There are bluebirds over- Wait, those don't go here! [Mingle]

[ourearth]

Date: 11.11.2018
Characters: Open!
Note: This is intended to be a very relaxed mingle to give people a bit of a breather. It is plot-related, but a lot less dramatic than prior mingles.

---

On the 11th, something about Mossgate Council has changed yet again - but this time, it isn't nearly as disturbing and dangerous as back on Halloween.

Instead of cobwebs and skeletons, there are poppies. Red poppies and white poppies have flowered over night. They cover fields and lawns, the Greens and the forest ground, troop exercise areas over at the airfields, the gardens of the manor house, and even parts of the beach.

And up over the white cliffs of Mossgate, bluebirds flap their wings, flying around and sitting on the castle ruins, and if one stands still for a while and offers breadcrumbs, they'll come over and sit on that person's hand to have a snack, too.

They seem a bit confused, but not nearly as confused as the ornithology department at Mossgate University that can't save itself from interviews - no, they have no idea how that American species suddenly showed up in such numbers and why they're sticking to the cliffs specifically. Jane Astbury finally suggests with some exasperation that maybe they're just doing a music-themed tour of Europe, and could they please let her staff and students teach and study in peace?

Comments

[vernal_miss]

The question gives her pause to consider how to describe it, “Hm... I think about how it should look in my head first. Kind of like when I draw. Then I touch where it should grow and help it come out by giving it some of the warm feeling.” She reaches one hand from the dirt to touch her chest, then puts her hand back down where it had been with a smile, “Like this.”

Pushing her hands into the ground to feel the dirt, her hands warm as she sweeps them inward to cup around the start of a sprouting plant that breaks from the soil. Movements fluid, she draws it upwards taller and taller as the corn poppy plant spreads and stretches out at the base below while long sparkles of light drift from her hands only to disappear after glittering for no more than a second. Nel stands from her squat as the stems reach higher, first one bud slipping free to hang closed, then another. The third stretches all the way up to where she stops fully standing, and as her hands part, the blossom unfolds. Rather than a red or white corn poppy, the flower sports a near tie-dye mixture of red and white streaks.

“Uh...whoops. I couldn’t decide if it should be white or red so, I guess it’s both...” her sheepish grin shown to her mother quickly fades as fatigue settles in and makes her sink back to sitting on the ground. Her wish to show off for her mother brought her too close to the limit.

[catted]

Mary Ann watches quietly and in awe. That might not be the kind of huge feat that would happen in a superhero comic, but creating life? That's a much more massive thing than destroying it, even if the destruction is done with telekinesis and laserbeams.

She's so enthralled by the sight of her daughter pulling life from the ground, she barely registers the feeling of an echo washing over her.

When Nel sits down heavily, she doesn't move over to her immediately. After all, Nel didn't collapse this time, so she's less alarmed. Instead, she reaches out and very, very carefully touches the plant, subconsciously worried that it might fall to dust if it is touched.

[vernal_miss]

This time, Nel is only contending with fatigue rather than any dizziness, so once on the ground, she reaches her arms out behind her with elbows locking to support herself as she observes her mother’s reaction to the magic. Tired or not, that fascination makes her smile warmly.

The flower itself is as real as any poppy near them. The only unusual characteristic besides the oddly patterned petals is simply that the plant is pristine. Nel made a corn poppy in perfect health, that has never grown under the conditions of weather, the bites of insects, or trodding of feet.

“Do you like it, Mum?”

[catted]

"I do." She is still looking at the plant, and then reaches out and gently runs a hand over it, fascinated by the life her daughter created. "It's amazing."

Without her noticing, the plant starts growing again under her fingers, surpassing the height and thickness of the poppies around it, and then just... becomes more vibrant.

[vernal_miss]

Toes curling in her boots as she beams with a sense of pride for her recently discovered gift, Nel takes great satisfaction in how much her mother appreciates her flower among so many. She watches as her mother touches it so gently, and then as it starts to grow again. Were she not seated on the ground, it would not be quite so readily apparent, but it clearly grows larger in all ways as the colors of it brighten. Sitting forward off her hands, Nel stares at the plant until it stops growing. The way the leaves at the base reach further is a fair himt, but the sight of more stems with buds rising upward confirms it clearly.

Nel grins as her fatigue temporarily succumbs to sheer excitement, “Mum!!! You made it grow more!”

[catted]

Mary Ann looks up at her daughter in surprise, and then looks back at the flower.

And frowns. "I did?" It's one thing if her daughter performs a task (which is, just by the nature of her daughter having performed it, automatically imbued with some level of being amazing. Not that creating life isn't... something way beyond that). To have performed a similar task herself is. Troubling. Especially because she now wonders if they might be echoing similar things... Not that anything she's gotten so far has been terrible.

Maybe it is even good.

"I didn't notice..."

*hint

[vernal_miss]

Entirely confident in what she witnessed, Nel confirms it without delay, “Yeah, I only gave it a flower and two buds, now it has five!” The girl had planned it as carefully as she could without ever having attempted making a corn poppy previously, so such a detail would not be forgotten already. It could help to demonstrate the change if she were to stand up to show its height in comparison to herself, but the moment she tries to shuffle her way to her feet, she has a renewed awareness of the energy cost of her initial creation. Settling to instead lean forward against a bent knee, she expresses her delight thoughtfully with a small wiggle side to side as she admires the flower and her mother, “I think you made it perfect.”

Moreover, her mother doesn’t appear tired from the enhancement of the flower.

[catted]

The attempted and aborted shuffle is noticed immediately, and Mary Ann moves over to kneel next to her daughter and wrap an arm around her.

She's not going to question it - they knew that Nel would tire from this - but she still wants to be there to steady her. "Well, that's a surprise. Looks like I picked something up from you," she teases, her eyes on the flower again now. "Or at least something similar." Considering that she didn't make a plant, and she has no idea what happened, and she... also really doesn't feel tired at all.

[vernal_miss]

Her gaze follows her mother as she moves to kneel next to her, and her grip on her leg releases as her mother's arm comes around her. Gratefully, she sinks to her mother's side for support instead with a smooth transition and smiles up to her. Nel snickers softly at the tease and responds, "Maybe something even better. I mean, I can make an endless supply of catnip, but you could probably make it super catnip."

Giving the flower one more look, she hopes the next chance she has to make another corn poppy it can be just as good as this one they made together.

[catted]

Mary Ann grins, glad that the tone is staying light. "Do you really want to see the effect of us filling the garden with super catnip?

It would look like Neko Atsume, just more crowded."

[vernal_miss]

Her eyes widen with a look of surprise as she pictures the entire yard filled with cute cats from the game, "...well now I do!" There is an amount of humor to her response, but at the same time, she is starting to actually consider trying to lure more cats to the house by spreading some catnip around in the yard.

Really, who would even mind?

[catted]

"You would, and me and your Mummy probably wouldn't mind, either. But I feel like old man Scotchcake wouldn't want to have a single cat more in our garden than there already is." Take mercy on their poor old grumpy grandpa cat, nel.

[vernal_miss]

In an instant, her plans are washed as the wellbeing of the old cat is brought into focus. Her expression sours briefly as she realizes how much he would not appreciate having even more youngsters to swat away from his favorite sleeping spots. Rather than fully relinquish the idea however, she seeks a reasonable course, “No, he wouldn’t… But I bet even he’d like a small pot of catnip in the house that I could keep full through the winter.”

Whether that pot would be further tended would be entirely up to her Mum.

[catted]

"That would most definitely be possible. I'm sure neither him nor any of the other cats would mind that."

It wouldn't bring more cats than they already have into the house, hopefully.

[vernal_miss]

Given approval for the supply of fresh catnip for the felines that hang around with the family, Nel smiles happily at the prospect. All she needs is to find an empty pot that has a suitable set of dimensions; preferably something shallow so as not to encourage the cats to knock it over and a decent amount of surface area for the catnip to grow. That matter, however, will have to wait. After she lets out a small giggle, a yawn follows and leaves her blinking a little slower, "It'll be a nice surprise..."

It is very comfortable here laying against her mother.

[catted]

"A nice surprise that'll have to wait until after you took a little nap, it seems." She worries about her daughter's sleepiness, but she's trying not to show her concern, instead treating this like the most normal occurrence in the world.

She stands, picking up Nel as she does so, and then continues to carry her inside. Nel will soon be too tall and old for her to do so, but right now, it is still possible. Not over long distances, but as sleepy as Nel is, the couch will probably be sufficient for a nap. No carrying her upstairs.

[vernal_miss]

“A nap sounds nice,” she concedes without reluctance. Aside from the rapid onset, her fatigue feels like any other time she has worn herself out expending her energy running and playing, so that her mother is calm about it makes it easy to accept. Mentally trying to encourage herself to rouse and stand, her efforts cut short as her mother packs her along instead. Being small for her age certainly has some advantages, and Nel readily reaches to hold onto her mother with her arms to make the task easier.

“Thanks, Mum,” she says as she rests her head to her mother’s shoulder lightly on the way inside. “I think I’ll get better at it if I keep practicing. It’s already loads easier.”

[catted]

"Just make sure to not tease before school," she teases, "or before you have other plans." And then she'll carry Nel inside and tuck her in on the couch. Sleep, sweet child of hers.

...And then she'll slowly wander back out and stare down at the plant they made for many, many minutes. And just stare. What the fuck.

Such a good mum

[vernal_miss]

Slowly nodding in agreement to the wise implication of planning when to work with her gift, Nel speaks through another yawn, “That...that wouldn’t do.” Nel will consider appropriate times to practice in the future, especially with supervision, but by the time her mother has laid her down and helped her strip off her boots, the child is already slipped into a light slumber. There on the couch, she’ll nap away an hour.