Who: Layla Williams and Briar Moss When: Before the Free For All plot Where: Downtown What: Chatting about plant things! Warnings: None! Status: Completed GDoc
On a typical day after school, Layla would head right home. Unless she had anything to handle afterward, there wasn’t much that kept Layla way from her cozy home with Clark Kent. She was still working on balancing school and being social, but it just wasn’t as easy as others made it look. She had been chatting with Erin, the girl she met on New Year’s Eve, here and there. She knew a lot about everything and Layla was eager to learn as much as she could about having some kind of social swagger.
Then there had been the whole thing with the sexual education classes. It was weighing heavy on Layla’s shoulders because she had forged Clark’s signature. Why? She had been so embarrassed about the whole thing. It was silly, Layla knew, and she was bound to let it spill out eventually. For now, though, she was just trying to hide away in her room and not talk too much about school.
Today had been a stressful day. More so than usual, too. Cranky and just not feeling herself, Layla was muttering to herself. A few plants she passed trembled and shook in response to her own feelings and Layla frowned when she noticed one particular shrub’s branches begin to sag and sway.
“Sorry, sorry. It’s been one of those days,” she explained to the plant, resting her hand on the top of it to turn some of the brown leaves green once again.
***
Briar knew exactly what it was like to be come out of school frustrated. He always did, but for his own reasons. He didn’t see why he should have to go, he’d already learned to read and do figures and he was already a certified mage. Where he was from, that was a career, one he was already doing at his age. He didn’t think he needed anything they had to teach him here. He went because he had to.
Walking along behind some red-haired girl he recognized but only half remembered, he was genuinely surprised when she stopped to talk to the plans, exactly the same way he often did. He shouldn’t have been, he should have noticed the way the plans were shaking and responding to her, but he was just so used to them acting strangely around here. They weren’t used to the presence of magic, particularly green magic, the way plants back home were. He’d adjusted to just accept that was the way they were.
Watching the girl feed life back into a dying branch he darted over to approach her. “That’s a waste of magic, don’t you think?”
Parts of plants died. It was a fact of life and it itched at him but it was the way of things and it was good for them. Fixing every one that did would just exhaust their resources.
***
“What?” Layla looked up, a bit startled, and took a step back from the slightly familiar but still strange face. “Oh. It’s not magic. It’s...kind of what I do. I mean, I know it might not last, but I felt kind of responsible. Coming through here all grumpy like this. It’s not their fault.”
Layla shrugged a bit and gestured over to the plant. It seemed a little happier, but it was still cold. They definitely did not like that and neither did Layla.
“And even if it was, it’s not a waste if you’re helping it just a little, right? I mean, they deserve a little happiness when they can’t get it naturally.” With the sun being hidden or non-existent during the winter, it seemed only fair.
***
Of course the plant was happier. They never seemed to really know what was good for them, never seemed to understand that the season were there for a reason, for their own good. Briar reached out, brushing his fingers against the newly revived leaves, those tattooed on his skin moving and reaching toward the girl, responding to whatever she had the way they did to his own magic. His tattoos were never the same twice.
“It’s winter,” he pointed out. “They ain’t meant to be growing this much. It’s just gonna make them tired come summer.”
It surprised him, a lot, how people who felt the green like he did forgot or just didn’t care about the natural cycles. He’d tried fighting them once, too, early in his mage training but Rosethorn had gotten that right out of him. A waste of magic, she’d said to him, and he hadn’t cared, had been determined to find another way to build his reserves if he needed to. Until she’d also explained how important following their natural seasons were to the quality of their growth.
***
Catching sight of the tattoos, Layla took a few steps back. Things like that didn’t weird her out by any means. However, it was just a bit startling at first. Like meeting werewolves and such for the first time.
“Why did they do that? Your tattoos?” There were others who were well-versed in tending to the plant life, but they all seemed to use types of magic. Was it different from Layla’s source of power? There were a lot of questions growing, but not a lot of answers. It was one of Layla’s frustrations.
“And, yes. I know it’s winter. They’re miserable and I hate it.” Layla, herself, was miserable just the same.
***
He knew that his tattoos were unusual, that they weren’t supposed to move like they did, but people commenting on them always made him sigh a little. At least here, usually, they didn’t frighten people. This was actually a first. Briar cast a glance toward his hand and shrugged.
“The dye’s made from plants,” he explained. “They react to green magic.” His own, mostly, but he was learning to tell when they were reacting to other people too. Whatever it was in people that let them do what they did with plants.
He chose to ignore her grumbling. It was up to her if she wanted to use her magic. It did make the plants happier, he could feel that too, and if she wanted to exhaust herself stopping every plant from retreating and being sad in the winter that was on her. It was on her to help them when they were tired and miserable in a few months.
***
Layla sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. I just have some stuff going on and none of it is your fault.”
Leaving the plants for the time being, Layla offered a small smile and extended her hand. She could try this again “I’m Layla and I can control plants. Well, I don’t like to say I control them. I help them. Make them stronger and stuff. And they help me if I need them.” Yes. That was definitely the better way to put it in Layla’s opinion.
“And your tattoos are actually pretty amazing.”
***
That was more uncommon, and the corner of Briar’s mouth quirked up in a small smile. He rarely got compliments on his tattoos. He knew it was uncommon for someone his age to have them at all, he hadn’t cared when he’d done them, and he knew that in a lot of places if not here they did kind of indicate a certain less than legal kind of lifestyle. They did where he was from. He got more questions on what he was doing with them than when they went unnoticed, and always had to explain that he was a mage when people saw them moving. He’d regret them a lot more if they didn’t so effectively do the job of covering his prison X’s.
“Briar,” he responded, clasping her hand briefly. “We call that being a plant mage where I come from. S’what I am.” He didn’t like to say he was controlling plants either, though with enough magic he did just that. He just cared for them, helped them, listened to needs that no one else could hear.
Save for other green mages, of course, but they were rare.
***
“Briar. Very fitting.” Especially for a plant mage. “I seem to be meeting a lot of people who have some kind of ability to interact with plants. I mean, that’s a good thing. It’s nice to have people around who kind of get what you do, you know?” It saved explaining until you were blue in the face. Not that Layla had one that a lot at home. Most people didn’t care about what she could do since it wasn’t in the ‘hero’ category. All they knew her as was that weird plant girl. Which wasn’t so bad, but it wasn’t Layla’s favorite thing either.
“So, I guess you’re not a fan of winter then either?” Back home, during the apparent winter months, it was never this cold. There was no snow. Just rain. Rain or sunshine. As much as Layla prided herself in working to adapt to change, this was definitely proving difficult. It was getting the best of her, which she was not so proud of.
“Does it ever affect your mood?”
***
Briar came from a similar place. No snow, just rain during the winter months, and even that wasn’t so bad. Winding Circle was protected by the Pebbled Sea. It got hot, but it never got cold and he hated that it did here. The layers required to stay warm always felt constricting and he hated how long plants needed to sleep for, how few months he got to spend out in the garden.
“Try not to let it,” he said with a shrug. “But it ain’t easy. I know. It’s cold and dark and I ain’t hardly even seen snow before I came here. You got anyone in a pot at home? That helps me.” It helped him to have a presence, living and thriving because he cared for it carefully, in his room. Briar kept a couple small potted plants , experimented a little keeping magic in them but they weren’t really interested in holding onto it.
***
“Got anyone in a pot?” Layla wasn’t sure what to make of the question at first, but then it clicked. “Oh! You mean plants of my own? Yep. I have a few. My guardian made sure to get some. We have them throughout the apartment and then I have some in my room.” It did help, but it also didn’t. It was difficult to explain, though Layla had an idea that Briar would get it.
“They kind of went a little crazy back at Thanksgiving. My powers got some weird boost and it made them grow like crazy. Clark called it a jungle and it kind of was. They’re back to a more manageable size now.” Which was good. Even Layla had tripped over a few vines here and there.
“I can tell that they miss being outside, though. I definitely have a countdown to spring started. I just hope that it actually gets warmer. I’ve heard that even though it’s spring, it can be cold and wet.” Which the latter didn’t bother her. Just that terrible temperature.
Layla paused for a beat and shook her head. “Do you want to, like, get a drink or something? Tea? Rather than stand out here?”
***
Briar did talk strangely sometimes, but he was used to people taking a second to catch on, or even not catching on at all and needing him to explain. Even back home, that happened, a by product of the life he’d come from before, and he never thought anything of it.
“Tea,” he repeated, a small smile appearing. People usually suggested sodas or ice cream and whatnot, and Briar never liked any of that stuff. It was all too sweet, a lot of it too creamy to the point it made him sick, and he usually just avoided it all. Tea, though, was a different story. He actually liked tea. It was all they’d ever had back home. “Yeah. Let’s get some tea.”
He set off walking, looking forward to being out of the cold as much as she was. He didn’t like it either.
“You got a garden waiting to start on?” he wondered as they walked. He did. Behind the house where he lived. His guardians had let him tear it apart and replant it all his first summer and he kept caring for it right up until winter hit. He couldn’t wait to get under all that snow and unbury it.
***
Tea was definitely Layla’s preferred drink. She took soda drinks when they were offered to her and took a few sips to be polite. They were never finished, though. Tea just made her feel better.
“Not yet, but I think I saw a good place to start one. My guardian would probably let me have a bunch of indoor guardians if I wanted. He’s just really understanding like that. I try not to overdo it, though.” Not that you could have too many plants, but you could have too many plants. Keeping them alive was easy enough for Layla, though.
“It would be kind of neat if there was a community garden.” Layla looked over at Briar and grinned. “Or maybe not. I can’t imagine people unfamiliar with plants trying to help them grow.”
***
“Folk can be taught,” Briar pointed out. “I didn’t know nothing about gardening ‘til a couple years back.” He’d had his magic all his life, just never known it, and never learned to do anything with it until he’d gone to the temple. He’d learned almost everything he knew out in the back garden at Discipline.
“I always liked having a bit of company anyhow. My teacher and me, we always worked together.” Here, he worked alone. Which was fine, he was capable and competent, and it never got lonely with all the plants around him. But he still missed just knowing there was someone behind him working just as hard as he was. And he missed Rosethorn’s quiet scolding of vegetables growing wrong, and the glow of her magic in the corner of his vision when she thought he wasn’t paying attention. He was always paying attention to her.
***
“Well, we can see what we can do.” Layla would be happy to work on a garden with him. She was certain she could get a few others either with similar powers or interests to help, too.
Layla held the door open to the tea place, glad to be hurrying into a warmer place. The tea would definitely help, too. Anything that could provide more warmth was always welcomed. Somehow, they would manage to get through the winter and Layla planned to spend as much time outside in the sun as she could when the time came.