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tonithegreatTrillium was the most ephemeral of the spirits gathered in the yard. She was not the youngest by any stretch of the imagination, but she was slight and her outline was faint- barely discernible against the backdrop of the nandina thicket that bordered the house. As English Ivy watched her, she addressed Bee Balm, whose outline was much clearer.
“If we don’t get some rain before the Corn Moon,” said Trillium, the lines on her face almost deepening with the words, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to make much of a showing this spring. I haven’t got any of that irrigation help that you ladies of the front yard benefit from.”
Trillium’s shoulders straightened and Ivy could see that under her seedy armor, shaped like her leaves, those shoulders were thin, but wiry still with muscle. Trillium had been on the lot for a long time. Longer than most of the shrubby plants. But the recent changes to the backyard weren’t helping her.
Bee Balm laughed a little ruefully. “I wouldn’t call what they do for me irrigation,” she said, smoothing her hands over the tiers of her skirts, which were green and white with jagged purple slashes of color overlaid around her waist. “It’s more the occasional splash when they remember that there are still some plants they care a little bit about in the front. I mean, I appreciate that they mow around me instead of through me, but they are not making it easy for me.”
“It isn’t easy for any of us,” said Cedar, her wild green hair forking into a thicket of platelets around her head. Ivy could see chartreuse and black lines twining across Cedar’s arms and face, constricting her burnished skin in what appeared to be a painful way. The shadows under Cedar’s eyes were like dark bruises. The pattern of the lines was a familiar one to Ivy, rather like her own growth pattern- and she shrank back a little more toward the house. But then she steeled herself. She had shared the side yard with Cedar for many years, but she’d never climbed onto Cedar’s person. They competed for nutrients, sure, but she’d never actually tried to strangle the fledgling tree.
“Indeed, this has been a year unlike any other,” rumbled Basswood, and Ivy shrank again as the tree’s personification joined Cedar and Bee and Trillium in the side-yard clearing. Basswood was easily twice the size of any of the others, but even in the faint light of the waning crescent moon Ivy could see that Bass’s head was grossly misshapen now. One of her arms terminated just below the shoulder, hidden beneath her tunic of unevenly lobed leaves, and the misshapen side of her face was mercifully masked in tannish-grey bark to hide whatever features may have been left underneath, “and I fear that we may actually succumb to the new threat if everything continues the way it seems to be moving.”
Basswood’s personification turned her back on the part of the backyard where two of her trunks were splayed, one of them still sitting as it had fallen across the back yard when the tornados pulled it over, and the other cut up into chunks that still hadn’t been moved. Ivy had twined her way up Basswood before, and she remained in awe of the tree’s strength. They had always gotten along. Ivy decided it was time for her to make herself known to this council.
She took a deep breath and cleared her throat, and she bowed toward Bass as she stepped out into the clearing with her friends materializing beside her.
“Good evening, my native sisters,” she began as they turned toward her with surprised faces, “We want to join your conclave tonight, not because we hope to overrun you, but because we think that there could be strength in combining our might against a common enemy.”
Cedar stared at Nandina, who had materialized bright and whole, green berries bouncing along her bare arms and legs beside Ivy. Nandina was almost the size of Basswood now. The native plant avatars all looked at her in disgust.
“You must listen to Ivy, ladies,” Nandina intoned.
Beside her Spiderwort was short and stocky, but her powerful build looked bright and healthy despite the drought that was plaguing them all. Spider’s skin was a deep green, and her little white blooms danced around throughout her long deep green hair. Spider’s voice was high but strong, “We come to you because there is a greater enemy in the yard than any of us, one that we would unite with you to overcome.”
A hot wind shifted the leaves of the plants in the backyard as their avatars stared at each other, each taking the measure of the others. Away to the south, heat lightning danced in the clouds and then, abruptly thunder rumbled as the wind picked up. From all around them, the avatars began to hear dry, crackling cackles that gained in strength and volume.
It was clear that skunk vine was everywhere, and she could obviously hear them.
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tonithegreat is dreaming of fae costume details like she's at DragonCon instead of sitting home in the middle of a yard that badly needs her help! She hopes you'll consider her kindly when the poll goes up for this write off!
“If we don’t get some rain before the Corn Moon,” said Trillium, the lines on her face almost deepening with the words, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to make much of a showing this spring. I haven’t got any of that irrigation help that you ladies of the front yard benefit from.”
Trillium’s shoulders straightened and Ivy could see that under her seedy armor, shaped like her leaves, those shoulders were thin, but wiry still with muscle. Trillium had been on the lot for a long time. Longer than most of the shrubby plants. But the recent changes to the backyard weren’t helping her.
Bee Balm laughed a little ruefully. “I wouldn’t call what they do for me irrigation,” she said, smoothing her hands over the tiers of her skirts, which were green and white with jagged purple slashes of color overlaid around her waist. “It’s more the occasional splash when they remember that there are still some plants they care a little bit about in the front. I mean, I appreciate that they mow around me instead of through me, but they are not making it easy for me.”
“It isn’t easy for any of us,” said Cedar, her wild green hair forking into a thicket of platelets around her head. Ivy could see chartreuse and black lines twining across Cedar’s arms and face, constricting her burnished skin in what appeared to be a painful way. The shadows under Cedar’s eyes were like dark bruises. The pattern of the lines was a familiar one to Ivy, rather like her own growth pattern- and she shrank back a little more toward the house. But then she steeled herself. She had shared the side yard with Cedar for many years, but she’d never climbed onto Cedar’s person. They competed for nutrients, sure, but she’d never actually tried to strangle the fledgling tree.
“Indeed, this has been a year unlike any other,” rumbled Basswood, and Ivy shrank again as the tree’s personification joined Cedar and Bee and Trillium in the side-yard clearing. Basswood was easily twice the size of any of the others, but even in the faint light of the waning crescent moon Ivy could see that Bass’s head was grossly misshapen now. One of her arms terminated just below the shoulder, hidden beneath her tunic of unevenly lobed leaves, and the misshapen side of her face was mercifully masked in tannish-grey bark to hide whatever features may have been left underneath, “and I fear that we may actually succumb to the new threat if everything continues the way it seems to be moving.”
Basswood’s personification turned her back on the part of the backyard where two of her trunks were splayed, one of them still sitting as it had fallen across the back yard when the tornados pulled it over, and the other cut up into chunks that still hadn’t been moved. Ivy had twined her way up Basswood before, and she remained in awe of the tree’s strength. They had always gotten along. Ivy decided it was time for her to make herself known to this council.
She took a deep breath and cleared her throat, and she bowed toward Bass as she stepped out into the clearing with her friends materializing beside her.
“Good evening, my native sisters,” she began as they turned toward her with surprised faces, “We want to join your conclave tonight, not because we hope to overrun you, but because we think that there could be strength in combining our might against a common enemy.”
Cedar stared at Nandina, who had materialized bright and whole, green berries bouncing along her bare arms and legs beside Ivy. Nandina was almost the size of Basswood now. The native plant avatars all looked at her in disgust.
“You must listen to Ivy, ladies,” Nandina intoned.
Beside her Spiderwort was short and stocky, but her powerful build looked bright and healthy despite the drought that was plaguing them all. Spider’s skin was a deep green, and her little white blooms danced around throughout her long deep green hair. Spider’s voice was high but strong, “We come to you because there is a greater enemy in the yard than any of us, one that we would unite with you to overcome.”
A hot wind shifted the leaves of the plants in the backyard as their avatars stared at each other, each taking the measure of the others. Away to the south, heat lightning danced in the clouds and then, abruptly thunder rumbled as the wind picked up. From all around them, the avatars began to hear dry, crackling cackles that gained in strength and volume.
It was clear that skunk vine was everywhere, and she could obviously hear them.
_____________________________________________
tonithegreat is dreaming of fae costume details like she's at DragonCon instead of sitting home in the middle of a yard that badly needs her help! She hopes you'll consider her kindly when the poll goes up for this write off!![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2024-09-02 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-02 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-02 02:09 am (UTC)Your stanza of FOMO for DragonCon is felt. PAX is also happening and here I am, at home in NYC being a caretaker, and feeling what I am missing and thinking of ways to still have the experience at home by spending money.
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Date: 2024-09-02 08:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-02 08:51 am (UTC)Well done! Brava! <3
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Date: 2024-09-02 05:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 05:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 11:38 pm (UTC)Great and timely entry.
Dan