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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[madeinthehrl]

"Look at all of these flowers! I know how much you love gardening, M - "

"Soma."

"Maria," finished the nurse without missing a beat. "Your father told me that you have a garden at home! I'm sure you'll feel comfortable here."

Her father again. And that stupid name. Soma shot a irritated glance at the nurse's retreating back. What was she supposed to say to that?

She turned her attention back to the plot of dirt in front of her. A trowel and a pair of gardening gloves had been set out, as well as some unidentifiable white flowers in little pots. Hesitantly, she put the gloves on, then picked up the trowel, holding it gingerly, as if it were an explosive.

Perhaps neglecting to mention to the nurse that she had never gardened in her life would have been a mistake.

Utterly confused but too proud to ask for help, she cast discreet glances at the people on either side of her, hoping to learn by example.

[Free!]

[demon_beast]

She'd apparently slept through breakfast. That, to Argilla, was definitely a good thing. All of the smells of cooked meat and other food tended to turn her stomach and make the demon within her begin to growl more. If they were going to keep her here, they should at least have the decency to let her hunt for her own meals rather than forcing inedible food onto her.

But the place that she was taken to now was much better. She smiled happily when she entered the greenhouse, seeing the flowers and plants which would have cost hundreds of thousands of macca to buy where she'd been from. She hurried over to a bench, not caring about planting them, but just wanting to see what plants there were. So many of them she didn't recognise. She sort of wanted to hoard them away, save them, even if there was no need here.

"They must be very rich to be able to afford all of these plants," she said absently, still not quite believing that it was possible for plants to grow naturally.

[madeinthehrl]

Soma looked up. The woman in front of her couldn't have been past her twenties, as seemed to be the trend here. She didn't think she'd seen this many people her age in her life, and almost none of them in the military. The realization was a bit overwhelming for someone who had never learned to interact with someone in a social context.

But at least this woman had approached her instead of the other way around. Maybe she knew how to plant these flowers.

"Must they?" Soma looked down at the pot in front of her. "I don't think plants are so expensive where I'm from."

[demon_beast]

Golden eyes. The girl had golden eyes. Like any of them would have in their Berserk forms. The thought amused her for some reason. Argilla nodded seriously. "There weren't any plants at all where I'm from originally. And when I went to a different place, they were rare. Mostly they only grew underneath a special dome which kept the sun's corrupted light from touching them." She reached out to touch the white flower. "You could sell one of these for thousands. That's a lot of ammunition for one little plant." Even if she always hated parting with them, necessities came first.

[madeinthehrl]

"Where are you from originally?" The thought of a world without plants wasn't unimaginable, for some reason. There had been no living plants in the research facility where she had grown up. What would have been the use?

It was the idea of the sun being corrupted - that was almost frightening, on some inexplicable level. Everything she knew was in some way powered by its light; what would have happened to her world if anything went wrong?

But then the other woman mentioned ammunition, and the flower was momentarily forgotten in her interest. "You said ammunition. Are you a soldier?"

[demon_beast]

"A place called the Junkyard," Argilla replied, poking a perfectly manicured and painted nail into the dirt around the plant curiously. "It was destroyed though and my tribe ended up in a different place." She was still loathe to call it the 'Real World' because to her, the Junkyard had been as real as anything else. "The Sun was corrupted there, it had turned black and the data from it killed everything and turned people to stone." It was still chilling to remember the statues on the surface.

She smiled when the girls asked. "I'm a soldier, yes. Everyone in the Junkyard was a soldier."

[madeinthehrl]

"I can't imagine what that would be like. The sun powers everything where I'm from - factories, cars, mobile suits. The thought of it killing anything like that..." Soma trailed off.

Hesitantly, she inserted into the trowel into the plot, bringing up a small clump of earth. "I'm a soldier, too. I was, before I was discharged. Whom did you fight against?"

[demon_beast]

"It went mad," Agrilla said with a shrug. "Humans did so much damage that it went mad and tried to destroy them. Or at least, that's what I was told. Humans can only survive underground or beneath a special dome ruled by the Karma Society." She reached for a different plant, sniffing it appreciatively. She was probably supposed to do stuff with the plants, but she wouldn't have had the first idea about horticulture.

Another soldier hm? "We fought against everyone who wasn't our tribe in the Junkyard," she said easily. "And then we fought against the Karma Society. And... discharged?" The word meant absolutely nothing to her.

[madeinthehrl]

It didn't sound as if they had any real system of government, aside from this Karma Society. Soma wasn't sure she understood that entirely. The colonel would have had more to say about that than she did.

"Discharged," she repeated, nodding slightly. The word wouldn't have held much meaning for her a few months ago, either, but things had changed. "I'm not in the military anymore. The world united and we're at peace now, so I don't have to fight."

The words felt strange in her mouth, as if she still weren't entirely convinced. It was true - it had to be true. And yet...

[demon_beast]

Argilla just stared at her for a few moments, utterly baffled by the concept of not having to fight. Even more baffled by the idea of a world with no fighting. It wasn't something that she'd ever even considered. Life was a struggle and the strongest survived. "I can't even imagine not having to fight. I've fought since..." She waved a hand vaguely. "Since forever. As long as I've been alive I've been a soldier. The same as everyone in the Junkyard. It would be odd to not have to do it anymore."

[madeinthehrl]

"It is odd," admitted Soma quietly. "I was raised as a soldier, a weapon. I grew up in the military. I'd never even considered the possibility of peace until it actually happened."

Granted, she hadn't been in the habit of considering anything else as a soldier, either, unless it was the orders she had been given, but she completely understood Argilla's confusion. "To be honest, I still don't know what I'm supposed to do, sometimes. Civilian life isn't something you can just adjust to."

She was being unusually forthcoming, she noted with some surprise. Perhaps it was because the other woman sounded so similar to herself.

"My name is Peries, by the way," she added, realizing that she had forgotten to provide an introduction. "Second Lieutenant Soma Peries."

[demon_beast]

Argilla nodded sympathetically. "There was supposed to be a place where there wasn't any fighting," she said after a moment's hesitation. "In the Junkyard, the tribe which defeated all of the others would be sent to Nirvana, a paradise where there wouldn't be a need for fighting anymore, or that's what we were told. It was a lie though. I don't think such a place exists." She wasn't entirely sure what she'd do if there was such a place, now that she thought about it. It was at the core of her personality. "But I hope you find your own place." It might have been an abstract dream for her, but perhaps other people could have that chance. Besides, she liked it here well enough.

"I'm called Argilla," she replied with a smile. The title was unfamiliar, at least, she assumed it had been a title. But Varin had used a similar one, hadn't he? "I'm a sniper," she added, as though that would make up for the lack of any kind of military title.

[madeinthehrl]

"I hope you do too." It was an odd thing to wish on someone, now that she thought about it - a world where a born soldier no longer had a use. But she had to admit to herself that the last few months hadn't been unpleasant. She could get used to it, provided she was able to return.

Perhaps there was more to life for a weapon than fighting.

"I pilot a mobile suit." Then, because of the people she'd spoken to, only Kururugi had seemed to have any idea what one of those was, "It's a kind of humanoid robot. We use them extensively in wars in my world."

[demon_beast]

"This place is nice enough," Argilla replied with a smile. "If the rest of my tribe were here it would be pretty close to Nirvana." Having her magic back would be nice, or not having to devour at all would be nicer, but she'd become more used to what she was.

A mobile suit? Argilla listened curiously to the explanation, finding the idea intriguing, but a little baffling at the same time. And it made her wonder how she could reply. The main thing they used in warfare was, well, their demon forms and that came with a whole lot of other stuff that she didn't want to talk about. "That's interesting technology. Who do you fight against? Other tribes?"

[madeinthehrl]

Soma paused. "I guess you could say that." The power blocs weren't tribes per se, but if explaining them that way made sense to Argilla, the comparison worked well enough. "There were three of them, and together they made up the entire world. I suppose they were pretty large, for tribes."

It was strange to hear herself speak in the past tense. In some ways, she still believed the Human Reform League existed. She supposed she'd always be a soldier of the HRL, even if the world had united.

"I wish there were people from my - my own tribe here, too."