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

[vernal_miss]

[Nel replies with a delighted fit of giggles at the surprise she incites in her eldest sibling, green hair fading more slowly this time. One hand used to gently bat the bells to make them ring a second time, she steps around the pot to return to Feste with a hint of pride. Though that fades as she looks more closely at their expression.]

...Feste? Are you alright?

[fairfeste]

[Feste nods, scrubbing at their face before smiling at her. They don't want to worry her.]

Yeah. Just got an Echo thing. I'm fine.

[vernal_miss]

[Nel tempers herself as she walks back over and crouches down in front of them, wrapping her arms around her knees to bury her fingers into fabric. The child is unconvinced by such a short dismissal of the Echo.]

…what kind was it?

[At least she can rule out an item appearing or a change in appearance. Feste looks the same as she scans their face.]

[fairfeste]

Just a memory. I think I've seen flowers kind of like this before.

[Don't worry Nel, they're fine, everything is fine.]

[vernal_miss]

[That Feste had been seated for the Echo is some reassurance, and the subject of the memory seems benign enough. Relaxing her hands, she contents her need to move by rocking up and down from her heels.]

Ooo....What did they look like?

[Now she is curious!]

[fairfeste]

They looked like... pretty much anything you could ever think of. [And more. So much more, they don't know how to explain the color and variety to her.] Every color and shape, and some of them would move on their own.

[vernal_miss]

...I can think of a lot. [And that makes it all the better as her imagination explodes with possibilities.]

Did they move more than a venus flytrap? Or ferns? Or morning lilies?

[Earth plants do have some movements that they can perform, but are quite limited to being stationary. Waiting for an answer about the movement of the plants Feste remembers, she will then ask.]

Do you think you could draw one?

[fairfeste]

Yeah, more than that. Some of them could walk around on their roots and stuff.

[To capture people and keep them from leaving, but it genuinely doesn't occur to them that that might make it less... whimsical.]

I think I could draw a few of them, yeah.

[vernal_miss]

[Her eyes widen with excitement at the concept interpreted within an innocent perspective. A flower she can take for a stroll beside her would be amazing!]

If I go get your sketchbook, would you draw one now?

[Her feet stay in place, but she half raises towards standing with a hopeful expression.]

[fairfeste]

[It is so much creepier than she's imagining... but Feste doesn't know that so they nod.]

Yeah.

[vernal_miss]

[With a short, happy squee, she bounds a step away and zooms back into the house to retrieve the sketchbook. She manages to slow to a hurried walk inside the house to be mindful of those with four legs, but the moment she steps back outside, she’s hopping and skipping back to Feste with their sketchbook and a drawing utensil in hand.

One long jump plops her down next to them with a laugh and she offers the items to them.]

Found it!

[fairfeste]

[Maybe this will be another thing to get some of that energy out...

But Feste smiles as she hands them their sketchbook, flipping it open to a clean page and beginning to sketch. The petals look obscenely large, compared to the rest of the flower, and something about the way Feste draws them make some of them look oddly sharp. It's posed to walk on its roots, from the look of it, though it's not in any way cartoonishly define to four clear ones to function like legs, instead the mass of roots creeping out in all directions from the base of the flower and making it more like a centipede.

[vernal_miss]

[It certainly uses energy to perform, yet that energy continues to replenish itself.

Contenting her need to keep moving by taking sections of her hair to finger comb and braid, she watches with curiosity as the image starts to take shape. The excitement that had propelled her in and out of the house dwindles as her expectations falter and the harsher edges relay something more unsettling. Her hands slow in making yet another small braid as she leans closer to make sense of it.]

...that’s a very large flower. Is it slow?

[fairfeste]

[Feste doesn't seem to notice that she was winding down because she was upset- they just assume that she is finally calming down a little bit. They give her another smile.]

I don't think so? They could walk along with you pretty easily, I think. But some of the flowers I remember are huge, yeah.

[vernal_miss]

[Slow would be sufficient to move and follow sunlight, but perhaps it simply needs to move more quickly to migrate. Expression neutral as she considers it more carefully with her sibling smiling, she points to the flower petals that look sharp.]

Did this one get hurt? [For a petal that looks that way, perhaps it had been torn somehow.]

[fairfeste]

[Feste looks down at the picking, humming a little as they think.] I think these can make themselves better even if they do get hurt. Or... I could help them, or something. [Something like that.]

[vernal_miss]

[Nel seizes on that last bit and looks up at Feste with wider eyes. Most plants will heal over time, but they need magic to heal without scars.]

You think you could heal plants too? Or is it different?

[fairfeste]

I think... it's just these plants? In a certain place?

[That sounds about right, anyway.]

[vernal_miss]

[If they only live in a certain place, there goes that migration hypothesis.]

Huh. I wonder why... Do you remember anything else about this flower?

[fairfeste]

[Feste shakes their head.] Not yet. Maybe if I draw some more later.

[vernal_miss]

Okay. Thank you for drawing this one!

[Knowing better than to press any further, as they have been a tad grumpy lately, she leans over to hug Feste gratefully. She is terribly curious, but she can imagine other possibilities that might be similar after seeing the first to distract herself.]