A Rose By Any Other Name
This modest flower shop isn't very large, but houses a wide variety of flowers and gardening accessories. The pink tiled floor and the terra cotta colored walls make this shop seem even cheerier than it already is. The shop is predictably lined wall to wall with flowers. There's not much leg room between aisles of fresh flowers, herbs, and gardening accessories. A rack near the wall next to the cash register displays a variety of vases and pots, some of them plain and cheap, others extravagant and pricy. There's also a small revolving rack with greeting cards near the cash register. A back room undoubtedly leads to where more flowers and supplies are stored. The large picture window in the front of the shop creates both a nice display area and lets the sunlight stream through into the shop, provided it's a sunny day. A neon sign is affixed to the front door, blinking 'OPEN' in green from eight AM to five PM on weekdays, ten AM to four PM on weekends. The shop's name is artfully painted onto the glass of one of the picture windows in neat red cursive.
The clock strikes eight and Sloane enters right on the chime. Behind her, the sun is setting, hiding behind the buildings as darkness settles in. She casts a long shadow over the tile of the floor as she pushes the door open, taking a few steps in and glancing about for the shop owner. This time, she is without her work uniform and dressed in an orange tank top and jean shorts, a leather jacket draped over her shoulder and held there by one hand. Over her eyes is a pair of black sunglasses, the lenses large enough to reach her brows. Something that wasn't there yesterday; a gruesome gash on her forehead just over her right eye, treated with a thick, wide piece of gauze and taped there. On the opposite side of her forehead is a much smaller bruise in a vaguely round shape. With a hand in her pocket, she ventures further in, figuring that Hana's likely about ready to lock up the store, as it is the weekend, and no one wants to work on a Saturday night. Chin lifting, Sloane calls out, "Hello?" Though not quite a yell, it's loud enough to project to the back of the store and through the storage room door.
The door to the shop is in fact unlocked. The lights are dimmed, but there is in fact someone home. Hana is in the store room again sifting through a new shipment of supplies. Considering the fact that it's so late, she's incredibly on edge. The blonde girl's white sweater dress is rolled up at the sleeves as she sifts through a box full of greeting cards. "Fudge. Duplicates." Hana sighs very quietly as she gets the phone number of the company off of the receipt in the box, moving back out towards the main room. The light streaming from the store room only brightens a small path towards the front door. When she steps out of the store room and hears a voice that she doesn't recognize immediately, Hana lets out something of a yelp before she recognizes Sloane and lets out a laugh. "Oh, heavens! You scared me." Then there's a pause as the woman flips on a light switch, staring at Sloane's forehead. "What happened?"
Sloane finds her way to the counter, leaning her hip against it as she watches Hana approach. Her hand comes up to lift the shades off the bridge of her nose, settling them into her black hair on top of her head. She's cringing somewhat from the sting of her recent injuries, but the smile on her face is evident. "Sorry," she says, snickering when Hana is alarmed. "Didn't mean to scare you. Didja get my number?" she wonders, looking to the side and at the cash register where the card had been hidden between the bills. Her tongue sticks out and slightly to the side as she grins wolfishly. "Oh, just had… a run in at the site. No big deal. That sort of thing happens all the time. I guess it's one of the cons when you work with… God's creatures," she explains, head tilting to the side by a few degrees. "Still hurts. But I'll heal quickly."
"Oh, right. The business card." Hana nods and smiles amiably enough at Sloane. "It's at home right now. What can I do for you tonight?" The blonde looks out towards the moonlight and gives the faintest of shudders, something which could easily be chalked up to the temperature in the store. Hana can't really run the heater a lot of the time else it would compromise the quality of her flowers. "A run in at the site? That sounds awful. Is the animal alright?" Hana asks, before she lays the receipt in her hand down next to the counter. She reaches for a pen underneath the counter and jots down a note on the receipt in loopy, extremely feminine handwriting: 'Call about duplicates!' At this point, the realization of how dark it is has hit her. She doesn't want to be outside any longer than she needs to — or even in the shop any longer than she needs to. That phone call probably won't get made tonight.
"Nothing, business wise, at least," Sloane says to Hana, her nails tapping against the counter as she leans against it. Her green eyes drop down to the receipt, then her brows come up in mild confusion. "Duplicates?" she wonders, biting on the tongue that had lolled from between her lips in amusement beforehand. When Hana inquires about the animal, Sloane pauses, eyes widening somewhat. Really, it wasn't just a run-in, but a hunting session gone horribly awry. For everyone who's asked about the gash on her head, the story has changed. "It's… uh, fine. I was the only one who was hurt," she explains to the other girl after thinking it over. Awkwardly, Sloane clears her throat. "Oh…" she says, looking over her shoulder and towards the setting sun outside, which can barely be seen. "Not a fan of the dark then, eh? Do you want me to give you a ride home?" Sloane offers, lifting a hand up from her pocket with her keys hanging from her middle finger. "Travelling in pairs is safer."
Someone is randomly in her shop, but… doesn't want to buy some flowers or a nice cheery greeting card? Hana doesn't seem to know how to take this, instead just looking fairly confused for a few moments. "Oh, yeah. The company I buy my cards from send me duplicates sometimes. They're usually very understanding when I call and they send me the right order in a jiffy, but it's a little bit of an inconvenience. Still, no real harm done." Hana smiles at Sloane before eyeing the bandage and shaking her head. "Well, thank goodness that you weren't hurt any worse than that." When Sloane brings up the darkness, Hana smiles a little sheepishly. "That obvious, huh? I don't know why, I've just never really liked it." Her voice lowers a notch or two before she reaches for her denim jacket, pulling it on over her dress. "Especially now with vampires. But if you're offering a ride home, I'm not going to say no to that. I walked this morning since it started off so sunny out. I didn't expect to be here so late. I was just about to call my brother and see if he'd give me a lift, but this is more convenient. I won't have to rip him away from the Playstation now." Hana lets out a quiet laugh as she reaches over, flicking the light to the store room off. She takes some keys out of her pocket and locks the door there before dimming the lights in the shop front again.
Sloane's head turns and she looks towards the greeting card rack that had been so unorganized the day before. Recollecting the incident with the cards, she laughs mutedly, her head shaking. "You should just keep them and use them for next year. I'm sure people'd still buy them," she suggests to the other woman, before turning about and heading towards the door while Hana locks up. "I've met a few vampires. They're not that bad, you know," she murmurs to Hana as she steps outside, twirling her keys around on her index finger. "In general though, I'm naturally not that fond of them. Mind you, there could be worse creatures out there," she mentions, her shoulders shrugging as she turns her head to glance back at Hana, her eyes seeming to reflect the light eerily, like a lot of animal eyes do. Once they're outside, it's revealed that Sloane doesn't have the company truck, but her crotch-rocket motorcycle instead. "Want it" she wonders, while picking the helmet up from the seat and offering it towards the blonde.
Hana nods a little to Sloane's first words. "I would normally if I weren't running so low on sympathy cards." The next part about vampires not being so bad causes Hana to frown quite deeply. "I don't profess to know or want to know what kind of morals that vampires have. The bottom line is that they're abominations. They're just not right. They should have died when God had intended them to. Walking around without a beating heart… unable to go into the sunlight without dying? That's no way to exist." She can't really use the term 'live' at this point, can she? Hana blinks when she notices the way that Sloane's eyes catch the light, although she makes no remark, blaming it on her sleepiness and the strange light from the street shining into the shop. After locking the front door to the shop, Hana spins to see the large motorcycle. Her eyes widen and she starts to laugh very quietly. "My word! This should be an experience. I've never ridden on one before…" Hana takes the helmet before looking at Sloane's own unprotected head. "Is that really safe?"
Sloane hands off the helmet and once her hands are free, she takes the handle bars of the bike and swings a leg over, pushing her bottom further up the seat. The keys go into the ignition, but she leaves it off for now, balancing without the kickstand as she watches Hana. "Some vampires didn't have a choice in the matter, you know. They might not have chosen that life," she reasons with Hana, speaking softly and without much enthusiasm, as though she doesn't expect the other to latch onto the concept of acceptance. "Get on the back, and wrap your arms around my waist, unless you think you can stay on without holding me," she says to Hana, bringing her sunglasses down over her eyes again. As the sky darkens, she switches the lights of her bike on, knowing Hana will be comforted by them. "I'll be fine. I can't fuck up my head anymore than I already have," she shrugs, patting the back section of the leather seat.
"Oughta just walk into the sun and be embraced by His holy warmth then," is what Hana mutters underneath her breath. She doesn't seem in a particularly venomous mood about it all tonight. The fact that she's continually looking over her shoulder in a paranoid manner might have something to do with it. Hana straps the helmet on and gets on the back of the bike as instructed. She doesn't seem totally thrilled about having to hold on so tight to Sloane, but she respects it's what she needs to do in order to stay on the bike. At Sloane's last comment, Hana shakes her head and lets out the faintest of giggles. "Now, that's not true. I'm not sure it would exactly be an improvement if you overturned this thing and your brains were spilled out on the road like some kind of pavement fruit punch. But I'm ready whenever you are."
"That's like me telling you to walk infront of a bus because you're fair, and I'm not," Sloane says, while indicating her own dark head of hair and very tanned skin by pointing. Once Hana has the helmet on, Sloane twists in the seat to face the other woman, her hands checking the fastening strap by tugging on both sides without much regard for Hana's personal space. "I won't, though. I'm good at driving this time. You're safer with me on here than you are inside city transit," she assures her. Satisfied with the helmet, she turns around again, settling her back against Hana's torso and looking at her through the mirror. "You're awful close-minded. I personally think we look cute," she muses, before the motorcycle rips to life, vibrating and roaring as Sloane revs the engine. Pulling away from the parking lot and driving down the road, she still, oddly enough, hasn't asked Hana for her address. And she doesn't intend to.
Hana doesn't have much of a retort to make at Sloane's comment. At least not at first. After a few seconds of considering it, she instead focuses on Sloane's driving skills. "This time? Well, I'm trusting you here." Hana takes a peek around the front at the mirror, laughing quietly. "Maybe. I'm going to have quite a bit of helmet hair after this!" The blonde says before she starts to say something else. The syllable of 'Vuh' barely gets out before they're going down the road. It hasn't occured to her yet that Sloane hasn't asked for an immediate address.
Sloane's definitely going over the speed limit. She takes mostly back roads, avoiding traffic when she can for most of the trip and making it a relatively quick one. She's quiet for the majority of the ride towards wherever they're going, her body radiating heat like it tends to do because of her other nature. There's no point in trying to speak over the roar of the engine, it being an unusually loud type of bike. But most riders like it that way. As they reach the outskirts of Dallas, it becomes clearer and clearer where she's headed - to the wildlife reserve site, both Sloane's home and place of employment. Approximately twenty five minutes after leaving Hana's shop they arrive in the large dirt parking lot where the main office can be seen, and behind it, down a pleasant forest path, is a big barn and a wooden, cabin-like house. Just off to the side is a pond, surrounded by tall wire fences and wooden structures for the animals. The lights are off in the cabin, meaning that Cookie and Jordan Lee are likely out for the night, luckily for Hana.
Sloane kills the engine. "Haaaa," she says, looking pleased with the fact that her fathers aren't around. "This is perfect."
Since Sloane is being so quiet, so is Hana. The speed that Sloane drives the bike at makes Hana white knuckle the other woman's waist almost painfully. She wishes for earplugs most of the trip, the helmet doing little to muffle the loud rumbling of the bike. For a while, Hana doesn't seem to notice that Sloane isn't going in the direction of her house. It's only until she notices the expanse of trees that she gets worried. "Sloane, where are we going?" Hana asks, her voice quivering a bit. It's bad enough that she's out past dark, but a woman she doesn't even really know at all has absconded with her somewhere. When Sloane shuts the bike down, Hana takes the helmet off and then stands up, having a bit of trouble with her equilibrium from the ride. She stumbles briefly before looking around. "Is this… is this the Wildlife Park?"
Her hand comes over Hana's while the woman is still clinging around her waist. She gives it a comforting pat. "Yup," Sloane says to Hana, grinning broadly as she swings her leg off the bike and kicks the stand up. The keys are removed from the ignition and she steps away. Later on she'll move the bike to the garage. Not that anyone would feel like walking this far out to steal it. Taking the helmet from Hana and putting it on the handle of the bike, she turns. She begins walking down the dirt pathway and through the trees that seem to form an arch. "Parents aren't around, so we won't be disturbed at all. Those two do a lot of disturbing," she murmurs, gesturing for the other to follow. "There's a fence around these parts that keeps most things out, see?" she says, pointing off to the distance where the tall wire fence hits the forest, making it difficult for anything to get over the points at the top. "And flood LED lights. We're accidentally vampire-proof." Then, she points to the animals in their captivity. "Plus, the animals would stir and make noise if anything weird came by. No need to be afraid here," she tells Hana, practically skipping down the trail.
The poor blonde girl doesn't want to be here, alone, with a stranger. At the same time… she doesn't want to be out in the dark. Period. She starts to trail behind Sloane nervously, doing a half-job behind the other woman. "Okay… but this doesn't really explain why we're here, Sloane." A nervous laugh creeps into Hana's voice as she looks all around. It's all incredibly open in the outdoors, without anywhere to hide. The flood lights don't seem to reassure her very much whatsoever. She comes a little closer to Sloane and nods to her. "Then again, I guess you technically did say that you'd give me a ride home. You didn't specify whose home you'd be goin' to." More of Hana's Texas drawl creeps into her voice during that last sentence. Hana's wide blue eyes take in everything around as she skirts nearer and nearer to Sloane, barely avoiding crashing into her since she's not really watching where she's going. Sloane's funny little hop-step is noted although Hana doesn't comment. She simply wraps her arms around herself and shivers in the cool night air.
"It's a Saturday night, Hana, and it's just past eight thirty. No point in wasting the night by sleeping or… watching your brother play video games," Sloane says to Hana over her shoulder, while removing her leather jacket. The over-sized jacket is handed over to Hana, who she'd noticed was a bit cold. "I don't really know why I took you here. But I think you might like the barn," Sloane says to Hana, puffing her cheeks up. They walk across the field and alongside the animal fences. The wolves are the only ones to stir from their resting places, as they are nocturnal in the first place. Sensing their kin walking by, they come to the edge of their ample-sized cages and just /stare/. "You don't need to be scared," she tells Hana, casting her another look from over her shoulder. "I'm the most frightening thing you'll ever meet on this land. And even then, I'm not that scary," Sloane grins as she stands at the mouth of the big, red barn, her hand on the closed doors which are highlighted by the white Christmas lights around them. "My parents are actually pretty religious," Sloane says, pushing the wooden doors open to reveal the interior of the barn. Inside, there is plenty of straw and hay. A pitch fork, barrels, and… the Nativity scene, all carved out of wood. Above, hanging from the rafters is a large wooden cross. "I say this crap belongs in a church, and not my barn."
Hana flushes a hot red at Sloane's words, clearing her throat a little bit. She takes the jacket gratefully and wraps it around her shoulders, curling underneath it. "Good point. I guess I don't have much of a social life outside of work. At least I haven't lately. I should start going to church more frequently…" Hana says before she walks alongside Sloane, near the animal fences. She stops and stares at all of them briefly. The wolves get a particularly long glance over before Hana continues on her way. "I don't find you that scary. Your driving on the other hand is a little debatable, Sloane." She quirks a brow in skepticism when Sloane says that her parents are religious before she gets a load of the barn. "Holy smokes! Look at all of this. Do they go to church?" She rather suddenly asks. The Nativity scene is flocked to. Especially the little baby Jesus.
Sloane is quick to close the barn door once both of them are inside. If her parents get home, she doesn't want them deciding to take a visit up the lane and peek in, for Hana's sake. "I don't have much of a social life either. I figure you're a good start," she says to the other girl, feeting moving over the bits of straw on the wooden floor boards and creating a bit of a crunching noise. She heads over the a bail of hay and the more comfortable, loose pile beside it, sitting down in it. To her right is Joseph, looking over his new born baby Jesus. "I drive quickly, but I'm a good driver! Just… not by legal standards," she says, eyes shifting to the side. Watching Hana observe the scene, she grins. "See, I knew you'd like it. As for my parents, eh… they go when they can. Mostly on Sundays when I'm still sleeping. Morning mass," Sloane says, clucking her tongue.
"You should go with them sometime. It may not be as bad as you think, you know. Then again, you don't really need to attend church to have a personal relationship with God." That's probably the most enlightened world view that poor Hana has in her darling blonde skull. She rather suddenly lets out a loud yawn as she steps away from the Nativity scene. "Alright, this will probably sound a little strange. Do you mind if I stay over for the night? I don't want to inconvenience you by havin' you drive me back into town and find my house. That'd be another thirty minute trip and I know that the price of gas for those things is dear." Hana is willing to bet that they have a guest room somewhere in this palatial, wild reserve. She reaches up to scratch at her head for a moment. "I mean, if you can put me up for the night. It's just that I'm normally in bed by at least ten o'clock…" And she's starting to look like someone who needs their favorite teddy bear and pillow. "Won't your…parents mind? I can leave early in the morning. My brother can pick me up and I won't be any trouble at all…"
"Too tired on Sundays, girl," Sloane shakes her head, nose wrinkling in distaste. "I wake up pretty early every other day to work. Sunday's my sleeping in day," she sighs, standing up from the hay again and brushing off the clingy bits of straw from her butt. At Hana's question, Sloane's brows raise suddenly, looking a bit confused. Just minutes ago, Hana had been so uncomfortable in the park. "All right," she says, and then turns around, beginning to climb the staircase of hay bails which bring one to another level of the barn, with a door leading into what seems like an insulated room. "Up here. We've got a room here that's pretty nice," she says, waiting on the bails halfway to help Hana up. "I can stay with you, if you'd like. Might be a bit creepy up here by yourself. Then again, Jesus is just outside…" Sloane mentions, looking downwards at her.
There's a pause as Hana considers the offer before she finally nods. "No, I should be fine. You can stay if you like but I'm a fairly hard sleeper. I just need to be up in time to open the shop tomorrow." Not that Sunday mornings are generally their busiest day, considering many people are in church, or like Sloane, elect to sleep in late. She follows Sloane up the staircase easily enough, rubbing at her eyes for a moment. "Jesus is both inside and outside. At least for me. I figure if anyone here wanted to do me harm, they'd have done it by now. Even if your parents are… you know… well…" Hana trails off there. "They worship our Christian God and that's a step in the right direction." With that, Hana continues the stairs, eager to be shown her room. The sleepiness is overtaking her rather quickly for someone who did seem fairly uncomfortable. Evidently being outside at night isn't just her cup of tea.
