[PRP] BREAK TIME IS OVER (Shiloh&Aleksy)

[shibrogane]

The text came through at seven in the morning on a Tuesday.

Melancholies

beaumont
iv bn ptint. y rnt u bk 4m xms brk?
no1 wll wrk ur shft.
v incnvnt.
txt me bk or cme 2 shp or smth

The sender was in Shiloh's phone as "Spektor".

The sender... was Shiloh's boss.  

[Melancholies]

Seven in the morning being way too early for Shiloh, who was wasted and sleep drunk in bed. He looked at the phone with a look of pure hatred, but hey it might be Jamie or someone and he got over it pretty quick.

Except, it wasn't anyone he could've been expecting. Actually, it made his stomach drop. Of course he'd have the same goddamn job in the new world, what the ******** had he been thinking?


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text to: ******** class="clear">

[shibrogane]

Melancholies

lnguge

WHAT WAS HIS AVERSION TO SPELLING WORDS OUT???

It was still a flower shop. It was still in the same place. The store didn't open to customers until nine, but when Shiloh rolled up at seven thirty Aleksy was already there and had been for like two hours, because it was delivery day, and he had flowers to sort since Shiloh had never let him know he was back from break and thus the delivery fell upon him alone. Anyway, he greeted Shiloh at the door with a dour look, all black-eyed at last in the familiar grumpy face. His arms were full of cellophane-wrapped Gerbera daisy stems; he handed these over without any fanfare, and went back to the truck outside for a wooden box full of potted succulents.

"Did you drop out of school and forget to tell me," he wanted to know. "I told you, that is the stupidest thing to do if you wish to become a social worker. They require a degree."

Yes, this seemed like a normal Aleksy.

"Though then I could have you around the shop more," he mused. "The plants like you."  

[Melancholies]

Shiloh parked his bike in the back of the building (chained it up real good, that thing wasn't going ******** anywhere) before making his way inside. Thank god he remembered his apron smock. He accepted the flowers without any fanfare as Aleksy went about his normal business.

"What." Was that something his this-world counterpart was dealing with? "No I didn't drop out..." Because he sure as hell had been giving it some thought lately with all the magic s**t going on.

He looked down at the plants in his arms. Aleksy at least wasn't lying about his secret green thumb. "It's just been..." How many times had he had this conversation now? The "everything's changed and I don't know how to tell you I'm from another universe" spiel? "It's been really rough since December. Anyway, where do you want these?" The Gerbera's seemed to perk right up under his touch.

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[shibrogane]

"Good," huffed Aleksy. "Once you're out it's hard to get back in." He should know. He'd done stupid s**t like that as a teenager. Okay, no, he hadn't, but he'd had to go get his GED after some life-bullshit happened, and only had his own business through excellent interpersonal connections, so he knew about this stuff. "You drop out, you end up camwhoring for your rent, and it becomes worse from there."

He gave Shiloh a Look. "There's nothing wrong with sex work if it's what you want to do." He said it with the manner of someone forestalling an argument. "I doubt you want it, you are so close with the rabbit boy. You know I am here to talk if you need it. And they go in their usual place, of course," and then he was muttering something under his breath in Russian. It sounded exasperated, but fond.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Usual place, right..." He thought for a moment, but he remembered enough of the old layout of the store to find what he assumed to be the 'usual place'. He went to preening them a little, the color brightening, the buds practically flourishing under his hands. He missed this.

"Yeah, I'm kind of in a committed relationship." He snorted back, finding it easy to banter. "I guess if worst came to worst we could both become camwhores though."

He wandered back to the car to pick up an assortment of orchids. "So what all did I miss?" He was fondly preening those too, marveling at how soft the petals felt under his fingertips. It was good stress relief.

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[shibrogane]

"I live off residuals from mine," said Aleksy, sticking his nose in the air as he went out for another armful of flowers. Was he joking? (No.) Did it SEEM like he could MAYBE be joking? (Yeah, maybe, but he wasn't.)

He said, "The Valentine's Day rush, you little p***k," but that was fond, too. Aleksy didn't seem mad about it, just resigned: very Russian. He tended to his paperwork quickly, and then came back in and shut the door behind him. There were new vases to put away, but he had to enter the invoice from the delivery into the account book, so Shiloh could do that. "The usual condolence bouquets. I fired that little brunette, the one that refused to touch succulents."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Oh." He was mussing with the orchids still. "Sorry." His responses were just as deadpan and just as lacking in venom. It was a nice bit of normalcy. He actually fell back into the routine quickly, knowing that if there was something laying around, it should probably be put away before he got bitched at.

He supposed he'd thank the stars for not getting fired for missing god-knew how long of work, while other people apparently got fired over refusal to tough plants. Then again, this was a flower shop, so it was kind of the wrong profession. "What's the problem with touching succulents anyway." Or any sort of flower really. "Shouldn't 've been workin' here in the first place."

"Oh, I like this one." He was organizing the vases when he came to a particular one, his eyes scanning the cuts and intricate designs in the glass work.

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[shibrogane]

"Started to buy work from studio art students for vases," said Aleksy, leaning away from his paperwork to check which one Shiloh meant. If he had more unique floral looks to present, it helped him stay competitive with the cheaper online floral superstores. The interesting, sometimes terrifying, vases from the ceramics classes helped.

He sighed. "I do not know," he said, resigned. "She was a good seller. Completely useless otherwise. But a good seller."

Aleksy closed his accounting book. "The rest of that can wait," he said. "Come, sit with me. I have been worried about you."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh gently set the vase down, eyes scanning the room for colors that would look good with it. At least being an artist helped with that; he wasn't a master floral arranger or anything, but he could match colors. When Aleksy beckoned him over, he slowly turned to consider his proposal. Sit? And not work? Fine by him (not that he considered this work really. The only actual work was dealing with people).

"Alright, alright." He slowly made his way over to lean against the counter. Shiloh looked a little sheepish, scratched the back of his head. "I didn't mean to make you worry or nothin'." He did seem genuinely apologetic, if not really awkward. "I kinda hit a really bad wall after break..."

He hated lying, but it was still a partial truth, sort of.

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[shibrogane]

"It is alright," said Aleksy. "You're here now." He shrugged, and crouched down behind his counter to get the till ready for the day, since he was there. "Everything's been odd since then. My boyfriend has been replaced with a pod person, my best friend as well. I am glad you seem normal, it could be frustrating otherwise."

He sighed. "There is coffee in the back room. I did not mean to wake you."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

That... caught Shiloh sharp. A pod person? "What d'you mean?" He tilted his head, "Like replaced with an alien clone or something?" It hit him that Aleksy might have been referring to the events with the void. But surely he'd know about the old world, right? He was magic. Then again he knew a few others that were totally different too.

He slowly started to gravitate to the backroom. "You can keep talking, I'm just grabbing a cup." He said, not wanting it to seem like he was just bailing. Hopefully there was creamer and sugar back there too. Sugar at the least.

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[shibrogane]

There was cream and sugar. Of course there was. Aleksy adulterated his coffee with enough sugar to kill a diabetic. "They claim they are from a parallel world," he said to his own coffee cup, which had long gone cool. "And they lack memories, and scars, which I either remember the creation of or directly made." He scowled at the memory of Jeremiah's disappeared bite scar. And the revelation that his other-world self had apparently slept with Jeremiah. Seriously, what kind of slut was their Aleksy? He wasn't going to sleep with a married man.

"It is disconcerting. I cope by pretending they are amnesiacs."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh was glad to see the sugar rations hadn't changed. He poured a cup and added enough extra contents to make any coffee connoisseur sick. It looked more like chocolate milk at this point. He made a soft noncommittal sound in the back of his throat as he took a sip of his drink. A little too hot still, but it woke him right the ******** up.

He felt bad though, lying. But he felt bad saying that he was one of them two. Aleksy was very obviously talking about the events in the void, of which he didn't know about... "Sounds like the ball all over again..." He said as he took another sip, wanting to keep his actions busy out of awkwardness. Wait, surely the ball still happened in this world, right?

s**t, was he even a Noble in this timeline? But then like, it would have been a contiguous thing, right? His head hurt.

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[shibrogane]

"The ball," said Aleksy, scoffing. "That was a mess." His black eyes were rather unfathomable as he glanced at Shiloh. "I am glad you and Tatya are alright. It must have been harrowing."

Melancholies