Day 40: Greenhouse

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie was in two minds about how the 'meeting' with Orangello had gone. No, scratch that; two was way too small a number. Maybe four? Or five, no, make it six. Maybe. The only thing she knew for sure was that something had to give, and it sure wasn't going to be her. Whether or not she actually joined up with anybody was irrelevant, as long as she

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[roseoverture]

Much as she was worried about Hinamori and was grateful for her advice, Utena was glad when breakfast finally ended. The older (much older, apparently) woman's sadness was almost as hard to deal with as Himemiya's had been on the night she had arrived. She had wished the shinigami a good day and luck with the trials of the coming night before leaving, and went with her nurse to the greenhouse.

The atmosphere in the greenhouse was far more inviting and familiar. Even without a domed roof, Utena felt that she could at least pretend she was at home in Himemiya's garden for a while. It helped that though it was mixed in with the aromas of so many other flowers and plants, she could smell roses immediately. The memory of her prince surfaced then, and she felt assured inside that she was right to keep her faith in him, despite Hinamori's warning. She just . . . knew that he was as good as she remembered. She couldn't explain it, but the feeling was strong inside her heart.

She made her way over to the roses, ending up beside a blonde girl who was enjoying some of the other flowers next to them. "For being such bastards, they sure know how to keep beautiful flowers," Utena commented with a wry smile to the other girl, reaching out to likewise touch a single white rose's fully bloomed petals.

[jokers_wildcard]

Harley pulled her attention from the flowers as soon as the voice regarded her. A girlie she'd never seen before, and she would have remembered this one. What with the shocking pink hair. But what was better was the girl's smile. There were far, far too many people in here who couldn't even do something as simple as that. That was enough to get Harley to flash one right back, though it was more like a half-faced smirk in this case.

"Yeah, well, even psychos gotta have hobbies, right? Though I never figured this guy for a green thumb," she said, eying the way Pinkie was gently revering one of the roses herself. "You into gardening a lot?"

[roseoverture]

"I guess that's one way to put it," Utena answered with a slight laugh, though it felt odd laughing about the man who had imprisoned them all so easily. She was glad to see her smile returned at least, even if it wasn't a full one. "And I don't really garden myself, but one of my close friends does. She keeps a whole greenhouse full of roses at our school, and not a single one ever looks unhealthy. It's amazing to see."

Without meaning to, Utena winced very slightly at the mention of Himemiya. The girl had so many talents apart from her duty as the Rose Bride. Gardening, doodling, caring for animals, (explosive) cooking: all that and more, and yet she never seemed to take any credit for it. And on top of all that, now the Himemiya here with her was saying that Utena didn't really know who she was? It was enough to make her feel like she was going to have an aneurism over that girl sometimes.

[jokers_wildcard]

A surprised look crossed her face before a full-fledged grin replaced the smirk. It was so strange to run into someone with someone with even slight similarities to her. It was kind of intriguing.

"Ohhh, really?" she said, like a child told they were getting candy. "Same for me! 'Cept mine had a greenhouse behind her house. Actually had several of 'em, all with more plants than you can count. Tried to get me to help out, but I'm not all that good at it, ya know? She always yelled at me when I made even the littlest mistake." Sigh. Memories.

Harley folded her hands behind her back and leaned forward like she was going to smell the flowers, though she didn't actually do so. "Just bein' here kinda reminds me of her and home a little." She tilted her head so she could face Pinkie. "Never seen you before. What's yer name? I'm Harley Quinn."

[roseoverture]

Well this certainly was a complete reversal of the mood at breakfast, Utena thought. She certainly wasn't about to complain about that, though, being the eternal optimist, as it were. "Really? Wow, must be a lot of work for her," said Utena, her smile warm and impressed. "It was sort of the same for me and my friend, except mine doesn't really stand up for herself all that much, so she never yelled at me. Heck, I sometimes felt like yelling at her for not taking care of herself nearly as well as she cared for those roses."

She nodded at the sentiment of feeling at home. "The scent of roses has always been comforting to me. It was everywhere at my school, so it's good to find it here too." She put a hand on one hip and turned to face Harley more directly. "I'm Utena Tenjou. This is only my second day here, so I guess it'd make sense that you haven't seen me around. Nice to meet you." Utena decided to leave out the part about a previous version of herself apparently having been in the institute about a week previous. She knew too little about that herself to just go spouting off about it for strangers without any provocation.

[jokers_wildcard]

Harley straightened up and let out a laugh. "Sounds like our friends should meet up some time. They can just live in the greenhouse and talk about fertilizer or whatever all day."

Her being knew explained why she looked unfamiliar. They were sure packing them in, huh? Sure packing them out just as much, looked like. Always just as she was meeting people, too. Of course all the people she wished would disappear probably wouldn't. Cause you know, life just worked like that.

"Ditto!" she agreed. "Could be in a better place, though, but, eh. Least you seem kinda chipper. Lotta people kinda freak out their first few days, ya know?" That was both here and any asylum. "You already used to this place?"

[roseoverture]

As Harley went on, Utena caught sight of Juri elsewhere in the greenhouse, helping another woman to dig a hole from the looks of it. Huh, if I had to pick one thing I never expected to see her doing one day, it'd be getting on her hands and knees and digging in the dirt. And with a friend, no less, she thought with a bemused smile.

"It'd definitely be good if she had more friends. She looks so lonely sometimes. Though, I don't know if she'd agree with me," Utena said with a slightly embarrassed laugh. "I've already had one bad experience with trying to convince her to be more social, so I've gotta be more careful about how she feels." Said bad experience involved a rather rude awakening and a temporary loss of her friend and her own sense of identity to Touga. That was definitely not an experience Utena cared to repeat.

"Er, I wouldn't say I'm used to this place in particular yet. How can anyone get used to this, really?" asked Utena, not really expecting much of an answer. "What I am used to is just handling weird stuff in general. I've had to get used to a lot of really strange things really fast recently, and this place isn't that many steps above what I was already getting used to."

[jokers_wildcard]

This friend of Utena's was starting to sound less like Red and more like her bookworm of a roommate. Sounded like the poor chick just needed to get out more. Though it seemed Utena tried that already and failed miserably. Oh, well. There were just some people who were happier cooping themselves up all day. Go figure.

"I could say the same thing about the weird stuff," she said with a big grin. "When ya get right down to it, this place isn't really all that different from most other places: Boring and stuffed to the gills with the same kinda people bossin' everyone around."

The girl would probably adjust sooner or later, especially with that attitude. In the end, this place really was just like any ordinary fancy-pants asylum. Monsters or doctors, it was mostly the same as far as she could see. Still...

"I been here almost two weeks, I think. It's lonely but nice sometimes, like when we get to do stuff like this. But I'd be lyin' if I said it never got to me. The place really goes outta its way to try and screw ya over sometimes, ya know?" She hesitated a moment before adding in, "Be careful they don't get to you too much, too. The docs here go a little too far sometimes with the head games."

This girlie was nice, which was so rare in this place for some reason. The people she usually spoke to were either boring or grouchy or they wanted to jump down her throat about something. When she met an exception to this unfortunate rule, she could be a bit more generous.

[roseoverture]

Utena nodded in agreement. "Sounds like school all over again. I'm half expecting my cranky guidance counselor to pop out any second now and yell at me for not being sane enough or something. I go through enough heck for wearing the boys' uniform and getting in the way of our Student Council's stupid du-- plans, let alone being muscled around by the people who run this place," she said with a short chuckle.

Ah, so Harley had been in the institute about as long as Bridget, then. Like Bridget, Harley's spirits seemed pretty good considering how long she said her stay had been thus far, but also like Bridget, Utena was dismayed to hear that such wasn't always the case. Not that it was surprising, though, given what little glimpse she had seen of the night-time terrors thus far.

"What exactly do you mean by 'head games'?" Utena asked. "I got a general sense of what to expect from the boards, but a lot of that stuff blends together after a while, so it's hard to remember everything. I remember hearing something about special counselling and experimentation or something at least. Is there anything else like that I should be worried about?"

[jokers_wildcard]

You know, when Harley thought about it like that, this place kind of was like a school. Though, something Utena said seemed a bit off. "Boy's uniform? ...Wait, you went to one of those private schools with the uniforms?" She made a face. "Boy, you sure got my sympathy. And I thought asylums were a big stick in the mud. ...But why would ya bother to wear the boy one?"

She wasn't a huge 'uniform' person anyway, but it sure seemed strange to go out of your way to wear the opposing uniform. Was it because she was trying to be a rebel or something? Then why bother going to such a stuck up school? Maybe her parents forced her or something.

Harley seemed to deflate slightly upon consideration of the other subject. "Y-Yeah. Well... The Special Counseling and experiments I heard about, too. It's weird and messed up but... that's not really what I mean. Um... Well, you hear anything about Visitor's Day, yet? The nurses mention it sometimes, but I didn't hear about it until the day it happened."

And if she didn't want this girlie to go through the same anguish she did, Harley was going to have to tell her as soon as possible.

[roseoverture]

"Well, would you believe me if I said it was because I wanted to be a prince?" Utena asked with a little grin. "The girls' uniform just doesn't suit my style. Puffy sleeves and short, flowing skirts? No thanks." Again, it especially hadn't suited her after the incident with Touga. She had tried wearing the girls' uniform for a couple of days after that duel, and being a "normal girl" had done nothing but suck out what little life and drive she'd had left. A gallant boy style was the only thing she could see herself wearing while being true to herself. Swords didn't go with dresses, after all.

Harley's sudden sinking of mood worried Utena. "No, I haven't seen anyone mention it so far. Sounds like you've had some bad experiences with it, though. What exactly is it?" And why, if Harley seemed to be so affected by it, had she not seen people on the bulletin talk about it? Was it something that only happened to a few people, or was it something that affected different people in different ways?

[jokers_wildcard]

"...A prince?" Harley put a finger to her bottom lip in consideration. Honestly, of all the things someone would want to be, she couldn't see any appeal in being a prince. Or any royalty at that. Seemed too stuffy. But hey, each nutso to their own delusions, right? She'd heard plenty weirder. "Guess I can see that. Probably more exciting than bein' a school girl, anyhow."

She considered how exactly to explain this. It was a tough concept to swallow, and she was never all that great when it came to explaining. "Well... They have these days once in a while where people from outside can come in. People from back home come here and visit some of us. Relatives or friends or somethin', ya know?"

"But, um, the people. They're different. I mean, they look just like the ones back home and even act like 'em but, they're not them. The people here make clones of our friends and have them come here to try to trick us. Then when you trust 'em most, they break your heart..." That was definitely the case with her. Red not only refused to listen to her, but just up and abandoned her, leaving her here. That had been the worst day ever. Or one of the top five.

Without realizing it, she had started plucking at the the little leaves of a nearby bush with one of her hands. "I think... the point is to try and make you think you're crazy for real. Like everything's in your head. They even call you by the same stupid name the nurses give you." She hesitated for a moment. "But I think it might not be so bad... if you actually know it's a fake ahead of time. I dunno... It's just..." Her face suddenly flashed with anger. "Why would anyone wanna do somethin' like that! It's just... mean!"

Yeah, okay. She was crazy and she'd hurt and killed people, but she'd never been so mean as to trick someone like that! That was just awful!

[roseoverture]

Utena tried to smile a bit more at Harley's remark about princes, wanting to temper the incoming, probably uncomfortable description to come. "Exactly. Who wants to be the helpless princess just waiting around for someone to save her? I'd rather go out and do the saving myself, living my life with strength and nobility at its heart," she explained, partially echoing the very words her own prince had spoken to her all those years ago when he had dried her tears and given her the Rose Seal.

She shut up around then as she listened to Harley explain exactly what Visitor's Day entailed. It was much harder to maintain her good cheer while being told about something like that. Going so far as to clone people close to them in order to break them? Just how far could Landel go to torment his patients? And for that matter, why on Earth did he even want to go that far in the first place? Well she's right that I'm glad to know about this now rather than having it sprung on me, at least.

By the time the other girl had finished speaking, Utena's expression had become serious and determined. "I don't know why they would do that, but I agree with you: it's completely terrible. It's like they're trying to find a way to get to us on every single level possible. That's just sick." Utena noticed Harley pulling the leaves off the plant then; she felt a bit sorry for the poor plant, which hadn't done anything to deserve such treatment, but she also understood how upset the other girl would be over experiencing such a disturbing event.

She stepped in a little closer, putting a reassuring hand on Harley's shoulder. "I don't know the person they wanted you to believe was your visitor, but whoever it is, I'm sure that if they ever really showed up in this place, they'd do everything they could to help bust you out. No matter how good Landel is at cloning people, it sounds to me like these visitors aren't much better than really lifelike puppets. No real person would ever try to convince you that you actually belong here."

[jokers_wildcard]

That day had been a milestone in the effort to shatter Harley's resolve. It seemed things had only gone downhill since that day, too. It was one of those things she tried really, really hard not to think about. But what Utena had said was true. Her friends... they would never really leave her here. They'd never abandon her. No matter what. If Red was ever here for real, she really would do everything in her power to help her, to protect her, to get them out of this sicko's mind game.

She turned a brightened, light-hearted smile to Utena, honestly relieved. "Y-yeah. Yer right. Just a buncha fun house mirrors tryin' to make us dizzy is all. And as long as we know that, we don't got a thing to worry about, right?"

It would definitely be easier for Utena if she knew beforehand. And though it was bad, Harley was better prepared for it should it happen again. Suddenly, she felt like she could face anything and things would turn out okay. "Haha, know what, tootz? Think you'd make a pretty good prince. You're pretty tough."

True, the girlie had a pretty... romanticized idea of princes. No real princes ever actually went out and did that kind of stuff after all. But if they did, Utena probably could fit the bill. Girlie parts or no.

[roseoverture]

Utena was glad to see that her words had gotten through to Harley. After the nearly impenetrable wall that Himemiya had been for two nights previous, it was good to see that her encouragement could still lift some spirits.

"That's a good way to put it, yeah. And trust me, I know how it feels to deal with smoke and mirrors, or at least something similar to it," said Utena, giving Harley's shoulder a reassuring squeeze before removing her hand. She didn't explain the supposed illusions surrounding the Castle of Eternity or the Sword of Dios, but she hoped that her tone would communicate her meaning well enough without having to explain them.

"Heh, you think?" she asked at Harley's compliment, putting a hand behind her head and chuckling slightly. "Well, I do try."