Covent Garden Flowers; Tuesday [11/03].

[white_oleander]

Today felt incredibly normal for Astrid. Nothing too wild seemed to be happening on the island (or perhaps it just felt that way since they were coming out of all that Halloween stuff), there weren't a whole lot of orders to take care of so she was spending a lot of time sketching in her sketchbook and, when it got really quiet, breaking out her watercolors and making some postcards of golden rod and dahlias, cornflowers and verbena, and the chrysanthemum were humming softly to add a nice ambiance to the quietness of the day.

And yes, she realized it would have been a little odd to her years ago to think that humming flowers fell into the category of 'normal,' but she embraced it now, knowing how much she'd missed that sort of thing while she was gone, and, even though she didn't know the tune, she would softly hum along, too.

Covent Garden is open!

Comments

[crimson_sister]

Lucille had one more employee to introduce herself too, and in the afternoon she entered the shop.

"Astrid? I am Lucille Sharpe, the new owner of the shop."

[white_oleander]

Astrid was slow to pull herself away from painting a white curve on the edge of a petal to indicate the light falling onto it from a dramatic angle when she noticed someone entering the shop, blinking a moment at what was before her mind shifted from the painted world to the actual one.

"Oh," she said. "Oh, that's right."

Astrid had only paid vague attention, and Seivarden hadn't really been a very active boss beyond that first week. She glanced over at the teapot, which she'd been neglecting to bother with for quite some time now, and shrugged a little, mostly to herself, before her attention shifted back to Lucille.

"It's nice to meet you."

This made...three different bosses at this place for her, which was a weird thing to think about.

[crimson_sister]

"Nice to meet you too."

Lucille leaned close to smell one of the flowers, then smiled at Astrid.

"Do you paint?"

[white_oleander]

Astrid thought about the painting in front of her, the paintbrush in her hand, the paints on the counter, and then considered answering with a incredibly dry no.

But, instead, she just blinked and said, "I dabble."

That old chestnut.

She set down the brush so that she could move a box on the counter forward a little.

"I sell postcards of my work," she added. "If you wanted to have a look."

And, if she did, Lucille would find a variety of sketches and painting, all in postcard size, featuring a variety of topics. Quite a bit of flowers, naturally, but also animals, people, figures, some recent Halloween themed ones and some that were clearly inspired by things going on around Fandom through the weeks and months since she started doing it.

All of them at a level of skill that went well beyond dabbling.

[crimson_sister]

"I wouldn't use the word dabbling," Lucille said. "Do you like painting flowers, then? You are welcome to sell postcards here, should you want to."

Her employees seemed to be talented.

[white_oleander]

Well, it was a good thing Lucille said she could, considering she already had been for a while now.

"I like painting anything," Astrid shrugged a little. "I tend to do a lot of flowers while I'm here since...well..."

It seemed pretty self-explanatory.

[crimson_sister]

As her employer, Lucille felt she should at least have a say in the matter, even if it was giving permission.

"So, whatever is around you?" Lucille asked, smiling. "I am glad you have something good to keep you occupied. I know this place is often quiet."

[white_oleander]

"I don't really mind the quiet," said Astrid, looking around a little toward the current source of the softest of humming flowers.

She preferred it, really.

[crimson_sister]

"I suppose I should say quiet apart from the regular oddities," Lucille corrected herself. "But I should let you continue. Let me know if you have any questions, although I assume you know the shop better than I do."

[white_oleander]

That managed to get a small, odd, wry sort of smile out of Astrid.

"Thank you," she said, nodding, though she really didn't see herself taking Lucille up on that. "I will."

[crimson_sister]

Lucille didn't really expect her to.

She smiled again, gave a small nod, and left the shop.