Tortoise and Fox [BL]

2.2

"Silver Plum Blossoms"

It was routine for Li to stop by Antheia Plaza. The calm, quainter market had less thematic goods like the food in Hestia, or the machinery in Hephaestus. In Antheia, there was only strange knick knacks, or small second hand goods. Vendors gossiped away behind small wooden displays, as the trickling passerby's briefly looked around. They didn't pay much attention, assured that nothing here was worth stealing.

Li intently wandered from stall to stall in a methodical manner, inspecting anything and everything. Rusted tools, old carpets, cracked phones, worn out pottery, used shoes...and more. He approached the very last stand at the end of his route, clearly looping back to it from the start. An old lady who could barely open her eyes sat on a lawn chair, fiddling with something under the table. On top the counter, there was a small display of little white packets lined up neat. Unlike the scribbled signs at other stalls, outlining trading conditions or prices, there were paper slips.

"White Tiger Roses"

"Grey Oxide Daisies"

"Red Ornery Carnations"

"Purple Lid Orchids"

Li's eyes lingered on a singular plain packet, uniform with the rest.

"Silver Plum Blossoms"

Several long minutes passed, but the old lady did not present any sort of convincing offer per usual for a vendor. Rather, she continued doing whatever she was doing, not interested in the slightest.

Li took one final glance at the labeled "Silver Plum Blossoms" packet, before walking out of the Plaza, home-bound.

***

He shut the door with an easy swing, setting the bag down on a worn, wooden table. Li lived on fringes of Artemis, emptied and abandoned from the First Descent. There was superstition around the area, that if a person stayed long enough on the outskirts, the Angels would arrive to drag them down to the pits of hell.

As long as people kept believing that rumor, Li remained safe and unfound every night. As if the location wasn't enough, Li sought out a house of lesser comfort; it was a broken down, 3 room house. Of course, these were all his reasons to justify his choice. But he knew (and chose to ignore) that this place held important memories for Li, of his childhood.

A barren mattress lay in the corner, the bathroom door left to it. The 3rd room had completely collapsed into rubble. But thanks to the service of occasional restless nights, a small curtain was installed to block the outdoors, the room's floor also relatively cleared off.

The largest detail in the house, however, was the large crowd of plants in the room. A tall, leafy fern sat by the window, with 5 or 6 smaller pots filled with different sized sprouts. The greenery lined up was bright and vibrant, contrasting the dreary decoration.

Li ran his hand along the crumbly wallpaper without purpose, before comfortably pulling his hoodie down and scarf off. He grabbed a cold custard bun from the bag, scarfing it down quickly. It wasn't soft and steaming any longer, but still retained a doughy chewiness and sticky texture due to the freshness(?) of the ingredients.

With a stomach that returned to half full, Li regained the energy to move around. He picked up a large bottle filled with rainwater from outside, and gently squatted down to water the plants. His actions were meticulous and cherishing, an expression clear on Li's face like no other. He wasn't sure when he began taking care of plants, but it didn't matter. He very much enjoyed the peace and quiet they gave him, lifting his melancholy mood somewhat. He hummed a soft tune to the green sprouts in the desolate apartment, far outside the reach of any humans' ears in Artemis.