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"You guys! There's a big big storm coming!" Flower pranced into the living room, throwing her hands forward dramatically. "It's gonna rain really hard! Sam- no. Uhm. The other one-" she hesitated, gaze drifting off to the left, but she shook her hands out and managed to steer herself back on course, to the surprise of the four ghosts who were crowded on the couch. "One of them! That other guy. He said so."
"That's very interesting Flower," Isaac said kindly, giving her a polite nod and turning his focus back to the television, while Nigel simply gave her a tight, slightly awkward looking smile. He leaned over and whispered something into Isaac's ear, and the man shook his head, muttering back to him under his breath. Sasappis, with his chin cupped in his palm as he leaned forward, simply made a noncommittal noise of acknowledgement.
"Yes! It is!" Flower agreed, grinning at them and bouncing in place. "I'm gonna go see if I can get rained on! Does anybody wanna come too?"
"No, thank you dear. We're watching the desperate plight of the housewives." Hetty squinted at the screen, tilting her head to the side a bit in distaste. "Though they do not seem to do much...caring of the home, as of yet."
Flower looked between them, as if hoping someone else would say something, but when nothing came she seemed to deflate a little bit before perking right back up.
"Oh. Okay then! I'll catch up with you guys later!" she said brightly, before disappearing back through the wall.
Hetty stared after her as she flounced away, an odd and uncomfortable ache settling into her chest. Flower so often seemed to wander off by herself. A lot of the time the others weren't entirely sure where she had disappeared to. Once she had been absent from the home for three days, and they had started to think she had potentially been sucked off before the girl had just wandered past them, quietly talking to herself while playing with her fingers and seemingly none the wiser to the fright she had given them.
Oh. Oh dear.
It was guilt.
She felt guilty.
Flower had done so much for her as of late, had opened up her eyes to certain- well. Possibilities. With overtly detailed explanations, and including a generous offer to provide a demonstration (which Hetty had shut down very briskly), and yet when the girl had made such a simple request of companionship, she had rebuffed her. Left her alone to her own devices once more.
She stewed in the shame of it all for a few moments, attempting to focus back onto their television program, which Sasappis, Isaac, and Nigel seemed to have no trouble doing, but she couldn't bring herself to. She let out a small sigh, drawing herself up and rolling her shoulders back primly.
"I...believe I will go keep an eye on Flower after all," she hummed, sliding herself off of her perch next to Sasappis and smoothing out the back of her dress. "I do not wish for her to wander off into the woods and forget how to return to the house again while there is storm going on. It will send poor Samantha into quite a state if that happens. You know how she can get."
Sasappis turned his head to quirk an eyebrow at her, mildly intrigued, but she leveled a stare at him until he looked away. "Oh, alright. We'll let you know if anything interesting happens," Isaac said. He sounded a bit disappointed, but he would be alright, especially if that little hushed conversation had been about a certain someone not wanting to walk back across the grounds during the storm.
She smiled, tipped her head at the three of them, clasped her hands together, and bustled off, sliding through the wall after Flower.
As she passed through the outer wall of the mansion, Hetty was greeted with a warm and dark afternoon. True to what Flower had said, there was a storm brewing overhead, dark clouds rolling in towards the estate and a brisk wind beginning to pick up around them. Hetty closed her eyes for a moment, imagining that she could still feel it- actually feel it, not just know it was there- blowing across her cheeks and moving through her hair.
Flower was easy to spot, thankfully, as she had not yet wandered off too far. She was only about halfway down the sprawling lawn before it reached the trees, entranced in some sort of dance she appeared to be making up as she went along. She seemed to be quietly singing something to herself as she waved her arms about, though Hetty was too far away to make out what exactly it was.
Hetty lingered against the wall of the mansion for a bit instead of heading over, her head tilted as she watched Flower twirl around on the grass, hair and skirt flying wildly around her. She looked so...happy. Loose, but not in any sort of uncouth way.
Well.
Maybe in some of the uncouth ways, she thought to herself, squinting a bit at the clothes the poor girl had died in. Not that there was much she could do to help it, at this point.
She watched as Flower spun to a halt, arms splayed out at her sides. She swayed in place for a moment before toppling sideways onto the grass, giggling loudly to herself. Concerned, though she knew Flower couldn't actually hurt herself, Hetty peeled away from the mansion and hurried across the lawn towards her. She leaned down, wringing her hands together. "Flower dear, are you quite alright?"
The other woman let out a content sigh as she fanned her hands out at her sides, fingertips misting through the blades of grass as she brushed them along the ground. "Isn't it super cool how we still get dizzy?" she asked happily, sounding rather out of breath. She squinted up at Hetty with a dazed look on her face.
The promised rain was beginning to fall now, and Hetty watched as instead of collecting on Flower's glasses as it should, it simply continued right on through. She smiled, offering a hand to help the girl up. "Yes, yes, it is rather 'cool', I suppose."
Instead of taking her hand though, Flower's gaze drifted back up to the sky. She was quiet for a few moments before she seemed to realize Hetty was there again, propped herself up onto her elbows, and shot Hetty a goofy grin. "Hetty! You came!"
The older woman sighed, retracting her hand and clasping it up against her chest once more. "Yes. I didn't want you to find yourself caught up in a storm all on your own," she said. Flower let out a soft aww sound, and Hetty felt her ears go hot, glancing away from her. "We really should head on inside before it picks up. You don't want Samantha to worry, do you?"
Flower scrunched her face up, letting herself drop back onto the ground, spreading her arms and legs out in the grass again. "Can't we stay out a little longer?" she asked. Hetty frowned, glancing up at the sky.
"Well..."
Flower pulled her face into a dramatic pout, her glasses sliding down her nose, and Hetty fidgeted with her hands, feeling another twinge of that dreaded guilty weight. She really wasn't asking for much, and it wasn't like they could catch their death anymore...
"Well. Alright. I suppose it couldn't hurt for just a few minutes more." Flower beamed, and Hetty felt herself smiling widely right back at her. The girl was contagious.
"Yes! Oooh, Hetty! Come lay down," she said, patting the grass next to her enthusiastically with both hands. Hetty made an uncomfortable tutting sound.
"Oh, no, that's quite alright, it's rather difficult for me to-"
"Come on, Hetty, it's not like you can get dirty or anything!" Flower chirped, cutting her off with widening eyes. "Please?"
Hetty sighed deeply, dropping her hands to her sides and twisting them in the fabric of her dress. She glanced back towards the mansion uncertainly before awkwardly easing herself down onto the grass, bunching her bustle off to the side and tucking her legs up under herself. She smoothed the fluff of her dress down against the ground as best she could, letting it pool out around her to assure herself that she was properly covered.
Flower wiggled happily, scooting herself back along the ground so that Hetty was perched up next to her head. The older woman smiled down at her, feeling herself relax a little. It wasn't the most comfortable position in the world, but, well. There was something...light about it, to be sitting down in the grass like this, just the two of them. Nobody else to see as she allowed her posture to slip, her shoulders slumping back.
They sat there in comfortable silence together, watching the rain fall and the grass blow in the wind. Flower occasionally hummed to herself and lifted her hands up to trace her fingers through the air in a nonsensical pattern, attempting to catch at the droplets of rain as they began to fall more heavily. Hetty had to admit, it was somewhat of a novelty to be able to sit outside in the rain without getting wet, to be able to stare up into the sky and watch it fall without any of the water getting into her eyes, or weighing her hair and clothing down. She could understand the appeal Flower found in it, and felt a surge of fondness for her. Her ideas weren't always ridiculous.
Idly, almost without seeming to think about it, Hetty's hands found themselves drifting down to card through Flower's hair on the grass, gently beginning to work through some of the tangles in it. Flower let out a content sigh, closing her eyes and pushing into the pleasant touch. Hetty froze, and pulled her hands back to herself, flushing in embarrassment as she clutched them in her lap.
"Oh, I apologize Flower, I didn't mean to-"
"Aw, Hetty, no, it's okay, that felt like, super nice! Can you do it more?" Flower asked, reaching up to try and pull Hetty's hand back towards her head, but Hetty stiffened when Flower's fingers brushed up against her. Flower quickly retracted her hand, confused.
She frowned, peering up at Hetty's face. The other woman was staring at her lap with a twisted curl to her lip, a cloud of bad energy radiating off of her. She looked...guilty? Sad? Why? Flower puzzled over it for a few moments before reaching her hand back out, gently placing it on Hetty's arm in concern.
"Hetty? Are you okay?"
Hetty didn't answer right away, continuing to stare at her lap. Flower patiently watched her, giving her arm a gentle squeeze, letting her take her time with it. She certainly understood that. Hetty shivered under the touch, but didn't move her arm away.
"It's just," Hetty started quietly after a moment, turning her head up and away from the woman so that she didn't have to look at her. "Flower, how...do you do it?"
"Do what?" Flower asked quizzically, rolling over onto her side and cushioning her head on her arm so she could get a better look at her friend, and to make it clear that she was listening to her. She knew that it wasn't always obvious if she was or not.
Hetty's breathing hitched just a bit, and she continued to just stare up into the rain without elaborating. Flower realized slowly that maybe Hetty herself wasn't entirely sure what exactly it was that she was asking of her either.
Flower reached down to where Hetty was now digging her hands tightly into the folds her dress, and with a little prying to loosen her grip, she laced their fingers together, giving her hand a tight squeeze. She smiled softly as Hetty let out a strangled noise at the contact, clutching back onto Flower's hand, like she thought she would let go the second she realized Hetty liked it. It hurt, a bit, but Flower didn't try to wriggle free, letting Hetty cling to her.
Flower watched the side of Hetty's face as the other woman struggled to pull her composure together, jaw quivering with the tension.
She felt so very sorry for Hetty, at times. The lady of the house (whatever that meant, Flower still wasn't too sure) often just seemed so...deeply unhappy. She knew that that was why Hetty was so bossy, always trying to tell the others what to do. It made her feel good to pretend she was in charge of them in a way that she was pretty sure not much else did. Flower at least had good memories to fall back on whenever she was sad, but she wasn't so sure that Hetty could say the same.
If she didn't have any, did that mean she just had to stay so sad forever and ever and ever? She wished, sometimes, that she had been a ghost when Hetty had been a living, so that she could know more about her like the older ghosts did. None of them ever really seemed to want to talk about it, outside of occasionally complaining about Elias, so despite how long she had known Hetty for, Flower really wasn't too sure she actually knew her very well at all.
Flower thought that maybe the other ghosts felt sad for her, too. Or at least, she thought about it sometimes. Or, well, she thought about it during the times that weren't the times that she thought were probably the times that caused the pity the others had for her, but- wait. What? Flower shook her head back and forth.
Oh, she was getting all jumbled up again. She didn't want that to happen right now. She wanted to help her friend.
"Have you ever danced, Hetty?" she asked. The question seemed to catch the other ghost off guard, and Hetty released a shaky breath, glancing over at her.
"Well, I- yes, of course!" Hetty said, trying to draw herself up in her offense at the very idea of it, but the effect fell a little short. "We hosted many a party here, I'll have you know. I was most frequently invited to others as well, and I had a lovely time at Stephanie's prom." She sniffed haughtily, and Flower pretended not to notice it sounded a little wet.
"But have you ever danced in the rain?" she asked, eyebrows raised upwards.
"Ah, well, no. Never."
"Then you should! Right now! With me!" Flower said excitedly, rolling herself up and over onto her feet in a motion Hetty was fairly sure she would never be able to pull off, even if she wasn't eternally bound to wearing however many pounds of clothing. "Come on!"
Flower tugged on her hand. Hetty hesitated, but allowed herself to be helped up. She moved to attempt to smooth her dress back out again, but Flower didn't let go of her hand, instead reaching over and grabbing her other one. Something about it sent a spark of warmth through Hetty's chest.
"Alright. What dance did you wish to do?"
"I don't really know any of the kind of dances you guys used to do," Flower said apologetically. "So just, well, move around! Listen to the music of your soul and, y'know, groove to it, do what your body tells you feels good. Don't worry about following any rules or steps or anything!"
Hetty frowned, watching Flower twist and wiggle, the other girl moving both of their arms between them. She bounced in place, jostling Hetty left and right with the movement. The older ghost stared down at where their hands were clasped together, glanced back up at the mansion, and then slowly started to sway back and forth with her.
Flower was clearly following some kind of music only she could hear, though the more she watched her Hetty could almost hear it too. A jaunty tune threaded its way through her mind as she attempted to remember some of the music that the girl would request during her turns with Samantha’s spotty program. She could do this.
Hetty began to twist her hips, the bottom of her dress swishing appealingly along the ground as she began to copy Flower's movements, leaning into the momentum instead of just letting Flower jostle her around. Flower made an encouraging noise, and she did it again, faster this time.
Hetty slowly felt her face break out into a grin as started to get into it, flouncing her bustle a bit, and Flower giggled. She tossed Hetty's hands free from hers so that she could spin herself in a wide circle, the bottom of her skirt flaring out around her legs. Hetty mimicked her, her larger dress not fanning out quite as dramatically, but it felt amazing. Oh, this was lovely.
She felt rather unbalanced in her heels on the lawn like this, much more used to moving about like this indoors, but thanks to the practice that she had been getting in with the walking crew, she managed to keep herself upright and steady, fanning her arms out the way that she had seen Flower do earlier. She swayed them up and down, twisting as she rocked herself back and forth.
"Yeah! You've got it, man!" Flower said, lurching forward to throw her arms around Hetty's shoulders in a tight hug with a loud laugh. Hetty sucked in a breath before melting into the embrace, hugging her back fiercely. She buried her face into Flower's hair with a little whine, swaying back and forth into the contact.
For the first time that afternoon, Flower felt something wet briefly against her neck, but it quickly disappeared before she had a chance to puzzle over it as Hetty loosened her embrace and pulled away. Their grip shifted so that they were both holding onto each others arms, and Flower bounced in place and shook her hips around, grinning wildly as Hetty did her best to follow along.
Flower twisted herself off to the left, once again spinning Hetty with her, and Hetty felt something bubbling up in her chest as Flower let out a sharp laugh, letting go of her and tossing her arms out towards the sky, closing her eyes in bliss. Hetty copied her, and threw in another twirl for good measure, a delighted noise escaping her. And once she started laughing, she couldn't seem to stop, allowing herself to fall into the unstructured joy of it all, spinning around and around as the rain continued to mist through them.
Oh, if only Elias could see her now. It was almost too bad he had already gone down on them. She would have liked to have rubbed his nose in how much better her afterlife was without him in it, just a little bit more. She had spent so much of that day doing her best to avoid him, her worst nightmare come true, that she had missed the opportunity until the end. But as she looked at Flower, watched the girl who was opening her eyes to pleasures she hadn't known were even options loudly yelling her joy to the sky, she realized it wasn't about that anymore.
This was entirely for her.
Unbeknownst to the two ghosts on the lawn, they were being fondly watched from inside the house. Sam smiled softly as their peals of laughter floated up through the open window, leaning against the frame to try and catch a better look at her great-great-great-whatever. The first crack of thunder sounded overhead, and Sam watched as it startled poor Hetty, who flinched backwards, one of her feet catching on the bottom of her dress. She toppled over with a startled noise, accidentally dragging Flower down with her, and they landed in a heap on top of each other. The two were quiet for a moment before they burst out into loud giggles, clutching at each other breathlessly on the lawn.
Sam stared at the scene affectionately, a fuzzy warmth tingling underneath her skin before she quietly pulled the window shut with a soft click.