Elemental Eclipse

🌻Chapter Eight; Part Four: Night Magick🌻

"You really are the type of person to learn at a party, huh?" Rachael laughs as she approached Beckett.

He jumped slightly, quickly turning around startled, but a wide smile spread across his face when he noticed it was her. "Take a closer look. This is truly a rare find."

She stepped beside him and took a look at a disgusting black fuzz like substance on the tree trunk. "It's...mold? That looks like someone stapled an old 90's shag carpet to the tree."

"Those are the distinguishing features of midnight moss. It isn't hardy moss at all, so it rarely grows this expansively. I wonder if the solstice's energy is to thank for the quantity of moss on these trees!" Beckett says excitedly.

"Midnight moss, huh? What's it do?" Rachael asks, looking over at him.

"It can be ground into a salve to help heal minor cuts and scrapes, and especially effective in dulling pain from a bitten tongue." Beckett explains, with a smile.

"Does it stain your tongue pitch black afterwards?" Rachael asks, unable to stop herself from smiling at his smile.

"Your entire mouth, teeth included, for up to three days!" Beckett says passionately. "Not that I've tried it or anything."

He smiled at her for a moment before, laughing at himself and shaking his head.

"Apologies, I'm getting a little carried away. I've always been fascinated by magickal varieties of flora." Beckett says, bashfully.

"I can tell. Few people would ditch a party to examine plants." Rachael smiles at him.

"I don't need a reminder of how utterly uncool I am." Beckett sighs.

"Calm down. It's isn't uncool to like moss and knowledge and things like that. It's actually very attractive." Rachael says.

"It is? How?" Beckett asks, contorting his face in confusion.

"It's just like...cute and attractive. I don't know how to explain it. I just have a type okay. And you happen to fill it out perfectly." Rachael shrugs.

"I fail to follow." Beckett says.

"I'm trying to flirt with you, Beckett!" Rachael laughs, exasperated.

Beckett smirked at her. "I'm well aware. However, I think your technique could use some work."

"Okay, well, maybe you could teach me sometime, since you're so good at everything." Rachael teases.

Beckett's eye caught something in the distance, making him gasp. "Oh! I had no idea there was a pond nearby. There's bound to be more flora around its banks."

He started to quickly head out of the clearing, but turned back to smile at her excitedly. "Would you like to join me, Rachael?"

"Absolutely." Rachael smiles following after him as he disappeared behind the trees. When she finally arrived at the pond she found him, staring fixedly at something on the ground. "Already found something? What do you have there?"

Beckett glanced over his shoulder at her, his eyes widening and he quickly stands up, holding his hands in front of him. "Stop right there! Don't even think about taking another step."

Before she could even comprehend his sentence, he was on one knee of front of her looking at something.

"I know you're not, but I feel like I'm being proposed to..." Rachael says, confused.

He ignored her and gently plucked up a small blue flower blossom before standing up in front of her. "Apologies for my brusqueness. I wanted to ensure that you didn't step on this."