Plant Parenthood; Thursday [07/04].

[what_big_teeth]

Here, said she
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are the pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with the three staves, and here is the Wheel.
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and his card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see.

Eleanor had been (please maintain your shock) reading The Waste Land again, and this passage, in particular, was lingering with her that day as she headed into the shop with her grandmother's old tarot deck and a book on how to read them. Of course, she had a vague idea, but she'd been avoiding them, mostly, because of the horrible memories they brought with them.

(It was, after all, in reading Eleanor's tarot that Grandma Persephone had done the unthinkable and actually died.)

And she was feeling a little mixed about using them now, but with so much on her mind this past week...past couple weeks, really...she figured it would either ease her mind a little or be a complete waste of time, neither of which sounded to terrible, in the long run.

And so she settled in, took care of the immediate tasks of opening and a few customers who had come in, waiting for a moment when it was quiet to pull the cards out and start shuffling through them, cutting the deck. Laying them out with meticulous care. And then taking a moment to turn the first card and place it before her.

Immediately, the lines of consternation and dread were on her face as she hurriedly told herself that perhaps it wasn't as bad as it seemed. She quickly paged through the book to find and pour over its meaning.

"A sense of hedonism," she murmured, as her finger trailed along the page, "and a selfish desire for gratification... can also signal addiction, and in the context of love and relationships, co-dependency."

Well, that wasn't very...encouraging, but she cautiously had to admit it could be...accurate. She would reserve judgement until after seeing what the next card might say.

"....asks us to bring common sense, structure, discipline and logic to relationships and romance....represents someone...that may also have a hard time expressing their feelings."

She breathed out. "Yeah. Okay."

One more, and she was going to decide if she'd read enough and should just go back to work.

Disaster. Destruction.

"....of course it is."

But also?

"The old ways are no longer useful, and you must find another set of beliefs, values and processes to take their place. It may not be a relationship that is being broken down, but your perspective and understanding of the entire notion of what love means to you..."

Eleanor sat with that one for a long moment, reminding herself that she said she was going to be done after that last card. But maybe, just maybe, she really should do just one more....

Plant Parenthood is open!

Comments

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Hey, Eleanor!" Arden said, ducking into the store. It was weird how she was usually not around on Thursdays - recovery from Shenanigans, probably - but since it was break week, she was out and about a bit today. "We talked about air plants one time, right? I had some time today and figured I'd drop by and see if you had any I could grab for my room?" She gave Eleanor a grin. "I promise to kill mine strictly less than Kamala does."

[what_big_teeth]

It was kind of weird how things worked out like that, wasn't it? But Eleanor was glad to get to see Arden manage to make it into the shop now, and not just because it saved her from getting sucked into the trap of trying to determine her fate by flipping yet another card.

(She could see why people liked it; the interpretations could be kind of addicting).

"Hey, Arden," she greeted back, shuffling the cards and any potential glimpses into her future aside for now so she could get up from behind the counter and better show her what she'd come in for. "But you know, Kamala's only killed one of the plants she's gotten from me," that she knew of, anyway!, "so that's not that hard of a goal to reach. But come on. We've got all the air plants over here." She started heading over that way. "If you wanted to have a look and see if any of them seem like a good fit."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Thanks!" Arden said, happily following Eleanor over towards the air plants. "I'm thinking of grabbing a handful. Still deciding whether to put them in a line above the door of my balcony, or kinda scatter them around my room."

[what_big_teeth]

"I can see benefits of both," Eleanor said as she considered it, tilting her head as she pictured the options. "The first one is nice and orderly, but the other one just adds that nice little bit of plant life all around, you know? You could always start with that, see how well it's working out for you, and then add more above the door later."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Liking the cut of your job," Arden said, with a laugh. She started looking at the different varieties, trying to find the best ones to take home. "So how's tricks?"

Asking for no reason, obviously.

[what_big_teeth]

Eleanor smiled a little proudly at that response, then shrugged a little. "Pretty quiet today," she said, "but it usually is. Still, I'm feeling glad I decided to stay during the break week instead of trying to go home."

It was what she was used to after all, so she didn't even think about the possibility until a couple of days ago and wondered if she should have, but the prospect wasn't pleasant at all. Much better to have stayed.

"I had fun at your beach party, by the way," she added. "I really appreciate you inviting me."

Had she told Arden that already? She couldn't really recall, but she really did feel grateful for it, so it couldn't really be overstated, could it?

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Glad you had fun!" Arden said. "I'm trying to do a buncha stuff this summer, you know? Be social, make friends, all the stuff I never really got to do before I came here."

Whoops! Might be a bit of over share there, she was just gonna look at this plant really intently.

"You're on the group chat now, so anytime I'm doing something, you'll get the invite."

[what_big_teeth]

Overshare it might have been, but it seemed to have gotten a soft smile of understanding from Eleanor.

"Group chat?" she asked. "That's the phone thing, right? With the messages?"

She herself had been considering some of the plants thoughtfully, too, and pulled out one in particular, holding it up a little and out for Arden. "What about this one? It looks nice and healthy and robust. Granted, all the plants here tend to be like that. Nell is amazing at keeping them."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Exactly," Arden said. "The one I'm always spamming with invites to go places."

She admired the plant. "Pretty and healthy," she agreed. "Nell is Ms. Ingram?"

[what_big_teeth]

There was a slight pause, as Eleanor tried to decide if it was worth asking, but she figured she had a few more questions before Arden would start getting annoyed with her confusion on some words or phrasing, so better make the most of it.

"Spamming? And, yeah, Ms. Ingram, she owns the shop and was nice enough to hire me when I first started going to school here."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Sending a bunch of messages, usually in a short amount of time," Arden explained easily, seeming to have no problems answering Eleanor's questions. "I report on Ms. Ingram's Monday shift and her evening get togethers."

[what_big_teeth]

Sending a bunch of messages, usually in a short amount of time. Spamming. Eleanor nodded a little, then shook her head slightly, hoping she'd be able to remember that.

"That's right," she said. "Because you do some of the radio broadcasts, right? I'm really bad about keeping up with those. Even if the squirrels did bully me into doing it once."

Because they didn't want to 'waste one of the good ones on a boring day.'

Thanks, squirrels.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Yeah, Arden remembered that broadcast. "The squirrels are fucking dicks," she said. "They let me fuck around on air for like two minutes without telling me we were live. Do you know how much stupid shit you say and do in two minutes when you don't know anyone is listening?"

She was absolutely carrying a grudge.

[what_big_teeth]

"I think I have a pretty good idea, yeah," Eleanor admitted, a bit wryly, thinking of more than a few times when she'd said and done plenty of stupid shit in less than two minutes, even when she knew people were likely listening before. "But...if you're reporting on Monday's shift, then that means yours are Tuesday mornings? Same every week?"

If she made sure to always catch Arden's, she could probably start making a pretty good habit of listening more.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

And get introduced to modern music at the same time!

"Yup!" Arden said. She exchanged a knowing glance with Eleanor. "I was woken up and I thought it was an emergency, so I ran to where they wanted me to go...and it was the radio station." A deep sigh. "They could just ask."

[what_big_teeth]

"That doesn't really seem to be their style," Eleanor noted. "Guess they missed taking notes on any classes on manners.'

It was probably a weak joke, but making it seemed to go in swing with this whole making friends thing she was trying.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

It was enough to make Arden chuckle, and it was a legit chuckle, too.

"Ditto on sobriety," she said wryly. "And pretty much any other positive quality you can think of."

[what_big_teeth]

"They do have pretty good penmanship?" Eleanor offered with a small laugh of her own. "Especially for squirrels."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Okay, I'll give you that," she said, snagging another plant. "It's pretty sad theirs is better than mine. And they know Braille! So I guess points for inclusivity."

She checked out a third and then super-casually, "What classes you sign up for?"

[what_big_teeth]

"Oh." Eleanor's head tilted as she tried to remember all of them. "Um, well, Earth Tourism, like you suggested. And the Modern Life one, that seemed useful. The one about gardening and Nell's class about plants. I think that's all of them. What about you?"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Oh! I think Kamala's in the gardening class, too!" she said, again for no reason. "Uh, I'm in Paintball, Pet Photography - I'm gonna see if Professor Argentum will let me take pics of BD-1, Extreme First Aid, the Dean's class on mediation, Earth Tourism of course that's gonna be a baller class, and the swordfighting class. I was kinda hoping to get into the wine and done class, but I'm underage."

[what_big_teeth]

"The gardening class? Really?" Eleanor asked with interest, and then she had to laugh a little. "I knew it. She is building up to Kamala Khan's Home for Hearty Plants."

Her smile went a little softer, though, as worried that that might lead to Kamala not stopping by the shop much anymore. Somehow, knowing they'd still at least be in the same class together didn't seem like a very equal compensation.

"That's too bad about tge wine class, though," she added. "Do you like wine? Or were you mostly just curious?"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Yeah, Arden think that would be a problem, but she was busy looking for another plant instead of reading narrative.

"Just curious," Arden said. "My experience with alcohol was one whole bottle of hard cider at the Pryde-Barton's party a couple of months ago. But wine is one of those grown-up things that I figured it'd be cool to learn about, you know?"