“a description of your OC by someone who hates them” for Ally or Flames?
Flames was away when Rynn came to the manor.
It was a routine checkup to make sure her lungs were working right, but it still meant an overnight trip into town—one carriage trundling away from the manor, one trundling towards—and, subsequently, enough to make Ally feel like she'd just swallowed a sour candy.
Rynn was much sweeter, and she seemed genuinely, but so had some of the other instructors, before they'd left. And they always left.
Ally was busy twisting pieces of dying grass between her fingers, sitting in an unshaded spot in the meadow—the others had gone with Dearborn to the nearest pond for a swim—when a shadow fell over her. She looked up.
Rynn's short pink hair turned almost auburn in the light. "Mind if I join you?"
Ally shrugged. "Knock yourself out."
Rynn flopped down beside her, wearing silver the way all Order members did but with longer sleeves underneath a cloak. "You didn't want to go swimming?"
She'd worn only a thin tunic, goosebumps forming on her arms. She held back a shiver and focused on her stupid piece of grass. "Maybe a little. But it's fine."
Rynn's lips twitched. There was a faint rustling sound, and then warm cloth was covering Ally's arms, as Rynn draped her larger cloak over her.
Ally didn't know what to say, finally looking at her. "Oh, um. Thanks."
"Of course." Rynn's brown eyes crinkled. Joshinese like her, Ally remembered—the eyes, the dyed hair, and Rynn had never seen Joshin, either. "I'm not just here to teach you, y'know. I'm also here to get to know you. Look after you. Like Jossef and my aunt."
Rather than sitting cross-legged, Ally went to stretch her limbs out instead, unfurling. "I guess that's true. Is there, uh, anything you're curious about?"
Rynn picked a blade of grass for herself. "You never did plant manipulation before either, right?"
Before. Ally let her pieces flutter from between her fingers. "No, I... never really thought about it. I've never really been into plants, or gardening—Bill and Jamie are, though. Dearborn always likes to have fresh flowers in the house, and Flames will draw them sometimes."
"Hm." Rynn leaned back on her hands. "Is the Infran of Fire usually away?"
"Sometimes. The others go into town more often." She felt herself souring again and shook her head. It was for her safety that she didn't. She knew that. "Flames more often for doctor's appointments. Her past life died of a lung disease, I guess, so they worry about her—even if they don't have to."
"I'm excited to meet her when she gets back."
"Yeah, she's... she's really talented."
"Even I know that. But—what's she like?" Rynn clarified.
"She's..." Perfect, Ally felt like saying, a headache forming; the sun was too hot, too bright. Why hadn't she sat in the shade again? Flames had always been unfairly perfect, and noble, and nice, even when Ally wasn't—which was most of the time—and—"She's warm," Ally said, looking away from the curious yet gentle curve of Rynn's smile in favour of standing up. "Let's go sit in the shade."
Rynn followed two steps behind. "You won't be colder there, too?"
Rynn had only been here for three days—it would take longer than that for her to know when Ally was lying.