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"Here's your purchase. And may you have a flowery day."
Techno held the smile in place until the customer had left the shop before dropping it, lowering his face and cradling it in his hands. He hates talking to people. Why did he decide to go for this job, he doesn't even know anything about flowers! His only friend in this hell is Wikipedia, because his boss just looked at his struggling self and laughed!
He laughed!
Think of the money, Techno. Think of the rent due in 2 weeks. Think about having food in your fridge. Think about Steve. He'll be so upset if you don't have money to buy him his favourite treats. He'll try to kill you before the starvation would.
Just as he was starting to convince himself that death via cat was more acceptable than more social interactions, he heard the ringing of the bell at the shop's entrance.
Another customer, wonderful.
Just think of the money.
With that last thought, he brought up his signature customer service face, the one that screamed "Please buy something!", and waited for the customer to walk closer.
The first thing he noticed about the guy is, "He probably forgot to buy a gift for someone and this is his last option." The second thing was the bucket hat.
God, that was the ugliest hat he's ever seen. The guy tried to balance it out with a green coat worn over a black turtleneck, but that bucket hat still managed to stand out and nearly blind Techno with how hideous it was.
Still, Techno wasn't paid to judge someone's poor life choices. No matter how bad those were.
He left the register and walked over to where the guy was at, staring at the roses as if they would come to life and give him the meaning of life.
(They can't, but their thorns did give Techno a hell of a time when he was unpacking them.)
"Welcome to the Blood Garden, may I assist you with anything?"
The man whirled around, looking shocked at Techno's appearance. Techno kinda wished he didn't take the initiative if the guy didn't even know he was there in the first place.
"Ah!" The customer put a hand over his heart.
"You scared me mate! Didn't see you there," he said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he turned back to the roses, "Don't suppose you could help me figure out a gift for my wife? It's our anniversary today and she'd kill me if I didn't bring something back."
Techno hummed absentmindedly, flipping through his mental notebook of flowers and their meanings.
"May I know how long you guys had been married for?" He asked the man, walking over to the roses and picking out a couple good red ones. He made another mental note to clear out the wilting ones as he gestured the man to follow him, leading the way further into the shop.
"6 years and still going," was the reply, sounding confused as he watched Techno pick up a few pink orchids and white carnations to add to the bouquet. 6 years huh? Maybe a few Calla Lilies would work, having more white to balance out the reds and the pinks as well as giving it a pop of colour with the green leaves.
With the flowers in hand, he walked over to the assembling table at the far corner of the room, letting the customer watch as he assembled the bouquet.
"Roses are for love, I'm sure you know that. The orchids are grace and affection. White carnation for innocence and pure love. And the lilies, the big white ones with the green leaves, are for beauty, as well as a symbol of your wedding, since most wedding bouquets have them." He finished packing them into a neat bouquet, wrapping it up with a dark red packaging before looking up at the man.
"Does she have a preferred colour? It'll make it a bit more meaningful if it's incorporated into the design."
"Black."
Techno gave the man the most disappointed look he could muster. He at least looked guilty at the absolute nonsense that just came out of his mouth, but oh well.
"You got another I could use?"
"Green."
Techno nodded, reaching out to grab one of the dark green silk ribbons they have. He was about to wrap it around the bouquet when he paused and considered the bunch. He contemplated for a moment or two before shrugging and walking away, telling the man to wait for him at the register counter.
He came back after a small hunt around the store, placing a healthy amount of heart shaped leaves around the flowers, encompassing the whole bundle in greens and pinks. He nodded, satisfied as he tied the ribbon around the bouquet and brought it over to the register.
"This would be $65.78 in total. Would you like a bag?" He rang up the total price, looking up at the customer without reacting too much to the amount. At this point, he's used to the absurd costs that comes with the flower assembling business. If anything, he's glad it's enough to pay his bills and spoil Steve.
The guy nodded, reaching a hand out to grab the bag. The overcoat sleeve rode up, and it let Techno spot something black on his arm.
It was a tattoo. A very detailed one of what looked to be a feather.
"Like it?" Techno jumped, face blushing a little at being caught staring. The man laughed, waving it off as he held the bag of flowers at his side.
"Don't worry, I don't mind. Interested in getting a tattoo?"
Techno shook his head. "It looks nice. Where did you get it?" He asked, curious. He's not looking to get a tattoo, but he was rather surprised at how detailed the design was.
He laughed. "I own the tattoo parlour up the street. This was one of my more favourite designs. It's part of a pair, see?" he said, pushing up the other sleeve to show Techno the tattoo there.
Techno raised his eyes. He didn't know there was a tattoo parlour around here. "That's cool," he said, following the man to the main door. The man laughed again, pausing at the door while he turned back to face Techno.
"Name's Phil! Thanks for this mate, you really saved my life."
And with that, Phil left the shop, the door bell ringing cheerfully as he walked away, fading into the crowd.
What a strange man. Techno hoped that his anniversary goes well.
== == ==
Techno woke at sunrise to the tapping of his window.
He took his time getting up, doing a full body stretch while checking the time. 6am, that seems about right.
The taps get more aggressive as he padded over to his kitchen to grab his stash of seeds, sunflowers this time. It only stopped once he came into view of his living room kitchen, giving a pet to his sleeping tuxedo cat before finally reaching the window and opening it up.
On the other side, hopping around and letting out excited little caws, was a crow.
Who needs an alarm clock when you have the world's most clingy bird friend?
He poured out a healthy amount of seeds into a nearby bowl and pushed it over. "Here you go, you greedy thing," he rumbled, letting out a smile as he watched the bird peck his fingers for a moment. Deeming him suitably punished, the crow hopped over to the bowl to start gobbling down the seeds.
Techno used the moment to head back to his kitchen to make himself breakfast, pouring out some food for Steve to eat too once he's awake. He placed his meal on the side table beside the window and sat back at the window seat he'd had custom made for this specific location. He also turned on the fairy lights he had placed at that spot. The shop had some over the spot where they placed the limited time plants and he got inspired to do something similar. It made the spot look special.
It's the small things in life that makes you happy.
From here, he can see the cherry blossoms beginning to bloom, showering the roads with pink petals. He wondered idly if the shop see more customers coming in to buy bouquets in the coming days. Spring was always one of the busiest times in the year, especially when the blossoms appear.
The sky was blue this morning, with some gray looking clouds hovering over the horizon.
He could hear the crow caw again, and he felt something heavy land on his empty palm. Blinking down, he huffed as he watched the bird nest into his palm, staring up at him with an almost uncanny amount of glee.
He laughed louder this time, brushing his other hand over it, doing a little preening with it's head feathers. He also did its wings when it raised them up, rolling open pin feathers and arranging feathers at the spots where it was harder for it to reach.
Done, he cupped the bird in his hands and gently deposited it outside the window, where it did a bit more preening, nipped at his fingers one more time and took off into the sky.
Steve took the time to wake up from his nap and hopped onto Techno's lap, rolling around in his lap and pawing at his face. Techno reached one hand down to pet the needy thing as he used the other hand to bring up his phone.
He squinted at the bright light, not waiting for it to die down to check through his messages. Weather forecast claimed the later part of the day to have heavy showers. Thank god his route to and from work is mainly sheltered, so he didn't need to add his bulky umbrella to his bag.
A message caught his eye. It's from his boss, telling him that he can handle the morning crowd, and that he can come in later in the afternoon for his shift.
He smiled, putting his phone down to focus on his cat, hugging it and burying his face in the fur. More time for himself, to recharge his social battery before work and to avoid the big morning and mid-day rush.
What a nice boss.
== == ==
The forecast was right, as the sky opened up and an heavy rain poured down.
Luckily for Techno, he was already at work and was in the middle of restocking the wrapping paper when it happened.
He looked out at the sidewalk, which was already slightly flooded despite it only being about 10 minutes of rain. He let out a low whistle, feeling bad for whoever got caught in it.
Just then, the store's phone rang.
Techno's eyebrows raised. It wasn't rare that people would call in to place orders to collect later, but most customers liked heading down to the store to look at the quality of the flowers they would buy.
He picked up the phone, already talking before the other side could say anything, "This is the Blood Garden Florist. Thank you for calling in on this rainy day, may I get your order?"
Silence, long enough to make Techno think they might be pranking him, before he heard a weirdly familiar laughter ring through the line.
"This is not the number I wanted to call."
Techno's eyes widened. "Phil?"
"Hey mate," the amusement was very present in his voice, "Lovely weather we're having huh? Do you have a umbrella I can lend? I'm a little…stuck right now."
He looked outside, where the rain only gotten much heavier. "And where are you right now?"
"Coincidentally, about a shop before yours. I can run over there no problem, just keep the door open and I should be alright."
Techno rolled his eyes, wishing the man good luck before hanging up and walking over to the door, keeping an eye out for that stupid green bucket hat.
After a few moment, one slightly wet Phil was inside the shop, waiting for Techno to come back with a towel from the back.
"Thanks mate," he said, taking it to dry off his hair. Techno hummed, walking over to the umbrella stand to look through what they had. A couple of lost and founds, the boss's own umbrella, and–
"Here you go," he said, passing Phil a plastic umbrella.
Phil had explained that he's waiting for the rain to die down a bit more before running back, so Techno let the guy chill around the shop while waiting. He himself started restocking the shop once more, rearranging some flowers and taking those that were wilting to the back to be disposed of.
"Hey mate?" Techno turned to face Phil at the call, head tilting to the side.
"Mind if you could help making me something for my wife? I promised her to be back by 6 but by the look of this I might be late."
Techno hummed, walking over to the counter to discretely pull out his phone to search through Wikipedia and other websites. Sue him, everyone comes in to buy romantic flowers. Barely anyone gets one for saying "Sorry"!
"Lily of the Valley, white orchids, white tulips, pink carnations, and a pink rose. I think those should work."
He got to work, grabbing the needed flowers and wrapping them together in a light pink wrapping paper, tied with another pink ribbon.
"That'll be $58. Would you like a bag?" Phil nodded once more, taking the bag and passing over the cash.
Just then, the rain had let up a little, and the world looked a little less gray than before.
"That's my cue. Thanks for the flowers mate, hope to see you around!"
And with that, the man took off, running through the rain with the umbrella.
The rain did come back a few moments after he left, allowing Techno to rest his head against the window and close his eyes, letting the sound of rain hitting the glass lure him into a semi-doze.
Techno liked rainy days. It's always so peaceful.
== == ==
Autumn had arrived, and with it came the cold, streets filled with orange leaves, and more visits from his crow friend.
The crow liked coming every week or so back in spring and summer, but now? It felt like every other day he would be awoken by faint tapping on the window.
It's not like he hated it, he liked seeing the little guy in the morning. He was fun to be around, and Steve liked it as well. Probably, since he doesn't try to kill the bird.
But Techno's trying his best to convince the crow to not make a nest at his window sill. He's honoured, but he lived 10 stories off the ground. It's going to fall off.
They compromised by the crow bringing up any fallen autumn leaves it liked in and making a small bed of leaves right next to the window. Every other day it'll replace some leaves with newer ones and throw the older ones down the building, where they flutter back to the ground.
The bed of leaves shone very nicely under his fairy lights, which he found it to be rather unfair. How did fallen leaves look so good even when half rotten? 8th wonder of the world, surely.
It was a little messy, and probably pretty dirty, but Techno couldn't help but think it's pretty cute.
== == ==
They said that there would be minor snowfall last night, so why did Techno wake up to 7 feet worth of snow blocking his front door?
Thank god his boss was as accommodating as he was, telling him not to worry about heading to work and that he can handle himself for the day. Which was good, because not only could he not leave his house, but the train system had also broken down that morning, which was quite literally his only way to get to work.
It was too cold to open the window, and the power had gone out a moment ago, so Techno had nothing else to do but read via candle light.
He could use the light from the window, but it's too cold and he liked to be dramatic.
His phone rang, and he smiled upon seeing the number.
"Hey Phil, how's it like being trapped in your workplace for the rest of the day?"
He could hear the stifled laughter coming from over the phone.
"You little shit, I let you meet my wife and now you're making her laugh at me? Honey how dare you!" Phil sounded further away at that last part, clearly addressing his wife.
Yeah, Techno had the opportunity to meet Phil's wife a while back. She'd come in the shop to buy something for her friends when she met him and insisted to bring him over to the tattoo parlour for some tea. That was also the day that he found out that the two of them lived in the place above the parlour and that Kristin could make a good cup of tea.
"Send Kristin my regards. Also tell her that she has a wonderful sense of humour."
"You're on speaker dipshit."
Techno laughed, kicking his feet up on a table as he settled in for a fun day of talking to his friend.
Maybe the job isn't all about the money anymore.
Techno finds himself not hating that fact at all.