fandomtownies | Entries tagged with eleanor zarrin

Ethics class had been a lot for Eleanor yesterday, and while spending a good portion of the rest of her day out in the ocean swimming and then just sprawling out in the sand like a the beached jellyfish she felt like had helped a little, things still lingered going on over to today. It was almost enough to make her want to just curl up in her bed and refuse to come out, but she now shared her room with part of the reason she was feeling so terrible, so going to work just to avoid Luma better was actually the better option.

She did what she needed to do around the shop somewhat half-heartedly, and then made herself some tea and settled behind the counter with her dog-eared copy of The Waste Land, because, look, some people turned to cheap romances or beach reads for comfort reading material, and Eleanor turned to brooding apocalyptical modernist poetry.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Eleanor had some work to do today, but not necessarily Plant Parenthood-specific work. Well, sure, of course, obviously there was some of that, too, but she and Luma had received a nice little care package from their mother, which included letters, and Eleanor's letter in particular included a small list of things that the villagers had come to the house, interested to see if Eleanor could help with. Thankfully, it was all pretty simple stuff that she could put together pretty easily, but there were a few things on there that were going to require a little research and a little work and poking around the shop to see if they had them or if she'd need to put in an order for herself.

And honestly, being here already really did make it easier, so she at least felt pretty good about having known that her employment here would really put her in a good place for her work back home, and she could start putting together a package to send back.

She should really include a few things for her family, too, and so she was also thinking of nice things to add that they might like, too, which meant she should definitely swing by Pick Your Poison at some point for some bath bombs for her mother, and she was feeling mildly astonished that she hadn't thought of that before now. Maybe she could even figure out how to make her own? That was somethings he was pretty sure her grandmother never had to offer!

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Eleanor had skipped her classes yesterday and pretty much holed herself up in her room, because she really didn't need the entirety of everyone she interacted with knowing about just how terrible she actually was. Luma had said she was overreacting and being a coward, but she didn't have a single death on her luggage; she didn't have eaten cousins or assaulted school friends or the near entire destruction of their entire family estate on any of those pretty frilly bags, nor did she even have any friends here, really (or at all!), so she couldn't possibly understand how it was. She'd left in a storm, and so now Eleanor had a new bag to stare at all day reminding her about how much Luma actually hated her.

(And she really couldn't blame her at all).

But the bags were gone now, and Luma had returned from work bright and bubbly and eager to talk to Eleanor about what she'd missed as if nothing happened, and Eleanor was just confused about all of it, and they ordered take-out and listened to music on Eleanor's record player until they fell asleep, and everything seemed fine again, but Eleanor was no less confused.

Today, she wanted to make up for missing her Ethics class by considering what Luma had told her and writing down in a journal what she would have done; maybe she would go talk to Miss Vess about it to make up for her absence, and she was overdue to talk to Miss Vess about everything with Rhys, anyway. She'd have to figure out where they went for her National Parks class, too. Maybe if she wrote up a research essay on the place, Mr. Eagle would also be forgiving of her missing it yesterday.

Sure, she'd been here long enough to know that most teachers didn't care of you missed a day or two. Around here, anything could happen, so it was practically expected. But her guilt was weighing on her particularly heavy after yesterday, so she just wanted to try and make a few things more right in the world, in ways she figured she (probably) couldn't mess up spectacularly.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

On the one hand, Eleanor was still here. Luma hadn't shown up to graduation to make a big fuss about her going home, which meant that she'd at least have the summer to work up a plan to put off facing her familial duties longer, to maybe work on some college stuff first and then go home.

On the other hand, Luma hadn't shown up to graduation at all, and even though there was a great deal of relief in that, Eleanor also couldn't help but feel a little hurt about it. She knew Luma had at least gotten this letter--their grandmother couldn't have possibly have kept the letter from getting to her like she had in the past....could she? Persephone's ghost could have meddled with it, but was her ghost even still around? Or had it, like Arthur, been released with the burning of their home?

There were plenty of questions that Eleanor didn't have the answer to, but they weren't really questions she wanted the answer to now. She was just going to take comfort in the fact that she was still here, and focus on pouring over her potential schedule for the summer to figure out if she needed to adjust her work schedule a little bit with the new classes she wanted to take.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Spending time with Kamala again earlier that week had really helped quell some of Eleanor's nerves about graduation, but, unfortunately, the relief had been only temporary, and now the event was looming over her shoulders. She would like to stay on as a university student, of course, but she knew that her conscious wouldn't let her. She owed it to her family to be back home and do her duties as the apparent new matriarch of the family. But she wasn't ready to leave yet, and was hoping to cling on to at least one more summer in the only place she'd really ever felt so completely and uncompicatedly happy.

And she was terrified that Luma was going to show up tomorrow for the graduation and make trouble for her and insist on dragging her back up to Maine, and what was she going to do? Say no? To the sister who used to be her best friend, for whom she'd ruined absolutely everything? After everything that happened, could she truly refuse Luma anything?

The future was uncertain, and so, for that, even though she wasn't sure how much she believed in it or even her own abilities in it, Eleanor turned to her tarot cards.

After taking care of things around the shop, she made herself some tea, lit some candles, put on some moody music, and then settled behind the counter once it was quiet to pull out her deck and start shuffling. Three times. Then, she spread them all out in front her, face down, in a line. She took a deep breath, chose six, and then set the rest of the desk aside. Setting the six cards back down, she turned over the first one.

And it nearly made her want to cry.

And what followed certainly answered her questions, assuaged her doubts and fears, but also brought up one very important new question. Because, after all, wasn't that the magic, the trick of the tarot? You weren't reading cards so much as you were reading into what you were pretty sure the person being read was looking for.

She lingered, a little, on that last card, on the Sun, and what it was meant to tell her, and let out another breath, before sweeping up her cards again, setting them aside, and going to go focus on something else to distract her instead.

PlanT Parenthood is open!

slothbabyproductions

It had only been a few weeks of sick days and family time, but when Kamala returned to her desk, she found it practically buried under a mountain of weird scientific gadgets. Apparently, the Starbucks gremlins had gotten very creative with their spare time.

Maybe a little too creative.

Kamala let out a long sigh and rolled up her sleeves. She started clearing the mess one gadget at a time, carefully cataloging everything.

Just in case one of them decided to explode, shrink her desk, or open a portal to another dimension

what_big_teeth

Eleanor was feeling a little bit anxious. It was hard to really believe it, but her graduation was just around the corner, and her time here at Fandom had been some of the best years of her life. Not that there was a stiff competition for that, but the idea of leaving...well, it shouldn't surprise anyone that she didn't exactly savor the idea of going back home. She knew, of course, that she should. Things may have settled okay after everything that happened with her grandmere, but she should be doing more for her family, for her grandfather and her mother, for Luma and Rhys, and she couldn't do much from here.

She was hoping to at least be able to weasel her way into one more summer before going back, and she wasn't looking forward to arguing with Luma over it, either.

And there was some relaxation, in taking care of the plants in the shop, but she was using most of her time to distract herself with translations, actually, and working on her Urdu through poetry.

As if Urdu was going to do her a whole lot of good up in small town coastal Maine in the 1970s...but she didn't care. And today, she was working through some of Noshi Gillani. "Insight", in particular:

I have a feeling
That wherever I glance
There will be disaster

Yeah, no wonder why that one was sticking with her particularly strong, although she was spending a lot of time also just really looking into whether or not the translation was an accurate one or just her pulling out of it something that she wanted to see, just like how that sort of thing was the trick to tarot readings, too.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Obviously, it was a big time for seeds right now, and it was proving to be a good test for Eleanor to remember what should be planted when, both for the customers who came in needing help and for herself and the list of things she needed to get going in her little makeshift greenhouse that had taken up a good portion of her room.

Thankfully, most people coming in for that sort of things already seemed to know what they were looking for, and Eleanor just nodded along like she knew, too, while mentally making notes about it.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Eleanor wasn't sure how much use she'd be in the store that day. She was feeling inexplicably tired from the moment she got up. She was sort of hoping some tea once she got into the shop would help perk her up a little, but no such luck. If anYthing, she was almost feeling more now than when she came in...

...and then she realized she she'd accidentally made herself some chamomile tea instead of a black tea, and really, really hoped she didn't make any similar mistakes with any orders or anything, but that did explain why all she wanted to do was curl up and take a nap.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

It still felt good to be back at Fandom after that trip home, but Eleanor still had a lot of work to do, ans she didn't just mean her usual tasks for her shift at Plant Parenthood. She had a whole list of things to research and to try to make and to try to grow, and so she was pretty busy, when she had the time, picking at all of that, and struggling with the two wolves inside of her: the one that felt she needed to work as hard as possible, tirelessly, to do what she could to fix things, and the one that was exhausted and just wanted to do nothing but make up for lost time in spe ding time with her friends.

What was worse was that she never did have any luck manifesting any of her wolf sides.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Eleanor was heading home for the weekend after she was finished with her shift. She always felt particularly guilty about...well...everything that had happened, after a school trip. It was really unfair that she was put here, just having a great time, while Luma was left picking up all the pieces of the mess that Eleanor had created.

But she'd bought a few things, to bring with her, gifts for her family from Barbados. And she'd made a few things with plants she could find there, and she was gathering a few things here, too, to do work with the villagers that her grandmother would have done to keep up the legacy.

And she could see how Rhys was doing, if there was any improvement, especially since she really should go bother Ms. Vess again about what she might be able to do to help...

So she was distracted and in a morose and maudlin mood,bolstered herself for what was going to be a much needed, difficult weekend after getting away with several exceptionally nice weeks that she really didn't deserve.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Eleanor had a few things she wanted to stock up on and work on for the trip coming up next week, but, for the most part, today, she was all about putting on some of the chill modern music she'd been enjoying a lot ever since looking it up, making herself some tea, and just sort of enjoying a little bit of time to just sit and read when she'd finished with most of her things for the day or wasn't helping the stray customer to wander in. She was also going to take some extra time with the plants today, since she knew they might be a little lonely next week, with both herself and Nell out, and she felt it was generally a good habit to get into.

She didn't know if she really believed that they would benefit from that sort of attention, but it's not like it could hurt them, either, right?

...actually, no, she realized that extra attention from her specifically might actually be detrimental to most people and things, plants included, so perhaps she really should just stick to the reading today and let Nell do all the plant-whispering.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Eleanor had been keeping to herself an awful lot this week. She'd been here long enough to know why the air felt dangerous when she breathed it in, stirring up all the parts of her that she tried to keep quiet, keep still. But after some of that distance (and a lot of time in the still-too-cold ocean), she was feeling like she might be able to make it through, at least enough to get through her shift at the store. Besides, she had a few more finishing touches to put on Kamala's Valentine's Day present. If she didn't happen to swing by today, then she'd just drop it off at Midnight for her. Not exactly the most romantic to just leave it there for her, but probably for the best for now, until this was over.

In the meantime, she was just going to work on making herself a tea of licorice, lily root, and common rue.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Eleanor had noticed the posters for the Danger Club over at Midnight today, and it made that part of her brain tingle with a curiosity and wonder, but, really, when you got right down to it, her powers weren't exactly the sort of thing that you could practice at, were they? And it was one of those sticking points that she still couldn't quite shake, that absolutely loneliness and disconnect of being in a place where other people also had these incredible abilities, and still she didn't belong.

At least here, though, she could still connect in other ways, and she'd so rarely had even that before.

So, instead, she was dutifully going to work, where she planned to work on things she could practice, her tarot cards and her elixer making, very often getting distracted by also trying to figure out what in the world to get Kamala for Valentine's Day next week.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Even though Eleanor knew she should be using her time here at the shop to be productive in her craft, she was really feeling like today was just sort of a curl up with some nice tea and read some poetry kind of day, so that was what she was mostly going to be doing. Taking care of a few things, watering and tending to the plants, of course, helping any customers who came in, but, for the most part, she was just enjoying the quiet, a good book, and a good cup of tea.

But she did make the tea blend herself with a little bit of experimenting and it was a poetry book about nature, so that had to count for something, too, right?

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Eleanor's main plan today, other than her usual tasks around the store, was to do a little bit of research inspired by one of her classes yesterday, in looking into how different kinds of water can affect plant growth and if different kinds of water (for example, something made from salty ocean water compared to purified or swamp water) could alter a potion or a tincture in any significant way. Finding information on the latter was difficult, but when she did find something, it was pretty rewarding and fascinating and she had lots of new ideas to try for her own work.

That is, when she wasn't getting distracted and dreamily thinking about one of her other classes yesterday, and, no, it was definitely not the one with the ice skating!

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

The phone at the store today seemed to be ringing almost non-stop, and every time Eleanor answered it, it was someone asking if they had something in stock. She was starting to suspect it was the same person every time, and she wondered if it would be rude to suggest to them that maybe they wait until they'd had a full list of everything they were looking for before calling it, but, until she figured that out, she would answer each individual questioning call as they came in.

Sometimes, it was a pretty easy question that she'd known right off the bat, but some of them seemed pretty obscure or she wasn't sure of, so she'd also been spending a lot of time between each call looking through the shelves to make sure and confirm, and there was a small list of things she couldn't find building to ask Nell about.

See, caller? A list. Instead of asking her about each individual one as they came up, she'd collect them all together and ask about them all at the same time. What a novel concept! But at least it kept her busy and was making her time go by faster, but she was sort of hoping to get a little work on some of her own stuff today, too.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

There were a few customers here and there, mostly people looking to start a more natural lifestyle going into the new year, but they were pretty few and far between. Meaning that the person doing the most shopping today was the person working there herself. Eleanor had a list, an old journal to study, and a new journal to fill, so she was seeing what she needed, what they had, and making a note for Nell if there was anything that might need to be ordered special. She also had a lot of planning to do, if she wasn't going to really start giving this apothecary thing a go.

But at least with so much going on, the day would hopefully go by quickly.

Plant Parenthood is open!

throughaphase

It was New Year's Eve, and Caritas was decked out for the holidays. The bar itself was decorated with silver fringe, there were gold, black and white balloons arranged in corners (so anyone trying to hide either couldn't, or they could really hide), silver and gold garland hung from the ceiling, and Tino had even dressed up. Meaning he was wearing a short sleeved t-shirt that looked like a tuxedo. It was the thought that counted.

The zombie band was playing the hits, the bass player dressed in a dashing red velvet jacket for some reason, and Kitty had had fun with the specials for the night.

SPECIALS
Dumpster Fire
Yule Mule
Baltimore Egg Nog
Whiskey Shamash
25th Hour
~~Fergeue~~ ~~Fruerzangble~~ ~~FuerahsksdahdsadhasjdhWTF~~ Flaming Sugarloaf Wine Thing

Kitty stared at Tino when she saw that last one added. "There's a USB-powered menorah because fire and drunk people is a bad combination and you decided to do this?"

Anyway. There was also a very easily accessible fire extinguisher on top of the bar if needed. Don't let it be needed.

what_big_teeth

Eleanor was hoping to use her usually pretty quiet downtime at the shop toward finishing up on a few things for gifts, but of course that meant they were surprisingly busy. Where did this influx of holiday shoppers on the island even come from? She supposed she could see the appeal. It was a pretty quirky place to pick up a really unique gift.

She was just really tired of telling people to watch out for the ballpit over by the perennials and succulents. She'd even put up signs!

Plant Parenthood is open!

imafuturist

The ballroom was done up for the Yule in honor with a particularly unique chandelier at the ready to keep with the theme. There was a collection of trees for the guests to help decorate and a distressing number of mistletoe hung around with care. If you were prone to enjoying that.

The trees ranged from table-sized to ceiling-scraping and a few of them already had decorations on them: one filled with ornaments clearly made by children, one full of Avengers action figures (how were there so many suits, Tony? How?), and one decorated with the natural ornaments traditional for Yule: berries, pinecones, and dried fruit. Steve and Tony had overruled actual candles on any of the trees, but the traditional fire to celebrate the season was flickering from its containment area on the roof.

And it was snowing indoors just enough to be thematic, but melting before it could actually reach the guests and mess up their nice clothing. Because sometimes Tony just needed to flex on the science skills. Sometimes.

what_big_teeth

Eleanor was really hoping to get to work on some potions and salves and some seedlings even to send home to Luma, since the two of them had spent a lot of time going over things for the new greenhouse over the holiday break, but the island, it seemed, had a different plan.

Because there were an awful lot of tiny horses everywhere, and apparently, tiny horses loved getting into plants and disturbing the soil and so now Eleanor was sorting to have to play plantguard to make sure that all the horses didn't mess up all of Nell's nice plants in the shop.

This eventually lead to her trying to create a little bit of a corral for the horses, which actually proved effective, but had been a lot of work, because she didn't have the natural herding abilities she just sort of assumed the werewolf side of her family would have.

(She did discover, entirely by accident, that she could command the horses and they'd listen, but she felt bad using her powers even on tiny horses that would probably cease to exist tomorrow).

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

This was not Winterport, but Eleanor knew one rule above all others to be of utmost importance: do not venture into the village. She was tempted and curious and wanted to know more, but she knew it was dangerous to do so. People in the village didn't understand how they were and might try to change things or hurt them, so she would be good and avoid it.

But she didn't want to stay cooped up inside the place she'd woken up in, either. She wanted to find Luma. It felt like a part of her was missing, without her. And after not finding her there in the dormitory, she turned her attention to the woods, trying not to feel too hurt if she and Rhys had gone out there without her.

She understood, though. It wasn't the same, with her. Since she still couldn't change like they could.

She spent some time trying, once again willing with all her might to turn into a wolf, to no success and no avail,and then sighed and continued on through the woods, barefoot despite the chill, and tried to find them, stopping every once in a while to listen for them. She couldn't smell them as well as they could smell her, but they were usually remarkably loud, but as she seemed to hear now were birds and squirrel and deer, and the not-too-distant ocean, with waves that seemed to be whispering her name.

[[ open preserve is very open! ]]

what_big_teeth

Eleanor's work with her grandmother's drakondia and the others she'd grown since turning a small section of her room into a tiny make-shift greenhouse was actually starting to show some good results, which made her realize that she wasn't going to have an excuse of not knowing what she was doing for much longer, when it came to putting off actually trying her hand at potions. She wasn't quite ready to start figuring out how to recreate Persephone's poisons and potions with that particular plant, but she figured she could use her day at the shop to make some more standard, simple, run of the mill ones.

If her research was correct, anyway.

Today, she was working with lemon verbena, especially since it seemed to be pretty popular in other things she'd put together in the past, such as the lotions she helped Kamala pick out for her mother and the sleeping sachets for Arden when she was recovering from her attack. She enjoyed the sleeping sachets the most, not just because they were easy, but because they smelled nice and it was fun thinking of other things to mix with them, but she also wanted to work on a perfume. Luma liked perfume, so maybe if she made some for her to try, it would be a good place to start.

She really hoped Nell didn't mind her using some of the stuff around the store for her own pursuits like that, but, well, this was why she had taken this job in the first place.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Now that she'd been freed of sloth duty once more, Eleanor had every intention of coming into work that Friday and doing some research on some mixtures and recipes to actually maybe start giving this apothecary thing an honest try. She'd gotten a letter from her sister and had to start looking into greenhouse construction, too, so there was a lot of work to be done.

Too bad she couldn't keep her mind from drifting back to Wednesday, and Kamala changing back, and their postpone perfect homecoming dance and shy glimpses of skin and...

Staying on task today had been a very lofty goal, and, at some point, Eleanor just gave up trying, made herself some tea, and just let herself daydream as she waited for the end of her workday.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Eleanor had been coming into work that day sloth-less, having figured that it would make sense to take Arden up on her offer of taking Kamala for a bit, especially since Kamala might be getting sick of sticking in Eleanor's room so much and might like to be among her own stuff in her own room for a bit. Plus, without the distraction of a sloth, Eleanor could focus on her work.

Not that there was much work to do around Plant Parenthood most days, besides the usual, and with all the cushions around and some nice teas and books on hand, well, she was sort of regretting the decision to pass the sloth to Arden, because this would be premium snuggled-up-with-a-sloth conditions.

Even better snuggle up with her girlfriend not as a sloth conditions, really, but that had apparently not been in the cards for her that week.

Oh! In the cards!

In her downtime, then, Eleanor clearly decided to settle down with her tarot deck and see if anything interesting had changed in her reading since the last time.

Plant Parenthood is open!

afraid_of_marshmallows

Okay, so the stuff Dean had given her had tasted horrible but had worked wonders. She still wasn't up to snuff - she got tired and winded easily and she was still pretty pale and sore, but she was no longer alternating between chills and fever and that feeling of something off, something wrong had gone away, flushed out with the last of the bronze. She'd lost enough weight that it was noticeable and not in a good way, but she'd at least escaped looking gaunt. In short, she looked like someone who'd gone through some kind of dreadful wasting illness, but at least was now on the mend.

Which, you know, made sense. She wasn't exactly sure the difference between a severe poisoning and a severe illness in regards to toll on the body, but she guessed that they weren't too dissimilar?

Either way, she might look like she'd been dragged down a mile and a half of bad road, but that was still an improvement overall from looking like she'd been dragged down six miles of that very same road, and was celebrating by leaving the roof for a little while and heading down to the beach. She didn't get far before she had to stop and take a rest, but progress was still progress, dammit. She'd successfully made it here under her own power and she'd make it back up to her nest the same way.

...She might just be here for awhile resting up for that climb. Maybe she should let some folks know she was here since she was likely not going anywhere for a hot minute.

[Open!]

what_big_teeth

Eleanor was busy that morning; she wanted to use what time she could to cross-reference a few things from all the notes and books she had about herbology and apothecary to make sure that what she was putting together for Arden was really going to be helpful, although, really, it sounded like Arden was getting plenty of support and she half-worried that if she tried to help, too, then she'd just end up doing something wrong to throw it all off and make everything terrible again. But a few proven remedies and teas and lotions and things like that shouldn't be too bad, right? She couldn't mess that up, could she?

Well, if she did mess it up, Eleanor was looking at way more problems than just throwing a wrench in a friend's recovery.

And once that was finished, she moved on to her other notes and other books that she'd oh-so-handwavily gotten at the library, more spiritual ones, having to deal with concepts of the soul.

She was starting to feel like she would need some of those recovery remedies for herself once she was through with all that stuff...

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Eleanor was really hoping that working today would take her mind off of how nervous she was about Kamala's parents visiting for the weekend. Sure, she'd met them before, but that was very briefly, back when she was just some girl from school that Kamala had extended an invitation to and not, you know, her girlfriend. And, even though she was doing much better with remembering that things were different with Kamala, that Kamala herself was possibly as different from Lucy Spencer as anyone could be, she couldn't help but feel certain knots in her stomach, because things went Lucy turned after a weekend where she'd stayed over at Lucy's place for Christmas and met her parents...

So hopefully work would be a good distraction and postpone the inevitable a little bit, but it also gave her some time to sort of go over some of the Urdu she'd been learning in preparation to leave a good impression on Kamala's parents. She had a list of phrases and pronunciation to pour over, listening to language lessons on her phone as she went about the store, cleaning and taking care of the plants, and just trying not to get too worked up or nervous.

It helped, too, knowing that at least she didn't have to worry about anything when it came to her family for this. She didn't think they'd visit, even if she had asked.

(Dun dun dun....)

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

It was, for the most part, a completely average and unremarkable day for Eleanor. A few customers here and there, but mostly just caring for the plants,making herself some tea, enjoying the few remaining bites of snacks from Kamala's parents' latest care package, and reading up on plants that could be harvested and used in the fall, which was....well, it was harvested season for a reason, she supposed, but she was focusing mostly on flowers she wanted to have in the greenhouse some day if she ever got around to actually following through with that.

Perfectly average. Perfectly normal. Perfectly...fine. Which she greatly appreciated, actually.

Plant Parenthood is open!

slothbabyproductions

Kamala sat at the small, improvised table, a marker in hand, with a whiteboard behind her featuring drawings of gremlins mopping up coffee while Captain America looked on disapprovingly. She had been tasked with leading a "lessons learned" session after last week's espresso cannon disaster. So far, it was going about as well as she expected.

The gremlin baristas weren’t paying attention. One was trying to balance a cup of coffee on its head, while another was aiming a spitball at it. Kamala sighed, massaging her temples.

“Okay, so... what did we learn?” she asked, forcing herself to sound patient.

A gremlin raised its tiny hand eagerly. Kamala groaned. "No, you're not getting a bigger espresso machine."

The gremlin’s hand slowly lowered.

With a deep sigh, Kamala wrote on the whiteboard in large letters: "DO NOT 'IMPROVE' THE COFFEE MACHINE AND MAKE IT EXPLODE!!!" She added a drawing of the water cannon espresso machine and crossed it out with a bold red "X." "This! This is what we learned!"

The gremlins blinked at her, unfazed, as if explosions were still up for debate. Kamala rolled her eyes and gave up, grabbing her green smoothie. As she walked away, she called back over her shoulder, "Captain America is disappointed in you, and so am I!"

Back at her desk, she glanced over to see the gremlins already tinkering with the espresso machine again.

"Yeah, that about sums up a Monday," she muttered.

what_big_teeth

Eleanor had a few books of new poetry to start going through, but the morning started out surprisingly busy with someone who was very interested in Nell's local honey and had all sorts of questions about it that Eleanor didn't really know the answer to, apologizing profusely and suggesting they come in on a different day when the woman who harvested it was actually around. They didn't seem satisfied with that, leaving in a bit of a huff, but they still left with the honey, so that made Eleanor feel like it was an overall success, even if not exactly an ideal one.

And then that got her to wanting to research some of those answers to be better prepared for next time, and to satiate her own curiosity, which lead her into a rabbit hole of the medicinal properties of honey, especially in the use of apothecary, potions, and...well...magic spells, really. Although she still wasn't sure there was really that much of a difference between the two. That, a lot like tarot, most of the 'magic' was in the belief of it.

Plant Parenthood is open!

slothbabyproductions

Kamala had her hands full today, working on her intern project, which had somehow shifted from community outreach to writing the company newsletter. And what was she writing about? The fall menu changes at the Stark Industries Starbucks.

Look, the gremlins were right there, and Kamala figured keeping them happy was probably a smart move.

But the real challenge wasn’t the newsletter, it was the new beet smoothie she was trying. Kamala had hoped the bright red color would trick her brain into thinking it tasted better, but no. Every time she took a sip, her face scrunched up in disappointment. She’d push the cup away, only to absentmindedly take another sip while she worked on the newsletter. And the cycle continued.

Newsletters and terrible smoothies. At this point, any interruption would be a welcome escape for Kamala.

what_big_teeth

A lot had happened, since the last time Eleanor had used her tarot deck, and, once she was sort of finished with the usual tasks she took care of when she came into the shop for work, she started thinking about them a little bit and wondering how much another draw might have changed, or what her changed perspective might have had to say about what cards she did pull.

So she made herself some tea, lit some nice candles, and settled behind the counter to shuffle her deck and started with a new reading, book ready on her side to double check the meaning of each one as she drew them. Her hand swiped across the table as she laid the cards out and then made a selection of six. Collected the cards to set them aside, and then turned her attention to the six.

She turned the first one over, and was faced immediately with the Fool.

She frowned.

"Well, that isn't exactly encouraging," she murmured to herself, and set the card down before turning to the book to see exactly that it might have been suggesting.

Plant Parenthood is open!

throughaphase

Caritas sort of looked like a Party City threw up, because Tino had offered to do the decorating. Of course there were balloons, streamers, glitter though it was hard to tell where it was supposed to have come from, confetti on the tables, and a butcher block banner up over the stage with "THREE MINUTE DATES" written in what was maybe paint? It sort of looked like puff paint but that had to be way too much work, right? Right?

A couple minutes before 8:00, Kitty took the stage with the zombies playing her on, and she shushed them to stop. "Hello and welcome to another Three Minute Dates!" she greeted them. "You know how this goes, unless you don't. Your names will be called into pairings every three minutes. You get together, you talk, the buzzer sounds, you go to your next table. If three minutes isn't enough time, maybe hang around a little, scope them out at the bar. And if you hate it, you just have to last five sets of three minutes, I believe in you."

She wasn't sorry if Tino signed any of you up. She was sorry for the letter banner he'd strung up over the bar reading "Have Good Banging," which was terrible English and odds were excellent that it did not stay up all night.

[OCD ~~coming!~~ is up, AHEM
Before the dates | Round One | Round Two | Round Three | Round Four | Round Five | OOC
After the dates bar

what_big_teeth

The nice thing about being the only other employee in a shop other than your boss was that the scheduling was pretty flexible, so the fact that Eleanor had a Thursday class with some tricky timing wasn't an issue, and she just shifted over to Fridays for this semester, instead.

She found herself, eventually, settling in behind the counter with a cup of tea and a book about hummingbirds and what plants they liked, which she blamed entirely on the few she'd spotted around the shop before coming in for her work day. She didn't find anything about drakondias specifically, but it seems like hummingbirds did seem to like lilies in general, and she started wondering if that was something that the others would enjoy having around the new house or not.

Plant Parenthood is open!

slothbabyproductions

The sun had just dipped below the horizon, casting a warm glow across the beach as the first notes of music from Arden’s playlist filled the air. The waves gently lapped at the shore, creating a soothing backdrop to the area. Tiki torches and string lights were set up around the party area, their flickering and colorful light adding to the atmosphere.

The aroma of North Carolina barbecue filled the air, with a long table set up with all the fixings—pulled pork, coleslaw, hush puppies, and more. For those with different tastes, vegetarian and vegan dishes were also thoughtfully provided. Sweet tea was the main beverage, but for those craving something colder, Squishies were lined up next to the drinks cooler. The centerpiece of it all was a giant cupcake that Graham had brought all the way from Daventry for the occasion.

Games were scattered around the beach: volleyball nets, cornhole, frisbees, and even a few board games for those who preferred to sit back and relax. A bonfire crackled nearby, with cozy spots to sit and chat, perfect for those who wanted to enjoy the evening at a slower pace.

It was set up for a perfect evening, filled with good food, great company, and the kind of fun that comes from being surrounded by people. Yes, it was another surprise party, the kind that shouldn’t be a surprise anymore, really. But that’s the point of parties—to celebrate the people you care about. And tonight, it was all about Arden.

[Open to all and any part goers]

what_big_teeth

Well, the nice thing about Nell's last class being here in the shop was that Eleanor was pretty much all ready there for her shift afterwards, although because the class was in the shop, everything was pretty much already in order and there wasn't a whole lot to do beyond the usual maintenance and helping out the rogue customer that wandered in.

But her quick trip back home after Senshi's class had left her with plenty to think about and do, although yesterday's shenanigans also gave her less to do, per se, but more to daydream about. So after thunking the new ledger for the Zarrin family finances onto the counter and peeling it open, she tried her best to focus on numbers and accounts and not Kamala's chin on her shoulder as they posed for a selfie and threats about trying to make her laugh as much as possible.

>Tried was definitely the operative word there.

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Eleanor knew enough about what usually happened when people turned into animals around here to feel like it would have been safer to leave Kamala in her room while she went to work today, although once she was there, she was a little torn about it. Yes, she was getting a lot more work and research done without the distraction, but how cute would it have been to have Kamala slowly meandering through some of the plants and shelves? She could probably get a few pictures, too, for posterity, and she would also be less worried about something happening while she was gone. She made sure the drakondia were safely tucked away, at least, but would she get bored? Lonely? She'd set her up with lots of food and water and her sloth pillow and as a sloth she probably didn't need that much stimulation, but maybe she should have picked up a few comic books or something to keep her entertained?

It lead to her not being able to do much work or research out of distraction, thus making her feel like she really should have just brought Kamala along after all.

Well, maybe at least 'my girlfriend is a sloth right now' would be considered a viable excuse for leaving early?

Plant Parenthood is open!

what_big_teeth

Ever since karaoke night, Eleanor had been slowly working on familiarizing herself with more music, especially more modern stuff, and she'd done pretty well, she felt, especially with the convenience of being able to just look a lot of stuff up on her phone and fall down rabbit holes and discover all sorts of things.

But now she'd discovered girl in red.

There was no hope for her now, and now she was going about her work at the store, singing along to "forget her" and "i wanna be your girlfriend" and "Rue" quietly under her breath as it played softly from her phone while she went about watering and pruning plants and dusting between bottles and jars and candles on the shelves.

Plant Parenthood is open!

totalwildcard

Okay, so Barbie probably wasn't in Barbieland anymore, that much had become clear. She wasn't... exactly sure what to do with that information, but she was choosing to try and make the best of it! And right now? Right now, that meant she'd found a nice little bakery and coffee place in town, and ordered coffee and a cupcake. The person behind the counted seemed a little weirded out by the money she handed over, but accepted it, so Barbie picked up her things to head to one of the tables.

"... Oh, gosh, that was a close one!"

She really wasn't used to carrying things with actual liquid inside! But it was just a matter of just being a little more careful about holding the cup, right? Right. She made it to one of the window tables without another incident of almost spilling coffee on herself.

She had not yet thought about what the experience drinking it would be like, though.

(open! eta: now with 100% less clashing with Summer's post)

what_big_teeth

Eleanor was feeling incredibly industrious today; not necessarily for her work here now, but for her work back home, later, in the future (or, well, technically the past, but never mind). She mostly felt that Mr. Senshi's class, with the work of thinning out their first inklings of a garden, combined with Nell's class and all the different ideas of gardens and greenhouses, really sparked her creativity and determination to finally work out some sort of plan for continuing her grandmother's work. She was shifting through all of her notes, as well as a book about herbology to determine what sorts of plants would be most useful, as well as one on greenhouse design...

...although it didn't take very long for her to start feeling a little overwhelmed by her own ambitions, so she was taking a lot of breaks for tea and hopefully thinking about anything other than plants.

Which was difficult, at a plant store, so she was also wondering if she shouldn't have just put all this off until the weekend or something.

Plant Parenthood is open!

whenshewasnice

Come Friday evening, there was practically a festival area in the park. On one side stood a line of various food trucks, serving ~~moddable~~ food and beverages, courtesy of Envy and Peter's wedding budget. On the other, there was a merch booth for anything and everything Envy you might want - at least in terms of apparel or physical records. There was also a little cordoned off media area to one side of the stage, holding members of the music press from around the multiverse, ready to live-tweet the show back into their worlds.

And then, of course, there was the stage, looming over everything, just a little bigger than what a show in a small town park strictly speaking needed. The back of the stage was already lit up with giant block letters of made up of a gazillion light bulbs, spelling out ENVY. Just in case anyone forgot who tonight was really all about. (Or needed a reminder about who to Google.)

The paint rain across the island was still going, so hope everyone was either cool with continuing to be dyed various colors, or had brought an umbrella or perhaps a big newspaper to shield themselves with. Either way, the hope was everyone enjoyed themselves.

[ooc: ~~Pls wait as I establish some subthreads in here!~~ Open, have at!]

what_big_teeth

Hopefully, there wouldn't be too do waiting for Eleanor when she headed into the shop for her shift after her class, because she was in no mind to actually do anything that required a lot of focus. Her mind was still drifting a little over the still-surreal events of last night, which she realized would probably not feel that way for most people, but she'd never really been like most people. Not even a little.

So her mind kept drifting to last night's movie night, but if you'd have asked her much about the movie, she probably wouldn't have much to say there. But she could tell you about racing hearts and touching shoulders. Of light kisses on cheeks and interwoven fingers. Of every single part of the movie that made Kamala laugh and at least one occasion where it'd made her sing. And about how every attempt to keep herself from tumbling and falling absolutely head over heels right now had failed miserably, because god forbid a Zarrin ever feel a normal amount of emotions about any given thing...

So she was distracted today, and for once in her life, it felt like a good, positive, hopeful distraction, which was weird and strange and made her incredibly nervous, but it was there and what could she do but revel in it?

Plant Parenthood is open!

slothbabyproductions

After shenanigans, Kamala had headed straight home where she had prepped the living room for an evening of fun and frivolity.

Which really just meant popping popcorn and making sure there was a variety of cold beverages in the living room.

So now she was just sitting in her favorite shenanigan outfit and going through multiple streaming services trying to find the movie she wanted to watch.

"It should not be this hard to find a stupid movie about an ogre."

It really shouldn't.

[For the manor residents and guests

what_big_teeth

Eleanor had a lot on her mind this week, even more so than last week, but she was trying not to think about it all too much. Impossible, really, with how much inside her own head she always was, but she tried, mostly in focusing on taking care of the plants and any other little things around the shop she might do that would help Nell out in the long-run, and, after all of that, settling in with some books and pulling out some of the notes she'd taken yesterday when she and Lydia went to the floral show in Vegas so she could start looking some things up and researching them a little bit, and also working in some of her notes from her gardening class and starting to make out some sketches for greenhouse ideas.

She probably was overdue a visit to the new house, actually. She absolutely dreaded it, but after talking to Kamala on Monday, it was weighing on her especially heavily this week.

Plant Parenthood is open!

slothbabyproductions

Technically it looked like Kamala was working hard today at Stark industries, but in reality she was creating a list of names that included "Zephyr", "Tempest", "Skyborne" and "Breeze".

Clearly a list of names for various Stark projects.

Honest!

what_big_teeth

Last night's little karaoke party still held a sort of surreal feeling for Eleanor, even in the light of the next day. She might have been convinced that it was all another weird dream, except for the fact that her dreams tended to be pretty terrible, and last night had been the opposite of that. Mystifying and pretty unbelievable, if you asked her, but definitely the opposite of terrible.

Terrible would come later, when she was honest and open with Kamala about who and what she was, what she'd done, and why it was probably a better idea if she'd just forget about her. A part of her was tempted to just not say anything at all, to pretend maybe like she was normal (well, as far as normal went in this place), and carry on as long as she could without ruining it, but that didn't feel right. And since attempts to pull away and just distance herself weren't working well at all, that just left brutal honesty.

And as if to keep the illusion of a rare pleasant dream going for as long as she could, Eleanor was playing some light ethereal music today, she'd lit some candles for ambiance, and dipped into some dreamy poetry in the times when she wasn't helping a customer or taking care of this, that, or the other thing around the shop.

Plant Parenthood is open!

somethingwithturquoise

Tino was telling Summer all about his weekend, which sounded enough like any other weekend that Tino would tell her about that she started to become increasingly uncertain as to whether or not, from what he was telling her, he had actually been affected by the weekend at all. She tried to ask some revealing questions to help her pin it down a little more, but to no avail. Each answer seemed as frustratingly vague and uncertain as the last.

So finally, she just straight up and asked how old he was now and how old he was during the weekend, to which he just gasped and got all offended that she would even ask him something like that, and then he gave her the cold shoulder for the rest of the shift.

Which, really, was Summer preferred state of being behind the bar, so it all kind of worked out, really.

Cocktail Special
Pink Gin Martini

Jello Specials
Black Sesame Pudding
White Russian
Blue Hawaiian
Red Velvet

Caritas is open!

afraid_of_marshmallows

Friday had been Graham's birthday! Which meant that they needed to celebrate with sushi from the Sushi Station. Sushi for Graham's birthday had been a standing tradition for almost twenty years now, whether they were in the same place or not. Though since they all were this year, the only possible thing to do was call Sushi Station, put in a reservation that would fit all of them, and then send out a message on the old group chat:

Don't ig-nori this message, because it's tamago out for Graham's birthday! So let's roll on down to the Sushi Station to show him how matcha you care! No gifts necessary, just bring your raw enthusiasm and join us for dinner fit for roe-lty and we'll shoyu a good time.

Also, Graham, this message is your birthday present for the NEXT twenty years.

Hopefully that would be enough to bring people out, because Arden had not pummeled her brain for a good half hour coming up with stupid sushi puns for people to skip out on this, dammit!

[And in true Fandom fashion, anyone with a connection to Graham, Arden, or anybody else present is more than welcome!]

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