You Dare Step Into The Secret Garden?

The sound of wet snow and ground under the wheels of the wheelchair was deafening, as the nurse pushed Daring along a path that was shaded by trees. The sky was blue and it was decently warm for this season, but it was all just dull for Daring. Everything was either dull, frightening or made them angry. They weren't stupid, they knew this wasn't the way a normal healthy person was supposed to feel. But their life had been fucked up from the start so of course the result was like this. There was never a chance for Daring to end up alright. And the limbs they had lost and their almost lost sanity were proof of that. The prosthetic limbs still ached, Daring could walk but every step was heavy and hurt.
"Oh, look. This is a very nice spot."
The nurse's voice was cheery, and although Daring knew he was trying to make them feel better it only irritated Daring. And they showed it by sending the nurse a quick glare over their shoulder. Daring gave him points for not losing his smile. Though when Daring looked it actually was a decent spot. It was a small clearing with some benches and flowers, that were blooming early. Maybe because of magic, Daring had been told a bunch of things happened and was because of magic around here. And the sun shone just right on the benches. The nurse rolled Daring over to them, and Daring stood up without a warning and sat down on one of them. It was warm from the sun.

"I'll sit here for a while. I know you have other things to do too. Just go."
Daring looked at the nurse, who didn't actually have to be here. Daring had roped him in from the hallway and demanded he take them out, since they were going crazy inside. And he had obliged, because Daring very rarely asked for anything and all the nurses knew it. It had felt humiliating and wrong, but at least it had gotten them outside.
"But I can't just-"
And that was when the nurse's pager beeped, and they looked down on it and frowned. And then he looked at Daring with a stern expression.
"Don't move from here. I will be back in 30 minutes, an hour tops."
Daring just nodded and shooed the nurse away, who jogged back towards the hospital. Probably an emergency or something. Daring could tell they were definitely moving from here now, because they had received a direct order. The nature of a NEK0 made Daring inclined to stay here, and they hated it. They almost wanted to leave this spot just to rebel. But Daring had no reason to move, and no place to go. So they let out an annoyed sigh and leaned back, looking at the sky that probably looked a lot less blue to them than it actually was.

Daring often acted brave, but their inner cowardice was shown in how they always tried to cover up the traces of their abuse. Daring has an old-fashioned long dress, that covered their legs all the way to the ankles, and a coat that was buttoned up all the way to their neck. Daring's arms and hands were covered with long sleeves and gloves, even though their artificial limbs could feel no cold. But the one thing Daring refused to cover were their ears and fluffy tail, and the latter they had wrapped around themselves. Daring let their hands rest on top of it, and the tip slowly swayed back and forth as Daring gazed to the sky.

Which was why Daring did not see Kiyomi approach, and when she skidded to a very loud and flamboyant stop on front of Daring their tail poofed up from fright and they jumped on the bench, ignoring the pain the crouching position was causing and just staring at Kiyomi with wide, shocked eyes.
"What the actual hell?! Why did you run at me like that?! You scared the shit out of me, nya!"
Daring looked angry and hissed a bit at the end of their sentence. And only few moments later did Daring realize they had said nya, and that made them cringe at themselves. Shit, why couldn't they shake that habit?!
But now that Daring looked at Kiyomi they noticed that the girl indeed did have ears as well, and probably a tail as well even though Daring didn't see it right now. And something about this girl, and how they seemed, told Daring she was another NEK0.
"What are you doing here?"

It made Daring very uneasy and irritated, when the other NEK0 suddenly acted so meek and submissive. She wanted to hiss at her, tell her to have some dignity, for fucks sake, but the girl soon straightened herself. But Daring stayed in the position they were in, crouched on the bench, and though their legs were aching they were ready to pounce in any direction at any time.
"Too late for apologies, you already scared the shit out of me."
Daring grumbled, and watched the other NEK0 like a hawk, their tail still poofed up and wrapped around their waist.

Daring didn't bother hiding their slight disgust, when this girl so shamelessly used the word nyah in her speech, and otherwise too her gestures were cat-like. Daring themselves was desperately trying to shed those sides, and thus it really irritated them when this NEK0 had no problem using them. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that she was obviously on the level of a child.
"You said you were Kiyomi, right? This is a public garden, you can't pick the flowers here."
Why did Daring even care about that? Who knew. But somehow they felt like scolding this NEK0, maybe it had to do with their childlike demeanor. As for the flower Daring was offered, they waved their hand dismissively.
"You don't need my forgiveness, and I already have a flower."
Since Daring had a red rose in their hair.
"If by "like you" you mean NEK0 then yes, I am. And clearly you are one as well."

Vampire-red? Was that even a thing? If it was a thing Daring did not know about it. But the sound of it was kind of cool so they decided to call it that from now on.

The girl was learning, which was just to be expected if she was a NEK0. And Daring nodded when Kiyomi said it would be a better apology if she put the flowers back. The flowers should be left to grow and flourish, not be picked willy nilly. Though when Kiyomi put the flowers back Daring frowned.
"It's too late for that, they can't grow anymore. They can't grow roots."
That kind of reminded Daring of themselves.
"If you really want to apologize buy flower seeds and come here later and plant them. That way there will be new flowers here when the summer comes."

"Daring."
Suppose Kiyomi wasn't so annoying that it would've been a pain for her to know Daring's name.
"I'm in the hospital, but staying inside all day was driving me crazy. Or more like crazier. So I came here."