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It was... Quiet. You could hear the birds sing a beautiful melody that almost made you forget the horrors of the eye that watched. You could still hear the cries, an occasional scream. But... For the most part. It was actually kind of nice, as long as you could ignore the heavy iron that mixed with the humid air of the summer. You certainly didn't want to think too hard about the flowers of misery and flesh kept in the garden. Maybe don't think at all.
Yeah...
That's better.
"You like it?" A croaked voice asked hovering behind you. You really didn't want to think about the thing that was Jared Hopworth. a large grotesque being of arms and bones and flesh. His voice was difficult to piece together, and his attitude was certainly even worse.
But right now, he seemed to be oddly at peace. one of his mangled arms held a watering can, another held a shovel, another held snippers. He certainly made good use of the extra limbs he certainly didn't need, some of them even looked new. He... probably took one or two from his recent collection of 'flowers.'
"It's... calm. I guess. for me at least." You mumble out.
Jared furrowed his brows, or at least you think he did. "What? I meant the garden, my flowers."
You furrow your brows. "The... 'flowers'."
"Yes. I find them rather lovely." Jared nodded, crouching down, tending and mangling what used to be human. It made you sick, but you couldn't exactly vomit. You didn't need to anymore.
"Y'know, I've always wanted to start a garden of my own like this. S' nice and peaceful-like." Jared began to ramble, luckily you've been around him long enough to hear him well. with his croaked tone you wonder why he never tried getting new vocal chords. Could he do that? Surely…
"I thought your whole thing was achieving the 'perfect body'. Since when?" You ask in return, leaning over to watch his actions. His mangled hands toying with the soil.
"Oh. yeah-yeah. That too, of course. I guess. It's nice. I didn't think I'd be much for it in the past, really. S'pose the new world brings new hobbies." Jared responded.
You furrowed your brows, disgusted. "That's... morbid."
"I don't see you stopping me."
"...Yeah. I'm not."
It was a long silence before Jared spoke again. God his voice made you want to tear out your own ears sometimes…
"Sit with me." Jared requested, you didn't really want to. knowing what was mixed into the earth. But you felt your legs bend down and into the ground next to him. "This one's trying to go ugly on me. Do you see how the bone is splitting like that? Like a weed.." Jared tsked, snapping off the bone in question to 'fix' it. Making you wince as a cry emitted from the 'flower', but you were unable to look away.
"I think it-" You pause, "I think they look fine..."
Jared shook his head, "Fine won't cut it. It should be beautiful. Perfect." One of his hands observed the broken bone. "That's somethin' I don't quite get... You think it's fine how it was? Frankly, the lad wanted to be like this. even if he thinks otherwise."
"I don't think people should have to put themselves through pain to look 'pretty'." You argue, but Jared shakes his head.
"That's rude to say. I work real hard on taking good care of this garden and you're saying it's better not being like this?" Jared asked, "Certainly there's something you'd change about yourself. Isn't there? A burning feeling somewhere in your body you'd rather have gone?" Jared question, now peering into you. waiting, patiently baiting you into giving him the answer he wants.
"No." You respond. "I used to think parts of me were better off getting chopped off or wrangled out. I used to hate how I looked, how others perceived me." You mumble out, staring at the soil. "But I don't want to be in pain. It's not worth it." You hummed. "I like the person I am today. I think."
"Hm. Pity."
A long pause rang out, only the sound of windchimes could be heard, drowning out the quiet cries of the soil.
"Is... Is it bad that I feel hungry?" You ask, "I mean. Not really hungry. Just. I miss eating." You sigh. "Bad timing. yeah. Uhm..."
Jared whistled, presumably in replacement of his inability to hum. "Can't relate. The thought of eating makes me sick." Jared paused, considering something. "Say. You should help around. It'd be nice to have more hands tending the garden."
"Like you don't have enough of those?"
A croaked, strangled laugh left Jared. "It'd just be nice. You're standing around like a sore thumb that refuses to return to the soil. May as well make yourself useful. Y'know... Since you can't eat anymore."
You consider the proposition. It'd pass the time... And Jared was being surprisingly docile for once. Which was an odd thing within itself. You never really considered gardening in the past. Cooking and eating had been your old past-time. But in a world where hunger no longer existed, you really didn't have a purpose.
Maybe gardening won't be so bad.