Grey Foggy Day (Jade)

[Sunar Chugani]

All his friends were busy. 

This occasionally happened, even for someone as garrulous as Sunar. But the rest of the student body had their own lives and schedules, and for once none of them lined up with his own. That was fine; he had taken himself and his drawing supplies down to the lake, reveling in the fact that the snow had finally begun to melt. 

It was still chillier than he would like, but at least sitting on the ground didn't mean sitting in cold, wet, mush. That was something. 

But the day was still overcast and grey and dreary, which meant that the colors he had out were primarily blues and greys. He drew in quick, sketchy lines, hinting at forms and shadows and light rather than drawing in firm detail. 

And then his iPod decided that it needed to play the same song twice in a row. He frowned, balancing his drawing pad on his knees so that he could tug his iPod out of his pocket. 

"No, no, not Beirut again. Maybeeeee AirLands," He murmured, flipping through his songs. "Are you even on shuffle? Yes? Okay, please actually shuffle this time." 

[Jade Coswell]

Ah. Fresh, cloudy grey days. Too many people didn't appreciate them. Maybe those people just didn't wear the right sunglasses. Perhaps the single biggest key to enjoying an otherwise gloomy was, in the opinion of someone who some might say had a thing for color, appropriate eyewear. After all, blues and greys tended to be somewhat depressing, while ambers and oranges tended to be more invigorating. Hence, the secret to a good gloomy day was simply the right pair of polarized brown-tinted shades. Or at least that was Jade's secret. Though.. perhaps she felt more of a kinship with nature than most as well. She did have a giant mural to Gaia tattooed all across her back, after all.

Of course, Sunar wouldn't easily be able to see that. The only ink of Jade's that was easily visible was a series of vines that ended in small purple and pink flowers at her wrists. Beyond her sleeves, they trailed around her arms, across her shoulders and neck, down her torso... Not very surprising when one discovered that Jade literally had a green thumb. --Not in the literal-literal sense, of course. In that she was a plant manipulator. Those little patches of grass that looked strong and bright green and ready to rock in weather like this? Those were her doing. There were lots of them around Pilot Ridge and the lake. Anywhere Jade often sat or passed by. Green was her favorite color (in case one couldn't tell by her waist-length neon green hair) and she liked to keep some of it around her even in winter.

From behind him Sunar would quite likely hear a soft chuckle following his request to his ipad. "You'd think they wouldn't include the current track in the list for possible next tracks, right? Still.. It may be your lucky day. There's only a one in however-many-songs-are-on-that-thing chance that you'd hear it twice in a row. Shame you don't look old enough to buy a lottery ticket... and that the entire lottery system is one giant pseudo pyramid scheme."

Jade liked checking in once in a while on the artists - especially the more hardcore ones who were already out - that took to the lake. "Mind if I join you for a bit? Always interesting to see an artist doing their thing."

[Sunar Chugani]

The sound of someone speaking behind him caused the boy to jump. He grabbed for his drawing pad, but without success; it fell to the ground beside him. 

"OH! Sorry, I didn't see you there," He apologized, pulling his earbuds from his ears and, after turning it off, he tucked his whole device into one pocket. "You have to be 18, right? That's only two more years. I guess that won't help if today is my lucky day, but maybe I'll have another lucky one by then." 

He picked up his drawing pad, dusting off the grime that now covered it, then twisted around to see who he was talking to. His eyes lit up when he noticed her amazing hair. 

"Wow! Your hair is so green! And vibrant! And long and draw-able." 

Which was, of course, definitely a word. At least, it was in his vocabulary, so obviously it must be. Sadly, he hadn't brought any color pencils that matched the shade her hair was dyed. 

Only then did he realize that he still hadn't answered her question, and he added, "Oh, and uhh sure! I love company!" 

[Jade Coswell]

"Oh? Draw-able, huh? Well thank you. It can be a handful to take care of sometimes but I'm not sure I'd be me without it. I've kept my hair like this since before I came to Hammel.." Speaking of Hammel, it wasn't lost on her that an ipad somehow was fitting comfortably into what appeared to be a normal pants pocket. "I would imagine you're a student there?"

She casually swung her khaki colored backpack around and pulled what looked a bit like a small tarp from one of the side pockets, laying it out on the ground next to Sunar and taking a seat with her legs crossed.

"People call me Jade. I'm.. a farmer of sorts. I have a bit of a green thumb." She spoke as she took a well-worn towel from her bag and reached for Sunar's drawing pad. He'd dropped it thanks to her, she intended to do her best to clean some of the crud off of it. If he refused (she wouldn't blame him if he didn't want other people touching his things.. she herself was like that about some items) she would put the towel away and withdraw a big, beautiful yellow bell pepper and take a bite out of it, staring out at the lake. "So what season is your favorite as far as landscapes go? I tend to favor springs and summers as far as viewing, but then as you can likely tell I'm a bit of a fan of greens.."

[Sunar Chugani]

"You had green hair before you came to Hammel?"

This fact surprised Sunar, simply because most people arrived at Hammel as tweens and younger tweens, and he couldn't imagine anyone dying their hair green at ages nine or ten. Not that some people might not want to, but...

"Your parents let you?"

There were students who dyed their hair colors their parents would never have allowed at home, but since they were away from their parents they were free to change hair colors. But she had said she had dyed it before Hammel, so her parents must have been fine with it.

He tried to imagine how his parents would react if he said he wanted to dye his hair green. He doubted they would be thrilled by that, but he didn't know for sure. Neither Sunar nor his older sister had ever expressed an interest in hair dye.

He didn't object as she reached for the pad, instead focusing on her question. "Mmmm...every season has something nice about it. I think I like fall the best for landscapes, though. I like using all the oranges and reds and browns, and it's so different here than back home. I like the summer weather better, though. If I could combine fall foliage and summer heat, that would be perfect."

Then he turned back to another comment she had made.

"What do you farm all the way up here?"

[Jade Coswell]

Jade grinned as she finshed chewing her mouthful of bell pepper. "Oh, I don't think my parents even noticed for a few weeks. I didn't see much of them, even when I was very young. They were both busy people and.. preoccupied by.. by my lack of a sibling, I suppose. No, I was a rebellious child.. reading the books at the library that children weren't supposed to want to read, changing my hair neon green, speaking up about sexism and human rights.. I'm nut sure I fully understood it then, but I knew it was important and that people wanted me to be quiet and invisible so I kept on being vocal and.. well.. It's hard to miss this hair."

Jade casually swiped as much muck from Sunar's drawing pad as she reasonably could, setting it with light pressure against the towel on her leg to try to soak up any remaining moisture. "You're very right, though. There is beauty in almost everything if one knows how to find it. That you understand that so young gives me hope that you will.. retain passion for your craft. Always a good thing. There can never be enough artists." There were many, many things that there could (were already) plenty of, but decent, actual artists? It wasn't possible for there to be too many.

"What do I farm? ..The simple answer is anything smaller than a tree. The more elaborate answer is that I am an expert in the cultivation of a certain medicinal herbal substance known as cannabis, and I also grow most of my own food on the side. I am a caretaker for quite a few patients in and around Pilot Ridge. Nothing illegal."

She took another bite out of her pepper as she handed the drawing pad back. "You hungry? Bit rude of me to sit down and start eating in front of you. I've got more peppers.. tomatoes.. zucchini. Grapes.. I would offer you a cookie or brownie but they are.. special."

[Sunar Chugani]

Sunar's eyes went wide as Jade explained her childhood. 

"Woooooow, you sound s o cool!" He informed her. Honestly, why wasn't he that cool? Oh, right, because he hated arguing with people, even when they were horribly atrociously wrong. 

On the other hand, cool or not, he wasn't sure how his parents would feel that he was hanging out with someone who farmed marijuana. As long as she didn't offer him any it didn't matter, right? 

Right. 

And she seemed to have the same thoughts, since she mentioned that the cookies and brownies were off limits. 

"I've never tried to grow anything before. I don't know if I could get a plant to grow in my room. Maybe! Do you think I could? Not...not cannabis. What's a good dorm plant? Something that can sit on the shelf and stay tiny."

[Jade Coswell]

Jade grinned, then giggled at the 'not cannabis' addition, shaking her head. "While it will grow almost anywhere, I don't think it would be the best starter, no. If you're concerned about caring for it, Aloe is an easy plant to maintain and has some very real uses. Wonderful for your skin and helps a lot with sunburns or.. any other sort of burn. Some people even make it into tea. Other than that, it's very hard to do wrong by a small cactus. Some are very pretty, too, if you like drawing plants."

She pondered for a moment.. How strange would it be to invite a sixteen year old back to her house to draw something he'd likely never seen before? Or.. a few things. Most people were amazed at what she'd managed to do to the inside of a bus all on it's own.. let alone the plants there.. but what she thought might peak his interest was her tattoo. She'd never seen a hand-drawn rendition of it.. and no doubt her hair would frame it beautifully. Maybe it couldn't hurt to mention but maybe later.

"I suppose my childhood.. has some 'cool factor' to it but.. it was also very lonely. If you are close to your family, treasure it as long as you can. I have very few people I am honestly close to and I often wish there more." Or maybe now. "Have you ever had a person model for you? You seem to like my hair. I bet you'd like my tattoo. It covers my whole back. Gaia, goddess of earth and fertility." She raised a sleeve so he could get a better view of her vines traveling up her arm. "These go all the way up and become a part of it. It's one of my favorite features. Though I'll admit I quite like my eyes and hair, too."

She flicked her sunglasses down to the edge of her nose so he could see the brilliant green eyes that had been hidden away behind them. "Good thing my favorite color is green, right?"

[Sunar Chugani]

"A cactus might be nice..." Sunar mused. Although he primarily enjoyed drawing people he thought that plants were nice, and he couldn't deny that the larger his repertoire the better an artist he would be. Besides, he loved Impressionist painters, and so many of them were known more for landscapes and flowers than for their people. 

"I wish my family was closer," He admitted. The fact that his parents and sister lived out in California and most of his extended family lived in Gujarat was a source of some unhappiness, although he was buoyant enough that he coped without falling into a funk. "But I grew up in the city." 

And his family in India were mostly located in Ahmedabad, which was also a city. So he wasn't surrounded by greenery most of the time. 

"Pilot Ridge is a huge change." 

His eyes lit up at her offer to model for him. "You wouldn't mind? That would be wonderful!" 

His parents would probably be less than thrilled, but while he missed them there were occasions he was glad to have some distance, and this was one of them.