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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jun 5, 2011 21:07:49 GMT -5
Nell gazed at the plants in her tiny windowsill with a wrinkled forehead. Reaching out, she gently rubbed the leaf, feeling the chill and frost and trying to warm up the poor thing. No such luck. Her powers could only do so much for her plants, and with this weather… She shook her head as she ate her cereal, looking out the window which provided a charming view of downtown. It was almost as if she hadn’t left The Bronx. But there were many differences between she came from and where she is now. One of them is that she was now living on her own, no longer held prisoner by her mother. Plus, where she lived in The Bronx was for straight-off-the-boat Hispanics, as her grandparents were such and her father had a lot of pride in his heritage. And she did too, even though she wasn’t as immersed in the culture as others in her neighborhood.
It was a short walk from the ‘living room’ to the kitchenette, since it was all in the same place. Studio apartment living suited her fine, but it would be nice if she didn’t have the stains on the walls or just an afghan to keep her warm at night. She finished washing the dishes before taking a plant from the window and leaving the apartment. If she stopped to think about it, this was an odd sight: a girl walking down the street with a flower pot in the middle of winter. But she didn’t think too much on it. The Academy wasn’t too far, so she walked there. It was odd, thinking of the castle being in such close distance to the seedy downtown area of British Columbia. Arriving on the grounds, Nell took note that there were barely any students. It was still pretty early in the morning, but she just needed to get outside. Being cooped up too long brought back bad memories for her.
Nell found a tree, looking sickly with lack of leaves and the chill of winter, and slid her back down it. She was hoping this little experiment would work. She used her gloved hands to dig out a rather large radius, the potted plant beside her. At a time like this she thought it would be nice for Earth and Fire elementals to be friends. That way she’d have someone to burn away the snow to make it easier. But alas, she resulted to digging out a space on her own. Taking the plant out of the plot, she placed it in her little hole and covered it up with the thin top-soil. It didn’t look like the flower would have too good a chance here, but she was hoping it could borrow some energy from the tree behind her.
She murmured encouraging Spanish words to the flower, leaning over and cupping it between her hands. There was no language barrier to her. Nell wondered if the words actually reached it, but then thought of herself as just being plain weird. Sighing, she fell back on her haunches, back against the trunks again. She wasn’t so easily discouraged, though, and she leaned forward once more to continue speaking to the plant. The blue flower seemed to regain some color after a while and it began growing some. Keep control, Nell, she thought. Even with simple things such as this, she thought of the night she killed her mother. Such things chilled her even more than the cold.
As more flowers started to bloom she let out a successful, ”How you like me now!” But then, the flowers began to wither away and she quickly cupped it again. But nothing was going to work, and the plant fell limp to the snowy earth. Nell huffed. At least it wasn’t overgrowing, she thought, somewhat bitterly. Then she might have hurt someone.
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Post by ash on Jun 6, 2011 7:07:31 GMT -5
Ashley woke up in a good mood... or at least a somewhat good mood. When she looked outside it wasn’t snowing, which put her into an even better mood. Sure it was still snowy outside, but there weren’t little intricate flecks of ice falling from the sky and killing whatever green it touched around. It was actually sunny outside to! She blinked twice as she smiled staring out the window like a goof before grabbing her things to go and shower. She didn’t think anyone would really understand how happy the sun today was really making her. Sun meant light, light meant warmth, warmth meant there was the smallest chance she could get a flower to grow... outside. Ashley knew she’d be heading outside today, I mean, why not? If it looked good from inside, then it had to be good from outside... right? It made her wonder if she could get Lavender to bloom... or a Daisy. Ashley didn’t want to risk a rose bush... she loved them too much to have to watch if her experiment didn’t work out. Her Roses were like her children, and Ash didn’t think she’d be able to handle it if she had to purposely watch them die. In a sense it was completely heartbreaking.
When Ashley was done with her shower, she got dressed. For going outside she was wearing Jeans, a pair of boots, a tank-top, and a thick leather jacket She kept her hair in an up-do which ended up being covered by the hat she put on. She slipped on one of her home-made bracelets before grabbing her gloves. They were fingerless gloves that had the attachment to turn them into mittens. Right now they were perfect for Ash to grab an apple and a bottle of water to eat and drink before she sifted through all the seeds she had. Ashley had become accustomed to just looking at seeds and being able to tell which ones they were. It was something her mother had taught her to do when she was little. The fact that her mom was sending her seeds in little bundles which were unidentifiable by looking at the bag they came in also helped. It was not a nice surprise when Ash was trying to roses and instead she wound up with Wolfsbane. She had been not pleased about that, and ended up getting rid of the flowers before people realized that they could be used for poisoning.
Ashley didn’t like to fight, at all. She liked to sort things out with her words first and she believed that she would never resort to violence. Unfortunately there were fire students with short tempers and a flare for hurting other people. Ash had her share of burns and bruises because apparently being nice automatically meant you were a bad person. She never did understand politics and was happier staying out of anybodies way that she thought was going to hurt her. Ashley had a small pot of Lavender already growing, it made the room smell very sweet. Ashley figured if she was going to sacrifice a plant for her own experimentation that she might as well use one that was already growing and not her unborn flowers.... un-grown flowers? Could flowers be born?
Ashley spent the entire time eating her apple contemplating if flowers could technically be born or not. Somehow from that she ended up remembering her unborn older brother and she frowned. She really didn’t want to think about that right now. It had been painful enough for her parents so Ashley had to just move on. She wasn’t even conceived! She shouldn’t even be thinking about it. Ashley sighed as she threw the apple core into her Rose bushes pot. At least the rose would be able to turn what she didn’t want into food and energy. Smiling at her Rose plants (As crazy as she seemed doing this), Ashley grabbed her water and lavender plant before heading out of the dorm. Walking along the Academy grounds, Ashley was looking for the perfect spot to plant her lovely little lavender plant to see if it would grow when she heard someone yell. She recognized the voice and walked over to a tree. Peeking around it she saw a familiar head of brown hair and she smiled. ”G’morning Nell.”
[/color] Ashley said looking down at her friend, as well as what was in front of her. It looked like a flower had bloomed but then just as quickly had withered. Ashley held her Lavender flowers close to her. Maybe this wouldn’t work... but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try. ”Watcha up to?[/color] Ashley asked moving so She was fully visible instead of half hidden behind a tree. [/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote][/size] |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jun 6, 2011 13:38:09 GMT -5
Nell hadn’t expected anyone to come along, and was surprised to see Ashley when she looked up. Smiling brightly, she said, ”Heya, Leigh. Up early, too, huh?” Nell was generally an early riser, she just felt like she’d miss most of the day if she didn’t get up early. As her fellow earth student came around and Nell got a look at her, she couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous of the girl’s clothes—she always wore the cutest things, but Nell didn’t have that luxury unfortunately. Not that she paid it too much mind. It was a small sacrifice when it came to finally being able to live on her own. So what if she couldn’t be on the up and up when it came to fashion trends? She had enough freedom in that she could do pretty much anything she felt like. Never had she had that kind of power before.
At her friend’s question, Nell wrinkled her nose and reached out to touch a crumbling leaf that was practically shrinking away from the snow. “I’m trying unsuccessfully to get this hyacinth to grow.” She ruffled the back of her hair as she said, “I thought if I plant it near the roots of this tree, they might be able to share some energy, ya know? ….Didn’t work out too well.” Nell kept reminding herself that at least it hadn’t ended in overgrowth, though she wondered how terrible it would be. Root overgrowth didn’t seem like it would be a problem to her before, and yet she managed to kill her mother with it. Bad thoughts.
Nell gazed back at Ashley so as not to focus on her own mind and noticed the plant in her hands. The seated girl smiled wide. ”Hey, hey, I have an idea!” She waved her hand conspiratorially, the epiphany filling her with energy. ”Maybe with our powers combined we could get something out of this huh?” She looked at her browning hyacinth plant, and scrunched her nose up. ”If you plant that….hmm, let me guess what it is…. Lavender? Am I right?” Nell didn’t have much experience in naming flowers without help from books or anything, but she’d been around them long enough that she felt rather confident in her abilities. ”Well, if you plant it next to the hyacinth, maybe they can work off each other. It’s worth a shot.”
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Post by ash on Jun 8, 2011 16:05:14 GMT -5
Ashley smiled and giggled at Nell’s surprised look. Ash knew it was kind of early to be outside and Nell’s smile was just too cute. ”Heya, Leigh. Up early, too, huh?”
[/color] Nell said and Ashley nodded. Usually she could sleep in until noon on weekends, but the colder the weather the more restless she became. She missed being able to lay down and take a nap in the fresh grass, or walking in a field of flowers, or sitting under a shady tree in the sun while she played her guitar. ”Yep, It’s sunny out today so I figured why not take advantage of it? I was thinking about trying to get my flowers to grow.”[/color] Ashley said with a wide smile. It seemed like she had an extra boost of pep today. Ashley was just giddy for trying to get her lavender to grow, and that there was sun, and for once it was not snowing outside. Ashley was just over all happy! It took quite a bit to bring her down to the point where she was really upset, but not even the snow could do that to her today! It was beautiful out, and she was damn sure she was going to take advantage of it. Ashley watched as Nell wrinkled her nose and she found herself holding back another giggle. She watched Nell reach out touch a crumbling leaf and Ash felt her sprits drop a fraction of a tiny bit. Seeing the deceased plant was so not cheering her up, but it wasn’t killing her. ”I’m trying unsuccessfully to get this hyacinth to grow.”[/color] Nell said and Ashley crouched down in the snow. It looked like Nell had done a really good job on making it bloom, but holding onto its life force was what the plant seemed to be lacking. ”I thought if I plant it near the roots of this tree, they might be able to share some energy, ya know? ....Didn’t work out to well.”[/color] She said and Ashley ended up touching the petals off the flower only to watch them fall the second she took her hand away. She found her expression fell slightly. She set her Lavender pot down next to the flower. ”I was going to try and do that with my flowers right here... [/color] Ashley said touching the leaf of her Lavender. She didn’t want her plant to die, but at the same time she wanted to see what would happen. Her need to see what would happen outweighed her worry for her plants. Ashley sighed as she went from crouching to sitting with a slight “oof” noise. She couldn’t take her eyes of the sickly, wilting plant, but her head jerked up when she heard Nell speaking. ”Hey, hey, I have an idea!” Ashley watched as Nell waved her hands around energetically and Ashley covered her mouth to hide her giggles. ”Maybe with our powers combined we could get something out of this huh?”[/color] Nell said and Ashley felt a peppy smile cross her face. ”That could actually work!”[/color] was her response as she watched as Nell continued explaining. ”If you plant that.... hmm, let me guess what it is.... Lavender? Am I right?”[/color] Nell asked and Ash smiled and nodded. ”Yep! Doesn’t it smell good?”[/color] Ashley asked still smiling. She loved how Lavender smelt, but she knew she’d always smell like roses... She spent most of her time with roses, so smelling like them was just normal for Ash. ”Well, if you plant it next to the hyacinth, maybe they can work off each other. It’s worth a shot.” Nell said and Ash felt the light bulb go off in her head. ”That could actually work... even if it doesn’t, what if we could get the roots to connect with the tree roots then it could borrow some of the energy from the tree?”[/color] Ashley asked giddy with anticipation. This could actually work. Ash probably wasn’t going to go inside until it did anyways... she was way to stubborn to give up on her plants. [/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote][/size] |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jun 8, 2011 20:11:48 GMT -5
Nell squinted into the sun at Ashley’s words and smiled. She chuckled before she said, ”Great minds think alike!” Really, her crappy apartment was no place for plants. But one day she hoped she’d have a botanical garden where she can go out into every day, grow anything she want, and feel perfectly free. Until then, she had a $500 dollar rent, leaking pipes, and a Monte Carlo that was losing parts each day. But it seemed as if Ashley couldn’t be discouraged by anything, even though the snow that had packed down onto the earth. Nell usually liked to think of the world as glass-half-full, so maybe she could bower some of her friend’s optimism to fill it all the way. She almost laughed at her dorky thoughts.
The leaf crumbled away under Ashley’s touch, and Nell withheld a sigh. Classic Earth students, mourning over a withering plant. By the two girl’s expressions an onlooker would think a tragedy had just occurred. But it truly was terrible, and Nell propped her head up with her fists, elbows resting on her knees as she contemplated what else she could do. Ashley seemed to have the same idea for her own flowers, and she gave her a lop-sided smile. ”It’s really a pretty flower, I’d hate to see it succumb to the cold.” But what other options did they have, really? Mother nature was against them, and at this moment—though she never liked to—Nell imaged her as a bitter old woman looking at her handiwork with a satisfied grin. But instead of blaming an imaginary force, she focused on ideas swirling in her head. She was an over-analyzer, she couldn’t help but doing such.
Ashley plopped down with her eyes still on the hyacinth, and Nell couldn’t help but snort a little. Her friend was doing wonders for her rather dispirited mood after such lackluster results. Ashley blocked her giggles, but her laughter was contagious. She was greatly encouraged by the fact the girl agreed with her, so she nodded enthusiastically, leaning forward a bit to better inhale the flowers scent. ”Makes me wish it was spring,” she said, her voice still airy. ”Then we could be smelling all kinds of flowers!” Nell looked around at the snow outside of her small circle and admitted with a half-smile, ”I do like the snow, though… Even though it’s a power-block, there’s a lot of fun things you can do in it.” Things she’d never done before, that she should have been doing when she was a child, what she could have been doing with her sister. No, you can’t let these thoughts hinder you, Nell. She focused her attention on the two plants, and Ashley’s idea, spoken with raw energy. ”Yeah, that’s a great idea!”
She touched her hand against the ground beneath her plant, reaching with her powers to feel for the tree’s roots. But she stopped, having a rather lucid flashback of the night she used such roots to claim her mother’s life. Nell suddenly jerked away, eyes wide, before quickly regaining her composure and sending a disarming smile to Ashley. ”Why don’t you try planting your lavender and see if you can get it to connect with the roots?” She was a coward, she knew it. There was no way she’d get stronger like this, but she couldn’t help it. She could leave her country behind, but she took the memories with her. Instead, Nell focused on the plant again, but couldn’t find the strength to bring it back to its brilliant hue. ”I’m sure you’ll do a better job than me at the moment!” This wasn’t self-depreciating, she believed that Ashley would fare better in dealing with the tree. Nell didn’t want to slip up and hurt anyone, especially not Ashley.
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Post by ash on Jun 11, 2011 18:15:37 GMT -5
Ashley giggled when Nell said ”Great minds think alike!”. Ashley nodded her head in agreement. What were the odds than Nell would be thinking about seeing if she could get a plant to live in the cold winter? It made Ash miss her green house back home with her parents. She’d go and visit them after her schooling was done and all that fun stuff.... or at least go back for her roses. At home Ashley had several different types of roses planted. Her favourite had to be the little yellow ones that needed a lot of care and time to grow, but were so beautiful and smelled so sweet. She wondered if she could convince her mom to send her some of the seeds... but with school, Ashley doubted if she’d have the time it took to tend to the growing flowers. At least with her green house, she’d be able to monitor the temperatures. She highly doubted she’d be able to do that now, unless she had a fire students help, but that was unlikely.
Ashley wanted the Hyacinth to grow and be beautiful again. She didn’t like staring at its dead withering body. She knew if anyone walked past that they’d think someone had just died by the expression on Ash’s face. She was passionate about her flowers, what could she say? ”It’s really a pretty flower, I’d hate to see it succumb to the cold.”
[/color] Nell said and Ashley felt herself nodding in agreement. ”I don’t want it to, I think if it doesn’t work I may spend the rest of my day trying to figure out a way to revive it.”[/color] Ashley said with a small nod as she stroked her plant as if she was petting a dog. Sure it looked weird, but it comforted Ashley. Especially when she knew the fate she was about to put it through. Ashley made a face when she heard Nell snort. It wasn’t a disgusted face, but more of a scrunched face trying to contain another giggle. Ashley was aware that she giggled a lot.... more than she probably should of but it’s not like she did much else. snorting, chuckling... that wasn’t what Ash’s laugh sounded like. The only word to describe it was a giggle. ”Make me wish it was spring,”[/color] Nell said and Ashley groaned in agreement. She didn’t like winter. It was icky. Nothing grew... it was dead and cold and gross.... just gross. ”Then we could be smelling all kinds of flowers!”[/color] Nell said and Ashley definitely agreed. She’d rather be smelling flowers then melting snow any day. ”Yes, I know... and every thing’s alive! Things just seem so... dead right now.”[/color] Ashley said staring at the snow with a disgusted look. Again, she did not like winter. ”I do like the snow, though... Even though it’s a power-block, there’s a lot of fun things you can do in it.”[/color] Ashley said and Ashley sighed with reluctance. She hated snow, hated it... but she liked what you could do with it. Snowmen, Snow Angels, Forts, Ice Skating, even snow ball fights. ”It’s still cold though...”[/color] agreeing but not agreeing at the same time. Then Nell said ”Yeah, that’s a great idea!” And Ashley smiled. She was happy she had come up with a good idea. She also swore she saw Nell’s face change expression as she reached to the ground to see where the tree roots were. It made Ashley give her a questioning look. She didn’t ask her though, if Nell wanted to she would tell her. ”Why don’t you try planting your lavender and see if you can get it to connect with the roots?”[/color] Nell asked and Ashley nodded ”Alright, I seriously hope it works.”[/color] Ashley said as she put her finger tips on the cleared circle by the hyacinth. She felt around and sensed how far down the roots were and noticed there were some powerful roots nearer to the surface... but still pretty far down. ”I’m sure you’ll do a better job than me at the moment!”[/color] She said and Ashley just smiled. She dug a hole for her lavender plant before taking it out of its pot. She could sense the life in it and she sighed and prayed this worked. She planted it firmly into the ground and felt the power flow through her fingers and into the roots. ”Grow...”[/color] She said quietly, more to herself than to anyone else and she could feel the roots of the Lavender extending, growing, and feeling through the earth. She guided them to where the tree roots were and waited for them to make contact. ”I’m close... but it’ll be a minute before the roots actually connect with each other.”[/color] Ashley said, slight strain in her voice. It was taking a bit out of her to do this, but it would be worth it. ”I think it will work though, at least I’m hoping...”[/color] Ashley said with a small laugh as she looked at her lavender plant willing its roots to connect. [/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote][/size] |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jun 12, 2011 16:01:58 GMT -5
Ashley’s concerns about planting her flower were well founded. It would be disappointing to try and bring back after the elements to their toll on the bloom. ”You’ll never know if you don’t try,” Nell said with a wink as she watched Ashley stroke her plant. The girl was always very fond of them. Nell herself liked them, felt an attachment to nature all around, but she supposed that’s what all Earth elementals felt. ”I bet even if it does wither, you’ll find a way to bring it back.” Of course, Nell always spoke positively, but she at least had faith in Ashley. Should her lavender fall to the horrid conditions, there should be a way to return it back to its healthy state.
Nell noticed the change in expression on her friend’s face, and returned it with a lifted eyebrow. It seemed like she was trying to resist giggling. She sighed lightly as Ashley spoke of the winter and nodded in ascent as she studied the snow. ”All we have to do is persevere, ya know. Spring will come before you know it.” She dug a hole in the snow next to her with her finger as she thought of how lovely spring is. Nell could deal with the long winter as long as something came out of it at the end. She couldn’t wait until the great thaw, when all the Earth students would be prancing around the Academy grounds.
Watching as Ashley pressed her fingers against the earth, Nell seriously wondered if this was going to work. But the girl seemed concentrated enough, so it seemed like quite the possibility. And Nell looked on with equal intensity, leaning over her hyacinth a bit and feeling a bit crestfallen when she couldn’t smell its usual fragrance. Ashley planted her lavender next to the dead hyacinth, and focused once more and Nell almost though she was about to start chanting when she said ‘grow’. It almost made her laugh to think about, but right now she was having conflicting emotions on helping her friend out.
Nell nodded silently when she spoke about the roots connecting, her hands twitching on her lap. She could help her friend out, she should help her friend out. Ashley sounded a bit worn already, and all Nell was doing was watching. The roots made her uncomfortable, but… But she couldn’t always have this fear that something was going to go wrong. If she didn’t try, she would on stagnate in her progress. With this thought, Nell placed her hands on the ground, feeling for the roots of the lavender and the hyacinth and assisting in drawing them down toward the roots. ”Two is better than one,” she said with a bit of a nervous smile. Of course, Ashley didn’t understand her trepidation and she really hoped her friend disregarded this odd behavior.
The roots made contact much quicker than they would have with just one of them using their powers, and she noticed the lavender growing more leaves, its color brighter. The hyacinth had withered so much, though, the progress was very slow. ”It’s working, Ash, look!” Nell said in great excitement. It was beginning to take a bit of a toll, but it’d be worth it when they both had their flowers alive and healthy. And when she sensed the energy in the tree, she realized that nothing would go wrong as long as she wasn’t in danger. There was no fear and she was safe, therefore there was no reason for her power to go out of control. It was very reassuring. ”Haha, I can’t believe we actually did it!” Nell said, as she leaned over the plants again, looking at their brilliant blooms. ”The roots of the tree really helped out, huh. That’s amazing!” Nell made sure to mark this down for future reference.
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