DAY 25: GREENHOUSES (second shift)

[beforehertime.livejournal.com]

Elena was not exactly thrilled with the idea of playing in dirt. It was just...dirt. Gardening held no joy for her. Anything that anyone tried to plant in Midgar died almost immediately, so why bother? All of the plants in the little parks that Shin-Ra had created to keep the denizens of the Upper Plates happy were artificial. The only time she ever got to see plants that weren't fake was on daytrips to Kalm or holidays spent with relatives in Icicle Inn.

She'd never worked with them before.

Sighing, Elena accepted a pair of too-big gardening gloves. They had been pink, at one point, with little blue flowers. Now they were just a sort of spotty brown. Frowning, she poked at the small potted violet that a nurse had set in front of her with a little plastic shovel that looked like it had come from a child's playset. What was she supposed to be doing with it?

Comments

[bara-no-shinrou.livejournal.com]

"Hello there," Utena replied cheerily, as she pushed down the unpleasant feelings. She finally examined the terracotta pot she had grabbed on her way through the greenhouse; it was empty, simply begging for a plant to be housed within. She grabbed a trowel, and began filling the pot with dirt; as she did so, she turned back to the girl.

"My name's Utena... what's yours?"

[floraltempest.livejournal.com]

"Utena?" MOMO repeated, canting her head slightly. It was a strange sounding name, she thought. But then again, most of the people she had met had names she wasn't used to hearing.

"It's nice to meet you, Utena. My name's MOMO." The Prototype set down the plastic shovel the nurse had given her when she first entered, before trying to wipe the dirt from her hands. Even if they had gloves to use, MOMO opted to simply use her bare hands. The feeling of the cool dirt was almost comforting, in an odd way.

Turning back to the other girl, she continued, "This is the first time I've seen the greenhouse they have here. It's kind of nice, don't you think?"

[bara-no-shinrou.livejournal.com]

Utena nodded at her question. "It is... I hadn't expected to find anything like this in an institution..." Her face fell slightly; it was probably just to make them forget... forget that they were prisoners. It wasn't working; nurses buzzing around, guarding the exits... it was beyond irritating.

Utena turned her attention back to the pot; she had, by that point, finished filling the pot with soil, meaning it was time for the second step. She selected a flower from the planter on the table; cliched though it might be, a red rose was the flower of choice. She smiled wistfully, almost absently, as she dug the flower up, clearly lost in thought.