Covent Garden Flowers, Friday (1/31)

[notarockharpist]

So. Yasha had a job.

In a flower shop, of all places, and she knew that Beau had meant well, but it was ... "bittersweet" was a massive understatement. It wasn't Beau's fault; it wasn't as if she knew why Yasha was always looking for flowers, only that it was a thing she tended to do, and, well, Yasha had no intentions at present of ever telling her why.

The awkward half-elven girl whose shift she was taking over (who was one of the few people Yasha'd met so far who were taller than she was) had been nice enough to come in early and show her around, explain how to do things, and then make sure she got settled in all right.

As settled in as she was ever going to get, anyway.

But now Yasha was going around the shop, examining each plant and blossom, because they were all new to her, with undisguised but melancholy fascination. She'd have put one of each flower into her book right now, except that the girl showing her around had strongly discouraged it. It would be a bad impression to make on her first day, Keyleth had said, and she might just want to wait a little bit longer and then buy them herself to press in her book.

She hadn't thought so many different kinds of flowers existed. Zuala would have loved these.

[OOC: I may have made a grave error here because now I think I am just going to make myself cry posting every week and I EVEN WROTE THIS UP BEFORE MARISHA AND ASHLEY BOTH TORE MY HEART OUT AND STOMPED ON IT AND MADE THIS POST EVEN SADDER TONIGHT.]

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[1000yearstoolate]

And Seivarden had a new employee. After her class she walked into the shop, smiling.

"Yasha, is it? I'm Seivarden Vendaai."

[notarockharpist]

"Yes, that's -- that's me," Yasha said in her quiet voice, looking up from the vase of hellebore that she'd been looking at very closely. "You are the one who runs this shop?"

Beau had rolled her eyes about it, but Keyleth had been charitable enough. So Yasha was going to withhold any judgment for a while yet.

[1000yearstoolate]

"I am," Seivarden said. "You're new in Fandom then?"

[notarockharpist]

"A week," Yasha replied. "Maybe not quite, actually. Is that going to be a problem?"

[1000yearstoolate]

"Oh no, of course not," Seivarden said pleasantly. "I hope you have a place to stay though?"

"I just wanted to let you know a few things about working here."

[notarockharpist]

"I'm staying at the hotel," Yasha confirmed, nodding. Where she'd been sleeping on the floor the last few nights, actually, because the bed was so comfortable that she found it unsettling.

"I've never had a job like this before —" no, Yasha, you weren't supposed to say these things — "so I will take any advice you have for me."
.

[1000yearstoolate]

Never had a job?!

"Oh. So, obviously the most important thing is to sell flowers, so make sure you learn about them. And please start practicing making flower arrangements, I believe there's another holiday coming up soon."

She gestured at the tea set. "We serve the customers tea here. Do you know how to make tea? Oh, and wearing gloves is appreciated, although I'm not strict about it.

Pause. "The sword has to be kept out of sight from the customers."

[notarockharpist]

She'd had a job! At the carnival! That had just been a lot less stationary. And ... a lot less delicate.

"I can do that," she said. "Are there any books on the subject that I could learn from?"

She grimaced at the last bit, though. "I'm not very comfortable if I don't have it with me." At all, and now there was a touch of surliness in her voice that looked more like it went with her overall look. "Is there — can I at least keep the sword behind the counter?"

[1000yearstoolate]

"As long as the customers don't see it," Seivarden said.

"It's not like I have anything against swords, it just gives completely the wrong impression. Now, do you know how to make tea?"

[notarockharpist]

It was really too bad that she'd gone off and left the rest of the Mighty Nein before getting a chance to meet Caduceus, given that question. For good reason, but still.

"There's hot water, you pour it over leaves. It's not that hard, is it?"

Yasha. Honey.

[1000yearstoolate]

There was a pause.

"You have to consider the water temperature and the time the tea needs to steep. It's dependent on the type of tea."

She added, because of her experience with her students:

"You can't serve it with any kind of milk."

[notarockharpist]

It was entirely possible that Jester and Caduceus were having this debate right now.

"All right," said Yasha, who didn't see why all of those details were entirely necessary and wasn't exactly doing a great job of disguising that expression on her face, "but I'm not sure what that has to do with selling flowers anyway."

[1000yearstoolate]

"You have to make sure the customers feel welcome," Seivarden said with a sigh. "I want this to be a civilized place."

[notarockharpist]

... she said, to the barbarian.

"That makes sense, I guess," Yasha said after a moment. "I don't usually think of tea --" and she had to wince a little bit every time she said it, thinking of Mollymauk and the surname Gustav had given him -- "first thing when I want to make people feel welcome."

To be fair, she also didn't generally worry about making people feel welcome, because ... most of the time they didn't, as soon as they saw her.

[1000yearstoolate]

"It will make sense to you once you start," Seivarden said.

"Now, let me show you how to make it."

[notarockharpist]

"... all right," Yasha said, a bit hesitant but cooperative enough.

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden went through the process in detail, finally saying:

"And if someone suggests you make it from teabags, don't. It tastes like someone swept it from the floor."

[notarockharpist]

See, now Yasha had to ask.

"Is that -- do they actually make the teabags that way?"

Of all the people to ask, Yasha.

[1000yearstoolate]

"I don't know," Seivarden admitted. "But I wouldn't be surprised. It tastes like it."

[notarockharpist]

"... I assume that means you've tasted things that got swept off the floor, then," Yasha said slowly. "But I don't know how much that changes the taste of things?"

Look, she ate giant spiders and cooked rat was her favorite food. Southern Xhorhas was not renowned for its gourmet cuisine.

[1000yearstoolate]

"Of course I haven't."

Seivarden wrinkled her nose. Was she trying to be funny?

"But I can imagine."

[notarockharpist]

Yasha just looked at her.

"How do you know what it tastes like, then?"

Was she trying to be funny? Or was she genuinely asking? It was really, really hard to tell.

(She really was asking, but she was asking because she didn't know what else to say.)

[1000yearstoolate]

"Are you trying to be funny?" Seivarden snapped. "The point is, don't use tea bags."

[notarockharpist]

"No, I actually wanted to know," replied Yasha, and it was a little easier to tell that she did, this time. "I'm only asking because I'm not familiar with teabags at all."

[1000yearstoolate]

"The only thing you need to know about teabags is that they're unacceptable."