[PRP] A Promised Primrose (Chaya & Hollandaise)

[The Semblance of Unity]

Hollandaise bounced lightly on her toes as she walked, her lightweight dress puffing out around her hips with each step. It was another dress from her trip to the maul with Nahm and Merry, not suited to the cold weather, but easy to move in and a light cream color embroidered with tiny green leaves. It made her feel comfortable. But it wasn't her dress that she was excited about, but the who and why of her errand. Under one arm, the warder carried a small plant, a brilliantly colored primrose. Tucked into the pot was a handmade pamphlet on 'How To Love Your Plant' written in neat block lettering, just in case Chaya was not home. And that was the who of her errand. Chaya had asked for a plant and that very fact was enough to make her normally steady walk turn into something full of tiny bounces and creaking hums.

When she reached Chaya's room, she stared at his door for long moments. Her lock pick had come automatically to her hand, thin fingers poised to pick the lock out of long-standing habit. But, for once, she considered the courtesy of the action. Not to her, of course, but to him. But doors... doors liked being walked through. It only insulted a door's eventual destiny and usefulness to lock them... She titled her head and sighed. Hollandaise did not wish to make Chaya uncomfortable. Plus, he was on her list. Perhaps he was more of the more important creeple on her list.

Raising her hand, she knocked once, twice, thrice. "Chaya? Are you in?" And then she waited.

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no rush to reply yo

 

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"Come in!" Chaya called brightly. If Hollandaise had tried to pick the lock, she would have quickly discovered that the door was not locked; Chaya rarely kept it locked when not out of the room, and even then he sometimes forgot. The room was not a large one, and every flat surface was cluttered with odds and ends of various sorts. The walls were plastered with posters and haphazardly tacked prints of photos and other images.

Chaya lay on his stomach on the fluffy rug piled with pillows that he used as a bed, focused on his laptop, busily clicking at the keys. "Just a sec," he chirped, one ear swiveling to pay attention to Holly. "Almost got the boss down, almost - "

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Hollandaise lightly stepped into Chaya's room and hip-checked the door closed behind her. Her ears twitched at the clicking and tapping sounds from the computer, but she was too busy staring at every little thing in Chaya's room to as yet pay attention to that. It was clear - Chaya's room was so much more cozy than hers. She hmphed lightly and set down the primrose in the only bit of free space she could find. She twisted it and turned it experimentally. Satisfied, he sat on the bed against Chaya, curling her legs up underneath her.

"What are you playing, Chaya?" She peered over his shoulder, unashamedly leaning into him. He was very warm, after all. Hollandaise had seen some creeple playing games before, but she had never played one herself. She hummed for a second and thought about getting a gaming system. If there were games where she could be slow and think out things.... Hollandaise would ask Chaya later, but for now she simply watched, eyes reflecting the bright colors of the game.

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Some of the pictures were of creeple and places around the school, and had probably been taken by Chaya himself; others were pretty obviously print-outs of pictures from the interweb. The arrangement was haphazard, following no particular pattern. It was, in fact, mostly just a collection of pictures he liked. The clutter was partly made up of school things and personal possessions and partly of found objects and junk. There was no actual garbage, though. For all that it was dusty and haphazard, it was fairly clean.

"Fatal Fantasy Eleven," he said absently in response to the question, his tail flopping over onto whatever part of Holly was available to be flopped onto. The screen was a busy bloom of colors, numbers, and symbols, and a text box scrolled rapidly in the bottom left corner of the screen, full of arcane abbreviations. He tapped a combination of keys, and the figure he controlled on the screen made a complicated gesture and cast a spell that zipped away toward one of the other figures. "Oh my jack hold still for half a second," he muttered exasperatedly.

Moments later, the large, elaborately detailed monster reared up, gave a dramatic death scream, and dissolved in a cloud of blood-red smoke and an animated bloom of black flame. Chaya breathed out, typed something into the chat, and then sat up to give Holly a hug. "Hi," he said brightly, "sorry, thank you for, oh is that the plant?" he finished as he spotted the pot Holly had set down on the low table nearby. "Oh cool, it has flowers!"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She swallowed a giggle as Chaya's tail flopped about. It was so fluffy it tickled! Her fingers itched to reach out and pet it. Hollandaise knew she proabbly shouldn't, but it was sort of distracting and comfortable. Her fingers twitched and her ears mirrored that twitch. When Chaya muttered about holding still, she froze, certain he'd seen her thin fingers hovering.

Abruptly, she realized he was muttering at the game. Feeling more than a little silly , she relaxed and watched as the game boss died a dramatic death. "Hello," she said and returned his hug. "Yes, I... was not sure what kind of thing to get you - so I am sorry if it is not right - but it is a primrose, a cupcake primrose.Supposedly, when you put a petal on your tongue, it tastes like icing. I have not tried it." It was on the tip of her tongue to offer him something else if he did not like the plant; she was good at giving creeple plants sometimes, and sometimes she felt as though she were flailing about. Hollandaise shrugged, leaves shivering across her shoulders.

She hummed for a brief second and... impulsively, she gave in and reached out to pet his tail. It was just as soft as she thought!

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"Oh, it's good to eat too?" Chaya sounded delighted, and leaned over to peer interestedly at the plant. His tail thumped in a pleased wag under the hand petting it, until he looked back over his shoulder and frowned at the wayward appendage and concentrated on making it calm down. "Sorry," he said, "it does that."

He smiled brightly at Holly once he'd gotten his tail back under control. "Can you show me what I do to take care of the plant? I want to take good care of it so it grows and blooms, it's really nice, and anyway I like it extra because you brought it."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She swallowed a small laugh as his tail moved, jumping around under her hand. "I like it," she said, and stroked it again. Abruptly, she stopped thinking he might not like it, though. She shifted a bit on the bed and stood up, walking over to the pot.

"This," Hollandaise pointed to a try underneath the plant's pot. "Is a pebble tray. Primroses like moist enviroments, but all you have to do is keep an eye on the water in the pebbles and refill it when it gets low. The flowers also need sunlight - I do not know, perhaps in the window?" She played with the hem of her shorts, tilting her head.

"Do you want to try a petal?"

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"Sometimes it whacks people," Chaya said apologetically. "I don't mean to, it just wags without me telling it to and then stuff that's in the way gets hit. By accident." He looked a little guilty. "I knocked a pizza off the table once."

"It drinks out of the tray, so I just have to keep the tray full? Does it eat food or just water?" he asked. "Um, can I get a lamp for it? I think I heard I can get a special lamp to grow plants with, is that right? Yes please I want to try it!" His tail started thumping again.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She though it might not be a bad thing to get whacked by a tail, though. "Does it mean you're happy - when it wags?" She peered at his tail for a second, almost forgetting they were talking about the plant. Hollandaise jerked at his questions though, blinking for a few seconds.

"Ah, yes! Just water, though if you put some extra things in the water, I hear it change the colors of the flowers - like crushed blossilia petals or something like that. You can get a lamp if you'd like - I think the primrose would like it, too." Hollandaise beamed at Chaya. It was rare that creeple were so enthusiastic. She turned and touched the plant lightly. Eyes glowing, she told the plant they were going to sample some petals and received a gruff 'well, that is what I'm for, okay' in response. Suppressing a laugh, she gentled pulled off two petals and moved back to Chaya sitting next to him.

"Here," she said, offering one.

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"Yeah! When I'm happy or I like something it just starts going," Chaya explained. "Then if I want it to stop I have to really think about it because it'll keep doing it for a while."

The tail started thumping again as Holly explained further about how to take care of the plant. "I'll try that! I like red, I could get red petals. Um, where do I get a lamp?" he asked, tilting his head. "Are there places you can go to buy nice things for plants?"

He took the petal and sniffed it interestedly, then placed it delicately on his tongue, assessing its flavor.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Almost absently, Hollandaise found her hand sneaking back down to pet his tail again. She wondered if his ears were soft, too. "Mmm, yes, we can go to a plant nursery - there is one in town. I'm sorry, I did not think to buy one before. Would you like to go sometime?" She loved the nursery and visited often. Slowly, her room was becoming less bare, although she found herself giving away more plants than keeping.

She placed her petal on her tongue and it sort of... disintegrated, filling her mouth with an odd, almost creamy sweetness. She creaked in surprise, a hand flying to her mouth. "I did not know it really was so sweet!"

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The tail continued to wag, speeding up a little as it was patted. "I'd like that! You can show me what kind of things plants need to be healthy, I want to know how," Chaya offered enthusiastically.

The petal was sweet and airy and light, tasting of both sugary cream and of plant. The scent-taste of it washed up into Chaya's nose, and he made a little delighted sound. "It's really good," he declared. "I like it. This is a very special plant."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

His enthusiasm was infectious, and Hollandaise resisted the urge to prattle on too much about plants. She stressed that a plant being happy had a lot to do with consistent care, and they they liked being talked to, sometimes. And that out of the nurseries in town, one was clearly better than the other - the flowers told her so. But that this primrose had already been a happy, if a little gruff sort, like a burly old man flower. Hollandaise talked on for a while, eyes bright and sparkling. Abruptly, she stopped midway through telling him which trees outside were nicest and apologized.

"I... talk too much, and too quickly, sorry." The elders had always told her her unenthusiastic rambling was terribly unbecoming. She thought too fast and talked too fast to be a warder. Absently, she twisted a lock of her hair around one finger. "Oh, also, I am conducting an experiment - will you help me?" She looked up at him, all hopeful eyes and quivering leaves.

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Chaya paid attention, watching her with a bright little smile, his ears angled attentively toward Holly as she talked. He liked knowing that his new plant was a happy plant, and when she said so he stretched out one cautious finger and petted the plant's leaves as though it was a shy minipet. When she stopped, he blinked at her. "No you don't, you talk just fine."

He tilted his head curiously at the question. "Of course! What kind of experiment? Is it like mad science?"  

[The Semblance of Unity]

She hummed a little, toes curling into the floor. "No, it is okay, I know I do - I have been told many times." She waved that thought off and watched Chaya carefully as he responded to her question. Hollandaise had tried quite a few creeple, with varying success. With Siobhan, she had found a friend of sorts, Merry was just... Merry, Xavier had not gone well and neither had Matthias or Deszeld. Somehow, it felt very important that this one go well. So much so, that she felt apprehensive about it - which was silly, Hollandaise told herself.

"It is an experiment in social interactions! It is sadly not as exciting as mad science, nor as messy but... if you would like to h-help, just close your eyes, please!" Hollandaise felt it must be easier if the other person involved was not expecting it. Easier if they could not see it.

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