Cardamom Cookies

chapter four

olive had asked hunter to do something with them, and a day later hunter had messaged olive on discord, asking if they wanted to meet him at the park.

the moment olive saw the dm, they replied.

hunter and olive were going to be meeting in the park at twelve thirty. that way they could eat lunch beforehand.

while olive was getting dressed, they came up with scenarios of what would happen at the park.

they were secretly hoping that they would see hawaiian shirt and his friend, but olive wouldn't even admit that to themself.

they dressed in a light coloured dress, with an ocean pattern on it. the fabric was soft, and it reminded olive of all the times they moved. it was the most comfortable dress they owned, so they wore it the most while flying around the globe to new homes. olive didn't realise how much they had sacrificed for their mum's job.

when olive finished getting ready, they slipped on some white sandals and walked out their front door to walk to the park. their mum was out at work, so they saw no point in leaving a note for her.

the park wasn't far from olive's house, and it was a nice walk. the tree's shadows kept olive cool, and a gentle breeze swept through the messed with olive's hair a little, but it also helped keep them cool on the hot day. olive knew that if they weren't in the shade, or the breeze wasn't blowing, it would be a miserable outing.

when olive got to the fence that encompassed the park, they opened it, wincing at the screeching sound it made.

they pulled out their phone to see if hunter had said where she was. there was nothing though, and olive settled on wandering around the park until they found their friend.

it didn't take long, and olive found hunter sitting on a bench, staring up at the leaves above her.

"hello," olive shouted to hunter, catching their attention.

"olive!" hunter said, looking away from the bright yellow leaves above her, and over to olive who was nearing the bench she sat on.

"how are you?" olive asked, still walking to where hunter sat.

"i'm well, thanks. how are you?"

"good, good."

"those cookies were amazing."

"i'm glad!" olive was super happy that the second round turned out better than the last.

hawaiian shirt and friend weren't too pleased, and neither was hunter. ms. laura, the elderly lady, didn't eat the first batch either. she said that the last batch had gone to her compost, and was very excited to eat these herself.

so excited, in fact, that ms. laura had invited olive in for tea.

olive and hunter dived into conversation. it was like they had known each other forever. olive needed more friends like this. ones who would listen, and also enjoyed talking themselves.

"you know that boy who lives, like, across the street from you?"

"no."

"he's always wearing hawaiian shirts?"

"oh, i actually know him. as in, i've seen him around once or twice. he doesn't go out often."

"okay," olive said. it disappointed them that hunter didn't know them better. olive hoped that he did and could tell them the boys' names.

"why don't we walk around a little?" olive asked after a moment of silence between the two.

"sounds good. there's a path that i really like over that way." hunter said. the two got up and started walking in the direction hunter indicated.

"what's the most interesting history fact that you know?" hunter asked, out of almost nowhere. especially since they hadn't been talking at all a moment before.

olive thought for a moment, before deciding that the battle of flores was the battle they thought hunter would like to hear about the most.

"okay, so do you know the azores islands?"

"i think so."

"they're nine little islands off in the middle of the atlantic, i've heard that they're stunning. they're also one of the few islands in the atlantic, and they are in between north america and europe, making them super strategic. a battle i think is interesting is the battle of flores - flores is one of the azores islands - it was a naval battle, and was fought near the island. it was between an english fleet of twenty-two ships, under a guy called lord thomas howard and sir richard grenville and a spanish fleet of fifty-five ships. they were sent to capture the spanish treasure convoy, but a stronger spanish fleet appeared and changed the course of the battle." olive had turned around to face hunter as they talked, and olive was walking backwards.

"howard ordered his ships to flee to the north, saving all of them except the galleon revenge, the ship sir richard grenville was on. he led the revenge against the fifty-five spanish ships, allowing the english fleet to escape. the revenge's crew sank and damaged multiple spanish ships during the battle. the revenge was boarded at least three times by different spanish ships, and the crew repelled each attack successfully. only when grenville was badly wounded-" oilve walked into something.

or better yet, someone. olive spun around, to see hawaiian shirt and his friend. they had been standing in the middle of the path, and because olive was talking loudly and walking backwards, they didn't know the boys were standing there.

"h-hello," olive said, much quieter than a moment ago.

"hi." hawaiian shirt's friend said. his fluffy brown hair fell into his face a little, and he brushed it back.

"sorry for bumping into you. i didn't see you." olive said. they wanted to shrink into a shell and hide, they were so embarrassed.

"most people walk face forward and avoid that happening." he said.

"you're funny." olive rolled their eyes.

he frowned a little. "what was your name?"

olive was a little surprised that he wanted their name. "olive. and that's hunter. who are you guys?"

"tubbo. and this is ranboo."

"it's nice to finally get your names."

"it is!" hawaiian shirt, or ranboo, chimed in.

"what happened next?" hunter asked.

"what do you mean? like in the battle? i told you everything i think." olive said.

"oh. it sounded like there was more."

"don't think so." olive said.

"what battle?" tubbo asked.

"i was telling hunter about the battle of flores. she asked if i could think of any interesting battles."

"huh. i can think of a few..." ranboo said, looking down on tubbo. there was a substantial height difference between the two. there was clearly an inside joke there, because tubbo tried to change the topic right after ranboo said that.

the group ended up talking for several minutes, thankfully never touching on the topic of olives cookies. they had a friendly conversation, then olive and hunter said their goodbyes to tubbo and ranboo and continued on their walk.

~~Word Count 1109~~