[center][img]https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/external/xYNz5Y2DKS83pKct9KXUY-PvT56r7LfcBYOL5o7bjPM/https/fontmeme.com/permalink/210424/1aacb67ba4eb5c934f204d6669b28a48.png[/img][h1]&[/h1][img] https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/654438713455149084/873479307715051540/image.png[/img][sub][color=goldenrod]Collaboration[/color] | [@Canaryrose] AKA Alisa
[@DreamingFlowers] AKA Daphtree?!?
[color=goldenrod]Location[/color] | Mt. Justice, Greenhouse
[/sub][/center][hr]
The afternoon sun peeked through the sky window above the greenhouse. The warm light brought out the fresh scent of the plants and bathed everything in a peaceful glow. Everything was in full bloom. The Nymph was anchored into the soil at the center of the greenery. It happened gradually, but she was becoming less recognizable as the girl she once was. There was a vague impression of arms crossed in front of her chest and subtle facial features. Her legs were twisted into a singular trunk, hair reaching up high above her head in a canopy of leaves. 

Mementos the Team brought her during some of their visits were carefully arranged around her “feet”. Each one was different and personal to the one who brought it. There was a small vase filled with her favorite flowers, a well meant but slightly soggy cherry cake, a bottle of perfume and other accessories. 

It had been a while since someone visited her last, that is, until a knock came to the greenhouse door.

Coming to the inside of her ‘room’, was a familiar friendly face belonging to her first friend on the team. The green shirt that she’d gotten for him was on his back today, he remembered. The bushbaby remembered the missions they had been on. Remembered the training that he took the time to try imparting to her. 

Ja only wanted to help…Though, he feared that it might not have been enough because, here she was; locked in this form. He wanted to help her to become comfortable with her power…but this didn’t feel right. The Red whispered to him, when she was first brought like this. She was alive, but not as they had known her. Even now, in this room with other plants, he might not have recognized her if not for her scent. The human spirit that made her distinct was quieter now, even more than then.

These thoughts made his face somber at first, but when he made his way closer to her, he smiled. She was still alive, and still here. He tried to focus on that.

[color=goldenrod]”Hai, Daffy-Knee…”[/color] His voice was small but gradually gained volume as he spoke more. [color=goldenrod]”It has been some time. I am sorry for that. A lot has happened…New people have come to the team again…Oh, Alisa is back and okay after the last mission. She stumbles about sometimes like a baby learning to walk. It is funny to watch but I don’t laugh. How have things been here? Has Red Robot been treating you good? Does he even talk? I told him a bunch of times that he should talk—”[/color] 

He stopped mid-way through his ramble, throwing a finger up to remember. Throwing a hand into his headbush, he tugged a rolled-shut paper bag free.  Reaching inside, he pulled out what looked like chalk and started putting them into the dirt near her roots. [color=goldenrod]”I almost forgot, I brought snacks. Not for me, but you! They said that these are “plant food” at the store. They are shaped like sticks…I would have made something but I realized that you can’t eat people food yet. Think of them like jawbreaker candy.”[/color] 

It had been two months since Daphne had turned into a tree. To Alisa, though, it felt like less than one. Her friend had been gone so long… longer than she had. And Alisa had never gone to visit her. She wasn’t sure why. Seeing Daphne like that terrified her on some molecular level. It reminded her of what had happened to her, she supposed. But she needed to brave it, for Daphne. Her friend might still be in there, her mind trapped in the Green. How awful would it be if Daphne had been conscious the entire time and Alisa had never come to see her? That imagined guilt made her squirm.

So, she came. Since it was properly summer now, she wore a white sundress. It had been a bit of a walk in sandals, but oh well. Alisa carried a sketchbook and a small tote bag with her as she went into the greenhouse, intending to draw next to her friend. But, to her surprise, as she came outside of the door she heard a voice inside. [color=cornflowerblue][i]Ja.[/i][/color] He was here? Today? A pit formed in her stomach. She had wanted to be [i]alone[/i], and while she liked Ja… his unpredictability, his periods of sheer energy and periods of seriousness, exhausted her. From listening, it seemed like he was energetic today. Huh. 

She kept the bandage he had given her in her room, tucked away in a drawer. It was a touching gift. Alisa cherished it.

Pushing open the door, Alisa smiled tentatively and approached the tree, looking up at her friend. Her smile turned sad. That [i]face[/i]... she hadn’t realized how realistic it would be. How much it would look like Daphne and, at the same time, [i]not[/i].

[color=cornflowerblue] “Hi,”[/color] she said, smiling down at Ja, who was stuffing sticks into the dirt. Alisa looked on curiously. [color=cornflowerblue]“What are you doing?”[/color]

[color=goldenrod]”Hai Alisa,”[/color] Ja paused briefly from what he was doing to wave at her. With her question, he went back to putting the last few sticks in the dirt. [color=goldenrod]”I have brought Daffy-Knee food for plants. According to the garden people at the store, it is supposed to give nutrients to go along with sunlight and—“[/color]

In the indent corner of Daphne’s wooden eyes, a small droplet of water glimmered in the growing lights. It could simply be a collection of dew although it was long past morning. It traveled down her face, falling on top of Ja’s diligent fingers. The wild child jumped, then froze in place as he was thoroughly startled. His eyes stared up at the eyes of the plant girl rather intently. It was a brief but intense whisper of bittersweetness that swept through his senses of the Red. His heart lurched in his chest.

[color=goldenrod]”D…Daphne?”[/color]

There was no sign in Daphne’s frozen face that she felt the same wave of emotions as her counterpart of the Red. The bark covered her usual warm brown eyes, hiding what she was feeling on the inside. Just then a single leaf twirled downwards, landing close to Alisa’s feet. 

Alisa bent down to pick up the leaf, turning it over in her fingers with care and a tender look in her eyes. [color=cornflowerblue]“Is she… crying?”[/color] she whispered, almost reverently. She took a cautious step towards the tree. Her logical mind was screaming that it was impossible, but… she had seen crazier. 

[color=goldenrod]”I…water fell from her and touched my hand..but I felt her.”[/color] The bushbaby looked at the hand that had been contacted and his bottom lip squirmed. Turning his head to Alisa, he noticed the leaf she was holding. Confusion mixed into his expression, and the shrill whimper of a golden retriever pup exhaled through his breathing. [color=goldenrod]”It was really fast but for a moment I felt Daph in there. I don’t know if she was happy or sad…”[/color]

[color=cornflowerblue] “Well,”[/color] Alisa murmured, [color=cornflowerblue] “maybe she’s still conscious in there. Maybe she can hear us. You’d know better than me, if you can [i]feel[/i] it.”[/color] She approached the tree and stroked the bark, overcome with the urge to draw her friend in this form. 

[color=cornflowerblue]“If she’s conscious, maybe she’d like us to talk to her,”[/color] she hedged, and Ja nodded.

[color=goldenrod]”That is what I was doing before you came in…I was telling her about how things have been over the last month, and that you are back…”[/color] Ja’s head bobbled left and right as he spoke, gesturing to Daphtree in kind. There was still a sort of weight that sat in the center of his golden irises, but a smile on his lips. [color=goldenrod]”But you can tell her all about it yourself, now that you are here.”[/color]

Alisa shrugged. [color=cornflowerblue] “I… you know more than me. But I did see this movie yesterday. I’ll tell her about it.”[/color] With that, Alisa took a seat next to Ja, arranging her legs neatly and resting her elbows on her knees. [color=cornflowerblue] “Where to start… okay, so this girl moves to New York City for a job at a fashion magazine…”[/color]