Covent Garden Flowers, Thursday

[okteiviakom]

Today was absurd.

Yesterday, Octavia had been out on the streets, feeling like she belonged in her surroundings because her surroundings needed something from her. And today, she was right back here again, behind the counter at Covent Garden, surrounded by flowers and orders written on slips of paper. Because yesterday wasn't her life: this was her life. No armor, clean face, no warpaint or blood to be found. Her hair wasn't even in its usual braids, but instead hung open. She'd undone the braids last night in the shower to get all of the clown blood out, and had been far too exhausted to re-braid anything afterwards.

Or even this morning. She'd made it to work in a daze of sorts, struggling not to feel a little like everything was surreal. But on the very faint plus side, at least everything else kept her distracted from how bruised and achy she was all over?

Over by the window, several plastic skeletons occasionally rattled their bones, hoping to help her into the spirit of things. But all it actually did was make her wonder whether Mike's party was going to have jello shots this year, too.

[ooc: Open shop!]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

Duke swung by early in the afternoon with food. "Happy Halloween! Hope you're not too disappointed nothing's trying to kill us, today."

[okteiviakom]

It took Octavia several blinks to shake herself out of whatever listless staring at an order she'd been doing just prior to his arrival, and to actually look up.

"I guess not."

Well, she was tired today, so that was maybe a point in favor of not having another battle-filled day.

[betterthanaplan]

And just think of how much more tired she'd have been if she also hadn't eaten anything yesterday! Speaking of. . . .

Duke held up his bag full of take-out. "Brought lunch. In case you forgot to eat again."

Look, he'd done the young-and-hungry thing. He didn't think anyone could blame him for not wanting other people to do it, too.

[okteiviakom]

He was a little late for that. Octavia had grown up on a diet of rations meant for two people split for three, after all.

She rolled her eyes, a little half-heartedly. "I didn't forget."

She was not going to specify whether she meant today or yesterday. Anyway, she was still shifting a half-finished flower arrangement off to the side, freeing up space on the counter.

[betterthanaplan]

“Good,” Duke said, rather than argue. “You can still have some of this anyway, if you want.”

He’d seen how she went after free food buffets after all. He was pretty sure she’d go fir it, even if she’d just eaten.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was usually pretty receptive to being plied with food, yes. It was part of what made the day before a little alarming.

(Okay, a lot. A lot alarming.)

"I didn't take my lunch break yet." There, that as the truth about today. She leaned her hands against the edge of the counter. "What'd you bring?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Let's see. Got some pad thai, tom yum, spring rolls, pineapple fried rice, green papaya salad. . . . That Thai place by the boat is way more authentic than I would have guessed."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's stomach growled. So, yeah, as far her appetite went, today was a normal day.

"I've been," she said. Even though it was more like she and Bellamy had ordered in from there a bunch of times. "The pad thai's good."

[betterthanaplan]

Glad I decided to go for it, then," Duke said, pulling out take out cartoons and plastic flatware. "So. How's the floral business treating you today?"

[okteiviakom]

"The usual."

Just ignore the staring she'd been doing when he'd come in.

"Someone wanted a huge skull made of roses, by tonight. Told him we couldn't do it."

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah, that seems like more of a 'give us a week' kind of request. Unless he was just really hoping to take advantage of today's weirdness and have a conversation with a giant rose-skull."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia paused for a beat.

Then decided, "I really don't want anything I make to come to life." Don't ask why she was so much more okay with taking lives than even accidentally or temporarily creating them.

She was just going to reach for one of the cartons, now.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah, honestly it's just creepy." He had maybe tried carving a pumpkin for the Rouge earlier, and ended up booting it into the sea when it blinked at him. "Which I guess is what the island is going for. Still, I think I'm pretty Halloweened out at this point."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's combination of a sigh and a slight incline of her head tried to communicate a weary sense of 'yeah, me too'.

She pushed her hair back behind her ear. Then took one of the forks. "There's still the party tonight."

[betterthanaplan]

"Oh yeah. In one of the mansions in the middle of town, right? You think you're going to go?"

[okteiviakom]

"Last year they had jello shots," Octavia replied mildly as she dug into the food.

Last year, she'd had a good time, was what she meant.

[betterthanaplan]

"Jello shots can be fun," Duke said, grabbing a fork of his own. "In a 'college co-ed' kind of way." He preferred his liquor in liquid form, personally. "It's kind of an 'everybody gets trashed and pretends they don't know each other the next day' party, then, huh?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shrugged. "I didn't pretend anything."

She also hadn't talked to very many people that night, either.

[betterthanaplan]

". . . No, I wouldn't guess you would," Duke said. "You seem like a fairly straight-forward kind of girl." He picked at the papaya salad for a moment, considering. "So, uh. Now that you're no longer quite as single-murder-minded. Something weird happened yesterday. Other than clowns."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was clearly much more receptive today. You could tell by the eyebrows, since they actually moved, now.

"What kind of weird?"

[betterthanaplan]

It wasn't a high bar. But he'd take it.

"Remember when I told you about throwing my friend off my boat, awhile back?"

[okteiviakom]

"Yes."

Would he take 'mildly alarmed', too?

"Super strength, loss of control." Yeah, she remembered. "It happened again?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Threw the woman who owns the sex shop across the dining room," Duke confirmed. "She bounced, but I gather that part was more her than me."

[okteiviakom]

"She's from somewhere weird," Octavia noted. She'd met Kathy all of once, a long time ago, but she remembered that much. Not that apparently bouncing wasn't still weird in its own right, of course.

Anyway. Not the point, here. "So... Wasn't just a one-time thing."

[betterthanaplan]

"Definitely not a one-time thing," Duke said with a sigh. "Something to do with blood, apparently. But not clown blood."

Thank. God. That could have ended up going so very wrong yesterday.