carmilla x rosie

carmilla x rosie I love you

Rosie had been fond of giving flowers for gifts to those who didn’t share her particular appetite. It was something that Carmilla learned early on in the professional relationship with the esteemed cannibalistic overlord. Usually they were flowers plucked from the gardens that were part of the community areas of the town, she had said so of her own accord, but they did make for lovely centerpieces during meetings and even temporarily in her office.

The past several years, Carmilla grew more enamored with the flowers, finding each bouquet beautiful and unique, even if they held the same flowers time and time again. As of late, Carmilla had begun to preserve them. At least one out of every bouquet she would keep, pressing it and giving it a safe space in her personal room once they were finished. It wasn’t much, but it was a way to keep a piece of her affections. To believe that perhaps not all hope was lost in the pits of Hell, perhaps one day she wouldn’t feel a particular, unique, painful ache in her heart.

Even in life, she didn’t have a partner to call her own, not for long periods at a time. Her daughters, thankful as she was to find them again in Hell once they all perished, were all she had in her living life and her hellish one. For a while, as she built her empire with angelic steel, that pain numbed.

Now it resurfaced, the sensation multiplied tenfold, and had gotten stronger still each time she looked at Rosie. Beautiful, quaint, delicate Rosie. It hardly mattered that her rule gave her heed over an entire community of flesh consuming mongrels willing to devour a king and his armies if it meant it would appease her, she still found Rosie to be the gentlest soul around.

Her flower bouquets constantly supported that theory.

Carmilla sat in her office, withdrawing a pressed flower from a book within her drawer. Ironically enough, it was a botany book. She hadn’t read it in ages, but it kept her actions subtle. After all, who would question a flower in such a thing? To her it was clever, and it kept her affections quiet and to herself.

There was another meeting that day, within the next hour, and she couldn’t wait to see what bouquet would be brought this time. A soft, mellow smile spread across her face as she lightly toyed with the fragile, dried petals in her book. The contrast of her large hand with such a brittle object was always an irony that wasn’t lost on her, and it reminded her of how life should have been. How it was when everyone minded her business and she had a moment to act not as an Overlord, but as a mother.

She was so focused that she had jumped when a knock came to her door, and she gently shut the book. The flower within needed another day or two, and this was a good reminder. For a moment, she thought it was one of her daughters, and thus tucked the book away and folded her hands. “Come in.” Carmilla called.

The door opened, and instead of one other sweet children, she only saw a large brimmed hat. “Hello, Carmilla~!” Rosie’s cheerful voice came through before the entirety of her body, her presence already loudly announced. “Hope you don't mind me droppin’ by early!”

Carmilla kept her composure as Rosie stepped in, not willing to spoil the day or her emotions too far in. What was strange about Rosie's arrival was simply the act that she did arrive early, not that she minded. That, and she clearly held something behind her back; something that she was sure was just another bouquet. “Not at all, Rosie. Come in.” She greeted her as she finished stepping through the door.

Rosie’s demeanor was bright, it always was, and she came closer with a shay-shay to her hips and her smile perhaps just a touch wider than normal. “I had some free time today and I got a little more creative with my little gift.” She teased the idea, getting right up by Carmilla’s desk before pulling the bouquet out from behind her back at last. “And since this one is a little more special than usual, I thought I’d bring it to your office instead! Wouldn’t want them goin’ to waste in the big meetin’ room I’m sure you only use once or twice a week.” She explained, holding out the bouquet with a broad smile.