Welcome to Gaia! ::

(Roll for initiative aka bouquet)

It wasn’t a feeling that Seiram enjoyed, but he felt foolish. Here he was, slowly picking his way through the fields, carrying a bunch of mismatched flowers that really, he wasn’t sure if they even went together. Individually they were pretty, but spring was starting to turn to heat, and the prime flower season had already started to fade by the time he’d gotten it into his head to gather a bouquet. Now it was getting on in the afternoon and it just…didn’t feel complete.


“Apple for your thoughts?”


He hated to admit it, but the voice startled him, and he instinctively dropped the flowers he’d already gathered as he tensed, gearing up for a potential enemy that ended up…being a neighbor. A distant one, but someone he’d greeted before.

“Auron,” he greeted readily, “it’s been a while.”


The colorful stallion took things in. The other times he’d encountered Seiram the stallion had seemed a bit more put together, but this time he seemed almost as scattered as the random flowers he’d been carrying around. “Are those for Alexandria?”


Seiram let out a soft snort. “They’re supposed to be. I just thought she might like them, but it doesn’t quite seem right.”


“You managed to find some rare ones,” Auron offered, though the bunch he was looking at lacked cohesion, and he was rather elated that the other stallion had at least noticed that much. “Don’t the two of you have children together?”


That question made the least amount of sense of anything that day, and for that reason it was all the more concerning. “Yes,” Seiram answered slowly, “we have two. What does that have to do with flowers?”


“It’s just what they say,” Auron replied easily, then quickly noted the other stallion’s look of panic. “It’s nothing to worry about, but flowers speak. It’s a language that not everyone knows, but some mares do, and Alexandria seems like she has a range of knowledge.


“She does,” Seiram quickly responded, then looked back at the mess at his hooves a bit despondently. “And let me guess, these say something offensive.”


“Oh, nothing that severe,” Auron tried to put a note of cheer to his voice. “Sure, lilies can be all about purity and virtue, and daisies about innocence, which isn’t a common inclusion for mates with kids, but it can also signal devotion or new beginnings.”


“Flowers can say all of that?”


“Well, it looks like you also have some rare colors of forget-me-nots,” Auron pointed to the small flowers. “Those are all about memories, which makes sense considering their name.


That did make sense, but honestly Seiram hadn’t even realized that was what the small yellow blossoms were.


“And sunflowers are a good addition, loyalty and adoration is a good match for a relationship as long as yours. Though how you found one at this time of year, and white too, is pretty shocking.”


“Oh, it was just in a meadow near the river,” Seiram was studying the flowers a bit more closely, wondering how the few flowers he’d managed somehow said all that Auron said they did. “Is the white really that surprising? I mean, normally they’re yellow but I’ve seen white ones before.”

“Oh, but the white is perfect. It adds the feeling of sincerity which fits the meaning far better than yellow would.”


“The colors have meanings too?” There was an edge of panic to his voice, far more than he should feel over a simple bunch of wildflowers he’d gathered to take home, but this was getting excessive.


“Of course they do! The yellow forget-me-nots add indicate that the memories are happy, full of friendship. Pink adds joy to the devotion, and good fortune to the new beginnings.” Meaning wise, the bouquet was a lot, but nothing was bad. Then Auron frowned, his displeasure clear. “Are things with Alexandria going well though?’


“Yes,” Seiram answered defensively. “I’m just bringing her flowers since I thought she’d like them. Why does something have to be bad before you can give someone flowers?”


“There doesn’t, in fact, flowers should be as often as feels right,” Auron said soothingly, his voice pitched at a level that seemed to calm most he spoke to.

“The reason I asked is that there is no red in the bouquet. Red indicates passion and love. That the feelings from the gifter run as deep as the color saturates the petals. Your bouquet has none of that, which I would have assumed you would want to convey.”


“I haven’t even seen a red flower today.” Seiram looked down forlornly at the pathetic little bunch. “Maybe this was a silly idea.”


“There’s a meadow not far from here, just over that ridge.” Auron pointed to it with his horn. “I was just there yesterday and there were some rather lovely red hyacinths.”


“Hyacinths? And those don’t mean anything ridiculous?”


“I wouldn’t lead you astray like that.” Auron barely managed to keep the note of outrage from his voice. He knew the other stallion was struggling, though really, more stallions should bother to learn the subtle languages to properly woo their significant others.

“Hyacinths are steadfast. Sincere.”

“So combined with red that would mean my love for her is sincere?”

It seemed a bit silly to think that a mere flower would say all of that, but Auron was nodding his head like this was the most normal thing in the world, and Seiram honestly didn’t want to argue with him anymore. That, and the flowers really did need something else added to make them feel like an actual bouquet.

“Thank you for the advice, I’ll go gather one now.” As dignified as he could he gathered the flowers back into his mouth, nodding once in farewell as he headed toward the ridge.


Auron watched him go. Seiram had always seemed the good sort, and at least he was trying for his mate. Who would probably just appreciate them for the effort regardless. “Send Alexandria my regards,” he called after him, then turned towards the far more important meadow he’d originally been heading for, full of clover.