the wolves all cry

Shion is, of course, aware that Valentine's Day approaches. It's not a holiday he puts much stock in, having never been one for relationships, but it is one he very much enjoys. Depending on how prevalent the holiday is wherever they're living, he's usually on the receiving end of various sweets, flowers, and trinkets, all of which he likes a great deal. He gets attention, which is his favorite of all the options. Back at Decelis, there'd also been the annual slew of drama as couples formed and dissipated and traded players, and he loves gossip as much as he loves rom-coms, possibly more. Granted, that kind of stuff happens wherever there are people, but high school just brought forth such a proliferation of it.

In Darrow, there's no such source of entertainment — not, at least, at such a high volume. His investment now is more mundane — cooking up some marketing campaign he'd already mostly forgotten by the time it rolled out, helping pick out cards and candy for Sophie to give out to any classmates she so chooses. As much as he misses the ongoing soap opera of his old classmates, he also... doesn't. He enjoyed a lot about attending Decelis, but he could do without spending so much time around so many teenagers for a good long while.

His life has grown remarkably unremarkable. Peaceful. When he thinks about it, it's the kind of life he always hoped for. Of course, he'll wind up bored and find trouble at some point, but being able to fall back on a quiet, comfortable home life is a blessing he doesn't think he can actually take for granted. It's something that typically comes to an end all too quickly for them. He's lost too many homes, had to upend everything quickly to become someone else, over and over again. As much as the restrictions of Darrow chafe, as nervous as they can make him, there's a certain comfort, too, in not having that option. A select few people know him for what he is and haven't bolted to grab their pitchforks. There's... stability.

There's Sophie. There's Solon. There's Shion standing in front of a florist, zoning out. As the door to the florist opens, a bell rings out, and Shion shakes his head as if he can shake the thoughts out of it. Or back into it, one of those. The windows are festooned with pink and ribbons, and there are roses everywhere in a wild proliferation of colors. He lifts his phone to check the time — a little left to kill before he goes to pick up Sophie from school. Maybe he'll bring some flowers to her when he does so.

He gets a little wistful about these things, admittedly. All those gifts he got over the years were nice, but he's never had someone to give things to or take out on a real date or anything like that. It's doubtful he ever will. Love isn't for people like them. He gets all his romance secondhand from movies.

Movies have also taught him, though, that you've got to add your own romance to the world. Maybe he'll never have true love or whatever, but he has whimsy, goddammit. And, by the time he leaves the store, he's also got an armful of flowers, mostly roses and carnations. There's a small bouquet for Sophie, another to brighten up their kitchen, and a few individually wrapped. Smiling, he grabs one from the pile as he walks, slowing as he offers it. "Flower?"

[ Find Shion at the florist, before or after he makes his purchase, or on his way to pick up Sophie, and get a flower for Friday the 13th! Open until this says always, and a good time to meet him or meet up again. ]