2019-04-30: Seeds of Friendship
- Log: Seeds of Friendship
- Cast: Marivel Armitage, Riesenlied, Noeline
- Where: Kilika
- Date: 30th April 2019
- Summary: Marivel gardens, and Riesenlied and Noeline join her for a chat.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
It's one think to rebuild all the homes of your town and indeed--sometimes that's the most important and relevant thing you can do! But it is easy to forget admist all the construction and seemingly eternal labor that sometimes... Sometimes it's more important to make a place FEEL like home than placing down another building.
Marivel has, when she had the time, been doing small works of gardening--she has no Green Thumb, neither the PS nor the talent nor Mariel's superpower here but she does know how to do some gardening! She is, in fact, patting down some soil into what's essentially a garden box she has affixed to one of the recently rebuilt homes. She is wearing gardening gloves and has her hair pulled back into twin braids. She is wearing a wide brimmed hat that keeps the sun off of her face but it's a softer look than what her black mage cap provides, one more suitable for the work she is presently engaged in.
She is busy with her work and isn't paying much attention to her surroundings! Perhaps this is the day someone can finally get the drop on her instead of the other way around! One of her hands is holding a trowel that she's using to smooth out the soil.
NOTE: Marivel's player is way less educated than Marivel and doesn't actually know much about gardening! OH NO!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied, on the other hand, actually apped the PS Green Thumb and now has it on her sheet and has actually also ICly been involved in growing plants and other produce along with a number of the Fereshte, Val in particular who's become something of a mother to the saplings that Mariel granted the Outreach long ago.
Some of the plants have also been instrumental in keeping Kilika fed through the most critical of times; over the year the Outreach has learnt to turn their produce into preserved foods to help supply the needy with critical supplies.
But that's that, and this is now! Riesenlied is spending a pleasant day not being trampled by chocobos (that's another timeline) outside with Noeline when she discovers the Crimson Noble... gardening? She blinks a few times, and smiles quietly as she gestures and wheels herself forward.
"May I join you, Marivel...?" she asks softly, as she boldly presses her palms against her wheelchair armrests and lowers herself down into a side-seated position next to the garden boxes.
"Those seedlings look very healthy." There's a quiet pause as she says, "I think they'll grow bright and strong..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
To no surprise, Noeline has very little in the way of ability to garden. Which is not to say she hasn't tried - between their old promise to Mariel (no v) and her oath to be more involved with the rest of the Outreach, she's given it a try. But she's no botanist, and is a bit too fussy and fastidious over her clothes to really work fast or well, and then when she actually got a plant to grow it lasted for about three days before she overwatered it.
She pouts and clams up whenever that gets brought up, insisting that she's more made to admire them than to grow them. Huff.
What she obviously doesn't expect is for an actual bonafide Crimson Noble to be into gardening; she rockets her eyebrows up in surprise as she rounds the corner with Riesenlied's wheelchair in hand, and she can't help the laughing chuckle that escapes her for a moment.
In other timelines she might have been incredibly let down at the thought of a Crimson Noble in the mud, but this particular Noeline has softened a lot herself over time, especially given the earnest way in which Marivel opened up to them. So instead, she just ends up with a rather wry smile on her face.
"I can't help but think that you're tempting fate a little much," she puffs out as she helps lower Riesenlied down safely to the ground, nudging the cushion off the seat of the wheelchair so she has something to sit on. "One gust of wind to take your hat off and you could be in some distinct trouble, surely?"
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Not at all," Marivel says, turning her head to look towards Riesenlied. She smiles at the young (to Marivel) woman and says, "Feel free. Tis not as if plantlife turns to dust in my hands, but when I thought the Elw were gone I thought I should learn a bit of gardening." Not that the Elw were all gardeners or anything but their attunement too the lifethrob of Filgaia certainly made them excellent gardeners. Maybe too excellent, in fact! "It was alarming to see one still alive on Filgaia but t'was a pleasant one."
She smiles at her work. "If you have any critique on my methods, I would love to enhance my skills."
It is certainly maybe not what you'd expect from a Crimson Noble but--she must have been here to provide some aid earlier how else would she have met Dorca? "I was thinking, of course, that perhaps the need for a nicer neighborhood was why the child felt the need to go so far out into the jungles to bring back flowers. Sin did not leave much left in its wake and one can build a thousand homes and still not find yourself at home."
The smile doesn't fade from her lips in the slightest when Noeline arrives. "Oh! Noeline. Wonderful. Tis a good day for friends..."
She looks down for a moment too long at her gardening box. Something is on her mind but she doesn't rush out to say it, letting the thought roll around in her mind for the moment.
At the very least, despite kneeling in the mud, she has taken a practical approach to and has set down a cloth over said mud so she doesn't dirty her clothes. Certainly sometimes Marivel acts just as hoighty toity as one might expect but this is probably closer to the true Marivel: A tireless person whose life is synonymous with their work to protect and grow the worlds in which she finds herself in.
"I know tis hardly grand, but I've found that I find the small work to be more satisfying than the grand earth-shaking adventures, no? There are fewer for the small work than the great work."
She grimaces at the scenario Noeline provides. "I hardly burst into flames that quickly. I'd have some minutes to find before I took serious injury. Besides, tis no unlife to have cooped up in castle basements in a sunless life. All the friends I've had lived under that sun."
She then cracks a grin to show that hte lecture isn't wholly serious. "But who knows? Perhaps I can finally be a foul temptress."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied certainly has teased Noeline a little bit about it in the past, but perhaps in the encouraging way -- that she would think she's just as attractive no matter if she was in rubber overalls and gardening gloves or fanciful clothes.
It maybe hasn't taken just yet.
"I used to feel the same way. Our presence was anathema to the planet... I feared my very hands would cause plantlife to crumble," Riesenlied bashfully admits. "But the Fereshte taught me. And Mariel too..."
She glances towards Marivel's work so far, and then smiles as she says, "I think you've done good work so far. You want to make sure you don't pack the soil too tight, however." She lifts the box and points underneath. "See where there are holes here? We want to make sure water can properly drain, so that the soil doesn't over- or under-hydrate, which is important for the plants' roots..."
She looks a bit surprised as Marivel responds to Noeline. "Oh... that's good to know that it isn't instantly fatal -- I was worried for what would happen, after that moment in Luca."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"Mariel has-- all things considered, she has been remarkably patient with us. I can hardly blame her for her caution when we first met," Noeline adds with a quiet chuckle, standing up after helping Riesenlied settle in place to shuffle her chair closer to the wall nearby. "And we owe her a great deal for her assistance in Elru, as well. To be quite honest, I am not exactly sure how to go about making it up to her - but I know that's hardly anything she would be terribly concerned about."
She tilts her head in greeting to the Crimson Noble, frowning curiously for a moment as she watches Marivel pause in thought; she doesn't push the matter, knowing full well that the ageless woman prefers to go at her own pace when it comes to things like this. Instead, she leans cautiously over, craning up to take a peek at the vampire's work as Riesenlied politely and warmly critiques it.
It's not like she's curious, or fishing for some tips to learn from, or anything. Huff, again!
"That's a very good point," she agreed with a bright chuckle as she leans back again. With Riesenlied sitting down, it's easy to indulge herself by affectionately patting the other Hyadean on the head, between her horns. "I am well aware of-- no, well, perhaps I shouldn't equate my wandering Filgaia to 'work'," she amends with another quiet chuckle. "But it taught me how to enjoy the little things."
She glances at Riesenlied, sharing her surprise before puffing out her cheeks a little. "It isn't as if we have much of a metric to go off of, you know. And besides, I am personally of the opinion that any amount of being set on fire is a little too much."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"She is a kind woman. She reminds me of a friend I used to have in some small ways." Marivel says. "If it had not been for her I surely would have been a little more cautious myself--seeing an Elw accept you gave me a great deal of confidence--though of course, I had already introduced myself to /you/ by then, but there were others I had not spoken to yet. I understand the impulse to assist her but if I were her, I imagine I'd feel as if you have always been making it up to me. I cannot speak for her, of course, that is just a thought of mine that came into my head just then."
She shakes her head. "But she must've felt..." She trails off, shakes her head again and adds, "Well, you could always ask her if she feels you have done enough for her. And if she has, then you can be friends and set aside all thoughts of transactions."
Her smile brightens as she observes the affection between the two Hyadeans. It's nice to see, really, even if she didn't already care about these two as new friends. Moments like those remind her that Filgaia is still a good home, no matter how many deserts consume the grass and trees.
"True. I suppose I am just used to it, living this way. Tis not as if I never grow weary but I have never tired of the surface world and its treasures." she is not speaking of gold, probably. Too rare coins are right beside her right now.
"I never felt /anathema/ to the planet." Marivel admits. "So I suppose I can't say I wholly understand what that is like, but I can understand elements of it I should say. Filgaia is harsh but fair, but I am grateful it is choosing moment after moment to become less harsh towards you and yours. If you keep it up, perhaps one day you will not be seen as foreign but as welcome immigrants."
She says, "Ah---A gentler hand, then, that is your suggestion? I always was unsure about that. What would be the best way to loosen the soil? Shake it up a bit, pat it down but more gently?"
She laughs a little. "T'was a little faster than normal that time. Usually it takes some minutes but Spira--well, tis a much warmer place. More humid. Less protection. And I am out of sunblock."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied notices Noeline leaning in, waving her closer as she bashfully chuckles and reddens a little as she gets a headpat between the horns. You can see the gentle horn-sway as she reaches for her wheelchair to make sure the stopper is engaged and it doesn't roll somewhere she can't fetch.
"I should not be, but I still wish I could have come with you to this day..." Riesenlied winsomely expresses, glancing to the distance for a moment. "But best that we are exploring together, now, with the time that we have."
Marivel speaks of Mariel for a time, but... she closes her eyes as she thinks a little about the time at the bottom of the Gutter. "She risked life and limb to save me. She had the courage to move past her own fears given her own experiences and reached her hand out in friendship to me..."
She smiles a bit more tenderly. "And that, I think, is what kindled the little seedling of our friendship."
She looks down to the plant as she thinks over Marivel's words about Filgaia. "I always felt of two worlds. I think even as far as a few centuries ago, I always felt that I loved Filgaia. It was the only world known to me, even if I call myself Hyadean, and I was born here. I love it with all my heart, no matter what..."
And then there is a nod as she shows by doing, hoping it'll be a good example. "Most soil here is healthy and nutritious enough, it's about preparing them for the plant. Here--" She takes an empty pot to fill it with soil, packing it down gently and then running water through it to prime it.
She then holds it up to show Marivel how much water is coming through. "You don't want it to be so dense water can't pass through to the bottom... but not so loose that all the water escapes before the plants can drink. About this much, is okay. It depends on the plants, but for most kinds, for this climate, it's about right."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"I know," Noeline responds first to Riesenlied with a warm smile and a quiet laugh. "Once upon a time, I was almost ready to spirit you away with me - but I'm a little older and a lot wiser now, I dare say. Even if it's a little far from where I imagined myself, I have to admit I suspect I'm a great deal happier where I am now."
With that much said, Noeline falls quiet for a moment, though she makes sure to maintain contact with Riesenlied; at length, she lets out a chuckle in Marivel's direction. "I wonder how well that would work? It would require me to draw up to her and ask something that direct, and it would require her to suppress the urge to run a mile in response," she huffs, though it's obvious she's mostly reasing this time rather than being remotely serious about it. "It would be a rare thing indeed for the both of us, I think."
She allows herself a quietly indulgent smile. "The fact that the Guardians have chosen to believe in us counts for a very great deal. The term 'Hyadean'... I suppose to me it isn't a matter of where we came from, so much as our intentions here on Filgaia. In the end, doesn't 'Demon' sound a little unpleasant, even a metal one?" she points out - but then pauses, and chews it over. "Or perhaps I can only say that /because/ of the way I learnt from humans, and read their stories," she admits the next moment.
The thought of it all is shaken away when she watches Riesenlied work. Truth be told, she could do this all day, and indeed has in the past; whiling away her afternoon with her attention split between her latest book and the sight Riesenlied assisting the people of New Petra.
Or she could, were it not for the topic Riesenlied chooses. "And you have to be careful, as well. I never even thought a plant could /drown/, despite being stuck half underground and half open to the air," she grumbles. ... it might be a while yet before Noeline can manage a garden...
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Demon doesn't sound unpleasant to me at all," Marivel confesses. "But 'demon', to me, as an affectionate term." In a faint show of embarrassment she rubs at her neck with her hand. "My, ah, father used to call me 'sweet demon'."
She hears the story about how Mariel risked everything and even moved past her own fears to save Riesenlied: A person whom few could blame for holding an eternal grudge against. "Hate. Distrust. They are funny things. They can come out of nowhere and vanish just as quickly, you merely must allow it to happen. Friendship is as you say, a seedling to be nurtured. What will ours grow into, I wonder."
She smiles again when Riesenlied further talks about her love of Filgaia. Perhaps it is that love which encourages others to follow her. Love of the world is hard to cultivate in one's heart these days, so it's always a bit more special when you find someone who has managed it.
"Me too." Marivel says.
She studies Riesenlied's work. She has of course watched other gardeners at work and has read books and watched videos but maybe, she thinks, this hands on approach will work better.
She shakes up her soil a bit and packs it down again, glancing her head down to the side as if to make sure it has loosened up just a smidge. "Perhaps this will do."
"/That/ at least I knew," Marivel smiles on the matter of drowning plants. "Certainly have managed it myself once or twice."
She is quiet again before adding, "ARMS is participating in a battle to defeat Sin, ideally once and for all. T'will be very dangerous, but I felt you should know."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
r "I think that's good," Riesenlied nods gently at Marivel's handiwork and looks approving. She looks up at Noeline as she smiles and says, "You would not think it, but a plant's roots need air to breathe too. Normally, helpful beings like earthworms would help perforate the soil out in nature... but since we're trying to replicate the kind of place a plant likes to live in, we have to be mindful."
She chuckles a bit more softly as she blushes at the idea of Noeline spiriting her away -- certainly the romanticism hasn't ever faded in her heart... even if she knows that they both have important duties to the world, their families, and themselves.
"One important lesson I took to heart from Adlehyde and Arctica is that if someone cannot forgive you, then that has to be okay," Riesenlied admits. "No matter how earnest you are in your quest for forgiveness, you can't force the other person. But to know that eventually, such things can turn... it's heartening."
Her expression quietly dies down, and her horns wilt a little.
"I heard a little from the Crusaders. Some families I talked to here in Kilika are preparing to say goodbye if they do not come back," Riesenlied admits to Marivel. "I... um--"
She hesitates, visibly starting to freeze up a little as she thinks about Sin.
"I'm not sure what to say... we were there in Azado. It was one of the most frightening experiences I've lived through, hearing-- so many voices crying out and being blotted at once. I'm... I'm..."
She sets the pot down. "I can't work through that fear quite yet... it's a bit cowardly of me."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's eyebrows raise at the Crimson Noble's comment - and once again, she has to reflect a little on herself. It doesn't seem so long ago that she would have latched onto that comment like a bird of prey, grinning as she prodded for more details. Now-- well, to be fair, she still latches onto it. But something tells her that it's a subject that's best treated lightly, especially as she adjusts to the concept of an actual, real Crimson Noble having an actual, real lifespan longer than she can imagine at present.
"... well," she chuckles instead. "I suppose that is fair. We have both been on rather-- unusual sides of things when it comes to our place in human stories. Just as with Filgaia as a whole, perhaps that will change for the both of us given a little more time. ... I wonder what the history books will think of Wayside," she adds, the thought coming to mind for the first time as she tries not to grin a little foolishly.
Noeline catches wind of the motion before Riesenlied even has the chance to stiffen, feeling the warning sensation of it through the link they share. She's quick to kneel down next to her partner, a hand back on her shoulder - lightly enough to give Riesenlied a little space to work through things, but a quiet reminder of her presence.
"... we have too many refugees with us as it is to risk bringing the Fereshte to bear on Sin," she admits to Marivel after slowly drawing a breath in and out. "We have made a promise to bring them home, and we intend to hold ourselves to that responsibility. Besides, as we are right now... I think it is safe to say we are of much more use providing support to those areas already attempting to rebuild. And I do not think that is any kind of cowardice," she adds more softly, rubbing a little at Riesenlied's arm as she does so.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Cowardly? The Guardians fear the beast, and you and I are both quite smaller than a Guardian. I will not blame a woman in a wheelchair for not rushing out to face such a creature." Marivel says. "It's okay to be scared."
WAIT NO THAT'S A FAMILY LINE well Marivel is a skill stealer and apparently a line stealer too now. "Honestly, maybe tis not even fear. Perhaps, merely wisdom. Perhaps by lending my forces to this operation I kill more than I save. But that is why I must fight as well. Even though..." Marivel laughs a bit. "Well maybe that is why I am gardening now. Preemptive penance, the most fearful kind of bowing one's head."
She closes her eyes for a moment. Her father called her sweet demon, yes, but there is little lore to it. An affection name from parent to child, perhaps not unlike naming a small child after a song of giant's--a way to let those tiny creatures to know what it is to feel large.
"Mm. I imagine they'll look kindly on it. Tis not a wish too big for a falling star, no? To wish that history would see it as the beginning of a good change to this world. The Guardians know the people who come to this world war upon its surface but wars can end and ancient enemies can become close friends, given time. Soon, bitter enemies may forget they were ever enemies, forget they were even two nations, and in time two nations become one. Find new enemies and so the cycle begins anew."
She looks to Riesenlied. "We cannot expect forgiveness from those we hurt. Tis the right of the wounded to flinch away from a proffered hand. But--" She smiles faintly. "One day, Riesenlied. One day, maybe even without lifting a finger, there will be children born to the people of Arctica. Their hate shall be second hand, a far weaker armor against kindness than first hand rage. And they will see your kindness. And they will think 'Must we punish them any further?'. And some may find the answer to be yes. But the third generation, Riesenlied, they will know not even their parents took a true wound against your kind. And after that? After that, after that, and after that again--"
"You will become one and even Filgaia may forget your trespass. The memory of Gods are as fickle as that of man's."
In other words, she agrees but is extrapolating in the hopes it brings further comfort to Riesenlied.
She pours some water into the soil. Not too much. She hardly wishes to drown them. Even love can be deadly in excess.
"Wise." Marivel says. "Refugees need time before they can take grasp of their inheritance even if they stay behind. Less if they choose to return. That is always tricky for people, deciding who stays and who continues on the journey."
She pauses. "You two are so cute together, you know? I should take a photograph one day."