It was one of those overly hot days in New York City, when one could see the heat waves dancing like light on water. It was so warm that it was necessary for one to relax in air conditioning instead of being out and about. However, Xavia flourished on days like these. She’d spent the afternoon on the roof to sun bathe, and then took a long bath in her claw foot tub. She was completely relaxed by a certain point. It was a day she wished she could tale off and not bother with the outside world. But she had to get back to reality at some point.

The plant mutant put on a red dress, a designer number that was strappy and knee length. A sheer blouse was placed over that, blonde-in-a-box was swept up into a clip, and red pumps put on her feet. Business was going to be discussed on this day, one way or another. First she had a meeting with her lawyer to talk about expanding the greenhouse business, and then she would be talking to a few candidates for her manager, and finally she was going to try and get a hold of the headmaster of the school she was going to be donating her money to.

She now sat in a posh little café in Upper Manhattan, slightly worn out at that moment in time. She dialed the number she had looked up in the phone book, and waited till Sam picked up, or she got voicemail. Either way, she would say, “Hello, my name is Xavia Warshahlai, and I need to speak to you about a donation check for your facility. You can meet me at (insert restaurant name here), we can discuss the donation and other ventures.” And if it was voicemail she got, she would go on to say, “You can reach me at KL5-3434.” If not, she gave the man a specific time.

Whether it was arranged for a closer time or later, she moved on to the restaurant in question and waited for his arrival. Hopefully he would show up so they could finally meet.

Why was it everyone assumed he was the headmaster when Tricity and Neena were gone? Sam had no qualifications, and his nameplate outside defiantly didn’t have ‘current’ assistant head master. If anything he was ‘assistant to the headmistress and assistant headmistress’, though that would have been a very long nameplate. Maybe he should go to school and learn how to run a school, heck he could open his own. It took a second to sink in but Sam laughed to himself as he handed the valet his keys on got a ticket. Sam had no intention of running a school; he was completely happy where he was in the school. Teaching the kids how to defend themselves it was one of the few things he could do with his good eye closed.

Straightening his black tie Sam gave himself a once over and nodded at his dress attire for the meeting, it was if anything a busniess meeting and he made sure he dressed the part. Black suit, shiny shoes and a clean haircut, maybe that was why everyone thought he was headmaster? That or the forwarding voicemail sent those who planned on donating or anything really serious that would require immediate and responsible attention. Sam smirked to himself in the mirror; he doubted the eye patch helped with the professional work. He didn’t think himself a responsible party either, he did happen to have a few drinks the night before and his head was just now starting to clear.

Walking into the restaurant Sam smelled the air and got a taste of garlic, it was a nice Italian restaurant defiantly not the kind Sam would have dressed appropriately for if it wasn’t an important meeting. Walking to the hostess Sam smiled and waved, ”Here to meet a,” Sam re-read the sheet with the woman’s name, number, location of meeting and time. Sam was a few minutes early as planned and figured it would be a perfect time to scope out location to get a feel for the upcoming meeting, ”X-avia Warshalaie?” he didn’t’ know how to say the last name even if he listened to the voicemail a dozen times.

A few seconds later and he was in front of a table with a woman in a red dress, ”I believe you wanted to meet with me?” Sam asked extending his hand towards the woman. ”Sam Johnson.”

It didn’t take long at all for Sam to show up. He was early. The man approached and introduced himself, she rose, took his hand and squeezed. “I am Sah-vee-ah Warshahlai.” And then she was seating herself again. “It is lovely to finally meet with you, Mr. Johnson, I hope you are having a wonderful day. I have been trying to find someone to talk to about the check I am dying to donate to the school.” The plant mutant took hold of a cloth napkin and draped it across her lap, and continued, “My friend, Nate, told me to talk to you. Please, do have a seat.” And she would gesture toward the seat opposite hers.

The waiter came to the table and placed bread sticks in the center of the table, read off the wine of the day for which she declined for coffee instead, and then the menus were given to them. “I know what I would like, but we can wait until Mr. Johnson is ready.” She smiled, and then the waiter was off.

That being done, she launched right into business whether he was seated or not… “As you are aware, I have a rather large sum I am donating. I recently inherited a business after the death of my father and it is in his memory I make this donation. In addition – May I call you Sam? I hate formalities… -- Anyhow, in addition to my donation of $98,000, I wish to establish a greenhouse on the grounds of the school for the use of the children. Now, as a stipulation, part of my donation is to be for specific improvements, and the rest will be as your school sees fit. The main reason I needed to speak with a representative, if not the schoolmaster, is to discuss possible improvements, as well as to arrange payments. Ehh…” Her accent was obviously Eastern European, but not too thick to understand. “For instance; one lump sum, or opening a bank account strictly for this donation and the possibility of more.”

The waiter came back with her coffee and whatever he decided to drink, and she pulled a legal pad out to set onto the table, as well as an ink pen. She then ordered Eggplant Parmesan for herself, and of course was footing the bill for whatever he chose to order.

Once he took her hand and she introduced herself Sam finally picked up on where the accent was from or at least a general idea, it was too difficult to hear on the phone but now? Europe, central Europe perhaps? It sounded similar to a certain molecular altering ex-girlfriend he didn’t really want to think of at the moment. His thoughts trailed back to the woman before he fully got a good look at her in her red dress; he heard her name and tried to repeat it in his head. First name he got down the last… ‘hope she doesn’t want me to repeat it back’ thought Sam as he smiled and took his seat across from Xavia.

She explained who suggested the mansion to her, how she had heard of his name and how she came by the money. Sam smiled and nodded until the waiter came to them and deposited a coffee (black) and water to its side. Once Xavier requested her meal Sam did the same with a shrimp fettuccini alfredo and looked back to the woman before him.

It seemed it was all about business which was good, if he wasn’t serious about the school his thoughts clearly would have wandered to her red dress, however Sam cleared his throat after a sip of coffee, ”Sam is fine as long as I can call you Xavia,” ‘plus one for not butchering her last name’ thought Sam as he continued, ”as far as headmaster is concerned I’m not but while the current headmistress, Tricity and her assistant Neena are away it seems most of the responsibilities they had fall onto me, so I guess that makes me assistant to the assistant?” he asked sipping his coffee again.

”However, I will be able to handle all this accordingly.” sip of coffee continue, ”First let me offer condolences for the loss of your father, I’m sure this isn’t an easy time but if you need help with anything, don’t hesitate to ask, the least I can do after the donation you are offering.” Sam picked up a bread stick from the table and pulled a piece off and sipped some coffee, ”A very generous donation indeed.” he paused and waved a hand on word at her next request, ”As far as a green house goes, I do think that is one of the few things our school is currently missing on the grounds, I trust you already have an idea on how it should look?” Sam asked taking another bite of his bread before putting it down.

Once his mouth was clear (manners) Sam continued, ”I believe an account would be the most beneficial for the school and if you deem at a later time to donate more feel free. Only if you are satisfied however on the greenhouse and the improvements to the school that you requested.” Sam shrugged, ”Rather have you satisfied with how your money is spent, right?”

Sam took another sip of coffee and then continued on, ”Now if you don’t mind me asking other than the greenhouse what else did you have in mind for the school?” he paused and then added without thinking much on it, ”Your accent, European right? It sounds slightly familiar.”

“Thank you very much. My poppa was a good, hard working man and I do miss him. Yes, please do call me Xavia.” It was kind of funny that she was oblivious to any scoping out he may have been doing at that particular moment. Xavia was captain oblivious when it came to being checked out by men. It was a dangerous trait to have, for there were one too many occasions where men folk had become too enamored and then obsessed. Case in point: Beledodia.

Back in the moment, though, she wrote some notes as they spoke. “I will contact my lawyer to be present for legality purposes when we create the bank account, and draw up any contracts.” She crossed her leg, one over the other, and skimmed over her notes before looking up at him. “I am thinking a glass structure with several beds of vegetables, fruits, and miscellaneous flora with temperature and humidity control. Not only will they be able to get a closer look at what they eat, but I believe the school could use the produce for meals, to sell to the locals. Those are only a few ideas! There are so many possibilities.”

And then came the question about her accent, she gave a smile at that. “I was born in Hungary. My family came to the states when I was young.” He obviously needed no strong reason to ask, it was something that really didn’t perceive as a large curiosity. Besides, she was asked all the time. She grew lost in thought from there, picturing her dad from before he had died, how his eyes lit up when he saw her alive and well. He’d teased her a little for bleaching her mass of gipsy-black curls. She missed him immensely.

”Not a bad idea.” Sam said as he thought on the subject it would give the kids something to do and he knew personally from a few of his students like Gawain, the more duties or less free time a student has the less chance they’d get in trouble, and he knew a few kids needed something to do. ”Think we can open up the green house for a year round class as well.” Sam thought knowing both Tricity and Neena would be happy about adding more classes to the roster.

The vegetables and fruits that were grown could turn a profit if they chose to go that route or it could be used for a few meals in the mansion at a time. Sam smiled to Xavia and added, ”Sounds like you have been thinking about this for some time, what else did you have in mind?” picking up his cup Sam took another small cup of coffee wondering what her other ideas for the greenhouse consisted of.

Again with out thinking Sam tried to recall all the words he had used during his time in Romania when he was under the effect of the mutant gems that gifted him with the power of different languages, ”{I been at} Hungary” said Sam using the words as best as he could remember but only managing to mutter the words in mostly Romanian without realizing it.

His left hand went to his eye patch before he noticed what he was doing. Scratching to the side of his patch Sam continued in English, ”From what I recall lovely scenery.” Sam said continuing on with the small talk trying not to think back to why he was running through Hungary. The last thing Sam wanted to do was dim the meeting with tales of the Romanian camps or anything or anyone that Sam related to the experience.

“You are on the same page as me for sure,” she smiled and relaxed, sinking back against her chair and popping a bite of bread into her mouth to chew on thoughtfully, a long and tapered finger tapping gracefully against her cheek while she reflected. She swallowed the bite and then sipped at her coffee, and then tilted her head a little. “Perhaps it could have two wings… One designed for leisure… Perhaps to admire exotics… Bonzai trees. I remember when I was younger, I loved when my momma and poppa showed me how to plant seedlings and prune them. Teaching a tree how to grow, teaches a lesson to children a good lesson on life.”

She gave a winsome smile, her eyes warm at the memory. “The other wing could be for food, it would teach kids where some foods come from, and so much more.” She closed her eyes and listened to him speak. He slipped into Romanian, which was similar to her own language. “Very lovely, indeed.” Her reply was in Hungarian. She translated in English in case he didn’t understand.

Sam smirked into his cup of coffee when she spoke in Hungarian from what he could tell the only word that sounded familiar at all was lovely, other than that he didn’t understand till she translated. Nodding his head slightly when she did Sam was glad he knew at least one of the words.

Setting down his coffee and looking over to see the waiter bring a pair of trays their way Sam continued on with their main topic, ”As far as I’m concerned you have full creativity once we can figure out the dimensions of the green house, leisure, education and food are all more than possible.” Sam said as he moved his silverware to the side to make room for the plate as it was set down, ”Thank you.” Sam said to the waiter as he looked at his meal.

”Now tell me if you would Xavia, how easy is it to care for exotics? I’d imagine a lot of knowledge would be required to care for plants such as the Bonzai.” he knew what a bonsai tree was. A wirery looking tree usually kept in Chinese or Japanese looking gardens. ”I will need to see if our current mansion gardener would know how to care for plants like that.” Sam said trying to recall the gardener’s name, Marvin? No, it didn’t matter now though he could check in on it later.

Lifting up another piece of bread Sam used it to guide the noodles onto his fork before taking a bite of both. Once his mouth was clear Sam sipped his drink and then asked, ”You said Nate suggested you to the mansion?” Sam asked wondering who Nate was.

“Generally speaking, indoor Bonzai trees are small but take patience and great care. Perhaps each student could take one as their responsibility to train and care for as their grades would depend upon. Exotics also take patience and care. It would depend on the plant, really.” She also thanked the waiter for the food and such, and then began to nibble between bits of conversation, chewing slowly and thoughtfully.

“I do thank you for agreeing about my involvement after the donation. As far as Nate goes… Yes… He told me to talk to you. I actually talked to him when I went to visit the school and he was the only one I could find at the time among the faculty.” Xav popped another bite into her mouth, fork poised casually. She seemed to relax a bit more as they conversated.

“I would have left the check with him, but I didn’t know if that was proper protocol.”

With mouth full of shrimp and Sam nodded and listened to Xavia as she described the care the bonsai and most exotics needed to grow. Sam tried but failed to stifle a small chuckle as he swallowed his food. ”Patience is one thing not every child is blessed with at the mansion, they are kids after all but I feel like it would indeed be a good pet project for a majority of them to undertake.”

Sam smiled, ”Ah, that Nate!” Sam said remembering the new art teacher fondly, ”Very nice man, I’m glad he could talk you into helping out the school!” ‘make sure to talk to Neena about giving him an extra vacation day’ Sam said mentally writing that down on his long list he had waiting for Neena and Tricity the next time he saw them. ”One of the problems with the teaching staff,” Sam said smiling, ”The kids outnumber us two-dozen to one.” taking a sip of his water now Sam shrugged, ”But we are currently trying to boost the numbers Nate happened to be the most recent hire.” Sam explained.

”You were right, however it was better that I got the check the assistant to the assistant and all that.” Sam said giving Xavia a nice smile, ”Now then, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself and the company the school will be coming to for all our green needs.” Sam said taking another bite of his food.

“I actually wanted to donate because one of the students saved my life a few years back, and he brought me here to recover in the infirm. When my poppa died, and I inherited the money and the business, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do at first. I grew up in the greenhouses, you see. My momma and poppa taught me everything I know about plants. There is just one facility, and that is in Michigan. I have someone overseeing it for me because my momma and sister did not want to do it after Poppa died.” She heaved a sigh. “It is small, but profitable. The facility itself is four buildings on a 300 acre property, not including the house my family lived in, in Kalamazoo County. We have mostly common plants, but we also offer exotics to an extent.”

And then she stood up. “If you will excuse me, I need to head to the ladies room.” Then she walked away. If he watched her, the flowers in the pots near the hall toward the restrooms visibly perked up as if to vie for her attention and affection. They seemed more vibrant, happier… Her scent was no longer mingling with that of Italian food, either. The smell of damask, not cheap perfume but totally natural, dissipated in her wake. Hell, the flower in the vase on the table was less vibrant and starting to close before she made her way back toward the table.

When she sat down again, it bloomed and bent toward her a little. She was like the sun. She absentmindedly caressed at the blossom, before continuing. “As far as I go, what is it that you wish to know?” She asked this in a casual manner, her eyes meeting his eye over the rose. She was willing to speak of herself in a professional manner, and she was willing to answer personal questions, within reason. Whatever he decided to ask at that point, she was an open book.

“I am glad that I got it to some of the right hands, even if they weren’t the exact hands the check should have gone to.” A small laugh exited Xavia at that point. “I am also glad to have met Nate, he is a pleasant enough fellow.” And that was said in a neutral manner. Sam certainly did not need to know that Nate had flirted without thinking about it. And she, who was used to being looked upon a certain way, almost caved in this once. Hah, foolish of her. No, she wasn’t going to let it happen again. They could look at her all they wanted, she was not a flower to be plucked.