A Greener Room (Veronica)

[Valkyrie Fortune]

The young adult had been stumbling around almost all morning, trying to stop herself from being distracted by the wildlife. It hadn't been so successful, and already there were multiple small scratch marks on her new bags when some overexcited animals wanted a snack or two more than Val had given them. Additionally, In her unoccupied hand, there was a cluster of very small mission grasses - which were weeds that Val absolutely adored and she had taken a couple from the nearby courtyard. The ones she had picked were very young though, as the plants could grow up to 3 metres high.  She always felt like a caged animal when she was forced indoors, and this day was no different so she wanted to bring some of the outdoors with her inside.  However, even though her baggages were pretty light, Val was a petite girl and hauling them around with only one hand was beginning to tire her out, and the events of the past two weeks were wearing her down.  She couldn't help but miss her home and family - her grandparents, that is, although she knew she would never see them again. Knowing herself well, she focused on putting one foot in front of the other to be able to hold back her tears.

When she arrived at the right door, 301, she hesitated and panicked, searching savagely through her bags for her keys.  Fortunately, Val managed to find them, although they had been inconveniently shoved to the bottom of her bag and she had clothes lying everywhere outside her dorm.  Val didn't care much for neatness at that point, and ended up just kicking her clothes and bags inside when she finally managed to open the door.  The first thing she noticed was that the place was very clearly already inhabited by another individual, and she remembered being informed by a guide that her roommate had already established herself there.  Val shoved her bags against the unused, white bed and began to search around the dorm curiously.  However, apart from the stacks of neatly piled clothes indicating that there was someone else who lived there, it seemed to be void of anything interesting. There was no colour or plant-life in or around the room, and their view was lacklustre.  At least Val could change one of those things.

Acting instantly, she reached into her bag to pull out a metallic water bottle, which was subtly blue-tinted.  It looked pretty beat up, but that didn't bother Val much when she downed some of it and then placed it on her bedside table, before delicately placing the group of grasses into it so that they could 'plantify' her side of the room.  Content with herself, Val sat down and pulled a stinging nettle seed out from her pocket, planning to practice her powers.  Focusing, she put in energy into allowing the plant to grow, encouraged as it began to wrap its roots around her hands delicately.  It wouldn't harm her because of her poison resistance (and she hoped the exposure to poisons would eventually strengthen that power), so she was able to force it to grow and twirl around her arms and grow outwards around her bed.  It was fascinating to her, and it would be enough to entertain her until she got to meet her roommate.

[Veronica Knox]

Exiting from the gymnasium, Veronica found a small smile on her lips. It had been a good work out and a wonderful spar with another student. She had worked up a sweat and had been able to expand her powers a bit more, finding more creative ways to use her illusions in a fight. After that she took advantage of the treadmills and ran for an hour or so. Overall, it had been a very satisfying few hours in the gym. Now, the white haired girl was more than willing to head back to her dorm and crash for a bit.

However, as she approached the door she heard an odd sound beyond the wooden barrier. It almost sounded like leaves rustling against each other. ’Weird,’ She thought silently as she turned the knob, finding her door unlocked. Within that second she found her muscles tensing and a crowbar appearing in her hand. She had worked with a similar item before in a street fight. It something that aided in saving her own skin and would possibly do the same now. The familiar weight gave a small sense of relief as she prepped to fight whoever or whatever was inside her dorm.

As the slid the door open and her grip tightened on the crowbar she was caught by surprise to see a girl sitting on the previously vacant side of the room growing plants. Not simply watering a tiny green thing in a pot, no, visibly expanding the plant until it was wrapping around herself and the objects around her. Well, at least she knew one of the girl’s powers. Her grip loosened on the metal objects and a moment later it vanished from sight but she barely paid attention to that as her eyes widened at the scene in front of her. “What the hell?” She questioned, her eyebrow furring in confusion as her red eyes continued to follow the vines of the plant.

Crossing her arms, she leaned against the door frame. “Who are you and what are you doing in my dorm?” She questioned, her eyes slowly working their way from the newly grown vegetation to the girl controlling them. She appeared to have the same height as V but not nearly as much muscle mass. The girl seemed almost whimsical and very much a part of the plants that had entered Veronica’s space. She wasn’t sure how to take the brunette and she wasn’t one hundred percent sure she wanted the girl to stay long enough for her to figure it out. However, by the bags surrounding her it was likely that she was here to stay.

[Valkyrie Fortune]

Val's eyes widened in surprise as the door was shoved open, not ready for the sudden opening of the door and for the girl to come in with a crowbar.  Her eyes were a vibrant red, which were a huge contrast to the girl's lengthy white hair.  This struck immediate fear into She tensed up, and in response the plant that had been wrapping itself around her froze, almost waiting for the girl to make a move. Of course, Val would not harm the girl if she could avoid it, but defending herself would be done if needed.  In all cases, it would be ideal if no one had to be hurt.  However, the crowbar was gone as fast as it appeared and Val relaxed in response, forcing the stinging nettle to slowly retreat back into the seed that it came from until it was only a foot tall, when she delicately placed it on the bed beside her. All signs of the plant having sprawled across the bed were next to gone, apart from a few green stains on her bed.

The girl's words weren't necessarily friendly, and they caused Val to hesitate in confusion.  Questions like "Why are you here?" weren't something she was necessarily expected to hear, as she would've thought that her roommate would be informed of someone else coming to live with her. Maybe she had been notified, but she was just upset because of the the plants' presence. That wasn't very nice to the poor things - maybe she should help explain that they weren't nasty things.  "Stinging nettle," she said, as socially inept as she normally was, "It won't leave any spikes around, I promise you won't get hurt by it," Val hoped that would comfort the girl, pretty confident that that was why she was upset.  What else would it be?

Val stood up to face the stone-faced girl, smiling kindly as she unthreateningly approached the doorframe where she was, hands hanging loosely at Val's sides. "I know you probably don't want multiple roommates, but I can keep them under control if you want. I promise they won't cause any trouble, they just enjoy it - the freedom, that is," Val explained, trying to make sure her roommate was comfortable with the additional lifeforms that would be sharing the place with them.

[Veronica Knox]

Stinging nettle? What on earth was that? Clearly the plant but being the city slicker that Veronica was, she had never heard of the plant let alone see one in her room. Her gaze watched as the plant retreated and shrank until it was at a much more manageable size. “Stinging nettle?” She questioned, raising an eyebrow as her red gazed shifted from the new greenery to the girl who had brought it with her. Beautiful, there was a chance she’d get woken up to a spike digging into her side. That’s just what she wanted on one of the few nights when she actually slept well.

However, she remained silent and still hoping to gather more information before making a final judgment. Her jaw clenched momentarily as the other girl became to close the distance between the two. She was unknown and clearly had some amount of power at the rate of growth of her plants which could cause a nasty bit of damage. Yet, the teen didn’t show any of her worry as she stayed firmly planted against the doorframe. There was no way she was going to back down from the nature loving chick who suddenly appeared in her dorm. If she could hold her own against a superhuman boy that was over a foot taller than her, she should have no issues doing this.

When the girl began speaking again it suddenly made sense to Veronica as she vaguely recalled getting an envelope from the school. She had briefly scanned it for any notification that would cause harm to any of her friends, upon finding none she had discarded it and the information it held. It had been a notification for a roommate. She supposed that she hadn’t really believed it or that the unfortunate child would get reassigned. Appearing to be neither Veronica relaxed slightly, her body sagging against the wooden frame instead of leaning rigidly against it. “I’m not keen on having a single roommate, but I suppose it can’t be all that bad.” She replied before stepping into the room and setting her things down at the foot of her bed.

“I’m Veronica Knox,” she offered up her name before taking a seat on her bed, quickly tucking her legs underneath her. “You can call me V, Ronnie, Nicci, or whatever you feel like it. I’m sorry for seeming so…aggressive? I had forgotten I was supposed to receive a roommate and wasn’t sure how to deal with a random girl appearing in my room.” She ease back slightly, her eyes roaming from the girl to the bags she had brought. While she was still uncertain about the girl Veronica was aware that it would be easier to play nice than to deal with a feuding room. “How many plants were you thinking of having?”

[Valkyrie Fortune]

Val observed the other girl's actions, at first quite quietly, mainly to give the opportunity for the other girl to contribute to the conversation, but when she was given the chance to speak it was likely that Val would explode into discussion. After Val had mentioned the whole 'roommate' situation, the other girl seemed to dramatically relax and even go so far as to offer her name: Veronica Knox. Their names both started with a V -- they could be called the 'V team'! Or the "V-V's!"...or...something cool!  If nothing else, that somehow warranted a small giggle to escape from Val's lips and her eyes widened in excitement at the idea of being part of a cool group with her roommate. "I like that name. Mine's Valkyrie Fortune - but you can call me Val. I'm not really even sure what I'm fortunate with, but it's definitely something...I hope. Maybe having you as a roommate!" Another giggle. She was perky as she normally was, completely unaware of why anyone would be uncomfortable in the situation provided even though they'd just met. "Everything in our room should be named with a 'V' as the first letter," she said happily, pleased with her idea, and she glanced over at her plants. The stinging nettle would be Valentine, and the mission grasses would collectively be called Vincent. She could call her bed Victoria! But what if Veronica wanted to name her bed Victoria? Maybe they should use name tags or it could get confusing. She nodded, quite satisfied with herself and her new plan of actions: get name tags and name her side of the room first so that she could get all the good 'V'-names.

"That's OK!" Veronica's comment about her previous aggression led to Val almost completely forgetting about her previous thought. That was definitely a good thing for the poor white-haired girl, as a room filled with sticky-notes with names attached to objects tended not to be a beautiful dorm decor, at least in most individuals' eyes. "I don't blame you. I must be pretty intimidating," she said, now standing on her tip-toes to make herself appear larger but her voice had no sarcasm in it. She genuinely thought that maybe the other girl had been scared of her - after all, she'd been lying in bed covered in plant life, despite her fragile appearance. Besides, if you asked Val what sarcasm was, it's debatably whether or not she'd even be able to tell you. As Veronica manoeuvred over to her own bed to sit down, Val found herself inviting herself to sit the other girl's bed and plopped down beside her contently. Although the two having their shoulders touch could very well be uncomfortable for the other, Val didn't mind proximity as she didn't have much of a personal bubble - she'd even considered walking up and hugging the girl when she found out that they were roommates until she had remembered the appearance of thecrowbar.

When Veronica asked how many plants Valkyrie might bring into the house, it was one of the first times Val completely paused since she'd set foot on the island. How many? That was a good question. She had quite a lot of seeds in her pockets, but was Veronica asking about those? What did she qualify as one plant? How could Val so easily decide how many plants she wanted in her room? She wanted all of them, of course! This was one of the hardest questions Veronica could've posed to the plant-girl, and she sat there in contemplation before she came to an exact answer. "Minimum of six - three different species! Not all of them will be big though, but I want them all to have company. I can't leave only one species of each plant in the room, I need them all to have friends they can talk to - I don't know if plants of different species can talk to each other. If they can't, they might get lonely, and that'd be bad!" she stated, voice fuelled with energy now that she'd made up her mind. Of course she didn't want her plants to get lonely. She'd get them individual pots so they didn't get their roots in a tangle and grow to hate each other, but also place them beside each other so that they could chat with one another whenever they wanted!

[Veronica Knox]

Valkyrie Fortune, also known as Val. That was the name of the more than excited girl who was turning into a giggling mess in front of Veronica. For a moment, the white haired girl was taken aback by the excitement that was practically pouring out of the small girl but then she remember not everyone on the island had a backstory filled with doom and gloom. “Well, you ended up on this island so I’m not sure how fortunate either of us are.” She said, a small frown being produced on her lips as her arms settled against her chest.

“As for the naming,” Veronica said, her eyes leaving the girl-Val, briefly to look around the room, “I don’t see much a point but go for it.” There wasn’t much too the rooms, at least on Veronica’s newly deemed side. A bed, a dresser, a nightstand, and the closet making a small indent in the corner. She didn’t bring along many personal belongings, save for a journal her father left for her and a few different clothing options. Other than the clothes folded neatly in her drawers and her uniform hanging in the closet, the room looked a bit lack luster. She couldn’t find a point to decorating when she never wanted to stay long enough to make the dorm feel like a second home.

Her eyes quickly snapped back to her roommate as the girl began speaking again. For a moment, a small smile flashed across her features as the girl tried to make herself seem larger and far more intimidating than she actually was. Having lived with feuding gangs majority of her life it was safe to say that not much intimidated Veronica right off the bat. It would be even safer to say that a small, frail girl who had been momentarily covered on plants was far from the short list of things that did. Val seemed about the same height as Veronica but Veronica definitely made up for that in muscle mass, something her roommate seemed to be substantially lacking.

There wasn’t much of a physical thread coming from Val, which is exactly why Veronica had abandoned the crowbar so easily. If the brunette had become violent V felt confident in her abilities to handle herself against the other. However, she did feel a bit better knowing that the she wasn’t holding any hard feelings for their first interaction of the day. “Very intimidating,” She replied with a small short and a sarcastic edge to her voice. Vaguely, Veronica wondered what would happen when Val met someone who was truly intimidating just by their appearance. That would be an interesting day to say the least and probably not a fun one for Val depending on how she responding.

Veronica had an odd feeling that she would have to keep an eye on her roommate, just so things didn’t get dragged back to the room and connected to herself, of course. As Veronica’s thoughts when uninterrupted for a bit of time, she realized that Val had been rather quiet. Upon inspection, it seemed the other girl was lost in her own thoughts. That was until she burst out with her answer once more. Six? Six plants at minimum. Repressing an internal grown Veronica nodded her head slightly, “Just try to keep them to your side, alright?” She understood that plants obviously meant a lot to her and had to do with her powers so she couldn’t exactly protest to them being in the room.

As their conversation progressed, Veronica noted that Val’s responses were a little off from the normal teenage. Especially after she took a seat so close to Veronica, which earned her a look but no comment. Quietly, she wondered if the girl interacting with other human beings more often than plants. She had a sneaking suspicion that plants were more dominant in her childhood. However, instead of being left wondering for the rest of the time she verbalized her thoughts, “So, where did you come from? Are you more of a country girl than a city chick?” The words were calm, her face neutral so that the girl wouldn’t question why Veronica was asking, not that the white haired girl really thought she would.

[Valkyrie Fortune]

As Val's brain slowly switched topics from the six plants she wanted in the room to the aesthetic appeal of the place, the 'crazy plant girl' was pretty lost in her thoughts. She started thinking about feng shui, which is a Chinese philosophy that creates harmony with one's surroundings, and how it might affect her, her plant-life, and Veronica. She wanted the place to bring them good luck, not bad: but she was no expert on the whole 'harmonizing the house' thing. Were there any feng shui masters on the island? What if the apartment was facing the completely wrong direction and it gave her the worst luck? There was no red or anything that seemed to be prominent in the room, and red was really good luck and it kept evil spirits away! All of her plants could die from all of the bad fortune flowing into the room!

When Veronica commented on Val's unluckiness, she couldn't help but immediately blame it on the room. She couldn't remember exactly what the two had been talking about, but if there was misfortune, it was the fault of the badly arranged room. She'd have to do some research in the library to fix it. "Don't worry," Val proclaimed, puffing out her chest bravely, "I can fix our bad luck! I just need to get some more...colour into this room, yeah! And then energy will be drawn into it by the reds and the blues and all the colours!" she concluded happily, eyes large while she shook a little in excitement. "What's your favourite colour? Maybe that'll bring us more luck." Her head was tilted as she looked at Veronica with a huge grin across her face, although she was worried that if she didn't get more colours soon, they would be infected with bad luck forever. When was the next trip to the mall? She could get a bunch of stuff there...until then though, maybe she could make pretty things out of origami! She just needed to find someone who had origami paper...

From Val's perspective, Veronica hadn't said a single sarcastic thing and would never say anything like that. So, when she 'admitted' that Val looked pretty intimidating, the brunette glanced downwards and shook her head. "I don't like violence, so I can assure you I'm not scary at all," she murmured, looking over at her mission grasses. Why couldn't humans be like plants? No one would fight with guns or anything, and everyone would just grow super slowly and be super wise! "What plant would you be?" she asked curiously, completely out of the blue. It was an imperative question, after all, and Val felt she needed to know. She wasn't even sure what plant she would want to be! It was a tough thing to answer. "What plant would I be?" she spoke again after only a moment's hesitation, putting emphasis on the fact that now she was asking about herself. She wanted to know, after all, because it's always important to know what plant you'd be if you weren't human. Just in case, of course.

Val's eyes returned to meet Veronica's when she asked her about whether she was a city girl or not, and Val rolled her shoulders and leaned back a little. "I lived in the suburbs next to this great big forest! It was filled with hundreds of different types of trees, and there was this small section of it that had these young, brightly-coloured rainbow-barked trees! They are called rainbow eucalyptuses, and someone must've planted them there long ago because they aren't normally in Florida. I took care of them, though! They must be growing so well, now," she went on a small, passionate lecture about the beauty of where she was, forgetting the origins of Veronica's question. "Have you ever seen one? Did you have a lot of plants where you lived? Plants are so amazing," she spoke excitedly, eyes a little glazed over as she thought back to the lush environment she used to live in. The island was great and all, but she couldn't help but miss her home and those beautiful trees growing in the midst of an almost average forest.