melodiesoflife | Opening up the flower shop~

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Opening up the flower shop~

Where: Aqures Ixen: Terra’s new flower shop (Also a rescue center for animals and pets) located at the border between the 14th and 09th District of Aqures Ixen.
When: 9th through the month of May~ and June!
Summary: Terra has just opened her shop, Jardin Verdoyant, after spending some time and money getting it ready. Bartz had helped her where he could. Now it is open and ready for business. In June Terra can be found at the flower shop or her home. The memories left her feeling a little uncomfortable about people.
Warning: None.

Terra had made sure the shop was perfect before sending out Tempest with the flyers. There were rows of plants cut from the stem and rearranged in lovely patterns as well as rows of bright seasonal flowers that were still rooted to a clump of soft dirt. She wanted people to be able to plant flowers as well as have them to be placed in a vase or given as gifts. She had collected seeds as well, which sat in small baskets on the front counter, each with the flowers names written out on small pieces of parchment. The whole store front burst with colors drawing in those who walked by.

The back of the store was simple, Terra was in the process of outfitting it as a greenhouse of sorts and she hoped to have it set up so she could grow spring and summer flowers throughout the winter. On the far side of that wall there were pens and a dozen or so kittens were playing with small toys that Terra had made a few days before. Two of the kittens, whom Terra has trained, were wandering around the store front pulling in customers with soft meows. One was black with startling blue green eyes while the other was an orange tabby cat who’s eyes shined gold in the light of the sun.

Terra was excited and it showed in a happy smile as she lightly misted water over a collection of carnations.

She had her long green hair pulled back into a ponytail with loose strains falling to frame her delicate features. For once Terra wasn't wearing a dress deciding to wear a purple tank top and a pair of worn shorts. She wore brown boots that ended at her calf which were slightly covered in dirt and scuffed from work.

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Rikku wandered the small perimeter of the shop, hopping back up to Terra when the woman finally managed to get a word in edgewise "You're really quiet, huh? I think I could barley hear you over the flowers." The words were playful, delivered with a light wink, "Don't mind me I can talk forever. If you want to say something and I'm still going you should just like - throw something!" She mimed out an air toss, "Works every time! Especially if it's food."

Proceeding to pick up and investigate every nick knack like it was the most amazing discovery Aqures Ixen had to offer, a light giggle followed "Flower scented cats! That's the best thing I've heard ever. Oh my gosh if someone had a pollen allergy it would be like - a secret weapon! You just have to train the kitten to jump in their lap and it would be like "Oh look she likes you!" Only it's attack kittens! Be ready for sneezing."

"Terra huh? It's nice to meet you. That's a good name, I can tell."

Terra wasn't the sort to interrupt. She didn't mind Rikku's chatter, in fact, it was nice. She didn't feel like she had to talk and Rikku asked enough questions that she didn't have to guess what to say. She smiled shyly feeling warmth spread through her chest.

"Thank you." She wouldn't throw food but she'd be happy to try and make Rikku something if she was hungry.

There were all sorts of things around the store and if Rikku continued to search she might find bedding shoved in a side closest as well as shining pebbles that Terra had littered through the potted plants she had managed to collect.

"Know how I know it's a good one?" A feral glint shone in the girl's eyes, "It's got an R in it! Names with r's in them are the best." She crosses her arms, giving a sage nod, as if they were both part of some secret sect, all the while wearing an obnoxious grin.

The thief of course went straight for the shiny things, she didn't attempt to pocket any - she never did that to people she took a liking to, but they drew her as a moth to a flame. She held one of the rocks up to catch the light, "Ohh, you like treasures too, huh?" An object did not have to be valuable to be a treasure.

"You sleeping here?" The bedding had not gone unnoticed - it just hadn't been as interesting as the pebbles and came up later. Rikku was too curious for her own good, but she did try to respect people's boundaries. The Al Bhed was just such a nomad and used to laying down wherever she found herself (sometimes in trees), she did not realize that might have meant something was amiss or meant something was unusual.

Perching on the floor, Rikku played with one of the kittens, resting her chin to her free palm as she looked up at the florist. She'd already decided she would befriend the new woman who was so willing to help her, "So, tell me about Terra. You don't have to, but then I'll have to make up something. And the I gotta warn you, the stories I make up for people - they're pretty scandalous."

Terra watched Rikku as she gazed around the room. She felt lighter at the girls statement about her name. She supposed that was a good saying, she knew a lot of people with 'R's' in their names and they were all lovely names. A few people came to mind in particular but she quickly pushed them away as Rikku lifted one of the shinning round gem like stones.

"Yes." She had found them when she was searching for new flowers and she thought that it made the shop feel more like it was outside. Shining and glittering like it held the sun shine and wind within it's hard surface.

This time Terra was able to keep up when Rikku changed subjects. Her cheeks flushed slightly at the sight of the bedding and she silently wished she had found somewhere else for those things to be kept. "Yes." Terra would watch over the kittens, at least until they got used to their new home. She was sure her roommate didn't mind, though she didn't get the best nights sleep here.

It wasn't under Rikku asked about Terra that she realized she had said nothing about herself, nothing about why she had the pebbles and bedding in the store. She didn't know why but her instincts told her not to say more.

"..."

Terra was silent for a moment longer before sitting next to Rikku. "What would you like to know?" She didn't know what scandalous things Rikku might think up and she couldn't really imagine either.

The kittens covered her lap the moment she sat wanting to grab as much attention from the pair as they could.

Her brows furrow when Terra flushes at the bedding question, reflecting on it - the blonde realizes people don't sleep outside of their homes commonly here. The cultural misunderstanding clicks, "Is...something wrong at home? Do you need a place to stay?"

A small frown forms when silence follows, had she made the girl uncomfortable? Rikku did have a tendency to overwhelm introverts, and realizes with a sigh she probably could have found a thousand better approaches. It was rather prying, she supposed, but she was tired of people being so insincere and secretive around here. She wanted to know, so she'd asked.

When Terra joins her, asking what she'd like to know, the contagious joy returns to young thief's features, she catches a kitten that took a leap at her bandanna, raising it so it can bat lightly at the bottom where it goes off, "Well, if it's alright with you, I'd like us to be friends, so... everything. What your world was like, about your family if you had any." The Spiran knew many orphans, but she also knew people did not have to be blood to be family, "What you'd like to do, if you like anyone. That's what friends do right? They tell each other everything."

"... there is nothing wrong at home." Though a particularly awkward memory comes to mind as Terra says as much. "I just wanted to stay with the kittens a few nights so they got used to their new home." Though she hoped they would be adopted and that it would be a temporary home.

Terra would have felt uncomfortable no matter what Rikku said. She wasn't intimidated but she wasn't sure how to answer. She didn't have the answer to a lot of things and she wasn't one to guess.

"Friends?" They could be friends thought the concept still confused Terra. "I don't have any family. I know a little bit about my father but they died when I was very young." Her voice was soft though she tried to keep the pain from her tone. "My home world is filled with war. It isn't a very happy place. Magic is feared there."

Terra could answer specific questions though the thought of telling Rikku anything made her head spin a little. There was so much and yet so little that she could say.

There's a slight nod, she can't help but notice the pause before Terra states that homelife is fine - but she won't pry, respecting what the woman says. There's a soft look on her face at the mention she's doing it for the kittens, but having grown suspicious now, Rikku can't bring herself to believe that.

As the daughter of the Al Bhed chief, the blonde also had a soft spot for strays - though hers are more often the human variety it still extends to animals. She pulls the kitten that has managed to climb the ties of her bandanna and made it to her head down to snuggle against her chest, petting it gently until she conjures purrs. Giving a nod at the question about friends, she flushes slightly, betraying a rare moment of shyness, "Yeah, if you like."

Pausing her petting, sympathy fills her eyes as Terra speaks, her heart going out to the woman, "I'm sorry." Even here, she was so lucky to have been raised by her father. It seemed Sin was not the only thing that took that away from people. "Everyone should get to know there parents. I was lucky enough to be raised by my pops - he's a crazy rowdy guy. My mom died when I was young."

Hesitant to ask more specific questions when the topic that had arisen was painful, Rikku did not want to push. She knew however, that opening up yourself might lead others to do the same, while leaving an open out if someone did not want to speak. "There was war in my world a long time ago, it still hasn't recovered. I can't even begin to imagine being caught in the middle of it."

"People fear magic? Why?" She could understand people fearing magic, what the Empire had forced her to do had only heightened the issues being struck with a lightning spell when she was little had begun.

"I think my world is dying." The cycle with Sin, the Summoners' sacrifices. Each time more and more people would die, more and more of Spira would be destroyed until nothing was left. "I have hope that we will...we will figure something out though. I know we will."

Terra wasn't sure what to say. She hesitated not out of nervousness but because she had never really had conversations like this before. She opened up to a few but their reactions had all been different. Rikku was so far the strangest of all.

One of the kitten batted at Terra's hand begging for attention as they two spoke. She smiled down at the little kitten and gave it the attention that it had been seeking.

"We can be friends." Her words were soft and a little unsure. She didn't have many that she would consider friends. Her bright blue eyes flicked over towards Rikku. "They fear magic because only the monsters and Espers are born with it. People can't use it, they can't understand it, so it's feared." She knew that and repeating it hurt knowing her own lineage.

"I think my world is dying too but it's hard to know what to do." Could one person really do something? Terra felt the topic of conversation weighing on her shoulders so she quickly changed subject. "It's good that you got to know your father. Could you tell me.. what it's like?" It was a strange question but Terra wanted to know.

A smile lights Rikku's eyes when the offer of friendship is accepted, the one that accompanies it on her lips more subdued than those she's worn earlier due to the dark turn their conversation has taken. The outgoing girl has been isolating herself since her imprisonment, and found she has an unusual shortage of people to call friend. This was a nice way to start changing that.

"Hmm, that's strange, magic is so accessible in my world." Moving back to petting the kitten in her hands, Rikku ponders over what Terra said about fear, "That makes sense, my tribe back home, most of the world hates us. A lot of it is because they just needed someone to blame for everything that was wrong with the world I think, and we were different from the rest of them so that made us - easy to fear maybe? Because we seemed so different from them?" They weren't though, it was just outward things like dress, using technology instead of magic, that Yevon twisted to their advantage.

There's a slow blink, "What's an Esper?"

"I don't...I don't know what to do either" Things were so confusing with the Pilgrimage now, when she set out to save Yuna from the sacrifice it was so clear. "But I'm working on it. I'm not giving up. I'm not someone who gives up ever. As long as you keep trying, there's a chance you know?"

A brief moment of silence follows Terra's question, it seems almost cruel to talk in depth about having a father to an orphan. Rikku had always wondered what her life would be like had her mother not been taken however - and her newfound friend had asked.

"Hmm, I guess it depends a lot on the type of man your father is?" She can't imagine the years Yunie knew with Uncle Braska being anything like the ones she had with Cid, "The important thing though, is that they care about you. I was lucky - my pops is a good man. He was really protective, he looked out for me. He's a reckless guy, passionate - jumps into things without thinking." The two were a dangerous combination, Rikku always feared what Cid might do had she come to harm.

"He gave me my freedom though. He wanted me to be strong, taught me to stand up for what I believed in and not back down. We fought sometimes - families do that. We were just both really stubborn. In the end though, my old man always wanted what was best for me."

Images of the Al Bhed leader trapped in the Heran facility crept into her thoughts, tensing, she moved the kitten to her shoulder to return to the present, "You said you, knew a bit about your father?"

"I wonder what it's like. Fighting with your family." Terra's smile was wistful as played with the little kittens in her lap. "I think... I'd like that." Bright blue eyes shifted over to Rikku with a shy smile. It hurt to talk about but not enough to stop her from mentioning it.

She felt like she could trust Rikku. Like she might teach her something that she couldn't learn from others. "I know that he was an Esper. My mother was human. Umm..." Delicate fingers pressed to her lips in thought. "An Esper is a magical creature. Like the summons here but they are all gone now."

Her voice softens to a whisper and she looked down at the kitten. "I know my parents loved each other very much."

Reaching a hand out to scratch behind the ear of one of the kittens in Terra's lap, she watches her recent companion with a soft expression. "It is nice, even through it drives you crazy. I'm sorry you didn't get to have that. You know though - family doesn't have to be blood. People choose their own too." Many orphans she knew made a surrogate family from friends, Lulu and Wakka treated Yuna like a little sister.

"Looks like you've started, in your own way." A small gesture indicates the kittens in the shop.

Ah ok, so an Esper was her world's Aeons. Rikku listens to the woman softly speak, the gentle cadence of the words delaying the Al Bhed's realization of what was said.

"Wait...huh." Clover irises curiously search the woman's blue eyes, as she leans down to try to catch Terra's averted gaze, "You're part summon?"

Think of Terra's parents always made her a little sad. She had no memories of them and only knew what had been written in that report. She wished that she knew more about them, how they met, how they fell in love. There was so much she wanted to ask them.

Since then Terra had been in the care of the Empire. She didn't remember much of it but the things she remembered gave her nightmares. She wouldn't call anyone there family. She was happy for the kittens but she hoped to find them different homes. Better homes than staying with her.

Terra looked over at Rikku curiously. "Yes." She really couldn't say anything else about it. She had told Ramza and Sephiroth about it but no one else. She didn't know what to think. She was a monster and she knew what it felt like to lose control after the last dream they shared.

Rikku had not meant to imply Terra had family, the woman would have known, made it clear she did not - rather, that she could choose to build one now. Nor had she meant to make the mage grow quiet again, there was always a finesse one had to maintain to keep the softspoken ones talking. Especially when you first met them and they were building their way towards learning to open up with you. The chatterbox was confidant that she would find that balance with time - the more she got to know the florist.

Her spiral pupils may have appeared somewhat dizzying as her eyes darted side to side, peering into her counterpart's crystal blue eyes with newfound intensity. She appeared curios, amazed - though if there was any doubt, "That's amazing!" Clearly Summons were profoundly different in Terra's world - Rikku had barley put it together, if the woman had not mentioned that her mother had been human which so distinguished the two she might have missed it during her new friend's soft discourse.

Her mind tumbled over a thousand questions she wanted to ask, tangling her up with where to even start. In her excitement she paused, her brows furrowing slightly. "People can't summon you somehow and force you to do things...can they?" There was worry in the question, a touch of anger. She'd always felt bad for the Aeons back in Spira, Yevon revered them, but to her, they'd seemed like prisoners - and while they were impossible to read, she always felt like they were sad. Maybe it was the fact they were all in chains.

Her question made Terra pause. The kitten in her lap batted at her fingers a few more times before looking up at Terra with wide curious eyes. The kitten didn’t understand why the woman had stopped and in its protest let out a soft defiant meow. As if sensing Terra’s distress it began to rub against Terra’s hand purring to comfort her.

Terra felt a hole in her chest grow as the recent dream appeared in her thoughts with a sharp alarming clarity. Her hands were shaped like claws and blood dripped from her fingers staining the ground as she moved forward. Terra felt her heart hammering in her chest. “I don’t know.” Her voice was soft and scared as if her usual defenses shattered. “I hope not.”

She heard a growl as those claws sank into flesh tearing free the sickeningly sweet sense of blood as it spilled on the floor. Terra’s hand pushed at her forehead to erase the memories she had been trying so hard to forget. Her vision swam and she felt cold despite the heat of spring.

“I’m sorry… I..” Her voice sounded far away when she spoke. She couldn’t turn to look at Rikku.

Rikku's face fell, "Terra, I'm so sorry..." She quickly shifted from a sitting position to a crouch at the strong reaction, spilling a kitten to the floor. A ready sentry to spring and catch the woman if she fainted, it hadn't gone unnoticed, how more than just the half Esper's voice seemed to sway at the question.

"I can't even imagine, that must be terrifying." Her lips press into a line when the mage can't face her. "I'm not gonna let that happen to you." No, people were not tools, that was too cruel. Rikku would protect her friend, she echoes the same rhetoric she had earlier about helping her dying world, "I'll think of something."

Terra took a moment to steady herself. She didn’t feel well but she didn’t want to worry Rikku. She wondered where Tempest was but that thought quickly left her mind. She focused on each breath slowly breathing in and out watching as her chest rose as if to remind her that she was here; that she was alive. She looked over to Rikku her vision slowly clearing.

“It isn’t your fault.” She didn’t know if she should say more. It was only a dream and she didn’t know if Rikku was close to the person in the dream who had been her puppet master. She didn’t blame him. She didn’t want people to think of him that way. It was just a dream. Except that it hurt. It hurt to breath.

Terra shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry. I don’t think… I should say more.” Her vision swims again and she glances at the kitten who had now stopped and was staring up at her. She needed to lay down but she feared moving. She had done so well to keep those thoughts from her mind. She was scared, it was hard not to be but she wanted to face her fears.

Rikku felt it was her fault, at least, for leading her new friend to such a dark place. The girl had to wonder, did hardships make heroes? She made a note to tread lighter in the future. When the mage speaks, Rikku bites her lower lip slightly. At first Rikku thought the reaction was fear of what might happen, and truly the thought that you could be controlled to the girl who had known its torture was terrifying enough for her to believe the strong reaction was suitable to a fear of what might be. It wasn't though, was it? Why would someone be so afraid of something they did not know? Terra's words made it clear, something had happened.

"Terra, I said friends tell each other everything, but. Only if they want to ok? You can always talk to me, about anything. I don't want you to force yourself to if it's gonna be painful though, only if it would help. I didn't mean to, bring up such hurtful things." Rikku's hand moves gently, hesitantly, to try and support the woman's arm when she sees the green haired woman sway. She was worried it was a bad idea, whatever had happened to Terra, it may well be possible touch is the last thing she wants - but she looked ready to collapse, and Rikku wasn't about to let her get hurt.

"Please, you really need to lay down. I'll lock the shop, people will just think you're on lunch and won't know any better. Ok?" Maybe she could find a cool cloth somewhere too.

Terra knew she shouldn't have run from the dream. She had talked with Sephiroth but she didn't think it helped. She had so many things buried while trying to be strong. She shook her head slowly. "I-I'm sorry." She shouldn't feel so weak.

She slowly rose letting the kitten drop from her lap so that she could find a place to lay down. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about it but she felt like it was someone else's secret to share.

"It isn't just about me. I don't want..." She moved slowly. "What would you do if you wanted to help someone close to you and they wouldn't let you?"

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about. So don't apologize, ok?" Rikku rose after her friend, concern etched in her features, she follows close beside in case the woman grows unsteady and in need of support. The shop she would take care of once Terra was settled.

The thief turns the question over in her head, "I would...make it clear I was there if they needed me. Then I would give them all the time they needed and remain by their side." The answer was an offer as much as it was her honest approach to such a situation.

Terra smiled. "That's what I did but..." She looked back at Rikku feeling as if she was telling her more than she should. "I don't know if he understood." Terra wasn't good when it came to understanding how she felt but she knew that he was her friend. Maybe her first friend and she didn't want to lose that.

Very slowly, Terra made her way to a bench that rested along the side of the shop. She took the plants from it and placed them on the floor so she could sit. Her eyes went to the ceiling and she felt a soft smile on her lips.

"Don't worry. I think it's just because I haven't been sleeping well." She looked at two of the kittens that followed her. "These guys like attacking feet in the middle of the night." She didn't want Rikku to worry.

"Hmm. Well, if you were being subtle about it just tell him in plain Spir...er. Whatever the heck language it is were are speaking here." Rikku was little if not direct, and growing up with boys heavens knew, they could be dense. "Just be all." She points a finger to an imaginary person, pantomiming out a mock discussion, "Hey bozo, I'm here for you if you need me. And I respect you're not ready to turn to me for help - but I want you to know you're not alone."

After Terra settles herself, the thief pads over to the door, turning the lock and setting the sign to closed. When she returns she offers Terra a cool cloth - she keeps a few in her alchemy pouch to prevent her vials from clinking, and fresh water was easy to find in the store. Beware calling Rikku your friend, for she'd make herself right at home. With any luck, Terra kept sweets around.

It's clear from the expression of worry on the Al Bhed's face that she does not believe the excuse, but she's not going to press the woman about it and make her feel worse. If the mage wanted to play it off, so be it. She plopped on the bench next to Terra, grinning at the felines, "Yeah? That has to tickle."

Terra smiled. She wouldn't tell him exactly like that but she supposed that was sort of what she said. Rikku will only find kupo nuts as far as sweets go. There was a lot of animal food and plant food in the shop but less people food.

she didn't mind Rikku poking her nose into everything. She had nothing to hide though there were things she hoped would stay organized in the girls searching.

"A little. It wake you up." Though she can't blame her kittens. The pair had managed to climb to Terra's lap and were now fighting over who gets to sit there. It was the cutest fight ever because the kittens would just push back and forth with their paws.

Rikku would not leave messes, one did not become a master thief by leaving evidence. Unless she was using Terra's kitchen to make something - then all bets are off.

The thief smiled as one of the kittens reared too far back to pounce and wound up flopping sideways.

Lacing her fingers together, her hands move to rest behind her head, "Huh, do you eat? Or is it like a half Esper thing that you don't have to?" She realized Terra did not live here full time but it seemed odd not to have any food, when she snuck about looking for a rag before settling for the one in her alchemy pouch she hadn't found any. "Ohhhh" She turns to her new friend with innocent, wide eyed speculation, "Do you eat flowers?" No wonder she wouldn't want poisonous ones!

"I eat but not flowers. The shop is still new. I don't have any food here." She smiled shyly at Rikku. "The kitten's will sometimes eat the flowers." Which was why the young Esper didn't have any poisonous ones around the shop.

Terra was feeling better though she thought about closing early and heading back home for the night. She'd been sleeping at the shop for a few days now and it might be a nice change to head home, though she'd wait for Tempest to get back. The moogle had volunteered to watch the shop and keep an eye on the kittens for Terra.

"I'm feeling better now. I'm sorry to have worried you."

"Oooooh" It made sense, Rikku was glad. Now she could introduce Terra to yummy things like flavored ice, if the woman didn't know them already. Never the less, despite the fact that the thief was clearly younger than her mage counter part, she pointed to her friend speaking out in somewhat bossy, well intended tones, "You should have food! You can't stay somewhere without it! That's no good!"

She tapped her fingertips to her lips. The thief wouldn't lie and tell her green haired friend she hadn't been worried - that was what friends were for - instead she reached a hand out - wiggling her fingertips. "Lemme see your moggle whistle? I wanna tweak it so, if you blow on it a little harder than normal you'll call Mochina - that's my moggle, and she can get me to run to you. I want you to...understand you're not alone. Cuz. I'm you're friend now. That means you're not." A steadfast nod accentuated the last statement. Rikku - stood by her friends.

Opening up the flower shop~

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