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Tuesday: Plant Parenthood

Nell was feeling rather cheerful, if a little tired. And today promised to be busy what with filling all sorts of orders from cyber Monday. Not that she was complaining. The extra money would certainly come in helpful for some work she wanted to do on Soulwood as well as paying for Brother Theo to keep an eye out on it and make sure everything was taken care of while she was here.

A little extra for Christmas gifts and maybe a trip wouldn't hurt either. Yes, she made most of her gifts, but now she could afford a free of the more exotic ingredients.

So today you'd find a busy Nell, but still one who'd be willing to stop and chat.

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November Tuesdays had been a trifle complicated for Liliana, thus impacting her visits to Nell. But she managed to carve out time on the very last one, her peregrinations about town today ending with her strolling through the door as if no time had passed at all.

"Hello darling," she called, though it might be difficult for Nell to ascertain whether it was she who was being spoken to, or Cygnet, who had come over to sniff and found himself getting scooped up and cuddled.

Whomever she meant, Rigel was going to get his little nose bent out of shape at being ignored over Cygnus and Nell.

"Liliana!" Nell said with a smile. "How are you? I understand you had osmething of a weekend."

She had two hands, little darling, come over and you could get greetings and scritches, too.

Liliana looked up from her cuddles, giving Nell a good look at her face which was currently sporting a layer of cosmetics. Such a thing was already odd, as Liliana usually saw no reason to cover up her natural beauty with something artificial, but considering Nell's childhood, the younger woman was likely not fooled by the application of a bit of powder and paint. "Indeed," she sighed, her fingers absently going to the side of her mouth. "What had meant to be a simple trip home to get my dining room situated--" you know after the previous difficulty, ugh "--got much more complicated than anticipated."

Some men just couldn't handle their demonic curses.

Nell's eyes widened as she got a good look at Liliana's face. "You're hurt!" she said. "Let me - can I get you a healing compress for your face?"

No magic, just Nell's knowledge of healing plants.

Liliana considered that and nodded. "Please," she said. "It's one of the reasons I stopped by. The herbs I ordered didn't have anything specific for bruising."

Being bruised like this was something of a novelty. Liliana didn't actually spend a large percentage of her time getting into fights with people - current circumstances notwithstanding - and when she did, her zombies usually took the brunt of whatever physical damage was being levied. Getting hit in the face was not something Liliana was used to and, honestly? She was not a fan.

Damn Garruk Wildspeaker and his ham-handed ham hands anyway.

"Please, have a seat," Nell said. "There are some teas and some fresh scones. This will just take a minute."

Nell went to the back and pulled out the herbs she'd need for her compress, then poured hot water over them to activate them, before wrapping them in a hot damp cloth. She returned to Liliana and carefully placed the compress over the bruised areas.

"I know it's hot," she said, "But trust me, the heat will help."

Liliana waved the concern away, it was hot, yes, but her own cleric training insisted the heat was necessary, even before Nell's reminders had.

"Apologies," she said, holding the compress to her cheek. "For keeping Ignis from your gathering these past few weeks."

There was the slightest hint of a question in her voice, especially around his name.

"Oh, and your throat!" Nell whisked away her tea and brought her a different one that would help soothe the throat before returning to make another compress to wrap loosely around Liliana's throat.

Only then did she sit down across from her. "No apologies necessary," she said. "I'm glad he was able to help you. But, you know, you should come over on Monday nights as well. It's just a quiet group of friends - Gladio and Ignis, of course, but sometimes my friend Lana and Detective Watts come as well. There's food and we might watch a movie or play a game or just chat. You're more than welcome."

She smiled at her. "With or without Ignis," she added teasingly.

Edited 2023-11-28 16:13 (UTC)

Garruk was the fucking worst and deserved everything he got, both up to this point and afterwards ~~and that included Oko, that's right, I said it~~.

Liliana gave the little woods witch in front of her a soft smile. "He mentioned the invitation yesterday, while he was baking treats to send along with Gladio," she said. "It sounds lovely, I look forward to attending, thank you."

For the original invitation and for reiterating it now. Granted, Liliana's general assumption was 'of course people want me at their gatherings, I'm a delight,' but...it was nice to be certain that the invitation was for more than just their... association.

Liliana was her friend. She'd have invited her sooner, but since Ignis was already a regular she wanted to make sure he and Gladio were comfortable with it as well.

"I'll look forward to seeing you then," Nell said. "It will be nice to have another woman there. Lana comes when she can, but she's been awfully busy lately."

"And Gladio easily counts as two men by himself," Liliana said with a soft laugh. "It's true, though, I've not seen Lana recently. Pity."

She enjoyed talking philosophy with the other woman. It was nice to see her own beliefs reflected in another. That the other person was a Sith was hardly relevant.

Nell laughed. "He's worth more than any twenty men I know from back home - barring Brother Theo and his boys. And I like how big he is, though his habit of scooping me up and carrying me everywhere is a bit much."

Don't believe her, Liliana. She adored it.

"Lana's one of my best friends," Nell said. "I do enjoy time with her."

"I'm sure you're enduring it with grace," Liliana said with a twitch of her lips on the uninjured side of her mouth.

"And the more I hear about the philosophy class she is helping run, the sadder I am I didn't take it." Because Liliana had so many opinions that everyone deserved to hear. "Have you ever considered teaching?" she asked.

You know. Idly.

Nell couldn't help but giggle a little. "I suppose I do," she admitted. "I do adore him rather."

She tipped her head. "I have thought about it. Maybe one of the summer sessions. I'm not sure if I'd be any good at it, so a shorter class might be the way to go. How about you? Have you thought about teaching a class? Other than Lana's."

"I'm thinking about it," she said, smiling a bit at Nell's clear infatuation with Gladio. It was very sweet, especially in light of topics they'd discussed in previous visits. "I enjoyed covering the History of Assassination class, and Jon was a darling and asked me to guest lecture on ghouls, which was positively delightful. I'm toying with several possibilities for classes, though things are less cut and dried here than they were at Strixhaven."

"I think any class of yours would be very interesting," Nell said. If only for the flamboyance of the teacher, though Nell imagined the content would also be quite interesting. "I think you should do it."

Awww, you said - and thought - the sweetest things little woods witch.

"Mmm, though I will have to first come around to the idea of waking up dreadfully early in the morning all to go and teach a class which will likely have no great bearing on the lives of any of my students," she said, accidentally describing any liberal arts degree ever ~~I can make that joke, I went to grad school for literature~~.

"Oh!" she said, sitting up. "I nearly forgot. I have a gift for you."

Edited 2023-11-28 18:06 (UTC)

"There are always afternoon classes," Nell pointed out helpfully. "Those might be easier for you." Nell, of course, was one of the early morning running and exercise gang and had been a rise before the sun person for as long as she could remember.

"A gift?" Nell said. "But you already gave me that beautiful journal."

It's okay, Nell, we all had flaws. Well, not so Liliana, but other people.

"So?" Liliana asked, reaching into her bag and pulling out a what appeared to be a small metal case at first glance, but upon the second, revealed itself to be a double metal picture frame that connected on one side with a hinge and latched on the other. She handed it over to Nell, gesturing at her to open it. Inside were, fittingly, two pictures, both from Liliana's Halloween party. The first was of Nell leaning over to examine something in Liliana's gardens and Gladio regarding her with a tender, loving smile that she had not seen but Liz's camera had picked up. The second was of the two of them grinning brightly at one another, in their matching costumes, on the brink of laughter and clearly having a delightful time together.

No one, looking at either picture, could doubt they were very much in love.

"The real reason I came, before we got distracted by poultices and pedagogy."

[I guess technically this could count as modding, so let me know if you would like me to adjust what the pictures look like.]

Edited 2023-11-28 18:40 (UTC)

"Oh," Nell breathed when she opened it. "Oh! Oh, Liliana!"

Her fingers traced just above the glass over Gladio's face. "Oh... this is..."

She threw herself out of her seat and wrapped her arms around her - gently so as not to dislodge the compresses, but firmly. "This is beautiful! I don't - I never thought of taking pictures of us."

She settled back to her chair, looking again at the pictures. "My, he's handsome, isn't he?" she said musingly, then looked up at Liliana. "That's really the way he looks at me? And me at him?"

Liliana was clearly taken by surprise by the embrace, giving Nell an awkward patpat that suggested that the necromancer didn't perhaps hug all that often. She didn't seem opposed, just... awkward.

"That is how you two look at each other, yes," she said indulgently, engaging in a game of catch with a rock from inside her pretty Lalique™️ house. "But that's why I hired Liz for part of the evening. I wanted to make sure that everyone was able to document their costumes if they wished, and also to make sure that those random moments in the evening that would normally be lost to time in attention were captured and set down instead."

"It's beautiful," Nell said again. "Thank you so much! I'll treasure it."

And put it beside her bed where she could see it when she woke up. Or maybe in the kitchen to see as she was cooking. Or in the living room for when she was all cozy with the kittens in front of the fire.

Liliana smiled again and sipped at her tea. "Do let me know should something happen to it and do you need a replacement," she said. "I have them all on an SD card and can get them reprinted at the Photo Hut at any time."

"I will," Nell assured her. "But I shall take great care of it."

She looked at her assessingly. "How are the compresses? Do they need to be heated up again?"

"They do," Liliana said, unwinding the one from her throat and handing it over first. "I tend to cool things down more quickly than one would normally expect."

You know, having an ambient body temperature a number of degrees below the norm.

It didn't take Nell long to refresh the compresses and bring them back. "I'll put together a packet of the herbs for you to take home," she said. "With directions on how to use them."

"Thank you," she said. "That would be most kind."

She looked around the shop thoughtfully. "How much, do you think, for a weekly bouquet of flowers or the like?" she asked. "I was just thinking that it might be nice to have fresh flowers or greenery in the house."

"Depends on how much and how fancy," Nell said. "I mostly have plants here if you want something alive, but I can get you whatever flowers you need through the flower shop."

SHe rattled off examples of pricing for a variety of flowers and amounts. "And if it's a weekly thing I might can get you a deal if you sign a contract for a certain amount of flowers over a certain time period."

"Oh, flowers, please," Liliana said immediately. "My skillset doesn't particularly lend itself to keeping things alive."

She nearly passed on the contract, since she wasn't particularly fussed about deals or the like, but thinking about Ignis' likely reaction to hearing that she'd gotten one - or, conversely, that she'd passed one up - had her saying, "A contract sounds like just the thing. Through the winter, perhaps? I'm mostly just looking for pretty arrangements to keep things colorful, especially during the dreary days."

"Then I can take care of that for you," Nell said. "You can either stop by the store Monday or I can bring everythkng home with me and give it to you at my house Monday night."

"How about at your home?" Liliana suggested. "This way I'm not making two trips and everyone can see what a marvelous arrangement you've made."

Mostly Liliana not having to make two trips, but the other thing was good, too.

Nell laughed. "Perfect," she said. "I'll get it all set up for you and if you're happy with it you'll get your first delivery of flowers next Tuesday. In the meantime I can send you home with something pretty from here today."

Liliana gave Nell another smile. "That would be lovely," she said. "Thank you. I am not particularly fond of winter's overwhelming grayness, whether it's rain or snow. The brightness and color will be appreciated."

"You're most welcome," Nell said. "And you're welcome to stop by here whenever you've a mind to. It's always pretty green around here."

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Tuesday: Plant Parenthood

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