What's up! My gosh I'm so sorry its been forever since I posted a new chapter. I've been super busy with grade 12 and I also have my exams coming up. I finally got the time to write when Christmas break came around. I tried my best to make the character interactions really genuine this chapter. I hope you guys like it! and have a merry Christmas! ~Akimo
Wren huffed as she closed the door behind her. Pennelope looked at her from the kitchen with a puzzled expression. Wren took a breath and composed herself before walking into the kitchen and setting the honey on the table. Shio was standing in the kitchen, rinsing a pot in the sink. Wren held back a chuckle at his pink apron which he had obviously borrowed from Pennelope.
"Hey! No laughing! That's my only rule!" Shio stated, seeing Wren cover her laughter.
"No no! I'm not laughing!" Wren denied as she shared an amused glance with Pennelope. Shio just grunted and continued on with the pot. Wren realized there was a buzzing noise growing louder and louder. A second later a frenzied Pollen tried to knock over the thimble full of honey. Wren snatched it away before the young bee could do any harm.
"Why is there a bee in here?" Wren asked, holding Pollen away from the honey.
"Oh me and Pennelope found it when we went out to get those herbs. It was attacked and it took a liking to Pennelope after she saved it." Derek explained with a smirk, bragging about someone else for once.
"Just make sure to keep it out of trouble, and since it followed you home you get the responsibility Pen." Wren told her, hoping she wasn't making a mistake. Pennelope nodded vigorously and pulled the fuzzy bee into a hug. A few moments later Seed opened the door and slammed it behind her and stormed to her room, slamming that door too. Wren ignored her but Everyone else looked after her, confused. Shio put the now clean pot onto the counter and turned off the water. Derek yawned and walked to the front door. He opened it a crack and realized the sun was starting to set. Shio hung up his pink apron and was about to knock on Seed's door when Derek pulled him to the front door.
"Dude! Your sister is gonna kill you!... And I need a place to stay so we gotta go." He explained as Shio looked back at Seed's door with a worried look.
"But..." He tried but Derek just kept pulling him. Shio let out a defeated sigh and waved goodbye to the other borrowers. Derek flipped his shaggy ginger hair and gave Penneople a wink but she was preoccupied with Pollen. She hugged and pet the little bee promptly. Derek was disgruntled and pulled Shio away faster. Wren just gave a halfhearted wave to them as they left. She turned her attention to the pot, trying her best not to look at Seed's door. She put it away silently and sat at the table. Unable to shake her lingering thoughts from her argument with Seed she got up and walked to her room, closing the door quietly. Pennelope was completely unaware that Wren and Seed were in an argument, She was blissfully playing with little Pollen. Wren laid on her bed with a sigh. She grabbed a pencil and paper from her drawer. She let her frustration out on the paper. Drawing our her feelings always made her calm. She looked at the paper and gave it an approval nod. She pushed it into her drawer, probably never to be seen again.
Seed grit her teeth and stifled a groan of annoyance. She was so angry she could barely think. She knew if she talked to anyone she would probably say something she would regret, so she had locked her door and thrown the key into a pile of metal in the back corner of her room. She grabbed some flimsy tooth picks she had stacked against the wall and snapped them one at a time with her hands. After a few moments she realized she was being stupid, wasting her supplies and giving herself splinters. She sat on her floor for a few more moments, fuming, before an idea popped into her head. She jumped up and smiled wickedly at the thought.
"I could take my anger out on that meddling human! I mean... I might DIE but... Then I could tell him to leave us alone.. and also take out this anger on someone I don't care about..." She thought, pacing back and forth. She took a deep breath and gave a confident smile to herself before digging through the pile of scrap metal for the key she had just thrown away. After a good twenty minutes of searching she realized she was never going to find the key. She groaned and grabbed her hand crank drill and placed the drill bit on the lock.
"I am never getting angry again... It just makes me stupid." Seed told herself as she cranked away at the door lock.
Seed held her breath as she made her way towards the window closest to where the human usually sat. It had taken her a good thirty minutes to drill her way out of her room and she was even more annoyed by the fact that it was now almost completely dark. She took out her grappling hook and gave it a good toss. She missed and with an annoyed grunt she threw it one more time. This time it caught and with a smirk she ascended. All the time she climbed upwards she thought of all the excellent come backs and insults she could dish out on this human once she got him riled up. When she finally reached the top she blanked. Luckily the human had his eyes glued to the glowing TV screen. She took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. She paused before yelling, she didn't want to be completely unprotected when the time came. She grabbed a small branch that was tiny enough for her to move but not so tiny it didn't cover her body, and pulled it in front of her, partially concealing her. Chase didn't even flinch at the sudden noise of rustling leaves, he was too interested in the show he was watching. Seed took another breath and clenched her fists.
"HEY!" she yelled from her hiding spot. Chase didn't even take notice.
"HEEEEY!" Seed tried again. Chase glanced to the window finally drawing his attention to the screaming borrower.
"Hm?" Chase hummed, showing slight interest. This made Seed even angrier.
"You can't see Wren anymore! Okay? You are nothing but a bad influence! YOU..." Seed had suddenly forgotten all of the great things she was thinking as she climbed to the windowsill. Chase's face went from inattentive to slightly annoyed.
"Is that so?" Chase said. He had a slightly confident air about him, it almost seemed like he was mocking her.
"Yes! One day shes gonna get hurt or even killed and YOU are going to be the cause of it. Leave us alone you giant freak!" Seed yelled, almost forgetting her barrier of leaves and coming very close to stepping out and screaming in his face.
"Can you leave? I'm in the middle of Spiderman." He explained as if she knew what Spirderman was. Seed shuddered at the thought of a spider that was as big as a human. "No I can't just go, you still don't understand that you and Wren can never be friends. EVER." Seed continued. Chase picked up the remote and clicked the volume button.
"WHAT?" He asked, "THE VOLUME IS TOO HIGH." Seed bunched her little fists and ripped one of the leaves off of the tree. She watched it flutter to the ground with fury.
"DON'T SEE WREN AGAIN. EVER." She screamed as loud as she could in his direction.
"WHAAAT?" He asked again, continuing to turn the volume up.
"NEVER. SEE. WRE-" Seed's screams were interrupted by Chase's singing.
"SPIDERMAN SPIDERMAN, DOES WHATEVER A SPIDER CAN!" Chase yelled out, banging his head to the theme song. Seed screamed in frustration and slid down the rope as fast as she could, not caring she was giving herself rope burns. In some ways it fueled her anger.
"And tell Wren to come and see me soon!" He shouted quickly after her. He held back a laugh as he heard her yell with annoyance. Chase paused for a few moments after she had left to make sure she was really gone.
"Finally... I thought I was going to have to blow my speakers." Chase said to himself, turning the horribly loud Spiderman theme song down. He couldn't help but feel a small hurt in his heart that Wren had lied to him about being the only Borrower. He shrugged it off though and continued late into the night watching TV.
Wren gave an annoyed grunt her current drawing and crumpled it into a ball before opening her door and tossing it into the hallway. She ran her fingers through her hair and finally sat herself on the floor.
"How dare Seed..." Wren thought with an annoyed huff, "She jumps to conclusions like a rabbit with rabies." She folded her arms and sat on the cold floor. "Like I wanted him to do that. I'm a borrower, she should know the most that I couldn't exactly stop a HUMAN from picking me up and carrying me to the garden. She needs to learn to stop being so... so annoying!" Wren continued in silence, pushing her nails into the palms of her hands. "She worries and worries but its not like he meant harm... He, for whatever god damn reason, doesn't want to hurt us. We could use that as a way of getting supplies. Granny would never have gotten as bad as she did if we had access to human materials." Wren took another deep breath as she started to feel her reason overcome her anger, "And well... he's actually pretty nice too..." Wren's train of thought was shattered by a knock at her door. Wren jumped, nearly falling onto her back. By the second knock she had jumped up off the floor and answered the door.
"Yes, yes what?" She asked in a bit of a sharp tone.
"Is that any way of speaking to your mother!" Granny Sparrow scoffed as she entered the room. She was dressed in a warm looking blue house coat and her favourite slippers. She was carrying a mug of peppermint tea in one hand and mug of black tea in the other. Wren's eyes filled with a slight panic and Granny Sparrow rolled her eyes.
"I'm well enough to walk dear. I'm not the frail snowflake you all believe me to be." Granny said, taking a sip of the peppermint tea and handing the other mug to Wren.
"Oh great Pen must have told her something was wrong with me." Wren groaned in her head. Granny sat down on Wren's bed and patted her hand on the spot next to her. Wren gave a small sigh, trying not to make it too loud so she didn't get a scolding. Once she sat down she took a long sip of her tea.
"How in the world can you do that. I can barely get through Chamomile without some sugar." Granny said with a baffled look before turning her full attention to Wren. Wren was nearly taken aback, she rarely got this much attention from Granny Sparrow. It was usually her other adopted sisters that needed some comfort or some courage.
"What's on your mind dear?" Granny asked. Wren glanced around, looking for a way out of the conversation but found no escape. Granny waited patiently, looking harmless but her motherly worry pressured Wren to the point of frustration. She bit her lip nervously and sat on her hands so she couldn't fidget. Granny turned to her once more, still silent but Wren could feel her warm gaze burning through her composure. Wren finally turned to look at Granny directly and was confused by her mischievous smile.
"Is this about a boy?" Granny Sparrow half chuckled. Wren's eyes widened and she leaned back so far she nearly spilled her tea. Granny let out a little laugh and took another small sip of her tea.
"Ahhhh so it is." She teased, "What is he like?" Granny smiled. Wren took a second to collect her thoughts.
"W-well... He's... tall." She explained, feeling very out of her element. Granny nodded, eager to learn more.
"What am I doing! I don't like this idiot... But I can't tell her me... and a human..." Wren rambled in her head. She was pulled back to reality by Granny again.
"And?" Granny asked, a youthful gleam making its way into her eyes.
"He's... pretty nice. He has brown hair and... I dunno. He's... got a nice butt?" Wren listed off qualities, hoping to satisfy Granny's curiosity. At her last statement Granny gave a loud cackle. She had to take a moment to calm herself before resting her hand on Wren's shoulder.
"Only you could find a way to be confused about girl talk." Granny Sparrow smiled and finished off the rest of her tea in a gulp. "Were all here to talk about this if you need it dear. Make sure you remember that." Wren nodded, half serious and half to get Granny out of her room and her out of this awkward conversation. Granny gave Wren a gentle kiss on her forehead and exited the room.
"Make sure to lie down soon! You're still not fully recovered Granny!" Wren called after her.
"That's Granny Sparrow!" She snapped in response. Her stinging response gave Wren a bit of comfort.
"Granny seems like she'll be fine." Wren thought with a smile, taking a long sip of her leftover tea.
Seed stomped down the path towards the marketplace. She kept replaying the scene over and over in her head. Wren's icy stare and Chase's blatant disregard for anyone else's feelings. She felt betrayed, though not in any personal way.
"I just want the others to see that being reckless brings nothing but despair. Being a borrower means borrowing from humans not befriending them!" Seed pointed out to herself in her head. She continued down the path in silence and before she knew it the town towered before her. She made a point of being extra careful out of spite, though no one would even know the difference in her actions. She felt a refreshing sense of ease when she entered the marketplace. It had always felt so welcoming to her. She had even wondered if she could set up shop and trade her inventions for useful items, though she doubted anyone would be willing to trade for such things. She let her feet wonder around, looking from stall to stall until she found herself standing in front of Shio's booth. She rolled her eyes inwardly.
"Why must you always end up here..." She asked herself in the back of her mind. She waited patiently for Shio to walk out from the back, but was surprised when his sister Octavia appeared instead. Her long, black hair nearly reached her waist. It had stripes of a few exotic colours that made Seed curious of their origin. Her clothes were baggy, yet looked right at home on her frame. Her expression on a regular basis was either bored or had a hint of mischief. She wondered how such a relaxed looking older sibling could ever scare Shio. The look on his face when his sister yelled at him from the back of their store said it all.
"Hey Seed! What brings you here?" She asked with a hint of sarcasm. Seed sighed, she wasn't in the mood to deal with any teasing today.
"I'm... okay I guess." She replied hesitantly, but produced a smile none the less. Octavia gave her a curious look but dropped the subject, as well as her sarcastic tone.
"You looking for anything in particular?" She asked her kindly, trying to lighten the mood.
"Well... To be honest I was hoping Shio was here." Seed spit out, wanting desperately to talk to someone who would listen to her without judgment. Her eyes glanced toward the ground, trying not to notice the amused smirk spreading across Octavia's face.
"Sorry to say he isn't here," Octavia said, "but you can come into the back of the store and hide form costumers with me." She suggested with a tooth filled smile. Seed held back a slight giggle.
"Shouldn't you want costumers to come to your store?" Seed retorted.
"Nah I'm not too good with social interactions. That's why I have Shio." She laughed, brushing aside the curtain that hid the back of the little store. Seed laughed a little too, in spite of her mood.
"I didn't think Shio liked it that much either?" Seed asked as she followed Octavia.
"Nope! I'm just older so he does what I say." Octavia explained, taking a seat on a wooden bench. To Seed's surprise the back storage area was quite roomy. It featured various shelves full of traded items and two wooden benches to sit on that had enough room for at least three borrowers each. Another doorway covered by a sheet led even farther into their tiny abode. Seed looked at it with interest.
"Is that where they actually live?" She wondered, "I-Is that where Shio sleeps!" Octavia let out a tiny chuckle at Seed's now red face.
"You can go mess up his room if you want?" Octavia offered, grabbing a blueberry from a sack on one of the shelves and taking a big bite. Seed just shook her head and stared at the ground.
"N-no!" Seed answered in surprise, "No its fine."
"Whats up?" Octavia asked, leaning forward. Her expression had changed from playful to concerned in a matter of moments. Seed blinked a little in surprise, shuffling in place a bit.
"I can't really TELL you because of... Various reasons." Seed explained, not wanting to demonize Wren. She still loved her adopted sister, she was just kind of pissed right now.
"If you can't talk about whats bothering you, how about we talk about something more juicy to cheer you up?" Octavia said teasingly, taking another bite of her berry. She grabbed a bright blue one and tossed it to Seed.
"Like what?" Seed asked, taking a small bite of the berry and cocking her head to the side.
"Like your massive crush on my brother."
"W-WHAT?" Seed yelled, chocking on the berry. Octavia let out a loud chortle. She even had to hold on to the bench so she didn't fall over. Once Seed was finished chocking she tried to laugh it off like nothing had happened. Octavia just waited, her green eyes set on Seed. Seed sighed and finally gave up.
"Okay YES. I DO have a crush on Shio." Seed admitted. She looked around nervously, as if someone was waiting for her to say it and jump out to laugh at her. Octavia giggled.
"I'm his sister it's my job to know."
"You wont tell anyone will you?" Seed asked in a pleading tone. Octavia raised her index finger to her lips.
"Of course. That IS the number one rule of girl talk." She said with a wink. Seed gave a grateful smile.
"if that's the case, could you tell me... If he likes me?" Seed asked, a bright red blush blazing across her cheeks.
"Fuck." Octavia said, laying down on the bench, "Sorry kid that's the one think I'm not obliged to say." Seed jumped at her sudden curse, not used to its sharpness. She was used to Granny lecturing anyone using a curse worse than damn. Seed's mind went into overdrive for a second.
"W-Why can't she tell me? Does he hate me?! Or is that supposed to mean he likes me." Seed's thoughts whizzed around in her head, "BUT I THOUGHT I WAS BEING OBVIOUS. Does he just not want to hurt my feelings?" Octavia was doing her best to hold down her laughs but a few escaped. Seed's eyes flashed with anger at Octavia's disregard for her feelings.
"I'm sorry! Don't over think it. Just keep doing what you are doing. We can change topics if it makes you feel better." Octavia reassured her. Seed shook her head, not wanting to admit her insecurity. Octavia cocked her eyebrow, not buying it.
"No no! It's fine." Seed assured her, "I'll just ask another question then." Seed took a small breath. "How do I get him to notice me?" Octavia nearly started laughing again but took a bite of berry to make herself stop.
"You have to be very obvious. Like REALLY obvious. Shio is an idiot." She explained, crossing her legs. "Ask him to help you with lots of stuff. Say stuff like, 'How do I look today?'" Octavia explained, imitating Seed in a very unflattering voice.
"Shut up!" Seed whined jokingly, nearly throwing her berry at Octavia.
"'Oh I dropped my goggles! Let me just bend down and-'" Octavia continued to mock her, standing up to demonstrate.
"NOOO!" Seed yelled, laughing as she pushed Octavia and tried to get her to stop. The two ended up falling over in a tumble of laughter.
"See? I told you this would cheer you up." Octavia laughed, "Now get off me before you break something!"
"Oh like I'm that fat!" Seed teased, pinning Octavia to the ground even more.
"She is right though." Seed thought as she continued laughing with Octavia into the evening.
Edit: I realized I messed up a few parts in here... to the point that I needed to actually edit it. Like the fact that there are somehow borrower sized apples... and how Wren went into the house again after going into the house for a first time... ANYWAY its all fixed now and I'll probably be able to write some more very soon. Enjoy! ~ Akimo