A Flower By Any Other Name

Flower was practically vibrating with how excited she was. "Look!" She showed the notepad and pen. "Mister Damon gave them to me! I can write down things that happen so I don't forget them, isn't that great!? Ah! I have to write down that I got them!" She rushed to the kitchen table, hauling herself into a chair, and immediately began to... doodle in the notepad. She wrote a bit, stating the day, and that she'd been given the notepad, but most of the page was a childish drawing of herself holding her new present.

Monica felt oddly warm seeing Flower so happy over such a small thing. Many children may have enjoyed drawing but she hadn't ever seen such enthuisasm and happiness for recieving such a simple gift. It was very endearing in its own way.

The drawings certainly help. They were childish and not well drawn but adorable much like the owner.

She giggled shaking her head turning to Karin when she entered. "Me and Flower were going to go out and get her some new clothes when she was done cleaning. Do you want to come with us?"

Karin just grinned. "Sure, why not? I'd love to help, and should be fun, excitable as she is."

It wasn't too long before they finished and got out the door with Flower in tow. Monica(and everyone else) was amused by her antics as she put a lot of energy in the room where there had been none. They went to a small clothing shop, though Monica had been here a few times. It was owned by a nice woman named May Funano, and while she wasn't a big owned company, she did have some quality stuff in there.

The moment they came in and the bell jiggled they heard a voice in the back.

"Just a minute please! I'll be right there! And you stay put!"

A moment later May came in, blinking at first before smiling. "Monica, Karin, what a pleasant surprise. And who's this little cutie?"

Karin grinned, nudging Flower forward. "This one here is Flower. She's staying with the family, at least until we can find her parents. So, we are going to need a wardrobe for her. Cute as this dress of hers is, she needs more to wear." Flower just looked up at May, waving shyly.

May grinned to this. "Nice to meet you Flower! My name is May. You know, I have a daughter around your age, maybe you two will become friends."

She got up from crouching down as she wandered to a section on the left; articles of children clothing laying about. "I think I may have a few things in mind. We have dresses and all kinds of style. Why don't you look around a bit, Flower? I think buying your first set of clothes is awfully important."

"Where is Miranda?" Monica asked, looking around.

"Oh. In the back with Dysis." May said. "She'll be up before too long."

Flower blinked, then began wandering around. She had no idea what she was doing, but Karin and Monica would help, she was sure.

"Just pick something you like," Monica said pointing towards the front. "See these? This whole section is for children around your age. Anything you want, go ahead but not too much." She didn't want to get her spoiled, but it would be nice to treat her. "If you don't know what you want, Karin could help."

Why Karin in particular? She was after all a huge cosplayer and liked different outfits so she did have a eye for things.

May excused herself, citing she'd be right back before heading into the backroom again when she returned would be in for one hell of a surprise. In a white sun dress was Lady Sinera of the Valkyrie, though it would almost be hard to tell it was her at all when she was in civilian clothes and not in her armor.

Predictably, Monica was a bit star struck.

She also had no clue what to say what so ever. Valkyrie were something that was idealized by many young girls, never mind someone relatively famous like Lady Sinera.

'OhmygodohmygodwhatdoIsay'

She'd punch herself if she could and May was leading her over!

"We'll, before she left I told her a bit about you since you're a fan." May grinned.

Sinera looked to Monica, to Karin then to Flower, the last lingered just slightly and for a moment there was a brief amount of pain there but it was gone before anyone noticed. She smiled. "So you're Monica, its nice to meet you. And you two are if I may ask?"

Karin was clearly surprised. "Lady Sinera... this is definitely a surprise..." She shook her head, chuckling. "I'm Karin Littner, it's an honor to meet you. I apologize for Monica, she'll recover in a minute. This is Flower." Flower looked at Sinera, blinking.

"Valkyrie... aren't Valkyrie really strong girls that fight a lot? But you're so pretty..."

Sinera smiled faintly. "Thank you. You're very pretty yourself Flower, and when you get older I'm sure you'll live up to your name; you already are now. I'm a bit jealous. Hm. We do fight a lot, not as much as we used to thankfully the world is more peaceful so our strenth isn't needed as much anymore. Protecting the races of Midgard-ah, sorry earth is one of our main duties. And cute little girls like you."

She turned to Karin. "Karin Littner? Related to Vargus Littner? It's a honor to meet you as well. You certainly owned your own stripes instead of relying on your family fame to do the work, and for that I can respect."

Flower blushed, smiling brightly, while Karin smiled as well. "Thank you, the means a lot coming from you."

Sinera smiled at Flower who seemed a bit shy. While she didn't know her, the child's..spirit for lack of a better word was much more pure then she had seen in a long time. More then that, Flower gave off the same feeling of people who had done great things. The last time she had this king of feelin ranged from King Authur to Loraine who was now very much a adult.

What legacy will you bring to this world little one?

It was then she came to a decision.

The old Valkyrie pulled out a medallion. "I want to give you this, Flower. If you ever feel scared and you think yourself or those you care about are in danger, merely concentrate on that and call my name. The heart will know, it always does in those situations. Then I'll come as fast as I can. You can also just use it to talk to me if you ever need my ear." She looked to Karin and Monica. "..Assuming you're all with it. I don't want to presume."

Monica snapped out of her stupor. "No, no of course not."

Flower was clearly confused, but she seemed to grasp the importance of this. She took the medallion gently, watching Sinera. "...Thank you, Miss Sinera..." She looked to the medallion then, looking it over, and smiled softly. Karin just grinned and gave Sinera a thumbs up.

Sinera gave her a more warmer, gentle smile before rising up. "You're welcome little one. You keep that heart of yours and you'll be fine."

"Um, small question," Monica started. "Do other Valkyrie come here?"

Sinera smiled. "Plenty. I know Sophita and others come here from time to time. I apologize for the short visit, but I have to get going." As she was about to leave, she glanced back more at Karin and Monica. "I do not know what Flower's future holds, but I feel there's some great potential there. All the times I have felt it also meant said person usually attracted attention, I advise you be on your guard. Be well."

May watched her go then smiled at Flower. "Wow. I'm jealous Flower. Sinera must really like you to have given you something like that, must have made a strong impression on her."

Flower's brow furrowed in confusion. "But I didn't do anything..."

"Sure you did. You were yourself, and that's all you needed. Now come on, we'll get back to finding you some new clothes." Karin took Flower's hand, smiling. "Come on Monica."

May helped the best she could, but mostly let Karin help Flower out with the clothes and mostly just stood back for now. That was when Dysis and Miranda came; the later was looking around curiously before spotting Monica and the group.

"Hey Dysis, Miranda." May greeted them. "Finally join us in the wide open space."

Flower's reaction to Miranda was rather amusing. She looked confused at first. "Ah! You're tiny like me!" Karin just chuckled, shaking her head.

"This girl..."

Miranda was confused. "Ah, tiny? But why wouldn't I be tiny? We're kids.." The Dhampir practically a question mark over her head, then seemed to shrug it off and went to Flower smiling brightly. "Hi! My name is Miranda! What's your name?"

Flower could only smile. "I'm Flower! It's nice to meet you, Miranda!" Karin was somewhat surprised that Flower didn't call her 'Miss', but figured it must be because they were both children.

The Dhampir smiled at this. "Nice to meet you Flower! Do you want to be friends? And I really like your ears; they're cool. I wish I had ears like that."

At first she thought they were headphones but it became apparent to the other little girl they were attached.

Flower blinked, placing her hands on her 'ears'. "You do? ....Thanks! I like yours too! ...Oh! Yes, I'd love to be friends! Do you want to help me clean?"

"Flower, most kids don't clean for fun. I think you should see what she wants to do. Not right now though, we still need to get you your clothes... actually, maybe Miranda would like to help, hm?"

"I like cleaning!" Miranda clapped happily.

May chuckled shaking her head. "..Miranda has always been like that, if she's not getting dirty playing with bugs she's cleaning things. Not the usual but its her and wouldn't trade it for the world."

"I think they're going to give us diabetes." Dysis dead panned.

"Don't be silly Dysis, you can only get that from sugar." Miranda nodded and after a moment took Flower's hand. "I have to show All the clothes! Mommy makes the best ones!"

Flower grinned, happily letting Miranda drag her off. Karin just stared after them, then glanced at Dysis. "No, I think you have it right, honestly. Those two are far too sweet..."

It wasn't too long before they finished, Miranda happily dragging Flower along and showing her the clothes. It seemed her mother had rubbed off her that way as she was a rather..adorable and excitbale little saleswoman.

When they were done and paying for their clothes, Miranda turned to Flower. "What school do you go to? We can hang out. Miss Karin has a really fun class."

"That's the thing," Monica said. "Flower doesn't go to school, and doesn't unless she wants too. It would be completely up to you Flower. But if you do, you can hang around kids like Miranda who are around your age."

Flower was surprised, but smiled, nodding. "Okay! ...Wait, would Miss Karin be my teacher then?"

"I'm sure we can work something out to make sure you're in my class, sweety." Once again, Flower began... doing that weird thing with her arms. She tended to wave them around a bit erratically when excited, it seemed.