Oliver Queen (hunternothero) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-06-12 00:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, navi, oliver queen (green arrow) |
Who: Oliver Queen and Navi DuBleu
What: Meeting and flirting!
When: 6/4
Where: A farmer's market
Rating/Warnings: PG
Status: Complete
Oliver still wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing in Orange County. It wasn’t as if there were that many people who needed help here. Los Angeles County, sure, but this was rich town. He might conceivably have lived up in this area if he could still afford it.
Still, he had to admit, he did like the organic food and other sustainable type stuff that you could find here. He was at a farmer’s market in Brea, examining a couple of oranges. He wished there was a way to find out if they were fair trade without looking like a hipster. Oh, well.
Humming a little to herself, Navi moved to the next stall. She never got veggies from farmer’s markets because she grew her own staples. And she never bought artichokes from anywhere but Link’s. Same with milk. But oranges? She needed those for juice and stuff, and she smiled as she waved at the guy manning the stall. “Excuse me, but did you grow these? I just want to make sure that they’re not commercially farmed.” She shifted her tote bag on her shoulder, not noticing the guy examining the oranges next to her.
The stall’s owner told the woman to wait a minute, so Oliver spoke up. “I don’t mean to intrude, but I asked the same question - he didn’t grow them, but he says they’re organic. I’d like to know if they’re fair trade myself.” He smiled a little, not really looking at her full on.
Navi snorted. “Organic is only half the issue, and honestly, with things that you take the peel off of, not even a concern. Locally grown and non GMO is all I care about with oranges.” She set it down, shaking her head. “There’s a stall about five down that has lemons and sometimes oranges that’re grown in Garden Grove, I sell her the fertilizer. I’ll go see if she has any.”
“Oh?” Oliver was interested himself. “I confess I’m not up on the biology. I’m more interested in the politics, though I guess you can’t really separate the two. Is it all right if I follow behind?” He didn’t really want to come off as a creep, just tailing her to another fruit stand.
“Yup! Pesticides don’t penetrate the peel, so for stuff we peel then eat like oranges, it’s not a huge concern. Strawberries and stuff like that, though, totally go organic always.” She smiled, motioning for him to follow her. “I grow most of my own veggies, but fruit trees never really took a liking to my yard.” She figured the nitrates were off.
“It makes sense, I guess. Just never thought about it.” Ollie smiled. “That’s cool, that you grow your own. I’ve never been in a position to before, but now that I’ve got a yard, maybe I should.” He’d had other hobbies growing up, when they’d had money.
“You should! It’s really fun, actually. And fulfilling, to see little sproutlings.” Navi grinned and ran her fingers through her hair. She’d only just noticed that this guy was cute, but being single was still a pretty new thing.
“I’m a little scared of killing everything.” Oliver chuckled a little. “Me and nature aren’t really on speaking terms. I grew up with too much concrete around me.”
“That’s not so!” Navi smiled brightly. “You’re here, aren’t you? It means you want to get in touch with nature a little.”
“Not that much,” Ollie had to admit. “I just like to eat.” He smiled back at her. She was kind of pretty, he realized. “I mean, I care about the environment, but I don’t know a lot about specific biology, or stuff like that.” His eye lingered on a stand a few down selling peppers. “Does that say serrano?”
“Me too. I have to eat pretty much constantly - high metabolism runs in my family.” She paused when he spoke, squinting. “Oh, it does. Joe must’ve got some seeds - I get my ghost chili from him and make it into powder to put on popcorn.”
Oliver blinked for a second, surprised at what he’d heard. “ ... Ghost chili? Really?” None of his friends liked it, and half didn’t think it was real.
“Yup!” She bounced over to the stall, waving at the guy behind the counter. The chilis she wanted were bright red, though obviously dried. She grabbed some of those, and some fresh scotch bonnets. Once she’d paid, she popped a yellow scotch bonnet into her mouth, breaking off the stem and munching happily. “Umm,” she sighed.
Oliver stared. The man running the stand had to ask him three times what he wanted before he popped back to reality. “Right! Sorry. Um. Serranos, please. I’d say about eight.” He ordered a few more things before turning back to the woman. “You just ate a scotch bonnet whole.”
“Yup, you want one?” She offered him one, smiling. “They’re actually kind of orangey and fruity behind the heat. Super yummy.” She took the water that Joe offered, taking a sip and putting the peppers into her bag afterward.
Ollie could handle scotch bonnets, but most other people couldn’t. He took it, downing it and nodding appreciatively at the flavor. “Mm. Citrus-y.” He looked over at her, with something approaching wonder. “I’m Oliver, by the way. Oliver Queen.”
She stuck out her hand, reaching to take his and shake it. “I’m Navi DuBleu, it’s nice to meet you, Oliver.” Grinning at him, she couldn’t help but high five him. “It’s awesome to meet another pepper fan! Most people are such heat wusses.”
“That’s an unusual name, Navi. It’s nice. And I love peppers. These serranos are for chili.” He was smiling already, but laughed when she high fived him. “My friends think I’m sadistic.”
“Oh, thanks!” She grinned widely when she thought of serranos in chilli. “Oh, that sounds awesome! I put the ghost chilis and some garlic and salt and dry it all into powder and use it on popcorn. The habaneros are for curry.” Which she’d often made for Pete, but she pushed the memory aside. Her smile only faltered for half a moment.
“I have to try ghost chili powder on popcorn. I bet I could handle it.” Ollie wasn’t bragging, not really; he just got kind of excited about things. But he saw her falter, so he figured he ought to step back somehow. “So, what do you do for work?”
“You should! I can make you a bottle, if you want.” She smiled, noticing how nice he smelled. It was weird, though, she didn’t feel like flirting. The Pete thing was still way too raw, too soon, and she was too angry. “I run a garden nursery. It’s been in my family for ages, and after my grandpa passed, he left it to me.” She chuckled. “I’ve got a green thumb, it’s kind of what we DuBleus do.”
“Oh, wow, so you really are in touch with nature.” Oliver smiled a little. “I feel out of my depth. My parents owned hotels, but long story short, the family business wasn’t for me. I went to law school, and I work mostly with people trying to get disability, or people who need things like to not get evicted.” He didn’t always like talking about the ‘poor and less fortunate’ - it sounded condescending to him.
“That’s so nice of you! Lawyers can do awesome stuff, it just takes the right discipline.” She shifted her tote bag, still walking with him from cart to cart. “I’m glad you’re around, then! My house has been in my family for about a hundred years, but hey, you never know when I might need a lawyer?”
“It wasn’t always a dream, but it worked out nicely.” Oliver smiled a little. “I’d probably feel lazy just dealing with stuff like, I don’t know. How many towels a hotel has. It’s not that important.” Not in the grand scheme of things.
“Maybe for a minute or two, but not in the great design,” Navi smiled. “I’m glad you like what you do! Did you just move here, or are you just new to the market?” He had an adorable confused puppy way about him.
“New here. I was living in LA County and decided I needed to move closer to work. My practice is down in Stanton. There’s like five bus lines that go right by it.” He’d gotten lucky with his premises. “I grew up kind of midway between LA and San Diego, so I know the state, but this is new ground.”
“Sometime you should come by the shop! I can get you set on backyard gardening! Or at least a little herb garden for a windowsill.” It was the moments like this, the ones where she felt involved and connected to other people - and not thinking of Pete - that she liked the most out of her day. Besides, Ollie just had friend vibes all over. He kinda reminded her of Link in an ‘aw shucks’ sort of way.
“I should. If you do it for a living, you’re clearly the one to help me.” Oliver smiled. She looked happier now.
“Well, here.” She reached into her handbag and found a Sharpie, grabbing Ollie’s hand and taking the back of his hand, jotting down her cell phone number. “There. You can call me whenever you’re ready to make some carrots!”
Oliver let her grab him, chuckling when she scribbled her number down. “I’ll do that,” he said seriously, “but I also might ask you to dinner.”
She looked up and bit her lower lip. “I’d like that, I would, you’re really cute, but I’m kind of going through this weird thing right now where I’m getting a divorce because my husband was a sleeper agent for some evil empire corporation or something - long story - and I really want to go out to dinner with you, but maybe I can ask you when my head’s on more straight?” Navi winced, realizing she’d just brain dumped on the poor guy.
She had, but at the same time, Oliver sort of got it. He understood divorce, at least, and said as much. “My parents went through a nasty divorce,” he said eventually. “So I’ve seen it. Tell you what.” He took the Sharpie from her hand, then turned it so her palm was down and wrote his cell phone number on it. “Why don’t you call me when you’re ready? Though I might still come into your business.”
She blushed when he wrote on her hand, nodding. “I’d like that. On both counts.” Tiptoeing up, she pressed a light kiss to his mouth. After she moved back, she laughed. “It’s um. So you won’t be nervous - when we do go out. ‘Cause we will.”
That made him grin. "Okay." Ollie could understand wanting to wait. "No matter what, though, I'm cooking chili for you. You'll actually enjoy it!"
“Yes, yes I will. If anything, I’ll make you add more heat to it.” She grinned, looking down at her hand. Somehow she felt more like her old self than she had in a while. “So, uh. I should go pick Zellie up from the sitter. But I’ll call you, promise.”
“Zellie?” Oliver asked. She hadn’t mentioned children.
“Yeah, she’s eight months old, she still gets fussy when it’s lunchtime.” Navi smiled and ran her fingers through her hair sheepishly. “If you want to run away, Sharpie comes off with olive oil.”
“Oh, no, it’s okay. Just wanted to make sure I understood.” Oliver kind of liked kids, actually. They were honest in a way adults had all but forgotten. “I’ll take a picture of my hand to keep the number. But I’ll wait for you to call.” Better to wait than press his luck.
A cute guy who did noble work and liked kids? Navi blinked. “Are you allergic to cats?” He had to be messed up somehow! She couldn’t be the only weird one in the not yet a relationship.
“Not that I know of. Allergic to dogs, though.” Ollie blinked back. “Do you have one?” He didn’t mind cats; he just hadn’t really ever had much interaction with them.
“I do, Zora’s a street cat I rescued after some kids were awful to her.” She liked him already. Damn.
“Oh. No, as far as I know, I’ve got nothing against cats. Um. I did almost get clawed by a stray cat when I accidentally stepped on its tail in an alley one time?” Ollie still felt kind of sheepish about it. But he’d been trying to run to catch up with someone, and kind of got ahead of himself.
“That wasn’t anything personal.” Navi smiled and felt her cheeks going pinker. Augh, was she flirting? Bleh. She needed to wrap her head around her life first, but this guy made it hard not to flirt.
“Almost getting clawed? Yeah, I’m sure. I’d get mad if someone stepped on me, too.” Really, if you wanted to get metaphorical, he did get mad when someone stepped on him. Oliver would have said more, but the pepper vendor cleared his throat behind him, and it made him laugh. “I think we’re getting the brush-off.”
“Oh! Sorry!” Navi smiled at the vendor and waved at him, then turned to Ollie. “I’ll see you around, then.”
“I’ll definitely come into the nursery.” Ollie decided to keep it casual, just in case. She was interesting, but he’d seen what happened when people pushed themselves too hard.