melodiesoflife | Opening up the flower shop~

Entry tags:

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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That seemed like an odd question, until Ven remembered that they were in her shop, after all. "Oh -- uh -- nothing," he assured her quickly. "I mean, I'm just here to see you." He hesitated, actually unsure how to approach the topic. He didn't blame her if she didn't want to talk about it, since that was how he'd felt for a while.

"Did you, uh... heal up okay?" he tried, partly to see how well that mention would go over.

Terra didn’t mind talking about it. It had been a few weeks and since then she had been able to get a lot of thoughts in order. She might not know everything the future held but she knew her past now and while it was painful she didn’t feel like part of her was missing anymore.

“Yes. Thank you.” She had gotten hurt in her dream and while having access to her Esper powers helped her understand her father more she still hadn’t been able to control them.

Bright blue eyes looked towards Ven as her features relaxed into a gentle smile. She could tell he was probably worried. “It’s okay Ven. I’m alright. I’m sorry if I scared you.” She knew that she was a monster.

Ven relaxed without realizing it, glad to see that smile in response. He quickly shook his head. "No, I knew you'd be fine. I just wanted to make sure you felt okay." He'd mistaken her mention of scaring him as referring to her previous injuries; the fact that Terra had a second form was neither here nor there. It was strange, of course, and he had wondered what her ties were to the creatures in her memory, but her transformation didn't bother him in the slightest.

"But I'm glad," he went on, his own smile turning more natural. It became a little more subdued, too, as he added, "I... saw something of mine there, too. A memory. So I think I know a little about how you felt." He hadn't been able to interact with his memory, though. That was the major difference.

Terra shook her head keeping that gentle smile in place. “I’m sorry Ven. You shouldn’t worry about me. I already knew of my linage.” Of course she hadn’t been forced to watch it but she at least knew what her parents looked like and that was a small hope to hold on to. She remembered when she first learned of the incident, reading it in a report that was cold and calculating.

She didn’t understand how someone could write that after what she witnessed.

The black kitten mewed up at Terra demanding that it gets some of her attention. For the moment Terra let the little guy paw at her ankle. Her gaze was on Ven as she spoke. “Are you alright?” She couldn’t guess what he might have seen but if he said he knew how she felt then she could only assume it was something awful.

"Mm," Ven hummed, the sound affirmative. "I'm okay now." More or less. He certainly hadn't forgotten and a lot of that pain still lingered, but he was used to it by now. The aches of loss and uncertainty were no strangers anymore, although this instance was much sharper than any previous. He was still grieving for Eraqus, but in his own way, without letting it drown him as it had at first. He needed to honor his master's memory with gratitude and pride, not regret and self-pity.

But since Terra seemed all right with talking about it, Ven decided to voice one of the more general questions that had been on his mind.

"Hey... Terra? When you were in your memory, did you... see anything that you didn't actually remember?" He frowned slightly, trying to think of a better way to phrase it. "Or -- did you see something that you never actually saw at the time?"

"Well..." Terra's head tilted to the side slightly as her gaze softened. "I didn't actually remember any of that. I was five when all that happened but I knew about it. I had read it in a report." She paused feeling as if she was leaving out an important piece of information.

"When I woke up here... I didn't have any memory of who I was or my home." She smiled wistfully down at the kitten in her arms. "I've slowly remembered more over time. Until I woke up here the Empire who attack my home had control over me. I remember some when I was little." None of it was happy. Terra remembered doctors and being tortured since she was the last of her kind.

"I was a little happy to be able to see my mother and father." Terra hadn't known what they looked like before now.

"Oh..." He hadn't meant to drag that up, not anymore than he already had indirectly. Still, Terra seemed all right, so who was Ven to make a big deal out of it?

Anyway, that seemed to go along with his previous guess -- that what they all saw was more in line with their worlds' memories, not necessarily their own. Terra didn't remember that far back, and Ven hadn't been present to see Terra's (his Terra's) battle with Eraqus. It was the only thing that made sense, at least to him.

"Well, I'm glad there was something good in it," he went on. "I guess... I just wish I knew why that all happened in the first place."

Terra just shook her head at that. “I’ve been here since last fall.” She didn’t know the date but she knew the seasons.

“I don’t know why a lot of things happen but I’m sure there is a reason. The same as to why we are here.” Her bright blue eyes glanced at Ven curiously. She didn’t see his memory and it wasn’t her place to comment on it. She would be there to help if she could but she knew there was only so much she could do when her friends were fighting their inner demons. “I don’t think we should forget.”

Terra placed the kitten in her arms on the floor and then faces Ven with a determined stare. “I want to be stronger.” That was what she was determined to do.

"Right. As much as we might not want to see them in the first place... we shouldn't run away from them, either. It's our responsibility to remember and keep going." Even if it hurt. Even if there were no clear answers at present.

Ven smiled at Terra's last statement, however. "That's a good goal," he agreed. One he had shared for a long time. Still did. "Strong enough to do what? Fight?"

Terra shook her head slowly. "Strong enough to live." It sounded silly but there were so many times that the young mage had wanted nothing more than death. To had died with her father and mother.

She wasn't human and she wasn't Esper. She was a being with no home and there was nowhere that she knew that might accept her oddities. No where except for Crystallis. She was very grateful for her time here and even if it was fleeting she wanted to live the life she has.

Though it still sounded a little strange to say aloud.

A protector by fate, Ven didn't often consider what it was like to fight for survival. His abilities had been honed for the sake of others -- other people, other worlds -- and more recently, he had first used it to fight for his friends. His own survival and livelihood were always lower on the priority list.

So while Terra's point of view was outside of what he was used to, Ven could still sympathize. That, too, was a good goal -- although he probably had no place to lecture on that, having laid down his life once. The irony made his smile grow slightly.

"I hope you do," he told her. "And if there's ever a time when you're not strong enough... I'll be there. Because that's what friends are for."

Terra's lips curled into a wide smile. "Thank you. I'll remember that." She didn't know how much she wanted to open up. She was willing to answer questions but she wasn't the type to volunteer information without cause.

Even so, she was happy. She had met a lot of good people here and she was grateful for everyone of them. Tempest more so since the moogle had been helping her more than she needed too.

Terra was changing the subject but she really wanted to ask Ven. "Do you know how to dance?"

Changing the topic was just fine with Ven -- even if the new one totally caught him off guard. He blinked once, surprised, but then nodded.

"Uh, yeah. Some? Mostly just solo dancing, I guess you'd call it." He scratched at his cheek thoughtfully. "I was taught a little bit about slow-dancing, too, though." By Aqua, nonetheless, when he'd voiced his curiosity about such things a few years back. That had just been for fun -- well, wasn't all dancing? -- but it was enough to make an impression. Much easier than breakdancing, at any rate. "Why d'you ask?"

Terra shook her head slowly. “I don’t have a specific reason. Tempest had been teaching me how to dance and… it’s a really wonderful feeling.” She had learned ballroom dancing as well as something akin to a fan dance that used fluid movements. Tempest had enjoyed teaching Terra and it was something active that her hero could do that didn’t involve fighting.

Bright blue eyes met Ven’s with a shy smile. “I think it’d be nice if everyone could feel that way.” It’s another feeling that she doesn’t really understand but it makes her feel light, like a feather floating on the wind.

"Oh, yeah?" He tried to picture Mograe dancing, which... was kind of difficult, but pretty amusing, too. It brought a smile back to his face. "That was nice of her."

He could relate to Terra's point, too -- as energetic as he was, dancing was always a fun way to burn some of it off. He wasn't picky on the style, either.

With that in mind... Well, it wouldn't do to let that opportunity pass, would it?

He grinned. "Well, hey -- it's been a while for me, but I can probably pick it back up quick enough. You wanna show me what you've learned?"

Terra's cheeks flush though she wouldn't be able to explain why. Now she wished that Tempest was here because her moogle was a far better teacher.

"We can." She was silent for a moment before turning towards the back of the shop. She waved for Ven to follow her, leading him to a place where there would be enough space for something like dancing. She stopped in the middle of the small open area and then faced Ven.

"Tempest said that we stand face to face. Your left hand takes my right, then I put my left hand on your shoulder and your right hand goes around my waist?" She was going over her friends instructions in her mind.

Ven followed along, careful to sidestep any kittens who tried to bat at him as he passed. Once in the open space, he turned around once experimentally, checking how much room they had to work with, which wasn't bad.

"That sounds about right," he agreed. It had been a while, as he'd said -- much longer than he immediately realized -- but he still remembered the basics. So without a shred of hesitation, Ven stepped up to do as Terra had indicated: taking her right hand in his left, with his right at her middle. She was a bit taller than him, but hey, he was used to that.

"Like this, right?" he checked.

"Right."

Terra placed her left hand on his shoulder and then they stood like that for a long moment. She was trying to think of what happened next and she didn't realize this would be harder with the kittens coming over to see what the pair were doing.

"You lead..." She was only a few inches taller than him which put their eyes on almost even level.

From what she remembered he should step forward with his left foot and she would set back with her right.

"Mm," Ven acknowledged. "Got it." He had to glance down, though, as he moved, just to be sure -- especially since the kittens were hanging around -- but his reflexes were good enough that he should be able to stop in time if he took a wrong step. With that in mind, he stepped forward, starting slowly to let the two of them fall into sync.

"Sorry ahead of time," he told her, chancing a quick glance up. "I'm used to moving fast, so I think I need to adjust."

"Adjust?" Her tone was soft and a little confused. She glanced down at their feet as well almost colliding with Ven's head before moving it slightly to the right. The kittens were definitely interested in what they were doing but as they began their steps the kittens stayed back and watched curiously.

"Oh!" Terra miss stepped and staggered forward before using Ven to caught herself. "Sorry."

For some reason Terra's heart fluttered and she wasn't the sort to get nervous. She didn't have a lot of practice dancing with a partner.

Terra was light and Ven was stronger than he looked, so he tightened his hold on her hand just enough to help her stay upright, shooting her an easy smile once she'd recovered. "Careful! We can go as slow as you need to."

Maybe talking would help keep their minds from getting too focused -- that, or it would only serve as a distraction and they could well end up misstepping all over the place, but it was worth a shot.

"But yeah," he went on casually, stepping forward again, "I guess... I kind of do everything fast, now that I think about it." Dancing, fighting, even everyday tasks; that probably said a lot about his impulsive tendencies. "This is nice, though!" he added. "There's something about slow-dancing that you don't get from other kinds of dancing."

This was more... personal, perhaps? Which was fine by him. Personal just meant he was with someone he trusted.

She was a little happy that he was willing to go slow. Despite her inquiry she was still getting used to dancing, let alone dancing with another person. Each step brought forth a new confidence and after her first blunder her rhythm improved. Bright blue eyes glanced up from their feet to Ven’s face with a shy smile.

“Thank you,” He was a good teacher and Terra was glad for the chance to be able to practice with someone else. As they moved little kittens began to get used to their movements too and began to dart between the pairs feet like it was some sort of game to make it to the other side.

“I like it slow.” She couldn’t imagine dancing quickly just yet, maybe after some more practice. Though as they moved she felt giddy and excited; it was different, two bodies moved together like one. A little like fighting but it was peaceful and Terra couldn’t help but smile at the thought. She didn’t really care for fighting.

“It’s fun.” Which wasn’t something the young mage said often.

Ven grinned. "I guess it's different from learning with a moogle, huh?" Or so he imagined.

While memorized steps were all well and good, some spontaneity never hurt anyone -- so once Terra seemed to be into the swing of things, Ven stepped back a bit. "Want to try a spin?"

"Sure."

Terra stepped back as well stepping in a short circle as she brought their joined hands above her hand. It wasn't so hard to spin now that they have gotten the basic steps down. As she moved she felt a small laugh escape her lips. If Tempest was here she'd have noted that it was the first time Terra laughed since arriving in Crystallis.

There was something about dancing that lifted her spirits.

That laugh was contagious, because Ven did the same. "There you go!" Once she'd gone through the motions, he stepped into place again to resume their previous routine. "I'll have to find some music next time," he remarked, although the silence didn't bother him. "Or find you the next time there's a beach party."

He hadn't seen her for the few days that he'd been there, which was too bad; but there were plenty of celebrations going on for the Blitzball Cup, so maybe they would work something out.

Opening up the flower shop~

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