Sunlight shimmered warmly across the emerald grass and the drooping heads of the flowery crowd. The respectful tables and supplies had been set up for the host club, but the garden was devoid of the bustling swarm of girls today, for the club lacked a meeting on the current date. Instead, the autumn breeze stirred through its emptiness, carrying on its hushed presence a flowing stream of a soft melody from a flute. A low vibrato cascaded into a higher, sweeter tune, the notes in search to uplift the sagging blossomed heads that listened. With the coming of autumn a chill had also been brought to Astrea. This chill had ravaged the Rose Garden this year, and though Lumi had returned every day to tend to it as usual, she could only do so much to ward off the elements from dominating them.

The roses had looked lonely and a bit grim; with their flowery faces lowered towards the grass. A few had even began to wither. The Tamil-Japanese knew she could do nothing for them now, yet, as they did her, had decided to at least provide company for their last fading weeks in the form of a performance; one that would voice her gratitude for the comfort they provided and just the beauty of the floral environment she loved so dearly. The first year stood near the back yet towards the center of the garden,  lashes draped shut over her emerald eyes and her posture calm yet poised. Each quick breath she took she expelled across the metallic mouthpiece of the flute she was playing, holding it parallel to the grass as to not sacrifice the sound with what was ever so slowly becoming sloppy posture as her arms grew tired from holding the orchestral instrument up. It had been such a long time since she had even touched the instrument, but everything was gradually reconnecting in her mind. The finger-placement, how to play; it wouldn't matter if she messed up, because the flowers would not judge their bespectacled caretaker.  


Each note was a melodic expression of its own, casting an elegant sort of expression of gratitude and peace. And although the targeted flowery crowd would not - could not - lift their heavy heads to catch the full grandeur of the melody, they listened. Just as they always did to the nicknamed "purple rose". Lumi kept her eyes closed as she continued to play and let her mind drift mechanically with the slightly melancholic melody, leaving herself unaware if anyone other than the intended audience of roses was listening or had entered the garden.       

(She is playing the flute portion heard in this song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtEob-2RoA0 ) 

It had been about a week since the last visit of the Rose Garden's green haired hostess, and that had been a week too long.  Such an interval would undoubtedly leave a goodly number of girls wondering wherefore had their favorite hostess gone.  That was what Hilda had told herself even as she intentionally stayed away in order to pursue a new project with one of her other clubs.  There was a limit to how much you could just show up as yourself and expect people to get excited over it.  Or maybe she just had really wanted to sew up an incredibly detailed costume with which to attract more cute girls into the Rose Garden and increase its popularity.  It helped that she had arranged to do some Live Action Role Playing with her new costume, complete with players from each school and a detailed script full of plot twists and story arcs!  Granted that LARP had been arranged by her and still needed those players from each of the schools.  All would come in time!

For now she was trying to make her big debut in the costume to spread the word about her ongoing LARP idea to anyone who might be willing to hear it.  She had worn a fully detailed greek style off-the-shoulder white dress with red trim, brown belt with intricate ornaments attached to it and a pair of wings on her back to show how divine the character was.  A goddess that had descended to the Rose Garden to recruit ambitious heroes who stood to be rewarded for their brave deeds!  Hilda had even worn contacts even though they really irritated her eyes sometimes.  Today was a slight exception as they only irritated her left eye a tiny bit.  Therefore she was seated not far from the musical performer whose appearance had kind of interrupted her own plans.  No problem then!  Such angelic music befit a goddess who'd appeared to recruit adventurers, so she held court with that music as her backdrop; she scanned the crowd with attention out for who might be likely to engage her in some improved role playing.  Her sister, Ms. High-and-Mighty SCP, wouldn't know what hit her when the cooler twin ended up starting an Astraea-wide gaming event!  

"Perhaps the performer herself might be interested.. she would make a lovely bard," Hilda thought aloud, losing herself momentarily in the girl's melody.

A brief tremolo and a few resonating, lingering notes in a low vibrato scale rounded the song to a close. As puckered caramel lips began to relax, the obscuring curtain of lashes fluttered up to reveal the previously concealed pools of emerald. Their warm light flickered briefly over the surrounding area, still in a sort of dream-like daze from the tranquil trance that playing had succeeded in putting her in, and her eyes widened as they fell upon an ethereal being. A Greek goddess, the girl looked like, with celestial wings and a dress tailored to match. For a moment, Lumi that she was hallucinating for that wasn't something she was expecting to see when she opened her eyes. Maybe she was just lightheaded from playing? The flute did require the most air of the woodwind family.

Regardless, she blushed a little in surprise; the rosy hue creating a strange contrast with her caramel skin. The flute slipped from her hands and impacted the ground with a soft metallic clank. Oh dear! That only spurred a slight meltdown of embarrassment, and in her flustered state, she hurriedly knelt down to retrieve the fragile instrument. Fortunately, there weren't any nicks or dents scarring the metal. It was an old flute, but she had made sure to take exemplary care of it even if it wasn't used often. Flute in hand, she pushed herself clumsily back up and angled her head a little to hide her eyes with the natural gleam of her glasses.

What was such a goddess doing here? Whether she be truly there or just a product of expelling a large quantity of air all in an extended moment. Glancing back to the girl, she gradually lowered her torso to her waist and held the flute horizontally parallel in front of her to perform a concluding bow.

Hilda remained in her throne as the flute performance continued, happy to have such appropriate sounds in the air.  Of course a goddess here to seek adventuring heroes required appropriate atmosphere for her presence!  It just so happened that her luck had been with her on this day in the form of such accompanying music.  Not luck though - she was a goddess of LARP and the very presence of her person brought out all that she desired in the world!  Once the music ended the green haired goddess simply sat upon her throne and shrewdly observed the Rose Garden for potential adventurers who would accept her first quest.  And it was observing shrewdly, not being irritated by the feel of those annoyingly filmy surfaces on her eyes.  Not one bit - goddesses didn't become irritated for anything!  

It was surprising that the first person to potentially accept her quest was the musician who'd been providing the wonderful music though.   So surprised and awestruck was she that the girl even dropped her instrument, which might be a drag.  Gilda would probably flip out about something of hers dropping so unceremoniously to the ground; Hilda on the other hand knew that she had plenty of funds to go around and therefore could deal with simply replacing an object.  If necessary she'd happily replace the musician's flute assuming the girl was going to go on her quest.   

One had to take care of one's subjects after all!  As the girl bowed before her, Hilda nodded as serenely as she could - though she blinked a couple of times due to the darned contact lenses.  Maybe it would've been better to just accept that she wouldn't be able to see very well - it could add an element of mystery to her.

"My dear, you hath quite lovely musical talent which hath brought joy to my court," Hilda announced, then motioned to the girl, "Please rise and tell me more of thyself.  What bringeth such a fine maiden to the Garden this day.. and mayhaps you shall prove.. useful to me as well.."

Lumi didn't break from her bow, even when she was spoken to, as was her nature. She was still a bit flustered from her embarrassing little slip-up with her flute, but luckily the betraying rush of blood to her cheeks didn't quite make it this time around. She kept her head bowed although she moved only just a little, enough for the obscuring white glare of her glasses lenses to reveal half of her right eye; the other one remaining veiled by the light's reflection. This girl had a peculiar way of speaking, kind of old-fashioned, but had a charming grace to her nonetheless that definitely befit the goddess figure she was emulating. 

As for the reason why she was here at the Rose Garden, the motive was a bit silly. Well, to others it would be at least, but not to her. She didn't have her regular duties as a host today; not that anyone really noticed her even when she was working to begin with. The young first year had come here with the intent of not quite playing music for the students' ears, but rather, for the roses that served as the backdrop of the lovely event. She felt the most comfortable around them, and, since they looked a bit withered and drooping mostly due to the autumn's chill, she decided she would play this year's bloom a gracious finale. But, could she really say that? It would sound strange out of context... And why would such a lovely goddess of a girl be interested in knowing anything about a plain, ugly little duckling? Though it would be rude not to say anything.

"The roses, miss." She started out quietly, rising a little from her bowed position but still keep her torso at a slightly bent angle. "They provide so much beauty and atmosphere to this place, but don't get much gratitude in return. A-And they looked a little wilted, so I thought I ought to play them a little tune to express my gratitude for them and see them off until they bloom again in spring..."

Her caramel hands had tightened ever so slightly around her flute as she spoke. Noticing this, she loosened her grip almost instantly, but not enough to drop it again. That would be even more embarrassing. "Ah, and you, miss? Might I ask why a lovely goddess such as yourself might come here?"

She hoped it wasn't rude to ask. Requesting to exchange information was only natural in conversation, right? And what did she mean by prove useful? Perhaps this goddess was on a sort of quest.