Covent Garden Flowers, Wednesday

[2_old_for_this]

Peter came in, went through all the mail and the messages on the phone and e-mail, then got around to looking at Nathan's notes from yesterday.

A teddy bear? He thought about it, and...it could probably be done? He made a note to get together some ideas and pricing, then call the customer back and find out just how big they wanted it and what sorts of flowers, then possibly to call for extra foam.

...sex toys. Okay, that was a new one, though possibly the biggest surprise was that it was a new one. He called that customer back and let them know that if they bought the things, the shop could add them to a bouquet, but Peter wasn't about to buy sex toys in general; that was a bit personal.

When he was done, he put a sign out in front of the store:

Now Hiring!
Order now for your Valentine's Day needs!

These two things might be related.


Covent Garden was open!

Comments

[okteiviakom]

"What the hell is Valentine's Day?"

Sure, Octavia could've looked it up on the internet. But she'd been walking through town (though when she did it, it looked vaguely like marching) and had seen the decorations taking up more and more and more window displays, and so the question was on her mind.

And judging by her shift last week, her boss might be someone who could answer it.

[2_old_for_this]

"Hello to you, too," Peter said, though he grinned.

Then he shrugged and waved at the store. "Busy season, apparently. Or one of them. Here and now, it's a holiday where people send gifts to people they care about. Traditionally, flowers are a big thing, especially roses."

And apparently sometimes sex toys. Whatever.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia and basic human pleasantries didn't mix well. Water: also still wet.

She did not look impressed. (Water. Wet.) "I figured about the roses," she drawled. She'd handled enough of those during her last shift. "I still don't understand."

It wasn't even anything about this particular holiday, really.

[2_old_for_this]

"What don't you get?" Peter asked.

[okteiviakom]

"Anything."

She looked exasperated, though only briefly, before she managed to make it solely internal again. "This time has so many holidays. One just for caring about people? And what do flowers have to do with it?"

She huffed a breath out through her nose. Shook her head, too.

"I guess I should just start assuming 'because it's pretty' is the answer to everything here."

[2_old_for_this]

"It's not a bad assumption," Peter said. "I'm not sure why flowers are traditional, except that they're pretty. They just are. As far as the holiday, it comes from a celebration of a man who married people against the wishes of his government, so it's come to be a holiday about romance."

[okteiviakom]

"And not about going against the government?"

Well, when he put it like that, it sounded like a missed opportunity if you asked her. Kind of. Although she was very dryly joking about it.

[2_old_for_this]

Peter gave her a wry grin. "Not so much, no. There aren't a lot of holidays about that. Maybe Guy Fawkes'?" He shrugged. But Valentine's is about love."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia wasn't going to ask who or what a Guy Fawkes was. This place had too many holidays, she'd already decided that. No need to add more evidence.

She made a dismissive noise instead. Like love was something to sneer at. (It wasn't, but that was a wound that was far too sore to show.) "Well," she drawled, "guess I should be glad that at least my shifts will be busy for a couple of weeks."

Kept her mind off other things.

[2_old_for_this]

"There should be plenty to do," Peter agreed. "After that we'll have a little break before Easter. Maybe. This is Fandom, after all."

[okteiviakom]

"I don't want to know what Easter is."

Just so that was clear. She'd get to that when she'd get to it. And then she was going to boggle at the bunnies, because for the most part? Rabbits were for eating, if you could find any in the first place.

"But good, then I can focus on the aspects of plants no one else seems to care about, for a while."

[2_old_for_this]

"Like what?" Peter asked.

[okteiviakom]

"Like finding out which things sold here can have medicinal properties. Things like that."

In case she ever got to go back to where she and her brother had come from.

[2_old_for_this]

"I've got a few books about that," Peter said. He nodded toward the counter. "Under there. Take a look if you like. I meant to have more herbs and medicinals in here, but there doesn't seem to be as much demand for them. I'll put in an order for whatever you like, though. Within reason."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia looked surprised. Sure, it was brief and it was mild, but considering how much she liked to hide all her thoughts away from her facial expressions, it was something.

"Really?" she asked. "Thanks."

... Not that she was going to get too verbose about it.

[2_old_for_this]

"No problem," Peter said easily. "It's good to have useful things. Like I said, I meant to. Just never did."