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

[nobleman]

Maybe they both would have preferred if they'd met elsewhere, but Guy realized that in reality, this was the only way he and Lloyd could have met. It was the frustrating part of this whole place. While he didn't want to be here, the fact was that he'd have missed out on making some very good friends if this hadn't happened to him. He'd more or less come to terms with it, which was why he was working with those friends to get back home.

Guy wondered if maybe he had been too direct with that request, judging by the stunned look on Lloyd's face. It wasn't easy for Guy to ask, as Claude was a friend, but that was exactly why he wanted to take extra caution with him. He knew that getting a stranger involved wasn't the best idea, but Lloyd seemed like a good person and Guy didn't know what else to do.

"Hmm... You might be able to use the bedsheets to tie him up. Otherwise, I'd say just lock and barricade the door. You can probably put a few chairs in front of it." Guy had no idea what Claude might turn into, let alone how strong it would be, but he figured it was best to prepare for the worst. "And standing guard is fine. If he takes too long to come meet me tonight, I'll assume something happened and head over."

[redcladidealist]

The promise of backup helped ease his mind a little. The worry for Claude was still there and still real, but it was relieving to know that he wouldn't have to deal with it by himself if the worst came to pass. He nodded at the suggestions. He hadn't thought of using the sheets, but that was a good idea.

"I'll do what I can," he promised. "Hopefully it won't come to that." Hope. Because no matter how bleak things seemed to be, he couldn't let go of that. If they gave up hope, then they'd really lost, and Lloyd wasn't about to lose.

With that plan made, though, they could focus on something else. "Do you want me to pass any messages to him? Just in case you don't see him before tonight?"

[nobleman]

Messages to pass on? Guy couldn't think of anything, and so he shook his head in response. If he needed to tell Claude anything, there was always the bulletin board. They already had a routine worked out for how they met up each night, so nothing needed to be said on that point either.

"He should know what the plan is for tonight, so it's fine. Thanks for the offer, though, and I'm sorry I had to ask you to help with this. I just want to take any precaution I can." And hopefully Claude wouldn't be upset that Guy had taken this step without asking him first. There just wasn't time for that.

Before Guy could say anything else, though, the intercom came on and the nurses started moving up and down the greenhouse in search of patients. "Well, looks like time's up," Guy said. "Be careful tonight, all right?" Guy knew that Claude would probably never be able to forgive himself if he hurt Lloyd -- or anyone else, for that matter.

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd shook his head at Guy's apology. "It's fine," he said. "It's not your fault or Claude's that this is happening, and it's better if we all work together." The whole world would be better if they all worked together, but right now Lloyd would settle for just this little piece of it.

Spotting his nurse coming for him, Lloyd knew he only had a minute to say anything else. He nodded and lifted his hand, both to wave goodbye and to acknowledge Guy's caution. "Don't worry. I can take care of myself. Good luck!" For all of them.

Then his nurse was there and there wasn't time for anything else.