Chapter Text
“Hey Mika-chan, are the materials for our next line finalized yet?” That’ll have to be done soon if we want to release with the season change and make it into fashion shows,” Arashi asked in a loud tone of voice, not sure where in the studio her creative and business partner was.
“Uua!” Mika exclaimed, surprised by the sudden call to attention. A clatter could be heard a couple rooms over, so Arashi followed the sound.
“Are you okay?” She asked, Mika now sprawled out on the floor next to his tipped over wooden stool. His blue and gold eyes were as wide as buttons.
“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” he stuttered out as he got back onto his feet. Arashi held her hand out to offer support but it was not taken. He brushed the dust off his pants with the palms of his hands then looked around the office like he does when gathering his thoughts.
“Yeah, I just finished the last phone call. A few changes had to be made but it won’t have an effect on quality or price,” he answered the earlier posed question. “But Naru-chan, I don’t get why you have me make these phone calls. You know I get nervous talking business with strangers,” Mika almost whined out, trying to keep his composure.
“Because you know the different materials better than I do,” she was quick to offer a response. “I’m good at putting ideas onto sketch paper but you’re the one that knows what it takes to make that idea a real thing that I can wear,” she elaborated. “Plus I’d probably order all the wrong fabric anyway if I made the call and you’d have to call them back to clean up my mess,” Arashi continued on.
“I guess you have a point,” Mika conceded her point. “It doesn’t make me any less nervous though. Hey, maybe you could start learning about materials,” he suggested.
“That could be useful for the creative process, but I’m still not making manufacturing phone calls. Unless you want to learn to model and share the press work?” She asked, giving a small smile, an almost devilish grin. The blush beginning to form on his cheeks was enough to confirm Arashi’s suspicions on what his answer would be.
“N-no th-thank you. I'll stay in the office cutting fabric and making phone calls. You’re better with the camera than I could ever hope to be,” Mika said, further solidifying Arashi’s idea of his response.
“Oh but you would look so cute on camera. I bet you wouldn’t even have to try to be photogenic,” she teased him, a smile bright as ever on her lips. In contrast, Mika’s eyes ballooned at the idea. “Give yourself more credit, Mika. You’re doing great with the business side of things. You have the skills, now just be confident in yourself because you do know what you’re doing.”
“I guess I do,” Mika agreed rather meekly.
“Then I’m glad we agree on the matter,” she cheered. “I’m going to the nearby park to try to sketch out ideas for our next line. Is there anything you need from me before I head out?” Arashi asked while grabbing what she called her ‘go’ bag from a nearby table. Mika shook his head. “Ok then, I’ll be back in a few hours. Don’t be shy and feel free to call if things change and you need me,” she filled in. “Or if you get lonely and start missing me,” she got a last jab in before heading out the door.
“That was only one time!” She heard from behind her in a squeaky and defensive tone.
Their fashion house was a close 7 minutes walk away from the subway station and her favorite park was a 15 minutes ride away. Arashi held the back of her phone to the reader and walked through the turnstile, autopiloting her way through the station. It was 10am on a Tuesday so it wasn’t exactly busy. After snagging a seat on the near empty subway car, she took the opportunity to inventory check her bag. Her trusty sketchbook that was nearing half capacity, a case of different sized black pens, a set of 4 pencils and a canvas roll up case of colored pencils of varying sizes. The pencils would show that she’s particularly partial to pastel colors and avoiding blacks and dark green. Mika’s color palette would look polar opposite, leaning into darks in a more emo aesthetic and rarely using paler shades.
“I’m really going to need to swap colors with Mika, rather than buying a whole new set,” Arashi spoke to herself under her breath, packing her supplies back into her small bag.
Much like the subway here, the park resembled a ghost town. There was an elderly couple playing a game of chess at a stone table and a woman walking her dog while fumbling with her phone, trying to take pictures of the flower bushes.
“Maybe that’s where I should look first,” Arashi thought to herself. She waited for the woman to walk away before approaching the flora, knowing that she did not have the self control to withhold herself from asking ‘can I pet him?’. If the dog came up to her in any way she would be a goner. The only thing that stopped her from getting a dog of her own was the lease agreement on her apartment prohibiting pets in the property. XXXDoll was doing very well as a fashion line, especially for how new the venture was, but their baby wasn’t yet at a point financially where it could support the prospect of homeownership for two people. Expansion aws their priority, the future goal of their own building for manufacturing product hanging lofty above their heads. Maybe one day.
Arashi closely observed the flower patches, them having a healthy dusting of cherry blossoms from the nearby sakura trees. A surefire signal of the change in seasons. She took a few pictures on her phone then set her bag down on the ground to fish out some supplies.
Squatting on the ground, she set her sketchbook on her lap like it was a table and began scratching thin lines of black ink onto the black page. A sundress was forming in her mind. A knee length skirt, a sweetheart neckline and thin pink spaghetti straps. Perhaps some white beading on the neckline too, or maybe even a darker pink to add a darker pop of color for good contrast. These would be ideas to run by Mika to get a second opinion.
Her trusty pastel pink and soft white colored pencils were removed from their rolled canvas case and their leds rubbed against the parchment. She had to get creative with drawing the overlay, not completely sure which parts of the blossom she wanted to include in the pattern. Either just the flowers of the blossom or the flowers and branches flowing across. Indecisively, she marked out two blocks off to the side to entertain both ideas.
“What’s that?” Arashi asked herself under her breath, a flash of purple in the distance catching in her peripheral vision. She didn’t recall there being any purple flowers in the area. Even if there were though, there was no breeze to carry petals around. She raised her gaze from her sketchbook and waited for the rare color to reappear. After a few minutes of careful observation, the purple appeared again. Not able to help herself, she quickly shuffled her art supplies back into her ‘go’ bag and walked through it briskly. It came up again and confirmed the suspicion that the source was in a closeby wooded area.
The further into the woods she got, the older and more hollowed out the trees appeared, some having trunks wide and hollow enough to store a body in. It was purple hair?
There was a gentleman with purple hair walking around the woods. He touched a nearby tree and practically breathed new life into it. Arashi had heard of people having a green thumb but never knew of anyone having these capabilities. He also had what looked like deer ears on the top of his head and a small tail behind him. He definitely wasn’t from around here.
“How did you do that?” Arashi asked, words falling from her lips before her brain could process the absurdity of the current situation. A part human part deer person presumably from another world was bringing plants back to life.
“Where did you come from?” The deer man countered, spinning on his heels to face the voice and rushing to cover his deer ears with his cupped hands.
“I came from the park over there,” Arashi answered. “I could ask you the same thing.” The man’s golden eyes and other facial features began to soften. “My name is Arashi,” she offered, thinking that a name to her face might make him feel at ease. She had read about some people hunting deer for sport so maybe that was bothering him. She too would feel a bit unsettled in this environment.
“My name is Adonis,” he offered his own name. He knelt down and hovered his left hand above the grass, different kinds of flowers sprouting under his palm. No longer hiding his ears seemed to indicate that he was getting a bit more comfortable.
“How did you do that?” Arashi repeated her previous question.
“I’ve been blessed with the power by the God of my people,” he gave an answer, his attention now on the flowers he had spawned. Arashi wasn’t familiar with any common god that bestowed flower power.
“So you’re definitely not from around here,” she stated.
“That is correct,” Adonis affirmed. “I’m not familiar with any of these plants so I’m taking this opportunity to do as much research as I can.”
“Are you like a florist? Where are you from that hasn’t heard of sakura trees before?”
“So they’re called sakura trees… Thank you for that knowledge,” Adonis took out a notebook and scrawled the name in the page alongside a pressing of a cherry blossom. “I’m an apothecary and scholar of natural medicine,” he answered the first question. “What is this place named?”
“You’re in Japan. Where are you from?” Arashi repeated the question, although she wasn’t getting many answers from the deer-man.
“I come from Alih but work for the palace of Rindahl,” Adonis finally answered the question, pressing the flowers he had grown between the pages in his book. “Where could I learn more about these plants?”
“How did you get here?” Arashi asked another question. “I can help you, but I want to know more about you first.”
“I’m not really sure, actually. I was doing my work in the field. A hole spontaneously appeared in the floor of the woods so I decided to investigate it. It sucked me in and I fell out of a tree here,” Adonis explained his situation. “I don’t know how I can return, so I decided to update my foliage guide books with information from another world.”
“Ok, I’ll help you out,” Arashi offered, satisfied with the responses she had been given. “Before we go around on transit and into public libraries, we need to get you dressed into something more… Normal,” she gestured to his attire. It was fantastical, like something an elf in a video game would wear. A tunic style top with a thick fabric belt with strings of beads and chain hanging from it. “You’re in luck though, you couldn’t have found a better person to help you. I am a fashion designer, after all. We’ll go back to my studio to dress you down. Until then, don’t say anything and just nod along. If anyone asks why you’re dressed like that, say it was for a photoshoot.” Adonis nodded.