not that he didn’t L O V E his puppy , angel , with literally every fibre of his being , but jacob had started to walk her even more since the explosions , just a few days back . it was so clear to him that he was constantly beating himself up for the death of that one , young girl he’d sworn to protect , and then f a i l e d . HE was a failure , really ; he wouldn’t go so far as to say he loathed himself , but . . . he was SAD , there was no other way to describe it ; he was a simple lad , a boy of few words , fewer thoughts , and the fewest of memories . and now a new one of them had been imprinted in his mind , permanently , the sight of a corpse in his hands and , finally , he understood the townsfolk’s anger towards him for the murders he’d supposedly committed . death was ugly , and the fact that it THIS was intentional was the most morbid of all . but there had to be a way to make it better .
the results so far had been lacklustre but , still , he would try . he’d gotten accustomed to charity work now , donating all his time and energy to rebuilding the once beautiful town , now desolate and desecrated with someone’s hate . he wasn’t sure who , or why , but he definitely wasn’t sharp enough to try and figure it out , so he left the mysteries to the pros , and the rebuilding to himself . he’d been working with an ironsmith for about a year now , picked up on some basic techniques and was trying to trust himself enough to have confidence in his ability to create , and not destroy , something .
so when his eyes befell a redhead , coaxing flowers into growth , jacob was instantaneously pulled towards her . never mind the fact that he had the attention span of a squirrel , there was something almost intriguing about how the plants actually LISTENED to her , how just that little inkling of colour seemed to reanimate the entire concave where the bomb had exploded , leaving nothing but ashen skies and monotonous debris in its wake . so jacob , deciding he was sick and tired of all the grey , bent down next to the girl and , with a bright smile , extended a hand to introduce himself and his pup .
❝ hi , i’m sorry to bother you ! this is my little girl , angel ,
and i’m jakey ! i don’t mean to intrude , it’s just that i couldn’t help
but notice how pretty your flowers are , they make our town look so
much nicer , so i have to ask . . . would you mind ? if i help , that is ?
you can say no ! ❞
°✧ — The more the flowers began to bloom under her fingers, the more Juniper had to remind herself to show a little restraint. Even though the ability to move a seed into a flower in the matter of seconds came as easy as breathing to her, she was still a fan of traditional gardening. She loved to dig her hands into the dirt, get down on her hands & knees with sweat dripping down her back. As cliche as it sounded, it felt more organic to her.
As she pulled her hands away from the cluster of daylilies, another, unfamiliar hand was thrust in front of her. Juniper couldn’t help but YELP, jumping back from the plant life & grasping at her chest, leaving a few specks of dirt on her cotton tank top.
❝ Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry, you scared me a bit, ❞ she replied with breathless laughter as she shook his hand, ❝ But thank you so much ! I take pride in my ability to cultivate flowers like I do. ❞ She didn’t mean to sound haughty or vain, but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she excelled in at least one area of her life. ❝ I wouldn’t mind the help at all, no ! In fact, as much as I love this little project of mine, it’s become a bit tedious to get done, y’know ? I’m Juniper, by the way, or Miss Juniper down at the academy. ❞
At her feet, Angel, her name was, was sniffing her ankles & flip-flopped feet, making her smile down at the puppy dog. ❝ Ugh, I love puppies, and yours is especially cute. Now, if you really wanna help, we can start by picking up the rest of the rubble in that corner over there. I managed to clean up most of it, but I wanted to get started with replanting as fast as I could. ❞
On the day the bombs had gone off, Juniper had been at the academy, which had been untouched as far as she knew. She’d heard word from the other teachers what had happened, & while she’d been unharmed, she was still upset about what had transpired. She’d spent time consoling some of her students who came in the next day, still shaken & covered in new scratches & bruises.
As quickly as the thoughts entered her mind again, Juniper brushed them away, offering a smile towards Jakey as she began to walk towards the rubble, motioning for him & Angel to follow.
