7263/Tending the Garden

Tending the Garden
Date of Scene:	07 August 2021
Location:	The Gardens
Synopsis:	Clarice plants her fennel seeds, and various awkward conversations ensue. Talia stabbed her dead boyfriend! Mystique doesn't want to talk about her son! Clarice is planning to journey of self-discovery. Poor Lydia's stuck in the middle of it all.
Cast of Characters:	Clarice Ferguson, Lydia Dietrich, Talia Wagner, Raven Darkholme

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Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    It's not too unusual to see Clarice enjoying the view in the garden dome. What's more unusual is to see her in the vegetable garden, with a packet of fennel seeds in her hand, staring at the words on the back. She's reading carefully and slowly about planting depths, and row spacing. It all sounds rather precise and therefore intimidating. What happens if she doesn't get it right? Should she have brought measuring stick? Who knew plants were so //bloody hard//? And what if she misread it entirely, and gets it //completely// wrong?
    Well. It's just a packet of seeds, yeah? It hadn't cost that much...

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia had come up to enjoy some time in the garden, maybe get a little journaling done, maybe work on her book some. It's a nice day, and the Earth is out. She shakes her head. She'll never ever get tired of that view. She's about to head to a nice little spot when she spies Clarice standing in the garden.

"What've you got there?" she asks curiously, coming up behind her. "Oh! Fennel seeds! Good for you! Do you need help with the instructions?"

Talia Wagner has posed:
Talia is maybe watching.

Then again maybe she is just relaxing.

She has been taking it sort of easy since the incident at Xaviers. It isn't often you are literally gutted like a trout with alien vibro knives.

Yeah the mutant healers had her but she still feels tender having her insides blended and sliced and diced like a slap chop ad.

She lazily lifts and sips a beer watching the interaction in the garden.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
It was that time. The koi from the lake had spent several days in their protective aquarium, just in case the Asteroid had been attacked. Now that it was safe again, Mystique was on her way to release them back into the lake and feed them. Yes, the safety of the koi had been important to her. Yes they had a massive, bullet proof aquarium encased in protective metal with a top of the line oxygenator. Yes, she loved her fish.

Meandering in from a hidden door at the side of the room, Mystique pulls the large dolly with the aquarium on it along a path. She offers Talia a nod, Clarice gets a surprised look, and she blows a kiss toward Lydia, but the fish need to be returned so that has her attention for the moment

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Maybe," Clarice admits, handing the packet over. "I mean, it seems... pretty straight forward. But also really specific. If I don't get it right, they won't grow?" she asks.
    Mystique with her dolly of fish is hard to miss - and so she gets a nod and a brief smile, before her attention returns to Lydia as she waits for her input on the matter of planting seeds.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia takes the packet, and catching movement from the corner of her eye turns just in time to catch Mystique blowing a kiss to her. She returns this with a bright grin and a blown kiss of her own with an audible, "Mwah!" She giggles and turns back to Clarice, "God, we're disgusting aren't we?"

She looks at the instructions, reading them aloud and nodding along. "Seems simple enough," Lydia admits. "I think for something like this, you don't need to be that precise. Fennel grows everywhere out in the wild, so I can't imagine that it'll be that hard to grow." She hands the packet back to her, "Did you get a trowel or are you going to dig with your hands?"

Talia Wagner has posed:
TJ does look sideways at the dolly and the payload of large Koi.

Honestly she had sort of wondered where they had got off too. She spends a lot of time against this tree in the garden in general.

It is quiet.

Well at least the fish are okay.

She looks back to the garden now. "Yes." she calls over answering Lydia's proud statement. Mostly because the thought of this timelines grams as it were canoodling is a topic she doesn't want to think about. See beer. Drink beer.

"It'll be fine Clarice.. it isn't Orchids."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Stopping at the lake, Mystique goes about the task of opening the top of the aquarium as she says, "Suck it up alternate reality grand-child, I'm in love and that's the woman who stole my heart."

Just like the dome over the garden, the aquarium has reticulating metal around it, which she opens first. Sure enough, there are nine large koi swimming around in the massive enclosure. Some mutants had to lock themselves in their rooms for protection, but Mystique's fish were locked away in safety and luxury... really massive aquarium.

"What are you all up to?" she asks as she reaches in to collect One. "Hello One, yes..." the fish starts wiggling, so into the lake she goes. This process will be repeated, each fish will be taken in hand, told hello to which ever number it is, and she can tell the difference, then get placed in the lake.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "It's nowhere near as bad as Mystique and Lorna getting drunk and flirting with Mister Creed," Clarice mutters under her breath. Yeah, probably not much different than the problem Talia was having with Mystique and Lydia.
    She glances towards Talia with a smile, asking curiously, "Are orchids hard?" Looking back to Lydia she adds, "I was just going to use my hands. I mean, the soil is soft - and it says only half an inch deep which isn't deep at all..." She presses a finger into the soil, and draws a line through it, giving it a moment consideration before tracing over the same line again to make it a liiiittle deeper. That's probably half an inch, right?
    She starts sprinkling seeds into the line she made - but when Mystique gets to fish three she supplies, "Lord Scaly-Bottom!" in a bright voice.
    Sorry, Mystique. You should have named for your fish.
    "Lydia suggested I try gardening. Right, Lydia?" she says in a bright voice.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia.... wasn't exactly expecting a response to her question. The glowing green mutant turns and considers TJ for a moment before looking at Mystique with a quirk of a brow in a silent question: Do you know her? An alternate reality grand child? She supposes that she shouldn't be surprised at this. It's bound to happen sooner or later, still when she's introduced she turns to Talia and gives her an enthusiastically friendly wave. You know. Just to make things even /more/ disgusting.

She shakes her head at Clarice. "Half an inch isn't that deep, no." She watches as her friend works and suggests, "Make the line a bit longer and spread them out a bit further, I think. You'd get more funnel that way."

And for that last, well, "I did! I'll leave it to Clarice to explain why, though. It's her story to tell."

Talia Wagner has posed:
"I'm doing my best alternate reality grams." she calls back to Mystique. There is genuine fondness in the blue mutant leaning against the tree beer in hand. She looks probably in her late teens come to think about it.

TJ waves back to Lydia though and didn't miss the bit of confusion. She gestures with her beer to Mystique and then herself. "I'm Kurt Wagner and Wanda Lensher's kid from another timeline in the multiverse." honestly she figured Lydia knew who she was. Still she is ever polite. "Talia Josephine Wagner-Lensher." those are definitely two last names.

"As for Orchids. Calling someone a hot house orchid is a thing because they die so easy and take precise care.... I'm not into gardening but I believe that is the thing."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique has never been one to go around giving other people's secrets, and honestly there were times she still has issues with the idea of her son being with Erik's daughter, and of all daughters, Wanda. She would never say that mind you, but even as Talia says Kurt and Wanda, she twitches. Thankfully Six was already in the water by then.

"Sometimes it's hard to remember the exact wording for who Talia is," she states, going for Seven but pausing. "I can never recall if it is an alternate timeline, or reality, or just some other form of majorly fucked up, what the hell sort of thing, but yes Lydia... Talia is my grand-child."

She looks over to Clarice now, watching her do the gardening thing and waiting to hear this story, and while doing so, goes back to putting fish in the lake.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "And apparently Talia and not-I used to galavant around realities together - fixing problems - until she got stranded here. Talia's Clarice also had a Mister Creed, though, so some things... seem always to be the same," Clarice explains easily, without glancing up from her work.
    "How much fennel do we really need, though? As long as was can get it to go to flower..." That was the whole point of this after all. Not fennel bulbs, no. Clarice was trying to grow fennel flowers. She does lengthen the row a little, however, sprinkling in more seeds before she begins carefully filling in the line the cut with some soil.
    "There really isn't much of a story to tell. It's just- well. Lydia thinks that it might have been fennel growing by the beach where I played when I was little..." she explains, talking down towards the soil as she draws a second line with her finger. "My father would pick the flowers and we'd walk and chew on the flower stems. It tastes like licorice. I just- I thought some fennel flowers would be nice."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"Oh!" exclaims Lydia once introductions are made. "I'm Lydia Dietrich. I'm not really as interesting as anybody else around here." She chuckles, "It suits me, though. Helps keep them all grounded."

She turns back to Clarice to answer her question, "As much as you like, really. We'll need to put up a little sign for people to know that you want it to flower, otherwise somebody might get it in their head to dig it up before then.

"It's a happy memory for her," Lydia explains to Mystique. "A way to remember her father."

Talia Wagner has posed:
"Timeline or reality. It is sort of the same thing. The multiverse forks pretty much continiously. Branching off and then brnaching off those branches. Everything possible is out there in pretty much every variance and variation."

She grins at Clarice "Clarice was our team leader. Mr. Creed... well he joined up with us but was part of the other team for a good while. Two teams to save the Multiverse trapped moving from reality to reality trying to save them and everything else... it was.. a lot. I hope they are all okay...."

The beer is sipped, emptied, and she fishes another one up with her deft tail popping it open with her hand to take another sip.

"Happy memories are good. Need to hold onto those."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Seven and Eight are added to the water, then Nine and finally Mystique steps away to watch them swimming happily in their lake.

"The only person you need to let know is Bruin," she says, leaving the lake to walk over to Lydia and Clarice. "No one else dare's touch anything in here. If you want flowers, then you'll get flowers... but what you really need to do is tell him to let them grow naturally, or he'll have them flowering all the time."

Not wanting to interfere with Lydia helping Clarice, she stays at the edge of the garden and looks to Talia. "How many of those do you have?" She gestures toward the beer.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Would it be so bad - if they were always in flower?" Clarice asks. She soon has the second row filled with seeds, and gently patted down, at which point she sits back and brushes her hands off.
    "Do you suppose we should water them now?" she muses thoughtfully, looking to Lydia for guidance on this. She's never grown anything from seed before. But the lady she'd talked to insisted that fennel //must// be grown from seed.
    Her attention shifts towards Talia for a moment as she adds, "I hope they are, as well." She still could only guess how difficult it must be for Talia - to be trapped in the wrong reality, with people who seemed so much like the people she loved, but not quite right nonetheless.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"Depends on whether or not you want to watch them grow."Lydia says. "There's something to be said about letting nature take its course. It'll take a while for them to get big enough to flower, though, so if you're impatient you could get Bruin to speed them along."

She purses her lips thoughtfully, "How moist was the soil? I don't think you want to overwater them, though. That might drown the seeds. At least," she admits, "I /think/ drowning the seeds is a thing. I know there's a sprinkler system here that does the watering for you, so you don't really have to do much else other than plant them and watch them grow."

"It must be strange living in a place that's mostly the same from where you came from but is different enough to throw you off course from time to time," Lydia muses. "For example, what if Sesame Street wasn't a thing in your place. There's so much culture around those muppets that their absence, or addition, would make things seem off-kilter." Hm. Lydia writer brain.... ACTIVATE

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "What's Sesame Street?" Clarice asks in a baffled tone - looking between the other three women. "What's... a muppet?"

Talia Wagner has posed:
Talia fishes up another beer with her deft tail and holds it aloft at hand off height for Mystique as she asks about beers "Enough to share." she offers a wry smile.

She then looks over to Clarice and nods. "They are two of the toughest people I've ever met. I'm sure they are doing okay." she half believes that too honestly. They are after all.

She looks to Lydia. "Well some places have Sesame Street. Some don't. Uh... it is a kids show that teaches kids about sharing... counting.. public broadcasting service usually."

She mmms thoughtfully. "You become numb to it after a while Lydia. I've seen ... hundreds or realities."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique walks over to collect the beer from Talia's tail, pops it open and leans against the tree by her alternate reality grand-daughter.

"I can't imagine Creed being anything but a tough bastard no matter what reality or timeline he's in," she comments, taking a drink of the beer. "As for Clarice, I know she's leadership material, which also makes sense no matter the reality." Her amber eyes turn to Talia, "So I'm sure their fine, and we'll find a way to get you back to them if that's what you want."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia shakes her head in wonder. "I can't even imagine..." she begins, but then stops herself and bursts out laughing. "Look at me. An author who can't imagine. Of course I can imagine, it's what I /do/ for a living."

"Muppets are a kind of puppet," Lydia says, explaining to Clarice. "They're very distinctive. Sesame street is a children's show, going through basic concepts like the alphabet, counting and," nodding to Talia, "sharing and other basic social skills. Here. I'll show you..." She pulls out her phone and after a few moments of searching brings up a video of Grover going over the concepts of 'near' and 'far.' Repeatedly. To hilarious effect (at least what would be hilarious to a toddler). "See? That kind of thing."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "It's hard to even imagine things that would be an actual threat to Mister Creed," Clarice agrees with Mystique. "And if he's anything like //my// Mister Creed - he'll keep your Clarice safe. They'll have each others' backs."
    She stands up now, looking at the patch of bare earth where she'd planted her seeds. Yes - there's definitely a large part of her that wants instrange results. She wants to see the fennel towering over her head once more...
    She turns back towards the others without commenting further on the plants, though.
    "A kids show about sharing? And it's quite popular and famous, presumably." The other three all seem to know about it, anyways. She turns her attention down towards the video, her curiosity, turning to puzzlement. "It does seem... a little familiar, somehow," she murmurs. Did she watch it when she was little?

Talia Wagner has posed:
Her own beer is sipped and she "I know it isn't sesame street but the muppets mahna mahna song is still the best." which may just cause confusion honestly.

She tinks her beer bottle against Mystique's once she takes it then sips her beer again.

"Mr. Creed is a badass.. but the one from the .. place my Clarice and Creed came from is a decent person. It seems like this one is too, at least to Clarice." which is a lot of hedging but well.

"It's pretty famous because in worlds with it... it's been on for deacades and is kids safe."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Resting back against the tree, Mystique takes another sip of her beer as she listens to the conversation.

"I gotta ask, how the hell did Sesame Street come up? I've seen maybe one show, and that was enough for me to run screaming away from it." Sometimes Mystique was too blunt, but oh well. "It's obvious that the show attempts to be open and welcome to all races, in the way the muppets are no specific color, but you really do have to be a child to appreciate it, but that's just my opinion and I'm an old cranky bitch."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"Well, yes," concedes Lydia, making her way across the lawn to stand by her girlfriend. "It's developed in such a way to give preschool children the basics necessary in order to prepare them for school. Back in the 60s, there really wasn't anything like it, and the children's programming at the time was all rather condescending and... well... not very helpful."

"So some people wanted to harness the addictive power of televisions for the greater good and came up with Sesame Street. It's targeted for lower income families... which is just a polite way of saying 'black,' which is why it looks like it's set on the corner of your average urban street." Her eyes dart between Mystique and Talia and sighs. "I'm sorry. I'm babbling. I went to school for English and education."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I don't think very many people would describe Mister Creed as a 'decent' man," Clarice remarks with amusement on her features. "But- well. He isn't quite as bad as most people just assume."
    "It's target to black children?" she repeats thoughtfully. "Maybe that's why it seems to familiar," she muses. She joins the others, settling in on the grass, her thoughtful expression changing to one of polite concern as she asks Talia, "You're feeling better, aren't you?"

Talia Wagner has posed:
"Yeah, much better if a bit tender still though..."

After a pause she mutters "I can't believe the Shi'ar here captured and cloned John Proudstar..." she sounds a little haunted by it. "But the clones are very good with knives... like he is. I heard he was dead here but ... he must not be. The one that was with the eXiles with me is dead." it sounds raw. Something about it sounds like it hurts TJ deeply.

Then she is moving, shouldering her way up to her feet without muchch of a wince really. "I should probably crash though..." she does sound suddenly tired. Her tail indicates the half a six pack "Can you take it to the bar if you all don't finish it off... thanks."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique takes the six-pack from Talia's tail, clearly having no issues with her alternate reality grand-daughter's tail... hell, it was the closest she would ever be able to get to a part of Kurt, she'd take what she could get. "We'll take care of it, you need help getting back to your room Talia?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia watches Talia make her way out of the garden, and when she's finally gone she turns to Mystique, "So I take it Kurt Wagner is your son?" She goes to sit with her, and takes one of the remaining bottles for herself. "You'll have to tell me about him some time, if you want." She cracks open the brew and sits down next to her. "How are the fish?"

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Talia, are you sure you're-" Clarice starts - but the woman simply excuses herself with a shake of her head and a side smile, and the magenta-skinned mutant accepts one of the bottles with a quiet sigh. She taps the cap on the beer - and it disappears off the bottle with a faint 'blink' of purple energy before she takes a sip, her gaze flicking between Lydia and Mystique.
    Nope. She's not touching this one. This is something Lydia will have to learn on her own.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
The wince is visible and huge, and there's no way Mystique can even try to conceal it. Inside herself a part of her soul start aching in way she could never express in words, but the expression on her face may in fact be enough. Pained, pure, deep pain, so much so that she has to look away to the lake.

"Alive," she manages to whisper. Perhaps she was talking about the fish, or perhaps there was something more to that one word than either woman could understand. "Sometimes I forget to tell Talia to shut up," she then says, watching the water, trying not to scream and just leave, trying very hard to stand there in that moment of pain and not do what she normally would.

"Yes, Kurt Wagner is my son," she finally says, a little louder. "But I would appreciate it if we left it there and didn't talk about it."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia reaches out and captures Mystique's hand with her own. "Of course," she says gently, easily letting the issue drop. "It's okay. It's my fault. I had promised not to pry." Watching her lover in so much pain just breaks her heart, but she doesn't entirely know what to do about it, other than just be here for her.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    There are times Mystique is impossible to read, even if you know her well. That's- well. That's most of the time.
    And then there's times like this, when Clarice swears she can feel the pain radiating off the woman and she'd give almost anything to take that hurt from her. Say almost anything to make the hurt stop. Mystique wants to change the subject, that much is clear, and Clarice offers a change of topic that she is sure will thoroughly distract the woman. Just as surely as it will thoroughly embarrass herself.
    "So," she remarks, her gaze flicking Mystique for a moment, then off to the view of the planet below them. "I've been thinking of going to Heaven."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Allowing her hand to be taken, Mystique looks back to Lydia and manages to say, "You weren't prying, you just asked, it wasn't your fau..." before what Clarice said actually hits her brain full on. It's almost like someone punched her in the brain.

Three blinks. The first is slow, then two quick once. "Clarice... did I just hear you correctly?" She has to ask, because she's pretty certain she heard that wrong. "Did you just say you've been thinking about going to Heaven?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia looks back and forth between Mystique and Clarice confused. "What's Heaven?" she asks, completely forgetting about the nightclub.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    In all likelyhood, the deepening of the magenta tone of Clarice's cheeks, and her steadfast refusal to look towards Mystique is all the confirmation the woman will need. That and the way she takes a deep pull from the beer in her hand. "The, umm- at the bar, Saints and Sinners, the, umm... Heaven. With the gents. And ladies," she 'explains' awkwardly without really saying much of anything.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
It may be exactly what Mystique needed to distract her brain over the previous conversation topic, but the color of Clarice's cheeks makes her clear her throat a little and look for a more delicate way to approach the new topic.

First, she leans over and whispers very quietly in Lydia's ear, quiet enough Clarice can't hear, "The brothel in Saints." Then she turns her amber eyes back to Clarice.

"Well..." she begins slowly, searching for just the right words. "That is entirely your decision, you don't have to be embarrassed by it, nor do you have to talk about it if you don't want to... I'd suggest Nathan and or Yvette."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia blinks. "We have a brothel?" Really, she should have known, but she never really put two and two together.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice gives a shrug of her shoulders uncertainly. She'd brought it up, hadn't she?
    In for a penny, in for a pound.
    She takes another sip of her beer without meeting either Lydia or Mystique's gaze before she remarks, "I simply... I thought..." Finding the words for your thoughts can be difficult, especially when you didn't spend your teenage years whispering about such things in quiet corners of your school, or outside of the mall. "Since I don't really know what I want, or what I'm looking for- I'd had to get to that point with Robert, or with Rahne, and then find out I'm not really interested after all, if that makes sense."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique nods once, not looking to Clarice just in case, she doesn't want this to be too difficult for the woman.

"That makes total sense Clarice," she offers, taking a sip of her beer. "You don't have to go into detail, or share when it happens, or even mention it again, but it really is a good idea, and I stick by my suggestions. Nathan or Yvette, or both."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice looks down at her beer in her hands, then takes another drink from it, before finally looking towards Mystique with a small nod of understanding. "Yeah, not sure I'll ever bring it up again," she admits, with a wry smile.
    She finishes off her beer with a last deep swig, and then climbs to her feet, moving in to give Mystique a brief, one-armed hug. "Anyways. I know I've said it before, but you really can tell me anything. And I really don't see myself holding anything against you unless it somehow turns out you were behind the Magistrates all along."
    And who would believe //that// sort of nonsense?
    "I should work on my homework," she remarks, as she turns to stride away.