[PRP] What's This? - Aisha x Hollandaise

[The Semblance of Unity]

Hollandaise had quite literally stumbled into something one day. Something interesting. Something open. Trapped in her daydreams (really, this section of the school desperately needed flowers and wouldn't a vine look just right crawling out of those artfully placed cracks?), she had leaned against a wall, fingers idly tapping. Suddenly, the wall shifted, moving more creakily than the eldest warder. For Hollandaise, whose reflexes were not the quickest, this meant she tumbled into that opening.

It was dark, and musty and she thought she heard the spider's tiny shrieks of alarm. Web-covered, she hauled herself up and out and pulled the secret door nearly closed, leaving it only open enough for her fingers to rest in the crack. She blinked for several long seconds before snapping a picture with her eyePhone. After careful consideration, she sent it to a certain ghoul who seemed very sensible.

iloveyouDIE

Text
To: Aisha - Glowbug
From: Hollandaise
Do you want to go adventuring?

attachment: secretdoor.jpg

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Aisha had been in her room, leaning over an essay that she was failing at writing because writing essay was pretty much the worst. The undead ghoul literally jumped when her phone buzzed on the desktop but she smiled to find a message from a new friend.

the semblance of unity

To: Hollandaise - tree lady
From: Aisha

a+ yes. where r u?

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Hollandaise leaned against the wall (not against the weird door), and texted back. She was hoping Aisha could come before someone else saw the passageway. Deszeld wouldn't have fit inside it either. Sometimes, she thought grudgingly, being smaller was alright.

iloveyouDIE

Text
To: Aisha - Glowbug
From: Hollandaise
Just right oustide the library. Do you have a flashlight?

 

[iloveyouDIE]

the semblance of unity

To: Hollandaise - tree lady
From: Aisha

be right there

Aisha didn't have a flashlight. She didn't often find need of one with the glowiness. Also the dorms didn't use torches but florescent lighting on account of the general dislike of fire there.

She ended up empty handed when she snuck around outside the library and found Hollandaise. She'd been peeking into every corner and behind every bush (and occasionally making sure the trees weren't the girl) but eventually found her.

"Sorry I couldn't find any flashlight.. and fire seemed a bad idea.." She sheepishly smiled. "But maybe I can coax my loa to help us?"  

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Yeah... I'm not fond of fire. Trees and all-" The leaves in her hair seemed to tremble ever so slightly. "Your loa should be enough. If not... ah, I'm not adverse to just some fumbling around in the dark." Hollandaise laughed, a small, breathless thing. She was excited to explore. The Elders back home encouraged such pursuits - a know your own forest sort of thing. Amityville, in a way, was her new forest. She made a face (unbecoming of a warder, she was sure) and ducked back into the opening. A rush of cool air greeted her; the sound of bugs skittering across unused walkways echoed.

"Come; I wonder where this leads." There were stairs that went down and down and down and a sort of dusty disuse had settled over everything. Hollandaise shivered in the dim gloom. Alcoves dotted along the stairs, most seemed to be empty, some glittered fitfully. But the darkness grew the longer they walked.

"Maybe I should have had you go first, Aisha."

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"Here.. lemme.." Aisha tentatively touched Holly's shoulder, trying not to hurt ot mess with her many leaves and twigs. She had no idea about the other ghoul's species or culture but would hate to hurt her in some unintentional way. The passage was narrow but she squeezed against a wall to shimmy past.

Aisha took a deep breath and huffed. Her loa flared between her lips, just a moment, to light up several feet in front of them. "Cool.." She grinned.

"This looks old right? How'd you find it?" In the meantime, she brought out her phone and let the screen light up her feet.

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She flinched when Aisha touched her - the ingrained reaction a result of many lectures (horror stories) from Gwynthirikrenori'kelyr about how creeple would want to pull out the flowers that grew along her shoulders. She knew such stories were not true, likely not true, but it could happen by accident, And, by accident or not, it would still be painful unless they were very, very gentle. She held herself very stillas the ghoul squeezed past. But when Aisha breathed out an orange glow, she gave a creaky hum of appreciation.

"I knew you were a good ghoul to ask along. You seem very sensible. Though, I wish I could do something like that-" She stumbled and caught herself against the wall, palm scraping. "This door suddenly opened as I was reclining against it; I nearly fell through." Following Aisha's example, she pulled out her own phone, the blue-white light contrasting oddly with the loa's orange. "What do you think this passage was used for perhaps smuggling? Or illicit lovers' trysts?" Hollandaise's voice trailed off for a moment and it was clear she was lost briefly in thought. Or rather, daydream. A young monster, loving someone forbidden (exactly who escape her at the moment; Hollandaise was fanciful, but not as creative as she could be)....

"Lover's meetings...." she murmured, then looked up, away from her feet. A fork yawned in front of them. Both sides looked the same. That is, they were both dark and gloomy and spider's webs were strung across the paths. "left or right?"

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"Sorry.." Aisha looked genuinely apologetic. She'd try to avoid touching the other ghoul again.

When they came to the fork they paused. "I dunno... Could be any of those things. Or just kids wanting to get out of the school buildings without someone noticing?" It did seem to be going downward though.

"Which way...? Eenie Meenie..sickly glo.." She went back and forth. "Catch a wolfman by the toe.. if he hollars.. kill em slow.. eenie meenie sickly glo." Wolfmen didn't usually approve of that version but Aisha, not being with a wolfman, thought it would slide.

Her finger pointed right and she once more flared her loa before continuing.

"A bit of a romantic?" The zombie smiled.

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Hollandaise waved off Aisha's apology. Her flinching was her own problem and not the fault of any other. She smiled at that silly little rhyme though, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "Have you told that to a werewolf yet?" As poetry went, it was simplistic, a child's stringing together of words.

"Hmmm," she paused, running her hand along the dusty wall. "Not romantic, I suppose. A dreamer? I like making up stories about other creeple. What ifs, maybes, guessing their secrets. Why; are you secretly as hopeless romantic who longs for some boil to love you just so-?" Hollandaise laughed lightly, her hand pressing heavily against a dip in the wall.

Something poked her. With a small frown, she brought her eyePhone near the protrusion, It was a sort of shiny attributed to metallic things. Her fingers picked at the dust, the dirt packed around it. "Aisha, look." Inside the wall was a ring, silver with a piece of amber in it. "Do you think someone stashed it here? I......" Hollandaise wanted it, so her fingers tugged and tugged.

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"What? No I.. I dunno.." She grinned and blushed, which seemed to make her cheeks glow orange under her face paint. "I don't have a lot of experience with things.. maybe I'll meet a boil.. or a girl.." Aisha shrugged. "I never knew anyone outside my village and my Papa... but even he found a boilfriend so.." There was something envious in how she said it, a bit bratty even. She didn't like telling people she was only 2 years old, for fear of being treated like a child. But in some ways, the zombie still was a child.

"Oh.. yeah!" She crouched to look at the ring closer and helped Holly pull it free. "Maybe one of your lovey couples? With all the dirt though, I think it never got retrieved." Aisha stood. "You should keep it!"

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Thanks," Hollandaise murmured at they pulled the ring free. It was dirty and tarnished and very, very old, but it fit her finger. "Hah, now I'm part of the story, whatever it is." She turned to Aisha, the blue glow from her phone casting funny shadows across her hoodie.

"You'll get a boilfriend, Aisha. You're pretty and sensible and while you aren't green, I'm sure you could have your pick of creeple. In fact," her eyes narrowed. "Do you have a boil you have your eye on?" Hollandaise loved stories and love was the most most dramatic story. She idly kicked a rock down the passageway.

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"No.." Aisha shrugged. "Or ghoul.. or... IT." 'It's' were also an option in Halloween. "We're supposed to figure out which one we like right? That's part of school?"

That's what the magazines said but she didn't know. Boils and ghouls were good looking but beyond that she hadn't made many connections.

"What about you?" The continued down the hall until it ended in a small round room. There was a broken down table with crumbling paper and an old lantern. "Do you like someone? Maybe that ghoul..? Des?" The dragon had just given off possessive vibes.

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

If Hollandaise had been drinking anything, she would've choked on it. As it was, she had a brief moment where she simply choked on air. "Deszeld? No, no! She's large and green and beautiful - she is simply the first friend I've made here. Although sometimes she stands very very close to me and I do not like that." She frowned and tapped the wall thoughtfully, mentally cataloging the creeple she'd met. Van was energetic and a little strange, Zar was an absolute tool, Amarus might be redeemable... she sighed. "I haven't even met any prospects for any sort of love thing. Besides, I doubt that a ghoul or boilfriend would be appreciated by the elders back home. It's not a part of school as far as my elders are concerned." They would consider time spent on such things as a waste of resources and energy.

"Do your parents want you to find a lover? We should get you one, Aisha," Hollandaise laughed lightly, stars in her eyes. She moved around the table to stare at the lantern, touching it gently. The paper was glanced at curiously. "Hmm, shame but I can't make out any words on it..."

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Aisha looked embarassed for suggesting it that Des and she were lovers. "Oh.. uhh sorry. She just like claims you and is always right on you and stuff... Sorry.. jeez now I feel stupid."

The zombie ghoul hovered her phone over the paper but it was blank, or at least so faded it was illegible. The lantern seemed to actually be electric, if not a bit dusty. It sort of ruined the romance of the tunnel. She flipped a switch on the side and a faux flickering firelight appeared. "It's electric!" She tapped the flame-looking bulb and picked it up.

"Oh uh.. no. I don't think my papa thinks I'm old enough for any of that. He's my only parent except for Jeff." Her mouth crunched into an obvious frown. "He's papa's boilfriend."

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Hollandaise blew out a creaking breath. "Don't be sorry - I know. She's everywhere! But most of the time, I don't think I mind it... I guess." Her fingers skimmed once more over the papers, tips tracing letters that weren't quite there. The warm electric light was startlingly different from the faint blue of their phones and the soft orange of Aisha's loa.

"Well," she said evenly, "if you think you're ready - you are. Do you not like Jeff? In m-" my "-the forest, every new warder is raised by all the older ones. They do not really have things like boilfriends and ghoulfriends. It is strange." Slowly, she began to move out of the room., Hollandaise wondered if they would somehow get terribly lost down here - they would become one of the stories she enjoyed.

iloveyouDIE