“Yes mom, I’m fine,” Lilith sighed, unlocking the front door of the flower shop while speaking into the cell phone that was cradled between her shoulder and ear. The early fall breeze blew down Main Street, causing her black floral dress to flutter in the wind. ’I should have grabbed a jacket,’ the girl thought as the door sprang open and she stepped into the much warmer shop. “Yes, I always lock my doors at night and I am eating my vegetables,” Lilith rolled her eyes before smiling fondly at her mother’s incessant questioning. “I’m at work now mom, I have to go…Yes, I’ll call you next Saturday, same time as always…I love you too,” she said, effectively wrapping up the call. The girl punched the ‘End Call’ button on her smartphone before flipping on the light switches and stashing her purse underneath the registers.

Brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face, Lilith shifted her gaze to the front window of the store, peering back out at street outside. It was a Saturday, so the, ‘Enchanted Florist’ opened at noon instead of its usual 10:00am and the city folk seemed to just now be waking up from their hangovers from the night before. The sky was grey and bleak looking on this afternoon, so Lilith didn’t figure it would be an especially busy day for sales. Turning back to the register, she clocked in and then set out to move all the plants that had to be refrigerated from the walk-in freezer in the back to the front of the store. As time went on, the mouthwatering smell of freshly baked bread traversed its way over from the neighboring bakery, causing Lilith’s tail to twitch in interest from where it was bound against her leg. “Down girl,” she giggled, brushing at the back of her skirt to make sure it was still laying straight.

Done with the first task of the morning, the short girl grabbed a few stems of white Hyacinthus and Baby’s Breath before making her way over to the long oak work bench in the middle of the shop. There were only a few bouquets scheduled for pick up today, but Lilith figured that she’d better go ahead and get started on them now.

Avery was sick of the city.

The cars were constantly rushing by, scaring him every second of every hour. The forest was a thirty minute bike ride away, and he couldnt always make it there like he wanted to. The streets were crowded most of the time, which was a big problem for someone who was frightened of most people. Which brought him to one of the main reasons he hated the city: the overabundance of people. People were mean. People were scary. People were vicious and violent and bloodthirsty, especially when faced with things they didn't like or understand. And when you had antlers sprouting out of the sides of your skull, you sort of advertised yourself as different and not easy to understand. Oh, yes. Avery had had his fill of people for quite some time.

Avery had his eyes cast down, away from all of the eyes he could feel on him. He instead toyed with the old, Polaroid camera he had hanging around his neck, flipping the front of it open and closed, charging the flash up over and over again, trying his best to distract himself. He could hear a few people whispering as he walked by their groups, and while he couldn't totally make out what they were saying, he could hear a few choice words, ones he was very accustomed to hearing by this point in his life.

Weird.
Creepy.
Strange.
Fucking furry.
Target.

And they never got easier to hear. Avery sighed, letting out a long, shaky breath as he tried his hardest to focus on where he was going. The flower shop around the corner. There were lots of arrangements there. They were the closest to the forest he was going to be able to get to, for the time being, and he needed to make the best of it. He was going to go in and take pictures of the flowers, if he was allowed to. God, he hoped he was allowed to, he really needed to be able to take pictures, he really wanted to relieve some of this stress and nervousness.

Glancing up, he noticed that the flower shop was there, at the end of the street. He sped up his stride, keeping his eyes on the front door, trying his hardest to avoid the gaze of the general public as he practically pranced towards the door of the shop, tugging it open and rushing inside, closing the door quickly behind him. The defined sound of metallic jingling above the door signified his presence, and hopefully, his safety for the next hour or so. He brought hand to one of his antlers, tracing his thumb along a small, serrated, two inch deep gash near the base of it as he looked around. From what he could tell, the only other person in the shop was the girl who was working. His heart dropped slightly when he noticed that she didnt have ears, or a snake tongue, or tiger stripes, or some other animalistic feature. She, for all intents and purposes, was a totally normal human being who could absolutely see him and hate him.

"H-hello?" He called out softly, taking a step in, nervously. "Excuse me?"

He took a breath, then, trying to fake some confidence long enough to start a conversation, he looked at the woman running the shop, smiling kindly, hands grasping the straps of his camera as he walked towards the long table in the center of the shop.

"I, uh, I was wondering if I could take some pictures? Of the flowers? I'm a nature photographer, and the forest... I cant make it out there today, and I've really been itching to take some pictures with this camera I bought at the thrift store, and I just got film for it, and these flowers are so... pretty, and colorful, and I was wondering if I could take some photos of the Boat Orchids? I'll be quiet, I wont disrupt any other customers, or anything, I just really wanna take some photos."

The door bell jingled as someone entered the shop and Lilith paused her work, her willowy hands hovering just above the bundle of flowers. Her heart sped up a little, her legs started twitching, and she was over come by the urge to either run like hell or find a way to make herself seem bigger. 'Calm down,' the florist thought angrily, irritated with herself for letting her animalistic urges get the better of her, even for a brief moment. It had been a long time since Lilith had listened to her baser instincts and she wasn't about to start today.

"I, uh, I was wondering if I could take some pictures? Of the flowers? I'm a nature photographer...I was wondering if I could take some photos of the Boat Orchids? I'll be quiet, I wont disrupt any other customers, or anything, I just really wanna take some photos."

"I'm sorry, I'd have to talk with the manager fir--," Lilith started as she turned around, but stopped and gasped when she laid eyes on the stranger. "O-oh," she stammered, eyes transfixed on the gentleman's antlers. The former nursing student had never seen anyone with horns before. Her hands twitched as she fought the urge to touch them. "Oh Jesus, that's rude," the girl scolded herself, rubbing at her arm self consciously and giving a small cough. "Sorry, we don't see a lot of animal people," Lilith apologized, forcing her eyes to meet the other's and flashing him a kind smile.

"We don't normally let people take photographs inside the shop," she admitted regretfully, eyes dropping to the older style camera that was slung around his neck. 'I bet this guy never catches a break,' Lilith mused, biting at her bottom lip anxiously. 'What could it hurt?'

"...but I'll let you, just this once. My boss is an older red headed lady, so if you see her come in you've gotta hide that fancy camera of yours," Lilith told him before giving him a quick wink. "I'm Lilith. Let me know if you need help with anything!"

Avery could feel her eyes on him, sizing him up from the moment she turned to look at him. He could feel his cheeks burning, turning a deep shade of crimson as she stared at his antlers. She was going to get nasty with him. She was going to scowl and call him names. She might threaten him physically, grab his antlers, throw him to the ground. His confrontations rarely got physical, but it wasn't something he could rule out. That's happened before. Trust was hard for him to come by in Kingston, and he was very rarely able to find people who accepted him, completely, for who he was. He wanted to turn around and run back to his apartment. To his little plants growing in the window, to his shelf of old cameras, to the smell of baking bread and pies from the bakery beneath his window.

Anywhere but here.

But suddenly, there was a change in her demeanor. Avery looked up again, noting that she was no longer staring wide eyed at his horns, but instead she was staring into his eyes, giving him a warm, almost welcoming smile. She explained to him that they didnt usually let people take pictures in the building, but she was willing to make an exception, in his case, whatever his case was. But at that point, he honestly didnt care. He was just relieved that she wasnt going to harass him. He let out a breath that he didnt know he was holding in, laughing nervously as she regained his composure.

"Oh, um, thank you! Thanks!" He said, fiddling with the straps on his camera as he looked from her to his feet, and back again. "I'm sorry, people just... they dont usually make exceptions for me or anything, let alone... y'know, breaking the rules of their place of employment. Thank you so much."

He shifted on his feet for a moment, not sure of what to do next. His eyes scanned the rest of the shop, noting that it was, in fact, completely empty. He was probably the first customer of the day. He looked back at her, giving her a once over. She was wearing a colorful, floral dress of sorts. It kind of correlated with the floral pattern of his sweater, he noted. He looked down at his camera for a moment, then back to her.

"Um, I can show you how it works, if you want. You can see the pictures, if you want."

"I'm sorry, people just... they don't usually make exceptions for me or anything, let alone... y'know, breaking the rules of their place of employment. Thank you so much." The stranger said and Lilith's eyes softened in sympathy. 'Poor guy, he couldn't hide those things even if he wanted to', she mused, looking back up at his horns but getting side tracked by his hair. It was a trendy sort of cut, with one side dark and shorn close to his scalp while the other side had longer, almost white looking locks. It was a hard look to pull off, she thought, but it looked good on him.

"Um, I can show you how it works, if you want. You can see the pictures, if you want."

"Oh," Lilith replied, adjusting her glasses minutely. "It looks pretty expensive, I'd hate to damage it or something," the florist admitted as she watched him worry with the camera strap. "I guess it would be neat though," the girl conceded, getting up and making her way over to the animal man.

Somewhere during this journey across the room, all the poise Lilith usually carried herself with abandoned her and she tripped on the hem of her skirt, sending the brunette careening into the photographer.

Before either one of them could bat an eyelash they had both toppled over onto the floor, landing with a loud clamor. "Nrgh," Lilith groaned from her place on top of the animal man, squeezing her eyes shut and rubbing at the shoulder that took the brunt of the damage. When she opened her eyes again she met the photographer's brown ones and stared for a moment. 'Handsome', was the first word that came to mind and was also the word that sent the florist scrambling backwards, her face red hot and flushed with embarrassment.

"Oh Jesus Christ, I'm so sorry, sir! Is your camera okay?" She squeaked, fumbling to crawl off the stranger without hurting him farther. Once she was vertical again she brushed the back of her dress to make sure everything was in place before offering him a hand.

Avery, who was caught completely off guard, was thrown back onto the hard, linoleum floor of the flower shop as Lilith toppled on to of him. The pair narrowly missed a small, potted Japanese Pace Lilly as they landed, much to his relief. He didn't want to add property damage to the list of things he needed to feel bad about for the day. His camera clattered to the ground next to them, luckily unharmed by the unexpected collision. Aside from the stabbing pain shooting through his hip, he was actually fine. He looked up at Lilith, who was looking at him with a strange expression he couldn't quite place. He narrowed his eyes for a moment, trying to read her before she pushed away, apologizing profusely.

"Oh, Jesus Christ, I'm so sorry, sir! Is your camera okay?" She said frantically as she scrambled to her feet, brushing off a fresh layer of flower shop floor dust from her dress as she tried to apologize. He nodded his head, taking the hand she offered as he did so.

"Avery. Um, yeah, it's fine, it's a pretty sturdy old camera, it's okay." He said, a shy smile playing with the corners of his mouth as he stood next to her, brushing off some dirt from his pant leg. He was clearly standing with less pressure on one side of his body now due to the small pain, but he was fine. It was the most excitement he'd experienced in probably months that didn't involve him getting publicly ridiculed, so that change of pace alone was refreshing for him. He gave Lilith a once over, noting the length of her dress and the way it seemed to flow from her waist to the floor, elegantly.

"I'm just glad we didn't break the little plant." He said, motioning to the peace lily with his head. "It's so tiny still, we would have ruined it."

He let his eyes settle on hers for a moment, smiling, trying to let her know that everything was alright. It was strange, but he felt incredibly safe in her presence. People outside would have done bad things to him, but she was going out of her way to make him feel comfortable. A change of pace that Avery very much welcomed.

Avery took her hand and Lilith helped hoist him upright, holding onto him a little longer than strictly necessary. The photographer flashed her a sweet smile before dusting at his trouser leg quickly. "I'm just glad we didn't break the little plant. It's so tiny still, we would have ruined it," he spoke quietly, indicating the pot closest to their disaster.

"Yeah, that would have been awful," she agreed, running the tip of her finger over the single white flower bud that the plant had produced so far. The brunette turned her gaze back toward Avery and couldn't stop a giggle from escaping. "Oh jeez, you're a mess now, darlin'," Lilith blurted, stepping closer and reaching out to straighten his sweater so it wasn't hanging off of his shoulder anymore. "Much better," she hummed, running her hands over his shoulders one last time before beaming up at him.

The door bell chimed and Lilith turned to greet the customer, but stopped short when she saw the hateful look the elderly man was casting in Avery's direction. "Disgusting," the other customer sneered at the animal man, before flicking his gaze at the florist. "And you should be ashamed of yourself. What would your mother say?" he asked, before spitting onto the floor and exiting the shop. The former student stepped back, over come with a variety of different emotions. She was angry at the human for being so close minded, sorry for Avery, but what she was feeling most was guilt. 'I'm such a coward,' she thought, running her hand over her skirt subconciously.

"You should probably take your pictures now," Lilith said, not quite meeting his eyes and crossing back over to the work table. She sat down and started trimming the Hyacinthus stems, her mouth set in a firm line. 'I didn't even defend him. I hide myself everyday under these stupid skirts so I don't have to deal with humans and when one of my own kind gets treated like shit, I just let it happen.' She felt her eyes get hot and she swiped at them hastily. 'I am the worst.'

"You're not disgusting," she told him quietly after some time had passed, not turning away from the flowers in front of her.

Avery was more than a bit taken aback by the sudden entry and exit of the angry old man. On one hand, it was because he assumed that the two of them were a couple of some sort, which took a huge amount of assumption and jumping to conclusions, so much that Avery was momentarily stunned by how he had even made that connection. But there was also the obvious: being dehumanized didnt tend to make him feel good...pretty much ever. Being called disgusting--while not the first time he heard the insult thrown at him-- made him feel... well, like trash, actually. He let out a small sigh as the man spit on the floor, fiddling with the straps on his camera, eyes cast down at his feet as the man left.

He took Lilith's advice, deciding that it would be best to get it over with and get out as soon as he could. He also took note of the fact that she didnt seem to want to look at him anymore. Great. Fucking great, he made her uncomfortable with his stupid antlers and now she didnt want to look at him. Typical. Its the same story every single time he tries to do anything. No connections. He nodded silently, looking down as he walked across the store to the orchids. He flipped open the camera, listening to the high pitched twinge of the charging flash. As it readied itself, Avery let his gaze wander back over to Lilith. She was sitting near the front of the store, fiddling with one of the plants behind the counter. The sun was coming in through the window, hitting her harshly on one side, leaving the other half of her body encased in the dark shadows.

He raised the camera to his eye, took a moment to frame her in the photo properly, and snapped a picture of her, the camera whirring and spitting out the photo from the front of the device. He grabbed it and quickly stuffed it in his back pocket, flipping the camera closed and turning his back to her. He wasnt one to pass up a great photo-op, regardless of the situation. It was too perfect. He stood there for a moment, mindlessly staring down at the Orchid in front of him until he heard her voice from behind.

"You're not disgusting." She said, her voice soft, subdued. Avery didnt turn to face her. He shook his head a bit, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he spoke.

"Thanks... I know." He said, his voice matching hers. He couldn't tell if she knew that that was a lie or not. "I need to... not let people like that get to me... there are a lot of nice people, too. I just try to ignore them...stay out of their way. I'm... I was born this way, and I cant... I cant fucking get rid of it, so I just need to deal with it."

"I need to... not let people like that get to me... there are a lot of nice people, too. I just try to ignore them...stay out of their way. I'm... I was born this way, and I cant... I cant fucking get rid of it, so I just need to deal with it."

Lilith swallowed and stared hard at the flowers in front of her. ’He’s so brave,’ she thought sadly, fiddling with the end of a sprig of baby’s breath. It was strange, the florist always felt like she needed to keep her animal features hidden, but for the first time since she was a little girl, Lilith wanted to let someone else in on her secret. She couldn’t though. The brunette was certain that shop owners would fire her if they found out and the landlord would more than likely evict her, so she kept mum. It was just too risky.

“That guy was just an old fart anyways,” Lilith told him, trying to lighten the mood. The girl looked over her shoulder and saw Avery in front of the orchid table, blinking down at the delicate flowers. Lilith felt another wave of guilt wash over her and she clenched her hands, determined to find a way to fix it somehow. Her blue eyed gaze landed on the pink peonies and she knew instantly what she needed to do.

Leaning over the table she grabbed a bundle of the flowers and sat back down, her hands moving over the stems. Her tongue peeked out of her mouth as she worked, deftly twisting the ends together. When she was finished, Lilith was holding a rough flower crown in her hands. “Here,” the girl grinned, holding it up for the other to inspect. “It’s for you. You don’t have to wear it out of the store or anything,” she told him, getting up and walking over to the taller twenty year old. “I just figured it would look good with your antlers,” she continued, carefully draping the wreath onto Avery’s head. “Maybe you could let me take a picture for you?”

Avery looked over at Lilith as she excitedly closed the gap between them. There was something in her hand, but he couldnt quite tell what it was until she got closer. Lilith's face, however, told him it was something to be very, very excited about. In the past few minutes her face had changed from solemn and sad to completely enthralled. A Complete 180. She held her hands out, allowing him to look down at the gift she had made him. It was a flower crown, made hastily out of the pink peonies she was sitting next to.

It was the most glorious gift Avery had ever been given.

Avery reacted in the only way one could react in this situation. He smiled like an idiot and made a noise that might not be completely human, but he didnt care. He was ecstatic. He was rarely given gifts by other people--let alone people he had met probably ten minutes prior to the initial gift giving--and to get something that fit him so perfectly made him happier than most things would ever make him. He leaned down for Lilith, trying his hardest to see what she was doing as she gingerly slid them down his antlers.

"I just figured they'd look good with your antlers." She said, fixing it to his head.

"They do! I bet they do! Oh my gosh, thank you so much, I love it so much, youre so nice." Avery said quickly, jumping in before she was able to say the next part of her thought. She giggled slightly before continuing.

"Maybe you could let me take a picture for you?"

HE froze for a second, looking away, then up, still with that smile on his face, still excited.

"Ah, um... I-I'm not much of a model... but if you, uh, really want to, then, um, here." He said, taking the camera off of his neck, handing it to her delicately. "Um, just be careful with it. Ah, where... where do you want me to stand? What should I do?"

A goofy grin broke out across Avery's face and he made a happy huffing noise as he thanked Lilith, which caused the florist to flush. 'He looks so adorable right now,' the girl gushed, running her hands over his hair so it would lay flat again.

"Ah, um... I-I'm not much of a model... but if you, uh, really want to, then, um, here," Avery said softly, handing it to her. "Um, just be careful with it," The photographer instructed. Lilith grasped it carefully and slid the strap over her neck to make sure she wouldn't accidentally drop it. Honestly, it was a miracle that she hadn't broken it earlier when she crashed into the deer man, so she wasn't going to take any chances now.

"That's alright, I'm a pretty awful photographer," she reassured, giving him a playful wink. "I'll try my best to keep my fingers out of the shot, but I make no promises."

"Ah, where... where do you want me to stand? What should I do?"

"Hmmm," Lilith hummed, tapping a finger to her lips. She looked around the room for a moment before coming to a decision. "C'mon, over here," she told him, grabbing Avery's hand and pulling him behind the counter to the back wall where they were drying lavender to use in essential oils. Around fifty or so bundles of the fragrant purple flowers hung from the ceiling. "I think this'll work," she grinned, squeezing the other's larger hand before dropping it and dragging over a stool from the work bench. "Sit," the brunette told him, pushing softly at his shoulders until Avery was seated.

Lilith walked back and framed the picture as best she could, hitting the button hastily. There was a mechanical whirl and the camera spit out photograph. The woman grabbed it and shook it almost violently in her excitement, whispering an elated, "Yes!" when it started to develop. "Oh rats," she grumbled, scrunching up her nose. "My fingers in the shot and you blinked." Lilith stepped back and tried it again, snapping the shot without giving Avery any sort of warning what so ever. "That'll be the money shot," she told him with a nod, retrieving the photo and laying it on the counter with the other one before crossing back over to where the nature photographer was seated.

"How about we take one together?" The woman asked before crouching down next to him so their faces were even. "Say cheese!" The girl directed, finally giving Avery a little time to compose himself for the shot. She held out the Polaroid camera as best she could and took another picture. She pulled it free and straightened up, shaking the picture more gently this time. Once it developed a bit Lilith saw that it hadn't been framed quite right, and it was a shot of just their mouths. "Oh," the florist breathed softly, trailing her finger over the picture. They were both smiling and Lilith could feel her heart beat a little faster when she noticed how close they'd been. "This one can be mine," she said quickly, putting it with the others. "Now let's make one for you. I think I can get the shot right this time."

Next to the antlered man once again, Lilith tried to crouch down and position the camera correctly this time, but it still felt off. "I'm just gonna...," she started, before slowly sitting down in Avery's lap. It was meant to be innocent, but the red panda girl immediately felt her face heat up. 'Oh God, that was really forward. Jesus, what's wrong with me?,' she fretted, glancing back and smiling sheepishly at the other. "R-ready? Say cheese," Lilith directed before turning back, smiling, and snapping the picture.

Avery sat in a state of near bewilderment as Lilith took a seemingly endless amount of photos with his camera. He didn't have the heart to tell her that the film was very expensive and that he needed to save his shots, however. She looked like she was having too much fun framing and shaping the pictures, despite the comments she made about her skills as a photographer. He only had eight photos in a pack, and she just used four of them. In one day. Avery usually only used a single picture in one day, and that's just if he was lucky enough to find something he wanted to take a picture of. But this was different. He was interacting with someone, finally, and they were enjoying his company.

Basically, she could use all of the pictures in his camera if she wanted to and he wouldnt mind.

Avery breathed in sharply as Lilith shifted her position, sitting in his lap to get a better angle on the final picture. That was... incredibly forward. He felt his cheeks turning a shade of red, and he tried his hardest to fight it off, and push it down, and just smile for the picture, leaning his head back a bit, making sure she wouldnt hit her head on his antler when she went to get up. He was noticing things about her form now that she was sitting so close to him. The shape of her body, for example. The length of her hair, the way she looked when she smiled. It made him smile.

He was looking at her when she took the photo,

And now he found himself hoping to god that she wouldn't think he looked weird or creepy for doing it.