Chapter Text
Leafy was never really a stand-up girl.
All her life, it was filled with crime and mystery, but also an underlying passion. She always did love plants. Sure, the leaf wanted to just own a quiet little indie plant shop and make small talk with customers while brewing coffee or watering the plants, with her green hair tied up into a nice little bun. Sure, she *wanted* to tinker with the light bulb while educating her customer about how to care for their new spider plant— She always thought it was an odd name for such a beautiful plant. But then again, she thought everything in nature was beautiful. Sure, she WANTED for her life to just revolve around herself caring for plants while fixing her apron. SURE, SHE—
But life doesn't play out how you want it to.
Ever since she's been alive, she's known one thing: How to lie. Sure, it started with little white lies. "I'm under 13! I can have that free meal!" Or a forged signature to go onto a field trip, but it snowballed into something huge. As the behavior kept snowballing, so did her excuses. From "I'm just saying I'm under 13 to get a free meal!" to "I'm just stealing from the rich— people who don't need it. It's fine."
But throughout it all, her love for nature was truly on top. Even if she was going into an abandoned house, she'd apologize quietly to the ant for stepping on it or lecture people for stepping on a bug. That's something she could never stand. Why— HOW could people hate something so small?
Nevertheless, her love for nature couldn't run her out of one thing; being a con artist. Even as an adult trying to become clean from stealing, crime, and jail, it isn't going too well. She's achieved her dream of owning a plant shop, but... She just can't help it! She's still got a fake ID hidden in a drawer "JUST INCASE" the cops see her criminal record and try to take the shop away. Leafy thought she'd finally lived up to her dream of owning a plant shop but, quite frankly, she's living in fear everyday. She's technically a runaway. She should be in jail right now, only six months of her two year sentence was served. It's not the dream she thought it would be.
...And it won't be. Ever. This new guy came in last week, usually only regulars come because the place is so run down (Leafy can't help it! She's poor! Sleeping in the attic of the shop!), his name is Firey. Leafy made some small talk with him and he sounds like a good enough guy— A *really* good guy, if she's being honest... The first time he came in, she thought he was just going to be a one stop shopper, somebody who comes in once, leaves, and never is seen again. But then he kept coming back, and coming back, and coming back... And shit, he's coming by so often he won't even buy something half the time! Honestly, she thought he was great. She shared so many similarities with him that it was insane! Until he said one sentence that shattered everything...
"I'm planning on taking over my family business as a private investigator!"
Shit. Shit. Shit, shit, shit shit, SHIT! That was bad. Leafy knew lying tones like the back of her hand. That was a half-truth. He probably was investigating HER! What could she have done to cause suspicion to her tiny plant shop?? What did he see in the paper? What—?
"Are you okay? You're looking a bit pale..."
"Huh? Thanks for asking, just a thought spiral." Fuck. She needed to redirect, fast. "Anyways, enough about futures, how about plants? I got a few new ones that I started growing a couple months ago! They're called a Calathea Ornata or a pinstripe plant... But you know how much I love the scientific names! In all honesty, I should've bought them earlier. They're so pretty!"
"You call all plants pretty." Firey says. "But you're pretty too, can I see the plant?"
"What? Sure!" WHAT. That wasn't what she expected. She's so flustered, but still goes to grab the plant off the shelf. He was right though, she thought all plants were pretty. But all different types of pretty, y'know? Like the one she was grabbing now, the Calathea Ornata, was so gorgeous. It was so green and luscious and just ALIVE. But it still had white strokes weaving it's way through the green petals. Underneath, the petals were dark and brown. Most people keep it so you purposly can not see the brown underneath. The plant reminded her of herself. The green, the mask she puts on around others to act innocent. The brown, her actually personality, cold. And the white, because even in the most dreadful person, she still liked stuff. A hot summer day where she can soak in the sun or a day where she could tend to her plants without worry that the store would be torn down one day because she's done a few bad things. Realizing she's been staring at the plant too long (Firey's used to it, it's a little quirk of hers.) She brings it over to him. "So whaddya think?"
"I don't see the appeal of this one. It's pretty, sure, but what do you see about it that makes it..." he pauses. "I dunno. Different?"
"Well look at it! It's not just green like a lot of plants, although those are beautiful too... It has white strokes through the leaves!" She stares at the plant for a moment, then, "I just can't help but get attached to it. I started growing it from a seed like... Around three months ago? It feels like my kid."
"Okay, girl. Do you like anything else other then plants? I get it's a plant shop, but that's all you ever talk about."
"Plants are just comforting! I don't get how people could hate such an innocent thing..." Leafy says. "I'm sure you have something that comforts you. It's not that odd."
Firey pauses to think about it. "Yeah, I guess you're right. When my sister got her college fund stolen, we went to an amusement park together and rode the ferris wheel. It wasn't the most financially responsible decision, but we had a chance to calm down before we did anything rash."
"College fund, huh? Gosh, I'm sorry. That's horrible. Was she able to go to college?" A fair enough question, Leafy was trying to be as sympathetic as she could be, but she had stole somebody's college fund in her con artist days.
"No.. We're trying to save up, but y'know. It's expensive. That's partly why I want to take over the family business as a private investigator," this topic again? Seriously? Leafy was tired of it. It stressed her out. She figured it couldn't hurt to pry, if he was going after her, then she could find out about what he was going after to try and hide it.
"Do you know anything about who did it?" There. She asked the question, her heart was going at an incredible pace just asking it.
"Umm... A few years ago, she got an email from what seemed like the college, asking for her money, but..."
"It wasn't really the college?"
"Yeah."
.
.
.
"How'd you know?"
"It's a pretty obvious scam. Not shaming your sister or anything, but anybody who knows anything about scams should know if somebody is asking for a lot of money, then they should check the email to be 100% sure."
"Yeah. She's not very tech smart. But if that person just didn't send that email, then..." Leafy understood what that meant. But she'd definitely done a scam like that before, she couldn't act like she was on higher moral ground than the scammer that did that to his sister.
"Look, sorry that happened to you, but I've gotta pack up shop." Leafy says.
"Ah, understandable. I've gotta get to my work anyway."
Firey leaves, and Leafy starts packing up— Some sweeping, fixing up a few papers, and watering plants. She goes up to the attic to go to bed, and opens up the drawer next to her bed.
"Shit."
There it was— Money, a fake ID, and all the stuff she used to start up her plant shop. There was money, about enough for tuition, and the person on the fake ID looked college age. She did scam somebody out of their college fund, after all.
The person she scammed may not be somebody she didn't know after all.