It Might As Well Be Spring [Open Video]

[vernal_miss]

Date: March 20th, 2019; after school
Characters: Network Number {235 13 892 33} ; Action open to family

[As the video begins, the sleeve of a lightweight knit sweater covers the view as the broadcast as Nel makes an adjustment to the angle of the phone. Gentle, she releases the device and withdraws her hands slowly before taking a few steps back to bring herself into the frame. The view is somewhat elevated and shows Nel standing in the family backyard. The grass looks a little more vibrant than those belonging to neighbors or elsewhere in Mossgate thanks to her time playing around outside this afternoon trying to burn off the excess energy that makes itself known as she addresses the Network.

As she talks, her words are hurried and there's a light bouncing on her heels as she attempts to stand in one place with modest success.]

Hallo everyone! I thought it'd be nice if I shared the gift Father Christmas gave me! I decided today is a nice day to wake the seeds up and so I have these here-

[She gestures to the few pots she has set up with dirt in them beside her, and in front of them rests an opened gift box.]

-to put them in. Then I started holding them trying to pick which one I want to grow and oh they look brilliant in my head and I knew I had to show them to everyone cause they're absolutely beyond anything else anywhere!

[A gleeful giggle breaks from her in anticipation, and she claps her hands together with excitement. Rather than take a simple step over, she springs in a hop to land in a crouch and reaches into the box to retrieve one seed out of the packets within. Leaping right back up to her feet she hurries over to the camera to hold the seed up close for a slightly blurry view of what looks more like a chunk of ice topped by a bit of lint than a plant seed.]

See? It's already so nice, but watch this!

[Scurrying back to one of the pots, Nel minds the camera enough to go to the opposite side and crouch there. She digs a hole down into the dirt with her finger, and drops the little seed down inside. A sweep of her hand covers the dirt, and then she lays her hand over that same spot in the pot as she closes her eyes to focus. Coming quite fast, the vibrant green coloration overtakes her hair nearly to her shoulders as she calls her magic to hasten the growth of the plant. What follows is the sight of her raising her hand upwards with the tip of the plant pushing up against it within the little sparkles falling from her hand. The stem of the plant twirls as it rises upwards, and as it gets taller, small buds shaped like diamonds form at the sides near the top, as sharp and crystalline as ice. Her second hand comes underneath the lowest bud, and the largest buds at the top open at the tip to spread out flat into thin sheets that rather resemble snowflakes without separate petals. By the time the last of the top three buds open, the plant itself is nearing a meter in height with Nel now standing. Her hands lower away as she stares wide eyed at the sight of what she had only pictured in her head previously, and with a squeal, she jumps away from the pot to start running about.]

IT'S SO PRETTY!!!!

[She goes out of frame, then a few seconds later, crosses in a cartwheel with her long red hair trailing behind.]

Comments

Re: [Video]

[iamnotgod]

... I can believe that.

[Aaaand that's about what he was expecting. The Spring Equinox means more energy in the same way the Winter Solstice meant less.

He wonders what that means for summer...]

Does making flowers help regulate that energy?

[Video]

[vernal_miss]

[As suddenly as she seized a moment of clarity, her grasp of it slips as the energy washes over her and spurs her back into motion. Nel simply sprawls back into the grass, landing on her hands and bottom with a light plunk and a light giggle. Alternately, she kicks her legs up and down from the ground into the air a few inches. The motion falls out of rhythm for all of a second before resuming as Walter asks about the flowers.]

Regulate? Reh-gue-late. That's a funny sounding word. What's that mean?

Re: [Video]

[iamnotgod]

[... Oh no. Walter's getting reminders of having to 'babysit' for some of his uni classmates who got high on a study break.

Not the worst thing that ever happened during a babysitting shtick, but still.]

It means to vent - in this case, putting energy out of the system so things can return to normal levels.

Or just lower ones.

[Because 'normal', as always, is relative.]

[Video]

[vernal_miss]

[Wiggling as she listens, Nel bends her knees to tuck them so her feet come by her hips and she leans forward to her hands instead.]

Oh! Making flowers to use the magic so I have less?

[The girl looks over her shoulder back to the icy flowers she made from the seed and the few other pots gathered. Even in her current state she knows she cannot transform the whole yard without drawing attention from neighbors.]

...I don't think I have enough pots.

Re: [Video]

[iamnotgod]

[Walter musters up a smile, trying to be reassuring.]

You might not feel the same way after, say, five pots.

[Though, on that thought.]

But, how many have you done so far? And was it growing them or just modifying those that already have bloomed?

[vernal_miss]

One doesn’t feel any different...but that’s only one!

[Following Walter’s example, she smiles as well and rolls forward in a tumble to disappear at the bottom of the frame. She peeks from much closer at the question back into view. She gestures one hand back towards the alien plant.]

I’ve only grown the chilly flowers! Not many plants are awake yet, and I couldn’t use my magic inside last night and then I had school. I couldn’t stay still much, but I kept my magic all tucked inside!

[iamnotgod]

[Oh, Nel. How are you so adorable and yet making him feel so much concern?]

You can't make a plant bloom before it normally would, correct?

[No wonder Nel's been so hyper, if she's been stuck storing all that energy.]

[vernal_miss]

Well, I think I can make them bloom anytime, but it does seem a bit rude to wake them early. Especially since the cold isn’t totally gone.

[And speaking of cold she disappears from view to circle around the phone and back to the chilly flowers. She reaches to touch one open flower and giggles with a small shiver.]

These will be okay!

[iamnotgod]

[Aww. Honoring the preferences of plants seems like a smart move. Gaia might appreciate that- no. None of that thinking.]

That's fair.

Are those flowers actually cold to touch?

[He kind of wants to find out for himself. They can't be ice, can they? Though, considering Nel's already described them as magic...]

[vernal_miss]

[Looking back to the phone while staying by the chilly flowers, she nods once and answers with mirth in her voice.]

Uh huh! Not like snow and ice, but more like a drink from a vending machine!

Oh!!!! We should name them! This is a new flower, and it needs a name!

[iamnotgod]

[Blink blink.]

Odd, that.

[Walter's expression matches what he's saying.]

Should it reflect more what it looks like, or of that comparison with the cold drink?

[vernal_miss]

[For a handful of seconds, Nel quiets as she concentrates on the question. It is a rather important factor to consider - inspiration.]

It would be nice to use both, but I think how cool they are is more important. But you need to see more first!

[Then she’s hopping the next instant to pick up the phone to carry at a walk back over to the plant for a close up of the flowers and the buds from different angles. She even goes so far as to squat down to look up at them from below to show how they catch the light.]

[iamnotgod]

[At least they've found a stopgap measure for redirecting Nel's energy?

A very short stopgap measure.]

Ice bells, perhaps?

[These flowers are really rather pretty.]

[vernal_miss]

Oh, that’s a good one!

[After viewing the plant thoroughly, Nel takes the phone back to set in its original elevated position.]

Maybe...frost flowers?

[iamnotgod]

Yours is more alliterative.

[And 'blue bells' are already a thing, more-or-less.]

[vernal_miss]

[Nel laughs at that quality Walter points out and she walks back out in front of the phone to start twirling around, long hair wrapping around her in the motion.]

Yes! But surely there are other good ones!

The flowers look a little like snowflakes so maybe snow bells!

[iamnotgod]

Or- they're more reflective like crystals, aren't they?

[Snowflakes, at least, aren't reflective.]

Though, crystal bells doesn't sound very original.

[vernal_miss]

[After a good six rotations, Nel slows down and staggers a few steps with accompanying giggles. She manages to find her balance and look back at the phone.]

Snow drops are another kind of flower... What about crystal drops?

Frost bells would be nice too...

[iamnotgod]

[Walter is quietly glad the vertigo's only secondhand.]

I do like the sound of frost bells.

['Frost drops' again sounds wrong, for reasons he can't quite place. Something about the assonance...]

[vernal_miss]

Or ice drops! [Stemming more from his earlier suggestion in conjunction with the crystal aspect.]

Then so far we have ice bells, ice drops, crystal drops, frost bells, frost flowers, and...

[There is one more, she’s certain. Staring off for a moment, she thinks over the names suggested thus far. Walter is welcome to fill in the blank.]

[iamnotgod]

Frozen flowers?

Though if we're keeping to the list of words we have, we've left out crystal flowers.

[vernal_miss]

Not those, but those are some to think on too...

[She looks back at the flowers and starts to murmur.] Flower...snowflake...drops....snow drops....bells....

[Then the earlier suggestion comes back and she states it louder with a clap of her hands.] Snow Bells!

That’s a lot of names... Which one do you like best so far, Walter?

[iamnotgod]

Yes!

I believe that one's a real flower, though - just as one word.

And I am fond of crystal drops.

[Walter should probably be proud he's kept Nel focused on this topic even for this long.]

[vernal_miss]

Oooh, right! They are! I forgot snow drops and snowbells are flowers already.

Crystal drops!! That’s what we’ll call them!

[Indeed. So long as she can keep active physically, her mental focus improves, but the opposite is true in that trying to restrict her body fractures her attention span. However, the task is completed, and Nel goes skipping out of view without warning.]

[iamnotgod]

It's settled, then.

[Walter waits awkwardly, wondering if Nel is going to come back or vent more energy.

... How many more days is she going to be like this?]