Welcome to Gaia! ::

Florian had the space heaters on near the front door of his shop, all in an effort to keep the planets nearest to it from dying from the winter weather. It wasn't an uncommon problem he had to deal with each year, but he still felt like every time the weather dropped, it might bring a bit of a headache along with it.

With finals going on at the university, the usual flow of students trying to get new succulents or cacti had trickled down to nearly zero customers now. It wasn't all that bad, though; it just meant that the people who would come in were looking for gifts for the holidays or something to try and brighten up the mood when the sky seemed so dreary.

Rotating through the store and fixing all the plants up on each shelf, making sure they were properly fed and watered, he made his way back towards the counter as time ticked by. There was supposed to be one pick up for a bonquet for someone's birthday, but he still had a few hours and had already gotten it arranged and stored in the small fridge for when they arrived.

With a sigh, he finally leaned over the counter and let his mind wander, thinking about Angel for a bit and how things seemed to have changed with that horrible gameboard just a month or so back. His eyes fluttered closed as he wondered how to proceed on all that, unaware of anyone passing the storefront for now. If anyone entered, there was at least the bell to break him out of his daydream.

The bell had him snapping out of it, looking up and around for a moment as he fixed the paperwork he'd knocked slightly askew on the counter. To see a customer wandering and a bit lost wasn't new; at least this one looked like they were trying to reference something, which was better than most who came in.

When they came up, he offered his usual smile, though it grew more earnest when he heard the reasoning for their visit. It always warmed him to hear that they were gifts for someone close to his customers, and he always wanted to make sure things went well, maybe a bit more now with things going on with Angel.

"Oh, hello, good afternoon! Of course, I can help with those. There are a lot of easy-to-keep plants that handle winter well, though I do have to ask if you have any pets, since that can help with figuring this out." Already pulling up one of the books from under the counter, he knew all the plants in the shop, but it would be good to have them look over the catalogue for general info.

"For the bouquet, though, does she have any favorite flowers or colors? I can help arrange them after as well." There had been a new shipment of ribbons lately anyway that he hadn't gotten to use with the drop in business. That, plus the little crochet plants he'd made that now sat around the counter to welcome customers as well.

"Okay, so those both work for a bouquet, but they don't do well in winter. The cold isn't good for them unless they're in the ground and set up pretty well. Maybe they might be a bit better indoors in a pot, but hydrangea bushes aren't small," he joked before flipping through a few more sections.

"The first ones are hydrangeas, by the way, they change color based on the soil's PH, the second are chrysanthemums, which can be hardier, but most of the ones in stores are seasonal and not really great for the cold. Pansies or violas are nice and hardy, so they can withstand the temperature changes. You might know pansies if you've ever seen the cartoon Alice in Wonderland; they're the smaller singing flowers."

Leaving the book open for a bit so they could read the care guide, he looked over the other flowers he had for a bouquet with the colors they'd shown. There were a lot of options, but both flowers took up a lot of space, so it would do well to have some smaller fillers in there. The question was what as he tapped his chin and thought through things.

Glad to see that they were taking what he said with more attention than most customers, Florian turned back to look towards what he had available for bouquets and pulled a few things out with the colors they'd mentioned in mind.

"Yes, these would work in a bouquet with a few other flowers to even out the shape, and I have any color you would like for the other two. They're very easy to care for and last all year long." Leaning over the counter a bit, he pointed towards the right wall of his shop where he had some of the potted plants sorted by color. The newest idea Angel mentioned to him that he'd implemented.

Though after a moment, he straightened up and decided it might be easier to walk over there instead of pointing. "Violas tend to be purple mostly, but pansies come in almost every color." This time, he picked up one of each as he stood near the shelves and held them up for inspection.

"Of course, and yes they do! Just let me," he said as he moved a few of the other plants aside on the shelf and pulled out one that was white with the smallest bit of purple in the center, "like this?"

Holding the potted plant up for them to look at, he brought that alongside a purple and blue one to add to the bunch on the counter. With the ideas going through his head on the bouquet, he turned to look back towards the cooler of cut flowers and started pulling out the few hydrangeas and chrysanthemums and some baby's breath, and other taller but thin flowers to balance out everything.

Lying a few out on the paper that would hold the flowers within the decorative outer wrapping, he fiddled with the organization as they watched. "I'll use a nicer cellophane on the outside with the ribbon to make it look nice, but this will hold things together better."

As he worked, he thought about what would look best and fiddled with the arrangement as they spoke. The pause where they focused on their phone gave him time to finish the last few touches on it and get it bundled up and wrapped properly with the external layer of cellophane before he used a scissor to score the ribbon and curl it.

"Looks done to me, and you're okay. I hope they'll both like everything. If you ever need anything, though, the store is open almost every day." Showing them the bouquet before typing in the final totals into the computer, so the tap-to-pay pad would wake up.

"Whenever you're ready, and then do come back and let me know how the potted plants do."