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Gardens of Devotion — Le Coquelicot
There is a playful air about the gardens, especially in spring, summer and autumn, when flower beds of red tulips, roses and poppy flowers add colorful dots to the well kept green that is trimmed to a look of wild romantic scenery, despite the everpresent hands of gardeners that keep trees and bushes under their care. The path winds along in generous twists, offering many secret meeting spots to share kisses and vows of love, some of them part of the natural surroundings, while others provide more shelter from the view, arbors of simple beauty with flowery vines twining about posts.
In the center of the gardens is where a second building can be found, pillars of white stone reminiscent of an old Hellene temple. Within, tiles of light rosé marble cover the floor, ten feet high walls are painted a slightly deeper shade of the same color, and interspersed with white columns sporting painted colorful floral ornaments. Curtains of white and lavender gauze flutter faintly before the windows that bathe the Shrine of Love in light during the day. On evenings and nights, the predominant source of lighting is a multitude of burning candles in various bronze candelabras and the pair of chandeliers suspended from the ceiling.
The hall is furnished with chairs and couches of light maple wood carved with flowery designs, upholstered in white and red velvet, with several smaller cushions added for comfort. It also has a medium sized S-shaped loveseat in the center, where two people can lounge, facing each other. A faint scent of roses is ever present, as is the overall romantic mood that is often enhanced with the occasional recital of a love poem over the rippling tones of a lute or harp. While Coquelicot adepts and courtesans of Heliotrope canon attend to the visitors with the pleasant lightness and easy warmth, the salon is known for.
A door at the back leads to a patron room of wildly romantic flair.
It's a relatively cool morning after a warm night, a fact which has Niobe up early to first watch the sun rise over the pleasant surroundings of the gardens, and then for her to find a sheltered spot under an arbour to enjoy what appears to be a wide variety of breakfast items. She's claimed one of the comfortable chairs and a couple of cushions, which she's relaxing back into, sleeves rolled up and a small plate in hand, to which she adds now and then from her considerable spread. There are fruits, some even out of season so one has to wonder where they came from, pastries, cold meats, bread, and on the arm of her chair rests a large, two handled cup of something steaming, sweet and dark.
Sido isn't sure what got into her yesterday. She's usually a regular homebody, happy to drift about the salon or curl up for naptime in the odd nook. But someone said 'shmallows and cocoa, and suddenly she was out and about and fleeing tidal waves of molten cheese. Well, see if they fool her like that again. Fortunately some sweet soul was kind enough to send her some consolatory 'shmallows, and now she's prowling about the collonate inside the garden with a bag of them, nomfing away and feeling tenfold blessed. Spying Niobe, she swings her course about the pull of a column and approaches her chair from the side, waving with a set of somewhat sticky fingers.
Niobe dunks a piece of sweet, airy pastry into her cup, then lifts it, carefully turning it this way and that to avoid it drippping down her arm, towards the other woman. "Morning," she offers amiably, before tucking the gastronomical delight between her lips with obvious and clear pleasure. It's not quite a chocolate fondue, but it's not a million miles different. "You're up early. Couldn't sleep?"
"More like 'could,'" Siz replies, lifting up her shoulders and even her free arm, then letting it flop back down against her side, still dressed only in a nightgown and slippers, with a robe drawn about with the surprise drop in temperature this morning. Her short little tuff of hair is adorably bedheaded, or else carefully styled to appear that way. "I think I fell asleep before the sun last night. 'Shmallow for your choco?" she offers, drawing one of the remaining treats from her bag in an offer. "I didn't even get as far as the desserts yesterday." Tragedy of tragedies.
Say what you like about her, lack of generosity is not one of Niobe's faults. She gives a small smile and a nod, then gestures to the spread in front of her offhandedly. It's a fair exchange. Marshmallow for a share in anything she'd like from what is clearly too much breakfast for one person anyway. "I had intended to come and give everything a little try," she admits, "but then I had an old friend show up on the doorstep, and it seemed churlish to turn him away. How was the cheese?"
Sido leans across to deposit the 'shmallow on the side of Niobe's saucer, then crunches up the end of the paper bag, saving the rest of the treats for some time when she isn't already full to the back teeth of them. "I think it would be better to forego an opinion on the cheeses; it seems to be somehow a polarizing topic," she curls a mischievous smile. "I learned my lesson, though, and that's for sure: dessert first. You never do know."
Niobe plucks up the treat and plops it directly into the hot chocolate where it can bob around like a tiny, sweet liferaft. "See, that's my philosophy for life in general," she notes, tearing off a different piece of a different pastry, this one glazed and topped with candied peel and raisins. "Why wait? For anything? If it's there, grab it with both hands because you never know when it'll be taken away again."
"I thought, well— I thought, quite reasonably, at the time, let's wait and have the dessert last; I will enjoy the anticipation, and it will close the outing on a sweet note and send me home quite contentedly," Sido prattles, leaning gingerly against the back of Niobe's chair and soliloquizing overhead. "I suppose it must come from a place of safety and assurance. Not everyone is so lucky. More people have had more than chocolate stolen from them before they could taste of it."
Niobe selects a piece of dark, chocolatey, flaky pastry with her other hand and holds it overhead for her fellow courtesan to claim. "I've never been an anticipation sort of girl," she admits easily, tilting her head back to watch Sido. "Here, since you missed out. What happened, anyway?"
Sido leans over the chair back and nomfs the bit of pastry right from Niobe's fingertips, then giggles as it may have been a little bit more than she can actually chew. She hangs back and lifts both hands to her mouth to keep from shedding pastry flakes everywhere. Instead she just gets them on her cozy robe, and brushes them into her hand, slipping around to scout out a napkin where she can set them. "Mmh," she shakes her head. "There was a disagreement about some of the imported cheese. I didn't really catch the whole of it, whether it was that angelic cheese is better, or Flatlandish cheese is worse?" she browses the table a little bit, but doesn't sample anything else just yet. "Anyhow the Flatlandish cheese ended up on the ground before there could be much debate. And their Ambassador didn't seem thrilled."
"Food fight?" Niobe queries with a laugh, pulling one of the cushions out from behind her to toss down in Sido's general direction. Comfort doesn't have to stop at patrons alone. "Well, now I wish I'd been there. Did you at least encourage the ambassador to come and lay his troubles aside here? I don't mean to be opportunistic, but it does sound like he's a man in need of having his burdens eased, hm?"
Sido hops a mite when pillow'd, then looks back and laughs. "Oh, I wish you'd been there, too. You might have thought of such a thing. I was only making an effort for a discreet exit, so as not to seem entirely to be running away," she admits, flumping down onto the cushion and pulling her feet up after her to cross calf over calf.
Niobe delicately licks crumbs and some of the sticky glaze from her fingers, then takes up her hot chocolate, marshmallow and all, to enjoy. "Not running so fast you couldn't pick up a bag of treats, though," she teases, poking the marshmallow with one fingernail until it submerges then bobs up again, all covered in milky chocolate drink, then takes a long, satisfying slurp.
"You don't know how fast I go," Sido giggles, turning to lounge a little more languorously on her pillow, reaching out a bare toe to poke at one of Niobe's ankle. "Anyhow, those were here waiting for me when I woke up. If I didn't know any better, I'd think someone had a crush on me," she scrunches up her nose along with a wink.
"No note, no nothing?" Niobe can't help but be curious, leaning forward a little in her chair. "Who is this secret admirer, and where do I sign up for one?"
"No note, no nothing," Siz repeats helplessly. "I suspect that I will find out in time," she goes on. Anonymous gifts are never left anonymous, after all— that would diffuse their role in the agenda. But, brightly, "What? Are you wanting for an admirer, Niobe?"
"I certainly don't have any who deliver anonymous treats to the door," Niobe admits with an easy smile, reaching to claim an apricot. This she tosses upwards a few inches and catches, just to keep her hands busy more than anything else, while she considers. "But you know I'm nearing forty, and this isn't a life that's kind to the old. I can't say I'd turn down a steady regular who'll keep me in fruit and pastries into my waning years."
"You wouldn't turn down— oh! You mean to marry? Or at least to follow as consort? Oh, Niobe, what a thought! Tell me just what sort of person you have in mind, and let me help you to make a match!" Siz is all but bouncing, now, tucking her legs away again under her and rising to her knees to plead her suitability for this task.
Niobe laughs, a bright sound in the morning air that seems to echo the chirping birdsong. "Siz, there's a whole mile of difference between a steady regular and a husband. I like my freedom here, but a little security never went astray. Can you imagine what a miseryguts I'd be if I didn't get to enjoy a good breakfast every day for worrying about when my next patron will be along?"
"Well, yes, but a regular this year may not be a regular, next," Siz reminds. "A husband is… well, forever. And so romantic. Can't you imagine your heart just being stolen away one day?" Look at Siz, all up on her knees and leaning up on Niobe's lap with that fucking Heliotrope gaze, all dreamy and filled with sighs.
Niobe stretches one long leg out in front of her (the other being rather blocked right now by both breakfast and a keen eyed Heliotrope) and laughs again. "I don't mind at all giving my heart out on loan," she insists, "and that's the beauty of what we do here, isn't it? But can you imagine how bored I'd be with one man for the rest of eternity?"
"Mmh. No, I think you're the only one who can imagine that," Siz answers, truthfully, toying with a little bit of Niobe's garment, squeezing it between her fingers and tugging softly. "But just because you were married doesn't mean there can't be anyone else," she tries pointing out, though half-helpless in tone. "And anyhow, you might fall in love," she perks up optimistically.
"I am in love," Niobe insists, twisting the fruit in her hand to tear it into two halves along the line of the stone. She grins widely, offering the stoneless half to the woman trying to crawl into her lap. "I'm in love with Monsieur l'Abricot, Mademoiselle Patisserie, and the venerable old Grandpere Chocolat."
Sido would never! Well, maybe not never. As it stands, she's happy enough to rest there with her chin, then half her cheek resting on Niobe's thigh, gazing up sideways from beneath and giggling at the personification of breakfast. She'll take up the offered half, lifting her head and then settling back onto her heels so as to dribble only on herself if she dribbles — and, let's face it, that's going to happen. "And look, they're all here to visit you before it's even noon. It must be reciprocated."
Niobe nods solemnly as she picks the stone from her half of the fruit and discards it casually to one side to present later to her birds. "It's a match made in heaven. What man could compare with all this?" she questions, gesturing widely with her free hand towards the spread. "If you can find me a man who brings me as much joy as a good breakfast, I'd marry him," she allows with a half smile. "But I find it unlikely."
Sido has got some sort of concession from Niobe, and she will take it as a win, shimmying from heel to toe and then rising, bowing to peck Niobe sweetly upon the cheek. "I will for sure look. Someone as bright as Apricot, as satisfying as Pastry and as warm as Cocoa," she decrees, stealing the remains of her shmallows from the back of the chair and bouncing a few times before she scampers off with both those and the halved fruit.