[D-007] A Tedious Hobby [S-085]

It was a little past sunrise when Falcata settled down beside a stand full of plants on the flat’s porch, carefully pruning a few plants that Vivaldi had accidentally bumped. They had started to decay and with a little sympathy towards Vivaldi, who had little luck when it came to raising plants, Falcata was careful to trim off the dying leaves. These plants were not his for the most part but he had mostly taken over the job of pruning them. The bulk of the flowers and herbs belonged to Morgan who had a mutual agreement with Mugi to grow the herbs for his cooking. No one quite knew why Morgan bought flowers but Falcata didn’t particularly care so long as there were plants to trim, should they need it.

There was something very relaxing about maintaining plants but Morgan had scolded him the first time when he over-trimmed a plant and accidentally killed it off. He had felt guilt over the incident that Vivaldi had noticed his sulking and thought up some way to make Falcata feel better. The second gift Falcata had ever received from Vivaldi came shortly after in the form of a small bonsai tree. Morgan had picked it out to get it safely to the flat on Vivaldi’s request but Falcata had grown to love the hobby over the years.

Most mornings now he spent settled in front of the small tree, carefully trimming it and checking on it before the others woke up and caring for the other plants as well. Perhaps it was just a little more special than the other plants because it had been a gift but there was something about bringing order to things that Falcata enjoyed. Cutting and organizing things fed a certain itch he had and gardening was was an outlet for this. Surely he wasn’t as good as some of the other roommates but he wanted to show Vivaldi something interesting in return for the gift that gave him such purpose. Many years later he would likely have more than a few trees to care for but the first tree would always be a bit special.