strangeness and charm [ROSIEPOSIEWOSIE]

Sighing, Lena walked in the park. She could not feel anymore worse right now than she could any other time of her life. She could remember visiting this park as a baby, when she went around in a stroller most days of the week and her maternal grandparents were still alive. It was odd how people so carefree can give birth to people like her mother. Her aunt Ekaterina was like them, and she had secretly visited her today without anyone's knowledge. That was partly why Le was so miserable; after a visit to Ekaterina Vartiainen, everything seemed rather dull, even roller coaster.

She walked by the park, barely noticing anything around her. She was entranced by a beautiful pink carnation. So much that she would send it to a certain someone by owl and sign her initials at the bottom. Too bad she wasn't interested enough to do that.

Rose was wandering around the city park. While she was wandering she was thinking how lovely it would be to make friends here. You're a freak nobody would ever make friends with the likes of you a voice that sounded like her bastard of the father said in her mind. She unconsciously growled and shook her head trying to shake the voice away, even in death her father still haunts her. She sighed as she stopped in her tracks and looked about.

Rose found herself at the entrance of the park. She made a strange face as she saw someone looking at a pink carnation. She sighed as she noted the look on the strange girl's face. Look you can't even make friends with her the voice said. Shut up she thought and for once the voice quieten. She walked over to the girl tilting her head. She reached forward and tapped the girl's shoulder "Umm Hello?" she said nervously in Russian yet the accent was gone.

Lena turned around to face the person she had been faced with. She seemed nice, she supposed. But she could as well be deadly if she wasn't careful. Though the blonde Uchitel thought that it was safe it was safe to go along with the kind, quiet, shy facade this girl was going with for now. It had to be.

"Hello," she replied in a flawless Russian accent from years of practice, smiling with what was hopefully a kind smile. She then scanned the girl's body out of habit and added, "It's a wonderful day today, isn't it?" She didn't really feel that way, but oh, the things one does to try and make conversation.

Rose smiled kindly at the girl, but there was this nagging voice in her mind telling her she knows this girl. Rose shook that voice away when he heard the girl ask her something. She made a face when she heard. Wonderful? How can this day be wonderful? she thought. Rose decided to say her thought out loud "Honestly, this day makes me feel like shit" she said bluntly not even caring if she had said a bad word.

Rose sighed as she remembered something. And then that son of a gun voice was back Freak can't make friends or even be nice it said. She sighed and looked at the girl "I'm sorry for how i spoke" she said apologetically yet with a bit regret. She hated how her father had always even now made her do as he says. "Bastard" she mumbled out loud without knowing.

Lena raised an eyebrow skeptically when the girl swore. She didn't mind the swearing, but for a girl who had seemed so shy and quiet could actually swear. Well, it made Lena's other assumption that this girl was deadly seem all the more accurate, if that made much sense. It probably didn't, but who cared? "Why would you want to apologize for swearing?" she questioned, tilting her head to one side. "Swearing is not as bad as people make it out to be, you know." She chuckled again when the girl had muttered another swear word beneath her breath. "I heard that," she chuckled. "Anyways. What's your name?"

Rose blushed a bit then shook her head "I guess you're right" she said uncertainly but as she thought about it people swore every time she just didn't do it all the time only seldom, especially when her father was concerned. "Oh and as to why I apologized mama always said that swearing was bad" she said fondly. Whereas her father was a brute, her mother for her anyways was perfect. She cared for her and dare i say it even loved her.

Rose blushed yet again at the indication of getting caught swearing. "Sorry" she said. She smiled then and held out her hand "Rose Ann Lucinda 2nd Year Uchitel" she said introduced herself. She lifted an eyebrow at her "And who might you be?"

Lena raised an eyebrow. What was it with mothers and swearing? Even though she had been swearing ever since she could talk or mouth words as foam came out of her mouth, but even now she still yelled at her to use some kinder words. Obviously, Lena being who she is, she didn't listen to her mother's words on that matter, and continued swearing like a sailor every single day.

"You're still going to have to swear one day, y'know," she replied calmly, nodding at the girl, "Rose. What a nice name. I'm Lena. Lena Vorstenbach. Third Year Uchitel, or Fourth after the summer."

Rose eyes widen as she heard her name. She was pretty popular in Uchitel along with a few others. She grinned "So you're the famous Lena Vorstenbach" she said grinning. Rose blushed and smiled "Thank you for the compliment by the way." she added.

Rose directed her attention back to the flower the girl was paying attention too. Huh! What'd ya know... A pink Carnation she thought smiling. She glanced at Lena "Isn't it lovely?" she asked looking at the flower.

Lena chuckled. "Awh, I'm not that famous," she replied modestly, blood rushing towards her cheeks, "or am I?" She winked playfully after the end of the sentence. "I'm not as scary as everyone makes me out to be, though, trust me," she mused, nodding at Rose's remark. "Bitte," she replied, a German phrase meaning 'you're welcome.' She hasn't spoken German in a couple of days and already she was missing the rough cadences on her tongue.

Lena nodded, staring back at the flower. "Yes. It's a lovely flower indeed," she muttered, her eyes resting on the flower for a couple of seconds. "Do you know what they mean?" she questioned.

Rose chuckled as she saw Lena blush and smiled as she winked. She was a bit surprised however that she could speak German admittedly Rose knew only little of the German language so she sighed in relief in her thoughts when she recognized the word.

Rose tilted her head to the side a look of confusion gracing her face. "I was not aware they had a meaning, as you call it." she said then smiled as she added "Can you tell me though?"

"Flowers have meanings," Lena replied firmly, her tone almost angry, "I thought everyone knew that." If there was anything Heini Vorstenbach contributed to Lena's lexicon of knowledge that she actually liked, it was definitely the language of flowers. She stared endearingly at the pink carnation and plucked it gently from its stem. "Pink carnations, they mean that you will never forget someone." Nearby, there was a coral honeysuckle. "This means I love you," she explained to her new friend.

Rose hanged her head noticing the angry tone Lena had used. Really her father and even mother had used that tone with her and ever since then she was afraid of someone using it. She watched as Lena plucked the Carnation from the stem and smiled at its meaning. She then looked around and noticed another flower- a coral honeysuckle- which Lena said the meaning was 'I love you'.

Rose smiled then suddenly remembered something. "I wonder why i only knew of this now" she said with a laugh "My name is practically a flower" she added then paused. She looked at Lena with a grin "What does the Rose mean?" she asked

Lena laughed. "It's a rather obscure art," she replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and staring endearingly at her flower, stroking its petals gently, "only a few people care about their meanings anymore. I'm one of them." She looked at Rose for a second and stared back at her flower. "This is a perfect specimen," she went on, "see how evenly pink the petals are? These are perfect for sending them to a loved one." She went on staring at the coral honeysuckles, trying to find one that was perfect.

Rose frowned a bit as she noticed her other question was ignored. She however smiled as she noticed Lena loved flowers. She nodded as she did notice the carnation was a lovely pink. She blushed however at the thought of sending flowers to a loved one. She stared at the carnations sighing softly. Maybe I should get one for mum. she thought then shook her head.

Rose decided to ask her question again "What does the Rose mean Lena?"

Lena paused for a moment, wondering for a moment on how to explain this to her friend without over complicating things. "Well..." she began quite hesitantly, "there are so many different types of roses... a-and, rosebuds have a meaning, and bouquets and individual flowers have their own meaning too; it's complicated." She then stared at the bright red rose next to the patch of honeysuckles. "That means 'I love you', but I'm sure you know that already," she added, turning around to see a patch of white roses. "Those mean innocence. Put them together..." She plucked a rose from each patch and put them next to each other. "And they mean unity."

Rose smiled and said slowly as she felt the tip of the red rose "I love you" then the tip of the white rose "Innocence". She tried not to cry when Lena said "Unity" she repeated almost sad. She had always wondered what her name meant. She shrugged and looks at Lena "What do you like, other than flowers i mean?" she asked "If you don't mind i mean" she added quickly.

Lena could tell that Rose wasn't feeling all too joyful anymore, which made her want to to ask her how she was. But she had better answer her question first. "Of course I don't mind you asking! Not at all! Well," she began, "I like setting blind dates, weaponry, languages and a whole lot of other stuff." She laughed lightly before pursing her lips and immediately asked her friend, "Are you quite alright? You don't look too good."

Rose placed a smile on her face "Blind dates huh? I've never heard of weaponry" she said pouting then grinned "Languages are a bit hard but they're interesting." she winked at Lena "Some runes are in other languages they say" she said happily.

Rose's smiled dropped however when she was asked that question. She was normally left alone when she was feeling sad. "Well you see.." she began not knowing what to say "My mother was the one to name me" she paused trying to think but "I miss her" was the only thing she said.

Lena gasped. "You've never heard of weaponry?" she exclaimed, wrapping her flowers in a piece of paper. "It's things like, um..." She wondered about a softer way to explain things without freaking her out, but she couldn't find any soft enough. "It's like... um... daggers and knives and learning how they work and stuff like that." She shrugged her shoulders, like it was no big deal.

Smiling sadly, Lena replied, "Well, I'm sorry. Did anything bad happen to her. Don't worry about me spilling, Rosie. I won't tell." She pressed a finger to her lips to show she was serious, her eyes brimming with curiosity.

When Rose heard that Weaponry was about, she almost fainted in happiness. Though people may see her frail she really did like weapons, especially bows and arrows.

Rose's hair started to turn a deep blue with white highlights, sadness, she shook her head as her eyes began to take on the color of aquamarine. "Umm" she said slowly "My mum died when i was little" she began "I only have little memories of her and father.." she paused saying the word father venomously "Well, I sometimes remember them in nightmares though" she said.

"Awww..." Lena sighed, walking towards her friend. She thought of a few careful words to say before putting an arm around Rose. "That's sad. I wish I could help. At least... well, at least you know... they care for you, right? It's better than having parents who are alive that want you dead." She smiled a wobbly smile, trying to show Rose she was okay. "How are those nightmares, hmm?"

Rose smiled when Lena placed an arm around her. "My mum did" she said "Not much my father" she added sadly.She looked at Lena and smiled apologetically "I'm sorry to hear that Len." she paled when Lena mentioned her nightmares. She shivered and said "Bloody and Dreadful"

Lena nodded, trying to show that she was listening - which she was. "That's... upsetting. What was your mother like?" she questioned, noticing how nice Rose's smile looked on her face. "You can talk. Talking helps you release our feelings, you know," she remarked kindly. "I know, Rosie. I've tried."

Rose smiled hearing those words come out. She took a deep breath hoping Lena would never tell a soul about this. She wasn't one to blurt out things like these. "Well..." she started "Mom was always kinder than Dad" she said as her eyes softened and turned to a light yellow. "She was always worried about me and when dad was gone she was the most fantastic person i've ever met" she said happily "But when dad was around" she said scowling "Mama never noticed me, she acted cruel so papa won't get mad at either of us" she scoffed "More like not get mad at her though" she said as her hair turned black all of a sudden. She smiled sadly shaking her head "I can't blame her though papa was always a steam head."

Lena could only smile at Rose's words and nod. "I know it's hard, but you're going to get through this, Rosie Posie. At least you've tried to truly vent about your feelings. I know it's hard, but you can do it." She looked around for a chrysanthemum and placed it gently on Rose's head. "There," she whispered, "doesn't this look lovely on you?"