[PRP] Special Delivery!

[TawnyAngel]

It was always exciting when one of his pieces sold; somebody liked his work! Oh, and money as well, money was especially pressing at the moment. It was the Sylveon they'd gone for and he'd been pretty proud of that one actually, though carving out the ribbons had been terrifying. The idea of posting it was pretty terrifying too actually, he really hoped it didn't break in transport because he could in no way afford to give this person a refund. When he looked at the address however a new idea presented itself; not only did they - she, Alice apparently - live in Kodo but in Camphoreon and not too far away! Delivering it by hand would ensure it arrived safely and it didn't hurt to meet a customer right? Maybe she'd be more likely to buy more from him in future? You never knew.

With this plan firmly fixed in his mind Taavi packed up the figure in a little cardboard box - padded with shed down and cut up feathers from Valour - and headed out of Abel's apartment with a brief explanation to the pokemon, locking the door behind him as he went.

With the location of the apartment block googled Taavi flagged down the circling Valour and took off on his mission.

Probably less than an hour after Alice had ordered her Sylveon figure she would - assuming she was in - hear the buzzer go off, informing her that there was somebody outside the building wanting her attention.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Fortunately for Taavi, Alice was indeed in her apartment. The sound of the buzzer startled her and her pokemon, and she rose quickly and jogged over to the intercom near her door. After pressing the button to talk, she asked somewhat uncertainly, "Who is it?" She wasn't expecting any visitors today, right? If it were her parents, they'd just come up or down and knock on her door, so obviously not them... So who...?

Outside, the intercom system affected Alice's voice in a manner similar to speaking to someone through a moderately old, somewhat ailing phone; enough wavering sound quality and static to affect how a voice sounds, but not enough to wholly disrupt the message or conversation. While obviously old and not functioning as well as it could be, it at least functioned well enough to just barely avoid replacement.  

[TawnyAngel]

It was kind of cold outside so Taavi was glad not to have to wait too long for a response. Like many intercoms he had encountered in the past this one did not exactly ring clear as a bell but he was able to make out the woman's words easily enough all the same. "Um, hi!" Taavi responded. "I have a package for you from TWard crafts? Special delivery! Heh." He should probably refund her postage fee seen as he hadn't had to post it.... Yes, he definitely should; much as it would have been nice to pocket the few extra dollars it would be dishonest and he'd just feel awful about it for ages if he did. Luckily he was keeping track of his money so closely that he knew for a fact he had the cash on hand to do so.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Alice shared a brief bewildered glance with her Sylveon before she frowned and hit the button on her buzzer so she could say in a surprised voice, "But I only just ordered that like, an hour ago. That's so fast!" Had it really been delivered that quickly? She had received a shipment notification that it would arrive today, but that hadn't been too long ago... Really? Already? Baffled but curious - and pleased, if it really was arriving so soon, Alice said, "Thanks, come on up!" before pressing another button.

Almost immediately after her final message, the intercom buzzed and the nearby door unlocked with a loud click to allow Taavi entrance to the building.  

[TawnyAngel]

She sounded surprised, but pleased? Good! "Heh, well I do my best to give a good service! Thank you, I'll be right up!" Taavi pushed open the door and stepped gratefully into the shelter of the lobby. After a brief internal debate he decided to take the lift rather than the stairs because he was awkward enough with new people as it was without running up several flights of stairs and so adding being a little out of breath to the mix.

Soon enough Taavi was outside the correct door and, package in hand, he knocked.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

In the short period of time between her conversation with her visitor and him knocking on her door, Alice had straightened up the areas nearest the door and ignored the areas deeper in her apartment that couldn't be seen from the door. She paused in the bathroom briefly to check her appearance - she didn't look too bad, even if it was obvious, in jeans and a thick-strapped white and yellow tanktop without socks or shoes, that she had no plans to venture out into the cold anytime soon - before hastening to the door to look through the peephole.

A muffled "oh!" emanated from immediately behind the door Taavi knocked on, and a moment later the door opened to admit him a view of a familiar white-haired young woman, as well as a relatively neat kitchen. Alice offered Taavi a surprised but pleased expression as she said, "Hi!" This was not at all who she'd expected to deliver anything to her!

Cassandra slipped around Alice's leg to offer Taavi a polite wave of her ribbons. "Syyl!"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh!" Taavi's eyes widened slightly as the door opened to reveal a familiar figure, this was the woman and Sylveon he'd met when he just came off the boat. "Um, hi! Fancy seeing you two here... where you live. Um." Well that had been awkward. Taavi offered an apologetic grin and held out the package to her. "Your delivery. I figured that seen as I live here and you live here it would make sense for me to deliver this myself? So I could be sure it wouldn't get broken. I'll refund your postage fee of course! And I'm really glad you liked the piece, I was pretty proud of it!" This was even better than some random person buying something from him! Somebody he'd actually met before thought the thing he had made was worth spending her dollars on!  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yep, this is where I live," Alice affirmed with a smile and a nod. This was a surprise! A pleasant surprise, too! Smiling away the awkward statement - that was actually kind of cute - she gleefully accepted the box he offered her. "Thank you! I really wasn't expecting it for at least a few days," the young woman admitted as she briefly inspected the package and retreated a step or two into her apartment without shutting the door, paused, then offered a sheepish smile as her face reddened. "Oh! Um, you can come in if you want," she offered; she should have done so before beginning to return to the depths of her apartment with the door open under the assumption he would follow her, but it was too late to go back and change that now. How embarrassing... Well, not as embarrassing as it could've been, but still. "Oh, you don't need to refund the shipping fee or anything. I mean you, um, still had to ship it, right? Just not in the traditional fashion," she went on as she tried to will her face to not look as bright as a Cherubi. "You delivered it by hand, anyway, so it's kind of, um, like paying you to deliver it to me instead of paying the post to deliver it, right?" That made sense, right?

Hastily setting the butchered thought aside and wishing her face would get less redder instead of more, Alice focused her gaze intently on the box in her hands. "Yes! I loved it, I thought it was so pretty, and, um, Cassie loved it too, right?"

The Sylveon nodded her head firmly, offering a bright "sylveon!" in agreement and internally wishing her trainer wouldn't get quite so flustered so easily.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh, thank you!" Taavi beamed at the offer and followed Alice inside and relaxed a little when she got a bit flustered because hey, he was in good company! Once through the threshold he closed the door behind him and sank down on one knee to offer his hand out to Cassandra in a proper greeting. "Um, well, I suppose if you put it that way I won't say no," he continued to Alice; "Thank you, I really appreciate it." She had no idea how much! Those few dollars could buy a few meals in the form of noodles or similar.

"I can't believe it's you," Taavi continued, still kneeling down on the floor. "I mean what are the chances right?" It had to be a blessed meeting, was the spirit of the true Jirachi intervening or was it Sasha's 'Luck'? Well maybe they were the same, you couldn't just have a great power floating around in nothing! He wouldn't say that to Sasha of course but there it was.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Pleased with his behavior, Cassandra puffed herself up a bit and wrapped one feeler-ribbon around Taavi's hand to shake. That was how humans greeted each other, and she was a proper lady, she could do the same! ...after that, though, maybe he would pet her. Maybe. ...maybe she should have thought of that first.

"Oh, no, I should be thanking you," Alice said with a shake of her head as she headed deeper into her apartment with her box. On one side Taavi would have a perfect view of her neat little kitchen, and on the other side sat her hastily-cleaned laundry area and bathroom, its light on and sounds of gently splashing water coming from within. "You brought it all the way here, after all! You really didn't, um, you really didn't have to do that. I do appreciate it, though," she added hastily, hoping he wouldn't take offense.

Once past the kitchen and bathroom, Alice had stepped into the main portion of her apartment. What was undoubtedly intended to be a living area instead posed as a sprawling work station that spanned almost the entirety of the L-shaped section. A wide variety of art supplies littered the area, from easels to paints to buckets of clay, from brushes to sculpting tools to blank canvases leaning against a wall. "I, um, I wasn't expecting company, so I'm sorry for the, um, messy state of things," she admitted, face reddening again as she set the box down on the floor and pulled a small knife from a box of tools so she could open it. "Oh, I know! I didn't know it was you either! I mean, um, I do now, but, um, at the time I didn't. That's really neat though! So do you, um, live somewhere in the city?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Awww, yay! Taavi smiled at Cassandra's greeting and, once she released him, he gave her a stroke behind the ears before rising to follow Alice again. "Oh it was no trouble, I came by Braviary! Very efficient and um, fun too!" he assured her with a grin and a slight lift of his shoulders to add to the assurance that her reciprocated thanks - while appreciated - were not needed.

"Oh, wow!" It was with that exclamation that Taavi stepped into the- the studio? A studio in a studio apartment, he liked it! "This is so cool!" Now grinning broadly Taavi turned a full circle to take in the entire space with all of its canvases, easels, buckets, and beyond. "Wow you've got a real studio here this is amazing! I remember you saying you were an artist but- wow!" Oh wait he'd been asked a question, right? Taavi gave a brief laugh at himself. "Yeah, uh, yeah I do live in the city." Kiiiiiinda. Sorta. In a no fixed address sort of way. "I ended up settling here like I wanted, it's a pretty nice city right?" It was, there was bad bits like any city but some of it was lovely and it had The Egg! Nothing could beat that.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ohh, that's right! You said your pokemon was a Braviary before, right?" Alice asked as she finished unsealing the box and put the knife away again.

Upon further inspection beyond just what was strewn about the floor, Taavi would find the windowsills, shelves and other flat surfaces contained a variety of sculptures, most of them finished, but one or two unfinished pieces sat in one corner. Hung on the walls were a handful of paintings, though they weren't as numerous as the sculptures placed around the room. The subject in a large number of the pieces - both sculptures and paintings - Taavi would recognize as none other than the Sylveon that trotted up beside him, while the rest portrayed a variety of other pokemon or, in the case of the paintings, scenery. One of the only flat surfaces - besides most of the floor - that was not taken up by any of her work were the stairs against one wall that led up to an open room that spanned one half of the apartment and oversaw the other. A Ralts that looked normal at first glance peered down at him curiously from the second level, but beyond her and the top halves of a couple more paintings, not much of the second level was visible from the first.

Alice paused in opening her box to blush profusely and beam. "Thank you," she said sincerely, appreciative that Taavi would compliment her apartment so. "I brought all of my supplies and everything when I moved here, I was lucky to, um, find a place with enough space to fit everything and spread out." It was never pleasant to work in a cramped spot that didn't have enough space for the tools she needed. Remembering her box, Alice shifted to sit cross-legged, and when she opened the package her eyebrows lifted in surprise. She had expected maybe packing peanuts or bubble wrap or tissue paper or something - those were usually standard with packages - but she hadn't expected the soft, fluffy bits of feathers that sat there. "Do you always pack your boxes with this?" She asked in a voice mixed with surprise and curiosity as she reached in to lift out a few pieces to feel them between her fingers. So soft! "Are these from your Braviary?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah that's him! Valour," Taavi affirmed with a smile and a nod, "he's hanging out outside, probably found somewhere to perch and watch the world go by for a bit." Sometimes he really wished he had wings of his own so he could just take off and go, the two of them could fly together and... heh, but it was silly and he knew that Valour often envied his hands. They made a good team, no point wishing they were both the same.

Ah, and Alice was opening the package! Taavi tore himself away from looking around her treasure-crammed apartment to watch her expression, he really hoped she liked the figure in person! Apparently though even before she got to it there was something of interest to Alice, the fluffy packaging. "Oh, yeah, usually!" Taavi nodded again. "Feathers are free, and environmentally friendly, and also I hate the squeaky noise of those packing things. So," he grinned and shrugged, "it works out all round."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Alice smiled brightly at the thought of Taavi's Braviary wheeling about in the sky overlooking the city, or finding a nice spot atop a building to perch for a while, though her smile remained as she refocused on the package in her hands. "That's really cool!" She said earnestly, fingering the soft feathers a bit more. Now what could she do with these...? "I really like them, it's a really cool idea, I think. Especially for packing wooden carvings in, it gives it an added feel of just being so natural, I think. If, um, if that makes sense," she added hastily, her cheeks reddening a bit.

Whoo, okay, enough rambling! Setting that aside, she carefully dug through the fluffy feathers until her fingertips brushed against the real prize, and she pulled the Sylveon figurine from the depths of the package. Her slightly embarrassed expression vanished in the face of her excitement; Cassie even trotted forward to her trainer, eager to see the figurine that looked like her. "Eeee," Alice squeaked out excitedly as she held the wooden Sylveon in her hands carefully, so carefully, and turned it over to inspect it. She even held it close for her own fairy-type to see, beaming happily the whole time. "Look, Cassie, it's you! Isn't it beautiful? Look at the little bows and ribbons!" The young woman said, pointing to them unnecessarily. "Aahh, Taavi it's perfect," she exclaimed finally, turning to grin up at him. "How do you make these? Isn't it hard to carve all the little parts without them breaking or falling off?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah, that makes sense!" Taavi agreed, nodding earnestly and smiling encouragingly at Alice. "It's, um, an added bonus I guess? The natural feeling I mean."

And heeee, she liked it! She liked it a lot! Taavi beamed at the other artist's enthusiasm - was he allowed to call himself an artist? - and shrugged expressively. "Ah, well, avoiding breakage is mainly practice I guess? It is kinda hard, and it does happen sometimes, but mostly you just have to be really patient, go slowly, and have a good piece of wood! If there was a knot or somewhere in that section it would be doomed but, um, knots can be really nice as part of a piece if in the right place! Ah, yeah, so it's just experience and patience really. I'm really glad you like it! I don't usually get to see people receive their pieces so, yeah, I'm glad you're happy!" It would be really nice to be able to just do this for a living but what were the chances of that happening? He might as well hope to win the lottery, or to become the pokemon league champion or something.