Screens and Greens

It quickly became clear that Lena’s version of gardening was substantially different to whatever the hell this was. The quaint little plant pots and gardening plots she was familiar with were nowhere in sight. New Sol’s version of a garden was apparently a whole damn forest.

The very entrance to this ‘garden’ was an abnormal sight; a collage of strange vines, leaves and petals. Leaves that would usually be green were instead shades of unnatural pastels, and the two tree trunks that served as the base of the large arch met in the middle with their branches braided together.

Lena didn’t wish to move. She’d seen a lot of strange sights recently, but none quite so captivating. It felt as though it would disappear the moment she looked away, so she didn’t dare let herself blink.

But, unfortunately, there were four other people with her who were more eager to move inside. Mizlin placed a hand on Lena’s shoulder, spurring her into movement and guiding her, and the rest of the group, into the courtyard.

White stones paved the ground, creating a large white circle of perfection. Each step created a small trail of drawn leaves that lingered on the stones for a few seconds, before fading away and leaving no traces of their existence. Lena couldn’t help but pace back and forth, chasing her own leaf trail with intrigue.

A single man stood at the edge of the courtyard, watching Lena with amusement as he leant against the trunk of a… mushroom? Lena wasn’t particularly familiar with fungi, but she didn’t think they were supposed to be that big. She wondered for a moment if the man’s small stature was making it look a lot bigger in comparison but, no, it was just that fucking huge.

The shade cast by the mushroom cap obscured the finer details of the man, but once he stepped forward the sunlight revealed his grassy green hair and matching beard.

He smiled through the green. “Mizlin, how lovely to see ya!”

“Likewise, Arno.” She replied, not a fraction of warmth in her voice yet still sounding sincere somehow. “Thank you for your time today.”

“Not at all, I always love showing new folks what we do around here!” He kept grinning. “My partner should be here in a second, then we’ll split your kids into pairs and take ‘em around.”

As if Arno had spoken forbidden words to summon the devil, a man emerged from the bushes with great vigour. He looked up at the group of visitors, then straightened up in shock.

“Ah, hello friends.” He said, brushing the normal coloured leaves off of his beige blazer with great composure. “Welcome to the New Sol Gardens.”

The girl with brilliant golden hair clapped. “What a brilliant entrance!”

“Thank you.”

Mizlin let out a deep, lingering sigh. Her many years as a PFP mentor had refined her insight into situations such as these, so she knew that this was going nowhere quick.

“Exer, why don’t you pair up with Lena and go with Arno?” Mizlin said, as though that was meant to mean anything to Lena. She hadn’t actually been introduced to anyone in her group.

She followed Mizlin’s gaze to the person she presumed was Exer. They were the least remarkable person Lena had seen in a long while. The girl in their group shone brilliantly like the sun and the man had a look in his eyes that screamed murder, but Exer? Exer looked like someone Lena could have seen back home, except with nicer clothes and an incredible amount of androgyny.

“Fine.” Exer spoke monotonously, staring at Lena with a completely blank expression. “Let’s be on our way.”

--

Exer and Lena walked shoulder to shoulder as they followed Arno away from the courtyard and down a path of purple dirt.

“I realise gardening might seem boring at first, but I’m sure it’ll grow on you.” Arno chuckled to himself but got no other reaction. Lena was too busy wondering how anyone could find this boring; the dirt was purple! Exer just didn’t find his joke funny.

Arno soldiered on, seemingly used to the lukewarm reactions. “Anyhoo, I wanted ta show you my favourite place here, the plant design lab! It’s what lets us to come up with all these whacky lil guys.”

He gestured widely. Lena wouldn’t call a venus fly trap the size of a dog a ‘whacky lil guy’, but she understood his vision.

Arno rambled on about this lab for a while as they walked, using so many words that Lena didn’t know, that she couldn’t help but zone out. At some point, Arno realised his audience wasn’t engaged with his speech and allowed them to walk in silence.

Despite all of the nature-defying life around her, Lena found herself looking Exer the most. Her eyes flickered over them a few times, before her eyebrows furrowed and her gaze settled; a sign that she hadn’t found whatever it was she was looking for.

“Sorry to ask, um,” Lena cleared her throat and proceeded to ask the question in spite of her instincts. “Are you a man or a woman?”

“Neither.”

“Oh.”

Lena didn’t know how to unpack that response, so decided not to even try.

The awkward silence didn’t last long, thankfully, as they reached the building Arno called the plant lab. Exer remarked that it was just a green house, which confused Lena as it was made of glass and didn’t have a speck of green.

Arno stepped up to the building and waved his metal bracelet to the glass wall. The front panels of glass slid down into the floor, allowing the three of them to walk inside the warm but completely empty room.

“And this is where the magic happens.” Arno beamed and tapped on yet another pane of glass with his bracelet.

Instead of sliding into the floor, this piece of glass emanated a soft glow that slowly spread out to the rest of the room. Various words and diagrams lined the walls, none of which held any meaning to Lena, but all of which were impressive.

“Now all we need to do is pick and choose what we like the look of.” He tapped at various points on the glass in a way that seemed random but probably had a purpose. “Give it a go.”

Lena lingered in the middle of the room, content to watch Exer as they stepped up to the glass and also began tapping and swiping. Various flowers and colours fluttered around the room, as Exer seemed to pull bits and pieces from them to create their plant amalgamation.

The flurry of taps and moving light stopped. Exer turned back to look at Lena.

“What colour would you like?” They asked, voice as flat as always.

Lena had no idea what this colour would be for, she couldn’t make sense of whatever it was they were doing, so went for the first one that came to mind.

“Green.” She said, looking at Arno’s beard, then shook her head as she realised how boring it would be. “Actually, uh, yellow?”

Exer got back to work in silence. A few moments later, they turned to Arno and spoke. “I’m finished. What do I do now?”

“Ah, brilliant. Lena, could you come over here?” He beckoned Lena over.

She cocked her head at him in confusion, not looking too dissimilar to a lost puppy, but did as he asked nonetheless. Arno tapped his bracelet against the glass again with a slight clink.

Where Lena had just been standing, the earth started to twist into a fast spiral. The force of the spin forced the dirt aside, revealing a large wooden counter slowly rising up to just above waist height.

Atop the counter sat a bag of soil, a plant pot, a bag of seeds, some tools and a paper booklet. It was a very mundane sight compared to everything that had preceded it, and Lena could have been fooled into thinking it was something from her old home, if it weren’t for the fact it had miraculously risen up from the floor.

“Once we’re done with our designs, this bad boy gives us everything we need to grow them.” He slapped the wooden table with great pride. “We’ve got the seeds, a perfect soil mix, and a handy guide on how to look after your new plant.”

“Wow.” Lena’s amazement couldn’t help but escape her.

Arno chuckled, rustling his beard like leaves in the wind. “Wow indeed.”

“But, like,” Lena clutched her hands at the back of her neck. “How?”

It was Arno’s turn to look like a lost puppy.

“I mean, how does any of this work?!”

He shrugged. “No clue. Some genius in bio-engineering came up with this well before my time.”

Bio-what now? Lena’s mind threatened to break, so she chose to stop thinking before it reached that point. Her arms fell slack to her side. Once it became clear Lena wasn’t going to ask any more questions, Arno packed all of the items into a canvas bag he had procured from the side of the table.

“Here ya go.” He held it out towards Exer. “A new plant friend to grow at your leisure!”

“I’m not good with plants.” They stated bluntly, not moving a muscle to take the bag.

Exer spared a glance to the dazed Lena. Arno followed their gaze and took the hint, so held out the bag to her instead. She took it without a single thought going through her tired little brain.

“Ah, thank you.” Being polite was so engrained in her that she spoke without thinking, and the next words slipped out before she could stop them. “Can I go home now?”

A moment of silence.

“Yeah,” Arno said, his voice the softest it had been all day. “I’ll walk you back to Mizlin.”

Lena hugged the bag tightly to her chest and went through the motions of living. She followed various people through various overwhelming places, all while hugging the bag and staring at her shoes. Until, somehow, she reached her home.

To say she slept well that night would be a vast understatement; to sleep any deeper, she’d have to be comatose.