“Oh it’s uh… it’s an Ekkunar fire-violet.” Mellka was glad of her skintone that she didn’t blush easily, so the heat under her collar could be completely secret. Violet meanings varied, but they were generally considered as an expression of love and admiration, even between friends - words that Mellka was too stubborn and proud to ever voice.
Maybe violets meant different things for Jennerit… yeah, that’d make sense, and then there wouldn’t be anything to assume from it. It was just a pretty red flower. Nothing awkward to read into it here. Nope.
“I mean, you wouldn’t think it, looking at it, ‘cos of the colour.” Shit, Mellka, stop talking. “But hey, who’s says violets have to be violet? Plants can be whatever they want to be. Just look at Miko!” Shit, shit, shit! “Anyway. You have a lot of Blissbugs to need a flower that could kill them so quick? Thought Blissbugs were sort of… on Bliss.” Smooth, Mellka. Real smooth.
“Fire-violet. Sounds… explosive, actually.”
She might mull over that gesture, at that, but Mellka and she have reached their understanding. Enough that flowers are being exchanged, apparently, which is frankly not at all how she thought their alliance would go. Still, here they are, friends.
“Well, this violet, for one,” Deande says, playing along with a smirk. “Though Miko are a fungus. Fungi, technically – as in many of them.” She’s yanking Mellka’s chain, at this point, as no one knows that better than a fellow Eldrid. “Oh, I didn’t mean that literally. It was an expression – a visual metaphor. The lotus could off an entire swarm, if someone were to toss drops willy-nilly. Not that it had! Could you… maybe slow down? Your confusion is utterly contagious.”
“Oh, don’t worry, it’s not like one of those spore plants on Ekkunar that explodes as soon as you touch it. This is definitely one of the non-spore variety.
Mellka pulled a face as she was teased - she knew what Miko was. Were. Whatever. Plurals and pronouns were confusing with people - beings - like Miko and Kelvin. Plus Deande had to jump on her Blissbug question like that. Mellka huffed, and threw up her hands before folding her arms grumpily. Was it just because Deande was Deande that she was that fast, or was it centuries of whatever Jennerit did for politics?
“So if you didn’t use the lotus for bugs, what did you use it for? Since you know what it’s capable of.”
