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At the offer of tea, Howl's lips curled up in a delighted expression. "Oh, tea would be rather lovely, Miss Johnson." Rather delicately, he sat himself down on one of the offered stools, sitting upright in a prim and proper fashion.

"What types of tea do you grow? And which would you recommend for a beginner, such as myself for growing?" His eyes still watched the young lady carefully, as if to make certain she would not be fainting out of exhaustion. He hoped he was doing this discreetly enough, but somehow, he suspected that she knew of his concerns.

As she offered him the canisters, Howl nodded his head and uttered out "Thank you, Miss Johnson." He looked over the labels. All he really needed to look at was the type of tea and name. He was set with that minimal amount of information, but her labels offered much more information, perhaps for the less tea-fluent.

As he sorted out which teas he wanted to try for this occasion, he offered his opinion over the whole matter of tea. "In all honesty, I am a fan of all teas, so having a Camellia sinensis would be rather lovely. However, I suspect I will not be able to grow one of my own until after I graduate, which is still a couple years away."

Eventually, he pushed forward two of the cans. It was the cinnamon white tea and the black tea. "Would it be possible for me to try a blend of these two, Miss Johnson?" However, by the time he had decided, his eyes had to trail along with the girl as she attended to the boiling water. A casual musing passed through his mind as he decided Miss Calintha Johnson was an excellent hostess, despite her seeming exhaustion.

This reminded him of what Tatiana had told him as well. In a considerate tone, he corrected himself "Then Miss Calintha it shall be then." He just felt extremely awkward calling any person he still did not know very well by strictly their first name, no formalities attached. The only person that did not get constantly called "Mister" or "Miss" was Franz.

He watched as she tended to the tea bags, noting that she seemed to know what she was doing, unlike Miss Mia at Teasvatta. "I have been doing well, Miss Calintha. At least, as well as anyone at my school can be doing." He smiled and laughed. "At times it feels as if the teachers conspire against the students by assigning various projects which are all due around the same time. I also have extracurricular activities which I need to balance into the mix as well, so that creates very little time for me to go out and socialize, like this."

Having enough manners to know when he should bounce the conversational ball across the court, he asked "How has school been treating you? I hope it has not been stressing your or anything of the sort."

Remaining as polite as possible, he did not reach out to claim his tea yet. One, it would be too hot for him anyways, and two, it was rather rude to assume things when at another's home. With the conversational ball back on his side of the court, he offered a simple "Indeed, I imagine your situation is a rather trying one." He really could not come up with any other label for it, since he had not actually been there.

Not wanting to dwell too long on what seemed like a sensitive subject, he swiftly moved onto something a bit more relevant. "I must admit, Miss Calintha, you seem to have plenty of knowledge about your teas. It would almost make me wonder if you worked at Teasvatta." He laughed slightly at the notion, fully knowing that she did not work at the mentioned store. He was such a regular there that he knew all the employees. Miss Calintha Johnson was not one of them.

"Is tea just a casual interest for you?" Considering all the tools she had, the plants she grew, and her rather detailed labeling system for her teas, it would seem that "casual" was a rather loose term for her interest level.

His tea remained untouched, but occasionally he would glance to it to check if the hot liquid had at least stopped steaming. It would seem he would be waiting a while still.

"You sound rather accomplished in the genre of plants, Miss Calintha." He smiled kindly as his eyes returned to his hostess. "I would highly encourage applying for a job at Teasvatta if you are in the need of a job, since part of the job description is to be familiar with the stock. Currently, they have some employees there that are not very well suited for such a job." It was a fact that Miss Mio was probably the least suited for the job at Teasvatta, but it was only a problem for new customers really. The regular patrons could handle an employee that was lacking in basic tea-knowledge.

For a moment, he paused in conversation, and drew a finger up to his lip. For a young man, he had very well kept hands, his nails looking as if he might have been the sort to get manicures. Fact was that Howl did no such thing, he just took good care of his hands. Regardless of how nice his hands may have been, it was rather obvious he was pausing here to think over something.

After that noticeable pause, he eventually spoke up again. "Miss Calintha," he started, "perhaps I could request your opinion over a particular matter which has been bothering me for a while now? Since your specialty seems to be plants, and the matter has to do with plants as well." The only hint of nervous energy that escaped from the teal-haired company was the finger he had at his lip, which moved over to touching his own dangling earring. Bad habits were difficult to break.

As if to offer a slight distraction from his own issue, he once more focused his attentions on her mention of the application. "I believe the applications for Teasvatta are taken online. I would suggest filling out the form, then calling the facility up after the fact. Or going in person, if you prefer face-to-face interaction over phone interactions." He only knew that Teasvatta hired through online applications thanks to someone asking for an application recently while he was present and being told to go online.

He paused to smile, letting his finger that had drifted to his earring return back to a proper place upon his lap. "It is not as if I am asking you to cure some incurable disease. I promise, my requests are much more simple than that." A small polite laugh escaped him before he continued.

"I would like to gather your opinion as to what sort of plant I could grow in my dorm room. I am rather fond of gardening, but as you could probably imagine, I have been unable to do such at my current school. Occasional landscaping detail is not the same thing as growing your own plant."

He paused and looked back towards some of Calintha's many plants in the room. Howl's eyes seemed to hold some sort of admiration for this young lady's dedication to her work with plants. He spoke calmly, but for some reason his voice seemed to grow quieter, almost kinder and gentler as he began to speak again.

"Miss Calintha, I am certain you would go mad if you were unable to tend to your plants. It is how I feel about the blossoms I had to leave at home." His eyes flickered back to the girl for a moment as he laughed out slightly. "I suspect that all of my beloved flowers have suffered from my absence." It was strange. Even though he had a smile tucked away on his face, there still was this faint sadness in his eyes.

As the blonde young lady stood up, he could not help but notice she had not technically excused herself. It was a slight slip of manners, but as he knew, nobody was perfect. Even when he tried to have the most beautiful manners out there, he still slipped, like he had at the Singles Awareness party. Either way, his eyes trailed behind the girl until he could no longer see her. His eyes remained constant upon the entryway until he once more could see Calintha's face.

He also noticed she had a flower pot at hand. It was strange that this plant did not receive the same attentions as the other ones when it came to labeling. Perhaps it was the newest addition to her collection of plants? As she sat down, he made certain to glance up to her dark eyes once more, showing that he was attentive as ever. His eyes only dared to leave her face as she slid the pot closer to him. It was as if she was inviting him to inspect the plant.

As such, he let his fingers delicately take a few leaves between them. There was something different about this plant compared to the rest of her collection. The leaves did not seem nearly as strong as they could have been. In an effort to distract himself from this observation, he commented "It sounds like an ideal plant for a dorm room." His fingers released the plant, and once more, his eyes were back on the girl.

"It sounds rather lovely, but I could not take one of your plants." His lips had remained in a rather constant smile, but he attempted to curl the corners of his lips slightly more so his smile would shift from gentle to something a bit more pronounced. "It was very kind of you to offer though, my dear."