fandomtownies | Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

Amaya had been on her way to Turtle & Canary when she happened to see Seivarden just sitting out in front of her shop, so she recalibrated her path to swing on by, quirking a brow at the sign in the window once she got closer.

"You got a bit of a thorny situation inside, Captain?" she guessed. "Should I go fetch my hedge trimmers?"

"I need to be able to sell them," Seivarden pointed out. "But if you want a bouquet you're welcome to pick one. Or would you prefer tea?"

Amaya made a small face for the fact that the situation didn't seem to necessitate the services of the trusty hedge trimmer. "I'll take the tea," she decided. "Just passing through, though, on my way to Turtle & Canary, and then I really should get back to the shop. But a little break shouldn't hurt."

"I'll get you a cup."

Seivarden got to her feet and returned a moment later with a cup of tea and a chair.

"To Turtle & Canary?"

And a chair? Well, now, Amaya supposed she'd just have to stay a bit, if Seivarden was going through all the trouble. So she took both the cup and the chair with a nod of gratitude and explained.

"I'm all out of nuts," she said, "if you'll believe it. So I figured I'd swing by and see if they've got some or if it's just an island thing that I don't suppose a whole lot of other people will even notice much. That, or maybe the squirrels think they're being cute. Either way, I'm not getting much work done on a few of my projects until I've got more."

The tea and the chair was a trap, Amaya.

"What are you working on?" Seivarden asked, taking a sip from her own tea.

Zards! But there weren't any trap doors or pulleys or anything!

"Well," said Amaya, looking very comfortable now in her chair as she blew on the tea a bit before having a sip, "now that Eric's axes are out of the way, I've got a rapier I'm working on and someone came in looking for a bookshelf. Just got to finished the detailing on the carve work before I finish it, and fit in all the little...'extras'."

Her nod was a clandestine one as she took another important kind of sip to fill the dramatic pause before she added, "And then something I can't tell you about."

And then she added, as if the preceding statement was nothing, "Oh, and figuring out something for Summer's birthday present, too, I suppose."

"You have secret projects you won't tell me about?"

Seivarden smirked. She was curious but she knew better than trying to get Amaya to tell her more.

"What are you getting Summer? I heard she had invited you too."

"That she did," said Amaya, with a snort, an answer that made it convenient to skip over any supposed secret probjects that were definitely not mentioned, where in the world did Seivarden get that idea? "Seems like she'd got quite the soiree planned, and, I've got to admit, I don't think I've ever gone to a party in space, much less a whole planet for it, so if anything, it's something I'll probably want to see. Not sure what I'll make her, though. Right now I'm leaning towards some one-of-a-kind high-quality jello molds for her, or maybe one of those nice cat towers, though I suppose that'd be more for her cat than her. She did express an interest in a weaponized bookshelf on the radio, though, and I've got a million different devices for chasing off squirrels that I know she could get some use out of..."

"I was thinking about a jello mold too," Seivarden said. "Tisarwat is probably going to be proper enough to give her tea. On the other hand, since half of the reason I was invited was to invite Tisarwat, I suppose I could go with that too."

That earned a bit of a confused look, but Amaya honestly figured it was best not to ask. That was generally how she felt with most things regarding Summer and Tisarwat both, really.

"And I'm pretty sure," she said instead, "that getting you to come along was half the reason I was invited. And the other half is making sure Leroy doesn't try to slip through the portal when we go."

Which was a joke, of course, because there was no way Summer would trust her with anything Leroy-related ever again.

Seivarden snorted. "Have I ever told you that Summer chose to kiss Leroy rather than to kiss me. She has herself to blame for that crush."

This conversation was doing nothing to rid Amaya of the bewildered sort of crease in her brow.

"When," she said, "was there ever a situation where Summer'd have to choose between kissing you and le--"

But she stopped herself, holding up her free hand. "Wait," she said instead, "nope. Never mind, forget I asked, that is firmly treading into 'things no one ever needs knowing' territory right there."

Seivarden was going to tell her anyway.

"That annoying Christmas plant."

She took a sip of tea. "So it's you, me, Tisarwat, Lucifer, maybe Rey. I'm actually a bit curious about that party planet."

Amaya sort of had a feeling Seivarden was going to do that, and so her groan was two-fold.

"That blasted plant!" She rolled her eyes. "Ugh! I am not sad I was able to miss that one this last year." Although if she remembered correctly, it had still managed to find its way into her shop, a-hem. So she was more than happy for a change in subject.

"It'll definitely be...interesting," she said. "I'm honestly not sure what to expect. That's much more your sort of thing than mine. Do they have things like party planets out in your neck of space? Seems they'd show up in at least a few entertainments by now, if that were the case."

"Not whole planets," Seivarden said. "Of course there are places where people usually go to party, but not like what Summer told me."

She smiled. "You should definitely try to get Lucifer to agree to a drinking contest instead of me. That would be much more of a challenge."

And a way to stop Amaya from hearing Tisarwat reading that terrible poem to her, or whatever the poor kid might decide to do.

"And here I was under the impression," said Amaya, with a pointed sip of her tea, "that you'd told Lucifer not to take me on in a drinking contest. Sounds to me," she smirked over at Seivarden, "like someone just doesn't want to keep losing."

She could let Amaya think that.

"I was just trying to protect you," Seivarden said, smirking back. "I know how you hate losing. It's not like I'm suggesting you have a drinking contest with Tisarwat."

"You do realize," said Amaya, quirking a look over at Seivarden, "that it sounds exactly like you're suggesting I have a drinking contest with Tisarwat, right? Last I heard, alcohol doesn't exactly affect Lucifer, which means that's an uphill battle for me right from the start. In that case, it's not so much a contest with him as it is with myself. And you think I'm going to just let myself beat me like that?"

She sipped her tea.

"Besides," she added, "even I know a drinking contest with Tisarwat just sounds like a terrible idea. I know she's your friend, so I hope you don't mind me saying this, but she's a bit of an odd one."

"No drinking contests then. You never know what they put in their drinks anyway," Seivarden said.

"Odd? How?"

What had Tisarwat done now?

"Well..." Amaya frowned a little, thinking of just how to put it, because it wasn't really something she felt could be quantifiable, it was more just a general feeling, and everyone knew just how rubbish Amaya was when it came to that sort of thing. "She's bright, that much you can tell right off the bat, and she's inquisitive, which is good, she asks a lot of questions and seems pretty interested in things, but as you're explaining, you sort of get the feeling that....well, that there's just not a whole lot going on up there," she tapped her forehead a little, "if you know what I mean..."

She trailed off into a moment's hesitation, a breath that was clearly meant to bolster her a little for the next part.

"And then," she added, her already husky voice going a bit dismal, "there's the poetry." Amaya's eyes widened slightly with an expression not too dissimilar from soldiers remembering particularly brutal battles. "Now, I've never been one for poetry, and I know it's a pretty big deal for young Radchaai, but oof. That is....some poetry, I can tell you that. I try to be helpful, offer some constructive criticism, but, again, poetry's not exactly my wheelhouse, unless it's the epic kind with all the battles, now that I could get behind more of! And I'd suggest that maybe she talk to her creative writing teacher or that fellow who teaches the Songwriting class, but I have a feeling that would actually only make it worse..."

True, Amaya hadn't properly met Jaskier yet, she didn't think, but he looked very much like a particular sort that she'd expect to find peppered across her own world, and....she felt that was all she really needed to know. And Shunsui was, of course, terrible.

"She's just your average Radchaai kid," Seivarden said. "In that respect. I think you should just be honest about her poetry. Or at least your opinion about poetry in general."

That would break Tisarwat's heart, but she'd recover soon enough and hopefully transfer her affection to someone more appropriate, just like Summer.

"As for asking about things, she's probably just impatient. I think honesty is the best here as well."

Lying to Amaya wasn't fair, but telling the truth was worse.

"The thing with that," Amaya grunted slightly, "is that it's not that I mind answering her questions. You know how I get, soon as someone gets me going on something like tempering or bevels or the difference between compound and recurve, it's hard to get me to stop. It just feels sometimes like talking to a...very intense brick wall."

As opposed to the usual 'glazed over' wall she got from other people.

"Then why not point it out to her?" Seivarden asked, after another sip.

Amaya quirked a brow at Seivarden.

"Seems a bit rude, doesn't it?" she asked. "She's a nice kid; I don't want to hurt her feelings, especially since I don't exactly have a finesse for soft blows. There's no harm in it, anyway. She stays out of the way and lets me keep tending to my business, and that's all I ask."

"But you know how young people are," Seivarden said. "You might encourage her to have... feelings."

That was dangerously close to the truth, she was aware of that.

At that, Amaya stared at Seivarden for a moment. Blinked. Narrowed her eyes a little as if trying to make sense out of a new perspective that was just a little to blurry to make out, then resolutely shook her head.

"Well, that's absurd," she said, snorting into her cup. "I think maybe all these roses are just going to your head, Captain."

"Amaya," Seivarden said. "You obviously don't know what young people are like. What is her poetry about?"

"Seivarden," Amaya said stoutly back, "I was a young person not too long ago, and a lot less long ago than yourself, those funny weekends notwithstanding. And I know what metaphor is and it wouldn't surprise me at all if all those poems about space and stars were about someone, but I'd say you'd have to get up pretty early in the morning if you wanted to stretch enough to be able to make that reach."

At least Amaya wasn't likely to pick up on anything unless Tisarwat spelled it out for her, which was a relief.

"Never mind", she said. "Maybe she's just being odd to you for some other reason."

Or maybe she was just odd in general, which, Amaya could point out, sort of went with the Radchaai thing, but she wasn't about to say something like that in any conversation, much less one she'd already planned on changing the subject of in her next beat, because whatever had gotten that crazy notion into Seivarden's head, she wanted to get as far away from it as possible.

"So!" she charged on brightly to what she figured would be a much safer topic, because it involved something that should be safe, or else there was no justice in this world, and that was weapons. "Eric should be finally having that axe-throwing competition at the bar tonight! Think you'll check it out?"

She figured she already knew the answer. But that wasn't why she asked.

"It's unlikely," Seivarden said. "And I thought Lucifer had cancelled the whole thing."

Amaya grinned. "I'm sure he thought he did," she said. "But I know Eric's not getting a refund on those axes, and it'd just be a shame if they didn't get put to use. I'm planning on being there, anyway, and I'm not leaving until I see some axes get thrown in a competitive fashion."

"And I'm sure there will be axes thrown in a competitive way, then."

Amaya being stubborn.

"But what about another movie night before the final class."

Movie night, 'movie night' or both, depending on what Amaya preferred.

"Or at least before the inevitable moment when everything on Party Planet goes horribly wrong," Amaya countered brightly, not really meaning it, but also, knowing Summer as she did...

"I could probably stand to take a project break one of those nights, anyway," she allowed. "Got a good new one come through? Or revisiting a old classic?"

"What do you prefer?" Seivarden asked, then added:

"More tea?"

Totally a trap.

But then where were the triggers? The hidden panels? There weren't even any trip wires or complicated puzzle locks!

And Amaya held out her cup. "Thank you," she said. "It's nice. A bit more floral than your usual brew, but I just sort of chalked that up to the roses.

"And we can always just see what suits the mood when we get there," as tended to be the case with movie nights, anyway. "When were you thinking?"

"What about Monday?" Seivarden suggested. "Or do you have any projects that need to be finished?"

Edited 2020-06-14 17:09 (UTC)

Ummm. Amaya might even be able to finish the Special Secret Project by then if she dedicared.most of tomorrow and the beginning of the day (save for her class) to work o it.

"Nothing too pressing at the moment," she nodded. " The axes were the only one on a deadline. Monday sounds perfect."

What could possibly go wrong on a Monday?

A Monday was perfect.

"Just stop by when it suits you. I'll have tea ready."

"I'd be worried if you didn't," said Amaya, with a faint grin, and ,looking at the current level of tea in her cup now, took to gulping the rest down.

"And," she declared, handing the cup back and rising from the chair with a tug of her gloves, "if I'm carving out a bit of time from work for movies and tea coming up, I'd best make sure I use what I can before then and be on my way to the shop. If there's no nits there, though, I might be back. I can't do much of what I'd like to right now without them."

"And I shouldn't keep you here."

Seivarden smiled. "See you on Monday."

Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

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