Roses Without Thorns

[Solomir†]

((Tiffany Baker continued from For The Kingdom, The Power And Glory Are Yours))

There really should be better places for Tiffany to buy flowers. The problem was that Tiffany could only remember what stores were in the malls. Luckily, one of the malls had a small flower shop.

Burst and Bloom was a small florist's shop tucked away in the corner of the mall, beside a home décor shop. She'd never actually gone into the store; at best she'd have admired the pretty flowers from outside. There never really was any reason for her to buy flowers before. That was the guy's job.

That sadly also meant that Tiffany had no idea how to actually choose flowers for the occasion. It was always her mom that bought the flowers, and Tiffany hadn't really paid much attention to them beyond the fact that they were pretty and colourful. Even in the store, it was hard to note any details about the flowers around her. It reminded her of being in an Old Navy in the summertime, with all the bright beach colors and the floral prints, except these were actual flowers and not just patterns on clothes, and that still was not helping Tiffany pick the flowers.

Tiffany wasn't exactly in any sort of rush, so instead of looking for someone to help her, she just decided to stand around and enjoy the flowers. It wasn't like anyone was going to be giving any to her anytime soon anyway...

[Hiro†]

The sound of hundreds of blended conversations resonated all around Bishop as he slowly weaved his way through the crowds of mall-goers. Keeping his hands buried into the pockets of his khaki pants, he hummed an old hymn to himself as his eyes wandered across the plethora of stores lining the walls. The Gap...Hot Topic...Victoria's Secret...GameStop...did he mention Victoria's Secret? Scores of outlets for anything anybody could ever possibly need, and yet none of them had what Bishop was looking for.

A long, drawn-out sigh escaped the boy's lips as he idly scratched the back of his head. "I could have sworn the directory said it was over here somewhere..." His eyes scanned the stores in his immediate vicinity a second time, wandering from the Hot Topic to the Victoria's Secret to the GameStop to the Victoria's Secret again to the Gap to the...

Bishop's eyes finally came to rest on a small, humble shop tucked away in the corner of the mall, right next to a home decor shop. Rows of beautiful flowers of all different types lined the windows, and engraved on the front of the store in big friendly letters were the words, "Burst and Bloom."

Bishop smiled to himself. "Perfect!" he chimed as he made his way towards the store. His mom liked to keep a bouquet of flowers in a vase on the dining room table back at home, and the current plethora was wilting and long overdue for a replacement. He knew his mom had said that she'd do it herself on the weekend, but...well, with all the hard work she did around the house, the least he could do was take a thing or two off of her to-do list as a "thank you" present.

The bell hanging over the door jingled as Bishop stepped into the flower shop, shivering slightly as he transitioned from the warm afternoon air outside to the crisp air-conditioned environment of the shop. Waving hello to the cashier, he began to browse through the shop. "Maybe I should get some lilacs," he pondered to himself as he surveyed the various bouquets that the shop had to offer. "Mom loves lilacs."

Just then, his eyes caught sight of something more beautiful than any flower. A girl. And not just any girl. A beautiful girl. And not just ANY beautiful girl. Tiffany Baker. Bishop's lips curved upwards into a smile as he watched her gaze at the flowers. Tiffany Baker was a girl who had it all. Radiant beauty, a kind heart, plenty of friends, and a sense of faith. What a gem of a girl she was.

Without a second thought, Bishop forgot about his little errand and made his way towards Tiffany. Buying flowers could wait a minute or ten. But a a girl like her left all alone...that was just criminal.

"Hi Tiffany," he said with a wave.

[MK Kilmarnock]

((Liam "Brook" Brooks, continued from Bunsen's Spark ))

"Ya know, for once, I'm glad I didn't bring the wheelbarrow..." Brook muttered to himself. He never liked taking the nursery's car, and yet to his memory the nursery had never made a delivery out this far. "Must be a sign of good business and stuff.... after all, we've never actually done business-to-business transactions before..." Hee hee... man, I hope this means Mr. Brewster's gonna raise my pay!

To any onlookers, the scene played out as a boy talking to himself and unloading a few pans of pricey flowers (orchids and lilacs, to be exact) from a car into a small, fold-up wheeled cart he had wrestled from the trunk. To Brook, it was both just another day on the job, all the way up to a promising sign of booming business. "Riiiight..." Brook said, using the word to lead to a sentence which never managed to get vocalized. Seeing that all of the wares were loaded and ready to go, Brook slammed the trunk shut, then was ready to shut the b- Keys, you damned idiot!

Brook yelped as he nearly slammed his fingers in the door in his attempts to catch it. "Phew.... almost locked myself out." He shakily jabbed at the electronic 'unlock button' before leaving the door open out of safety, rushing to the driver's side door and opening it. Once the keys were safely in his possession, he could shut and lock the doors. "Brewstie woulda had my balls..." Nervous laughter chuckled from the boy's throat as he shivered off his near-folly. This week simply hadn't been going his way... but things would pick up for sure! Excitement was the cause of many of the world's mishaps, and what teenager wouldn't get excited over nearing the end of school, the approaching prom, and even graduation?

Though Brook had no idea who he'd go to the prom with...

"Gah! Gotta get this done..." A quick look at his watch confirmed what his heart and gut had been dreading. Though he had a pretty cushiony time frame to get back to the plant nursery, there was no telling how his boss would flip this time if Brook somehow managed to be late. Grabbing onto the pushcart and hoping it didn't spontaneously decide to fold back up as though it were going home at the most inopportune time ever, Brook made the short distance from his business parking space through the door he had been directed to go through by his boss. Huh... never used one of these doors before, the ones on the side of the building that are painted to look like the wall... I always wondered where they went and... now I know!

The place where Brook had guessed the door went (and correctly so) was directly to the back of the promenade's flower shop: Burst and Bloom. Something of a sketchy name for a shop in his eyes, it sounded like it could pass for some clothing place, but it was quite passable. The nursery's name of "Garden Glory" admittedly wasn't all that much better, so the delivery boy conceded the naming of shops to the 'experts'.

Okay, Brook, you'd managed to get behind enemy lines, now deliver the g-... dammit, you sound like that limey headed weirdo now... Groaning with the very thought of that, Brook pushed the cart of flowers towards the front of the store. He didn't get too far without the manager catching him, much like he had hoped. He opened his mouth to say 'where do you want these', only for the owner to fulfill his wish.

"Head near the front, you'll see an empty display shelf. Just arrange 'em there."

If he were in such a mood to be amused, Brook would chalk this up as some sort of 'brainwave'... but in the sense of skepticism, it was probably what he could expect from the manager of a store. Nodding and uttering a customary word of thanks, he continued pushing the cart that last bit of distance to where it needed to be. It was around this time that Brook couldn't help but notice he wasn't alone...

I know I've seen that guy, somewhere. Andrew.... Andrew White? Shame he's not on cross-country, he'd probably be pretty good... but I know that the other one's Tiffany. Hee... Brook lowered his face to the cart to render his goofy-looking smirk virtually invisible to the two. Taking a moment or three to clear up his mind (and his mouth), Brook wheeled the cart to the vacant spot that was practically in front of the blonde girl.

As he began moving the flowers from the cart to the shelf and arranging them, he opened his mouth to say something in passing.

"Hi Tiffany"

Brook closed his mouth right back up. Just a moment too late, it would seem... but the girl was definitely at a flower shop for some reason, so maybe... just maybe... In hopes of being of some use to the girl (and getting a chance to talk with her), Brook arranged the lilacs and orchids together as his skilled hands knew how.

[Solitair†]

((Cassidy Wakemore continued from The Alibi))

After stopping over at The Alibi, Cassie occupied herself with meandering around the mall. That was a nice word, meandering. Had a ring to it. Much better than wandering. Why didn't people use it more often?

She found herself stepping into the flower shop. It was very aromatic (another nice word), and for a moment she found herself sniffing random flowers. Then she remembered something odd she read online the previous day.

There was once this artist, Georgia O'Keefe, who painted flowers to look like vaginas. Cassidy couldn't believe that at first, until she saw some of O'Keefe's paintings. Sure enough, Vagina City. But they didn't look that much like flowers, either, not like the ones she was looking at. Ol' Georgia took some pretty creative license. And why flowers? She couldn't find anything else with a long, narrow slit in it?

She saw a boy she may have seen once or twice at school arranging flowers on a shelf. Perfect. Maybe she could ask him. She approached him holding a chrysanthemum and held it up in front of his face. "Scuse me, does this look like a vagina to you?" she asked him.

[Fanatic†]

((Sarah Atwell continued from Evolution is a Tinkerer))

Sarah flicked through the clothes rack in the clothing store again. The red dress was absolutely stunning but the light blue top would certainly match the skirt she had bought the other week.

She sighed, with the money she had Sarah could only afford one, and the shop assistant had said that both were on sale this week, 20% off. This was not a chance she could afford to pass up. Glancing around in defeat the brunette wondered how she could possible manage to purchase both. There was no chance of her asking her parents. It wouldn't go down well, and stealing, well that wasn't even an option. She needed to think.

Leaving the shop she sat down on the bench outside, keeping one eye out on the clothing rack in case another shopper ventured near and stole her prize. Pulling out her Video Camera she began to relax. The world was much simpler when seen through a viewfinder. Panning across the arcade she panned around a bit, recording the shoppers going through their motions.

This would make a great take for a mall movie Sarah thought as she let herself be taken away into the world of others. Zooming in she focused on a girl from her school. Cassy, if she remembered correctly, who picked up a chrysanthemum and headed over to the customer service rep. She held the flower up and said something.

Sarah bit her lip. Although the camera's mike couldn't pick up the conversation from where she sat, Sarah could of swore that the girl had said vagina, and judging from the boy's expression she was probably right.

[Solomir†]

((apologies in advance if this reads weird. alcohol in bloodstream may lead to such occurences))

Tiffany was a little startled by the voice addressing her. She wasn't scatterbrained, but she really needed to have a better grasp of her surroundings most of the time. Or all of the time. Okay, maybe the flowers were distracting, but she needed to focus on what was important. What was that? The person that just said her name or the flowers she was here to get? Flowers can wait a little bit, right?

"Andrew! What a coincidence to see you here," Tiffany exclaimed once she had turned around to face the voice calling her name. Andrew White was one of her old friends from her parish. They'd done lots of things together: Sunday school, soup kitchens, and other such activities. But that was years ago. Recently, Andrew had stopped showing up to the occasional youth group activities; he'd only be around for church on Sundays, and would disappear shortly after mass had ended. Quite a shame really: he was quite the gentleman.

"What are you doing he-" Tiffany would've finished her sentence; she really would if there wasn't some inconsiderate child asking the hapless shop attendant if a flower looked like a- wait, did she really say the v-word? Girls don't just talk about their private parts so freely? Who was she?

"Excuse me?" Tiffany's voice raised in alarm at the indecency she was hearing. She turned to face the two people she clearly had not noticed before. They actually looked a bit familiar... like from around school or something.

[Hiro†]

"Bishop, actually," he corrected her in his mind. He preferred to go by his middle name. There were countless Andrews in the world, but how many boys did you come across who went by the name Bishop? Aside from that one android from "Aliens," but then again...y'know, he was an android. That doesn't count. Whatever! The point was, he liked the name Bishop much more than Andrew. So that's what he introduced himself as.

But it was understandable that Tiffany would still call him Andrew. She knew him from way back when he was still doing church activities as a kid, long before he started the whole "Bishop" business. So naturally Andrew would be the name she remembered him by. And who was he to question what a lady such as herself would choose to call-

"EXCUSE ME?" Tiffany's voice rang out, abruptly cutting off Bishop's boring expository monologue. Blinking in surprise, for a moment he thought it had been directed at him, before he noticed her head was turned in the direction of a pair of kids standing not too far away. One of them was a girl from school whose name escaped him. She was pushing a chrysanthemum all up in the face of a boy who Bishop recognized from the cross-country team. Liam Brooks. Otherwise known as Brook. Good guy.

Bishop's eyes wandered from the two of them, to Tiffany, then back. Had he missed something? Why had Tiffany blurted out at them? And why did she look so...shocked?

[chitoryu12†]

((Chris Carlson continued from A Flock of Cuckoos))

Chris suffered from boredom a lot. You wouldn't know it by looking at him; he was good at occupying himself, and seeing him sitting still and staring blankly into space usually meant he was off in his own little world in his head. He followed the philosophy that one must be able to make do in any situation, and that includes boredom.

Still, sometimes songs in his head and remeniscing of jokes long since told grew repetitive, and there was only so many times a person could sing for Mark in "La Vie Boheme" before your voice got hoarse.

So as he wandered the mall, having recently made a brand-new purchase at the nearby Gamestop (Killzone 2, to be exact), he decided to just pop into Burst & Bloom to check out the flowers. He had been thinking of getting something for his best friend, Kelly's, birthday.

Chris perused the endless rows of colors and fragrances, the smell almost instantaneously becoming powerful enough to make one flower indistinct from the next. Chris was unfortunately blessed with, when he didn't have a stuffy nose, a fairly good sense of smell, and he didn't particularly enjoy places with overpowering odors, such as perfume or flower shops.

Chris decided that it would be best to just grab a few yellow roses and go. He paid with about half of his remaining money, always making sure he had enough for bus fare (and damning his American citizenship issues from keeping him from getting a driver's license), and was on his way out when he heard one of the most shrill voices in history.

EXCUSE ME?

Chris clutched his ear more out of instinct than pain, though it was not at all fun to listen to someone screaming in such a small place, her voice echoing throughout the store.

Chris turned to see a highly attractive, yet highly alarmed girl staring at a very confused girl holding a flower up to an even more confused employee.

Oh, this should be fun...

[MK Kilmarnock]

Brook proudly finished up his 'masterpiece' of the hour, dusting off his hands against each other deftly once the job was finished. The fact that others were watching didn't hinder his work as it would for some others; in fact, as boastful as it may have seemed, Brook loved to have people watch him when he worked. Whether it was gardening or sprucing things up at the nursery or even making a delivery as he was now, things always seemed to go best when he had somebody to impress. Even better, those two have to be here for some reason... Andrew, who knows, but I bet I could help out Tiffany if given the chance...

Excited by the mere prospect of getting to chat with the girl (and helping her to boot!), Brook turned with the expectation of seeing Tiffany. Instead, he saw Cassidy. Cassie was one of those girls in Bayview that, to Brook, was little more than a face and a name in the hallway as he was walking from one class to the next. If they ever actually shared any classes together, it slipped right under the radar. The thoughs of why Cassie was standing in front of him and why she was holding a flower (Brook instantly recognized it as a chrysanthemum) out to him just barely crossed his mind with a slight blush before Cassie posed her question.

"Scuse me, does this look like a vagina to you?"

Brook's mouth hung open for a few seconds before he managed to stammer out an "Um... n-no?" The slight blush was no longer quite 'slight', forcing Brook to pretend something was off with his flower arrangement and needed a slight tweaking. A few needless manipulations into his charade-

"Excuse me?"

The boy's spine nearly leaped out of place as Brook jolted. Clearly he'd have to take care of the situation before the management started to notice some sort of issue. He imagined his boss, Mr. Brewster, hearing about how we was involved in some sort of fiasco down at Burst and Bloom and shivered before turning around.

"Uh, well, I can kinda see what you mean, maybe... Alright, not really." Brook took another gander at the flower, hoping maybe he could see what she was talking about without having it shut in his face. "Well, I don't exactly see THAT, but you have to admire a mum's beauty, right?" He rubbed the back of his head and gave a wide, open-toothed grin before looking around to everybody else. Tiffany was still there, of course... it had to have been her voice that produced such a shrill scream. Andrew was there, too... he had spoken to him once or twice, but noticed he liked to be called some sort of nickname... King? Knight? Brook knew it was one of the chess pieces... and then the fresh arrival, Chris. If practice ran late, he might be able to hear the Carlson performing some piece of music in a bandroom or auditorium while preparing to go home.

The mildly frazzled gardener turned back to Tiffany, shrugging. "Before, eh, this happened, it looked like you were interested in getting something. Would you like any tips or... something?" He prayed she wouldn't be offended or take his offer to help the wrong way. Sometimes women did that...

[chitoryu12†]

Chris sighed as the girl stared down the befuddled employee and the one holding the flower. Some people could be so goddamn overdramatic. He hated when people made a scene in public. Now, it was different if someone was in desperate need of embarassment, or you needed to catch a thief by getting everybody to see him making his getaway. But in a flower shop? What the hell did the poor guy do to deserve that?

He quickly made his way out of the shop, hoping not to get involved in any more craziness he was sure would ensue, and as he walked by one of the benches a glint in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned, finding himself staring down a very familiar camera lens.

"Sarah Atwell, I presume?" he asked the camera.

[Solitair†]

"Yeah," Cassie said, taking a closer look at the chrysanthemum, which she had admittedly picked at random, not even looking at it. "I guess this is the wrong sort of flower for that. And even if it was, you have to kinda squint..."

She took another glance at the flower boy only to find out that he was busy with another customer. "Oh," she said, realizing that vaginas may not be the best topic for public conversation.

"Sometimes a flower is just a flower," she remarked, giving the girl who freaked out when she said the v-word a shrug and looking at the rose bouquets.

[Fanatic†]

Sarah's vision was suddenly filled with the inquisitive face of one Christopher Carlson. She jerked back suddenly, as one is prone to do when something appears mere inches from your face and almost tipped of the bench.

This, she thought, was becoming an all too frequent occurrence. "Oh hey Chris" the pony tailed girl said, "Sorry about that I was too focused on the um... events happening over in the flower shop. How are you?" Sarah's mind whirled into action as she recalled the dress and the top that she wanted so very much in the shop only a few stores away. Retail therapy was always a good thing. Without waiting for Chris to respond to her query she stood up, casually picking up her schoolbag and slinging it on her shoulder and then began speaking again. "I'm going to look at a few tops, did you want to join me?"

Hopefully, she thought, he would. If Chris could lend her a few dollars she would be able to get both items and she would pay him back in a week when her pay for her part time job came through. That would only be a week away and she was sure that Chris would be willing to help once he saw how good both the dress and the top would look.

((Sarah Atwell continued in Toppings))

[chitoryu12†]

Chris hated how he always happened to scare people when he came up to them. It wasn't his fault that his footfalls were so quiet sometimes, or that he was 6'4 and generally towered over everyone. As such, he was slightly annoyed that Sarah jumped so much at his appearence, but he was over it quickly after taking yet another look at that beautiful face.

"Oh, hey Chris," she said, straightening herself. "Sorry about that I was too focused on the um... events happening over in the flower shop. How are you?"

Chris racked his brain for a reply other than "fine," which he was wont to give as an instinctual reaction, and he always felt crappy after saying it when he meant no disrespect or felt something other than "fine."

Fortunately, he didn't have to respond. "I'm going to look at a few tops, did you want to join me?" Sarah asked.

Chris was intrigued. Apart from his mother, he had never gone out shopping with anyone, especially a pretty girl. Well, he WAS single, and he WAS looking. Chris wasn't entirely sure about her current relationship status, but asking her to prom wouldn't hurt, right?

"Sure, I'm game!" he said. He extended a hand to her, letting her take it as he helped her off the bench, and they went off to the store of her choosing.

((Chris Carlson continued in Toppings))

[Solomir†]

Tiffany tried to keep from making a face at the other girl. She really had no idea what the other girl was talking about, but it seemed the crisis had passed as the shop attendant turned to Tiffany and asked her if she needed help with the flowers.

"Well, it's my mom's birthday today, so I thought I'd get her something nice," Tiffany replied. "I don't really know what kind of flowers she likes though." Tiffany shrugged absently; she really should've paid attention whenever her mother had received flowers, but those were usually for other celebrations. "I guess anything that looks pretty would work, but everything here is pretty..."

She gestured around the store to illustrate her point, and almost whacked the other nearby boy standing beside her. "Sorry!" she exclaimed at the near miss, before remembering who the boy was and why he was here. Wait, why was he here again? "I don't remember if I asked you, but what are you doing here, Andrew?"

[Hiro†]

Bishop watched silently as the scene unfolded. It appeared as though the...whatever had just happened, with that other girl had been sorted out, and Tiffany was now chatting with one of the employees.

Suddenly, Bishop swerved his head as Tiffany's hand flew through the air, arcing within a few centimeters of his face. "Woah!" he thought, almost losing his balance but managing to shift his weight forward, restoring his equilibrium. "Whew...close one," he thought.

"Sorry!" Tiffany exclaimed, turning her head towards him. But before Bishop could reply, she spoke again. "I don't remember if I asked you, but what are you doing here, Andrew?"

"Bishop." "Oh, my mom keeps a vase of flowers on the dining room table, and they've started to wilt, so I'm out to get a new batch as a present for her," he explained. Just then it occurred to him that he hadn't asked yet what SHE was doing here.
"And yourself?"