ORIGIN

Pollen didn't spend enough time with the others in the Palace, did she? No, she stayed mostly in the gardens, and made conversation a little more leisurely than before, her enthusiasm curbed by growing up. She needed to recover a bit after emerging from her chrysalis with some downtime, and she hadn't even pursued her previous fixation on Rodd Danger in four whole cycles.

Well, she'd still like to meet him, but she'd come to realize that that may not even be possible. Ah, well. She could still be a fan to her favorite show, still blissfully unaware of the propaganda it held. It inspired her to practice a bit more, anyways, which she'd come to do in her spare time, when she wasn't busy in the dirt.

There was the seed from her ascension she'd like to do something with, too. For now, she'd stored it in one of the gardening sheds, kept for later. It wasn't necessary for practicing more combat-oriented magic. For the first time in a while, she was focused on herself and her own progress, taking her time with regrowing the garden her body held. It's been slow work, but it's a bit manageable now, at least- even if these leaves keep popping up all over her back and making her need to trim them periodically. It's fine.

At the moment, Pollen stood in the foyer of the Palace, just barely in the entrance. Obieth should be around if she'd want to practice fighting, right? She could handle the corruption, she imagined, even if she'd managed to finally get a good night's sleep after waking up from the Deathmatch.

Still. She wanted to be able to do better, so she wanted to spar with Obieth anyways. Or- it didn't even have to be a spar. It could just be magic practice, if the valkcat preferred. But she had to find her in the first place, anyways.

So, Pollen took another step into the foyer as her hands laid in the pockets of her overalls. One pulled out and perched at her muzzle. "Obieth?" She called into the Palace, her voice echoing off of empty halls. Was she in Aethril's room? "Obieth, wanna spar?" If she wasn't there, she'd move on, maybe practice moves by herself, but...

Well, she kind of wanted to just hang out with Obieth, too.

As Pollen waited, she shoved her paws back into the pocket, as if she was wearing a sweatshirt rather than the stiff-material lined overalls. It'd become one of her more signature outfits- comfy and polite, especially since Aethril'd started to get weird about her not wearing clothes. Obieth didn't have to wear clothes- but, she figured it was only fair, since she did want to look good for her Hand.

Anyways. The muta took to scuffing her foot idly on the floor as she waited, glancing up at the flicker of movement down the way. Ah, there was Obieth. Grinning, Pollen started with a spring in her step, padding closer to cut the distance between them.

"Food sounds good. Did you see what Nedies's cooking today?" The distance closed, and Pollen drew to a stop, pulling her arms from the pocket at her chest. "I figured we could do it outside the grounds, and, ah-- more physical? Unless you want to practice anything. Just, uh, nothing too bad, I don't want to worry Miss Aethril too much." The latter half had a small laugh accompanied with it, smile widening enough to close her eyes for a brief moment. "You can use spells on me, I'll be fine. I kinda wanna try uhh-- the only things I've really fought're people bigger than me, so the practice'll be pretty fun, I think."

The only people she'd fought were in the Deathmatch, and she only won by default with the first, and got smushed by the second. She did survive, at least, and it was a fun struggle (past the pain, of course). Obieth? Obieth was a bit of a more trained fighter, and she figured they could both use the practice anyways.

Already turning on her heel and ready to make her way out of the Palace, Pollen kept talking. "I guess, rules- no chrysalizing or nothing too bad, y'know? Winner could... maybe first to draw blood, or first to tap out?" She took a step and paused, looking to Obieth at the proposition. "Or maybe not first blood. Uhh- first one who can't fight anymore loses. That sounds better." Her loose mane gently fell to the side as she tilted her head, uncertainty on her face.

Pollen was rather aware that Obieth was, well, Obieth. After all, how long had they known each other? Gosh, it was about eight cycles now, wasn't it? Well, if she could bear the brunt of their chaos, she could definitely handle a spar with her.

Mid-nod to Obieth's echo, pressure washed over her and shoved her to the ground, like a firm hand to the back-except, all over. A small "oof" escaped her as she wiggled. "Hey!" The bark held laughter in it as she squirmed in place, twisting back as best she could to look at her friend. The glare in her expression held no malice. A grin accented it, knowing what Obieth was doing. She did keep it physical, but...

"If we were outside, I could still fight, I bet," she claimed, sticking out her tongue. Outside was where all the plants were, after all. If she were inside, maybe she could have gloated Obieth closer, or waited out the magic, or tried to snake one of her vines over... Any number of things.

She kind of wanted to try things that weren't plants, too, but-- well, she probably couldn't compare to the chaotic repertoire of her companions, she'd have to admit. It would be in her realm to figure out how to incorporate other kinds of magic. That testing would have to be done away from the Palace in the first place, which is why Pollen struggled to perch herself up, only to be flattened by the pressure again with a dull thump.

"Can you, uh..." She raised a paw to point above her, swirling her digit to indicate to whatever was pushing her down. "If we were fighting, you'd win, but it didn't even start yet, doofy." She did know what Obieth could go for now, too, but, hopefully asking for it to be more physical would help? Whatever the case, this was sure to be a fun battle.

Pollen was released, and the little muta huffed, smiling. "One point for you, then," she conceded, ineffectively brushing off her overalls, as if the Palace had any dirt in the first place. She started off and waited for Obieth to follow behind, tail flicking almost like her's- a trait she'd started to pick up, it seemed.

But, even if Pollen had begun to incorporate parts of Obieth into herself, there were still a lot of differences. Namely- "Oh, I mean- you can use magic, I just figure you'd be able to stop a lot of fights if you just told their brains to stop fighting." Her gaze wandered as she paced quickly through the gardens, searching for an emptier area she'd noticed by the river. Hopefully it'd be too far away from the normal lawn, and if it got corrupted, she could deal with it.

"You uh-- you have a lot of magic you can do," she spoke in a tone of admittance, as if she weren't skilled herself. No, she couldn't change the winds and press it down, she couldn't split the earth or tell people to do things for her. Well, the latter she could with her words, but that wouldn't be magic. Sure, she didn't have the corruptive properties of her companions, but...

Her nostrils flared as she huffed again, lightly shaking the idea from her head. The brief expression of concern melted into a grinning confidence. "If you want to do that, you can. I should figure out how to fight through that, too, so anything is probably good." Pollen gave an unsure laugh through her teeth. Yeah, even if she was trying to look so sure of herself, planting her hands at her hips, the truth was that she didn't know how to fight. She survived the Deathmatch, but would she survive another? What would happen in an unsanctioned fight, a giant rebel coming to attack Miss Aethril or the Palace?

She couldn't tell a rebel what to not do. They wouldn't listen, so if Obieth wanted to use her full repertoire, then Pollen would be ready. She hoped her vines would be enough. If Obieth got the starting attack, she'd be at the disadvantage- but maybe she could work it into her favor? Pollen's head dropped to look at her arms as she unravelled the vines from their trappings, letting one from each arm drop to gather onto the grassy lawn. "So-- give me all you got, then. Ready when you are!" She rocked back on her feet, preparing herself. Both hands pulled out to her sides as she wrapped her fingers around the thick, thorned surface of the plants. She'd lowered her stance, her grin dimming into a serious focus, accented with a smile, almost daring Obieth to throw her best shot first.

"What if someone can't be mind-controlled?" Pollen mulled on it for a moment, before nodding. It'd be good to keep up with everything you could do, just in case, even if Pollen hadn't seen anyone actually resistant to it. It could happen! Or the magic couldn't fire off, or any number of things!

Her fascimile of eyebrows furrowed as best they could as Obieth moved to the water. -- oh. She hadn't considered that the guard could be thirsty. Dang, she should've asked if she needed anything else. But, well, she did say she was ready. Pollen pushed the thought away and side-stepped to keep her front to Obieth, watching with her head cocked.

She'd lost her stance. Wait-- lowering down again, Pollen set her feet back in place and rolled the vine-whips back, keeping them from tangling or catching on her legs. What was Obieth doing? Squinting, Pollen's mouth drew tight as she didn't get the scenario, unaware of the magic she was capable of.

It gave her time to settle in, at least. Rolling her shoulders back, Pollen stood like a target in place, believing to be ready for whatever Obieth would throw at her.

What... would she be facing? Whatever it was, she was about to be totally unprepared, even if a blow didn't land.