Light of May ::: an original roleplay

WHO: Ben & Erika
WHERE: Erika's place
WHEN: Late afternoon

It had been another difficult day for Erika. When she'd woken up, the sun hadn't been shining. And then it had started to rain. The weather always messed with Erika's moods. Add to all that the situation at the high school hadn't been resolved, the store was dead, and she was having a bad hair day? ( It'd been hard to get out of bed. )

Who: Erika and Kammie
When: Afternoon
Where: Seeds of Beauty

( The argument could be made that she only enjoyed the town because she knew Tanith was here somewhere )

WHO: Erika & Evan
WHERE: Seeds of Beauty
WHEN: Morning, after Evan's interrupted beauty sleep

( A good brother always brings dessert. )

Who: Jax and Erika
When: Midday
Where: Seeds of Beauty

Jax had the kind of mom where anything she told you as gospel, you had to take with a grain of salt. Her interests and beliefs were constantly shifting with the world, and the family more or less humored her with all of them. Except for that time when he was in middle school and she'd tried to insist that the family wear nothing but hemp. He'd had to put his foot down there. Still, one bit of advice he had taken to heart was that you never visit someone's home as a guest and go empty-handed. But his mom hadn't invented that pearl of wisdom, it was just common courtesy and good sense. So even if he was returning to his childhood home, he wasn't empty-handed. He had gifts for his parents and sisters, all little random things he'd picked up around the world, and a good bottle of wine. It had been a long time since he'd been properly home for a while, so he felt he needed to do the job properly.

He'd been listening to the radio about the trouble at the high school - that was a fucking nightmare, and something he was already itching to look in on himself - when he hit a detour that took him off main street. That was when he decided to get his mum and his sisters flowers. He followed the gps to the nearest florist, a place called Seeds of Beauty. He parked in the street and headed inside. Okay, maybe he was kind of sucking up to his family, but it'd be really great if they quit sending him crazy grief spirits and flat out begging hadn't worked yet.

WHO: Erika & Logan
WHEN: Buttcrack of dawn
WHERE: Park

Ann Arbor was like a different city at dawn, Scarlet Oak a different town. Erika enjoyed her early morning walks. Although she'd lived in Scarlet Oak her entire life, Erika still enjoyed roaming random streets before the rest of the world clogged it up. It wasn't that Erika didn't enjoy the company of people; there was just a certain peacefulness that the world possessed when it wasn't clogged up with other sounds. Since childhood, Erika had always lived in a part-home, part-business. She was used to having other people constantly in her space. When she was old enough to be trusted to traipse about outside on her own (which she was fairly certain her parents still didn't think she was old enough), she started taking walks in the early mornings around town, just exploring on foot what she'd probably biked or driven past millions of times. It was different on foot. Slower, she supposed, more time to just take it all in.

( When you know, you know. )

WHO: Erika & Ben
WHERE: Lenore's
WHEN: After school/work

The Mudhouse was closer to Seeds of Beauty, but Lenore's was closer to the elementary school and Erika had been feeling rather gracious when it came to choosing a meeting place. Ben, of course, was a thing of her past (and he'd even been seeing someone of late, she was told, even if it didn't exactly work out) but it didn't change the fact that she'd dressed a little more carefully for work today. A fairly silky floral top was not her usual work attire, but she'd decided she wasn't going to be rushing into the greenhouse today. With that, she still looked fairly immaculate at the end of the day, though that didn't stop her from running upstairs and doing her hair and dashing on some lipstick. Of course, when Petunia heard her thoughts about meeting Ben, the goat was impossible to shake. Petunia, as Erika had come to understand, fancied the were-pommy quite a bit. Which was odd, but it was far from the oddest thing that Erika had ever had to put up with as far as Petunia went. She just seemed to be an unusual sort of animal/familiar as those went. At any rate, she let the goat into the back seat of her Prius and drove towards Lenore's to meet Ben.

( 'HEY BEN,' came the overly enthusiastic mental greeting. )

Who: Evan and Erika (and probably Erika's familiar Petunia too)
Where: Erika's house
When: Early evening


( I'm ready to go. )

WHO: Erika & Brodie
WHEN: Late night
WHERE: Ozzy's

After closing up the store for the night, Erika figured she had a couple of options for the night. She could put on warm socks and watch SVU reruns with Clothilde and Petunia while Trip yelled obscenities in the background. While that seemed like a great fun time, it was what Erika had been doing for the last few weekends. The e-mails from the people who'd received the mystery gifts had finally stopped and no one had any new information. Evan's present had revealed absolutely nothing for her. She was at a dead end and the last thing she needed to do right now was sit at home and wait for a new message to arrive on her computer. It wasn't productive and she was wasting her time. Maybe she needed to break that routine and do something else with her time. It was time for her to accept that she'd hit a dead end. And without any new presents or information, there were no new leads to follow. She decided to take it as a victory that she'd scared off the creeper.

( Victory drink! )

Who: Erika, Petunia (NPC), and OPEN
Where: the park
When: late afternoon
What: goats need exercise too, you know


It was so hot that Erika didn't want to move. Luckily, she didn't have to. Lying on her back in the grass, her sunglasses and the edge of shade from a nearby tree protecting her eyes from the almost too-bright sun, Erika was totally at ease. She didn't bother with a blanket--what kind of florist would she be if she couldn't get plant stains out of her clothes?--instead enjoying the feel of warm blades of grass against her skin. Erika was so relaxed that she almost looked asleep except for the small but telling smile on her face that showed she was barely containing laughter.

Her amusement was entirely due to the antics of her familiar. Petunia had the run of the park and was bouncing around like a cross between a pogo stick and a poodle on speed. The goat kept trying to make friends with the dogs being walked in the park and their owners, but was overwhelming most of them with her enthusiasm. Every time Petunia stopped halfway through a mouthful of grass to bound over to the nearest puppy with a Hi! Hihihi!, Erika nearly lost it.

Who: Erika and OPEN
Where: Riverfest
When: Evening

It was a beautiful day outside and it was once again reasonably safe to go outside without worrying about being disemboweled, so Erika did what any reasonable Scarlet Oak native would do: She went to Riverfest. Erika and Petunia consumed a truly impressive amount of food between the two of them, and after trying and failing to get her familiar to hold still long enough to get all the barbecue sauce out of her fur, Erika just laughed and gave up. She would just have to settle for the minor victory of keeping the sauce off her own clothes.

( Cause it's already passed )

This one too.

Because this mystery gift shit is insane and I'll need it.

For Erika and Lily!

Who: Erika and Jezebelle
Where: their respective shops
When: a little after 3pm

( Law & Order: Floral Investigative Unit - Episode Two )

Who: Evan and Erika Forsythe
Where: The Forsythe family home
When: Afternoon


( Take the fight from the kid. )

Who: Erika and Amelia
Where: Sidewalk around Scarlet Oak
When: Early Afternoon

( Yes, Detective? )

In case I need it.

Who: Rose and Erika
Where: Seeds of Beauty
When: early afternoon

( I want them back )

Who: Erika and Eva
Where: outside a video store
When: late afternoon

( Is it true what they've been saying about you )

Who: Erika Forsythe and her familiar Petunia
Where: her place
When: early afternoon

( It's anyone's, anyone's guess )