Who: Keira and Zipporah What: Tea and gossip about me When: Dec. 5, 1888 Where: Hidden Treasures Warning: None
Zipporah looked up at the unassuming little tea shop sign and bit her lip.
‘Hidden Treasures.’
She was fairly sure this was Keira’s store -- she’t talked of it before, on occasion, and seeing as how she was in the neighborhood, Zipporah figured it would only be polite to stop in.
She was friendly enough with the Sorelle -- Keira’d been the first one to help her get situated at L’Albergo, with her examination room, and ever since, had been kind enough, but Zipporah didn’t know her particularly well, other than the fact that she made tea, owned a tea-shop, and wasn’t quite human.
She was just about to swing open the door when a deliveryboy came out, and, upon seeing her, he bowed funnily and held it open for her. The object he’d delivered was clearly displayed on the countertop, in front of a pinkly pleased Keira -- an enormous bouquet of pretty yellow and pinkish-orange flowers.
“Hello,” Zipporah called out, Keira’s pleased smile causing her own mouth to tug at the corners. “It seems you have an admirer,” she said, grinning.
Keira had been busily wiping down a small table when the delivery boy had come in with the flowers. As many times as Gabriel sent the flowers, and she assumed they were from him, she never tired of getting them. They were always a surprise to her, a very lovely surprise. She’d stopped what she’d been doing, signed for the flowers and gave the boy a good tip.
“Thank you George,” she called out, her on a first name basis with the boy as he was generally the one to deliver the flowers. Then she was getting another surprise with the sight of Zipporah coming into the shop. “Miss Bakst,” she greeted the woman and then looked at her flowers. “It seems as if I do, doesn’t it?” She grinned and touched one of the petals gently. “He isn’t quite so secret however,” she chuckled and picked the flowers up place the in a better spot. “Anyway, he’s no secret to me. It’s good to see you,” she then said. “What brings you in today?”
She had liked Zipporah the moment she’d met her, though they hadn’t spent much time together she still considered the woman a friend and even a sister even if the woman wasn’t exactly part of the Sisterhood in the same way she herself was.
“What else?” Zipporah replied with a laugh. “Warm tea on a cold day. What kind of flower is this?” She said pointing to the yellow one. “And what kind of man is he?” She asked, grinning, leaning on her elbows on the counter. “You look very happy,” she added, “and I am glad for it. He must be very good for to make you smile like that.”
“What kind of tea would you like today?” Keira grinned. She thought she could use a cuppa as well and it would be nice to sit and chat with Zipporah for a moment. “Oh, all the questions,” she giggled. “First let me preface this that he is a very romantic type of man and the flowers he sends me always has a meaning behind them. The yellow flowers are tulips and they mean that I bring sunshine into his life, or my smile is sunshine, something of that matter,” she chuckled. “And the roses with that color mean desire I believe,” and she felt her cheeks warm and that fluttery sensation took flight in her stomach. “He is…” she bit her lower lip, thinking how she had never talked about Gabriel in this way with anyone before. Caspian knew Gabriel and was tied with him as well and knew and it seemed awkward to talk to the other Mer about a lover that the two were sharing. “He is just...wonderful,” she sighed. “He makes me extremely happy, which is a feat in it’s own,” she smiled. “And he’s wonderful to me. He’ll break my heart someday, I’m positive of that, but I’ll take that pain to know happiness now.”
“Oh, whichever is your current favorite,” Zipporah replied dismissively. “And I can tell,” she replied, grinning, and resting her hand on her chin with a sigh. “You are practically floating through the airs. I had no notion flowers could have meanings,” she added, looking over at them. “It is quite poetical.”
Her smile turned a little wicked. “And the part about desire -- that is quite bold of him,” she added, her voice dropping to be conspiratorial, even though the shop was otherwise empty. “Is he a thoughtful lover? The way you smile, I think he must be.”
Keira went about making them both a cuppa and felt her cheeks warming even more. “Gabriel has that effect on me,” she murmured, saying his name without thinking. She was generally very careful of not mentioning him to others, it was her secret, his and hers with only one other knowing was Caspian. “He’s different than most men I know and has many sides I guess you could say, poetical and romantical being one.”
She giggled about desire. “And bold being another.” She set the tea in front of Zipporah and wondered if the redness in her face would ever go away. “Please don’t think any less of me, I’ve been married and so I’m no ‘pure’ woman,” she looked down into her tea, her cheeks flaming once again. “But yes, he’s a very, very thoughtful lover. I’ve never been happier with a man as I am with him.” And still, she knew that one day her heart would break, or that it was possible anyway. “What about you? Anyone in your life?”
Zipporah cackled. “What, you think I am one for to judge?” She grinned and leaned in, her voice low despite the emptiness of the shop. “I have a lover too. A wolf. Please do not tell Lady Di Palermo? She would not like it, I do not think. He is fierce and beautiful, and I ache every time I catch glimpse of him.” She laughed again, bright and flushed, wrapping her hands around her cup of tea. “I cannot help but fall into bed with him, and oh, it is good, and I love him dearly.” She grinned a little wryly, and bit her lip. “He shall break my heart too, I know he shall, but for now, it is quite nice.”
Keira laughed and swiped a stray hair from her face. “One never knows,” she grinned. To hear that Zipporah had a lover that was a wolf had her mouth forming an ‘O’ and her eyes going big. “Really?” She whispered conspiratorially. She bit her lip and smiled and nodded her head. “I will not tell Lady Di Palermo anything,” she said. “She would not like it, I’m sure. Wolves are the worst in her book, but I’m so glad that this one in particular makes your eyes light up like that. Perhaps when we both get our hearts broken we can live together as spinsters,” she joked with a laugh.
Zipporah gave a wicked smile back. “I have a feeling we shall both enjoy the journey, regardless of how it will end. And thank you for not telling her,” she added. “I thought the English, they were all…” she waggled her fingers and rolled her eyes. “But being with a wolf man… it is very different. He is so strong, and passionate. And he likes for to bite, in the best of ways,” she added, her voice low.
“What is your lover?” She asked. “Is he like you? Or a human? Or something else entirely?”
Keira grinned and nodded. She fully expected to enjoy the journey for now, not matter where it led her. This was a much better life than what she’d had before and she was going to go with it as best as she could. She gave a tiny shiver at the mention of biting, but it wasn’t a shiver of fear or disgust, but more like intrigue. When her late husband had bit her it had been in a harmful and painful way, to be bitten for enjoyment… Then she wondered what it would be like for a vampire to bite her, which led her thoughts going to Cassius. She shook that thought out and focused on Gabriel; she really needed to stop having thoughts of Cassius.
“Gabriel is something else entirely,” she smiled. “Something wonderful. I’m just a little mermaid,” she said after glancing around to make sure they were alone, which of course they were. “He, well, let’s just say that what he is makes him an excellent lover.”
A shoe dropped, and Zipporah looked over at her, a little astonished. “Is it…” she bit her lip. “It is not Mr Allen, is it? Gabriel Allen? That tall man who is far, far too pretty for his own good? Oh, Keira,” she added, grinning, her eyes dancing, “I would not have thought a man that pretty for to be that generous, but I can see how he would be. Heavens, he is beautiful. It is him, is it not? Tell me it is so?”
Keira’s cheeks flamed when Zipporah guessed correctly on who she was talking about. It wasn’t as if she and Gabriel weren’t seen out in public sometimes but she wasn’t sure how free she should be with information. Still, the flush of her cheeks gave everything away and she could only nod in affirmation. “Yes,” she spoke. “It is he, but please promise to keep your discretion on this matter. I’m not sure that he would appreciate other’s knowing…” she trailed off and then gave a happy little sigh. “He is a very generous lover, and he is gorgeous with and without his clothes on,” she giggled.
Zipporah clapped her hands a little and crowed. “I shall not tell a soul,” she said, “even him. We are colleagues, of sorts,” she added, shrugging a little. “He is quite pleasant. And mercy, I should think so,” she added, cackling a little.
She never quite knew how to read the mysterious Mr Allen -- he was far too charming to pin down, and seemed to befuddle women and men around him in equal measure. Keira’s half-answer as to what he was, exactly, only served to pique her curiosity, but the mer didn’t seem inclined to be disclosing on that count -- not that Zipporah blamed her. After all, the man did keep his fair share of secrets.
“And you are otherwise well?” She asked, settling into her tea, trying her best (and failing) to keep from imagining Mr Allen in his altogether.
If Keira could get any more red, she would. She gave a small sigh of relief to hear that Zipporah would not say a word about her and Gabriel. It was a nice feeling to believe she could trust the woman.
“He’s the first one I’ve been with since my late husband,” she said. “And it took me a full year before I even opened that door to him,” she then added. “He’s just a wonderful man, through and through.” She didn’t feel comfortable telling the secret to what he was exactly, it wasn’t hers to give and she fully believed that if a supernatural wanted others to know what they were they would tell them themselves. It was, after all, a personal matter.
“I have been well, yes,” she murmured. “Another gentleman has piqued my interest in a...well,” she paused and tilted her head in thought. “Have you ever met someone you know could be very dangerous and were attracted to them in such a way that you knew would not be beneficial to anyone?” She questioned. She sighed and leaned against the counter. “What about yourself? You’ve been well and enjoying yourself other than just with this man of yours?” She snickered, teasing Zipporah about her own dalliances with another man.
“That depends on what you mean by not beneficial,” Zipporah replied, grinning. “Sometimes, an adventure can be a benefit, even if it is dangerous.”
She thought of Archie, then, who wasn’t dangerous himself necessarily, but came along with a significant amount of it in the form of Biddie. “Perhaps I have,” she said, shrugging. “And I have been… eh,” she said, shrugging again. “Some good, some bad. I am trying for to keep my eye looking ahead, and it helps that I have many good friends who are there for to help.” She took a sip of her tea. “Good tea helps too,” she added, smiling.
“You do make a good point,” Keira chuckled. The issue was that it might be too dangerous, and though she flirted with it she didn’t want it to kill her in the end. Cassius was danger, delicious danger, that she knew she shouldn’t mess with. “Maybe I’ll find out, though if I were smart I’d stay far, far away.”
“I think that we break the mold when it comes to women,” she added. “Neither one of us are abiding by the rules set for how we should act, are we?” She’d always thought the ways humans were about the female gender was a little off. “You know that if you ever need anything, tea or to talk, you know where to find me.”
Of her current female friends, there were some limitations about certain topics. Zipporah couldn’t really talk to Katherine about Peter -- not really, and while Arabella was very dear, she didn’t seem to be terribly interested in men. And Una and Chiara, well, they tended not to pay much mind to such mundane matters.
She smiled, warm and pleased, and nodded her head. “I do, yes,” she said, “and I am quite glad for it. And you.”