Open By Any Other Name

[Elliot Briar]

Open After @Rose Holland

Elliot had reached a point in deliveries where wandering the halls hoping to spot one of the Hollands seemed best. He was starting from the bottom and making his way up, hoping to run into someone on his list before he started hitting the towers and all their stairs. Thankfully, his luck seemed to be holding up when he spotted Rose Holland not too far ahead, probably on her own deliveries. "Rose, hey," He said, jogging a bit to catch up with her. "I've uh, got something for you." He said with a small smile, resettling his flower crown. Older students often still made Elliot nervous, but he'd always been less wary of Rose after how nice she was when he first met her last year.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was pleased by how the deliveries were going so far. She had delivered many roses herself, and had seen that others were doing the same. She always felt very proud of this event, seeing the love and happiness being spread around the school. It was bittersweet, knowing this was the last time she would be able to do this. But with the happiness came a worry that things would go wrong. And when one of the deliverers approached her, she had a moment of worry before she realized he had come up to her to give her a rose. She beamed at him. "Oh! Thank you Elliot!" She said happily. "And thank you for signing up to deliver as well!"

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot returned Rose's smile, though he wasn't quite up to matching her enthusiasm. He'd always somewhat envied how comfortable older students tended to be about the school and hoped it was something that came with time. Handing over the red rose and note to Rose, Elliot wondered briefly what Wild Patch might be like without her and felt a bit sad at the thought. It'd been a bit scary to join the club, but Rose and the other club members had made Elliot feel welcome very quickly. "No problem," He said softly. "It's been.. an interesting experience," He settled on. It seemed a better word than 'terrifying'. "Are you nearly done with yours?" He asked, nodding to Rose's own collection of roses.

Spoiler: Note

Dear Rose,

Hey! I can’t believe it’s been a year now since I last sent you one of these. That was such a disaster, but I’m so glad it turned out the way it has! Every day I get to spend with you I learn something new about you to love, and I’m so happy I get to do that! Thank you for being you!

Love,

Kauri

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose's smile grew at the sight of the red rose, which matched the roses she was wearing in her hair. She figured it was from Kauri, and was eager to see what he had written. But first she listened to Elliot as he spoke, not wanting to seem like she was ignoring him. "Yes, I'm nearly done." She said. "Is it interesting in a good or in a bad way? If there's anything that can be improved, please let me know." She wouldn't be able to run this event next year, but she would be able to pass on any information. Then, she glanced at the note, reading it quickly. It was a sweet note and she was careful to fold it neatly when she was done. It would be fun to spend time with Kauri after the roses had been done. It had been fun to organize it together too.

 

[Elliot Briar]

He nodded when Rose said she was nearly done, unsurprised she would probably be able to tear through her deliveries pretty quick by year 7. "I'm getting there, I've got two of your sisters still," He said. He wasn't worried about Alice, but he'd never met the other one, Diana.
"No, uh, in a good way," He said hurriedly when Rose asked about his 'interesting' comment, not wanting Rose to think he wasn't enjoying himself or anything. He knew how much work she and Kauri had put into organizing all this and wanted her to know he was glad to help out. "Getting to meet lots of people. It's tiring though. No one should be allowed to have classes in the towers on rose days." He joked. Hopefully it sounded convincing, because it was at least partly true, all this walking was tiring.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose smiled brightly when Elliot said he had two of her sisters on his list. "If you need help finding them, I can probably point you in the right direction." She said, though she had the feeling most people knew who the Hollands were at this point, at least enough to recognize them. She was glad to hear Elliot meant interesting in a good way, she didn't want anyone to have a bad time delivering roses. She nodded in agreement when he said it was fun to meet lots of people, and she laughed at his joke. "I'll ask Professor Alicastell for next year." She joked back, though her smile dimmed a bit as she remembered she wouldn't be there next year. She waved at Elliot, suddenly wanting to get out of here. "I should get going. Busy day." She said quickly. "Good luck with everything else!"