Day 33: Greenhouse

[miracle_grow]

Claire wasn't sure how gardening was a means of relaxation, but she didn't point this out to her nurse as she was escorted outside and towards the large glass structure. Inside, the air was warm and humid and she wrinkled her nose as she eyed her surroundings somewhat skeptically. This had always been more her mom's thing than hers, but still, at

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[yin_yang_fox]

The shift ended abruptly like before, though Renamon was pleased with the results of the conversation. She headed towards her second meeting for the day. Again she stopped at the Bulletin Board, and good thing she did, because her informant had to reschedule of the shift changes.

....

Well. she guessed she could take a shift to regroup and get her thoughts together. No longer in a hurry, she tried to copy the maps from the primer. She wasn't anything close to an artist, but her rough copies would do for herself. She finally followed her impatient nurse to her next "fun activity." If fun meant ignoring the world forced upon her, then yes, it would be very fun.

Reaching the Greenhouse, she saw beaches in the back, and headed straight for them. Like last shift, she opened her notebook, and stared at what was there, willing some new understanding of it all to surface.

[Waiting for Matsumoto!... though she doesn't know it. XD]

[fuyunohanabi]

It was a shame that she was being dragged away from the cafteria, she'd been rather enjoying her conversation with Daemon. He was an interesting man, and charming and of course she was glad to help out those who needed it. It was kind of her job after all. Besides, it was always nice to be able to make nice with people she'd tried to incapacitate. Proved it wasn't anything personal. And she was glad to have Renji's judgement proved considering Daemon had seemed so... disturbing the night he'd been brainwashed

[yin_yang_fox]

She was at a dead end with most of the information. As a new person with very limited resources, her own knowledge would be flawed at best. She really needed to find....

Immersed in her contemplations, Renamon didn't notice it at first. Something like a scratching, prickling the back of her head. It brought to mind Toboe for a moment, but it felt nothing like the wolf. Very still, she raised her eyes to find what this new feeling was. On the bench across from her was a wounded woman that was... well proportioned. After glancing around, it seemed no one else was close to set off that feeling. Well, that settled it. She trusted her instincts enough, and it was quite obvious that no one here was what they seemed.

She slid her notebook to one side. "Hello. I am Renamon. What kind of creature are you?" Wordplay had no use here, and bluntness was so very comfortable.

[fuyunohanabi]

Rangiku opened one eye a crack when the other woman approached, looking her over curiously. What an odd question. Not 'who are you?' or 'how long have you been here?' but 'what kind of creature are you?'. Not a question that Rangiku was used to being asked. At least it was more creative and added a bit of variety to the general monotony of the place.

She gave a little shrug in response, finally opening her other eyes and smiling slightly at the woman. "Shinigami," she replied with a touch of amusement. "A death god." It wasn't as though they were keeping it hidden from people anymore. "I'm called Matsumoto Rangiku. Rangiku."

[his_singer]

The greenhouse. Bella really didn’t feel like planting (it didn’t help that she had some strange sense of Déjà vu the moment she entered the room) or anything that had to do with caring for a living object, so she decided to at least … look.

Moving down the aisle of the greenhouse, the teenager turned her attention to a large flower, leaning in so she could smell it for a moment.

… This was boring as hell.

Sighing, Bella continued on her way, stubbing her foot against a box on the ground.

[ free. ]

[jingledoughnut]

[Can has hawt gypsy?]

Ugh, Esmeralda still felt terrible about poor Ion when the nurses came to drag her away. How could anyone do that to a child?!

But now she was here, in the... "greenhouse," or so they called it. She had to admit, she liked flowers. They were gorgeous sometimes, yes. Sometimes they smelt good, and she had infinite respect for the people who could cultivate them, but she was never good at handling them herself. She was a dancer for a reason, after all. Flowers were good at withering or being eaten by Djali when she tried to take care of them.

And it seemed like someone else shared her sentiment (of not wanting to touch them, not the part about the goat). She crossed her arms over her chest and gave the stranger a look, both parts concerned and 'I don't want to be here either.'

"You okay?"

[his_singer]

Upon hearing the woman’s voice, Bella couldn’t help but think it sounded vaguely familiar. Why?

Turning around, her eyes widened in shock.

Oh. That’s why. Oh my God.

“Oh, uh … yeah. I’m fine. Just kinda … not wanting to be in somewhere hot and muggy and full of plants.” Bella turned to Esmeralda with a frown, a sigh escaping her lips soon after. “Being separated sucks when you’re forced into it, you know?”

First it was a star wars character, then a Disney one. What would be next?

[jingledoughnut]

"I know all too well." At least it took her mind off the shock of realizing Ion was actually a boy.

There was still that look the girl had given her, but Esmeralda just smiled it off. Roland did let her know, didn't he? "What's your name? I guess you already know mine, huh?"

[navigating]

Ahhh, the greenhouse. Nami really did enjoy the few times a week that the patients were allowed to go outside and experience fresh air, but the greenhouse was actually a special treat for her. Growing up on a mikan orchard had instilled in her a love for gardening, and she'd even insisted on taking mikan trees upon the Going Merry, mementos of those halcyon years before Arlong

[wishescankill]

Oh great. Sunshine and plants. How awful.

Still feeling like her brain was about to crawl its way out of her ears and die, Anya slouched over to a fern or bush or whatever and sat behind it, where her nurse couldn't see her.

"Be quiet," she instructed the girl who appeared to be cutting the bush with some sort of specialized scissors. "And don't make the bush too small." She felt like she should smile, to at least convey an attitude of appreciation, but at this point the vengeance demon was too tired to bother.

[navigating]

It seemed as if Nami had only just started up work on this particular shrub when someone had come up and sat near her. Good - she could use the company, especially if they made themselves useful with some more pruning, or at least did anything besides talk at her...

No such luck. Of course. This was Landel's, after all. But she didn't expect an order barked out at her, of all things.

Nami's mood soured, and she turned to the woman who approached her, smiling acidically. Still, her eyebrow twitched, something she couldn't exactly keep from happening. "Oh, how helpful of you. And I suppose you don't think that I know exactly what I'm doing?"

[wishescankill]

"I wasn't trying to be helpful," Anya said, the other woman's sarcasm had gone straight over her head.

"And I don't really care what you're doing. I just want a small, dark space where I can brood in peace. But the best I can do is apparently a wide open very sunny space with a bush. But I like my bush, because if I'm behind my bush, the nurses can't see that I'm not participating in the approved activity. So don't make the bush too small, or they'll see me. And keep the noise to a minimum."

She glared at the woman for a moment before remembering about courtesy. "Please," she added flatly.

[gray_gambit]

Lia felt a layer of tension strip away as the scent of the greenhouse hit her, all soil and growing things and life, a comforting contrast to institutional sterility. She drew in a deep lungful of the humid air, allowing it to act as a balm on her nerves. It was a false soothing and she knew it, but she had little hope of finding something more honest in the near future and would take what she could get. She gravitated toward the herb pots, the utility plants rather than the decorative, one hand reaching out to brush delicate green leaves.

That she couldn't sense them as she should left her chilled despite the warmth of the glass enclosure, and she fought down a shudder, marking yet another reason to distrust the place. Temporary joy spoiled, she nonetheless set about preparing to tend the plants, taking comfort in familiar surface activity if not in the lack of depth.

[Unknowingly waiting for River.]

[theycutitout]

Plants screamed. There was talk of it throughout the verse amongst the beloved of everything green and pure. No one could hear them scream, but they did when they were cut or pulled from their homes, roots yanked carelessly away because where they were going roots wouldn't be needed anymore.

River stepped into the greenhouse, breathing in the air and wanting to touch it at the same time. To touch the false reality of this place and to capture the illusion of life held fast in her memories would be a feat indeed. She wanted roots. She wanted to bury her roots in fake soil and pretend it was home. Before she even knew it, her dried roots had sought her out, green in contrast to something else. The girl leaned over to inspect the woman's work, her tangled, dark hair falling in her eyes and brushing against the herb's leaf.

She breathed in and turned to smile, an oddly knowing and sad smile, at Lia.

"We're like plants here. Uprooted and dying, but no one can hear us because we can't talk," River explained by way of decidedly River-like

[gray_gambit]

The slight rounding of Lia's eyes was the clearest outward marker of the startled confusion that hummed through her at the peculiar introduction. She'd learned to school her expression, at least much of the time, but her eyes always betrayed her. "They shouldn't be so silent," she replied quietly, after a second's pause taken to regroup her thoughts.

It applied, she thought, to both the land and the people. Both were too muffled, filtered through whatever bound this place. She shifted aside, not in avoidance but in tacit invitation to share the small space she'd staked out within the greenhouse. To share in the care of the land, even if it was only potted soil and cultivated herbs.

[theycutitout]

"Everything talks without speaking," River replied, quiet in her own way as she studied the plant intently. "But not here. Had their tongues cut out. They scream without screaming, and the majority of humanity doesn't hear a thing because they don't want to. Painted their eyes and closed them shut. Pretty dolls without a brain." The girl's words trailed off, following a road wrapped in the familiar mist that had become almost like a blanket. But a moment later her lips drew up in bright smile.

"Pots make passable projectile weapons as well. We can focus on ranged options at a later date. The pens are the most important thing." How quickly the subject changed, River's words and aura spinning right around on a dime.

[ellectriclights]

[Elle can has Claire tiem? XD]

The air in the greenhouse was gross. Elle glanced around the smelly, humid building, wondering if there was any possible way of getting out of this. Maybe if she said she felt sick. Well, no, there were nurses, weren't they? They'd know if she was really sick or not.

Oh, and there was the cheerleader. Just the person she wanted to see. There were only five or six people in the greenhouse, so Claire must have spotted her. No sense being sneaky now.

"Go team!" Elle said sarcastically, waving imaginary pom-poms as she flounced over to Claire. "I caught the big reunion at breakfast. Glad to know your dad's somewhere he can't go around shooting people anymore."

The fact was that Elle was a little nervous about Bennet being here. The guy had shot her in cold blood! Right in front of her Daddy! What would he do if he got her alone here, where her power was hardly working and Daddy couldn't help her?

[miracle_grow]

Claire stopped abruptly as the unfamiliar blond bounced to a stop in front of her, surprise flickering across her face. She searched her memory, trying to remember if she'd ever met the girl before, and while there was something about her that seemed oddly familiar, Claire couldn't place her, nor come up with a name that matched the face.

Instead, she offered a sheepish expression of apology. "I'm sorry, do I know you? And what are you talking about?"

[ellectriclights]

"Not you too," Elle groaned. She hardly cared whether Claire remembered her or not, but it was still a pain.

Although... It could also be an opportunity. The only one who seemed to remember her was Sylar, and even if he did talk to the Wonder Brothers or either Bennet, it wasn't like they'd believe him. She could tell her peppy friend anything.

She put on her innocent face. "Your dad shot me," she explained in the same tone of voice she'd used on Peter: friendly and innocent, but well-informed. "I mean, he knows my dad and he was kinda mad at him, but I was an innocent bystander."

[miracle_grow]

"What?" Claire replied, looking shocked and skeptical. "Look, you've got me confused with someone else. I have no idea who you are, and my dad wouldn't just shoot anyone."

Not without good reason, anyway. She was fairly certain.