fandomtownies | Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

A part of Tisarwat deeply wanted to avoid Seivarden until the end of time thanks to Summer's little stunt of sending those scandalous pictures of Seivarden's ungloved hands at the party last week, but another part of her just wanted to scrub the whole thing out of her brain entirely and act like nothing happened. She knew better than to think that anything could be scrubbed from one's brain entirely, but an attempt to return to normalcy was appealing.

Plus, she needed a plant.

"Hello, Seivarden," she came in to greet her with a smile more confident than she felt. "How are you today?"

"Not too bad," Seivarden said. "Considering the terrible music. And you?"

It wasn't like she hadn't had worse things happening to her than someone send naked hand pictures, but it was still a little awkward, considering it was Tisarwat and not someone she was actually interested in having to see her naked hands.

"This music," Tisarwat grunted faintly, "is a true test against anyone's sanity."

It made the hole in her head where her Anaander implant had been ache in ways she didn't think was possible, not to mention the unused implant still there that would have normally been able to help her drown it out...and any further attempts to link it to her phone resulted in an uncomfortable zap. Having to resort to ear buds after that just felt like a sad failure, but they did help.

"But other than that," she added, "I'm fine. I was hoping you could actually help me. I'm long overdue for a visit to someone, and I thought maybe a nice plant as a gift would be appreciated. Has there.been anything particular nice coming in lately?"

"Oh?" Seivarden said. "Yes, of course. What friend is this? Anything in particular you prefer?"

"Her name is Lucille," Tisarwat offered. "She's recently moved back to the island and purchased a piano from the music store; I told her I'd drop in to see how everything was going with her purchase one of these days, but, between the past few weeks," what with the lack of gloves and the constant music-induced migraines, "I haven't had the chance. But I think I'd like to find something very elegant for her. Elegant, but understated." She smiled a little, clearly pleased with the thought she'd put into it. "Not too showy, with just a hint of drama or surprise."

"I don't think I've met her," Seivarden said. "If she has just moved in, perhaps a potted plant? Unless she's the kind of person who keep killing them."

"I don't know her well enough yet to know that," Tisarwat said, with a smile on the yet, "but that seems like a good place to start. Something flowering, though, but not yet in bloom, as a symbol of the current unblossomed potential of our friendship."

Despite herself, despite knowing it would probably be a very long time before she saw her ever again, if at all, Tisarwar couldn't help thinking of Basnaaid and how she would appreciate the thoughtfulness she was putting into the choice.

"A hibiscus?"

Seivarden gestured towards a large pale pink one.

"Hibiscus." Tisarway repeated the name thoughtfully as she stepped in to examine the plant more closely. "I've seen that in a lot of popular tea blends, so that could be a nice touch. Do you know kf they're difficult to care for, though? Seems to defeat the purpose to wind up giving a gift that only winds up being a burden..."

"They do require water regularly. What about an orchid? We have plenty of them, in lots of different colours."

She gestured towards the shelf.

"These ones are really rare, even if the colour isn't that cheerful. Dracula orchids."

Seivarden had no clue what the name meant.

Edited 2020-07-18 13:05 (UTC)

"I do like orchids," Tisarwat admitted, musing now on this next option, "and they may not be cheerful colours, but they are rather striking, aren't they? Probably suits her more than cheerful or bright." She smiled. "I'll save cheerful and bright for Summer. She'd require dramatic flowers, too, but in a completely different way.

"Is there one unbloomed?" she asked, as she started looking through them. "Good. Here's one."

"It sounds like a good choice, then," Seivarden said. "I hope you have time for some tea before you leave though."

"It'd be a disappointing visit if I couldn't even stay for tea," Tisarwat told her with a smile, "especially when it's been a while, it seems."

And it would give her some time to consider whether or not it was worth breaching another thing that she discovered on Saturday that had her wondering if she should just avoid Seivarden for a while

Seivarden smiled back.

"I'll make some fresh, then," she said, "While you tell me what you've been doing lately."

"There isn't much to tell," said Tisarwat, sighing faintly, with a small roll of her lilac eyes. "I haven't been doing much lately at all; it's been a trying couple of weeks."

There was a pause.

"I'm sorry I missed your party last week," she added, with a gesture meant to both be dismissive of it but also to acknowledge the unspoken...extenuating circumstances.

"Oh, don't worry," Seivarden said. "I understand of course. I tried to explain to Summer."

She poured hot water over the leaves.

"I'm thinking of arranging another one, to compensate for the circumstances."

That is, to have Lucifer arrange one for her.

"I figured if anyone would understand, it would be you." Which sort of went without saying, but it was mildly complimentary and a nice comfort that someone did. It was also why she didn't really feel that bad about it, but it was.still polite to apologize.

"And I think another party would be a great idea," she said. 'Let me know if you'd like help."

"I'm always going to need some help," Seivarden said. "Although I think Lucifer is going to do most of the arranging. He's good at that."

She placed two cups from the nicest tea set she had in the shop on the table, and poured the tea.

Tisarwat watched Seivarden poir the tea with that odd feeling that would always be there whenever she realized that Seivarden Bendaai, of all people, was serving her tea, but it was a bit more dull this time, distracted as she was by other things.

That she could either ignore now and continue to be plagued by, or she could at least mention them to get them out of an already too-busy head.

"Then I'll have even more reason," she said, "to look forward to it. To finally meet this Lucifer of yours. I'm sure I'll be both charmed and impressed; you have very good taste in lovers."

Drop the subtle hint, move in smoothly with the compliments.

"As with so many other things, as well. This tea smells wonderful."

That comment made Seivarden raise an eyebrow. Yes, she knew that Tisarwat knew about Amaya, but she hoped that Tisarwat didn't know about her knowing she knew it.

Although did it matter, really?

"I should introduce you," she said, although that would go badly since Lucifer didn't like students.

"I'm glad you think so."

Lovers, tea or both.

So it was a good thing for all of them that Tisarwat wasn't a student anymore, wasn't it?

"I'd like that," she said, considering that lifted brow as she took a deeply appreciative sip of the tea. And feeling glad she said something after all. No matter how it turned out, it was nice to have a good, proper Radchaai conversation filled with nuance and subtlety. She liked Summer and enjoyed her company a great deal, but Tisarwat didn't think she even knew the meaning of those words.

"He's always at that club you and Summer like, right?" she then asked. "The one with the age restrictions on drinking. Summer says she's working on that, but...well. Summer says a lot of things, doesn't she?"

Proper Radchaai conversations were rare here, and Seivarden was reminded why she should talk to Tisarwat more often. It also reminded her that what was subtle and nuanced was also on the long list of those annoying cultural differences, since the Earth versions were really complicated.

Tisarwat, on the other hand, was very clear.

"She does talk a lot," Seivarden agreed. "But she rarely deliberately tells lies as far as I've noticed."

There was no point denying things.

"Lucifer works there. I can ask him if you can join us some evening."

And what might have seemed for dodgy and circling around the point for many others couldn't have been a firmer confirmation for Tisarwat. She set her cup down into the saucer she held for a moment.

"That's good to know," she said. "It's so easy to suspect a person speaks in fabrications when she speaks so freely about things that others don't."

She lifted the cup again. "I'll have to bear that in mind before divulging anything I might consider senstitve or secret, I suppose." And sipped.

"I think she genuinely cares about you," Seivarden said, after a sip. "And just wants to share things that she thinks important."

She smiled a little.

"She's also very good at noticing the things you might not talk about, but not in a malicious way."

Because Seivarden had definitely not told Summer about Amaya.

And that opened the door very nicely for what was the heart of the matter, for Tisarwat, as well as some consolation.

She smiled back, the softness of it mirrored in her lilac eyes as she looked at Seivarden.

"It can be so interesting, don't you think?" she said. "What makes a thing something you might or might not talk about..."

"Oh, the usual things," Seivarden said. "Some things are private. Some things might hurt others unnecessarily. Some things are just not anyone else's business."

She looked at Tisarwat, sipping her tea again.

"I think Summer doesn't always get those distinctions as we do."

"Perhaps not," Tisarwat agreed. "Summer has many charming qualities, but discretion is rarely one of them. Still..."

She let that linger a little while she enjoyed a sip of her tea.

"I don't find it difficult to imagine situations where a departure from those distinctions could be beneficial to some people."

"Yes, but others might not agree about the benefit," Seivarden replied. "Or the propriety of mentioning it."

Tisarwat's expression seemed accepting of this, albeit reluctantly, and her next sip of tea was particularly thoughtful.

And when she lowered her cup again, she asked Seivarden if she'd ever been to a particular common planet, one that any Radchaai, even a thousand years apart, would be familiar with. One she herself had never technically been to physically, but she would have likely gone there eventually and had a multitude of memories of.

"Of course," Seivarden said, raising an eyebrow again. "Everyone has."

Tisarwat nodded with her utter lack of surprise at that answer. "So you know they have excellent noodles," she offered, "and a very competitive ureaucracy. I had a friend." She didn't, not really, and neither did Anaander, for that matter, but this could be clearly any number of bright-eyed Radchaai eager to make a place for herself, and that was the point. "She had her sights set on a very prestigious position, and she was making all the right steps. Had very good qualifications. Was getting to know all the right people. Or so she thought, so when she kept getting passed over for it, she was understandably confused. And a little hurt. But it turned out that the position was never really open as it seemed; someone had already been chosen for it long before she even thought to pursue it.

"Poor thing," Tisarwat shook her head a little. "She was terribly embarrassed, but she told me something interesting over drinks one night. She told me she was actually a little relieved. Because it meant that maybe it wasn't that she'd done something wrong or that she simply wasn't good enough for the position. It was simply Ammaat's will, and there were forces at work that she couldn't possibly have been aware of.

"It was a very important moment for her," said Tisarwat, concluding her oh-so-tangental and clearly unrelated story, with a faintly wry grin, "but I think she'd have preferred to have found out much sooner than she did."

Seivarden obviously knew what she meant.

"Perhaps that too was Amaat's will," she said. "Or merely that her friends didn't want to embarrass her. Either way, she learnt something, didn't she, that I'm sure will be helpful in the future. She might not have done that had she understood the situation too quickly."

After a sip of tea she added:

"I hope your friend have found a new goal that offers her more satisfaction."

"I hope so, too," Tisarwat agreed with a grateful smile and a sip of her tea, adding a thoughtful conclusion that it wasn't as if there weren't plenty of other there was, after all, no lack of satisfying pursuits on that nameless-thanks-to-frustratingly-vague-canon planet that everyone knew about.

Of course, Tisarwat couldn't guarantee that her friend would give up her original pursuit entirely, but at least she could spend a little more time dedicating herself to other ones.

"That would be a lot more beneficial to her," Seivarden said. "In the long run. More tea?"

She reached for the teapot.

"And I'll try to make an introduction at Devil's Nest possible."

Covent Garden Flowers, Saturday

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