You should listen to Navi DuBleu. (heyheylisten) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-05-08 18:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, brother athelstan, navi |
Who: Navi and Athelstan.
What: Flowers!
When: Wednesday afternoon.
Where: Navi's shop!
Rating: PG.
Status: Complete.
Athelstan had seen an advert for Deku’s Nursery the other day, so when he had a free moment, he’d caught a cab up to Garden Grove and walked inside. The place was enormous, and Athelstan couldn’t help but grin like a fool as he started to look around. There were trees and bushes, in addition to flowers. The light shone through the greenhouse-style windows beautifully; he would have sworn some of the plants were glittering. He started to look around, thinking maybe an employee could help him find something Eli might like.
There was an employee there! The owner was leaning face-first into a pot of daisies, grinning and kissing their petals as she asked them how they were enjoying their new pots. She was visibly pregnant, tummy rounded under her long blue dress. When she heard footsteps behind her, she stood up and turned around. “Oh, hello!”
He jumped when he heard the light voice, not having seen anyone just a minute ago. “Oh! Hello.” Athelstan smiled shyly. “Have you any idea where I might find an employee, mum? I was looking for something to give a lady friend of mine.”
“Oh, I’m one! I own the place actually, but shhh, don’t tell my husband I’m here. Since I’m pregnant I’m supposed to be at home, laying down or something.” Navi wrinkled her nose. “Romantical lady friend or friendshippy flavor?”
“I’m not entirely sure.” Athelstan looked down, smiling. “But she enjoys nature, as I do, and the idea of giving her something green and lovely is very pleasing.” Hopefully Eli would appreciate it. He just wanted to make her smile; she’d just seemed so sad.
“Hmm.” Navi smiled, rubbing her stomach as she thought to herself. “Do you know how much light she has at her house? We need to make sure her plant cheers her up and stays alive!”
Athelstan hedged. “Erm. The problem is? She can’t be out in the light.” He didn’t want to divulge much. “She has a sort of ... condition. So she could feed and water it at night, and then let it get sun when she’s asleep?”
“Oh, that’s tricky. Hmm. I’d want her to be able to see the blooms.” Navi’s eyes lit up and she took the boy’s hand, guiding him to a warmer part of the building. “I have some Angel’s Trumpet! It blooms at night only.” She grinned, feeling very clever.
“Really?” Athelstan’s voice lightened. “That would be lovely! I’m sure she’d think it was brilliant.” She’d seemed to grab him out of nowhere, but she was so, well, motherly. It was all right, for the most part. “Does that mean your name is Deku, if you own this place? Just so I know who to thank.”
“Oh, my grampa’s name was Deku. I’m Navi Wisdom, it’s good to meet you!” She shook his hand, considering she was already holding it. “See? It’s pretty, isn’t it.” She bend over to kiss the leaves and petals, nuzzling the plant. “Do you want to go home with the sweet boy, hmm?” She turned back to face Athelstan, grinning. “Just make sure that nobody eats any part of it, it’s poison.”
“Navi. What a nice name.” He smiled. “My name is Athelstan. That’s the angel’s trumpet?” He took the plant, sniffing it gently. He laughed when she talked to it. “I read to my plants sometimes. I remain convinced that it does them good, personally.”
“Oh, plants like us, they just want some interaction with us too.” Navi grinned, beaming when he sniffed the plant. “I think he likes you.”
“People think I’m mad for spending so much time with them, but I’ve managed to grow some beautiful things, if I do say so myself.” Athelstan never wanted to brag, but still. “When I was at boarding school, I grew the flower patches myself - wild pansies, English daisies, roses, everything. It was lovely.”
Navi sighed happily, closing her eyes and imagining it. “I can’t even think of a life without plants. My grampa ran this place, and he raised me, so I’ve lived here with plants my whole life. My house has a garden too. It’s just ... part of me.” And it would be so, even if she weren’t a blue fairy.
“I feel the same way about my parents’ garden. I’m trying to begin a little one here, but I only have a few planters on my patio.” Athelstan smiled a bit. “I’m attending university here, and living in the city is unusual. Do you live nearby?”
“I do, about five or six blocks from here.” She grinned at him. “You have to pick out a plant for your patio, on the house, I insist.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t.” Athelstan protested. “The angel’s trumpet for Eli will be enough.”
“Oh, but you will,” Navi grinned folding her arms. “Are you really going to say no to a pregnant woman and make me upset? Hmmm?”
Well, when she put it like that. “I suppose not.” Athelstan blushed, looking down, smiling in spite of himself. “But I’ll only accept on the condition that you choose it yourself, ma’am. That you suggest something which will grow well here, as I’m very uneducated on the subject.”
“Hmm.” Navi smiled, walking around to get other plants. She finally came back with a daisy plant. “He likes you. He might need a little more care - I think he’s due for repotting soon, but yes, he’s yours.”
Athelstan looked toward the roots, hefting the plant in his hands. “I think you’re right about the re-potting, ma’am. But that will be fun. I’ll consider it a privilege to let him get acclimated to his new home.” He smiled, looking up at her. “I take delight in the special cases.”
Navi smiled and nodded, squeezing the boy in a hug. “I like you. Do you have family here?”
Athelstan froze when she hugged him, but managed to smile; she’d meant it well. “No, I’m here to study. My parents are back in England, and my sister lives in Italy.”
“Well, you’ll have to come over sometimes for dinner. Since you don’t have family here, I’ll have to help you feel less homesick.” Navi smiled, a motherly, happy thing. “And you and my husband can be English at each other!”
“Oh, that’s very kind of you.” Athelstan blushed. “It’s really not ... it’s very kind.” He smiled. “Your husband’s English? Won’t he object to you bringing home a lad you barely know, ma’am?”
“Why would he - oh, oh, no, he knows I’m kind of a motherly sort. I have lots of friends that I look after, and he knows it.” Navi laughed. “We don’t get jealous, we trust each other.”
“That’s very ... nice of him, really.” Athelstan only had experience of his father, really. “Father would get angry with my mother for speaking to another man if he wasn’t serving her somehow.” Wait. That sounded terrible. “That is. Er.”
That just made Navi smile, squeezing his hand gently. “Your parents are just more traditional. I’m ... not.” She wished she could let her wings out.
“Perhaps that’s a good thing.” It was the first time he’d said it aloud, and it left him breathless. Athelstan stared at this woman Navi, unsure when his disillusionment with his parents had become so real.
He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. “I’d enjoy meeting your husband, ma’am. It’s kind of you to offer.”
Navi looked up at him with blue eyes that were suddenly sad. She hugged him again, impulsive as ever, her wings slipping out unbidden. They sounded like wind chimes and glitter fell gently from them. “Pete would love more friends he can complain about the weather with. You’re doing us a favor, really.”
Athelstan appreciated the closeness, but when he looked up over her shoulder, he couldn’t help but blink wide. “I ... oh my.” Those really were wings. Weren’t they? He heard a wind-chime noise.
“Oh? OH!” Navi blinked when she realized her wings were out. “Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry.” She blushed brightly, hovering a little. “I shouldn’t have.”
“No, it’s ... ” He was mostly concerned in case anyone else was around. “To be honest, ma’am, I’ve seen quite a bit stranger since being here.” Eli came to mind, but he wasn’t about to tell her secret without her present. “I was just surprised, I mean. It’s not ... one doesn’t see that every day.” He was fairly sure he was beet red again.
“I know, I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget that they’re there. I’m a fairy, so I should probably keep them out most of the time, but ... I don’t know, I couldn’t help it. I felt so bad when you looked so sad.” Navi bit her lower lip, smiling sheepishly.
“You’re a fairy?” It sounded stupid to say, and yet he didn’t doubt it in the slightest. She had a face that made it impossible to think she would lie. “I ... thought fairies were small?”
She grinned, going small and moving to kiss his nose. “Sometimes!”
Athelstan jumped, but only out of surprise, not distaste. He laughed, though a small part of him wondered why Eli couldn’t have turned into a fairy and not a vampire. Her life would have been so much easier.
Still, he smiled, shaking his head. “How marvellous that must be.”
“I can talk to the flowers,” Navi giggled. She liked being a fairy. It felt very much like the way she’d always been in her dreams.
“What do they say?” Athelstan felt silly asking, but at the same time, he really wanted to know. It was getting late, and he should go drop off the plant for Eli soon, but still. He had to ask her.
“Just what I told you.” Navi giggled. “That daisy likes you.”
“Still.” He couldn’t help but be a bit jealous. He looked down at it, then over at the angel’s trumpet Navi was still holding. “I should be off, as it’s late enough, and I’m sure you’re closing soon. But let me pay for Eli’s present. And I can assure you I’ll be back, if it isn’t ... odd.” Maybe? He didn’t know if it would be. He just liked plants.
“I told you I want you to come over for dinner sometime! You should bring your ladyfriend too. I’ll make sure Pete is nice around her.” Navi squeezed his hand and bounced over to the cash wrap, tying a pretty blue bow around the girl’s angel’s trumpet.
Athelstan blushed. “Oh, I don’t ... well. I’m not sure if she’s much for company.” But he’d ask. He paid for the plant, taking it and the daisy and smiling at the woman. “It’s been an absolute pleasure, ma’am.”
“Navi. I’m your friend, so you get to use the name.” She beamed at him before hugging him again. “Let me know how she likes it when you come over next time!”
“All right. Erm. Navi.” Athelstan did his best to hug her back, though it was awkward with plants in a bag on one arm. “Thank you, though. Really.” He headed for the door, intent on going to Eli’s as soon as it got a bit darker. He was excited to have made a new friend.