[Belrea PRP] Neglect [Kalanc & Ila]

[Tasinei]

Ila stared at her poor notebook, it was in complete ruins. She took the thing everywhere with her. The bindings had completely come apart and the hardened over was all scratched and tearing. If this kept up she was going to lose all of her precious notes and if she asked one of her parents she knew they would give her a stern talk to about keeping her items in tip top shape. Her siblings would laugh at her and tell her parents. She knew there were people who repaired books but she didn’t have much in her name. Couldn’t hurt to try and see if someone would help her right?

So off Ila went with her book secured in some leather bindings in her bag. She’d hidden the thing when leaving the house to avoid anyone seeing it. She went to the local library and asked if there was anyone here who could do it for her, there wasn’t, but they did refer her to a shop. Thanking them, Ila went to the given address, finding it easily, and stepped into the store.
“Hello?” She called, grabbing her shoulder bag and tiptoeing inside.  

[Bronze Coffee]

Kalanc was literally knee deep in repairing books. It seemed like the summer months were especially hard on them. Glue didn't stay, kids read a lot more with the longer days. It was honestly a miracle they weren't more well off than they were. Still, the hybrid with the print stained fingers was currently working this new leather casing on a hard back book and was fairly oblivious to everything around him right now. His red hair fell in front of his face in waves, hiding purple eyes. His hands were moving deftly, almost like muscle memory but he had to focus. One mistake and the leather would buckle and set wrong.

Then he heard someone call out all of a sudden and he groaned. No! This wasn't good timing. He sighed and just continued on his work.

"Just a moment! I'll be there as soon as this is done!" If this person actually heard him, he wasn't sure. The last part of his words were mumbled almost under his breath as he smoothed a hand over the leather and onto the thicker cardboard. If she stepped around the front desk and peeked into the back room, she'd see him with his tongue out, piercings glinting in the light spilling in from the window.

Tasinei

 

[Tasinei]

The place was empty but Ila could definitely hear some sounds coming from the back. Perhaps they hadn’t heard her? She ventured deeper into the place, eyeing all the things around her. This wasn’t her domain so she refrained from touching anything for fear of breaking it, least she’d have to pay for it. Her parents would have to be notified of course and then things would just be downhill from here. Nope, Ila kept her hands solidly locked away in the pockets of her pants and made sure to look where she stepped least she trip and bring down a whole bookshelf with her on the way down.

Then her eyes landed on a plant and Ila tried to look away, but her eyes kept creeping back towards it and the awful state it was in. Someone had left it on a stool in a corner and it looked like it lacked water and sunlight.

“Hello?” She called out again as she slowly made her way over to the plant. Ila pulled her glove off by the fingers and stuck a finger in the dirt to test moisture. It was as dry as a dessert. Ila hmphed loudly and put her hands on her hips. “HELLO?!!”

Peppermint Coffee

 

[Bronze Coffee]

When there was suddenly a loud, slightly angry voice ringing through the building, Kalanc jerked and the whole leather adhered wrong. He groaned and just dropped his head into his hands before going out to see who it was. He grabbed a rag on his way out and just pouted at this girl.

"I said I'd be right here," he sighed out, shaking his head. "I'm Kalanc. My dad owns the place, but he's not here right now. What can I help you with?" He was trying to adopt his best 'everything is fine, nothing happened' voice, but he kept casting looks back to the room he was just in. Man, his dad was going to tear him a new one about wasting materials and not being aware of his surroundings at the same time.

Tasinei

 

[Tasinei]

Ila pointed an angry finger at the plant, perked her brow and tapped her foot. “What is this!” She stared right at the Hybrid boy who looked to be about her age. “How can someone be so careless with the plant.” Ila shook her head. “It’s dying!” she groaned before picking it up and bringing it closer to Kalanc. “It needs water and sunlight and some pruning and to remove al the dead leaves.” She sighed softly, looking down at the poor plant; she doubted he knew what he was doing. She would have to do it herself she realized.

Shifting the plant so it was on one hip, she dug into her bag and pulled out her ruined notebook and held it up to Kalanc. “I also need this repaired.” She decided to chance it. “I’ll fix the plant if you fix the book for me. That should make us even right?” That way she could avoid paying and no one would ever know what happened.

Peppermint Coffee

 

[Bronze Coffee]

He looked at her like she'd grown a second head and then looked mildly afraid. Why was he getting scolded about a plant he didn't know was there? When did that plant get there? Probably his father letting some woman pay him in potted plants again. His purple eyes rolled and he let out a hard sigh.

"I didn't even know it was there! Blame my dad if you have to blame someone, gods above!" He was exasperated at his point. He threw his hands up and then looked at the book she'd thrown done for repair. Well, pulled out, but still. The way she pulled it out made him puff and then he looked at the condition of the notebook.

"...Should I flatten the pages too? They're all.. folded and torn. What do you do to this thing?" He pouted further and took the notebook from her with a little huff.

Tasinei

 

[Tasinei]

It was always someone else’s fault wasn’t it? Ila thought sourly and the expression she made mirrored her thoughts. Still, she hoped there weren’t other plants that might need saving from the book binders. Still, she’d rescued this one and she planted on returning it to full health or as close to it as she could before the end of the day. Or as long as it took for him to take care of her notebook. Which looked like might be a problem considering how he was looking at her and the book now it was her turn to feel guilty.

“It a notebook and it does fieldwork with me.” She said slowly, tilting it up to give it a once over. “It’s not so… bad right?” The pages would probably indeed need to be put back together and straightened. A few were already tucking from all sides of the poor thing barely holding on. It was a miracle she hadn’t lost anything yet.

Peppermint Coffee

 

[Bronze Coffee]

He didn't know her thoughts on him putting blame on his dad, so he just watched her explain what happened to the notebook and he sighed hard.

"I can fix it. It will take till the very end of the day, but... Should I put these pages in order? Or leave the loose pages loose for you?" He flipped through it, not reading, but just taking in the condition of the pages. Some of them had yellowed, which he couldn't do much about, but he could flatten the water damaged pages, smooth out wrinkles and folds. "I'll... let you fix the plant as payment, I guess..." He wasn't in this job for the money.

"What kind of fieldwork do you do?" Kalanc wasn't going to read the pages. People's handwriting didn't interest him as much as the fine, beautiful print of newer books.

Tasinei

 

[Tasinei]

“Very end of the day,” Ila nodded. It would take longer than she’d expected and she probably would hear about it from her parents but it was well worth it. “That works fine.” What choice did she have? If she lost any of her research she would have to restart and she couldn’t afford losing that kind of precious time. “And yes I’ll fix the plant of course, here should I settle?” she kept all of her tools with her at all times; she just needed a bit of a work space to work with.

“I breed plants for various traits,” it was the simplest way she could explain what it was that she did. “So I keep lots of notes on plant genomes and their types and what they do.” Not many people cared for her work because once you started you were in it for the long haul. “I’m Ila by the way,” she gave a quick nod of her head. “It’s nice to meet you Kalanc.” If she was going to be here all day she may as well get to know him right?

Peppermint Coffee

 

[Bronze Coffee]

"It's mainly the page straightening that takes the longest. We have... a process for it, but it's not exactly something that can be rushed if you don't want the words smudged." He sighed and opened a book on the main desk, jotting down the type of book, the person who brought it in, and what kind of payment. It seems his dad recently did something for a dinner later this week. That'd be interesting. Whatever, he jotted down that the plant would be alive again and then moved around to find the official stamp before stamping the proper spot and then putting the book away.

She bred plants? You could do that? Purple eyes looked up at her and he squinted a little bit. "...So, Ila, you... bred plants? How does that work?" He wasn't one for plant anatomy, so if that was taught in school, he missed it. "Well, the short version if there is one?"

He flipped through the journal again and put pages back how they should be and unfolded the pages that were folded. Might as well start smoothing them out while he could.

Tasinei

 

[Tasinei]

“I don’t mind waiting, this will take a while,” she waved a hand at the plant. She was already jotting down everything that she was going to need to do to bring it back in tip top shape. “Anywhere I can set up with the plant? Any counter space works really.”

“The short version, hmm,” Ila tilted her head a bit. “Well, let’s say a farmer has a blue plant and a yellow and red plant. Well if he wanted to have the yellow on the blue for example well we breed them together in a closed off environment. Then whichever babies come out that have the most yellow you keep. And then you keep breeding yellow into the flower until you’re satisfied.” She chuckled, that was not the short version. “The short version is I rub plants together to make new types of babies.” She laughed.

“Awkward right?”

Peppermint Coffee

 

[Bronze Coffee]

Rub plants together to make new types of babies. Kalanc couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up out of him at that explanation. The hybrid rubbed his hands on his cheeks and then watched her for a while.

"Uhhh. Yeah there's a little table there..." He pointed to a table in the corner next to a chair with a few papers on it. "Just put the papers anywhere, really, they're not important."

The bubbly boy looked at the workload he had and then back up at the girl before giving her another charming smile. Kalanc was still smoothing down pages that were wrinkled or dog-eared. It mad him so sad to see people folding their pages. Bookmarks were a thing!

Tasinei

 

[Tasinei]

Ila gave a small nervous laugh herself. It always sounded dumb when she explained it. Her teacher has this really nice and eloquent way of explaining it but Ila didn't and it just sounded weird coming out of her mouth.

"Oh thanks!" Grabbing the potted plant, Ila moved over to the small table and really spread herself out to optimize the room. She took out a small pair of scissors made for plants, a small shovel she'd gotten made and a few extra gadgets that she laid down carefully. Then she grabbed her gloves and put those on before gently beginning to pry the plant out of it's pot. Once she had the whole thing out, she put it to the side to inspect the roots.

"Looks like it's roots are doing okay." She called out to him, briefly glancing his way.

Peppermint Coffee

 

[Bronze Coffee]

Wow, she really made herself at home. Kalanc couldn't help but blink owlishly at her as she did her thing. Of course it meant he pauses in his work, but that wasn't always a bad thing.

Roots? He walked around to examine them with her and gave a bit of a smile. "That's.... that's a good thing right? Roots, from what I've read, will feed the plant?"

Tasinei