[MINI-EVENT] Vegetation Meditation (Nili+Sephos+Tig+Shenso)

[Sypon]

The warm atmosphere was enough to make Panili yawn, and stretch her dirty gloved hands as far up as they could go. The four had started off their session slow, and quiet. It was quite honestly a welcome change from the hubbub of the 'outer world'. In a humid little biome with lush Alternian fauna in all kinds of colors.

Panili took a moment, getting a momentary flash of a future vision.

"Oh, Sephos... Look..." She giggled, pointing over to where Tigwyn and Shenso stood.

The four were on opposite ends of the aisle, surrounded by the plants they were watering, pruning and harvesting. In the distance the two huddled over a trough with vibrant green shoots budding out of it. She giggled as Tigwyn muddled around with the spray bottle he was using, appearing to not be able to get it to work. When Shenso went to take it, however, Tigwyn squirted it across his cheek.

"Ha!" Panili patted Sephos in his shoulder where she could reach, in excitement, letting him into her predestined knowledge of the humorous event. She tittered away as the two returned to their work, with both laughing off the harmless prank and giving each other a kiss on the cheek. After a moment of watching, Panili turned back to her own section of plants. A sigh.

"I can't tell you how glad I am that Shenso's... Happy again." She admitted.

DraconicFeline

 

[DraconicFeline]

Quiet came so naturally to Sephos. Even this kind of quiet -- which wasn't truly quiet at all. The silence of company never was. Someone always talked. Someone always moved. Sephos didn't mind. Working here -- in this greenhouse -- was a balm to a sore spirit, strained by artificial lights and chitin (and concrete) jungles. The whole settlement was wonderful, but this place, the greenhouse, was where he felt the most at home.

He especially didn't mind his current company. Sephos was aware of the presence of Panili, and aware of the other two, but he mostly focused on his own tasks. Apparently, he could help Tigwyn this way, and that was both surprising and relieving. He never knew what to do when someone was hurting.

Oh, Sephos, Look."

Sephos looked up, uncertain of what he was supposed to look at even after he followed Panili's pointing finger to the tender green shoots -- full of life, he noted. Good -- he'd been hoping those seeds would thrive, and they were. Then he saw it -- the sweet moment shared between the two people tending his seeds. He watched them for a moment, trying to figure out what seeing that meant. The gesture looked playful, but also familiar. He wasn't sure entirely what he had just witnessed, but the momentousness of it was not lost on him -- a momentousness only further solidified by Panili's exclamation.

"Hah." he repeated, an honest half laugh -- because that was what he felt at the moment. A small laughter, a bubble of joy that burst and left good feelings in its wake. Panili's sigh surprised him and he turned to her, trying to figure out her expression. It was hard to read her expression in this light -- not an altogether strange occurrence in any light, however, since Panili's facial expressions were complex. Sometimes he could see exhaustion there, amidst the smile. Not so much right now: Now, he could see happiness, like his own but maybe bigger... and something else. But he'd never been good at faces.

"Don't need to." he said, pausing for a moment, "Can't measure glad by anything but 'glad.'"

Just as you can't measure happiness by how often someone smiled -- because to his knowledge, Shenso smiled often, even before the helmsman had returned. And yet, Panili -- who knew these things well -- had just implied that he wasn't.

And there, he realized that he recognized another part of her expression. "But you're still worried." he said, knowing enough to be quiet, here by the ripening tomatoes and the bountiful eggplants.

Sypon

 

[Sypon]

"That's true," Panili mused.

Sephos was a wise one, in ways that few were wise. He understood the ground, the dirt, where most trolls only gave thought to the sky and the stars. It made it hard for them to understand how interconnected everything was. The complex root systems, the ecosystem. Trolls could burn a planet to its core and move on. Not so.

While the thought might make her seethe, his presence was also calming. It was helpful for keeping on level. Not to say she didn't feel affected now by his acknowledgement.

"You got me." She admitted. Panili turned over the soil in her gloved hands, just sifting through it idly. Hesitant to move on. "He has to relearn everything from the crash. I want to make it just right. And... After, then what?"

She squeezed her eyes shut, as though begging her powers to come through to give her the answers. None came. "I don't have any visions of a future where our future isn't shaped by conquering others. Why isn't this planet enough?" She kneaded her hands, and quietly... "Why isn't this enough..."

Everything in the greenhouse, in this space, in the Settlement, was balanced. But... The sense of unease could creep through lead walls.  

[DraconicFeline]

"I don't know." Sephos said. It was the truth - he didn't know. About either of her questions.

But he wanted to give her something, though, something he could give. He pointed to one of the greenhouse trees, a growing sapling he'd transplanted here. It had gotten very sick, and much of it's foliage was dead. "When a plant gets hurt," he said, "it comes back. It's not the same, but it grows into a new shape if you help it."

"If he's like that tree, you'll, uh... What was he doing, comparing trolls to trees? He felt foolish... and powerless... but that was nothing new. "We'll... we won't know what shape he's going to be, until he gets there, I guess."  

[Sypon]

Panili laughed, the weight dissolving from her shoulders. She straightened a bit and seemed to remember what she was doing. That's right. Transplanting a vine. She nodded to him.

"You're right. We're already growing from, the, ah... Stump of the old Alternia. We're a nurse tree. Who knows where we'll end up."

Hopefully she would, she thought, but decided to keep that to herself.

The orangeblood looked again to Shenso and Tigwyn, who were making themselves busy planting seeds and talking amongst themselves. They seemed to be doing just fine in the space - Panili was worried (though, she always was) about this helping effort. But it was sorting itself out. Sephos was right.

"Thanks again for opening up the greenhouse for us tonight, Sephos." She gave him a dirty pat on the arm with her glove. "I think they'll probably bloom a lot better if they're left alone. Like a... Hm. What kind of plant does that?"  

[DraconicFeline]

Sephos relaxed too - Yes, that was more or less what he meant, or tried to mean. And, of course, she'd managed to add a whole new meaning to it.

"Give it what it needs, and it'll grow." he confirmed. Though, he had no idea if that was true for anything else. It felt true, and it had cheered his friend up, and that's what mattered.

The Lightseekers, as a new shoot... It was something good, in the garden of things that were. And he was a part of making it grow into... something.

"That's true for most plants. You take care of them, but you gotta leave them be to let them put down their own roots and shoots... and bloom." Maku had taught him that - that was why he would leave parts of his territory alone after making a change here, or a change there. Come to think of it, Maku had said something similar when telling him how he raised Sephos, and how he was to raise the sapling to come.

Sephos looked down at the shoots and roots. They needed attention and thinning, but... "... Should we go outside and let them... bloom a bit more?" he asked. Would it help? Not that there weren't a few things to check on outside.  

[Sypon]

Panili looked over at the two nearby and flushed bright orange. That was - well. They were doing - hm!

"Yes! Good call, let's go." She patted the excess sediment off of her gloves and hopped down from where she was propped up (thanks to a short crate) at the counter. She gave him a quick smile and walked with brisk, eager steps to the entrance. The air outside was much cooler, with a nice breeze. It reminded her of the New Hemisect Harvest Jubilee.

And in an instant, Panili's mind opened up. In her vision, a rare pink flower freshly bloomed amongst the buds of its fellows. The season was changing, and this was the first sign of it. Landmarks fuzzed into view, a familiar rocky outcropping near the north-most fields just inside the Settlement bounds. How she wanted to see it!

Panili gasped as she returned to Sephos' side, sight fully in the present. She hadn't experienced an effortless vision in so long... So much worry, so much pressure keeping her at bay. This was what she needed.

And suddenly, doing chores seemed less important than chasing something as simple and silly - no, not silly - restorative - as a little pink flower.

"I just saw... Something!" She murmured. Visions were always difficult to explain without making them sound prophetic, after all. Panili smiled and tugged on Sephos' arm. "What do you say we take a break for a bit? I think I might have just seen something that I'd, uh, like to show you!"  

[DraconicFeline]

Sephos followed her eyes and blanched a little (a lot) uncomfortably. Now his question had a whole new connotation. The brisk, dry air of the cool season tickled the condensation on his brow, a reminder that a greenhouse was a true marvel. To create an eternal spring, in which a plant could grow and sprout, was a lovely idea. That idea was a reality thanks to technology and ingenuity. This thought struck Sephos as nice, and it helped him to not think about how the trolls inside were... blooming.

He was about to share the thought with Panili, but, turning to her, he recognized the sense of distance in her gaze. He paused, waiting uneasily, until it passed. Her confirmation, that she saw something, garnered a nod. He'd guessed as much, but the smile on her face set him at ease.

"Sure." He said, intrigued. Especially by her secrecy. What did she want him to see? Was it super important? Sephos wasn't sure how he would feel about that, but it wasn't a bad thought. Anyway, he had suggested taking a break himself, and chores would be completed when they were completed, no sooner or later.

He followed her North, towards the fields. Most of the plant life outside was sleeping or, as Maku once described it, holding their breaths for the warmth to return. Sephos noted that the evergreen plants and trees were thriving. The winterberry bushes that had been planted by the edge of the water storage facility had lost all of their berries to birds by now, but tinges of bright red still flickered in their branches. He pointed out a pretty aerial fauna to Panili as they foraged one of the last berries. He hadn't been the one to plant the bushes, but he was pleased with them anyway.

At the edge of the field, one of the rocky outcroppings caught his eye. It always did - any gardener knew that stones were a part of the aesthetic, and vital to a healthy garden. This one was particularly nice, decorated with hardy lichen that had spent sweeps growing. But, due to the field, he couldn't plant what he wanted to plant there - instead, he needed to plant barrier plants, that would draw away pests. They would look nice, too, but that rock.

"Oh!" There was a spot of pink - a tiny flower growing in the dark and fertile soil. Sephos' delight was apparent on his face and in his voice, if one knew how to read it. "A crocus!" A first plant of spring, the awakening sigh of all flora, was blooming in the subdued land.  

[Sypon]

The pleasant tinge of cold air buzzed on Panili's lips as she blew warm breaths to the wind. It was crisp and clear, like one could see past the horizon and on and on. She hadn't done troll yoga in a while, nor hiked in the mountains. Too much time spent going through papers, analytics, maintaining, prepping, facilitating the group. All of the hubbub had made everything fuzzy.

She stepped around crispy, browned plants and over frosted grasses. Delighted at some kind of - wingbeast? - that she hadn't seen the likes of before. Now, her vision was coming into focus.

"Yes!" When Sephos spotted it, Panili lit up. She grabbed his arm with hers and did a hop. "This is what I saw! Isn't it just fantastic?"

She swept low to the ground, giving the crocus a wide radius as though she would disturb it with a loud footfall. "I have a good feeling about this sweep. What do you think?"