Plants! She was excited. Roger had agreed to buy some plants and set up a green corner in their loft. And now they were on their way to a plant center which Roger had selected.

  Located a bit outside the city, the size became apparent once they approached in Roger's hovercar, also why it was outside the city limits. The rent for so much space would just be horrendous withing the city limits.

  Roger parked the car in the parking lot, to too far from the entrance, and she got a chance to look over the plant center, big neon signs advertising "The Living Greens."

  The one part of the center was looking like a giant greenhouse, she assumed that was for plants which preferred to grow indoors, and a second, even larger outdoor part with plants on display in rows and groups.

  They needed indoor plants, so they made their way towards the greenhouse hall and it was one of the rare chances to walk with Roger while holding hands. Roger just wasn't the type for a lot of body contact, and so it was a welcome moment. And while it certainly was, she got reminded once more that she stood about as tall as him now, and that was a fact she liked quite a bit less.

  Once the door opened, she was hit with a multitude of exotic scents, quite the contrast to the city and Roger's loft. Humid soil, she quickly could identify, but most the nose tickling scents had to be plants which she didn't know. And there was a mix in of fungus, some of the plant soil had to be moldy she concluded with some discontent.

  The hall was a big and brightly lit, luckily not bright enough to hurt her eyes, filled with tables to hold smaller plants, and in a distance, groups of larger plants in big pots, standing on the ground.

  Just the murmur of muted distant voices reached her ears. Overall the hall was surprisingly quiet, almost as if the plants would swallow all sounds.

  "So, what do you have in mind?" Roger asked while they walked through the aisles to get a better idea what sorts of plants were for sale and how the market was organized.

  "I'd like two bigger plants, like small trees besides the couch, and then some smaller ones to make it a real green corner. I don't know though what sort of plants would be best for that. And they have to smell fine. I don't want any stinky plants near the couch", she tried to summarize her thoughts.

  "Want to climb a tree?" Roger laughed.

  "Not one of these. But if you could find out if the pipes along the walls are solid enough for climbing, I'd really appreciate that," she reminded him.

  "Right", Roger replied and nodded, "I keep forgetting about that."

  The next isle they reached had cactuses. A lot of small ones and several large ones too, but prohibitively priced. She bowed down to inspect some of the smaller ones. Cactuses always had been interesting, but her acute new eyes really brought forth so much more detail. Not only on the cactus' bodies, but there were also patterns and structures on the spines. And she felt tempted to sniff each one to see if they had some scent, faint maybe, but possibly nice, notable if she got close enough?

  "Careful, I don't want to pick cactus spines from your nose", Roger teased her.

  She gave him an indignant look, "I know where my snout ends!"

  "Interested in some cactuses?", a slightly squeaky voice sounded up and she saw a smaller, rat type furry in a uniform which indicated she was an employee of the market.

  "Yes, but actually no", she replied, "we're looking for one or two bigger plants to decorate a corner in the loft. The room is high, four of five meters, so there is space enough for something like small trees or large bushes."

  The rat person nodded swiftly, "The large plants are in the back. Please follow me, we've got a real good selection. Any particular wishes, large or small leaves, woody or may it also be a tall growing shrub?"

  She thought about it for a moment while they followed her, "Maybe an actual tree, and one large shrub? The tree could go into the corner and the shrub marks the other edge of the green corner? Or maybe we need three large plants ... what do you say, Roger?"

  "Depends on the price. Let's see what they have for sale," Roger replied and she felt her chances fleeting to get three large plants.

  She nodded anyway, "Alright" and after a little walk they arrived at a section with large potted plants.

  "I'm afraid we don't have anything four meters tall, few people have such high rooms. But around two meters I've got some", the rat woman let them know and led them to something which looked like a real indoor tree, "A special breed to deal with the lack of rain indoors and often dry air. Not too demanding on light either, but it will certainly enjoy a plant light if the corner is too shaded."

  The leaves looked quite unimpressive to her, a pale sort of yellow, very pale, more like a stained gray. She sniffed the leaves. No particularly interesting scent either. Trisha had had much more interesting plants, "Do you have something with a more interesting scent? I plan to move the couch under the tree and spend quite some time there, likely."

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  "Ah, that's difficult. But maybe I have something for you. Or a few even", the rat woman explained and walked to another section, "Not trees, but maybe even better if you are interested in the scent. A breed of roses suitable for indoor cultivation. They need quite a lot of light though and a well working air conditioning, not to dry, not too humid. They can grow two and half a meters tall, maybe more. They typically form a large bush and the flowers have a very nice smell."

  A few quick steps brought her to the closest one, pale yellow leaves and darker yellow flowers. Who ever had designed these eyes, they certainly had zero interest in colors, only acute detail. But the flowers smelled heavenly, "I think I like this one! Roger, which color are the flowers?"

  "Orange", he explained, "and the leaves are green."

  She gave him a sour expression at the last part of his reply, "I hardly ever could have guessed the leaves to be green. But orange flowers should be fine. What do you think? Can we install a spotlight or something to give the rose enough light? I think the air quality is quite fine in the loft."

  He nodded with some hesitation, "Won't be cheap to install a spotlight, but the flowers smell good for sure. I can imagine such a rose near the couch."

  "How much does it cost, and can you arrange for transport?" he addressed the saleswoman before she could reply.

  "One hundred and ninety-nine credits and of course we can deliver all the plants right to your home. We also have very nice cachepots to hide the ugly containers they come in. Would you be interested?" the saleswoman replied dutifully.

  Roger shook his head, "Thanks, but no thanks. We'll find another way to decorate it."

  She chuckled, "Wrap some pipes around the pot and pretend the plant grows from some ancient water treatment unit."

  Now Roger laughed as well, "That might work. The fight between nature and technology."

  She smiled at the rat woman, trying not to show too much of her fangs, "So, the rose is decided. But we need another big plant. Any suggestions?"

  "We have some smaller species of palms, and some rather large growing ferns. If the second plant is supposed to be at the other end of the area, it might be good to chose a different style? But you can stick with roses and we just select another rose breed suitable for indoor cultivation," the saleswoman offered.

  "A fern, maybe?" she looked towards Roger.

  "Let's take a look", he agreed and the saleswoman led them to another area with big but flowerless plants. She quickly spotted some interesting large ferns and was there even more quickly to take a good sniff. Yep, that was quite close to some of the interesting plants, which Trisha had in her flat.

  "Roger, this one here smells great!" She pointed at one fern, which smelled particularly interesting.

  He came closer, "Doesn't look too shabby either. So, already decided on the second big plant?"

  She nodded swiftly, "If you're willing to pay for it, sure!"

  "The fern is forty-nine credits", the saleswoman supplied.

  Roger nodded, "Compared to the rose that's quite affordable. Alright, the rose and the fern, and you wanted some smaller plants too?"

  "Yep, I think some flowering plants would be nice. They look good and some smell fine too," she quickly agreed.

  "We've got a good selection of flowering indoor plants. Some breeds of orchids are quite easy to keep and have very pretty flowers, but there is a wide range of other suitable plants as well", the rabbit woman explained.

  "Patterned flowers would be nice, I'm not so good a telling colors apart," she pointed out.

  The saleswoman nodded, "Ah yes, many furry bodies come with that problem. Let's try and see if we can find some flowers which look good to you as well. Please follow me."

  The selection of flowering plants was huge and with that came a problem. Which of those should she pick? All the scents mixed in the air, and she really didn't want to sniff several dozen plants to pick five or six which not only looked nice but also smelled nice. She sniffed the first row anyways, one had to start somewhere.

  "Vivian, do you really plan to sniff every single one of the flowers?" she heard Rogers disapproving voice.

  She bared her fangs at him for a moment, "Not really, but I need to know which ones smell good."

  "Maybe it's easier if you first chose some which look good and then sniff those out which also smell fine?" The saleswoman suggested.

  Her ears perked up and she nodded, "Guess that is easier than the other way round. And Roger can help to tell which flowers look good to his eyes too. Roger?"

  She looked at him, and he asked, "You want me to pick some which I'd like?"

  She nodded, "Yep, that should make it easier. I can then tell which of those look good to me too and which have a pleasant scent. Well, you can check the smell as well, just to be sure."

  A smaller growing rose was quickly found, red flowers according to Roger, dark yellow to her, still a nice contrast to the almost gray leaves in her eyes, with just a faint hint of blue. Orchids had a variety of pleasant smells to her nose and they all looked just gorgeous with their patterned flowers. That made two orchids as well and meant two or three more plants to find.

  "How about that one?" Roger pointed to some plant, a small bush with segmented stems and covered in a myriad of flowers.

  "That's a christmas cactus", the saleswoman supplied, "they flower once a year, typically around Christmas, but with the right air conditioning and light control you can make the bloom at any time. After blooming they need a period of rest, with only little water and cooler temperatures, that's needed so they bring forth many flowers next season again."

  She sniffed it briefly, it had no particular scent for her nose, "Doesn't offer much in terms of scent, but I like how it grows and all the flowers are nice too."

  "Alright, then we take the christmas cactus too," Roger decided.

  The last selection was a plant growing from a rather large bulb and apparently called easter lily. The garden center had several of them with different flower patters and she selected one which looked good to her and apparently found Roger's agreement too. It came with only a very faint, but quite pleasant scent. Probably something to place rather near the couch. Maybe time to move a small table there too, for the plants to place upon? She'd ask Roger about that some time later.

  "So, you can have all of these delivered to our loft?" Roger eventually asked.

  The saleswoman nodded swiftly, "Certainly! I only need your address and a preferred date and time. Do you need something else? Fertilizer? A watering can?"

  "A watering can, yes", she quickly confirmed, "I don't think we have one at home" and looked at Roger who shook his head. "Doesn't need to be too fancy, a simple one will do, I can keep it out of sight."