Sanguis Daemonium

6-Floresco

After another radiant performance from my favorite and only known band besides the Beatles, we all retired for the night and in the morning. I woke up before Rain to run off to find mountain.

I found him in the practice room's break room making tea.

"Mountain." I asked with a sing songy voice, "can I borrow some Earl Grey tea?"

"Borrow?" He chuckled with the box in hand, "are you going to give it back?"

"I can make that happen." I grinned. It's simple reversal.

"Fine, sugar is in the cabinet, honey is next to it, milk is in the fridge and there's a lactose free option." He smiled, handed me the box of tea, and wandered out into the practice room.

I did a small happy wiggle and began racing to the bell tower to beat Rain there. Like an unspoken game, I raced out of the church. The cool air whistled past my ears as I made it to the door of the bell tower, only to find he was already there. As if I had caught him red handed in a cookie jar, he stared at me with his lips pressed together trying to suppress a burst of laughter but eventually failing when my own laughter surprises me.

"Come-" he pauses from his laughter to try and offer me a hand up the steep stairs, "come on, the tea isn't going to make itself."
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It didn't take long for the tea to brew, and everything was sorted. Though the wind was cold, the sun was still warm enough for them to sit up on the platforms where the bell ringers would've been if it wasn't automated. So, their morning would be uninterrupted.

"So..." Marian started.

"So? Is there more to that question?" Rain made light fun.

"No, no, I didn't think before I started talking!" She grinned, "So, who is Rain?"

Rain chuckled and tried to come up with some sort of answer while sipping on the black tea. He drinks it with just a little sugar.

"Well- that's such a hard question to answer!"

"You're right, sorry, let's try smaller questions..." Mari thought while blowing on the hot tea. She drinks it with milk and honey.

"Favorite color?" She blurted the question in a soft tone.

"You'd be surprised, you know the room you're staying in now?" He smiled absently.

"Yeah?"

"It was mine, and unlike all of my brothers, I originally had the room painted daffodil yellow. My parents when they would visit were absolutely disgusted with my "rebellious behavior" you should've seen their faces." He mumbled and trailed off at the end thinking deeply about his parents and their strict water elemental regime.

"Do you want to talk about them?"

"What? Oh, no not really." He tried a small smile but it was definitely not convincing.

"Okay." An awkward silence fell over them for a few seconds.

"What about you? Your favorite color, I mean." Rain asked leaning back on his hands after setting down the glass cup.

"I can't decide between marigold yellow or cherry red."

"Bold." Rain smiled.

"I just like those colors. It's not that I don't like cornflower blue I just like these two more. Most of what I can remember is red. Barns, cars, fire trucks, etc. and I like marigolds. And some marigolds can be red."

"Sounds like you just like marigolds." Rain picked the glass back up to finish the rest while listening to his roommate.

"I do! How did you know?" She asked sarcastically, "but yeah, I like marigolds. What about you?" It was her turn to pick up her glass, sitting up now with her legs crossed.

Rain thought for a while, with the caffeine stirring his brain, the thoughts became more jumbled. Without the heat cycle, he was now able to think clearer, and for once he figured that this crush was not a result of that frustrating cycle.

"Well, I don't think of flowers very often but the Plumeria is nice. It smells nice, but it's hard to come by here in these towns since they only grow roses and lilies."

"Maybe we'll have to try growing our own."

"Yeah, there's a greenhouse on the grounds if you'd like to take a look?" Rain offered, getting to his feet quickly.

"That sounds like fun." Mari set down her cup, promising to herself to come back and take care of it before Aether figures it out and does the cleaning for her.

Rain offered her his hand to help her up. They didn't realize it but they were holding hands all the way to the stairs and all the way down the stairs. To his credit, Rain knew the stairs were steep and he has almost perfect balance.

Winding their way past the sisters and members of the clergy, down the stairs from the residential living quarters from the tower door, and into the main mass area where many were praying or congregating. Around the staircase and out through the door behind it out into more residential spaces, branching out into a library. And at its very center, the greenhouse.

The old moss covered door creaked at the hinges as Rain pushed it open. He hadn't been down here since he was younger, playing hide and seek with his brothers while his father was playing with Nihil on tour. He would search for large pots to hide in or find a thick bush, or if he had enough time, he would go for the large willow tree at the greenhouses center.

Excitedly, Rain's hand left Mari's to look at the worn down pots and planters thoughtfully.

"You seem familiar with the place." Mari said while taking a few unsure steps into the warm greenhouse. The roof was glass and exposed to the sky unlike the rest of the church with the exception of the occasional sky light in some residential spaces.

"Well..." he chewed the inside of his cheek, "when my brothers weren't so busy, when we were younger, I mean. We'd play hide and seek, and this place was off limits. So, I decided that if I couldn't be better than them at fighting, then I'd be the ballsiest out of us all and hide here." He smiled to himself embarrassed at the story, "Of course, I never got to prove it after I got caught by a sister." He ran his hand through a wilting bush, sending stray, loose leaves to the stone brick floor.

"And after that, the sister offered me a hobby of helping her tend to this place." He looked around at a place he spent so much time in.

"And then the worst came for her," his brows furrowed at the painful memory, "I guess no one could bear to take her place in the clergy, and I stopped coming here."

Mari, following what she thought best to do, and gave him a tight squeeze.

"That must've been really hard." She held him there to give him some sort of grounding.

"I... thank you." He rested his head on her shoulder, even though he had to hunch uncomfortably to do it. He took a deep breath and stood back up.

"Now, what did we come in here for?" He chuckled.

"For the life of me, I can't remember. But, since I don't really have much else to do, I could take up a hobby." She picked up the pieces of a broken pot off the ground, "if you'll allow it." She looks over her shoulder at Rain with a small smile.

"Don't let me stop you. There's a manual in the library, we can go grab it after this place gets a thorough clean up." He ran his finger over the foggy glass only to find its meant to be clear.

"I'll get on it tomorrow, sun is setting."

"Holy shit, it's 7:46." He checked the clock on the wall.

"I usually eat at 6:45, I'll go clean up the tower and meet you back home?"

"Nonsense, I'll get it. You go eat."

They couldn't agree on who'd do what so they both cleaned the tower and ended up making something simple for dinner.