Home Decor

[Deleted]

Have you ever tried to drive a car with wings?  Malachai had, once.  It hadn't gone very far, partly because just getting his wingspan into a vehicle was nearly impossible.  As it was, they provided a perfectly sound mode of locomotion, as did his feet.  Upon arrival in Mossy Hollow only a few weeks ago he'd made the decision to settle down for a while, paying cash for a sprawling plantation house on the outskirts that provided him not only privacy but a project.  The property badly needed some repairs and work done on it, which would hopefully keep him busy and out of trouble while he waited for some of the circus to die down.  It was looking more and more like he was going to come out unscathed from the scandal, and that suited him just fine.

Unfortunately after so many years living surrounded by people, often sleeping shoulder to shoulder with many, the house was getting quite lonely.  But Malachai knew just the thing to cheer it- and himself- up.  He took the opportunity to stretch his wings on the distance between his new home and the edge of town, landing primly on the verge of the forest before he continued his walk into town.  Soon enough he hit Downtown.  

The city-born volant seemed oblivious to the looks people gave him as he walked down the street.  In truth he cataloged every one and preened under the attention.  His ivory feathered wings were folding tight to his back, but even so they weren't subtle.  Keeping them back simply kept them mostly out of the way.  His slate gray hair curled around his temples, gentle tousled from his restless hands running long fingers through the strands.  A sumptuous indigo tunic of silk and wool wrapped around his body, a drape of fabric falling back between his wings and buttoning to the front on either side.  His jeans were low slung, dark, and tailored to his long legs.  

Finally, he spotted his destination.  As he stepped into what he was fairly sure was the town's only nursery, he paused to look around himself.  His eyes drifted over the brightly colored displays and he slowly walked past the bags of fertilizer and stands of lawn ornaments until his eyes spotted the pallets of vibrant flowers, a sunny smile breaking across his face.  At last, the perfect roommate.

[Hunter]

Korei fussed with the strings of xyr blouse as xe watered the flowers, tending to her own little green oasis in a desert of concrete and slaughtered wood.  Clothed was not xyr preferred way of communing with plantlife, but the other option was to lose xyr job -- a job xe wouldn't have needed in the first place if not for human expansion and the ever-growing tidal wave of pavement and paperwork that was the human empire.

Alright, so xe was a bit on the radical side in xyr politics. Don't tell xyr customers.  If they were going to know that xe was a nymph -- and not all of them did, but xe didn't work too hard to keep it a secret -- then it was important they continue to see xem as the sweet, smiling, simple nature-loving binary cis woman xe'd pretended to be at the interview, the kind of nymph who frolicked through the woods without a care in the world and didn't begrudge the humans anything, not even that they let their vampirism problem fester in their ranks and claim nonhuman lives, all while sleeping safe at night in their protected homes, the careless bastards.

So when xe heard a customer enter the nursery, xe tensed and prepared to shove all that resentment to the back of xyr mind, glancing aside, when xe was startled to catch sight of an oversized pair of bird wings.  Korei had to do a double take.  Xe hadn't seen many volants before -- just those two fuzzies who rode through in a biker gang last year and nearly blew xyr eardrums out with the noise.  It was easy to place this one as avian, but determining their gender was more tricky.  Is that a man? xe thought first, then Is that a woman? and right after that, Do I even care?  The answer, for xem, was a resounding no, because xe found him extremely attractive regardless; it was just a difficult habit to break, and xe still struggled now and then against xyr upbringing.

Xe set the watering can down and slowly straightened, watching him as he went past the fertilizer.  Although there were many interesting things about the avian besides the obvious, xyr gaze kept returning to his wings -- xe was sure the spirit got asked about them all the time, but xe couldn't help xyr curiosity.

Dusting the soil off xyr hands, the dryad walked barefoot over to him and started twisting the ends of xyr green hair in xyr fingers as xe approached, looking up at him.  Goddamn, he was tall.  "Can I help you?" xe asked.  More like "Can I fuck you?" xe thought, but xe maintained a benign retail smile.

[Deleted]

Malechai let his eyes feast on the glut of beauty in the nurery. Even the common flowers he could enjoy for their colors and smell, even though his appreciation truly lay in the more exotic. His wings twitched slightly, relaxing away from his back slightly before his tightened them up again, the feathers rustling gently against each other. The nymph's voice distracted and he glanced over xyr quickly, eyes taking in xyr form. It took him time before he tentatively labelled her a nymph, filing it away as something to ask. His smile turned from simple pleasure to warmth, a subtle change that mostly happened in his eyes, which met Korei's easily.

"Better than I could help myself, I'm sure." His voice hovered somewhere in between ranges, low for a woman but high for a man. "And all the more a pleasure to have such a beauty helping me."

In the back of his mind, he automatically judged her worth, the monetary value of xyr body a tidy sum in the back of his head even if he had no intention of using xyr that way. He assumed xe was female, in a purely off-hand way that made navigating a primarily binary language easier. Xe seemed to be such a delicate thing.

"I just purchased one of the homes out of town a ways, and it's been a bit... well, dull and grey. I don't want to do anything in the garden until the weather warms up, but I was hoping for something to brighten up the inside. Do you have any... recommendations?"

In truth, Malachai knew less about plants than he did about home renovations (which was sort of sad, considering he only had about three weeks of home reno experience at this point). Though he had plenty of grandiose plans in the back of his mind, his actual capacity to carry them out was rather limited.

[Hunter]

The timbre of his voice hardly clarified anything about how to read him, but that had fallen far down on xyr list of concerns. If xe wasn't mishearing things, the volant had just called her a beauty. Korei blushed and laughed it off, looking a little uncomfortable, though mostly because xe was wishing that they could be anywhere but here right now. Flirting at work was always a risk. The last time, a woman had threatened to file a complaint against xem, and so xe'd gotten in the habit of being even more cautious since then -- even when someone else was the first to make advances.

Xe met his gaze again, though, when he elaborated on his situation. House plants. Easy enough. Xe nodded and rattled off a few suggestions based on what sold often before asking him a few followup questions, cocking xyr hip to rest xyr hand there. "Do you know if you want something more green, mostly leaves, or would you prefer something more colorful? And what kind of watering schedule do you have time for?"

Xe would have felt bad about being potentially offensive, but given that he'd had the audacity to call xem beautiful, Korei somehow managed to gather the courage to look over his shoulder and ask, in a different tone than xyr previous questions, but trying to sound casual and avoid putting much weight on the answer, "...Do you ever let people touch your wings?"

[Deleted]

He listened with grave seriousness to xyr responses, at rapt attention. Malachai had always been a good listener- people liked when you listened to them, usually. It made them feel important. At this point he did it almost out of habit. And in this case, out of genuine interest in the speaker and the subject. Malachai had never been overtly subtle in his flirtations and was certainly not going to start now, not when he'd been months without companionship and was languishing lonely. He'd never really known a time in his life when he hadn't been around people. This was a strange lull in his life. Strange and disconcerting.

"I was hoping for something with color." He said honestly, and there was a bit of wistfulness in his voice. "I have all the time I need. I am quite good at taking care of things, if I know how." The wistfulness was gone as quickly as it had come, replaced by what was most certainly a flirt, especially the way his eyes flicked down over the nymph's body. At her question he seemed to grow thoughtful, leaning a little closer to xyr as though imparting a secret.

"Only people who let me take them to dinner first." The response was playful, and he offered xyr his hand. "That is, if you're free after work. My name is Malachai. I don't believe I ever caught yours."

[Hunter]

It seemed xe wasn't the only one who'd rather xe didn't have to wear clothes right now. Only slightly arching an eyebrow, Korei wouldn't have been able to tell just how suggestive he meant for that to sound if xe hadn't caught him looking at xyr boobs.

Well, she'd thought it might be something like that -- despite the surface area they boasted, touching a person's wings did seem a bit more intimate than shaking hands. Xe wouldn't have expected him to use that as an opening to ask her out, though. The nymph looked at him sideways, with a twinge of hesitance and an expression just on the verge of a smile, biting the flesh of her lower lip, and slowly reached out to take his hand. Xyr skin was warmer than his, a few particles of dirt still clinging to the grooves of her palm.

"Korei," she answered simply. But that was enough of that. Xe dodged giving him any committed answer one way or another, asking, "Let's get you some houseplants first, okay?"

With that, the little nymph turned and started leading him around to a few of the first plants that came to mind, offering him more suggestions while rubbing xyr hands against each other absentmindedly. "Those are the African violets, just over there, very pretty. And there are some types of amaryllis that might work for you if you want to look at those. And the geraniums, for sure. Cape primrose come in a lot of colors -- those are to your right there. Dracaena doesn't have any flowers, but some of them are very bright, and they're pretty easy to take care of. The main thing to remember is don't overwater. But it does help to rise the leaves off now and then, to get rid of dust and little parasites. Do you want to just take some time to browse?" xe asked, edging back to xyr watering can.

Externally, Korei was trying to stay professional and focus on helping him as a customer, but internally, xe was conflicted between taking his blatant and assertive interest in xem as a warning sign, and acknowledging to xyrself that, in any other context, xe would have been acting the same. Either way, xe sure couldn't turn him down on the basis that he wasn't attractive to xem, because damn.

As compelled as xe was to reciprocate, xe was unsure what to make of him. He was awfully... forward, to use an old term. Xe'd thought it was the mammalians who were the more horny of the two, but seeing how this one was acting, maybe xe'd been wrong about that.

[Deleted]

The pale volant held her hand for perhaps a bit longer then would normally be accepted, just a lingering gentle touch on xyr fingertips as xe turned away. "Pleasure to meet you, Korei. Thank you for taking the time to show me around."

He didn't take her deflection of his question as a no, but let it lie. There was no reason to press, he was, for the moment, on an errand. He lingered over the African violets and the amaryllis, oohing quietly over their bright colors and elegant stalks. As she was talking though something else caught his eye. It was a bit funny if she watched him, for all his grace, with his head bobbing around like a bird distracted by too many different things. Still, he flashed xyr a bright smile when xe tried to excuse herself, nodding.

"I believe I will, for a bit. I also shouldn't keep you from your work too long, I do believe I am shamelessly monopolizing your time." He let xyr edge back to her watering can, wandering quietly up and down the aisles, occasionally pausing to navigate tight corners carefully, not wanted to knock anything off shelves or displays. He spent well over an hour drifting through the store before he finally settled on what he wanted, gathering them back towards the front of the store and looking far too pleased with himself.

In his arms, he carefully cradled three pots- an amaryllis that wasn't quite in bloom yet, an african violet, and a much more subtle hanging ivy plant with leaves if variegated purple and green. He specifically sought out Korei, waiting until xe was free to approach.

[Hunter]

"Oh, it's fine," xe replied with a bit of a laugh. "But take your time, sure." Well, he was polite, there was that in his favor. Even if he made xem a little nervous, xe couldn't say xe disliked him.

It was amusing, watching him try not to knock things over with his wings, but xe tried not to stare. He'd inevitably catch xem at it if xe did, and xe'd already attracted too much attention to xyrself for xem to handle. By the name, xe'd assumed him male, and xe was hoping against hope he wasn't a straight guy. Those were always more trouble than they were worth.

"Oh, found what you were looking for?" Xe gave him another sales associate smile and offered, "Here, uh, I'll ring those right up." Korei went to go take over the register, dismissing the bored teenager who'd been manning it to go unload some pottery in the back. Then xe helped him set the pots down and started going through each item, pausing at the last one.

"Oh, I'm glad these are finding a home." Xe touched the leaves of the ivy plant and smiled at it, a much more genuine smile, parental, almost, as its color brightened to xyr touch and seemed to take on more life. One for the road, as they say.

Xe didn't draw things out, though, and went ahead and reported the total to him, casually adding onto the end, "...and your phone number," as if that were a part of it. Korei looked up from the machine briefly and winked at him before looking down again, completely deadpan.

[Deleted]

Pleased at not having had to wait for Korei to finish helping another customer, Malachai offered xyr a bright flash of smile that lit up his youthful face with genuine pleasure. "I did, though for the most part I came back to some of your initial suggestions." He followed her to the register. "I'm particularly excited to watch the amaryllis bloom. I'm sure you'll think it daft of me, but I've never had plants before."

He didn't look the least bit abashed about admitting his lack of knowledge. He was born and raised in a big city, a concrete jungle where the flowers were made of razor blades and the grass from shards of glass. Sure he'd seen people with plants, but he'd never had them himself. Perhaps now he would settled down and collect plants instead of people, he mused for a moment. Then the thoughts drifted out of his mind as quickly as it had come, laughed out by an acute knowledge of his own desires. Yeah, like that would happen. Still, they would perhaps content him for now.

"Magic touch." He murmured when xe touched the ivy and it perked up. "It looked... lonely." He side, gently brushing his fingers through the air just above it's leaves, not quite touching. "I though maybe in the spring, once it's not so cold out, I could hang it out on the porch." He slipped a thin leather wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans. That in itself was a bit of a feat as he pushed his own wing back out of the way with his elbow so the feathers weren't in the way. Despite the fact that the volant took impeccable care of himself, there was a soft, dusty smell to him up close, like a fresh down pillow. When xe asked for his number he started to rattled it off without question, only to stutter slightly when xe winked.

Malachai had, honestly, not been expecting the nymph to make the next move. He'd been planning perhaps swinging through the shop a bit more often, making friends and perhaps eventually persuading xyr into a bit of more intimate companionship. He recovered quickly though, repeating the number smoothly to xyr and handing over cash to cover the total. Indeed, his wallet held only an ID card besides the cash, devoid of plastic or pictures.

[Hunter]

Never had plants before? To Korei, that was like saying he'd never breathed air before. It wasn't that xe looked down on that kind of inexperience; it was just alien to xem, a way of life xe couldn't imagine. Xe may have been a modern nymph, in some respects, but xe was still, as much as any other dryad, tied to the forests out of town, never able to truly roam. They were the centerpiece of xyr existence, xyr work and xyr leisure, xyr extended family, a continual part of daily life. It was hard to fathom their absence. Without them, xe couldn't help but imagine life would seem far less... grounded.

But then, the wings would suggest that anyway, wouldn't they?

Though xe did not raise xyr eyes, xe showed soft, wry smile when he stuttered, amused at the way he briefly lost his composure, made all the funnier considering the suave confidence he'd projected earlier. Korei jotted down the number on the store copy of the receipt and made change for him.

Xe didn't mean to be nosy, but when xe glanced at his hands, xe couldn't help but notice the state of his wallet, lacking in any credit cards. There were some humans who seemed to have a dozen or more of the things, but almost everyone had at least one or two -- except for those who, for one reason or another, didn't have an official registered address -- usually nymphs and the occasional fairy. What a volant was doing so disconnected from the trappings of human life, xe didn't claim to know. Then again, it did seem feasible that he might fly from town to town a lot. Were all volants like that, wandering, scattered from their roots, like leaves in the breeze? It made xem curious, and a bit more wary.

"You take care of those plants now, they're all yours," xe told him, officially delivering them over to his custody. Each one was marked with a brief note on watering instructions, but nonetheless, xe bit xyr lower lip and told him, "You can come back 'round here if you're not sure how."