#terzo lives

I had always loved gardening, from harvesting veggies to pruning and caring for delicate flowers. So when I joined the clergy, I naturally gravitated towards Primo’s beautiful garden, which was full of lush greenery. During my first few visit, always seen this one Ghoul in there watering, weeding, and fertilizing all the different plants that was in the greenhouse (Even the ones he kept away in a locked room) As Siblings of Sin we were always told not to mind the Ghouls as they were non-violent towards humans as long as we didn’t aggravate them. Yet, I've still seen Sisters and Brothers alike taunting the Ghouls. Lucky for them, they had chosen the calmer ghouls to tease, including the one always gardening.

 After I finished my first week at the Ministry, I learned it was hard not to see Ghouls everywhere, and I didn’t mind them. The retired ghouls were spread out through the Ministry, with some helping out in the library and others helping the retired papas move around the Ministry with their old age. Once I was moved to be one of Papa Terzo’s helpers, and he had introduced me to his loyal ghoul companion, Omega, who then made me fear the ghouls a little less. Eventually, I had gotten moved from Terzo’s helpers to help keep the ministry clean, but by then I had already won over Papa’s heart, so he had me move to sweeping up the greenhouse so it would be less work, and he must've remembered all the talks we had about different plants. 

On the first day of my new cleaning duty, I didn’t talk to the ghoul, but on the second day he asked me, “Do you like to listen to music?” I was, of course, shocked to hear his voice. For a ghoul so tall, I hadn’t expected him to have the kindest voice. “Of course I do.” The ghoul hummed and walked over to a small desk in the corner I hadn’t noticed yesterday and connected his phone to a speaker, and started playing the opening to Absolution. “You listen to the music the band makes?” I nodded my head as a reply, “I like Infesstium, but don’t tell Papa Terzo that.” he gave me a small laugh. “I’m Mountain.” I told him my name and he nodded, “Nice to meet you. Do you like plants or are you just on cleaning duty?” I frowned. “Cleaning duty, but I do like plants, so it’s not all too bad.” He smiled at me as he kneeled back down over a flower bed, grabbing his tools to plant new vegetables. I went back to sweeping, but this time we kept an idle chat as we worked until the clocks hit 6, which meant it was time to head down to the dining hall to eat, then have free time before we got to our rooms for the night. 

As Mountain and I walked down to the dining hall, he asked, “I'm guessing you’ve been here for about…two weeks?” I gave a nervous laugh. “Is it that obvious?”  He smiled at me, “Totally. For one, most Brothers wear belts with their uniforms because Dew will pants you at least once that or wear shorts under your uniform, either works. Plus, the pin on your shirt isn’t in the right spot. Don’t worry, you'll get in a week or so.” I hummed “I don't usually see you at dinner either so that's either means you don’t eat in the Dining Hall or your new.” he said turning to look at me as we walked down the mostly empty hallway “Well it's both actual, most of the Brothers found me too weird cause I ate lunch with Omega once so they don’t seem to like me very much, I usually take my food down to my room or the library.” He took a second before asking, “I can eat dinner with you. I mean, I don’t like the Dining hall very much anyway, cause it wasn’t made with ghouls in mind.” I'm sure he noticed the confused look on my face. “How so?” I asked, wanting him to elaborate further, “Well, you know the chandeliers that hang over the tables?” I gave him a hum in response, “Those aren't very good for us Earth ghouls if you have long horns like I do. Also, most of the water ghouls complain that they have fabric chairs because their skin is naturally moist, and the fabric chairs get uncomfortable to sit in after a while. Plus, you want fire ghouls sitting in a place full of old wooden tables with flammable linen tablecloths?” I picture the outcome of all for those ‘I never realized that, I would've thought they would make the Ministry more accessible for the ghouls though?” he gave a sad sigh “Sadly, most Siblings are scared of us. When I was first summoned, the idea was floating around of making a whole different building to keep us in, but Terzo voted not to. He’s done a lot to try and make life better for us here, especially now that he’s retired.” We had reached the tall wooden doors, where Mountain opened them for me. We had grabbed our plates of food and snuck out of the dining hall, trying to avoid any of the higher-ranking Sisters or any of the Cardinals. I hadn’t realized where we were headed until Mountain pulled me into the usually locked room in the Greenhouse. In the corner, there was a small metal table with two chairs, so we sat down and ate our food as we talked. 

After a while, we had fallen into a rhythm of heading to the greenhouse at around 12 and doing our respective chores until dinner time at 6, where we’d sneak off to the locked room to eat before he’d walk me to my room in the Brothers’ wing of the Ministry. Today, however, was a Saturday, which means we had the day off. I was peacefully sitting in my room reading the bible I had checked out from the library when my room’s phone rang. I walked over to the phone and picked it up from its hook. “Hello?” I asked the phone's receiver, “Hey….. come down to the greenhouse, I got a fun surprise for you.” His voice was…weird. He sounded drunk, but it being only 4 pm, I had to deem that incorrect. Plus, I hadn’t even seen Mountain drink anything stronger than that Great Northern brand beer he drank. I put on my uniform and walked downstairs to the greenhouse, where I opened the door to the locked room with the key he had given me a few weeks back. As I opened the door, a wave of smoke hit me. “Mount?” I asked to see him sitting on a small couch, smoking a joint. “Come join me, Sunshine,” he said, scooting over on the couch. “I’ve never smoked before,” I replied by fixing the door to keep smoke from leaving the room before walking over to the couch. He invited me to join. “Put it to your lips, but since it’s your first, don’t inhale, just let the smoke gently go in, alright?” he said calmly. I followed his instructions, but as the weed hit my lungs, I pulled back a coughed a little. He patted my “You’re alright, Sprout.” He said calmly. 

About an hour passed, and after a rhythm of Puff and Pass, we had smoked the joint down to a bud, where Mountain put it out on the ashtray nearby before moving to sit comfortably on the couch. We had heard the bell for dinner, which meant nobody was in the hallway, so he had picked me up and carried me off to his room since I was too high to even notice anything. He sat me down on the couch in his room and put a movie on the TV for me before grabbing snacks and coming to sit down. I hadn’t noticed it, but I had started to cuddle up with him. While we watched the movie, I was lying my head on his stomach while he ran his clawed hands through my hair. I let out a weak hum. “Mount? Do siblings ever date ghouls?” He gave it a second. “Sometimes, but mostly the Siblings don’t like it. Why are you asking, Sprout?” “'Cause you’re like so pretty, but in the ethereal way you know?” I mumbled without realizing the real weight of my words, “Sprout…” Mountain said, holding my face in his hands, “Mind if I kiss you?” I asked him, to which he smiled at me, “Sprout, I couldn’t say no to you if I tried.” I remember leaning forward and planting my hands in the hair at the back of his neck, and her hand was resting on his back, pulling him closer to me. “Sprout, let's get you to bed.” He said before carrying me off the couch and lying down on his bed. He gently took off my shoes and put them on the floor of his room before taking off my jacket and gently undoing my belt so it wouldn’t stab me while I was sleeping. In the process, he saw the band of the shorts I had on under my uniform's pants. “Sprout, I'm gonna put you in one of my shirts, okay?” I gave a small hum, to which he grabbed one of his shirts and put it over me carefully to take off my uniform's button-up underneath without seeing me without my shirt on, cause I was way too high for that. Once I was in more comfortable clothes, he laid me back in his bed before he got himself changed and turned off the lights. I cuddled up to him immediately as he laid down. I put my head on his chest and mumbled, more sober than earlier, “Love you, Mount.” he gave a small chuckle at my voice. “You coming back down, Sprout?” he asked, to which I just groaned. “Love you too, Sprout.” He said before I gently fell asleep to the soft purrs Mountain made as he wrapped his tail around my waist.