Exchange of favors (Mei and Jia Long)

[xiaomei]

"You make fireworks?" Trust Mei to skip past the rest for the most interesting piece of information. "Oh, that's incredible! I love fireworks." She giggled with delight, taking the sparklers. "Oh, I can't wait to try these." It crossed her mind that she ought to tell him not to worry about it - she hadn't minded helping and besides, he was helping her in exchange, what with dusting and all... but they were fireworks. And when was the next chance she'd get fireworks to play with? Most of her spare money went to more flowers - or clothes. She just couldn't keep nice clothes long... inevitably, in her line of work, she'd wind up with tears or snags or dirt or stains that she just couldn't hide or get rid of.

A moment later, though, she circled back to the matter at hand. "I... I can't thank you enough. Any day and any time you've got that you want to come... I really would appreciate it. It's nice, just having someone else here, if nothing else. And really, I don't mind teaching you anything you want to know about flowers... if... there is anything you want to know." This last was said with a faint furrow in her brow, as though she were trying to figure out why he might want to know anything about flowers. He made deliveries, he'd said, and made fireworks. ...There wasn't much she could see that knowledge of flowers would help him with - but if he wanted to learn, she'd be more than happy to teach him.

[firecracker]

“I’d be happy to learn from you.” Jia Long gave her a tiny smile, then glanced around the shop. “And yes, I do make fireworks. It’s something I enjoy quite a bit, especially when I make the flower ones. Knowing about natural flowers will help me make them even better.” He shifted a little awkwardly, eyes flicking to the door. “I need to get going now, but is it alright if I come back tomorrow? I’d like to learn about working for you if you don’t mind.”

Jia Long bowed slightly. “Thank you again for helping me. And be careful, the sparklers can light anything too dry on fire so make sure you use them in an open area outside.”

[xiaomei]

Mei grinned back at him. "Then it will be my pleasure to teach you!" Anything to help with making fireworks. Especially fireworks that looked like flowers... that was two of her favorite things all rolled into one big, bright, sparkly, lovely package.

"Tomorrow will be fine. I'll be here all morning, then I have to make a delivery to one of my usual clients that afternoon... but after that I'll be back." Sheepishly, she smiled. "I... don't do much besides tend flowers here or at home, and deliver them... but doing it makes me happy and that's what counts, right?" Whether he agreed or not, she would continue to do things her way.

When he bowed, she mirrored the gesture slightly. "It really wasn't any trouble to help you. Sometimes, I think the army has too much time on their hands, and they're chasing at specters." When he cautioned her about the sparklers, she nodded. "I'll remember. Thank you, again, for these."