[b]Leda - Faith Open Area [i](earlier)[/i][/b]

"Come on!"

"No," responded a deadpan voice.

Leda Kieu followed the tall man as he tended to the few crops it was his job to manage. He had greasy brunette hair, a face scarred by past struggles with acne, tanned from time spent working outside, and a lanky frame with wiry muscle. He went by Charlie-- and he was beginning to get too used to Leda pestering him for things like this in here short time in the community. For her part-- Leda knew his type, and knew he couldn't say no to her-- so long as she was the right character. 

"But Charliiiiiiiieee." She pouted.

"I'm serious Leda," Charlie wiped a bead of sweat from his head, with a mustard gloved hand, "Elyse would never approve it, we need all the space for plants we can--"

"So what you're saying is you'd help me as long as I don't..." Leda rolled her hand in the air, "You know, whatever-- do that thing you said?"

"W-what?"

"You know-- I wont use her dirt! I'll just grow them in buckets, or pots, or whatever-- you know?" Hell-- Leda had to admit to herself that growing them that way would be better for making the whole things a surprise.

"Okay." The youth adjusted his backwards baseball cap, "What about the water?"

"What?"

"Water, plants need water--" Charlie leaned against his shovel, firmly planted in the loam, eyes glazing over as he prepared to repeat talking points from Elyse herself, "But we have to conserve, so--"

Leda cut him off, "I get it--" Her smile was forced as she continued speaking to the teenager,"Look, man, I'll use run-off if I need to, okay?" That was a legitimate point Leda hadn't considered, but she'd come too far to give it up now. She didn't quit projects before, even if they were complete failures, she didn't plan on starting now. "They're [i]flowers,[/i] how hard can growing a few be?"

Charlie sighed, "You're really not giving this one up, are you?"

"The soul has needs, dear Charles." Leda posed like the world's shittiest ballerina as she spoke. "Without beautiful things I will shrivel up and die!"

He laughed, "You're supposed to be older than me. You're so dramatic." 

"I am dramatically, fervently [i]alive.[/i]" She shrugged, "And perhaps craving a few narcotics-- [i]but[/i] mostly! I am alive!"

Charlie was silent for a time, before relenting, "Alright." Leda gave a rehearsed 'squee!' as he continued, "But I'm not going out today. I just want to do my chores and get some sleep, honestly."

"Well, then--"

"Relax, I'll ask my big sister about it. She'll have your back-- she loves killing those things. Now leave me alone."

[b]***[/b]

[b]Leda - Foellinger-Friemann Botanical Conservatory [i](present)[/i][/b]

Charlie's sister was bit older than him, but otherwise resembled him to a T, very much fitting into an 80's mall goth style. She didn't have a gun, instead, she figured Leda's would be enough for a quick run for flowers (officially seeking plant supplies). She instead wielded a crowbar, that had seen enough use that it had a handle wrapped in grip tape, and an end sharpened for ease of cold body killing. She was dressed much differently than her lanky gardener brother, though-- she wore aviator shades, a jeans, boots, and brown leather jacket, despite the weather. Leda, dressed more modestly in a T-shirt and Jeans, was only not sweating thanks to time spent in LA. She gave the girl 10 minutes before the jacket came off. The woman in the jacket, Charlie's sister's name-- was Charley. 

"Fuck. Here we are." Leda stood before the overgrown entrance of the botanical garden-- the pair weren't overwhelmed on the walk over, fortunately. Only encounter a couple of walkers on the road that Charley could dispatch quickly. Now that Leda was here, the dramatic part of her wanted to cry-- the overgrown shrubbery and vines having grown over, and began to twist the thin metal of the entryway's fences and signs. The other part of her, that manic comedian wanted to rush in and laugh about whatever happened. She had to temper these feelings.

"We've been headed here the past 10 minutes, bound to get here eventually." The deadpan manner wasn't lost between the Charlies, at least.

"You think there's many inside?" 

"I don't know-- how many people do you think took shelter in a botanical garden-- with no food?"

"I don't know, man." Leda felt like a speck standing at the precipice of hell as the overgrown gate seemed more and more like a tunnel of barbs and brambles to her. Was she stalling? "Plenty of space for growing food-- if someone got that idea early on... oof. They'd... sure have some plants-- you know? Lots."

Charley merely nodded.

Leda sighed, better to just dive in. "Okay, so yeah, like I said before-- we aren't really gathering stuff-- we're just looking around. If there's seeds, or plant food or nutrients or shit like that, we grab what we can, but hopefully there's enough that we'll need a bigger group."

"Okay..." Charley continued to nod slowly, "So... I get why I'm here-- but then why are you?"

"Volunteered to check it out." Leda gave another brief-but-nervous sigh, before taking a shaky step forward, one step soon becoming many, with Charley close behind, "I had a few installations with flowers back in the day."