when he woke up this morning, barry had expected a normal day : go to work, come home, eat, sleep. what he didn’t expect was for him to arrive at ccpd, only to be called out again after hearing reports about a burglary gone wrong. so he’s amongst the police officers that surround the area ; the victim’s body already dusted for prints & d.n.a, and he’s only hanging around in case the captain has more instructions.
just as barry’s about to suggest he head back, the captain tells him to question the establishments around the area to see if anyone had seen anything. discarding his forensic tools in the back of the car, barry makes his way towards his first stop : a flower shop. he pushes the door open and tries to get the attention of the staff, but she’s so caught up in her work that she doesn’t notice him.
that is, until she sprays him with water.
he stands rooted in place for a moment, unsure what to do. he wasn’t even certain it had really happened, but the feeling of his fringe losing all volume and sticking to his forehead confirms that he did, indeed, just get soaked from head to toe by the flower shop attendant. great. surprisingly, he’s not even that annoyed. maybe it’s because it’s early, or maybe it’s the fact that he watched the girl fumble around and felt sorry for her, he’s not quite sure. “ uh, don’t worry about it. it’s just water. i’m actually here on wait. is this shop really called keep it in your plants ? ”
“ oh, i’m worried about it! “ she nearly trips over some potted plants, offering a small apology ( both to the new face and her poor, poor, petunias ) before successfully grabbing an official shirt from the shop. “ here! you can, um, change into this in the restroom if you’d like! or just keep it. as an apology. i’m sorry, i’m awkward--- ” she’s still completely red, and smacks herself in the face with her own watering can for the third time today. “ --- ow, shit! and, uh, incredibly clumsy. ”
oh, real smooth, genius!
still, hotaru’s far too quick to smile at her new customer, her eyes brightening at the mention of the, uh, rather punny name. “ yeah, i named it myself! i’m a bit of a cornflower when it comes to chrysanthe-puns. “ she can’t really stop herself from using flower puns sometimes, and it’s probably why she doesn’t have a ton of customers... well, that and being out in the middle of nowhere. most of her income comes from growing crops and the like, after all. ( although the pastries she’s made lately have been selling faster than she can make them... )
“ ah, i should introduce myself ---- blair-takenaka hotaru, at your service! i’m the owner around here--- ” and she’s still flitting around the room, cleaning up her mess before sticking her hand out to the, uh, rather tall and professionally dressed boy that’s definitely not a flower.