- 115th tide | | dusky -

[soulofocean]

[Video]

[The camera catches a blurry glimpse of green with a faraway backdrop of ocean until it levels to show us this strange plant, looking rather bald and sorry. There's a heavy sigh and the image quivers again.]

...It's a no-go alright. Ruined. Just look at what that curse made us do. Fine, so it was a thousand times better than the

Comments

[onceaweiss]

Would you like help, Umi?

[onceaweiss]

I remembered the tour you gave me.

[He comes over to gently touch the plant, a calm look on his face.]

You'll be alright. [That's meant for both of them.]

[soulofocean]

Good memory. [She smiles a bit more brightly as his assessment.]

It's a strong little plant. We sure gave it a hard time yesterday...

[onceaweiss]

But it's a survivor.

[He gives it another touch then goes about studying it to how he can help it.]

[soulofocean]

[Umi just stands there with her little container of water, giving Aya leeway to do his thing. But hovering beside him all the same.]

I was hoping we wouldn't need to cut off any branches of it...

[onceaweiss]

Sometimes when you cut off something it gives it room to grow bigger and better.

[Aya smiles to himself and looks over at her.] Most plants are that way. Especially roses. If you don't trim away the old, the new will never come in.

[soulofocean]

So it'll do it good? You think?

[She frowns a bit as she glances at the broken limbs the plant ended up with during hers and her best friends' frenzied picking.] Maybe those need to go...

I just hope it doesn't leave it even balder.

[onceaweiss]

It won't. Just a few here and there.

[Aya gives the plant another gentle touch.] Do you have any sheers that I can use?

[soulofocean]

Um. Sure! Just a minute---

[Putting the water aside, Umi hurries around the corner where the little garden shed is and comes back fast with the requested tool. Two of them, in fact.]

Here. You tell me how to go about it.

[onceaweiss]

When you see a broken branch like this one... [He indicates one and brings the sheers up just behind where it's been broken.]

...trim away right here. For branches like this one here... [He indicates another.] We'll try binding it with a soft cloth to see if we can encourage it to make the split area new branches.

[soulofocean]

Soft cloth. Got it! It won't... hurt it more, will it? [She procures that cloth while still eying the plant as if they were about to perform major surgery on it.]

[onceaweiss]

No. It will help it to get better. [Very gently he takes the cloth and wraps it around one of the split branches.]

[soulofocean]

[Umi does the same with another one of her own, following his example.]

So it IS a lot like with the roses. I wonder if Ascot knew...

[onceaweiss]

[Aya smiles at her.]

It's a lot like that with a number of plants.

[soulofocean]

[She's starting to feel more confident about this one's recovery, and returns his smile a bit guiltily.]

Remember the story behind this one?

[onceaweiss]

The memory is still a little foggy. Will you remind me?

[That's not really true. He does remember. But, he thinks it will help her to feel better to tell him again.]