• Closed • Green Isn't the Color of My Thumb

[Patrick]

Green Isn't the Color of My Thumb

Vhalar 52 716, 13th Break

Location: Tio’s Tea House

Unbelievable. Daveth had a job much more important than the actual beer festival, one that he deemed Patrick worth the time in doing it seems. On top of that he had to literally climb higher in the city to the Glass Quarter just to reach its location, which was utter nonsense because he never needed to go to the Glass Quarter for anything. This occasion however called for it apparently and Daveth chose Patrick because he was well suited for it. Bull bogs he says. Daveth just wanted to cut Patrick off from the remainder of the annual Beer Festival, make sure he didn't over drink this year like he did... Uh, Ilaren's breath that was a horrible time afterwards. An entire day spent unable to even touch alcohol because his stomach, this year of course he'd been so lucky as to avoid that stupid situation ever again. Either way he was still getting paid to work, so this job shouldn't be too difficult for him to handle. Especially if his own boss 'deems him fit' for the job. Finally after he'd walked down the street where the Tea House was located, Patrick arrived to step inside and look for Tio the proprietor.

Dressed in his usual white shirt with long sleeves, Patrick surveyed the room to pick out the one he'd been told to find. Once he'd located the man who matched the description Daveth gave him, Patrick moved onward in stride to greet the guy he'd picked out. "Scuse me, the name's Patrick. I'm here for the job Daveth told me t' come help with?" He asked as he walked up to a man who looked cozy with a cat near the bar, the man had been reading so he hadn't necessarily noticed Patrick's entrance earlier. When he looked up to the bartender however his eyebrows rose as a smile formed momentarily afterwards, his cat moved aside as he rose to greet Patrick in a friendly manner.

"Hi there Patrick, I'm Tio of course. Appreciate you coming here to lend a hand, will have to give Daveth my thanks for finding someone so quickly." He mused with a chuckle as the two shook hands, Patrick gave a smirk to the man as they engaged in a short period of conversation. Anybody who was a friend to Daveth was obviously friends in his book, as that man had only several he really declared friends so openly. They had short discussion about the gardens and how it took forever for Tio to get it arranged the way he wanted, and how the gardener had fallen ill lately so he needed someone to just keep it tidy for the day. Tio then brought him to the back area of the gardens where the storage was for all the tools, a shed built onto the back of the tea house that contained any and every essential a gardener needed to ply their trade with ease.

After the initial meet up with him Patrick took a good look at the majority of the work that he had to focus on, from the looks of it bushes could do with proper trimming, flowers needed weeding out, leaves needed to be raked already. Overall it looked like the type of job that would definitely take a while, breaks maybe depending on how fast he worked and how often he paused to rest. "Guess I should get started." He surmised as he took the water skin off from his belt, a swig of rum swallowed as he returned to the shed for his first choice in garden weaponry.

[Rei]

Rei had never done any type of job outside of medicine and surgery in The Infirmary. She was comfortable with her position there as one of the moderately skilled healers, taking her spare time to learn everything she needed to know about medicine, the surgical procedures that existed, and the medicinal properties of available herbs. But lately in The Infirmary, the three heads of their divisions had been speaking of a place they liked in the Glass Quarter. Tio’s Tea House. They had mentioned how Tio’s gardener there and fallen ill and was being treated by one of them. He was looking for a gardened to fill in, they’d said.

So, she had found herself, on her day off, dressing in her hide pants, skirt, and tunic to go visit the Teahouse. If Tio needed a gardener, she had enough general knowledge to know what was going on with plants. Who knew, he might even have some in his garden that she might recognize from the books she read. There was a noticeable change as she walked down the road, the packed dirt changing to cobblestone streets. The Teahouse was a nice building amongst some of the most glamorous gardens she had seen. Peaceful rock pools mingled among the plants, housing fish that were exotic and unrecognizable.

Pausing at one of the pools, she skipped her fingertip across the water before heading inside. The lighting inside calmed her spirit and made her want to return here as a customer someday. There were four cozy tables in the center surrounded by couches and chairs in various colors and shapes. It was spotted with people all enjoying cups of tea together, the hum of low chatter in the room. Off to the side was an older man with a purring cat perched on his lap.

Recognizing him as Tio from the talk at The Infirmary, Rei approached and introduced herself. “Tio? I’m Rei. They mentioned at The Infirmary that your gardener had taken ill?” He smiled, giving his a cat a stroke before it hopped off his lap and he stood to shake her hand. “Yes, yes. Are you from Rharne? You don’t look like a native.” She smiled as they discussed her move to Rharne and the fact that he had visited Desnind and found some interesting teas to bring back and introduce to his establishment. After a few bits he directed her outside. “A young man is already here working in the garden but I don’t see why you couldn’t join him.” Rei thanked him and walked off to the back where there should be a shed.

As she exited the Teahouse, she noticed a familiar form rustling through the shed and looking at the tools. “Patrick? Well you’re the last person I’d expect to find out here gardening.” With a laugh, she peered into the shed from behind him, finding a nice pair of thick gloves to pull on her hands. She took a bucket and a small knife, kneeling down at the nearest area of garden to cut weeds out by the root. “How have you been? The Boar treating you well?”

[Patrick]

With the way clouds had been building over the city and the mix of both the warm humidity and cool air, Patrick knew good and well that the work in today's garden would pay off in the future to come. Rain was definitely on the horizon and it didn't take a genius to determine this, so the more he thought about it and how Daveth brought up the discussion earlier... the more inclined he actually did feel like he were suited for the job. He had everything he needed here plus the rum he'd softly been drinking on, so today might actually turn out to be a good day instead. As he browsed for his first pick of a tool somebody spoke up, startled him as he didn't hear their approach to the shed. "Ashan's balls! Rei, ya scared the piss outta me." His surprise was followed with a chuckle as he leaned against the wall with one of his hands. "Yeah I caught word from Daveth that Tio needed help, so I decided t' give it a go since I've not done anythin' like this in a while."

Did he just have a regular conversation with her? How long ago did they last meet again? Not like it mattered anyway but now that she were here, he began to wonder just what exactly brought her to find him here; and he soon enough got his answer as she came in to grab herself a pair of gloves, a bucket, and a small knife. She came here to help out too. His eyes widened a little as she turned to head out, a quick turn to have his back towards her as he took another swig of his rum. He felt nervous all of a sudden, like he should be expecting her to lecture him or something. Was she here to torture him and use this garden thing as a guise? Did she plan to take away his water skin when he least suspected? Wait... why was he nervous about any of that? This was Rei he was thinking about here, he hadn't any reason to worry so long as he enjoyed himself. That's what this whole ordeal was meant to become, an experience he would soon enjoy as he worked the garden. He went ahead and went in for one more drink, but then hesitated with a look down to the mouth of the skin.

No. He didn't need another drink so soon, what he needed was to relax and get out there. Rei came to do some gardening and that was it, so he needed to man up and quit being a drunken pansy for once. The water skin rested on a workshop in the shed, he did the same as she and grabbed a pair of thick gloves to work with. Once he fitted them on and got acquainted with their snugness he grabbed his drink once more, and merely tucked it inside his pocket as he went out to join her, a quick draw back in as he reached for a pair of sheers for shrub trimming after he would help out with Rei. "Aye, always busy with the Boar these days." He admitted with a chuckle as he reflected over the Annual Beer Festival, he couldn't ever recall a time where he went home exhausted. Well... except for the other night but... Doesn't matter now, all that matters was that she was here.

Here and looking well to say the least, he'd noticed that first off and it actually did bring him to a smile. "The Beer Festival's a piss fest if I've ever worked one." He joked as he knelt down beside her and started to pluck weeds out from the flowerbeds, the smell of nectar a bit of a surprise as the aroma permeated the air around him. His nose itched for a moment and he stopped what he was doing, face scrunched as his eyes closed with a loud sneeze to follow. "Shit. Pollen's always gettin' me. Anyways what've you been up t' lately? Been busy with work and Wendell?" He didn't really want to know but he kept the conversation going all the same, no point in just gardening with one another in silence when he could make the most out of it. Already he felt another itch but it was in his throat this time, a far cry that demanded him to have another drink. Not yet. He had to show he was demonstrating control, that he could in fact handle his addiction. Not for him but for her, because Rei deserved at much to say the least.

[Rei]

Rei clutched a fuzzy looking weed. She could tell it was a weed not so much because she knew all about gardening but because it looked out of place among all the other beautiful plants. She slipped the knife into the soil for a killing stroke at the base, the weed coming up shedding clods of dirt from its spindly roots. “Oh? I didn’t know Daveth knew Tio.” She threw the weed into the bucket beside her. They would have to be trashed, burned, or otherwise discarded. “Makes sense I guess, both owning businesses. I heard about it from The Infirmary where I work. Doctor Helvin is tending to the ill gardener, I believe.”

She looked up from the garden and saw that Patrick had gotten himself some gloves and what looked like a trimmer for the bushes. “This is all new to me, but I figure I want to experiment with my own herbs someday, figured I might pick up a few basics here.” The aroma of the purple flowers beneath her were strong and permeated the air with ease. It did tickle at her nose but not enough to make her sneeze. She had grown up in Desnind where the flora was aplenty and there was always the scent of something in the air.

Rei could imagine he was definitely busy with the Boar these days with the Annual Beer Festival going on. She hadn’t bothered with it herself, the event not really something that suited her tastes. If she were going to indulge in alcohol it would be the sweet tastes of wine and not the bitter hoppy flavors of beer. She could remember the first time she had tried a brew. She had spat it out on the floor almost as soon as it had touched her tongue. Her father had joked with her about how wasteful she was and had drunk the rest of it.

A faint smile crossed her lips at the memory of her father. If only he could see her now, etching her place in society and making a decent living. He would have been proud of his daughter. Though her attention was brought back to Pat when he mentioned how rough the festival was. “I can imagine. Plenty of drunks to go around. I’m sure the knights or whoever is doing the safekeeping probably has their hands full. Though shouldn’t you be doing that rather than trimming bushes and picking out weeds?” Rei chuckled and started unwinding the curling and creeping vine of a weed that had entangled one of the flowered bushes. If it was allowed to grow any further it would suffocate the plant.

She jumped a bit when he sneeze and then practically laughed at herself. She should have been used to the sound. “Yes, work has been busy. The festival brings me work, too. Plenty of people getting in bar brawls or hurting themselves. And accidents, too.” Pausing, Rei slipped the knife below the bush, careful to cut only at the root of the weed, least she risk harming the gorgeous flowering plant. “We see each other when we can. He has two jobs and I work a lot at The Infirmary. Though we did have a bit of an issue.” She tossed the weed into the bucket, spraying a bit of soil everywhere. “I had cooked him dinner and was waiting for him at his home- naked mind you. He came stumbling in with some auburn headed woman called Sugar of all things. We worked it out but uh… I got a little unglued first.”

[Patrick]

"Yeah I didn't either actually," He admitted when she'd mentioned she knew of no relation between the two businessmen, "Daveth's always lookin' out fer me though and said I needed a day t' my self anyway." He finished as he dug a finger and thumb into the dirt, where Rei was all about finesse with a knife, he merely dug the tips of fingers down into the soil. "He knows gardenin' use t' be a hobby I had once, somethin' I used t' do before..." He paused with a look up to the purple flowers, the sentence left unfinished as he merely continued the work they had going on. When Rei had come to admit that this gardening job was new to her, he laughed shortly with a grin as he watched her, the knife used to cut out the weed at its root rather than pulled whole the way he did. Two different ways they gardened and yet here they were, together and doing something that seemed fun in a different way for once.

Finally he gave in and treated his need for a drink with a hand grasped on his water skin, the sweetly spiced flavor of the rum somehow tasted better than before. Satisfied he sighed and returned it back to his pocket, keen to examine the stalks and leaves of the flowers. Rei seemed to know what she was doing well enough, so he decided he'd let her have at it with the weeds at least. "For a first timer you sure look like ya know what your doin'." He admired her tenacity just as well as her other quirks, a reminder to the fact he'd in fact missed both her and Wendell's presence over the past trials. She was here now though, which in comparison to how these past few nights were, felt wonderful for him so long as he didn't stress over her. "Ya know I could always just be your gardener, grow whatever 'erbs you want." He mused in a joking manner as he shuffled on to the next bunch, it was then he realized he was actually just pretending to be busy. He felt like a dumb ass now, what kind of gardener just looks at the plants.

Still to speak with her and hear the talk of activity on her end, it amused him even more knowing he'd been receptive of that behavior too. Plenty of people have had to be escorted outside or talked down with force before things got out of control, that's just how everybody was during the festival of course. Finally he gave up and reached for the shears to begin the trimming of a bush, still close enough to talk with Rei even while he finally remained busy. Hearing her talk of Wendell and their other night, he paused with a shocked look shot down at her. She was naked? And he wasn't invited? Of course not, she was interested in Wendell after all. Plus he was definitely a handful all on his own, Patrick knew this from personal experience of course. "That's uh, good to hear." He sheepishly admitted as the thought of Rei naked crossed his mind a second time, he found it interesting that Wendell brought home another woman when he had Rei.

True enough the man was free and inclined to make his own choices, but something told Patrick that he was more than just interested in Rei. Nobody walks into a persons house late at night, finds that person who they called his woman sleeping with another, and just decides to join in on the action and leave after all. Complicated as it sounded that still told Patrick more than enough, and he found himself just as easily jealous as he was several nights back. "Yeah I... Didn't have much luck the other night. Met some broad that became a floozy once I brought 'er home, sent her away since it just made things awkward." He admitted without giving the whole story to Rei, he didn't want her knowing that his addiction and thoughts on them were the cause of his misadventure the other night. "But things are good then?" He checked once more as he pulled apart the wooden grips of the shear, and pulled them together to continue trimming the shrubs he'd focused his work on.

[Rei]

Rei thought it was good that Pat’s boss, Daveth, was looking out for him. He seemed such a lost and wayward soul- at least he had that night. He needed a sense of direction and maybe Daveth was trying to help nudge him in the right direction by sending him here. “Oh I didn’t know you used to garden. What did you grow?” She glossed over the open sentence he left hanging, having a feeling that before my brother was murdered was the rest of the missing sentence. His anxiety and need for alcohol seemed to worsen anytime his brother was mentioned, so she was actively trying to avoid it.

He pulled out a canteen and Rei thought it was a little early to be stopping for water. It wasn’t that hot outside even if it was a bit muggy. Then the smell wafted over to her nose on the breeze. The smell of spice and alcohol was pungent. She dug her knife into the bottom of another weed, loosening the roots from the ground and pulling it out and setting it in the bucket. “Little early for rum isn’t it?” She spared a sideways glance at him, hoping he wouldn’t take too much offense at her questioning.

“Oh it’s mostly guesswork and I do study the flora in books for possible medicinal uses. Some of them can be surprising. Moseke’s Mist many consider a weed but its seeds can be ground and the powder taken as contraceptive. Very popular among the ladies, though it’s all very hush hush.” She smirked and got up briefly to walk back to the shed. She got out a bag of something with a strong odor. When she hauled it back to the area they were working on, it began to smell of cow dung. It was fertilizer.

Rei knelt back down and scooped some out with a gloved hand and scattered it across the small patch of area she had cleared thus far. The odor would die down once they had sprinkled some water over their finished product. “Well, I might ask for your advice then, whenever I get it started. Have to get a place first and then work on what I’m going to plant… what I want to plant. I’d even like to work up to trying out crossbreeding, see if I can work out some new medicinal properties in new breeds of plants.” With a heavy sigh, she took her own canteen that was filled with water and took a gulp before hooking it back on her belt.

Patrick seemed a little uncomfortable when Rei brought up her episode with Wendell, and she had forgotten that it could put him in a rather awkward situation. After all there was that night to consider and the fact that they were all three supposed to be friends. But Pat took it in stride and went lamenting on about his own poor luck some nights before. “Maybe you should have better taste in women,” she jested, moving back to cutting out weeds. “Yes everything is ok. For now. You never know with Wendell. Changing and unpredictable as the sea.” Yet there was something alluring about it.

[Patrick]

He chuckled a little bit even when he'd been evasive towards his past, a silent thank you spared as Rei seemed to at least understand one of the things he avoided speaking about. "Small things really, just a few flowers our mom liked." He shared openly as he felt able to share that as part easy enough, it had been years since she died and even though he missed her a great deal too, he had much longer to cope with that as well as company that understood. Not that... well Rei could be considered company too seeing as how she understood his pain in her own way. "She'd passed away when I was only 'bout fifteen, left me and Dom t' fend for ourselves pretty much. He was old enough t' own his own place and shit, so we just stuck with one another until I was ready t' live alone later on." Odd how easy it was to share that much about her and Dom when he did, in a way he felt a little glad he could tell somebody about it anyway.

When his need for a drink came he didn't expect Rei to be able to smell it, rather he hoped she couldn't instead, but even in a place like this the scent of alcohol was still too pungent. "Yeah it's uh," He might've sounded nervous as he practically had been caught red handed, "Just my first drink o' the day. Been takin' it easy lately, with the Festival and all." He lied but only partially because he had in fact started to cut back, only it was just recently and not because of the damned festival. If it were up to him he'd be drunk off his ass right now, but for whatever reason today he just didn't feel like he needed to. Good call apparently considering the circumstances, still it didn't change the fact he wanted to change. Rei had a bit of an influence in that to be sure, because he hadn't forgotten what she'd said the day he'd left. That day. The day that followed after their amazing night shared, with the man who's become a bit of a fixation for Patrick; though technically they both had as of late.

To hear her speak of the studying she did intrigued him as he never considered studying, it hadn't been something he was good at given a short attention span with books. Still to hear about this weed she called "Moseke's Mist" grabbed his attention, mostly when she described what it does and its popularity with women. "Seriously?! All this time I've avoided- and I could've- Wait a trill, is she usin' this weed? NO! Don't. Ask. Her. That." He reigned in his impulses before his tongue could engage, wary that the answer could very well be a yes if he'd inquired of it. Either way that changed nothing! Nothing was different other than.... Than... His lips cracked in a wide smile and suddenly he couldn't control himself, a laugh took place as he had to stop what he was doing just so he could remain standing and breathe. That was when Rei had moved to go get something else out of the shed, something he would've carried for her if he'd known she'd gone to grab it, and of course had he the ability to do so seeing as how he was laughing a bit to hard.

After that bit had passed and they moved back onto the topic of gardening, Rei mentioned she would probably ask for his help, that is if she managed to get everything else she needed done first. It had surprised him and yet somehow given him a bit of sudden hope, as he was unaware that she would've actually considered asking him to help with such a thing. "Yeah, absolutely." He answered a little plainly as he struggled to figure out just how to handle it. "Crossbreeding is a matter of timing and pollination I think, I don't know the specifics but somethin' bout Ashen showers bring Ymiden flowers... and bee's though they help too." He added with another soft chuckle, not quite sure where he'd heard that saying before. He'd finished pruning the top half of the bush he'd worked on and knelt down on a knee to work at its middle, a glance over his shoulder to see how Rei's progress was on her part. When he'd told her that he'd in fact had a bit of a let down the other night, she'd managed to make a joke that he yet again couldn't help but give a short laugh at. How he admired and adored her sense of humor, she was definitely personable when it came to spending time together.

"Maybe I do 'ave better taste in women; I did pick you after all." He joked with a soft smirk sent back her way, hopeful he'd get to see another one of those blushes she'd always get. In truth he did think of her that night and that played heavily into part with why he shut the other woman out, because for whatever reason it just wasn't Rei who was no doubt with Wendell. "Wendell's always been like that as far as I know, does what he does because he can really. Still he's a good sort, and I wouldn't see ya wit' any other." He admitted with his attention focused on the shrub, the smile now gone as he felt that pang of envy once again. Truth be told he did also consider himself somebody for Rei, somebody that maybe one day deserved her. That of course seemed like a distant dream never to come, and he wasn't exactly inclined to compete with someone he considered friend... just for the love of another. No if he could just remain a part of their lives, a person they could enjoy and accept, then that at least was good enough for him. In the end. No matter what he wanted or would want nothing was going to change that, because for once he'd started to actually see the good these two started to do for him.

[Rei]

Rei had never imagined Patrick as a gardener and it was even harder to imagine that he was a gardener that had grown flowers, for his mother no less. He never really had talked about his family and maybe that’s why she was so stunned that he would be out sweating and getting his hands dirty for the sake of growing some pretty flowers his mom liked to keep around. For all she knew, he could have had a great relationship with his mother, maybe he still did if she were still living. She realized she knew little about Patrick’s family life other than the death of his brother.

Though she was now getting filled it, as it seemed Pat was willing to open up to her more than he had the last few times they had been around each other. A frown creased her lips as he mentioned the death of his mother leaving he and his brother to fend for themselves. No mention of a father. Perhaps he was never present. “I’m sorry about your mother. I was lucky enough to have my mother when my father passed. Seems like you and your brother were very close.” Rei fell silent and shifted around on her feet, finding another weed that she pried up by the roots and sent flying into the bucket.

Patrick seemed a bit nervous that he had been caught drinking this early in the day. He said he was trying to cut back, though Rei didn’t really feel that hitting the rum at this time of day was really cutting back. Maybe the problem was worse than she had originally thought. “Well just.. take it in stride. I don’t want your shear slipping and you slicing off a few fingers. I may be a decent healer but I can’t grow back fingers.” It was a little jab of humor to lighten the subject. She took a good look at the bush she was weeding around. There were a few dead and wilting flowers and areas that had browned. With care, she snapped off the dead shrubbery and stowed the clippings in the bucket with the weeds.

Rei had brushed off his laughter, thinking it was either something funny she had said or her merely had a funny thought. “I think it’s a matter of luck, too. Getting the desirable traits you want and keeping out the ones you don’t want. But that’s a pretty accurate little saying, where did you pick that up?” She cleared out the patch around her bush and scooped out some more fertilizer and scattered it over the freshly weeded ground. It drove away the pleasant scent of the flowers but it was an unfortunate necessity. Once they got done and gave the plants a fresh drink of water, the smell would go away.

“You didn’t pick me,” she retorted, an amused smirk on her face. “I took a very drunk you to my house because I wasn’t sure you could even find yours.” At the reminder of the night, her cheeks went hot and got the soft pink flush she was becoming more accustomed to getting. Rei moved over to a fresh patch of garden, the weeds only just beginning to bud in this area. She slipped her knife into the soil and sliced out a few shallow roots, pulling the barely growing plants out and discarding them. “Well I think Sugar will think twice before trying that again. Probably had to get that cut on her forehead looked at.” She smiled sheepishly. “I slammed her head into the wall.”

[Patrick]

To actually be able to talk and share things about his past with somebody, and it actually not hurt as bad as he feared it would, somehow made him feel a little bit better deeper inside. A part of him that hardly knew trust seemed to finally feel a bit more at ease, as he'd slowly come to understand the nature of Rei's compassion the more he listened to her speak. "Aye, it's good t' know ya had her there when ya needed her." He complimented as he didn't intend to remark on how lucky she was to have both for a time, indeed there might've been a point in his life where he'd given anything just to know who his father was. Of course eventually that didn't matter any more and sure enough it was just him and his older brother, the two siblings against the world as they intended to rise up and maybe one day; conquer it for themselves.

"Huh?" He murmured as he'd lost himself in the though of Dominek once more, a wry smile shot to Rei as he realized what she'd referred to about losing fingers. "Oh right. Trust me I'd have t' be stupid drunk in order fer somethin' like that t' happen." He mused as he returned his focus on the trimming of the bush once more, from the looks of it the base needed a good sheering as well, so the undergrowth could get a bit more light underneath it throughout the day. When she'd discussed with him about traits and luck being involved, he nodded in agreement at how those were factors that played in part as well. Not like he really knew honestly but he accepted them as factors nonetheless, after all he was no professional gardener. "Not sure honestly," He responded as he took a moment to pause and think on it, "It's somethin' I was told when just a boy, guess it just stuck wit' me ever since I heard it." He reasoned with a soft chuckle to follow, the base of the bush finally clipped clear enough for proper lighting and edging.

He'd leaned down and started to pick up the twigs and branches he'd sheered off, a handful grabbed and moved over to Rei's bucket as she retorted back at him. Didn't pick her? He recalled being able to walk out on a whim if he wanted to, only was too drunk to really go through with any of it except for... well yeah. Oh! "That so?" He remarked with arms crossed as he stood tall. "Because if I recall it was me who kissed ya that night." He argued with a mischievous grin on his face, he knew it didn't take much to bring that same blush out of Rei. He admired her ability to proudly admit the damage she'd done to sugar, a short laugh followed as he rubbed his forehead with an index and middle finger afterwards. "Ow! Remind me not t' piss ya off." He joked with another short laugh to follow. "Seriously though, ya give yourself too little credit." He admitted with a soft smile cast on her. "If anythin' I could'a just fallen asleep an' not even think 'bout... well you." He finished with honest eyes as he felt a sudden skip in his heart, he could hardly believe he'd actually admitted that to her right now. Well enough that he needed just another sip out of the water skin again, just momentarily as he turned to walk back over and collect more trimmed branches.

[Rei]

Rei gave him a wary look, not entirely convinced that he wouldn’t slip up and chop his fingers off or worse. “If you insist, though I still think you should be careful. I mean, you could chop off something worse.” She smiled and let out a little laugh, cutting out a few more weeds from the root and tossing the weeds aside. The bucket was getting pretty full. They’d need to do something with the pile of rubbish that was accumulating. She glanced over at Patrick who was making good work of the bushes that were a little overgrown.

Patrick was now dumping his branches in her bucket, making it nearly overflow. She looked around for something to do with all the brush. A smirk cracked across her lips. Patrick was right, of course. He had been the one to kiss her that night and thus initiate the events that followed. But she could have easily stopped it there. She had pushed it on and over the edge. “Well any shmuck can kiss somebody. I believe it was I who pushed it further.” It would have been hard for him to have done it. He had been wildly drunk, so much so that he had nearly fallen on his way inside.

He had a humorous reaction to the fact that she had actually injured some unsuspecting girl. While she had some twisted pride in it, she also (sort of) felt guilty for doing it. After all, it wasn’t as if Wendell had stopped the woman like he should have. He had let her go and lead her back to his place. “I’m usually not like that,” she admitted, shaking her head. “Something in me just snapped, though. I just wasn’t going to have it.” There was an honesty in his gaze as he admitted something he probably normally would have kept to himself. She knew it was hard on him because he took another drink of rum.

“I’m not that special you know,” she commented, getting up and stepping back over to the shed with bucket of brush in hand. There was a burlap bag there with some clippings in it. She emptied the bucket into the bag and returned, ready to take on more brush and weeds. “I’m just a… woman. Pretty good with medicine, but that’s about all there is different about me.” Rei’s eyes cast down the garden as she spread some more fertilizer. It wouldn’t be long before they were done. Her cheeks felt hot beneath his gaze and she could feel the soft blush rising.