toxicspiderman: Photo of a grassy, tree-lined riverbank.  (Specifically, The Charles River) (bucolic)
Sangamon Taylor ([personal profile] toxicspiderman) wrote in [community profile] damned_institute2009-04-09 05:01 pm

Day 40: Greenhouse [Fourth Shift]

Most days, fish and chips (and a cold beer or three) was pretty goddamned high on S.T.'s list of perfect expense-account lunches. Today, the idea of picking at greasy hunks of unidentified bottom-feeder odds-and-ends (politely known as scrod, to the delight of teenagers all across the Northeast) didn't appeal.

He begged off and collapsed into his bed, after using his damp shirt as an excuse to surreptiously check the contents of his closet. Bingo. His nurse watched his little show, unimpressed but (more importantly) unsuspicious. Not that his hairy chest was much of a catch today, pale and sweating from fever. At least she didn't tuck him in.

The intercom woke up up right on schedule, and pulling the sheets back over his head almost won. But a handful of unanswered missives and a vague sense of duty dragged him out to the bulletin, and from there it was easier to stagger over to the greenhouse.

It was warm inside -- a deep, humid warmth that actually penetrated to the aches in more joints and muscles than he could remember the names of. Like a sauna, without the hassle of finding someplace to look that wasn't a mound of pasty middle-management cellulite. Or a sweat lodge, without the opposite hassle of being conscious that he was the only white guy in the room. In fact, besides the nurses in holding patterns, he was the only person in the room.

He located a tray of tomato seedlings going rootbound in their tiny six-packs, and a potting bench whose location was a quick-and-dirty approximation of equidistantly far from anything blooming. He assured his nurse he knew what he was doing, and after a couple of successful repottings, gently sliding the little seedlings out and loosening the tangled roots, she seemed to agree and backed off. It was, by far, the most fucking theraputic thing he'd found in this hellhole so far, and he let himself sink into the rhythm of the task.

[Free!]

[identity profile] mitase.livejournal.com 2009-04-12 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Why he was being smiled at reassuringly, Hanatarou wasn't sure - had he said something wrong? Something about Soul Society, maybe? He gave Leon an uncertain smile in return and just kept working. The plants at least were familiar and not at all confusing.

At the last comment, though, he hesitated, staring down into the hole he'd been digging. "I...guess so," he replied, after a moment's thought. In some ways it was nicer here than home, even with the defective gigai that kept him from using his powers like he should be able to. Recent events, though, had rather abruptly changed his mind. "I've met some nice people here." Nicer, even, than a lot of people back in Soul Society. "But it's still here."

[identity profile] heraldric.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
Leon nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know what you mean. It would have been preferable to meet them under better circumstances." Like, on his own planet. As visitors. Not stuck in a place where monsters came after them every night.

Oh! And there it was, like a smack to the side of his head. Leon had heard of Soul Society before. At least one of the other patients had mentioned it, but he'd been so busy with his own worries that he'd practically forgotten about it. "You mentioned others... You do have friends here, don't you? I think I've met at least one." He knocked some of his hair in front of one side of his face in imitation. "Blond guy? Kinda quiet?"

[identity profile] mitase.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 04:24 am (UTC)(link)
Hanatarou nodded in agreement at that - maybe if some of the nice people here had been there they could've kept some of the bullies away. Or something. Just so long as he could finish his chores in peace, that would be nice.

He paused, though, trowel poised in mid-air as he blinked up at Leon. Unless there were other shinigami who had arrived recently, the description and the helpful hairstyle imitation had to be the vice-captain. "...Kira-fukutaichou? You know him?"

[identity profile] heraldric.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"I wouldn't say know..." Leon gave something of a half-smile. "I just ran into him in the library the other day." Literally. "He seemed like an okay guy. You two are both kinda quiet, though. Is it a Soul Society thing?" He winked as he asked this, but was still fairly serious about the question.

"I have a couple friends here..." They hadn't seen Ashton in some time, which was worrying. Then there was Precis, who he'd only seen for one meal...

[identity profile] mitase.livejournal.com 2009-04-14 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, no. No, not at all." Hanatarou was rather quick to correct that particular misconception, then blinked a little as though he'd startled himself. "It's, um. No, a lot of the other shinigami are, er...not quiet." Like, say, the 11th Division, the members of which probably couldn't be quiet if they wanted to.

He cleared his throat quietly and glanced back down at what he was working on, looking mildly embarassed. "There are a few others from where I come from here, but, er. I don't know if any of them are, um...friends." There was Orihime, though he hadn't seen her for a while. Not since, well, Renji and Rukia. And he'd prefer not to think about the two of them being gone.