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Post by Gardenia Oslin on May 22, 2014 21:01:05 GMT -5
Putting her hair brush down, Gardenia stood up and turned away from the mirror. It was a Saturday morning, and she just finished preparing herself for the day ahead. It had been a few weeks since she first moved in to Death City, and today she intended to check out a quaint cafe she had heard a few of her classmates talk about a couple of days previous. She picked up a small black purse from her coffee table, and slipped on some shoes as she made her way to the front door of her apartment. Leaving her home, she turned off the lights as she opened the door to step outside.
After she made sure to lock the door behind her, Gardenia looked left towards the steps that would lead her downward. She strolled along casually, passing by the door to apartment next to hers. She stopped in her steps, however, when a peculiar scent wafted past her nose. She continued to sniff the air, trying to identify what it was, "hmm... lavender, perhaps? No, no... well, maybe, at least partially, perhaps. I don't think I've smelled anything quite like it before, though. It's rather pleasant, actually." She turned about in place, continuing to sniff as she attempted to trace the aroma to its origin. She stepped back towards the door she had past, and the young lady determined that the smell was coming out of that apartment.
"What could they be doing in there?" Gardenia pondered. She hadn't ever met her neighbor, and didn't know who it could be; it would've been friendly for Gardenia to have introduced herself when she first moved in, but she wasn't personally familiar with that custom and it had slipped her mind. She figured that it was possible it was another Shibusen student, as she had seen other students come in and out of this apartment complex. It must have been a rather popular alternative to living in the dorms, for those who could afford it.
Intrigued by the aroma, and now finally realizing that she should have introduced herself to her neighbor weeks ago, she brought her hand up to the door, and gently knocked on it.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2014 22:22:01 GMT -5
Saturday morning. Beautiful weather outside. Alone in the apartment. Perfect.All of Chihiro’s suitemates had decided to go shopping in the bazaar today. Just to be nice, they had asked Chi if she wanted to go with them. In response she had lowered her head and mumbled out a decline before running back into the safety of her room. She didn’t exactly get along well with the other three girls in her apartment. She was so used to living alone with Auntie Hana that the adjustment to sharing a flat with practical strangers was very difficult for the Japanese-German girl. They often got angry with her whenever she experimented with her homemade perfumes, to which she would apologize profusely...but still find ways to make those smelly concoctions. In a way, Chihiro felt insulted that the other girls didn’t like her perfumes, and thus continuing to work on them was a little bit spiteful. Smiling impishly to herself as she knelt on the floor, Chi slowly dripped the lavender concentrate from the eyedropper held in her hand into the glass dish on the ground in front of her. The knock on the front door, although light, was completely unexpected and quite frankly startled Chihiro back into reality. “Ehh?!” She cried out, fumbling around clumsily with the eyedropper in her hands. Luckily, she didn’t mess up and accidentally drop more of the lavender into her newest planned perfume. Sighing in relief, Chihiro placed the dropper carefully on a towel alongside other various ingredients and tools before standing up and shuffling out of the door to her room. Who could be at the front door? Her mind being calculating as usual, she quickly ruled out the possibility of it being one of her roommates. They each had a key to the flat, and even if one of them had left their key behind they could’ve just borrowed from each other. Approaching the apartment door she froze, heartbeat quickening. What if it was a robber? Not only was she in the NOT class, but she was weak and a weapon without a partial form. She would stand no chance against an adult bandit. Swallowing the knot in her throat, Chihiro stood on her tiptoes to look through the peephole. The person outside was a woman, but that did little to calm her nerves. Just because the stranger was a lady didn’t make her any less dangerous. After checking to make sure all the locks were in place, Chihiro knelt to the ground and opened up the mail slot. “I-If you’re here to rob me, d-don’t come in! I have a knife!” Of course, Chihiro didn’t actually have a knife in hand, but the kitchen wasn’t far from the front door if she needed to run and grab one. Word Count: 469 Tagged: Gardenia
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Post by Gardenia Oslin on May 23, 2014 1:18:05 GMT -5
Gardenia balked as she heard the meek voice speak from behind the door. The sound was coming out from the now opened mail slot, and the words spoken were rather worrisome. Clearly, whoever was in there was being rather paranoid to suspect that they would be robbed, in the middle of a bright and shining day, by an assailant who politely knocks on their door. Granted, if she, as it was clearly a she, was a student, then some paranoia was understandable. Being alone at a young age was unnerving to some. Still, Gardenia decided it would behoove her to assuage her neighbor's fear.
"Oh, excuse me, I have no intention of robbing you, or anything of the sort. I'm a neighbor of yours, Gardenia Oslin. I didn't mean to startle you." She stated in her soft Swedish accent, though she enunciated everything properly; she hoped that by politely introducing herself, that the girl on the other side of the door would disarm themselves and calm down a bit. "I was simply curious as to what you are doing in there; whatever it is gives off a rather nice aroma."
She brought her hand up to the back of her neck, rubbing the bare skin above her choker in pensive concern. She had her hair up in a ponytail today, and was wearing a simple outfit today. She was wearing a light blue v-neck t-shirt, and over that a white, or rather light grey, pleather jacket. She would've gone without it today, given that it was very nice out and the extra warmth the jacket provided was unnecessary, though not quite uncomfortable, but she didn't want to show her arms bare today; she had bumped her left elbow on her kitchen counter last night, and it had left an unsightly bruise. Additionally, she was wearing a pair of black shorts, somewhat trying to counter the superfluous coverage the jacket provided, and a casual pair of white sneakers.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2014 21:02:05 GMT -5
This lady was her neighbor? Thinking about it, it actually made sense. Chihiro had heard her flatmates talk about there being somebody moving in nextdoor, and that nobody had seen her yet. Plus, Chi wasn’t picking up on any telltale signs of lying in the other girl’s voice. She must be coming over just to introduce herself: her name was Gardenia Oslin. Chihiro quickly picked up on her accent and identified it as Scandinavian, most likely Norwegian or Swedish. Given the fact that she was living in the same apartment complex and was from outside America, it was only natural to deduct that she was also a student enrolling in Shibusen.
Gardenia seemed polite enough of a person. What she said next, though, perked Chihiro’s interest greatly. She was interested in the smell of her perfume? And on top of that, Gardenia had commented on it being a pleasant aroma. Chihiro’s face broke out into her trademark goofy grin as she scrambled to her feet, unlocking the door and opening it to face the girl. The first thing she noticed was Gardenia’s height. Wow, she was at least six if not seven inches taller than Chi was. This caught her off-guard enough to make Chihiro stutter in surprise, her emerald green eyes wide and smile faltering. “A-ah, um…” She began shakily, stepping back and to the side as she opened the door even more. Her gaze drifted to the floor awkwardly; oh gosh, the last thing she wanted to make was an awkward moment happen. She couldn’t stand those. “Y-You can come in, if you’d like…” It wasn’t every day that people liked her experimental perfumes, so when Gardenia had complimented the scent of it she had subsequently (although unknowingly) flattered Chihiro. The least she could do was show off her progress to her neighbor; well, that was Chi’s reasoning behind inviting the other girl inside. Her right kimono sleeve began to slip down from the rolled-up position it had been in, and so Chihiro hastened to grab it and roll it back up past her elbow.
Word Count: 349 Tagged: Gardenia
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Post by Gardenia Oslin on May 24, 2014 13:53:44 GMT -5
Gardenia smiled gently as the door opened, and an adorable little girl looked up at her with a wide grin. The girl seemed a bit familiar; she was perhaps in one of her own classes. That would make her a NOT student as well, if Gardenia was remembering right. Unfortunately, said girl seemed to be taken aback by Gardenia's visage, mumbling and stumbling back into her flat. That was a bit disheartening; she had no intention of intimidating her. Of course Gardenia knew she was rather tall, certainly among the female students, but she wasn't accustomed to that being a factor in how she interacted with her peers; granted, her interaction with said peers was fairly limited, by choice.
To her delight, however, the girl had invited her in, and she was standing a comfortable distance aback from the entrance way. Gardenia didn't have much planned for the day; she could afford to spend some time getting acquainted with her neighbor. She stepped inside, politely bowing her head slightly to her host as she passed by. She readjusted her purse, resting its strap firmly on her shoulder. It wasn't any larger of an apartment than her own, but there was some evidence that spoke to the fact that this girl didn't live here alone. Having room mates wasn't an oddity in itself; in fact, it was rather more peculiar for Gardenia to have none. Still, Gardenia wasn't quite accustomed to the idea at a concrete level. She figured easily enough, however, that it must be way for them to lessen the cost of living, something she didn't really have to worry about.
Still, it was a rather nice apartment, well kept. After walking a couple of feet past Chi, Gardenia turned around to face her neighbor, smiling in an effort to calm the smaller girl's nerves. "So, your roommates are out right now?" She said, scanning the apartment a bit with her eyes, "I mean, this is a nice place, but what are you doing here on your own..." She was about to ask, but she realized she couldn't say her name, given that she didn't know it. "oh, dear, I don't know your name, yet here I am asking you such questions, I do apologize."
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2014 14:35:26 GMT -5
As Gardenia walked through the doorway and into the apartment, Chihiro reflected her polite greeting with a head bow of her own. At least she seemed to have a level head on her shoulders and wasn’t bouncing off the walls like that Kaylin girl from class. Maybe getting to know her neighbor wouldn’t be so bad after all, especially if she got the chance to show off her perfumes to this girl.
Once the tall blonde had entered the apartment and walked a few feet past the smaller girl, she then turned to speak to Chihiro. The friendly smile she held helped to soothe some of Chi’s nerves. Nodding in response to Gardenia’s first question, Chihiro watched curiously as the other girl scanned the apartment inquisitively. Her next comment, though, had Chihiro playing with her apron in a self-conscious fashion. If she could change how things were with her flatmates, she would and probably wouldn’t be alone in the apartment on such a beautiful day. But alas, that just wasn’t how things had worked out for her. Their personalities just didn’t mesh well with Chihiro’s and thus they tended to keep a respectful distance from their blonde, introverted suitemate. Chi gave Gardenia a weak smile in response to her apology, closing the front door. “N-No, it’s okay…” The Japanese-German girl could tell that she hadn’t meant to offend her with her words. “My name’s Chihiro.” Shuffling past the other girl and over to her room’s entrance, she turned to beckon Gardenia over. “This is my room right here. Y-You can come in, just...make sure to take your shoes off, please.”
Entering her room, Chihiro gave it a quick look-over to make sure it was relatively presentable. The walls were painted a sky blue color with white clouds on the ceiling, and the floor was carpeted green like grass. Her bed was in the farthest corner from the door and neatly made with peach-colored linens, but that was mostly because Chihiro usually spent her nights sleeping inside the enormous mountain of stuffed animals towering beside her bed. An orange lamp stood beside the stuffed animals, and against the wall beside the door was a bookshelf full of various manga, movies, novels and tv show volumes. A TV sat on the floor across the room from her bed, but it appeared to be relatively unused. This was most likely due to the laptop that was charging beside the TV, both devices plugged into the same surge protector. In one corner of the room, several potted plants that required indirect sunlight exposure sat happily and healthily. Chihiro smiled warmly at the orchid, which was a recent addition to her plant collection. Near to the indoor plants, a large glass sliding door led out to a small outdoor balcony. However, from inside the room it appeared to be almost a portal to a miniature jungle, as the multitude of greenery out on the balcony was so plentiful that the sunlight cast an enchanting green glow down through the leaves.
Moving to sit seiza style beside her experiment in the middle of the floor, Chihiro lowered her head bashfully. She wasn’t sure what Gardenia would think about her room, especially with the strong scent of perfume in the air; outside her room the scent wasn’t quite as potent in the rest of the apartment.
Word Count: 560 Tagged: Gardenia
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Post by Gardenia Oslin on May 27, 2014 21:50:38 GMT -5
Gardenia held some concern to herself when she saw Chihiro fiddling with her apron, nervously. "Oh dear, did I say something wrong? Perhaps she isn't staying behind all alone entirely by choice... I'll try to avoid bringing up her roommates from now on, then." She thought to herself; she was gradually starting to realize that some of the things she says could be taken as insensitive or rude. This was entirely unintentional, but she didn't have as much experience in social situations as she'd like to have. She knew how to be a good sport, but that was about it. She missed out on a chance to make a friend a couple of days ago, that poor Elias chap. She still intended to make amends with the bloke and help quell the rumors that were spreading about him, but she hadn't gotten the opportunity yet.
The girl invited Gardenia into her room, and the young lady slipped off her shoes as was requested of her. Her heart beat accelerated a bit out of some nervousness as she walked forward; she wasn't accustomed to being in someone else's private chambers. It was an odd experience for her, so of course she would feel some trepidation. The first thing that struck her as she walked in was the scent; it took a moment for her to get past the surprise of the sheer strength of it, but soon found the aroma pleasant and comforting. The way the room was decorated was also surprising; it was far more filled with things then her own, which was sparsely decorated and with little color. Still, it was certainly not a cluttered room. The bookshelf was filled with items she didn't recognize; most of the books there were rather small, but based on the titles and numbers, they were separated into several volumes. Why wouldn't they just be in fewer, bigger volumes? She couldn't actually see much detail on the spines, because of some distance and the fact that her eyes were scanning quickly so as to not linger. After her quick scan of the bookshelf, her eyes drifted to the pile of stuffed animals beside the bed; her smile widened slightly at the sight, they all seemed so... soft. It was perhaps a bit much, but Gardenia wasn't one to admonish such excess. Her eyes weren't on the heap for long, however, as her eyes were drawn to the plants and garden, to which she lightly gasped beneath her breath. Even from her viewpoint inside the room, it looked to be very impressive. Gardenia's own garden was far more modest, but Chihiro's had very much garnered some respect for the sheer amount of upkeep and discipline that garden must take.
As Chihiro sat down, Gardenia noted her manner of sitting. She wasn't certain of what etiquette to follow; she didn't quite know what Chihiro's cultural background was, though she had some thoughts, primarily based on her dress and name, that it might be Japanese. The only reason she doubted such was some of Chi's features, such as her blonde hair and green eyes. But, even if she assumed that she was Japanese, Gardenia wasn't familiar with their etiquette. So, not wanting to offend her host, she took her seat opposite of Chihiro, only a few feet apart given the relative smallness of the room, and attempted to mimic the seiza style. She smiled at the girl, and said, softly but confidently, "this is a very lovely room you have here, Chihiro. It has a very comfortable atmosphere to it." She looked down at what was set between them, "so, this is what you are doing?" She took a moment to inspect it, and deduced what it was rather quickly, "oh, are you making perfume? How pleasant." She pointed to a liquid, "so, is that lavender concentrate? A good choice, I must say; it's one of my favorite flowers."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2014 13:51:35 GMT -5
Thankfully, Gardenia had respected Chihiro’s wishes for her to remove her shoes before entering her bedroom. Back in Japan it was commonplace courtesy to take off your shoes before entering your house or someone else’s, but since her flatmates were from a mix of different national backgrounds they often would wear shoes throughout the apartment. Therefore Chihiro restricted the “shoes off” rule to her own bedroom; she figured that would be fair enough to everyone. Not that anyone has ventured inside her room before; now that she thought about it, Gardenia might actually be the first person her age to step foot inside her private quarters of the apartment.
After sitting down on the carpeted floor, Chihiro failed to notice the way Gardenia had smiled at her large pile of stuffed animals by the bed. However, the kimono girl’s head snapped upward at the sound of the other student gasping. Her attention was directed towards Chihiro’s garden, which meant that she was surprised and/or amazed by the sight of it. Blushing, she quickly lowered her head and returned to staring at her perfume experiment. She took great pride in her plants, and to have someone even slightly appreciate the sight of them was enough to flatter her. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Gardenia made her way to opposite of her and then kneeled down in an attempt to mimic her seiza. It was an accurate first attempt, although Chi wondered how long she would be able to hold that sitting position before growing uncomfortable.
In response to Gardenia’s compliment of her room, Chihiro’s blush deepened even further as she nodded meekly. “T-Thanks…” That was the only thing she was able to manage as a reply, although she was actually very grateful for the flattery. She watched and listened as the other girl took notice of the experiment on the floor between them. She rather quickly deduced that it was a perfume experiment, but what really caught Chi’s attention was what Gardenia followed up with. Her head snapping upward, Chihiro’s eyes widened immensely as she stared disbelievingly into the other girl’s eyes. “Y-Yeah, that’s right…” She mumbled absentmindedly. Never has another person besides her Auntie Hana been able to identify different flowers by merely the scent of them, especially in the case of Chi’s perfumes which usually involved the combination of multiple concentrates.
Her face brightening considerably into another goofy grin, she enthusiastically gestured to the other two vials of concentrate standing beside the lavender with a sudden liveliness. “I’m trying out an idea I came up with yesterday that combines lavender, orange blossom and jasmine. So far, the jasmine and lavender work well together, but I haven’t added any orange blossom concentrate to the mix yet…” Pausing, she felt her breath catch in her throat. What if this girl was in the NOT class as well? If so then maybe they could hang out and be friends; she was pretty sure Gardenia would get along well with her friend, Lior. And then another thought: what if she was a meister, and unpartnered at that? If so, then maybe...just maybe, they could try partnering up. That thought gave Chihiro butterflies, and after a few moments she spoke up once more. “U-Um, Gardenia...you go to Shibusen, right?” Playing with the bottom of her apron, she bit her bottom lip gently before continuing. “...I’m a NOT weapon.”
Word Count: 574 Tagged: Gardenia
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Post by Gardenia Oslin on Jun 16, 2014 17:30:46 GMT -5
Gardenia nodded enthusiastically as Chi gestured and explained her endeavors, matching Chi's own fervor for the subject. "Orange blossom..." the lady mused, recalling pleasant memories of home. She remembered her ringing phone as she was tending to some orange blossoms of her own; an uncommon treat, and made further of an impression with what pleasant news that phone call had brought. She broke out of her brief reverie, and returned her attention to the girl sitting opposite of her.
Fortuitous that she had refocused her attention at that moment, too. For, Chi had suddenly shifted the topic and asked Gardenia a pertinent question. She smiled and evenly responded, "why, yes, Chihiro, I do attend Shibusen." She briefly paused, and her fingers absentmindedly danced with one another as she pondered the implications of what Chi had actually said. "She's a NOT weapon?" Her hands clasped together, and her breathing stuttered for a moment whilst her heart rate hastened ever so slightly, "does she perhaps already know I'm a NOT meister? According to Elias, some of my peers have taken to talking about me..." her breathing steadied itself, but her heartbeat remained at its heightened pulse, "hmmm, well I suppose that doesn't really matter."
Gardenia unclasped her fingers from themselves and placed them on her lap, and serenely smiled at Chihiro, "I'm a meister myself, NOT class. In fact, I think I might have seen you in passing within some of my classes..." A weapon and meister of the same class, befriending one another. Such things typically led to one scenario. Given the assumption, that is, neither party is already partnered. Unfortunately, Gardenia had to admit to herself, she wasn't particularly eager to test such things out. She had never wielded a demon weapon, and wasn't too keen on it. She had been attending Shibusen for weeks now, and she had remained solitary. Of course, she realized that remaining such was seriously stagnating her progress; if she never gets a weapon partner, she'll never be able to advance to a proper class level. It felt to her like there was little more she could even learn on her own. It was imperative she find a weapon of a compatible wavelength, as soon as she could.
Even realizing that, though, Gardenia couldn't bring herself to seek such camaraderie. The thought of using a fellow person as a weapon... to wield them in her hands... the simple thought of it caused her hands to tense up. She refused to show such trepidation however, and resolved to handle this with care. She was going to allow Chi to bring up the natural follow up.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 23:34:32 GMT -5
The smile and initial response on Gardenia’s part confirmed Chihiro’s deduction about the other girl’s status in Death City. So she was, in fact, a Shibusen student. That was great news! It most likely meant that they would be seeing each other around school, and if they could become friends then maybe even they would eat lunch together and hang out during breaks and… whoa, let’s not get carried away now. Shifting slightly, Chihiro cleared her throat to refocus on the issue at hand. First, she had to overcome the task of befriending Gardenia. It was in Gardenia’s favor that Chihiro was rather excited at the moment, because the serene blonde girl’s nervous fidgeting managed to get past Chi’s falcon-like eye. Thank Lady Luck indeed. Her determination only was encouraged by what Gardenia said next, about not only also being a NOT class student, but a meister at that. Gasping, Chihiro covered her mouth with both hands. Oh, joyous of days! Maybe they were soul wavelength compatible? “N-No way! Should we see if we’re compatible partners? I-I don’t really know how we do that, but maybe we hold hands, o-or I can try turning into a bow and-” Cutting herself off mid-sentence, Chi’s face gradually grew more and more red with an intense blush. Oh dear, she had started rambling on without even thinking. For all she knew Gardenia could be partnered up already—how embarrassing! “G-Gomenasai!” Chihiro apologized, instinctively bowing her head to the floor in remorse and… Blip! “Gah…!”Slowly sitting back up straight in seiza, Chihiro’s bangs were wet and dripping lavender-jasmine extract down her scrunched-up face, her apology bow having dipped her forehead into the fluid-filled dish between the two girls on the floor. Several awkward seconds of silence passed during which Chi maintained her ridiculous facial expression. Oh God oh God oh God, she needed to do something fast before this got any more awkward. Otherwise Chihiro thought she might explode. Without much of a plan, she broke the silence suddenly with a blurted-out comment. “...I-I'm gonna smell like the perfume department at the mall for a whole week.”
Word Count: 352 Tagged: Gardenia
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