blood on the name}} charlotte, leon, aelia, owen

owen {♔} bowers-fox

Before I can process the words which she speaks, a small crowd that consists of Charlie, Leon, this girl, and myself is gathered about the plants section. None of us besides the unnamed girl have much of an interest in plants, though I believe I saw Charlie half paying attention to a spiel a worker was giving a while ago. However, I’m sure she retained little to none of it, so I turned my attention back to the girl from seven as she speaks in manner that strikes me as equally crazy and calm, “I don’t know a single thing about these plants. This one might kill me, but I guess I can check.” But before I can protest and explain that those measures aren’t necessary, she sticks it in her mouth, still as calm and collected as she was beforehand.

I fall short for words, but thankfully Leon comes forward and fills the silence with words that are more intelligent than any I could fathom on a good day, “You might be eager to die, but your family would rather you survive, won’t they?” I turn to watch him as the smile crosses his face before he turns to acknowledge me with a simple greeting. I nod in response, puffing out my chest in the slightest before replying, “Leon.” It’s quiet for a moment, and I treasure the few moments of calm that proceed the storm that Charlie brings forth.

“Is she going to die, or what?” Her voice is coated with its usual amount of annoyance, and the huff of air she sends passing by my ear causes me move away a bit. “So, Charlie, I see you couldn’t resist coming over to join the party.” I figured I’d probably come away with this conversation with a couple of missing teeth, but I put Charlie out of my mind and turned my attention back to the girl from seven, persistent on finding a name to go with her senseless wonder. “I don’t think I ever caught your name, but you’re from seven, right?” I rest my elbows on the metal brim that sets the dirt within its boundaries and continue, “I doubt you’re senseless enough to put something poisonous in your mouth, so what is that that you’ve got there?”

owen {♔} bowers-fox

“I’m Aelia Vanderwell, and I want to see the ocean.” I can’t help but smile at this girl, for what she says is so beautifully simple that I have no response. She doesn’t seem to be pondering death or the entirety of life itself, no, she’s caught in a simple dream, a request that I wouldn’t be hopeful in. However, people say that faith in our dreams is all we have, so I wait for a moment before turning to her, letting my words fall like calm waters on a still day, “Aelia Vanderwell, I hope you see the ocean. And even though I don’t know what it looks like myself, I hope it’s everything you wish it to be.” I’m shocked at my own words and the smoothness with which they fall, since it’s quite different from the choppy waves of words that I normally call speech.

Her reply to Charlie is curt and simple, yet not mean in the slightest, only honest, and it catches me off guard. However, I’m caught even more by surprise as she hands me a leaf, and I rub it between my fingers before bringing it up to my nose to smell as she reassures me, “Here, eat this, it won’t kill you.” It’s not that I don’t trust Aelia Vanderwell, but her simple nature could quite possible get us both killed if she didn’t know exactly what she was talking about.

I cast my gaze to Leon, looking to the boy for reassurance, as he seems the most likely of the bunch to know what was what. He smiles, shooting me a quiet, “You can have that.” before turning back to Aelia. He murmurs to Charlie, and the grin that sneaks across his face sends one of the same degree across my own, and it stays as he asks Aelia about her knowledge in the plants as he holds a shiny, green leaf out in the palm of his hand. It looked different from the leaf that I was still holding, as his looked more glossy, like a picture that I had once seen my mother hold fondly. I wasn’t familiar with any of the substances in front of us, so I sit back and watch the two converse, all the while occasionally casting my glance to Charlie and the storm cloud that so defiantly hung over her head.

She begins to speak and I swear she spits fire, smoke blaring from her nostrils as she exhales heavily into the words, “Have fun playing with your piss-plants.” I look at the leaf once again, and the smirk that had so slightly faded recovered its full proximity as I slipped the leaf into my mouth, its texture rough and unnatural compared to the last few meals I had experienced. It’s not half as bad as I picture it to be, and after swallowing it, my attention turns back to Charlie (who still hasn’t moved, despite her previous statements and obvious annoyance at our entertainment). “C’mon Charlie, why don’t you try one? It won’t kill you,” I let a slight pause hang in the air as I chuckle a bit before continuing, ”most likely.”