✦・Harsh rains and some friends

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harsh rains and some friends
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      Calirose roused awake from his sleep to the thundering of rain drumming on the roof of his tower. Much to his dismay, the lanterns he had propped everywhere in his tower for light were all out, thanks to strong gusts of wind that found their way in. He sat up with a deep sigh and slowly slipped out of bed, his nightgown shifting over his legs delicately as he slowly yet carefully made his way to close his window. He hadn’t expected it to rain, which annoyed the cosset even more than he already was. He contemplated checking the rain catcher, but the thunder said otherwise as he boomed loudly, causing the young man to cover his ears briefly.

      “Why today of all things? I was supposed to see Aloe today.” Said Calirose, cursing slightly as he struggled to close his heavy blinds. “I was looking forward to picking some marigolds today,” He sighed for a moment, adding to his tiresome musings, “That and we were supposed to have a picnic. I suppose whatever deity out there has other plans. Alas, they’re watering the plants for me.” With a grunt, he slammed the heavy blinds shut, falling backwards onto the wet floor. He groaned and scampered up, feeling the wetness on his back, “Awe Darnit. My favourite gown is all damp now.” The slam of the blinds and him complaining seemed to have woken up the usually deeply sleeping Darling.

      She stared at him from her comfortable, maroon red pillow and tilted her head curiously as if wanting to ask why her bonded master was all wet. Calirose looked at her apologetically and sighed, “I fell on the floor. That’s all.” He answered her silent question before walking off to get changed and ready for the day considering he was already up. Darling blinked once more and hopped off her pillow, hopping after him as if wanting to keep him company. Darling, the ever empathetic lapito, could sense Calirose’s distress that he was trying to hide, so she hopped up and demanded pets in her own little way: hopping into his arms.

      Calirose dropped the dress and raincoat he was thinking about wearing and held her up to his face. He scowled, or well, tried to scowl. Darling simply kept looking at him with her adorably innocent expression. She wiggled her nose and blinked at him, looking him straight in the eye. After about five minutes of silent staring, Calirose broke the staring contest and sighed, sitting her on a close by chair. “I’m not annoyed, nope not at all,” he picked up the dress and hung it on a waiting hanger with a grumble before continuing, “What gave you that notion, Darling?” Darling didn’t offer a response other than nose twitch, ear twitch and blink. She stared once more and stomped her front paw at him, shaking her head. Though she could speak, sort of, she preferred to do actions more.

      Calirose turned and looked at her, “What?” He questioned before Darling repeated her actions, noticing that Calirose was looking now. Calirose stared with a tired expression before saying lightly, “Yes yes, you do know me well, but that’s literally besides the point,” He went back to choosing what to wear, but by now, the dampness on his nightgown had dried, “I’m not annoyed.” It only took about 10 minutes of Calirose changing into something else for him to actually admit that he was in fact, annoyed, “Fine. I am annoyed. Happy?” Darling simply replied with an “I know,” followed by a little lapito smirk, much to Calirose’s annoyance.

      “It’s just, me and Aloe had plans today, but the universe said otherwise.” Calirose sat in another chair just as Darling hopped over and hopped onto his lap. He gave her little pets on her ears as he added more about what they were going to do if it was sunny out, “We were going to go to Marigold Fields, have a picnic, make flower grounds, y’know, have a good time out. It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other considering she’s busy.” Darling listened intently as she snuggled against him, providing comfort while he rambled. 

      As Calirose rambled, the rain and thunder kept up the tirade of bashing. That was until a new sound was heard. A call from below. Calirose heard it. Darling heard it. “You hear that?” Asked Calirose to a curious Darling, who nodded her head quickly. It was clear that Calirose wasn’t hallucinating luckily. He quickly got up and followed the voice, which was quite difficult as the rain was not making it any easier to hear. The voice was yelling from below. Outside of his tower, at ground level.

“R–UNZEL! RAPU–L L-T D–N YO– H–R!”

      The voice was drowning in the rain and harsh winds of the outside. Darling seemed to tell who the voice belongs to, but Calrose, not so much. He put his ear to his heavy blinds and widened his eyes when he finally picked up the voice.

“RAPUNZEL! RAPUNZEL! LET DOWN YOUR HAIR!”

      It sounded like Aloe was calling to him, but why would she be here in this weather? He opened the blinds and immediately got drenched in rainwater and cold wind. Darling skittered away safely so as to not get blasted with water and be cold, like Calirose. Calirose groaned in irritation and looked down. Indeed below, on the ground, was Aloe, holding a very pretty umbrella. He blinked and called down to her in shock.

“ALOE?? WHY ARE YOU HERE IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN WEATHER?!”

      Aloe heard the worried yet shocked tone of her friend and smiled up at him gently before answering back,

“TO GET YOU! WE HAVE PLANS, REMEMBER?”

      Calirose could not believe his ears. The plans were still on, even if the rain was not exactly the sweetest. He would’ve preferred if it was drizzling. Then again, he hoped it wouldn’t rain today.

“ALOE. IT IS RAINING OUT HERE!”

      Aloe simply looked up and answered once more,

“THE PLANTS ARE MOST BEAUTIFUL WHEN WATERED. BESIDES, WE MAY GET LUCKY AND SEE A RAINBOW.”

      Now that caught Calirose’s attention. He’s seen rainbows here and there, but he hasn’t seen one recently. It is fabled in his kingdom that seeing a rainbow after a storm meant good luck. Bad weather or not, he was going to see it. So he rushed to get his raincoat, snatched Darling and put her into the coat. He closed the blinds quickly and rushed out of the tower. It took a while, especially because his hooves were wet, but patience is key, especially with a storm as bad as this one. He rushed out into the open, the hidden tower door closing and locking with binding magic. Rain drummed onto his body, but he pushed on to get to the waiting Aloe.

      He smiled faintly at Aloe and joined her under her umbrella. He took note of what she was wearing. Dressed elegantly in a rococo-inspired yellow and blue raincoat to protect what she wore underneath. Her umbrella was large and had bleeding heart flower patterns decorating the outside.

      “Ready to go, Cali?” Said Aloe gently as she started walking. Not by herself this time, but with her friend and his herald on an adventure that now included the harsh rains and puddles and not your average sunshine. But maybe, just maybe, during their rainy adventure, they’ll see a rainbow greet them in the skies.