The Garden, Monday Early Afternoon

[flowering_mind]

Karla had let her pick the place for where the healing was supposed to take place and, while her hotel room had the advantage of privacy, Zack wasn't the only one of them who wanted to be out amongst nature for as long as possible before heading back to Midgar

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"Oh, it's been awhile since I was here," Karla said fondly, looking around. "I'd forgotten about the chocolate cherry tree. I wonder if I could splice a branch onto one of my trees at home."

She smiled at Ino, but for a moment her attention was wholly distracted by the garden and the feel of the land beneath her feet.

"Where did you get all these crazy trees from? Are they native to your world?" Karla knew about Fandom and about Midgar, but realized she knew next to nothing about the world Ino had called her own.

[flowering_mind]

Ino always had been good about not talking about her home.

She grinned and popped another chocolate cherry into her mouth. After she'd swallowed, she said, "Catch!" and tossed one at Karla.

Deliciousness needed to be shared after all!

"And, nah, they're not from my world. My vision for this garden was completely different, but then this guy named Dor managed to spill seeds from his world everywhere and this is what happened."

Ino contemplated that.

"His world was way weirder than mine. These things pretty much grew up in minutes."

[glacial_queen]

"Well, remind me to be sad that no one ever spilled crazy seeds in any of my gardens," Karla said, catching the cherry and devouring it quickly. "Mmm. Definitely taking a branch or two to try to splice. These and honeypears would make an amazing set of desserts back home."

Closing her eyes, Karla inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of living, green things. "I wish I knew if we'd be able to see one another after this," she said softly. "I'd happily take some seedlings home and keep them safe for you until you could have a garden of your own."

Yeah, she knew how long that would be.

[flowering_mind]

A long, long time.

Ino tilted her head back to watch the blankets sway in the breeze before looking back at Karla.

"I have a box of seeds at home," she admitted, "that I've been keeping safe, so that when I plant a garden, I've got all the ones I want for it. Some of them ain't even flowers that are here. Some of them were too precious to stick here." Ino knelt down to pick a weed away. "Maybe I ought to send that box to you. You could plant them in my name or something."

[furious_maximus]

Max was pretty much just wandering. Hands in his pockets, whistling tunelessly as he took one last turn around the island before he had to head home.

He'd forgotten how much he liked the place. He was going to miss it.

Ah. Well. That was life, wasn't it? He suppressed a sigh as he rounded the corner and spotted the garden ahead.

[flowering_mind]

Ino had progressed to inspecting all the littler plants, so she was kneeling down when movement caught her attention out of the corner of her eyes.

She looked up, and then blinked.

"Centurion?"

[furious_maximus]

His footsteps stilled, and Max let out a little snort of amusement. "Not for years now," he said, looking for the source of that voice.

His own eyes widened. "Well. Ino." He smiled slightly. "Been a while."

[flowering_mind]

She brushed her hands off and stood, the wind tugging at her (ridiculously) long hair as she did so.

"Few years," Ino said, amused. "I hear that happens. And if you're not a Centurion, what am I supposed to call you?"

Yes, yes she could call him by his name, but that was no fun!

[l1ttle_billy]

When they'd first arrived, Ana had asked to go see the castle, so Billy was taking the opportunity to show her around the grounds. Tommy was mostly zonked out, having done a lot of running around earlier.

He was also hoping to spot people he knew. "Hey there's someone I know."

[flowering_mind]

Ino tilted her head, a bit amused at that comment.

"I suppose I can be labelled that," she said lightly. "How are you, person that I know?"

[l1ttle_billy]

"I'm doing well. Mostly keeping out of trouble. This is Anastasia and Tommy." He set Tommy down and pointed them towards the pillow tree. "Here, go have a pillow fight."

"How've you been?" he asked Ino.

[flowering_mind]

"They're cute kids," Ino said, mostly because parents tended to frown when you completely ignored their offspring.

She was... not super fond of kids, no. Unless they were her Fandom-given own.

"I've been busy," she said, shrugging a little. "Mostly in the information gathering business."

[puppy_fair]

It had been meant to be a casual stroll to see more things that were... well, were familiar to him. Once upon a time, Zack had spent a good many nights out in the garden. He didn't have it in him to put Angeal's sword in the weapons locker.

These days, not much was different, he supposed.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

Funny, how they still tended to run into one another, even when they had a whole weekend to... well... to not.

[flowering_mind]

"Just nostalgia," Ino admitted, smiling a bit wistfully his way. Things had been so different then.

Harder in some ways, better in others.

"And waiting on Karla."

[puppy_fair]

"On Karla?" Way to get a confused headtilt out of Zack. "Oh. If you had plans..."

He didn't want to intrude if this was a private thing. A girl thing? Did girls do girl things?

He was so bad at this.

[flowering_mind]

"You'll like this plan," Ino said, looking away from him to touch one of the flowers with a gentle hand. "It's a 'can Karla heal Ino' plan, you see."

Very girly. Very private.

She was laughing at him a little, why yes.

[flowering_mind]

[Continued from here!]

She ate hers, humming. "They are delicious," Ino said. "And thanks, I think."

They were totally still talking about the cherries, right?

[furious_maximus]

Yeah. They were totally talking about the cherries.

"Do you feel like you've received enough in return?" Max asked, tossing another one her way before holding one up to study it thoughtfully.

[flowering_mind]

She was going to eat that one too.

Delicious, delicious chocolate.

"Enough?" Ino tilted her head back. "Ain't like I got a quota."

[furious_maximus]

"Well, you don't give up something for no reason," Max pointed out. "I didn't let them promote me on a bet, for instance."

He held out one hand, palm up. "You give something up." He dropped one of the chocolate covered cherries he was holding with his other hand into his palm and closed his fingers. "You get something."

"And you hope that the exchange is worth it."