shearing woes

Hana was no stranger to the vices scattered around Burrowgatory, but she never really had the inclination to try drugs (drinking already seemed like it would fill up that space, and she only really had a limited amount of energy for these things). So when she was listening to Hops explain what the hazeblooms were over a drink (which was, as the bartender promised, on the house), Hana couldn’t help but feel a little skeptical. The gluttony bun seemed to have plenty of experience with it though, recounting particular dreams that she was able to hold onto after coming out of the reverie. A number of them, unsurprisingly, involved lots and lots of alcohol.

Anyway, Hops said, this also seems like a fine time to bring up if Hana would be willing to come back in a couple of days for additional help. The sloth bun raised a brow and had a quizzical look. Was this more watering duty, she asked. Oh no, these flowers grow really fast! Fey magic or something (and Hana knew that was going to be a whole other can of imps to ask about, so she let it slide). 

“So I’m asking if you could come back to help harvest the plants! Just have to cut them from the stems and put them in the baskets. Doesn’t sound too hard, right?”

“I guess…” she supposed that work wasn’t too taxing at the moment after the wave of taxes at the start of the month. “Do I get another drink after the harvesting?”

“Oh yes, if everything goes well I should have lots of extra carats!”

“So that means more than one drink?”

“Many, many drinks.”

“Mostly for you?”

“Of course!”

No wonder Hops could never get out of her debt, but it also seemed that she was enjoying her seemingly permanent stay in the Wonderland Casino, so she decided not to comment on it. “I’ll hold you on that.”

✲

Hana had to admit that she was curious on how fast-growing plants looked like. It must’ve been exciting to see something new every day rather than every week or so. Such thoughts couldn’t outmatch her lack of energy to leave the house though, so it was only when Hops called again that she decided to roll out of bed. The clouds that hung over the cavern ceiling seemed to threaten rain, so Hana forced herself to put together that same outfit she wore last time (washed already, of course, she was lazy but not a slob).

Once she was ready, she left the apartment and hobbled her way to the casino’s back gardens. There were a number of buns already; some planting more seeds and others watering the plots. Hana assumed that some of these patches of soil were already harvested and cleared, which was a testament to how fast they grew. Something that also hit her once she got closer was this…indescribable scent. Sweet? Alluring, to a degree? Pleasant? It even clouded her vision slightly, as if there was a light, baby blue fog that swirled around the buns like a gentle grasp. Must be why they’re called hazeblooms, Hana thought.

Hops was, once again, hovering around these gardens, supervising the action. When she spotted Hana, she called her over with an excited look before handing her a pair of shears and a basket. “Make sure to leave some stem when you cut them. Not too close to the back. We gotta pull ‘em out again anyway once we’re done.”

“It would’ve been nice if these were bushes.”

“Can’t have everything, Hana. We should be thankful that the fey even allowed us to get these in the first place.”

“There you go with the fey again…”

“Hey, how else would you explain these awesome blooms?”

Hana shrugged, not really in the mood to argue, so Hops just shooed her to her assigned patches. There was a nice batch of hazeblooms here, and the smell was much stronger here compared to earlier. Thankfully, it seemed that inhaling it only made her slightly tingly, but she supposed that the drug itself would have to be more concentrated to use how Hops described it. Clicking her pair of shears, she tried to feel for a good spot to cut before positioning the blades. Even when separated from the plant, the smell lingered; if anything it seemed stronger than before. She didn’t want to be lulled into a sleep here though – that seemed to be a terrible idea – so she tried her best to focus on the harvesting. It had probably been some time since she had focused this hard on anything.

Eventually, she managed to get a basketful of colorful blue blooms. It wasn’t too much effort and it was pretty to look at, though she couldn’t help but notice other buns getting distracted by taking long long sniffs on the flower petals. Man, for the first time in forever, it seemed like she was the only one who wasn’t full on daydreaming. That was new.