| Night and Day |
| Summary: | Brier and Callisto chat; the latter learns from the former exactly what a good mother is. |
| Date: | 2018-07-02 |
| Related: | Reference to this log. |
| NPCs: | NA |
| Scene Runner: | NA |
| Players: |
 .. .. |
Attic Floor, Winbarry Estate
Mon Jul 02, 2018
The attic floor contained more staff quarters, general storage areas. There are boxes there that have been there for decades, not brought in by Unit 23. Who knows what's in them?
===
It was evening and Brier was peaceful. Not that he wasn't peaceful during the day just…night time brought a very different kind of peace for the young hippie. So to take full advantage of it, he sits up in the attic doing one of his favorite things…meditating. Legs are folded comfortably as he sits, arms out with hands facing palms up and thumbs touching pointer fingers. His eyes are closed as a deep breath is inhaled through his nose and then out through his mouth, lips moving though the words barely audible unless you were close…or had very keen ears. "The whole remains…" These words, along with the breathing, is repeated in a rhythmic and purposeful pattern.
Sometimes it was just easier to be an omniscient immortal. Seriously. When Callisto lived up North, and before she met 'Petal' (and had been changed) … she was so deeply apathetic and uncaring that it was.. to a degree… EASIER. No concerns about others. No frustrating, confusing feelings. But then life happened, freedom came along… and Callisto the dark faerie had found her conscience.
That conscience has been driving her batshit the past few days.. nearly a week, almost, since her last soiree upstairs. In that time she met a new like-minded student and had a brief, difficult exchange with a resident speedster! THAT exchange… remained.
So, time to march up into the attic and meditate this mojo away.. or at least shut it up. The girl just reaches the topmost stair when she hears the barest whisper of a mantra. Callisto freezes; she knows to never disrupt any meditative sequence. She simply observes Brier briefly before averting her eyes, giving him the time and space to complete his exercise. This will take any manner of minutes until Callisto sees a window in which to interject. "Good evening," Said in her calm, smooth way. "Room for another?" She asks; she looks troubled.
Whether Brier is aware of Callisto's arrival before she speaks or not, his outward posture doesn't give an indicator. Once she voices her greeting though, his own mantra stops after finishing it's current and final round. Another deep breath in and out before his eyes slowly open and his head turns in the direction of Callisto. "Hello." His tone…his posture…his overall presence is relaxed and calm. A kind smile spreads now as he reaches for a nearby mug of dandelion tea "Absolutely." He moves over some to provide room, looking to her again and seeing the unrest in her expression. "Wanna talk about it?"
One thing about Callisto, she moves and has the capacity to wait for things as if she has all the time in the world. Which, really.. she does. She waited until the utmost last moment before announcing herself, and the girl lifts her chin to glance in Brier's direction as he responds. "Forgiveness for intruding upon your routine." Said in an earnest way, for Callisto hates being nudged when she is in the zone. She is in her commonplace yoga gear, though of a slightly different design/coloration: lilac and cream-colored hues, coordinated into a pair of tights and a halter top. Her hair has been freshly washed however, and it hangs in a sheet down her back. "How have you been adjusting?" The fey girl asks, feeling inwardly unsure when the offer is made to 'talk' about things. About things..?!
A flicker of worry, and she pads forth barefooted, lowering herself to sit down alongside Brier at conversational proximity, legs folded inwards beneath her body. "I should like to know that first, before I blather on about anything else." Offered good-naturedly.
Brier shakes his head, smile as genuine and kind as ever. "Nothing to forgive. Besides, you seem like you could use a getaway too so…welcome!" A free hand gestures to the attic area before he takes a drink of tea. The question about his adjustment gets a nod "Oh yeah. This place is totally awesome and most everybody has been super cool so far. Thanks!" He then chuckles "Blather…that's a fun word."
"T'is a new word that I have come to know of recently." Callisto remarks of… 'blather'. Her eyes lighten with a touch of amusement, only to be squashed beneath the thing that is troubling her, evidently. She glances toward the tea and sniffs knowingly, "Dandelion." Said matter-of-factly. "T'is good for detoxification… and digestion, correct?" She asks, content to have someone to bounce her tea nerdiness off of. Her legs shift to pull into the most comfortable and contemplative 'lotus' style position. "I wish not to saddle you with my foolish tribulations. I fear some of them stemmed from my last visit, up here. I fear, and yet wonder, if I am making a grand mistake in the vast scheme of things." That is hard to admit to.
The dying evening sunlight eases it's way, in a most mellow fashion, through dormer windows. Some of this light settles upon a sterling necklace which rests just beneath the girl's collarbone.. it is fashioned like the veneer of a Gorgon (medusa) head. "I was made to feel welcome upon joining this school.. and I am not often the most amicable sort."
"Yeah!" Brier blinks then chuckles "I mean uh…correct!" Then, Callisto is talking about…huh? Tribulations sounded like troubles…so he went with that. "Your last visit? Oh with Daxton? Yeah he seems like a cool dude. I mean he brought you a milkshake!" Then he's thinking again "Did something happen? Like you guys have a fight or something?"
"He is a… 'cool' dude." Callisto offers with a tepid little smile. It's the kind of smile that is being bitten back so as to not seem too obvious. A soft clearing of the throat and she turns to watch the hippie boy thoughtfully. "He is an important friend." Blink.. was that a bit too flimsy of an excuse? She looks down at her ankles worriedly, hair hanging down over her shoulders and curtaining her profile some. "I know naught of what we truly are. I voiced my attraction to him some time ago but he is recovering from a lost love. But the signals. they are mixed. I suspect he… grew.." A soft clearing of her throat. "Jealous…? P-perhaps, yes, when he found us here. We had words. Now I am perhaps more confused than when I started."
She watches Brier again with worried cerulean eyes. "Have you ever cared for another in that way?"
Brier listens to Callisto explain her friendship with Daxton, smiling himself as it starts veering more towards the 'more than friends' route. "Ohhhh" and then catching the jealousy comment "Oh! Oh no, man that's…oh that's not good!" The hippie's brow furrows in both confusion and thought as a hand moves through his hair "Dude. Talk about heavy…I wasn't trying to…I mean I had just met you. Did he know that?" Her final question gets a shrug from Brier then "I dunno'…I mean I like plenty of people, but I haven't ya know…LIKE liked anybody. I'm still young and that kind of stuff seems super complicated." Case and point!
Poor Brier. Callisto smiles gently, "Worry not. I made sure he knew that I had only just met you, that there were no connotations whatsoever. T'was the first thing I wanted him to know, above all else. You are just fine." Said earnestly as she rests her hands, open-palmed, into her lap. "It simply opened up a tangent of… conversation.. that I hadn't expected of him. So I know naught what to do from here." Offered next as she considers. "T'is not my intent to have you be accosted with anything as personal as this. But…" She pushes back a hank of hair.
"It is complicated so… do take your time. T'was so much easier, even for me, when I hadn't a worry in the world in regards to… this…"
A shrug. "I've some answers to seek; some details to figure out. I came here, however, to relax. And…" She brightens. "Your salve.. the oil… it helped me greatly." Look how tanned and comfortable she looks!
"Well that's good" Brier says about Dax knowing they really were just friends and had JUST met! "I'd offer to talk to him, but I don't really know him that well…and he thinks I'm weird." It isn't said with any offense, just matter of factly. He already knew a few people in the school who did. Brier was used to getting looks and reactions enough, whether from his appearance or behavior or even just his name, that he was pretty good at picking up on those things.
"Like I said though, he really does seem like a cool guy. So I'm sure it'll work out. In the meantime…I can't relax FOR you obviously, buuuut-" Reaching down beside him he pulls up a thermos, handing it out to her. "It's more dandelion tea. Help yourself!" The comment about the salve gets a grin "Awesome! I'll let my mom know. It's her recipe." He had no doubt of it's effectiveness, but he knows how she enjoys hearing about other people benefiting from her recipes!
"He thinks that I am weird." Callisto offers helpfully.. or so she hopes. "A similar type of weird. I am used to it." She closes her eyes briefly, breathing deeply in through her nostrils and sampling the mustiness of the attic. She is still listening to Brier however and she opens those eyes again, looking to him levelly. "I do not believe you to be weird. I shall have you know that I came to know some flower children of yesteryear." How far back, though? It's getting easier to admit to her racial qualities. "As in… nineteen sixties. Seventies. I am yet an adolescent by my peoples' standards but we are long-lived. You would have loved the tail end of the sixties." Said fondly.
The tea is offered and she looks straight-up relieved. She takes up the thermos and provided it's one of those setups with a removeable plastic cup she will fill that and drink from it.
"What other.. recipes.. have you brought along with you?"
Brier chuckles "That's the thing. Everybody is weird. I just found a weird that fits me and that I like for me" another shrug. "I don't take it personally or think it's bad. Everybody is the way they are and at some level, all of us can connect in one way or another, but in other areas we're totally different. And that's the awesome thing about people being…well…people!" A thoughtful look from the hippie then "I just haven't figured out the way Daxton and I connect. Yet."
The talk of flower children gets a fond smile from the blonde. "Yeah. I definitely enjoy the music!" As for the thermos, it does have the removable cup, Brier letting her drink as much as she wishes and not seeking to take it back. "Oh I have all of my mom's recipes with me…or copies of them I mean, but as for prepared product? I got the necessities. The burn balm. Bath stuff. Hair stuff. Lotions. Aromatherapy stuff to help with aches and pains and whatever. Then a lot of teas. Mom's shoppe is kind of a one stop land of herbological wonder!" He says with a grin. Obviously proud of his mom.
Is that a look of wistfulness on the faerie girl's face? Did she, perhaps, hear something similar to this from another voice, in another time? A gentle sigh of remembrance. No, she's not projecting her long-lost 'Petal' upon Brier, she's not that foolish. But his words drive something familiar home. Then, suddenly… "Food." Huh? Callisto smiles gently. "Food. He does so enjoy food.. and lots of it. And milkshakes. I shall not mark him as a tea drinker, however. But I suspect the way to his heart is to feed him—-" Ugh, she's speaking as if she knows him that well. Callisto blushes lightly. "At least, by my experiences with him, here and there."
Yeah, moving on.
"What is your mother's name? Tell me of her." So Callisto might now that there are good mothers out there.
"Food huh?" The hippie laughs "I can work with that." Brier sees the look from Callisto, as she talks about Daxton…but he doesn't comment on it or even react outwardly. Man love WAS complicated! "Marigold" he smiles fondly then. "Her name is Marigold…and she's the best!" Ok, again sure everybody thinks that about their own mother, but his really is! "Raised me all on her own. It's always been us since the beginning. She's the reason I am who I am and I'm proud of who I am and I'm proud of her."
The girl appears to be listening; really listening. She seems happy, too, to have the remnants of the sun at her back. Callisto is not one to perpetuate angst and she therefore does not elaborate upon what is sending her heart into a tizzy. "Marigold." She echoes, "A true flower child name, yes." Her lips twitch into yet another smile, gaze set downwards upon her feet again. "You are most fortunate to have so.. kind a soul for a mother." She considers, wonders if it's too personal for her to ask. Callisto looks up again, turns to the boy as she drinks deeply of the tea. "I suspect you both remain in constant contact, then. T'was bittersweet to come here?" She asks, eyes overbright at talk of what a real mother is.
It's.. very intriguing. Bittersweet in it's own right.
Brier laughs "Yep. Like I said, she'd accept that title with pride…and thanks. Yeah. I am very blessed." A more sincere moment from the usual light hearted hippie. He then thinks about that a moment, smile still present but softening slightly. "And it is bittersweet, you're right. More sweet than bitter though. Like my mom said the day I left, 'Distance means so little when someone means so much'." A shrug then, "Besides. I've met so many awesome people here that it's already worth the adventure!" A thoughtful look to Callisto then "You talk like you've…been around awhile. What about your family…or?" There was a hesitancy there. He knew people here had all manner of powers, but what was hers exactly? Time travel? Regeneration?
What a….
She gives voice to her thoughts. "What a beautiful statement." Callisto whispers, or very nearly does.. it affects her that much. She's still mulling it over when Brier poses his query and she looks to him. Were her eyes just… shiny for a beat or two? Trick of the light. She looks fine again. She pulls her legs out from under her and stretches them out, rubs a knee. "I am of a long-lived race." Said simply.. how does she progress? A flush to her cheeks, "… and not a kind race. I have been around since the… mid 1800s. T'was the time of my birth. My kith and kin, we stop aging at a particular point in our lives… it.. varies." She watches him, looks sideward as if embarrassed. "My family is not close. My mother, she is a powerfully cruel… vitriolic woman…"
Brier remains silent, but gives Callisto his attention as she answers his question. "That all sounds…heavy." Understatement. "I don't know my dad, so I can't speak about that…but I can't imagine not being close to my mother. I'm sorry." It's said genuinely. "Like you said. Bittersweet, but it also sounds like you're better off without them. You're nice…not cruel. Nothing like that." Maybe he saw the embarrassment over her lineage. Trying to lighten the mood "For what it's worth. My mother would LOVE to know your skin care routine?" He says, giving a hopeful smirk.
Luckily, Callisto doesn't seem to be one to dwell. "It is what it is, I fear. What matters is that I have broken away from the cruelty." Said firmly; that alone can be her mantra. There is a look of determination there… and a sort of power. Whatever 'cruelty' she has escaped from, be it as a subject or a practitioner.. it had to have been big. Callisto does not lend it enough thought; no use making it relevant.
"Shall your mother visit you, I wonder? Once you are settled—-" Blink, blush, He called her 'nice'. "T'is the most important comment that I could ever hope to receive.." Not 'elegant' or 'beautiful' or such garbage. 'Kind'. 'Nice'. Callisto warms at the word.
Then, a warm laugh. "T'is called immortality. And being part of a diabolical, sinister race whose bread and butter is to be found in glamour and… a…. good skin care routine." Said lightly. Oh, if he only knew. If Callisto has it her way, he never will.
"Well I'm glad you broke away. For you obviously but also because I'm glad I got to meet you!" Her reaction to being called nice has Brier smiling again, and then a laugh at her response. "Immortality…right. So mom's best bet is probably sticking with her oils." Then his thoughts go back to the idea of her visiting. "She said she can't wait to visit. So I guess once school is started and we are at the new location? When she does visit I'll be sure to let you know. She'll love you!"
<FS3> Callisto rolls Yoga: Success.
"Oils are far more interesting." Callisto says cryptically.. meaningfully. She wouldn't wish her lifestyle upon anyone, truly. Then the boy goes and says that someone close to him.. his mother.. would love her? Who could ever love her?! Okay it sounds angsty; she's not that angsty, she isn't… but 'love' isn't a term used often in Callisto's world. Her features soften, "Et us partake, then, in that which we came here for." The girl offers.
Her hands extend, wrists resting upon her knees, fingers positioned as she 'aligns' herself. "Ohhhhmmmmm…" A humm, a thrumming.
One of the calmest sounds in the world.
Brier nods "Alright then!" He'd then reposition himself and close his eyes, starting his meditation again as well.