Who: Hayley, Solomon, Evie... With a couple of peafowl What: Harvey gets a girlfriend Where: Monarch’s atrium/garden When: Some ambiguous point between when Hayley got Harvey and now. Warnings: None, is tame.
Lunch with Hayley was always fun, lunch with Hayley and Solomon was double fun. But this lunch was special for several reasons. For starters Hayley was going to get that fun look on her face, Solomon was going to laugh, Evie was going to bask in every minute of it...And Harvey the peacock was going to get a girlfriend.
But for now Sol and Evie were in the lobby of the Monarch building waiting for Hayley to come down and Evie was crouched down next to a rather large cage that they had somehow carried in between the two of them without making a huge ruckus, except for when Evie almost fell over into a fit of giggles. She had her fingers in the cage, a bad idea for anyone else in the world but Evie had a way about her, and the bird was practically cooing with the scratches it was getting.
The elevator made a noise and Evie saw Hayley step out, “She’s going to give us the look,” she said looking up at Sol with a mischievous grin. This was probably the worst idea either of them had ever had. It was compounded by the fact that both he and Evangeline had had it. Likely within short time of each other. That meant it was probably going to go beyond “terrible.” He didn’t know what lay in the realm beyond “terrible” - earth-shatteringly awful came to mind - but he had resigned himself to the fact that they would discover it in short course.
“Probably,” Solomon replied, shifting closer to Evangeline. Part of the gesture was to reassure himself. Part of it was to scare off the men who glanced over her as they walked by. “But we can both weather it well enough.” He returned Evangeline’s grin and looked up as Hayley approached. “We have a present for you,” he informed her with that sickly fake innocent tone young boys affected when they were trying to tell their mothers that, no, they didn’t just put that baseball through the window. Meeting friends for lunch was supposed to be the high point of anyone’s day. It was supposed to be normal, and fun, and stress-free. And yet the second Hayley set foot in the lobby of Monarch Industries, she knew that this would not be the case. Her gaze zeroed in on the cage between them, and for a moment she had to remind herself that they were in public. Sol’s words earned an extremely stern look that toed the line between furious and incredulous, her face slowly turning white as she took long, swift strides towards them.
Though Hayley didn’t want to make a scene, she had some healthy understanding of the fact that two people with a peahen in a cage would attract a great deal of attention on their own. Her being irritated would do nothing to intensify the other peoples’ interest in their shenanigans. “What did I tell you?” she hissed to them as she approached, jaw clenched tightly. “What did I spend so much time telling both of you the first time I told you I had Harvey?” Her voice was expectant and annoyed, hissed through clenched teeth. There was no way Mr. Monarch would let her keep two of these things in the arboretum. He’d fear she was starting a zoo. Evie grinned as Hayley approached attempting to look as innocent as possible, which surprisingly was not her strongsuit. “Just hear us out,” she said still not getting up because Mrs. Harvey the white peahen was quite attached. “Harvey would be happier with a friend. He needs one, that’s how birds roll. I’m a hundred percent sure your boss didn’t research that. And, if he says no...We’ll take them both somewhere awesome and they can live happily ever after and we can visit anytime we want.” At the mention of Hayley’s boss and research, Solomon choked. Really, he was trying not to laugh, but something somewhere went wrong, and he choked. Then wheezed. Then choked again. Clearing his throat, he shot both women a look that dared them to ask what that was about, certain Hayley wouldn’t at all and Evangeline wouldn’t until Hayley was gone.
“Evangeline’s right,” he said, aiming for smooth and falling somewhat short. “Birds need a friend. It improves their quality of life. Now why don’t you show us to the arboretum. We can drop off Mrs. Harvey, and then go out to lunch.” There, that sounded reasonable. She couldn’t say no to reasonable. Why did she even bother talking anymore? No one ever listened to her. Running a hand over her face, Hayley sighed, fixing Evie with a very terse expression as she folded her arms over her chest. “Fine,” she replied shortly, waiting for the explanation. To her credit, she did hear them out, though she certainly didn’t look happy during the hearing. There was a great deal of huffing, so much so that she barely responded to Sol’s choke. He was clearly choking on his own lies. Or something. She was too irate to put coherent passive-aggressive insults together.
“You can’t just buy a bird on a whim!” she finally said, keeping her voice low while still managing enough irritation to sound as if she were beginning to yell. “I expected that kinda shortsighted buffoonery from my boss, but not from you two. These are living things for god’s sake, they need to be cared for. But I guess since I’ve already got Harvey...adding a second won’t be too hard...” Evangeline definitely was going to bring the choking up later, but right now they needed to make sure Hayley didn’t lose it, or get in trouble. She cocked her head to the side a little and looked at Hayley curiously, “I know that,” she said softly. “I like to take care of things, I can help if you need it, it wasn’t buying a bird on a whim to neglect the poor darling.” She said giving her another scratch. “She’s very sweet, she’d like a home, and a Harvey.” “And they’ll be fine on their own, as long as you make sure to give them bird feed,” Solomon added, trying not to sound overly cheerful at Hayley’s obvious discomfort. It was nice to see Evangeline bully someone else into something for a change. “The gardens are already cared for, so you just need to feed them.”
And whatever they might spawn. The idea of the peacocks having babies was mildly horrifying, but he said nothing on that matter. No, let Hayley discovered the chicks - was that what they were called? - when they happened. Evie’s earnestness was somewhat undermined by the fact that Sol was clearly gloating about this. She looked between the two of them, nose wrinkled, before she finally sighed. That was the sigh of resignation. That was the “okay, you win” sigh. It was so predictable, so obvious in meaning that she actually didn’t have to say anything. But, for some reason, she volunteered anyway.
“Okay,” she said, folding her arms and frowning slightly. “As long as Mr. Monarch’s okay with her being here, then...I guess...it’s not a big deal.” She glanced around the lobby, gesturing towards the way to the arboretum. “So I suppose we should show her to her new home. Did you get a name for her?”
Evie smiled quite widely when Hayley said the peahen could stay, there was no hiding how pleased she was. “If he doesn’t, tell him to call me,” she said clearly confident that she could sell ice to an Eskimo.
She stood up from the crouch she’d been in with a little “hush” to the bird who clearly did not appreciate that the petting had stopped. “I think she looks like an Ilsa. Papa and I watched Casablanca last night!” The last thing that Solomon was going to allow was Orin Monarch talking to Evangeline, and the look he shot Hayley over Evangeline’s head said that clearly enough. If Orin Monarch so much as smiled Evangeline’s way, he would paint walls with blood, and he wouldn’t bother with his usual artistry.
“Why don’t we get Ilsa to the atrium,” he suggested, shifting closer to the cage and ducking his head so he could give himself a minute to adjust his expression. The second Evie mentioned her boss, Hayley looked to Sol for his reaction. It was completely expected, and though his expression turned her blood to ice, she gave him a knowing nod. “Well I bet he’ll be fine,” she said breezily, sweeping the subject under the rug. The last thing she needed was Evie talking to the man. Then she’d not only be unemployed, but she’d also be a witness to murder.
“Ilsa?” she asked, leading the way to the arboretum. “Ilsa and Harvey,” she mused, noting how strange the names sounded together. “Nice names,” she said with a faint smile for Evie as she opened the door for them both, holding it out of their way. The trip to the atrium was an interesting affair. Solomon suspected the cage holding Isla had bumped his shins enough times to paint them interesting shades of purple and blue, and his back hurt from the awkward way he had to stoop so moving the cage wouldn’t be uncomfortable for Evangeline. When they finally set the cage down, his back was throbbing and his shins felt like they’d received a mild whipping. And he was struck by how old he felt.
Masking a frown, he stepped aside so that Evangeline could release Ilsa. “Where’s Harvey?” he asked Hayley. “We’ll want to make sure they’re friendly before we leave her with him.” As they stepped into the arboretum, Hayley sighed. It was a surprisingly nice place, all things considered. She stepped back with Sol, giving Evie room to release the newly named Ilsa. At his question, she paused. “Uhhhhh,” she said, looking around curiously. “He should be around here somewhere.” She paused, taking a few steps away from Sol and Evie as she peered through the trees. “Sometimes he’s hard to see, he kind of...looks like all the green stuff here.”
Taking careful steps, she moved through a few trees before her gaze fell on the brilliantly blue and green Harvey. He was perched in a tree, tail draping to the ground. She stared at him a moment, hands on her hips. “Harvey,” she said, voice light. “Evie’s got you something.” He tilted his head, staring at her. “Come on, sugar.” He shifted in the tree, turning slowly. Finally, he leapt from the branch, wings fluttering as he glided to the ground. After a few adjustments, he slowly began to walk towards the newcomers, strides slow and regal. Evie was crouched back down again as she opened the door of the bird kennel and stuck her hand out towards Ilsa, and was scratching her again and giving her soothing advice in a low whisper. Girl talk. She turned around when she heard Harvey walking around behind them and she smiled, “Well hey boyo, you are a handsome devil,” she said brightly and shifted just a bit so Ilsa could get out of her kennel and so she could get a good look at her new friend. “Ilsa this is Harvey, he’ll be a gentleman I’m sure.” “And so everyone was happy,” Solomon said with a lopsided grin, watching Ilsa and Harvey poke around in each other’s personal space. When Ilsa wandered into the underbrush, Harvey hurried after, and Solomon shook his head. Of course the bird would chase his new companion.
Giving Evangeline and Hayley a sweeping look, he gestured toward the doors. “What do you say to ice cream?” he suggested. If only life were this simple. Hayley watched the two birds interact before rushing off, shaking her head at their display. Of course they got along perfectly. How had she expected anything different? She glanced to Sol with a tired half-smile, folding her arms over her chest. “Sounds good,” she replied, nodding. Ice cream tended to solve everything, it seemed. Or at the very least set the status back to quo. Evie was very please with the reaction of the birds, they were adorable together. She was absolutely beaming. She moved her arm through Sol’s and held his hand in hers and looked up at him smiling brightly and then back to Hayley. “Victory ice cream! Let’s go!”