Worms after rain

@"Kaya and Gang" @"Saryn"

Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kalinina

There was something about spring that never seemed to sit particularly well with her. Being the daughter of a gardener, Ekaterina supposed that the season was supposed to incite more feelings of joy. But she had come a long way from being little Katya with thorn pricked fingers and no care for gloves, so any association that there might have been between spring and childhood was mostly contained to an absentminded freedom of being able to push open windows and breathe air that was just a little less harsh than usual.

But Manta Carlos was not St. Petersburg either. The plants on the island were different, and to Ekaterina, they seemed to be maddeningly cheerful in comparison. Maybe it was the magic -she knew that there was something strange going around with Miss Sandoval down at the daycare- but she had a strong feeling that it was just the difference. Sometimes it made her realize that she actually missed being back in Russia. Just a little.

Honestly, though. Pollen. Pollen was an issue. For somebody who couldn't get sick at all, there was something frighteningly liberating about getting the sniffles over something as simple as plants. It was also immensely annoying, and now as she stood under an overhang, she really hoped that the rain would come back. The clouds in the sky looked menacing enough. Surely they had enough for another hour or so?

Also, maybe if it rained a bit more, it would wash the crushed worms off the sidewalk.

Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kalinina

She had mostly ignored the presence of other people on the path, at least until she heard them speak. For a brief moment, Ekaterina was confused as her little bubble of isolation cracked open. Were they talking about her? When they spoke about work, did they mean the flowers that she had merely dropped in? The woman forced herself to examine her own work. To her eyes, it seemed like the work of an amateur. In comparison with those hazy memories of her father's flowerbeds, it felt like she had never really grown up from being Katya.

"Thank you, but it really isn't anything impressive." Gesturing at the empty plastic boxes by her side, she said, "I just arranged this little section here. The rest was done by the actual gardeners. I'm just a hobbiest trying to fix up a patch that didn't grow right the first time around." And really, it had been so long since she had held any sort of gardening tool in her hand. Lab tools were vastly lighter. The difference seemed significant in a way, but Ekaterina couldn't make up her mind on whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Looking between the two girls, the doctor said, "If you're interested in learning, I think one of the daycare assistants does this sort of thing as a side business. Gloria Eugenia Sandoval. She seems nice enough and I'm sure she's far more skilled than I am."

In the corner of her eye, a glaring hole in the flowerbed stared at her. Grabbing a box of yellow and red pansies, she began to fill it in. The soil crawled with tiny bugs and worms as she broke it open with her garden fork, smelling rich and full of life.

Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kalinina

"Nonsense. Everybody can garden." Ekaterina looked at the first girl sharply. She was obviously not human, the color of her skin and hairgave that away, as well as the unnatural looking light in her eyes. Being a doctor, Ekaterina thought that she was familiar enough with human anatomy to be be able to tell the difference between a nonhuman and a human who simply had nonstandard coloration.

As the two girls interacted, Ekaterina thought quickly to herself, wondering if she had heard their names before. It seemed like the two were rather well known around the school but Ekaterina still was clueless. Of course. She mostly specialized in lab work, anyways. Tests and the sort. And if somebody didn't come to the infirmary regularly, then chances were that she would never know them even in name.

She turned her attention back to the girl with the purple skin, holding up her gardening fork. "It's just a matter of choosing the right earth and flowers. You should try it some time. Even a single flowerpot is fine."

Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kalinina

As the girls keep talking, Ekaterina took the time to tidy up the little lot she had been working on, planting the few flowers she had left. They seemed to be hitting it off rather well, something that she felt a little twinge of jealousy at. But she could hardly begrudge them both for being amicable. Still, she maybe spent more time than she really needed to pat down the dirt around the plants.

"It makes for a decent hobby," she said, when Morgan spoke to her again. "Though it's true that terrestrial plants wouldn't fare as well in other places, if you can make a small area well regulated enough, some things might be able to survive. It depends, really. I think maybe cacti would fare better in harsher environments."