toliveagain | you belong among the wildflowers

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you belong among the wildflowers

It's been a little over a week since the grand opening of Thistle Do Nicely, and Riley has been pleasantly surprised by how well the reception to the shop has been. They'd found a prime location, halfway between the boardwalk and a bakery and bookshop, so while they've already gotten customers ordering future arrangements for things like anniversaries and birthdays, they also get people in to pick up the occasional stray flower here and there, just to give to someone special. He's already thinking he and Ryan should eventually consider setting up a small flower kiosk out on the boardwalk itself, though it's still a little too hot for that. Maybe more into autumn, when people are looking for bursts of color to brighten the darker days.

As for today, it's slower than it's been since they opened and while in some ways that's a little disappointing, it also comes as a little bit of a relief because it means he can concentrate on other things. Ordering more inventory, for one, which may or may not include a Keurig machine because having to walk to Quill every time he needs another caffeine fix (which is considerably often) is already starting to get old.

Glancing over his shoulder to see Ryan attending to a customer who seems much more interested in learning about his likes and dislikes than the different kinds of carnations they offer, Riley smirks to himself before turning his attention to his phone. Shooting off a text to the contacts he's made in town so far, he tucks his phone back in his pocket and wanders outside with a watering can to take care of the flowers they've set up for display outside. It's a beautiful day out, Riley observes, and he can only hope that someone else will come along soon to make it even better.

[Feel free to use this post to meet Riley AND Ryan! If you don't specify in your tag or in the subject line, we'll just assume we have permission to tag your character separately :) Everyone come say hi to the qt flower shop boyzzzz~~~!]

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Jack is surprised by Riley's enthusiastic greeting. No one is ever that happy to see Jack frankly. He is the type that's just sort of...there. It works for him. Not standing out. But Riley at least looks glad he's shown up, and he manages a somewhat confused smile when he walks up to pat him on the shoulder. He's never really had a friend. Nearly all the people knows he works with at the Agency and those he doesn't work with, are people under investigation. He's never given relationships much thought.

"It's nice. Much too bright to be a dungeon," he observes with a nod. "It was nice of you to invite me. I didn't think you would..."

The fact that Jack barely blinks when Riley speaks of sex dungeons pretty much cements that this is a friendship that needs to be pursued. Not everyone can shrug something like that off, and Riley doesn't necessarily go out of his way to say questionable things but sometimes, he just likes to test for reactions. It's a good way to figure out how much people can stomach on a regular basis.

It does surprise him, though, to hear that Jack hadn't thought he'd end up getting an invite.

"Really?" he asks, raising his eyebrows. "You're gracious enough to give me your number, and you don't even expect me to call? That's crazy talk, my friend, of the most severe variety." He winks, nodding toward the register, where the arrangements he and Ryan had felt were their best are prominently on display. "See anything you like? And don't say me, I'm not immune to blushing."

Riley is flirting with him he notices when he winks at him. Or Jack thinks he is in a friendly type of way. Jack doesn't mind even though his indulgences in sex and flirtation is normally just when he thinks he needs to pursue it. Usually to get people to trust him. He has no need for Riley's trust so he isn't quite sure what to think of it yet. It's harder for him to decide what he thinks about people when he has to do it on his own.

"Uh, I thought you were just...promoting," Jack says with a shrug. With his eyes, he follows the gesture Riley makes at the flowers sitting out on the counter. He has no opinion about the flowers, but he wants to be nice because Riley is being nice. Looking back he gives him a smile.

"They're all very good. I think. I don't know how much my opinion will matter," he says chuckling.

The guy is pretty straight-laced but something about that makes the vibes Jack puts out all the more endearing to Riley, especially when he pulls that smile. In his social cirlce back home, Riley knows that someone as attractive as Jack is would have definitely played it up rather than pretend he didn't know every time he passed by a reflective surface that he looked insanely good. Jack doesn't seem to be that kind of person and even seems surprised that Riley would want to talk to him at all.

It's definitely a change from what Riley's used to, but he likes that. Still being so new in town, it's beneficial to get to know a wide variety of people so if Jack's willing to come around to humor him over flowers, the man can't be all that bad.

"Oh, it matters," Riley assures him, putting a hand against Jack's back and guiding him closer toward the arrangements. "Sometimes it's good to have a neutral eye, you know? The one you like would be based solely on what you find visually pleasing so look at these two. Fall's coming up, which one do you think is better for the season? The lilies or the carnations? It's not a pop quiz, I promise, there's no wrong answer."

Riley assures him there are no wrong answers but Jack can't help himself, can't help the slightly awkward feeling that surges through him when faced with the two arrangements. He hasn't a clue which one he prefers because the part of him with opinions is hollow and empty, it's filled with whatever makes it easier for him to do his job. However, he's not exactly working his job right now and yet still he hasn't a inkling.

"I think the lilies. They look more festive," he says, and it's a slight lie. Both flowers seem exactly the same, but Riley looks eager and he's being friendly with Jack. And Jack is accepting it without much of a reason why, and it puzzles him. He finds himself asking, "Is that what everyone else said?"

He can't help but watch Jack with an amused, crooked smile on his face while his new friend observes the arrangements. They're just flowers, but the way Jack is studying makes it seem like Riley's just sprung an insanely difficult pop quiz on him and there's something very charming about how seriously Jack is taking this--even more so because the guy doesn't seem to know just how charming it really is.

"I haven't asked anyone else," Riley admits, shrugging a shoulder. "But I'll tell you what, the one you chose is the one I made so between you and me, I think you definitely made the right choice."

"Oh---I guess maybe I did," Jack says taking another look at the flowers, the right choice as Riley calls it. It seems odd to him that someone that looks like Riley is...a flower arranger. There are other agents Jack has known that are very similar and stature to Riley. He's tall and in shape, good-looking, and he has an easy charm which helps in associating with people. Not that everyone was secretly a government agent but flower arranger is just as off the cuff, Jack thinks.

He moves further inside taking in the other displays tucked away around the shop. Taking in one of a more intricate designs, Jack wonders if Riley designed this one himself too. Turning back to look at the other man, he asks, "What did you say you did before this again? Or I guess I'm thinking how someone learns to do all of this..."

Riley follows Jack around the store with quiet amusements, hands folded behind his back as he watches his friend pause in front of some arrangements to study them, and the corners of his mouth twitch up into a small smile every time Jack stops in front of one he'd made himself. He knows he's not exactly an expert when it comes to making arrangements, but he'd spent a lot of time in that little shop a block down from where he and Ryan had lived in the city and he'd learned a lot. It'd been seeing the florist in charge, Rowena, so utterly happy to be there every single day, sharing her knowledge and ideas, that'd spurred Riley to want to learn more.

"Well, I did work for my dad's company, he's an architect. But a couple years back, I got into this car accident, drunk driver hit me. It was recommended that I pick up a hobby for stress relief and this turned out to be it. Ryan, he did it with me because he knew I'd probably abandon the whole thing if I did it in my own but it stuck and here we are."

There's a little more to why they'd chosen Siren Cove, but Jack hasn't been one of the people who's mentioned witches or sirens so Riley isn't sure whether he knows anything about the magic in this town. Being here, he can't imagine being able to ignore it when others are so open but then again, he supposes ignorance can be an easily attained bliss.

Jack glances over when Riley begins to tell his story, and there's more too it than Jack maybe expects at first. Though somehow everything makes a little more sense to him, that this flower shop isn't something Riley has just done forever. It's something he became after what sounds like a fairly traumatic life experience. Somehow that fits a little easier into Jack's head. "You picked the right hobby, and it probably helps people are willing to pay you," he says in response gesturing at the arrangement to his left.

Of course, Jack doesn't have any hobbies unless lying and shooting guns counts, and he isn't sure they do. Or it's not a hobby he can exactly open a cutesy little shop on a Boardwalk with probably. "So. Who is Ryan? Is that you're husband?" he asks because he caught the name and the fact that Riley moved here with someone to open this business.

Jack just naturally assumes they are close. He also in the next breath thinks he might be asking too many questions. Because he's also already preparing to figure out where Riley moved here from, how he picked this place, and why. The need to question, to gather information is a hardwiring he sometimes forgets to turn off. "I don't mean to pry," he quickly says.

"Yeah, believe it or not, the money is a very nice thing," Riley replies with a laugh, though he does shift a little awkwardly on his feet when he says it. The truth is, if he were very to get caught between a rock and a hard place, if the flower shop had ended up being a massive failure, his parents would have been there to bail him out. He knows he's spoiled in that way, though he's always done his best to work hard and earn what comes to him.

It's just always a little uncomfortable to talk about who his parents are, considering his father's company had been fairly well known. He's always hated the thought of people accusing him of having a free ride through life; or worse, people using for what he's got in his bank account. So far, nobody in Siren Cove seems to blink and for that, he's grateful to be so far removed from the city.

The question of Ryan being his husband shakes him from his thought, and Riley nearly gags. "Oh, god, no," he says, emphatically shaking his head. "And don't worry, you're not prying, he's just-- Ryan's my brother in every way except the blood relation. Very much not husband material, at least not for me."

"Oh---" Jack's eyebrows raise sharply in surprise. He wants to meet this Ryan person just from the way Riley speaks about him. He is obviously important, like a brother, and he finds himself curious. "I just assumed from what you said. It's...nice that he would move here to help you."

Ryan must have a good deal of loyalty to Riley to do something like that.

"I don't have siblings," he tells him just because. He could have easily made some up. Riley would never know the difference. Sometimes it's easier that way, when he tells people complete lies. He is much better with those. "Do you have real brothers?" he asks looking at him.

"Yeah," he agrees, expression softening as he glances over at Ryan with a crooked but fond smile. "Yeah, it's nice of him. We met when were just kids, we grew up together." Riley pauses, not entirely convinced that the shop is the best place for a conversation like this (and not because he's uncomfortable telling it, but he doesn't want Jack to feel uncomfortable); but the door isn't too far away so if Jack feels like he needs to make a quick exit, Riley will understand.

"Our parents dumped us," Riley explains, trying to keep his tone light. He knows pity when he hears it, and he'd rather not here it from the new friends he's making here. "When I was eight, I was adopted, Ryan was in and out of foster homes, but my parents more or less adopted him, too. So if I do have real brothers, I definitely don't know it."

"Oh. I'm sorry---" Jack thinks you're supposed to say things like that when you hear about foster homes and adoption, but it isn't really out of pity. It's more that Jack wants to say the correct things. He wants to appear normal because he knows that he's not. He doesn't remember growing up, and he easily could have a similar story but if he does he doesn't know it.

"Was that difficult?" he asks once he realizes that he isn't actually sure. "It seems like it might be."

"I mean, it's not something really sits well, you know?" Riley rolls his eyes at himself, letting out a cross between a laugh and a sigh as he rubs at the back of his neck. He's had this conversation with people numerous times and though he's had practice masking just how bitter he can still be, he knows it sometimes shows through.

"My parents, they're amazing. They're my real parents, as far as I'm concerned, nothing could change that. But it kind of just makes you wonder, why didn't my biological parents want me? There could be a lot of good reasons, it might just not have been practical for them to have a kid at the time they had me, and I've talked this out, I understand that. But the truth is, a part of why I'm here is to get answers."

He leaves out the part that outs him as a witch because while this town seems to be full of magical people, Riley isn't quite ready to actually include himself in that yet.

"My birth parents were from here and if I can find them... Well, I don't know. I'm not sure what I'm actually expecting. I guess that's why I haven't tried very hard yet."

Jack isn't expecting the detail about Riley's parents. He should have though. No one would just move here to this weird little town without some ulterior motive. Hell, he has an ulterior motive for being here so he should've suspected in the end. He thinks he has gotten distracted by the fact that Riley is kind of friendly, and he invited Jack here and it had seemed like it could be apart from everything else.

"You came here to find your parents," he says in the end, nodding like he understands. "I can imagine most people would be curious about themselves, about where they came from, but at least you knew where to begin. I don't think everyone gets that." He doesn't realize it but he is talking about himself. He is incredibly good at finding answers but has never sought answers about his own past. Something like that would be...he isn't certain but he thinks it would be dangerous.

He wants to tell Riley that the records in the library---for such a small town---are very thorough. He knows because he's read many volumes of them. It would be the place he'd start and Jack is very good at finding answers.

"No, not everyone gets that," Riley agrees, glancing again at Ryan.

There have been moments of tension between them over the years, of course there'd been; but most of the time, they'd been over the subject of Riley having been the one to be officially adopted and Ryan just coming along for the ride. That's not how Riley sees it and it's certainly not how his parents see it, but he's tried to understand where Ryan is coming from. It hadn't been easy for his best friend, bouncing in and out of foster homes until the Waldens had basically taken him in without the legality of calling him their son, so Riley tries to be sensitive to that. It's just that every so often, he ends up doing a poorer job of it than he might like.

"I should probably just cut to the chase and look up their records," he continues with a sigh, and he's not entirely sure why he's discussing this with Jack because it's kind of a heavy topic for a chat in a flower shop; but Jack hasn't complained and at least for that, Riley's grateful. "But maybe not today and not only because I'm at work." He pauses then, shifting on his feet. "Speaking of which, maybe we could go grab a drink or something when I'm done. If you're free I mean, I wouldn't want to keep you from fire station duty and rescuing kittens from trees or anything cute like that."

"It's not just kittens in trees," Jack says with a smile, relieved that Riley didn't look too uncomfortable with the line of questions about his background. He wondered if Riley coming back to Siren Cove meant his family was part of the magical element in town. It's easy to suspect something like that. Normal people, humans were greatly outnumbered is what Jack's come to learn so chances were Riley could be a witch or something.

He's not mentioned it though, and Jack isn't ready to ask him. Riley has been friendly with him so far. He doesn't want to mess that up. It might be good to have a friend, or maybe not friend since Jack is not exactly honest, but something close to it.

"I'd like that though. The drink, I mean. I just moved here and don't know many people. I'd say on most nights I'm free," he assures him with a nod. He was usually researching or exploring the town at night or checking in with the agency, but again, he lied.

Edited 2015-10-16 11:47 (UTC)

"So sometimes puppies, too?" Riley teases, trying his best not to bounce on his feet over the fact that he'd gotten that ridiculously good smile out of Jack. It suits him, the smile, Riley thinks he should wear it more often. "Riddle me this, how do the puppies even get in the tree? Have you considered using all available manpower to safeguard all trees in the area to save yourselves some time?"

In truth, he doesn't find it all too difficult to imagine Jack as a fireman. Those broad shoulders and strong arms don't just appear on a person, there's something unnatural about them in the sense that it's unnatural that any one person could possibly look like... Jack. Overall, Riley decides, it's just unfair to the rest of a town population that isn't even lacking in good-looking people.

"You mean you don't give your number to all the random people who bump into you in coffee shops? I have to admit, I now feel pretty honored." If he isn't careful, Riley knows he'll just end up making himself look like an idiot. He's taken his flirting to an extreme before, to the point that he's pissed off boyfriends and girlfriends, both his and others', but he doesn't want to alienate Jack when they seem to be getting along well so far. Besides, he's in the same boat and could use all the friends he can get.

"Anyway, good. You and me, drinks. It's a plan, I don't exactly have a bunch going on during my nights myself. We can keep each other entertained."

"I'll bring it up at the next firefighter meeting. Do something with the trees. It's a good idea," Jack says smiling once more. He must be doing something right here. Riley seems to like him. It's not that he isn't good at talking to people. He has to be good at that. Otherwise, he suspects he would freak people out, asking all his questions, and generally skulking about town. He isn't use to people kind of just straight away hitting off with him. He normally has to guess a little more about who people want him to be. Riley appears very laid-back so it's easier to carry this on.

He shrugs his shoulder chuckling just a little. "No, I don't usually do that. So I guess it is something," he says. To be honest, he might not even come to this shop if he hadn't talked himself into it and Riley hadn't been so friendly with the offer. And now that he knows a little more about him and why he's here in town, Jack isn't disapointed that he came. He is actually looking forward to a drink with the guy if it does happen. There are worst things about this surveillance gig than spending an evening with Riley who is nice, friendly, and good-looking. Jack's definitely done worse.

"I think we can manage that," he agrees.

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