I've started so much that I didn't need to start anything else. But I'm in such a sour mood that I wanted something light and cute. This is based around Nino's card where she makes everyone flower necklaces. If you haven't seen the card, Lloyd and Jafar seem to humor her by wearing them, Linus does not.
The last place anyone would expect to find a young girl was with a group of assassins. Assassins and little girls just did not go together. Assassins were supposed to be dark, powerful, ready to kill at any moment.
Little girls made flower necklaces.
The Black Fang was a group of assassins, founded by Brandon Reed, who found themselves with a young girl named Nino in tow after her mother, Sonia, married Brandon. There was grumbling among the Fang, though never within Brandon's earshot. Even his younger son, Linus, was among the grumblers. His older brother, Lloyd, took well to Nino, while assuring his fellow assassins he was sure Nino would not make them appear soft.
In fact, the girl showed promise as a talented mage. There was always another magic user around in the group, and many were fine with tutoring her. After all, as Brandon Reed once told them, starting her young would ensure her loyalty to the group. There would always be use for a strong mage. reading was not her strong point, as she had never been taught, but she was quick to memorize incantations.
Sonia turned out to be rather inattentive towards Nino, who took to following her two older brothers around when she was not being instructed in the magic arts. Lloyd would often drop what he was doing if she needed him or even had a question, while Linus was a little more hesitant around her.
With time, the idea of them being forced to be a babysitter or of Nino "girling up the place" as some were heard to mumble, appeared to slip from the minds of the assassins. A few of the previously displeased ones even came around to the girl's side. She was well loved and never seemed to go without a lack of attention or someone to speak to, even if she did seek her mother's attention most of all.
Her eyes would sparkle as someone, usually Lloyd, ruffled her hair as they passed. She was never one for being underfoot; her focus was usually in bettering herself or looking through her spell books. Her presence soon became a welcome one to all but the most bitter of Fangs. She had managed to fit in very well with her newly found family.
Despite her integration, she was not yet a full member of the Fang. Her new father was their leader, yes, and her magic was being honed for later use by the Black Fang, but she was not exactly a paid member. Nor did she go out and complete jobs, even if she begged to tag along with Lloyd. She wanted to thank her friends and brothers somehow, so Nino set off to look for some way to do just that.
She returned hours later with loops of twisted flowers around her arms in all the colors she could find. At first, her intentions had been to pick a few small bouquets of flowers. There had been so many types of flowers to choose from, and the bouquets would have wound up much larger, and harder to carry, than she had planned. As she had sat surrounded by the flowers she had picked, she began to twist them around in her fingers as she thought of what to do with them. When she realized what she had done, she laughed with glee and began to coil the blooms into necklaces. She could make so much more and they would be easier to carry!
Nino decided to approach Lloyd first. He would not turn down her gift, and if he liked his necklace, maybe everyone else would like theirs, as well.
It was Linus she ran into first, though.
"Have you seen Lloyd?" she asked quietly.
"I think he's out," Linus muttered. He could not ignore the flora all up and down her arms. "What are those?" He knew, but it only made sense to ask.
"Um..." There was a rustling noise as Nino sorted through the blossoms. "These are for you - to say thanks!" Her cheeks were a little flushed as she handed Linus a necklace. She was a little afraid to see his reaction, as he was not as sweet as Lloyd, so her gaze fell to his shoes. "You're all really nice to me... and I don't have any money, so I made necklaces!" She took a deep breath and added, "Will you tell Lloyd I have one for him? If you see him?"
Linus was speechless. She expected them to wear these things? And his just had to be pink!
He did not hear Nino as she hurried off, a little flustered by his reaction, but it was not as bad as she expected. He could have ripped her hard work apart in front of her.
She scurried down the hall, and as she cut the corner, she slammed into someone. "Oof!" she groaned. Before she could hit the floor, she felt someone seize her arms and pull her back upright.
"You shouldn't run, Nino," Lloyd scolded gently. "Are you hurt?"
"No." She looked around on the floor. No petals or leaves had fallen from her gifts, either. Oh! Her gifts! "Lloyd, I made - " she trailed off as she untangled one necklace from the others, "yours special." To her surprise, Lloyd knelt to her level so she could put the only blue chain she had made around his neck.
"Thank you," he said as he touched the blue flowers. "They're very pretty. Where did you find them?"
"Outside," she said. "They're everywhere, if you look for them."
Lloyd mussed her hair as she liked and chuckled. "I bet they are. I've never noticed them. You did not go too far to find them, did you?"
"Not too far," Nino said softly, lowering her gaze again. She had not thought that she had wandered too far away from the hideout the group of assassins called home. "Am I in trouble?"
"No," he assured her, "but let someone go with you next time, all right? Or better yet..." Lloyd trailed off as he thought of a better idea. He ruffled her hair again before telling her he would meet her later in the mess hall. She nodded eagerly and ran off to spread her flora gifts to the rest of the Black Fang.
Most of Nino's necklaces were gone by the time Lloyd met up with his little sister in the mess hall. Less than half a dozen sat on the table before her. Several members of the Fang wore their gifts, whether willingly or not Lloyd could not be sure. Linus had his, but it also sat before him on the table near his plate. Lloyd took the empty chair by Nino and fanned out several sheets of parchment before her.
"I want to show you something someone taught me to do," he began. Lloyd slid a piece of parchment in front of her and told her to do as he did. She watched as his long fingers folded, creased, and rolled the paper and tried her best to imitate it. She found it difficult to follow his lead, even if he slowed his pace or went back and showed her how to do a step again.
When they were finished, Nino looked forlornly at the lump in her hand compared to the delicate-looking paper flower in Lloyd's. "It doesn't look like yours," she said as her eyes filled with tears.
"Practice, Nino. That's all you can do. It took me a while to get it, as well. I wasn't born knowing how to fold paper flowers; I had to be taught, just as you did." He looked at the brown flower in his hand and added, "They also look much better when the parchment is colored." He handed it to her, a floral gift in exchange for the one she had given him.
She looked at him with large eyes wide with awe and asked, "Who taught you?"
"A woman I knew a long time ago," he said as he placed his hand on her head. He did not mess her hair as he usually did; he just left his hand there for a second or two. To Nino, he looked wistful for a moment, but before she could ask, he smiled at her and said, "No more sneaking out for real flowers, all right?"
Nino nodded her understanding. Then, to Lloyd's surprise, she turned in her seat and wrapped her arms around him. He chuckled and rubbed her back before she pulled away. "I'll practice!" she promised. "All night if I have to!" She grabbed the other pieces of parchment and the two fake flowers before hurrying off to her room to practice flower folding.
"She will, too," Linus called as Lloyd, still a little surprised by Nino's hug, rubbed the back of his head. "You can take that off, now," he added about the blue chain around Lloyd's neck.
Lloyd reached down and touched a blue flower before saying, "I know." He decided to keep the necklace on for the time being.