3638/Green Thumbs

From United Heroes MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Green Thumbs
Date of Scene: 12 January 2018
Location: Unknown
Synopsis: Summary needed
Cast of Characters: Thistlewalker, Scarlet Witch




Thistlewalker has posed:
Despite being a cold and snowy new england winter, there are a few places where it is lush and green and, dare we say it, warm? Far at the back of the student garden where the outside plantbeds lay fallow and covered in snow there is a large domed structure. Layered Geodesic facets of plastic and glass. The plauque by the doors reads "The Sharon Xavier Conservatory"

It is for all intents and purposes a greenhouse. A /large/ greenhouse. Inside the temperature rises to almost tropical levels, though there is enough room for there to be a few differently temperatate 'micro-biomes'. Trees and flowers bloom everywhere, and birds fly overhead. Paths wind through and around planters and soil beds. There are small open areas with with benches and picnic tables.

But the conservatpory is empty of students at the moment, except for one. The well over seven foot Thistlewalker is tending to a tree, perhaps a an apple tree, that seems to be drooping slightly. The young man, his own skin having the coloration of bark and his hair like long vines, tsks as he exaines a branch. "Och, lass.. Yae need tae watch yuirself.." he says, and the leaves seem to shimmer a bit. "Aye aye.. I know, tis cold outside, but tis nice and wurm in 'ere. Ignore outside.."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
After the mess with her father, what Wanda most wanted was some peace of mind. Genosha was too filled with conflict and turmoil of emotions. All the decisions that were being made there. All the daily confrontations of what her father had done and how was she to deal with things. Really, she kept thinking, it would have been best if she'd stopped him and not Hope. But the other girl's screams as she fell from the sky, powerless, had convinced Wanda that such measures were cruel and thoughtless.

If she were rightly honest, she'd have agreed that perhaps death were the actual solution...

But he was her father, and much as Wanda detested what Magneto had done, she could not bear to undo him. To make him 'be not'. She wasn't worried about the logistics of it, or whether or not that would remove her from the fabric of time and space. That was just silliness. She still didn't, however, have an answer to him.

Thus it was that she found herself at a place she could guarantee some peace and quiet, as well as memories of spring. It had been a long and cold winter, and she wearied.

There were alarms at Xavier's but Wanda merely ignored them. Made them believe she belonged here because she wanted to belong here. She merely.. was part of the landscape.

The young man already in residence causes her to pause at the doorway to the always summer haven, considering if perhaps she should leave.

Thistlewalker has posed:
If Thistlewalker were not moving it would be easy to hink of /him/ as part of the landscape.. perhaps a tree that some kids put some clothes on or a wooden statue.. But he does move, slowly. Not slow as in thats what he is, but slow as in slow and carefully as he lifts the branch a bit higher, until it is placed straight. "Now hold it, luv..." he tells the apple tree and be damned if the branch doesn't thicken.. become stronger.. the apples growing slightly. He grins and steps back, surveying his handywork...

There were no alarms in /here/, so he didn't notice that he had company. He just felt the change in teh environment, a new presence, and he turns his head to regard the stranger with a faint smile. "Good evenin', miss." he says, his brogue thick and his vice deep.. so so deep. For his reative youth he could still put James Earl Jones to shame with a baritone like that.

"Are ye lost?" he asks, as he crouches down to pick up a tin cup thats in a water bucket. He scoops up some of the water and walks to a flower near by. "We dinnae get a many visitors out 'ere.. I think the other students be scarred ta cross tha snow." His tone is friendly, like he has no clue who she his, or what her familial asociations are.. or that she may be an intruder. Completely trusting.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Were he to look, she's left no prints behind. She's either floated lightly across the landscape, or merely arrived here by will alone. Either is likely were he to know her, but he doesn't. Though, at Xavier's he's likely experienced enough to know that such things are not only possible, but happen as mundanely as breathing. It's one of the reasons she's chosen this place to visit. It asks no questions of her.

"Oh no, I am not lost," she says, her own voiced touched by accent, though more Eastern European than his own. Not a brogue, but certainly a thicker drawl of tone. "I did not mean to intrude though. I only came to see the plants. Winter is a lonely time."

As though things were not green and lush in Genosha. But then again, there are other things there that trouble her. She does not speak of those, though.

Thistlewalker has posed:
Thistlewalker smiles again and nods, cupping a flower, something ble and exotic, and gently tumbles some water down it's stem to the roots. "Aye, lonely. But sometimes loneliness be required before renewal happens.." he tells her. FInished with teh plant he slowly stands to his full height and turns arund.. Running down from beneath his 'hair', or perhaps up from his shoulderbladed and out teh neck of his shirt, are two much longer thicker vines that reach to teh floor almost. One curls around the water buckets hand and hefts it up as Thistlewalker places the tin cup on a shelf.

"Though even when lonliness is wanted, sometimes it not be fully needed.. so the lovlies in here thank ye for comin by ta see them." he says as he turns back to face her and offers her a large hand. "M'name is Thistlewalker... I 'aven't met ye befuir. Ye be new here?" he asks.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
There's the slightest of cants of head from the young woman, and her eyes downcast. "I do not attend the school, no. I merely wished a quiet place to think. I was reminded that there was a conservatory here where there was summer all year round. I had thought if there was a bench I might sit and close my eyes and pretend that all was well."

She, too, reaches over and cups the blossoming branch. "You made this happen. It was like you made her believe it was okay. That she could be more." There's a slight pursing of lips from the woman, and she blows sofftly over the apples, and two complete the journey from growing to burgeoning, and then ripening."

She smiles, and lets go of the branch. "I thought, perhaps we could share? Only, there are two. That way I do not presume so much upon you." Belatedly, she adds, "I am Wanda. It is a pleasure. You come here often?"

Thistlewalker has posed:
Doesn't attend the school? Thay may raise flags for some but.. He's a newer student and, really, he has seen a lot of visitors pass through since he arrived so it's no real biggie for him. "Tis a pleasure, Miss Wanda.." he says, still smiling that almost sleepy smile. "And thats whut this place is fuir. Though I like ta akin it ta late spring than true summer.." he says with a chuckle.

As she examines the branch he shrugs a little. "She was just not feelin well.. She's a new addition.. thats whut Doc McCoy told me.. She 'as not fully acclimated yet.. She just needed sum attention." he tells her... then his green with pale green eyes widen slightly as she blows and.. the pair of apples grow even more. He shivers a little, like he can /feel/ the growth. "Well Gie it laldy.." he exclaims, some scottish saying that is probably indecipherable. "That was.. That was amazin!" he tells her

"He takes the offered apple, blushing a bit now. "Ye must have a touch of tha Fae in ye, lass.." he says, then chuckles. "And I come 'ere most every day. Not allowed ta sleep here, though.. But it helps rejuvinate me. regardless."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda smiles, her cheeks taking on a rosy blush as she's complimented. "It is just a little thing. I would not do it so often, though. She likes to grow like the others, yes? But sometimes, they need to be reminded of what they are." She ducks her head again, then looks back up, fingers brushing along the branch in a gesture that could be a blessing or a thanks. Or perhaps even a goodbye.

"I only finished what you started. These are your friends, then?" His comment about not being allowed to sleep here elicits a curious look from the young woman. "I do not understand. Why would you not be wllowed to sleep here?" Beyond the most obvious reasons. Though she asks as though she does not find it odd that he might wish to spend his slumber amongst the plants.

Thistlewalker has posed:
Thistlewalker takes a bite of the apple, withot hesitation like some might have having sen an apple grow before there eyes in what they may conider an unnatural way.. But Thistlewalker knows unnatural, and this wasn't it. It was just.. different.. then normal. He can tell that difference. He chews, a trickle of juice running down his chin, and swallows.

"Aye, they are me friends, for the short time we 'ave been t'gether. They 'ave been treated well." He then cants his own head slightly. "I think tha reason I cannae sleep here is less because they dinnae wanna me to, but more something about laws and schools.. OSHA or somethin like that.." he shrugs. "I dinnae mind. If it keeps tha school outta trouble with inspectors..." he slowly lowers himself next to the bench, not on it, and sits crosslegged. "So.. Why does it feel like th' world be restin on yuir shoulders?" he asks. "Ye droop.. in spirit.. like a willow."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
The woman follows suit, Wanda taking a large bite, and chewing, allowing the juice to trickle freely down her chin. It's a freeing gesture, and one that leaves her feelign lighter than she has in days. Longer, even - since she'd heard of her father's treachery.

"Mmmff," she mouths as she chews, allowing herself to forget manners, "There are so many rules. Sometimes I wonder if they are not the cause of so much ill. Too many things to make one want to rebel."

And with that, her mood shifts back to the weightiness he speaks of. The woman sighing. "You would laugh if I told you, no?" Her shoulders rise and fall in a helpless gesture. "The weight does sit upon them. But that it not what makes me so solemn today." And were he to know it, she speaks the truth. The weight of the world does sit upon her like a mantle. But the rest is also truth, it is not what dampens her spirits at this moment. "Come, shall we walk? These things are easier when the body is in motion. We let that become our speech as much as the words we make."

Without waiting for his answer, she begins to make a slow pacing of the conservatory.

Thistlewalker has posed:
Thistlewalker accepts he rinvitation, pushing himself up again and slowly walking alongsde her, still munching slowly on the apple as they speak. "There always be rules, Miss Wanda.. even nature has them, though they can be more subtle at times.." he reminds her. "Aye, sometimes even nature rebels.. if that rebellious element wins it sets the new rule. And thus the cycle continues.."

He falls quiet as she not-explains her solemness. "Even when one is still, they be at motion.. again, thats whut Doc McCoy tells us in Physics class.." he makes a face.. "I enjoy biology class much more." he grumbles, humourously of course, then sobers a bit. "But I would nae laugh, lass, unless it was a funny joke.. or even an unfunny one. Ye dinnae hafta tell me, but if you want someone ta listen.. I am all ears."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda laughs lightly. She understand rules. She both makes and breaks them. Things come into being around her that only make sense to her. There's a fine line in who and what she is and what she can do and allows herself. But she understands what he means.

Her pace is a slow meandering in the conservatory. "You speak of spontaneous mutations. How there are things that change the laws. We are not always survival of the fittest, though. There is a frog that the female chooses for the deepest croaker to mate with. So they have evolved to croak deeply. Loudly." As she speaks, her intonation carries echoes and exact memories of that. He can almost imagine that they are within the darkness of a damp and swampy place, under moonlight, hearing those very frogs calling out, seeking one another. "Only there is a bird that likes to feast upon those very frogs. The bird has learned to find them where they croak so loudly. So there is no fittest. They have ultimately selected themselves for failure."

She shrugs, and as she does so, things undim slowly, and become, once again, merely the conservatory.

"I did not come to burden another with my sorrows. I only wish to find the path I should be on. I have difficult choices to make and there do not seem to be answers. At least none that are easy or pleasing. Every way I turn, someone will be hurt or harmed."

Thistlewalker has posed:
Thistlewalker also shrugs as she gives him her own spiel on evolotion, but is still smiling. His steps are smaller than ers, slower, since he is so tall and his legs so long... Flowers along their path seem to straighten as they pass, though whether it is her magic or his connecton with life.. or noth.. no one could probably tell.

"FIttest is a very personalized concept. It dinnae always mean physically or mentally.. It can mean so much more, or less. A footballer may be fitter physically than a banker, but would get destroyed on tha stock market. Maybe we need a better term fuir it.." he says.. Intrigued by the way the feeling ofthe environment changed as they walked.. as she spoke.

When things are less dim, he raises a green brow. "Maybe thats yuir problem, lass. Maybe yuir looking to hard fuir the path. Maybe one is not needed." he tells her. He motions to the path they walk right now. "Paths.. roads.. they follow th' easiest course through the terrain.. Thats why they are never straight long.. Maybe whut ye need t'be doin is gettin /off/ the path.." he motions to the far side of the dome, directly across from them. "The path takes us all around the conservatory... Easier, aye.. But ye could just walk across, through the trees.. Maybe whut you need is not a path traveled by others, but a new journey of yuir own.."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda listens, but her spirit is not mollified.

He might notice that their steps carry them further than the conservatory should allow. It's as though the place has become and endless Eden for them to traverse along. The plants seemingly lusher and more vibrant than he otherwise might have noticed. Primal, perhaps. Or perhaps only deep. Something of her own state upon them. A wildness to the place, now.

"It is not so easy. My father has caused some problems that are hurting many that I care about. Only I do not know how to make the hurt stop. All my answers come back to things that make my heart heavy. I know I must do something, but I do not like the answers. So I.. I am as you see me. Walking a dark path, muttering to myself. Only fools do that, no? Talk to themselves expecting answers?"

Thistlewalker has posed:
Thistlewalker notes, on some level, that something is changing reality, or the perception reality, as they contiue their slow stroll through the inside forest ad gardens.. seemingly expnding the closed world into something that may just be bigger, less structured.. But his own perceptions, and how he responds to them, are not like a normal human's. He seems to /accept/ the changes, be they real or not, as if they just /are/. He doesn't seem ill-at-ease at all.

"Well, I cannae tell you whut ta do about yuir Da himself.. My own Da and me get along quite well.. when I get ta see him. Even though I dinnae always approve uv things he has ta do.. Me father is a good man, but also a harsh man. Not ta me or t'me mum but.. He's a soldier." he explains. "But I do know that if ye dinnae know an answer, ye /must/ keep askin question.. be it t'yuirself or to someone else.. Every question ye ask is a step onto a /new/ path... one forged by you, not followin someone else. The only fool is th' one who dinnae ask questions.."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda murmurs, "It is not your problem. Only mine. And we have apples, no? And a beautiful garden to walk through." She pauses in front of an elegant and exotic flower with large pink petals that have streaks of orange near the centre. Each bloom bigger than the palm of her hand.

"It would be simpler if I did not love him so. But that is how it is, yes? Our families bind and tie us."

Wanda turns a smile upon Thistle. "My father is something of a visionary. Only in his mind there are only so many visions. He wishes well, but.." She shrugs helplessly. "We should not talk about my sad, though. You, talk to me of you."

Thistlewalker has posed:
"Life would probably me much simpler all together if we dinnae love, lass.. But it wouldn't be nearly as rewarding.." he says, taking anothe rbite of his apple and then grinning at her as she blooms more flowers which they pass.

Taking it that there has been a change in topics he shrugs a little. "Me? Whut can I say?" he says as he wanders alomgside the witch in red. "Me dad is a Gunny wit' the SAS... Me mum is a Ranger..." he stops a moment. "Not, like, an Army Ranger.. She's a Forest Ranger fuir th' Crown. They met while he wuz trainin in th'e forests where she worked. Almost came t'blows, I been told.. She ripped him and his squad a new one fuir cutting down an old tree... Da said thats when he fell in love.. A sprite uv a wee lass thumping him on the chest and yelling like a drill sergeant." he chuckles. "They got married.. then I wuz born."

He sighs a bit. "And I was born like this.. I was born I was green and sickly.. They took me t'the nearest hospital... THey put meunder lamps, like they do fuir kids that turn yellow with jaundice.. and I got a bit better.. They upped the UV and suddenly all t'the potted plants fuir miles burst into growth..." he shakes his head. "The villagers called me a Changeling.."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda laughs at his tale of his parent's meeting. "That would have been wonderful to see. I have no such stories of my youth." And, in truth, she doesn't. All the tales of her coming to be are somewhat shrouded. So many possibilities claiming to be the one. In her heart, though, even knowing all that she does, she believes Magneto to be her father. Or perhaps she only wishes that he is. It doesn't change her love for him, though. That much rings true. Even as he causes her grief and despair.

"A Changeling? It is not so terrible a thing to be. Though I understand. When I was young, my brother and I stood out. Freaks they called us. Tried to capture us and use us to banish the bad luck they said we brought. They were dark times."

Thistlewalker has posed:
SHe may have dounts, or wishes, to her true parentage... which Thistlewalker has NO clue about.. But he has no doubt about his own. Nor does he dissbelieve how her and her brother he just learned baout were treated. "So yuir from The Old Country as well, I take it..." he says, with a sad chuckles. "Even in th' 21st century there be those who live in places that have long memories.. both the people and places themselves..."

"So to some it /was/ a terrible thing.. But not all. Me mum grew up in that forest and that village.. As did dozens of generations before her.. They know, or believe, that the Wee Folk and their kin live in the woods. So while some feared me, just as many iffen not more didn't. No matter whut I looked like, I was a Drus.. Me dad wasn't a country boy, though. Born in Glascow.. Orphaned.. City boy. But he did love the forest still. And he never hated me for whut I was. He was feircly protective.. more then mum. He had fought around th' world and seen how people treated mutants.. "

Scarlet Witch has posed:
"Yes, the old country," Wanda confirms. "They were not so understanding of our differences. It took many years for me to understand them myself. I hated myself for a long time. My brother, I think he felt it worse, though. He has been a very angry person for a very long time. I do not know that anger helps so much."

She shrugs and smiles at him. "You are very different. But your soul is gentle. The plants, they love you. So you are what? Part of them? Mmm, no. Something maybe more?" She ponders. "Much like your mother, yes? You take your soul from your mother."

Thistlewalker has posed:
Thistlewalker frowns a little now. "Actually.. In some ways I take more after me da.. My mother has a gentle side, but I wouldnae describe her soul as gentle. She's a redhead, ye understand.." he says with a grin. "And has the mouth of a sailor.. My dad may be a warrior but.. he fights /for/ peace. Me mum, well, she just likes ta fight."

"I think I get me soul from me Gran.. Me mum takes after me gradnpa, I am told, though he died befuir I wuz born. Gran is.. she's.. It is hard t' explain.." he finally says.

HE then looks down at his hand, the wooden grain pattern of his skin. "I dinnae know whut I am. Mutant? Thats whut th' tests say. Fairy? Maybe thats whut they thought mutants were back in th' day. All I know fuir sure is.. I am Thistlewalker... and that I am part of The Whole."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
"Your grandmother, hrm?" She nodes, and brushes a kiss along the pink and orange bloom before resuming walking. "I have no memories of the time before my brother and I were in the village, afraid for our lives. Sometimes I think there must be a story, only all the stories I know say different things. I am old. I am young. I am not possible. It matters not."

The woman sighs, then murmurs, "Yes. You are part of the Whole. We all are, but so many do not see it, no? They think they are somehow unique and different in ways that excuse them." She does not smile when she speaks again, "They tell me I am a Mutant, too. My father, he loves us all. We are all his children, he says. Though I wonder at times how that is so. I wish my soul were gentle. Instead it is like storms. Sometimes I am the lull. sometimes I am the fury. I am learning that I should not be the fury, though. It is hard."

Thistlewalker has posed:
Thistlewalker listens, quietly,. digesting her words.. her explanations.. her admissions.. then finally comes to a stop under.. another apple tree. he looks up at one of the apples. "So.. Sometimes you are one thing.. sometimes yer another.." he says. He reaches up and plucks a Golden Delicious from a branch. "We are all many many things, lass. We are /all/ storms.. SOmetimes the eye, somethings the storm wall. Even the gentlelest of breezes can be the harbinger of a hurricane.. But after a hurricane, when the world has been turned upside down, the weather is always at it's best and most gentle.."

He looks down at her. "You know whut being many things is, Miss Wanda. It's /being/ human. Dinnae matter if yer a Mutant, a daughter, a sister, an outcast. It dinnae matter if yer crtain or uncertain. All those things have one root they grow from. Bein human."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda stands in silence for several heartbeats, looking lost in thought before a smile blossoms on her lips. "Such kind words. And truthful ones, too. I have been allowing myself sorrows to avoid making decisions. But it is silly, no?"

The smile remains as she looks to him, considering him fully. "You are so wise for one so young. And I have been foolish. But you have helped. So for that, I am thankful."