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Classes were over, but in Lily's mind there was still a countdown, a slow, never-ending ticking towards a day where something bad was going to happen. The weres had something like a week before they went full-wild or something, and there wasn't anything any of them could do about it. Lily trusted Eve, and Jamie was precious, but she didn't know how to express her own rising concern for the situation without stressing the others, which was not a thing she wanted either.

So she did what she'd been doing for weeks now, and she climbed.

She found the biggest tree in her local park, a gnarled one with a thick trunk and sturdy branches that stretched out lazily for the afternoon summer sky. Lily dug in her Doc Martens and hefted herself up to the first branch, scrambling for the second and then the third. All her time climbing had make brittle callouses as well as scabs where she'd rubbed the skin raw, but it was of little consequence. The heights were the only place she found peace, and she didn't have to worry about stressing about a tree.

About twenty feet up, she felt a breeze that she wouldn't have noticed on the ground, and leaned into the base of the tree, setting up her foundation to sit and relax. She slid her backpack down onto a spare branch that shot off from the branch and sighed, letting the wind ruffle her hair.

It wasn't perfect, but it was better than the fuss everyone else was making.

Lily glanced down just in time to see a visitor, and offered a brief wave, spreading out all five fingers in a vague gesture of greeting. She knew the girl from shared classes and recognized her as someone who was not a d**k, which as far as she was concerned meant she was allowed on the tree.

"Yooo, Kitty Sweater," Lily called down, the actual name of the girl slipping her mind at the moment. "I'm on a mission for the best branch in Ashdown, and this one's easily in the top three."

The girl reached down for her bag and grabbed her phone, checking it quickly before sliding it in a pocket. "You all done with finals? It's a pretty chill place to hang if you've got the time."

"Dude," Lily intoned, a certain weight in her inflection of the word, "I wish my life were some Sailor Moon s**t."

Instead, she just sighed, scooting on her perch so that she could more readily face the other girl. "But nah, it's really all about...just appreciating nature, I guess. Seeing and feeling what you would've missed on the ground."

The brunette nodded in approval at where Temperance was sitting, though she did not smile. "So? What do you think?" If she gestured at the branch, then maybe her hands would stop shaking.

Lily shrugged, leaning back into her makeshift seat. "That's fair." The tree life wasn't for everyone, she supposed.

She pondered Temperance's question for a moment, glancing off into the distance. "I'd probably be Pluto," she began, running a hand through the length of her long dark hair, "But, y'know, I always really liked Serena. She was kind of a baby, but she had all these cool friends, liked to eat stuff, had a hot boyfriend, saved the day."

Lily sighed, crinkling her nose. "What about you?"

Lily glanced back at Temperance, ready to ask 'Mamoru?', but when the other girl mentioned Tuxedo Mask, she just sort of nodded.

"Dude, you could be...um...Venus, though," Lily said, turning to face Temperance. "If you put your hair down, it could totally work."

For the first time since their conversation, the dark-haired girl glanced down, seemingly unperturbed by the distance between her boots and the ground. "Tried roofs, they're okay but they smell like tar. You just gotta...shimmy down? And hop when you're ready."

Lily was not ready, not when up here was so comfortable and the ground made her feel exposed. Her butt stayed firmly planted on her chosen branch.

"Nah, man," Lily asserted, rolling over to her stomach as she leaned on her branch. "The being pretty part isn't about looks, it's about feeling confident in your skin. And you've got the hair for it, maybe get some bangs done or whatever," she nodded sagely, resting her head on her arms.

Another person might have reached out to try and catch Temperance, but Lily just watched her shuffle and fall, raising her eyebrows. "Or you could...not die," she offered as a suggestion, taking the route opposite as a means of instruction. "If you're worried about splinters, you just gotta make sure not to slide your skin on the bark, so just slow and steady like..." she paused, reaching out with her leg for a lower branch, "...so."

Once on a lower tier, she let herself drop to the ground, ignoring the buzzing sensation in her feet when she relinquished her hold to the treetops. "Nice and easy, if you need some leverage I can help you down." It was like teaching students a new pose, Lily mused, her arms up in a way that might provide an additional foothold. She nodded to herself, considering the possibilities of tree yoga.

"Oh, yep, being made of skin does kind of put a wrench in my plan," Lily responded, scratching idly at one arm to try and drown out the nagging need to climb back up. Maybe she had just underestimated how hard it was to climb trees when you weren't being compelled by weird dream things where there were tails involved.

Nevertheless, she was at least present enough to notice when Temperance began to slip, and her arms shot out in an attempt to catch the tumbling girl. There wasn't much weight to her grip, however, and though the other girl might have been slowed by her efforts, both of them ultimately stumbled to the ground, the low hum of Lily's compulsion becoming an all-out klaxon in her mind.

"Careful, Sailor V, there's ground down here," she added plainly, her eyes slightly out of focus. While her thoughts were elsewhere, she made no attempt to untangle her gangly arms from the other girl.

"Yeah, I'm good," Lily said distantly, pulling her legs free as she drew to her feet.

"Sorry, didn't mean for you to get flung from a tree or whatever..." She rubbed at the back of her head slowly, eyes already glancing back up to the trees. "Are you gonna make it?"