Day 66: Greenhouse

[impudentsongbird]

Gabriel, no matter how hypocritical or snide Landel's well-wishes might have been under the veneer of niceness, had actually in fact had a rather nice morning. He'd managed to help Skulduggery eat something and checked in with Castiel. His brother's illness was, to all appearances, gone. Although the surgery itself wasn't going to be easy to recover from, at least that was an injury Castiel has chosen and wouldn't turn him into a monster.

So the Archangel was humming absently as he was led outside, smiling and, for the moment, more convinced than ever that he was where his Master intended him to be. Rachel had made it known she didn't think it would be a good idea for him to hover, so after making sure Castiel would be okay Gabriel had asked to go to the greenhouse this lunch-time, thinking of Lee and still with the idea of possibly making smoothies. Rachel had thrown up her hands and shaken her head when he toed off his shoes at the doorway, but she got her own back once they reached the greenhouse and Gabriel surveyed the stony path ruefully.

"Now maybe this will teach you to keep them on," she said, shaking a finger, taking the slippers and crouching to slide them onto his feet as if he was a child. "It's for your own good, you know. You'll injure your feet if you go around like that all the time."

"I'm sorry," Gabe said with a smile, not as repentant as he probably should have been and using the mischief to hide the ache in his chest. This woman was, at best, brainwashed and cursed to turn into a monster at night. He almost hoped she was complicit; the alternative was nearly too much to bear.

Still, as awful as the thought was, he set it aside as best as he could to avoid ruining his thus-far nice day. While Rachel watched from one of the tables, Gabe wandered through the greenhouse, eating his beef sandwich from the hand while enjoying the company of the plants and keeping an eye out for any fruit-trees.

[for Rock Lee!]

Comments

[stop_the_rain]

"They don't let us do that, either," Murphy said, shaking his head. "Whatever. I'm so fucking tired I really don't care at the moment." He rubbed a hand over his face and yawned, wishing they could just sleep through the day.

Hell, maybe he'd just sleep tonight. It wasn't like he got anything done out in the building.

"Sorry to be such a shitty conversationalist." Not that Scar dude there seemed all too chatty himself, from Murphy's limited experience with him. Or maybe he just wasn't a small talk kind of guy. The ex-con could appreciate that.

[envy_the_sinners]

"True. Though, if you're insistent enough, they let you sleep in the Sun Room for a while." He might as well let Murphy know that.

"I don't care." Scar was an even worse conversationalist than Murphy. He didn't even seem to know that meaning of small talk. Conversing for conversing's sake was pointless.

[stop_the_rain]

"Yeah, but if you're insistent with'em, they remember you. It makes you stand out. You don't want to stand out to them." Murphy folded his hands behind his head, stretching. He didn't feel that tired, oddly enough. He was probably in that overwrought state where things all went numb.

He tried to speak as little as possible to the nurses that led him around. Keep quiet, be well behaved, and you didn't stand out in their mind. They watched the ones that stood out closer.

[envy_the_sinners]

"They're watching all of us, anyway. These freaks have more power than prison guards." Scar didn't understand how, but the comments of the bastard running this place always had an eerie accuracy when he came onto the intercom at the start of every night- like he always knew what was going on. It was all part of the illusion. He wanted to make them feel powerless, like he knew everything.

Scar would keep what little dignity he had. He was done with listening to power hungry jackasses tell him what to do.

"I will take my chances." Maybe it wasn't the smartest decision, but the rationality of a choice rarely influenced Scar's actions.

[stop_the_rain]

"Listen..." Murphy turned his head to give Scar a serious look. "I've been through this circus before. And yeah, they always watch. But of you stand out, they watch you closer. And you lose any chance of getting anything done when they're watching the other guys they've decided need an extra eye on them."

He sighed.

"And let's face it...guys like you and me? We've already kind of got 'look at me, I'm gonna be a problem!' signs flashing over our heads."

[envy_the_sinners]

"I know." Scar stared at his hands, brow furrowing. "Some kid I'd never even seen before looked at me like I was going to reach across the breakfast table and strangle him." He scowled, shifting in his chair.

Scar knew that he looked intimidating. Looked like trouble. After doing it intentionally for such a long time, it came naturally.