Treespeak III (5/3)

[02:00] "Yeah! They're really nice. Yers is trying to teach me about personal space. And Walter just wants books!"

They were a motley crew. And, from what Leni can gather, they share her same desire fun, excitement, and new experiences. Some of those last ones did get a bit jarring though.

"That's smart, yeah. I know things have to die for other things to grow, but- there wasn't anything growing. They were just there. On spikes."

Her eyes widen and she stares into the void for a moment before perking back up and resuming normal function.

"Maybe I can take some mushrooms there! I think that'd be better, something to grow on them- hey, you're gettin' glowy! Do these guys like you?" she asks, gesturing to the luminous fungi.
(Leni)
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[02:05] Now seated against a little river that passes through the guts of the cave into parts unknown (presumably not his Parts Unknown), the drifter simply reclines. After all of the rambling and fighting and figuring things out, it seems only natural that he'd wind up worn out for all of it.

More mention of death. For her sake, he endeavors not to respond to the statement with anything more than a solemn nod. Things die. Other things grow. As long as more things grow than things die, then things will probably be alright. In an effort to curtail continued discussion about things that make them both uncomfortable, Armondt cants his head a little bit to say 'why not' to the idea of some haphazard mushroom plucking.

"Might just be they're respondin' to my mana. Ain't no scholar, but my star's yellow. Makes sense my mana'd be yellow. Maybe try thinkin' about your mana. The magic ya can do. Could be you'd be gettin' glowy from all these mushrooms too."
(Armondt)
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[02:18] She's a nature magi. She has to accept death as part of 'it'. The quilt, the tapestry of life. That doesn't mean she's too well acquainted with it. Seeing animals eat each other or a hunter bringing home game is not the same as stumbling upon some poor soul's last moments in the stinking bowels of a city.

It's better they skirt away from it, and it's her natural tendency to avoid the topics that aren't in some manner enjoyable. "I gotta'...think about it?"

Now that's not something she's really considered. Thinking about thinking about her mana, in a way. Much of the magic, with a few exceptions, is done reflexively. Naturally. Every now and then she encourages a sprout to grow. That's about it.

What was it that Asta had said? Well, Asta had said a lot of things. Something about becoming in tune with the land, with nature itself? Talking toplants is one thing. Maybe the next step is being a little more like them. Leni touches one of the many mushrooms lining the cave walls; she considers her own mana, actively for a change, and that flowing organically through the fungi.

Sure enough her skin takes on a faint blueish glow, precisely like that which lights the cavern. It doesn't persist for very long. That would take actual focus, which Leni does not have in abundance.
(Leni)
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[02:24] As if to encourage Leni, Armondt decided to engage his own mana more visibly. It's difficult to explain logistically - no muscles are tensed or flexed, but instead he just taps into his connection with the Lone Star. With a certain effort do his eyes screw shut, and he calls on his star with a celestial 'howdy' to show something off. Showboating was an important part of his culture, probably.

Consequently, the vaguely green glow shimmering over him is supplanted with a clearer solar yellow. It's bright, but not abrasively so; just a wreath of magic that surrounds him now. When his eyes open again, he's able to faintly see Leni's own glow take shape. Armondt quirks a brow - what could that blueish glow represent, exactly?

It doesn't persist for long, but he doesn't consider a lack of focus as the cosnequence. Being a battery for mana instead suggests something to Armondt, and so he opens a hand towards her, and lets traces of his cosmically-aspected mana start pulsing in her direction. It feeds her energy, not in a manner unlike the way he did long ago in that dreadful purple forest.

This time, however, it was for an entirely constructive purpose. No need for self-sacrifice here, and now there was a much clearer surplus of energy flowing. If he could spur the process of one's progress, he could probably consider that his good deal for the 'while.'
(Armondt)
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[02:36] It's a decidedly different usage of her mana. Coaxing growth, which she's more accustomed to do, isn't quite the same. She can do that almost without thinking, just as she can converse with the plants nearly on a whim. Instead of changing the flora, she is changing herself.

More importantly, changing herself to better match that which is growing around her. This seems like something decidedly druidic. It's even literally becoming one with nature in the purest sense. What could be wrong with that?

She tried her hand at 'borrowing' from the mushroom with only a little success. Now she looks down, to the lush carpet of grass beneath her feet, and considers all of the blades there instead.

It's about then too that Armondt offers his aid not only in the form of being a huge, lamp-lit show off, but also in that little bit of an astral boost. It hits her system like a sudden shock.

The growth is sudden and immediate, her flesh sprouting a dense layer of green grass all her own. It covers everything- save for her eyes, which stare out wide at the Lone Ranger.
(Leni)
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[02:44] The offering of his mana as a battery is duly noted and taken with intended advantage. Armondt doesn't feel that much of a drain when it's drawn from him - his star is a wellspring, and he himself is more than happy to give that which he can. What he wasn't actually prepared for is to see Leni use the mana so thoroughly that it influences and stirs change in herself.

Needless to say, seeing her overgrown with grass in a near instant almost breaks his concentration outright, and the supply of mana bursts out for a moment before being cut off entirely. The glow dissipates, but the energy remains. "Uh." Armondt stares right back at Leni, who appears to now just be a grass monster who has stolen Leni's eyes.

Horrifying, but he tries to indulge regardless. "You're, uh. You're still Len, yeah? I ain't need to call you Grass?" He prods at her carefully, inspecting the veritable mane of grass covering her. "...Heh." He smirks, shrugs his shoulders, and just lets her figure it out for herself.

Enter the cave a person, emerge a... ...grass monster with Leni's eyse?
(Armondt)
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[02:49] The grass monster speaks.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm still-"

She looks down and catches sight of her reflection. Her hands- also grass- touch her grass face. Even her nose, which wrinkles. Three short, stuttering inhales, followed swiftly by a sneeze so loud that it reverberates throughout the cavern.

All of the grass goes flying off at once, leaving behind a very normal looking (and enthused) Leni.

"Did you see that!? What did you do? What did I do!? I wanna do it again!"
(Leni)
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[02:53] "Ah, there ya are. Glad the grass decided to let ya go. S'a good thing you ain't allergic." In general, he would imagine being a druid with something like a grass or pollen allergy has to be a living nightmare. A living nightmare that nobody should actually have to suffer through. "I, uh. Channeled my mana? Usin' the star's help?"

Without another word, he indulges in Leni's question again, extending a palm out to her. This time he's steeled for whatever weird hullabaloo happens this time, and thus manages to maintain a better throughline of concentration. Celestially-aspected mana, and a great sum of it, begins to channel towards Leni's circuitry once more.

"Just concentrate. Focus on the life around ya workin' its magic through you. Maybe... on them trees back there?" It was a small wonder that they actually grew so strong under these conditions. Maybe there were faint traces ofsunlight breaking through the firmament - it was too hard to discern as yet.
(Armondt)
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[02:58] Armondt, the patient vagabond, indulges and facilitates her shenanigans. Or are they studies? Perhaps a little bit of both. Whatever they are, Leni's having a fantastic time of it.

This time around she actually closes her eyes to really feel out the trees in the back of the cavern. Why were they there? How did they get there? How far below into the soil did their roots grow? What was the nature of their essence? She's already fantastic about asking questions, what it boils down to now is asking the right ones.

A celestial jolt gives her circuits a little nudge to, a magical cattle prodding, which fuels the work of just whatever it is she's intending. There's an echoing crackle that starts at the tip of her toes and crawls its way up to her head. In patches her skin becomes rough, jagged, and unmistakably bark-like. From the side of her noggin an entire branch sprouts, but only on that one side. A single, pitiful leaf grows from it.

"How about now? Did it work!?"
(Leni)
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[03:06] Though the indulgence might have come from a bit of column A and B, Armondt was no less delighted to have a hand in helping her figure things out for herself. While he might have been trying to guide as well as assist, the onus of actual experimentation lie solely on her.

It seems that the theory was actually bearing fruit - in its own little way, nature was indeed working its way through her. It... might have had something to be dseired here or there, but nobody could deny her spirit nor enthusiasm. "Might be courtin' disaster here, but let's just see..." One hand remains outstretched to continue feeding mana into her circuits, while the other reached forward to rap at the most stubborn-looking patch of bark that manifests.

The pulse of mana quickens a little, and Armondt nods. "Seems so."
(Armondt)
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[03:13] Knock knock. Leni opens her eyes and peers down into the water. Most people looking down and seeing such things would die of fright, shock, or embarrassment. The training nature magi's only hazard is a heart attack from over-excitement.

"HaHA! It works! I got LEAVES!"

Leaf, technically, but she's never really been one for semantics. There's only so much she can do to maintain the transformation and her energy though. Each has to dwindle at some point. With a yawn the bark starts to fall off in layers like peeling skin. The single leaf flits lazily to the ground and the branch it sprouted from withers to little more than a twig before snapping free and descending to the grass.

"Whoa, that stuff is hard! Thanks, Arm!"

Even if she's getting tuckered she's got enough left in the tank to express her gratitude.
(Leni)
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[03:21] There would be no admitting that Armondt was just a teensy bit taken aback by how enthusiastically Leni was reacting to being part-tree, but the sentiment was certainly there. He couldn't totally understand it himself, but she was quite clearly learning something from the experience. He might be able to stake a claim on his own little patch in the stars, but she was starting to show off a certain relationship with the earth that few could claim to have.

"Heh. I get it. Hard." He pauses. "Like bark." It's in this moment that the star chooses to stop sending him that steady stream of mana and just let him dwell on it. Let him think about what he's said and done, and whether or not he feels sorry as a result. He lazily watched as the bark and leaves sloughed off - it made sense. Not everybody in Myllenoris was a walking tree.

In fact, he was pretty sure not one of them were.

Armondt belted out a hearty yawn, before just cozying himself against the grass overlooking the river. They were already there. "Good to see you're pickin' somethin' up from this. I figured it'd just be a lark, but... hey, ya managed to actually set up a pretty nice connection with nature here, huh?"
(Armondt)
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[03:27] The transformation was pivotal. It was proof of concept of what Asta had spoke. Maybe she was starting to grasp onto something, or even stumbled into it. But, more key to it, it brought with it a new and strange sensation she couldn't quite place or understand. It was a fresh mystery, a yarn to follow.

And what wrong is there in becoming more closely tied to the plant life she holds so dearly? Not one bit, and Leni won't allow anyone to tell her differently.

"-Oh, yeah! I ain't even mean it like that, ha!" she laughs, flopping back to finally sit for a change on the lush carpet under her.

"I. I actually did! Huh. I dunno. Maybe there's other stuff I can do too."

She yawns, he yawns, she yawns again. It's contagious as she settles down and sinks further and further onto the ground.

"Being like a tree makes me tired. Are trees always tired?..."
(Leni)