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[@spooner] [@hippo][/center]

[Color=DEB783]“Oh no haha, please don't touch those,”[/color] quickly yet awkwardly, Xavius moved from behind the small counter where he was currently discussing bouquets for Valentine's day with a mother, her small child standing next to her, [sub]until he [i]wasn't[/i] of course,[/sub] as he had started pulling petals off of some of the flowers that sat next to the entryway and tossing them to the ground, which, to be frank, he made sure to keep well swept. He disliked messy things, and that included children, for in fact, they [i]are[/i] messy things. And to be honest, they kind of scared him; first of all: They were unpredictable, a trait he found undesirable and confusing. Second: They almost never listened and could be really cruel at times, but could get away with it because they were small and “innocent”. And third: Children were once again, horrifyingly messy. Maybe he was just over analyzing, but it was reasonable. To him anyway. Plants were better.

The familiar panicky feeling rose up in his chest once more as he tried to gently swat away the grubby hands of the child from tearing apart his flowers. That's another thing about kids: They were destructive. Like bulldozers from Hell, or something. God, he really didn't want to touch this child. Thankfully, the kid's mother rushed over and gently pulled her kid away, essentially saving him from the uncomfortable situation. Giving an embarrassed smile, the mother lowered her head a little, apologizing for her son, who didn't look nearly as apologetic. “I am SO sorry. I- he just kinda does what he wants, I should have kept a better eye on him, I'm very sorry. Is there anything I can do? Can I pay for it?”

[Color=DEB783]“Oh no, don't even worry about it. It's so small, I can't even notice that he even did anything, it would be rude of me to make you pay,”[/color] but in truth, almost half of the flower was destroyed. [Color=DEB783]“We all know how children can be; they make small mistakes that can be forgiven, yes?”[/color] but oh how he wanted to say some other things such as: [Color=DEB783][i]Well maybe you could[/i] glue [i]the petals back on? I dunno, just an idea[/i], or [i]We all know how children can be: Demonic, yes?[/i][/color] But she was a customer and that would be rude.

“Thank you so much, and again, I'm sorry, I would've left him at home, but there was no one to watch him,” she explained.

[Color=DEB783] “It's fine, it's fine, I totally understand. I mean, I was once that kid, my mother had to take me everywhere,”[/color] Xavius chuckled, walking back to the front counter, grabbing a small card from a stack and bringing it back to her. [Color=DEB783]”Anyway, here's my business card, and when you have an idea on what you want, just give me a call and I'll have it ready asap. It has my email and business phone number right at the bottom,”[/color] he gave a polite smile, folding his hands. In some ways he could relate to the kid, not meaning that he had the mind of a six year old, but the position he was in. He was almost tempted to give advice to the woman about raising him, assuming that she was a single mother, but he stopped himself as she just smiled and nodded at him, walking out the door, the little bell ringing above the door as they went through. 

Watching them leave, as soon as they were out of sight, Xavius sighed and relaxed a little, the tension in his body leaving. Usually he loved to be around people, but interactions like this drained him physically and mentally. Luckily, it was near closing time, so he took off his apron and hung it up, double checked all of his plants to make sure they were fine, and straightened things up before turning off the lights and leaving, locking the door and turning the sign over to say “closed”.

It was hard to drive around this time of year, considering the festival was happening, so instead he walked back to the apartment, Redwood. The festival was actually quite interesting, especially since this would be his first time seeing it, and he admired all of the planning that went into it. Some would say this would be the golden opportunity to have his business open since all of the people would be here, but to be honest, he just wanted to take everything in and enjoy the activities, especially the wishing thing he heard about, he really wanted to do that one. Or maybe the play, that one sounded fun. He was a sucker for a play.

A few conversations later, while trying to avoid large crowds but failing, Xavius had finally managed to make it home, waving to a few people he had stopped to talk to as he walked in, heading straight to his room to clean himself up, getting ready for the rooftop party thing that was happening, which he had been pretty excited for all day, though “getting ready” was basically just chilling for a little bit before leaving again. [Color=DEB783]”Alright, well I'm leaving again I guess. I'll see you guys at the party hopefully. [Sub]I don't want to be there alone[/sub],”[/color] he added the last part in quietly, opening the door and stepping through.[Color=DEB783]”Ok, well. I'm off I suppose.”[/color] He didn't actually know whether his roommates were there or not, he didn't really check, though he hoped they [i]were[/i] there, it'd be kind of sad if it were just him.
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