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[run_barry]

At a table is one Barry Allen with a short stack of books and a small potted plant.

The plant is a red zinnia, and it doesn't look to be doing so good.

The books are on horticulture and gardening.

After an initial speed-read through the entire stack, Barry goes back and starts to page through the first book again, slower this time.

Turning pages, he looks up from the book every now and then and gives the little plant a frown, and then keeps on reading.

He's totally botherable, and open to help from anyone with a green thumb.

Comments

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee is having a drink at the bar when the sound of fluttering pages catches his attention. He turns to find the young man speed-reading in a blur of extreme studiousness, and he blinks a couple of times to make sure he isn't seeing things. From the wilting plant, he can guess what Barry is up to.

He picks up his glass and crosses the room to Barry's table.

"Keeping a potted flower alive and healthy is more difficult than one would think, isn't it? Might I suggest something simpler to care for, such as a succulent?"

Succulent is such a good word.

[run_barry]

Barry looks up from the book when he hears the voice and gives Emcee a smile that's a touch embarrassed.

"Hey, Emcee."

Glancing at the plant, Barry frowns again and shakes his head.

"Yeah... it was a gift."

A beat.

"From the goddess of agriculture."

[i_am_your_host]

"Ah..."

It being a gift makes all the difference.

But he winces when he learns who it's from.

"...Oooh."

Mmm yeah, that's a doozy.

Emcee touches a leaf, gently so that if won't fall off if it's too brittle.

"I'm sure you did everything you thought was right. Watering, sunlight, the basics?"

[run_barry]

"Well, I-- yeah, for awhile... "

He looks at the poor, drooping flower. Once a vibrant red, it's now sad and dull.

"Then I sort of forgot about it," he admits, feeling pretty guilty.

"It's just been really busy lately," Barry tries to explain to Emcee. "And I guess maybe I should've kept it here instead of my apartment where I'm hardly ever at."

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee curls up on a chair across the table from Barry and takes a thoughtful sip of wine.

"Well, hindsight always provides the best solutions," he remarks. "Perhaps you should keep it here until you find a way to revive it. Have you learned anything from these guides?"

[run_barry]

"Yeah, that might be a good idea," Barry replies.

Glancing down at the book, he shrugs a little.

"Not really. Which... in a way is good, because it doesn't seem to have anything really wrong with it. A little TLC might be just what it needs to bring it back."

Of course, that takes time and in the meanwhile Barry is impatient and anxious to do more to help it along.

"Do you keep plants?" he asks Emcee.

[i_am_your_host]

"Me? No, I can't even remember ever having any plants. I suppose there were a few potted greens around the house in which I grew up, but the ladies never gave me the responsibility of watering them. I would be terrible at it now, truth be told. I never even had a real pet, at least not one that was wholly dependent on me, since the stray alley cats don't really count."

But he shrugs and smiles at Barry and reassures him, "Don't worry, darling, I'm sure something can be done for your forlorn flower. There is a greenhouse out back, you know. Someplace with plenty of light, warmth, and moisture might give it a much-needed boost."

[run_barry]

"My mom had a garden," Barry notes, reaching out a finger to poke at the flower carefully, trying to coax the wilted thing to perk up. "And I had fish when I was a kid, but otherwise nope, no pets or plants."

The greenhouse is a good idea, and Barry appreciates the reassurance. Giving Emcee a smile in thanks, Barry nods. "That might be what it needs. It's winter in Central City so, this little guy isn't getting much sunlight or warmth."

That feels like a hopeful option, and Barry decides to do that here soon.

For now, he shuts the book and turns his attention to Emcee, looking to catch up.

"So how've you been?" Barry asks.

[i_am_your_host]

"And be sure to not forget the aforementioned TLC," Emcee points out. "This is a gift from a goddess, after all, so you never know if she might be able to tell if you paid it any personal attention."

Would the plant snitch on Barry? Better safe than sorry!

"I have been marvelous, darling, thank you," he beams. "The nightclub in Berlin is doing splendidly, and finding new and interesting things and people to do here is always a wonderful way to pass the time." ...Yes, deliberate word choice and phrasing.

"I am also planning another New Year's Eve party, and you and Cisco are invited, of course."

[starrydome]

"It looks a little withered," Elrond remarks kindly.

He has been walking outside and the scent of cool air and damp grass clippings to his clothes and hair.

[run_barry]

"Yeah... " Barry looks at the plant, and then up at Elrond. "I'm afraid I haven't been giving it as much attention as it probably needs."

Things have just been pretty hectic lately.

"I was hoping I could find a way to help it along."

Beyond just watering and waiting, which isn't quite proactive enough for Barry.

[starrydome]

"It needs room," Elrond says. "The poor is too small to let the roots spread."

He inspects the plant.
"Is it harvest time where you live?"

[run_barry]

"It is?" Barry asks, giving a concerned look at the small planter.

"It's winter," he answers. "Been kind of cold lately, but I've kept the plant inside."

[starrydome]

Elrond touches the plant gently, and then he looks at Barry.

"I do not know this exact flower, but I should think it's a summer bloom. It might just be nearing the end of its time as a flower," he says. Gently.
Barry seems so honestly concerned about the welfare of his plant.

[run_barry]

"You think?" Barry hadn't considered that, but it does make some sense. Time being what it is in Milliways, and his own busy life on top of that, perhaps Barry can be forgiven for overlooking that factor.

"It's a zinnia. It was a gift from somebody here. A uh, goddess, actually, but I guess it has been awhile. Time is, y'know, weird."

[starrydome]

"It is," Elrond replies, gravely.
"But that means, that perhaps your flower is not neglected but merely letting the life that remains within condense within her seeds. Ready for next year."

[run_barry]

"Is there anything I should do for it, or should I just let it do it's thing?" Barry asks, glad that Elrond seems to know what he's talking about.

[space_puffin]

Oh.

It's that guy again.

Puffy patters over to Barry's table and the hops up onto it. He inspects the plant.

Boring.

Though why is it in a pot? It might be doing better if it wasn't in a pot.

Books, on the other hand.

Those... those are interesting. He nudges one curiously.

[run_barry]

Barry looks up from his book and sees the porg.

"Hey, don't-- " he starts to warn, then pauses and eyes the bird. "Wait, you're not GP."

It's that other porg. The one Barry sort of upset the last time.

"... Hoooow's it going?" he asks, not really sure what to say to the bird, but reaching a hand out to cover that stack of books and try to prevent them being knocked off the table.

[space_puffin]

Nope! He's not GP. He's much better than GP.

There are large porg blinking eyes as he watches Barry puts his hand over the books.

Well, that's rude.

He squints at Barry's hand and taking it as a challenge he waddles over to give it a light push. However, while his foot touches the books, there's a light nudge against Barry's hand.

"Qurrk?"

[run_barry]

"You just want to knock them on the floor," Barry says, shaking his head at the porg.

He knows this because that's the exact thing GP would do.

"Where did you come from? Do you belong to somebody?" he asks, looking around to see if there's anyone looking for a lost porg.

[space_puffin]

GP and Puffy have something in common? SHock! HoooRror!

He wanders over to the plant and nudged it briefly.

At the questions he tilts his head briefly and stares into Barry's eyes with large unblinking porg eyes. Where did he come from? Oceans and rocks, the smell of salt on the air, the tall cliffs and cold winds and rain.... Fish.

Yummy fish.

This is an impression that Barry might get in a flash. A projection, empathic... telepathic... ghost of a thing.

[run_barry]

Why did porgs do that? With the staring and the not blinking? It was a little unnerving.

More unnerving is that brief mental flash of a place he doesn't recognize to a question he just asked a space bird.

Now it's Barry's turn to stare at the porg.

"Did you just-- no, no way, that's crazy," he asks, then answers himself, trying to laugh it off.

There's no way. Right?

Side-eying the bird, Barry still isn't all that certain, but he is a nice guy so finally he says, "You're probably hungry, right?"

Porgs, it seems, are always hungry. A thing he and they have in common.

[space_puffin]

Barry.

Barry.

Barry.

You're a speedster.

You're in a multiversal bar.

You can travel through time.

Why is a psychic bird any more crazy?

On the other hand....

Food? When isn't a porg hungry? Will there be blue puff cubes? He wants blue puff cubes!

[run_barry]

Barry gets that it's a strange and weird multiverse, but a psychic space bird is a toe over the line.

Of course, future experiences are going to shift that line pretty far out there.

"Alright," he says to the bird. "Gimme a sec."

Barry gets up from his seat to go and have a conversation with Bar. He leaves the stack of books, but takes the potted flower with him.

It's not that he doesn't trust you, Puffy. It's-- yeah, no, he doesn't trust you, Puffy.