#like Marigold is graceful? now she's clumsy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

salveden · 1 year

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A small gift basket rests outside her dorm when she next arrives. It's a sturdy basket, meant for gathering herbs from the forest. Right now it serves to hold a few more handpicked gifts.

Nestled inside is an old, well-loved naturalists' journal on various flora and fauna native to Fódlan. (The diary may be considered out of date by some, but the techniques developed are invaluable.) Next to it sits four small, green candles, meant to fit inside a lantern when exploring the forest late at night.

Two expertly crafted flower crowns--one of daisies, the other of marigolds--encircle a note.

"To Midori--

May these little gifts bring a smile to your face! Enjoy the Winter Festival!"

MIDORI TRULY FEELS as young as she is when she rushes out at the call of each winter envoy having completed their task. flat heels click recklessly against the floor as she hurries to her dorm. there’s a certain rush of her heartbeat that almost startles her, if not for the situation she currently sprints through. a little hop stops her stride halfway into the next step, right before her door. what little apothecary does not expect is the sight of a gift basket resting outside of her quarters, neatly placed beside the lower hinges of the door. she stares at it for a moment, then two, before her excitement simmers into a lovely medium of joy. no longer does her fingers shake like they once did, but do not mistaken that she is not elated at the idea of a gift!

she grabs the basket handle and carries it into her dorm, setting it onto her bed with a special carefulness. though excited, midori doesn’t touch the gift basket’s contents until she’s freshened up and redressed— a strict routine after all of her noon classes, when her evening schedule has been cleared. finally, she’s upon her bed in a small jump and the basket rests in her lap. it’s a decent weight, she realizes. perfect for carrying it for the duration of a walk; which, she later finds out, is its purpose.

the basket, though, is not the gift. or, the only gift, rather. inside of it lies a journal, one midori slowly goes through, drinking in each line she skims over. the first page tells her all she needs to know: a naturalist's journal with detailed notes on both flora and fauna. shock causes her to misread the entire line, until she rereads it twice over. “ no way... ” she whispers, turning the journal over in her hand to study the signature on the back. “ this is priceless! i can’t believe i have it... haha! holy sweet cakes, i can’t believe it! ”

and the little apothecary is so invested in the journal, so amazed at the winter envoy’s thoughtfulness, that she almost ignores the other gifts! but her knee raises and the basket tips, pushing the candles to roll and hit the side.

a laugh escapes her, “ they’re green! ” midori sets down the journal in favor of grabbing a candle, turning it in her grip as she looks it over. judging by its size, it’d easily fit in a— “ oh! oh wait wait, i have a lantern! ” the basket is dropped onto the bed as midori quickly slides off the mattress, only slightly clumsy as she moves towards the chest that sits across the room. beneath its heavy lid, sits a lantern, one she brought from home. it takes only moments for her to fix the candle inside its structure. and when she does, midori’s expression brightens like a dance of fireflies. the lantern she held could only carry one candle at a time though, which was good, since it gave her an extended time with the others.

and still, the gifts keep coming! eager, midori places the lantern on her nightstand and hops back onto her bed, pulling the basket closer to see what else lies inside. not just one flower crown, but two?! her winter envoy was truly too kind! before her hands can reach for the crowns, they brush against parchment and it is the note that she raises instead. a gentle smile graces her face, far sweeter than any treat her cousin could whip up.

“ thank you, mysterious winter envoy. ” little apothecary says, carefully folding the note to slide into her skirt pocket. she’d have to find them later, when she was finished going through the journal for the second or third time!

#toawinterwonder #〳◌ ⁀ « moss bandages; bittersweet aftertaste » ( WRITING. )#〳◌ ⁀ « pah! pah! prodigy hands! » ( INBOX. )#{{ the midori muse is not strong right now.. sorry for the quality #{{ but anyway WAAAA THANK YOU FOR THE GIFTTTT #{{ winter envoy you made midori's life 20x easier now that she has this journal

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cartoonfangirl1218 · 6 years

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Campechana Conditioning

Author’s Note: This little fic was inspired by The Big Bang Theory’s The Gothowitz Deviation episode where Sheldon tries to train Penny. So I thought of how fun it would be to do it to a certain frenemy, emphasis on the enemy pair from EoA. And lo and behold, here it is. With the bonus of Elena realizing how insane the adults in her life are. Thanks to @pizzansunshine with her thoughtful editing and endless enthusiasm once more.

“It’s a shame that you have to continue your duties. You just got back this morning.” Mateo said, strolling arm and arm with Elena through the via mercado.

“I know,” Elena shook her head with a sigh, allowing herself to lean closer on Mateo’s shoulder, snuggling closer to the soft felt of his robe. “But remember, we all got to sleep overnight on the ship from Cariza to here so we can be ready to work once we docked.”

“I know. The trip was definitely fun though. It was nice of King Joaquin to allow me to help out at an in progress Maruvian evacuation.” Mateo said.

“Well he said you were a great help at the dig, and they didn’t know what they would have done without you doing the levulan spell to lift all the heavy boulders. My favorite part was the hypnotist show. I will never ever forget the image of Gabe crawling on all fours like a gecko.” Elena laughed.

“Or squawking like a chicken” Mateo added.

“Or Esteban..” Elena began when the doors to Doña Paloma’s emporium opened and said Esteban was waiting for her to finish the sentence with a stern eyebrow raised.

“I’ll leave you to organizing the gifts King Joaquin sent. I’ll pick you up in two hours?” Mateo smoothly intercepted.

“An hour or even half an hour. This will be very quick.” Elena assured him as Mateo gave a gentlemanly bow and kissed her hand before loping away.

“If you are done consorting with your boyfriend, you have work to help attend to.” Esteban said which Elena shook her head at her older cousin’s stiff attitude.

He approved of Mateo she knew. He had even said that Mateo was the best choice to tame her wild impulses. And she knew that he had enjoyed spending a nice, relaxing vacation in Cariza with the family, but now he was all back to business.

“Alright you two. We have 7 boxes and I want to be done before dinner so it’s best to split this up by Princess Elena sorting the items by value, you will be doing inventory and I will set the up in the shop or send back to the palace.” Doña Paloma instructed.

“Oh Doña? I thought- I thought Julio would be helping us.” Elena exclaimed in surprise to see the statuesque store owner, standing impatiently among the stacks of boxes that the royal family had brought from Cariza.

“Julio,” Doña muttered with no small amount of disdain into that one name, “Has important Magister duties to attend to with the other merchants so I will be assisting you.”

“That’s great” Elena managed to say with some cheerfulness under the older woman’s annoyed gaze and Esteban’s sarcastic eye roll.

“Let’s get this over with.” Esteban said and opened up one of the boxes to pull out several wine bottles.

The three worked in relative silence with a few interjections from Esteban that glass blown jewelry that Elena had thought were a couple of thousands of pesos were only worth a hundred, three hundred at most. Then Doña argued that he had no eye for price and Elena had been correct the first time. They were about to gear up for one of their infamous arguments when Elena compromised to price it at 3 thousand.

After finishing with unpacking the boxes, they started to decide on a window display to highlight the Carizan goods which Esteban favored the theme of the coming Día de Los Muertos.

“I suppose it is a good idea. That way we could show off the shawls as autumn clothing.” Dońa agreed so Elena started to gather up some blankets to use.

Esteban turned away and reached into an elaborately patterned pastry box with the Cariza Kingdom’s seal ontop that Elena hadn’t noticed when she entered. “Would you two like a chocolate drizzled campechanas?” He offered.

The two turned around and looked at Esteban who was wearing a innocent friendly smile. It was was an odd turn-around from his annoyed, and impatient behavior that he had the whole time they’d been working.

“Are you okay?” Elena questioned soothingly. “Have you’ve been working too hard?” “What’s wrong with you?” Doña snapped suspiciously. “Were you hit in the head?”

“I’m just offering campechanas. Nothing’s wrong.” Esteban drew back the box with a look of offense.

“Why do you have campechanas? We bought a lot of sweets from Cariza at home.” Elena asked.

“Too many sweets I think. So I brought one here so we can finish it up.” Esteban answered, “Again. Campechana?”

The two woman looked at each other and took a campechana. “Mmm delicious.” Elena happily savored the flaky crust and melted chocolate. Campechanas were one of her favorite pastry next to pan dulce.

“Not bad.” Doña commented, discreetly licking her fingers behind her fan.

Then they settled back to business with Elena choosing which crystal altar would best reflect rays of cool orange and yellows to match the garlands marigolds that Esteban and Doña were draping around the windows.

“Doña, can you hand me that hammer?” Esteban requested. Once she complied, Esteban offered brightly, “Go take a campechana.”

“Sure.” Doña stepped down from the ladder and grabbed a sweet from the box.

They finished making up the window display of a blue crystal altar, draped with marigolds and cushioned by blankets with two mannequins displaying the latest styles from Cariza.

Elena looked out the window but didn’t see Mateo anywhere in sight so she decided to take a seat and enjoy the ice tea that Doña brought from her office.

Elena sipped and smelled the crisp autumn air that was starting to seep in the air as the sun started to set. She wasn’t worried about Mateo’s lateness, Mateo could often get very caught up in his potions and spells in his workshop.

Esteban had been idley looking out the doors when Doña drew two chairs next to Elena, “Would you like a seat, Chancellor?”

“Thank you. Have a campechana.” Esteban opened up his pastry box and placed it on the table, letting the inviting smell waft through the room.

Doña shrugged and took one as he took one for himself.

“I love the beginning of this season. Not just for Día de Los Muertos to come, but for the cooler weather and starting up the fires.”

“I’m glad Día de Los Muertos is coming too. And being able to spend it freely and openly.” Esteban shared a fond look with Elena, thinking of the upcoming holiday. They were so many years he had wanted to visit his aunt and uncle’s altar, but Shuriki....Shuriki was finally gone for good.

“If you want, I can sell you some discounted glass-blown ornaments for your altars. I-well- I always liked those best for the altar. My abuelo was a glassblower and he always said it each one could represent a person since not one could be the same. Or I could even take you to a workhouse and you can make your own. It’s beautiful to watch. Almost like magic, but with fire and glass. Even if you don’t buy anything, it would be nice to see. Like a little break from all the work you do.” Doña suggested.

“What a nice idea. Campechana?” Esteban offered with a feline smile.

Elena’s ear perked suspiciously at that sentence. This was like the fourth time Esteban offered a campechana to Doña.

A fond smile graced Esteban’s features, “That reminds me of Día de Los Muertos when we were younger, Elena. I think I was seven and you were six. We had stolen several cookies from the kitchen and as we were running down the halls like maniacs and I tripped over my own feet and the empanadas flew and hit the valuable glass-”

“Nothing’s change. You’re clumsy then, clumsy now.” Doña commented snidely.

Esteban glared at her, “Are you going to continue the commentary or can I tell the story?”

Doña rolled her eyes and mimed zipping her mouth, then Esteban handed her a campechana.

Elena’s eyes darted between them. Was he...

“As I was saying. The empanadas flew out of my hands and hit the priceless Castillo vase belonging to our bisabuelos and-

“Esteban, a word. Let’s see if Mateo arrived yet. Come on.” Elena pulled Esteban to the door.

“Are you giving her campechana every time she does something you like?” Elena whispered incredulously.

“This is true.” Esteban stroked his mustache, “I talked to the hypnotist before we left Cariza and he had given me the idea. Most people get hypnotized because they want to. It feeds to their expectation, so they’re easily susceptible. But another way to get people to do what you want is conditioning. Reward them everytime they do something you like. Praise them.”

“Give them campechanas..” Elena said slowly before snapping at the realization, “Esteban, you can’t just train her to do what you want.”

“I clearly can. That was the first I got her to voluntarily shut up in years.” Esteban smirked, “Just think Elena, how much easier our lives would be. Think of it not changing her personality, but improving it. She’ll be like when I first met her. More modest. She won’t be thinking of just her personal gain. Actually willing to agree with something I say. She won’t be the high and mighty, arrogant, pretentious, disrespectful, self-centered thorn in my side! It will be like a new era.”

“But morally....” Elena protested, “I guess it would be nice if she was kinder but she’s still a person. She should be herself.”

“Mhhmm. It’s good that you are listening and analyzing the situation through instead of going with your first impulse. When we sit back down, would you like a campechana?” Esteban asked.

“No I would not like one!” Elena retorted, ignoring how as she said it the smell of chocolate just seemed to go under nostrils to tempt her for a bite, “Not like this.”

“Let’s just see what happens” Esteban relented, “In a week I could probably get her to be my personal assistant.” He sighed wistfully.

Elena gave him a withering stare.

“I could. But I won’t. Although it would sort of be deserved after all I did for so she would stop teasing me about the time I got drunk in Nohrborg and I---” Elena looked at him curiously, “Nothing. Story from Shuriki's time. You don’t need to know. And you don’t need to ask Doña about it either. It’s just a nice reprieve from her usual annoying personality. She’s been so hostile to me lately. It’s like she blames me for the fact that Julio is the Magister of Trade now.”

“But you are the reason. You orchestrated the whole thing so Julio could win.” Elena said.

“Yes, but she doesn’t know that! At least I don’t I think so...” Esteban retorted.

Elena shook her head as they both walked to her seat, giving Esteban a disapproving look as he continued with his Día de Los Muertos story.

The conversation changed to other topics and Elena was giving a hearty argument for why folk dancing was the best dance for festival celebrations. “After all folk dance is based on tradition. And celebration. And they each tell a story.”

“No, I’ll have to agree with Esteban on this one. Tango for festival celebrations. There is something much more meaningful about the tango. Not only you dance with your feet, but you dance with your soul.” Doña said and Esteban looked at Elena with an air of superiority.

“I’m glad we agree on something. Doña catch.” Esteban threw a campechana and Dona caught it midair in her mouth.

“Delicioso. I’m murdering my waistline but it is so good.” Doña murmured guiltily.

Elena looked at Esteban’s self satisfied grin and had enough. She pulled Doña to the door before he could protest. “I have to tell you something about why Esteban is treating you this way.” Elena blurted.

“Oh yes I was wondering- Why is Esteban being so nice? Did he get hit by a rock or hypnotized or what?” Doña interrupted.

“Uh well no. I mean we did go to a hypnotist show but that’s not what-”

“That explains it. I hope whatever it is, it doesn’t fade away too soon. Anyway, as long as he’s like this I might as well make him nicer.” Doña said confidently.

“Make him nicer?” Elena questioned warily.

“It’s fine. I’m not going to hypnotize him. I’m just being nice to him. You know, if he is nice to me, I’ll be nice back. Reward his behavior.”

“Reward his behavior?” Elena’s mouth dropped open in disbelief. “You’re conditioning him?”

Doña looked surprised that she caught on so fast, “Don’t think of it that way. Think of it as...um what’s that phrase? Kill him with kindness. Oh Elena, I know he’s your cousin and you love him and all that, but think about it. Don’t you want to change some of his personality traits to make our lives easier. At least I want to. I want him to be the good, respectful, thoughtful man he so rarely shows. Instead of the egotistical, impossible, insufferable, spoiled, pompous jerk he always is. Maybe I could even convince him that I should have more power than Julio.”

“Uh huh” Elena nodded, unsure of what she could even say to that.

Doña seemed to take that their private conversation was finished and went back to her seat, “Esteban, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but you are an excellent tango dancer, and maybe you can show off some of your moves tonight. There’s a dance happening at the community center. If you stayed, we could talk about business just like old times. When I really think about it. So many of your ideas were just... brillant.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Doña. I’m glad you’re seeing things my way.” Esteban said looking directly at Elena as he reached over to feed Doña an campechana, his eyes sparking with victory that he thought he won. Doña gave her a small wink as if the two of them shared a secret in having the upper hand over Esteban.

“You two really have no idea” Elena thought to herself as she watched the two continue their little subtle game of cat and mouse.

The bells to the emporium doors jingled as a familiar curly-haired face peeked in. “Sorry I’m late querida. I got distracted by a new shapeshifting spell and then I couldn’t quiet change back when I was on the ground in the form of a rat. But I did. As you can see.” Mateo said, gesturing to his very-much human body.

Elena eagerly got up from her seat and grabbed a few campechanas for herself. “This was a..very interesting workday afternoon. Um bye. I’ll tell abuela that you will be out, cousin. Adios.”

She took Mateo’s arm and once they were safely outside the door, started to laugh to herself, “Wait till you hear what an afternoon I just had, querido.”

“What? Did the two fight the entire time?” Mateo smiled knowingly.

“Oh quite the opposite.” Elena smiled seeing Mateo’s confused look, “Have a campechana and I’ll tell you all about it.”

#my fanfic #my fanfiction #elena of avalor #eleteo #elena castillo flores #mateo de alva #esteban flores #doña paloma #chancellor esteban

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