Private Bay-Bee, Do You Need a New Home?

Zora · Mar 5, 2020

Wearing a very cute pair of pink flowery rubber boots with her jeans, Celeste Forestier made her way across the mucky and still slightly frozen, but quickly unthawing, ground of the gardens that belonged to the academy. Stopping, as she often did, to check the annuals that that lined the path to the main greenhouse, she noticed that the plants near the wall, that were protected from the wind and got the most daylight, were starting to turn green again. Flowers were on the way in a month or so.

Happy with her discovery, Celeste continued on to the main greenhouse and unlocked the door so that her nephew, Jeremiah, and Verda, apparent bee enthusiast, could house their hives til the weather - or at least the nights - were warmer. Besides, most of the flowering plants and exotic fruit trees (bee food) were housed safely within the greenhouse right now and away from the elements.

@Flannel Katt
@Kada

Flannel Katt · Mar 5, 2020

Verda checked and re-checked the little hand-sketched map she'd put down on her notepad. The campus made slightly more sense than it had when she'd first arrived, but it still took her by surprise on a regular basis. Celeste was very kind over text, and Verda didn't want to repay that kindness with tardiness.

"I'll bee back soon," she told her hives, "hah, bee back- oh it's lost on y'all. I've got a lead on a new home with lots of nice flowers around, so you won't be scrounging around the planters from my window when spring really hits. Beehave while I'm out, okay?" As usual, Verda's thousands of roommates did not respond. She was really looking forward to having a room to herself.

It was a pleasant walk across campus, wrapped up in the misshapen poncho her cousin had crocheted. The discount yarn colors were ugly as sin, mostly puce green and mauve, but it was warm and soft and had little puffballs on the pulls for the neckline cinch. The ground crunched a bit under her bare feet, and Verda expected she'd be able to see her breath by the end of the evening.

She found the greenhouse five minutes before the appointed time, after only a few wrong turns, and fist pumped a little before slipping inside and calling, "Hello? Is this the right place for the gardening club?"

Kada · Mar 5, 2020

Jeremiah was tending to some of the trees that couldn't be indoors during the winter, making sure that the covers that protected them against the cold were still secure. He was barefoot despite the cold, with his sleeves rolled up revealing his arcane tattoos as he worked. In his hair was a mourning cloak butterfly, lazily flapping its wings and seemingly unaffected by the frigid air around her.

He looked up when he heard someone call out, his usual warm smile spreading across his face. Giving the tree he was with at the moment a gentle pat, he whispered gently to it, "I will be back. You're doing fantastic, by the way."

Standing up gently, he placed a hand over his hair butterfly so that she wouldn't fall off while he made his way over to the greenhouse proper. He popped his head in a few seconds after Verda, giving her a wide smile. "Good afternoon~ I'm Jeremiah. Do you need anything?"

Flannel Katt · Mar 5, 2020

Verda spun around from her spot a few feet into the greenhouse and her braided hair whipped around with the movement. "Oh! Hi!" she said, "Yes! I'm here for the- pff- I mean- hang on..."

Verda took a moment and lifted her braid off the curled tip of her horn and swung it back over her shoulder. "It's nice to meet you!" She said, "I'm Verda, the uh, the bee girl? Your mom gave me your number? I'm here to meet you and Celeste about where the gardening club would be comfortable with some beehives?"

She stepped over with her hand out to shake, and immediately got distracted when she glanced down. "Hey, you don't wear shoes? I don't wear shoes! Oh my god!" Verda clapped and lifted her foot. "Anti-shoe buddies!~" She wiggled her clawed toes.

Kada · Mar 5, 2020

Jeremiah was quick to put his hand up over the butterfly as Verda spun around, not wanting his little friend to get spooked and lost in the greenhouse. But once the danger, such as it was, had passed he reached out and took hold of her offered hand in both of his. With a slight bow, he gave her hand a gentle shake and a moved closer for a hug as well.

"Yes, she told me! I am happy to hear that we are getting more friends in the greenhouse. My aunt should be around here somewhere. She can help with-"

Looking down, Jeremiah wiggled his chilled toes and then looked over at Verda doing the same. Jeremiah grinned at her and gave a big shrug. "I was always barefoot as a child. And it's so nice to feel the cold against your feet, is it not? I missed it greatly."

Flannel Katt · Mar 5, 2020

Verda was so immensely pleased with the hug that she couldn't help a tail waggle. Here was someone who greeted a stranger as a friend! Finally, someone who reacted in a way that made sense to her. She was absolutely going to make this kid some cupcakes.

"It is nice to feel the cold against your feet," Verda responded as they parted, "and the soil texture, too!" She hooked her elbow with Jeremiah's and turned to face the interior of the greenhouse.

"Where do you think your aunt would be, free-range feet buddy?"

Zora · Mar 5, 2020

Celeste heard voices as she was dragging to one side the lemon trees to make room for Verda's hives.

"Hello there," she called out in greeting as she was bending forward to push the one tree next to a persimmon tree near the side entrance.

"I will be with you in a moment, I am just rearranging a few things back here," she added as she pushed and pulled the heavy pot into place.

Kada · Mar 5, 2020

Jeremiah didn't hesitate for a second when Verda linked arms with him, hooking his elbow into hers as naturally as anything else. "I am sure she is around. We can find her- oh, there she is!"

And there she was, calling out to the two of them. With Verda's permission, he led her further back into the greenhouse where they could see and talk to Celeste properly. "Aunt Celeste! This is Verda. I think Mother talked about her and her lovely bee friends. Do you need any help?"

Flannel Katt · Mar 5, 2020

Verda traipsed to the back of the greenhouse arm-in-arm with Jeremiah, delighted to look around at the varied flora on display. There they spotted Celeste, a petite woman in extremely cute wellingtons.

"Yes, Hello, I'm- oh geez, don't move that all by yourself!" Verda slipped away from Jeremiah and practically sprinted over to the side of the lemon tree planter, sliding to a stop on the opposite side from Celeste to pull where she was pushing. "If it's too heavy for you to pick up, you really shouldn't move it without a buddy! What if it tipped over?" Verda said, a combination of not-helping-guilt and mom-friend-instincts throwing her into lecture mode at this woman who looked about her age.

Zora · Mar 6, 2020

Celeste looked up from her potted fruit tree endeavor as soon as Jeremiah and Verda entered the room where she was, and smiled warmly, happy to see them both.

"Yes, I co-...Oh, thank you!" Celeste exclaimed, surprised when Verda jumped in to help her without her even asking.

"Now ... Just a little more to your left. And just a smidge to the right. Yes, exactly like that," she indicated as the heavy planter now slid easily across the floor and to where Celeste wanted it.

"There, that's perfect," she said, satisfied. "And thank you for your timely help," she said as she then smiled at her nephew in greeting.

"But, yes, Zora did indeed tell me about you and the bees," she stated. "I am really excited to see them, and I know Jeremiah would love to help you with whatever you need. He's the family's nature lover," she explained warmly, proud of her nephew and his good-heart.

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Private Bay-Bee, Do You Need a New Home?

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