Oh, Ah, Hello Neighbor! [Caro]

“Lelianna?”

...Well so much for that plan!

Since she'd of course been spotted, the redhead slowed down to a halt. She winced and her shoulders rode high with guilt at being caught. At this point she was convinced she just had the worst luck when it came to things like this. She always got caught! Or walked in on! Or found in an embarrassing situation! Every time! Was one of the gods just getting a kick out of it? Maybe it was Arecia...The hermit wouldn't put it past the woods.

With that rather odd sounding thought, Lelianna slowly turned around.

Caroline had trailed off when she noticed the flowers. Which was a good thing! Right? Slowly Lelianna approached again. Like a little kid coming forward after stealing from the cookie jar. Except this was technically a good thing she'd done and really she shouldn't be feeling guilty at all. Oh well. When Caroline questioned why exactly the magi had done this, said magi blushed. "Ummm...W-Well I.....Y-you really seemed to like this particular flower so...s-so I thought it might be nice to...y'know...grow you some?" She finished lamely, watching as Caroline disappeared in her tent for a moment.

Lelianna thought nothing of it, instead glancing at the flowers she'd just planted. Looking at those helped her gather herself so she wasn't such a stammering fool. "That and....I guess I just wanted to give you something. I don't know." She kept staring at the flowers. That helped her calm down enough. "I-I'm just...I never really had a neighbor before so I....thought I should do something nice is all. I-I guess I'm just excited and figured I should...get you a gift to brighten the place up. A...tentwarming gift?" Though her cheeks were still red, now she looked pensive. "Or a....groundwarming...gift? Umm....hmmm...." After a second she shook her head. "Uhh...A-anyways I ah....Sorry I probably should've asked permission first."

Oh thank the gods she actually liked them. A sigh of relief slipped out of Lelianna's lips in a rush. The form of the magi visible relaxed. There was, for a second there, real worry that she'd messed up some how. Maybe she'd gotten the wrong flower? Or maybe it was in the wrong color.

"You’re right; these are my favorites.”
Thank the gods for small favors.

Although it was kind of disheartening to hear Caroline wasn't used to getting gifts. Lelianna was but then again she was a hermit so...yeah. But Caroline? She seemed so sweet it was really a shame. "I uh....I try." Came the response to the compliment, keeping that darn blush firmly planted (ha) on her face. She really did try though. No, seriously. She had no idea what she was doing most of the time but damn it she would try her hardest. It was the thought that counted, right? Gods she hoped so...

Finally Lelianna looked up from the flowers when Caroline asked her next question. How did she grow the plants? Easy enough to answer. "Oh! Well my powers really help me there. Ah, let me show you." Relaxing a bit since this was an easy topic for her, Lelianna pulled out a seed from one of her pouches and put it on the ground. Crouched there the redhead focused on the seedling and extended her power. Though she really didn't need to, Lelianna kept her hands close to the plant as it grew out from the ground swiftly in a burst of lilac. A smile spread across her face as the redhead gently touched one of the newly formed blooms. "My magic makes them grow faster, but I like maintaining them by hand mostly." Meanwhile the hermit's green gaze flicked between her spontaneous addition to Caroline's "garden" and the morning glories. Whoops. "Ah....sorry let me just..."

Focusing on her power once more, Lelianna dug her hands into the ground where the miniature tree has just started to grown. Carefully she removed it altogether, roots and all, from the ground and held it in one of her hands. "S-Sorry. Didn't mean to add that. U-Unless you'd like to keep it?" As she held it the little sapling-like plant began to shift and grow, snaking around the arm that held it until it was firmly attached to Lelianna's limb and basically worked as one hell of a sleeve decoration. On the hermit's part, she didn't really seem worried. If Caroline did still want it, Lelianna would gladly replant it into the ground. Otherwise she turned her head towards it slightly."Sorry boo; I'll find you someplace good. She muttered under her breath to the colorful thing before realizing; hey, Caroline was still there.

At first Lelianna had no idea why Caroline was approaching her. However the moment the cyborg asked to be taught, the magi froze.

She wanted her to what?
Did...
Did someone actually ask Lelianna to teach them how to garden?

The effects were slow at first. Initially all Lelianna could do was stare, her voice temporarily paralyzed with shock. After a few heartbeats, her brain would process the question again and actually register it within the girl. Then her face would react: first her eyes widened, the emerald green staring with a hint of disbelief before that turned to realization and that turned to exponentially growing giddiness and excitement. At that stage her lips would tug upwards until her face was nearly split with a smile. Simultaneously, the rest of her would respond. Flowers bright and plentiful started to bloom all over the magi's hair as her excitement started to reach it's peak. Unlike last time it didn't form a wreath. It was more of a curtain really, covering the redhead's locks in a wild array of color. If the small lilac tree was still in her hand her happiness would accidentally extend to it as well. Now the magi was absolutely covered in colorful plantlife and feeling far, far too giddy for her own good.

"Really!?" Goodness it nearly came out as a squeak. Lelianna tried biting her lip (or covering the smile with her free hand if she had it) to stay even remotely calm so she could actually respond. Yet it was in vain. Someone actually wanted to learn about gardening! And have Lelianna teach them! Never in a million years did she think something like that would happen! But now here was Caroline! The hermit felt far, far too energized for her own good to the point the surrounding greenery (even if she hadn't been holding the lilac tree) were starting to react in kind and grow further.

"I would love to!!!" She exclaimed. Wait was that too loud? "O-Oh sorry I-I'm just...Yes! I-I'd...I-I-I'd love to teach you i-if you really want to!" The words came out in a stuttering mess but this time due to her happy jitters rather than awkwardness. Which surely would come later when she realized how strongly she was reacting to this.

For goodness sake, you damn hippie, calm down.

Happy? Impossibly overjoyed was probably a better fit for the situation. Because oh boy was Lelianna excited.

At Caroline's wish she'd put the lilac tree down. However that didn't save it from the burst of excited energy that surged out of the redhead. Or should we say flowerhead at this point. The little blooms were crowding into any pocket of space that was available for them to sprout from. Trimming her hair after this was definitely going to be a long and tedious process. However at the current moment in time the flowers were forgotten. The most important thing at the moment was that Lelianna actually had a willing person to teach. maybe a little downtrodden and doubtful from the sounds of it, but willing all the same.

That was all Lelianna needed.

"That's ok! We can start off small! Oh jeez..." The redhead need a second to take a breath and calm herself. It...didn't really work that much. "Um...Okay. Ah...Oh goodness where should we..." Should they go back to Lelianna's garden to try first? Should Lelianna try teach her here? Which would be a better environment? The thoughts were flying in Lelianna's brain so quickly they were hard to catch. Eventually she latched onto one that made sense and ran with it. "M-maybe we should head back to my cabin first and get seeds. Start you off with something easier to grow." Whether she was talking to Caroline or herself was sort of a mystery. However she started backing up and gesturing for Caroline to follow. "Yeah, that sounds like it would be the best bet. Here, I'll take you!"

Hopefully Caroline was keeping up with the hermit's energized notions and motions because she was already heading off towards her house.

The pace was set pretty quick. Not to be rude or anything but the magi was running on sheer good vibes at the moment. It was like the first day of spring had come all over again. Her fingers itched; she felt horribly happy; the need to run coursed through every fiber of her so strongly. But no no, she couldn't dash off and leave Caroline behind like that. So the hermit barely managed to restrain herself from outright sprinting. Though there was a noticeable bounce in her stride as she took Caroline into her garden and towards its center. As they walked through the tangle of the wild, plants were still reacting to the redhead's mood. It was inadvertent really.

With the rate Lelianna was going at they reached her home in no time. The cabin was as overgrown as ever; man-shaped wood merged with living tree and greenery. However with the seasons changing it too was starting to bloom and come to "life." Lelianna brightened (if that was even possible at this point) when it came into view. "I think I know just the plant to start you off! A flower of course. And fortunately aquilegia are really easy and really pretty to maintain and grow!" The redhead rattled off over her shoulder as she headed inside. She managed to bump her antlers (again) off the doorframe but this time she barely spared it more than an "ow!" and a rub of the hit bone as she continued on.

The inside was just as overgrown as the outside, and showed some sign of this place having been derelict before Lelianna found it and nature took over. One wall was actually a tree and a good portion of the ceiling was made up of its branches interconnecting to fill in the space. Vines and branches and plants grew along most of the interior too, similarly blooming now in the warmer season like the garden outside. Though truthfully this place was just as much the garden as any other part. Lelianna went over to one section, where numerous bags and sacks laid in some kind of order with small writing on some parts of them. There were easily hundreds of the things. "Ah, give me just a moment I'll find it."

Caroline was right; the redhead practically was prancing at this point. Maybe it was due to her tie with her deer aspect or maybe just sheer force of good feels. Whatever the case she was moving and doing so happily. "Aquilegia is very pretty. It can come in all sorts of different colors; even combinations! That and they set seeds so they'll basically renew themselves once you get some established." The hermit explained while they moved. When they got inside the energy didn't dissipate. The hermit was busy rifling through the different labeled bags to find exactly the right seeds she wanted, humming a little all the while and setting her staff aside.

Minorly distracted, Lelianna only half turned her head towards Caroline's voice. "Hmm? Oh! Thank you, but Arecia-- er, the woods had mostly reclaimed this place when I got here. I only shaped a bit of it." And indeed there were parts that looked like they had been shaped by an earth magi's influence. Branches along the walls conveniently formed into shelves. The crisscrossing of the foliage above so perfectly making up for the missing section of ceiling. The lack of obstructing plant-life sprouting in the middle of the cabin. Clearly the redhead had done something to help make the shelter what it was now. As she had said, however, most of it was already shaped by the gradual takeover of nature itself.

"Aha!" With a triumphant exclamation the hermit whipped around with a bag in her arms. "Found it! Now we can-- Stewart!" As the redhead had been searching, the purplette had coincidentally walked right under where her sloth friend had been residing. Right when she turned to display her find to Caroline, Lelianna got to see the sloth suddenly drop from it's perch to land right on top of Caroline's head. Dropping the bag for the moment, the magi rushed over. Hopefully neither of them were hurt!

"I'm sorry! Usually he pulls stunts like that with me. I've been trying to teach him not to for, ah, obvious reasons." Namely pointy antler one and pointy antler two. Stopping before Caroline, the hermit bit her lip in thought for a second. "Um...please excuse me for a sec. I just need to..." Trailing off Lelianna carefully reached up and detached the little creature from Caroline's head. Then she held the sloth in her arms, huffing a little. "Stewart! You can't go doing that to guests." Scolded, the sloth slowly turned it's head to look at the magi who now cradled it in her arms. One lone claw reached up and tapped her on the nose. Lelianna huffed again but now she was fighting off a bit of a smile. "You can't just boop me on the nose and make everything better every time! That's hardly fair..." Mumbling the last part Lelianna soon remembered: Caroline.

"Oh! Um...this is Stewart." She explained, smiling a little sheepishly. "I found him since he was young and well...We've been cabin-mates ever since." Turning her green eyes back to the sloth, Lelianna said: "Stewart you should at least be polite enough to say hi to the person you used as a landing cushion!" The sloth gradually turn it's head to look at Caroline for a few seconds before looking back at the magi and starting to wrap around her. Now Lelianna really couldn't fight off a smile. "You....You fuzz butt. No manners at all."

Wanna know one quick way to shut Lelianna up quick?
Detach your head; works like a charm.

Despite having seen it occur once before, the magi couldn't help but pause seeing Caroline's head come off. Maybe it was normal to Caroline but for someone where it was normally fatal for that to happen...yeah Lelianna seriously doubted she was ever going to get used to seeing that. It was thanks mainly to her energy infused and excited nature that she was able to move on after only a second of wide-eyed shock. Stewart certainly helped her focus on something else as she scolded the little thing. By then Caroline had also reattached her head, so that helped too.

Detachable heads. Gods, what a concept.

"I don't believe so." Lelianna confessed with a little shrug. In all her years staying in Arecia, she'd never seen another sloth. Though she couldn't claim to have combed every rock and tree and creature, she'd seen a fair amount. The only way she'd figured out how to care for the little fellow was by visiting Haven and asking someone to look up some information. After that she'd figured everything else out on her own with trial and error. "Truth be told I...I don't really know where Stewart came from." One way or another though, the sloth had found his way to the woods and then into Lelianna's arms. her smile definitely grew fond thinking of that.

Though they had flowers to grow!

Remembering that little detail from Caroline's prompting, green eyes snapped back up. "Oh! Rightrightright." Pushing her flower-covered hair to one side (and semi-registering how many had grown) the hermit carefully maneuvered Stewart until the sloth was clinging onto her back like a backpack. Stewart's head rested on Lelianna's shoulder as she hurried over to re-retrieved the bag she'd dropped. Then she happily showed it to Caroline. "Here we are! We'll just have to go find a nice open space to place it so I can show you! Oh and I'll probably need to get you a pot to hold the first flower in. Here please hold this." Once more set at 11 speed, the magi put the bag in Caroline's hands (whether she was ready or not) before hurrying over to one of the living extensions of her home.

Reaching out she lightly touched the wood and whispered a few words. As she withdrew her hand a growth of wood followed it and she slowly shaped it into a decent size little bowl. After it was fully formed she carefully snapped the piece off and returned the living branch to normal with a grateful smile. "Thank you." She said sincerely before moving back over to Caroline. The grateful smile once again returned to beaming and clearly happy. "Now we can go! I'll take that; you can carry this since you'll keep it!" In a swift motion the magi was already trading the bag in Caroline's hands for the newly formed wooden bowl. Then next thing you knew the magi was heading back out the door again.

"This way! I think I know just the spot! I was planning on extending the garden a little anyways, so you can help me!" Even though it technically didn't really need any more extending. However the redhead just didn't know when to quit and hey, no one had ever tried to stop her so...she didn't. Now she happily "pranced" (even with the bag in her hands) off to find them a spot to plant. "There will be plenty of room for you to learn the basics and everything. I'll take you step-by-step if you really want." She called back over her shoulder, her pace once more fast unintentionally. probably if Caroline looked she could catch glimpses of the sloth hanging on underneath that curtain of red hair and vibrant flowers from time to time.

Stewart certainly was content where he was. Lelianna took as well care of him as she did her garden. But neither of them had much time to dwell on it since Lelianna was already moving at sonic speed and out the door before much more conversation could be had. Quickly the two made their way through the wild lands of Lelianna's garden. Still going on those good vibes, Lelianna's power was still making some of the plants they passed react. Not as much as eariler but certainly enough to be noticeable.

"I'll try my best to teach you." Lelianna promised with a bright smile thrown over her shoulder. "You'll grow something I swear!" With that proclamation the two continued on past the plethora of greenery that made up the earth magi's domain. Eventually they came to the edge where the vegetation was not quite so thick. Lelianna finally slowed down her pace to glance around and find a spot. There was a bit of free earth in one spot, so she walked her way over and dropped to her knees in the dirt without a note of hesitation. "Here we are!" She called back at Caroline, shifting a little to be comfortable. Gesturing to the spot next to her, Lelianna reached within the bag and draw out a seed.

"Ok! So this is an aquilegia seed. They're really, really pretty when they bloom." Placing the seed on the ground, Lelianna took a breath and then lifted her hand. As she did a green tendril of vegetation followed her hand until it began to bloom into a flower. She halted as the seed pods started to form too, looking over at Caroline. "See? they also tend to cross pollinate so if you have a bunch of different colors they can end up combining! Now here," Reaching into her bag again the hermit pulled out another seed. A seed which she offered to the purplette beside her. "Now I'll admit that these on their own can take a while to bloom, so I'll help you a little with that, but ah...let's start with the basics." Turning a bit more towards Caroline, Lelianna got right into it.

"Plants have a lot of different preferences for how they like to be treated. Like the aquilegia, for instance, you really don't need to bury much. It just needs a bit of dirt put over it so it can get better sun." Taking out another seed, Lelianna showed her. "After that it needs plenty of water to keep the ground moist." It was at this point Lelianna realized she'd just been going on for a while. "Oh! Um, did you have any questions?"