* GARDEN // BURNED

if you knew a lisa beck, you didn’t <3

just a little gardener from around the end of the 1800s..... nothing suspicious here.

okay, maybe just the fact that she’s in a “game” of survival to meet up with an old friend, but you know! stuff happens.

may or may not have killed a man.

this girl’s been through a lot; her father burned himself in his factory, her mother ran away with a lawyer, mother ends up dying on the operating table at a clinic, lisa gets taken into an orphanage that then turned into a hospital and got put through electroconvulsive therapy, runs away and changes her name to emma... and said father is a hunter in this game! fun times!

will dismantle any nearby rocket chairs. what’s that? there’s none here?? oh well, she’ll dismantle the next lookalike. with her little toy toolbox.

very friendly! no really, personal space is the last thing on this woman’s mind.

hunters dni. unless you’re friendly. then you can stay.

Van Helsing quirked an eyebrow at her assertion that other people had lost things upon waking up here as well.  That was…slightly comforting, he supposed.  At least he wasn’t alone.  Still, he didn’t like that his guns and his ability to even use them had been stolen from him unwittingly.  This place was hellish.

“I don’t understand the purpose of taking them away if they plan on giving them back in the end.  Although, I suppose if I did have my shotguns, my first instinct would be to hunt down the people responsible.”  He pondered that for a moment.  Perhaps he was a bit too hotheaded about the whole situation, but even Saint-Germain would struggle to keep his cool in this disturbing situation.

“If you think I can get them back, then I should look into how to do just that.”  Van Helsing nudged his foot underneath the BB gun and popped it into the air, grabbing it before it could hit the ground again.  “There’s little point in wasting all my precious ‘ammo’ if what you said is true.  I need to figure out how to get my ability to shoot back.  At this point, that might be more important than getting my shotguns…”  He was pensive for a moment.

“Have any of your friends had luck getting their things back?”

For the time being, Emma simply chose to take on the role of listening to him. She always appreciated it when people listened to her when she was talking, so she thought that he would too! It would also help her to think more clearly about what he was asking. Even she wasn’t entirely sure of how this place worked yet, so it did require some though from herself.

“ Yeah, there’s quite a few violent people here. I hear all sorts of stuff through the news! It’s quite scary sometimes  ...  “ Not that everyone here was scary! Just the ones that caused trouble. Thankfully the gardener hadn’t come across any of them yet, and she’d prefer to keep it that way too. “ So it definitely makes sense to take all that stuff away at first. Just to make sure people don’t freak out and begin destroying everything. “

Her feet began to sway her back and forth as her hands clasped behind her back after thought. She was certain she had thought long enough to be able to answer any other questions that may be directed at her! Which was a good thing, because that was exactly what she found herself being asked. “ Hmm  ...  they have, actually! I’m not sure how they managed, but I could always ask them for you! They wouldn’t mind feeding into my curiosities. “ In fact, not a lot of people would leave any of Emma’s questions unanswered.

Van Helsing watched with a discerning eye as the young woman took aim again.  She was taking this quite seriously, which was probably in part because of his slight bullying.  It was good to see someone be thoughtful with a firearm, though, as many people tend to be blasé even when carrying a dangerous weapon.  She took her time with aiming and let off another round; the can slid backwards – she definitely hit closer to the center that time.

“Alright, so you do know what you’re doing.  Did you learn in a range?  You take a lot of time to center yourself.  That’s not a bad thing, just an observation.”  Most people who learned to shoot at ranges tended to take longer to set up their shot; it was simply a less stressful environment than other types of combat training.

Van Helsing took the BB gun from her and lined up his own shot carefully.  Frankly, it was insulting that he was forced to be so careful; normally he could aim perfectly with near wild abandon.  Finally deciding he was definitely aimed directly in the center of one of the glass bottles, he pulled the trigger, only for the volley of pellets to completely miss – again.  He tossed the gun to the ground in frustration.

“I don’t understand how it’s possible, but somehow this godforsaken place has stolen my ability to aim properly.  This pitiful excuse for a firing range would normally be decimated in seconds; instead I’ve missed every single shot.  It’s like something is jerking the barrel in a different direction at the last second.”

“ Yeah, I told you already! “ Emma could lie about many things, but her skills are something she’s quite prideful about. No way would she ever lie about those! But maybe her skill in shooting was a lot more better than she thought  ...  “ Oh no, I never went to a range before! My father taught me in the woods wherever there was an opening. I’ve shot other kinds of guns before but they’ve gone  ...  horribly. “ Being reminded of how the flares in matches at the manor could end up colliding with something other than their intended target was quite embarrassing.

The gardener was more than happy to allow the BB gun to be taken from her, gaze now turning to watch him as he set himself up for a shot as well. And yet, despite setting himself up perfectly, the pellet had somehow missed the bottle entirely! It got a gasp of surprise out from the gardener, and then a slight jump when she saw the gun being thrown to the ground.

Was that not supposed to happen? It had to have been  ...  no one could mess up a shot that bad!

Van Helsing watched the girl as she turned the gun over in her hands a few times.  She was at least being careful with it, which was of some relief.  There was a significant amount of very deliberate thought put into holding the gun and then again as she took aim.  He followed her line of sight to one of the cans he had set up; it was definitely at the best height for her, and the angle was decent compared to some of the other targets.  Apparently she did know what she was doing.

She finally pulled the trigger; the BBs pelted the side of the can and the force made it slide a few inches to the right.  Van Helsing blinked in surprise as the other gleefully celebrated.  For half a second he felt a bubble of rage in his chest, but he immediately beat it down.  Actually, this was good.  It was proof that the gun did work, and it was also proof that his ability to shoot had been stolen from him somehow.  It was almost a relief.

“Hmph, indeed.  But that’s not proof of anything; it could’ve been a lucky shot.”  There was zero reason to accuse her of a lucky shot considering she clearly had experience with firearms, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity.  

“Hit it again and then we’ll prove you know what you’re doing.”  He approached the makeshift stand and nudged the can back into the center.  No point in making her shoot again if she wasn’t firing under the same circumstances.  Van Helsing returned to her side and gestured towards the can once more.

“Go on.”

One thing was different about a flare gun and this one  ;  the pellets in this one were ordinary and weren’t flares that would probably be way too close to them from this distance. But she has a lot more experience with flare guns. Being in her circumstances back at the manor, she had to get used to things other than her toolbox rather quickly. Nonetheless, it didn’t stop her from being quite proud of herself.

The gardener had even turned to look at him in anticipation, only for her smile to disappear slightly when told she might’ve just gotten lucky.

“ Huh? It definitely wasn’t lucky! It was skill for sure! “ Well  ...  very dulled down skill, but skill all the same! From the tone of her voice, she almost seemed upset with the comment, but then brightened up when encouraged to shoot the can again. This only served to prove that she was, indeed, easily amused. Who wouldn’t like to be shooting cans and stuff though? It was fun!

Now that she has had a practice shot, Emma had taken note of where she needed to aim now in order to properly hit the can and not just hit the edge. Making sure her hands were still comfy holding the gun the way they were, she began to move the gun to where she predicts would give a much better result. Once again, she took a couple deep breaths before shooting the BB gun again, the pellets having both shot more towards the centre of the can and pushed it back a far bit.

Not quite enough to push it off the stand, however. Maybe she should’ve shot it a bit more  ...

The corner of Van Helsing’s mouth twitched at her assertion that she would only be worried if he could aim.  Perhaps she had a point, but under normal circumstances she certainly wouldn’t be so flippant if she could see how he normally shoots.  Whatever, it wasn’t worth the argument.  He sighed and lowered his BB gun; he turned to face her.

“An idea that makes you happy is better than a smart idea?”  That sounded like something Impey would say right before almost getting them all killed.  “I’m not sure if you’re naïve or just stupid.”  He watched her survey his poor excuse of a shooting range with a cool gaze; it wasn’t much, but it was the best he could muster at the moment.

He stiffened when she asked if she could have a try herself.  He wasn’t worried that she would hurt herself, but was more concerned that she would manage to hit one of his garbage piles which wound his own pride.  After a moments deliberation, he flicked on the safety and held out the gun for her to take.  Part of him was praying that his gun was cursed – or something of the like – and that’s why he couldn’t aim for shit, but this would either prove or shatter his assumption.

“Just don’t waste all my pellets.”  As if he hadn’t wasted over half the small jar already.  He moved out of the way and gestured towards his targets; he then folded his arms and kept his eyes trained on her.  Van Helsing was certainly curious, if nothing else.

Even if she had known that the person she was speaking to was normally a good aim, it wouldn’t have deterred Emma in the slightest. After all, she’s seen quite the variety of people in both a good and bad way! It would take more than someone with a gun to even begin to scare her anymore. Perhaps if things had turned out differently  ...

“ Nope! Neither of those. Just very easily entertained. That’s what I’ve been told, anyway! “ Of course, that wasn’t hard to determine about her. Many things were able to excite her so easily that one might’ve thought of her as a child. And perhaps, in many ways, she was still a child as well. Alas, they were merely ways to replace the childhood that she should’ve had, but was instead taken away from her.

...  Would be the logical way to perceive these behaviours. But the gardener still sees them as ways to have fun! Nothing else.

Her excitement quite obviously increased the moment she was gestured to have a go at shooting the targets herself. Hands very quickly placed her toolbox down on the ground as she then took hold of the BB gun. Now, the only guns she had ever seen were shotguns that her father bought  ...  so it took her a moment of simply looking at it to figure out how she was supposed to hold it. It looked quite like the flare guns that another fellow survivor had back at the manor! So it should be just like that, right?

Except back there, the targets were bigger and chasing after you.

She decided to aim at one of the cans. Since it had been a while, she thought it’d be better to give herself an easier target to hit for now. But she didn’t shoot at it immediately. Oh no, even she could still remember how her father had taught her all those years ago  ...  she was just running through that again. And with a couple of deep breaths for good luck, she finally shot a pellet at her target.

@floraltools

·Savior’s Respite had, thus far, proven to be the only place Van Helsing could spend time alone.  That made sense considering it was relatively well hidden.  He imagined most people weren’t particularly interested in hanging around a sheer cliff at any rate; this place felt like it could easily become an accidental death trap if one weren’t paying attention.

He was using the empty area for target practice.  It had taken him over an hour to collect some old boxes he could use as a makeshift stand for his targets; it took another hour to find things that made acceptable targets in the first place.  Old cans and bottles were quite juvenile in his not so humble opinion, but they were the best he could do for the moment.

Unfortunately, it seemed that being dragged to this god-forsaken city had somehow stolen away his ability to hit a single target.  Van Helsing was getting increasingly frustrated as he dumped another load of BB pellets into his gun.  He had spent years training in the military and prided himself on his ability to never miss a shot.  Right now he was shooting like a 10 year old holding a gun for the first time.

He had sensed someone walking up the path towards the cliff, but was too involved in his own misery to really care.  Whoever it was stopped shortly before leaving the trail, likely watching him fail miserably at hitting one of the stupid cans he had lined up.  Van Helsing held the pathetic excuse for a sight up to his eye as he aimed for bottle instead.

“You know sneaking up on someone holding a firearm isn’t exactly the smartest idea.”  He pulled the trigger and missed.  Again.

Emma had always been drawn to weird places. Maybe that was a bad habit that needed to be fixed in a place like Spirale, but she couldn’t help herself! Sometimes she just got really bored of her current surroundings and liked to go exploring. That was how she found most small havens filled with flowers, after all  ;  one of these having been near a trail that ran near a cliff. Flowers that grew in a place like this were more vulnerable to the elements as well as the infestation of weeds, so it had become the gardener’s past-time to simply come by every once in a while with her gardening tools to see how they were getting along.

As expected, some of them had gone a little weird since her last visit  ...  but there were some that were doing much better now!

Taking care of the weeds nearby were easy as well. She was quite strong after all, even if she didn’t look like it! Something for her to be proud about. There hadn’t been any where she had checked, so she walked further up the trail and came across quite the  ...  funny sight. Now, had she ever shot a gun before? Kind of. Her father was quite interested in firearms, but she only ever got to shoot a gun once after both of them being met with her mother’s wrath.

But seeing something like this couldn’t help but make her giggle.

“ I’d only be worried if the person with the firearm had a good aim! Or maybe you are a good aim and are just tricking me  ...  but right now? I’m not worried at all! So I think it was a good idea. Maybe not a smart one, but one that makes me happy. And that’s the best kind of idea! “ On the contrary to what she should be doing, the gardener came closer instead of moving away and begin to seemingly examine the target practice area. In no way was she experienced with setting this up, so she wouldn’t comment on the setup. It was probably the best he could do, after all. But she was quite intrigued on how he couldn’t shoot any of his targets  ...

it’s that time of year; spiralefes is here! so i’ll be popping out a lil starter call for spiralefes as a treat. so feel free to give this a like and i’ll drop your muse and emma in one of the places she’ll be likely to be seen at! if you have a specific place in mind that isn’t listed on emma’s places-to-be, feel free to tell me in the replies or through im! now onto...

emma’s places-to-be!!

fibonacci ward; no place like home decor, a roarin’ borealis skating rink cotes ward; ophiuchus tree tower, nerf jousting, maze by pixie light, candle lighting for the lost, star-den tea party golden ward; spirale firewalks show, you would not believe your eyes archimedes ward; candy camouflage the intraspace; spirale double dash!!: painbow road the mistwood; the bun-der dome the swirling gulf; a (hot) spring in your step sunset circuit; zero g’s, zero cares the city of glass; hot grill summer, peculiar petting zoo

The Lovers

  With how calm she was given the present situation, Vanitas naturally could not help the way his interest in her had piqued, and that fact became all the more apparent as she replied to him, stating oh-so casually that she excelled in destruction. His brows raised upon hearing those words, intrigued by what events or actions she could be referring to, but he knew he could not simply ask her to elaborate. Such was not the point of the conversation.

“It’s hard to imagine someone like you having a talent for destruction, but I suppose we all have our vices. Regardless, these statues of yours are clear acts of creation.” He uttered a short laugh at her following comment. Despite her attempt to be polite and assure him that he did not have to listen to her speak about the flowers, her tone and body language conveyed how much she truly wanted to talk about them. “Not to worry! I want to hear about them, I assure you.”

As she explained the various flowers she could teach him about, a hand raised to his chin in thought as he scanned over the statues. Aside from the obvious ways the flowers differed in shape and color, he did not know much about each of them individually, so he started broadly, a certain face hanging in his mind as he spoke: “Let’s see. I’ve heard that certain flowers are meant to represent love. Teach me about a flower that could be given to someone as a way to express one’s love.”

With one who was skilled in dismantling the very rocket chairs that were threats to them back where she had came from, she liked to consider this as more of a destructive method rather than her doing something logical! Because every time she broke a chair, there was always someone chasing after her not too long after! Which happened to be the same here too  ...  except she didn’t actually destroy anything!

Not yet, anyway.

“ I guess so! I mean, I know someone who made sculptures! They’re not here anymore  ...  but I hope they’re okay! I’d have asked them for advice if they were here, but sometimes you just need to make do with what you’ve got! “ Oh, but creating something like this is more complicated than destroying it. How easy it would be for her to destroy these creations of hers, but that wouldn’t be nice! And also might give off the wrong impression if she chose to do so now. Emma would think about it later. “ Really? Okay! But feel free to stop me if I talk too much, I can go on for a while! “

A grin formed on her face the moment she heard the word “love”. Of course, she had expected something like that. It’s the sort of thing people consider buying flowers for in the first place, aside from having them as decoration. “ You’re right! Certain flowers by themselves can represent love, like roses! Well  ...  red roses. I could go on and on about how a rose’s colour changes its meaning. For example  ;  pink roses are given to show gratitude or admiration towards someone! No one said love had to just be romantic, after all! Purple roses have different meanings depending on their shade, lighter shades are more to do with “love at first sight” and true love while the darker shades are more to convey a long-term love! Ooh, but my friend’s favourite rose is a yellow rose! They convey friendship, but can I tell you a secret? “

Her voice uncharacteristically lowered itself, placing a hand to the side of her mouth as if whispering.

“ I recently gave one of my friends red-tipped yellow rose seeds to give to that other friend! It still conveys friendship, obviously, but the red tip hints that it’s turning into something  ...  more. Isn’t that exciting? Not a lot of people I know would use seeds for a confession! When they bloom, of course. Or when I’m asked about their meaning  ...  whichever comes first! Oh, but you didn’t ask about that, did you? Sorry! I ramble a lot! “ Hands began to clutch together, somewhat embarrassed at how much she had been going on for. Sure, she had been asked about it, but it still didn’t feel all that great when realising she had just been rambling about loosely related topics!

  Although he originally had no intention of staying in the museum longer than he needed to, he and several other curious visitors lingered too long and were ensnared by the mysterious properties of the building. He had long lost track of his meandering partner but trusted him to be able to take care of himself, so Vanitas focused on dodging the various hostile pieces of art and waiting out the curse upon the gallery. He pondered whether a curse-bearer existed at the heart of the present chaos, but he could find no evidence of such in his wanderings throughout the building.

Having drifted to a quieter part of the museum after running through mobs of people and sentient art, he slowed his pace to catch his breath and eased against the wall for a moment of reprieve. He did not linger there long before a voice called for his attention, and he glanced up to see a girl running at him with odd amalgamations of flowers waddling after her; and before he could utter a word, she began explaining her creations, excitement bursting at the seams. How funny! Any irritation he felt concerning the present state of events melted away under the girl’s radiant enthusiasm, and a hand raised to his mouth to suppress a laugh. This land had no shortage of colorful people!

“… Heh! You made these yourself, hm? They’re delightful.” The uneven shape of the statues reflected a beginner’s hand, but the specific arrangement of the flowers was quite thoughtful–even he could tell as much! Easing himself off the wall, he stood straight to properly face her.

“But of course! Do tell me about the flowers! I don’t know much about them, see, and what better way to learn than from someone just as lovely as they are!”

If anyone were to pay close attention, Emma seemed much too calm throughout her visit to the museum turned into something from a horror novel. Well, when you came from the equivalent of a death game played time and time again, it kind of becomes numbing to you! So it wasn’t so unusual to her that she was still willing to find some form of entertainment amongst all the chaos  ...  but maybe she’d have been better off trying to draw or something.

Not to imply that she didn’t love her flower statues! She just wished she could’ve made them look more  ...  professional. They looked like something a child made!

“ Mhm! It’s probably easy to tell that though, huh? I was never good at arts and crafts! Destroying things was more my talent. Still is too! But noooo way am I destroying these! “ Besides, even if she wanted to, she’d need to figure out how to do that. A lot of things were getting destroyed  ;  she had seen it happen firsthand but never bothered to ask questions. She liked to destroy things on impulse, so she thought that was what was going on! How wrong she was. “ Aww, there’s no need to be that kind! You can always say no, you know! “ Despite her kind response, Emma didn’t seem to know how to react to that comment.

Her face had a smile on it but her body language showed unfamiliarity with being complimented.

"Oh, God, you're bleeding. You're bleeding a lot."

"Stop squirming, I'm trying to help."

"Hang on, I got you."

"Just lean on me, I'll help you walk."

"We should get that looked at."

"Don't tilt your head back, you'll make your nosebleed worse!"

"Just sit up and breathe, ok?"

"Eh, you'll be fine. I think. Maybe."

"What ever you do, don't go to sleep. Stay awake."

"Oooooo. That looks painful."

"Oh, thank God! Don't scare me like that!"

"How the hell did you do this to yourself?"

"Hey, hey, stay with me, ok?"

"You stopped breathing."

"Oh look, it's alive."

"Take deep breaths, you'll be fine."

"Arms shouldn't move like that..."

"What happened to your leg?!"

"Yep, that's broken alright. How'd you manage that?"

"Here's some ice."

"You're welcome, by the way."

"Do you need an ice pack for that shiner?"

"Yeesh, you look like shit."

"Wait, you were mugged?!"

"Is that a stab/gunshot wound?"

"Ok, ew. I'm not cleaning that up."

"Easy, easy! Just lay down, you hit your head."

"You probably have a concussion, so I wouldn't be moving arou d too much if I were you."

"We thought you were dead!"

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does it hurt?"

"Can you walk on your own?"

"You're getting blood on my clothes!"

sunrise

In a normal scenario, it would be impossible for the gardener to be able to walk around with all arrays of flowers and plants following after her. But this was no ordinary place! That much was made obvious when she had seen multiple people have several different reactions to whatever was going on in this museum  ...  but this made showing off the flowers a lot more easier! No need for a basket to carry them around in, statues of them could just follow her around and she could even point to them too! It was quite odd how calm she was in spite of all the chaos that was happening around the museum now ...

But this was a dream come true for her! All she needed to do was find someone to have the first demonstration on. Even someone like her would want practice with something like this  ;  this was the first time she had done something like this!

And unfortunately, these sort of things often seemed to happen to the first person she happened to glance at. Thus, Emma was now proceeding to run at the unsuspecting stranger while yelling in joy to get their attention.

“ Hey, hey! “ Hands waved at him as she came to a stop, plant statues trying their best to waddle after their creator as she offered a bigger smile than the one currently on her face. “ Hi there! Sorry for running at you like a crazy person, but I wanted to show someone what I made, and I glanced at you first, so! Ta-da! “ Hands then proceeded to show off the statues, looking very proud of what she had made. “ What do you think? I’ve never made statues before so they’re not the best, but what I do know a lot about are flowers so that aspect is as good as I can make it! “