HOME | DD

Description
“Is she in the garden again? I swear, she practically lives out there these days. Weird place for a princess of the sea to frequent.”

Castle Brightmoon. And out in the ever expanding castle garden, Perfuma was hard at work beautifying the place ever more. But she had company. Sarcastic, rather gloomy company. Who had a little something for her.

“Hey, I got something for you. Take it if you want. It’ll be dead in a few days anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.”

The something was...

“A flower! Oh, it’s lovely! You have such fascinating flora in your kingdom. It’s even prettier than the last one.”

Indeed, a bright orange flower that was practically glowing even on land.

“Yeah, I guess. We got tons of them back home.”

They didn’t. That flower was specially grown as a gift. And if anyone ever told Perfuma that, there was a good chance Mermista would waterboard them.

“Well, I’m gonna go. See you-”

Perfuma quickly grabbed her by the arm.

“Before you go, I have something I want to show you. If you aren’t busy.”

She was extremely busy. She shouldn’t have even stopped by Brightmoon. But she did. And since she was already there...

“Fine, but let’s make it quick.

Perfuma clapped her hands in delight, quickly dragging her deeper into the castle garden.

“Queen Angella has let me plant my own special section out here. As a thank you for helping defend the castle. Ta-da!”

She finally led her to a small section deep in the garden. Full of all kinds of exotic plants.

“Isn’t it beautiful? Look, I have a little section for all the flowers you bring me over here.”

Indeed, every aquatic bit of plantlife Mermista had brought her was alive and well there in the garden.

“...So you kept all of them...wow.”

She nodded.

“Oh, let me show you some of mine. You’ll love this one.”

She dragged her over to a big, purple flower that had yet to bloom.

“...Is it dead?”

She shook her head.

“No, it’s called the Love Bloom. It’s a fascinating flower. It only blooms when two people who love each other are in its presence. I’ve seen it bloom before. It’s quite-”

As if on cue, the flower lit up like a light. Coming into full bloom right there in front of both of them.

“Oh, wow! It bloomed for me! I can’t believe...”

She finally noticed Mermista had gone oddly quiet. And her face was bright red.

“...Wait, we’re the only two here...”

The gears finally turned in Perfuma’s head.

“...Wait...do you like me too?”

Too?

“Too?”

She nodded.

“Well, you always bring me such lovely flowers from your kingdom. And...well...you are quite pretty. I suppose after a while I developed a little...crush on you...did you keep bringing me flowers because you had one on me?”

She crossed her arms and turned around, trying to reapply her usual sarcastic demeanor to save what little dignity she had left.

“I mean, whatever. You’re super pretty and fun to hang around with. Anybody would have a crush on you.”

That was as close to a confession as she was gonna get. But she’d take it.

“Marvelous! So, would you like to have a little...date?”

She slightly turned her head to face her.

“Sure, whatever.”

To her very big surprise, Perfuma pulled a picnic basket out of a nearby bush.

“...I might have planned this entire thing.”