fandomtownies | Covent Garden Flowers, Wednesday

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Covent Garden Flowers, Wednesday

This...should have been an easy week. There were no more holidays!

Apparently it was not. Apparently it was time to start ordering things for Valentine's Day.

Peter would have thought it was almost all red roses; how hard could it be?

Apparently, he would have been wrong.

"I've seen dictionaries smaller than this catalogue," he muttered to...the plants, mostly. Some of whom were whining for attention, since Nathan had taken a bit of a leave. "He'll be back when he can," he told them firmly. "You'll just have to make do with the rest of us until then."

The flower shop was open!

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Perhaps it was strange stopping by to talk to your roomie while he was at work, especially if you had avoided the roomie for some time. Seivarden somehow felt it was easier though, and should things get too awkward she didn't even have to make up a few questions she had about the plants.

So she entered the shop shortly before lunch.

Peter glanced up from where he was lost in flower offerings and nodded. "Seivarden. Everything okay?"

"Hello Peter. Yes, it is." She glanced around the shop, fidgeting a little. "Are the plants behaving today?"

Peter glanced over at them. "More or less. I think they miss Nathan. If you want to help, you can give them some attention."

While picking up a watering can and filling it with water, Seivarden said.

"Last Saturday they kept throwing those small clay balls across the room."

She paused.

"I meant to..." she paused again. "I have been thinking that perhaps..." another pause. "...we should talk."

Huh. Well, that was a start.

"I can talk," Peter agreed.

"Well," she began. "Talking has been a bit awkward lately."

Seivarden was aware that it might be because of her.

"I wanted to know if there was something you wanted to say."

"There's a lot of things I could say," Peter said. "Do you feel like listening?"

"I'm asking, aren't I?" Seivarden replied.

Peter nodded. "I'm glad to hear it. I think that's your biggest problem - you don't seem to want to listen or learn anything new." He gave her a wry, slightly reproving smile. "I'm a lot older, and even I know there's always something to learn."

"I can listen," she said. "If what I'm told is meant sincerely and I'm not ridiculed for not understanding. What is it that you want me to learn?"

She was working very hard to hold back irritation in her voice.

"Something about not pissing off my friends would be good," Peter said. "How much have you learned about other cultures so far?"

He was trying not to be judgemental, too, but he was definitely having to make an effort.

"I'm sorry for upsetting your friend. He was upset the moment I opened the door though, so I didn't really have to do anything."

She paused, knowing Peter wouldn't approve of that explanation. "But I could have... not pushed him, I suppose."

She was so very close to add 'but he did it too'. She didn't add that.

"What is it that I'm supposed to learn? I really don't... Oh, is the pronoun thing? Because I did actually ask someone and he looked really surprised."

Zack might not have anticipated that question.

"The pronoun thing would be a good start," Peter agreed. "Just in general listening to people and treating them well would be better."

"Are you saying I'm not?" Seivarden looked confused.

"You're really not," Peter said with a little sigh. "I don't just mean people you like. I mean people that you meet on the street, people in stores, people everywhere. Just...be polite. And listen. Kanan and I corrected you several times about a pronoun that night, and you still didn't use the right one. Using the wrong one might be a little thing around the island, but not listening is a problem."

"But..." Seivarden wanted to say that she was listening, not as an excuse but as something she truly believed.

Instead she sighed.

"Would you prefer it if I found another place to stay?"

Peter shrugged. "Everybody needs a place to stay. I'm not about to kick you out onto the street. But I'm not happy with the fact you seem to have pissed off most of my friends."

"I'm going to apologize to Sparkle," Seivarden said, nervously poking a flower. "I'm afraid I don't think Kanan and I are ever going to see eye to eye, but I'll find somewhere else to be if you want to invite him."

She paused, thinking. "There's no one else, is there?"

Peter gave her a disbelieving look. "Do you really not know if you've pissed off other people, or do you just not care as long as they're not friends?"

Seivarden, the point and you were a million miles and possibly a few dimensions apart.

She cared more if they were Peter's friends, actually, but she knew that was the wrong answer.

"Kanan's friend who was an animal? The baristas at the Perk?"

Seivarden made a gesture with her hand. "I don't think there's anyone else."

Peter was trying really, really hard not to facepalm here.

"Why don't you try paying attention to whether or not you've pissed people off, and actively trying not to, no matter who they are?" he suggested. "That'd be a really good start."

Seivarden was trying not to snap at Peter. "I'm not trying too," she said. "And it's not always easy to notice. Sometimes people act offended for no apparent reason. But if I upset any other of your friends I'd like to know."

"If someone acts offended, have you tried asking them - politely - why?" Peter asked.

The thought hadn't occurred to her.

"There's a lot of asking having to be done here," she noted.

"Of course," Peter said. "You're in a strange place and you don't know what people are like. That means you have to ask."

"I'm just not used to it," Seivarden said, again sort of missing the point.

"But I'll try. I will. I promise."

Even she had understood by know she would have to, unless her life here would become more unbearable than it was. To be fair, it wasn't as unbearable as it had been when she first arrived, but since she was stuck here for Amaat knew how long, it might turn worse again.

"But I would really like to know if I've offended any more of your friends."

Peter sighed. "I'll let you know. Until then, maybe treat everyone as if they were my friends?"

Seivarden considered asking 'even the annoying barista att the Perk' as a joke but decided against it.

"I'll do my best," she promised.

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Covent Garden Flowers, Wednesday

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