The Botanical Garden of Curitiba was a thing of beauty.
Small rolling hills of short grass overlooking an almost labyrinth-like set of hedges separated by a line of beautiful flowers which changed depending on the time of the year. All in all, a perfect place for picnics and the occasional concert, the real attraction more often than not was the large glasshouse across the entrance.
A massive structure of white metal and massive panes, it loomed over the garden, glittering under the light of the sun like a jewel.
It was something breathtaking in its simplicity.
A demonstration of nature’s demure and oftentimes ignored charms.
Of course, that was all that it was for the people of the city. An interesting sight to see once or twice before moving on with their busy daily lives. People would visit once, maybe twice a year, or even just once in their lives. Some didn’t visit at all despite living right next to it. A shame if there ever was one.
Delfinger couldn’t understand how someone could live near this place and not want to see it as often as they could.
He definetely would, but not for the reason most did.
Because Delfinger was a druid. He was born a druid and raised a druid. Someone whose life revolved around maintaining a sacred place in the world. To make sure it survived in this increasingly hostile world. Like how the gardeners in charge of this place were proud of its charm and hospitable atmosphere, he was proud of dedicating his life to a place deemed important by his family.
And being here, standing in this often overlooked labor of love towards nature, gave him conflicted feelings.
He understood why they didn’t.
It was the nature of this garden. A humble, ephemeral visage of nature’s beauty. Like an oasis in a jungle of steel and concrete. It was the perfect front for a group of magus who wished to remain undercover while still working towards their own goals in plain view of the population, ignorant of the truth just beneath the surface of the Garden.
While not the main headquarters of the Facility for Southern Studies, the Garden acted as one of the many fronts to its department of Botany.
A place where those who practiced magecraft brought to the New World by those who came to live in the south, a region of primarily european descent. Somewhat isolated from the rest of the country, it was perhaps the smallest facility in number of practicing members as opposed to the hidden communities to the North and Northeast regions.
Areas with a higher degree of mystery.
Places he’d never really get to see.
“Del!”
He stopped walking, a small shiver running down his spine.
“Del, wait for meeeeeee!”
And stumbled forward when a redheaded missile struck him from behind with all the energy of two dozen hyperactive children.
Because of course she followed him.
“Lydia, what the hell!?”
The girl, about as tall as him, had a large mass of reddish orange curls sticking out of her head. Something that would definitely make people look more than once, probably wondering where she got the time to get her hair to look like that. Perhaps even wondering if she slept at all to prever the absurd hair do.
Which was the least absurd thing about the woman.
From insisting on wearing a cape whenever they went out, to vanishing for days and returning with some fancy new curiosity to inspire herself with, Lydia was more of a handful than most magecraft experiments.
Most of their peers why she was even allowed to stay at all, being as whimsical and often disruptive as she could be.
Unfortunately, Del knew all the answers to those question.
She was his roommate, after all.
“I saw you leaving! Why did you leave Broccoli’s lecture like that? He was just getting to the good part!”
The druid sighed, pinching his brow as he tried to regain some semblance of the pensive mood he’d been in before the redhead crashed into him. Because of course she would go after him if he decided to leave early.
He was her ticket back to the dorms.
“Listen, if you’re so interested you can go back. I’ll go wait for you at a café or something.”
His generous offer was, of course, met with suspicion.
“Are you feeling sick or something? You never offer to do stuff like that.”
“I never offer to pay for stuff, Lydia. Everything you ask for just happens to have a price tag on it.”
“Oh, come on! It’s not like I ask for much. You should be more appreciative of the Arts, Del. They can open your eyes to possibilities you’ve never even thought of!”
“The only thing they open is my wallet, Lydia.”
“Well that’s just rude.” she pouted childishly, crossing her arms as she fell on step besides him.
For what reason? He stopped trying to figure it out.
“It’s really no problem if you stay, you know?”
“Yeah, but its boring.”
He sighed.
“You just said it was getting to the good part.”
Blinking owlishly, the botanist giggled.
“Yeah! The part where you went on a tirade is always the most interesting. The Director really spoiled my fun.”
‘This cheeky layabout’ Delfinger felt his brow twitch involuntarily.
And that, right there, summoned his relationship with Lidyavolge Niemeyer.
A struggling artist of a magus who has less money than she had sense and somehow managed to impress the Academia enough that they decided to give her room and board, as well as a stipend for her various projects. Which she somehow wasted on buying things that inspired her and then mooched off the one closest to her.
Which happened to be none other than himself.
“Well, I’m sorry for ruining the show then.”
“That’s okay, I forgive you.”
Ignore the stupid, Delfinger. Ignore it and the pain will pass.
“What about the Primordial Human talk? Isn't that what you were here for?”
“I know most of what he was gonna say anyway. Stuff like ‘Intrinsic Feedback’ is like, super basic. He’ll probably keep going on about it for the next couple days, and I’ll catch up to the interesting bits.”
Delfinger understood the reasoning.
It’s not like he didn’t know most of what Pindovy was talking about. The lecture was an introduction into the basics of mystic botany. Which was an area he had an affinity for given his family history.
Being a druid and all.
But no, he’d come because Director Pindovy was the foremost specialist in mystic botany relating to ancient super species. Which was what he wanted to learn about. To understand the origins of all flora in the world and their connections not only to humanity but to the origin of life in its totality.
Getting into an argument with the man wasn’t in his plans.
So he left.
“Well, we were kinda deviating from the lecture.”
“Duh. We wanted to get to the good parts. He was just wasting time on explaining it to the newbies.”
And by newbies, she meant everyone else at the lecture.
“Most of them are our seniors, Lydia.”
But of course, his roomate chose to ignore him as she took point, instead leading them towards a nearby cafe while ignoring all attempts to explain that, yes, she didn’t have to tag along with him when she could to other stuff, and that no, he wasn’t going to take the bus early and leave her behind.
Not for the 4th time in a row, at least.
He wasn’t that much of a douchebag.
“Yummy!”
Delfinger sighed, counting the few remaining bills left in his wallet, heart weary as the useless artist across from him pigged out on ice cream coffee, eyes sparkling in delight as she devoured the tooth-rotting sweets.
She really liked them.
Fortunately, the Botanical Garden had recently opened a cafe which was, of course, secretly run in part by some students of the Imperial Academia, eager to make some money in between classes, as well as keeping up appearances of a public attraction, the food was actually pretty good.
Even if they had to check it for… alterations.
Who wouldn’t? In a place run by magi who worked day in and day out with mystical flora, it would be weird if they weren’t trying to slip you something suspicious.
“You’re not gonna eat anything?”
Delfinger rolled his eyes.
“Not if we plan on getting home tonight.”
Any more haphazard spending and the two of them would be eating rice with juice packs for the rest of the month.
Lydia sipped her coffee, looking away in embarassment.
“I mean… if its bad, I can always call home.”
“And have them badger you about coming back for the next six months? No thanks.” He shot her down immediately.
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“Lydia, they tried selling you to those Iggy-whatever folks.”
“Yggdmillennia, Del.”
“Yeah, I don’t really care.”
And truly, he didn’t.
Magus families were always shitty like this to people like him and Lydia. Spares that got written off as nothing more than additional resources to sell off and use to the family’s convenience. Even worse than how parents tended to saw their heirs as possessions and tools, spares were even less than that.
They were currency.
And in this country where mysteries from all over the world mingled and clashed, they were seen as ammunition.
So long as they had a use, it didn’t matter whether they suffered or not.
“Del, you’re brooding again.”
“Not brooding, Lydia. Just… reflecting about things.”
“That’s what brooding is.”
Delfinger dearly wanted to argue, but found he didn’t have the energy.
Today hadn’t turned out as he wanted. Even after getting some interesting information from the Director, he was still missing the pieces he needed to take his experiments to the next stage. Knowledge he couldn’t have gotten from his own family. Knowledge that they would rather burn to the ground before letting him have any access to.
He’d rebelled after all.
A stray branch which had to be pruned.
“Say, Lydia. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?”
The redhead sipped from her cup.
“Where did that come from? Planning on a vacation?”
“Answer the question, Lydia.”
“Can I go with you?”
“Lydia, the question.”
His roommate sighed.
“I dunno. Maybe a place I've never heard of? Why?”
“I’ve been thinking, you know. Maybe we haven’t been able to get stuff done here, so we should get out there and find a place where we can. Get what I’m saying?”
He saw a flicker of something in his friend’s face as her pose seemed to straighten, lips thinning as she looked at him, truly looked at him as if searching for something. Before letting a small sigh.
“Del, you are a druid.”
“I don’t have anywhere to be, Lydia.”
For the first time since they’d left the lecture, her smile vanished.
“You do. You just don’t like what you’ll find there.”
Great. Why did he have to peak her curiosity? She always got wise and analytical like this when something she was interested in happened. And of course. Him talking about going away from their home was something out of the left field.
“And what if I wanted to be somewhere else?”
He met her eyes with his own stare.
A tense silence fell over them. None wanted to answer the question because they knew what it meant for him.
What it meant for a druid like him to leave.
“Then I happen to have a proposition to you.”
The two young adults started, backs ramrod straight as the field which separated them from the other customers broke apart, falling away in colourless mist as someone sat at the table with a flourish of cloth and a glint of interest on her amber eyes.
Delfinger was aghast.
“You are… one of the guest speakers.”
Gesturing for one of the servers, the young woman placed an order before turning to face them once again.
“ I am Olga Marie Animusphere. And I have an offer for you two.”
Of course, that was the moment Lydia decided to open her big mouth.
“Soooo… can I order another one since she’s paying?”
Goddammit, Lydia.
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Originally Posted by Wyvern
