carnivorousroses

[carnivorousroses]

[Attention: Zai is coming back! She’s being revamped and moved to my multimuse blog, here, where I have more time and motivation for characters. Whether you’d like to start off a fresh new thread with a fresh new pixy or continue where our old threads left off, come on and say hi!]

[carnivorousroses]

[Attention: Zai is coming back! She’s being revamped and moved to my multimuse blog, here, where I have more time and motivation for characters. Whether you’d like to start off a fresh new thread with a fresh new pixy or continue where our old threads left off, come on and say hi!]

[carnivorousroses]

“Must be kinda lonely, though. But I guess maybe not, since you can make yourself look human, huh?”

“I stay away from them. I really don’t want to be grouped in with their lot, anyway. It works out better in the long run.” 

[carnivorousroses]

“I guess gardens sorta get a mind of their own, if you don’t take care of ‘em,” she agreed, a bit hesitantly. It didn’t sound like he was talking about weeds, more like a garden that...got up and moved by itself? Now that would be a sight. “Do you have a lot of butterflies?”

She almost flew on past him when he stopped at the daffodils, and quickly corrected herself, grinning as he recited the Latin name. “Evil? Daffodils? I never heard that story before, just that you shouldn’t eat ‘em. And I thought about doin’ somethin’ with ‘em, on account of how they’re shaped--it’d be a neat mix with a pitcher plant, I’ll bet--but that’d be so mean to the bees, and besides, Mr. Mitchell sells these ones, so I can’t use ‘em anyway. Oh! Sorry! My name’s Zai! What’s yours?”

“Oh, no, no, I do mean the garden!”  He chuckled softly to himself, gazing off to one side as if remembering.  "I sometimes wonder if it’s got a mind of its own.  Perhaps it does!  The garden, though,“ he added, turning again to look at the little creature, "is separate from the butterfly room, though the butterfly room does have somewhat in common with a garden as well.  Butterflies do love growing things, after all.”

He continued his exploration, pausing by a stand of flowers, and brushed the velvety petals of a butter-colored daffodil.  "Narcissus pseudonarcissus,“ he mused.  "Do you know, the ancient Greeks believed daffodils to emanate with a scent of evil, one capable of confounding, harming, even killing its victim. All nonsense, of course.  The flower’s perfectly harmless in its natural state.”  He turned his smile towards her once again.  "Do you do much genetic splicing with daffodils, er– sorry, what should I call you?“

[carnivorousroses]

“Mr. Mitchell’s got a greenhouse, and sells all kinds of flowers. It’s real nice of him to let us live there,” she explained.

The glow that marked where Taran was paused in the air, though the small flickers continued whizzing around him, and an annoyed-sounding wing chirp sounded across the yard as the glow continued on its way. 

Zai made a face. “Sorry. Toldja he doesn’t like people all that much.” Her own expression fell when Jude’s did, afraid she’d prodded too far. “Oh! I’m sorry. That...that doesn’t sound good...”

“They’re righ’ nasty on the best of days.” Jude snorted and nodded along with Zai’s words. “Oh he’s the business owner! Wha’s ‘is business then?” He turned some to see exactly where Zai was pointing. When he squinted he could make the other pixie out. After a moment he raised a hand and waved. “’Ello!”

He turned back around, smile slipping ever so slightly–though hopefully not too noticeable. “Ah…Well I think tha’s actually up for debate. I don’t think so but mum…She thinks she’s still around. I don’t ask, ‘onestly.”

[carnivorousroses]

“That’s true, she admitted. “But you’re still big to a pixy, even with just the bones. And that’s good it’s only with themselves, but, uh...not so good for you, I guess.”

“I’d say tall. Not big. I have no muscle and no fat, after all.” He gave a shrug. “Sounds to be mostly infighting. Frivolous, really.” 

[carnivorousroses]

Zai grinned back at him. “That’s fine. Their stingers can be real nasty if you get on the wrong end, so I don’t blame you. Mr. Mitchell’s not allergic, he just doesn’t like there bein’ wasps where there’s customers comin’ and goin’ all day. We can stay outta the way fine, but wasps don’t know that. Oh, and Taran’s right over there!” She rose a little and pointed to the edge of the garden. “He doesn’t like new people as much as me, so he’s keepin’ an eye on the kids.”

One angel in a family could apparently affect things for generations. That was good to know. “Is your mom’s mom still around too?”

“You know I think tha’ I’d prefer the dogs. Mostly because I don’t like wasps.” He wrinkled his nose a little at the thought before smiling. “’S Mister Mitchell allergic to wasps? An’ who’s Taran?” His questions came easily and without much thought to whether or not he was actually being nosy.

Jude brought one leg up so he could rest his arm on his knee. “’S no’ a feeling tha’ I’d recommend, ‘onestly. ‘Aving them ou’ like this ‘s definitely better.” He shook his head, a small chuckle escaping him. “No, Granddad ‘s as ‘uman as they come. It was mum’s mum tha’ was the angel.”

[carnivorousroses]

“Well, yeah, you’re big, aren’t you?” Zai pointed out, still grinning. That smile faded as he explained what other skeletons got up to. “Wars?! Against who?”

“Big people?” He couldn’t stop himself from laughing at that. “Um… I really don’t know all that many skeletons. From what I’ve heard about them, they’re not. They like to start wars.” 

[carnivorousroses]

“Uh...your family sure sounds exciting,” she said cheerfully. The pixy sank a bit in the air, however, when she saw the state of the backyard. “Kudzu’s a pain. You gotta cut a lot off by hand, and I guess there’s stuff you can spray on it too but that stuff’s so bad...”

“Good. I can’t keep him away, obviously, he’s my kid, you know?”

Mic turned and started towards the back of the house - almost everything was overgrown and in disarray. Stopping, she waved a hand towards the general mess in the backyard. “See what I mean? There’s stuff everywhere. They said it was kudzu. I thought about asking my girlfriend but she’s better with dead things.”

[carnivorousroses]

She laughed and briefly landed on his raised hand, in the pixy version of a handshake. “That’s okay, big people can’t help that. I'm Zai! Are all skeletons as nice as you?”

“Jack Skellington. I would shake your hand, but…” He pursed his lips, raising his hand to further prove his point. “You’re rather small.” 

[carnivorousroses]

“Yep! Just like a guard dog! Except, uh, with stingers. We didn’t name ‘em, ‘cause they weren’t all that friendly, but they only ever attacked intruders, like they’re supposed to,” she explained. “Where me and Taran live now, Mr. Mitchell says we can’t have wasps, but there’s not so many problems anyway, so it’s okay.”

She followed him as he sat back down, staying at a conversational level. “That must be nice. I can’t imagine havin’ to cover mine up like that. Is your grandad an angel too? Or an...El-i-oud?”

“You…’ad…guard wasps?” The notion was odd to Jude. Yet went he thought about it, it made sense. “…Guess tha’s a bit like ‘aving yourself a guard dog then. Did you name them?”

He moved so that he was sitting back on his legs, a grin on his face. “Oh they do. ‘S awful. Tha’s why I like the ‘ouse. Because I can ‘ave them out an’ not ‘ave to worry abou’ anyone seeing them–Anyone tha’ doesn’t already know.” Jude snorted out a laugh. “Mums an’ dads are good at tha’ kind of thing.”

[carnivorousroses]

Zai was already not keen on getting to know the boy, and now even less so. “Don’t worry. I won’t, uh, bother him,” she said quickly. “Is the grass not helping with your lawn or is it weeds someplace else this time?”

“It’s probably something dead,” she said, agreeing with Zai’s estimation that whatever was up there wasn’t something that smelled good. She had stopped asking questions about the things Lock got up to. It was better that way. “It’s probably a lot of dead somethings. That’s why I told you to stay away from him. Anyway– How I do get those damn weeds to go away?”

[carnivorousroses]

“Oh, there’s plenty! Spiders and ladybugs, and bees if you don’t get in their way, and wasps are pretty good at bein’ trained, too,” Zai explained. “We had a couple guardin’ the house when I was a kid.”

She buzzed in another circuit around him, taking another look. “I bet my wings would get real sore if I didn’t have ‘em out for too long,” she agreed. “And my ma taught us everything. All the stuff we’d need to know. Well, I guess da taught us some stuff,” the pixy added with a grin.

“There any nice bugs out there or are they all trying to kill you?” It would be awful if that was the case, honestly.

One wing twitched a little as he carded a hand through his hair. “I…never really though’ much abou’ it. They jus’…are. My back an’ shoulders tend to ‘urt if I don’t ‘ave them out enough though.” He squinted a little, as if looking for the slits in her clothes. “Wha’ other tricks did she teach you?”

[carnivorousroses]

Zai still had a dozen questions for him, particularly about that weird smell that clung to him, but since he was so interested and polite about the flowers, she couldn’t help but be polite in return.

“The...the whole garden migrates?” she asked, unsure if she’d heard correctly. “Or do you mean the butterflies do? ‘Cause I bet the butterflies love it plenty. I guess even if the garden did movie, they’d probably follow it, huh?”

The Doctor listened as he explored, glancing up at her now and again with a pleasant smile and a nod as the bubbly little creature chatted.  He wondered where Mr. Mitchell was, but there would be time for that later.  This particular expedition did have a purpose– someone, or something, had been interfering with the flora in the area, introducing an alien spore that attacked the cellular structure its host and transformed it.  

Apparently a roving pack of daffodils had attacked and eaten a cat last week.  

He watched the little winged creature, still smiling and genuinely charmed, and wondered if she’d had anything to do with it.  He didn’t like to think so, but he would reserve judgement for later.

“I do have a garden!” he replied.  “A rather extensive one, in point of fact.  It’s somewhere near my butterfly room, I believe.  Unless it’s moved again; it does have a tendency to migrate at times.”

[carnivorousroses]

Her smile only slightly faded, as she made a very deliberate effort to keep encouraging such a good conversation with Mic. “I’ll be careful for sure. That, uh...that doesn’t sound like it’s somethin’ that smells very nice.”

“– It is?”

That was something. She wasn’t known for being nice but even she didn’t think the bar was quite that low. Mic shrugged. 

“Sure. You’re welcome,” she said, bemused. “Watch out for the fly strips, though. I had to put some up. The kid has something in the attic that attracts them.”

[carnivorousroses]

She shook her head. “It wasn’t, but lucky my brother Zeke fought it off. Mantises are nasty.”

If anything, the pixy looked more quizzical at his explanation. “Fade? Is it...like havin’ ‘em in the ever after? Only I guess if they were in the ever after and you weren’t, they wouldn’t really still be attached, huh?” She made a face, still thinking that over. “That’s somethin’ we have in common, though! The clothes, I mean. My ma taught me all kinds of tricks for making space for wings.”

“They do. I guess I jus’ never thought abou’ it because ‘m so big.” He squinted slightly when she showed him her arm. Seconds later his eyes widened. “Tha’ looks like it wasn’t any fun to ‘ave gotten.”

Jude tugged at his ears, face turning a little red as she zoomed around to take a look at him. “I can kind of…” He paused, momentarily stymied by how to word it. “…Fade them…To where they’re there but not.” Yeah. Good job, mate. Tha’s very informative. “Mum’s the one who taught me abou’ ‘aving the cuts in the clothes.”

[carnivorousroses]

“Oh, well, I definitely appreciate you not doin’ that just now. I don’t think I’d like that very much, Mr...oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t even ask your name!”

“You have no idea. I have done that before. My favorite trick is melting off my flesh to reveal my bones, but I won’t do that now because… I’m a gentleman.”