A Smelly Buddy

The apartment was so quiet for once. Too quiet. It drove Ciel crazy to not have anything to do, and she was struggling to find any sort of proper tasks to focus on. 

She sighed, sitting at the window of her bottom floor home and staring out across the window pane in agitation and stagnant boredom. How much longer was she going to keep denying the fact she absolutely needed to do something, no, ANYTHING to keep her mind active? 

Even her little stars were berating her for being so lack-a-dasical about her chores alone. She just didn’t feel the need to do laundry, or to brush out the twigs that had collected in her blanki cloud trim. She struggled to find herself anything to do that was providing her any sort of dopamine hit at that and desperately stared out the window for inspiration to hit. 

A sudden smell hit her, one she was really confused by and she glanced to her lukewarm tea in confusion. She didn’t recall having any apples in her tea, in fact - who’s tea was that anyway? She hated tea! She reached toward the cup and sniffed it, realizing it was, in fact, not the culprit to the mysterious smell. Her brows furrowed and she adjusted pink rimmed glasses to finally stand and grope about along the wall as she moved. 

She found her coat, carefully sliding it on over her sweater and loose fitting pants and kept her head tipped back. 

Apples. She loved the smell of apples; Fuji apples always smelled the nicest while her favorite to snack on was Granny Smith! So of course she was thoughtlessly following the smell out the front door to her home and down the snow covered pathway. Paws skewed as she tried her best to keep from slipping, knees even buckling as hands flailed and pinwheeled uselessly. It didn’t take long for her to finally fall backward onto her rump and stare angrily at her knees like they were the offending party. 

She could hear soft chirp-like giggling behind her, ears twitching and head tipping backward until she was staring at the upside-down door to her apartment and - a small creature? It looked like a bird, but it had fruit on it! The smell was so strong, she knew it had to be the little being that was taking some sort of schadenfreude pleasure of her fall. 

“You think that’s funny, huh?” Her tone was hardly callous, but the giggling being seemed nervous when she called it out, tinkling and - wait was it sloshing? She could hear fluid and soon realized that the glass bauble on its brow had some sort of juice in it! 

She beamed suddenly, “You have a special spot, too!” She stood, struggling a bit before lifting her sweater at the hemline and revealing the glitter and star filled jelly-belly she had of her own, the fluid itself sloshing on its own while she moved, “See?” She even pointed a hand to her horns in pride. 

The little one was fluttering around her, a pink and green blur as it inspected her horns and even reached tiny paws to touch the strange looking glass curls. Ciel grinned wide, “Pretty neat, huh? We kinda match!” 

The being scrunched its beak at her in mild disagreement, but a squint and smile later seemed to win it over enough that she could reach forward herself to very carefully examine the gold lined bauble on its brow. “It’s so pretty, the gold and everything.” 

It chirped and puffed its chest in pride, making her giggle this time as it spun around to show off all of its plumage, wings and tail included. She could see the source of the apple smell clearly on its backside and the little apple head … Accessories? She wasn’t really sure what they were, but the leaves and the vines were rather pretty, appealing to her current cottage-core obsession. She clapped her hands in glee, “It’s so pretty. You’re very pretty!” 

A happy trill escaped the little being as it swirled around her and finally settled to sit on her blanki, letting her drag it from the weight inside of her own home, “You smell nice, too. I like apples, I might have some inside. Do you want some?” 

A vigorous nod was her response and she smiled warmer still, “Well, let’s get inside out of the cold. My little starmie’s are probably worried about me, too,” she tugged her blanki along behind her and soon the little one was a guest in her home. 

The apartment itself was decorated in a rather cheesy decor, mostly clouds, crystals, and star based themes all over the shelves, star shaped lights similar to the strings on her blanki hung from the ceiling all across the main sitting room which was mostly dark aside from a large moon lamp on the center table and a few other smaller lamps of stars that decorated the room in different colors. 

The sofa was a large, plush couch, blue in color much like her blanki and decorated in similar stars. Her own were glowing dimly as she tugged the little one into the main sitting room across the white pine floors and lifted the creature under its arm to perch on the sofa cushion. It sank into the plush seat and seemed rather happy to have a warmer spot to sit. 

The little stars that usually frequented Ciel’s sides were already fluttering around it, causing coos and chirps and happy tinkling sounds to emit from the small group while Ciel took to the fridge. She was seeking out a fruit bucket she had of mixed little snacks and found one! She grinned and pulled the plastic container out to separate the apple slices and other fruits into smaller bowls and carefully balance them in her hands as she returned. The little creature perked and fluttered toward her, already making grabby paws toward the apple fruit bowl and earning a laugh when Ciel settled them all on the table, “Here we go!” 

And with that permission given, the little creature dove in, grabbing different fruits and doing its best not to take all of them so Ciel could at least nibble on a few while the snugzi’s blanki lit up the rest of the room. No wonder she didn’t have any other lights or lamps, she was bright all by herself! 

It was warm, and cozy, and honestly? Not too bad of a visit.