Active Magic (TatlTails and othyrworld)

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry about that." Jacqueline immediately apologized to Flora, a soft frown forming on her face. But she knew it wouldn't be pleasant for anyone if she harped on the subject, so she made sure she shifted her attention back to Sequoia, and her... unexpected request.

"You want to... help me make things?" She asked, taken aback and unsure if she was feeling more honored that someone wanted to assist her and liked the same craft or possessive over her work and her workspace because she wasn't used to sharing it. "No one has really ever asked me for that, not since I arrived here... but if you would like to help, then I would welcome the collaboration. We would just have to figure out exactly what said collaboration would mean first. I wouldn't want to step on any toes, so to speak."
 
Flora looked up slowly, shaking her head. "It wasn't your fault," she whispered, hating the way she couldn't disguise the disappointment in her voice. Sequoia seemed quite happy that she would be able to help. Flora was happy that Sequoia was getting what she wanted. Sequoia who was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, thrumming with energy and ideas. Who had far too much energy for her small frame. Who could finally find a way to make something that she could keep.

Sequoia who had begun to speak. "Totally! I don't want to intrude on your workspace or anything, but I'd really really like to do something. I can tell you're kind of protective of your room and I have like zero sewing experience, so we could try to have brainstorming sessions in our room or the living room and then let you create stuff alone. Just an idea though, we can work something else out."
 
"I think starting with a brainstorming session would be a wonderful idea." Jacqueline decided, unable to help smiling at how excited Sequoia was getting. "I'd love to hear both of your ideas, if you'd like to participate as well, Flora."

It was the least she could offer the girl. Maybe if she couldn't design a room, designing clothes could be a nice alternative. But she didn't push the subject, instead continuing to the next. "You two are welcome to come visit my room any time, I love having visitors. I just wasn't sure how we were going to potentially go about sharing one sewing machine for projects, but if you don't know how to sew then that isn't so much of an issue. Though I would be willing to teach you if you'd like to learn. ...We should probably just start with the brainstorming session for the time being, but all my offers are open to whenever and if ever you want to accept them."
 
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Sequoia grinned, almost ecstatic. "That would be so great! Thanks so much," She squealed, grasping Flora's hand to keep herself from jumping around. She couldn't wait to be creative, to have some way to jettison manic energy that was actually productive.

Flora squeezed back, Sequoia's joyful energy stoking some kind of excitement in her as well."I'd love to work with you," Flora said, offering Jaqueline a shy smile. Making clothes would be almost as good as designing her room. "May we borrow a notebook? Maybe two?" She asked. Sequoia would need some way to catalog all her ideas before they disappeared into the aether, and Flora needed some way to organize everything going on. Having a place to write down her thoughts felt appealing. Sequoia sent her a 'thank you' look, and Flora was glad she felt the same way.
 
"Oh yes, that's a wonderful idea!" Jacqueline declared in response to Flora's suggestion, hopping up out of her seat and immediately starting her search. She had shelves and drawers all over the place, and only some of them contained clothing.

"Now I'm not sure how many notebooks I have that are completely empty," She warned the girls as she flipped through the pages of a few of her sketchbooks. "But I do have several that I've only used a few times. So if you don't mind having a book with a couple of pages ripped out, which I totally understand if you do mind and I will keep looking until you both have exactly what you want, but if you want something right this minute, then I already found a few that are only lightly used. It's up to you, though, which you want."
 
"Thats perfect," Sequoia enthused, jumping up from her beanbag and snatching up the notebooks. Flora kicked her in the calf, and she hastily added: "Thank you so much!" She poured through the book, analyzing the already written ideas and writing down quite a few of her own. Flora took her notebook from Sequoia and looked through it as well, pulling out pages with writing and placing them in a little pile beside her. Once she was done, she stood and handed them over to Jaqueline.

"Thank you very much for letting us sit around your room, but I'd like to go outside for a while. I'm sure we'll be back soon." Flora walked to the door, Sequoia close behind her. Sequoia gave Jaqueline a wave goodbye. Flora was really happy that Jacqueline was at the house. She was calm and kind and her room seemed nice. Flora wondered, abruptly, if she could grow a garden. There was plenty of space in the yard, and she could easily grow the plants in an out of the way place. Plus, she might be able to provide Luke with any manor of fresh fruits and vegetables as a way to make up for Sequoia and her staying in the house. She popped her head into Jaqueline's room "Do you know where Madi is?"
 
Jacqueline had to bite her tongue when Sequoia started looking through the her notebooks and writing things inside while her designs were still in there. She knew it was just a silly compulsion, so she didn't act on it, but her designs were something very personal to her and having anyone else handle them was a bit of a breach of privacy. She'd wanted to take her sketches out herself, before handing over the books. But the two seemed so happy to have them, and at least Flora was being careful in taking out her drawings, so if nothing else she could just ask Sequoia for the rest of the drawings later, when both of them were calm. It would be fine, it would be fine.

She was brought completely back to the present when Flora asked where Madi was. "She should be in the basement most of the day. Unless the door is locked, she shouldn't be too busy to talk to."
 
"Thanks so much," Flora called, more enthusiasm than she'd show before seeping through her tone. A room would've been great -would've been amazing- but a garden would be perfect. A garden would be exactly what she needed. Sequoia seemed amused when Flora pulled her into a quiet hall. She tilted her head to the side, silently asking what had put Flora in such a good mood. Flora readily explained. "I want to grow us a little garden."

"Flo, that sounds amazing!" Sequoia shouted, grabbing her hand with a cheery smile. Flora had always loved plants. Sequoia thought it was something about being able to nurture things. To hold a life in her hands and let it prosper. Sequoia couldn't understand it, but she supported it fully. Flora deserved to be happy. Flora was certainly happy now and her garden hadn't even bloomed. "We're going to Madi's for permission, right?"

Flora nodded, half dragging Sequoia down to the basement. When they reached the door, she knocked loudly. Even though Jaqueline had said she could walk in, that felt just a bit too much like an invasion of privacy, especially without Madi's express permission.
 
The door was not answered immediately. Mostly because inside the basement, Madi and Dagger were having a half-spoken argument about who was going to answer it. Dagger usually didn't mind getting the door, but he was still all twitchy about the newcomers and didn't want to run into them and get them angry again on accident and Madi didn't really blame him even though he was kind of overreacting about the whole thing and it was kind of annoying because she was kind of in the middle of something. But eventually she caved and got the door, mostly because she felt kind of bad about yelling at him earlier and wanted to make it up to him. So the door was answered with a sigh, and a raise of the eyebrows when she saw it actually was the newcomers.

"You n-need s-somethin'?" She asked them, getting straight to the point. Her tone was kind enough, though, no animosity or anything in it.
 
Flora was a bit antsy when she didn't get an answer. When Madi opened it, she spat out her request. "If it's not too much trouble, may I grow a garden in your backyard?" She bit her lip, hoping they wouldn't say no. There was hope blooming in her stomach, hope she was doing her best to squelch down. This was not an important issue, it was a hairbrained idea that she'd come up with not 15 minutes ago. Besides, hope was a weed. A useless thing that only served to make the harshness of reality all the more painful. Sequoia grabbed her hand, soothing her ragged emotions with a few comforting gestures.
 
"Uhm..." Madi blinked with surprise at the sudden request, trying to come up with the brainpower to find the best answer. She wasn't against the idea, but the situation was a bit complicated...

"Th-there's alr-ready a g-garden in the b-backyard." She regretfully told Flora, getting the bad news out of the way first. "B-b-but! W-we can f-find another sp-pot, if you w-want."
 
A grin split Flora's face. "Yes please!" She exclaimed, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. "If there's anywhere available right at this second could you please tell me?" She felt like Sequoia, thrumming with excitement and crackling with ideas. Sequoia squeezed her hand in excitement, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. She'd been content with mere weeds at the circus, happy with growing half dead thorns in the cracks in the ground. But in a garden, she could grow beautiful things. White roses and dahlias and iris' and cherry blossoms. It would be perfect.
 
"We c-c-can go look." Madi offered without hesitation, gesturing towards the door as an invitation to start right away. Growing extra plants outside wouldn't do any harm, after all, especially when the one doing the growing was a nature fairy. It would probably help Flora a lot mentally as well, being able to do something she was clearly passionate about while also using her magic on her own terms. In fact, the more Madi thought it over, the more on board she was.

Maybe once they found Flora a gardening spot, Madi should try to think of something for Sequoia to do too. The most obvious idea was inviting the witch into her lab, but Dagger hung out there a lot (out of necessity) so maybe that wouldn't work just yet. But she could think that over once Flora's request was granted.
 
"Thank you!" Flora squealed, already planning the layout in her head. Sequoia was looking excited as well, so happy for the both of them that she could burst. Things felt right. Flora felt right. It was off-putting, and her mood died and returned every few minutes. The other shoe had to drop soon, but she was safe for a while. She was getting a garden, but something terrible had to happen to balance everything out.

Sequoia held her hand and was so perfectly herself. Worried but ready to take on the world and Flora was OK. She was 100% OK, and she was getting a garden. She pushed the worry down for the first time in her entire life and decided to get what she wanted. She hoped the little garden would be big enough that she could plant an oak tree. The only thing she could remember about her early life was her and a woman with golden hair sitting in a tree singing songs she didn't know and laughing when she couldn't quite hit the notes. She wanted an oak tree that she and Sequoia could sit and sing in. She wanted to be happy.
 
Madi nodded at Flora's thanks, unable to help smiling at the fairy's improved mood, and gestured for the duo to follow her as she headed for the front door. She could show the two the backyard later, right now was the time to find Flora her own space.

"C-come on." She called out over her shoulder, cracking open the door and starting the scouting session. A good thirty feet around all sides the house was cleared of trees, so there should be plenty of space for someone to pick out a gardening spot. It would mostly come down to Flora's preference, if nothing else.
 
Flora took in a pleased breath. She could have her oak tree. There was enough room for her to grow thirty oak trees, though she supposed she'd only be allowed one side. One side was all she'd ever need. She turned to Madi, intent on hammering out the specifications of how much she was allowed to grow. "How close can I grow things t the house? And may I grow trees? Also is there any fruit you need growing because I'll have more than enough space." She tried to keep her tone even, factual, but excitement spilled into her tone.

Sequoia seemed to be appraising the space. "How about honeysuckle?" She whispered. Flora laughed because of course, Sequoia was already getting her to grow sugary plants. Flora nodded. She could grow them against the tree line, maybe with rows of vines crawling up the tres behind them.

She was struck with a sudden idea. "What are everyone's favorite flowers?" She asked. She could grow anything she wanted, so she supposed she could start by growing people what they wanted.
 
Oh, okay, whoa, questions. Madi sucked at answering questions. It put pressure on her to say the right thing, even when she knew she knew the answer. Just focus on one at a time, the questions aren't that hard...

"Uhm," She cleverly started, glancing around at Flora's general line of sight before actually conveying information. "D-don't ov-verlap the g-gardens. G-grow whatev-ver you want, I d-dunno what t-to sug-gest. Have f-fun."

She ended her answer with a shrug, because that was about as clearly as she was gonna be able to word her thoughts. It was pretty nice of Flora to think of taking requests, but Madi honestly couldn't think of anything anyone here needed or wanted so bad that they would need a fairy to magically grow it for them. Maybe the others would have requests she hadn't heard, but she really just didn't know. "You c-can ask-k around."
 
Flora nodded, growing a thin wall of bramble bushes to separate her plot from the gardens. It wasn't the neatest of fences, but it would help her keep everything organized. She was giddy, or near giddy, and she started right away, letting white trumpet vines climb the sides of the house and honeysuckles line the woods. "I think I will. Thank you so much!" She pushed a cherry blossom out of the ground, and then, after a slight hesitation, she began the process of growing an oak tree.

Sequoia gave her a look. The 'you're kind of pushing it' look. Flora didn't care. She planted her feet and dove deep into the earth, burrowing the grand roots of a great tree deep into the ground. The she pulled, raising her hands slowly, as if she were lifting weights. Beads of sweat dripped down her face as she finally pulled a thick truck from the earth. It grew in a timelapse, shifting from sapling to mature in a matter of seconds. The branches spread into a great canopy, casting a sun dappled shadow across the yard.

She wiped her forhead and sat- collapsed really- against the trunk of her tree. She gave a barely audible whisper, as she sat there, drinking in her surroundings. "Willes êow âcennicge"
 
Madi got out of the way the moment she felt Flora's magic stir up. She didn't want to intrude on any of this moment, though she did watch all of it, practically taking notes she was watching so intently. Flora really did have a lot of skill with plant magic. Which made sense, because she was a meadow fairy, but still. Madi's skill with plant magic barely went beyond keeping her herbs healthy, something like this was way out of her league. Flora literally grew an entire tree in like a minute's time! Twice! Yeah it ended up wearing Flora out in the end, but she'd grown practically an entire garden and still managed to stay conscious the whole time. That was really cool.

After Flora plopped down and whispered her thing, (sounded like some form of thanks? Madi didn't know much of any Celtic languages, but a lot of spells were from that region so she could at least recognize a few words.) Madi pulled away from her semi-hiding spot and called out "You ok-kay?"
 
Flora took in a deep breath, the smell of honeysuckles making her smile. "Just fine!" She called, watching with eyes half open as Sequoia plopped down beside her. Flora hadn't used the full potential of her magic in ages so she was surprised that she could still grow trees. That was powerful magic, pulled straight from the heart of the earth. She would need to rest for a while afterward if she wanted to do anything anytime soon. A worthy price to pay.

"You okay?" Sequoia asked, knocking Flora's knee with her own. Human proximity was nice. It felt grounding, especially after such a labor.

"Fine. Great, actually," She murmured. Sequoia grinned, leaning into Flora's side as if she could tell that it was exactly what she craved. Sequoia could always tell what she wanted, and she could always tell what Sequoia was saying, no matter how many or few words were spoken. She wondered if it was all the suffering they shared. She hoped it wasn't. It was nice to think that they would've been sisters in every universe, no matter what they went through. It was also a bit silly.

"Do you need anything?" Sequoia asked, the barest hint of concern in her voice. "I can grab you some honeysuckles, maybe get some cherries from the tree." Flora shook her head. The last thing she needed was to be separate from Sequoia.
 
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