Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

[1000yearstoolate]

It was a relief that things were back to normal. Seivarden was in a reasonably good mood, even if her eye still hurt from being punched by some people in Baltimore, who for some reason had suddenly turned violent when she had asked for directions to a good teahouse.

Now she was making flower arrangements. The flowers might produce pollen, but it was definitely of the normal kind.

[Open!]

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[fremen_eh]

His dad liked flowers. And, since he had once again stepped through a portal to Fandom, Elias Atreides was going to surprise him with flowers. The version of his dad who lived here, that is, the version who was younger and had green eyes.

Which was why he was now fiddling with his lock picks to get into the back door of a flower shop he had found.

He didn't have any money. That was the best way.

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden didn't expect people to break in, especially since the shop was open, so she didn't hear the slight creak of the door in the other room, and the quiet steps that followed.

She was having a nice cup of tea and arranging flowers, which had her quite absorbed.

[fremen_eh]

This was a good start. Elias sneaked into the shop and crouched beneath the counter, hopefully unseen by the shop assistant. From here he had a good view of what was on display.

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden wasn't blind though.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

She frowned, rising from the chair to see what that kid who had suddenly appeared was up to.

[fremen_eh]

Oh, no. Busted. Elias dived for the nearest flower pot, grabbed it, and aimed for the door.

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden might not have expected shoplifting kids, but she had no problem grabbing him by the waist and placing him on a chair. This was just a kid, after all, albeit a sneaky one. She had dealt with a lot worse.

"What do you think you're doing?"

[fremen_eh]

Elias hugged the flower pot.

"It's for my dad. He likes flowers."

[1000yearstoolate]

"I don't care how much your dad likes flowers," Seivarden said cooly. "This is a shop. You pay for things."

If she knew who this dad was, she might have considered that perhaps she owed him a plant. She didn't however.

"Who is you dad?"

She didn't actually believe the story, but she had to admit it was a creative one.

[fremen_eh]

"Sparkle. His name is Sparkle."

Elias clung harder to the pot.

[1000yearstoolate]

As if Seivarden was going to believe that. She sighed.

"Look, I know Sparkle. He's not old enough to have a kid your age, and I'm fairly sure he would have told me if he had one."

[fremen_eh]

"I'm from another universe. In the future."

Didn't this person know about things like that? Elias rolled his eyes.

"Are you new here?"

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden muttered some curses and reached for her phone. She wasn't that new, but if this kid claimed Sparkle was his dad, Sparkle could probably sort it out.

So she called Sparkle.

[myownface]

Look, Sparkle was just happy that the pollen garbage was over.

And was also pretending nothing weird was going on besides that, because he knew how the island worked perfectly well by now. Storm, pollen, prom, and then...

So there was maybe a bit of hesitation in his voice as he answered his phone. Just a smidgen.

"Y'ello?"

[1000yearstoolate]

"There is a kid here claiming you're her dad."

Seivarden didn't have time to ask for pronouns, although the choice made Elias blink.

"It's Seivarden," she added, just to make that clear. "And I'm working in the flower shop today."

[myownface]

Sparkle was silent for a long moment. And then he sighed.

"Ah, shit. Okay, I'll be right there. Did she say why she decided to go to the flower shop?"

He worked at two places in town, and neither one of them sold flowers.

[1000yearstoolate]

"She claims she wanted to steal a flower for you," Seivarden said, rolling her eyes. "I don't know."

In the background Sparkle could probably hear a complaining voice: "It was a surprise! And I'm a boy!"

[myownface]

"I mean, he's my kid," Sparkle said, readjusting his expectations slightly as he grabbed his backpack, slipped on a pair of ratty sneakers, and booked it through the door, heading for the flower shop at a run.

... He didn't want any kid of his alone with Seivarden for longer than necessary.

"I wouldn't put stealing a flower for me out of the realm of possibility."

[1000yearstoolate]

"What? You would teach your children to steal?" Seivarden asked, unaware as she was about that part of Sparkle's past. "Is this an island thing? Because he looks a little too old to be your kid."

And he had weird eyes.

Elias was still holding on to the pot, sulking a little. It should have been a surprise!"

[myownface]

"It's an island thing," Sparkle confirmed, breaking into a run the second he was out of the building and into the street. "Kids just kind of show up sometimes."

He was not going to confirm or deny the part about teaching a kid how to steal.

"Look, I'm almost there. If he broke anything I can pay for it, it's fine."

[1000yearstoolate]

"He's just holding on to a geranium," Seivarden said.

She wasn't taking her eyes away from Elias.

"And you can keep it if you stop him from breaking anything."

"I wouldn't do that!" Elias complained loudly.

[myownface]

Sparkle was actually trying so hard not to laugh now, so sue him.

"I doubt he'll break anything. His dads would have taught him better than that. I think I've even met this one before."

The more Elias complained, the more Sparkle was sure he knew that voice, yes.

[1000yearstoolate]

"Right." Seivarden was still looking at Elias suspiciously.

"But you didn't teach him not to break into shops and steal flowers?"

She felt that was a reasonable question.

[myownface]

"Well, where he grew up, there aren't really many flower shops," Sparkle replied, reasonably, as if that actually excused anything.

He knew damn well that it didn't. He was choosing not to care.

[1000yearstoolate]

"I don't see how that's an excuse," Seivarden pointed out, also reasonably.

"Do you even like flowers?"

[myownface]

"Do I even like flowers?" Sparkle rolled his eyes as he pushed through the front door of the shop, lowering the phone from his ear. "Of course I like flowers. Who doesn't like flowers?"

Turning a grin toward Elias, he added, "Heya, squirt."