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Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

So, Seivarden was the owner of a flower shop. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. It was humiliating, but less so than being an employee, and certainly less so than the jobs she had been assigned when she had just got out of the escape pod.

Today, there were butterflies, a pleasant amount of them, and a small murmuring fountain, and she started to make tea. Not those awful cinnamon-flavoured teabags Peter had left her - she was going to assume they weren't an insult - but a quite good one. Hopefully Tisarwat would show up with her really good tea, beautiful tea set, and a proper flask.

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And, sure enough, Tisarwat did indeed show up, with her really good tea, beautiful tea set, and a proper flask, although it was a bit later than she'd been showing up. She'd decided to sleep in a bit after the party went so late last night, not that it did much to help her with her headache from having maybe a little too much of that whiskey.

"Hello, Seivarden, would you like--Oh!" She'd entered the shop, launching into her greeting, before the butterflies immediately stopped her and grabbed her attention, lilac eyes dancing a moment as they followed a group of them fluttering by. "Those are beautiful!"

It was kind of nice, wasn't it, that it seemed like something different almost every time she came into the shop?

But, then again, she'd managed to miss all the days with the crying and the screaming.

"Tisarwat! Please come in. Yes, the butterflies aren't too bad, compared to a lot of other things that have happened here."

Seivarden pulled out a chair for her.

"How are you?"

"I like them much better than the glitter."

They were less likely to cling to her uniform. Tisarwat took the offered chair and started to set up her tea as usual.

"And I'm good, thank you. A little tired from the party last night, but tea should help. How are you?"

"Oh, yes, I heard about the party. People wore gloves because it was cold?"

She found that a little funny.

"At least you didn't have people being obscene in a pool. Luckily I arrived too late for that."

The expression on her face was clear about how she felt about that.

Tisarwat's expression went sympathetic. She did always listen to the broadcast on Saturdays before heading in, to get an idea of Seivarden's mood and what might be most recently on her mind.

"Not everyone wore gloves," she said, as she poured the tea, "but quite a few of them. It did make it a little more relaxing, and thankfully nothing like what it sounds like you had to deal with. Everyone acted very appropriately, as far as I could tell."

But she could probably only say that because she'd mostly just ignored Eleanor.

"That's something," Seivarden said. "Oh, and apparently I'm a shop owner now."

She said that sounding amused, to make it clear that while running a shop wasn't exactly appropriate for someone with her background, it could at least be a little fun.

Hiding the fact that she needed the money.

Tisarwat's brows did lift a little, as she handed over the cup of tea to Seivarden, just trying to think of what her Seivarden would think of her strange other dimension counterpart running a shop, and finding it difficult. But it did seem to be the thing to do around here, wasn't it? First Breq, now Seivarden, although it made significantly more sense for Breq, especially considering the nature of her shop.

"A shop owner?" she asked. "Which one?"

"This one," Seivarden said, accepting the cup with a smile. "Peter left. I know it's not exactly something I'd talk about at home, but I'm stuck here and at least I can try to make this place a bit more..." she glanced around the room," civilized. Don't you think?"

She sipped the tea.

"I couldn't agree more," said the baby lieutenant slowly growing a coallition of fellow students who wore gloves now in her presence and also the power-hungry memories of a tyrant who brought civilzation to most of the known universe...whether they wanted it or not, as she took up her own cup of tea for a sip. "It seems like a suitable occupation for this planet, anyway, if you're stuck here. There are far worse ways to pass the time...and not many better ones, for that matter."

"That's what I thought too," Seivarden said after another sip. "I'm thinking I should start with redecorating. I'm sure Amaya will help me with the work, I just have to come up with a good design."

Tisarwat's ridiculous eyes sparked with interest, her posture straightening slightly. "if there's anything I can do to help, too," she offered, "let me know, I'd be happy to."

Although it had absolutely nothing to do any desire to assist Seivarden, but Seivarden didn't need to know that.

"Would you be trying to fit the aesthetic of this world?" she wondered, though she had a feeling she already knew the answer to these questions, which was likely aligned with her preference on the matter, too. "Or maybe try to bring something more like what we'd have back home?"

Tisarwat's enthusiasm surprised Seivarden a little, but it was quite welcome.

"Oh, I want something tasteful," Seivarden said, assuming Tisarwat understood that meant Radchaai. "Nice colours, better shelves, a small table for serving customers tea. Perhaps I could try to find some icons. What do you think?"

Tisarwat took a moment to look around, considering, a part of her always a bit too eager to take something and try to wrangle it into her own. "A better flow," she decided. "Some reorganizing, it seems a little cluttered. Entice the customers in with a few eye-catching displays near the entrance, and then create a sort of natural progression into the shop with a variety of plants..." Her expression went a bit wistful, with a distant smile. "Like a garden..."

She laughed a little, mostly at the drift of her own thoughts at the moment, and to shake off a little pang of homesickness. "It would probably be difficult to add a little fish pond in here, but that would be lovely. It would be like the garden they have at Atheok Station, I loved spending time there. They have an amazing horticulturialist there."

"It's a bit small for something too extravagant, but those things would definitely be improvements."

Seivarden looked at Tisarwat over her tea cup.

"Oh? In what way is she amazing?"

Tisarwat just barely held herself back from responding with something like in every way possible, but her expression was clearly saying it even if her words were not, as did the soft smile she was poorly hiding behind a sip of tea.

And then she tried to be dismissive when she lowered the cup, shrugging a little, gesturing it away. "Oh," she said, "she was just incredibly knowledgable and had a clear passion for the job that was evident in her work. Not only that, but she made for excellent company. She could always make any visit to the garden just that much more pleasant."

Seivarden might not be the most perceptive of people, but that smile she noted.

"You must miss her company. I'm sure a garden here couldn't compensate. It's probably not any consolation, but Amaya likes growing plants."

She too tried to hide a smile with the help of tea, unaware that Amaya's computer might not be the best to suggest as a replacement.

It was an odd consolation, actually. Sure, Amaya Blackstone was no Basnaaid Elming, but who ever could be?

"She mentioned that," Tisarwat's smile lingered a little longer. "When we talked during the school trip. She said she has a greenhouse, and that you were looking after her plants for her while she was away. I bet it's lovely. She seemed very passionate about it."

Which was perhaps part of the reason Tisarwat had been so drawn to her. That passion and those eyes...

She clearly had a type.

"Sounds like she made an impression on you, kiddo," Seivarden said cheerfully, not quite picking up on the extent of that impression.

"Anyway, any suggestions are welcome. I haven't done much decorating before."

Enough of an impression, at least, that she was almost able to let that 'kiddo' slide with barely more than a disparaging wilt of her shoulders.

It was still not as bad as when her Seivarden said it, considering the context of their relationship here, but still!

"I'll give it some thought," Tisarwat offered. "I don't think it's something to rush into, anyway."

And if Seivarden was going to get Amaya to help anyway, then that just meant any ideas Tisarwat did have, she could also go and bounce them off the blacksmith a little as well...

"I might start by trying to find a tea set," Seivarden mused. "There won't be anything as nice as your of course, but I think some of the places here that grow tea makes acceptable ones."

She smiled. "I met one of my employees yesterday" - she wasn't going to admit how much nicer it was to say that rather than colleague - "and she couldn't understand why you would offer customers tea!"

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Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

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