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 Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 4:17 pm
 Now this place.. THIS was a lovely place indeed. It was much much more warm and inviting than that jerk of a rich lady who owned the same kinda place a few block from Benji's apartment. That snooty lady was just such a.. Such a d**k! She shooed him right away from her shops, stating his scowl was scaring away her 'real customers'. What kinda bullshit was that?! He very much enjoyed her shop, and was very eager to go in and see what kind of specialty items she hand in store (even if he couldn't afford it), but no, she just brushed him off! And yes, he was pissed off and might have broken into her shop to get revenge, but that wasn't the case this time!
No no, this lovely place was just that. Lovely. And the staff was nice too, from what he could tell. The owners were kindly folk and the whole place just smelled like joy, rather than expensive perfumes and old lady smell. What kinda shop was this, you ask? Well, a FLOWER shop, of COURSE. There were very few things, overall, that could put a smile on his face and a lovely garden was most likely his top 3. A Flower shop like this one could easily make his top five or six. It was a shame that it was closed now.
Yes, such a shame. As much as he respected the people who worked here for their class and botany skills, he still wasn't above picking the lock to the outside greenhouse and getting inside when no one was looking late at night. He wasn't going to steal anything this time! The people here were sweet and didn't deserve that! He just wanted a better look when shop keeps weren't hovering around him like he was the spawn of the devil of something. Yes, he was a self-admitted little s**t at times, but he was an HONEST little s**t! At least when it came to nice people.
His footsteps on the pavement below his feet was the only sound of humanoid life around, and he was okay with that. It was so much easier to browse around and get a good look at thing at night! He supposed that was one good benefit from the whole curfew thing.
Whimsical Blue Benji's dressed as a civ, but.. Sadly I don't have Civ art of him. xD
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 11:34 am
It was kinda nice, having someone other than Orah around to help watch the store. Nice, but also kinda sad, even if Matthew wouldn't admit to missing his sister something fierce. It had been something of a shock to them, when she had up and decided to move out. She'd been gone for over a year now, but he still got something of an achey feeling every time he passed her door, knowing the room inside that had once been decorated in pastels and flowers was now empty of the soft, motherly presence he was used to.
At least Laney was pretty and pretty nice, and she didn't nag him constantly about his manners or what he should or shouldn't do. He appreciated that.
He thought for a moment it was Laney when he heard someone moving around in the back room of the shop, over by the wall-long work bench they had built for his sister, Orah, back when she made flower arrangements for the store. The young man had some down stairs to grab the ipod he'd left behind the counter earlier that day and he stuffed it into the pocket of his sleep pants as he frowned and headed for the beaded curtain that separated the two halves of the shop. They rattled together as he swept them aside with one arm and peered into the gloom.
Light from the display cases that formed the wall between the back and front of the store turned things silver and Matthew wondered what Laney could be doing here so late, and with the lights off. She was the type of person to have called first and it was pretty quickly apparent this wasn't the young woman. It begged the question then who this was and the answer to that seemed pretty obvious; a thief. Who else would come into a shop late night and sneak around with the lights off.
The young man found himself wishing he hadn't made so much noise with the curtain, but that couldn't be helped now. Best to take the offensive, maybe, rather than wait around to get jumped in the dark. Easing backwards, he groped for the light switch inside the door way of the stairs up to the family rooms, squinting his eyes closed in preparation. He flipped it with a quick motion, his voice bursting out at the same time. Light flooded the back room, uncovering the work bench on one side and the storage racks along the wall beside him, boxes stacked in the center of the room full of various odds and ends that hadn't been put away yet.
"Hey! Who's there? You better show yourself, mother ********, or I'm calling the ******** cops!"
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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 3:32 pm
Well s**t. Yeah... Benji had NOT thought this through. This place was one of those shops where the owners lived above it. It was stupid to think he was going to be able to do this smoothly. And of COURSE his own stupid feet betrayed him and caused him to make such loudness. He was caught before he could even stop to smell the roses.
"Dude, geesh, chill! Chill! I'm right here!" He didn't want to get the cops involved and escorted home AGAIN. He was four mouths free of police escorts home from crime, for crying out loud! He moved from the shelf he was hiding behind and held his hands up in a surrendering sorta motion. God.. Nothing he said was going to make this better. Why didn't he just knock over the shelf like he would normally do in this situation and run away? Fuuuck.
"I'm not here to steal anything or what not. s**t.. You're not going to believe that at all... But it's true! I just came in to take a peek. All the ******** in this shopping district judge so badly when you're kinda broke looking and want to look in this shops. I wan't gonna steal s**t, I swear, I just wanted to see how you made your plants grow so damn well.. ********, none of this sounds good.. s**t, I'll just leave, man, don't call the cops."
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2015 7:18 pm
The light revealed not the stereotypical burglar in black and a ski mask, but a kid about his age, looking panicked at getting caught.
Matthew scowled as he dropped his hand away from the light, his bare arms crossed over his chest. He gave the intruder a long look over and wasn't terribly impressed by what he saw. (But let's face it, he probably wouldn't have been impressed with anyone who'd been caught breaking into his store)
"How the hell did you get in here, huh? Did you break the lock? Because that s**t is expensive to replace just so you can get your rocks off looking at some plants." The teen scoffed, green eyes narrowed in his dusky face. "Besides, jokes on you... we don't grow plants here. Not like we got room for something like that, obviously. The plants come from a supplier out of town, we just sell them. If you wanted a peep you would have been better off hopping the truck."
Matthew left the doorway them to skirt around the kid, keeping a wary eye on him until he got to the back door. Pulling it open, he inspected the lock carefully for damage, a frown on his face.
"If you're so damn curious you should go to the community garden like a normal ******** person. I've seen grannies there with some impressive s**t and I bet they'd tell you for free, because they're always looking to talk some poor chump's ear off."
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:06 pm
"I'm not as huge of an idiot to break in in a way that would bust the lock. I picked the lock. I think this place is cool enough that I didn't want to wreck the place. It's not like that ******** who owns the shop on the other side of town. She is a huge dickbag who deserves to get her shop wrecked. Not that I did." Was this hole he was in getting deeper? Probably. And when the kid mentioned that there's no real flowers here his nervous grin just dropped.
"Are you ******** serious? There's NOTHING here? What kinda bullshit is that? Hell even that a*****e on the other side of the city had a FEW inhouse grown things. I came in here and got insulted by some a*****e for nothing."
"Hey hey, don't knock the grannies, they are one of the few people who won't mind teaching a kid a thing or two. But do I LOOK like the kinda person who grannies will actually be willing to talk to?" He pointed at his face and the deep scowl that it held. He couldn't help it! His face was always like this! Grannies didn't like pissed off looking kids."
At this point Benji put his arms down in defeat. He really didn't want to get the cops called on him tonight.
"Okay, look, I'm SORRY I broke in, but the last time I tried to come into a flower shop, they kicked me out because my face was 'scaring the customers'. They think I look like a thief or something, and I swear I'm not. Just curious. Hell, I don't even have that long of a record. I kick an assholes a** ever now and then, but who doesn't, right? Let's just ignore all this, you can go back to bed, and I'll meander on away into the night, whatcha say?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 10:40 am
"... Okay so, its pretty cool that you know how to pick a lock, but dude, really. You sneak into someone's place, at night, after picking their lock, and all they're gonna think is that you're up to no good. People who just want to appreciate things don't break in to do it." Matthew said as he left off his inspection and swung the door open, bracing his shoulders back against it to hold it open. The lock was scuffed but seemed to be okay... but he was going to have to talk to his Da about changing it anyway. The kid already knew how to break into it, they'd be better off with a new set up... and maybe an alarm system.
He rolled his eyes as he leaned heavily backwards, his arms crossed under his chest. "Does it look like we have the space to ******** grow anything? We have potted plants, obviously, but we only keep them long enough to sell them. I mean, it was different when my sister was here, but she grew stuff at the community garden."
He gave the stranger a long look up and down, a smirk appearing as he got a look at the sourpuss expression the other wore. "You know, if you tried smiling, you might get people past your resting b***h-face. If you know you scare people off 'cause you looked pissed, then why don't you just change how you look, huh?" Matthew put on his best customer service smile and it spread like natural across his face, equal parts interested and welcoming. He let it go after a moment, settling back into his smirk. "If you ever want any kind of a job, you're gonna have to learn how to do it, so you might as well start now. People don't want to buy things from a guy who scowls and they don't want service from one either. And then maybe you can get into those shops and talk to those grannies without people giving you the stink eye."
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 1:38 pm
"Well of course they are going to think I'm up to no good. But I hadn't expected to be caught! Stop making me think more about this, it just sounds stupider and stupider in my head. Yeah, okay, I regret doing this. And Yeah, okay, I'm probably not going to do this again for a while because this is just embarrassing, but for ******** sake, bruh, stop pokin' at it and let me go." As the other went ahead towards the door Benji contemplated following him. The little bit of common sense he had warned him against doing so, however. What if the kid decided that was the wrong move and wanted to scream his head off about it? That was not a s**t storm he wanted to be part of at this point in time.
"Hey, some people are creative with space,maybe you guys would have thought about it some. My room at home is this little tiny space, but there's plants everywhere, hanging from the ceiling, woven about the walls on lattice. If you REALLY wanted to, you could, just saying. Guess I wanted to see if you guys were cool enough to do that too."
The whole mention of a sister kinda struck home with him too. His own sister used to live with him and his small family, but she left for college. Granted, she was a jerk most of the time, but you could really feel when she left the house. It was like the entire liveliness went away with it. It was so much more quieter, and now the adults' radar was on him. It was stifling, really, so no wonder she wanted to escape. Benji did wonder now and then if she thought about who she left behind at times.
"You ever seen that movie How to Train Your Dragon? With the dragon trying to smile and it's just a mass of gums and what not? That's what it's like forcing a smile from me. Gross and uncomfortable for everyone around. And you can always tell a forced smile, it never reaches the eyes, I'd much rather look pissed as ******** instead of being fake."
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Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 3:24 pm
The teen smirked as he leaned against the open door, enjoying the discomfort he was causing. Served the guy right, getting poked at for his stupidity after breaking into someone's home and business. It wasn't cool and it wasn't alright. Hopefully he was right and he'd think twice about doing it again.
"We could grow some stuff in here with some creativity, but its easier to buy it from a local grower. They make money and we make money, and we don't have to do as much work. Even if we grew stuff, it wouldn't be that much and it wouldn't make much to sell. So. More cost effective not to." He'd listened to his Da and Orah talk about it enough to know how the business was run and why. Living above it like they did, you couldn't help but be immersed in all of it.
"Yeah well, if your smile sucks, you need to practice it. That's how you get good at faking it. You sit down at a mirror or something and you keep trying until you can do it right. Trust me, you learn how and you'll smooth a lot of paths for yourself, cause you already know, no one likes a dude with a scowl like yours." Matthew said as he dropped his hands to dig them into his pockets, pulling his material taunt across his narrow hips. "And don't go saying 'I can't do it' because that's bullshit. You can, or you're just not trying hard enough because everyone can do it. If you don't try its not 'cause you can't, its because you're too ******** lazy to put out the effort. Its simple a simple trade... you want something, you do something to earn it. You want old ladies to talk to you about the plants you love so much? You learn how to ******** smile so they don't get scared off. Or you know... you don't and they don't. Its that simple."
Maybe that was a harsh way of putting it, maybe it was simplifying it too much, but Matthew didn't see any reason to reign himself in. He didn't know this guy and while he might even kinda like his punk attitude, he was still a burglar he'd caught breaking in red handed. He was pretty sure he could say whatever he wanted and the guy would have to swallow it, or leave. Win/win either way.
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Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 7:46 am
This kid looked like he was never going to shut up. And that goddamn smirk was proof that he was enjoying prodding Benji this way! Benji's gloved hands began to ball into fists at his side as he glared down the other kid before him.
"The ******** man? I'd rather you have called the cops than keep lecturing me about stupid s**t. What are you, like twelve?" Not that Benji was that much older. Hell, at a whopping 5'2 at fifteen, he was shorter already than most of his class. He wouldn't even hide that his attitude was totally compensating for his size. It always felt like no one respected someone small like he was, so he took up the foaming-at-the-mouth dog approach at life.
And what the hell was with this fake a** looking wanna be anyway? .... Chara couldn't help but immediately stop and rethink that phrase after he thought it. What the hell was up with himself?! Breaking into a ******** flower shop.. Damn.. Just damn.. The more he thought about it, the more he regretted doing so, especially without scoping out the place first, and the hotter his face felt.
"Make up your goddamn mind of what you wanna do!" There was the possibility of adding a threat to the end of that but he really didn't want to ruin the place. What a waste that would be... He could always lure the other outside, and beat the s**t out of him... Dammit, the kid didn't deserve that though, it was HIS home and it was Benji in the wrong, not him.. ********. It was days like these that made Benji wish he gave a little less of a s**t about people..
Whimsical Blue **Quick note: Your image in your signature doesn't work! the link to your plot thread is broken!
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Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 9:49 pm
"I'm sixteen, actually." Matthew said as he drew himself up to his full 5'7". It felt good, on top of his moral high ground, to have some inches on the other kid as well.
"As for what I want to do... I want to go back to bed, if its all the same to you." The teen straightened up and waved a hand at the open door, crossing his arms back over his chest again.
"You should go home too, it is hella late. You want to talk plants, come back when the store is open or something. I promise I won't kick you out unless you actually try to steal something, sour face or not. And if there is a cute girl with this... shiney pale hair and gold eyes..." He said as he waved his hands to indicate long hair. "Just tell her you're looking for Matthew. She works the shop sometimes when I'm not doing it. My Da owns it."
Yeah, he really couldn't help kinda liking the other guy, even as foul-mouthed and prickly as he was. He was kinda like himself, in a way, but without the ability to relate to people Matthew seemed to have learned. At least to an extent... he still got into plenty of fights these days.
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Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 6:35 am
"Seriously?! Sixteen?! What kinda short straw did I draw with my genes, ********.." Why the hell was everyone he met taller than he was?! Like, even the chibi senshi he met before were taller than he was! It was like the whole whole was just conspiring against him! .. Okay, naw, but it did bite. He was going to have to start carrying a stool around or something to try to be more intimidating. Maybe some platform shoes.. Something anyway.
Even after all this, the guy was still willing to have him over to shop? Seriously? Benji wanted to hate him for being such an a*****e for keeping him here for a moment, but s**t, this guy was alright. Hell, maybe they could even be friends of the d**k didn't bring up this night again. He never wanted to think about it ever again.
Thank whatever the hell was looking out for him because now he was free, and he did not hesitate to to get to the door once permitted to do so. Though he did stop right outside of the door frame to turn around and give the guy as earnest a smile that he could. Damn, it was a struggle.
"I'll come by maybe sometime after school or something. With money, promise. And I won't steal s**t. Swear."
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Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 12:42 pm
Matthew watched the kid go with a sort of smarmy half smile, thoroughly enjoying his literal and figurative high ground, for once. It didn't happen often, he was going to make the most of it while he could.
He was reaching for the door when the burglar stopped and turned back. He attempted a smile, which really did look more like a grimace than a real smile, buy hey? He was making an effort and that counted for something, right?
"Yeah, sure. I'm here after school a lot too. I'll see you around, then." The teen said as he lifted a hand, fingers spread. He closed the door after that and carefully made sure the lock was engaged before he left it to head upstairs. Matthew wasn't even sure what he'd originally come down for, but shrugged it off. It probably wasn't that important if he'd forgotten it.
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Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 4:47 am
"See ya."
Finally, freedom! The door closed behind him, and Benji allowed a moment after he left the facility to completely freak out with no words. What the ******** just happened?! How the hell did it go from breaking in to wanting to hang out after school or some s**t?! What in the world was that kid even thinking?!
None of it made sense to Benji at all! It was all sorts of crazy and confusing, but hey, no jail tonight!
Okay, yeah, sure, Benji would stop by sometime.. Maybe not soon, but he would! He didn't want to be all clingy and what not seeming. For now, Benji decided it would best to just head on home, as he doubted his heart could take any more close calls.
Never again. For atleast a week, he swore.
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