fandomtownies | Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

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Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

All the flowers had burst into bloom, even the ones that didn't normally bear flowers. The shop was full of colour and a mix of scents, and a few tiny birds were singing. It suited the new decor, with walls in pale lilac and green and brass shelves flowing along the walls. An elegant round garden table with matching chair stood to one side, and a jade coloured Japanese tea set was placed on it.

"If only I had a proper tea flask," Seivarden said.

[Open]

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Astrid still wasn't sure this was a great idea, but she honestly didn't know what to do with herself right now, so picking up a job at the flower shop again was at least something. She still had her reservations, because flowers would inevitably remind her of her mother, but one of the things she'd missed was how the flowers would sing. But if it was too much, she could always quit, and maybe try talking to Summer at Turtle & Canary again, since she always seemed to like her signs, although she'd always liked this job better.

But when she walked in, she was a little thrown off by how it looked different inside than she remembered. It was nice, it didn't look bad or anything, but she was left standing there near the door, frowning as she tried to remember if it had changed or if it was just her faulty memory. Everything just felt so off since she'd gotten back, and that wasn't even taking into account the whole 'kidnapped and stuck in a volcano for several days' aspect of it, either.

Even the person working seemed vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite place how, especially not with trying to adjust to the renovations that had taken place in the last six months or so. But she tried to push past her disorientation and approached with a small smile.

"Hi," she said. "I don't suppose Peter's in today, by any chance, is he?"

Seivarden looked up from pouring tea into her cup. That face was familiar, wasn't it?

"I'm afraid Peter has left the island," she said, smiling a little. "Please, come inside though. Tea? I just made it."

She really wanted to show off the new tea set.

That news caused the frown to deepen across Astrid's brow. Another change, something else different, playing with the dichotemy in her head with all the things that didn't. It made her feel untethered, like the moment she tried to latch onto something solid and tangible, her fingers went right through it.

"Oh," she said, at first, like it was the only thing she knew to say. And then, as if her brain had just woken up and remembered how to work: "No, um, thank you."

Tea actually sounded nice right now, but after the last week, and the week before that, and the week before that, she wasn't feeling confident enough in the world to accept tea from people she barely knew in flower shops that weren't quite the way they were supposed to be.

She'd better just get to her point, before the reservations and doubt she was starting to feel took over and she changed her mind.

"My name's Astrid," she offered. "I used to work here, a...a while ago, so I was hoping to talk to him to see if I could maybe get my job back, but if he's gone...do you know who I could talk to instead?"

"Oh, I'm the owner now," Seivarden said. "Seivarden Vendaai." She frowned a little. "I think we might have met, but I'm not sure. What's your name?"

"And of course you can have your job back."

"Astrid Magnussen," she said, tilting her head a little and trying to think back. It hadn't even been a year since she was last here, but it felt like a lifetime ago, so trying to find that thread of familiarity and follow it back to some sort of source was like trying to make your way through a dense fog. "I think we may have, too, but I was gone for a while. Have you worked here long?"

"Since I arrived on the island," Seivarden said. "Then Peter left the shop to me."

She gestured at the other chair.

"Please, have a seat. And you really should have some tea. What do you think of the new decor?"

Astrid hesitated for a moment, probably looking a bit like a deer that caught a sound in the brush and wasn't sure if it should flee or not. After all, she'd already said she could have the job back, and that was what she'd came for, but her social skills had never been so bad that even she couldn't see how awkward and rude that would be, especially if this was going to be her new boss.

So, eventually, she did sit down, glancing around again as if to have a better look. "It's different," she said, which was plain and obvious, but safe, "...but nice. I like it."

After a brief moment, she added, "The flowers seem to be in a good mood today, too."

She had to get used to statements like that actually meaning something again.

"They are, aren't they?" Seivarden smiled. "Did you just return? For school?"

She poured her some tea. The kid seemed a bit shy, but tea and some conversation should help with that, shouldn't it? She had to be able to talk to the customers after all.

Edited 2020-01-11 16:01 (UTC)

"That's right," said Astrid, simply, politely, her hands folded in her lap for now like she didn't know what else to do with them. "For school."

And what more could she say, that didn't immediately open up everything? Without going into horrible detail or trying to traipse dangerously close to the edge of....something?

The kid was a bit difficult to talk to. Seivarden took a sip of her tea, then said:

"You're not in my class, or I would have recognized you."

At least she was talking; once upon a time, something like this last month would have and did make Astrid nonverbal for so long they thought she was incapable of speech.

"No," she agreed. "I don't think so, unless your class is on Monday. I...didn't make to those."

You know, because of the whole 'stuck in a volcano' thing.

"I only have three classes, anyway."

Astrid's head tilted. "What do you teach?"

"Not on Mondays, no," Seivarden said. "I teach How to be civilized. What about Monday, were you involved in that horrible goat monster attack?"

Putting it that was seemed to really be underselling it, but it was true enough.

"Yeah," Astrid's tone went a little wry. "I got involved in that horrible goat monster attack."

Then, a moment later, with a small huff, as if she couldn't keep it in if she tried, she added, "Good old Fandom High, really knows how to welcome a girl back."

And yet, it wasn't even the worst thing that had happened to her in the past month. Her fingers tightened a little on her skirt, trying not to think of 'worse than horrible goat monster attack'.

"It does, doesn't it. Then again, I don't get to leave."

She was obviously not happy about that.

"Oh, and I bought this tea set so that customers can be served tea while they decide what to buy. Do you know how to make tea?"

And Astrid was left wondering which was worse: to not be able to leave at all, or getting to leave and having to come back.

She was pretty confident it was the latter, but she wouldn't expect anyone still in the former to understand, so she didn't say anything regarding it, just nodded a little, looking at the teaset a little closer now, appreciating the aesthetic of it. It was nice. It was the sort of set her mother would use, late, lazy weekends in her white kimono...

"I do," she said. "Is that something the customers have been wanting? Or the flowers, maybe?" It seemed possible. "Or just something you decided to add now that you're running the place?"

"I just wanted to make this place appeal more to civilized customers," Seivarden said. "I'm not going to demand that the staff wear gloves, but it would be proper."

"Gloves?" asked Astrid, who already had the feeling that she wasn't referring to your typical gardening gloves.

Seivarden held up a gloved hand. "Propriety," she said.

Astrid's eyes drifted to the gloved hand and considered.

"Propriety," she repeated, and she realized that it was just the sort of absurd thing Claire might come up with, different gloves for different aspects. Well, of course, we wear the gardening gloves when actually gardening, Astrid, but for selling the flowers, arranging them, only the best.

She nodded. "I see."

"Not too transparent, and preferably no motorcycle gloves. That would give the wrong impression."

Seivarden took a sip of tea.

"Motorcycle gloves?" At that, Astrid's expression showed her unexepted, amused surprise, especially since she was picturing more like simple satin ones, probably long, or just past the wrists with pearl buttons or Chinese-style clasps. "For flowers? Is that what someone else suggested?"

It seemed to0 specific to have just been a general rule.

"Someone here said she likes them," Seivarden said. "I hope it's not a fashion."

She held up her own hand.

"Something like this would work. If you find a pair with embroidered flowers that's even better. They never seem to make those in my size."

Astrid took a moment to look down into her lap, where she'd lifted one of her own hands to consider it. Hardly small or delicate themselves, almost constantly stained with graphite or paint, the nails not as brittle or unevenly trimmed as they used to be since Claire was always one for manicures and the like, but the very last of the most recent one was starting to really show its wear and tear. It had been weeks...

She wondered if she could embroider her own flowers easily enough.

"That shouldn't be too hard to find," she concluded, hand dropped again, eyes lifted back up.

"Oh, good."

Seivarden smiled.

"More tea?"

Astrid hadn't even touched the first cup of tea at this point, and, almost as if jarred into remembering that it was even there, reached for it, so she would have at least had some.

"No, thank you," she said, setting the cup down again for a second. "I wouldn't want to take up any more of your time. I mostly just came in about the job, and...Tuesdays were my days, last time. Are those still open, or should I come in a different day?"

"Tuesdays are still open," Seivarden said. "You're welcome to have it back."

"I think I'd like that, then," Astrid said, with a nod ~~because not enough of her player's students were working on Tuesdays apparently~~. "Anything else I should know?"

"No," Seivarden said after another sip of tea. "Just call me if there's anything you wonder about."

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Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

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