019 ♍ video

[glowsferatu]

[ it's early afternoon and kanaya is in the greenhouse, tending to a row of black calla lilies, watering can in one hand, clippers in the pocket of her apron. she has a headband on to keep her bangs out of her eyes, and a smudge of dirt or two on her cheek. she doesn't look like she's slept in a while. in fact, it's probably been days.

her communicator is propped up on a shelf above the flowers so she can speak to it while keeping her hands free. ]

I've been thinking about it, and i's something of an awkward question, but in the interest of cultural sensitivity, it needs to be asked. You see, it occurs to me that certain words have...numerous contexts depending on the user's place of origin, and in some cases can be utterly and unwittingly obscene. [ she stops and places her hand on her chin, looking up at the communicator. well, that will be more dirt, won't it. ] I was told once that I should write a book about my planet for human education, but I don't know about that. I'm not much of a writer.

[ she turns back to her flowers. ] That said, ignorance can only be dispelled through education, so there will need to be...some sort of offering to make. So, if a list could be collected from various non-humans on practices that would be untoward from humans unaware of the implications of these actions, perhaps a pamphlet could be prepared and left at the Porter's housing unit. I think it's worse considering, at least, but I'll need some assistance in constructing it, namely from any others from non-Earth planets to contribute things I may not be aware of, either.

[ she sits there lingering on the thought for a moment before setting the can down and rising to her feet, her hands dusting off at the top of the frame before she reaches over to take the communicator. ] While I'm on the topic of bridging cultures, we're not far from your holiday celebrating romantic successes.

[ she pans the camera out across the area to show what she's been working on. the greenhouse is growing a great many flowers which are just now coming into full bloom in a brilliant display of blacks, pinks, and reds, with a small corner of a few grey things growing. she'd have liked to expand that one, but her choices were limited as it was and there was sadly little demand for them anyway. ]

Last year, Jade and I offered bouquets to fit each of my culture's quadrants. She...may not be here anymore, but I thought I should carry on the endeavor in her absence. A tradition must be continued if it expects to be established, after all. So I will be accepting orders from now until Thursday's end, and delivery is available.

I hope you all enjoy the day as it approaches.

Comments

lights... camera.... Action;

[adventureboner]

Be there in three shakes of a lamb's tail!!

((Action;))
((AANNND Jake really does take the metaphor as literally as he can, heading that way soon as he finishes whatever he was doing.

Stepping into the backyard, he gives the place a fleeting glance, barely enough to quickly register where she was. So, he gives a call.)) Kanaya?

action;

[glowsferatu]

[ the greenhouse isn't especially large, less than 400 square feet, so about the size of a large bedroom. of course, with kanaya kneeling over a rack of flowers, he might not quite see her until she stood up at his call. ] Ah, there you are!

[ she crosses around and hands him her watering can. ] So, given that you are related to Jade, I imagine the circumstances you grew up in couldn't have been terribly different, and gardening was prominent among her many hobbies. That's...why I built this for her to begin with.

So, if you wouldn't mind watering the lilies, I'll just tend to the chrysanthemums.

Re: action;

[adventureboner]

((A bit of a start, the can sloshes in front of him as he looks around.)) Uh, okey dokey! ((Lake lake la--why the dickens would a lake be in here?!?! Instead taking to the nearest hose, he prepares the can.))

Pretty little thing you got here; the whole green house and the like. A bit more domestic than I'm accustomed to, won't lie. ((and water off--after getting his shoes wet thoughtlessly.)) Er--These are the lilies, correct?

action;

[glowsferatu]

[ she's already hunched over the pink flowers with her clippers in hand, trimming away some of the more cumbersome leaves. she doesn't look at him, just points. ] They're the black ones. You can't miss them.

But like I said, it isn't mine so much as Jade's, I only constructed it. It took a few weeks, but I'm rather satisfied with how it turned out. The biggest issue was trying to keep it a surprise until the time came.

[ she turns around to glance at him, her brows furrowing. ] You said she's your grandmother? That's odd.

Re: action;

[adventureboner]

Ah, brilliant, spot on...

Uh, yeah!! She was; not really that odd, I'd say. All these silly time shenanigans we used to talk about, it only makes sense! I mean, there's not much she and my grandma didn't have in common, so I don't see why not.

[glowsferatu]

Well, it's odd because I expected it to be the other way around. Much like with Dirk and Roxy being Rose and Dave's genetic forebears, I though the case should be similar between you and Jane with John and Jade.

[adventureboner]

Oh! Yeah, they are, aren't they? Heh, I forget about that little detail often enough. I sure won't lie, sometimes I forget Jade's my grandma, but sure as eggs is eggs the little lady is!!

[glowsferatu]

I'm fairly certain that isn't how ectobiology works, it doesn't leave room for an interim generation.

What if it were to happen that you are in fact her ancestor?

[adventureboner]

Uh.. Heh-hee, no way!!! She's my grandma sure as eggs is eggs! I mean...

Uh........ Like....

Er...






................. Shit, maybe you're right?

[glowsferatu]

Let's consider this. I've heard her mention her grandfather before, I've heard you mention your grandmother. But the "grandness" implies a generation removed, doesn't it?

What do you remember about your guardians in between? Are you sure there were any?

[adventureboner]

I always figured I was just an orphan, really. Like Mom and Dad were jungle explorers and died on some tragic expedition? Or heck, even just out in the jungle living amongst the natives, all hardcore with paints on their faces. OR well no, Mom was the journalist, and Dad was a hardcore treasure hunter, and the bad guys were like SHAZAM WAPOW and Dad's like Davy Jones has a place in his locker just for you, suckers, and just out of the blue: ZOMBIES EVERYWHERE. But Dad sticks it to 'em, the baddies and the zombies, gets out okay after saving Mom from the zombie curse. Oh man and then the MAIN badguy you think was just some dumb chump working for the guy who almost killed my granddad, (you know, the metaphorical granddad my Grandma married a while ago but got divorced), and then

((Oh my god stop me before i retell all of the uncharged games.))

[glowsferatu]

[ she listens for a while before she realizes this isn't going anywhere, and puts out a finger to interject. ]

In other words, you have no idea and have never heard even the slightest thing about them, so you've constructed elaborate fantasies to explain their absence? [ not really unlike a page, she concludes. from the few she's known, at least. ]

[adventureboner]

... Yeah. Pretty much.

((He's just gonna.. sit down in front of a nearby bench, his elbows brought back and resting on the long seat.)) I mean, c'mon, what would you do if you didn't know your own folks? I mean, sure I liked living on my own, but with Jane always talking about how swell life was with her Pop, makes a fella a little envious.

I sorta always hoped they'd sweep me away and I'd get to partake in the fun, you know? ((He's got that look of a dreamer.))

[glowsferatu]

We, as a species, were never acquainted with our ancestors. They lived thousands of sweeps before our lifetimes, and only the highbloods were terribly concerned with tracing their history.

[ she turned back to her chrysanthemums. ] I had my lusus, my mother, and that was enough for me. What could I have expected to learn of my ancestor, anyway? There weren't likely to be sordid tales of unspoken romance or flitting between the shadows of the day in search of her next feeding. It was more likely that she was simply your typical cavern maid.

[ her clipping stops abruptly, her gaze trails off into the distance, but he might not recognize that with her back to him. ]

Or, at least, that's what I had assumed before I met her.

[adventureboner]

Oh? How'd that go?

[glowsferatu]

[ she puts down her clippers are takes off her gloves, running her hands over her face. ]

She was everything I could have ever hoped to be and more. Attractive, confident, romantically successful, personable, while also a knowledgeable and skilled rainbow drinker as well! She was...sane, like she actually understood the route her unlife has taken and adjusted well to it.

[ she turns to look back at him over her shoulder. ] You can't imagine how long it took me to summon the nerve to even face her.

[adventureboner]

Hehe, you're probably right. Uh, ((he hesitates)) I mean that I couldn't imagine!! I'd certainly pin you as attractive and personable; I mean heck, I'd say you're probably the troll I've come to know best!

And c'mon, if she's your ancestor, doesn't that mean she's more like, uh, I dunno, older? So she's lived longer to get used to stuff. No use selling yourself short when there's other stuff to take into account!

[glowsferatu]

She only looked a couple sweeps my senior, at most. ...But I suppose you are right, given the immeasurable length of time she's spent as a ghost.

[ she turns the rest of her body to face him, sitting on the floor and leaning against the flower rack, one hand massaging her forehead. ] I'm not sure I can wait that long, if I could even make it that far! Could you?

[adventureboner]

Haha, heck no, ((he says with a goofy grin.)) A man doesn't just sit on his duff waiting all the bloody time!! He gets out there, grabs the bull the the horns, and tackles shit full on!!! If I had to wait for something, I'm afraid I'd do a terrible job keeping my shirt on, hehe....

But uh... ((A pause, he calms a little, )) but you know, we're opposites, right? You've probably got a heck of a lot more patience than I could muster up for something like that. And I'm not even sure how you'd uh.. become a uh.. what was it called again?

[glowsferatu]

Sane. That would be the word you're looking for, I think. The one that eludes me most.

[adventureboner]

Yeah, not quite the word I wanted, but about that? You seem pretty sane to me. Unless sane means something else in troll-lingo.

[glowsferatu]

You'd be surprised. [ but he'd probably also never see it, either. not if she could help it. ] But if that isn't it, I can't imagine what word you could have been thinking of.

What was she like as your guardian? Jade, I mean. It's odd trying to imagine her so old.

[adventureboner]

Oh, hah, man, she was the coolest dang grandma you could ever ask for. I.. can't say I remember her all that well, though. She keeled over when I was awful young so memories a bit foggy.

I do recall she was a real science wiz; top of the crop sort of lady, she build an entourage of gadgets; I think she did it as a sort of "Eff you" to the Batter witch that evened up knocking her off. She was a great shot and showed me all the ropes when I was a youngin, and I mean... she looked pretty badass for an old lady, but she was sweet as sugar cane. Pretty sure she was all about exploring ruins, too; there was whole shitton of them by our house, and that's why she relocated there!! Probably plus all the funny fauna over that way; all sorts of isolated species hung out there never discovered before! At least I don't think they were... so she was all about studying the place in her later years.

I've tried to pick up in her place, but kinda hard to do that when you don't know a lick of what she was searching for. ((Or well... he likes to PRETEND he's picked up in her place.))

[glowsferatu]

[ she listens quietly, attentively, a fond smile playing on her lips. that sounds like just the sort of thing jade would do if given the option, right down to the blend of no-nonsense capability with the affectionate disposition.

but that fondness is tinged with something more somber as well, it only reminds kanaya how much she misses her. ]

It does sound like quite the legacy to follow. But I don't doubt you'll be able to meet the task.

[adventureboner]

I... dunno. I mean I'd sure like to think so but... Grandma, she was really something else. Great at gadgets, great at research, the perfect shot. I mean, I can do a thing or two, but if you saw the stuff she built you'd fall right on your ass it's so brilliant.