PM to join [blossoming blooms] A Child of Flowers

[Shayna]

The brand on Shayna's face and neck one far older and more healed then the other, crinkled when she gave a soft laugh. "Yes. Petals that are plucked from the stems do brown, but if you put them in a cloth bag no one will see them but will be able to enjoy the smell for longer then you would with just the flowers. Plus the cloth helps to diffuse the smell, and make it last longer as well." She had learned this by being Katherine Morealis' guinea pig whenever she had a new product to try. Of course Katherine hadn't intended for her to learn, and she didn't set out to learn it. However she was an observant slave, and had noted the bags in Katherine's philtering lab.

Her black brow raised at the question, not in annoyance or anger but just in the randomness of it. "I..no I don't suppose I have ever had hot bread. My master doesn't have any other slaves but I, and I have never been taught to cook or bake. So both of our meals for now are generally simple." This was another thing Shayna wanted to change, but was unsure how to go about learning to cook. Mamoru ensured she had some free time at night, but without being able to read she didn't think she would be able to figure out how one made things like breads. Though she supposed she could ask her master if she could experiment with some cheaper ingredients.

"Do you like Bread Lilou?"

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[Lilou]

Lilou pursed her lips when Shayna explained the concept of the bagged flower petals. "But wont big flowers smell better? You just have to grow a bunch of flowers all around, and you have the pretty and the smell!" This whole concept of putting the petals in bags made no sense at all, to her. Why keep a flower just for the smell? It was silly. Still, she let it pass, in case she made this Shayna angry.

"Hot bread is yummy" she mentioned with a nod, feeling a little sad for Shayna... if Mamoru was nice, why didn't he give her hot bread? Elanai didn't make the bread... most of the time. She just went out before dinner and brought it back hot and steamy. Who knew where it came from. "I like hot bread... cold bread... eurhghh." She squirmed at the memory. She hadn't minded it before, but now that she'd had hot bread... it was much better. "Elanai gave me hot bread yesterday," she explained with a nod. Maybe if Shayna talked to Elanai she'd get hot bread too. For some reason Lilou really, really wanted this woman to try some... just to show her how amazing it was! Hot and squishy and tasty... she wanted to squirm in delight at the memory.

"When did you meet Mamorrryou?" she asked, still having trouble with the name. She'd been Elanai's for five days... it wasn't very long. Had Shayna been with Mamoru very long?

[Shayna]

Shayna was surprisingly patient with the child, one brow raised in amusement and she shook her head. "Of course big flowers would smell better, but you sell the big flowers. The bags only have petals that you pluck like this one, that make people not want to buy the flower. The ones that bugs nibbled on, or were damaged, or just showed signs of flower aging. Petals that you have already pulled off." Shayna's clothing started to finally cease their dripping, they were still wet and clingy but at least there wasn't the fall of water from her time out in the rain.

"It sounds like it is very nice. I shall have to try and see if I can get someone to read me the recipe." Shayna nods, idly hoping she was not tying up the child-slave's time and getting her in trouble. "your Elanai seems like she is a very good owner, and that she takes care of you." Her fingers wandered up slowly to touch the brand on her cheek, then let them fall to the one on her neck. Two separate owners at different times, both so wildly different that it was still taking Shayna some time to adjust.

"Mamoru, Ma- Moe- Roo." Shayna corrected, slowing the pronunciation, "It is a odd little name isn't it? I don't know where it comes from. He purchased me four days ago. "

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[Lilou]

Lilou sort of understood Shayna's point... but she didn't like it anyways. Instead of agreeing to it she made a disagreeable noise, frowning heavily at the floor. She was relaxing around the woman, and wasn't as afraid of her yelling. She was nice, like Elanai. The slave was barely worried now, and was feeling more and more comfortable just talking... something she'd never really done before. Mostly Elanai talked, and she listened, or she was told to be quiet. That was back at Riverwave, though... Elanai hadn't told her to be quiet yet. Lilou hoped she wouldn't.

Shayna mentioned wanting to know the recipe, and the little girl nodded in agreement. Cooking always sounded fun, but she liked plants better... though you could make food out of plants, of course. Someone had told her bread was made out of plants, but she didn't believe them. It wasn't green. At least... it wasn't supposed to be green. She'd seen green bread before, but it had smelled funny, and the person had thrown it away. Some plants weren't green... but they weren't that color. Salad was made of plants, though.

"Maa... Moeh... Ruu?" she repeated, slightly confused. The name was funny, just as Shayna said. "Ma Moe Ru. Mamoeru?" She pursed her lips, then decided that sounded about right. Mamoeru. Apparently the woman had been with her master shorter than Lilou had! One day less. Four days. She could count to four, and knew it was smaller than five. "Four days is shorter than five days" she agreed with a nod, glancing down at her fingers, tempted to double check.

[Shayna]

Shayna gave a light laugh at the child's frown and disapproving noise. It was very refreshing for once to simply have a conversation, even one as simple as the one they were having, without always thinking of the implication of ones words. Without always checking to make sure that one's words did not appear to have any hidden meanings, and all of that that comes with Dynasty and freeborn...and even some slaves. True Shayna was one of those slaves that you should be careful with what you say around because she would use the information to her advantage if she could, but it was different with the child. She doubted that she could use any information against Lilou.

"Yes four is less then five. How old are you Lilou?" Shayna asked, curious. She understood there were plenty of slaves not born on breeding farms, who were born to actual parents and not to dames and sires. She thought about how different it must be growing up with perhaps a mother for a while at least. Shayna had only ever known the life she had, and didn't really and truly miss having a mother but she did wonder what it would be like. Of course it was easier since she never knew what it was like to just shrug it off.

"Have you always been a slave in Kenash?" Shayna wasn't sure, she knew that people who came to Kenash were made slaves if they stayed too long but she wasn't sure if that pertained to children or not. Or perhaps Lilou's parents couldn't afford their debt and the whole family was enslaved. That seemed a little sad to Shayna, but again without the family experience she couldn't truly grasp at how sad it truly was.

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[Lilou]

Lilou frowned when Shayna asked about her age. "How old am I?" she repeated, utterly bewildered. No one had ever asked her that before. Instead she shrugged, and replied with "I dunno..." She honestly had no clue. She had no reason to keep track of the years, though she did notice she grew taller and taller. And her hair grew longer, though sometimes people cut it. She didn't really understand that. "Do you know how old you are?" she asked in reply, honestly curious.

Another confusing question about 'before' came, and her frown deepened. While thinking, the little girl turned around and stared at some flowers, adjusting one on it's bush so it didn't bump into another. Flowers were delicate. "I don't know?" she repeated, voice full of uncertainty. "I don't think so... I... I remember a garden. A pretty garden, with flowers and veggies and things. Not like the Riverwave stuff, or like here. Small. Was that in Kenash?" It was all too confusing for her. She only really remembered Kenash, though sometimes she remembered not-Kenash things. Like the garden. She liked that garden, it was just as nice as this one.

Thinking back, she remembered other things... things that weren't as nice. That hurt, that was scary. She remembered mean people with whips and chains once, right at the beginning... they hadn't been nice. But then she'd been at Riverwave and it was okay... she was able to be with plants, which never hurt you unless you tried to hurt them first. Like rose thorns. They were just to protect the plant. Sighing quietly to herself, she lightly brushed the petals of the flower in front of her, calming herself in the softness.

OOCThe funny thing about Mamoru's name is that's not even his full name XD

[Shayna]

Shayna nods when she listens to the child, not really surprised that the child couldn't remember too much before. She also noted that the child sort of..withdrew.. though Shayna was no idea of why. "Yes, I know how old I am. I will see eighteen sometime in the next year. I don't know my actual birth date of course. I just know how old I am because the farm that I was bred on trained every slave to the same age before selling to get the most miza." Shayna explained, not really understanding that a child might not really understand too much of the complexities of breeding, training and selling slaves.

"There are many different kinds of gardens in Kenash. It might have been on a different farm or even a plantation." Shayna offered helpfully, shifting to her feet to walk over closer to the child. Now that her clothing was not dripping any more she didn't worry that she would cause more work for a slave to clean up. "Would you like to show me some of what you do here Lilou?" She asked mostly because the child seemed more comfortable talking about the flowers that she worked with, and a little because she too enjoyed flowers and working in the dirt. She just didn't enjoy the lack of status amongst slaves of being simply a garden slave.

"I miss working in a garden a little. It was peaceful, and one didn't have to be careful of what one said or did if you were nice to the flowers." Shayna smiled, smoothing her tunic-like blouse down with her hand.

ooclol that would be fun. Though even Shayna doesn't know his full name

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[Lilou]

Shayna said she was eighteen... what did that mean? It sounded big. It sounded longer than ten, at least. She knew what eight was. But what was 'teen'? She frowned in confusion. "Eighteen?" she asked, "how big is that?" Shayna wasn't that old, but she was still old. She didn't have grey hair or wrinkles or anything. That was good, because the slaves she saw like that disappeared a lot. Funny, really. The girl wondered if she'd ever look like that... silly, no.

The whole concept of the farm breezed past her, as the slave mused on the concept of 'eighteen'. Someone had said other funny numbers earlier, hundred and fifty. She wanted to know what they were too, but didn't want to ask. What if Shayna didn't know either? Elanai was sure to know - she knew everything - but Shayna was a slave too. Slaves didn't know much. Other people knew things, and didn't normally tell. But Elanai told... it was all confusing.

She left her small stupor when the woman asked about what she did... asked about flowers. She liked talking about flowers, and Elanai talked about flowers a lot too. "Ooh, ooh, yes!" she squealed, clapping her hands and nearly dropping the forgotten pair of clippers. She grabbed them before they fell, however, and dashed over to the roses. People didn't usually ask her what she did, so this would be fun! Very very fun.

Her words were like a blur as she explained, excitement driving her tongue faster and faster. "Well... see Elanai and someone else - I don't remember her name - are making a big circle - wreath, they call it - of roses. Lots and lots of roses. Lots of colors of roses. Big ones small ones. Well, they need a lot, so I'm picking a bunch. See? I've already got a lot, this is my second bucket!" She picked up one of the roses, a pale pink one with big perfect petals. It was one of her favorites. "Like this!"

She shoved it in Shayna's face, wanting the woman to take it, smell it, see how pretty it was. She bounced on her toes, giddy with excitement. "But Elanai has certain ways she wants the roses cut, so I have to be very careful. You have to cut it at an 'angle', you know? Above the second bunch of leaves. The longer the stem the better, she says. And they're so pretty!" Assuming Shayna took the offered rose, Lilou plucked her own out of the bucket of warm water and took a big whiff out of it. The blossom was fat and red, just like a rose should look like... once, a man had come in to buy just one single rose like this, and even wrapped it with a ribbon. It had been kind of funny. Why would you want only one flower, though, when you could have so many?

[Shayna]

Shayna paused, she wasn't quite sure how to explain what eighteen was. She had learned to count, and as she aged count higher and higher because the more you did, the higher you had to count. It wasn't formal learning but since the numbers tended to repeat themselves after every ten digits it wasn't too hard to grasp. However, teaching that was a different. "Um it is eight more then ten. Can you count to ten? Well after ten is -Eleven- then -twelve- then -thirteen-" As she counted she used her fingers to show Lilou. She might get in trouble for teaching the slave something that her owner hadn't approved but it was a little thing, and it wasn't like she was teaching Lilou how to read. "Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen." She finished, holding up eight fingers.

Yet she didn't get a chance to see if her teaching had sunk in before the little ball of energy was darting around talking about wreaths and flowers, and oh yes flowers in the face. Shayna laughed as she leaned back, gently taking the bundle of flowers in hand so she could steady the batch and inhale. "Yes, cutting them at an angle.. I knew that people cut them that way but I am not sure why. My gardening was more for veggies and herbs, and again fro the extracts..nothing this lovely."

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[Lilou]

Lilou gaped at the new numbers... someone was finally teaching them to her! "I can count to ten" she stated, nodding happily. Eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen eighteen... ooh! Shayna was ten and eight, eighteen. She could count to eighteen! The girl squealed and clapped her hands, jumping a little to show off her delight. Today was a good day... a very good day. She repeated the eight new numbers over and over in her head as she showed off the flowers.

The slave was slightly disappointed that Shayna didn't know why you cut flowers at an angle either, but quickly got over it. She didn't understand the extract thing... but again, she didn't care. She was just so happy! The woman took her flower and smelled them, which was just great.... Lilou glanced at the bucket, back at the roses, and frowned a bit. "Oh. Elanai probably wants more flowers..." She realized she'd been putting off her work a lot.

She searched the bushes for a suitable bloom and leaned over to it, extra careful not to brush or bruise any of the other flowers. She reached with the clippers and counted the bunches of leaves, before snipping just above the second one, and carefully pulling the long-stemmed rose out of the tangle of thorns and leaves. She deposited it in the bucket, before glancing at Shayna... would the woman leave? She didn't want her companion to leave just yet... she liked talking. She hadn't talked this much in... in ever. And it was fun! The expression in her face was one of worry, in case Shayna did leave....