Gardening

"So, you can really grow anything you want?" Clarice asks, closely watching as a tomato plant sprouts from the ground and grows to full height within seconds; about a dozen or so ripe tomatoes along with it. Taking her fingers off of the stem, Alana dusts her hands off on each other and turns her head to look at her friend.

"Pretty much. As long as I have the seeds for it, that is. I can't create something out of nothing." She answers with a smile, folding her arms on top of her knees. Clarice blinks, a mix of surprise yet mostly thoughtfulness crossing her face. Huh.

"I guess that makes sense. Do you need to touch the plant to manipulate it?"

"No, not really; I just find it's easier." Alana responds with a shake of her head, lifting one of her hands to motion towards the tomato plant she just grew. "To manipulate plant-life I need a certain amount of focus. I need to know what I want to do and focus my thoughts on it. Touching what I'm trying to manipulate helps control that focus. But I have been able to do it without touching anything."

Clarice hums, staring first at Alana before moving her gaze to the assortment of plants. Most of which shouldn't be able to grow naturally where they were. As confusing as the girl's abilities might be to her, she supposes she understands well enough. At least as well as she can. In a way it does make sense but when she tries to think about it too hard, the fact her new friend is able to do such things in the first place just boggles her mind. Not that it has ever really stopped doing that but at least she's more used to it than when they first met. As she is with everything else that happened that day.

"What about that flower in your room? The blue one on your windowsill. Did you grow that too?" She asks, deciding not to think back on the day her whole life changed. As well as deciding not to comment on how many times Alana had repeatedly said 'focus.' Towards this question, Alana's smile falters and she suddenly appears somewhat uncomfortable.

"No." she answers, a small frown tugging at her lips as she pulls her gaze away from her friend; instead looking at the side of the mansion her garden is located at. Heaving a small sigh, the fifteen year old briefly hangs her head and closes her eyes. Upon opening them again, her frown becomes a bit more pronounced and her gaze remains glued to the house.

"That... is a gift from Offender." Alana starts slowly, momentarily wondering how to go about this. If Clarice had to ask, did that mean she didn't yet know? Surely someone must have told her something by this point. Or maybe they did and she was just unaware of where her flower came from?

That said... why hadn't Alana said anything about it before herself? Sure, a lot may have gone down the day they met, and she didn't have a whole lot of time to explain things before being punished. But she had still found time to warn her about punching him. So why not this? Even if she wouldn't have been able to elaborate, one of the others would have filled Clarice in later. And why hadn't she warned her once she was no longer punished? ... Well, probably because, at that point, Alana figured one of the others would have done so while she was still in solitary confinement.

With a blink, and what seems to have been some effort, she returns her gaze to her friend. No longer really frowning but not smiling either. "His roses are... special. I can't replicate them."

"Uh... okay?" Clarice asks, raising an eyebrow. Special? She's not sure what befuddles her more. The way Alana said it or the fact that it's clear there's something she's not telling her. "What do you mean by special?"

"... I think you should ask one of the others. They can tell you much more than I ever could. I'm honestly surprised you don't already know." Alana answered awkwardly, again looking away to rub at the back of her neck. Clarice frowns, slight annoyance mixing with her confusion as she looks to her friend. Tell her what? What doesn't she already know?

"Fine." She agrees with a defeated sigh, biting back the desire to ask Alana those things herself. It's obvious that nothing would come from it and the girl will only continue to deflect. Whatever it is, it must be pretty serious though. Especially if Alana thought she'd know by now. Well, she'll find out eventually and there is something else she's been wanting to bring up anyways.

"So... do you have anything else to do out here? If you're done there's something I'd like to do inside." She asks with a small grin, readying to push herself off the boulder she had been sitting on. Relieved to have the subject changed, Alana instantly perks and lowers her arm as she returns Clarice's grin with one of her own.

"Yeah, I don't have anything else to do. Just let me take a few of these tomatoes into the kitchen then we can do whatever it is you're thinking." She responds, using her hands to push herself up from her kneeling position. First dusting the dirt off of her pants the fifteen year old turns her back on her friend; missing the brief, not so subtle, smirk as she plucks several of the tomatoes.

"Sure, I'm not in a hurry. Do you need any help with those?" Clarice offers, looking from the other's back to the tomato plant she is harvesting from. Those look decently big. Would Alana be able to carry them all?

"No, I'm good. I can come back for more later but for now I only need a few." Alana answers, turning around once she has five neatly nestled in her arms. Clarice smiles, impressed by the balance but also biting back a small chuckle. Hopefully the tomato juice doesn't stain that shirt of hers. She knows a certain someone wouldn't be too happy about that. At all.

"Alright, but it's your funeral if you get juice on yourself and you know who sees." She lightly teases, her grin stretching. Alana blinks at that, her own expression dropping as she looked down at herself before looking back up with a shrug.

"Then I guess it's a good thing my hiding skills have gotten better." She jokes, playing along with a light chuckle. That said, maybe quickly changing when she got done in the kitchen wouldn't be such a bad idea. While her life isn't something she had to be in fear of, Alana doesn't really want to deal with him if she did happen to get tomato juice on her.

Laughing together, the two girls begin to make their way around the side of the mansion. Continuing to talk and make light of things as they do so. Teasing each other, making jokes and just overall enjoying each others company. The early evening breeze blows through their hair as they walk and, as they leave the garden behind, the conversation about the blue rose goes temporarily forgotten.