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Scott blinked away tears again. They seemed to be welling up in his eyes constantly, after his father…
The drops landing on the book he was reading reminded him not to dwell on that.
After all, wasting time on self-hatred– that wasn’t a strong enough word. Self-loathing, maybe? He’d been absolutely useless the entire time, trying spells and yet–
No. He wouldn’t think about that.
Slamming the book closed, Scott rubbed the water away roughly with the palm of his hand.
It was around time to water the plants anyway, right? And he could always continue working on the mage tower later. He had started work on that one after-
Why did his thoughts keep returning there?
Jumping nimbly down to the first floor from the second, he smiled faintly at the trick. Honorary rogue indeed, if he had managed that one.
Scott turned around, grabbed a watering can, and began the familiar routine of taking care of his plants. Really, he could do this in his sleep, but he liked to keep his mind on it just so that his traitorous mind wouldn’t wander.
Tugging a weed gently out of the dirt, he slipped outside and put it there instead. He didn’t have anything against the weeds– they were just trying to survive, and didn’t really have control over whether they landed in his greenhouse or not, did they?
Sort of like how he didn’t have control over his own fate as well, actually. Traded away for a debt as if he was an object.
If he was an object, he was a broken and dysfunctional one. At least his transfer had done something positive for someone, other than making him a burden for these people.
They were too kind. Scott wished they didn’t have to deal with him.
He sighed quietly to himself, putting the can away and grabbing some resources from his chests. Maybe he should take a flower instead, to gossip with.
The grapevines were better at that, but there weren’t many, and he really didn’t want to deprive them of their needed resources when they were in a bad situation. Maybe one he hadn’t talked too often to, yet?
Scanning his flowers, his eyes landed on a particularly rare one.
The eyeblossom.
One was open, the other was closed. Normally, they only opened at night, but the open one seemed a bit special because it was on the opposite schedule.
He slid his fingers under the roots of the plant and lifted it out, depositing it in his special bundle for flowers. The eyeblossoms were rather hardy, which made sense considering where they came from, but he didn’t like putting them in bad soil anyways.
The bundle was only temporary until he could move it to the soil outside of the mage tower, like he usually did for flowers he brought along from his greenhouse. Of course, flowers in there could survive for days, but they still needed sunlight eventually.
Though the eyeblossoms weren’t like other flowers he’d encountered before, so he should be extra careful about that.
Did they need as much sunlight? They did fine in the light, but he’d found them in the forgotten kingdom, and that place was always misty and cold. Maybe they liked those conditions?
Scott opened his mind to his flowers to check. They began talking, chatting amongst themselves, when they noticed he was listening.
Hi, Scott!
stream!
Bannerfall stream, letsgo
Hello!
What do you need today?
A vine curled upwards, pressing a small gold coin into his hand. He smiled fondly. “Thanks, guys. Um, can I talk to the eyeblossom?”
Donation!
Oh, eyeblossom?
What for?
Scott!!!!
“I just wanted to see if it’s doing well in the soil,” Scott explained. “I don’t want to be hurting it by transplanting it, and if I am, I’ll move it back to the forgotten kingdom.”
SO SWEET
I think it’s doing fine
Scott sighed. “I want to talk to the eyeblossom, guys.”
Eyeblossom?
Hellloooo?
He waited a bit patiently as they sorted themselves out, leaving one quiet, creaky voice. It reverberated strangely, unlike the normally bright and chipper voices of the other flowers(he wasn’t discriminating, of course. Different flowers had different voices, and maybe this was just the eyeblossom’s).
You wished to see me?
Well, he’d talked to flowers with stranger tones before. “Yeah, are you doing well in the new environment? I can change it a bit if you want, it’s not a problem.” And it’ll take my mind off that thing I can’t think about.
Scott, we’re literally in your mind
#sadsmajor #angst
[L orphan]Message was deleted by a moderator
Hey don’t laugh at his suffering!
He tried not to flinch at the outpouring of sympathy and sorrow. “Guys, I’m fine!”
Liar
We’re in your mind
in your WALLS
“You’re all flowers.”
Are we?
Hmmm…
Scott stared at the flowers in his greenhouse in confusion. “Huh?”
[We’re spirits, from a different universe!] Message was deleted by a moderator
HEY
MODDDSS
“No, I’m trying to figure out if the eyeblossom has enough nutrients and a good place to rest, not have an existential cri-” he rubbed his eyes. “Never mind. Can we get back to the topic?”
Certainly. The environment is fine.
[It talks so old L] Message was deleted by a moderator
Frowning, Scott tried to puzzle out why there were so many more silenced flowers today. Normally he only got a couple?
Whatever. “Alright, let’s go to the mage tower, get a bit of work done,” Scott announced, ignoring the off feeling about the flowers today.
He began pulling materials out of his chests.
Most of the things he needed had already been moved over next to the ruins of the mage tower, but there were still a few stacks of tuff bricks and warped wood he needed to transfer.
When he finished, he walked over while the plants chatted in the background. Again, there seemed to be a few more deleted messages than normal, but Scott ignored them.
Laying down the bricks was simple, but needed just enough of his strength and concentration that he didn’t need to think too much. Pausing for a second, Scott let a projection from his mind palace show, and the tower spiraled up to scrape the sky. He dropped it down to a couple levels, and began copying it down brick to brick.
The flowers giggled to themselves behind him, and he found himself directly addressing them more than once a couple times. It was pretty fun– until one pointed out the time.
Scott glanced up at the sky, then nearly dropped the warped wood block he had in his hands. “How is it sunset already?!”
imagine forgetting the time XD
Quit it, guys
you forgot to eat lunch go eat extra dinner
Take care of yourself!
He realized his stomach was grumbling a little. “Oh, uh, thanks.” Another vine stuck a piece of gold into his hand.
Go buy yourself dinner!
Smiling slightly, Scott obliged the donating flower by heading towards the trader’s ship.
The path there was dusty, not as new as the clearer paths he’s made across the kingdom. The roots that ran through it are scraggly instead of neat, the dirt darker and coarse.
ooh, wild nominalgravy ahead!
The warning gave him time to pause and notice the sound of hammering clanging down the path. He smiled faintly, anticipating the armor-clad knight’s laugh and smile.
YAOI
FLOWERSMITH
wait is that the ship name i dont keep up
YAY YAOI
“You’re shipping us, aren’t you?” Scott asked. The flowers(or Chat as they preferred to be called) laughed to themselves. If they had faces, they would be grinning. “Hey!”
Though it was hard to understand them, he could get the general gist of what they were saying. “Ship” meant imagining two people in a relationship. The twist was that for some reason, the flowers often ended up getting it right.
Whether it was Cherri and Apo(hellfire? How did that name appear?), Bek and Eloise, or in this instance, unfortunately, Scott and Nom(he could see how flowersmith came to be), Chat had a tendency to “ship” all of them.
And obviously, the first two were in love.
He just couldn’t see how Nom could ever be in love with him.
we forgot he’s blind and hates himself :sob:
That’s his whole character yall
Scott don’t blame yourself :v blame plot
[blame the gods like 4c does] Message was deleted by a moderator
dont spoil!
Wincing, Scott made his way down to the blacksmith. Passing under the stone brick entrance, he noticed Nom.
And the knight looked pretty as…
There were no words for how absolutely hot he looked, sweat pouring down his forehead, black hair disheveled perfectly, armor set aside. He was just in a simple black tunic and trousers, but it only served to highlight his frame.
Not just for his looks, but his focus, too. Even though Scott hadn’t bothered to silence his steps when coming in, Nom was squinting with his dark, pretty eyes carefully at the iron sword he was forging, and–
Okay, he had a little crush.
He admits it!!!
gay men in love :D
“Shut,” Scott muttered under his breath. The hammering stopped for a second, and Nom met his eyes.
“Well, well, well, look who it is! What do you have planned for today?” Nom smiled.
Aeor, he loved that voice.
Empires reference?!?!
No, it was just a god his mom worshipped. “I was just heading out to buy dinner– got too focused on the mage tower,” Scott lightly laughed, then internally winced.
He- he shouldn’t do this. He would just fail Nom like he did Dad.
He shouldn’t ruin him.
Let him down.
At least the flowers were a bit quieter.
“Oh! Mind if I join?” Nom asked.
“No, of course not,” Scott quickly assured. “I just don’t want you to have to abandon that.” He gestured at the sword, which was still red-hot. His hands fidgeted behind his back.
Nom’s face fell slightly, but he recovered. “Ah! Right, right, well… you go do that, I have to finish up here!” Returning to the anvil, he raised the hammer and struck again.
Even though Scott wanted to linger, he forced himself away from the handsome knight working and past him, to the trader’s ship.
The food tasted bland after that reminder.
He ignored it all by working, so he couldn’t focus on his thoughts.