[prompt: flowers/first meeting]
3:44 PM, Tuesday afternoon. 16 minutes until closing.
Xiangling keeps finding herself staring out the window at the end of the day. Even during holiday seasons, people don't need flowers quite as much as they used to- plants for special occasions are an ignored cliche. So Xiangling watches the flowers every day and her father works on opening another business, hoping to bring in some money.
3:51 PM.
The door bursts open and someone rushes in, glaring over the counter at Xiangling. She slaps a twenty dollar bill on the counter and asks, "How do I passive-aggressively say 'fuck you' in flower?" She has burning orange-yellow eyes, dark brown hair tied in two stiff ponytails with spiked bands, and lighter brown skin.
"Um.." Xiangling takes the twenty dollars and sticks them in the pocket of her yellow hoodie, getting out from behind the desk. "Well, let's see. Do you want just a basic 'fuck you' or something with a lot of meaning?" She looks around the shop, picking out flowers with her eyes, then back to the customer. The brown-haired girl is still in uniform for wherever she worked.. a name tag pinned to her shirt reads 'Xinyan.'
"Something with a lot of meaning." Xinyan crosses her arms over her chest, following Xiangling as she starts to walk around the store.
"Okay, I see. In that case.. you'll need some geraniums for stupidity, foxglove for insincerity, meadowsweet for uselessness, yellow carnations to say they're disappointing, and orange lilies for hatred." As she speaks, Xiangling plucks flowers from their storage and forms them into a bouquet, wrapping them in plastic and tying it with a red ribbon. "Do you want me to write that down for you?"
Of course the information had all gone through Xinyan's head without taking root. "Uh.. yeah, sure," she replies, running her fingers over the petals. "Did I give you enough money?"
"One second," Xiangling chuckles, putting the transaction through the cash register. "Let's see.. no, that was enough. Fifteen cents is your change." She pulls out a nickel and a dime and hands them to Xinyan, then turns to find a small piece of paper. "Let me just write the flowers down for you so the person you're giving them to understands it."
She writes down the details of each flower, gives it to Xinyan, and watches her leave. By that time, the shop should be closed..
3:59 PM, Wednesday afternoon. Closed.
Xiangling finishes locking everything up and walks around to the front of the shop, startling when she sees Xinyan standing there. "Oh- I'm sorry, we're already closed for the day..Did you need something?" She bites her lip nervously, knowing she closed just a little early- but nobody was there!
"No, nothing like that," Xinyan replies. "I just wanted to say thanks for yesterday. The flowers were well-received." She flashes a wide smile. "Next time I come in I'll be asking how to say 'I'm gay as hell' in flower, so be prepared!" With that she turns and heads in the other direction, her ponytails bouncing on top of her head. "Gay as hell in flower..?" Xiangling mumbles to herself. Certainly an unusual request, but as long as there were paying customers she didn't mind too much. Really, she didn't mind at all.
