I hate you, Fred.

Posted on Tue Sep 24th, 2013 @ 5:33pm by Lieutenant JG Anastasia Morrow

510 words; about a 3 minute read

About 25 km north of the ruins the captain was deposited in, a fire lit.

There was a woman sitting across the fire from a potted plant. She was glaring at it.

It's expression was best summed up as "leafy".

"This is all your fault." She told it, as she prepared to cook some of the rodent she had captured.

Predictably, the plant said nothing.

"When Captain Thomas gave you to me, I should have expected this. Transferred. Put under the command of some guy I have yet to meet, and day 2, 29 hours after arriving, dumped on a forsaken rock, who knows where."

The plant, wisely, said nothing. Not that it had a choice. Just like being here, with Ana. She had picked it up, while in her bathrobe, to move it into better light, and then poof. Planet.

It said a lot about the woman, that she had a combat knife in her bathrobe.

They watched the sun go down, together. One was cold, and eating cooked rodent. One was potted, and slightly dehydrated.

"I had just gotten used to being in charge, you know." She told it.

It listened, neither judging, nor giving her the look of boredom most humans would, at hour nineteen of the same rant.

Small animals were careful to avoid the fire, which seemed to suit it's companions just fine.

"Fred, the Captain called you." She said to it.

It didn't respond, but Ana continued, as if it had.

"Well, Fred, I hate you." She informed it.

Fred didn't seem all that heartbroken.

Ana watched, as the sky grew darker, and slowly, smaller light sources seemed apparent, south of where they were.

Fred quietly disagreed with the change in temperature, by slowly closing the flowers on his arm/leg/head/limb/leaf.

Ana put more shrubbery on the fire, and slowly it grew larger. Large enough that both Ana, in her bath robe, and Fred, in his pot, grew comfortable.

"I guess we should start heading that way, in the morning." Ana said.

Fred seemed impartial to this plan.

"I know. You don't care, because I'll be carrying your sorry roots."

Fred said nothing, as most would expect out of a tulip.

"I really hate you, Fred." She said to it, just so it was clear.

Fred didn't mind. Ana wasn't sure if it was actually not listening, or it just didn't speak Japanese.

The larger flames scared away something that made far too much noise.

The bugs began making soft noises again. Apparently the loud thing was one of their predators.

"I haven't even met the Captain yet." She told Fred. "Now, thanks to you, I have to do so in my robe."

While 100% innocent, Fred could not argue with Ana.

Ana took this as an admission of guilt.

"I hate you, Fred." She muttered again, as she began to fall asleep.

Fred sat quietly by the slowly dimming fire, apparently abandoned with guard duty. A job which it did with notable ability to do nothing about anything, except wilt, slightly, due to dehydration.

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