[EP] hands in the dirt, head in the sun

[st_rigaetsica]

After Vax'ildan caught her giving some of the plants a little nudge, Joanna was being more careful and not using magic as she tended the plantings. Getting her hands in the dirt and around growing things was grounding in ways she needed, with or without magic.

"No. Thank you. I have all the towels I need." The staff's obsession with offering towels was beyond Joanna's understanding, but was easier to ignore than the lack of aura and their general vagueness. "The fuchsias could use some attention, though. I was going to get to them after I finished here, but you could take care of them." The groundskeeper looked at Joanna with confusion. "The fuchsias. Bushes... small, carmine-" With no signs the woman knew what Joanna was talking about, she shook her head. "I'm going to clean up this bed today. Maybe you could find another part of the grounds to tend?"

The groundskeeper toddled off to do... whatever it was she was going to do, and Joanna let out a sigh of disbelief before catching the eye of someone passing by. "I had middle school students who were easier to talk to."

Comments

[st_rigaetsica]

"The key and portal I encountered in the past were magical, yes." Kitty seemed very comfortable with the idea of aliens, and not bothered by discussions of magic. And she'd adapted quickly here. What was her life like before?

"Depending on your definition, we're all aliens here, whether we're different species or not. Humans," or those who appeared human, "from worlds other than Earth. Humans from Earths that aren't the same. Those who aren't human at all. And none of us belonging here.

"But you're right; I am not either of the species you mentioned."

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"Non-human aliens," Kitty amended agreeably. "It's weird not to have a stable frame of reference. At least the laws of physics seem to be the same." So far at least. "I guess it would be neat, like being Newton or Galileo to have to figure it all out from scratch, but right now science is the only thing I trust completely. I think I might be losing my mind if couldn't count on matter behaving the way I expect it to."

She brushed her hair back behind her ear, thoughtful for a moment, but then she shrugged. "Probably not. I grew up around people who can do everything from planar travel to mind-melding with machines. Nothing fazes me for long."

[st_rigaetsica]

"Your life before here sounds far stranger than mine. I'm fairly certain mind-melding with machines would do more than faze me for awhile." Joanna had certainly never attempted anything like that with her magic, nor heard of anyone who did.

"But I think I drove Ingrid to pulling out her hair before she could convince me to upgrade to a smartphone, so that might not be surprising."

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"Magic and technology don't always play nice together," Kitty said. "So that doesn't surprise me at all."