Work Text:
The park was one of the few places in town you didn’t have to pay a fee to enter, or Veyle wasn’t likely to see lots of toys or candy she would pester her sister to buy. Sure, it was small, and maybe the grass wasn’t fully maintained, to the point there were some holes wild animals dug up, or bald patches of dirt that the town hadn’t filled with new seeds. Still, it had a pond with lots of ducks and frogs, a field with lots of wild flowers, and on a bright summer day, it was perfect for an impromptu sister day while Mauvier was handling matters outside of the house.
Veyle skipped through the grass with a blanket in her hand, trying to find the perfect spot for the pair to sit down at. Nils had talked about coming here before with his sister and their roommates, and apparently there were a lot of flowers somewhere here that anyone could pick and take. At least, that’s what he swore as he showed off his flower crown to Mr. Seteth and Miss Flayn.
Sure enough, Nils was right–there was a massive patch of flowers all in full bloom. Coneflowers, violets, daisies, and more flowers neither of them could put a name to were planted in an enormous variety of colors, from stark white to deep purple. Veyle’s eyes widened at the variety, bouncing on her toes as she called out, “Big Sis! Big Sis! I found the spot!”
Alear had been following close behind, a half serious grunt escaping her lips as she did so. “I’m comin’, I’m comin’,” she reassured her sister as she helped her unfold the blanket, setting it down neatly on a balding patch of grass in front of the wildflower patch, staring at the pretty blooms as she stretched her arms. “Looks like Nils wasn’t lying then at show and tell.”
Veyle nodded with a wide grin on her face. “Yep! There’s even more pretty flowers than he showed!” She pointed out all the different varieties of wildflowers in front of them. “There’s tiny blue ones, and orange and stripey ones, and big white ones, and pretty pink ones, and-Oh! This dark purple one’s the same color as Papa’s vest!”
Alear smiled faintly, masking it by placing her hand on her chin in thought. “Yeah, I guess they are,” she affirmed “Do you want to make a crown like Nils had in school for him?”
Veyle’s grin becomes wider as she nods fervently, picking out several flowers by the stem to weave into a crown. Probably a bit too many for one crown, but Mauvier had a big head, so she figured this would need more. Just how hard could one of these be to make if Nils said his sister taught him in a day?
Veyle tried weaving two strands together, although it was more like crossing them together due to her tiny fingers and lack of dexterity. She grumbled as she kept at it, trying and failing to weave together the stems into a crown. After five minutes, she gave up, crying out, “It’s too hard! Big Sis, can you do it?”
Alear could only chuckle as her sister once again foisted the work onto her, staring down at the attempt of a flower crown that Veyle started. She regularly fights bandits, can drink her weight in liquor, and could easily scale a wall if she needed to.
Delicate work, however, was more Mauvier’s specialty. But twisting stems of flowers couldn't be that difficult, surely…
Alear attempted to tie a small knot between two stems, one towards the flowers themselves, the other towards the ends of each respective stem. Unfortunately. Veyle’s method of flower picking was haphazard and uneven, and trying to work with two stems of very different lengths was proving harder than she'd like to admit.
“Need some help?” a high pitched voice called from behind them, startling the two sisters as they both turned around to see the random person who snuck up to them was. It was a boy with blond hair about shoulder length, large book the size of his torso, and a smirk on his face, “I know how to make the best flower crown you’ve ever seen!” he confidently asserted as he stared at both of their shoddy attempts, clearly thinking he could make something better.
Whoever this kid was, he had a t-shirt with the diagram of an atom printed on it, and goggles that looked like they were taken from a middle school science classroom or an expensive kit. He looked a bit older than Veyle, maybe by about two to three years, and definitely not a classmate from kindergarten. Just who this kid was, or how he was able to casually carry around a book this big was a pressing mystery to the both of them.
“Who’re you?” Alear questioned the child, looking around to see where his guardians were. No one seemed to be following him, at least not yet.
“I’m Clover!” the boy chirped as he showed the encyclopedia that read, Flowers Around the World. “My family are all flower experts! My Granny gave me this for my birthday,” he proudly displayed the book as he spoke, flipping through the pages that contained information that looked too advanced for the average lower elementary schooler. Either this kid was really short for his age, or he was some sort of wunderkind that just so happened to also like flowers.
Veyle looked confused at the older boy, tilting her head to the side, “Flower…Ex..Perts?” She stared at the big book, then back up at this seemingly know-it-all kid.
“Expert means we know a lot!” he grinned as he bent down to kneel next to Veyle, sitting right next to her as she was still trying and failing to braid the crown together, “So if you wanna make a flower crown, lemme help!”
Veyle looked up at her older sister for reassurance, trying to gage whether to let this boy help her or not. On one hand, he was a stranger, and both Alear and Mauvier warned Veyle not to talk to strangers or weird adults. On the other hand, this was a kid barely older than her, and could be a potential new friend.
“Kid, where are your parents? Or guardians?” Alear continued to question Clover, narrowing her eyes in both annoyance and concern, “You shouldn’t be out here all alone.”
Clover frowned as soon as Alear mentioned parents, and immediately Alear cringed slightly at defaulting to that assumption, “My Granny is with a friend. They’re talking about boring adult stuff.” He pointed a ways behind him to two older women, one with blonde hair and pale skin that matched his appearance, and another, slightly taller one with dark skin and dark hair. The two seemed lost in conversation, seemingly unaware of the fact the child ran off on his own.
“Fine, you can stay here,” Alear sighed as she looked at the two women in the distance, then back at the pleading child in front of her, “For now. You gotta return to your Granny’s side after this.”
Clover nodded with a smile as he opened up his massive book, flipping to a page about how to properly weave a flower crown. Veyle scoots closer to his side despite the fact she can't read a word his encyclopedia says, trying to commit every single diagram to memory.
“So you start by splitting the stem in half…” he began he grabbed one of the coneflower stems, holding it in front of Veyle to show her. Veyle imitated the motion of dividing the stem, listening carefully to his directions as he continued to instruct her.
“Big Sis! You should follow along too!” Veyle tugged on Alear’s sleeve as she put a coneflower in her hand, to the older sister’s amusement.
If we all work together, Papa can have flower bracelets too!