What Would You Do Without Me? // Teen Wolf

She's Strawberry Blonde

Stiles chatted with Isaac for a little longer, just enjoying his company. The two didn't often get to spend time together but with the rest of the pack occupied together it gave them some time alone. They talked about what Isaac was doing at college, comparing their timetables to see if they could actually do more together, since they didn't often get to and the two got along well. When Alison called him to come back to the living room, the two laughed and Isaac clapped Stiles on the shoulder, promising they'd go out some time soon to catch up properly before he headed back to her with a lovesick smile. Stiles admired them, they'd been through a lot of ups and downs but they still looked at each other like they'd never left the honeymoon phase. Stiles approached Peter and hopped up onto the countertop so they'd be a more similar height and asked about his work before suggesting Peter very kindly drive him to the library. Peter was difficult and he teased, but ultimately he agreed to take Stiles there to pick up his Jeep.

"Have you any particular plans that leave you in such dire need of your Jeep?" Peter asked as the two were leaving, keys in his hand while Stiles continued waving to the pack as they slipped through the door to the loft.
"I need to visit the Nemeton." Stiles said simply, shrugging casually. Peter more than the others would understand that, he knew more about his bond to the Beacon Hills Nemeton than anyone else did purely based on their conversation the day before.
"Be careful, pup, I don't want to have to come find you at sundown." Peter said with a laugh as he climbed into his car and Stiles slipped into the passenger seat, rolling his eyes dramatically.
"I have classes today so I need to be back home before two, but I have to go see her." He relaxed into the comfortable seats, surprised at the general lack of noise Peter's car made - it didn't just make less noise than the Jeep because that's to be expected, but it made less noise than the Camaro, in fact it was practically silent.
"Her?" Peter probed gently, never looking away from the road as he drove them along, flicking on the radio to a classic rock station that Stiles never listened to despite liking the genre. A good pick.
"Yeah, I think so. Just a feeling I've got." He replied, still at just as much of a loss about the Nemeton's connection to him as he had been when he first realised it was there. Sure, Stiles now knew more about Nemeton as a species but not about his own specific connection to the one here in Beacon Hills.

Peter made no further conversation, just tapped along to the music playing from the radio and let Stiles sit in his thoughts. He drove them to the library and told Stiles to be careful in the preserve with a snarky comment about not wanting to ruin his shoes looking for him, to which Stiles just gave him the bird and was more than glad when Roscoe started without trouble. He climbed inside and waved Peter goodbye before heading straight for the preserve. Peter hadn't been wrong with his assumption that Stiles may lose time talking to the Nemeton - which was terrifying after the Nogitsune debacle - so he wanted to get to her as soon as he could so that he would still have a chance of making his afternoon classes.

It took less time than usual for Stiles to find the huge stump, almost like she was as eager to see Stiles as he was to see her. When he breached the clearing, all the nervous energy creeping around his body and the energy buzzing at his fingertips eased. Everything was easier when it was just him and the stump. Once, she'd brought him anxiety and stress but now she was a beacon for a perfect calm that Stiles had never thought he'd find, even when he remembered to take his meds regularly. He approached the stump with care, nervous to see what she would do to him this time when she took her place in his mind to speak with him. Then, with a final look inside to take refuge in his temporary calm, he rested a steady hand at the centre of the great stump and closed his eyes so she could get into his head.

Stiles rushed into the clearing with a grin, looking around to see what form the Nemeton would take this time. She'd last taken the form of Erica, he wondered whether she'd choose the same body again or someone new. When there was nobody, he left the clearing only to reenter at the other side as he'd expected and there stood one Lydia Martin.
"Young Spark, you seem recovered from our last conversation." She said, perfectly in the voice of the girl Stiles had spent so much of his life pining over.
"I have questions that don't have answers because my mom is gone. So I didn't have much of a choice." Stiles said with an easy shrug. Truly he should be more worried or perhaps intimidated, but he could only find the peaceful calm that the clearing blessed him with.
"You're rather fond of this girl and her ginger hair. I do see the appeal of her brain, though." The Nemeton said conversationally, sitting down on the leaves beneath their feet.
"She's strawberry blonde, and yeah her brain was.. Most of the appeal. She's gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but I always wanted someone who could keep up with me." Stiles replied, pleasantly surprised by the easy way the conversation flowed where it would usually be tense or he expected it to be awkward.
"She is a good body to take the form of for you then, but not the right one." She said with a cryptic smile. Stiles wondered what the Nemeton would consider to be the right body, how many of his friends she'd cycle through before coming to a decision.
"You called me here, right? What do you need?" Stiles asked, leaning back on his palms with his face to the trees above them, admiring nature and enjoying the gentle, cool breeze. Stiles could feel her eyes on him but he ignored them in favour of basking in the fictional space that made him feel light and free. Free of everything that troubled him when he was out in the real world.
"Interesting. You ask what I need, not what I want." The Nemeton observed, but she didn't need Stiles to reply and he knew that on a level that was bone deep. "I wanted to tell you about your mother." She then said, after taking a moment to consider how to say what she needed to.