Day 47: Greenhouse (2nd Shift)

[himetsuru]

Why couldn't she get it out of her mind? It was a stupid white dress. So what if it was visual evidence that she was a princess? It should not be bothering her this much. It was a just a dress

Comments

[hajike_tobiume]

"Jehna, dear, perhaps you should hold off on drawing here. The greenhouse isn't the best place for such activities," Momo's nurse said. "Wouldn't the Sun Room be better for that?"

"In a way, yes, but I feel like drawing out here," Momo replied. It would also give her a little more separation from Albedo. She needed a bit of space after the topic their conversation had turned toward at the end of breakfast.

"Alright, then. Try not to get your sketchpad dirty. I will collect it from you at the end of the shift."

"I won't," Momo replied, finding herself a spot on an empty bench to the side. For a bit, she simply observed her surroundings before she took pencil to paper.

[Taura]

[ninelivesonce]

Greenhouse had seemed like a strange thing to put on the schedule, but as soon as the staff had started leading people out the door, it clicked. Such an odd way of describing it, but of course. Green, house

[hajike_tobiume]

The presence of another was noted as it drew close, but it did not warrant Momo's attention until she looked up at the surrounding scenery and she was addressed. It took a moment of her turning her face more in the direction of the voice to see the person. The voice had been vaguely familiar, but Momo hadn't been able to place it until Taura came into her limited vision.

"There is no need to apologize, Taura-san, but it is appreciated," Momo said with a warm smile. "Would you like to join me?"

[ninelivesonce]

"Sure." Momo's smile was infectious -- the restlessness that had propelled her into constant motion around the greenhouse evaporated in its face, and her own lips curved up as she brushed off a section of bench and sat down.

"May I see what you're working on?" Death, bloodshed, and the constant staccato rhythm of her heart, which seemed to be whispering escape with each beat, had been too-constant companions. It was nice to see someone who had found something to do.

[hajike_tobiume]

"Of course," Momo replied as she made a bit more room on the bench for the much larger woman.

She turned the sketchpad so Taura could see it. The lines were rough at this point, but the image of several of the flowering plants could be seen starting to take shape along with the very, very vague outline of a pair of people in the middle, next to a table. There was no exact pair of real people in the greenhouse, at the location before Momo, but that wasn't a requirement for the shinigami.

"It's just a sketch right now, but it is nice to have some scenery to work with," she said. "How have you been?"

[ninelivesonce]

What Taura knew about art was what she'd read on wall-plaques in a handful of art museums. And the time the Dendarii had smuggled a dozen crates of watercolors that had been ever-so-slightly misfiled. "Pretty," she murmured, and they were -- both the drawing and the flowers themselves.

"And I'm...huh. I'm about as well as I could be." No injuries, no death notices on the board, a successful mission -- if she ignored the bigger picture, life wasn't that different than usual.

Taura hadn't always been a big-picture kind of girl. But a few years with the Dendarii and she'd changed -- grown up, maybe. Came with the territory; eight feet tall and everyone expected her to have the long view. Funny, then, that she'd learned it all from Miles. He'd laugh it off and say he was riding on my shoulders all along. Not that she would say it in the first place; he was, in his own way, as shaped by his body as she was by hers, and less willing to acknowledge it.

"At least I'm myself again. That was unpleasant." And not something

[hajike_tobiume]

Ah, Taura had been one of the affected, like Senna. Momo simply nodded in understanding and let the topic drop. Knowing what she did about Jehna Walker, especially after her meeting with Aizen that first week, she was grateful she had not been chosen for that incident. However it had been done.

The shinigami's pencil once again returned to her paper, though she was by no means ignoring the woman next to her. "In all honesty, I am doing far better than I had when we last spoke. As odd as if is to say, the incident in Doyleton was... good for me." Her lips curled up just a bit. "It made me remember who I am."

[ninelivesonce]

"That's good to hear. Very good."

And a little confusing. Momo hadn't seemed disoriented, or upset, when they'd met on the bus. Taura would, however, be the first to admit she missed whole classes of social cues at times. It wasn't something she was proud of, but it was easier to 'fess up and apologize when she ran right over something with her big metaphorical feet.

Besides, this place liked to strip away identities, and identity, appropriately enough, tended to mean different things to different people. Taura was starting to get used to these hands, these eyes, these teeth -- they were becoming Taura, rather than her becoming something else, but it was a narrow thing, as yet.

"I hadn't really believed it until that point. Any of it. It was...enlightening. I could have done without the busted leg, but no permanent damage done. And I made at least one new," friend? ally? Ally it was. "Ally." Two, if Momo counted. It was nice to see her again.

[hajike_tobiume]

If Taura had spoken with her more than just that one time before Signum had paid Momo a visit, she might have noticed how much clearer and focused the shinigami's eyes were compared to back then. But she hadn't, which was why Momo had voiced it.

"True allies are far and few in between here unless there is a personal relationship associated with it," the shinigami replied. "I am glad your eyes have opened, Taura-san. Tell me..." Her eyes flickered up. "Do you still feel like a murderer?"

[ninelivesonce]

Cutting right to the heart of the matter -- that was a more focused jab than Taura was expecting.

But the answer she had was both a flinch and, after a second, a tentative smile. "I don't know. I was her for a day -- Miss Katherine Jackson. So if she is real -- they can put her back together, if they want. And if they don't? That makes the ones that did this to me -- to us -- the murderers."

That was a new way of looking at it. She'd just come up with it, but it felt right. Good enough to stop the corner of her mind that was chasing itself in circles, in the strange dancing motions of a game she didn't know the rules. Good enough to be moving forward.

"Thank you again, Momo."

[hajike_tobiume]

The shinigami was still under the impression that the body Taura inhabited was not that of a real living human, but that of a gigai like herself was in. Knowing what she did about Alkaid also lend strength to that concept. But, it wasn't for her to comment on. If that was what Taura took faith in, then it wasn't Momo's place to say otherwise.

"Thank me for what? I have done nothing worthy of such."

[ninelivesonce]

"For making me stop and think. I...knew this, but I didn't know that I knew, if that makes any sense at all. For being a sounding board. One viewpoint can get so narrow."

She glanced over at the sketch again, and tracked one or two blossoms back to their potted equivalents. Momo's sketch was accurate, in the general sense, but the lines picked and chose what they wanted to highlight. It wasn't just a case of color perception -- it was an entirely different worldview. Yeah.

"I think we can always use a reminder that it's not just about surviving." She waved a hand at the sketch, but her tone was abstracted, and her gaze had wandered back to the plants and the windows behind them, out towards the sky.