With autumn a month into its season, the temperature change had left Theodora's feeling rather disappointed about the local flora. It was going to be such a bare winter, very much unlike her home in Greece. She was used to colour being around all year long due to the variety of flora and the warm temperature that rarely went below freezing. The best word for how she felt was homesick, and that lead to Theodora signing into her laptop's user account and then onto her Skype account. There weren't many people on her friend list, both because of timezones and her desire to cut ties to friends she may have had while in Greece. Useless and unable to help or entertain her the way they previously could, they hadn't remained on her list very long. It had almost solely become a family only contact list, consisting of her: mother, father, two sisters and her grandfather.
Her eyes fell over the contact list with intent, lingering over the online icon for her grandfather's Skype name. It didn't come up very often but out of all of the things she left behind in Greece, Theodora really missed her grandfather and his garden above all else. Sure, her mother and her father were there but she had never been as close to them as she had been her grandfather. It left her with a desire to talk to him, to find comfort in the foreign land and season with his voice (and maybe if she was lucky a webcam view of the garden).
It had been mentally decided, leaving nothing else for Theodora to do but click on the Call button. Ringing signaled the beginning of the attempt, and it continued to ring until finally no response was given leaving a heavy sense of disappointment on the teenager's face. Disappointment or not, Theodora wasn't going to give up just because one call didn't get picked up. She tried again, and when that failed, again. She tried on and off for a half hour until finally the Skype sound of an incoming call echoed off the walls of her room.
"Grandfather!" She explained with more excitement than what was typical for her.
"Theodora, what a pleasant surprise. I had been worried that I missed a chance to speak with you when I seen all your missed calls. Is something wrong? It is unusual for you to call so much in such a short time."
It was true that Theodora was being unusually needy but everything around her seemed to be working against her, so much that she just really wanted some familiarity to her life at the moment. Fights were going badly, the flora was all going into a dormant stasis for winter and most importantly she had been away from Greece since she left. She hadn't gotten to go back over the summer as she had originally planned due to having to attend summer school and that meant that all the plans she had with her grandfather had been cancelled.
"I just missed you," she said matter of factually, a large pout clearly on her face. It was so nice to talk to someone in Greek and have them understand her, and more important to have someone talk to her in Greek. She longed for a conversation that didn't require her brain to work as translation software.
"I missed you too. You know I am here anytime you want, you don't have to be alone." He said thoughtfully, smiling to her over the webcam.
"I know," she said, ridden with a hint of guilt. She had a laptop, she had access but in the end she didn't reach out. "How's the garden back home?"
"Terrible, you know your mother: nothing green on her. I've been tending to it when possible but it simply misses you."
The words weren't anything huge but hearing them brought a smile to the teenager's face. She was being complimented by her grandfather about her garden, and that meant so much to her to hear from the man she admired so much for his green thumb.
"I miss them. All the flowers here are withering for the cold season here too," she replied, a heavy disappointment in her voice.
"What about getting some plotted plants?" He suggested.
"The light isn't very good in the room." She tried, but she didn't want to admit that the roses she tried stemming hadn't grown very well.
"What about a community garden? Some sort of indoor garden? Is gardening any popular there?" He pondered.
"Oh! Grandfather, that's a great idea!" She announced, quite surprised that she hadn't thought of the idea herself. Surely there was an indoor garden somewhere in Destiny City, right? The thought of it alone had lifted her spirits, and it was all thanks to her grandfather. She had gotten what she needed out of the Skype call but she didn't end it, and for several hours the two of the sat there on webcam, talking about this and that, anything that came to mind, and by the time the call ended it was approximately 1 AM in Greece and 8 PM in Destiny City.
