Flores in Flor (Open//Ghostie)

[Moonfire]

"Where is it? Its got to be under here... somewhere..."

Clothes, hairbrushes, datapads, even an old discarded notepad were dislodged from beneath the simple cot Moonfire kept in her room. Reaching underneath the cot, eyes narrowed as she struggled to pull out the wad of clothing that was trapped in the crevice. Dainty fingers barely grazed the rough textured fabric of her old youngling robes, wadded and knotted up, presumably hiding the object of her desire.

"Almost... Almost..."

Struggling further, the girl pushed herself as far she could underneath the bed, a blasted shoulder stopping her. Fingers fiddled with the fabric and found purchase tugging on the old clothes trying to wrap the scraps into a fist. The robes gave and with a single mighty tug the girl pulled the bundle out, spilling apart to reveal the gleaming magnifying glass she so desperately searched for.

"Finally!" The dark haired girl weilded the glass like a scepter, holding it proudly as she kicked the other belongings haphazardly back under the bed before grabbing the worn old notebook and rushing out of her room, a swirl of flowing sky toned robes.

Her boots padded loudly as she hurriedly rushed through the Temple, nodding and smiling politely to the Masters she recognized on her way. Twisting and turning through the corridors she arrived at her destination; the gardens. The sweet fragrance of a thousand flowers from dozens of worlds washed over her. A lazy smile hovered of her face as she checked off the individual names for the flora in her mind, happy with the recall.

Crouching low, Moonfire held the glass up to a cluster of white flowers, peering down between the petals at the bright red stigma and anthers.

"Come on... Come on out." She whispered quietly, blocking out the rest of the world around her. If her readings were correct a little red insect, perfectly matching the pollen of the flower was hiding within, with the most beautiful pattern of spots. All you needed, the text stated, was a little patience.

And so Moonfire Esense, kneeled in the garden, staring down at a flower, waiting.

[Ghostie]

“Aw sithspit, c'mon now...”

Sirius Kelrune muttered under his breath at the datapad he was holding in his hand. It was no being very cooperative on this late morning. He had so far spent the better part of the day trying to fix the handheld for a Knight who worked in the Healing Ward. So Sirius took it for a walk, leaving and Knight and all the “Now what is it doing?” and “Is it fixed yet?” behind.

The Knight in the Healing Ward had been checking up on his arm, and that's how the whole thing started. She had been using her datapad to look at some medical documents during the check-up, and the handheld did not what to respond. Sirius, being the kind of person he was, volunteered to fix it. Sirius reached up with his right hand to touch the datapad, and then stopped. It was weird, moving his arm around but it wasn't his arm anymore. The silver mechanical arm reflected light back at him.

Sirius had lost most of his forearm, everything from below the elbow down, about a week ago. He and Master Ka had been on a mission to rescue a Jedi Shadow. One particular dark Jedi whom Sirius got into a duel with got the best of him, and severed Sirius's arm. He now had a cybernetic replacement to show for it.

Every time his new cybernetic flashed at him, Sirius thought he failed somehow. The cold piece of machinery was a constant reminder of how the dark Jedi was able to get the best of him. Sirius kept telling himself that the dark Jedi was simply stronger, or faster, or better with a lightsaber. It didn't help. He knew it could've ended worse. He was thankful it didn't of course. But he would have a piece of metal instead of his own arm for the rest of his life, a constant reminder of that mission. Sirius had taken to wearing his brown overcloak a lot lately, it's long baggy sleeves able to hide his arm for the most part, only his fingers or his palm sometimes showing when simply walking around.

He didn't realize it, but by the time he was done thinking about his replacement arm, Sirius had wandered into one of the gardens on the outside of the Temple. The air was nice, much better than the controlled environment of the Temple. But Sirius had never liked sunlight too much. He burned too easy. But he didn't mind natural lighting when sitting in front of a computer screen.

Sirius held the datapad up infront of the sun, over his head as if trying to blot it out. It worked a little bit, it did give him some shade and he was able to see what he was doing better. Whatever the Knight had done, they had really screwed their handheld up. Sirius thought it a shame people didn't treat their tech better.

He walked down one of the many paths, flowers populating either side of the path. There were so many different colors and shapes and sizes. But Sirius had never cared for plants too much. The only thing the gardens did for him was give him a quite place to work and walk and think. Well, it was quite for the most part.

Sirius stopped for a moment and lowered the datapad. There was a girl, or at least what Sirius presumed was a girl because of her black braided hair. She was crouching, with head basically inside a bush of white flowers, and she was talking. To herself maybe, or to the plants? That was just a little weird in Sirius's mind.

“Are... are you talking to the plants?”