Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ah, right. Introductions. Those were certainly a thing.

Eying the offered hand for a moment, the boy reached out and gave it a firm shake before promptly letting go. "Elliot. You can probably guess my last name, considering..." He gestured upwards, where "Lindstrom Flowers" was written out in colorful and fancy writing. Giving a little shrug then, he offered what could have been a small smile.

"Yeah, sure, drop by whenever you want. Can't promise I'll always be around, but worth a try anyways."

That, and he liked the company. Though the day had started out boring and quiet, the arrival of Bas and this group of customers had kept him up and amused.

((3. Something about you seems to have caught his eye, as he visibly perks up and calls out to you, asking if he can help you find anything or if you're just browsing. After a bit of conversing, he thanks you for keeping him company and hands you one of the freebie trinkets. ))

It was still early, and Axel indulged himself by poking around a bit before heading back to his own booth. The flowers caught his eye. He wasn't really interested in flowers for himself, of course, but if they were cheap he might pick one or two up for his mother or sister.

The floral arrangements were clearly far too beautiful and complex for him to afford, so he was wandering off to look for something else when the booth's sole occupant called out to him. Axel stopped to chat for a bit. He was just browsing, but he must have relieved the pink-haired boy's boredom a bit, because he was presented with a little flower-shaped hairpin. He thanked Elliot for the trinket and tucked it into his pocket before heading back to his own booth. It would make a nice present for his mother.

What the hell was with the uneven surge of customers? When there wasn't a giant group of girls giggling loudly and examining his wares (sometimes literally "his wares" and not the flowers...), there was no one at all. While the latter was usually a-okay by Elliot's standards, the fact that his mother had come by an hour ago to confiscate his book meant that he had nothing to do during these lulls.

With his face planted in the surface of his booth, the boy was just about to let out another groan when he heard a vaguely familiar voice just overhead. Gently swatting at the finger that was poking at him, Elliot peered up at the other boy, blinking blankly for a few seconds before propping his chin up in his hand.

"Please tell me you're here to entertain me. Please."

Good question--what did he want to do? The first two replies that popped into mind--"I don't know" and "Just talk, I guess"--would doubtlessly just result in long, awkward silences from both parties as they floundered with figuring out what to say. On the other hand...

"Ah." Dull expression brightening slightly, Elliot grabbed the stool that stood beside him, turning and setting it so that it was closer to Rikki. Patting the surface, he looked up at Rikki. "Sit. You don't have to stay for long, but at least help relieve me of this boredom for a couple of minutes."

Rolling his sleeves up to his elbows, the boy lift a hand and pat at the surface of the booth until his fingers found the box where he kept all the beaded flower hairpins. Then he stared up at Rikki expectantly.

The corners of the boy's lips may have pulled upwards in the faintest smile as he began to root through the box, picking out various pins and carefully setting them down in front of Rikki. "It is definitely a good thing that you keep your hair long," He agreed, squinting at one hairpin in particular before scrunching his nose and dropping it back into the box, "And as thanks for keeping me company...uh. I guess you can keep whatever I'm going to put in your hair."

Which was...a pretty generous amount, if the tiny pile on the booth was anything to go by. Apparently he had no qualms with playing with another guy's hair if it meant passing the time.

Picking up an orange flower, he carefully separated the pin with his fingers before leaning forward and pinning Rikki's hair back with practiced ease. "So, where are your buddies? That sulky guy with the sour face and that over-enthusiastic girl with the odd sense of humour?"

Listening quietly, he let out a tiny hum in acknowledgement to the answer. So his friends had wandered away--somehow, considering his first impressions of them, Elliot couldn't say that he was surprised. He let out a tiny snort of amusement, but that was quickly followed up with a little groan at the question/

"If by 'someone' you mean my parents," He grumbled, his tone dry, "I've pretty much been here manning this booth the whole time. My friend is around somewhere too, but hell if I know where he's gone to."

As he spoke, he slide another two flowers into the boy's hair. His fingers paused for a moment, and then he let out a quiet "huh". "Can't remember if I ever introduced myself. Since it's awkward having a nameless guy play with your hair, I'll make this minusculely less awkward by telling you that my name is Elliot."

"Aw man, that sucks. I don't even know if my parents have a booth.." He trailed of a bit, considering. He hadn't seen one yet, but that didn't mean they hadn't tucked one in a quiet corner somewhere.

He wasn't sure how many flowers he had in his hair now, but it felt like a lot. He wasn't used to putting a whole lot of stuff up there. "Oh! I'm Rikki, if you didn't hear that earlier. Cool to meet you." He hadn't even thought about that. Jeez. His stranger danger senses were so broken.

Rikki's eyes slid to the side, though he didn't turn his head for fear of messing up whatever Elliot was doing. He didn't quite recognize the man standing there, but that was because he'd seen a lot of faces today. "Hello."