She hadn't even noticed him slip into the room behind her as she sat by the window. Hadn't heard the door click softly closed or the low groan of wood as the boy leant his weight back against it. She hadn't sensed his eyes, which was strange for her, but the way he watched was open and honest and she hadn't felt it.
Only when she had stood, smoothing the silky black of the dress she had returned to after coming here, only when she turned, did she see him. The room was suddenly full of childish curiosity and the woman tensed, shoulders lifting a little around the clean top of her neck, the strange rise of smoke gasping out of rhythm once nervously before returning to a steady curl.
It wasn't that she didn't like the boy- Kishitani Shinra. But she imagined he might be too much like his father.
Though she didn't dislike his father either. He had given her a home after all, even if she wasn't allowed to leave the building. A home of sorts.
But Shinra hardly spoke to her. That wasn't to say he didn't acknowledge her at all though. In fact she often caught the boy watching her from doorways as she came down the hall. Once she was conscious of him she could always sense him tottering along quietly behind her at a distance. Following her.
However there was always that same feel of curiosity; almost sweet and cute but somewhat unfitting for a boy whom she had watched from the window dissect frogs on the front lawn, examining their insides. Who had stood and watched with big round eyes from her side as his father cut into her skin without blinking.
"Celty san," began the boy suddenly, hands behind his back. Her slim body twitched but she couldn't reply so she waited. Shinra seemed to understand this but still paused for where her 'yes?' or 'what is it?' would have fallen, could she speak, his eyes where her own might have been. He was a small boy, well dressed and neatly groomed. Even the flick of his hair was tame and precise. His glasses were polished and Celty somehow registered that he smelt clean despite having been outside. Unlike some of the children she had seen pass the gates of the house.
He was a little boy who clearly meant her no harm but she was still cautious. She didn't know if it was because his father kept cutting into her while distantly apologizing for the pain or because he was a human child and she didn't have much experience with such creatures. They usually grew through childhood before it came time for a dullahan to stop outside their house and call them to death.
Maybe it was because Shinra seemed to be so quietly fascinated with her. But up until now, always from afar.
"I've brought you something…" Shinra stepped forward and Celty tried not to step back. This was their first 'conversation' and she was a bit worried about what he had brought her that was clearly hidden behind him. What this boy might deem as appropriate to bring someone. Shinra was still moving forward but stopped a few paces short. Celty rolled her shoulders forward and he raised his gaze up, watching her body suggest she was looking down at him. He observed her silently for a moment, intelligent eyes taking in the tense line of her shoulders, her fingertips nervously pitter-pattering across her dress.
She could tell he knew she was anxious. But he said nothing.
When he began to draw his hands to his front Celty really did step back but what met her wasn't the latest frog Shinra had been operating on or a shiny, clean scalpel.
It was flowers.
A bunch of pretty blues with bright yellow centers that Celty recognized as a wildflower she'd often seen in her time in Ireland.
"I've brought you something," the boy said again, smiling up at the headless woman before him. "From outside." The bouquet flopped sideways slightly as Shinra let go of one hand in favour of pushing his glasses further up his nose. "Well, not really from outside since they're from the greenhouse, we have one if you didn't know, but I would imagine they'd be much the same if they'd actually grown outside in the right environment."
Another push of the glasses.
"That's the idea of a greenhouse, see? You can use it to mimic a natural habitat. These flowers, Sisyrinchium bermudiana, ah—but you probably already knew that because you're from Ireland- anyway, they like marshy grounds or lake shores so our garden is less than ideal for growing them. But in a greenhouse it's easy to control the temperature and moisture levels!" Shinra stopped babbling long enough to look up at Celty who was frozen on the spot; surprised with the gift (if it was one, Shinra seemed to be enjoying explaining the flowers more than Celty was receiving them) and shocked at how the boy spoke so easily to someone he'd hardly told one word to before.
Maybe he'd been having conversations with her in his head, thinking of things he wanted to ask her. If he was indeed like his father there would surely be plenty. She wouldn't put that kind of thing past Shinra. She'd heard him talking alone in his room, exclamations of delight to himself as he poured over books and sets of instructions to keep his concentration while he performed various experiments and operations.
He really was quite strange.
"Celty san, you look so surprised."
She gripped at her dress.
Eh? Look surprised?
How could he say that when she clearly didn't have any facial expressions to observe? But he'd said it anyway without any apparent consideration as to whether she may be sensitive about her missing head, like it was normal thing to say, even to someone like her. His sharp eyes were looking straight up at where her surprised face should have been. And then Shinra was smiling at her again, lips closed, something warm there; dark grey hues watching Celty steadily as she remained unmoving though the flowers had been extended to her.
"I know Father won't let you go outside while you're still being examined. So I brought these in for you. It makes sense; since you're always looking out the window. Take them."
Shinra shook the bouquet once gently in encouragement and Celty registered their aroma; the equivalent of breathing deep. The boy hummed patiently as the woman before him smoothed her dress of anxious crinkles once more and then reached a somewhat trembling hand out to the flowers. Her delicate, white fingertips tentatively caressed a silky smooth petal between finger and thumb for a moment, and then the bunch eased upward and her fingers fell from the petals to slide down the stems until they came to a small, warm fist at the base.
The contact almost had Celty startling back but before she could, Shinra's free hand was shadowing over hers, closing her fingers around the stems for her as he simultaneously released his grip on the flowers. When he let go completely, Celty's slack hold immediately tightened and she clutched the bouquet close to her chest as the flowers flopped forward, threatening to spill onto the ground.
"For you," Shinra said softly, stepping back. Celty's body twitched with an unspoken 'eh?'.
Though it was such a simple gesture, she was still so confused with what had just happened.
Shinra, who appeared to have understood the tiny movement, giggled a little. And then he was at the door, looking back over his shoulder as Celty stood in the middle of the room, holding his gift.
"I'll come again, Celty san."