thenearshore | [open + 1 closed + 1 semi-closed] a pocket full of posies

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[open + 1 closed + 1 semi-closed] a pocket full of posies

Who: A + B: Shun and anyone! C: Shun and Ren, D: Shun and existing CR
What: Shun attempts to relocate a substantial portion of his temple garden to his Near Shore shrine. This goes about as well as you'd expect.
When: June 22nd
Where: A: Nekhbet's Temple and surrounds, B + C: A seemingly innocuous Near Shore park (a.k.a. Nekhbet's shrine), D: Network/anywhere!

A + B: Open

[A: Morning, Nekhbet's Temple]

[There are a lot of things Shun could say about having a rapidly growing garden of funerary and death-themed flowers, and most of them are some form of complaint. However, with recent events on the Near Shore and disappearances on the Far Shore, he's decided it's about time he made his shrine look a bit more lived-in, and if there's any good way to do that, it's hitting two birds with one stone and thinning out his garden to use for decorative purposes. Ignoring the fact that he has no idea how to decorate anything these days, because he'll deal with that hurdle when he reaches it.

The strange hill-shaped temple isn't difficult to spot even from a distance, and the large, tree-enclosed garden to one side even less so. The dwelling vultures are a little agitated today, rustling wings and hopping from tree to tree as they try to get a better look at Shun, who's moving along the edge of the garden with a dagger in hand. With how much the flowers have grown out, there's only an incredibly narrow strip for Shun to walk on between them and the shallow pools flanking the main path, but as always, he walks as if his every step is certain.

At certain plants, he'll stop, either taking one flower stem or a few at once and pushing neatly through them with the knife in his hand. Apparently nobody ever told him pruning shears were a thing, or he just didn't want to bother with that.

There's already a budding line of flowers down the middle of the garden path, loosely arranged by type and then colour, which Shun goes back to add to each time he cuts more. It's probably obvious to most people that he has far too many cut for any purpose other than maybe starting a florist's, but he doesn't seem to care, and the garden barely looks like it's been pruned.

He'll acknowledge anyone who comes to the mouth of the garden...just maybe try not to do it while his back is turned, since he is still holding a knife.]

--

[B: Afternoon, Park/Shrine]

[There's a lot of nice parks around on the Near Shore, and the quiet ones can be especially nice. This one in particular is off a small and relatively low-density street, the entrance flanked by currently unlit lanterns, and looks like the kind of spot someone might elect to have a picnic. There's tables, a large and venerable-looking tree over near the back...and, of course, the tiny shrine building (more the size to house vultures than any kind of human) that looks like it was made by some very dedicated follower, built and painted simply and surrounded by offerings of flowers. Today, there's also a very eye-catching one lying across the shrine "balcony"; a large arrangement of purple and orange flowers, done with not the skill of someone who actually knows what they're doing, but the care of someone determined to do it anyway and make it good.

Also in the park today is Shun, who's commandeered a picnic table with his excessive amount of flowers and is currently sorting through them with a rather critical eye. When he comes across one that looks on the dead or dying side, he runs his fingers carefully up the stem, focusing intently on the flower, and after a few moments, the petals liven up and heal, the natural decay reversing to return them to full bloom.

Unfortunately, the need for focus means Shun isn't in a particularly welcoming mood towards distractions right now, so any Far Shore residents hanging around the park may or may not feel upon them the kind of stare that could probably bore through concrete given long enough.]

If you're just going to be a distraction anyway, you might as well put it to some use over here. [Translation: he's...asking for help. Kind of. Not really, but still.]

[C: Closed to Ren, late afternoon/early evening]

[After several attempts at putting together certain flowers and getting the impression they just look wrong (and that if even someone like him who doesn't really give a damn is noticing, then others certainly will), Shun decides to cut his losses and text maybe the one person he can trust to help with this and be a tolerable presence for the amount of time it will probably take.

So sometime later in the afternoon, Ren gets a text containing a picture of the table overflowing with sorted flowers, and Shun's shrine in the background in the hopes that he'll recognise it from that evening they walked back there.]

Need someone who knows more about how flowers go together than me. I'll explain why if you help.

[D: Closed to existing CR, evening]

[So as it turns out, Shun absolutely cut way too many flowers, and though he definitely knows one person who'll want them, there's still a ton that aren't really spoken for. So anyone Shun knows the name of (or god name, in those cases) and doesn't hate stands a chance of getting a very brief text containing an image of a table still covered in flowers, but with vastly less than there were earlier. There's quite a variety - roses, lilies, crysanthemums, orchids, and so on - and it might be hard to pick up on the funerary and death associations of every single one of them unless one is very well-versed in flower language.]

Trying to get rid of these. Pick some out and you can have them.

[[Any kind of death or funeral-associated flower is fair game to request, even if it's not listed there.]]

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[Heh. Yah, Kurosaki-san would have seen him coming from a mile away.
Rubbing his nose with a finger as they get close to the flowers, Yukine’s eyes get a little wider.]

It’s even more in person than in the picture. In more ways than one.
Uh, I guess I’ll take some of those. Ten of them? [He points out a cluster of white chrysanthemums that catches his eye. He has no idea what Kofuku and Hiyori will like, but hey, flowers are flowers, right?]

Do you know what all of these are called? [Because he’s studied gardening he knows some of them, but not all of them. (This is his oblique way of finding out more.)]

When I've been working with them all day, it at least looks a lot less than what I started with. [Nonetheless, he takes note of Yukine's request, and takes out his dagger briefly to cut off a bit of string before starting to pick out the chrysanthemums.]

Some of them. I only knew the obvious ones when I got here, but I've looked a few up since then. [Unfortunately for Yukine's attempt to learn more, Shun isn't quite inclined enough to identify flowers for people that he'll do it without actually being asked.

As Shun puts the flowers together, it might be a little obvious that he is, remarkably, taking the appropriate care with them. Either he knows what he's doing, or he's been watching someone who does.]

[... (Crouching Jerk, Hidden Florist?)

That's okay. He'll ask.]

Which ones did you look up? [You know, let's skip the obvious here.]

[By this point, Shun's almost done putting together the white chrysanthemums, so he uses the hand not holding them to point out a couple of the others, specifically two specimens with tall stems but very different-looking flowers lining each one, colourful, small and enclosed blooms contrasting larger, white and open ones.]

I don't see why you're that interested, and I still haven't checked all of them, but the orchids and gladioli I found out about today. I didn't need to know any details about them before doing this.

Mm. [He'd recognized the gladioli by sight, but not known the name for it. Thanks.]

I'm interested because I'm learning about gardening.
And what is all 'this' about, anyway?

Then I don't see why you're learning about gardening, either. It's not like the gardens here have any trouble growing.

[For someone who just had to cut a bunch of flowers, Shun definitely does not sound particularly enamoured with the subject of gardening.]

I was putting something together for my shrine. It's done now, so I don't need any of this.

Right.

[That answer kinda makes sense, while leaving out anything actually useful.]

I'll be gardening on the Near Shore. That's why.

So, what kind of 'something' would need a mountain of cut flowers, but leave this many left over?

[As Yukine may have noticed by now, Shun's very good at answering questions to what he considers a reasonable degree while also leaving out significant information. It helps him bypass having to explain things that might be too close to home for him.

However, this one isn't so much, or at least not enough that he can't talk about it while also still avoiding the details.]

I was thinning my garden and making flower arrangements with the cut plants. It's not an answer to the prayers I can't reach, but it's a sign that they're being heard. I just cut too many out of a combination of inexperience and working until my garden actually looked like anything had been removed at all.

I see. [And he does. He supposes leaving flowers to show his followers that their prayers have been heard isn’t a bad thing. So he watches silently for a while before commenting,]
For someone inexperienced you’re handling the flowers really well. [He points at the neat bundle of chrysanthemums Kurosaki-sama had been working on.]
By the way, could I have them split into two bunches?

I pick things up quickly. [That's apparently all Shun intends to say on the subject of his inexperience in comparison to his handling of the flowers. Learning by seeing isn't too difficult for him these days, especially when he tends towards cautious handling of things here anyway.

When Yukine requests the two bunches, Shun parts the group into two, both of them relatively equal in size. By this point, he has the number of flowers requested anyway, so he puts one bunch down gently so he can pick up the roll of string to put them together.]

Is that all?

Yup. I only really know two people who would like this.

[And he’ll just be quiet and let Kurosaki-sama work.]

There's not many people I knew for sure would like this, but there are enough people interested in pointless decorative things that I thought it was worth texting more than that.

[Pulling out his dagger for a moment to cut the string, Shun ties one bunch of flowers together with a rather detached expression towards the whole affair. This still isn't really his area of interest or expertise, even if he's been doing it all day by this point.]

[“Pointless decorative things.” Yukine makes a bland expression at that, but he supposes he’s not wrong. Yukine himself had just been telling Kairi about how he didn’t think it was necessary to collect anything.]

I suppose it doesn’t matter to you if you make anyone a little happy by sharing these flowers, huh, pointless or not. Well, I don’t mind taking all the credit when they thank me, then.

[He’s just teasing at Kurosaki-sama’s strange view on things again.]

I could have thrown them out. [Well, he could have tried. He has his doubts Ren would have let him do that, but Ren counts as someone he made happy with them anyway. Nonetheless, Shun's expression remains neutral, merely pointing out the possibility he could have maybe gone with in theory.]

As if I would've taken credit if they thanked me anyway. That sort of thing means more to them than it does to me.

[Or at least, that's Shun's usual attitude on thanks. If he doesn't want them, clearly it's for the other party's self-satisfaction.]

Right, right.

[The guy really hates stuff like that, huh.]

Well, maybe you should have just thrown them out then. Although it would have been a waste. 'Cause you're for sure going to get thanks for this whether you like it or not.

It would have, and I don't like wasting things either. [Given the choice between waste and having to deal with people thanking him, he'll narrowly take the latter.

The tone of his next remark is somewhat drier than the first, made as he cuts another bit of string to tie the other bunch of flowers together.] I've gotten a few already. I'll live.

Oh, that's a relief. It'd be pretty tragic if 'thank you' could make you keel over.

[Ok, he'll let up a bit now.]

I hope you get enough takers that you don't have to waste much. They're pretty nice flowers, after all.

[With that, Shun lets the matter drop, because while he could make another sardonic remark back, it'd be extending the humour he barely allows himself time for in the first place.

As he ties the second bunch, Shun shrugs slightly as if it doesn't matter to him either way.]

I doubt I'll have to. Some will want more than others, and would probably keep taking them if I had any left over. [Ren and Hajime spring to mind immediately, and he wouldn't be surprised if Nanako was in that group as well.]

Mmm? [Looking at the mountain of flowers still on the table he imagines that.]

What do they use so many flowers for then…
[It’s mostly a rhetorical question though, as Yukine watches Kurosaki-sama finish up.]

Hell if I know. ["Pointless decorative things", probably. All three of the people he'd had in mind there seem like the type for that sort of thing. And he did bribe Ren with a flower arrangement, which can't really be used for anything else.

As Shun finishes tying the second bunch, he picks up the first one again and offers them both to Yukine, holding them further up the stems so Yukine can take the bottoms of them.] There.

Thanks. And I say that as just a thing people say when they’re handed something. [Okay, not 100% letting up. But he lets him know he’s joking with a faint smile.]

I have to get back to the Near Shore. Good luck getting rid of the rest of the flowers.

[Shun raises an eyebrow at him somewhat dryly at the quantification of the thanks, but it's clearly a joke and he's gotten over the urge to start a fight every time someone thanks him anyway, so he just hands over the flowers without comment.

With a shrug, Shun half-turns away, his eye still on Yukine.]

It shouldn't be that hard. Like I said, I have backup plans.

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[open + 1 closed + 1 semi-closed] a pocket full of posies

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