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 Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 4:33 pm
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She nodded thoughtfully, "it probably is then. Unless it's something intensely sinister trying to trick us or something." A pause. "But that wouldn't really happen, would it? Something sinister wouldn't smell this inviting, would it?" She sincerely hoped not, at least.
Before she'd even processed his words properly, she was already making a noise of protest; "no! What if something happened to you?!" She looked worried at the thought - she hadn't been too worried before, but increasingly the way he was reacting was making her wary too. Still, she didn't want anything to happen to him.
"You are absolutely not going first. Either I go first, s-seeing as this was my idea or, or! We go in together." Resolutely she nodded once and squared her arms, ready for protest and more than willing to weather it - Zac was her first friend here, her best friend here other than Madam Nibbs and she was not risking him. End of argument.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 3:32 pm
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"Fine, you have grumbling rights," her attempt at a stern face melted as a lip twitched in the beginnings of a smile. His further words made her forget any idea of smiling though, as her brow furrowed and she nodded seriously. "I understand," she didn't really, but she certainly thought she did.
And then she squared her shoulders and marched along the wall, steps decisive as she looked for an entrance and kept an eye on Zac out of the corner of her eye, just in case he stopped following, because she wasn't entirely sure her bravery would hold up if it was just her and Nibbs.
It didn't take long before they came upon a vine covered gate of wrought iron, though. "Åh," Isobel exclaimed softly, "that's lovely." And very promising - plants always made her happy. "I wonder if there's more inside?"
Head full of worry and anticipation mingling, she laid a hand on the gate and pushed it open with one hand. It went surprisingly smoothly, not a squeak or a hint of resistance; it just opened, almost welcoming her in. One last look to Zac, eyes hooded and biting her lip nervously, she put a hand on the little Madam to steady her and then she headed in.
And promptly lost all words. "Wow..." She gaped, turning from side to side as she beheld all the wondrous colours of the garden they'd entered.
There were plants of all kinds, flowers, trees, shrubs and everything in-between mingling in the most becoming way possible; plants as she'd only dreamed about or read about in books, things she knew weren't supposed to be real but apparently were. "This is- this is amazing! Do you see this?!"
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Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 5:03 pm
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"I didn't think anything this beautiful existed in this, um, 'other' Ashdown," she said, marvelling at all the flora she'd never seen before. "Honestly I don't even think I could imagine something this lovely in the normal world! It seems very, um - magical?" And it did, because some of these plants were obviously not your normal everyday garden variety - and yet some of them were, the normal and the abnormal mixing beautifully.
And already her worries were discarded, lost to the wonder of what they'd discovered. Madam Nibbs had her head stuck out of the bag, sniffing and eyeing their surroundings as Tibbie slowly twirled around, trying to take it all in. She'd never seen anything this amazing in her entire life!
"Åh!" She gasped, pointing to a nearby bed of flowers, "these ones are like my head flowers! Um, my buds? Or my flower crown?? Anyway!" Gesturing with much excitement, she trailed closer, sending Zac a beam as she passed him. "I wonder how many plants this place holds? Somehow it seems like it'd have all the plants in the world here!" Or maybe she was romanticizing the garden she didn't even know, but it was hard not to when she already liked it this much and she hadn't even seen a fraction of it!
"Åh! And how big do you think it is? I suppose if it's magical it could be any size - teensy-tiny or humongous! Or maybe somewhere in between," cocking her head to the side, she considered the flower bed before her like it'd have the answer to all her questions. When a moment passed and it didn't, she looked back to Zac with a brilliant smile, "should we go exploring?"
She was nearly vibrating with excitement, shifting on her feet and wringing her hands - it was very obvious that she wanted to answer to be 'yes'. That or she needed to pee.
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Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 7:24 pm
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He had to laugh softly at ‘head flowers’, it was just amusing to hear that as the world for her new perpetual flower crown.
“Well, I think your, head flowers get a bonus by being on someone so sweet.” He grinned. He glanced around them then though, trying to estimate the size of this strange garden. He’d already dubbed it ‘the Secret Garden’, because of course he did. It was just too good to resist that particular title.
Her enthusiasm was ultimately what tipped him over the edge. He stared at her solemnly, about to say No, they should really hold back but it was the shifting feet and the wringing hands that made him go against his better judgement.
“…Ah…gods.” he sighed. “Alright, but we’re going to do this carefully alright? Anything odd and you don’t think I’ve seen it yet, you tell me alright?”
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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2016 3:03 pm
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Isobel blushed beet red at the compliment, making her golden freckles stand out even more. "That's not fair!" He shouldn't throw nice words around like that, a girl might get the wrong idea - but as it was she just blushed, smiled shyly and scuffed a toe against the ground.
For a moment she really thought he'd say no and they'd have to go find their way back to the normal town, but then he sighed in the most elder brother-like way she'd ever heard and acquiesced. Tibbie celebrated with a 'whoop!' and clapping her hands as she did a small, almost dancing jump; Madam Nibbs dug her claws into the bag and yowled loudly at the action. "Åh sorry, sorry!"
Obligingly she petted the tortie, trying to make up for the mis-step with small cooing words of endearment and gentle fingers. After a few moments of appeasement, she looked back up to Zac with a wide smile on her face; "of course! I'll, um, be really really careful! For both you and the little Madam, right?"
She was almost humming with energy still, surveying the garden to find out where to start their adventure. "There's a path here, d'you think we should follow it?" And then she continued, not waiting for an answer: "I think we should, because surely if there's a path it's been planned to the best, um, features of the garden? What should we even call this place? Åh! And if it's like the stories, we'll be safe as long as we're on the path, right? That'd be good too!"
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 3:07 pm
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"I like the Secret Garden much better; Other Ashdown Garden makes it sound so stiff and formal, like we're writing a textbook or something," she made a little face at the thought before beaming at him again. "And secrets make everything more exciting! Except when they're terrible and make everything horrible, but apart from that they do!"
She was glad he was lightening up the longer they stayed here, though; probably that was the beauty of the garden at work, turning even the most wary mind with its joyful nature. Or at least that was her theory.
"Yes, let's!" Stopping her gentle ministrations on Nibbs, she leisurely set off down the path, checking often to make sure Zac was following. It'd be no good if he wasn't, after all.
Still she couldn't help but be distracted by the obviously supernatural plants around them; they passed tomatoes with strange faces on them, trees that looked like people screaming, things she'd not seen in any book or movie about magic. Some of it made her shudder, moving just a bit faster to be away from them and back to the pretty flora; some made her linger just a little longer for a closer examination. And she was mindful not to touch anything, just in case.
"Do you think some of these plants could ever grow in the normal world?" She asked curiously after a while.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 8:38 am
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She nodded thoughtfully, humming in agreement to his words. "I think you're right - they probably do need a healthy dose of magic to exist. Still, it'd be neat if some of them could pass over!" A longing glance towards a particularly pretty flowerbed nearby, and then she was looking back to Zac with a cheeky grin, "but can you imagine what people would say if their tomatoes suddenly grew faces? Although come to think of it, isn't collecting things like that a hobby for some people? Probably not quite things like these, though..."
She stared at the apple in his hand, one hand going to nervously pet Nibbs at his suggestion. Try it? That was... that was a bit terrifying, honestly. "But... all we've seen of eatable things have looked a bit, um, dodgy to say the least. Not very inviting. Unappetizing?" Babbling and a bit lost for words, she sent him a doe-eyed glance. "It, um, might be better not to eat that thing I think."
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