Shadows and Sparks
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⚔︎ | DENISSE DE VERA |
𝖂arm and humid air filled the greenhouse, thick with the smell of soil and plants. Denisse put on her thick dragonhide gloves and settled at her desk. Before her were the tools for the day - a small trowel, a watering can, a pair of shears. Looking over, she felt a rush of excitement.
These were the tasks she could easily get lost in. At the very front of the room, a crate of Bouncing Bulbs shuddered and rattled as they shifted against the sides of the wood, their spiky bodies clashing. It sent her heart rate up to see them. She wasn't exactly scared, but it would be easy for Herbology to go out of control.
The individual potted plants were passed around and Denisse examined the Sneezewort at her work area.
The pale stems grew tall and white flowers vibrated delicately as if she sensed her touch. Carefully, she loosened the soil around the roots with her trowel. Dirt caked her gloves, she scoffed and brushed it off as she transferred the plant to a bigger pot.
Sounds of commotion filled the greenhouse; students shrieked with laughter and shouted in alarm. The scrape of a chair, the clink of a bulb against wood, the frustrated groaning of a student who spilled dirt onto their own work; the noise filled the air as they handled the plants. She kept her attention on her tasks, meticulously breaking apart clumps of dirt, adding fertilizer to the plants, trimming bent stems and watering the plants just enough to keep the dirt moist.
Denisse risked a glance at Millie.
She was preoccupied with her own Sneezewort, and Denisse didn't get involved, just observed. Denisse's mouth curved upward in a slight smile. There was a weird sense of comfort to working alongside Millie, even surrounded by the chaos of Herbology. As the lesson went on, Denisse moved to Scurvy Grass.
It had a sharp scent like mustard and Denisse wrinkled her nose at it.
Nearby, a loud sneeze echoed through the greenhouse. A ripple of giggles passed among students, and Denisse smirked before returning to work, snipping off the stray leaves and patting down the soil. Eventually, they were brought the Aconite, its flowers dark and menacing, seeming to hum with danger.
Denisse dared not touch it - it was far too risky - but she leaned in to admire its dark petals, its striking elegance. When the lesson was over, Denisse's gloves were covered in soil and clippings lay on her desk along with fertilizer dust. She let out a breath and smiled a weary, triumphant smile.
"We survived another one," she said, turning to Millie.
As the greenhouse cleared, Denisse's gaze drifted back to the crate of Bouncing Bulbs.
⚔︎ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ⚔︎ sta 8 ; eva 5 ; str 6 ; wis 5 ; arc 6 ; acc 5
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Shadows and Sparks
8 September 2025, Herbology's Greenhouse
With @Denisse De Vera
449WC
Another day with plants.
Millie casually put on her glove as the first batch of plant coming in to her desk. But, this one is a little ... energetic. Bouncing Bulbs, Professor said. She grimaced before she could control her own expression. She knew plants still classified as a living being, just like human and animals, but ... bouncing? Somehow, that's reminded her with one of the game she played once.
Millie grab the trowel and started to make a little hole on the dirt as her other hand grab the wildlife plant she knows as sneezeweed. Sneezewort. And one other name her Pa liked most: bastard pellitory. It's said its useful for human as a herb (she also liked to collected its flower since it's pretty), but poisonous for animals that she always asked to get rid off it before the cows munch on it. Glancing sideways to where Professor still explaining things, Millie plugged out one of its tiny flower and quickly pocketing it to her pocket as she hummed, like she never did something, and put a final pat on the cake of dirt covering the yarrow.
She now moved on to the other kind of grass. Scurvy Grass. Cochlearia. This one also have a nice flower, but Millie have no time to do the same as the previous one she did as the Professor paced back and forth just behind her back. She sighed, and with no other choice, tended the Cochllearia in her hand to its new pot.
Last but not least, finally, monkshood. Aconite. This one have an alluring purple petals. Beautiful, yet dangerous. It is actually the first time Millie saw and touched the plant. She slowly put it on the holed dirt, covered it back and pat the soil, then showered it. She was too mesmerized by it until she heard the voice just beside her. Denisse.
"We survived another one."
Millie raised the corner of her lips, barely noticing there were another people beside her in the greenhouse after she finished mended the monkshood and pulled out her dirty glove. Their time is over now in the greenhouse. Time to go back. But when she just rolled back down her sleeve and turned around to leave the place, she realized Denisse was still stood there looking at something. Following the direction she was glancing at, Millie reflexively bulged her eyes and quickly hold Denisse back on the shoulder.
"No," she said while shaking her head to Denisse. Her usual expressionless face now becoming more stern, with her eyebrows frowning and almost touched each other. "Whatever you think right now, no. I'm afraid I won't help you with those aggressive, troublesome plant."
------------------------Stealthy little one, who has
cat's Grace & Sixth Sense
cat's Grace & Sixth Sense
Shadows and Sparks
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⚔︎ | DENISSE DE VERA |
𝕯enisse pulled her gloves off and wiggle her fingers while the wet earthy soil sticks on the nails. In the greenhouse it was heavy and sharp with steam and pollen of the watering cans. She rested her crouch on the table and brushed a little patch of mud off her cheek with the back of her hand and made a little giggle.
Her eyes were fixed in the purple petals of the monkshood.
It was beautiful, it was dangerous, like those flowers who whisper secrets if you stay for a moment looking at them. Her eyes were drawn to the back corner where some other more active specimen are twisting and writhing slightly in their pots, like the leaves know they're being look at. And it tug at her mind, this thought that it would be fun to poke at one of them, see where its limit.
But then, before she took a single step, a hand lands firmly in the back of her shoulder.
She blinked up at Millie's hard eyes and tightly furrowed brows, with their wordless question, and faltered into a shy grin. "Ok, ok," she said through barely opened lips and raised her hands as a white flag.
"No more funny business."
But even as they packed up their tools, Denisse took one more look at the moving plants in the back, curiosity humming on the back of her brain.