Chapter 1: Sun and Shade
Blake stretched, rolling over as she shrugged off her duvet. Her phone screen was lit, blindingly bright in the dark room. Even without the shades drawn, the only other light offered was that of the street lamp outside her window. An insistent beeping echoed from the phone speaker, and Blake leaned over to her nightstand, tapping the button that would shut off the alarm a few times before succeeding. Bracing her feet for the cold, creaky wooden floorboards, she sat up, left the warm embrace of her mattress behind, and crossed the room in a few strides.
Her clothes for the day were already hanging on the handle of her dresser drawer. Really, they were more draped across the wire frame than properly hung, and it was good fortune that nothing had slipped off and fallen on the floor, but Blake didn't mind. She dressed quickly, detoured to the bathroom to splash some water on her face so it could be counted as 'washed', and grabbed a muffin from the kitchenette before jogging down the carpeted stairs which could've really used some new carpet. She'd have to get on that.
It was a little after 7:15 in the morning, and there was some prep work to do before she opened up shop at 8:00. Blake allowed herself one more satisfying back stretch and a scratch of the ear before spinning into her daily routine. Wiping down chairs and table tops, making sure everything was in order at the front counter, tidying the waiting area. She grabbed a broom from the corner and pushed through the glass door, which she probably needed to wipe down later, to sweep the walk.
"Hey, neighbor." An amiable voice called from her right, the sound reverberating off of the cool sidewalk.
Blake leaned against the handle of her broom, sighing. "Morning, Sun."
The greeting had come from a tanned young man standing before the storefront next door. Sun Wukong, the newly-sanctioned owner of The House of the Western Sun floral shop, also held a broom in his hand, sweeping away dried petals that had fallen from the outdoor displays as he usually did. Blake attempted each morning to be awake a bit before her talkative neighbor in order to tidy her storefront in peace, but apparently the other had also discovered the advantages of early rising, much like his namesake.
It was still quite dim out, but the sun had made itself more apparent in the horizon, and the sky was a grey-indigo that mingled well with the yellow light of the streetlamps and the crumbly brick buildings that constituted the Menagerie Platform. Blake had grown up in the charmingly dilapidated downtown area of Patch City. After being away for a few years, she should have felt relief at leaving the University of Beacon and returning to her childhood home. But instead of relaxed, Blake felt more restless than ever.
"So." Sun's characteristic grasp for conversation interrupted her brooding thoughts. "Got any plans tonight?"
"Sun…" Blake began, swiping the frayed plastic bristles across the cement.
"No, no, not like that," he assured with a twitch of his tail and a winning smile. "One of my old friends is in town, y'know, for all the stuff that's been going on."
His smile didn't break, but Blake glanced down with a slight frown. Sun had arrived back in Menagerie just before she had - his father, Bronze Wukong, the previous owner of the flower shop, had passed away the previous week. The funeral had been a couple days earlier, and Blake assumed some of Sun's friends and family had come to Patch for the event.
"And I wanted to introduce him to you and show him your shop, 'cause you have all that neat display stuff on the walls," the monkey faunus continued. "So, are you busy?"
"Well, no-" she admitted, immediately regretting it.
"Great! His name's Neptune, by the way. I think you'll like him, he's a great conversationalist, quite the intellectual, like you. I'll bring him over around six, sound good?"
"Sun-" Blake feebly attempted to protest.
"Can't wait. Catch you later, neighbor!" And with that, he gave one last sweep of his broom and did a combination between a skip and a bound back into the floral shop. Blake scoffed, jaw hanging slightly open in disbelief of her poor luck. Giving up on her sweeping, she re-entered Nightshade Ink House and put away her broom, sighing as she grabbed a rag and a bottle of cleaning solution to tend to the smudged door. Looked like she was going to have company that evening.
Blake quickly ran back upstairs to grab a cup of coffee to bring down with her while she ran the shop. Gods knew she would need it to keep up with her energetic neighbor.
**A/N: Hey, guys, back with another one. I've been so active recently I FEEL SO ALIVE. I actually mapped out this one in my layover between midterm exams in the school library yesterday. I was so excited about it that I outlined even more and then began writing last night, and finished this chapter just this morning after I finished another one of my exams. I've only recently discovered how effective outlining is for me. It doesn't have to be organized, but just writing down my ideas and train of thought as it comes is so helpful. I used to just keep it all in my head, but then I would forget things, I wouldn't get around to them, I'd run out of ideas, lose motivation, things just wouldn't get done.
But I began typing everything down, and the ideas just kept coming! Before I was halfway done with my outline I already had a crap ton of world building, expo/character backstories, and a basic plot laid out. I'm trying so hard to contain my excitement right now it's very uncharacteristic for me but it FEELS SO GOOD.
A little about the story, it was initially intended to be a couple oneshots of the Florist/Tattoo Artist AU with a few different pairings. You know the Tumblr meme: take a pairing, one is the florist, the other owns a tattoo parlor next door. Then take whomever would obviously be which one and swap 'em. Well, I planned a Sun/Blake oneshot, a Neptune/Yang, and maybe a couple others. I was mulling over it as I tried to fall asleep Sunday night, but by the time I had gotten part of my outline down the plan was a little different and leagues better.
So, BOLO for future chapters, I plan to be churning them out over break (I attend school in America). Also, if any formatting gurus can tell me how to get back my 'add horizontal line' option that mysteriously appears and disappears on a whim, I'd be grateful. Hopefully you'll hear from me soon.
