Sunflowers or Daisies?

[Anonymous]

After taking a quick look around to make sure no one would recognize them sneaking out of the brothel, Elon hooked her arm through Cherries and because she had no time to answer the little things he pointed out she decided to now. On the way to her shop. Of course he left some things hanging wide open, like liking women who aren’t paid to like him. A sly grin was on her light pink lips and Elon pushed her bi-coloured over her should before she smiled up at him, patted his shoulder and spoke. “If that’s the case, you’re going to just <I>love</I> me, ‘cause I’m not even paying anyone else to look at you!� She tapped her fingers along his arm and looked down the street towards her little shop.

Currently closed with a ‘back in fifteen minutes!’ sign hanging on the inside of the door. Today was Thursday, when she usually made her stew and all but gave it away to the customers. Made from the produce of the pervious week that wouldn’t last into the second week it wasn’t perfect vegetables and meat, but, it was still very good and eatable and selling it as a stew meant she still got to make a profit. Elon moved her arms from Cherrys and walked briskly to her shop. “Watermelon’s Produce�. If someone couldn’t put two and two together, hopefully Cherry’s case, they’d never figure out that her name, besides the last four letters, was indeed Watermelon.

Entering her store, getting her keys from some magical fold in her dress she opened the door to her shop, and stepped into it, keeping it open and holding it like that while she shoved a door stopper into the gap between the floor and the door. Moving the sign and changing it for one that said ‘OPEN’ in bright red letters, Elon began to putter around her shop/café type thing. Around the edges were various fruits and vegetables, one corner had frozen produce and in the middle of the hard wood floor was about six tables, three chairs to a table and they were bare. Behind the till, which had a few jars of candy and behind it a wonderful smelling coffee machine, for people who would just want to come in here, read a paper and drink a cup of coffee.

 There was also a door, it had a handle and a lock and this lead to where Elon lived, and the kitchen, which doubled as her personal kitchen. Elon in a quick movement, and a good eye, picked the less than perfect vegetables and meat before going into her kitchen, getting everything ready so she could grab her new friend and make him help her make his food.

Elon poked her head around, and gave a quick sweep for Cherry, the Prostitute-who-turned-out-to-be-a-bouncer-but-not-<I>that</I>-kind-of-bouncer. Which Elon was pretty glad for, ‘cause he was pretty cute and the fact he didn’t get money for sex made him that much cu-no, handsome. Grown men were handsome, and besides, with a cherry on his cheek it was probably a blow to his… Ego… when someone called him cute. Only funky marks Elon had on her body were weird stripes on her boobs, but not very many people have seen those, and they didn’t really look like anything unless she explained her name to them. Not that her boobs were that big, pretty average.

Anyway… Elon wandered over to Cherry and grabbed his wrist, dragging him away from anything he was looking at. “You get to help me make it, because it’s always nice to have company when making stuff in the kitchen!â€? Pushing the door open and looked at a pair of aprons and the assortment of knives.  Elon pursed her lips and gave a look at Cherry then one to the aprons; both were pink, one had sunflowers all over it, big yellow ones, and the other had daisies. Doing the looking thing over again, one to Cherry, the other to the aprons, she smiled brightly.

�Since I <I>know</I> you’re confident in your sexuality, would you like the apron with the sunflowers or the daisies? Wouldn’t want you to get splashed or squirted with anything, or get blood on you. S’what aprons are for! And you have to wear one, otherwise you might get caught, and that would be bad, right? Right!�

[Rhindeer]

Cherry couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that comment because...why would she pay someone else to look at him? Ah, probably best not to ask and just be glad for the company, and man was he glad for it. Aside from her strange looks, Elon was pretty normal. Or at least more normal than what he'd been used to for the past week or two. Then again, perhaps he didn't really have the right to talk about what was normal or not because he wasn't exactly the poster child for it, having grown up with some incredibly eccentric parents in an equally eccentric little hick town. At least, that's what he thought of it as, but he also supposed normal was a relative term. In any case, green and pink hair was nothing to him anymore. He'd seen weirder. Like Peach. A cross-dressing man that was more gorgeous than most women. It was really pretty scary to Cherry, and he couldn't help but shudder a little.

He still couldn't believe he'd kissed a man. Ugh.

"That's reassuring," he told Elon with a wry grin as he followed her to her shop, not at all minding walking arm in arm with her and more than thrilled at the female companionship. Real female companionship as far as he knew--she did have a chest, after all. Not that he minded male companionship, he was just a little skittish for the time being after getting his ass grabbed on more than one occassion, not to mention the oh-so-funny jokes the brothel workers liked to play on him. For one, his bedroom, he had quickly discovered, had no lock.

Yeah. One could do the math on that one. He planned on fixing that soon, in any case.

The shop soon came into view, and Cherry's green eyes drifted up to the sign that was hanging there. Watermelon's Produce. Cherry blinked. Huh. That was a...strange name for a produce shop. It was kind of redundant, for one, because why would anyone name a produce shop after, well...produce. Oh well, he wasn't going to comment on it! It was unique at least and--wait a minute. Watermelon. Pink and green. Elon had pink and green hair. Elon...Watermelon...well, Elon rhymed with melon...was it an attempt to be ironic, perhaps?

He'd go with irony. Because...Watermelon. No one could be named Watermelon. Granted, his name was Cherry and he worked for a man named Peach and knew a man named "Musmel", which was short for Muskmelon, which was all crazily coincidental, but come one. There couldn't be four people all within a few blocks of each other that all had cruel parents and horribly fruity names...could there? Or was this town just secretly insane, too?

Following Elon inside, he was politely quiet as she went about her business, puttering around and setting things up, and while she busied herself with her shop Cherry glanced around curiously, absently brushing some red hair from his eyes. Or rather, eye, because his bangs had an annoying habit of flopping over his right eye, though the other side behaved itself for the most part. He didn't mind, though; it was annoying, but it also helped to cover up his cherry tattoo, which he had a sort of love-hate relationship with. He loved it when the women crooned over it, because apparently it was cute and made him appear sensitive or something, but he hated it when the men noticed it and...apparently decided he was effiminate.

Of course, for the most part, he hated being regarded as "cute," but there were exceptions to every rule!

Cherry was just leaning in to smell the coffee--he loved the smell, he just hated the taste--when Elon suddenly grasped his wrist, taking him off guard for a moment and making him gasp lightly, and then nearly causing him to stumble when she unceremoniously began to tug him away. He quickly caught his balance and, blinking rapidly, he followed after her toward the kitchen. Jeez. She certainly was rather pushy, but he wasn't complaining, it was kind of amusing, actually, to be around someone so lively and energetic. Though, he did have to wonder what he was helping he ma--OH! The stew. That's what she was talking about, right?

"The stew you mean?" he asked just in case as he followed her. Oh boy. Hopefully she didn't expect him to know much about making stew because, while he could cook, what he could cook revolved around pastries and sweets. Probably a random talent for a guy like him to have, but he'd always had a bit of a sweet tooth and, honestly...he saw no shame in knowing how to bake. And enjoying it. He just didn't tell most people that because it wasn't very...manly. Still, it was his guilty pleasure.

Soon enough he'd followed her into the kitchen, finally stopping when she stopped.

And then nearly choking with laughter at what she said next, his eyes drifting over to the aprons she had been looking at.

Gods.

Well, Elon was pretty much right. It wasn't like it was the first time he'd ever worn an apron--though his had been white, not pink and...flowery--but it wasn't like he could back down and decline after she said something like that. Psha. Of course he was secure in his sexuality. And it also wasn't like anyone was in here but the two of them. Shaking his head and smirking in amusement, Cherry just feigned a sigh and strolled over to where the aprons were hung, snatching up the sunflower one.

"I think I'll go with sunflowers. They're more manly," he told her with a wink, fastening it around his waist. Gods he felt ridiculous, and even though he didn't mind wearing it because he was secure, he still couldn't help but think about Elon's other, ah, customers. The ones that apparently groped her. That wouldn't be happening as long as he was around--honestly, didn't those guys ever get taught proper manners?--but he sure as hell wouldn't be cutting an intimidating number wearing this. Hell. Someone might try and feel him up under his apron. "Though if I'm gone very long, I might get caught anyway so getting splashed on might not matter in the end, but...I'll think up an excuse. Not like I've never worn an apron. Still, I gotta ask...blood, Elon?"

The question of why her shop was called "Watermelon's Produce" was also at the front of his thoughts, but blood...that was just a little more...unnerving.

[Anonymous]

((Note: Its like, three in the morning and the basics of stew-making aren’t current in my brain. 8D))

Wiggling her bottom while she tied the remaining apron around her waist, Elon puttered around the kitchen getting the equipment to chop up veggies and meat, she briskly got a large pot and put on the stove, adding the beginning ingredients before putting another cutting board in front of her manly sunflower aproned guest. Flashing him a bright smile, she nudged him with her hip before handing him a rather lethal looking knight and… The carrots. Another devilish grin towards him and she placed the slabs of still-good-meat on her own cutting board. “Well, Blood ‘cause you might cut yourself. Or I might cut myself. I mean, if I slashed a vein in my wrist,� the knife slit cleanly down the piece of meat, very close to a finger, “ the first thing I’d do is turn to you to save my life, right?� A cheeky grin and she plopped the pieces of meat into the bubbling watery base.

Upon realizing she had left her pink and green hair down she excused herself for a second, ran up the flight of stairs that led to her own personal living quarters and came down not a moment after with her hair up in a messy bun, giving her a rather motherly look.  She had a nice neck too, if Cherry happened to have a weird neck fetish or something like that. Despite the fact that Elon looks a little like a dominatrix in her funny dress, she actually wasn’t all that dominant, well, that was a lie, she was. Lets just say she wasn’t into the kinky stuff! And Cherry didn’t have to be worried about being stuck in funny looking Leather Panti- Elon literally paused during whatever she was doing â€" which was cutting up a few more pices of meat â€" and blinked.

Had she just been thinking about Cherry in fetish clothing? No! Bad Elon! She shook her head, resisted the urge to rub her temples and resumed cutting up the makings of the Thursday stew. That was just… No. A light blush was on her cheeks after thinking of those rather risqué images and she resisted giggling. Clearing her throat she turned to Cherry, smiled and asked him a question. “So… Um… How long have you been in Ketra? I’ve never seen you around.� Small talk. Safe, secure small talk. Hopefully she wouldn’t blurt about how she liked getting her neck licked or something weird like that.

Poor Cherry would probably run away in fear.

[Rhindeer]

[...That post made me giggle like a schoolgirl. I love you.]

For all that he was trying to behave and not act like a typical male, but instead behave as the gentleman he'd been brought up as, Cherry couldn't help but let his eyes wander to Elon's hips and bottom as she wiggled into her apron. Of course, once he realized what he was doing he promptly snapped his eyes back up to focus on a wall or the counter or anything but her, basically. And once again, he couldn't help but wonder: did she do these things on purpose? Wiggle so cutely, draw attention to her breasts, say so many naughty things...was it all really completely on accident? Oblivious? Or was she just acting coy?

Or maybe he was just reading things into everything. Gods. He'd been working in a brothel far too long...been around too many aphrodisiacs and half-naked (and completely naked) people, and been around so many people trying to sex him up...it had gotten to his head. The one on his shoulders.

He had to stop this way of thinking. It was bad. Pretty soon, he'd just look at a woman and see a sex object and...augh. That'd be horrible. He wouldn't feel like a human. Yeah. Get a hold of yourself, Cherry.

He was soon saved when Elon put a cutting board in front of him, though he jumped a little when she nudged him with her hip, then hastily took the knife and carrots. Carrots. Gods. He stared at the carrot for a second, flushed a little, and then promptly laid it on the cutting board and began to chop it up into even pieces, listening as she spoke.

And slowly he stopped chopping at the carrot, turning instead to watch Elon slice the meat.

As she spoke about slashing veins in her wrist. As the knife slid dangerously close to a finger.

If there was one thing Cherry was learning very quickly, it was that this woman was going to be the death of him if he hung around her for any length of time. First it was sexual innuendo (by accident!), now it was all this morbid talk about slitting a vein and bleeding all over (and how would she slit a vein in her wrist anyway cutting up meat?). It was...all a little stressful, actually, especially since she didn't seem to be aware of what she was doing or saying, and he found himself setting the knife down on the counter so he could watch her closely, half ready to pounce and bandage her up if the knife slipped and half ready to just plead with her to let him take over the slicing.

Then it was done, and the meat was plopped into the pot. Cherry heaved a sigh of relief and gave a weak grin. "I...know basic first aid," he said after a pause, swallowing.

Once she had excused herself, Cherry relaxed and slumped against the counter for a moment before grabbing the knife and going back to cutting up the veggies. Oh man.

She was going to be the death of him.

Yet he was also having fun.

So strange.

Of course, stranger still was that Elon had been imagining him in fetish clothing, but Cherry was completely oblivious to that as she returned and went back to cutting up the meat--which, of course, made him pause in cutting up the veggies just so he could be prepared in case of any accidents. He did see her blush, but luck for her, Cherry just assumed it was the heat from the pot.

He gathered up the sliced up vegetables and plopped them into the pot as Elon spoke. "Oh, I just got here a few weeks ago, actually, so that's probably why. I'm from out of the country, but I came here to get out of Hicksville and...heh. I gotta say, the brothel wasn't exactly my first choice when it came to work, but it seems work's hard to come by in the city. Peach found me and offered me the job, though. As a bouncer. Just a bouncer. I kick people out if they misbehave, and that's the only...bouncing...I do," Cherry said, before wincing.

That sounded almost guilty, the fact that he just had to point out that he wasn't a prostitute. And that he was quite straight.

He cleared his throat and, finished with the chopping, turned to Elon and leaned against a counter. "What about you? From the looks of your shop, I'd estimate you've been here a while, eh?"

[Anonymous]

Pastel green eyes watched Cherry for a moment while he cut up his remaining veggies. By now, the stew was pretty much done, and surprisingly full ( yey <_< magics ) bubbling away happily. It still wasn't really done though, it needed to cook! Which meant Cherry dear would have to suffer himself to hang out with her for the next little while to get his food, Elon mentally laughed evilly. Her hands going around to her back to untie the apron, she quickly pulled it off from around her head and put it back on its little wooden peg on one side of the kitchen. Smiling at Cherry, she gave a quick 'i
ll take that!' put her arms around his middle, untied the apron, pulled it off from around his head and meandered her way over to the wooden peg again, finally answering his question.

"Mmhmm! My grandpa used to own this place, then my mom, now me! My mom named me after it." Elon was still now facing Cherry, wondering if he'd actually get the hint that, yes, she was named Watermelon. " My mom died before she could take over though so, it's mine since Grandpa died, too!" Elon didn't sound very sad about this, she was of course, but, why push that on some poor man with a Cherry on his face from a hicktown? At least she didn't have and odd tattoos like that, just funny stripes! And only a one or two people have ever seen them besides her. A sly grin towards Cherry over her shoulder and a swift swish of skirts and she was headed back over to him, leaning on the same counter.

"Aww, you should have come here! I could have given you.. erm.. You know, good thing you didn't. I couldn't have given you a place to stay, I only have three rooms upstairs, and only one has a bed. It's a big bed, but, I dunno..." Elon paused to look over at him and grin widely, and very much like a cat who just caught a fat tasty, hairless mouse
" You'd have to be bouncing me to get into the bed." Elon gave Cherrys bottom a friendly grope and moved away to putter around with dishes and cutlery, dirty currently, in the sink.


"Hmm, Cherry, you can go into the shop and look around if you like. I'm just going to finish the dishes before I get a dinner time rush. Lots of old people come in here, the little old ladies will probably hit on you so, put your guard up! They have fast fingers and they grope!" Elon prattled on, as if she didn't just tell Cherry to do her, and as if she didn't just grab his butt, of course, here back was to him. Elon, of course, figured he was a gentleman and wouldn't grope her butt back.

[Rhindeer]

Cherry was too distracted by what sounded to him like a lot of horribly tragic news to really register what Elon's real name was. Damn. Her mother and grandfather dead. What about her father? She didn't sound sad, she seemed very well adjusted, but still. Ouch. She was young like him and he still had both parents and one grandmother still alive. His family had good genes and tended to live at least into their eighties.

Kind of made him want to write his folks, still...

"I'm sorry..." he said sincerely, and then he blinked when something finally clicked in his head. Wait...named after the store? The store which was "Watermelon"? Is that where the "Elon" came from? But before he could ask her about that she was swishing her way over to him and leaning on the same counter he was. After that somewhat awkward and sad moment there, which gave him time to wind down from all the awkward and embarrassing moments previously, he must have let his guard down because he saw no harm in what she said next. He was relaxed as he looked over at her, and he smiled and chuckled at her words. D'aw, jeez, the girl really did have a good heart, didn't she? Though maybe it was a bit worrisome that she'd offer her home out to a complete stranger that was also a male. He could be a scary axe murderer for all she knew, and he probably sounded shady enough already working in a brothel--

"Come again?" Cherry practically choked, because that was when she got to the part about single beds and...bouncing. All right. When she'd first mentioned the one bed, he'd taken that as another one of her innocent slip-ups and a sign that maaaybe she really wasn't as dirty-minded as her slip-ups said. Maybe she seriously was just that innocent that she wouldn't think twice about a guy sharing her bed. She kind of looked it! And the way she acted pointed to it! Except...right now she had a grin on her face that Cherry could only describe as predatory, and it soon became apparent why when she made the bouncing comment.

A blush flooded Cherry's face, making the little tattoo even brighter, and if it could have gotten any brighter his head may have exploded when she groped his bottom. Instead, he gave a muffled yelp and nearly jumped out of his skin, then shot a dirty look at her back when she bustled off to do the dishes.

Yeeeaaah. Forget innocence.

Not that...he actually minded having his butt grabbed by an attractive and bubbly woman, but...maybe a little, since he was trying to act like someone who didn't work in a brothel while she was just going about casually molesting him. Eugh! It wasn't fair. Why did he have to have those things called morals...? Even if they were a bit sketchy right now, because he wasn't about to complain about it. Sure beat getting slapped on the bum by men.

"Err...alright..." Cherry finally managed, still flabbergasted, blinking slowly. How the hell did she manage to switch gears so randomly? First it's the dead parents, then basically telling him to do her, and then dishes and old ladies that love to grope? It was making his head spin, and he reached up to run a hand through his hair as he briefly wondered whether all those aphrodisiac incenses had really affected him this much and that maybe he was just hallucinating Elon's more perverted comments. He took a deep breath and shook his head. Right. Moving on.

"Actually, hey, you need help with those?" he said after a pause, walking over to her and stopping beside her. Chivalry was striking yet again. "It'd probably go quicker with two of us doing it. Uh...the dishes I mean." The blush that had only just receded sprang to his cheeks again. He prattled on quickly, trying to change the subject before she noticed it. "I mean...er...you know, one of us washing, the other drying...or if you want I can just set tables or something. I've done that kind of work before and I mean you invited me here for a free meal. I feel I should at least do something to help you out."

Then he smiled. "Heck, even if you don't want me to work for a meal, consider it as me...working in exchange for your protection against the hordes of old ladies. Surely you got a stick or something that you can fend them off with. Oh yeah! That reminds me!" he blurted suddenly, completely switching topics. "You said you're named after the store. Watermelon. That where the Elon comes from, you mean?" he asked with a grin.

Maybe he wasn't the only one with crazy parents and bad naming habits.

[Anonymous]

Adorable. Elon tilted her head and smiled at Cherry. Him blushing and that yelp had just been adorable. No one so dang cute should be working at a brothel of all places, just not for him. For a fleeting moment she wondered if he really was just a bouncer, surely more than one patron had tried to get him into bed, he was cute enough to be sure.  A pity if no one had tried, and all the better if they tried and failed. That meant Cherry was a good boy.

Wouldn't his parents be proud. Such a good boy.

Elon looked over her shoulder and blinked owlishly at him with her green eyes. Him help with the dishes? Completely deadpan, Elon turned to the side so make room against the counter and kept her eyes on the face. "So, I think we should get married."  Elon gave a slow nod before handing Cherry a drying towel and pointed to each cupboard. "Plates and cups. Bowls and little-ish plates." She then pointed to a drawer to the left of her, "Forks and spoons and what not... Leave the knives out. Oh, and the big spoon when we get to that." She smiled brightly gave him a soggy, soapy pat on the cheek.

"You're cute when you're flustered."

The pink and green haired woman went back to doing the dishes, placing them on another towel beside the sink to pick up any droplets of water while Cherry go around to them, a spoon slipped out of  her hand when he began to speak again and blurted something. She was to her elbows in soapy water when he asked her about her name. A bright smile was on her lips and she stuck her tongue out at him before flinging the spoon out of the water. "Ah ha! Foooound yoooou." She stuck her tongue out at the spoon before cleaning it and putting it off to the side and wiping the water off the front of her dress.

"Yes... Elon... Watermelon... Stop grinning " She tilted her head and stuck her tongue out at him before looked at the dishes, all clean. Until after the dinner rush for the stew.  "I'll give you a kiss on the cheek if you help me do the dishes after the few old people come in for some stew." A hopeful bright smile, and her hands were now clasped in front of her while she looked at him with all too pleading eyes.