Flowerchains and Countdowns [Heng]

Heng had been exploring the place for the past two days, ever since he had made it to Manta Carlos. He had been worried that his little... accident on the boat would have rendered him blind for at least three days, but he had been able to take off his bandages earlier in the morning.

Now that his afternoon Math class was cancelled for the day, he decided to explore the park. He had passed by it on his first day, but didn't have time to drop by. Now he loped across the green lawn, noting how empty it looked while everyone was at class.

Out of nowhere, a bunch (well, it was more like three flowers tied together) of flowers flew at him and lightly bumped his nose. It seemed to come from the flowerbeds, but flowers didn't suddenly toss their heads away. He picked up the flowers and called out to the bushes. There was most likely someone there.

"Um, excuse me? Did you drop something?"

Heng looked up to face Amaranth, but almost immediately looked away. No telling when he would accidentally frighten someone with his eyes. He pretended to look over her shoulder instead.

"I'm Heng. Ann is easier to say," he pointed out. Heng approached Amaranth and held out the flowers, putting on a smile. Maybe she was shy, and that was why she was in the garden, alone.

"And it's all right! I used to have a friend who knew how to make these. I still don't know how she did it."

"Can you show me that again? I want to learn."

Heng approached Ann and sat down beside her, setting her flower chain down on the ground. He picked a dandelion from among the crocuses and shuffled through the flowers, looking for more. He didn't ask Ann about her motor skills or anything, he felt that it would be rude.

"I can help you make some with the bigger flowers, if you want?"

Heng took the chain which fell apart almost immediately in his hands. "...Oh. Uh, I can fix this." He twined the stems around each other, imitating Ann's chain. He thought he was doing it right, the first two seemed to be stable enough. He reached for a third one-- and the flowers fell apart.

"I'll... fix this." He twined the flowers around each other once again, and this time the chain held its integrity. He picked up a third dandelion and wrapped it around the last one. "This isn't so hard." He reached for one of Ann's fallen crocuses, and attached it to the end. He held out a four-flower chain to Ann for her to inspect.

"Is this right?"

Far from raising his eyebrows or frowning at the pile, Heng’s eyes lit up. “Want to make a really long chain? I don’t know what it’s going to be for, but it might be fun!” He picked up a daisy and started wrapping its stem around Amaranth’s crocus. He soon added more and more daisies, punctuating them witha crocus or a dandelion once in a while.

“And she always told me it was magic,” Heng said, without a hint of bitterness in his voice. He soon held the lengthening chain out to Ann. “Do you want to try continuing it? You might get it right this time, I can help you.”