Day 33: Greenhouse (Men)

[blood_and_pocky]

[About to make a new fan friend.]By the time Aidou arrived at the greenhouse, he was once again immersed in his own thoughts. Idle talk with Anise was over. Where the hell was Kyon? Nurses usually gave the excuse of “they’re sick” or “they’re sleeping,” which were no doubt lies, but given out during the instances where prisoners actually came back

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[heavens_too_far]

Dias had kept to himself most of the day after his conversation with Lust. He'd done what he could to stay positive, or at least sound productive, for her sake, but having lost someone whom he'd understood so well - and who had understood him in return - had been a harsh blow, and for his own part there was no softening it. While there had been no faulty reasoning in his hopeful declarations of finding Scar to Lust(there was no concrete reason not to think he was out there, somewhere), he certainly hadn't believed it. He doubted she had, either, even if she'd tried to convince herself it had been true.

He'd become more accustomed to being around other people since he'd come to the institute, but there were still situations in which he wanted nothing more than to be alone.

Still, he wouldn't be spending the night with Ashton - for the first time in awhile - and he wanted to see his friend before dinner. So he was relieved when, upon entering the greenhouse, he saw a familiar back...even if it was missing two key identifying features.

"Ashton," he greeted the other man as he moved to stand beside him.

[part1of3]

So the first two went well. Ashton had carefully lifted the seed and its surrounding dirt out of the teacup-looking thing and made a nice little hole in the other pot, scooping out a little room and placing the seedling in there. And then he repeated it with another one. Hey, he could really get the hang of this!

He was busy carefully transporting the third when he felt that familiar presence beside him, hearing that cool (yet oddly warm, to him) voice say his name. And - well, whaddaya know - he dropped the newborn plant he was moving. Into the other pot, yes, but when he picked it up again the stem had broken.

"Er. Hi, Dias," Ashton said sheepishly, trying to cover up his little failure with the plant. He managed a little smile. "Um.. how are you feeling?" He really meant to ask him if he'd had any more freak headaches, but he had a feeling the point would get across. Even the thin red line that indicated Dias' unwarranted split lip was still there.

[heavens_too_far]

Dias' eyes naturally drifted over the plants Ashton was working with. Aside from the unfortunate accident that he himself had probably triggered with his arrival, it looked like the man was doing unprecedentedly well for someone with horrible luck(and the recent mistake was probably just due to nerves anyway).

"I've been worse," he said, with vague but utter truthfulness. His head still ached, but not nearly as much as last night - or possibly the sudden onset of the night before had simply made the pain feel that much worse for its abrupt arrival. And there was no way to be sure how much of the headache was attributable to Ashton, either; after the news about Scar, a headache would be a natural (and, in fact, quite mild) reaction.

He debated briefly whether or not to tell Ashton about Scar immediately, then decided against it for the time being. Better to ease his friend's worries first before dumping new issues into his lap.

[part1of3]

Hmm.. maybe he should just stop. Ashton wasn't very good with plants at all, but it didn't much matter in a place they might be leaving soon. Still, there was the chance that they'd be here for quite a while longer, and he should probably do this very carefully in case what he was transfering was an important herb.

"Oh, good," Ashton said with a smile and a sigh. "I was afraid that you'd have inherited my headaches or something. If that's not the case, then.. well, it's very lucky." He still hadn't gotten one yet today, but if Dias hadn't, either, then that was fantastic.

Still covering the plant with his dirty hands, he looked up at Dias curiously, with just that sparkle in his eye letting him know he was utterly enthralled with looking at him. Still.. something about Dias' body language made him wonder. "Hmm, but you've been better, right? Oh, do tell me what's bothering you! That's why I'm here," he said seriously.

[heavens_too_far]

"I wouldn't mind, you know," Dias replied, glancing at Ashton sidelong as he turned to examine the plants his friend was working with. Nothing he could immediately identify. "Headaches I can deal with. And it's easier to suffer yourself than watch someone you care about suffer." Even as the words left his mouth, it occurred to Dias that by his logic, such a thing would sentence Ashton to that difficult role of having to stand by helpless - and, more than that, he would know the pain Dias was in was pain that should have been his.

As much as Dias preferred Ashton not being in pain, he wondered if perhaps Ashton was better off with his headaches than the sorrow and guilt of having given them to him.

Still, there was no point in dwelling on the topic. Whether or not they had permanently exchanged whatever it was that caused Ashton's headaches, only time would tell. And Ashton had asked him what was truly bothering him, anyway.

"It's Scar," he said simply. He wasn't entirly sure if Ashton had ever met him, so he added, "A friend of mine. He's vanished from the institute - they said they'd 'rehabilitated' him."

[part1of3]

"I'd mind, Dias." Of course, Ashton would rather have all the headaches in the world than allow one of his friends to have them at his expense. Especially since he'd been so excited at the prospect of healing, and had basically dragged Dias to the chapel... oh, it really was all his fault. "And that goes for me, too, you know." Of course Dias knew. But it would be wrong not to put that into the open.

When Ashton heard about Scar's disappearance, his jaw dropped a little. That was - that was terrible. He'd known something was wrong somehow, one way or another, but he didn't expect it to be like this. The thought of anyone being 'rehabilitated' by this place had completely skipped his mind. Everyone he knew was simply too strong-willed to let it get to him..

"I never met him, but.. I heard you talk about him. River talked about him too," he said, voice quavering. "I'm really sorry." He stared off in front of him for a moment, then brought his dirty hands to his mouth, clasping them together. "Oh, gosh, if they can rehabilitate him, then maybe they're going to succeed at rehabilitating us!"

The thought seemed so ridiculous, but now it was a very real fear for Ashton. He'd already warmed up to his doctor, had even started to trust her a little bit.. was this the first step? Or maybe just the next step in a series of consecutive ones that had already been mostly completed?! This was terrible.