fandomtownies | Covent Garden Flowers, Wednesday

Fandom was a tiny town, nowhere near the kind of sprawling metropolitan landscape that existed just across the causeway, and in fact it was probably a good deal smaller than even Zephrah, but there was something about the narrow streets walled in by buildings that skewed Keyleth's perception of its relative size. Besides that, being in a place where the proximity to the magical essence of nature was somewhat muted was still something she had to get used to.

So she was taking the day to do a little leisurely exploration of the town, peering through shop windows and realizing she had no money to buy those pastries, wondering what exactly other businesses did -- it was probably no surprise that the flower shop caught her eye.

"Hello?" she called, sticking her head, antlers and all, through the doorway.

"Hello," Peter answered, looking up and smiling. "Come on in."

"Oh, hi," Keyleth said with a hesitant wave of her hand. "I hope I'm not disturbing you? I just saw the flowers and I had to come in and see them for a bit, if that's okay."

"That's perfectly okay," Peter said, smiling wider. "I understanding needing green things. That's how I got this place." He stuck out a hand. "Peter Octavian."

"I'm used to much more rural environments, so this is sort of a relief." Edging through the door and into the shop, she reached out, hesitated for a moment, then shook his hand. "Hi. I'm Keyleth. I'm sort of new around here, bit you could probably tell."

"Pleasure to meet you, Keyleth." Peter waved at the shop. "When I first got here, I hadn't seen anything green in a long time. This was really welcome. Feel free to just browse around as much as you like."

Then, since she seemed a bit shy, he added, "If you have any questions or want to chat, let me know. Otherwise I can just pretend you're not here, if you want."

“We’ve got a little garden on the dorm roof, and one on the school grounds, and if I feel really out of my depth I can always go wander around in the preserve for a while,” Keyleth said, smiling slightly. “So it isn’t too bad. Do you get these flowers from all over the world? They’re so pretty . . . And are they singing?”

"We get them from all over a lot of worlds," Peter said. He smiled at the singing. "They do that sometimes. Sometimes it's even more obvious. I don't know if it's because of the worlds they're from, or because of the island."

Keyleth drifted a little closer to some of the singing flowers and reached a hand out to them. "Hi," she said softly, in a voice that suggested she did this a lot. "You sound really nice. I just wanted you to know that."

She glanced sheepishly back at Peter. "I can't actually talk with them. I haven't figured that out yet. But it's nice to build a rapport with them anyway, you know?"

"I know," Peter said, smiling. "You can learn that? Talking with them?"

"Eventually," Keyleth replied, "but there are a lot of other things I need to get the hang of first before I can pull it off."

She sighed and added half under her breath, "If I actually do figure it out."

"I'm sure you will," Peter said, still smiling. "If it's something you want to do, you will. Meanwhile, feel free to talk to these guys as much as you want."

“You wouldn’t mind? I might be in here a lot.” Keyleth traced the edge of a petal gently and glanced back at him. “Sometimes talking to plants is easier than talking to people, even if they don’t talk back.”

"Sometimes because they don't talk back?" Peter guessed. "I don't mind, and I'm sure the plants will like the company. If you want to make it official, you could come in and help out and get paid, but if you just want to sit or walk around a bit, that's fine, too."

Keyleth let out a relieved laugh. “Actually, yes. I’m glad you get it. And — ” She thought about those pastries she hadn’t been able to afford this morning. “I wouldn’t mind making it official either. You’d really let me do that?”

"Sure," Peter said. He laughed. "You'll be one of the other people working here who knows more about plants than I do. I sort of fell into this. Besides, I think the plants already like you."

A few of the nearer plants were noticeably leaning in Keyleth's direction and bobbing a little in tune as they hummed.

Keyleth beamed at the plants and waved a hand, so that the sound of a bird chirping seemed to harmonize with the plants for a few seconds.

"I like them too. That kind of works out then, doesn't it?" She cleared her throat and tried to come across as a little more composed. "I mean. I'd like to do that. Yes, please."

Peter grinned at the bird noises. "You're a natural. Can you work on Fridays?"

“I don’t have any classes on Fridays, so that’s perfect,” Keyleth replied, grinning with a sort of stunned disbelief that it was working out so conveniently. “You’re really sure about this? Wow.”

"I am." Peter smiled. "Can you use a computer? If not, I can show you how the register and system work."

"I'm still getting the hang of electricity," Keyleth said with a self-conscious little laugh, "which is pretty funny since I think it's going to be a while yet before I can figure out lightning magic, so . . . yes? Please?"

"It's a big adjustment." Peter nodded. "You do magic, too?"

"That's what I've always been good at," Keyleth said with a little sigh that made it pretty clear she wasn't bragging. "So that means you have magical abilities too, doesn't it?"

Peter nodded. "I'm getting better at it. I'm strong, but still remembering what I've learned over the years. It's a long story," that he didn't want to tell a very young-seeming person just yet. "It's come in handy on the island a few times, though."

"I thought it might, especially after class the other week where I found out about the thing with the sharks." Keyleth frowned. "Poor sharks. I bet they didn't -- I mean, that wasn't fun for the people here either, but I feel bad for the sharks getting caught up in it too."

"It wasn't really fun for anybody," Peter agreed. "Sharks or people. The challenges around here change - last month we were invaded by snowmen. But we try and keep each other safe around here."

“You know, that makes me feel so much better about being here?” Keyleth admitted. “Knowing that people look out for each other, I mean. I’m used to that at home, but I was kind of warned that people in the outside world tend to be more focused on themselves, and don’t always think as much of the needs of the community.”

"It's probably true of a lot of places," Peter admitted. "But around here, most people know to band together."

A grey ball of plant-fur barreled into Peter's shoe and raced up his leg to cling to his knee.

He sighed. "This is Tickles. He's the store...pet? Sort of. He's a pussywillow that never grew up."

He detached him from his pants and held him up for her to see.

Keyleth gasped, the sound fading into a delighted high-pitched squeal (sorry, Peter) as she reached out to offer Tickles a hand to sniff.

"Ohmygoshhe'sthecutest!"

Peter winced a little at the sound, yes, but grinned at her reaction. "Hernando at the tea shop bought a bunch of pussywillows. They...bred? seeded? something, and ended up like this. I took this guy with me. The rest all ended up rooting and turning into plants again, but not him."

Tickles sniffed at Keyleth's hand and then butted it. Pets!

"That's amazing. I've never heard of anything like that, but I guess it makes sense for things like that to happen here," Keyleth said, only too happy to provide pets to Tickles. "Is there anything special we have to do to feed him, or take care of him?"

"It seems to be peculiar to the island," Peter agreed. "He has a pot behind the counter, with wet soil and fertilizer. That seems to keep him happy."

Tickles tried to crawl up Keyleth's arm. Yay, a person with pets!

"And a lot of love, I bet, too." Keyleth was not going to argue at all with Tickles trying to crawl up her arm, and in fact was making happy little cooing noises as she ruffled Tickles's fur. "Who's a soft fuzzy little friend? You are!"

"That too," Peter agreed, smiling at them.

Tickles stretched and preened.

"So, you know," Keyleth said slowly, putting too much effort into sounding casual and innocent to be even a little bit believable about it, "about how much of the day would I have to devote to paying attention to this little guy here?"

Tickles was getting so much attention right now. So much.

"As much as you like," Peter said. "He certainly won't ever complain."

“I can see that,” Keyleth said, and cooed at Tickles with no embarrassment whatsoever. “I should probably start learning how to use the machines and things, though. ‘cause you know, that’s completely and totally new to me.”

Was that a nervous laugh? Absolutely.

Peter grinned. "We can do both. Bring him over to the counter, and I'll show you the systems while he gets his attention."

“Sure, okay! That works.” Keyleth gathered Tickles up into the crook of her arm and headed over to the counter. “Multitasking, yay?”

"An important skill," Peter said. He brought her back behind the counter and showed her the computer with the register and orders system, then went over how it worked.

"If it's too complicated, especially at first, you can always just leave me notes," he finished. "Do you write the local alphabet?"

"I think so? If not, nobody's told me about it yet, and wow, won't that be awkward," Keyleth said, giggling nervously. "I mean, I can read everything fine, so I'm assuming it's either the same or there's some helpful island magic at work."

That was nice since Comprehend Languages was not only above her level, but not on the druid spell list.

"If you read it, I'm sure you write it," Peter said, smiling. "Oh, that's the other thing - do you know how to use a phone yet?"

Covent Garden Flowers, Wednesday

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