fandomtownies | Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

Even though she did have the school trip to look forward to, last week's events had left Tisarwat feeling strange and morose and disappointed, but at least she could cheer herself up by going and visiting Seivarden today.

And there was a statement she'd never imagine would exist in (either of) her brain(s) before.

"Hello, Seivarden," she said as she came into the shop and couldn't help but noticing the flowers glittering again. "Would you like some tea?"

Of course she knew the answer, but it was just polite and, by now, her standard greeting.

Seivarden looked up, smiling at Tisarwat. "Tea would be perfect." Obviously.

"Please, come in."

She rose and pulled out a chair for Tisarwat.

"How are you?"

Tisarwat smiled back, but it was a true testiment to her mood that it was, perhaps, not as convincing as it otherwise might have been. Still, she took the chair and set her things down so that she didn't have to waste any more time to get to the tea she herself was needing quite a bit right now, too.

"I'm fine," she said, "thank you. How are you?"

She thought about extrapolating on her mood a little bit more, but perhaps she'd wait and see what kind of mood Seivarden was in first. So far, though, it didn't seem too bad.

Seivarden wasn't going to admit how much a visit from the only other Radchaai improved her mood. Drinking tea with someone civilized! She was going to ignore that Tisarwat's family probably wasn't very prominent.

"I'm fine," she said, taking a seat again. She didn't pay enough attention to notice anything unconvincing about Tisarwat's smile, and continued: "I hear you're going on a trip."

Tisarwat nodded. She figured she'd wind up with the trip as a topic of conversation, and she was glad for it. It seemed much easier to talk about than the last week.

"It's apparently something they do often here," she said, nodding a confirmation. "A trip with the student body and the faculty. It'll be interesting to see a different part of this world, too. This island's so small. It'll be good to see what else is out there."

As she spoke, of course, she poured the tea, so they by the time she was finished, she had a cup ready to offer over to Seivarden.

Seivarden accepted the cup, the smile fading a little. "I haven't been able to go on any trips, sadly."

She tried to forget about the one to Montréal.

"But I understand they are usually fun. Not in a civilized way, but you know what I mean."

"I'm sure expecting anything civilized out of this planet would just be an exercise in constant disappointment," said Tisarwat, her smile coming a little easier now, with a dash of wry amusement. "The place is called Ecuador, though, and I did a little research. I imagine it will be very nature-heavy, which should be interesting. I'll have to see if you're right about this place," she gestured to indicate the flower shop, "and keep an eye out for any particularly glittery flora while I'm there."

"I don't need more glitter here," Seivarden said with an almost amused snort. "At least I'm going to look after some flowers for a friend while you're gone."

"You're just becoming a regular horticulturalist now," noted Tisarwat with an amused sip of her tea, wondering just what her Seivarden would think about that. It naturally raised this Seivarden in her esteem a little. "Which friend? Is this the one with tea?"

It would make sense, that someone who could manage to meet Seivarden's standards for tea might have a hand in something like flowers, as well.

"The one with the tea?" Seivarden asked. "It's for Amaya. She prefers coffee, but she makes acceptable tea and she wears gloves. Have you met her?"

She smiled a little. "I'm not planning on keeping up this job once I get back home, but considering I'm stuck here, it could be worse."

"I have not," Tisarwat admitted, "but I remember you mentioning her before. Maybe I should have to introduce myself on the trip, if she's going as well."

It should be easy to pick her out, too, if she did in fact wear gloves.

"But that does remind me," she added with a drink from her cup. "I took your recommendation about going to the diner last week, as well. Thank you for that. I got to try waffles, and the service was exceptional."

Even if the tea wasn't.

She wouldn't add that Kanan had even put on gloves without her even asking.

Just a student thing. Sure, Seivarden.

Seivarden would have pointed out that Tisarwat had the benefit of someone having been here for a while and let people know about civilized things.

"I'm glad to hear that. Who was working? Kanan?"

She assumed it had been. His day was waffles and pancakes.

"I don't think Amaya would mind if you introduced yourself, and you're welcome to mention that we know each other."

Seivarden didn't think Tisarwat would do something too embarrassing, at least nothing that Amaya couldn't deal with.

Seivarden clearly didn't know Tisarwat and how she could get around horticulturalists, then.

"Maybe I will," she said. "You seemed to have done a good job of impressing on Kanan the importance of tea and gloves, anyway, and if she's your friend and trust you with her plants, then she'll probably know where I'm coming from. It makes things so much easier."

"It took some effort," Seivarden said. "I couldn't even talk to Kanan the for the first months here. He always went off on something about his home universe and being understanding."

She shrugged.

"I'm sure you'll like Amaya, though. She's not very..." Seivarden paused, looking for a word, "Radchaai, but she's one of the better people I've met here. And if you want to know anything about primitive technology, she's the right person to ask."

Tisarwat's head tilted a little curiously, as she considered that first part over her tea. Kanan had spoken with her about his home universe and being understanding, but she'd hardly consider it going off. It had all been so pleasant and nice, but then she had to remember who it was she was talking to now.

"Maybe I will ask," she said, deciding to focus instead on the other part. "I have questions about a few things with my computer class. There's another person in it that seems willing to help people, but she wears these fingerless gloves, which seems more confusing that just no gloves at all. Or just really tacky. I also have some ideas about my phone. My big sibling helped me out with getting one, and she did a grat job modifying it, but I have some other ideas that I'm not quite sure how to approach."

Tisarwat's phone was already tricked out well beyond the normal technology.

Just wait until she realized that that was not exactly what Seivarden meant when she said primitive.

Seivarden took a sip of tea. "Oh, yes, the phones. You'll get used to them though. It's impossible to do anything without them, and there are no AIs, so..."

She shrugged.

"Computers aren't Amaya's thing, I think. Anyway. She also grows plants, and apparently she thinks I'm the best person to look after them."

Another sip. "This really is good tea."

"Thank you," said Tisarwat, who beamed a little with pleasure although she knew perfectly well it was good tea, she saved the best tea for Saturdays, though her rationing might need to get a little tighter, she'd only been able to bring so much. "I'm glad you enjoy it. When I looked into the place we're going for the trip, naturally I checked to see if they have any tea that might be worth trying there. Apparently, there's a local kind called guayasa, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right, that I'm interested to try. It's not proper tea, like we're used to, of course. You'd have to go to a different part of the world for that, but if it's any good, I'll try to bring some back with me."

"I have to admit, they're not completely uncivilized when it comes to tea on this planet," Seivarden said. "Nothing quite like this though."

After another sip she continued: "I hope this week wasn't too confusing. It can get a lot worse, sadly."

Tisarwat blinked her lilac eyes for a moment as she tried to decide just what to say. She'd been hoping to avoid talking about it altogether, but if Seivarden was going to bring it up....

"The most confusing part about it," she said, eventually, with a shrug and a sip from her tea, "was what was even the point?"

She had, after all, spent most of the week just thinking everyone'd gone and done something different with their hair, until class on Wednesday when she noticed a change in Vette, too, but Vette didn't have hair. But why give them all new and interesting bodies if they were just going to be taken away and replaced with the old ones? That new one might have at least not have gotten so motion sick all the time...

But she couldn't exactly explain to Seivarden just why something like a new body wouldn't be that big of a deal for her. She just wouldn't understand that. Breq would, but she couldn't talk to her about it, either, not without things getting complicated, and this situation was complicated enough without bringing bodies into it.

"There's usually no point to things here," Seivarden said. "I realized after a while that people might relate it to gender though, and that sort of thing upsets a lot of people here. A few weeks ago people acted really strange for a weekend, that was much more frustrating."

Especially since she got locked in a closet with someone who hated her.

Tisarwat took a moment to think back. Funny how with everything, it actually took her a moment to remember. "The weekend before everyone had guests, you mean?"

The one where she'd tried (and failed) to kill Breq.

Yeah, she didn't see how the two things could be even remotely close to each other on the spectrum of frustrating.

"That was weird," she agreed.

"Yes," Seivarden said. "And things have been worse. Monsters in the streets."

She paused, hesitating, then said:

"I hope that weekend wasn't too bad for you."

"I seemed to think I was some sort of assassin," Tisarwat said, with a snort that she hoped sounded more bemused rather than confused or disturbed. "Thankfully, I wasn't very good."

And now she couldn't help being a little curious, and, since Seivarden had been the one to ask in the first place...

"What about you, that weekend?"

"Oh, I ended up in a closet. It was terribly boring."

She took another sip of tea. Half of that was true, at least.

"This week I got a great hairstyle, so I'd say it was better."

Depending on how you defined better.

"Did you?" asked Tisarwat, who had to laugh a little, and, besides, hair was much more interesting than closets. "I'm sorry I missed that. I would have been nice to have seen it. Mine was a little different, too, but not by much. Shorter."

But she always wore it neatly back when she went out, anyway, so that didn't even matter too much.

"I took a photo," she said, reaching for her phone, laughing.

It was silly, she knew it, but it had been gorgeous. She held it out for Tisarwat to see.

"I used to have something similar once, but you need someone to do it for you."

"And I guess I wouldn't be surprised if no one here knows how to do right?" Tisarwat asked, who lean leaned forward a little for a closer look.

"Oh!" Her approval was evident in the pleasant surprise in her voice. "That is gorgeous! And it suits you so well! Then again," she laughed a little, with a disarming sort of smile, "you've got those fine aristocratic features that make almost any hairstyle look good."

Was it weird to be sitting there, flattering Seivarden? A bit. But things like that just flowed from Tisarwat without her even thinking about it, and, if she was, she knew Seivarden's ego, and actually had the luxury right now of appealing to it.

Seivarden smiled, amused. It wasn't like she hadn't gotten compliments like that before, but here, and from a kid? But she wasn't going to complain.

"No one knows how to do it right. You have to get used to all sorts of things here."

"I'm used to doing my own," Tisarwat shrugged. Well, part of her was, and her eyes had been a huge splurge for her, it wasn't like she could just throw around that kind of money getting her hair done all the time. She kept it relatively simple, too, which helped. But still...

"They seem to have a restaurant for every type of cuisine, and yet no place to get your hair done?"

No wonder Seivarden kept hers so simple now, too.

"It's strange, isn't it?"

Not that Seivarden would be able to afford it now either, at least not without cutting down on all the drinking. She knew she didn't have to tell Tisarwat that she had never had to do her hair on her own ever before arriving here. Well, before waking up a thousand years to late, but that wasn't something she wanted to talk about at all.

"I haven't looked on the mainland, but people are generally rude there."

It was a wild concept to process, Seivarden Vendaai, stuck doing her own hair.

Tisarwat wasn't feeling too sympathetic about it, despite the fact that her soft smile seemed to suggest otherwise. "At least," she offered, "it doesn't seem as important here. You'd be wasting all that money and no one would be able to even appreciate it properly."

Well, except her. But the idea of Seivarden going through the trouble just to impress some random baby lieutenant with lilac eyes was laughable and would be stranger than anything this place had thrown at her yet.

On the other hand, when there were no other Radchaai around, a baby lieutenant with ridiculous eyes would do.

"You can't give up completely on propriety just because you're stuck in an uncivilized place," Seivarden said. "But at least there are the bare necessities here."

"No," Tisarwat agreed, perhaps just a little indulgantly, because she was, after all, sitting there in her full uniform, "you can't. And, it might not be the most encouraging perspective sometimes, but there's always the fact that it could be worse, even with how disparate it may seem."

Seivarden was very aware of that uniform, and that her own clothes were getting a bit worn.

This was also one of those moments where she felt Tisarwat didn't sound like most baby lieutenants she had known. The kid was really precocious.

She sighed. "You know, kiddo, I have to admit that's true, and it sucks even more. Aatr's tits, I hate this place."

Tisarwat mostly managed to keep a slight flinch off her face at being called kiddo, wondering if there was anything she could do to curb that now before it became the habit she was more familiar with. And, hopefully, if Seivarden did notice it, she could easily pass it off as a sort of sympathetic reaction to her disdain.

But what could she even say to that? For the most part, she agreed, but it wasn't as if they could really do much about it.

"I'm sure you'll find a way back home eventually," she offered, realizing that she genuinely hoped that was true, because there was a good possibility that she'd be stuck here for years, too, if she didn't.

Neither of them were probably the other's choice for person to be stuck on an uncivilised planet with, although for Seivarden it was mostly that Tisarwat was too young and not from the kind of background she was used to.

"I really hope so," Seivarden said, her thoughts turning for a moment to what home would be.

Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

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