Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

[crimson_sister]

Lucille was surprised to find no oddities when she woke up this morning, but she was less surprised when she noticed a sprinkling of chocolate in the afternoon. There was anyway work to do and she had no reason to go outside, the Christmas season meant there were a lot of orders, and she was busy making flower arrangements all day, hardly having time for lunch or a tea break.

The books she had left under the counter were gone, and she hoped they had reached the right person and that they would be appreciated.

[Open]

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[sake_shinigami]

Which was, really, far too much work for anyone to bother with, and surely a break of some kind could be found in there somewhere.

"Ohayōgozaimasu, Lucille-chan~~ ♥!" Shunsui sang out as he fluttered his way in, despite the hour being well into the afternoon, even past those little chocolate sprinkles, and not morning in the slightest. "How is the flower business today, my lovely swan ♥?"

[crimson_sister]

Lucille gestured at the flower arrangements. "Quite busy, because of the holiday. But it is always nice to see you, of course. Would you like some tea?"

[sake_shinigami]

"I'll happily take some of your tea, Lucille-chan," said Shunsui with an appreciative bow of his head, "if you'll have some of my sake. That seems like a rather fair trade, doesn't it ♥?"

[crimson_sister]

"It does. I would love a cup of sake."

The sake was actually growing on her, but she also had expected that offer, of course.

Lucille poured a cup of tea and offered it to Shunsui.

"And how is your day so far?"

[sake_shinigami]

"So far," said Shunsui, grinning his lopsided grin as he poured Lucille her cup of sake in response, settling the jug back on his sash along with his swords so that he could take the teacup with one hand while offering out the sake cup with the other, "so good! And looking to get even better by the moment ♥. Productive, as well!"

Which was, for him, always a novel concept.

"As I've come in today with three," the grin spread a little before taking a sip of the tea, "different goals to accomplish today, Lucille-chan ♥."

[crimson_sister]

Lucille was actually curious what productive meant for Shunsui. She sipped the sake, then said:

"Oh? Three?"

[sake_shinigami]

Three whole things in one day meant Shunsuo was pretty much set for doing anything for the rest of the month!

"Three ♥," he confirmed. "The first, of course, is to bask in your exceptional beauty and radiant company, which is easy enough to accomplish. You come by that quite effortlessly ♥."

[crimson_sister]

"Now you are flattering me," Lucille said with a smile, completely unsurprised. "What is the second?"

[sake_shinigami]

"The second," Shunsui chuckled a little at the bold insinuation that he would ever go so far as to flatter anyone, and then took a longer sip of his tea, as if to build up the dramatic tension for what Lucille was surely on the edge of her seat to hear, "is to vastly improve your personal library, Lucille-chan ♥."

And, with that, he procured from somewhere within his flowing robes an English copy of The Rose-Colored Path, all tied up neatly in a flowery pink ribbon, and presented it to her balanced on his outstretched hand.

"I daresay you'll barely need a fire to keep off the incoming chill of winter with the heated prose you'll discover within ♥."

[crimson_sister]

"Oh! Thank you. It's very kind of you, Shunsui."

She accepted the book, wondering how to interpret 'heated prose'.

"It's a romantic story, then?"

[sake_shinigami]

"Very romantic ♥," Shunsui assured her, though his idea of romance in this regard was very much of a very specific subsection of the genre. "Sweepingly so. Barely a page left untouched by passionate overtures ♥."

And he actually did sound ridiculously proud of the whole stupid thing.

He really, really shouldn't be. But he was.

[crimson_sister]

Lucille wasn't sure if that meant she was going to like the book, and she suspected it might not be to her taste, but still, it was kind of Shunsui. Or was it?

"I look forward to reading it. And the third?"

[sake_shinigami]

"And the third," said Shunsui, after what was clearly an overlong but timely pause in the narrative, "would be an overdue lesson in bonsai care ♥. Unless, that is, you're simply too overwhelmed with your holiday orders at the time being..."

He wouldn't mind terribly if that was the case. It gave an easy excuse to visit again some other time, and, after successfully completing two things, he was feeling he could use a break of a sorts.

[crimson_sister]

Lucille considered this. She was busy, but Shunsui had stopped by for this, and to give her his book, so it seemed nicer to take him up on the offer. On the other hand, this was Shunsui.

"I am quite busy," she admitted, "but I would very much enjoy and introduction, and if there are things we don't have time to discuss today, you know you are always welcome back whenever you like."