Stem wrapped around stem. Petals facing outward. Each wrapped stem forms a perfectly rounded circle. That is the way she liked her flower crowns. No one she knew could deny her spectacular flower crown making ability–
“Evangeline!”
– except her father.
“Yes, Dad?” The young girl arose from the beautiful flower garden she had planted, carefully hid her creations underneath the house, and carefully made her way over to her father, Viktor Jacobstow.
Viktor was a towering man with a stern brow and scowl. He was tough and always had a knack for being serious. Evangeline’s heart dropped every time he spoke to her.
“Did you complete your tasks for the day?” Viktor asked his daughter. He folded his arms across his chest.
Evangeline brought her hands up to chest level as well, rubbing one hand with the other repeatedly. “Um… no, I haven't yet. My apologies, Dad.”
“You'd better get on it right this minute,” Viktor demanded. “Now is not the time to dawdle in the flowers. You have work to do.”
“Yes, Father.” Evangeline bowed her head, then looked back up at Viktor. “Is there a chore list that I'm supposed to follow?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. There is.” Viktor tossed a rolled up scroll into his daughter's arms. “I trust that you'll be able to remember what you need to do this time. We can't have another day of incompetence around here.”
Evangeline promptly shook her head in understanding, waiting to open the scroll until her father left to go back inside their house. She looked back at the flower field and let out a big sigh. She was hoping to spend some time making flower crowns for her and her best friend today. She turned back to the closed scroll.
“Ok, the chore list shouldn't be that bad, right?”
Once she unrolled the scroll, she instantly regretted it. The scroll’s contents fell down to her feet and onto the dirt road her feet were standing on.
Evangeline frowned. “Aw, nuts.”
✧*。
After thoroughly examining the chore list, Evangeline decided to complete each task depending on the difficulty level. The easiest chores would go first, then she'd be able to get around to the more difficult ones.
The first assignment she was going to get done was to tidy her room. That wouldn't take too long. Her bedroom was normally kept clean with the exception of the occasional clutter on her multi-purpose desk. She happened to do a lot with that desk, particularly a lot of artistic things.
There wasn't a whole lot of open space in her bedroom, but she managed to give everything a rightful home.
Next was to wash the dishes.
This was something Evangeline never looked forward to. The way the grimy water stuck to her skin was the worst part– not including her undesired duty to listen in on everything that was discussed inside the house. Even so, this was something she– and she alone– would have to take care of. So, with a drive to get this excruciating job over with, she hand scrubbed each dish to the best of her abilities, all while bearing the awful, uncomfortable feeling that the nasty water left on her hands and arms. She shuddered intensely.
“Ugh…”
Once all the household chores had been completed to a tee, Evangeline moved on to get the weekly shopping done at the Old Corona marketplace. This was probably the only assignment Evangeline enjoyed doing! Frankly, it was because she could get a break from the overwhelming stress she often feels at home. Getting away from it all and simply experiencing the way of life in Old Corona is the best part of any day.
“Good morning, Evie, dear! How are you?” a sweet old woman by the name of Petunia said warmly. She ran a produce stand in the marketplace, and Evangeline often went to her for her family's supply of food.
Evangeline smiled brightly. She loved visiting Petunia. “I'm doing wonderful today, thank you. How have you been?”
“Just fine.” Petunia gave a laugh. “Are you here for some fresh produce?”
“When am I never here for that?” Evangeline chuckled, pulling out her chore list. She showed it to Petunia, pointing to the items she needed to buy. “This is all I need today.”
Petunia quickly set a basket in Evangeline's arms, then gathered some apples, grapes, strawberries, and carrots to place in the basket.
“Thank you so much, Petunia!” Evangeline bowed her head and turned to walk away. “It was nice to see you again.”
Petunia waved goodbye with a wrinkly smile. “Have a lovely day, dear, and make sure to say hello to Varian for me the next time you see him.”
“I'll be seeing him soon,” Evangeline let her know. “I'm making flower crowns for the both of us.”
“That sounds wonderful, dear. Good luck!”
“Thank you again!” Evangeline took off to return back home. However, just as she was doing just that, the ground beneath her began to shake tremendously, causing her to lose her balance and fall right on the ground. Petunia ran to Evangeline's side as soon as the quaking stopped and helped her dear friend upright. “Thanks, Petunia.”
“My, what in the world could've caused such an earthquake?” Petunia mused.
Evangeline shrugged her shoulders, gripping onto the basket tightly. “I'm not sure.”
She had no idea what could have caused it. Well, maybe she had a small idea. However, she really really hoped she wasn't right.
✧*。
Thankfully, there hadn't been any other tremors since the first one, but Evangeline was kept on her toes as she cautiously walked back home. She worried that something like it would happen again when she would least expect it. Things like tremors seemed to do that, you know.
She recalled Varian's most recent project in great detail and silently pleaded with God that that wasn't the cause of the tremors. She knew her best friend often had good intentions, but he had a habit of getting himself into trouble.
Her house was now in sight, and a large lump formed in Evangeline's throat when she spotted something unfamiliar in the flower gardens.
Upon further inspection, her jaw dropped. “A goat?”
A ragged goat with brown fur grazed in Evangeline's flower garden, munching on all of the plants she had cared for diligently for months.
At running speed, Evangeline approached the goat, setting the produce basket on top of the garden wall. “Hey, back away from the flowers, Mr Goat.”
The goat didn't reply. It continued to munch on the flowers.
“Please?” she asked with big eyes.
The goat munched on the flowers even harder than before.
Evangeline took a sharp inhale, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance. She bent to the goat’s level, placing her hands on her knees. Pleadingly, she said, “Listen, Mr. Goat, I really need you to go back to your home. These are my flowers, and I worked super hard to help them grow. Please stop eating them.”
The goat paused for a moment, staring mindlessly into Evangeline's eyes. Then, without warning, it bleated and leaped further into the garden.
“Hey, wait!” Evangeline ran after the goat as it trotted closer to the house.
The goat stopped right in its tracks when it spotted something inevitably delicious and bit down hard on its discovery. By the time Evangeline caught up to the speedy mammal, the goat took off running with both of her flower crowns in its mouth.
Evangeline laughed in a nervous-panicky way, lightly tugging on her long, brown hair. Her eyelid began to twitch. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me! H-Hey, come back!”
Chasing a nimble goat around the flower garden proved to be a lot more difficult than Evangeline anticipated. Although, she should've expected it. Her stamina wasn't exactly the greatest out there. Still, she was determined to retrieve her halfway finished creations.
Realizing it was being followed around, the goat booked it towards the very much open gate that would provide it with freedom. Evangeline gasped, and with a jolt of adrenaline she sprinted towards the gate.
Letting out a curt yell, she reached for the gate and quickly shut it closed. She started panting, bringing her attention back to who she was after.
It was now her or the goat.
Evangeline narrowed her eyes as she found herself in a stand-off with the mischievous creature. In return, the goat blinked its funky eyes in silence.
“Drop… the… flowers…” Evangeline struggled to catch her breath. “Please… They mean a lot to me.”
A moment of silence passed between her and the goat. It was almost unsettling. Evangeline didn't move an inch in fear that she would startle the goat. She couldn't risk losing track of the flower crowns, which were becoming more ragged by the minute. She grimaced at how damaged they were. Maybe she'd be able to fix them up in a little bit?
A loud boom followed by a low rumbling erupted from the dirt road on the other side of the garden wall. The ground trembled underneath Evangeline's feet, and an all-too-familiar feeling grew in her stomach.
The tremors were back!
“W-Woah!” Evangeline tried to keep her balance as the ground quaked heavily, while the goat braced itself to leap over the wall in a scurry. When it did, Evangeline reached her arm up, failing to bring the goat back. “Ah, no!”
Her voice bounced and vibrated as she spoke. The supposed earthquake was getting worse every second that passed. The basket of produce toppled off the wall and splattered all over the ground. Evangeline gripped tightly to the garden wall and peered over it, glancing across the street. From there, she saw a stream of steam burst up from beneath the dirt, and her face fell.
Part of Varian's project was underground over there.
“Oh, no…”
The ground rumbled again. Evangeline had to keep herself up or else she could get seriously hurt. Eyes shutting tight, she pleaded for the tremors to stop to no avail. All around her, buildings crumbled, people shrieked in terror, and other parts of properties were being destroyed effortlessly. Even her own home shook and threatened to toppled over. Evangeline's mind froze and she could only concentrate on how quickly the tremors were making her hands and feet tremble.
Please… stop this. I gotta go help Varian!
A heavy roof tile came loose from the roof of her house, and it slid down the side of the house quicker than quicksand. Evangeline didn't seem to notice it was plummeting towards her.
“EVANGELINE!”
The sound of her father's cry snapped Evangeline out of her trance, and she looked up at the roof. Spotting the falling tile, she swiftly shuffled back and out of the way. The roof tile landed, lodging itself into the garden’s soil as if it were nothing. Evangeline stared at it for a moment in disbelief of the situation. Did she really just almost die?
The tremors finally ceased, and Evangeline was given a chance to survey her surroundings. Old Corona was in shambles. At least half of her house had crumbled to the ground. A heavy layer of dust remained in the atmosphere.
Evangeline opened the gate and stepped outside her beloved garden, zoning out at all the damage Varian's machines had caused.
Wait, Varian… I need to find Varian!
“Evangeline, what are you doing? Get back here!” Viktor held his wife, Amy, in his arms.
Evangeline turned her head– No, there's no time to look back at them. She took off running.
“Evangeline!”
“I gotta find Varian!”
Panting and out of breath, the exhausted girl scammed her eyes across every piece of town for her best friend. His mess or not, she had to make sure he was ok. She couldn't live with herself if something happened to him.
“Varian!” she cried. “Varian, where are you?”
Along the way, she ran into Quirin, Varian's father and the leader of Old Corona. He was searching for his son underneath all the rubble.
“Ah, Evangeline,” he said. “I wasn't expecting to see you here.”
“I'm looking for Varian,” Evangeline replied anxiously.
“So am I.” Quirin rushed over to a fallen door and looked under it. “Varian, Varian!”
Evangeline looked ahead and saw Varian standing beside an unfamiliar woman with short, black hair. She pointed her finger in Varian's direction. “Quirin, I found him!”
Relieved, Quirin rushed to greet his son, briefly ignoring his citizens. Once he reached Varian, he knelt down and placed his hands on the poor boy's shoulders. “Are you ok? What happened?”
Quirin’s eyes were full of sympathy for his son. Varian, on the other hand, looked guilty. Evangeline cautiously approached the two, glancing up at the strange woman Varian was with. She looked scary.
“Dad, I'm sorry.” Varian's soft blue eyes met the ground, too ashamed to meet his father's.
Quirin sighed and shook his head. “Not again, Varian…”
As Quirin stood to turn away, Varian said in a desperate tone, “But, Dad–”
“Is everyone ok?” Quirin left to attend to his people. The short-haired woman squeezed Varian's shoulder.
“I'm sorry, kid,” the woman said softly.
“Varian, are you alright?” Evangeline asked, stepping closer to Varian. “You didn't get hurt, did you?”
Varian held up his head and waved at his best friend. “Oh, hey, Evie. Y-Yeah, I'm fine… I guess.”
“A friend of yours?” The woman asked Varian.
Varian nodded. “This is Evangeline or Evie for short. She's my best friend. Evie, this is Cassandra. She's Princess Rapunzel’s escort.”
“Wait, the Princess is here?” Evangeline wondered.
Cassandra nodded her head. “Yes, we came here to get answers about something important. We felt Varian here would be the key in solving our little mystery.”
Varian shuffled his feet in the dirt. “I'm sorry, Cassandra. I wasn't able to get the results for you.”
Cassandra sighed, then pat Varian on the back. “Hey, you did your best, kid. That's all that matters.”
And with that, she left to likely find the Princess and leave. Evangeline moved in beside Varian and anxiously fiddled with the hem of her sleeve. “What happened?”
“It was the machines,” Varian sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his gloved fingers. “Something went wrong, and–and they just… they just exploded like that so suddenly! I didn't have enough time to fix it.”
Evangeline set her hand on Varian's shoulder. “Hey, it's going to be ok. Maybe, if we explain what happened, Quirin would–”
“My dad wouldn't understand.” Varian's shoulders slumped. “All I wanted was to provide hot, running water to the people of Corona, and I screwed it all up. My dad would kill me if he found out I was in the underground tunnels! He can't find out that I was down there to begin with.”
Evangeline glanced down at the dirt, surprised to see that one of her ragged flower crowns had been spared by that goat. Smiling softly, she bent down and swiped it up from the dirt road. She handed it to Varian.
“Here.” She tapped the flower crown against Varian's arm. “It’s not perfect, but I hope it helps you feel at least a little better.”
Varian flashed Evangeline a fond smile as he took the damaged flower crown into his grip. “You always know how to make me smile.”
Evangeline’s milky brown eyes sparkled as she watched Varian carefully set her creation over his goggles and onto his ravenette head. “It looks good on you.”
“Thanks,” Varian affirmed. “Only you could make a flower crown look this good.”
Evangeline chuckled softly. “Ha, thank you.”
A moment of silence passed before Varian cleared his throat. “Well, do ya wanna help me clean up this mess? I mean, you don't have to, if you don't want to. I caused this mess, so–”
“Yeah, I'll help you,” Evangeline promised with a smile. “Old Corona's gotta keep itself up somehow, right?”
“You're right,” Varian laughed. “C'mon, let's get started.”
Let me know what you guys think, and if you have any questions or feedback, let me know! :)