fandomtownies | Covent Garden Flowers, Thursday

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Covent Garden Flowers, Thursday

Since apparently prom was this weekend, Peter had decided to showcase a number of corsages and boutonnieres this week.

Unfortunately, he hadn't counted on a very large shipment of false aralias in pots today. He wasn't entirely certain what to make of them, so now the windows were full of corsages, boutonnieres, and a lot of potted plants with very distinctive (sorry, Eliot) leaves.

The flower shop was open!

[No OCD]

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Funnily enough, 'Prom' was the last thing from Nathan's mind. He'd been going for a walk, mostly, his semester over and the class final having been kind of a write-off, what with the giant rabbits and so on roaming the island.

And still, Portalocity wasn't throwing him a bone and arranging a way back to Japan. His Japan. Not the modern one, or that one that occasionally had giant monsters smashing around on it. So... today he was just trying to get back into the rhythm of the island.

Apparently today that involved stepping into the flower shop, taking a look around, and smiling faintly.

"Ah, right, there's a dance coming up, isn't there?"

He'd had no intention of chaperoning, no.

Peter smiled up from the plant he'd been fussing with. "Apparently. You're not with the school either, then?"

"Actually, I'm a teacher. Or I was a teacher this semester, I suppose. I don't exactly have plans going into the summer yet."

Nathan shrugged his shoulders a little.

"This week has been a little off, though. Our class didn't get a final because people were busy not getting eaten by rabbits instead."

Priorities.

"Do teachers not go to prom, then?" Peter shrugged. "Sorry, I'm not exactly up on modern education customs. Though last I checked, the rabbits weren't part of it, so I'm guessing that's just Fandom."

He held out a hand. "Peter Octavian."

"Teachers can absolutely go to prom," Nathan replied, "if they want to play chaperone to a bunch of hormonal teenagers on what's apparently the most important night of their high school careers."

He didn't sound entirely like he bought that. Then again, he also didn't sound like he had much interest in it, either way.

"Nathan Algren," he said, reaching to shake Peter's hand. "A pleasure, Mr. Octavian."

Peter laughed. "Hormonal teenagers not your thing? I can understand that. I plan on staying in my apartment in the quiet that evening."

As opposed to, you know, the nights when he was a party animal all around the island.

"In any case, can I help you with anything, or were you just enjoying the greenery?"

"I can list a dozen things I'd rather do than have to stare a teenager down as they attempt to spike the punch for the tenth time in one evening," Nathan explained, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling. "And so I'll be doing exactly that. Staying home and reading, perhaps. Or writing. Or..."

He regarded the flower shop thoughtfully.

"I don't suppose you have any books about ikebana, by any chance?"

Hey, a man needed hobbies. Better ones than whiskey, anyway.

Peter grinned. "I've got a few. Hold on."

He headed into the back and came back out with a small armful of books. "There's some other stuff in here too; I wasn't fussy about what kind of arranging I was going for. It's just when I started here," he set the books down and started rifling through them, "I knew exactly nothing about flowers except they were pretty."

He found a couple ikebana books and set them to one side, then waved Nathan at both piles. "If you see anything you like, you can borrow it, or I can get another copy in. Can I get you some tea while you look?"

"Thank you," Nathan replied, giving a grateful little nod to Peter both for the books, and in reply to his question about the tea. "I wouldn't mind having something to put on a bookshelf later on, but I realize I'm not exactly walking into a bookstore looking for these."

"No problem," Peter said. "I'm happy to get anything you like. I wouldn't mind learning more myself."

He headed back to put the electric kettle on and came back with a box of different sorts of tea bags for Nathan to choose from.

Nathan nodded his thanks again, and then rummaged for a minute before surfacing with a nice green tea.

"I'll admit I'm not exactly a professional myself," he noted. "So much as I could use a hobby, and that hobby might as well be something that I can continue doing if I ever get back home. My options are somewhat limited in that regard."

"I just came in here and started cleaning, pruning." Peter shrugged. "It was relaxing. Everything else I had to learn when I got this place."

He glanced over Nathan's clothing. "You're from...the eighteen sixties or seventies?" he guessed. "Or a different world entirely."

"The clothes are from the eighteen sixties," Nathan confirmed, smiling wryly. "The rest of me just hasn't bought a new suit in six years. Which, I suppose, makes me old-fashioned even among the old-fashioned."

Basically, yes. His answer was yes.

"How long have you been here?" Peter asked. "Or now, I guess."

"This time around, only a few months," Nathan replied. "But I've been here before, for a year or two. It all kind of blurs together when you're fighting zombies and sentient bees."

Fandom.

Peter winced. "Fighting like that's never pleasant. Though I haven't seen too much here so far."

Only a few catastrophes. When you'd spent a millennium in Hell, your perception was possibly skewed just a bit.

That had a funny way of happening, didn't it?

"Well, didn't you luck out, then?" Nathan smiled wryly, and then reached for one of the books, flipping through it almost curiously. "Of course now I'm almost afraid to ask what 'not too much' looks like, on Fandom Island."

He understood well enough that these things were relative, after all. He had been the not-Thor of the Fandom Avengers, once.

Peter leaned on the counter. "There was a bad bit this winter; were you here for that? Another version of us, in a dead world. There have been the giant rabbits and a few other little things, too." He shrugged. "I've been here less than a year, so I'm not sure if that's a normal amount."

"... Must have just missed that one," Nathan mused. "The little things are generally less concerning, though they're sometimes at least superficially the more dangerous things to hit us. It's been... fairly Fandom since I came back. Possibly a little less heavy on the 'weird.'"

Fandom used to be nuts.

"Less weird?" Peter asked. "I think maybe I'm glad it's calmed down, then. I find it weird enough."

"Don't say that too loudly," Nathan sighed. "You'll give it ideas."

And really, did the island need ideas after the bunny thing?

Peter held up his hands in surrender. "Believe me, it doesn't want to get its ideas from my experiences."

The kettle started boiling and he went to get it, pouring two cups and grabbing something spicy for his. "Do you need sugar or anything?"

"No sugar necessary," Nathan replied, shaking his head a little. "Or milk, for that matter. I'm not a big fan of sugar in my tea, these days."

Green tea purist, really.

Peter was less a purist and more a "didn't much care".

"So why ikebana?" he asked. "Why not just any other flower arranging? Or painting or something?"

"I've... got a bit of a fondness for Japanese culture," Nathan replied, shrugging. "I've been living there for a few years now. This is..."

He smiled wryly.

"It's sort of a homesickness thing, I suppose."

"I get that," Peter said. "I've been a bit homesick myself. If this'll help, I'll get in whatever'll help."

"I appreciate that," Nathan replied, smiling wryly. And then he paused to consider. "... And I don't suppose there's any chance you might be hiring?"

Not that he didn't take his role as a teacher on the island seriously or anything, but he could definitely use a summer off, and he currently had a whole house to himself that he'd still have to pay utilities on, if nothing else.

Peter smiled. "Sure. I've got someone in here on Monday, but any other day you'd like to come in, I can always use another pair of hands."

Well, Nathan wasn't expecting to be spoiled for choice, here.

"Well... then how about the weekend?" He smiled wryly. "Gives me a reason to get out of the house on a... Saturday, perhaps?"

Honestly, he was actually a little surprised that just asking had worked.

Eh, Peter wasn't fussy. If Nathan was good enough for the school, that was enough reference.

"Sounds good," he said. "Do you know how to use a computer?" He hooked his thumb at the one on the counter. "Pretty much everything uses them these days, it seems like."

That was weird even for him, and he was just a decade or two out of time.

Okay, but the school set a really low bar.

"I... can get the internet to find me things from time to time," Nathan offered. "I'm a bit out of practice, but I'm not so hopeless that I can't learn."

He was, after all, a fairly fast learner.

"The order site's pretty similar," Peter said. "If you can do that and the register, that's all you need. The register program's a little quirky, but I can show you or leave instructions, whichever works better."

He shrugged. "I figured it out on my own, and I knew less than you, so you should be fine. If you have any problems, just call or leave me a note."

"Works for me," Nathan decided. "I've worked with registers before. Ah. Somewhat."

He'd worked at the Wellspring Arms, once upon a time, under Cable.

They... weren't actually big on selling weapons, under Cable.

"Good enough." Peter smiled. "If anyone gives you grief about being slow, tell them your boss lays a mean hex."

Not that he would. Probably.

"I think they'll be patient with me," Nathan decided, smirking faintly. "I give a pretty formidable 'don't give me grief' face, when I feel so inclined."

Seriously. Don't piss of Nathan Algren. His 'go to hell' game was powerful and sometimes involved sharp objects and very graphic descriptions of how to use them.

Peter laughed. "Good for you."

He tried to think if there was anything else he should mention.

"How are you with magic? I've got wards up around the shop - are you likely to feel them or have a problem with them?"

"I'm not likely to have a problem with them if they aren't likely to have a problem with me," Nathan snorted. "I don't have a magical bone in my body. If that isn't a dealbreaker, then I should be fine."

"Not a problem," Peter assured him. "If there's anything you need to know about, I'll leave you a note." He held out his hand. "Welcome to the shop."

"Thanks," Nathan replied, smiling and reaching his hand out in turn in order to give Peter a firm handshake. "It's good to be aboard."

Well. Thus far. He'd only been 'aboard' for about fifteen minutes now, after all.

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Covent Garden Flowers, Thursday

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