Telling them a story told by flora

[punchtheflowers]

Who: COMPLETELY OPEN
What: Good old gardening fun
Where: Greenhouse and gardens
When: Sept 5th to 12th
Warnings: Well, anything can happen. But try to be nice to the plants

Comments

EVERY NIGHT.

[miss_dreavus]

There seemed to be a lot more berries disappearing than their owners were harvesting. How strange. Oddly enough, the spicy ones remained untouched but for a single bite taken out of one that was then discarded on the ground.

At least she wasn't beheading flowers this time.

[hasprettiestmon]

THE BERRY COUNTS ON THE CLIPBOARDS WERE NOT MATCHING UP WITH THE AMOUNT OF BERRIES ON THE BUSHES. It was just enough to start driving Erika up a wall.

It had been concluded that the numbers were the most different each morning and stayed fairly consistent through out the day. How. Very. Curious.

So one night when insomnia was a plentiful friend, Erika took a special trip through the greenhouse, just to see what she could find.

[miss_dreavus]

It would just so happen that Erika would find a mysterious woman lounging beneath a bluk berry bush, staring up at the stars through the glass roof and helping herself to the fruits. Even if she weren't currently eating them there were incriminating black stains on her lips and fingertips.

There would be no use pretending to be innocent for Blacky. Chances were she was going to do it anyway.

[hasprettiestmon]

The woman was easy enough to locate. Erika came to a stop in front of her, her arms folded in her sleeves and a slight frown on her face. So it seemed that she had located the source of this mystery, perhaps.

"Good evening," was her terse greeting.

[miss_dreavus]

UH-OH. Blacky considered vanishing into thin air. But that wouldn't be any use, since Erika had evidently already seen her. She sat up and tried to look a casual as possible. Those berries in her lap? TOTALLY JUST... Fell there. Yep.

"Ah. Good evening. I wasn't expecting to meet anyone out here so late."

[hasprettiestmon]

Oh yes that was very plausible.

"Mm, I admit I'm just as surprised... I like to venture out here when sleep escapes me."

Erika made an obvious look at the berries in Blacky's lap. "I see you're rather fond of the bluk berries?"

[miss_dreavus]

Happens all the time.

"Er... yes." Even if Blacky wasn't a plant type, she was still a Pokemon and hoped she could appeal to Erika's trainer side. "They aren't quite as filling as fear, but everyone here is so jaded I have to make do somehow."

She meekly held one out to Erika. "Have you tried them? They're sweet enough."

[hasprettiestmon]

Luckily enough for Blacky, Erika did not share her Sinnoh counterpart's aversion to the spectral type. Being a Pokemon that was a little hard pressed for a meal did score her a few points with the trainer, but not enough to let her off the hook.

"I do enjoy them from time to time… that one, however, should be saved for replanting to replace what has already been eaten."

[miss_dreavus]

"Y...Yes. That is a wonderful idea." She cleared her throat and positioned herself so she was on her knees. It was very hot. Wait.

"Will you help me plant it, at the very least? I'd hate to do it wrong."

[hasprettiestmon]

Erika ran her fingers through Blacky's hair and-- wait.

The gym leader conceded a hint of a smile. "I certainly would not mind."

There was a small collection of garden tools kept near the berries specifically for that purpose. She removed two spades and returned to Blacky's side, kneeling next to her.

[miss_dreavus]

A living Blacky might have been a little more concerned about the dirt. A dead Blacky had discovered that turning into a ghost was more than enough to remove things like excess sand, so why not dirt as well?

A living Blacky would have also had paws to make this digging thing a little easier. Oh well.

She took one of the spades, looking to Erika for direction.

[hasprettiestmon]

"We'll plant it here," she pointed in the dirt, "but I'll show you here." She drew her finger to an unrelated spot.

ERIKA showed Pokemon BLACKY how to dig a hole in the soft, earthy soil! It

"There. Now you try."

[miss_dreavus]

BLACKY learned DIG! ...wait...

Well, it seemed simple enough. Too simple. Erika thought she was a fool. Maybe a few months ago she would have needed help just learning how to use a shovel, but she could definitely manage that now!

She dug three holes. That would show her.

"About that deep, then?"

Re: EVERY NIGHT.

[voice_of_animus]

Caim even went to the greenhouse at night. If anything, Caim actually spent very little time in his room. He was too busy trying to acquaint himself with everything. Not necessarily people, but places. Locations were important. People were too, of course, but only in the perspective that he had two categories: those who weren't threats, and those who needed to be killed

[miss_dreavus]

Blacky's run-in with Erika hadn't stopped her from sneaking in at night to pilfer the berries. It did, however, inspire her to replant as many as she ate, even going so far as to send other people to purchase rare varieties from specialty markets in the city to populate the greenhouse with. As satisfying as it was, it also seemed to be some twisted dark joke; she was a dead thing creating new life.

After she'd finished snacking for the night, she began her round to the storage shelves for a spade... and paused.

I'm not alone, she realized, something that she hadn't noticed when Erika caught her. An unfamiliar presence more urgently drew attention than a friendly one. She doubted she was in any danger-- it was probably some new student or teacher or even a new plant-- but she wanted to gain the upper hand anyway.

Just like that, the woman vanished.

[voice_of_animus]

That one he hadn't been expecting. Caim knew he was the slightest bit mentally lacking upstairs. He knew it. How could have ever doubted it? He saw things that normal people shouldn't have seen. He endured things that normal people would have been instantly broken by. He... Well. To say his mentality didn't affect his behaviour was a bit of a falsehood.

So when Blacky disappeared, he'd wondered briefly if he'd simply created her. He wasn't sure how, because she certainly wasn't the sort of woman his mind would have made. But if she hadn't been real... Well, that just wasn't possible. He still had one of the spicy berries. And it still had a bite out of it. Oh, the things one could learn from the bite marks in fruit...

Cautiously, he edged himself out of his hiding place and drew up a hand to fix his hair. Then he took a closer look at the berry he had found before. No. She had to be real. He was pretty sure she was. Fairly sure. But if that were the case, where had she even disappeared to?