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It was rather nice today, surprisingly enough. After all that rain for the past few weeks, a perfectly warm day was like a blessing personally bestowed to Cider. Then again, this is the first time she’d left her home in a while, but when the sun's branches extend the fruit of light to him, he’s for certain ready to take it for himself.
One would think that such a high figure of importance in his field would have more people staring his way in astonishment for walking down such an average road, but not a single eye happened to recognize her for who he was, and really, Cider was happy with either outcome. To her curiosity, however, the streets were rather quiet today, even more so than usual at such an early hour.
That certainly made it easier for Cider to pick out the image of an already easy to pick out form. Standing over a guard rail much, much shorter than itself was an uncannily tall figure. Granted, this wasn’t the first time Cider had caught wind of someone of this height, hearing rumors every now and then of a machine that traveled with a cat in their hands. This, however, was the first that the saint had ever seen one, but he’s heard that the running one was much slimmer than this.
“Good morn-”
Before Cider could finish greeting the other, it turned around violently with an intense panic in its gaze, akin to that of the eyes of a hare. Only one eye was visible, the dainty top hat that they donned having a curious lace veil attached to the rim covering the other. Cider was certainly taken aback by that frightened movement, but hadn’t expressed it in the slightest, retaining most of her composure as she continued to study the other’s appearance.
The short-sleeved jacket of theirs was also very adorned with lace accents, and a dainty jabot rested around her neck. Flower clasps were pinned to the openings of his pants, and his heeled boots were a curious sight, as well. What really piqued Cider’s interest, however, was the fact that one of their lower arms was hastily tied onto them with the sleeve of their shirt. Almost like it was invented in a hurry.
Of course, this machine wasn’t happy to have a stranger gawking at it, moving its hat to cover its face fully with the veil as the sound of a kettle shrieking weaved its way into Cider’s ears.
“Please… Please stop it…”
That voice was strangely breathy, and carried a melancholy unlike anything Cider had ever heard before. A chill cut through the warmth of the morning and shot up the saint’s spine and a frightening speed. He narrowed her head downward, muttering an apology as the other seemed to be a little surprised at her own voice, too. To Cider’s dismay, this curiosity didn’t last super long, as the other began to speak again.
“…Can I go back?”
There was an uncomfortably potent longing in that question, but the saint just tilted his head in confusion. “To where?”
It seemed to also notice the pain in its voice, but shook its head, pointing it back past the balcony. “At… them…”
“I-”
Cider couldn’t finish his sentence when he finally got a grasp of what the other was staring at this morning. How did he not ever notice this before? A vast sea of blue and white flowers stretched throughout the open field beneath the guard rails that held the two here. If the winds were a little stronger, this might feel like the actual ocean.
This certainly held a lot of weight to the stranger, but something was telling Cider that there was more to what they said than this.
“The white ones… are daisies…” It slowly spoke. “But if you look really closely…”
The saint fiddled with her headset in order to zoom in on where the other was pointing to. Sure enough, there was another white flower, with finger-like bracts fatter than any of the daisies below and with more floret-pods, too. Unlike every other flower in the sea, though, it seemed to be wilting.
“That one is… Um… Edelweiss…” They mumbled. “They’re mostly growing right beneath us, but… One managed to grow over there…”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Why…? It’s not where it’s meant to be…” There was something about its reply that didn’t feel genuine in what it was saying.
“Hm… Well…” Cider ran a calculation in his headset involving the flower. “Daisies and edelweiss are in the same family, did you know? Maybe it’s where it truly belongs after all.”
His words seemed to strike a chord in the other, prompting it to hold a finger up to let it think about it. As they pondered those words, Cider couldn’t help but stare once again. There was something about this figure, many things about it, that were nothing short of beautiful in themselves, too.
The fact that such a heavy-looking figure could be so flighty and mobile… The fact that it was able to patch itself up with ease after hardship… The unique sounds it made… The fascinating attire it donned…
Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. To have such a fascinating bloom within the walls of his home, in his family, quickly became a must. Cider could feel herself begin to softly shake with excitement, but shook his head for a moment and let out a tiny breath as she returned to her staple serenity.
As he did, the other had finally formulated their response.
“Maybe… you’re right… It’s happy there…”
“Are you happy here?”
The machine looked her way in surprise, only to turn its head downward in dismay.
“I guess… I like flowers…”
“Won’t you get bored seeing the same flowers every day?” Cider inquired. “Do you even know what the blue ones are?”
They shook its head in uncertainty.
“You know, talking and all has me realizing… I like you a lot. What’s your name?”
It hesitated for an uncomfortably long time. “…Dandy.”
What a unique name.
“Dandy, how would it sound to stay with me for a little while? You don’t seem like you have anywhere else to be right about now.”
Rather, anywhere else to go.
As Cider asked it this question, the eye on her headset’s screen happened to open. Of course, he didn’t see it, but Dandy certainly must have, tensing up further as she bore into them. Its gaze kept turning back and forth from him and the vast sea of flowers, but didn’t leave him for more than a few seconds.
Eventually, the unnatural pressure became too much for it, and it tightly held its own hands together as it quickly nodded.
Ecstatically, the saint beamed, holding out her hand for Dandy to take. They let out a deep breath they were holding and shook its head uncomfortably in response, holding their own hands behind its back as they waited for Cider’s move. He took his hand back and gently apologized, motioning for it to follow her as she made her leave from this balcony with this new treasure in his possession.