saveourearth | Need a Little Sun [Video/Log]

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Need a Little Sun [Video/Log]

Date: June 20th (Video), June 22nd (Log)
Characters: Network wide, close CR (Log)

Video
[As the video begins to record, Nel has one arm extended forward to hold her phone as far as she can reach away from her face and high enough to get a mild downward angle. Seated in the backyard at her house, evidence of her practicing with her powers is behind her with a vibrant garden patch as her backdrop. The preteen uses her other hand to wave with a smile that holds eager anticipation.]

Good morning everyone!

Walter and I have been talking. We think it'd be nice for everyone to get together like we did at the meeting, but this time we'll do it just to have fun! We've planned a whole picnic, but we haven't been able to decide where it would be best to go. We agree someplace out of the way or secluded might be nice, and that way, everyone can come and ditch the disguises.

The edge of the east side of the forest might give us a good place to go, but that's pretty far out of the way. Does anyone else know of a good spot?

Oh, and what day would be best for everyone? We don't want anyone stuck working!

Log
As promised, with the weather warmer and the sun keeping a steady presence to make for a comfortable afternoon, Nel finally has the opportunity to explore the reaction she has with water. With the portion of her family without Numbers otherwise occupied, she had helped carry the empty wading pool out into the backyard where no one can see it without entering the backyard itself. Sporting her bathing suit, she brings an armful of towels to set in a chair nearby, and a potted plant from upstairs that could use a little attention with a second trip inside. The wading pool is filled with only a couple centimeters deep of water, as that will provide enough for her to get wet laying down while saving as much space as possible in the pool to catch the expected runoff from her hair.

She stands at the edge of the pool for a pause once everything is in order. Patiently, Nel has waited for this chance for months, and she doesn't want to squander it. Stepping out of her flip flops, she enters the pool standing with focus on the water. Nothing happens as expected, in the same way wetting her hands does not evoke a reaction. Slowly, she lowers down to one knee, then the other. Still nothing, even as the tips of her hair slip under the surface and begin to spread apart over the thin layer of water. One hand goes under the water, then the other. Bit by bit, she rolls herself sideways towards laying down, and even laying on one side is not quite enough. Then finally as she rolls onto her back, the warmth she carries in her chest gives way to the the expected coolness that rushes through her veins as water mantles over her hair as it turns shimmering blue. Squealing at the yet unfamiliar sensation, she sits herself up out of the water in a hurry, and laughs as the heavy curtain of water follows to her back and over her shoulders.

"Found it!" she declares with humor.

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A curious tilt of her head follows the request for permission, and she listens to the proposal. She considers it as she turns the idea over in her head on how that may work out, but she simply has no real way of figuring it out. Instead, she goes with what she knows; she trusts her Mum completely.

Smiling, she nods her head and sits down in the chair with her legs crossing and hands finding her ankles, “Give it a go.” A little water drips free in the process, but she restrains it again quickly.

Mary Ann concentrates.

Her lips quiver as she speaks - she's found that it helps her focus on the task if she asks for it to happen. Gently, she strengthens the life that she finds in Nel, trying to find the strands of what she feels in flowers in her.

Yes, there. She grins, and mutters a few words more. Grow.

Curiously watching her mother, Nel is not entirely certain how she taps into her magic, but the slight movement at her lips is a clue. Not able to observe long, the influence from her mother sends a shiver down her body from head to toe as the water in her hair falls away to the grass below. Left behind is her wet red hair pasted to her neck, shoulders, and back. Nel looks to her shoulder, the chill gone from her chest, but before she can say anything, her expression scrunches at an odd sensation at her scalp.

Reaching both her hands up to the top of her head, Nel lays her hands firmly on her hair only to feel her hands start to slide as her hair moves under them. Now, normally this child needs a hair cut every week, but in this moment, her hair is lengthening so rapidly it spills from her head down and drags the wet portion off from sticking to her.

“Uhhh...Mum?” there is an edge in her voice as she is mildly alarmed over this development. It certainly does not hurt, even as her hair is already starting to fold on the grass.

...Oops.

Uhm.

UHM. THAT WAS NOT INTENDED. SHIT SHIT SHIT.

She feels very much like screaming, but she can't do that for multiple reasons. First, she doesn't want to alert the neighbours. Second, it would not help.

She did this, she has to fix it - has she?

"Can you stop it?" Can I stop it? She hasn't tried so far to make something stop from growing, and she is frightened of overdoing it. What if she accidentally stops Nel from ever growing again, or... worse? She really didn't expect THIS to happen!

“I don’t think so,” she answers with little thought. Nel had previously attempted to keep a short hairstyle before, and without failure, it always grew out spitefully fast despite her intentions. That was before she remembered her Number, but her hair has behaved about the same since.

Using both hands to push her hair back from covering her face, she is trying to think of what to do when the growth slows to a halt of its own accord. Gripping her hair, her hands cease to move with it, and the girl holds her breath for a pause as she looks up to her mother. Only when she is convinced it has stopped seconds later, she exhales and peers down at the foot of the chair.

That’s a lot of red wavy hair.

Moving slowly, she edges herself off the chair and onto her feet while avoiding stepping into the folds, and maneuvers around the seat to walk so her hair drags itself out to full length. Nel gawks at the length from her head across the grass which looks to be shy of 3 meters. Her staring gives way to an excited smile and she grins at her mother, “Mum, I look like Rapunzel!”

"...well, let's not do that again," Mary Ann says under her breath while staring at the masses of hair. The fright of what if it doesn't stop still sits deep and she'll need a moment to get over it. Or two, or three. No, definitely not doing that again.

Even though... it seems to have worked? Nel's hair seems to be back to being actual hair. She's stopped dripping. All of which is an improvement.

Then she makes herself grin. "That might actually be long enough to climb down from the upstairs window using it. ...after it's been cut off." Quickly added for safety. She doesn't want Nel and one of the other kids to try and hurt her in the process.

As entertaining, and perhaps reassuring, as it is to have a fairytale character to which she can draw a connection, it is still a rather strange thing. Heavy too. However, that internal decision to swing toward optimism does not blunt her observation as she looks at her mother. She can tell when her mother is forcing a pleasant expression at her eyes.

“And braided tight,” she adds. The braiding would be easier while her hair is still attached, but that can wait. Nel reaches an arm back to hook behind her trail of hair to offset the weight from her neck by anchoring it in the crook of her elbow, and walks back to her mother. Without a word, she drops her hair and reaches her arms around her mother to hug her tight.

Only once the hug is secure does she speak, “...guess magic can be a little barmy.”

She returns the hug automatically, without even thinking about it.

"It's not all that it was made out to be, really." or perhaps it was. She understands the newbie characters in novels that have someone discover their abilities without a mentor a lot better now.

There Nel will stay. She holds that hug until her mother’s arms move away from the embrace.

“Not like in stories,” she responds softly. Then she continues with that thought, “Most of the time the heroes learn right off what to do and train fast so they can go fight. I got how to make plants pretty quick, but remember how hard it was when I started? Making the poppy flower took all I had. And it’s been...six? seven? months. A flower is easy peasy now, but only ‘cause I’ve practiced almost everyday.”

Magic may be a matter of skill and experience as much as talent. How her mother has utilized her magic thus far is knowledge she lacks.

"Not like in stories, no. ...But then I guess stories tend to cover a lot less time than our lives do." A lot less of being sidetracked going to work or school, dealing with family and friends and the community, and all that, too. There's only the quest and those important for that quest in stories.

"And stories wouldn't have time to let one sleep through the winter or waffle about what they learn for months..." The first, of which, is obviously a reference to Nel.

The second refers to Mary Ann and... some things she has learned. She just doesn't want to deal with being a werewolf.

Her mother has an excellent point. Even the book series that started with the novel Harold Parker and the Draco Elixir often skipped chunks of time and only skimmed glimpses of moments in the years while improving their magical prowess. It would be discouraging to read the same daily routine page after page after endless page to find the gems of unusual events.

The mention of sleeping through the winter gets a stronger squeeze through her arms as she clings to her mother, but she tilts her head back to look up at the second reference. Nel had waited until now to test her water powers for convenience and safety, so it is clear her mother means herself.

Rather than ask outright, Nel speaks of it indirectly, “...maybe it’s hard to write heroes that aren’t ready straight off. Especially if they have lots to worry about and can’t run off on an adventure to figure it out.” Nel does not know what might be holding her mother back, but she hopes she can share her concerns. If not with her, then perhaps her grandfather.

Edited (Changed to match previous substitute for Harry Potter) 2020-04-17 17:58 (UTC)

"Maybe they just don't have lives that need to continue running the way real people do." She picks Nel up and moves both of them over to the porch, sitting down there.

Maybe talking about it will get it out of her head. And it's not like it's a great terrible thing. Probably. Maybe. She'll leave out the parts that could be (the worries that she has about what it could mean in loss of control). Instead, she'll focus on everything else.

"...I think this person that ...I'm getting parts of. I think she was a werewolf." And that just sounds so ridiculous. It's somehow easier when, like Nel, there seems to be no rhyme and reason to it that would neatly affiliate with a concept that strong in pop culture.

“I think you’re right. I can’t remember any heroes that had adventures after having kids.” The last bit is accompanied by a cheeky smile. She knows how much her mothers work to keep the five of their lot happy and healthy. Mostly, she wants to be a little silly to help lighten the mood.

When her mother scoops her up, Nel uses one arm to take up a loop of her hair to anchor it away from her neck so it can trail over the grass without pulling. Her other arm goes over her mother’s shoulder to hold on during the short walk to the porch.

Set down together, Nel snuggles in close to her mother and stays quiet with anticipation. She watches upward with her recently turned gold eyes, and listens when her mother reveals what has kept her knotted for months. A werewolf is her link.

There is barely a beat before Nel asks the very first thing to pop into her head, “Does that mean you’ll be able to smell as good as Grandpa?” Nel is not a stranger to the darker depictions of werewolves in media, but those are stories. This is her Mum.

"They probably didn't have any time for adventures. ...Now what surprises me more is that there aren't more heroes of your grandpa's age out there. Still sturdy enough to wander the world but got all the kids out of the house. You'd think they'd get up to all kinds of things."

But the humour has left her when they've sat down, and she shrugs. "Maybe. I assume that'll happen eventually? It seems to be one of the few things that all stories agree on..." General wolf senses seem to come with the package deal no matter if they're handsome buff dudes that sparkle or insane criminals that bite little children to take revenge on their parents.

Now there’s an idea. “Hey, yeah...! That’d be wicked,” she agrees wholeheartedly. A journey undertaken by a hero that relies on wisdom and experience. A second chance to make a mark on the world and one legacy already assured. There is one movie she can recall that involved a house and balloons, but one is hardly sufficient.

The gravity of her mother confiding in her sinks in further as a more superficial trait is settled. The senses of a wolf lend to their strength, which could be used to protect or harm depending on the sort of story being told. It would help to have a little more to work from, so she inquires, “...what do you remember about it?” Maybe her Numbered memories have a clue.

Edited 2020-04-23 15:52 (UTC)

"...I only remember writing a note that talked about it." Which she would have been unable to decipher if google didn't exist, and even then it was hard as google translate didn't speak the language in question. But she got there eventually. "It said..." She frowns, trying to remember the exact phrasing, and then offers an approximation instead: "...that apparently I'm a werewolf, and that I thought that that's ridiculous and I was angry about it. And someone had explained that to me, and that I couldn't stay because of it." Which is the part that really makes her worry. The letter specified that it wouldn't be safe for her to stick around.

Nel listens attentively through the explanation, head resting against her mother. Her brow lowers at the last bit, but she does not speak immediately in response. Worrying her lower lip under her front teeth for a few seconds, she lets it go as she lifts her head to look straight to her Mum.

“Hang on... That doesn’t make sense. I think whoever told you that you couldn’t stay is full of it. How would you not know you were a werewolf? Aren’t people supposed to be one after being bitten by a werewolf in the first place? You’d have to know if you got bit.”

She shrugs, but her expression has turned thoughtful. "Well, it seems like it...

...but it's not really. Injuries can be very traumatic. That means that they are so terrible, that the person's brain protects them from the memory by hiding the memory from them. So they don't remember the time around the injury. Sometimes just minutes, sometimes hours." So depending on how lasting the injury from the bite was...

“But there would still be bandages, right? Cause if you were bitten by a werewolf then you’re still hurt even if you can’t remember,” she persists. Nel is rejecting the idea of her mother needing to leave for any reason at all with every fiber of her being. Any reason she can deny it will do.

“And have you tried to be a wolf? There have been lots of full moons since we got our Numbers, so either you haven’t gotten that part or it’s a different kind that doesn’t need a moon.”

"I assume I just haven't gotten it yet."

She has decidedly not tried to turn into a werewolf yet. She very much doesn't want to do so.

"You're right about the bandages, though." She wants Nel to be right. She does. She's just worried...

The longer she thinks about it, the more worked up she is becoming as she begins to tremble a little. There is a chance that what her mother does remember is true for a terrifying reason. Instead of giving that any credence however, she latches onto another alternative, “Even if the letter was somehow even sort of right, maybe it was for your safety! Maybe people there don’t like werewolves ‘cause they’re bloody bigots!”

Living in the community of Mossgate at large has not completely sheltered her from what intolerance can be.

"...Maybe that is true. I'm sure I'll remember soon enough." She runs the fingers of her hands through Nel's hair, gently untangling it where they hit upon snags. "You could easily be right. I'm sure the mere idea of people being able to turn into wolves would make people nervous enough that they'll be mean."

Her fresh Rapunzelesque hair offers no resistance in the form of tangles within reach, but the touch is soothing. Combined with her mother giving her suggestions the potential to be correct, the anxiety Nel feels ceases to rise. “Right…people can be stupid,” she says before burying her face in against her mother with an extra strong hug through her arms. The tremors from her muscles are gone when she relaxes after a long moment taken to appreciate the security brought by her mother holding her.

Lifting her head to look up to her mother, determination is left in the wake of that anxious burst, “Whatever happens, I’ll help. And I’m going to keep practicing my magic every. single. day.” Eventually, she will get a handle on this water business now that the warm weather will allow her to tolerate it for longer.

"Good. ...Just make sure that you don't flood anything too badly while practising," she teases gently, her hand never ceasing its soothing strokes. And then grins, promising mischievously: "And I'll try to not do anything dumb, either. Like drown the town in your hair."

She is not actually worried about either of this. They'll figure out Nel's issues soon enough, and as for herself... she still isn't entirely sure WHAT she did, but she'll sure as hell try to not do it again. She'll... try and experiment on less problematic targets to see if she can figure this out.

Edited 2020-05-20 20:14 (UTC)

The caution is met with a nod, softened by the lighter tone and continuing comfort. Then a smile splits free when her mother grins and jokes, making her words flutter with a giggle as she replies, “That’d be awful!” The tangles would claim too many casualties.

“I won’t try anything funny until I learn how to make it stop without using my other magic,” she says as much to her mother as herself. It gives her a first goal, and places a safety for herself mentally to retain a sense of control. What comes after will depend on many things.

For now, Nel glances towards the waiting pool, but she shifts to settle more comfortably with her mother to prolong being close. Her voice is calm when she backtracks on the conversation a tad, “…thanks for telling me, Mum. You shouldn’t have to worry alone.”

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catted - 2020-05-24 13:30 (UTC) - Expand

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Need a Little Sun [Video/Log]

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