Absit Omen RPG
Role-Play Boards => Diagon Alley => London => Floriblunders Florists & Gamp Flat => Topic started by: Sam Forester on February 26, 2022, 04:26:59 PM
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Friday
Third of August
Early Afternoon
Sam (https://i.imgur.com/AgoWNSU.png) felt relieved almost as soon as she had approached the flower shop, sure there was the overwhelming floral smell emanating from the building as she moved closer, but it was relaxing to her, reminded her a little of Hogwarts with the lessons in the greenhouses that always stank of one scent or another, although more often it was fertilizer, but sometimes it smelt beautiful, she might have to remember to visit the shop more just for the smell.
She gently opened the door and hugged her chest, freezing slightly at the wall of smells and scents from the plants, it was certainly...different, the potency hit her almost immediately and she struggled to not cover her nose so as to adjust, the range from humid plants to the sweet nectar, to the pollen that broke her freeze as she ended up gripping her nose, lurching forwards in a high pitched sneeze as she walked into the store.
Her eyes glanced around the store, taking in the many varieties of plants, she knew what she wanted, although now she was here she was having doubts on whether it was what she wanted or if she'd seem dumb for it, the fact the store was in Diagon implied that the plants weren't all muggle ones, she swore one of them was staring at her but she didn't want to voice the concern without seeming like she was insane.
With a hhm she leaned over a table and started to look over the plants available, the things she wanted most was a plant companion with a good scent to aid her flat, she hoped to move out soon however until then she needed something that would clean the weird smells that was starting to enter the cheap room, and the other was either getting a lot of petals, or a plant that could produce alot so she could try out a petal bath, it just seemed so...romantic and calming.
Slowly she stood up again and looked over at a girl, seeming several years her younger she approached slowly, something about her seemed familiar, did she see her at Hogwarts?
"Um, hi there, this may sound odd, do you have a plant that grows petals very quickly?" She asked as she tried remembering who the girl may be, she must be a Hufflepuff to work with so many flowers.
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She had turned on the Wireless while she was working, having been left to mind Floribunder's until her mother had returned to run the later shift. It was classical music - Tchaikovsky - but only because Osha didn't want to inflict her own taste on unsuspecting customers or patrons walking through the door.
Floriblunders was bigger than it seemed from the outside, where row upon row of colourful summer flowers were arranged in buckets next to the entrance. Inside, too, there were flowers everywhere. When you entered it was mostly more buckets of single flowers on either side, with potted flowers hanging from the beams above.
Deeper in were flower arrangements, bouquets, more potted plants, gardening equipment, seeds. Even a wall of moss and highland florets. It was neat but busy with things to look at.
Osha (https://urstyle.fashion/styles/3187166) sat behind a long wooden counter here, arranging a bouquet in a shimmering blue vase. Behind her was a workshop area with an immense working table surrounded by the shop's more dangerous flowers and plants.
"Um, hi there, this may sound odd..."
Osha glanced up from her task, partially obscured by deep brown petals and periwinkle leaves. "Hi!" she grinned at the other witch as she slid the vase aside and hopped off her stool. "I'm Osha. Um, we totally do," her hands went behind her back as she glanced around the shop at some usual suspects
"Depends on what you need it for? Chrysanthemums have loads of petals but they're tiny..." Osha walked over to one of open shelves by the window, with a wide pot of orange-yellow flowers. "And we have Larissa Lavender if you need them for potions, but you'll also need some special plant food if you want them to grow faster."
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She didn't think she was quite ready at the amount of plants that she was looking for, well, she was given two options so far, but one was a species of plants and that was possibly more intimidating, she wasn't that good with herbology that she remembered, although a plant that doubled for potions was certainly a useful idea, but that came later, lavender was a nice smell though.
Glancing about the plants that were pointed out, she took them in as she pondered what seemed to have the better petals, giving a soft hum as she tried to feel one and hoped it wouldn't snap or bite at her like some plants she had come under attack from at Hogwarts when the professor said they were completely harmless.
"I was thinking of...it'll sound dumb...but I want to have the petals grow quickly when picked so that I can use them for baths...it just...sounds nice to try." She felt stupid for attempting to do it, she knew it likely wasn't that weird but that did little to calm her own mind of the situation.
She felt the petals gently of various different plants, idly rubbing a finger over the top of them in the hopes it wasn't harming the plants, some felt oddly oily to her and it made her think of potentially getting some oils for the bath also. However that was an idea for later, not right now.
"Oh, uh, also if it helps with smells...there's weird smells coming into my flat and it would be nice if it helped...Or I'll get a second anyway." She tried to flash a soft smile at her, she didn't want it to seem like she wanted to spend as little as possible and get some amazing all in one plant, but knowing herself an all in one plant was more likely to survive being forgotten on the windowsill then two plants.
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She nodded along as the other girl explained what she needed the petals for, though it didn't sound dumb or odd to her at all. Loads of people came in looking for petals to throw in baths and on beds; it was really awkward sometimes, especially when it was grown wizards who obviously didn't want to say they wanted them for romantic times.
"Weird smells, huh?" Osha's lips pulled into a thoughtful half-smile as her hands went behind her back, eyes sweeping the shop. "Honestly it's better to burn something first if you want to cleanse the air, like incense or an essential oil. That way you aren't just masking a bad smell..."
After another pensive second, she made a gesture. "Hold on."
Osha darted off and went around the shop to pick a few things off the shelf before she returned to the counter, where she deposited them.
"Okay, check it," she indicated a few tiny glass bottles first. "These are like, basic cleansing oils. You put them in a tiny burner. Tea Tree is fab but kind of, like, medicinal? Sage and sweet orange dissipate faster, after you burn them. Or you can try the incense versions."
Glancing back up, she tapped the narrow stack of incense sticks on the counter. "After that you can use the petals. So what you want to do is use scents that match or smell nice together."
"I'm Osha by the way," she smiled, because she liked her summer job very much.
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Sam didn't expect such a reaction about the question of smells, it made sense obviously, she didn't expect to get what seemed like such an excited response as she went about the store to gather the materials, it made herself get somewhat excited at the enthusiasm showed by the other girl, Osha! Osha was her name! She may of known her from her time at Hogwarts but Sam wasn't the most sociable so it would just be that, they were in the same house together at school, she didn't expect her to recognize Sam, especially after the transformation.
Sam came over to the counter and nodded at the stuff displayed, she gently lifted one of the incense so that she could sniff it to see what it was like, she gave a soft sigh in response as she nodded and put it back down.
She totally didn't know if it was a good incense smell but it wasn't unpleasant certainly!
"Would like...a Jasmine plant work well with this? Jasmine has always smelt nice to me." She looked up and then went red slightly as she cleared her throat. "Oh and sorry, I'm Sam. I uh, work on the Knightbus." She said with a soft smile as she looked away again.
"Oh and I love your outfit, its very pretty." She added awkwardly with a slight squirming of herself, she wasn't too used to being able to compliment outfits, she did her best to not overthink things but she was always terrified it may come off as weird for doing so.
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Osha's smile brightened even further at the compliment - she liked picking outfits to wear in the shop, especially now that mum had given up on trying to influence her style. The younger witch smoothed her skirt and did a half curtsy, laughing.
"Thanks! It's an in colour, innit?" she pinched the sleeve of her cardigan. "Been seeing this just bout everywhere. I'm saving up to get a coat in, like, a lighter shade, but Merlin knows it'll carry a stain."
You could never really bring anything nice to Hogwarts without expecting it to bear the marks of whatever madness a new year brought. She'd just have to be precious about it.
"But, right, Jasmines, you were saying..." Osha righted herself from the distraction and looked around the shop again, deliberating. "Jasmine's like... real strong, it could go over the incense. We got some Spanish Jasmine, nice stuff, but you have to be good with your charms."
She knelt, picking up a small pot of overflowing vines from a lower shelf, with a few waxy white flowers spilling forth.
The aroma was distinct as she placed it on the counter. "So, Jasmine isn't from round these parts, needs heating charms. Got to keep it balanced or she'll wilt like nobody's business. Best keep her against a wall, they're vine plants you know."
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She had a point that it would stain like mad, it would be very light and more like a bluish grey then a violet colour, if she was in Hogwarts then even with the elves that was kissing the cardigan goodbye, someone would find a way to ruin it, which would be a shame as it would look rather good on the girl, she tried to think of another that might work but before she could manage to come up with an actual idea the shopkeep was moving on to getting some jasmine to find.
She looked over the plant with a smile as she considered where to put it, she could get some sort of levitation charm to keep it by her window and have it drape over, perhaps could even replace her curtains in time, that would be very pretty and fairly cute to have as a house decoration, the breeze from the window could carry the scent of the plant around her flat.
"It looks great, a heating charm shouldn't be too hard to achieve, life tip if you ever get your own place, use a heating charm instead of paying for hot water, helps keep it cheaper if you can manage them." She was glad it was a magical solution to an additional home cost she could use. Same with using magic for cooling during the hotter months, she was glad she wasn't a muggle.
"Oh! What if you tried lavender? You may not even need to buy it in the colour, the Hogwarts library has a book on fashion spells, some of them are transfiguration for changing the colour pigments permanently, how to expand the pockets..." A lifesaver she was finding. "And how to get some difficult designs easily."
Gently she leaned in to smell the Jasmine and grinned. "How often does it need to be watered?" She just realized a flaw in her plan of getting a plant, remembering it exists.