Something About The Way You Look Tonight

[Missy Benson]

Missy Benson had only ever been to Italy once before. In the first year of her job she'd seen a fashion show in Rome and she'd fallen in love with the country. Of course she'd not gotten to see a lot of the place because she'd been in her hotel the whole time and couldn't drive a car. However, now she could. Missy was back in Italy again, this time for her own fashion show and she had two days to herself before she had to worry about anything. She'd decided to get to Italy early; she wanted to do some touristy things. She hadn't had the chance to do touristy things before. Still she had to be careful, she had to be careful not to exceed her time in any one place because she only had permission to be in Rome. Wrapping her coat around her, Missy got into the rental car and headed out. She'd heard some good things about a place called Colletta Di Castelbianco and she'd been told that they had some pretty great florists there as well. She'd been looking for the flowers for her show for a couple of days and as yet she'd had trouble finding a shop in Rome that she liked. She was hoping that this six hour drive would allow her to get what she wanted.

Six hours of driving later, Missy was yawning as she stepped out of her car. She'd somehow managed to drive straight through. She got out of the car and the sun was beginning to set. She lifted up her sunnies to look out over the horizon and smiled as she saw the town not much farther. She got back into the car and drove the rest of the way before getting back out and parking her car towards the side of the town. It wasn't as big as she was expecting it to be but it wasn't all that small either. It didn't take her long to find the shop she was looking for. The Florists were clearly labelled as such and the stacks of flowers on the outside of the shop were surely a giveaway from what she would find inside. She was excited though, because just from the outside designs she could see that they knew what they were doing. They seemed to be on her wavelength, so to speak. Missy looked through her handbag to make sure she had all the money she would need before stepping inside the shop. She immediately sought out someone that could help her. There were a couple of people inside, some customers and one that looked like he was distracted. She walked over to the guy behind the register and smiled kindly at him. "Buona Sera! Parla ingress?" Missy was not at all very good at Italian, and she was pretty sure her pronunciation was butchering the lovely language, but she'd definitely try. The people she'd passed in the town had all spoken to her but she'd not understood a word of it. She'd only taken one year of the language in her early high school days.
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[Romeo Benichi]

Romeo Benichi had never left his small home, hidden away in Italy. He worked with his family at, what looked like to most, a flower shop, though he honestly knew very little about what it meant to be a florist. His aunt and uncle could pretend quite well how to arrange flowers and their collective meaning, whilst Romeo often just stared like a deer about to be hit by a car. He was much more proficient with the magical side of the business, and so remained behind the register whenever muggles were looking for the right flowers for their weddings. Today, though, had been a rather busy day. With his aunt, Rachele, out with her partner, and his uncle, Remigio, in the basement brewing, it was just him and Rinaldo within the shop. He smiled shyly at Rinaldo as he conversed with a couple looking for flowers for their wedding, which they naturally had an invitation to seeing as the couple had grown up within the town just as they had. It was like selling to family, really.

Galleons, knuts and euros could be found within the register, and he smiled at his last customer (an elderly wizard in search of some potions) and assured him that his 'special order' would be delivered later. He then began to water a small cactus beside him, before he was spoken to in some pretty awful Italian. Fortunately, he had always been raised on both English and Italian. He was quite sure he would do a better job. "Good afternoon, I'm Romeo Benichi and welcome," he replied, smiling brightly to hide his horror at being approached. He wasn't much of a social-butterfly, but within his own home he tended to be a little more confident. Especially when the family business replied so much on him being able to actually talk to customer. "What is it you need today?"​

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[Missy Benson]

The man behind the counter was smokin'. Missy should have come by this town months ago. She was naturally a very confident person, but dayum, that boy was fine. She appreciated that he didn't make fun of her poor italian, as she had come across that in her travels before. Not that she would ever really be upset by it. She understood that it could annoy people when you didn't speak their language and you were in a country like France or Germany. She was getting there, but it wasn't really enough sometimes. Missy herself got a little annoyed on occasion by the english skills of some people. His name was Romeo, he was from a small town and he was italian. God damn. "PleaseletmebeyourJuliet! I mean, what?" Missy cleared her throat and smiled innocently. That was embarrassing. Missy laughed awkwardly, running her hand through her hair. She shook her head and tried to get back to the original point of her walking into the shop in the first place. She grinned, again awkwardly, and blinked."Hii, um, I'm a designer and I'm doing a show in Rome this weekend." That wasn't really important, but context was key. "That part really isn't all that important to you, but my layout designer and I don't really agree on the flowers she picked. I heard about your shop and I was wondering if you'd be able to help me out on such short notice."

The entire time she spoke, Missy had been practically looking everywhere but at the gorgeous Italian god in front of her and now that her speech had come to an end, she looked back at him and laughed slightly again. People just weren't this pretty in real life and it was kind of hard to wrap her head around the fact that these kinds of people actually still existed. Still, he did live in a small town, there was no way he was available and even if he was, she wasn't here for much longer, what kind of relationship would they even have anyway? "I asked around a little bit and I saw some of your arrangements outside and I feel like you would understand me, how I work. I feel a connection with this place... if you know what I mean?" Artist to Artist, come on Romeo, pick up the vibe!
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[Romeo Benichi]

Rome? He'd never been, but obviously knew how important this transaction would be. His family's shop had been going for generations, and the small town location meant the small town prices and profits. In years past there may have been more sales, but with the easier travel and off-locations that people took to have their special events, such as weddings and funerals, meant that those looking for the large, pricey arrangements were few and far between. They weren't in financial trouble, per se, but it was always nice to have a large order that wasn't a funeral. However, dressing for a show on the weekend was rather short notice, but he was quite sure there would be no trouble. The young man found solace in her inability to hold eye-contact - it made his stomach sit a little easier knowing that he didn't have to keep the same contact with how utterly embarrassed he was. Thank God his father wasn't here - he was the worst observer during these kinds of things.

Cheeks still burning, he walked out from behind the counter and used his hand to encourage her to follow him in a sweeping motion. "This way, please," he said quietly, before guiding her to the back of the store. "Generally we need a week or so to organise the arrangements, talk to you about them, transport them, stuff like that." As he spoke, his hands brushed past the protruding leaves of some of the larger examples, whose meanings ranged from happiness, to love and beyond. "But we have a few pre-made arrangements, and my aunt, and uncle are on hand if you want something made from scratch with a particular meaning - they're better at that." They were older than him, and whilst he was proficient, he would be more comfortable with just collecting one of them to finish the sale if she wanted specifics that he couldn't cater for. "I suppose what really matters right now is whether you care about plant and arrangement meaning, or if you're simply after some pretty flowers whose colours blend with your show?"​

 

[Missy Benson]

Missy didn't really know much about flowers, but she'd brought along a sketching of her main show to show the florists what she was working with so that maybe they'd be able to help her out. She could see that she'd embarrassed both herself and Romeo and cleared her throat casually as she followed behind him. The store was very nice and she liked the ambiance of the place. She just hoped she wasn't here too late for them to be able to help her. Some of the arrangements were gorgeous and she found herself stopping to inspect them even as Romeo spoke. She didn't know much about the meanings behind the flowers, but she was happy to look at them anyway, mostly because they all made her so happy to look at them. Most of the people at her show wouldn't know much about the flowers either she could imagine, but she also thought that it would be a good idea to keep the meanings on a harmless spectrum just incase someone was fluent in the meanings of the flowers. "Yes, I am sorry about the short notice, but the style my layout designer had me proof was not the one I was given." She hoped she didn't sound like she was a whining artist, but this was important to her. She could lose a lot of interest simply because colour and tone didn't match, something she was sure any artist would understand.

It seemed promising from what Romeo was telling her and what she was seeing around her. She could already see some flowers she thought might match the tome of her show. Missy stopped for a moment and pulled her sketches out of her bag to show him. "To be honest, because this is short notice I'm mostly interested in something that gives off the right vibe. Most of my attendees would be ignorant, I think, of the meanings behind the arrangements. In saying that though, I also want to make sure that there's nothing dramatic, on the off chance of someone being into that kind of thing." She pointed to the section closest to the entrance on her sketch. "My layout designer had lilies here, but I didn't like the way they looked, I was thinking something more inviting than lilies? Maybe carnations, or frangipani's?" The colours fit with her overall theme and she liked that neither one was a symbol of death.
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[Romeo Benichi]

Romeo didn't mind when his customers spoke to him, though he wasn't always sure what he was supposed to say when they raged about someone or told him intimate details about their personal lives. Mostly he just kept out of the way and helped them to find whatever they needed, it was the easiest way. He wasn't as socially adept as a lot of his other relatives, he preferred to get the job done and not worry about everything else going on. He simply allowed her to seethe silently as he pointed out some of the arrangements they'd made previously, he hoped one of them would help her out, though he wasn't entirely convinced of it. Romeo could not fault her, she had created something a certain way and he imagined that having it turn out completely differently had been hard for her. Art was simply... unique. It was hard to experience true pleasure when the thing you are observing was not deeply loved by its creator. A testament he could well understand. His family had owned this shop for many generations, each adding their own spice to it. It made Romeo quite proud.

Romeo looked quickly at the designs she was holding and did a quick calculation in his head. He looked at the entrance of the show and then at the three pathways that ran around it. "You have the right thought with lilies, they mean death." He commented, nodding at what she said. "Carnations are a good idea if that's the sort of meaning you want to portray. They have a nice colour too, and they aren't symbolic of anything bad either." She'd have a good showing with colours as vibrant as the carnations. He pointed to the podiums closest to the frames, "I think you would do well with some Zinnia here. They are very similar to the carnations, but are rounded and have more colour." Romeo found that he was rather enjoying helping this woman out, as she was being very good at listening to him. He pointed to the Freesia's next to him. "These would be good for the models to be holding at the end, I think, just going by the notes on the side."
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