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.

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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]

When Feste comes out after her, this is her second take of having hurried down the stairs to fling herself out among the flowers. Well refreshed from her nap and properly dressed this time in real clothes with her coat and boots already donned, Nel giggles as Feste comes out asking about her activity.

Peeking through the tall stems from her position under the flowers, she grins wide as Feste bends down next to her, "Just playing! They look super pretty if you lay down and look at them against the sky."

[fairfeste]

"Do they?" Well then, they'll have to check that out for themselves. They flop back onto the grass, looking up at the poppies towering over their head. "You're right! They do look nice."

[vernal_miss]

She does love that about Feste. Readily, she moves carefully and follows suit to lie down next to them to see the view upwards from another spot. The red petals against the bright blue sky and white clouds with green strings coming into the foreground of their perspective...it makes for a fetching contrast.

Nel manages to stay still for only a moment before a thought gets her to sit up and crawl between the tall stems so as to lean over Fest with a giddy smile, "Guess what."

[fairfeste]

Ah, of course the stillness only lasts for a moment. That's alright, Feste isn't a terrible still person either, and then grin up at their little sister. "What?"

[vernal_miss]

Bending her elbows to lean down closer to keep it between them, a hue of pride colors her smile as she reveals her earlier accomplishment, “I found something my Number lets me do, and I grew a poppy flower this morning after these others appeared.” Nel pushes away from over Feste to give them the freedom to move about without her in the way. She stands up to head back to the walk and straight to the one poppy that stands out with the petals a blend of red and white in a tie-dye pattern., moving to stand behind it to help show it off to her eldest sibling.

[fairfeste]

"What?"

Feste blinks, rolling over and sitting up to look at where she's going and taking in the floor as she points it out. It looks like one of those experiments where you put a white flower in colored water and watch what happens. But... she made that? With magic? It's still in the ground, so... "How did you do that?"

[vernal_miss]

Tittering at the expression on her eldest sibling’s face, Nel sways her hips back and forth as they look at the flower that stands out among the carpet of pure red and white poppies on the lawn. Asked how she managed it, she does her best to explain, “I put my hands on the ground and give it some warmth while I think about what it should be,” she puts her hand on her chest to relate the sensation she carries next to her heart, “Then I pull my hands up and it grows!”

“Do you wanna see?” She cannot very well tell them and then deny them a chance to see in person.

[fairfeste]

"Give it... warmth?" That doesn't quite translate to them, tilting their head to the side. Well, it obviously make sense to her... "Is it hard? I don't want you to get tired or anything." Magic seems like it would be hard.

[vernal_miss]

The intonation of the repetition makes her realize that she hadn't really told Feste about the warm spot that vanishes with use and returns with rest. It's such a minor feature that she tends to forget. Swaying halted, Nel walks back to lightly plop down in front of Feste after unzipping her coat to start wrestling her way out of it, "Mmhmm! I can show you."

The question that follows gives her pause as she gives her sibling a bit of a side-eye before logic contradicts suspicion, "Well, it's not hard exactly. And I feel fine after I take a little nap if I do too much. If I make something small that should be okay." Feste being with her adheres to her mother wanting her to practice with supervision after all, and Nel herself is in no hurry to dive into another nap, so she intends to limit herself strictly.

Coat shuffled off, she reaches both hands out and asks, "Hands please!"

[fairfeste]

Feste is not entirely sure they're following what she's doing, honestly... but they do follow the bit about it not being hard. So that's good, as long as she doesn't exhaust herself. (They're definitely going to try and keep an eye on that too- sleepy little sister is no good when she has school and stuff.)

When she asks for their hands, they give them over, taking hers easily.

[vernal_miss]

The morning air has already stolen the majority of the superficial warmth under her coat, so her demonstration should be sufficient. “Okay here is normal...” she says as she lays and presses her siblings hand at her right shoulder where their fingers can lay over the top. Then, she brings the other against her sternum, “And this is the warmth.” A second or two is all it takes for the apparent difference in warmth to bleed into the senses. The spot at her chest feels as though she has laid out under the sun for a while. Nothing alarming, simply generating a low heat steadily.

Releasing their hands, she shrugs her shoulder, “It’s only in that spot.”

[fairfeste]

Feste doesn't notice it at first, but after a few moments they feel it. Luckily, since it's really not that much, it doesn't panic them. Though it is weird and they have no idea why that would be a thing. "Huh," they say, pulling their hands away, "That's... cool. Well. Warm."

They grin. Sorry Nel, they kind of like their dumb jokes.

[vernal_miss]

For her part, Nel is thankful for the subtly of it.

That grin coupled with the bad joke gets a blank look from Nel with utter silence for about two seconds before she responds the best way she can. Which is to spring out of her kneeling forward to flop against their front in a half-hearted tackle as she complains through laughter, "Feste!!! That was so bad!"

[fairfeste]

Feste grins, patting her back. "Aw, come on! My jokes are always on fire."

Feste, stop.

[vernal_miss]

Lazily pushing with her legs to situate herself better sprawled up their front, she wraps her arms around behind them and smirks as she looks up, "I dunno, I think you might have burned through your good material." If they insist on punning, Nel is going to get in on this too with an obvious shot.

[fairfeste]

Feste groans, over dramatic and flopping back onto the ground. "That's so cold, Nel. No need to freeze me out so quickly..."

[vernal_miss]

In spite of a brief flinch of surprise, Nel lets herself flop down with Feste as their support of her gives way. Now laying on top of them, she giggles with arms still around them and chin resting on their chest, “You simply need to warm up some new ones. A small spark should be a good start!”

[fairfeste]

Feste shakes their head, mussing up her hair with a grin. "Just need to get fired up with inspiration!"

[vernal_miss]

Out of puns, but not out of ideas, Nel lets out a small ‘ack’ as the mussing starts, but with her hair already adorned with caught flowers in her crossing locks, she makes no effort to escape it and merely giggles as she worms her arms out from beneath them, “Inspiration, huh? Then watch this!”

Rolling herself off her eldest sibling, Nel crawls on hands and knees to kneel next to their shoulder. Cupping her hands on the grass beside their head but at a distance where they can see clearly, Nel releases a small amount of warmth, so that as she lifts and separates her hands, a single stock of self-heal (prunella vulgaris) extends out of the blades of grass with a head adorned by violet petals and a small number of long sparkles of light surrounding it that vanish the next instant.

[fairfeste]

Feste rolls over as well, getting a better view to watch her. They're not sure why they didn't expect what happened, but it's one thing to know what she said it was going to do and another to actually see it. Their eyes widen as they watch, and that weird feeling comes over them, temporarily incredibly dizzy as a memory floods into their mind. Good thing they were lying down.

"Wow," they say, rolling so they're on their elbows now, "...I kind of remember doing something like that now. I wonder if I can?"

[vernal_miss]

A proud smile turned to her sibling as she deems the results to be a satisfactory demonstration, she blinks at an odd look in their expression that tempers her to be patient until focus returns. Nel tilts her head curiously as they move up to their elbows, and the mention of a memory of performing a similar feat makes it clear to her that she caused an Echo in Feste.

They seem all right from it, and her smile widens again as she responds cheerfully, “Maybe! Mum saw me do it then she made the poppy I showed you grow even more. That’s why it’s so tall! You should give it a try!”

[fairfeste]

Feste blinks at her, before twisting to try and look at the tall flower again. "Mum did that?" ...This is so weird. Magic for everyone, they guess?

"It... might be fun to try..." They do kind of want to do magic. "How do I do it, d'you think?"

[vernal_miss]

“Mmhmm! It grew a lot prettier after she did,” she confirms, turning to look at it fondly again with Feste. When they ask how to possibly go about it, she hums thoughtfully and looks back to her newest flower. Reaching to it, she lifts up one leaf from beneath to slide her finger back out slowly, “Since you don’t have a warm spot, probably not the way I do it... But when Mum made it grow, she didn’t even realize it. All she did was touch it.”

Maybe all Feste needs to do is focus a little on a plant in front of them.

[fairfeste]

"Huh..." Feste reaches out, touching the plant- nothing happens. But they keep their hand there for a moment longer, watching it and trying to will it to grow.

After about a minute or so of nothing, they give up and drop their hand. "...Maybe not." They try not to sound as disappointed as they feel.

[vernal_miss]

Gaze fixating on the plant as Feste touches it and keeps their contact, Nel watches intently. After the first half of the minute, Nel starts to drift closer by leaning forward where she is kneeling. She squints critically at the plant when Feste relents, then sits back with her attention turning back to her eldest sibling. That disappointment sneaks through enough for her to take notice, and Nel leans over to wrap her arm over their shoulders.

“You might be able to later. Another Echo could give it to you since I don’t remember growing anything but I can, and you just remembered.”