Greening up the Greenhouse

[springforth]

Who: Persephone (Open)
Where: Greenhouse mostly
When: Month Egret. Day 21
What: Perse has a bad morning and decides to be productive to make herself feel better
Warnings: None so far


OOC: Feel free to reply to any part of this, in the cabin or before she starts planting

She's spent longer on this train now than she'd been in Olympus. It doesn't really feel possible that it all happened in such a short time. It feels even less possible that she could be here months. Years? She stays curled up in her bunk that morning, staring at the wall. Crying maybe. A little. She's already had her birthday on here. What more is she missing at home? Nothing, because time doesn't move there like everyone said, or has Artemis been looking for her desperately. Would she have told her mom? Would Hades notice if she stoppped showing up to the internship?

Generally speaking, it's a bad morning. She drifts to a late breakfast and finally ends up in the greenhouse. There's a long moment where she wants to tear it all down. Her fists clench at the sight of her inane roses, her eyes fill red at the reminder that the greenhouse came with her arrival. She wants to break the walls, tear down the roses, claw up the burgeoning growth, destroy the smells and sights that remind her of her home, of her dreams. But she takes a deep breath. Hands relax, her eyes clear. Put into work. Wrath isn't helping anyone.


She sifts through the seeds, picking out ones for vegetables and fruits, leaving the ones for more decorative things to the side. Plenty of people have used this place for flowers. Herself included. Carefully, she trails one set of seeds in a thin line along the edge of a raised bed and covered them with soil. With a hand to the soil, she takes a deep breath and with a soft pink glow, plants curl up and out, unwinding leaves and blossoming. It continues until the blossoms fall and red strawberries hang fat and glistening. She picks one and holds it in her teeth as she stands to start the process all over.

Comments

[marriedanidiot]

"They've always said, as fellow creations, they are not to be worshiped." She nods.

"Respected, yes, of course - we live in their lands, after all, and one must respect a storm, for example, for it's sheer power."

[springforth]

"It sounds very different from the world I'm from. But--I'm sure it works for you. Have you met them? I mean--do they live with you, or to themselves?" It's honestly fascinating to think of someone like a god not wanting to be worshiped.

[marriedanidiot]

"Oh yes! It is their land, after all, although they 'live' mostly in Valmar, insomuch as the represenations of the world can be said to live anywhere, and that city is apart from ours. I studied myself with Lord Aule, the Mountain Builder, as did my father and my husband, and I know one of my law-brothers is quite familiar with Lord Ulmo of the Waters as well as Lady Uinen of the Seas and Lord Osse of the Storms, for his wife, the Lady Earwen, is from Alqualonde originally, and the Teleri love best of all the ocean and the powers that dwell therein."

[springforth]

Persephone listens to the listing of various names and epithets. Of the Waters, of the Seas. Of the Storms. Her lips curl up into a half smile as she intently takes it all in.

"It's so strange that they're so open and near you. I can't imagine. What did you learn from the Mountain Builder?"

[marriedanidiot]

"Sculpture." She laughs. "Well, more specifically, how to listen to the heart of the earth, and the songs of the stones. One can't carve well without knowing those. My father and husband are his true students, but the forge was never my calling."

[springforth]

It's hard not to pair those she speaks of to the gods Persephone has known her whole life. People she's met and those she's heard of. It's enough to set her questioning, comparing the pantheons. But she holds it back.

"Sculpture has never been my strong suit. Do you carve wood or stone? I could get you some wood if you wanted to keep up your skills as well."

[marriedanidiot]

"Both, although I do favor stone." She admits with a smile.

"I've experimented with various forms over the years - I even used metal at one point."

[springforth]

"Do you enjoy sculpting anything in particular? I know some people have themes to their art and others hop from thing to thing, finding something new to explore everytime."

[marriedanidiot]

"Oh, that's definitely me." She smiles. "I started off in figures - that's still what I'm most famous for, and what most of my comissions are. I do enjoy it! But I've branched out to try all sorts - abstract art is particularly good for emotional days, I've found."

[springforth]

As Persephone pushes back a lock of hair, a trail of tiny white flower follows in her hand's wake, curling up one side of her head.

"I don't even really know what an abstract sculpture would look like. I mean--I've sort of seen abstract paintings but they aren't exactly something you could sculpt."

[marriedanidiot]

"That's the joy of it!" She gestures animatedly.

"They can be anything you want! A shape, a twist of metal... I want to try working with ice, one day. We had snow here, but I only did snowmen, as it was my first time with the material. Ice is interesting because of its ephemeral nature."

[springforth]

"But wouldn't it just melt away? I mean, I sort of understand, a lot of the work I do is--ephemeral. But even my flowers last longer than ice. Wouldn't it be upsetting to put so much work into something only to have it fall apart in a day?"

[marriedanidiot]

"Yes! But that would be the point, the sheer transient nature of it. To create something that would vanish, never to be exactly replicated again..."

[springforth]

"I'm afraid I can't really understand it. It's--I hate to put as much work into something only to have it amount to nothing. I always liked my powers because I could see something--something like tangible. And useful, flowers bring fruit and so on."

[marriedanidiot]

"No, that's fair." She smiles. "I suspect it's a very artist type of mindset."

[springforth]

"Probably. I don't really know many artist types." And the one she does is not a great example of them. "But I'm sure it makes perfect sense to you! It's just the way your mind works."

[marriedanidiot]

"That's probably accurate." She laughs softly. "Even amongst my own kin I'm considered rather eccentric."

Although not as much as her husband.

[springforth]

"Oh, I can understand the feeling." She smiles slightly, sitting back on her heels and looking around at the work she's done so far.

"If it makes you happy and fufilled, that's what you should do."

[marriedanidiot]

"Exactly." Nerdanel agrees with a smile. "I am fortunate to find my Art early, though. I knew what called to me very early - not all are as fortunate!"

[springforth]

Persephone opens her mouth for an easy reply, then thinks better, trailing her hands in the soil.

"How young were you? Did you always know that's what you wanted?"

[marriedanidiot]

She considers.

"I must have been in my second decade, I think." She muses. "Father let me follow him into the forges as soon as I was old enough to be trusted, but the song of fire and metal never called to me as stone did. I did try - father loved the forges so. But Lord Aule told me that he felt my calling was with him, yes, but not as father's was. And he was right!"

[springforth]

As a teenager. Persephone feels a little disappointed but keeps it to herself, only showing in the slight downturn of her smile. The rest helps a little.

"It didn't disappoint your father? Or was it close enough to what he did to make him happy?"

[marriedanidiot]

"Oh, no." She shakes her head. "Father was just happy I found my Art! And relatively early, at that. Some take until their first century, or even more."

[springforth]

The way she says art, like it's important, with that emphasis, gives her pause. Her questioning turns to a slightly different angle.

"Does everyone like you have an art? What happens when you don't? Or if you did and then wanted to do something else anyways."

[marriedanidiot]

Nerdanel considers that.

"Everyone has one." She says slowly. "But it may not be apparent - nor traditional! We Noldor certainly encourage our folk into certain streams, but it is not unusual for someone to not find their calling within such streams. Sometimes, what someone's Call is, is something so different it's never been done before! But there's nothing to say that all you need do for the rest of your life is your particular Art! One would get bored, after all. But everyone comes back to it, in the end. Even if it's only one part of the whole, it is still a necessary part."