Covent Garden Flowers, Tuesday

[shiroi_tiger]

Nathan was less surprised and more resigned today to come into work to find a large shipment of evergreen boughs, poinsettias, and holly sprigs coming in that morning. There seemed to be an endless stream of random holidays around this time of year, but he was already well aware of Christmas, even if the way people celebrated the holiday had changed significantly since his own time.

He set it all to the side and went about the shop, watering and fertilizing and otherwise grooming the plants, and only when he was done that did he deign to go back to tackle all of... that.

He tried a hand at a wreath, first, and was pleased to find that the end result wasn't a total disaster. And then, on a whim, he attempted some sort of festive twist on his usual ikebana arrangements. If he used the smaller poinsettia plants, and then some of the boughs and holly, he could even make one that would last well beyond the month with regular watering.

He wasn't going to admit that he was having a lot of fun experimenting with this, but here he was. Having a lot of fun. Experimenting with this.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[firstofitskind]

Liam had meant to thank Nathan for his patience during his weekend-long childhood, but over the past week the two of them never seemed to both be home at the same time. So eventually Liam decided that just stopping by the other man's place of employment was the way to go.

He didn't come empty-handed, of course: there was tea in a to-go cup from the Perk, along with a muffin.

"Is it always so... intense in here?" he wondered, looking around at all the holiday flora.

[I know it is super super late and all good shammens should be in bed, but I *just* got home from work. Feel free to ignore if you'd rather not pick up a thread once you see this inna morning :)]

[shiroi_tiger]

"It's not always intense like this," Nathan replied pleasantly, looking around the shop for a moment before securing a cutting of blue pine to his arrangement and then leaning back to smile at Liam. "Some weeks, the little toothy plants over there are burping fire."

They had since sequestered the piranha plants behind glass so that they couldn't hurt the rest of the stock. It had been the only way.

[firstofitskind]

Liam raised an eyebrow, sliding one of the tea cups and a muffin across the counter in Nathan's direction.

"I can see why you keep them separate, then," he noted. "Do people actually end up buying something like that?" sure, decorative plants weren't necessarily meant to be practical, but there was impractical and then there was 'might burn down your dorm room. Or house'.

[shiroi_tiger]

"Honestly... not so far," Nathan confessed. "Our suppliers send us some pretty unique merchandise from week to week. There were flowers, at one point, that gave the person holding them the ability to throw fire."

He paused.

"A lot of fire around here, for a flower shop."

[firstofitskind]

"Well," Liam said thoughtfully. "It's not like the Trooper Station has had any reports of damage by way of flower, so in the larger scheme of things I guess they're relatively harmless, fire or no."

[shiroi_tiger]

"That's what I figure," Nathan agreed, grinning faintly. "So, how's your day going, Liam? Have you met Mitsutada yet? Or were you looking for flowers?"

Sometimes you just needed flowers, right?

[firstofitskind]

"Looking for you, actually," Liam admitted.

[shiroi_tiger]

"Well, I suppose I am at least marginally more interesting than flowers," Nathan mused, and then chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you've found me. What can I help you with, Liam?"

[firstofitskind]

"Mostly, I just wanted to thank you for being so patient with me when I was- a child." That was still extremely strange to say.

[shiroi_tiger]

Nathan blinked at that, and then broke into a little laugh.

"For that? But children are some of the only people I do have patience for."

He kind of adored kids. So sue him.

[firstofitskind]

Liam couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "Says the man with a habit of inviting random strangers to live in his home," he pointed out. "I wasn't terribly used to dealing with, well, with people, as a child, though. So I appreciated it."

[shiroi_tiger]

"I'm capable of having empathy without patience," Nathan pointed out, grinning faintly. "But I see your point. Either way... you were a child. I figured it was more at play there than that you were shy, but..."

He spread his hands.

"Still a child."

[firstofitskind]

"It was certainly an experience," Liam said, shaking his head a little. "Good to know this place can still surprise me, I suppose."

[shiroi_tiger]

"So long as it isn't a bad surprise," Nathan noted. "This place still has those on occasion, too."

Just wait a few more weeks!