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Daisies.
After weeks of consideration, and assistance from one Kurt Frank, Emma decided that daisies were the best way to ask Melly Plinius on a date. Pink daisies, to be more specific.
“You know the library better than anyone else… Can you find me a book on flowers?”
Kurt had stared at Emma with a look that radiated both confusion and interest—which wasn’t all that uncommon, considering he was the explorer.
“Flowers? You’re the gardener. You know way more about nature than I do.” He responded, closing his book. Emma noticed that it was Alice in Wonderland. This was the third or fourth time she had found him reading it this week.
“But I don’t know the meanings! And you’re a good researcher! There’s gotta be a book about that stuff here somewhere!” She pouted.
Kurt took a moment to stare at her before he stood up, pushed his chair into the table he was sitting at, and started walking towards the back of the library. Emma followed once she realized he was leading her to the books she was looking for.
He didn’t look for more than a second before pulling out a tiny, green book from the shelf. Emma’s face lit up as she saw the title. “The Language of Flowers”. Fitting.
Kurt handed the book to her, smiling at the twinkle in her eyes.
“Do you need-”
“Nope! Thank you, Kurt! I’ll bring this back later!” Emma said, hugging the book close to her and running out of the library.
She had studied the book so intently that you could assume she had a test on it the next day.
She wanted—no, she needed this to go perfectly. She didn’t know what she would do with herself if it didn’t.
Pink daisies were an indicator of love, she read. Gentleness, admiration, adoration. It sounded perfect. A quick look in the manor’s garden, and the most important part of her plan was complete.
Emma did not consider herself a shy person by any stretch of the imagination. She was extremely extroverted. Anyone in the manor could attest to this. But Melly Plinius managed to reduce her to a stumbling mess; an achievement, really, considering Emma already had a tendency to trip on her words.
The moment Melly had stepped into the manor, the gardener felt attracted to her. Even Emma herself was surprised. Melly was reserved, and seemed to despise speaking to other people unless absolutely necessary. In matches, she kept her distance from the other survivors. Emma didn’t usually like people like that.
But there was something special about Melly. She had a grace to her. She spent time in the garden—though, she stayed a fair distance away from anyone—and seemed to appreciate Emma’s dedication to taking care of it.
She had been planning this for ages, or what felt like it. When she would do it, how she would do it, what she would say.
It definitely wasn’t an easy task to find out what would be best. Trying to get close to Melly—physically or emotionally—only resulted in being pushed away. She often ignored anyone talking to her. For the most part, she did her own thing.
A bouquet of flowers was a gesture she couldn’t ignore, she thought. So Emma made her way to Melly’s room, plants in hand.
Melly opened the door, her gauze mask still covering her face. Emma wondered if she wore it while she was sleeping.
“Oh- Melly! Or Miss Plinius? Dr. Plinius? Sorry— Hi! I— I wanted to ask you something— And I brought flowers!” She said, quickly holding the flowers out to the entomologist before she could get too flustered.
Melly looked down at the flowers, and then back at Emma. She didn’t speak. Emma tried not to be too worried about it.
“...What is it?” Melly said, barely loud enough for Emma to hear.
The gardener didn’t remember what Melly’s voice sounded like. She wasn’t sure she had even heard Melly talk before. But her voice was smooth. The perfect mixture between soft and harsh. The few words she spoke to her were precise, sharp. They sent butterflies straight to Emma’s stomach (haha, butterflies).
“Oh— I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ve ever… heard you speak? Is that rude to say?”
“No. Is that what you wanted to ask me, Miss Woods?”
Miss Woods. The way she said her name was perfect. It was everything. Emma could have listened to it all day.
“No, no… I was wondering if you maybe... wanted to join me? In the garden? Just for a bit. We can get to know each other better! Or not, if you don’t want to— I’d just like to be around you—”
Be around you? The nervousness was setting in. Things were going downhill quickly. Melly was sure to shut the door any second now.
“...Miss Woods, are you asking me on a date?”
What? No. Yes, she was, but she definitely didn’t want Melly to know she liked her like that. Was she that easy to read? What did she look like right now?
“No! I mean— Yes, a little. Like… as friends! To get to know each other.”
“Friends.”
“Yeah—”
Melly took the flowers from Emma’s hands, something that shut her up immediately.
“Miss Woods. I am not one for friendship, as I’m sure you’ve been able to deduce by now. I appreciate the flowers and the gesture.”
“You don’t have to agree if you don’t want to! You can just take the flowers and—”
“Allow me to finish, will you?”
Emma nodded slowly. Shutting up was difficult when there was someone wonderful in front of you.
“I appreciate the effort, and I will join you in the garden, but I ask you not to jump to any conclusions. For the time being, we are not friends. Merely acquaintances.”
Emma sighed. Acquaintances. Sure. She could deal with that.
She got friendzoned—no, not even friendzoned. But she was still going to the garden with Melly. She took this as a win.
“Let me put these in some water, and then we can go.” Melly said, going back into her room and emerged a minute later with no flowers in hand.
“Lead the way, then.”
She nodded, moving quickly. Melly managed to match her pace.
“Um… You can call me Emma, you know. Acquaintances don’t have to be on a last-name basis.”
Truthfully, Emma just wanted to know how her name would sound when Melly said it. Probably beautiful. Anything sounded beautiful when she said it. Though, she had only heard a few sentences from the entomologist. Maybe she wasn’t the best judge of that.
“Okay.” Melly said quietly, continuing to walk. Her gaze was focused straight ahead—or at least, that’s what Emma assumed. There weren’t many other places to look from inside that mask.
The gardener noticed how gracefully the other woman walked. It was like she was floating, really. Her steps were light, and she moved with purpose, like every move she made was important. In contrast to Emma’s more rushed way of walking when she was with Melly, she felt… stupid. She tried to slow down, which only caused Melly to stop in her tracks.
“Is there something wrong?”
Emma paused and shook her head.
“Oh— No, nothing’s wrong. I was just… watching you walk.”
Melly looked at her in silence. Emma realized how horrible that sounded.
“I’m sorry! Not in a creepy way or anything. You just… sorta… glide? Light steps.”
Melly looked at her for a short moment more before something that sounded like a laugh came from her mask. She sighed in relief. She hadn’t messed up too terribly.
Melly had a nice laugh, she thought.
“Perhaps it is because I spend so much time studying flying insects? I have picked up a few of their mannerisms.”
“Is that possible?” Emma said, enamored with every word Melly spoke. The entomologist laughed again.
“That was a joke, Miss Woods. Though, it would be quite interesting if I did get my walk from them, yes?”
Emma nodded quickly. She didn’t even notice they were at the garden until she took her gaze away from the other to look ahead of her. She had almost ran into the door.
She opened it for Melly, then followed her in.
The garden was empty. It wasn’t too late in the day, but Emma vaguely remembered talk of a duo hunters match. The usual occupants of the garden—Emily, Michiko, Jack—were most likely busy. She didn’t mind. It just meant alone time with Melly.
Not terrifying at all.
Despite the lack of survivors and hunters in the garden, it remained lively. The flowers were as bright as ever, something Emma took pride in. Waking up early every day to tend to them was a difficult task.
“Ah— Look here, will you?” Melly’s voice came from behind her. Emma turned to find her crouched down next to a patch of marigolds.
Melly’s hand was outstretched, and in it sat a ladybug. The gardener smiled, kneeling down next to her. Emma was pleasantly surprised when she didn’t move away.
“How adorable… They’re called Coccinellidae, scientifically. This one… is a boy. Too small to be a female.” Melly said, her gaze still locked on the ladybug that was walking around in her hand.
“He must be a kid! He only has a few spots.” Emma remarked, which caused Melly to look over at her.
“The number of spots has nothing to do with his age. Simply an indicator of his species.” She said. “Two black spots, two white spots on his head. Adalia bipunctata.” She pointed to the spots as she talked about them.
“Oh… Sorry. You know a lot about him!”
“I am an entomologist, Miss Woods. If I didn’t know about the common ladybug, I’d be ashamed of myself.”
Emma’s face flushed as she spoke. How dumb she could be? Believing in a myth as stupid as that…
Emma’s thoughts were interrupted by a hand being placed on hers. Her face only flushed more when she looked down.
“You’re a gardener, not an entomologist. Do not be upset with yourself. If you really want to know more, I would be glad to teach you.”
Emma’s heart was racing. Melly was being so kind to her. Was this really the girl who had told her just a while ago they were simply acquaintances?
Melly moved her hand away as quickly as she had placed it. Emma resisted the urge to yank it back.
“I’d love to learn more about anything you like.” Emma blurted out, causing Melly to chuckle as she helped the ladybug back to the flower.
“‘Anything I like’ is quite broad territory. Do you have something specific you’d like to know?”
“...More about the ladybugs?”
Melly nodded, sitting down in the grass rather than crouching. Emma joined her, sitting cross-legged.
“There are roughly 5,000 different species of ladybugs globally. Adalia bipunctata are incredibly common here. I am quite surprised I didn’t spot more of them. Spring is their favorite time.”
Emma nodded along, listening to Melly share more facts than she thought could exist about ladybugs. She wasn’t bored by any means. Hearing Melly talk was a rare sight, and she was more than happy she was there to witness it.
Thinking about Melly only made her heart race faster. How had she so casually brushed over the fact that she was on a date with her? With someone so… elegant? So intelligent, so knowledgeable. It was a miracle Emma’s heart didn’t give out right there and then.
Just acquaintances, she reminded herself. That’s all they were for now.
Thinking about their status didn’t stop her mind from racing. It didn’t stop her from fantasizing about going on another date with her, or hugging her, or—
“I… believe that’s all there is. Interesting little creatures. I’m not sure how anyone could have the heart to harm one.” Melly finished, causing Emma to come back to reality. “I hope I didn’t bore you with so many facts.”
“Not at all! I… really enjoyed that. Maybe you can tell me more about some other bugs?”
“Ah… right now?”
“Yeah! There’s tons of other things you can share, right?”
Melly was silent for a long time before standing up and stretching. Emma followed suit.
“I… am quite tired. I hope you can understand, Miss Woods.”
“Oh— Yes, of course I do. I’m sorry for keeping you out so long—”
“Not a problem. We were barely here for an hour.”
“Do you want me to walk you back to your room?”
“No. I’ll be alright.”
Emma would be lying if she said she wasn’t a bit sad to see Melly go. She would’ve loved to get to know more about her. As the entomologist left the garden, she paused in the doorway.
“I do hope you know the meaning of pink daisies, Emma. Until next time.” Melly said, not bothering to turn around.
Just like that, she was gone.
Emma struggled to calm her quickly beating heart. At this rate, she was sure she would die. She was dizzy, lovesick.
Melly had known the meaning of them the whole time. She had known Emma’s true intentions.
And… she called her by her first name. And said there would be a next time.
Needless to say, Emma Woods found it very difficult to sleep that night.