ArchivedLogs:Leafy Greens

Leafy Greens
Dramatis Personae Aloke, Ruth
In Absentia	2013-06-14 Aloke and Ruth go into town for a little shopping.
Location <XS> Art Room - FL2
Smells of paints and chalks and turpentine mingle freely in this room, well-used, well-stocked. Natural light flows in, plentiful through the large windows. The long counter-like tables are speckled with spots of color, and half finished projects often stand on easels or propped in corners. The many cupboards lining the walls are crammed full of art supplies. It's mid-morning and Aloke is in the art room, taking full advantage of the lighter summer schedule. Everyone always wants to get general requirements out of the way in summer sessions, which leaves his course-load relatively relaxed. So here he is, actually /organizing/ the art room. GASP. He's in green cargo shorts, a black Ramones t-shirt, and is barefoot. The windows are wide open to let in some air for once, and on the sill is his little bonzai tree. He's crap at maintaining it, but he hasn't killed it yet, at least! Ruth's arrival is a subtle one. First there is an eye peeking around the doorframe. Then a hand curled against it and her head, as she scopes out the interior of the room. The air is sniffed and the smell of turpentine leaves her reaching down, out of sight. When she steps completely into the room--tick tick go her hooves on the polished floor--she is revealed as holding an inhaler in hand (just in case!), wearing an oversized white t-shirt that's been tailored down into a dress, with a colorful wrap belt. Her tail flicks idly behind her. "...Professor Suresh?" she inquires, voice heavily accented and tentative in tone. "Ah, Ruth, suprabhatham!" he nods, apparently /aware/ that Ruth doesn't speak Hindi, and adds, "/Good morning/. It's nice to finally meet you! Come in, come in!" Bilinguals unite! Aloke bustles back to the workbench against the wall, halfway across the room. He has a plug-in hot-pot there, and a short stack of paper cups. He flicks the pot on, and approaches Ruth, hand out to shake. "Yes I am. How are you settling in so far?" Such enthusiasm! Ruth blinks solemnly at it, at the unfamiliar words and excited speech, even at the hand that's presented. After a moment, she thinks to swap the inhaler from right to left before carefully accepting the offered shake--with a limp grip. "It is good to meet you," she says in highly scripted English. "I am...settling in, si. It is very different here. But nice gardens. People are nice. They see me and make strange sounds." Once her hand is released, she gestures almost shyly at the horn decorating her brow, then pushes her glasses up on her nose. Apparently not one for focusing overly on one's mutations, Aloke just smiles and says, "Well I think you look lovely." He's slowed down his english just touch, but without the foreigner-shout so many Americans love. "And if any students tease you, or anything, you let me know, ok?" He glances back at the burbling pot on his work bench. "Would you like some tea? I have Assam, and green tea. And also some instant coffee, but its' awful." He smiles and shrugs. The compliment earns the distinction of her cheeks going a deep caramel shade. Ruth just dips her head rather than reply to it, choosing instead to answer the instructions. "Ok," she parrots, "I will tell. They have been nice. It is...out there? That is not nice. Si?" That glance is followed with her own eyes. "What is Assam? I am only...mm, I am...sick? When I have things that are not...good for me." She stumbles over the words a little, groping for the correct phrasing. Not finding it leaves her wrinkling her nose slightly, tail a-lash. "Only, mmm. Fresh? From real things." The look on Aloke's face is, 'uh, I just remembered something that I should have thought of from the beginning'. Not too sneaky, this one. He picks up the box of Assam bags, and reads the back. Finally, he nods and says, "You know, I don't think this is actually going to work. But um... hang on a sec?" He takes a step toward the window, and his eyes brighten, literally, when he remembers his pigeon Spanish he started learning when Ruth's file came across his desk. "Uh... un momento, for favor?" It's /meant/ to be a question, but its more like, 'did I say that right?' Ruth watches all of this with /interest/. She's very good at watching. All of the details, they are seen. And maybe she smiles slightly, though it's a quick and fleeting expression--when the negative answer comes back, she's resigned to the fact and just nods politely. But Aloke wins a /second/ smile with his halting attempts at Spanish. "Por favor," she says carefully to correct, not seeming to realize that correcting a professor could be a THING. "That is good." "Oh ok, thank you!" And apparently he really means it, because, no lying vibes. "'Por favor,'" he repeats. "Ok, so don't be alarmed. My mutation lets me... travel very fast. I'll be right back." And with that muted flash of light, not particularly bright against the open windows behind him, he's gone. Just about two minutes go by, before he returns in a brighter flash of light this time. And in his hands, two handfuls of dried leaves. "Here we go! Fresh Assam, no bags!" Someone else, /might/ have considered just slicing open the bags he already had, for some loose-leaf that way, but yeah. Hopefully she doesn't ask where he got them. Aloke grins as he crushes the leaves into a cup, and then fishes the metal tea sieve from his work drawer. Alarmed might not be in her bailiwick. When Aloke disappears, Ruth blinks once...then tick-ticks over to inspect the patch of floor he'd occupied for signs of his leaving. She glances around--even up at the ceiling--and then retreats to her previous spot. Once there she just stares intently at--oh, there he is! Another blink follows! "{That's incredible, being able to travel that way}," she says in Spanish, without thinking. But her expression should provide enough of a translation, right? She approaches again to observe the preparation ritual with keen interest. "It is tea from your home?" Aloke blinks, considers the question, and finally nods. "Yes, actually. My family is from India, where the best Assam is grown. I'm sorry if I startled you, before." He smiles, and pours hot water into the two cups with freshly crushed leaves. He might as well have some fresh stuff too! "You know, I read in your file that you have quite the green thumb- Oh, sorry, do you know that expression? 'Green Thumb'?" "India. That is what you said, si? When I came here. Supra-hathim?" Now it's Ruth's turn to flub the language, however earnest the attempt. She returns the smile. "No startled. Gracias, Professor Suresh." The question that follows earns a hesitant shake of her head and an attempt at an answer: "Green is growing? I like green. Your tree?" She indicates it with another nod. "Like that." "Yes, that's right," Aloke says in response to the language lesson. "'Suprab-hatham'" he breaks it up, speaking slowly. "It means 'good morning' in Hindi. Hindi is the main language in India." He smiles and looks down to stir the leaves around in their steeping teas. "Yes, I don't actually take very good care of that tree, actually. I'm pretty terrible with plants. But I have an idea. About growing things. If you like the tea, or maybe a different kind, we could plant a bush in the garden, and tend it together. Then we have fresh leaves, AND I learn something useful, and not just /art/." He grins and waves a hand dismissively at the canvasses stacked and leaning against the wall. "Yes." Aloke isn't even allowed to finish his idea before Ruth is leaping on it. "Yes. I would like that. Many bush? I can grow many. And your tree," she says with far more enthusiasm than previously shown. "It is not happy but I show you. I teach it how." This decided, she smiles at him unhindered--until a thought occurs to her. "I am choosing class with you? For learning. Different, here. Mi abuela...different books. Not in English." "Ab-way-la... oh right! Your grandmother." Aloke smiles, pleased with himself for remembering the word. He'll have to study hard if he hopes to meet his advisee half way. "Well yes, I'll help you pick your classes. Maybe for the summer, 'verano', we practice english. And grow tea bushes?" Aloke smiles, and starts fishing tea leaves out of their cups with his strainer. The fresh tea leaves a bright, open scent in the room. "If you don't like this kind, I can pick out a different. Just not Earl Gray. Ug." "Verano, si." Ruth's smile shades shy again. "Abuela...she said American people no...not...they do not speak Spanish. It is very good. I would like to practice English and grow tea bushes." When he speaks of tea again, she sniffs at the air and shakes her head--following that up by pushing the glasses up her nose again. "No, it is smelling very good. In home.../at/ home, we drink tea. Not Earl Gray. Is there much tea in India?" "Oh gosh, yeah. Tons and tons of it. Chai is a popular tea too. But I like this - Assam - better." Aloke smiles, and adds sets out a little carton of half-and-half, with a few packets of sugar, but doesn't take any himself. "You know, part of what we do here, at Xavier's, is to help students... learn their abilities. I think a tea project would be fun. Can you show me, with the tree, to start?" He gestures to the window sill, and starts to get up before asking, "Or is it hard for you? We can wait until you feel ready, of course. No rush." Ruth also overlooks the additives, choosing instead to take the cup closer to her and bring it closer to her face to sniff again. "Mint is also good. In mornings. For waking up." She pauses then for a cautious sip, taking in as much air as tea to help cool it, heedless of the slurping sound made. After, she smacks her lips and declares it, "Good!" The teen might have been reluctant to part with the tea otherwise, but...she sets the cup down again to approach the little bonsai. "Not hard. You want it bigger? More leaves?" Aloke stands as well, and grabs a torn-out magazine page off his workbench to bring to the window with him. He sets it down next to the plant, and the difference is clear. "No, see, they're /supposed/ to be small. Like a... a cat sort of, right? But mine is... skinny. And kind of yellow. I'm worried I might be killing it." He seems somewhat disappointed, but probably not as much as someone who can really feel how a plant feels. It would probably be clear that he's overwatering it, and the plant is basically /drowning/. Also, a little plant food probably wouldn't hurt. It also needs some dead branches clipped off at this point. Rather than take a class on raises bonzai trees, Suresh seems to be operating /entirely/ from a picture, and very short article in a magazine. "Like a cat," Ruth says in the tone of someone repeating, rather than agreeing. Small tree. All right, she can do that. The magazine's page is glanced at but only from politeness. Mostly she is concerned with touching the poor excuse for a tree. Tiny leaves are rubbed between thumb and forefinger, tiny branch is stroked--like a cat--and then she wiggles her fingers gently into the soil. The effect can be seen almost immediately, where yellow takes on a fresh green vibrancy. "Is supposed to be small," she murmurs--revelation!--before a frown appears. Aloke is given a rather...stern glance. "You are not feeding her and too much drink. Here. Feel." Without thinking about it, she reaches for his hand to push his fingers into those same divots in the soil. While he does that, she begins to pinch unsalvageable pieces from the trunk and branches. "Wet, see? Wet is bad. Soft, not wet." "Oh wow..." Aloke says, stunned as he watches the little tree come back to life. "I thought... they just needed water," he says with a sheepish grin. Feeling the dampness, he shrugs. "I figured more was better. Sorry." He wipes his hands off on his shorts, which are already a little grubby from late-spring cleaning, and asks, "So what should I feed her?" He looks genuinely repentant. Ruth takes over when Aloke withdraws, working her fingers back into the soil. Fresh leaves are budding now, uncurling into tiny sprigs of green to thicken the miniature canopy. "Not dead," she reassures him. "Just less water. More...mm...you have...food waste? The word is..." She clucks her tongue, trying to produce the sound and finding herself unable to. "Take box. Put in...newspaper, food waste...eggshells, coffee dirt, orange peels. Si? Maybe worms. Turn it over. Let it become earth. Tree food." "Oh!" Aloke snaps his finger, looking for the word too. "Oh yeah! /Compost!/ Lots of New Yorkers keep some. I'll start doing that, thank you. This is a truly amazing gift you have, you know that?" Aloke checks his pockets and is apparently satisfied to find his wallet, and his phone. He's /always/ forgetting his keys, but then, he doesn't usually need them. "Ruth, how would you feel about a little field trip? There's a garden store over in Salem, and I bet they would have a tea plant. And probably some mint, too." He smiles briefly and adds, "I figure we can-" He blinks 10 feet to the left, "-take the quick way. If you're ok with that?" "Compost," she says to commit it to memory. "Compost. Si. Plant food." With the tree restored to health, she brushes her hands off--leaving them only /slightly/ dirty, and turns towards the tea--only to blink at the suggestion of a trip. "...quick way? Your way?" Ruth considers this a moment; in the end, curiosity decides her. Her tail gives a flick. "Si! Tea plant, mint. I would like to see the store." Aloke rubs at his jaw, thinking, and finally nods. "Yeah, it'll be fun. You know, we may get some jerks in the store - you know, people who don't like us. But we can ignore them." Aloke takes a big swig of his cooling tea, and downs about half of it before setting it on a nearby table. He pulls out his phone to send a quick text, and then he's kneeling next to Ruth. "Ok, this will feel a little weird, because you'll see where we're going, ok? We will become light. Light" he repeats, when he remembers the word in spanish. Once Aloke is convinced Ruth is ready to go, he puts an arm gently around her shoulders, and the two of them dissolve into a coherent beam of energy. They stream out the window, and across town, seeing everything like a paused movie as they go by, and then they're swooping through the garden center. They loop around once until Aloke finds a spot that is hidden from view, and the two re-materialize in the store. Aloke immediately sneezes, once, at the onslaught of /natural/ smells, plants and fertilizers. City boy, indeed. But then he says, "Alright, you ok?" "Light," Ruth dutifully repeats. The most biddable of students, she is. She fidgets on her hooves slightly when "weird" is mentioned but when he indicates it's time to go, she allows it--and presumably spends the entire trip in a state of shock. When they come out of it, she startles, dancing in one spot and twisting her head around as if uncertain that they have indeed traveled so far. "So /fast/," she says to her advisor once her breath is caught--though it's probably a good observation, given the short-lived but very genuine grin. "Like movies. All the things are yours." "Ok," Aloke says, probably realizing they should have gone over the ground rules /before/ they left. Oh well, better late than never! "So just stick close to me on this trip," he says softly in their little corner of the store. "We get mixed reactions sometimes, in town. Just let me know if you're feeling uncomfortable and we'll leave, ok?" Once the ground rules are established, Aloke leads the way to the nursery section of the store, where row upon row of fresh, young plants are laid out for perusal. All manner and variety can be found here, everything suited to summer planting in the Northeast USA. Aloke starts reading labels, muttering about organization and tea plants. And they had a lovely, uneventful shopping trip. The End