Waltz Of The Flowers // Merry

[Vasilisa Tchaikovsky]

Vasilisa was listening to her father's masterpieces as she worked. Today it was the turn of 'The Nutcracker Suite' to be played. The 'Waltz of the Flowers' filled the small store, more than appropriate for the current setting. Smiling as she hummed along to the melody, the girl swayed in time to the music as she appraised the bouquet that she was working on before pulling out one final red calla lily from the bucket beside her and adding it to the sunset-themed bunch. Wrapping the stems up with floral tape, she smiled at her work.

The Russian girl absolutely adored her job as a florist. No other job seemed more perfect, save for getting paid to play in an orchestra. But Vasilisa highly doubted that that was ever going to happen. She might be the daughter of a great composer, but no one in this time period would even believe that she was his. To them she was just a girl who coincidentally has the last surname.

Picking up a length of red ribbon, Vasilisa started wrapping the stems. This job suited her perfectly - she got to spend her days playing with flowers and making people happy with her bouquets. Plus her employer didn't even care about her dress style. It was a small business run by a lovely old gentleman who came in every once in a while but now generally left the girl to her own devices.

Hearing the gentle tinkle of the bell that indicated a customer, Vasilisa looked up from her bouquet. "Welcome to 'Blossoms In The Breeze! How can I help?" she greeted the newcomer cheerfully.

[Guest]

This store, these people, this world...it was weird. Super weird, super different, and completely and utterly great. Ever since The Doctor and that Clara had saved her life, had stressed to her how unique she was, she had wanted to go off and have fun like they seemed to have. To see new things because...well, she already knew everything there was to know about her people. Why not learn about all the other things out there? That was why she was there at that moment at that place. Well, that, and she was intrigued. Apparently the stores here in London were similar to the market back on her home, except they were much much smaller. Even the "malls" weren't all that big compared to the market, let alone this small shop. She also came here because flowers fascinated her.

They didn't grow, not naturally, on an asteroid; the closest she had seen to one was a preserved plant, being artificially kept alive. But all the pretty ones here, all the pretty flowers? They were so bright and colorful and just...just fantastic. A quick glance around before she headed into the shop confirmed that the odd device, that perception filter generating one, was still working; no one seemed to notice any odd lines on her face. The vortex manipulator was still on her wrist too, so with that, she entered the store, jumping slightly at the bell; that was a shocker. As was the music. She slowly walked a little inside, the door closing behind her, and her eyes soon shot to the woman that spoke to her.

"Ah, I'm um...just looking!" she piped back, her voice perhaps a bit too squeaky, before she shyly began to look around, smoothing out her red robe and the dress underneath. Smooth...at least she had the sense to not keep her crown on while she went gallivanting around. "These are all awfully pretty...I don't get to see flowers much." Merry spoke to the woman, slowly turning her gaze away from the flowers and to her. Most of all, the people here on Earth fascinated her just as much as all the other things, perhaps even more.

[Vasilisa Tchaikovsky]

Vasilisa gave the young girl an easy smile, turning down the music slightly so it wasn't too loud and over-powering. "That's alright! Look all you like, sweetpea," she reassured her, wanting to let her know that the girl had no reason to be nervous in here. After all, Vasilisa wasn't about to kick someone out when they wanted to admire the pretty blossoms.

Wrapping up the bouquet in her hands up in cellophane, she put it aside, all ready for collection later in the afternoon. Vasilisa smiled at the young girl's interest in the flowers. She loved meeting people who appreciated the beauty in flowers. So many people she'd met just cared about whether the bouquet was expensive and how long it would last before withering. But here was someone with a genuine interest!

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" the woman agreed, stepping out from behind her workbench and gazing at the flowers lovingly. "Each one so unique but gorgeous in their own right..." She straightened her green corset and tucked a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear. "It's a shame that you don't get to see them much," Vasilisa commented as she wandered around the shop, straightening buckets and making sure her darlings had enough water. "Whereabouts are you from?" That was another thing that interested her - meeting people from other places. She wondered if she'd ever get to meet someone like her - stuck in a time-period that wasn't their own. She hung on to the faint hope, but as the days passed the hope grew weaker and weaker.

Stopping by the bucket with yellow roses, the Russian checked the water level before withdrawing a delicate rose-bud, one that had only just begun to open. With the smile, she offered it to the girl. "Here. On the house. Because everyone deserves a beautiful flower every once in a while. Plus it kinda goes with your outfit. Which is really pretty, I must say."

[Guest]

Sweetpea? As she looked at the flowers, Merry had to wonder just what that meant. As far as she knew, peas were a type of food here on Earth, green and small and round...did she look like that? Had the thing, whatever it was called because she couldn't remember it and was panicking now, malfunctioned? Wait no...the woman wasn't freaking out about her appearance, so clearly she wasn't green or round at all. Maybe it was an expression...? She heard Earth had a lot of them, some of which didn't even make sense to her. She really had a lot to learn here. Merry looked up from the flowers as she was spoken to, watching the woman as she walked around. What an interesting outfit that was...it didn't look anything like what she saw any other people wearing.

How peculiar. Of course, she didn't know enough about Earth to ask about it, so she didn't, and instead busied herself by looking at all the flowers again. They smelled so...so wonderful too, almost like the scent itself was beautiful. "W-Where?" she stammered, mind racing as she tried to think of a quick lie. Pretty much anywhere on Earth could grow flowers, right? Except for deserts, they couldn't. But that was silly, there were no deserts near London! "Um...quite a bit away. Impossibly far away," she said rather hastily; anyone could see it was an obvious lie, and judging by the anxious way she looked around the shop, not settling her eyes on the girl, it was obvious she hoped she wouldn't be questioned too much about it.

But of course, she had to put her eyes on the older woman when she came walking over and handed her the flower. "I...you're sure?" Merry said hesitantly as she took the rose gently, looking it over with a small smile on her face. It was...unusual, to her. Getting something without handing over something precious in return, something that held a lot of emotion. "You really like it...? I like yours too. It's um...unusual!" she noticed her opportunity and took it, though she genuinely did like it.

[Vasilisa Tchaikovsky]

When the girl said she was from 'impossibly far away', Vasilisa's ears perked up. So maybe she was a time-traveller too! Vasilisa's heart soared at this possibility. "Want know a secret? I'm from impossibly far away too," she admitted softly, giving a slight smile. "So far away, yet I'm stuck here. And I miss it, every day." She reached up to play with the violin locket around her neck, a soft sigh escaping her lips as she thought of home. She adored London, she really did. All she wanted was the chance to go back home, if only for a week or a month. Just to combat the homesickness.

With an agile leap, she jumped onto the workbench, her long legs swinging over the side. "Of course I'm sure - keep it. Put it in some water when you get home and day by day it'll start blossoming. It's just one flower, but knowing that you're enjoying it will bring me joy," she told her simply, giving a slight shrug. Not all people here were like that, Vasilisa had learned. But if she could make someone happy with something as simple as giving them a flower - well, she didn't see why she shouldn't every once in a while.

When the girl asked if she really liked her outfit, Vasilisa nodded. "I do. I like it a lot, actually. It's very exotic. And it's a very beautiful shade of red." She looked down at her own outfit and chuckled when the girl said it was unusual. "Unusual's definitely the word! You should see some of the looks I get at times! I visited my friend at his work one time - you could almost hear his co-workers' jaws dropping!" She laughed at the memory but gave a casual shrug. "I've decided that I like being unusual. Even at home I didn't really like to follow the crowd and be the same. I don't see why that should change now. I'm Vasilisa, by the way," she finally introduced herself with a friendly smile.

[Guest]

A girl impossibly far away wearing odd clothing...Merry felt something was up here, especially with the conspiratorial way she had said that. The bit about her being far away too; it really made her think that she meant a lot more than just location. But bah, that was silly. The girl was just a human, right? Surely if she was a time traveler someone would have come and helped her by now. Then again, that wasn't exactly true. Time travel wasn't all that precise some of the time, she had already learned that much. Then again...how could she ask without seeming like she was really, really weird? "How far away? And when do you think you'll ever return?" Merry asked, doing her best to stress that word without stressing it too much.

That way, if there was something more here, the girl could just say so, and if there wasn't...well, she'd just think of it as an oddity and nothing more, everyone won. "And...alright. I'll do that," she added, thought how...well, she wasn't sure. How did plants grow? She had never taken are of one before, and the thought of letting something so pretty just die...well, she didn't want to see that happen. She let none of her worry show on her face though, that was something she was good at. It was a skill she had needed, after all, in order to be the Queen of Years, in order to be able to sing that song in front of everyone and not mess up.

"Right...it is exotic, isn't it? I guess I didn't really notice much before," was her response to the clothing comment. Was it really that unique? Merry hoped not, she liked her clothes, she didn't want to have to replace them so she didn't stand out so much. After all, if one peered too hard at someone with a perception filter, sometimes they could see through the filter; the person she had gotten the device from had made THAT very clear. "I'm Merry. As in...well, the word, not the name. It's how it's spelled, I mean. And...I got you there. I've been unusual my whole life."

[Vasilisa Tchaikovsky]

Vasilisa hesitated for a couple of seconds, mulling over whether she should really tell her. But then she decided that the only thing that could happen was that Merry would laugh at her and think her odd. Not that big a risk. "I'm from Russia, but this is several centuries ahead of the time I was originally from," she told the girl, still playing with her locket. "I ended up in this place called New New York. Then I got brought here and have been stuck ever since. As much as I want to, I don't think I can actually go home," she admitted sadly. She felt like she could tell Merry the truth about what had happened without fear of scorn. Not only did she know children to be more accepting of fantastical-happenings than adults, but Vasilisa felt that Merry might possibly be in the same situation as her. It wasn't just the clothes - there was something about the girl that made Vasilisa think that this wasn't her home time either, though what it was she couldn't for the life of her put her finger on.

"If you have any questions, I'm always here. You can drop by, if you have the time. Or just call. But cut flowers are generally very easy to look after, as long as they have enough water," she told her with a smile. "They're rather unfussy. Or at least roses are..."

"Merry," the name slid off Vasilisa's tongue and she grinned. "I like it. Lovely and cheerful. Do you want a drink while you wait? Tea or some hot chocolate? I think there's some in the kitchen somewhere..." She wasn't sure if the girl was waiting for her parents or had just stopped by while running an errand, but Vasilisa figured that it was the polite thing to offer. Besides, she was beginning to crave her afternoon cup of tea and biscuits. She was more than happy to just sit and chat with Merry if the girl wanted; Vasilisa had no more orders to fill for the day and she had to fill her time somehow until closing time.

[Guest]

Merry was honestly surprised the girl had told her so easily, even if she had been hinting at it. After all, most people would look at her as if she was crazy while she was revealing that. At least, most ordinary people would. Then again, Merry realized she didn't really have much to lose by revealing that, now did she? She was talking to a kid, and there wasn't too much harm in a kid thinking you were crazy.

If they went around talking about what you said, people would probably chalk it up to them just having a huge imagination or something like that. "Really? Well...I believe ya," the girl said, before reaching over to the sleeve of her robe and lifting it up a little. Right underneath was the vortex manipulator, and she glanced away from it to look at this woman. "I dunno much about this thing, but it kind of lets me go where and when I want," she explained. A shame the things could only carry one person though...this girl probably wanted to just go back to her own time, but Merry wasn't about to just hand the device over because then she'd be stuck on Earth, and while she loved this planet a lot, there just weren't many adventures to be had on it.

"And uhm..sure. A drink would be good, I guess. Like I said though...I'm just looking. I'm not waiting for anyone..." she explained. Would this woman find that as odd? Maybe. From what she knew, children here on Earth were taken care of by parents, much like her own people. The difference was that she had always been a lot more independent than others, being the Queen of Years she was afforded that luxury. Especially since she didn't really have any parents to take care of her, that had all been taken care of by the Sunsingers. "How'd you end up here?" she had to ask, frowning a bit as she wondered about that.

[Vasilisa Tchaikovsky]

In all honesty, Vasilisa hadn't actually expected Merry to believe her. After all, who would really believe someone that claimed that they had travelled through time and were actually several centuries old? As far as she was aware, time-travel was a laughable concept to most normal people. It certainly had been back in her time and by what she'd been told, this current time period was no different. So the girl's words came as a pleasant surprise. "Y-you do? You're probably the only person that would. Others would think I was insane and cart me off to a mental asylum." She pulled a face at the thought. It seemed that humans were just as close-minded now as they were centuries ago. Then again, Vasilisa herself would have still been a non-believer had she not lived through the experience herself.

The woman's blue eyes widened when she saw the gadget on Merry's wrist. It was the same thingamabob that Dr River had! So Merry was a time-traveller too then! "My friend - the one that got me here, she's got one of those..." she said with a nod in its direction. "I assume it lets you travel through time but what exactly is it?" she questioned curiously. What a strange world, this. Civilisation had certainly come a long way since her natural time.

When Merry agreed to getting a drink, Vasilisa shuffled around some papers, searching for her "on a tea break, will be back soon!" note, before hopping off the bench and wandering over to the front door. Flipping the sign so that it now read "sorry, we're closed" she stuck the note underneath the sign. Any visitors would just have to wait a little while. She doubted that a mere fiteen minutes would matter much in the scheme of things. "Come," she said, motioning with her head for Merry to follow her out back. "So...your parents aren't with you?" Vasilisa asked, looking curiously at the girl. She couldn't be more than nine or ten... How lonely and frightening it must be to be here in this strange new place, all on her own.

Entering the tiny kitchen, Vasilisa filled up the kettle with water before turning it on. "Mine's a bit of a long and odd story... This will sound rather strange, but there was this man and I guess he had a time-machine because obviously I'm not in the same time as I used to be. Anyway, I 'felt' his machine, from across town. Is that odd? People can't usually feel these sorts of things, can they?" she asked with a frown, pulling two mugs from the shelf. It had been so confusing for her that day. The feeling of restlessness, the indescribable feeling that she had to go and find whatever it was that was pulling her like a magnet to it. The feeling that only stopped when she'd gotten inside the machine. "So I snuck in and looked around. The owner came back, so I hid. We ended up in New New York where I met a time-traveller called Dr River Song. Eventually she brought me here. And I've been here ever since..." Locating the tin of biscuits that the female always made sure was full, she withdrew a cookie and chomped down on it thoughtfully, before offering the tin to Merry. "And what about you - how did you get here?

[Guest]

"Well, even if I DID think you were crazy, I couldn't go doing that," Merry pointed out, gesturing at herself for emphasis. Hopefully the other girl would get that she was just a kid, no one would take her seriously if she said the lady running the flower shop had said she was from a different time. Especially since Merry technically didn't have a home. For whatever reason, humans looked down on people like that, which was a little strange if you asked her. Just 'cause you didn't have a home didn't mean there was anything wrong with you, not necessarily. Look at her.

She had no home simply because she chose not to stay at home, instead she chose to see all sorts of sights. "Your friend? I don't think I know her," Merry began. Of course she didn't. Clara wouldn't need something like this, not when she had that blue box and the Doctor. "But...it's called a Vortex Manipulator. You're right. It lets you go through time, but it can only take one person. Or at least, I think it can. I haven't exactly tested that," the girl added. Mostly because she had no one to test it with. If she asked any of the Sunsingers, they'd probably take it away from her and watch her more closely.

After all, what should happen if she came into a dangerous situation? They couldn't afford to let the Queen of Years die on some unknown planet at some unknown time. Or at least, she was envisioning them say stuff like that. She did see their point of course. They wouldn't even know she WAS dead if that happened, but...well, what could she say? She was a little selfish, she wanted to have some fun for herself instead of being stuck on that asteroid forever. Vasilisa spoke to her again, breaking her out of her thoughts, and with a hurried pace, Merry followed after the woman, making sure she didn't accidentally brush into anything. After all, she didn't want to ruin any of the beautiful flowers.

"No...my parents are...well, I've never really known them," Merry stated, frowning a bit. It was a difficult subject to speak about. No doubt if she tried to go and actually see them, that'd be tough too. Mostly because they'd probably insist on returning her to the Sunsingers. Even if they were her parents, they had a deep respect of their culture too. As her story was told, Merry listened patiently and nodded her head, grinning a bit at how much it resembled her own story. Well, a little bit. "Well..." the girl began, taking a bite out of one of the cookies in the tin.

Mmh...oh these were good. Oh, right, where was she? "I met a man with a time machine too. It was actually a blue box. He was with a girl called Clara and I don't think the box liked her. Anyway, they saved me from sacrificing myself to a god that we worshiped. After he saved me, I wanted to see what other stuff was out there, and I wanted to meet him again, if only to surprise him."

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