Chapter Text
Candle was wandering the Hotel HOOT gardens. Tea Kettle had initially tended to it, but Silver and his surprising green thumb took over when Tea Kettle started spending most of her time working in the restaurant.
Candle knew Trophy would often come to these spots for the butterflies that frequented, which inspired Candle to do some scrapbooking. Of course, season four going on took up a lot of her time, but she tried her best to have a healthy competition-life-balance. However much she enjoyed the lack of backstabbing and opportunity to make new friends in the newest season, she also missed strategizing with her…
…Well.
She supposed saying soulmate was technically correct. But Silver wasn’t quite. Aware. Of that connection. What was more mutual were them being partners in the game, or them being friends ! No matter how she had started to… well, avoid him. With more downtime to really process things that she had been able to flow away easier in the past, her thoughts had gotten more bothersome. And frankly, making her feel guilty for not telling Silver Spoon about them being soulmates. What was up with her? Why couldn’t she be honest about this to her best friend?
She breathed in…
… and out.
Candle could let her anxieties overtake her later. She just wanted to do something she enjoyed right now.
Strolling through the path, she finally found the greenhouse. However… she wasn’t really allowed inside there herself. Her flame was a tad precarious, and neither her nor Silver Spoon wanted the plants to go up in flames. So she didn’t go inside. But she wasn’t here for the greenhouse, but for the roses Silver Spoon had finally gotten to plant. He loved roses, thinking of them to be “fancy” and “romantic”, and the assortment of colors really did make it look beautiful.
Candle snapped a few pictures, of the morning dew on the petals; the butterfly perching on a leaf, so close to the thorn’s danger yet still avoiding it; and of course just some nice pictures of the flowers being flowers.
Candle did notice something. One of the red roses being a tad late to bloom, yet right next to the biggest bloom, a yellow rose. It was interesting, so Candle raised her camera to take a picture, noting how similar of a brilliant red the rose and her string were. If only she could take pictures of the string too.
A bit after finishing that picture, Candle felt a hint of a rain droplet hit her. Ah. The rain. It was something she always loved, no matter that it made her quite drowsy with her flame going out, it was peaceful enough to make up for the sleepiness.
Candle stared into the gray skies above, listening to the slight sizzle of her flame. It was relaxing despite it all.
“My dear?” The rain clouds were covered by a nice blue umbrella, and she instantly recognized the voice behind her.
“Hello, Silver.” Candle calmly turned around to face Silver.
“It’s raining.”
”I’m aware.”
Silver sighed “You should at least have your own umbrella handy. I wouldn’t want you getting sick. It’d be utterly horrible!”
Candle felt a bit of her face warm “I don’t think relaxing in the rain will do that much to me.”
Silver huffed “Well, you can relax by a window instead !! It would be much warmer. And less dangerous!!”
“Alright Silver. I’ll go on inside.”
“Good!” Silver puffed up a little with pride
As Candle walked with him inside, she felt a little lucky to have a… friend like him. Someone who cared so much. It was nice.
Candle was now sat by a window, a blanket that Silver had insisted he get for her laying on her lap, and she simply admired the rain.
Candle noticed some movement out the corner of her eye. A gray blob for a moment before she looked over and saw Pepper’s freckled face pulling up a chair.
“Hello Pepper.” Candle greeted
“Hey Candle!” Pepper made a small waving motion with her hands
The two had been friendly ever since they were placed on the same team, and Pepper was lovely to hang out with. While Candle had never been one for gossip, Pepper on the other hand…
“Are you and Silver, like, a thing?” Well… Candle had figured out that Pepper did enjoy knowing about people’s lives. And Candle was interested enough to indulge whenever she and Pepper got on the topic. However, it had never really been much of Candle’s life that had been the topic.
“Oh?” Candle was slightly caught off guard by the question directed towards her “No, we are not.”
“Huh. But, like, is there anything at all..?”
“…”
“There is something isn’t there?!”
“Maybe some. But I’d rather you not spread that around.”
“Alright,” Pepper nodded “Like, tell me a little more, I’m curious!”
It was nice to get her inner thoughts about this out of her system, to someone else who would listen.