✿5 [Action]

[redstringed]

*It's night-time, and outside of Building 6 there is a young-looking gothic lolita vampire and a bed of roses.

Rachel, in an attempt to not get dirty while planting a garden, has been attempting to do the entire thing with spatial manipulation - you might see the dirt itself shift around the roses if you looked long enough. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be going well for her, and the rose "garden" is lopsided and mismatched, and the roses don't look healthy. They're wilting a bit.

And because of this, Rachel is looking all the more irritated and frustrated.

Clearly this is the best time to bother her.*

Comments

[redstringed]

I cannot say I see the need. You willingly invite unbearable pain and complication into your lives, and for what? A few moments of satisfaction? The hope that you might pass something on, or the thought that you might not have to spend your life alone?

[consultmybooks]

[Giles nods]

[redstringed]

...I find it difficult to comprehend such short-sighted idiocy.

[consultmybooks]

[And Giles shrugs]

On that front, as on many others, we'll have to disagree.

In many ways, all we have is short sighted idiocy.

[redstringed]

Indeed, it would seem to accompany your lifespans.

[consultmybooks]

That seems to be the idea.

I've had more than a few romances end very painfully. That doesn't mean I wish they never happened in the first place.

[redstringed]

How nostalgic of you.

As for me, I cannot understand that drive.

[consultmybooks]

Highlighting the distinction, once again, between vampires and humans.

[redstringed]

I suppose it does. *And she's also young by their standards, so there's probably that, too.* Perhaps it is simply incomprehensible.

[consultmybooks]

[He nods. Then a thought seems to strike him, and he writes again]

Do you have a soul?

Or is that something you just don't think about much?

[redstringed]

*A pause.* Is this a question you ask everybody, Mr. Watcher?

Most of us do not consider the soul a tangible object.

[consultmybooks]

No, it's not.

But for vampires, I've been taught to believe that the question is rather more in doubt.

You don't have to answer.

[redstringed]

How exactly do you expect me to answer an inquiry such as that? My kind are not created as your vampires are. I was not turned from being a human.

If you question whether I have a soul or not, you must do the same with every sentient being in my world.

[consultmybooks]

You were born a vampire?

[redstringed]

Given that I had previously compared my age as a vampire to that of my father, I would have thought that obvious.

[consultmybooks]

That's not all that uncommon even with vampires from my world. I knew one that used to celebrate her birthday on the anniversary she was turned.

Still. Vampires occurring naturally? Requires a whole rethinking of the food chain. [And he is, at the moment]

[redstringed]

Hm. Then yes, vampires occur naturally. When I say my father, I mean quite literally.

This is not to say that humans cannot be turned. But not all of us have been.

[consultmybooks]

Well, you learn something new every day.

[redstringed]

Not quite as often the more days you accrue, but the sentiment is not entirely incorrect.

[consultmybooks]

[Once again, as is fast becoming the norm, Giles isn't quite sure if that was an insult or not. He eventually settles on "not"]

You know, the Earth Spirit is supposed to be good with plants.

[redstringed]

Oh? *In a "go on" tone.*

[consultmybooks]

[Giles is happy to go on] Apparently, those who have achieved high levels of mastery of that element can use it to, among other things, heal plants.

[redstringed]

And how would one achieve said mastery over this element?

[consultmybooks]

It's done via meditation, although it has to be meditation for the express purpose of contacting that spirit. The spirit will be the one to contact you, however - you're just making yourself available. It's up the spirit whether or not it wants to talk. Some will refuse to teach certain people, unless they have an affinity with the element in question.

I'd advise being outside and in contact with the ground, since that's Faeren's element. I haven't managed to contact him yet, myself - still working wtih Kipinn and Nala.

[redstringed]

I see. That seems rather needlessly complicated. *And from the way she avoided getting her hands dirty, it's probably not likely that she'd spend time being "in contact with the ground."*