damned_institute | Day 61: Greenhouse

While Harvey never really enjoyed having to babysit one of the newer patients, he had to admit that Barnaby had been pretty easy to deal with. He'd been composed, quiet, and focused, which was a lot better than some of the other patients who only gave confused looks or had over-the-top reactions to everything they heard.

The point was, that conversation had almost been enjoyable, which was strange for Harvey to admit. He didn't know how Barnaby was going to manage in this place in the long run, but he wouldn't be surprised if he found his feet eventually and then did decently well for himself. It wasn't Harvey's job to care either way, but the close quarters they were kept in meant he'd probably end up finding out anyway.

Unfortunately, a positive note could only last for so long. As usual, it was a nurse who ruined it by insisting that he should go to the greenhouse for the last shift of the day. "Mr. Eckhart, it's not cold in there, so it shouldn't be any strain on you. It might be nice to help something grow, don't you think?"

He didn't dignify any of that with a response and instead resigned himself to his fate. He was one of the first people to make it into the muggy greenhouse, and he realized that he wasn't a fan of being cold or being hot. He fanned the air in front of his face for a few seconds and then went to find somewhere to sit down.

All the plants were lined up in pots; it almost felt like they were staring at him, waiting for him to do something about it. Well, that wasn't gonna happen.

[For Peter Parker.]

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A matter of preference. Well, that was true, and Sora could at least be relieved that most of the time, the nurses wouldn't force them to do something they didn't want to do. He was pretty easy-going himself, but he knew some of the other patients weren't at all interested in drawing or playing instruments or whatever else.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Seishin!" Sora said in reply when the man introduced himself. "I've been here... for a pretty long time by now, ehehe." He still wasn't sure if that was something to be proud of or not, honestly. "I'd say it's almost two months now." It was pretty crazy to realize, but Sora couldn't say that the time hadn't taken its toll on him. He was just that resilient.

"How about you? Are you pretty new? And what activities do you enjoy, if not gardening?" That would probably tell him a few things about this new acquaintance.

Two months?! Seishin wasn't surprised by the fact that this had been going on for a while, but to think Sora-kun had been in a place like this for so long...

"Two months is a long time," he commented, the surprise on his face subtle but nonetheless present. When the subject changed to the former priest himself, though, Seishin decided against pressing the issue.

"I haven't been here as long as you have. I believe this is my fourth day," he answered. A lot had happened already, and for some reason it had seemed much longer since he had hidden in the temple with Sunako. He still hadn´t found any clues about what had happened to her...

"Well, I enjoy reading," he answered, "I used to write a little on occasion as well..." He trailed off a that. Though he had published a number of books, unlike the rest of the villagers it wasn't as though he would boast about something like that. He had always felt a little embarrassed when the villagers would mention that the junior priest also had published several books -- It wasn't as though he was a very popular writer. That had been fine, because writing had always been something he did beside his work as a priest of the temple.

"What about you, Sora-kun?"

It was a long time, especially since he had spent all of it in the same place. Sora was so used to traveling now that it was hard to be stuck in one spot for all this time, but he had almost gotten to a point where he was used to it. He knew what to expect, at least, which was pretty scary when he thought about it. At least it meant that everything was a little easier to bear, though.

The answers that Seishin gave about his hobbies turned out to be more interesting than Sora had expected. Well, reading was a pretty normal one, but writing? That was definitely unique!

"So you write stories?" He immediately thought of the huge library in Radiant Garden, though he couldn't say he'd read many of the books there himself. "What kind of stories?"

Having the question turned around on him was interesting, though. A few years ago Sora might have had a good answer, because that had been back when he'd had all sorts of free time to play and have fun. Now that he'd been through so much, he realized that those island games seemed almost childish. Then again, it wasn't like he'd changed that much, since he still liked games. "I guess the Game Room and the Music Room are my favorite places here," he admitted. "I'm not very good at reading, though. I have a hard time paying attention for that long." It wasn't something to be proud of, really, but that was just how it had always been. School had been a bore for Sora. He did better when he was being active in some way.

"Ah, I mostly write occult and horror stories," Seishin responded, mildly surprised that the boy was interested. None of his stories were very happy, but there was no need to specify as much.

Not that he had written anything as of late. Indeed, it was a shame that Shiki would never get published. Even though Death had denied him, he doubted he would get much of an opportunity to write in a place like this.

Sora-kun seemed to be the type of boy who preferred being active, if first impressions were anything to go by, so him admitting that reading wasn't among his preferences was hardly a surprise. "What kind of games do you like, then?"

Occult and horror? That was not the sort of response that Sora had been expecting. Stories about going on grand adventures and defeating the bad guys were more appealing to him. They had to deal with horrific things on a daily basis here, although maybe that hadn't been the case for Seishin before arriving. Maybe stories like that had been his escape from a more normal life.

"Do you think you'll write any more while you're here?" he asked with a tilt of his head, genuinely curious. There wasn't much time to do things like that, but that wouldn't stop some people from trying.

As for games, there were a variety of different answers that he could have given, but in the end he decided to focus on the stuff that was accessible here. "Well, in the Game Room they have this thing called a Game Boy. You play a game on a little screen, and they have a few different ones to pick from. It's really fun!" It didn't really compared to the games he'd played on Space Paranoids, but he'd take what he could get.

Seishin shook his head at the question. "Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have much of an opportunity to sit down and write while I'm here," he answered. Had Sora-kun voiced his opinion regarding the sort of stories he tended to write, Seishin wouldn't have been surprised. His novels hadn't been very popular for a reason, after all. But that was fine, he had always written more for himself than for anyone else -- though Tsubara-sama, his editor, had always supported him to publish his works.

But as they were now, the circumstances were hardly suitable to get his creative juices flowing. Sunako would have liked Shiki to be published, wouldn't she?

Seishin recalled seeing several gaming consoles in the game room, but Seishin couldn't say he had ever tried anything of the sort. He wasn't very good with machines, after all -- though he had tried writing on a laptop, he ended up donating it to his bedridden father.

"I'm sure it is," he answered, "Though I can't say I've tried the myself."

In the end, Sora couldn't argue against that. Writing a book or a short story or something like that took a lot of concentration, probably. They weren't given much time to themselves, here. Either the nurses were bugging you or there was another patient to talk to. Even during dinner, there were roommates, and while Sora liked that he didn't have to be on his own before night, it did mean that there was no such thing as alone time here.

"You should give it a try sometime," Sora suggested when Seishin explained that he hadn't had a chance to check out any of the games. "Most of the time it's pretty self-explanatory, but I'm sure any other patient -- or even a nurse -- could help you.

"There are also board games and stuff, too, if that's more what you're used to," he added.

Day 61: Greenhouse

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