ArchivedLogs:Of Gardens and Other Still Growing Things (Or, An Awkward Welcome)

Of Gardens and Other Still Growing Things (Or, An Awkward Welcome)
Dramatis Personae Harm, Kavalam, Mina, Nessie
In Absentia	2017-08-23 "/oh my god/."
Location <XS> Gardens
From indoor gardens to outdoor, though without the protective greenhouse glass the back gardens do not last all year round. Still, the gardens out here are well-tended and well-worth spending time in, as well. The paths wending through the beds of flowers and herbs and vegetables spread out through the school's back grounds, tended by students as a credit class. Benches offer seating and a small pond is home to koi and turtles, as well as a few frogs. At the far back edges of the garden, a droning buzzing marks a few stacked white boxes as beehives. School hasn't quite started, but it's near enough that the slow trickle of more distant straggler students has already begun. The grounds -- admittedly never empty, are growing busier now than over the summer. New students needing a longer adjustment period before diving into classes, faraway students whose convoluted travel plans don't exactly line up with the official beginning of the semester. At the intersection of these groups is Mina -- just arrived this morning, her cheerfully yellow and pink suitcases sitting unpacked smack in the center of her dorm room floor. After sitting with her dad through A Lot of paperwork and being carted around on the requisite tour she has finally found herself with free time. At the moment she's teetering on the jagged crook of a rock, peering (wide-eyed and delighted) up at a viney twisting conglomeration of somewhat alien-looking purple and yellow flowers, large and complex with feathery purple filaments and yellow stamens. She rather resembles a flower herself, right now, flowing green-on-green skirt and bright purple and pink layered wrap top, enormous flowered headband pulling back her thick dark hair and similarly accented yellow sandals on her feet. An ornately embroidered multicolored bag is slung around her shoulder, a glittery pink water bottle clipped to it. In sharp contrast, Kavalam is drab. Plain grey trousers, a white button-down short sleeved shirt, black rimmed glasses making his own stare look even more owlish. He's been wandering the grounds following his own orientation -- by coincidence, the same orientation Mina got, little though his quiet (unnoticed) presence now is in any way familiar. Nevertheless, he slips up beside her, tipping up into his own toes to inspect the very same flowers curiously. Harmony wanders up into the gardens from the direction of the lake. They're barefooted and lightly dressed in a gauzy rainbow tanktop and green ombre linen wrap pants, carrying a bag made of bicycle inner tubes across their chest and a pair of undyed hemp sandals in one hand. It was probably Mina who first caught their eye from afar, but when they come to a stop beside the crag they stare up at the flowers, too, breaking into a smile. "Oh, we grew these at home, but ours were never so pretty!" Drab, colorful, flowery, Nessie is perched a little bit askew to any of these descriptors. Certainly her shirt is -- tidy enough, she's put on a /clean/ one today, a neat leaf-green Oxford, even bathed somewhere along the way, carapace scrubbed and gleaming. Her sharp-clawed feet click-click-click -- almost in a chorus of prim high-heels staccato, until actually turning to look at their segmented arachnoid lengths. She's walking slowly, two pincer-hands kind of clasped at her midsection, two rather more standard ones folded behind her back. "Oh!" Softly, stopping just a short distance back from the others, one hand lifting to shade a couple of her eyes though others are squinting forward at the flowers, "they're lovely, what /are/ those?" Mina is dancing fingertips lightly against the delicate purple feathers of one flower when the others arrive. Her smile blossoms bright -- a bit past Kavalam at Harmony. "They're practically the first thing here that feels normal," she admits with a laugh, "though /just/ about not, they're not /exactly/ the same kind as home -- you said you grew them, where'd you come in from? My name's Mina by the way or anyway you can call me that, I just only got in. We had these too but not quite -- anyway it's still nice I mean these gardens are /gorgeous/ but they aren't really /oh my god/." Until now this has come largely in one ceaseless breath -- punctuated with a /squeak/ and a stumble, slipping off her perch and catching herself to stand further down the rock, one flip-flop slid off and fallen to the ground. She's staring (a teensy bit paler than before) at Nessie clicking her way near, before a flustered, "Oh, you /talk/!" Her hand claps to her mouth -- drops again. Smile a little shaky: "Um, they're, liliko'i? Or something... like..." It's probably not spectacularly helpful that Kavalam chooses approximately this moment to make himself noticeable. Screwing up a decent force of effort, he clears his throat -- suddenly more noticeably where he wasn't, particularly, before. "Hey, we just met, um, at --" But whichever of the others he's speaking to, his resolve is considerably daunted as well by Nessie's arrival. Unfortunately, at the moment his gaping is all too obvious as well. He pulls himself together quickly enough, drawing himself back up with a determinedly collected expression. "/Obviously/ it speaks this is /mutant/ school, seri?" Ultra-casual. Harmony doesn't look put off by Mina's wordy reply, just listens with a polite smile. Perhaps because of the unusual noise, they turn to look in the direction of Nessie's approach before she speaks. They suck in a sharp breath through their teeth at the sight, eyes going very, very wide. Though they go a little pale and take a quick step back, closer to Mina (and, incidentally, closer to Kavalam), they manage to remain calm on the outside. At least until Kavalam clears his throat and speaks. Right next to them. They jump and let out a high-pitched yelp, dropping their sandals. And then blush furiously. "Oh! Hey, um. Nice to see you...again." Their eyes, still very wide, slide back toward Nessie. "That, uh," they gesture vaguely at the plant without looking, "we called it purple passionflower, but most plants have lots of names." With a nod and a nervous smile at Mina. "It uh, doesn't grow natively, in California. Where I'm from. But we had some, in our medicine garden." Talking about the flowers seems to ground them somewhat. "My name is Harmony. I'm...new.” Nessie sinks lower on her multiply jointed legs, bringing her head more down to Kavalam's level, though still a bit taller than the other teenagers. Shoulders a bit hunched, head ducked slightly, it still doesn't do /much/ to make her monstrous form look any smaller. "Um." She rocks backwards -- thinks better of it, settles more or less straight again. /Her/ eyes widen when Kavalam speaks, and now she does skitter backwards with a rapid scritchy clicking of feet, catching herself and freezing in the path. Her arms -- two pairs of them -- tighten across her chest, hands clenching at the crooks of her elbows and her pincers folding against each other. Behind her and overhead, her tail is swaying. The rest of her is very still. "Um," she begins again, a bit guardedly, "I'm -- not an /it/. I mean I'm a --" hesitation. "I'm a student. Here. I'm going to be. I'm Nessie. I'm -- new, too." Then a silence. She bites at her lip. Ventures (kind of forced) (determinedly light): "You came from far. I mean. California. Are you all... did you all..." She trails off. "Liliko'i?" Stilted.Not moving any closer. "It's a /really/ pretty flower." "Ohmy/god/," again, though this time Mina /actually/ half-falls, half-scrambles off the rock. A little flaily as she puts a bit of distance between herself and SUDDENKAVALAM. "Woah okay I'm not the only one who saw -- where did you /come/ from you --" One hand is flapping in Kavalam's direction -- then in Nessie's -- then just dropping to her side to unhook her water bottle and take a long swig. "/Sorry/ sorry," she finally says, shaking her head, cheeks darker now and eyes darting -- away from Nessie. "I didn't mean to -- this is just a lot of -- wow. I mean /wow/, you're all really -- /um/." One hand sweeps out toward -- everything. "I'm Mina, I'm not normally /this/ flail but I haven't done a lot of sleep and jet lag is terrible and this whole thing is -- they really don't prepare you, you know the brochure doesn't have /anyone/ like you in it?" Earnest, to Nessie. "I didn't mean to -- you know. /Anyway/ at home they come with fruits but I don't know if this kind is the fruit kind? It looks different. Are you all from here? I mean not California dude but the rest of you? I just came in from Hawai'i it's -- not close. Are you new too?" Peering toward Kavalam, /intent/. "You /look/ new. I hope we're all new because if we are that's a /lot/ of exploring we can get done now. It's kind of exciting learning together don't you think?" "Nessie, Mina," Kavalam echoes these firm and determined, "Harmony." JUST as determined -- a bit emphatic -- "I am Kavalam." His brows have scrunched up deeper at Nessie's guarded correction. Uncertain, looking her over carefully: "Please forgive, then, what -- are you." Mina's exuberant stream of speech widens his eyes a bit. Though also puts a small smile on his face. He looks a sight more relieved on the subject of /homes/ and /newness/, more familiar ground clearly: "Yes, ah, I only have just come? To the school. One year past I come to this country. Also not from close, no? My family we came from India. But now we live here." A frown, a slight correction: "Not here-here, just over the big-city. Are your families also here?" He looks at Harmony curiously -- "Medicine garden? Your family, are they doctors?" Harmony's eyes...haven't really gotten a lot smaller through all this, darting from one teenager to the other, which proves somewhat awkward given they are now inside a triangle formed by the other three. "This kind has fruit, too, but ours only ever gave really small and bland ones. Maybe here they grow better." A tiny bit hopeful. "Oh and no, not doctors. We had healers, and some of them had clinical background, I guess?" They sound extremely uncertain, here. "Wow, Hawaii and India! California isn't really all /that/ far, by comparison." Their voice goes a little quieter and their eyes dip down toward the ground. "But...and this isn't a big deal or anything, but I'm--not a 'dude.'" Their hands clasping together tightly and their toes digging into the soil beneath their feet. But then, more brightly. "/Anyway/, we should definitely go exploring, especially if we're all new. Where are you from, Nessie?" "Only a year ago? Wow," Nessie's hard clench of arms is gradually relaxing, "that's -- is that a lot? Is it real different?" Wait, no, clenching back just as tight again. Stiffly: "What? I'm a person." Though Harmony's clarification draws a -- kind of curious, kind of puzzled look. She twitches slightly at all the apologies, shifting again on her many feet. A lopsided smile actually comes with the admission: "I'm from Queens. This is the farthest from home I've ever been." Kind of shyly: "Exploring sounds great." "Oh!" Mina looks slightly surprised, looking Harmony over a little closer, but nods. "Right sorry I shouldn't have -- right." She toes her fallen sandal back onto her foot, straightening with a bright smile. "From what I've seen so far there's a /lot/ to check out this place is /swank/ and the grounds are /oh/ my god and you can't tell me there's not a million hidden places." Trotting forward, she claps Nessie lightly -- briiiefly -- on the shoulder in passing. "Hey," /this/, anyway, is amused, "at least it sounds like we all have that in common, right?"