Logs:Plant Magic

Plant Magic
Dramatis Personae Jax, Kieow, Naomi	2020-09-30 "I mean, we're supposed to be having our needs met."
Location <XAV> Gardens - Xs Grounds
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. The traces of last night's storm have cleared away entirely, except for a lingering dampness in the earth. Outside it's mild; overhead it's bright, sunny. Classes have finished some time ago and the sounds of sports practices out on the fields only disturb the peace here as an occasional distant drift of voices; more present is the drone of the beehives at the back and the quiet humming coming from the vegetable beds, identifiable after a moment as Ryan Black's "Blue". In the bed, Jax is a brighter splash of color than the dirt around him, bright peacock-hued hair and purple Doc Martens a sunshiney yellow tee underneath whose graphic is mostly covered by black shortalls swirled with rainbow paint-splatter design. He's currently digging neat rows of holes with very dirt-crusted fingers, no immediate sign yet what's going to go in them although there is a similarly dirt-crusted multi-partitioned bucket nearby bristling with tools and errata. The water in the air condenses easily on Naomi's scales, the beads of moisture giving off the impression that the young girl is sweating through the keratin. She's dressed in a loose burnt orange tank top, distressed skinny jeans, and some faded red converse, with a just shimmering black snake shaped bangle on her left wrist. Brown bookbag over one should, she's asking more questions than maybe she should of her companion - "Thailand doesn't really have winter, do y'all?" She contemplates the thought for a moment. "Neither does Georgia, I guess." Kieow walks slowly, her hands clasped gently before her, feet plodding lethargically. "No, not really ... winter. It does get colder up north, but not really enough to compete with the incoming seasons. Thailand is a very small country, all things considered." The plant girl is still sporting oak leaves, acorns, and bark after an evening spent in the woods, where she seems to have left behind a good deal of her accent. She still speaks softly and sounds like she's winded, but her words flow more freely. "Speaking of Georgia, if I remember correctly, Mr. Holland is from there too." Jax looks up from his rows of seed-holes, a quick smile flashing across his face. "Huh? Oh. I am. But it's up-up. Not such a warm bit'a Georgia. I mean, not year round. The fact we got snow at home do not stop me complaining when winter comes 'round, though." The passing of his hand across his forehead leaves a streak of dirt across his pale skin. "Ain't actually all that far from where the Winterses come up from, come to think." The bright metallic dragonfly in the center of his eyepatch shifts, now, to a red oak leaf. "Y'sound -- different, somehow." Naomi gives Jax a wave as they draw closer, speeding up a moment but then slowing back down to keep pace with Kieow. “Hey,” she says, mock pouting, “A week of cold and a tiny bit o’ snow do not make no real winter.” She’s grinning though. “Lael sent me pictures of the snow last year. I’m stoked for it.” She runs a finger along the bracelet, suddenly worried. “Ion know if I got enough warm clothes, actually.” She looks at Kieow when Jax points out the change, smiling. “Ain’t it something? She’s like, photosynthesized the whole dictionary.” Kieow continues over to Jax until she is able to take a seat near by, bare feet wiggling into a spare section of soil. She's wearing loose jeans and a yellow tee under her foliage. "Well, I wouldn't say photosynthesize, but uh... Bua was here. He helped shove a little bit of Fon's language into my head." She smiles shyly and shrugs at the attention. "Does Ion get you clothes? I mostly let my brothers help with that. I don't even know what I would need." "Hey, I used t'think that quarter-inch each January was hardship." Amusement warms Jax's voice. He digs in one pocket with his un-dirt-crusted hand, pulling out a handful of seeds and transfering them to the other. "But here, gosh, was a whole other thing when the first real snow fell." Around them, for a moment, the garden is transforming, thick fluffy flakes drifting down around them and a heavy carpet of white blanketing the ground, though it feels like nothing at all in the few seconds before it vanishes. "Got a hot minute yet before a real frost is due. Might could figure out something." He bites his lip, looking at Naomi thoughtfully for a moment, but then back down to the earth as he starts dropping small hard seeds into the holes. Lighter: "Oh, you cribbed notes from Dawson? You just get the language? Why not take the rest'a school while you at it? Dr. Kieow M.D." Naomi stands for a moment longer, hands awkwardly twisting in front, before she sits down, a little outside the plot Jax is working on. Her eyes go wide for a second when Kieow mentions language, then- “Oh, uh, ‘Ion’ ain’t a person, s’a fast way of saying ‘I dunno’.” Her cheeks, already a warm brown, get a little warmer, and she looks away when Jax glances her way, fixating on the illusion of snow while it lasts. “I’ll figure something out,” she mumbles. Her mouth makes an ‘o’ shape on Jax’s last note, and her head twists back to Kieow. "Because there are a lot of things in people's heads that I don't really need to know. I kind of feel bad just taking the language stuff. It'd be... kind of embarrassing for Fon if I had anything from his memories..." Kieow scuffs at the back of her neck as she considers, but is still very distracted by the illusionary snow around them. "Oh, Sorry aobut that. For some reason, 'Ion' seems like a name." She smiles brightly. "I'm sure the school'll help. Right, Mr. Holland? I mean, we're supposed to be having our needs met. I suppose that would include clothes... when the season calls for it." There's a pause and then, "Whatcha planting?" "Iono if everyone's always on the same page about what needs are," Jax says, something in his tone a little disgruntled. "but we do got a budget for it. Not quite so much of one as we should. Anyway when I first got here I just layered all I got an' hoped for the best. Not so sure on the fun of it as a winter strategy but whatever keeps you alive, yeah?" He shakes his head, looking back up with a smile. "Oh! These'll be beets, an' then there's gonna be some chard an' turnips an' radishes. Should all be due for a harvest before the frost. You want to help?" He shakes at another of his pockets, a soft shifting rattle coming from inside. "Maybe it's boring for you growing plants the long way, though." Naomi nods, slowly, but her lower lip has curled in as she bites it. "Maybe I'll just go full snake," she reasons, attempting a lighter tone but worry still there. "Hibernate. Borrow Kieow's heat lamp or something." She looks at the ground that Jax is tilling with a little doubt. "Whatcha gon' do with 'em? Mixed greens?" Her fingertips dig into a little dirt - she looks like she might ask a question, but she's hesitating. "There's nothing boring about the way plants grow. Sure, it can be slow but that's part of their magic." Kieow leans forward and covers over some of the seeds Jax planted, the cups her hands over that spot, closing her eyes as she concentrates. And then nothing happens. Nothing visible anyway. She simply pulls back and holds out her hand for some seeds. "Oh.. Hibernation. Now that's boring. When I got sick... it was like hibernating. I didn't move, barely breathed, didn't eat, lost track of time." "Also a solid winter strategy." Jax nods, decisive. "No sun is a tough time to -- do much'a anything." Though his wince towards Kieow is sympathetic. "Don't blame you for not lovin' that situation. M'sorry. I hope this upcomin' season holds more energy for you." He digs more seeds out of his pocket -- small, dark, knobbly -- and carefully drops them into Kieow's waiting hands. "This is for chard. They go in that row of holes," where he points is at first kind of hard to see in the dark damp earth, but a moment later the holes in question grow a soft illumination to highlight their places, "one each." He's patting earth gently over the row he's been planting, glancing up with a small lift of brows to Naomi. "Not entirely sure, yet. I just like the growing of 'em. Make my brain slow down a bit. We'll figure out somethin' tasty. What's up?" Naomi winces too, digging her fingers deeper into the soil. "Sorry, Kieow. Maybe both of us don't hibernate this winter, yeah?" She watches with rapt attention as Kieow and Jax work. "Oh - I was just, uh -" she glances sideways. "Wond'rin' if y'all need two more hands. Ion - I don't have a green thumb or nothing, so." She shrugs. "Oh... I'm sorry. I'm sure my experience is not actually universal. Maybe people who are more mammals... or well, reptilian, will have a much different and better experience." Kieow turns her sheepish attention to the seeds in her hand and then the illuminated soil. "Come on, Naomi. You heard him. In that row over there... one each." She presents the chard to the other girl. Take take! "Oh, gosh, don't worry, Kieow, there's plenty of dirt to go 'round, an' plenty to do," Jax says with a light laugh. "You want to know the great part? This part of it don't really take much know-how at all. The plants got all the knowledge they need to get most of the work here started. Here, look --" This time one of his chest pockets produces a handful of tiny-tiny round reddish-purple seeds that he offers to Naomi. "These ones is turnips. They're kinda fun cus they don't take much order. No holes for them, just --" A new set of green lights, here, marks out in small dotted lights the lane they go in, though no spaces. Jax makes a small tossing motion; a flutter of light scatters from his hand, raining down at random from his hand. "Just kinda scatter 'em, then cover 'em lightly. They'll be fine." He glances to Kieow, to Naomi, then back to the earth. "An' if you're interested, you want to come back now an' again? I can show you 'bout what it takes to keep 'em growing up strong. Plants is kinda a wonder. I've seen 'em grow up tough an' vibrant from all kinds of things I wouldn't'a thought possible, with the right love."