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 Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:15 pm
Calintha Johnson sat outside in the grass. It was in the middle of the day, and she had just gotten out of class. Yesterday, she'd grabbed her strange ebola plant and brought it home with her- it just wasnt growing! She couldnt understand it, the blonde had always had luck with strange plants.
Sighing, Cali laid on her back in the grass, her psychology book laying on her chest as she looked up at the clouds. The plant was sitting next to her on the grass. She was hoping that sun and fresh air would do it good, plus this way the plant food she had put in it would absorb faster into the soil.
Tossing her book to the side (who really cared about psychology anyways?) the girl, still in uniform rolled over onto her stomach and stared at the plant, willing it to grow.
It was unlikely that it would work...but since everything else had failed, she was willing to try anything. "Groooooooowwww....." Cali sighed her wish under her breath.
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:56 pm
As she had done regularly since she'd first received her beautiful new pet, Piper was out on the grounds taking it for a walk. It was currently huddled up against her chest with both arms wrapped carefully around it. Lucky for it, pots were hard to squeeze to death! She was simply walking along, though there was a little sway to her upper body as she did so. Even from a distance, one could hear her babbling away to it.
"And then he told me that my neck was shaped funny, could you imagine? I had to eat a lot of jello so it would get springy and fix itself, because who wants to look like a question mark for the rest of their life!" On and on she went, talking to her plant, her eyes staring up at the sky and wandering over the shapes of clouds. It only occurred to her briefly that she should look where she was going, and perhaps only because she was carrying a precious gift from, uh, whoever, in her arms.
As she glanced down from her cloud-gazing, she happened to notice the girl sprawled in the grass, and at first glance nothing about her seemed particularly interesting so she thought she would simply pass on by and keep chatting to her darling. Then, of course, she noticed that there was an almost perfect clone to said darling sitting with the other.
"It's Princess Sir Cuddlesworth Regulus Archibald Nancy the VI's brother!" she squeaked as she quickly dashed over and plopped down next to Calintha's side, again uninvited, like so many other times with other students. Her own plant look, well, worse for wear and perhaps not just because it had come to her that way. The pot had been scribbled in sharpie and although it had been watered frequently, there were bits and pieces of random things stuck in the soil. Was that a bit of jello there? Chicken? She seemed to be feeding it leftovers from her own meals.
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 9:36 pm
She had just sighed again when she heard a long string of nonsense names being squeaked in her near vicinity. Sitting up as fast as she could manage, Calintha looked around. "Wait...wha? Oh! Piper, its you." She'd had dealings with Piper before who also happened to be in house Ebola. The girl tended to be a little strange, but she was nice enough if you could get past it. Though, to be honest Cali hardly understood anything that came out of the girls mouth. However, what did catch her eye is the plant that Piper held in her hands. "HEY! You have a Dionaea Ebola just like mine!" The plants almost looked identical, it was uncanny. She'd never quite seen two plants that looked exactly the same- even the spots seemed too similar to be real. Though, it didnt look like the other girl was taking care of her plant much. There was sharpie marker seeping into the terracotta pot, and random bits of food stuck in the soil. What kind of care was this girl giving the poor thing?! Calintha was momentarily outraged about the poor state of the plant...until she realized that hers looked exactly the same despite her far superior care. Damn. Well; at least she knew they were difficult to grow?
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:07 pm
When Calintha addressed Piper by name, she simply stared blankly at her for a moment, though a smile remained upon her face. It was followed with an almost eerie silence, and certainly uncomfortable, though Piper was probably quite unaware. It was probably because she was caught off guard at being addressed by name, which meant that she either didn't remember Calintha at all or didn't remember her well enough to remember her name at least.
She seemed to snap out of her mini-trance almost as soon as she had snapped into it though, brought back out as Calintha noticed her new 'pet' and said some of her own garbled words back to her. "Is that what you named yours?" she asked, tilting her head a bit to the side, "this is Princess Sir Cuddlesworth Regulus Archibald Nancy the VI." She nodded as she said his name, as if it were something of great importance. "I would just call it Princess for short, but I'm not sure if it's a boy or a girl yet." She shrugged her shoulders a little, then let her eyes wander over to the 'brother' of her own plant.
"Your pot is really boring, it's going to get sad." She frowned at her as if she were deeply concerned about this, almost like she had convinced herself that happiness was all her plant really needed to grow. Also, that happiness could be found with sharpie doodles.
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Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 1:54 pm
If Calintha couldve shuffled her feet awkwardly during that silence, she certainly would have. However, to make up for it she just sort've fidgeted through the duration of it. She'd forgotten how good Piper was at making awkward silences. "Name? Dionaea Ebola is the plants scientific name, I havent given it a pet name." Cali was still gawking a little at the long sting of words that Piper repeated, which made her even more resolute against the pet naming of plants. "You named it Princess Sir CuddlesomethingArchiwald the sixth???" The middle part was a little smooshed together, seeing as she wasnt even sure what the other girl had said. The name had just dropped all at once from her lips with no time for comprehension. "Sad? My..." Cali tried to come up with an excuse that might make sense to the other girl. "My plant likes it clean. And full of food that it can actually eat." No sharpie doodles, chicken bones or jello allowed. The blonde suppressed a cringe again at the sight of the other girls pot, it almost physically pained her the amount of carelessness that went into it.
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Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:39 pm
"A name is a name," she said with a little shrug, not particularly interested in the mechanics of it. Just because she called it a scientific name didn't matter much to Piper - she wasn't really interested in name origins after all! "Yeahp, that's what I named it! It's a good, strong name." She nodded pointedly at this, reaching down a finger to push a bit of chicken deeper into the soil of the pot.
"Huh," she commented, a little frown on her face as she set her pot down on the ground and leaned over a bit to look at Calintha's. "Your plant must be a very boring one, otherwise it would want pot doodles." The way she said it made it appear as if she were almost sad for Calintha, sad because she had been saddled with such a boring, non-entertaining plant.
Then, like the flip of a switch, her sadness and frown melted away and a smile sprung up in place. She stretched out on the grass next to her, laying on her stomach with her legs up and chin propped in her hands. "So who do you think gave them to us?" It didn't seem like something that Piper would busy herself with thinking about, but then, who really knew what Piper ever thought about during those long dazes? Whatever her theory on the subject was, however, it was sure to be an interesting one.
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 1:59 am
"But I didnt give it its name... the pot had the name in it already." Did other plants exsist besides Pipers and hers? Was she the only one that got the supposed scientific name of the plant? Questions wracked through her brain. If the latter was true, that meant it was someone with intimate knowledge of her skill that brought her to Barren Pines. True, it wasnt a secret by any means, but Calintha was enough of a loaner to know that it wasnt highly advertised either. Her inner monologue completely went through Pipers comment about boring plants, so she just sort of stared at the other girl, half off in space and half listening. It seemed she could create some awkward silence of her own, but the blonde doubted the other girl would get it. However, the intelligible question that came out next was unexpected, and even more so, it was true. Cali had been wondering from the start where it came from. "I dont know, but I know its a new type of plant, or its not been discovered yet. Its not in any of my books." A point, which, by the way, annoyed the girl severely. She prided herself in her book collection. "I wonder if we're the only two that got them."
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 1:30 pm
"Oh, so someone else named your plant for you?" That didn't seem to make her any happier about the whole 'boring plant name' ordeal and she shook her head sadly at Calintha. "That takes all the fun out of it." Any memory she had of that ugly little stick that had been in her own pot was long gone, probably with said stick where ever she had tossed it.
Piper didn't really seem to notice the silence from the other girl at all, falling into it pleasantly as she stared down at her plant. She had begun to wonder if there was anyway she could tie a little blow on the plant without hurting its stem when Calintha answered her and drew her attention back up.
"I think it was aliens," she said seriously, "or ghosts." She nodded matter-of-factly, her eyes looking down at the plants. "Especially if you say they are undiscovered. Maybe they are alien plants." It was probably a theory cooked up during one of her 'gazing' trances, which meant that it was far-fetched and made absolutely no sense. If she elaborated, it would probably make even less.
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 6:22 pm
Today seemed to be Pipers lucky day, when her nonsensical statements actually lined up perfectly with what was going on. As soon as the blue haired girl spouted her 'creatures not of this world' spiel, everything clicked in her mind. EVERYTHING MADE SENSE. "I think your right Piper. I think it was aliens too." Ever since Calintha had seen Little Shop of Horrors when she was little, she'd loved the movie. She owned at least two copies of it, and probably knew just about every word in the movie (she even could sing along! Provided that every door and window was locked and she was all alone, of course). Even more devoted to the plant now, the blondes head became full of thoughts, each of more non traditional ideas to make her plant healthy. She wouldnt take a life, certainly, like Seymour had. That was out of the question. But that didnt mean she couldnt try some of the meat and blood that she already had on hand to feed her other plants. The school never questioned her need of blood for her trap plants. She didnt need much, just a little tiny bit per plant twice a month. Cali had found it kept them looking their best. The school always ended up giving her too much though. She had always just shrugged it off and figured they bought bulk. "You make so much sense Piper!" The girl beamed at the other across from her.
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 11:35 pm
"Really?" she asked, voice filled with surprise. She was used to others always trying to tell her that her obviously well thought out ideas were ludicrous, so to have someone agreeing with her over something for once was almost.. magical! She sat up from where she had been sprawled on her belly in the grass, eyes watching Calintha and filled with a sudden glee.
She didn't understand that she had given Calintha a sudden revelation, that her odd spouting of nonsense had actually led to a real and possible conclusion that had little to do with her own babble. In fact, all that Piper really seemed to gather was the fact that someone seemed happy with her, liked her idea, and was looking at her like she was brilliant. It was a wonderful day!
"I like to think so, but sometimes other people just don't seem to follow what I'm saying," she shrugged as she said this, as if it were clearly the fault of other people, and reached to pick up her darling new plant. She peered at the flower, trying to decide if it had perked up any since their little walk, but quickly decided that it was just.. too hard to tell. "I wonder what alien plants like? Maybe I should try singing my songs in an alien language from now on." And then her mind was working again, in that way that only her mind does.
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Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 1:18 pm
"Really really. Brilliant." The last statement wasnt directed as much at Piper as it was just a general out there statement. The blonde girl sat up as well, and cradled the (boring) plant in her lap. She was dragged out of her internal wonderings for just long enough to hear Pipers last comment. "Well, some people do think that music has a positive effect on plants. So...maybe?" She thought for a few seconds about telling the other girl what Cali thought the plants REALLY ate. "Though, I think I know what they actually might like. I dont know if you really want to know though Piper- its not necessarily a nice thing..."She figured she would leave it at that and let the other girl decide whether or not she wanted to stick to her abstract food bits (to be honest, it was closer than Cali had ever gotten to finding the solution, if the chicken bone had actually had meat on it), or know what she was almost certain was the truth.
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Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 8:56 pm
"I guess now I just need to learn Alien!" she chirped, tilting her head a little as she considered it. Maybe if she just sang in jibberish the plant wouldn't know any better. After all, it was pretty young, who was to say it could even remember it's native tongue, right?
She cradled the pot in her lap while she had her legs crossed indian-style, letting a few thoughts float through her mind. She had fallen into, yet again, one of her silent trances. It was unfortunate, really, but it was mostly a sign that Calintha had gotten her to think about quite a few things.
"What was that?" she asked suddenly, her head whipping back up. Her brows furrowed a little as she tried to recall what she had just heard. Something about Calintha sharing what she though they liked? She looked down at her plant, all covered in happy doodles and full of food, then turned to look at Calintha's - plain and boring. She bit at her lip a little and tried to restrain the frown that immediately formed. "Uhm, I think I will just keep doing what I'm doing," she said, trying to offer a smile. It was no offense meant to Calintha, but she was pretty sure her plant was going to die from pure boredom.
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Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:43 pm
It was certainly better than dying of toxic chemicals via sharpies, or at least in Calintha's mind. Sitting up on her knees, she gathered the small terracotta pot into her arms. "Piper, you've been fantastic. thank you for helping me figure everything out."She stood, smiling down at the other girl. It was unlikely that she'd understand, but now that Cali did, it really didnt matter. "Hey...I really think I need to go... uh... do some stuff in my greenhouse. I'll see you around okay Piper?" She waited for a reply, but other than that basically took off running for the gardening section. At least she waved goodbye?
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Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:00 pm
"You're very welcome!" She was practically beaming from the appraisal, although she wasn't exactly sure why Calintha was so excited over anything she'd said. Sure, her epiphany over the aliens was grand, but Calintha was acting far more excited over them than Piper had for sure.
She had been busy staring down at her plant, perhaps willing it mentally to simply shoot up in growth, when she heard Calintha stand up and dismiss herself. She squinted up at her, then brought up a hand to give her a half-hearted wave. "Bye then!" It was a little disheartening, for Piper did truly love company, as terrible as she was at keeping it well.
"Well, it looks like it's just you and me, love," she said pleasantly, pushing herself to her feet awkwardly with her plant cradled against her chest. She didn't have much of a clue as to what to do now, so she simply turned and headed back towards the school building with a little skip in her step.
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