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He had a sticky note.

With a young lady's phone number on it.

Miss Calintha Johnson.

Perhaps the blonde girl he had met at the Singles Awareness party (which he still found strangely named) was a bit strange, but it did not deter from the fact she was into raising plants. After casually observing the failing attempt at keeping plants alive on Hillworth school grounds for approximately half a year, Howl needed a fresh breath of air from the dreary landscape.

Using Franz's cellular phone (since Howl still needed to rectify this problem of lacking his own personal phone), he called the young lady. Only once the phone had been picked up did he speak into the receiver.

"Hello, Miss Johnson. This is Howl Wickham. Yes, we met at the Singles Awareness event. I was wondering if we could arrange some sort of get together so that I might see your work with plants."

Casually, Howl began to twirl a few strands of his long hair about his finger. He did not consider it a bad habit, since it was not something he did all that frequently. He considered his habit of playing with his own ear-jewelry to be a much more obnoxious habit.

It was not like Calintha was going to be able to see what he was doing across the phone lines.

"Then I will make certain to not impede upon your Wednesday, Miss Johnson." He paused to laugh politely before he offered "I suspect that either Thursday or Friday will be suitable days, though I will have to request perhaps a visit in the earlier afternoon." It went unmentioned, but Hillworth had a curfew. "Would Friday be easier, since then you will have a day of rest in between your plans?" It was obvious he was trying to be rather considerate to work with her schedule as best as he could.

The young lady on the other side of the phone apparently got out of school early. If only Howl was so fortunate. Not wanting to be a bother, he asked politely "Would two o'clock be too late? I would hate to be an inconvenience by coming by too late in the afternoon."

Regardless of the answer, he would still need directions, so once she signaled he should have a paper and pen at hand, he easily located both upon his desk and wrote down the directions as they were given. To assure he got the directions correct, he repeated back to her, amazingly, word for word what she had told him.

"Does that sound correct?" he asked once he repeated his very specific interpretation of the directions back to her. His eyes glanced over his version of "chicken scratch," which honestly looked far nicer than the most elegant writing of his fellow classmates.

Howl never found it awkward to get off the phone. He smiled into the receiver while uttering "Yes, I look forward to seeing you then, Miss Johnson. Until Friday!" With that, he hung up the phone and slid it back to the proper hiding place under Franz's mattress.

When living in a place such as Hillworth, the days went by so dreadfully slow. However, Friday did come (much to the lad's relief). Meaning that when school let out for him, he walked down towards the Meadowview area. He casually noted the flood of awful orange school uniforms as the local students walked home. They were hideous to look at, especially on young men. There was no dignity in wearing shorts for high school.

As were his instructions, he rounded the apartment by the Paper Lantern Drug-Store and rang the buzzer upon arrival. The weather had been so cold lately that he wore a deep green sweater with a dark scarf about his neck. Not exactly the most flattering outfit, but at least it was keeping him warm. All he could do now was wait to be let in.

As he made his way through the door, he gently tilted his head forward for a nod. "Greetings to you, Miss Johnson." He entered, but he did not lead the way, for that would be too presumptuous of him. Upon prompting, he responded ever so politely "The directions were perfect, though I wish I could say the same about my timing. I apparently came by when other students were getting out from Meadowview." It was not a complaint, but rather an observation on his part. He followed along behind the blonde girl, stepping lightly along the stairs. When permitted, the teal-haired figure entered the room and took a good look around.

In all honesty, the room was larger than what he had been accustomed to at Hillworth. It may have been small for a home, but anything was better than Hillworth dorms. Hands down. As he was accustomed to, he offered a kind "Thank you for having me over, Miss Johnson." He smiled to her before his feet began to guide themselves over towards one of the tables closest to the entry. The lad knelt down to get a more careful look at the plant sitting on the table, his teal eyes inspecting the plant knowledgeably.

The plant seemed healthy, but it was not exactly a blossoming plant, at least, based off what he was observing. It was a very well known sort of plant, and even though there was a label on the pot (wait, more post-it notes?), he did not need to look it over to know this was a Venus Flytrap. A finger of his dipped into the pot the plant resided in and touched upon the soil. It was not overly soggy, and it was not too dry. Pulling his finger back and rubbing it along his other fingers, he pulled himself out of this strange sort of plant-induced trance by standing himself back up to his proper height, looking back to Calintha in approval.

"You do excellent work, Miss Johnson." Compliments should be given as they were deserved. "So this is what you meant by raising 'exotic' plants?" Though he was a guest, the young man was still remaining ever so polite, his body stiffly prim and proper. Had he been offered a seat, he would have taken one, but that offer had not yet arisen.

Perhaps later Howl would explore with teasing the plant's hinge-sprung leaves. He was already standing up and did not need to kneel down right away to play like a child with a new toy.

The mention of the other plants managed to gain his interest, and as she began to move towards a new section of the apartment, Howl casually replied "I would love to see them, Miss Johnson. That is why I came over today, was to see your work." His eyes naturally had to squint slightly upon entering the new area, his pupils shrinking quickly at the flood of light. Once his eyes had fully adjusted, he took a look about the area. Once again, that critical look in his eye seemed to analyze the plants from where he was at.

In an attempt to keep things casual, he mentioned as he continued to look upon the various plants "I must confess, you manage to keep this apartment rather clean. Do you live here with your parents, or a roommate of any sort? I would imagine it is quite difficult to keep such a place looking so nice all the time."

If his ears had been able to twitch, they might have done that at her answer. The tone was slightly off, and Howl was observant enough to notice it. Would he vocalize this observation? No. Instead, he just continued on the conversation as he saw fit.

"Well, I must say I wish I had enough time to make my living space so clean. Unfortunately, my schedule tends to keep me quite busy." He offered a small laugh, though it was nothing malicious or rude. It was gentle, calming, and in any other sense, polite.

At a casual pace, Howl began to make his rounds to each plant. He seemed to do an appropriate inspection of each. He gently whisked his fingers underneath the leaves of certain plants, checking to see if any leaves were discolored or brittle (which none seemed to be). On occasion he would toss out a comment in Calintha's direction, usually some sort of sincere compliment about the quality of her work. The first major plant to cause him to linger much longer than a simple inspection was one of the mentioned tea bushes.

With full interest, his teal eyes glanced back to the girl, making certain to catch her dark eyes within his gaze. "Miss Johnson, I must ask maintaining a tea bush is more trouble than it is worth, or if the benefits outweigh any sort of negatives to the upkeep of the plant?" Howl was a fan of tea. He was more inclined to working with blossoming plants, since they were prettier to look at, but as he thought about it a bit more, it could be in his interest to eventually raise his own tea bush. Since the blonde hostess had much more experience in the area, he truly valued her input.

Howl was most certainly a polite listener. He looked to the young lady in the most attentive of fashions, nodding his head at appropriate times when he wanted to signal he had understood what she had mentioned. When she lifted the foliage so he could spy the soil, he glanced in considerately and once again nodded his head at her words.

As he leaned back to his normal posture, he could not help but comment "I do not find plants to be finicky at all. At least, they are no less finicky than people can be." He smiled. "It just takes special people who are willing to take note of a plant's needs. It is not exactly like they can tell us with words when they are thirsty, or how much light they need each day." The young man had not meant it to be a joke, but he offered a small laugh at the mention of talking plants.

"I suppose that would be rather silly, if our plants could talk to us with words."

He paused here and looked to the girl. He didn't say a word, but he seemed to have a concerned look touching upon his features. Howl Wickham tended to be rather observant. He had that awful habit of watching people, and at the moment, he was watching Calintha Johnson. He had only met her once prior, but there was a difference in the way she was holding herself up. Today she almost seemed a bit weaker.

Finally, when he decided to speak up on the issue, he went about it in a more round-about way. "Miss Johnson, did you want to sit down for a bit?" His voice was kind and ever so slightly concerned.