will work for money [connor]

Nils was finally facing the reality he had slowly come to accept over the last couple of weeks: He needed a job. He knew he couldn't just spend the rest of his life hiding out in Paisley's estate, having her buy him everything, and never interacting with the outside world (as much as he wished he could). He had to start getting on with his life, the way Henri had.

He also had to do it on his own. As easy as it would be to just ask Paisley to find him a job, he knew he had to start relying on himself more. He'd gone from being completely dependent on Henri to being completely dependent on Paisley. And as Tanith kept reminding him, it just wasn't a healthy way to live.

And then there was one final reason he was doing this. He'd known for a long time now that he never wanted to be with anyone besides Paisley ever again. He wanted to marry her one day, and he was pretty sure she felt the same way. When that day came, he wanted to be more independent, more deserving of her. And at the very least he wanted to be able to buy her a ring.

So here he was, standing outside of a greenhouse with a sign outside that read "Help wanted, inquire inside". With no schooling and no legal work experience, he knew something like this was his only chance. He was good with plants. At least, Paisley told him he was.

You are, Tanith told him impatiently. She nudged the back of his legs with her head. You're never gonna get a job if you keep standing out here. Come on, you know you can do this.

He knew no such thing, but otherwise Tanith was right. He had to go in and try. Taking a deep breath, he went inside and looked around until he found someone who worked there. It was a guy around his own age. "Um, hi," he said, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice. "I was looking for a job and saw your sign outside."

Connor had just finished potting a bunch of violets and was now heading over to the lunch room to eat something. He was the only one currently working, but a little bell above the door signaled him whenever a customer entered. As he was digging behind the check out desk for his lunch he heard the jingle that told him someone had entered. Sigh.

Sure enough, a moment later a guy walked out from behind a wall of plants. Connor smiled at him.

Customer Guy wrote:Um, hi. I was looking for a job and saw your sign outside.

"Cool," Connor said, walking out from around the desk and extending a hand to the man. "Name's Connor," he told him, shaking the hand that he presumably held out. After shaking it he leaned back over the desk and grabbed a sheet of paper.

"We've been looking for someone for ages. You'd think clio around here would be more interested in a job like this since we're in Nadar and all, but for some reason we have trouble keeping staff," Connor told him, swiping a pen off the desk as well. "Mind filling this out in the back? I'm starving."

He handed the application and pen to the man and motioned him to follow him into the back room.

Nils, in his usual pessimistic way, was half-expecting to be refused on the spot. Or at least questioned or something. Instead the guy--Connor--just smiled, shook his hand and grabbed him an application. "No, I don't mind," he replied, following Connor to the back.

Introduce yourself! Tanith urged.

"Oh, I'm Nils, by the way. Selway," he added hastily, as Connor motioned towards a table for him to sit at to fill out the application.

Name: Nicholas Selway

Age: 22

Eilemaiden: AdubharAdhbhar...

A silence ensued as he wrote, and he felt like he should say something. What should he say? Something about himself? Something about working with plants? "I, uh, I worked in the garden in the Nadar Estate a little bit," he offered. That would sound good to someone who worked in a greenhouse, right?

Previous Employer: None...

Connor had been busy shoving his mouth full of salad when Nils started talking to him. The fork was still in his mouth, lettuce sticking out, when he looked up at him. Okay, that was probably rude, not talking to the guy.

"Sowry," he mumbled incoherently, chewing quickly so he could swallow. "That's good that you come from a background of gardening. What's your eilemaiden?" he asked. Not that they were picky, of course. They'd hire practically anyone at this point, but the best workers usually came from Nadar, Ughdarras, or Adhbhar.

Education: Homeschooled...

It was Tanith's idea for Nils to claim he had been homeschooled, arguing that admitting he had no education was not only likely to get him denied a job, but also likely to bring up a lot of uncomfortable questions.

Although now that I'm watching this guy, I get the feeling he's not even gonna read your application, Tanith said, watching Connor try to talk casually through a mouth full of food. He looked so uninvested that Tanith guessed he would have hired anyone who walked in the door.

"Adhbhar," Nils replied, hoping Connor wouldn't notice that he had spelled it wrong and crossed it out on his application. "What about you? Nadar?" Sometimes Nils wondered what things would be like if he had chosen Nadar instead. He was happy with Adhbhar, though. It had been useful back when he and Henri were on the run.

"Seems like you'll fit in perfectly around here, then!" Connor said with a smile. "I'm Adhbhar, too. The owner is Nadar, of course, but she likes to keep a slew of Adhbhars around to make sure the dirt is on its A game." Liked to keep. Didn't keep. Connor was actually the only Adhbhar that currently worked at Smell the Roses. Well, and possibly this Nils guy. In fact, if Melinda decided to hire him, that would bring the grand total of employees up to... five.

Connor took another bite of his salad and watched as Nils continued to fill out the application. "Melinda will be in a little later today, so she'll probably send word out tomorrow, if you've got the job. D'you live nearby?"

"Uh, yeah, actually," Nils replied, finishing up the last of the application and setting down the pen. He'd wound up mentioning working on Paisley's garden in the "volunteer work" section, since he didn't have any actual paid work that he could openly talk about. "The estate. The one I said I worked on. I sort of live there." It was about a two and a half mile walk from there, not far at all.

He hadn't realized it was actually another clio other than Connor in charge of hiring, though in retrospect he felt stupid for not thinking of that. He glanced down at his poor excuse of an application and frowned, thinking Melinda probably wouldn't be very impressed.

"The overloridian's estate?" Connor asked, looking up again, from his food. "You just got interesting. Tell me more."

"Oh. Well..." Nils hesitated. Sometimes he was a little nervous telling clio about him and Paisley, ever since the incident with those reporters. But this was just a guy working in a flower shop, not another stalker with a camera. "Me and Paisley--the overloridian--we're kind of dating."

"Kind of dating," Tanith repeated, shaking her head. You want to marry her, and you still say you're "kind of dating."

"Shut the fuck up, you're with the overloridian?" he exclaimed, taking another bite of his salad as though it were popcorn at a play. He looked Nils up and down. Interesting didn't cover it. He wondered what it would be like to be with someone so powerful and famous.

"No kidding," he said, when Nils didn't say he was kidding. "So what are you doing here? You guys have got to be like, rolling in money."

"Paisley has money, yeah," Nils replied, looking down at the table. Connor was suddenly staring at him like he was the most fascinating thing in Amelia, and he didn't really like it. He guessed he couldn't really blame him for being interested, but still. Nils hated attention, positive or negative. "I don't."

"Ah, the noble sort," Connor said, returning to his food. "I like you already, Selway," he said. Connor liked interesting, and it seemed Nils would be nothing less. He leaned over and swiped the pen Nils had been using, then drew a star at the top of the page.

"Connor's star of approval," he explained, sitting the pen down. "Melinda is sure to hire you now. Expect that letter in the mail tomorrow."

"What? Uh, really?" Nils asked, looking down at the little star and then up at Connor doubtfully. Was that a joke? Was Connor just making fun of him or something?

Is it so hard to believe that the guy just actually likes you? Tanith asked. Of course she knew that for Nils, yes, that sort of thing was hard to believe. While being suspicious of everyone and everything had been a useful, if not necessary, trait to have in the past, nowadays it was more of a hindrance than anything.

He looked back down at the star. "Well...thanks. I-I'll look forward to getting it." Had he really done it? Had he actually just gotten himself a job?