[PRP] New Beginnings (Pastela and Porter)

[Kira of Flames]

Pastela stood in front of the disaster that was her garden; the storm had certainly done a number on it and nearly everything would have to be replanted and there was so much debris it would take forever to clear. And she was alone now. Woobie was gone, disappeared with the storm, and Tourmaline was off with her own life as were Pastela's brothers with their own families.

Spreading her wings and stretching her arms above her head, she said a silent prayer of thanks to whoever was up there and had protected her cottage from damage, and began the labor of clearing out and cleaning up. A metaphor of sorts for her life.  

[Wolfs Heart]

Porter had been wandering around aimlessly for days, he was trying to find a place of his own in this world to settle in. Now that he was full grown he could actually be rid of his family. He often went away for days as a child since no one seemed to care, but now was different. Porter was relieved to not really have to live with his parents anymore, it was difficult to be around them with how unhappy his mother was. He couldn't blame his dad, his dad seemed to try.

Now, he was a full grown male, unsure of his direction in life or what lay ahead for him. First things first, he needed someplace to live. As Porter approached a small cottage he noticed another pae standing there. Porter was friendly so he waved at the angel, "Hey!" he called out happily, although when he looked at the debris and mess that surrounded her, he felt bad. "Is everything ok?" Porter asked, tilting his head to the side.  

[Kira of Flames]

Pastela hand't gotten very far, only a small pile off to the side of where she'd started, when she heard the call of a male behind her. For a moment, her heart hammered in excitement and she turned with hope in her eyes that it would be Woobie. When she saw the fae-like male standing there she stared for a moment as she realized that Woobie wasn't coming back.

Still, despite the pain that was welling up inside of her, she nodded and pushed a warm smile to her face. "Absolutely fine, just trying to clean up some of the mess from the storm. Luckily the cottage is nearly untouched." She bent and grabbed a rather large branch and pulled as hard as she could, resulting in the slight movement of the heavy chunk of wood. She yanked it again, resulting in no movement from the branch, and nearly broke down in tears right there as she continued to pull as hard as possible.  

[Wolfs Heart]

Porter just felt worse when he saw the look of excitement on her face vanish, he wasn't who she wanted to see. Ugh, he had just made her even more miserable, he was certain! When the female mentioned she was trying to clean up, Porter's eyes lit up with an idea of how he could make it up to her. "I could help you? If you want it anyways... Do you want some help?" He was trying to be enthusiastic, hoping to cheer her up maybe. Then she broke down, "Oh woah, here let me help you." Porter quickly jumped over some things to try and get to her and tug on the large branch. He had to put some effort into it, but the male was able to get it to move. "There, its okay." He tried to reassure her as he slowly dragged the branch away.  

[Kira of Flames]

The log moved quickly with the help of the other male, and when it was finally moved off to the pile Pastela had gathered herself together again. "Thank you." She wiped her hands on her legs to rid herself of the grime, then offered her hand out to him. "My name's Pastela, and if you truly don't mind." She glanced around at the disaster her once beautiful garden had become. "I really could use your help cleaning up."

That's right, Woobie wasn't coming back, and she had known that. Why else would he have just vanished like that without a word. It was time to move on, and she'd start over by re-growing her garden.  

[Wolfs Heart]

Porter smiled politely at the other, relieved that she had seemingly stopped crying. "Not a problem." He accepted her hand and shook it, "The name is Porter and I really don't mind, I don't really have anything better to do." Porter looked at the cottage, he hadn't really had the chance to look at it yet, even when she mentioned it was untouched by the storm. The storm that had happened before he was even born, he had heard about it though. "Your home does look great, considering all this, it does seem lucky."  

[Kira of Flames]

"Poter, it's a pleasure to make your acquainted." Pastela gave his hand a firm squeeze and a shake before letting go. Looking back to her home, she smiled and nodded. "Yes, it was amazingly blessed that I didn't lose the home with everything else. At least a garden can be re-tilled and re-planted. Although with the HQ gone finding seedlings and plants will be a bit more of a challenge."

Bending down, she grabbed a large palm frond and dragged it off to the pile. "So Porter, what brings you this direction?"  

[Wolfs Heart]

Porter was surprised by how positively she spoke next...blessed?... the young adult wasn't really familiar with a term like that. He slowly nodded his head, it seemed like she was seeing the positive side of things, so why had she broken down? "Well, I'm sure you'll find something, there's plenty of plants out there... you looking for flowers or food?" Porter was more familiar with beach cuisine and plants, but he had seen other stuff in the forest.

Porter took the cue from Pastela and started picking up some debris. "I'm looking for a place to settle." He answered her question, hoping he didn't sound like he was being forward. "I don't mean here, I was just scouting out different areas to find where I liked it best." the male further explained.  

[Kira of Flames]

"Hopefully; at least they're just plants and can be regrown." She shoved some more debris aside and looked down mournfully at the bush that was completely destroyed beneath it. With a sigh, she knelt down and began to uproot the mangled plant.

"I see, you've come of age hm? What places have you looked at that you like?" She thought of her own home, the empty room that had been her daughter's room. "If you don't mind doing chores and helping with housework, I have a spare room available.  

[Wolfs Heart]

Porter looked at Pastela curiously as he picked up another piece of debris, her words were optimistic, but she still seemed so sad. The male was still not quite sure how else he could help her aside from picking things up. He grinned and puffed out his chest when she mentioned him coming of age, he had been so excited for these days to come. Although it had been a little embarrassing for her to put it that way, it made him feel like he was still so new. Porter shrugged his shoulders, "I haven't really looked too hard yet. I've mostly been looking for a good clear spot with wood... or other stuff... close enough that I can put something together, not quite sure what else to be looking for." Porter kind of had an idea in his head how he might put something together, but there wasn't a specific place he was looking at yet. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to be presump... I wasn't trying to steal your home or anything." the male scratched the back of his neck uncertainly. It seemed weird to take the room that had once belonged to her daughter.  

[Kira of Flames]

Pastela looked up at him as she wrestled with a rather stubborn plant, its leaves dead but its roots dug deep into the ground. Her purple eyes locked on him, staring at him for a moment, then she burst out into a warm laugh. "Stealing my home? I'm not sure my offering you shelter in exchange for some hard labor is really qualifying for that!"

The laughter overtook her, and she let go of the plant and wiped away the tears at the edges of her eyes. "To be honest, it'd be nice to have someone to talk to other than myself; my daughter's moved out with her own coming of age... and boyfriend." She shook her head and sighed. "Parenting's rough."  

[Wolfs Heart]

Porter froze when she locked in on him, until she started laughing, then he was able to relax. "Well, when you put it that way..." It did seem like a fair trade. "Just know that it wasn't the reason why I offered to help." Porter had good intentions and hadn't been thinking about reward. "So you want all the plants uprooted?" he asked as he looked at the dead plant in Pastela's hands. The male didn't want to remove anything that belonged. He couldn't relate to parenting being rough, he felt like at least his mom had things pretty easy, she just let the young pae up to his own devices, after she was finished trying to turn him into a fashion model at least.  

[Kira of Flames]

Pastela's sides hurt a little from laughing so hard, but it felt great to have a reason to have such a pure elation. Shaking her head, she ran a hand through her hair and smeared dirt on her face. "Oh, I know, Porter."

She looked at the dead plant in her hand and tossed it into the pile. "Pull everything... I'm starting a new life, I might as well kick it off with a new garden. If you want, you can peek in and see yourself around the house; I have my daughter's old room and a spare that you can chose from."  

[Wolfs Heart]

Porter smiled, much more willing to take her up on the offer now that she knew his intentions were pure. He glanced over at her curiously with her comment about starting a new life. The male was curious to ask what she meant, but at the same time... she had just offered him a place to stay and didn't want to ruin that by asking something too personal. "Well, maybe I'll look later, I've already got dirt all over me from starting this. Your house looks so beautiful, I really don't want to... er... track this in." Porter started pulling at the plants, he really should get to know her some more. "So, what is your daughter's name?" Porter asked casually, trying to ask the right questions.  

[Kira of Flames]

"Well, honestly, a little dirt never hurt anything. It's not like I can't just amek you scrub the floors later." Pastela joked lightly with him, teasing him about tracking mud and dirt about.

At the question of her daughter, a tender expression graced her. "Tourmaline... she was a lucky little one. For the longest time she wouldn't speak, and neither me or Woobie knew why." She paused at the mention of her past mate, then sighed softly. "Her voice was probably the most miraculous thing I ever experienced the day she first spoke."