had the slightest bit of sing song to it, as if the hum had carried its way through to her words or she'd just forgotten to stop humming before she spoke. "Isn't it beautiful out here, with all the night flowers opening up?" Obviously her enthusiasm for the loveliness of the area was effecting her, as she nearly giggled, then half-danced her way over to another clump of night-blooming blossoms and bent to smell them, inhaling the rich fragrance and making a happy, almost childish, sound of contentment. "My car's going to smell like heaven on the way home." She spoke the words idly as she plucked another flower deftly, and set it into her burdensome basket.
A light sprinkle fell from the clouds curling off the mountains, stealing away the distant lights and sounds of the freeway. Frogs and toads chirped their grateful sounds into the coming night. Over the marsh itself, away from most of the individuals in it, eerie blooms of blues and purple light seemed to solidify and dance over the water like torches without stem or bearer. Another one would appear seemingly not far like the first, flickering and dancing in the misting rain.
"To be honest, I think I'd welcome a bit of a cold spell." The Dane certainly seems to be feeling the heat as she idly fans herself. Squinting over to Lola as she approaches, Conni looks from her to the road and back again. "Wren is trustworthy and it'll be a shorter ride back to town, I don't know if I'd want to make the full run at this time of night, I certainly mis-calculated just how long this trek would take." Turning back, she looks over to Wren and offers him a warm smile. "Aloha Wren, it's odd but not unwelcome to see you away from the farm. I would very much appreciate a lift if your headed back that way, I got a bit over-excited with my trek out now that I'm all fit and able." Sidling over to Wren, Conni leans over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "We could stop for food? That market might be open?" As Wren makes his introductions, Conni nods. "Ah yes, it was so very foggy and there were evil turtles." Her grip on her staff tightens as she says this, something of a protective nature rather than getting ready for anything. Turning one more, Conni looks to Aolani. "Could you recommend any followers that are low maintenance but would make my room at the hostel smell nice?" As her gaze sweeps the marsh, Conni notes the odd flames that she can see. "That's really pretty."
The Siberian was still relatively new to Hawaii, and seemed to exploring exploring. Tonight, the Marsh was getting to see the Tiger. However, his quiet exploration has been interrupted by the sounds and movements of people wandering through the marsh. They had held his interest for a time, the large feline stalking them quietly. And then something or someone new made an appearance.
Moving to a space between the group of people and the distant lights, the Tiger growled then, which was quickly followed by a loud meow. The big cat peered at Lola first, and then Conni, and lastly Wren. And then glanced back at the lights. And back to the people. And then the lights. The feline could be good at charades, yes?
Aolani quirks a brow at Lola's disappointment in the lack of car accidents and just chuckles, shaking her head. "C'mon, Kaikamahine, let's keep it Aloha. But we can help you find the way out, it's not too far if you don't mind getting a little damp." She turns to Wren and smiles brightly, offering him her hand. "Ua maika'i ko kaua hui 'ana, Wren. I'm Aolani. Come to think of it, I think I did see you in the fog, e kala mai for forgetting! I tore off after Volya and lost track of everybody and my manners, too. Good to actually meet you in person. Any friend who gets such a reaction out of my haole wahine here," she grins and reaches over to pat Conni's shoulder, "Is a friend of mine."
Clover's enthusiasm draws Aolani's attention, and she pivots on her bare feet and returns the smile with a wave and one of her own. "Aloha! You've got quite the haul of flowers there. They're so pretty."
Ao gives Conni a glance that's equal parts curious and amused. "Were they -really- evil turtles, or did they just take your toy from you and bonk you with it?" She snickers madly before composing herself. "Oh, right, flowers...definitely Kahili ginger. I'll bring you some from my parent's garden. Is that..." she takes a step back and rubs her eyes. "I think that Tiger is trying to show us something."
Aolani lets her gaze wander out over the lights on the water. "Fairy lights," she chuckles. "I hope everyone brought a travel buddy to keep them from wandering off."
Wren quickly becomes more interesting to Lola as he offers her a ride. "Yes! The last thing I want to do is walk all the way around the way the road goes. I want to get in before it gets too late." She seems somewhat relieved. Though after a moment she eyes Wren and smirks faintly, her mood evening out as it seems her troubles are not so bad. "You should be more worried about her," she murmurs, head canted slightly. Her eyes flick slightly towards where Peter was prowling, but only for a moment before returning to Wren. Only for her to pick up on something else. Her nose twitching slightly before she glances down towards her feet, brow furrowed. But only for a moment as she steps to the side, as if to avoid something, looking up to Aolani. "I don't know what a Kaikamahine is, but I assume it isn't bad."
Wren smiled warmly to Conni and nodded to her. "Mahalo for the recommendation Conni, it's appreciated. I'd never turn down your company for an evening drive, either. You're more than welcome to come along. And I might have another place I could introduce you to besides just the one roach coach, there's plenty of delicious to find here on Oahu. I'd be happy to show you as much as you care to try." He accepted the kiss to the cheek and gave Conni one in turn, then reached out his hand to Aolani and nodded to her. "Pono e ike oe, Aolani. Anyone helping Volya out in any situation where she's a bit to the side of lost is wonderful people in my book. Hell, if you'd like a ride as well I'd be more than happy to provide dinner to the lovely young woman that helped a friend of mine out when she needed it." His hand was gentle, but the skin was rough from hours of hard labor on the farm, callouses obvious along the ridges of his fingers and the ball of his hand.
After the handshake, he turned his attention to Lola and gave her a smile and a nod. "Sure thing, I'll be happy to give you a ride. If you wanted to start back before I manage to get to the truck, I'll understand and can pick you up along the way, if that makes you feel like you're doing something other than waiting." His kind blue eyes were suddenly drawn down to his boot, as he noticed neither pretty fairy lights or tiger kittens mewing, and instead saw a couple of frogs coming up onto the curve of his wet golashes. "Ah come on little guy, you're definitely humping up the wrong tree." He chuckled, and reached down to remove the earstwhile shoe-loving toad before he managed to hurt himself humping the side tread of his boot.
Clover smiled widely to Aolani and nodded, starting to walk over to the group. "Mahalo, u'i!" Chipper could be used to describe her half-danced walk as she traversed the drenched marshland, not seeming to mind that the end of her skirt was getting splattered with murky water. She was getting closer to them, when suddenly the long haired, blonde woman let out a cry and fell forward to her knees, one of her feet solidly looking stuck behind her as she sputtered and wiped splashed water from her face. Looking back down her leg she groaned and shook her head. "Well, fucking, done Clover. Now you're going to look like you've been swimming... oh! The flowers!" She cried out sharply and pulled her leg free of the hole it had sunk into with the sound of sucking as she freed it. Clover then went about gathering the flowers she'd collected as they started to float out of and away from the now submerged wicker basket.
More blue and purple flames flickering to life, dancing and burning in the air like proper disembodied lights. The faerie light seemed almost inviting or just playing with individual's perceptions, but it never seemed close enough to offer anyone enough illumination to guide their steps in the marsh with their sphere of light.
Not too far from Clover and the ground, a scrub seemed to roll and shudder before offering a long and gutteral growl. It wasn't the only bush that seemed to shift in the failing light, another moved as well and in the other side near the faerie lights there was a large splash in the water.
"Kahili ginger? I'd very much appreciate that." Conni turns bright pink at the mention of being bonked on the head though, suddenly finding something very important on the floor to look at. "It's so rude, I'd totally forgotten you saw that Aolani. It was not one of my finer moments." Hearing some rustling and then the 'meow' Conni finally looks up and mouths a hello to the nearby Tiger. "Our friendly neighborhood tiger seems to want us to notice something. Is there something wrong with the flames or something. It's just marsh gas right? It looks pretty but not a problem?" Conni looks over to Lola, trying to see what she's pointing out. "I really can't see anything in this dim light, it's okay though right?" Looking up at Clover calls out, Conni steps forward, using her stick to gouge the depth of the water, being rather keen not to end up face first in the mirk. Not that it helps of course, the stick sinks deep into a hole, Conni lurches forward so as not to loose her priced possession and ends up sunk to her knees with one arm lunged forward and hidden to the elbow in the marsh. Clearing her throat and doing her best to hide her embarrassment, she looks to Clover. "It really is treacherous here...on the plus side, the water is a little warm so it's not awful."
The Siberian carries on trying to get people's attention and direct it towards the glowing lights. Snorting, the Tiger moves to stand by Lola, leaning against her leg with a rumble. Slowly, the hair begins to rise up on the Tiger's back, starting with the neck and moving down its back to the tip of its tail. With the long, gutteral growl coming from the darkness, the Tiger lets out a loud and long roar. He moves to put himself in front of Lola, between her and the source of the growl. Another roar is let loose, which is followed by toothy growls and snarls.
Aolani winks at Lola. "It's not bad at all - It just means girl. I should just introduce myself properly, though, because names are better! I'm Aolani, it's good to meet you." After making her introduction to the girl with the purple and white hair, Ao turns back to Wren and makes a show of having to think about the ride and dinner, stroking the non-existant beard on her chin. "Well...I should probably come along to make sure you all find your way out, especially with all these fairy lights around." She nods sagely and tucks a nearly-black strand behind her ear. "Thanks for the invite! The car ride will be a good chance to get to know every-"
And then Clover faceplants. "Oh, hey! Are you okay?" She starts moving towards the woman in the water, only to spot the tiger leaning against Lola's legs and stop dead in her tracks. "You have a TIGER?" But her shock will have to wait. Conni's gone and joined Clover in the water.
"Conni...everyone. Listen, these lights...they'll try to distract you, to trick you. It's mischief, but it has the potential to go badly. Maybe...take the hand of the person...or, cat...closest to you. I don't think anyone should go off alone."
"Something smells," Lola answers Conni. "Thought I stepped in something." When Peter comes over to her, she treats it as perfectly natural, a hand lifting to rest atop his head lightly. "Were you following me?" Her tone lightly amused by the prospect. Aolani's question get her a light, playful smile. She's content to keep her secrets, when she has them. The call out on the potential dangers around them lead Lola to sigh softly. "She's going to ruin my outfit," she muses to herself. Glancing down to Peter she grips the back of his neck lightly. "Don't run off," she tells him.
Wren smiled warmly to Ao and gave her a chuckle while he set the toad free back into the water. "My pleasure, I consider it my good fortune entirely, really." Clover falling over had the man immediately looking like he was going to dive in if she went underwater, but luckily it wasn't all that deep. He sighed in relief for a moment, but then Conni was off... and having herself dipped in muck as well. "Conni!" He looked over at Aolani, and taking her at her word, reached out to grab her hand solidly and pull her closer. "Alright, well I'm not going to leave you over here alone, but we should probably go over and help Conni... and, Clover? Is it?" He smiled to Ao and pulled her hand down towards his waist, where he purposefully looped her forefinger in through one of his beltloops on his jeans. "These things are made of sturdier stuff than most, so just hold on tight and we should get to them, then maybe get out of here, alright."
Wren started over towards the two fallen ladies with Ao in tow on his hip, managing to keep his footing but barely. Eyeing the apparently growling shrubs, he spoke softly. "Come on now ladies, let's just get up out of the muck and head back for the trail out, then the road to the truck." He offered a hand over to Conni and then a hand down to Clover. "Come on ladies, I've got you." Finally noticing Peter, he gave the cat a wry grin and shook his head. "Peter, man, you've got to be careful, most farmers have guns here, and you don't look like the nice kind of kitty to have on your land, if you know what I mean?"
Clover smiled at Conni, sheepish as her cheeks flushed bright pink with embarassment. "Oh man, I get it, fall to make the other blonde not feel quite so... blonde?" She winked at Conni and pushed up settle back onto her haunches, the now soaked front of her two, light colored dresses doing nothing to hide, well, anything. She tugged at the front of the gauze dress to keep it from being an aplique onto her chest and then froze completely still, her head turning slowly as her eyes widened in horror. "Uh... Did anyone else hear that?" Then, of course, there was the loud roar of a tiger, and snarling, and Clover made a slight whimper, looking at it with wide eyes, any thoughts of whatever made the noises in the bush forgotten. "Oh my god.. it's a fucking tiger!" Some sort of delight seemed to creep into her eyes as she reached up almost absently for Wren's hand and took hold of it, allowing the tall man to pull her free from the water she'd fallen into. She blinked her wide eyes and looked at the people gathered before laughing. "What a night! This is amazing... is he... well is he a nice tiger? Or is he growling at me?" She looked at Lola warily.
The 'shrub' actually rises from the ground. It was the rough approximation of a four-legged creature, but the size of a larger dog, formed of grasses and brambles. Its eyes burned with an emerald light, its maul opening, the faerie light glinting off water soaked thorned teeth. It took one step forward until Peter roared and it froze in place, its green and glowing eyes focusing on Peter, before it shook bodily like a dog flinging water from its coat. It started growling again, its gaze falling to the tightly knit group.
The water splashed again as two more of the scrubbery wolves jumped over the bank to cut the group off from a direct course to the path and awaiting truck. Snapping and barking at the heels of individuals to get them moving and otherwise being annoying and distracting animals.
"That's totally what happened." Conni says with a wink to Clover, seeming to notice the front of her dress for the first time and perhaps taking a little longer than necessary to look away. "He's a very friendly tiger and he's probably here to help. We're on good terms I like to think and we haven't injured each other in like weeks." Looking over her shoulder, she nods gratefully to Wren, reaching out for his extended hand to steady herself before finding grasping for a belt loops, tracking down his leg and then back up again in an apparent blind search that has her offering Wren a muted apology before finding a suitable belt-loop to cling on too. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Conni." She says to Clover as she finally gets to her feet, her voice having a little bit of an edge to it now as the concern of the group starts to get to her. "Aolani? What's the story with the lights? They're bad for you." Then the shrubs pop up and Conni is force to act, yelling at them in Danish and while they may not understand her, the intention is clear, especially once she points her staff at them. "The bushes are attacking? Lola? I don't suppose you have a hedge trimmer on you?" Conni starting to find some hilarity in the situation now.
The Tiger stops growling and snarling when Lola takes a hold of the skin at his neck. He gives Wren a glance, and a shoulder moves as if shrugging. The feline is content to stay by Lola's side, only moving if she does. When the dogbushes begin to harry them, the Tiger takes to growling and snarling again. If one gets too close, the feling bares the claws on one paw, and swipes threateningly. Tiger is currently in full Five of Six Ends are Sharp mode.
There was another heavy splash as a fourth green and brown briar wolf stomped through the muck and marsh as it trotted over to the basket left by Clover. It ripped it out of the water and shook it bodily sending water and flowers everywhere on the ground. It even stomped on the basket to pry the wicker basket apart and fling its pieces about. The creature seemed otherwise unconcerned with the rest of the world around it.
Aolani is dragged along by Wren's beltloop with shamelessly little resistance. But she's focusing on the scrub wolves themselves, trying to place them. "I think..." she ventures, watching the fourth wolf devour the basket. "They're certainly nature spirits of some kind. Most are like...nature given form. So they themselves aren't malicious, or evil or anything. But they're protective of nature, sometimes violently so to anyone who harms it and..." she looks at Clover and winces. "I think we need to get the lady with the flowers out of here. And leave the flowers."
Lola gives Clover a grin and states, "I do." Because obviously Peter is hers. Or so she seems so very comfortable in stating. As the things rise up, she sighs. As if something distasteful lies ahead for her. Conni's question gets a smirk and she murmurs, "Or something.." She seems to focus inward a moment before Aolani speaks, prompting her to snap her eyes open. Her hair shimmers slightly. Hints of Red and Black flickering by for a second before the purple and white asserts itself firmly. "Not yet.." Muttered lowly before she draws back towards the others, tugging lightly on Peter. "Watch them," she says to him. "Leaving is good. It's too late and too dirty here to get into a fight."
Clover was mid-way through reaching for her basket with the hand not held by Wren when it was suddenly snatched out of the water by the greenish briar-dog, and she let out a sound of surprise. "No! Not the flowers! They were so pretty!" Disappointment was obvious on her face as she frowned and let out a sigh. "Dammit, I'll have to get another basket and come back at dusk another night." She growled under her breath and allowed Wren to maneuver her away from the basket entirely, frustration clear on her countenance. She briefly looked at Wren and nodded to him. "Mahalo, mister. I appreciate the help up." She tried to take her hand back and looked at him with raised brows. "Hey! Let me go!" Clover tugged at her hand and frowned harshly at the grip of the farmer holding it.
Wren, after being given a pat down worthy of a tailor attempting to study for trim, looked at Conni and blinked before he chuckled softly and shook his head. "Conni, you're a rare kind of woman." The dogs had begun circling, though, and that didn't have anyone with hackles any calmer about the environment. Taking a deep breath, Wren started to move towards the truck, sure that there were two women attached to his waist and a third on his hand. When Clover started tugging away, Wren shook his head softly. "Hold up, Miss Clover. I promise I mean you no harm, but Miss Aolani made sure to tell us to all hold hands and stick together so we don't get led astray by the pretty fires in the marsh. If you want to hold Conni's hand or maybe Aolani's hand instead, that's ok, too, but please don't wander off alone, especially not if these creatures are after you for picking flowers." He looked at the line of briar-wolves attempting to block the path to the truck and shook his head. "Now, now, fellas. Let us through." And then with the will of Joseph, he started forward with the women in tow, walking directly through the line of dogs as if they didn't exist in the slightest.
One of the briarwolves shrinks back from Conni's yelling and threatening with her stick. The creature's posture lowers as it skirts the edge of the ground moving behind the larger one with the remains of the basket. Another snaps its thorny maul as it slips in between the group and the larger wolf. The third one snarled and bites at the air near Clover, sending roping of mucus onto the woman's dress and all round looking menancing with its glowing emerald eyes. The faerie flames in the air burst into a green fire, mimicking the emerald of the wolves' eyes.
"So they are protective of nature and not necessarily bad. Do they have anything to do with the lights?" Conni keeps her voice low as she bobs her head around Wren so she can at least see Aolani. "Sorry if I'm being slow, this is all lore that is very new to me. It is the flowers though I think, they were very interested in the basket it seems." She looks, a wide grin on her face as she hears the comment from Wren. "Why thank you but I'm not sure what you mean." Winking to him, she frowns as Clover tries to edge away to get her basket, even with the attack-shrubbery intent on keeping her away from it. Deciding on some Danish diplomacy, Conni slips an arm underneath Clovers legs, just behind the knees and lifts the woman clear off her feet, still gripping her staff in that hand and at least giving the women something to grip on to. "I'm very sorry but I think you need to leave the flowers and we also need to be away."
The Tiger looks to Lola a moment, nudging her with a shoulder. He nods at her suggestion to watch them, and nudges her again with a shoulder, towards the direction that Wren is taking the women. The Siberian shifts his posture slightly, with only the hair on his neck rising up. When the bushdog bothers Clover, the Tiger goes berserk, snarling, hissing and spitting, barely being 'held back' by Lola's firm grip on the stretchy skin of his neck.
When Peter the Tiger roar at the briar wolf noting its displeasure to Clover, the fourth and largest Briar flung the last of the basket aside and charged at Peter, snapping and biting. It tried to latched onto the all-to-quick tiger's neck, but managed only to rake his coat with its thorned claws. The gleaming eyes of the wolves all locked onto Peter.
Aolani offers out her free hand to anyone who still needs a Buddy System partner, but Conni's hands seem to be full. She stretches out her bare feet in front of her, feeling out the ground beneath her toes. "Here, everybody...there's a firmer path. If you need to move quickly, do it here." She tugs on Wren's beltloop as she goes, hopefully tugging the conga line along with her. "Follow me. Step in my footsteps where you can see them."
Lola jumps back as the biggest thing goes after Peter, expecting the tiger's evasive maneuvers. She gives him room. And her lip twitches at the corner. "The natives are getting restless," she states. "Stop provoking them. I don't want to let her out." Lola a bit cross with Peter in that moment, though 'her'.. there is a hint of distaste in her tone. "Let's get out of here," she says towards Peter, fading back to follow the others, trying to cover her angles when it comes to the agrssive creatures.
Wren gave Conni a grateful smile and let go of Clover's hand. "Mahalo, Conni. Remind me to get us all a little dessert with dinner." He chuckled slightly and shook his head at the situation. Turning his attention to Aolani, Wren nodded to her and kept that warm expression on his face. "I'm more than happy to let you lead this little troupe right out of here, Aolani. Please, forge the way." He reached down with his hands to make sure he was touching Aolani's hand and Conni's, just to be sure they didn't get free from the line they were forming out, and then spotted the figure of Lola coming toward them. "Miss, if you want to come join up with us, I have a couple of free hands or you can maybe grab hold of Aolani's, to make sure the lights don't tease you out deeper into the marsh. Conni's hands are a bit full." He looked past Lola to see Peter and frowned. "Peter! Man get out of there, you don't want to tangle with a pack by yourself, and we need to get the ladies out of here while we still can, before this goes sideways! Can you come guard our backs?"
Clover let out a surprised sound as Conni hefted her up, which left her blinking in surprise as her arms naturally reached out to wrap around the woman's neck for stability. She stared at the other woman for a long moment, then started laughing. "Ok well, any time I don't have to walk out of a marsh and get carried away from snarling dogs is a win, right?" She looked at Conni again, then Wren, then Aolani, before turning her head around quick as a whip to spot Lola. "Wait! The tiger! We can't leave the tiger! He's a nice tiger, right?!" She sounded alarmed indeed and reached back behind Conni as if the short span of her arm could grab hold of the tiger and pull it after them. "Tiger!!!!" She called the large cat as if it would help.
"Thanks Aolani, getting out of here is starting to become urgent." Conni flashes a grateful smile to Aolani, then turning her attention to Peter and Lola. "Please listen to Lola. Hell, look at me. I'm hardly sensible and I'm not attacking the creatures, there has to be a hint in there somewhere!" Conni is forced to readjust her hold on the now non-struggling Clover, grinning to the woman as she looks over to Peter. "He's quite a clever tiger and won't stick around by himself. I'm also sorry about this but it did seem the most expedient way out." Conni pitches her voice to carry, hoping that Peter will get the hint. "He certainly won't stick around after the rest of us have gotten to safety, that could be a death sentence. Still, I'm sure he won't do that."
One of the wolves stayed back with its tail between its legs, the third snorting as it rejoined the larger wolf and pressing Peter. As the two stood abreast to one another, other leapt behind him, snapping its jaws wildly to get the tiger's hair to stand on end and become become very aware that he was quickly getting surrounded by a group of predators that were very keen to show their displeasure at the cat.
Even when the tiger leapt over him, the alpha briarwolf turned, climbing over his packmate to continuing snapping at Peter's heels and put more step into the feline's movements. The green alpha even managing to get ahold of a wisp of fur from the tiger, flinging it over its shoulder to offer the scent up to the rest of its pack at its flank.
The Tiger's tail flicks, an indication that the tiger does indeed know there's something behind him. Conni's comments are heard, and if the tiger could roll his eyes back any further in his head, he would. The feline turns and snarls at the two blocking his path, and crouches down. His strong legs flex, propelling the Tiger over the two bushdogs, and landing with a splash in the marsh behind them. The Siberian begins to run, ducking left and right, before turning back towards the group.
Aolani is getting nervous about all the attention the wolves are paying the tiger."Aloha, wolves!" she calls behind her, over her shoulder as she still feels her way along the path with her bare feet. "The Aloha is strong here, can't you feel it? We are taking responsibility for your flowers - we are taking out our friend here and we'll be sure she understands why picking the flowers was wrong. Tomorrow...tomorrow we'll come back and replant a new flower for every one that was taken." She spares a longer look over her shoulder, to see if the row of people and tigers was behind her, hopefully without being harried by wolves, then makes the full turn so she can squarely address the wolves. "So you don't need to chase us. I'll be back tomorrow to replace every plant that was taken. On my honor, with Hi'iaka as my witness."
"Peter! We're leaving!" Lola's voice lifts towards him. And she is. She doesn't join the happy chain, but she remains near. Her attention only divided some to keep an eye on Peter and her six, making sure none of the beasties turn towards her. Now, while she does seem somewhat concerned with Peter getting himself moving, she doesn't actually pause to assist him.
Wren grinned and squeezed Aolani's hand softly, encouraging her talking to the wolves. "Good plan, tomorrow we'll have to bring some plants. This is a good place to grow most anything." Wren mused before he looked over at Conni and Clover, smiling to them. "I think maybe we should think of some pretty flowers that would look nice here." Casting a look behind them, Wren whistled sharply, the way that he likely could call his horses if need be. "Come on Peter! We're out of here, Aolani found us a good route." He looked to make sure Lola was there, too. "To the truck with us, all of us if need be. I don't mind giving everyone that needs it a ride into town after this." Wren shook his head then let go of Ao's hand since she still had her finger through his beltloop, then fished into his jeans pocket to grab his car keys, the metallic jingle of them a well-known and common enough sound to be recognizable to most anyone.
Clover slumped a little when she saw the tiger jump over the briar wolves. "Oh good, I think he's ok. That was a bunch of dogs!" She seemed to comfortably relax against Conni then, not moving to put her feet down until they were on the road, really. A frown was on her face, though, at the statements by Aolani and Wren. "Fine. I'll plant something. But I'll have to find somewhere else to get the flowers to make my place smell good. It's the best perfume on earth, the fresh flowers that bloom at night. Nothing smells the same, and the crap they sell in bottles doesn't have anything on the real deal."
The alpha briar wolf narrowed its emerald eyes at Aolani and stared at her with doggish contempt for a long silence moment. It barked and snarled at one of its advancing packmates before it turned 180 the other direction. Kicking one hind leg, then the other against the turf like it was burying night soil. The wolf trotted over to the scattered flowers, followed in short order by the others. In wolfish ritual, they started lying and rolling in the flowers, pressing themselves over and through the petals like they were trying to get the scent of the flower all over. The faerie fires flickered and shifted back to their blues and purples, spreading out and away from the pack to confuse the direction of the pack in the night.
"Planting flowers could be a nice, relaxing day out. That's something I can get behind." Conni looks to Aolani and smiles, "good call, I like how you work." Glancing ahead to the truck, she grins now, especially when she hears Wren's keys. "It was rather fortuitous, you being here Wren. You're offically allowed to rescue me anytime!" Looking over to Clover, Conni nods sympathetically. "I know what you mean, they do smell wonderful. I think just another source would be safer, the park wardens here seem to take no prisoners." Looking once more to make sure Peter and Lola are okay, Conni directs her attention back to the path.
The Tiger slows to a trot when he reaches Lola's side, and he glances back at the retreating pack of mobile bushes. He looks up at Lola and mews, then looks to the others and meows a bit more noisily. The feline then moves to nose at Clover, and moves around to everyone in turn, checking to see if they are alright. Once done, he goes back to walk beside Lola.
Aolani exhales heavily, relief tipping back her head to turn her face to the sky. When she brings herself back to the moment, she looks back over her shoulder at Lola and Peter. "You two okay? They didn't get too close?" After giving them time to respond, she'll nod and turn back to the task of finding a solid place to step. Then she starts laughing. "Oh, what did I do?" She turns around and grins at Wren and Clover. "I appreciate the offer of help. I just swore an Oath with Faerie beasts on the name of Pele's favorite sister." She claps her hand to her forehead. "I had damn well better follow through. And I don't speak Wolf, but I don't think he's a fan of me." She grins up at Conni. "Sounds like a nice day out, right? I wonder if there's any sort of nice thank you gift we can leave to make amends." She slants a look up at the bundle in Conni's arms, i.e. Clover. "Well, you aren't going to be eaten by fae wolves today. Maybe...check out a local nursery for your next batch of flowers?"
Wren smiled to Conni and reached up with the hand that held his keys, tipping an imaginary hat her direction. "Any time, I like to think I'm always available for a bit of a rescue when needed." He winked to her and didn't seem in a hurry to remove either Conni or Aolani's fingers from his belt loops, just walked with them attached towards the waiting beige truck. "Anyone that wants a ride can hop into the front, or hop into the bed. There's room for any of us in the cab if you all want to ride, just need a couple of you to take the back seat." When they got to the truck, Wren unlocked the passenger side first, then opened the door for whomever wanted to get in. The truck, of course, is clean of any trash or anything like that, but has the scent of a hard-working vehicle, somewhere people have spent many hours while working on a farm. Still, it's clean enough not to warrant people needing disinfectant spray to sit. He nodded to Aolani and smiled. "I think flower planting and even picking out something for the marsh is a wonderful way to spend some time. Giving back to Oahu for her many gifts is the best thing you can do, really, to keep yourself in the good graces of the island, right?" Once people had decided where they were sitting, Wren moved himself to the driver's side door, unlocked it, and hopped in himself. The engine roared to life with the solid sound of a well-tended V-12.
Clover, once she had her feet under her, sighed and wiped her hands down her gauzy dress, shaking her head. "Oh this is entirely gross. This thing is going to have to be burned or laundered several dozen times." Making a disgusted facial expression, she flicked her hands to the side to get any muck off of them, then looked at the rest of those gathered. "Mahalo for your help, but I'll drive my own car home. And I'll make sure to come plant something tomorrow." The suggestion of a local nursery had her nodding to Aolani, but the smile on her face was forced. "Yeah, I guess so. It's just not the same, is it?" And with that, she gave a wave, and a final long look at the tiger, before she spun on a bare foot and walked towards the Nissan that was waiting in the parking lot. Notably, she had nowhere to hide her keys on her, but she reached up under the wheel well to the hide-a-key and pulled it free, using it to open the door, hope in, turn the car on and drive off before anyone else had a chance to pull out of the parking lot ahead of her.
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