TGGBB // ONE SHOTS

FLOWER EXHIBITION

Ship: MusketeersxNaomi
Scene: In a gallery
P.O.V: Naomi

Click. I'm locking the base and checking. Today we were going out to an exotic fauna gallery exhibition in a shopping centre despite my allergies. I took my meds so I guess I'll be okay. The guys weren't reluctant as we were pretty bored and had ran out of ideas of what to do. A flashback from yesterday plays in my mind.

"Miss, please take this!" a little girl with braids in a pastel dress holds out a leaflet for me with a bright smile. I was walking past a flower shop when the girl standing outside stopped me in my tracks. I take the pamphlet curiously. "An exhibition is gonna take place tomorrow. I'll be glad if you could visit!" And since I had no plans for tomorrow I said okay and gave her a smile.

"Naomi, get your butt over here!" Jordan shouts. I snap out of the flashback and walk over to my friends. Jordan and Bennett are seated in front while Declan is at the back listening to music. I get into the car next to him and we zoom off to the exhibition.

Ten minutes later after paying the fee, we are in the gallery and admiring the many peculiar species of flowers.

There aren't many people in the gallery and majority of them were female. So we had a group of girls gaping at the three more than the flowers. I had to facepalm everytime someome made duck faces at them.

"Hey, Declan!" Jordan motions us to follow us. We follow him into a corner and stare at the ugly flower before us.

"It looks just like you, ugly AND big!" Jordan starts laughing hysterically, pointing at the red flower before us in a glass tank. Declan huffs and glares at Jordan. Bennett shakes his head but a small smile was plastered on his face. I look at the flower and read the label. It's a Rafflesia. It was red and had 5 petals with a wide mouth.

"It emits a smell similar to rotting flesh to attract flies too." I muttered, looking through the description.

"Stinky!" Jordan bursts out laughing again.

"Shut up, will you?" Declan hisses and rolls his eyes. We wander around into another section of stranger looking fauna. Declan points at a plant that has a few stems branching out from its main body. Small white puff balls sat at the end. It's a Water Dropwort.

"It says you'll die with a smile on your face if you eat this. I'll shove one down your throat when I grow one!" He hissed. Jordan gives him the finger and waves him off. Bennett and I continue to explore while Jordan and Declan follow, discussing on how to kill each other in the future with the help of Mother Nature.

While we are admiring a Venus fly trap, a little girl in a white dress strolls towards us with a basket of flowers in her arms. I recognise her bright smile and wave hello. It's the same kid from yesterday.

"Thank you for coming Miss! My name is May. This exhibition is organised by my family and your support means a lot to me!"

"It's no problem, May. I'm Naomi, and the three behind me are Jordan, Bennett and Declan." I point at the trio. "The flowers here are really interesting!" I complimented.

May smiles brightly and insists on giving us a tour around the gallery. She shows us a few pitcher plants and brings us to an open flowerbed with a cluster of similar plants.

"This one is called a Mimosa. Touch it!" she grab all of our hands and pull us towards the leaves. We touch the leaves gently and watch in awe as the leaves closed by themselves.

"That's cool." Bennett said as he poked a few more of them. Jordan grins and starts poking faster than Bennett. Declan joins in and soon enough all the Mimosa in the flowerbed have closed themselves. May giggles at our mortified expression.

"Don't worry! They'll open up later. This is just a defense mechanism."

She leads us to a huge plant with its spathe opened up to show the inner purple colour. It has a long green thick spadix bulging out from the middle. "It's known as the Titan Arum in short. Or the Corpse plant."

The kid shows us around a little longer then brings us to the entrance and and smiles. "That's all for today folks! Thanks for visiting today. I have something for kind people like you four too.." May rummages through her basket in her arm and pulls out a white flower with small petals and a yellow middle.

"This is a daisy. It represents cheer and happiness. It's just like your happy go lucky demeanour, Mr Jordan!" She passes it to him with her angelic smile.

"Aww! This is sooo cute, thanks little May!" he cooes, admiring the flower while patting her. May takes a small red flower. She gives it to Declan who took it gingerly.

"Geranium. Stands for determination and gentility." Jordan stifles a laugh when May said the second part and Declan glares at him.

Bennett stares at Jordan's daisy when May pokes him and gives him a stalk with purple flowers of his own.

"Lavender represents calm, protection and sleep." Bennett smiles.

"I like sleep."

May hugs me and and passes me a purple flower that looks like Jordan's. "This isn't a daisy but it's called an aster. It means knowledge. You're the brains in this group." she grins.

She passes all of us a flower of the same species with different different colours. Mine had purple flowers, blue for Bennett, pink for Declan and white ones for Jordan. It had a stem with flowers on it in random positions.

"A Gladiolus, also known as sword flower! It represents strength, friendship, integrity and perseverance. For the four of you!" she sends us off with a cute flying kiss and we say our goodbyes and thanks. We put our flowers in our jacket pockets while holding our matching flowers.

Walking to the car, Declan mumbles while turning the sword flower in his fingers.

"Hey this reminds me of strawberry and that time when we wore the Musketeer costume at that party.." he stares at the pink flowers in his hand.

"Well," Jordan began. "I think giving us flowers based on our personality is pretty cute."

Bennett takes out his stalk of lavender. "I like sleep a lot."

"It's almost as if she knows who we are." I said. We laugh and drove off for lunch.

. . .

"Hey, I'm back!" I plop myself down on the chair and spin. I'm in one of the dark meeting rooms in the base. "Big brother, I set the trackers into all of their Gladiolus." I smirk and throw my basket onto the table. I pour out the contents and reveal tiny tracking devices in them.

A figure enters the room. "You did well. Now we'll get those Musketeers soon enough."

(11/06/2018) : it's been maybe a year?? And this is still my favourite among the others Ive written ha--