Characters: Ororo Munroe and Alex Power (Cameo by JP Beaubier) NPCs: N/A Location: Full Bloom Timeline: 4pm - December 2nd, 1977 Description: Alex gets all jittery about landlady door notes. Rating: PG
The weather had been sloppy for several days. It was a random storm after a good, dry run, that had left Alex's pant legs sopping wet at the end of the day - the soles of his feet covered in mud, socks wet. The tread on his bike wasn't any better. He tried to keep it clean, really, but when he was tired, Alex had simply wanted to get home and dry.
Once he opened the door, Alex saw the note and his stomach clenched. Setting the bike on the tile in the kitchen, he picked it up, eyes carefully moving over the fluid handwriting of his landlord...ess. Swallowing the knot in his throat, Alex descended the stairs, not even bothering to change out of his mud and rain-soaked clothes. He stepped into the plant shop, looking at the ground. His nose was assaulted with the most amazing scents, but he still felt grim. With a glance, he found Ororo and walked up toward her, waiting until she was done with a customer. "I...got your note. I'm sorry."
Ororo loved the rain just as much as she loved the sun, but could more than understand why so many others detested getting caught in a downpour. New Yorkers especially always had something more important going on, somewhere to be, something to do, work or play. She'd watched them scatter and dash in front of the shop window since that morning, those unlucky enough to be caught without umbrellas and raincoats using newspapers or briefcases to shield themselves.
When Alex appeared, she took a moment to take in his appearance, lookin for than sympathetic. "Oh, hun, you look like you got dunked in the bay." Ororo smiled, her hands moving to put away a roll of ribbon she'd just used to fasten together a small bouquet of lilies for the customer that had just vacated, grabbing one of the drying towels from the counter. "You're lucky it hasn't started snowing yet."
Moving around to stand in front of him, she held out the towel, shaking her head briefly. "And you're not in trouble. A-2 said something about it so just be a little more careful when you bring your bike in, hm? We're gonna put out the weather carpet soon anyway."
A-2. They always detested Alex. He didn't know why, but they had always been the most vocal about him coming in during the middle of the day. He didn't know if they worked third shift or something, but he'd tried to be quiet during his entrances. They seemed to have super hearing - and loud, obnoxious threats.
His shoulders sagged and offered a slight shrug. "It's....just a typical day for me. No rain or snow nor...whatever, I have to get letters to people. But yeah, I'll try to be more careful. I'll make it lighter and put it over my shoulder so the only thing that drops is snow, or rain drops." Conversations like this really made Alex wish he lived in the basement instead of one of the upper floors. "Thanks." He took the towel and pulled off his hat, scrubbing his head with it and offering a shy smile to the owner and landlord. "I promise I'll be more careful." He took a deep breath, suddenly becoming more calm.
"It always smells so nice in here. I like when I get a little sniff in my apartment."
"I hope I didn't make you think I was mad at you." She couldn't help but laugh a little at that. After all, he'd really looked so down when he'd come in. Then again, she imagined that simply happened when you were tired, cold and soaked to the bone.
"Really?" Ororo smiled in return, moving back to the counter to reach for the small cup of tea that had been waiting for her. "Do you know which scents you like the best?" She gestured a little with her head as she brought the tea cup to her lips, blowing a little on the steaming liquid inside as she watched him over the porcelain edge.
Alex grew a little red, nodding his head, but it looked more like he was ducking down. He felt foolish for thinking such things, but every note he'd gotten at work had always been a bad thing, but now he knew to not fret over Ororo's notes as much. Hopefully, though, Alex wouldn't get any more notes.
Looking around, Alex had absolutely no idea what the plants were or how they smelled - unless they were all mingling together. That was the smell he had liked. Now if she had pot growing somewhere, Alex could probably talk a bit out that, but he didn't think that would be the case. "I...don't know, not really. I just know that I smell them all and it's nice." He hoped she wasn't going to move her plants around. "Really, it's a great mix of scents, I'm not sure that I could pull them out separate from one another." Did...he just fail some kind of test?
"Well, if you ever find a few that you particularly like, just let me know. I just might be able to set you up with something." She moved to walked back behind the counter again, tempted to put a record into the player along the back wall for a moment. "If you want, once you get all dried off again you can come back down and we'll see what we can do about it."
"God, how many of these did you order?" A voice called from the back room and JP's head poked out through the doorway. His mouth opened to speak again, his eyes moving to Alex, offering a smile and a nod before turning his attention back to Ororo. "Want me to just stack the boxes up along the wall? Or do you actually plan to use some of this stuff within the next...oh...million years."
"Just leave it there and we'll figure out what to do with it later. In the meantime, bring the lillies down for me, will you?"
"Yeah yeah..." JP feigned a sigh and disappeared into the other room again, the sound of the door that joined with the front hall of the apartment complex opening and closing.
"You'll turn into a raising if you just stand there soaking, doll." She laughed, tilting her head at Alex again before nodding. "Really, if you want to have a look around in a little bit I'd be glad to help."
"Oh, I'd like that. I just don't want you to think that I want something for noth -," Alex found himself cut off, a hand moving to slip through his blond hair away from his face. Lord, it actually felt slimy. Definitely not a look he wanted to be walking around with. Eyebrows raised curiously, taking in the other who seemed like it was okay to talk to Ororo like that. Alex wasn't necessarily protective of his landlady, but he didn't like it when people decided just to be gruff for gruffness sake. Alex decided to not comment, only nodding his head a little bit in recognition. It really wasn't any of his business.
His attention was brought back to Ororo, grinning shyly and giving her a nod. "You're right - I may end up getting moss on my legs if I stand too long in one place. Do you mind if I take a raincheck though?" Looking down, he shrugged. "No pun intended. I think I just want to shower and take a nap." His expression brightened as he brought his eyes back up. "But I'll try to write down what I smell, maybe it'll make your job a little easier." Even though the area was empty again, Alex offered a wave to where JP had been, before nodding at Ororo. "I'll be sure to keep the floors on my mind, and clean up any messes I make right away."
"I trust you." She smiled a bit at the pun and nodded as she moved to return to her work, feeling more than a little like a mother hen. Then again, with all the guys she was taking care of there was little point in trying to persuade herself it wasn't the truth. "Enjoy your shower, hun."