Life is a Bed of Roses

It had been a few weeks since Daniel Cross had arrived in the City of Lights and during that time he had been going through some intense training to get him up to par in terms of becoming a much better Quincy. However, that training did not stop him from having to perform his other duties. A message had arrived for him one morning from his father, asking him to leave the City temporarily, and head to Japan. A place he had never been mind you, but a place he had no problem heading to if that was needed of him. Sure, it pushed back the completion of his training, but he needed a little R&R after all the hard work he had been putting in. Sure, that is what he had believed when he had packed his things, and made the relevant parties aware that he would be back in about a weeks time, but now? Well, right now he was seeing why his father had sent him here.

It was no secret that the Cross family had a great deal of pull in the medical world in terms of creating new technology and stimulants and as of this moment, jet lagged, and exhausted, Daniel had came from another boring seminar.

"They invited my dad and he sent me in his place. They sure as hell didn't look happy to see me."

Daniel said, adjusting the tie on his pure white suit, and making his way from the conference hall out into street. They had droned on and on about experimental technology and its' many applications, but not once had they discussed anything about when these "experimental" products would be available. In truth, Daniel knew that these things discussed behind closed doors would probably never see the light of day, and more than likely would never see any practical testing behind closed doors either. It was just posturing, as it always had been even when he had attended a few of his father's meetings at seminars just like these. No, the point of coming here wasn't the seminar, but to merely continue to improve his image as the next head of his family. He audibly groaned as he marched down the street, forgoing heading toward the parking lot to meet up with Raymond, and deciding to get a breath of fresh air.

He had heard there were several gardens around here with beautiful flowers and even more beautiful scenery, something about enriching the city, and improving the image of society as a whole. More posturing, but this time a much more practical manner of doing so, and a much more beautiful one at that. So he walked, remembering passing by one garden in particular as they had drove here over an hour ago, an hour he would never get back, and remembering vividly the beautiful flowers and their arrangements. Maybe he would pick up some seeds for his mentors? The City of Lights could use some gardens as he found that even if it looked glorious that it was much too bland for his liking. As he walked in, he saw people enjoying themselves, and looking at the flora that was in abundance. He took a deep breath, walking past white picket fences, and just allowing himself to enjoy a slight break.

He stopped by a group of pink flowers and decided to take a moment to smell them, as the old saying goes, sometimes you have to stop and smell the roses. He didn't know if these were roses, but he was still going to stop, and try to take his mind off things.

What had been a minute break away from the business side of his family's medical empire's dealings in Japan had quickly evolved into something of an intriguing situation. The flowers had been slightly disturbed for a second as Daniel had bent forward to get a quick smell as a stronger breeze than before had quickly manifested. His eyes darted up, feeling some kind of energy source, and his eyes caught a very weird sight. A small lady standing on a broom, hovering over the flowers, and trying to bend over much like himself to smell the flowers. His eyes went wide as he fell backwards in surprise, almost falling into another nearby bed of flowers, but catching himself a moment before he could destroy it.

"Woah! What the hell!?"

Daniel said from his rear as he looked up at the young lady on her broom with a look of confusion plastered on his face. He had never seen a flying person before and his initial shock quickly faded as he realized he had probably startled a lot of people around himself. They seemed to be much more understanding of the situation, maybe because they had seen this lady before, or maybe because they were much more in the know of just who lived in this city than he was as they had barely reacted to her arrival, but were now quickly laughing at him. Not that Daniel minded being laughed at, but he was definitely not a fan of causing a scene.

"You scared me...sorry about the initial reaction."

He said, getting off the floor, and trying his best to dust off his pure white suit that was now slightly smudged brown from the dirt that he had fallen on. He tried to adjust his tie and correct himself as to not look like he had almost had a mini heart attack right then and there. Trying his best to put on an air of composure when clearly he had lost it only moments ago. Still, the thought did cross his mind, as to just who this lady was. She had arrived on a broom and the idea that she was a witch of some kind passed through his mind momentarily, but was quickly erased as he felt the familiar presence of a Quincy radiating from her. Witches weren't real after all, but still his heart was beating a mile a minute from earlier, and he doubted that he wasn't visually showcasing that no matter how much he tried to correct himself to hide that.

"I'm Daniel."

He said, failing horribly at keeping his composure, and embarrassing himself at the same time. Must have been a day that ended in 'Y'.

He gave her a weak smile as she started giggling at his expense, which was a tad bit better than a board of executives laughing at his ideas for financing new medical equipment and the like. He wasn't absurdly sensitive to being laughed at at the least, his job as a streamer required him to have thick skin at moments, and he had become quite good at rolling with the punches. And he had taken quite the serious punch when he had noticed her just hovering in mid-air as she had.

"I suppose I'm never going to be able to live down that jump scare, am I? Though I could have done without dirtying up my suit."

He queried, his weak smile growing into a much more solid grin than before, and his earlier fright quickly diminishing along with the irregular heartbeat he had been nursing since the scare. Seeing the energy of that broom being absorbed into her lead to many question as to what she was, but the idea of asking someone about something like that on a first meeting was not really something he was too keen to explore at this moment. Instead he would brush off her concern over scaring him by nodding his head and shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm just not used to seeing people fly up on broomsticks, Nanaly. Also, I'm sure picking is fine...looks like they have quite the staff here."

He said as he gestured around at all of the gardeners who were making sure that everything was kept in pristine condition. Be it through pruning, planting new plants, or by giving proper nutrients and water, they ran a tight ship. It was quite a bit impressive and Daniel was quite a bit jealous at how efficiently they were making use of their time and effort to maintain this beautiful garden. He thought that if only those executives could maintain things similarly to this then things would be fine, but they simply couldn't help, but stretch themselves thin. There was more money in overworking their personnel and draining people's wallets with excessive fees. He then turned back toward Nanaly, reminding himself that he wasn't here to dwell on the business meeting, but to relax. He noted her pale skin color, almost too pale to be healthy really, and twisted his head to the side for a minute. His time spent within the Cross family shining through for a tad bit, as his mother's medical background, and his father's forced medical education for him made him question if something was up. At least internally, he doubted now was the time to be bringing things like this up.

"No harm in a little scare now and again, gets the blood pumping. Do you often visit gardens while flying on your broom?"

He asked raising an eyebrow as he wondered if he wasn't the first person to be jump scared by the appearance of her flying around on her broom.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that. Though I can say I've never met a witch who is worried about breaking a few rules or really a witch at all if I'm being honest."

He said as his hand went to his chin, rubbing it a bit in thought if he had ever read of such a witch, but quickly dismissed it. She clearly wasn't a witch, they were just a myth, a fairy tale told to make children listen to their elders when they misbehaved. Still, he couldn't help, but be a bit intrigued by the broom. He hadn't seen a power like this before and his curiosity was clearly showing on his face at that moment as his eyes continued to stare at the broom as she stepped off of it.

"I mean with how beautiful the flowers are here, it would be a real shame to not take a souvenir, right?"

The ending of that question was followed by a bit of a laugh as he glanced around at some of the gardeners that were far off in the distance performing their craft. He wondered if they would really get upset if they took some flowers? Well, I doubt they could really stop Nanaly from taking anything with her ability to fly, and the thought of them trying made him laugh a bit harder. He could just imagine them trying to jump and catch her as she flew off like a thief in the night without a care in the world. After his laughing fit, his eyes would return to the young lady that he was talking to, and immediately acknowledge the paleness of her skin. She was deathly pale and due to the family that he had been raised in he could kind of guess that she was sick, but she was doing a good job of hiding it with her smile and personality. A frown spread across his face for only a second before quickly turning into back into a smile.

He knew better than to question a sick person and he knew better than to be the Debbie downer with a person who was ill. She was sick and to what degree, he didn't care to dig into, at least not without prompting as it wasn't his business. She was a person and people deserved privacy. Besides, she was out here, and smiling. Whatever struggles she was going through, she was braving it, and doing her best to fight against it without letting it getting her down. He was sure she would pull through, most fighters did, and he could tell she was a fighter just by the way she was acting. He cleared his throat and then his mind by continuing the conversation that they were having. It was better not to dwell.

"Ah, a real life superhero, eh? Yeah, I can say I can't do nearly what you can do... I sure as heck can't fly."

He said with another chuckle as he put his hands in his pockets, a tad bit jealous that she could fly around wherever she wanted to. How liberating it must be to fly around, he thought to himself as he imagined the feeling of the breeze through his air, and the exhilaration of diving from high altitudes. It was probably really thrilling.

"All I can do is cast a few spells and shoot a bow, nothing special about this Quincy right here."

He said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Well, I suppose archery has its' own merits. Though if you saw me shoot you might have to rethink the whole 'cool' thing."

Daniel said with a bit of the laugh at the end. In comparison to his other family members he was way behind in terms of actual power and combat ability, but hearing how Nanaly felt about being a Quincy it kind of gave him a slightly new perspective. He supposed the saying was: "It's not about the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog"? He supposed that meant that he should probably rethink the whole 'woe is me' approach and actually do his part if things came down to it. Though he doubted he had the conviction to actually stand across from a Hollow and fire his shot. It wasn't because he was cowardly, but rather he was far too sheltered to have ever been asked to do the things that a normal Quincy would do, and that even now that he was due to take over duties for his house in the future, he still wasn't really allowed to participate in the 'normal'.

Hell, nothing about his life really felt normal anymore. He had for the most part settled into this new life of training with others to improve himself, but he did miss just streaming and doing his own thing rather than trying to live up to expectations. It was the weight of those expectations that were harshing his vibes and making his life more difficult than it needed to be. He was getting off subject though, he would need to eventually do what his people did for most of their life, and hunt Quincy. He needed to see if he was capable after all and to prove if all the stuff he had been doing in terms of training up to this point was worth the turmoil that it had brought on his life.

"I needed a break."

He answered her question, leaning down to look at a cluster of pure white flowers, and smelling them as he did so.

"My dad is a big shot in the medical technology world, but he was far too busy to come out here with other affairs, and so he decided to send me in his stead."

Standing back up straight, he shrugged his shoulders, and tried to hide his frustration at the whole ordeal. He really didn't want to do this whole meeting potential business partners thing or this whole 'next head of house' thing. He would have just been happy being a nobody who streamed for a living, but that was just not going to happen with all the people pushing him to go out of his comfort zone.

"Listening to people droll on and on about labor costs and funding when people need improved technology to get well is worse than fighting any Hollow, not that I would know what fighting a Hollow is like with how many responsibilities have been weighing me down lately....sorry, I'm making things awkward. We just met and I'm gushing over trivial stuff that doesn't apply to you."

He gave his best attempt at stopping the conversation, even though his face revealed his anger on the matter. Anger over the hospital executives, anger over the cage that was his responsibilities, and anger over the fact he was drawing someone he just met into his problems.

"You seem like a good person, you take this Quincy stuff much more seriously than I do, and I can respect that a great deal. Plus...I think flying on a broomstick is way cooler than anything I can do."

He said with a genuine look of appreciation on his face as he put his hands into his suit jacket pockets.