With the study group breaking up it appears Malvynand perhaps Knapwere going to stay studying for a bit. Though not necessarily on the same subjects.
Guardokand Meimake their way across campus and back to Dressar Hall. Going up using the Levitation Disk, Meiturns to the left towards Room 402 while Guardokturns right towards Room 404. Guardokmakes it to his room with no problems, still finding it without a roommate.
Meiarrives at her room and sees a small note with a purple dahlia sitting on top of it. If you peer at it, the note has 'Mei Fujimori written on it and the envelope still appears to be sealed.
Mei sets her bag outside the door to 402 and squats down to gently pick up the dahlia and note. She might've convinced herself this wasn't meant for her--that someone had just gotten the floor and room number wrong--but the name scrawled on the envelope leaves no room for doubt. Though she of course is unlikely to recognize the handwriting, she studies it nonetheless, hoping the penmanship might give something away about the author.
As she inspects the flower, her smile is bittersweet. Her mother often used dahlias in her floromancy and they were among little Mei's favorites in the garden. She runs her thumb over the silky florets, then gently brushes them against her cheek before resting the flower in her lap and carefully opening the envelope.
((For funsies can she Insight check the handwriting? Is it flowy and large or blocky and neat, etc? Anything it might reveal about the personality of the writer? 15))
Knap sits quietly for 25 minutes or so glossing his notes, underlining concepts he was having trouble with as well as concepts that sparked interest for future investigation.
“Alright, maestro Malvyn, I’m all full up on mathematics, aurora matrix and the music of spheres, but my belly is empty. I’m going to get into something more comfy and then ready for dinner. Don’t study too hard.” Knap packs his notes and returns to Dresar hall.
“Helloooo, 4th floor.” Knap does a loop around. “Hey Mei, hope you had a nice day? I noticed you’ve been a little uhhh discombobulated. I mean I love the bunny slippers and all… uhhh Let me know if there is anything that might help you out.”
Guardok makes sure to help Mei with her books on the way back, but doesn't stick around once they get to her door, to give her privacy to open her letter. He just heads back to his own room and happily changes clothes before heading to the lounge and relaxing in one of the chairs.
"Hey Knap", he calls back as Knap shouts his greeting as he does the rounds of the 4th floor.
(since Knap is arriving 20 minutes after Guardok and Mei got back, I'll assume she's already opened the letter!)
"Hi, Knap!" Mei calls back, though it's hardly louder than her usual speaking volume. She pushes back from her desk and pads over to the open doorway, peeking out at the satyr. At his mention of her being discombobulated, a blush tints her cheeks. "I--oh, I suppose I have been, huh? Though I think my family would say that's my usual: permanent discombobulation," she laughs with a sheepish scratch of her temple. "Was your first day, okay? Did you end up getting a job?"
When he offers to help her out, he has nary a chance to answer as she jumps, suddenly remembering something. "Ah! I--actually, would you mind--" she searches about her dorm room, muttering to herself as she flits around, "--would you mind helping me with something?" She retrieves a small glass from the windowsill and hurries back. In it is the dahlia, the end of the stem submerged in water. "I was wondering if you could help me encourage her to grow roots? I tried by myself but, well... I only know a little bit of the druid craft from my father and I can't quite grasp how to propagate." Her brow furrows as she holds the bottom of the glass up at eye level, before her hopeful gaze slides to Knap. “If you’re not too busy? Sorry, you just got back.”
"Chaos can be a creative space, aye. Where I'm from, we sip from the dream pool. Sounds like you do too, but different... . Yes I got a job! Sweeping. Which sounds bland but a good sweep can really shake up stagnant energies." Knap pauses and smiles in the doorway as Mei retrieves the flower. "OOO, lovely." His eyes light up. "Hmmm, well a small pot and some soil, it will require a little clip here and there, you want a couple of leaves left, and you'll probably need to pinch off the flower...," Knap shuts one eye, and focusses intently on the plant. "Don't worry that's just the surface structure of it's beauty and life. Hmmm, I know! Let me have a little chat with the pot plant bugs in the lounge, I'm sure they can help manage the health at a smaller scale. Shall we make a temporary home for it to take root?"
“My grandmother always says diviners have a foot in the past, a hand in the present, and our minds in the future,” Mei chuckles. “Which I think is her way of saying we’re all over the place. Though her chaos is much more, um… ordered than mine. If that makes sense?” She seems surprised at his mention of a dream pool but quickly excited over the possible similarity. “I’d love to hear about that some time! It’s always fascinating to hear how others harness the power of dreams and the unconscious mind.”
When Knap mentions the bugs and a new home, Mei nods emphatically. “Yes! Okay! Thank you!” and follows him along wherever he heads next, chattering on about the symbolism of dahlias and what powerful objects brooms can be—“My grandma sweeps after every reading, just in case any negative energy lingers behind. Sweeper is a noble profession I should think!”
"Oh yes, and thread a few scented twigs through the bristle, it's fantastic. Or, you can dust a desk or the bed with sprigs of lavender." Knap continues the broom-talk into his and Malvyn's room and from his mess kit retrieves a wooden cup with soldered lines spreading out in zigzag patterns, as well as a small stoneblade knife. "Don't worry, this cup was originally a pot, but I liked it as a cup. But now, I think it's a pot again." He looks at it quizzically for a moment before grabbing a spoon with the same chaotic jumble of lines around the handle. "To the lounge!"
Knap trots to the lounge. "A little bit of everywhere at once…the other side of the tree. Or something like that. My uncle is the clever one on that stuff. Is your pop a druid?" Into the wooden cup, Knap begins to scoop half a spoonful of soil from each of the plants around the room. "Dreams...like the poetic keys to reality. Tricksy things." He gently pats the soil down. "Now, to make a few snips..." He carefully takes the stem, trimming away all but two pairs of leaves, and finally the flower. "Hmmm, you should press this in a book." He hands the soil-filled cup to Mei. "Please you do the honours. And a little sprinkle of water, not too much, the roots want to breathe. While you do that I'm going to prepare a little ritual, get in the zone, to yarn with the bugs."
Knap spends the next ten minutes doing strange vocal exercises with a mix of scales and drawn-out diphthongs. He waits for Mai's signal before moving to one of the plants he first encountered the little black bugs. Knap clears his throat before letting out a few barely audible clicks and chirrups.
"Dear creatures of stem and soil, humble caretakers,"
Knap takes a deep breath
"we are friends who bring new life for propagation.
Knap speaks in Sylvan "Mei, anything you'd like to say to them?"
"He is! He's a Shepherd, though he hasn't met with his Circle for a long time. Do you... have a Circle?" The question is a gentle one--she's well aware how personal it can be.
As Knap picks up something brought from home for her to use, Mei at first hesitates to take something so special, but accepts with quiet thanks. Everything he does next she watches closely, perhaps too closely as she hovers over his shoulder. When he eventually passes her the zig-zagged cup-pot, she cradles it gently in her hands and perches on the arm rest of Guardok's chair, silently asking him with a smile to pat down the soil too as Knap begins his ritual.
As she's addressed in Sylvan, the honeyed language slides over her own tongue as well. "[Yes! I'd like to yarn too!]" She slides off the arm rest and hurries over. "[Hi, hello there. I'm Mei! Thank you for taking such good care of the plants here--they're really beautiful! I hope you don't mind one more charge? It's a dahli-ah, you probably have your own names for them don't you? Or, well... maybe you don't? Maybe names aren't important when you're in tune with the natural world? I suppose you have things like pheromones and...]" She trails off, attention distracted by a daydream about nameless communities of sentient insects living in the metropolis of a tree stump.
"My little mob of Satyr siblings are all druids. When we're ready, we go and find our own circle. More like interlocking spirals. I've been thinking about the sun card...a sun is a star...I've met a few folks following the old Circle of Stars. But who knows what tomorrow brings?" Knap pauses for a moment. "Well, maybe you do but, but it's much harder to predict how tomorrow shapes us, I should think."
Knap translates Mei's message to the bugs as best he can sans pheromones.
"And when Guardok's ready, go ahead and plant plant the stem, Mei. I'll listen out for the critters." Knap has placed the stem back into the cup of water.
Knap sits beside the already established lounge room pot plant.
After Knapleaves, Malvynchecks the clock and sees it's nearly 4:00.
Meiscans the envelope she holds, going over it in fine detail. She examines the style of the writing of her name - it seems to flow in gentle curves, neat, precise, and elegant. It is certainly not formal calligraphy but is clearly intended to show an artistic look. You would presume the same qualities which describe the writing might describe the person. And so, she gently opens the envelope. Inside is a brief note:
A flower for you as you embark on your first day of this monumental adventure of Strixhaven. I hope the flower will remind you of the natural beauty that you are. For as brilliant as this dahlia is, it is but a shadow of the beauty you possess. I look forward to when our paths might next cross. It shall be my pleasure to hear of how your grand adventure began. May today fulfill your every fondest dream.
Your most ardent admirer, Quentillius Antiphiun Melentor III
The letter continues in the same style of writing as your name on the outside of the envelope. And the signature is even more ornate, clearly well-practiced and signed with a rapid flourish.
Guardok merely watches as Knapp enters the lounge and heads to each of the plant pots. He thinks about asking what he is doing, but seeing how focussed the Satyr is decides against it. When Mei enters the room after him, he gets an inkling anyway.
He obliges when Mei indicates he should pat down the soil, certainly not afraid to get his hands dirty, but is a little lost when they start speaking in an unfamiliar tongue. He whispers a few words in Terran to the soil before he finishes and indicates it is ready.
The purple-skinned Tiefling lets out a small sigh as his room mate gets up to leave after barely opening his books. "Yes, see you back at Dresar Hall for dinner at six then." He says to the Satyr with a weak wave of his hand. He clearly had to rethink the idea of the Study Group. Maybe they were better off having discussions together back at the lounge before dinner rather than trying to study in the Biblioplex together. For some reason he had assumed the others would use their daytime to study but they all seemed distracted by other things.
Malvyn glances over at the clock and notices it is nearly four. Time for him too for some brief distraction he thinks to himself with a small smile, starting to diligently return the assortment of books borrowed back to their respective shelf, then packing his own tomes and notes back into his shoulder bag before walking over to the Firejolt Cafe, getting there as the clock turns 4.30.
Mei visibly brightens over Knap's mention of the stars and his card, feeling a vibration along the Threads that connect all things as one is strummed.
She brings the glass with the stem back to Guardok, not having meant to leave him to do the soil alone, but glad to have his help in starting this new little life on the fourth floor. Perched again on the arm of the chair, she leans over and places the stem into the soil. "There! A new home," she says, summoning a touch of the primal powers for a little extra help. The two leaves curl towards her fingertips like sunlight before settling again.
Satisfied they've given it the best start they can, she looks from Guardok to Knap as she sets the cup-pot in the center of the coffee table. "Thank you so much. I think it probably didn't stand a chance with me alone. Now its got a bit of extra love put in from you both. I hope he won't mind we snipped the flower." She winces lightheartedly, realizing the intent when sending a flower was probably not for her to behead it.
Water sloshes over the sides of the small glass as Mei nearly drops it. “W-Who sent what? Ooohh—ha. Y-You mean the flower. Um, weeeell…” she murmurs with an awkward laugh, shaking the water from her hand. Mei looks between Guardok and Knap, cheeks growing pinker by the second as she nibbles at her lower lip, knowing that none of her floormates seemed especially fond of the sender.
“Quentillius,” she quietly admits, still struggling to believe anyone would shower her with such attentions or romantic words. “With a very s-sweet note too. It was like something straight out of the Bard of Avon’s plays.”
"Stop it!" Knap squeals in delight. "Mei got a Dahlia from a real dapper lad. Congratulations! How will you respond?" Knap worries what the others might think but he's happy for Mei.
Guardok smiles as Mei reveals the author of the note, and hints at the contents.
"You know, if you want to write a reply, I can deliver it when I go to find the Playactors tomorrow?", he says as he brushes away the loose soil from his fingers into one of the larger plant pots.
"Although you might bump into him at dinner. You know, if you wanted to sit with him, that would be ok", he says sincerely.
Mei hides her mouth behind her hand, ears red hot. “I should write back?” she squeaks. “But what should I write?”
Watching as a single drop of water glides over the ridges and valleys of her knuckles, she softly sighs. “Do you think he’s… genuine? No one’s ever—you know. And we’ve barely even—“ she offers Guardok a handkerchief for his soil-y hands, “What if it’s all—“ Her incomplete thoughts are cut off by a hapless laugh. “Sorry. I’m sure this isn’t something you two want to talk about.”
With the study group breaking up it appears Malvyn and perhaps Knap were going to stay studying for a bit. Though not necessarily on the same subjects.
Guardok and Mei make their way across campus and back to Dressar Hall. Going up using the Levitation Disk, Mei turns to the left towards Room 402 while Guardok turns right towards Room 404. Guardok makes it to his room with no problems, still finding it without a roommate.
Mei arrives at her room and sees a small note with a purple dahlia sitting on top of it. If you peer at it, the note has 'Mei Fujimori written on it and the envelope still appears to be sealed.
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
Mei sets her bag outside the door to 402 and squats down to gently pick up the dahlia and note. She might've convinced herself this wasn't meant for her--that someone had just gotten the floor and room number wrong--but the name scrawled on the envelope leaves no room for doubt. Though she of course is unlikely to recognize the handwriting, she studies it nonetheless, hoping the penmanship might give something away about the author.
As she inspects the flower, her smile is bittersweet. Her mother often used dahlias in her floromancy and they were among little Mei's favorites in the garden. She runs her thumb over the silky florets, then gently brushes them against her cheek before resting the flower in her lap and carefully opening the envelope.
((For funsies can she Insight check the handwriting? Is it flowy and large or blocky and neat, etc? Anything it might reveal about the personality of the writer? 15))
Knap sits quietly for 25 minutes or so glossing his notes, underlining concepts he was having trouble with as well as concepts that sparked interest for future investigation.
“Alright, maestro Malvyn, I’m all full up on mathematics, aurora matrix and the music of spheres, but my belly is empty. I’m going to get into something more comfy and then ready for dinner. Don’t study too hard.” Knap packs his notes and returns to Dresar hall.
“Helloooo, 4th floor.” Knap does a loop around. “Hey Mei, hope you had a nice day? I noticed you’ve been a little uhhh discombobulated. I mean I love the bunny slippers and all… uhhh Let me know if there is anything that might help you out.”
Guardok makes sure to help Mei with her books on the way back, but doesn't stick around once they get to her door, to give her privacy to open her letter. He just heads back to his own room and happily changes clothes before heading to the lounge and relaxing in one of the chairs.
"Hey Knap", he calls back as Knap shouts his greeting as he does the rounds of the 4th floor.
(since Knap is arriving 20 minutes after Guardok and Mei got back, I'll assume she's already opened the letter!)
"Hi, Knap!" Mei calls back, though it's hardly louder than her usual speaking volume. She pushes back from her desk and pads over to the open doorway, peeking out at the satyr. At his mention of her being discombobulated, a blush tints her cheeks. "I--oh, I suppose I have been, huh? Though I think my family would say that's my usual: permanent discombobulation," she laughs with a sheepish scratch of her temple. "Was your first day, okay? Did you end up getting a job?"
When he offers to help her out, he has nary a chance to answer as she jumps, suddenly remembering something. "Ah! I--actually, would you mind--" she searches about her dorm room, muttering to herself as she flits around, "--would you mind helping me with something?" She retrieves a small glass from the windowsill and hurries back. In it is the dahlia, the end of the stem submerged in water. "I was wondering if you could help me encourage her to grow roots? I tried by myself but, well... I only know a little bit of the druid craft from my father and I can't quite grasp how to propagate." Her brow furrows as she holds the bottom of the glass up at eye level, before her hopeful gaze slides to Knap. “If you’re not too busy? Sorry, you just got back.”
"Chaos can be a creative space, aye. Where I'm from, we sip from the dream pool. Sounds like you do too, but different... . Yes I got a job! Sweeping. Which sounds bland but a good sweep can really shake up stagnant energies." Knap pauses and smiles in the doorway as Mei retrieves the flower. "OOO, lovely." His eyes light up. "Hmmm, well a small pot and some soil, it will require a little clip here and there, you want a couple of leaves left, and you'll probably need to pinch off the flower...," Knap shuts one eye, and focusses intently on the plant. "Don't worry that's just the surface structure of it's beauty and life. Hmmm, I know! Let me have a little chat with the pot plant bugs in the lounge, I'm sure they can help manage the health at a smaller scale. Shall we make a temporary home for it to take root?"
“My grandmother always says diviners have a foot in the past, a hand in the present, and our minds in the future,” Mei chuckles. “Which I think is her way of saying we’re all over the place. Though her chaos is much more, um… ordered than mine. If that makes sense?” She seems surprised at his mention of a dream pool but quickly excited over the possible similarity. “I’d love to hear about that some time! It’s always fascinating to hear how others harness the power of dreams and the unconscious mind.”
When Knap mentions the bugs and a new home, Mei nods emphatically. “Yes! Okay! Thank you!” and follows him along wherever he heads next, chattering on about the symbolism of dahlias and what powerful objects brooms can be—“My grandma sweeps after every reading, just in case any negative energy lingers behind. Sweeper is a noble profession I should think!”
"Oh yes, and thread a few scented twigs through the bristle, it's fantastic. Or, you can dust a desk or the bed with sprigs of lavender." Knap continues the broom-talk into his and Malvyn's room and from his mess kit retrieves a wooden cup with soldered lines spreading out in zigzag patterns, as well as a small stoneblade knife. "Don't worry, this cup was originally a pot, but I liked it as a cup. But now, I think it's a pot again." He looks at it quizzically for a moment before grabbing a spoon with the same chaotic jumble of lines around the handle. "To the lounge!"
Knap trots to the lounge. "A little bit of everywhere at once…the other side of the tree. Or something like that. My uncle is the clever one on that stuff. Is your pop a druid?" Into the wooden cup, Knap begins to scoop half a spoonful of soil from each of the plants around the room. "Dreams...like the poetic keys to reality. Tricksy things." He gently pats the soil down. "Now, to make a few snips..." He carefully takes the stem, trimming away all but two pairs of leaves, and finally the flower. "Hmmm, you should press this in a book." He hands the soil-filled cup to Mei. "Please you do the honours. And a little sprinkle of water, not too much, the roots want to breathe. While you do that I'm going to prepare a little ritual, get in the zone, to yarn with the bugs."
Knap spends the next ten minutes doing strange vocal exercises with a mix of scales and drawn-out diphthongs. He waits for Mai's signal before moving to one of the plants he first encountered the little black bugs. Knap clears his throat before letting out a few barely audible clicks and chirrups.
"Dear creatures of stem
and soil, humble caretakers,"
Knap takes a deep breath
"we are friends who bring new
life for propagation.
Knap speaks in Sylvan "Mei, anything you'd like to say to them?"
"He is! He's a Shepherd, though he hasn't met with his Circle for a long time. Do you... have a Circle?" The question is a gentle one--she's well aware how personal it can be.
As Knap picks up something brought from home for her to use, Mei at first hesitates to take something so special, but accepts with quiet thanks. Everything he does next she watches closely, perhaps too closely as she hovers over his shoulder. When he eventually passes her the zig-zagged cup-pot, she cradles it gently in her hands and perches on the arm rest of Guardok's chair, silently asking him with a smile to pat down the soil too as Knap begins his ritual.
As she's addressed in Sylvan, the honeyed language slides over her own tongue as well. "[Yes! I'd like to yarn too!]" She slides off the arm rest and hurries over. "[Hi, hello there. I'm Mei! Thank you for taking such good care of the plants here--they're really beautiful! I hope you don't mind one more charge? It's a dahli-ah, you probably have your own names for them don't you? Or, well... maybe you don't? Maybe names aren't important when you're in tune with the natural world? I suppose you have things like pheromones and...]" She trails off, attention distracted by a daydream about nameless communities of sentient insects living in the metropolis of a tree stump.
"My little mob of Satyr siblings are all druids. When we're ready, we go and find our own circle. More like interlocking spirals. I've been thinking about the sun card...a sun is a star...I've met a few folks following the old Circle of Stars. But who knows what tomorrow brings?" Knap pauses for a moment. "Well, maybe you do but, but it's much harder to predict how tomorrow shapes us, I should think."
Knap translates Mei's message to the bugs as best he can sans pheromones.
"And when Guardok's ready, go ahead and plant plant the stem, Mei. I'll listen out for the critters." Knap has placed the stem back into the cup of water.
Knap sits beside the already established lounge room pot plant.
After Knap leaves, Malvyn checks the clock and sees it's nearly 4:00.
Mei scans the envelope she holds, going over it in fine detail. She examines the style of the writing of her name - it seems to flow in gentle curves, neat, precise, and elegant. It is certainly not formal calligraphy but is clearly intended to show an artistic look. You would presume the same qualities which describe the writing might describe the person. And so, she gently opens the envelope. Inside is a brief note:
A flower for you as you embark on your first day of this monumental adventure of Strixhaven. I hope the flower will remind you of the natural beauty that you are. For as brilliant as this dahlia is, it is but a shadow of the beauty you possess. I look forward to when our paths might next cross. It shall be my pleasure to hear of how your grand adventure began. May today fulfill your every fondest dream.
Your most ardent admirer,
Quentillius Antiphiun Melentor III
The letter continues in the same style of writing as your name on the outside of the envelope. And the signature is even more ornate, clearly well-practiced and signed with a rapid flourish.
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
Guardok merely watches as Knapp enters the lounge and heads to each of the plant pots. He thinks about asking what he is doing, but seeing how focussed the Satyr is decides against it. When Mei enters the room after him, he gets an inkling anyway.
He obliges when Mei indicates he should pat down the soil, certainly not afraid to get his hands dirty, but is a little lost when they start speaking in an unfamiliar tongue. He whispers a few words in Terran to the soil before he finishes and indicates it is ready.
The purple-skinned Tiefling lets out a small sigh as his room mate gets up to leave after barely opening his books. "Yes, see you back at Dresar Hall for dinner at six then." He says to the Satyr with a weak wave of his hand. He clearly had to rethink the idea of the Study Group. Maybe they were better off having discussions together back at the lounge before dinner rather than trying to study in the Biblioplex together. For some reason he had assumed the others would use their daytime to study but they all seemed distracted by other things.
Malvyn glances over at the clock and notices it is nearly four. Time for him too for some brief distraction he thinks to himself with a small smile, starting to diligently return the assortment of books borrowed back to their respective shelf, then packing his own tomes and notes back into his shoulder bag before walking over to the Firejolt Cafe, getting there as the clock turns 4.30.
Mei visibly brightens over Knap's mention of the stars and his card, feeling a vibration along the Threads that connect all things as one is strummed.
She brings the glass with the stem back to Guardok, not having meant to leave him to do the soil alone, but glad to have his help in starting this new little life on the fourth floor. Perched again on the arm of the chair, she leans over and places the stem into the soil. "There! A new home," she says, summoning a touch of the primal powers for a little extra help. The two leaves curl towards her fingertips like sunlight before settling again.
Satisfied they've given it the best start they can, she looks from Guardok to Knap as she sets the cup-pot in the center of the coffee table. "Thank you so much. I think it probably didn't stand a chance with me alone. Now its got a bit of extra love put in from you both. I hope he won't mind we snipped the flower." She winces lightheartedly, realizing the intent when sending a flower was probably not for her to behead it.
"I hesitated for a moment as well but it's good to propagate before any rot sets in." Knap stops to think for a moment. "OOO, who sent it anyway?"
Water sloshes over the sides of the small glass as Mei nearly drops it. “W-Who sent what? Ooohh—ha. Y-You mean the flower. Um, weeeell…” she murmurs with an awkward laugh, shaking the water from her hand. Mei looks between Guardok and Knap, cheeks growing pinker by the second as she nibbles at her lower lip, knowing that none of her floormates seemed especially fond of the sender.
“Quentillius,” she quietly admits, still struggling to believe anyone would shower her with such attentions or romantic words. “With a very s-sweet note too. It was like something straight out of the Bard of Avon’s plays.”
"Stop it!" Knap squeals in delight. "Mei got a Dahlia from a real dapper lad. Congratulations! How will you respond?" Knap worries what the others might think but he's happy for Mei.
Guardok smiles as Mei reveals the author of the note, and hints at the contents.
"You know, if you want to write a reply, I can deliver it when I go to find the Playactors tomorrow?", he says as he brushes away the loose soil from his fingers into one of the larger plant pots.
"Although you might bump into him at dinner. You know, if you wanted to sit with him, that would be ok", he says sincerely.
Mei hides her mouth behind her hand, ears red hot. “I should write back?” she squeaks. “But what should I write?”
Watching as a single drop of water glides over the ridges and valleys of her knuckles, she softly sighs. “Do you think he’s… genuine? No one’s ever—you know. And we’ve barely even—“ she offers Guardok a handkerchief for his soil-y hands, “What if it’s all—“ Her incomplete thoughts are cut off by a hapless laugh. “Sorry. I’m sure this isn’t something you two want to talk about.”