lilac_eyed_lieutenant | MHA #1 / The Apartment Above Covent Garden / Spaces In Between; Tuesday Afternoon [05/17].

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MHA #1 / The Apartment Above Covent Garden / Spaces In Between; Tuesday Afternoon [05/17].

Even though Tisarwat was pretty sure it hadn't been the scones she brought home from J,GoB that Sunday, Lucille actually did cease to be a snake shortly after, and, though they'd barely had enough time since then to help her get more familiar with being back in human skin again, there had been a revisit of the idea that Tisarwat had had, that with Seivarden still in space, and the Chocobros now off to do their own thing back on their planet, the apartment above Lucille's shop was just sitting there unoccupied, which seemed like a waste and a shame, especially since it was right there above Lucille's shop.

If anything, there should really be someone to keep an eye on the place until Seivarden got back. If she got back. And since they only needed the one bedroom themselves, the spare could still be available in the event that any of the chocobros (or, let's face it, if Gladio, since the others had their other options now) needed it for whatever reason. It was already furnished, too, and with consideration to a Radchaai taste (although Tisarwat would want to do some modernizing; Seivarden was so old-fashioned), so all they really needed to do was move most of their personal affects and some of the pieces they couldn't quite part with, which made the task of dragging everything over to the new apartment a little easier.

Until, of course, they got to the piano.

That was going to be a problem.

But they couldn't not have the piano! But neither of them would be even remotely capable of carrying it halfway across the island. And just as Tisarwat was thinking about where they could hire someone to move it at the last minute, an idea struck her, and she pulled out her phone to send a text.

And, shortly after that, Summer and her portal gun showed up from literally across the hall.

"Okay," she was saying, fiddling with the dial, "just give me a second to calibrate it, it's not used to doing such short distances, buuuuuut....."

Summer shot a pink portal into the space beside the piano, took a second to hop through it to verify they didn't wind up, like, in Furnado or in the ocean or anything, and then popped back out with a thumbs up. "We're good to go! Let's get this piano through it!"

Of course, still moving the piano that little distance would be a challenging, but Tisarwat couldn't help sigh a little and shake her head and comment, "I wish we'd thought of this before with everything else, too...."

Hindsight, 20/20, so on and so forth.

[[ mostly for the rooommate, but also, if anyone wants to catch them at any part in the moving journey, please feel free to chime in and join on! work related sp expected, though, blarg. ]]

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"Perhaps we can push it through," Lucille said. Life in Allerdale Hall had occasionally demanded pushing heavy furniture around, so she wasn't a stranger to it.

"Unless that would make it fall over whatever a portal threshold is like."

That would not be a good thing.

Summer shook her head reassuringly. "No, nothing like that," she said. "It'll be fine just being pushed through. The only problem is...you know, actually pushing it through..."

And as Summer considered herself, Lucille, and Tisarwat, she was starting to wonder if they needed to make this a whole-floor effort.

Although, really, at that point, all they'd need was Annie...

Tisarwat had no problem at all interpreting that look, Summer, although...fair.

"Between the three of us," she said, trying to be optimistic, "it can't be that bad, right?"

She gave the piano an experimental nudge that did not give her much more confidence in that statement.

After a more forceful nudge, Lucille had to admit that the piano was heavier than expected.

"Are there no tools that make things hover above ground?"

She hadn't seen any, but who knew what could be found on the island.

"Well, obviously, yes," said Summer, "but we don't have any of those tools right now."

She could also text Rey, she figured, but she felt kind of bad always having her be her go-to for levitating heavy furniture, especially when it wasn't really hers.

"Give me like, five seconds," she then said, adjusting the coordinates and making a second portal. "Barry definitely has something for this, and, if not, he can make one."

Without further ado, she lept through and disappeared.

Tisarwat watched her go, then shook her head, leaning on the unmoveable piano a little with a faint grin.

"I'm honestly surprised," she said, "that she doesn't just portal around the whole island like that, but there's got to be some kind of limitations to it."

"I will never understand the limitations to reality some people expect," Lucille said, and was about to continue when then cat jumped up on to the piano. She stretched, then lay down, claiming the instrument as her own. Displeased, Lucille glared at her.

"Why can't we just have that creature disappear to some dimension. Would it really upset your fellow lieutenant that much?"

"Trust me," Tisarwat said, holding back a small grin at Lucille's lament and instead opting to look just as disparaging. "Dealing with this cat, annoying as it is, is still much easier and more pleasant than dealing with a moping Seivardan."

Just ask Amaya and her hair!

But Tisarwat did move to lift the cat off the piano. "Off," she told Issa, unceremoniously depositing her back on the floor. "Unless you plan on moving the piano?"

Issa let out a protesting meow.

"That's what I thought."

And then she stalked over to Tisarwat to butt her her against her leg, whether in disapproval or a sudden attempt to butter her up, though, no one could truly tell.

Lucille pulled her skirts away from the cat, in case she was getting any ideas.

"Can Seivarden really be worse than the cat?" she asked.

Yes, Lucille, she could.

There was....a long pause.

"Do you really want to find out?"

And Tisarwat didn't even know the half of it! Imagine what could be said about that topic if Summer had still been there!

"Maybe Issa won't be as bad," Tisarwat offered, "once she's back to her home turf."

An unlikely prospect, but a hopeful one all the same.

Lucille didn't look convinced, but said:

"Let us hope you are right. Now, where is Summer? Should we make some tea while we are waiting?"

"She shouldn't be too long," Tisarwat said, frowning a little as the first portal seemed to time out and blinked out of existence, the second one not too far behind. "She did just say she was going over to Barry's..."

Tisarwat should know by now that anything Summer did was rarely that straightforward.

"But I wouldn't say no to tea."

If she ever did, something was clearly wrong.

If Tisarwat was to say no to tea, Lucille would be quite worried.

"I will make a pot. Perhaps Summer will want a cup when she returns."

She turned towards the kitchen, letting her hand rest on Tisarwat's shoulder for a brief moment.

Lucille had been spending a lot of time on Tisarwat's shoulder as a snake, but a briefly lingering hand hit different, and Tisarwat turned along with her.

"Did you need any help?" she offered.

There was no reason Lucille would need help with the tea of course, but she said:

"Perhaps."

And there was no reason Tisarwat should have to help, either, and yet:

"I'll come along," she offered, "just on case."

Who knew, with all the packing they'd been doing, it could be dangerous or tricky trying to get what she needed.

In the kitchen Lucille turned to Tisarwat with a smile.

"Which tea do you prefer?"

She poured water into the kettle.

"This might be the last time we have tea in this apartment."

It was a fairly spacious kitchen, but you'd never know it based on the closeness Tisarwat maintained.

"Something light, maybe," she decided. "Moving in this weather makes for heavy work. And it may very well be. We'd better make it memorable."

Lucille turned her head slightly, her lips now inches from Tisarwat's cheek.

"You are right about the tea, and about making it memorable," she agreed. "What about your favourite from yesterday? Or is that too strong?"

And the turn of Tisarwat's head in kind meant that the small, subtle lift in the corner of her mouth was now closer to Lucille's lips than her cheek had been.

"That," she said, "sounds perfect."

She moved in to close that already shrinking space between them, finally and completely.

And she would have made it, too, if that wasn't almost the exact moment that Summer returned, not by way of portal, but by way of the front door, as she was coming from her own apartment again this time.

"Sorry it took me so long!" she called out, with a bag of lifters and a tray of jello shots. "I decided go stop by my place and make some--wait, did they already leave? I swear to god, if they left me here to move their piano by my self...!"

Lucille was already kissing Tisarwat when Summer walked through the front door, the tea temporarily forgotten. When she heard her voice, she pulled back just a little.

Tisarwat wasn't moving away, but her grin did broaden. "I almost want to make her think we did leave her to move it by herself now," she said, in a low, quiet, perfect for their current closeness whisper.

Considering the circumstances, she didn't even think Summer could be mad about it, either.

"Perhaps she will find us eventually," Lucille whispered back, leaning closer again, accidentally nudging the tea jar on the worktop so that it fell over, making a noise.

As Tisarwat made a quick reach for the tea jar a little too late to do much of anything (good tea was too rare to just let go to waste if it could be helped), Summer's head popped in around the door.

"Awww, look at you two!" she gushed. "One last time in the kitchen, huh? You need me to give you guys a little more time?"

"We were just making tea," Lucille said, quickly reaching for the jar. She smiled, taking a small step away from Tisarwat.

"Would you like a cup?"

She might feel a little awkward, but she wasn't going to let that show.

At some point, of course, the ~~landlord~~ building manager was going to have to get their keys and finish up paperwork.

He came up and poked his head in. "Hello?"

Hey, now, he just mysteriously got several whole empty floors! What was the rush?

Although at least one person on this floor would make the argument that clearly the first floor was prime real estate, based on neighbors alone.

"Hello," Tisarwat offered back. "Come on in, especially if you're going to be lending a hand."

At this point, it was honestly just tea things and old books left to move.

"There are jello shots involved if you do," she added.

Thank you, Summer.

He was being responsible!

"Oh. Um. Sure, i-if you think there's something I can help with." He could probably carry tea. "I just came to, um." He held up their paperwork. "I couldn't find if you had a deposit to return. Or anything else I need to let you know."

"Oh." Tisarwat considered the paperwork in Jon's hand a little awkwardly, her lilac eyes roving back to wherever Lucille might have wound up. "That's probably more something for my roommate, then. She's lived here longer, everything's probably in her name..."

Was there paperwork involved with the Covent Garden apartment, she wondered? It had to have been a nightmare by now, with it basically being a rotating door of tenants at this point...

"All right." Jon nodded. "There's no rush; I'll just, um, leave it here." He looked around awkwardly before setting it down on the windowsill. "So, um, you needed help. If t there's something I can carry." With his noodly arms.

"There's honestly not that much left," Tisarwat, of the surprisingly noodly arms for a military position, but, hey, she'd been aiming for a desk job originally before the Lord of the Radch decided to just hi-jack her brain, admitted. She hitched a gloved thumb toward the soft glow of a pink portal just a ways into the living room. "Summer set up a portal so all we have to do is take a few steps, and the new place already furnished..."

She then realized something.

"Is it okay to just leave all the other furniture here?"

"As far as I know," Jon said. He shrugged. "I'm curious if it was here when you arrived."

Hearing them talk, Lucille emerged from the other room.

"Good afternoon, Jon," she greeted him. "Yes, most of them, apart from the bookshelf which I ordered from Amaya. Would you like some tea?"

Jon smiled. "Tea would be lovely, thank you. And yes, absolutely, leave whatever you like; I'm sure someone will get use out of it."

He made a mental note that Amaya could make bookshelves.

It was a well made and sturdy bookshelf, and Lucille would certainly recommend Amaya's work.

"And I am sure a new tenant will appear from somewhere," Lucille said. "Just a moment, I will bring you a cup."

She returned with a tray, the pot still warm and the delicate teacup placed on a saucer.

"Thank you." Jon smiled and took the cup, being careful with it. "By the way, it's good to see you again. I understand you were a snake for quite a while."

"I was," Lucille confirmed. "Tisarwat took care of me well and the cat kept her distance."

The cat that sadly was moving with them. Tisarwat seemed to have a sense of duty when it came to the animal.

"That's probably a very good thing, for you and her," Jon noted.

"Yes," Lucille said. "Although I think I would have won, but that would have made Tisarwat's co-lieutenant very upset."

She took a sip of her own tea.

"So how are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Jon smiled as he sipped his tea. "This is quite good, thank you."

"Tisarwat always buys tea of the best quality," Lucille said. "I have gotten used to it myself."

It hadn't been what she had been used to before.

It made Jon wistful for Martin bringing him tea.

"I'm afraid I'm a terrible Englishman," Jon confided. "I wouldn't know quality tea from PG Tips."

"And I am afraid I don't know what PG Tips are," Lucille replied. "Tisarwat is the one with the discerning taste though, as all Radchaai are. I went with her to her home once and there was a whole planet of tea plantations."

"Good lord, that sounds like...a lot of tea. I didn't even know you could grow that much."

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MHA #1 / The Apartment Above Covent Garden / Spaces In Between; Tuesday Afternoon [05/17].

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