Unbe-leaf-able [Open]

[Ariane Ivers]

Sadly, even with the apparent impending end of the world, the world still did go on. With ferrets to feed and clothing to buy as her own that didn’t repair itself continued to get ruined through the constant fighting, that meant Ariane still had a job to do. An actual, non-monster killing job. Sometimes lately she forgot that was a thing, and admittedly her job had been slacking as of late because of it. Even still, most of her coworkers were just kids needing a part time job, which meant even with her work slacking she still ran circles around them. As long as she got her job done, the owners were pretty easy going with her being late to the occasional shift because she overslept.

Today was one of those days. Luckily it wasn’t by very long, but considering she didn’t get to sleep until about ‘one o’clock’ normal time by the time she woke up, she had about fifteen minutes to get ready and get to work. Which was a twenty minute walk away. Luckily she was usually the only one there this early in the morning, but it wouldn’t do to not be there while customers were trying to make purchases.

The greenhouse at which she worked was pretty laid back for the most part. Most of the time her job title entailed planting seedlings, watering and pruning the plants they still had there, bringing the dead plants to the composter, making arrangements… the list went on. As with any customer service oriented job, they had a tendency to go through waves of being swamped with special orders to having almost no orders at all. Most of this week had been the former, and Anne had been hauling butt to make sure they got them completed in time. She counted her blessings when she walked into the greenhouse and checked the book to see that they had made it through the wave of orders, meaning they were now down to a bit of a lull period.

Grateful for the calm even if it would be short lived, she started on some of her other duties while she waited for the inevitable customer to show up. Dressed as she was in her hideous cream colored polo tucked into black slacks under a long, purple canvas apron, she idly hoped none of the other users she had met recently needed to purchase flowers anytime soon. The only part of her ‘uniform’ that she didn’t hate was the only one she was allowed to customize to an extent, and even the yellow, honey bee printed gardening gloves were ridiculously silly. Her red hair was done in it’s usual complicated braids and tied up tightly out of her face to keep her from having to brush more stray strands of hair out of her face with her dirty gardening gloves than necessary, even though she knew no matter how hard she tried by the end of the day she’d be coated in dirt. It was just a part of the job by this point.

Walking over to the other end of the greenhouse once she had officially opened the building, she pulled out a large plastic tray with individual cubes of soil. They usually kept them pre made for convenience sake when it came to making the seedlings, since they were easy to prepare in bulk and much more annoying to have to do individually. Glancing over the sheet of what they needed, Ariane began planting the seeds in each compartment carefully. Once finished, she turned to reach for the water canister when her hip bumped into tray.  Before she could even react to catch it, the whole thing went crashing to the floor.

Anne froze for a moment as what happened sunk in. “Sonovab─ughhhh!” She just barely managed to censor herself in case a customer chose that moment to walk in (which with how her luck ran was highly likely), and clenched her fists as her face contorted in frustration. Looking down at the now ruined huge tray of soil, she grumbled as she walked over to find the broom. Even if she wanted to she couldn’t reuse the dirt for other planters, so all that meant was all the dirt and seeds, and time, was wasted. Sure it wasn’t all that much, but it certainly wasn’t the start to the shift she had been hoping for, especially after having already been a few minutes late.

[Marina Mikami]

Today had started out interestingly. Usually she would have class right about now. However, it had been cancelled. The teacher was extremely sick from the sound of it. Something like the stomach flu or at least along those lines. So it was supposed to be a free day for reading or maybe catch up on some school work. However, unexpected thing number two happened. Marina had gotten a call from her father. It had been awhile since she had last gotten to talk to him. He worked most of the time and often she was in class when he had a free moment to speak. Today was a rare case where their schedules lined up to allow them to speak.

It was nice to hear her dad's voice. He sounded exhausted. She hoped he would at least try to take a vacation or something soon. He needed it desperately from the sound of it. However, the exchanging of pleasantries didn't last for too long. He was calling because he needed a favor. Marina was puzzled, but once he explained she understood. Her mom's birthday was coming up soon, a fact she had almost forgotten. After all it was hard to think of normal things after having discovered personas and shadows and demons. She was thankful he reminded her of it, she would need to shop for a present. Her dad hadn't forgotten, but he did forget to pick it up. Something had come up at work and now he was too busy to have a chance to get it before mom's birthday came up.

That's where she came in. Her father was asking her to go pick the present up. It was a flower arrangement from a greenhouse in Yoyogi. She couldn't help but smile. Dad sure was absent-minded at times. He was worried that he had been interrupting her studies, but Marina reassured him she had the time to go and grab it. He explained it should already all be paid for, she just needed to pick it up. She then could hear noise in the background and soon it was apparent he had to get back to work. Marina wished her dad luck and told him she would see him on mom's birthday.

So now here she was in Yoyogi again. She was wearing one of her typical outfits. Typical for her anyway. A blue dress that covered her up completely, with the sleeves ending in a fur trim. There was a firm trim collar on the dress as well. The top part of the dress was a darker blue, ending in another fur trim that stopped just above her chest. She had a blue hat on, the rim of which was also fur trim.  It looked like something one would wear in the winter time, but she always wore something like this no matter what season it was. Finally, she carried a sky blue parasol with her. It was probably odd looking, but she didn't typically get stared at. Too much.

It was weird to be here for something normal. Last two times she had been here she had gone into the Dark World of the park and had almost died, and then she had taken on a missing person request. Today should at least be something simple right? She soon spotted the greenhouse she needed to get to. She closed her parasol as she entered and as soon as she did, she heard someone sort of swear. Sort of meaning they had stopped themselves from completely swearing at the last second. Marina headed in the direction of the sound and found what was presumably an employee having knocked something over. "Did I come at a bad time?" she asked concerned.

[Ariane Ivers]

At first it was almost tempting to summon the Hind to help clean up the mess.  It wasn't as though anyone normal would have seen her, anyway.  The only problem with that was what was she supposed to do about it?  Stab the dirt to cleanliness?  Well that and summoning her out in the 'real' world just seemed... unhealthy.  There was something about the idea of it that just didn't bode well, even though it would surely be a good way to test who else out there had the same abilities, she just didn't want to try that.  

Partway through sweeping up the mess, she heard a voice call out to her and couldn't help but jump a little.  After fighting ogres and three headed dogs, someone speaking up behind her still managed to make her jump.  She really needed to fix that.  Turning, she smiled and shook her head, face turning pink a bit.  "Oh, no, not at all!  I'm sorry about that, it's just been a long day and it's just barely started,"  Laughing a bit, she leaned the broom against the table next to her and walked over to the other woman.  "Welcome in, how are you today?  Sorry about the mess, I was in the middle of cleaning it.  Was there something in particular you were looking for?"

Now closer to the woman, Ariane was really able to take her in more.  She was about the same age as Anne, but dressed far differently.  While Anne thought she was strange for wearing her leather jacket everywhere for the obvious reason being she had to, her customer took the cake.  One would think she must be sweltering underneath that, but the blue-haired girl didn't even seem to be phased.  Other than quirking an eyebrow, Anne said nothing.  To each their own, Anne certainly had no place to judge anyone.

[Marina Mikami]

Marina did her best to hold back a small laugh at the woman as she jumped. She seemed to have taken the employee by surprise. However, she couldn't stop the smile that appeared on her face. She nodded in understanding. It looked like it was a rough day for the woman and it had only just started. "Well I hope it gets better for you," she said, trying to sound encouraging. It seemed like it took a lot of effort to work in a greenhouse. She knew she wouldn't be able to stand it, she wasn't the greatest at taking care of plants. Come to think of it, why was her dad asking her to get mom's present if it was a plant? She hoped she managed to keep the thing alive until it was time to give it to her.

At this point she started paying attention to what the woman looked like. If she had to guess, Marina figured the woman was close to her own age. Her hair was done up in some complicated looking series of braids that was really pretty. The gloves she had on were also cute, with little bees on them. She noticed an eyebrow raise for a moment and she guessed what it was about. Probably how she was dressed. She was used to that. The woman didn't say anything though, which was nice of her.

However, the woman's words brought her attention back to the task at hand. "Um, Yes. My father's a bit absent-minded," she told her with a laugh. "He ordered an arrangement for my mother's birthday. Unfortunately, he forgot to pick it up. And with his job he's too busy to pick it up now." Marina was kind of amused, but also a little bit embarrassed. After all how forgetful did you have to be to order something and then forget to pick it up? "He said it was already paid for. Should be under the last name of Mikami," she explained. It was then she remembered she had written down what exactly the arrangement was. She searched through her purse, until she pulled out a small piece of paper. She then handed it to the woman. "If my father remembered correctly, this is what it should be," she lightly joked. Hopefully, they still had it. She would hate to make this woman's day even longer than it already had been.

[Ariane Ivers]

When she noticed that the customer was struggling to hide her amusement, it was hard for Anne not to be embarrassed even more. She counted her lucky stars that the woman wasn’t like other customer’s she’s seen in the past, at least. Honestly, some people needed a desperate lesson on manners when out in public! If she had a dollar for every time someone snapped their fingers for service or were otherwise rude for no reason, she wouldn’t even have to work here anymore. Thankfully, it seemed for every rude customer there was a pleasant one. It was always nice to see things balance out, and it looked like the woman was one of the latter customers.

Smiling pleasantly, Anne nodded. “Thank you! I’m sure it will, just gotta’ keep smiling. Anyway, back to what you needed!” Chuckling a bit, the florist shook her head, “You don’t have to explain an absent-minded father to me, I understand completely. Lets see if we can’t find your order…” Taking a few steps over to the desk, she quickly typed out the information the girl, whose last name Anne assumed to be Mikami as well, gave her. It didn’t take long to find the order at all, thankfully.

“Yep! Looks like we’ve still got it. It was due to be picked up two days ago, which, if it makes you feel better, I’ve seen people come in much later than that. I think the record was…” She paused, scrunching up her nose a bit as she thought, “Three months? Yea, somewhere around there. They came in looking for their arrangement and were furious that we didn’t magically have it still. Our flowers may be long lasting, but that’s a bit much even for us.” Grinning in amusement, she walked towards the back where three large coolers lined the wall, all presumably filled with flowers other than the display coolers at the front of the building contained.

Pushing a couple of them aside, she delicately pulled the arrangement out and carried it back to the desk. Setting it down, she reached underneath the desk to get the paperwork, “Now, I’ll just need to have you signed that you’ve picked it up. Just a technicality, so someone can’t come back in and try to get double flowers from us, and so that we can keep track of th─oh, whoops.” As she was rummaging for the paperwork for the Mikami order, she had bumped her bag, sending the Evoker tumbling out. While it was pretty convincing as a gun for those who didn’t know what it really was, thankfully the cover story she’d needed to use for it thus far worked swimmingly. “Ah, a prop for a sort of ‘LARP’ I’ve been doing with friends. Yes, embarrassing, I know.” With a quick demonstration that the gun was obviously ‘fake’, she shoved it back into the bottom of her bag without thinking another thing about it. She probably should have stopped bringing it with her to work, but all she could think was what if she got caught somewhere and needed to fight, and for whatever reason couldn’t summon Cery without it? She could fight, sure, but she was overly cautious about everything. It was better safe than sorry.

Looking back over the paperwork as she put it on the desk, she handed the woman a pen to sign it with.  As she presumably did so, Anne reached into a drawer to pull out a few packets of flower food and set them on the counter.  "Just make sure you add a little bit of these packets every day after you add some more water to them, and they should live for a few weeks if you're lucky, a little more than one if you're really unlucky.  And, of course, should you have any questions don't hesitate to call in or stop by!  Tell your mother I said Happy Birthday for me!" Smiling genuinely, she waited to see if her customer had any more questions or concerns.

[Marina Mikami]

Marina smiled back at the woman. She wasn't sure if it was genuine excitement or that fake excitement some people expressed when on the job, but it seemed genuine to her. She nodded in amusement as the woman said she didn't have to explain absent-minded fathers. She must have some experience with that she gathered. Marina just smiled. "He wouldn't be Dad otherwise though," she told the florist. She stood there patiently, fidgeting only a little bit with her parasol as the woman looked up the order. It wasn't too long before she stated she had found it.

She let out a small sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," she stated with a smile. The thought had crossed her mind that the greenhouse might not have kept the arrangement and she wasn't sure how she would have handled that situation. It was a relief not to have to worry about that. She couldn't help but laugh in disbelief at the woman saying that one customer didn't come for the order until three months afterword. "No kidding? That's crazy they went so long and expected it to still be there," she told the woman. That must have been an unpleasant experience talking to that customer. It made her feel a bit relived she didn't have a service job at the moment. Some people were just crazy.

Marina watched the woman head into the back to grab the arrangement. She stood there, quietly humming to herself as she waited for the girl to come back with her mom's present. She looked around at the different flowers and plants on display. They all looked so pretty. She wondered what her dad had picked out. It turned out she didn't have to wait too long. The woman was soon back with the arrangement. "Oh, they look so pretty!" she commented as they were brought out. The girl soon started to search under the desk, mentioning paperwork that needed to be signed, when she bumped something out of her bag.

Marina let out a small gasp reflexively when she saw it. It appeared to be a gun. Why would she have a gun? Possibilities rushed to her head, but before she could say anything the girl quickly made an excuse. Said it was for some "LAARP" group with her friends. Marina just tilted her head in confusion. The girl demonstrated the gun was fake and Marina let go of a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. It was weird that a gun still scared her, when she had face demons and shadows. Still wasn't it odd to take that to work? "Probably should be more careful with it," she teased lightly, and partly to calm herself down.

Soon the girl handed her a pen and the paperwork. She signed her name on the paper, her last name written in kanji with the symbols for water and protect, while her first was in katakana. She didn't have kanji for her first name, since it was Russian. It was still odd to write her name surname first, but she had gotten used to it. Sort of. The woman explained how to take care of the plants as she signed. She figured she could remember that. Marina handed the pen and paperwork back to the woman and reached for her mom's present. She smiled at the florist. "Thank you. Hopefully I will be able to keep them alive until her birthday," she joked as she started putting the packets in her purse. She then grabbed the arrangement. "I'll tell her the nice florist who presumably had a hand in making her present said happy birthday," she teased. "I didn't catch your name? Maybe I'll ask my mom and see if she's been in here before and seen you," It would be quite the coincidence if that were the case.

[Ariane Ivers]

Seeing a customer that wasn't ready to start insulting Anne's whole family over an order was a certainly welcome start to her day.  Chuckling at Mikami's response to her story, she nodded her head.  "Yep.  I could tell you stories all day, but I don't want to give the impression I dislike my job.  Honestly, the stories just make it more worthwhile.  And, hey, all the more reason to be nice to people, lest one becomes the story, right?"  At the other woman's reaction, Anne couldn't help but beam slightly.  

"Why, thank you!" she chimed with a slight bow, "I did this one myself.  Well, I usually get put doing most of them unless the owners are here themselves.  I'm really glad you like it."  Looking down at the arrangement, she couldn't help but be more than a little content in it.  Even if it had been put together a couple days ago, it was still holding up pretty nicely.  Except for that one flower...  Frowning a little, she reached out and plucked one of the flowers that seemed to be slightly bent wrong, turning to take a new one from the vases in the front coolers and replacing it.  Seemingly contented she nodded, smiling.

When the other girl seemed so spooked by the Evoker, Anne couldn't blame her.  The only reason she was so conditioned to it was using it to fight things much scarier than a gun on a daily basis.  She looked a little sheepish at the girls reaction, rubbing the back of her neck.  "Sorry to spook you.  I should, but hey, prop or not it's pretty convincing and I usually walk to and from work.  While I've been pretty safe so far," except for demons trying to eat me, "it doesn't hurt to have something to work as a deterrent should something happen."

Glancing at the paperwork when it was handed back to her, Anne was relieved to see her guess at the girl's surname being the same as her father's was correct.  Interestingly enough, her first name was quite different.  The redhead laughed lightly as she shook her head, "Nonsense, I have the utmost faith in you.  If you have any questions about them, you can feel free to call me and ask.  Oh, you're right, I'm sorry!  Ar─ Ivers, Ariane.  But Anne is perfectly fine, too.  Feel free to ask your mom if she has!  If she's a regular I'll probably remember her."  They did get quite a few faces in on a daily basis, but if someone came in often enough everyone who worked there would remember them easily enough.

[Marina Mikami]

Marina nodded in agreement, giggling a bit as well. It was very true. Rude people were often the focus of stories employees told. "Indeed. Rather be nice than known as that customer," she told the florist. It was good the hear the woman didn't let poorly behaved customers get her down. Marina wasn't sure if she could still come across as so optimistic after dealing with such customers if she had a service job.

The florist seemed really pleased at the comment she paid to the flowers. Apparently she had done this particular arrangement. It was a really nice one and she hoped her mom would like it. She titled her head a bit as the florist picked one of the flowers out of the arrangement and replaced it. That particular flower must have been bad or something. Not too surprising, after all Dad had gone two days past when he was supposed to pick it up. "Thank you for making it so pretty. I'm sure my mother will love it," she told the girl with a smile.

The girl then apologized for the suddenness of the prop gun. Apparently she also used it as a deterrent against anyone who had any funny ideas on her way to and from work. She wasn't aware if the neighborhood around here was all that dangerous or not, but she couldn't exactly argue that logic. "It's okay. You don't usually see one in Japan very often, that's all," she reassured the girl. She still didn't really understand why the prop had to be so realistic looking though. Well, it wasn't her business to begin with.

The florist then reassured Marina that she would be fine taking care of the plants. She hoped those words were true. At least long enough so that they would be in her mother's hands, then she would know for sure that the plants would live for a long time. The girl soon introduced herself. Ariane Ivers. That sure was not a name she was expecting. Was she another American? That would be the second one she met within the past few weeks. What were the chances? And where were these people when she first came here? It would have made getting through high school here a bit more tolerable, or at least eased the culture shock a bit.

"That's a pretty name," she suddenly said in English, smiling. Truth be told Marina always got a little bit of a kick for surprising people from America or other countries who spoke English when she started speaking it. Due to being part Japanese and having known the language most of her life, it wasn't immediately apparent she was not native to Japan. "American I presume? Me too. I'm still not used to the whole surname first thing either. Its nice to see another one around, it can get a bit lonely the way the culture is here," she told Anne. "You might have an easier time remembering if you've seen my mom. She's Russian-American," she then let out a small laugh. "I bet you don't get too many of those in here," Marina had run into more Americans lately than she had in her whole time since moving here. Maybe she needed to go to Yoyogi more often, it seemed to attract them.

[Ariane Ivers]

The other woman certainly seemed to understand Anne's plight, and the redhead smiled.  "Isn't that the truth.  On the flip side, however, it's the pleasant customers that make the job worthwhile.  For every crazy we get, there's usually another that makes you smile for the day."  She half shrugged a bit, still smiling.  Did bad customers get to her?  Of course, more often than she'd like to admit.  But just as she would start to say she'd leave, or that she was done with customer service despite loving working with all of the plants, she'd get a sweet elderly woman who would compliment one thing or another, or a happy young couple that would gleefully express how much they appreciated the work she did, or even a young woman sympathizing with the madness Anne dealt with while she picked up her fathers order, even though she didn't need to listen to the florist.  When it came down to it, all it took to make someones day a little bit brighter was to not be a total jerk.  

Grinning a bit wider, Anne replied happily, "I hope she does!  I'm sure you and your father know what she liked best, and as long as this style of arrangement is close to her liking all I can hope is that I did a good job bringing what you were looking for to life."  

When the customer commented not seeing them in Japan very often, Anne shrugged.  "That's very true.  I suppose outside of the police force, it's not something the common citizen carries.  But, hey, all the more handy should something happen considering it's not expected.  I know for the most part the area is pretty safe, but it's better to be safe than sorry.  I guess that paranoia comes from the city I grew up in, though."

While Anne had an inkling of an idea that the woman wasn't around here despite her surname thanks to her signature, her eyes still widened when she suddenly switched to English.  Smiling, she couldn't help but chuckle a bit.  Apparently she had some tricks up those abnormally warm sleeves of hers.  Switching to English herself Anne cocked her head, "Aw, thank you.  My Mom chose it, it's not too bad."  Laughing, Anne leaned against the counter as she continued, "Yep, from good 'ol New York.  You've got that right, it was quite a bit of a culture shock when I first moved.  Heck, I still feel like I'm getting used to it and it's been a few years.  I'd say the surname first thing makes no sense, but lets be honest, that's what the whole world thinks about the way America does things so I guess I shouldn't really talk."  At the comment of who the other woman's mother was, Anne nodded enthusiastically.  "Oh, yea, I've seen her in here before!  She's always been pretty nice to us, and if I remember what she usually likes than your Dad did a pretty good job in flower choices."  

[Marina Mikami]

Marina nodded in agreement. For every bad seed, there was a good one that usually made it all worth it. She could understand that. It was good to have such a positive attitude like that. You could tell that despite the crazy people that sometimes appeared, Anne appreciated and liked her job. Marina hoped she would find a job some day that made her feel the same way. After all she was currently unemployed, focusing on classes. She was lucky to have her parents still providing for her, not everybody was fortunate to have that happen.

"They're lovely, I'm sure my mom will love them," she reassured Anne about the arrangement. The only thing Marina really was worried about it, was if she could keep them alive until her mother's birthday. She hoped she would be able to, it really was a lovely arrangement of flowers. She then nodded again as Anne explained a bit more about the gun. Her logic was sound she guessed. Again, it really wasn't any business of hers was it? If it made her feel safe, who was she to judge? She'd gotten over her surprise at seeing it at this point. It was almost refreshing in a way. Being scared of something so normal, made the creatures she had encountered before not seem as real.

Marina couldn't help but giggle a bit at Anne's surprise to her sudden English. She would be lying if she said she hadn't found it very amusing. Though she was glad that Anne seemed to be amused and a good sport about it as well. Apparently Anne's mom picked her name. Well what a coincidence. "That's funny, my mom picked mine as well. It may sound Japanese, but it's actually Russian believe it or not," she told her in English. It was kind of lucky her first name sounded Japanese. She then realized even though Anne would know her name through her signature it was a little rude not to at least introduce herself. "I'm sorry. I feel like I should introduce myself, even though you can read my name on the paper," she told her with an embarrassed smile. "Marina Mikami. You can call me Rina. Or Rini if you want. Whatever works for you."

Marina continued to listen to Anne say she was from New York. She couldn't help but be a little jealous of that, she had always wanted to visit the city. "New York must have been fun to live in. I've always wanted to visit. I lived in Seattle before moving here," she explained to Anne. It was fun talking to someone like this for so long. It was pretty much a rarity for Marina. It was nice to talk to someone who understood the feeling of culture shock in Japan. "That's a good point, what matters is that it makes sense here and we're the weirdos because of that." she said with a bit of a laugh.

Anne then confirmed that she had seen her mom in here before. She said she had been nice and that based on what she got when she was in here before, her father had picked the right flowers for her present. "I figured you might," she said with a smile. "I can't imagine my mom really blends in around here. Good to know my dad picked the right flowers," It was at this point Marina realized she had been talking to this girl for awhile and wondered if she was preventing her from doing her job. "I'm not holding you up from your duties or anything am I?" she asked with a bit of concern. "I swear I don't talk this much normally. If you want, maybe we could hang out some time when you're free?" She then gave her a warm smile. "It'd be nice to talk to somone and not be worried about all the cultural differences for once," she joked, though it was a genuine sentiment as well.

[Ariane Ivers]

Hearing that she and Marina had something in common was kind of amusing. "Wow, what a small world. And that is really interesting, at least I'm sure you get far less strange looks about your name than I do!" Anne continued to reply in English, smiling jovially. While she did get the occasional raised eyebrow to her name, considering she even looked out of place and foreign here it usually didn't even need to get to her name for people to look at her funny. It didn't really bother her, though; she was technically a foreigner, after all. Blinking when Marina admitted to not introducing herself, Anne nodded, "Oh, heh, you're right! I hadn't thought of it since I saw your name when you wrote it, I guess that was kind of rude of me too," Holding her hand out to shake, Anne continued, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rini!"

As the topic diverged to where they were from, Anne shrugged. "I liked living there, it was really great to see so many people from so many different walks of life. And while for the most part New Yorkers kind of stood up for one another, at the same time they could be… well, they could be a─jerks, too.” She caught herself from cursing, not quite comfortable around the other woman to curse freely yet, especially not at her own job. That just certainly didn’t seem like a smart idea. “Seattle, though? I’ve never been that far west before! I’m sure you certainly saw your fair share of interesting things there, too.”

Marina mentioned that she figured saying who her mother was would help Anne remember her, and she almost felt a little guilty remembering her like that. Well, it was true she didn’t see many other foreigners come into the greenhouse, so the few that did tended to stand out quite a bit. Nodding, Anne smiled as well, “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with not blending. I sure as heck don’t either. Sometimes things are more interesting that way, anyway, right?” When the woman commented about holding her up, Anne’s eyes widened as they darted to the clock. Damn, they really had been talking for a while. Blushing slightly, she stood up from where she was leaning on the counter. “Jeez, I didn’t even realize how long we had been talking. I swear, I’m usually a much harder worker, I don’t slack off this often. Honest.” She laughed, shaking her head at herself. “That sounds like it would be a lot of fun. Here,” she reached under the desk and pulled out a piece of blank paper, writing down her contact information, “Feel free to drop me a text whenever if you’d like. You’re right, it would be nice.” Glancing behind her, she noticed the pile of soil that still needed to be swept up and stifled a sigh. At least the morning had gotten a turn for the nicer that she hadn’t been expecting.

[Marina Mikami]

Marina nodded with a bit of a laugh. "When spoken yes, but written down its a bit more obvious," she told Anne. "It's mostly my mannerisms that give me away. Like I don't typically use honorifics and that throws people off a lot here," It was really kind of lucky. She could almost pass for someone who was native to Japan. Almost. Besides how she dressed, from her looks it was hard to tell. However, as soon as you started talking to her awhile it would show through eventually. Not that it bothered her at all. She had gotten used to it at this point.

She then shook her head when Anne said it was rude of her too for knowing her name from the signature. "No worries," she told her as she gently took Anne's hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you too, Anne," she told the florist with a smile. She took her hand back as Anne went on to explain a bit of how New York and its people were. She couldn't help but giggle a little bit when Anne censored herself. It was kind of adorable. Not that she blamed her. It probably wasn't a good idea to be swearing at her job. "So, New York isn't as glamorous as I thought?" she teased. Anne then spoke how she hadn't gone to Seattle as well. "Yes, it had its fair share of interesting people," she started to explain. "It rained a whole lot though. Felt like almost every day sometimes,"

Marina nodded with a smile in agreement to Anne saying blending in wasn't always a good thing. Not blending in was a good thing at times. She didn't mean to imply otherwise, just stating her mom did stand out. Anyone that didn't even remotely look Japanese would. She then laughed again as Anne started to realize how long they had been talking, looking a bit embarrassed. "Don't worry, I won't tell your boss," she teased and gave a small wink. Anne seemed to agree that it would be fun to hang out and quickly wrote down her contact information. It was kind of exciting, she hadn't really had a friend to just hang out with in awhile. Marina took out her phone and input Anne's number to her contacts list. She then sent a short text, so Anne would have her information. "There. I sent you a text so you'll have my information now as well," she informed her when she finished.

Marina started grab her things and get ready to leave when she noticed Anne look back at the pile she had started to clean up when she had first got here. "Do you want some help with that?" she decided to offer before going on her way. "As a thank you for the arrangement and apology for keeping you distracted," she lightly teased. After all it was the least she could do.

[Ariane Ivers]

Seeing the woman's name written down was how Anne knew something was odd, so she understood what Rini meant.  That had to have been rough in it's own way, having people only almost think you belong.  At least Anne was never mistaken for a native.  Other than nodding sympathetically, the redhead didn't respond any more.  

When she asked about New York being glamorous, she laughed and shrugged.  "Well, it can be, don't get me wrong.  There's just... so much going on there.  It's not too different than the area here, to be honest.  I guess maybe that's one reason I've been so comfortable living here, other than the oddities that are still taking some getting used to."  At the mention of rain, Anne shuddered.  "Yikes, I don't envy you for that.  I've never been a huge fan of the rain, to be honest.  Well... no," she shook her head after she thought for a moment, "if I'm inside I love it.  The sound of it, the smell...  It's just getting caught out in it that I really don't like."

Smiling wide, Anne chuckled, "Aw, thanks, I appreciate it.  I think honestly they wouldn't mind too much, but I've got a reputation to uphold.  Usually it's some of my coworkers who do the slacking for all of us."  Tilting her head as she heard her phone buzz in her purse, she nodded.  "Alright!  Sounds good!  If you ever want to go grab lunch and chat sometime, just let me know.  My schedule here is pretty flexible usually, especially since I have a feeling we're going to be dropping into a lull here again soon."

When Marina offered to help clean up the mess, Anne couldn't help but just blink at her for a moment in surprise.  She hardly got her own coworkers to help clean up messes, and here the admittedly sweet customer was offering to help without being prompted.  Smiling, she shook her head finally, "That's sweet of you to offer, but I got it.  It was just frustrating that I knocked it off just as I finished planting the seeds in it, but hey, that's life.  I'll just plant another batch and keep on truckin'.  Besides, giving me a distraction from my frustration is appreciated enough as it is!"

[Marina Mikami]

Marina nodded in understanding as Anne spoke about how New York was almost similar to this area. That must have been helpful in getting used to a new area on the whole other side of the world. She was a little envious of that, nothing here had helped remind her of home when Marina had first moved here. It made the move that much rougher to start, but eventually she got used to her new surroundings. Though there were still the the odd thing or two, like Anne mentioned.

She let out a small laugh as Anne shuddered at the mention of rain. Apparently she didn't like standing out in it, but didn't mind listening to it from indoors. "Maybe its just because of where I grew up," she started to explain. "But I like the way the rain feels. For the most part. Sometimes it can get to be too much." She laughed again. After all she carried a parasol everywhere she went, just in case it rained a little too much for her liking. At least that was part of the reason why.

Marina smiled as Anne explained that her bosses probably wouldn't mind too much and then laughed again at the mention of upholding her reputation. Apparently her coworkers were the ones that were a bunch of slackers. That must of been frustrating, but Anne seemed to keep a solid attitude about it. She nodded again at the mention of her schedule being flexible. "Mine is pretty flexible as well, at least at the times I don't have class," she told the florist. "I will be sure to let you know of a time when we can get together and chat,"

Anne then seemed to be confused by Marina offering to help clean up. She must not have gotten that offer too often. After a moment, she finally shook her head and declined. She laughed a little at being complimented at keeping her distracted from her frustration. "Anytime," she told her as she picked up the rest of her things and the flower arrangement. She smiled again. "Thanks again, I hope to see you soon," she told Anne and turned to leave. As she walked out, with the hand that held her parasol she waved good bye. She had come for a flower arrangement and had ended up making a new friend, a fellow American at that. What an interesting day today turned out to be.

[Ariane Ivers]

Shrugging understandable, Anne chuckled a bit, "That's understandable.  I guess when you grow up surrounded by it constantly you tend to get pretty used to it.  Of course New York could be plenty rainy too, but it was usually pretty easy to stay out of."  Ariane had noticed the parasol, and with the current conversation wondered absently if it was because she had had more than her fill of rain growing up.

After hearing she wasn't the only one with a pretty open schedule, Anne smiled.  "Well, that's a good thing then.  There won't be an excuse for us to not contact one another, right?"  Her voice was thick with laughter as she joked with the woman.  She understood schedules could of course become pretty busy, especially with what Anne had been doing with her nights as of late, but she still hoped they could figure something out.  She needed someone she could just talk to, if only for a distraction.  From work, and from her 'other' job.

As Rini said her farewells, Anne smiled again and waved, "No, thank you!  I hope you have a great day, and I'll catch you around later."  Once the woman was gone, the redhead turned back to clean up the mess with a little bit more pep in her step.  While the day had started with a bit of trouble, it looked like her luck had turned around for the better.  As long as it stayed that way for the rest of the day, she would be happy.