It hadn’t been hers, but Waipoua had taken to exploring the bit of forest that she had pointed to when she was still with Turkana. It was curiously just as soothing as her own, in a way. The way the ground beneath her feet felt familiar, so was the canopy overhead. She could only tell that it wasn’t her forest on instinct—probably because magic, which she absolutely hated such a simplistic explanation, but it was the only thing that could explain how she knew—but without that she had a feeling she wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between the two at all.

Still, it was comfortable to be among the trees as opposed to a clearing, and she took solace in the relative quiet of the rustling leaves overhead.

It was a while before she settled on a rather large gnarl of roots, looking perfectly comfortable and at home as she settled against the trunk of the tree to which the roots belonged. There, she waited for Turkana to come find her.

They hadn’t agreed on when or where to meet up again, so she figured he would come looking for her when he was done.

-----

The surveying around his wonder was as complete as it was going to get at this point, so Turkana went looking around for Waipoua, taking in the scenery with just a small small small hint of sadness. It's not like he would’ve known that he was in charge of something like this [if he never powered up then that would definitely be the case]. But he still felt a sense of disappointment in himself. Well, he was here now, which meant that he would be fully dedicated to his wonder.

Right now, he needed to focus on finding Waipoua.

He carefully scanned the forest, looking for his wayward….Partner?

That was probably something to discuss later.

Eventually after searching for a bit longer, he spotted the woman that constantly drove him crazy looking like a literal goddess of the forest, lounging in some roots. Leave it to Micah to look like royalty without even trying. “Having fun?”

-----

She smirked.

“Just relaxing,” came a very lazy, but purposely made to sound regal, reply. She stood and made her way down to him, extending her hand as she got to the edge of her “throne” and waiting for him to offer his hand and help her down. Did she need his help? Of course not. But if it was fun he wanted her to be having, messing with him had been a favorite pastime of late. She doubted he would mind, it being a subtle enough game and all.

“So did you learn anything while you were looking around?” she asked, hand extended still as she waited.

-----

His response was a small chuckle and a playful rolling of his eyes, walking up to take the hand offered so he could ‘help’ her down. “Nothing of importance other than this place needs cleaning. It bothers me.” That and he really wanted to just bring up a pool cleaner or something….But chlorine would not help lake water, so he would have to think of something else…And figure out more information while he was at it so he could pass it down to Waipoua. Maybe they could work on getting both of their places up to par? He hated the fact that it SERIOUSLY bothered him to have his area so…Dirty.

-----

She took his hand and, once she was on the ground, she leaned up to plant a kiss on his cheek as thanks, the gesture far more formal than it normally would have been if they weren’t playing a little bit. She twined her fingers with his as she listened, taking him deeper into the forest. She had a suspicion and she wanted to investigate with him, only because if she had found her forest without him she wouldn’t have been able to come back to his Wonder without him.

“So clean it,” she said flatly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Because…well. It kind of was.

“At least yours has water. Mine is bone dry, and I have no clue how to bring the water back. I can’t exactly lug water from Earth, gallon by gallon.” The thought had very briefly crossed her mind once before, but she quickly shut it down because it seemed an unlikely solution given how absurdly inconvenient it was.

-----

He shook his head as she took his hand and led them to her forest. What Micah said would have made sense if it wasn't for the fact that he felt like there was more to it than that. “Maybe. It's not that simple though.” There would have to be a lot of thinking on his part to get this new responsibility up to par, and for once he was actually a bit…Excited for it. “Maybe that's something to figure out? I can help you if you want?” Since they were literally next to each other, then it would be easy to help Waipoua with her wonder and she could probably help with his.

A sense of possessiveness took over as soon as he offered, though she made sure there was enough of a pause between his offer and her responding with the shake of her head. "No, I think I'll try and manage on my own for now. It's all so fresh, I'd kind of like to do my own assessment and get a better perspective of all of it before I start bringing anyone in."

Not that she didn't trust him, but it was her Wonder...

Waipoua let the thought linger for a long moment, her expression returning to its natural look of general disapproval at anyone and everything around her, though there was a touch of thoughtfulness in it as she wondered about what exactly she was meant to do. It's not like knighthood came with instructions, nor did her Wonder come with a guidebook and list of tasks for her to accomplish for the length of time she would be carrying the mantle of Waipoua.

Before long she felt a gentle shift in the air around her, and she was suddenly very aware of the presence of her surroundings.

"I can help you with yours, though, if you want," she went on, trying to ignore the abrupt onslaught (if onslaughts could be gentle, at least) on her senses, but absently let his hand go once they were both inside.

-----

So he couldn't help her with HER wonder….But she offered to help him with his instead?

Such a brat.

“It's okay. I can handle it.” the shift from his wonder to hers was apparent and he felt a small shiver run through him. Turkana felt the itch to grab Waipoua’s hand, but held back just as his rose up slightly. The trees here, he couldn't understand why they felt so familiar but not at the same time. Hes never been here before…

It was weird…

-----

She shrugged, having expected the reply. It still very often surprised her how they could possibly make any kind of relationship work—situationship or otherwise—given their independent streaks. She huffed quietly to herself as two words crossed her mind, but she tucked the whole line of thinking away for analyzing later, when she could think aloud and in more relative peace than on her Wonder, or even around him.

“Suit yourself,” she said, moving quickly and easily through the forest floor. Not that she had anywhere to be, but it was something like testing her familiarity with the place. Her first visit had been…brief. On purpose, yes, but far more brief than it should have been in retrospect. She had so much to learn, and so limited access to do it, that the memory of it irritated her considering the wasted opportunity. The visits after, she had taken her time and spent at least several hours just wandering around and exploring. She’d started taking notes and sketching out unique things that stood out to her…

Waipoua, caught up in her thoughts, was weaving her way absently between the trees. Comfortable, clearly, but had forgotten that she had a guest and should probably be a little more mindful.

-----

There were times where he enjoyed that attitude Waipoua gave off and times when he had to fight …Urges. This was going to be one of those times where it would be the latter apparently. He could easily keep up with her due to his long gait but as he walked, he stopped short in his tracks, looking up at the canopy.

Something about the way she was moving so quickly brought up a fleeting feeling of a chase? It was strange but when he closed his eyes he could feel how this same forest felt underneath his feet, wind blowing through his hair as he gave chase to…Well he couldn't see [everything was a murky, black haze], but what surprised him was what he could smell.

Surprisingly it wasn't something sweet and enticing, but more akin to a stale, damp earthy like scent. Not fresh, but also not decaying either. It was so….unique. But it was because of that scent that he felt a strange hunger.

He knew he should try to snap out of it, but this….Vision? Felt so really and present that he couldn't stop himself from taking off at a run. Whatever that scent belonged to, it was pretty close…

And he will have it.

-----

Waipoua blinked at the sudden sound of a rushing through the dry brush all across the forest ground, and looked up and around. The trees weren’t quite as dense here, in the outer edges of the forest, and the canopy overhead was such that more sunlight peaked through. Still, it took a second before she spotted who was moving toward her.

Who else could it have been, though?

For a moment she was frozen in her spot, brows raised as she watched Turkana move toward her. He seemed…different, though the “how” or “why” she couldn’t quite place. A thrill ran down her spine as a particularly visceral feeling of being hunted permeated her whole body.

She blinked, processing what was happening when he just… disappeared.

Everything went quiet, save for the hush of the forest around her. A gentle breeze swept past soon after, rustling leaves and carrying an almost imperceptible whistle between the trees.

And then her laughter broke the relative silence.