2022-04-27 - Cookies and Carrots

It's early evening and the stars are out, the fireflies are glowing and Ava... is being weird. Granted, she was odd on the text messages earlier in the day, but this is a different kind of weird. She's in a sundress, cardigan and sun hat, her bare feet in the grass just sort of wiggling as she stares down at the with a soft smile. It certainly looks as though she is lost in some kind of thought. In her hands are a pair of flat shoes. Those don't have heels at all. She willingly went out in those? That dream must have really hit her hard.

Una went silent in those text messages, earlier; even now, there's no read receipt on anything after her last remark (which probably kills her, actually: unread notifications are a crime. Those inboxes with thousands of unread emails? A crime.) She'll have a dinner invitation incoming shortly, but now, she's in a sundress with a cardigan over the top, still showing signs of having spent much of the day in the garden, and carries a small bunch of carrots in one hand, and a package of something else in the other. Maybe she intended to just leave them on the porch, but--

"Ava?" It's a little tentative.

They're both in sundresses with cardigans on top. When Ava hears Una's voice, her reaction time is a little slow, but eventually her head lifts up with a bright smile. She giggles and gestures between them. "We're twins," is announced with a firm nod. "Oh, carrots. It's a good thing they're not apples, you know what they say." She shifts her stance, almost losing her balance for a moment, but catching it quickly. "Vyv and I actually had a very rousing discussion on apple consumption and how it actually would or wouldn't effect doctor's staying away. Would it have to be every day? Are you supposed to throw it at 'em?" She stage whispers, eyes wide. "Nobody knows."

Una's brows knit, deep with uncertainty; her thought processes are almost visible, beneath those dark brown eyes, that wrinkled nose. Observation the first: Ava is acting weird. Observation the second: she was kind of a little weird earlier in the day. Conclusion: ?!!?

"Well," she says, after a long pause. "I'm not especially inclined to try and find out. Not a scientist, me. Do you... should you sit down, Ava? Do you want? -- oh, I have cookies, as well as carrots. But if you want either..." The other package is wiggled. "And Ravn left you your booze in the mailbox, but, uh, you should probably not drink that right now, huh?"

"I really don't think I'd like it if you threw apples at me anyway. Even if it were for science's sake. It would hurt. Also, I don't want to not be near you for that long, you're my friend." The thought makes her sad for a moment, and it takes over her whole face. There's no subtlety in the emotion, it just washes right over. And then cookies are mentioned and just like that, it's gone. "Carrots and cookies? Can I have both? I want both."

"Oh! Liquor in the mailbox, good good. It's not for me to drink anyway, it's for guests. But no, mixing liquor and weed would so be a bad idea."

Weed. Well - that at least explains one thing, and some of the tension in Una's expression fades. Weed she can deal with. Ava having lost her mind? Probably not so much.

"I'm here," she says, crossing the rest of the distance towards Ava, and aiming, now, for a smile. "I'm not going anywhere. Believe me, I'm not going anywhere. Here."She unwraps part of the wax wrap covering the cookies and offers the bundle to Ava, and the carrots, too, for good measure. "Why don't we sit down while we eat our cookies, mm? And you should put your shoes down, too."

"Good. I like you not going anywhere." That immediately perks Ava right back up, as if the thought of cookies hadn't done so enough already. Cookies are offered. Carrots too! Then she's told to put down her shoes and to sit down. It's a lot all at once and for just a moment it seems to fry the doctor's mind. Usually she's so good at multi tasking. But right now, she seems to be having trouble. Pick one, brain!

The shoes drop from her hand. That's something.

Una is clearly-- so very clearly-- not particularly used to dealing with people who are currently this high, and Ava's inability to compute the instructions gives her momentary pause. Then she giggles, managing to hold it back from being outright laughter, though there's a hint of it even so.

"Why don't we sit down?" she prompts, then. One thing at a time.

Ava is very much not used to being high. So they're perfect for each other in this moment. One instruction. She can do that. "Okay!" It's an eager agreement. Una meant right here, right? Because that is clearly what Ava thinks as she suddenly settles herself right down onto the ground in a flop, folding her legs under her in a criss-cross. "This grass is really nice. The faeries do such a nice job keeping up on it."

"You know. I only had weed once before in my life. I think three hits was too much. But I do feel very relaxed. So maybe it wasn't? But maybe it was?"

Here... here is fine. Una's skirt already has some grass stains on it, so she's not bothered, and sinks, carefully into a similar cross-legged position opposite the other woman. "They do, don't they?" she agrees, brightly. The brightness may not be entirely genuine, but it's exaggerated rather than completely faked; it's fine. "I'm so glad they decided to help us out. Here--"

Now Ava can have a cookie.

"Maybe you could have just had one, and seen what happened. But it's okay-- I'm here, and everything's fine."

"I wonder if it will make it so that I can sleep without having any Dreams. That would be great, I doubt it, but it'd be great." Cookie. Greedy hands wriggle out towards it as both wrap around and pull it closer. A big bite is taken out as Ava grins. None of her usual delicate eating style. This is hungry style.

"How have you been, Una? Why didn't you respond to my I love you, earlier? Do you not like I love yous? Or are they awkward for you?

"I just hope you don't wake up high in a Dream," murmurs Una, watching Ava eat with a smile-- a smile that falters, a moment later, when Ava asks her question.

Where is her etiquette book for talking to people who are under the influence of something? Do you (a) explain the truth, even though it might need a more detailed conversation than is currently possible or (b) laugh it away or maybe even (c) something else altogether?

Una has a rabbit-in-the-headlights expression for a moment. "It-- it was fine. I overreacted to something, but Ravn and I talked it out, and it's fine," is what she goes for, eventually. "We can talk about it another time."

"Oof, yeah. Yeah, that would be bad. Oh, I didn't think about that." A good reason not to do this right before bed again. When Una's smile falters, Ava feels bad for a moment, frowning around the cookie. Oh no, she did that. "Sorry. Didn't mean to make your face do that."

There's a little sigh. "I hope it wasn't something I said that made you overreact? Even if you talked it out already with Ravn, I'd feel bad if I unknowingly was making you upset." She looks at the crumbs that are left of her cookie because that thing was destroyed by how fast she ate it. "You should have a cookie, it'll really help," is giggle out.

Una takes a cookie out of the bundle, dutifully, then offers Ava another as well: more cookies for everyone. "We can talk about it another time," she repeats. "My face is fine, okay? And I'm okay. Don't stress about it."

She smiles! Look, she's fine!

More greedy fingers for more cookies. A carrot is also grabbed. This is probably not going to go well, because these two flavors are not going to suit each other. But that doesn't seem to stop Ava from taking a bite of carrot, finishing it, then taking a bite of carrot. Back and forth. "Oh no. It was something I said! You just don't want to talk about it while I'm all drugged up." It's still Ava in there, even if she's a little slow on the uptake. Still, she smiles in response to Una's smile. She can't help it. Wait! No! She's supposed to be sad. "You tricked me!"

Una-- look, no, she's not going to judge. If Ava wants cookie and carrot, that's what she gets to have.

"Did I?" She's still smiling. So tricksy. (On the other hand, it's not precisely difficult to trick Ava right now). "How's the cookie? Is it good? I haven't eaten any of this batch yet." She takes a bite, and lets out a happy sound of her own. Yay, cookie!

Wait.

Did she? That is a valid question. After all, she's still smiling like that. The faltering smile on Ava's face quickly lights back up into a proper one. Did she? No, surely not. Besides, there are cookies. "Oh, they are so good, I think I've had three already!" It's been one and a half. Yay cookie! And carrot. There's another crunch of that as well. The cookie is finished long before the carrot, however, even though she's taking turns between them.

What were they talking about?

Poor Ava. Another time-- later, even-- Una may feel bad about this. For now, though...

"I'm so glad," she says, warmly. "I like making cookies. I like making people happy, too. Why were you getting high?"

It's a question that comes with a tilt of her head and a slightly appraising glance, though her smile remains very much in place.

"I know that you do. You're very good at it. At both things."

Ava nods and takes another bite of carrot. She finishes the bite and goes to take another bite of cookie, only to find air. The look on her face is pure betrayal as she stares down at the empty hand, then starts to look around her. "Where did my cookie go? I just had it!"

She's still searching as she answers, face drawn in distress. "Myles was having some, he asked if I used it. I said I only ever had it once in college. He told me to try it. Since it was a rough day because of earlier I figured why not. Unaaaaa." Her cookie!!

'Myles' does not specifically mean anything to Una, but that's ok: the rest of the story is telling enough. "Here," she says, hastily, reaching out to hand Ava another cookie. "Here it is. See? You're fine. Everything's fine."

Una hasn't even finished her first cookie, but that's okay too: she's not in a rush.

"Huh?" There's a cookie in her hand. Wasn't the cookie gone though? "You're magical." Ava can only beam at the other woman again, so pleased that she made her cookie reappear. Clearly this is the same cookie that she was already eating, right? Nothing makes sense right now. "Thank you. You're a good friend."

It's one hundred per cent true: Una is a magician who can make cookies reappear at will. Never stop believing.

"I try to be," is quieter, and perhaps with an edge of thoughtfulness that even the placating-Ava-while-she's-high mode Una's in can't entirely supersede. "Do you need anything else? Water?"

Ava will clap her hands and keep the magic alive. TinkerUna for sure, with the magic cookies.

The carrot is finished now, leaving just the cookie. Well, half a cookie at this point. She really is plowing through them. There is nothing lady like about Ava at the moment, which really is unlike her. "You don't have to try, you just are," is assured with a firm nod. "Oooh, water. Probably. I should probably sleep, too. This stuff makes you super tired, did you know that? I wanna eat and sleep, and curl up in a warm bath. Maybe the bath tomorrow though."

It never hurts, for Una, to see someone appreciate her food that much-- even if there are external factors involved that enhance the enjoyment.

"Yeah," she says, bypassing compliments in lieu of more serious business. "Water and sleep are good ideas, I think. And a bath in the morning, because I don't want you accidentally drowning yourself? Come on."

Maybe Ava would always enjoy the cookies like this if she didn't feel like she always have to be such a lady in front of others. Maybe it's how she eats them when she's alone. Or, just maybe it's the drugs. There's no way to know for sure. But that third cookie is certainly gone now.

"Okay," Ava says easily enough as she rolls up onto her feet and then nearly topples over immediately. Her arms wobble, but she manages to keep her balance. "Whoa." Feet go flat, arms out. Steady. There's a grin a second later before she's scuttling towards the house. "Sounds like a plan!"

And Una? She watches after her friend, amused and only a little concerned.

Ava will be fine. Fine.