A Blooming Cactus
| A Blooming Cactus | |
|---|---|
"It was easier when I didn't care about anyone." | |
| Players |
Arnaud's cactus is finally blooming. Five asks uncomfortable questions, forcing Arnaud to start facing his feelings. |
This unit is labeled as a 2-room apartment, which is a cunning lie. Though it has two rooms - a combined living room and kitchen, and a bedroom - both rooms are so small that the wall between the two rooms seem just added in to be able to call it a two-room place. The flooring is old vinyl and scuffed and discolored in a sickening beige color but the walls and ceiling seem to by some miracle have a fairly new coat of white paint. The kitchen has an old but functioning gas stove, a small fridge and a few cupboards, and a fold-up table attached to the wall to save space in the small room. The cupboards are a remnant from the 70s and painted a bright orange, which actually gives this space life and contrast from the white walls. The bathroom is strangely spacious, with a fullsized bath-tub with accompanying shower. The green tiles are from the seventies, covering the walls, while the floors are black and white chequered tiles. The only piece of furniture in the main room is an old red velvet couch, covered in blankets of various colors. A few mis-matched rugs try to hide the ugly vinyl floors with little success. A window overlooks an alley outside, with a blanket hung up to cover the window during the night. A lone cactus sits on the windowsill. Arnaud sent Five a text earlier, with about ten exlamation marks when asking her to come over to his place because something happened. He does not respond to further queries about it if she texts him back, except 'just come here!' He's sitting on a stool in front of the cactus on the windowsill, his nose almost right up next to it as he stares at it, perfectly still and focused. The blanket is removed to let sunlight in, and it illuminates both him and the cactus in a near magical glow. The cactus is different. It's sprouted a little lump that will eventually become a flower - if all goes well. Just a matter of days, if even that. Unsure if it was an emergency or not, Five treats it as such and rushes over as quickly as possible. She must've taken a cab/rideshare or something, because she's practically bursting through the door like the Kool-Aid man within the half hour. When she sees there's nothing /too/ crazy going on, she relaxes some, turning her attention toward Arnaud. "Everything okay?" she questions as she makes her way toward him. It's then that she sees the cactus, her eyes widening a bit and a smile touching the edges of her lips. "Hey! That's looking way better! Is that going to sprout soon?" she wonders, stepping closer to him a bit excitedly. Arnaud only glances over as she bursts inside - he can't leave the cactus side. He pulls the other footstool over with his foot so she can sit down next to him, nodding excitedly. He does look tired, like someone who hasn't slept well, but other than that he's fit as a fiddle. "I saw this yesterday. I have watched it since then," he explains solemnly. That might explain why he is looking so tired. Now his stomach is also making a noise. "I am starving, but I got to watch it. It might happen any second." He's rather fanatic about it, clearly, and nobody would call this an act of a sane person. "Well, you keep your eyes on it then!" Instead of sitting down on the stool, she veers into the kitchen. She starts to dig through the cabinets and the refrigerator, pulling out anything she thinks she can make some sort of meal out of. "Where did you get that cactus, by the way?" she wonders, stealing a glance his way while she starts to make a mess of his kitchen. "Why is it so important?" Arnaud's stomach makes noises again in response and he sits up straighter and dares to look over at her for a couple of seconds, nodding a thanks. He groans and stands up to stretch, because that position is killer for too long. "My mentor in Miami gave it to me before I left for Chicago. She said the cactus was like me, prickly and difficult to make bloom, but if nourished and taken cared of in the right way, it would bloom. She also said that if I could make this one bloom, I would have cared for something successfully." He tilts his head and considers it, rubbing his jaw. "I'm not sure if she was just talking bullshit to keep me calm, or if there is some hidden meaning or importance, but either or, if an old Summer tells you to do something, you should pay attention." While listening to her friend, Five continues puttering about the kitchen. It doesn't take her /too/ long to make some sort of sandwich for him. Bread, cheese, and she practically piles on aaaaallll the meat. She figures he'd like it! Putting it on a plate, she carries it over and sets it down right within his reach. Now she does take the offered footstool, letting her legs stretch out in front of her. "You are definitely rough on the outside," she agrees, offering him a bit of a smile to let him know she doesn't mind such a thing. "But, well, I think you care about people and things more than you realize." Her gaze shifts from the cactus and toward Arnaud himself. "You just show it in your own way. And you seem..." She pauses, trying to think of the right word. "In a better spot than when I first met you." Then she tilts her head to the side. "What is summer in that context?" Arnaud sets it down on the windowsill, almost drooling when seeing the sandwich. Sitting back down, he digs in with large and ravenous bites, keeping an eye on the cactus and Five at the same time. It really does look like a flower will errupt any second now, little bits of white seen. At the very least, it should be happening today. Her assessment of him has him pausing, wiping his lips on the back of his hand to stare at her only for awhile. "Mmmhmm," he says thoughtfully, because what she is saying is true - even he has noticed a difference. "Summer - it is an order," he replies somewhat grudgingly; he mistakenly spoke of it, and when he said A he also says B. "The warriors of our kind, in a manner. The angry ones." "You're definitely a Summer, then," Five agrees after he explains such to her, her bright green eyes flickering with amusement. "Can you tell me about the other orders?" she wonders, knowing that speaking of others is skirting on Accorded rules. "Is that something /you/ decide? Or like, fate just happens it upon you?" Always the curious thing she is. Her expression easily gives away she wouldn't be offended by any lack of answers. "Do people name plants?" she wonders, looking back toward the cactus expectantly. Arnaud snorts and raises his sandwich in a 'toast' agreement - he definitely fits in with that court. He tilts his head and considers again how much he can tell her. "It's a choice. I chose between Summer and Autumn. There are four so-called Courts, after the seasons." He pokes her arm with a finger. "That's all I'm going to say for now, and even that might be too much." He eats some more and looks at the cactus, leaning so close he almost pricks his own nose on one of those spikes. "Some plants have names and walk around," he says distractedly. "But I haven't named this one. You got a good suggestion?" Five gives an understanding nod, not pressing further the topic of Changelings and their secrets. There's a light smile at the poke and she can't help but playfully poke him back. "There are plants that walk? I thought their whole thing was, well, being planted." She makes a small gesture toward the pot it's in. Leaning over, she better inspects the cactus, doing her best to look without touching. "So. Your mentor told you that if you care about this, it'd bloom. Maybe, you know, how you're learning to care about others is having an effect on this, too. I don't know about magic stuff but uh, maybe there's some of that happening too?" She shrugs gently. "Maybe if you named it, it'd have more meaning and like, more reason to bloom?" she suggests. Then she leans back a little in thought. "Hmm. Pokey? Greenie? Uh... Prickly?" She gives him a light smile and even a bit of a laugh. Arnaud is feigning getting hurt by her poke, half-falling backwards but catching himself. "Some plants don't follow the rules," he says wryly, but doesn't go into details. But hey, he's Fae - what is there NOT in the world of dark fairytales? He finishes the sandwich and ponders her suggestions - the care about the cactus and the name suggestions. "Prickly. That's it," he decides and he leans in to gently brush the little bulb of an almost-flower. Though he has no magic to make a plant bloom, he IS a summer, so he tries to push some of the summer heat onto the cactus. "Prickly. It's time to blossom now." As if the fate favors him or the cactus, or perhaps it's Five's presence - Arnaud's touch makes the bud break open and slowly, slowly, the flower unfolds and spreads out. The Dragon shoots to his feet, sending the cheap plastic IKEA footstool flying backwards. "Five! Look!" The mortal's attention had been split pretty evenly between Arnaud and the newly-named Prickly. When the Changeling suddenly shouts out and moves to his feet, Five almost instinctively jumps up to hers. "Awesome! You are an expert uh, plant person now!" Stepping even closer to the Summer and his cactus, she smiles widely as she watches it bloom. And just for a moment, when she's sure that Arnaud's attention is completely focused on the blooming cactus, Five decides to watch the Dragon himself and his own reactions. Arnaud looks happy, there's no other word for it. His smile is wide and genuine, a spark of joy in his eyes. He is fussing over the little plant now, leaning over it and making sure it's standing safe on the windowsill. There's a little spray bottle and he showers the flower from a distance to moisten it. If he also hummed, the image would be a perfect rendering of blissful joy, but he's quiet and focused on his task - in fact, for a moment he forgets Five is even there. He takes a deep breath and steps away from the window for now; it is blossoming and he doesn't have to watch it like a hawk. Chances are he'll just cause it more harm than not if he keeps fussing too much over it. Instead, he pulls something out from a pocket on his jeans, and beckons for Five to stand up and come over. "I got you something." Five seems absolutely content to just watch her friend be happy in the moment. In fact, she seems completely surprised when he returns his attention toward her. Raising a brow at Arnaud, she's playfully suspicious of whatever he has in his hands. Still, there's no hesitation, the mortal trusting him completely. "What is it?" she asks as she peers for just a few seconds at his closed hand before turning her gaze up to meet his once more. Arnaud opens his hand to show her. It's a small pendant of a silver dragon curled around a dark red gem of some kind. It's attached to a simple leather cord, which Arnaud now lifts to put around her neck over her head. "I found this at the strange shop we went to. You said your favorite color is red. Red like fire." Those bright green eyes of hers go wide at simply seeing the gift! Even though people have given her things before, food, clothes, and whatnot, she's yet to receive a real gift. An item of luxury rather than necessity. While he's putting it over her head, she lifts her chin up just enough to be able to look at him. Once it's secured, she takes a few moments to examine the pendant as she holds it between her fingers. The mortal is speechless, but she doesn't have to say anything. It's quite clear how touched she is by the gesture itself, let alone something with real meaning. Her cheeks start to turn a shade not too far off from the gem. Eventually though, she manages to find her voice once more. "This is... wow. This is the best thing ever," she exclaims, looking back at him again with that wide grin. "Now it's like, a piece of you is with me even if you're not /there/ there," she tells him, still completely unaware of how accurate that is. "I'm going to treasure this forever. Thank you." A hand reaches out to gently touch his arm, a warm patpat there since she's unsure what else to do in that manner. But, a sincere touch all the same. Arnaud might not be able to read people in general, but he'd be a whole new shade of dumb if he didn't notice that she is happy about the gift. Thing is - he was nervous about how she'd see it, and didn't realise he was until he lets air out of his lungs, having held his breath. He doesn't let her know that the meaning of that pendant is more than meets the eye, he just smiles lopsidedly and without thinking about it, he lifts his hand and strokes her hair, hand lingering for a few seconds before he steps back and looks away. That weird feeling overwhelms him again and he puts a hand over his heart. "Right. Wish it was magic so you could call me there magically too if in danger, but nope. Just a regular pendant... so far." At the gesture, Five's eyes close briefly as she leans into it. Even if for only moments at a time, she always seems to find some comfort into his touch."Maybe that's something we can work on?" Five suggests, still holding the pendant in her one hand. She lifts it up again, unable to take her eyes off it for too long. "I mean, there's all sorts of magic and whatnot in the world so, why can't we make this magical?" she wonders, watching him with curious eyes. "I mean, there's like, relics? I think that's what they're called. That'd be pretty cool." She grins at him. "Another adventure we can have." "It was bought from a magical house, and I left something of magic behind to pay for it. It has all the potential of being special," Arnaud explains readily, knowing well how such things work - in the word of the Fae, anyway. So, when she speaks about relics, his eyebrows go up, a she hasn't learned about such things before. "We, the fae, have ways of making items special - I didn't know there were more ways. I feel dumb for not having considered that though," he says with a snort at himself, "cause there are so many strange things in the world." "Wait. Did you get this from the place Heloise took me?" She questions with a suspicious raise of her brow. "You're sneaky," she replies, obviously not upset at all. There's even a playful glint to her eyes momentarily. Then her gaze turns just a little more serious than normal, more questioning than anything else. "Why do you..." She pauses, attempting to phrase her words better. "You do stuff like this, but then you get... upset when I do things like that. Why?" she wonders, raising her brows at him. "I was going to wait to give it to you but I didn't feel like waiting any longer," Arnaud replies, looking smug and haughty at the praise; she can't see it, but his ears straighten up and his scales move in a wave and rustle. She puts him on the spot with that question though, and he crosses his arms over his chest and glowers in general - not necessarily at /her/, more because he doesn't /know/ the answer to those questions. "I'm not upset. I just -- I know about our world, but you might get tricked, and I don't want you to get hurt, remember?" He snorts and looks above her head somewhere, feigning indifference. "Fine, I won't do that again. You can do whatever you want." The mortal takes a couple steps closer to him, not letting her gaze waiver. Even if she's not the best at reader people either, she's gotten to know some of Arnaud's cues and behaviors. "Don't be like that," she tells him, her tone very gentle as she says it. Once she's close enough, she reaches up again and places a slender hand on his arm, letting it linger there. "Think of it this way... You get upset at the idea of me getting into trouble. Don't you think I feel the same way when you like, put yourself into these situations for me? I don't want you getting hurt or tricked or whatever either. Especially not for my sake." The young woman tilts her head. "Not saying that we shouldn't have each other's backs, just... we're a team, right?" Arnaud's heart is beating furiously; she's so close, her hand is on his arm. He battles frustration and no understanding of his own emotions right now. He takes her hand in his and puts it on his chest, leaning in to look into her eyes. "You make it hurt in there, and my heart is beating hard. I don't like it. I think I am worried about you, and it's very very very frustrating. I don't know how to handle it. All I can think about when you are in trouble is to grab you and run away, or beat someone up. I know you can handle yourself, and I don't need to help you, so that makes this even more annoying. So, if you have a solution to this then please please tell me what it is so this will stop." Five lets her hand rest on his chest, fingers very gently pressing in to better feel his thumping heart. The mortal simply listens to him, empathetic to his frustrations and lack of understanding regarding his emotions. She even lets the silence linger, though not uncomfortably so. Her gaze shifts to their hands on his chest for only a few moments. "Why do you want it to stop?" she questions, lifting up her gaze to meet his again. "I know very well you can handle yourself. But, you don't think I'd rush in to help you if I saw you in trouble? We're friends. We look out for each other. That's not a bad thing that we feel this way about each other." There's a pause as she considers something. "You keep talking about finding your heart. I think it's always been there and you've maybe just forgotten what it feels like." Arnaud doesn't look happy to be asked why he wants it to stop. "It was easier when I didn't care about anyone," he mutters, but he presses her hand harder against his chest. Though his heart is still beating hard, it is slowing down again. He sighs and closes his eyes, allowing the other part of this to take over - her presence, the friendship, the fact she makes him feel happy too. "Tomorrow, we'll start training. I will show you everything I can do, so you know what to expect. All of it." The Dragon may not look too happy, but Five does. Even in the seriousness of their conversation, there's still a bit of a smile that lingers on her lips. It warms when she listens to him, and she can't help but let out the smallest laugh. Not at him, but simply being delighted in his presence. "I heard someone say something like..." She pauses to think of the exact quote, but can only remember it slightly. "Basically, if it's worth doing or worth having, it's not going to be easy." She gives his hand a gentle squeeze. Then, she's back to the very eager and excitable mortal that most people see and know. "I'm excited! Something like, iron sharpens iron? I think the more we train, the less we'll be worried about each other in a tricky situation." Another beat. "I'll show you everything I'm currently capable of, too." "I think people just love to make things more complicated than they are," Arnaud counters, but he releases her hand after squeezing it back, and is back to his normal self too, more or less. Less dead-ness in his gaze when he looks at her, as if something has awoken. "And... yes, I suppose. Iron sharpens iron," he tells her and can't help but to snort in dark amusement at her choice of words, considering his frailty when it comes to certain kinds of iron. He looks around the room, at the couch and the otherwise more or less empty space. "Do you want to live here?" he asks her. "I'll set up a bed in the corner there, put up a curtain in the ceiling." At his question, Five gives a quick glance toward the cactus and the flower that's managed to bloom upon it. She'd previously been hesitant to stay anywhere too long, worried about anything happening not only to herself but those around her. Returning her attention to Arnaud, she gives him a gentle grin. "I don't think any sort of curtain is needed," she points out, seeming oblivious to such concerns of privacy. "But. Yeah. I'd like that. I always feel safe with you." There's a brief glance at one of her hands. "And if anything happens... well, I think you could probably handle it better than most." Arnaud snorts in laughter again and points at her. "Look at you. Being all /worried/," he teases her, because now he knows how it feels like and understands it better. "Listen, if you set this whole place on fire - I got ways of getting out, don't worry. You can't hurt me. I can jump out the window, or open another one of those portals - or worse comes to worse, knock you out. But the more we train, the more control you will have, so I'm not worried about it at all." He rubs his hands together and looks excited, as if the prospect of having a room-mate is making him feel even better and more happy. Of course, there's no telling how this will turn out - maybe they'll get on each other's nerves! "I'll build you a bed, with cupboards underneath for storage. I like carpentry." | |