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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 11:34:39 GMT -6
It didn't look good, and it wasn't a permanent solution, but for the moment Aster felt pretty accomplished with what he had come up with. Waste not want not, and all that; and at least it was better than nothing, while he came up with something more permanent and less... haphazard. It wasn't perfect, of course; it wouldn't keep out anyone or anything truly determined. But then, the fence wouldn't have either, and in the meantime he comforted himself with the fact that as things stood now, it wasn't as if he had anything to steal. Hells, he didn't even have anything proper planted, since he was still in the process of clearing the area so that he could grow something that wasn't just brambles and weeds, which was all the garden was currently producing. That was what happened when you let it go without care for too long, he supposed.
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 11:37:52 GMT -6
He hadn't really expected to get any assistance with his task, but it was heartening to have had the Evergreen creature pitch in. It wasn't a sentient creature, he knew that much, but they still had managed to come to something like an understanding, so it must have been quite clever in its own right. That was frankly a relief; Aster didn't know what he would do if a creature that looked so clearly humanoid turned out to have the intelligence of, say, a Laredo. Having worked with one not too long ago, he had become intimately acquainted with the depths of their blank looks, and was gaining a newfound appreciation for the wits of all his other creatures.
"Thanks," he said to the Evergreen, who inclined its head in response. It didn't understand, of course, but maybe something in the tone would convey some of Aster's message to it.
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 11:41:13 GMT -6
Even if it wasn't something so specific and precise as gratitude, at least the idea of warm feelings, even that much would be enough. Aster did want them to be friends. The Evergreen seemed pleasant enough, and Aster liked best the sort of companions where he felt sure there were no ulterior motives. Of course, that wasn't always true of even his closest creature companions; Avander could scheme, and sometimes did. But Avander's schemes were generally harmless, if a little self-serving at times, and the two of them knew each other so well that Aster had them figured out anyway.
Actually, the kind of help he received from this Evergreen, who didn't know Aster all that well, felt more significant in some ways. Maybe he was just taking the aid of his trusted creatures for granted, but after so long together, it felt like they had a sense of mutual obligation.
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 11:44:52 GMT -6
The Evergreen had nothing like that yet to tie it to Aster, so the fact that it had offered its assistance was more to do with its own motivations and inclinations. That was all he meant by it.
But there was no way to convey something that complicated, and Aster had no treats to hand - what did an Evergreen eat, anyway? So in the end, that was the extent of it.
He was done working in the garden for the day. He would come back some other time to fix all the things that needed fixing - and there was a great deal that did in fact need fixing. But it wasn't the kind of thing you could deal with in the span of a day, and he had other things to attend to anyway. This one... This would be a slow restoration project, that much he could tell for sure.
55 <end session with King of Evergreen>
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 11:45:55 GMT -6
Aster needed a break from all this Sarane business. He really, really did. It wasn’t that he was covered head to tail in whelps anymore, which was nice, he supposed, but it wasn’t like there weren’t whelps to deal with… He was just avoiding the problem. And in the meantime there were Aurelius’s tournament battles, which only concluded recently, and Havoc’s gauntlet fights, which were ongoing. It was beginning to feel like he ate, slept, and breathed Sarane. He liked them well enough, but maybe not to such an extent that he wanted to be devoting his entire life to them.
Which was why he had come out to the gardens for a change of pace. And Rhys had elected to come along, and Aster hadn’t seen anything wrong with the idea - not that he could necessarily have stopped Rhys even if he had.
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 11:46:08 GMT -6
Rhys had something of a stubborn streak, so Aster had found out the hard way. The Felusine was nice enough that if Aster warned him against something, he would probably acquiesce, but if he had his heart set on something, Aster wasn’t sure he could dissuade Rhys from it either. He’d tried and failed before, on occasion.
A trip to the garden wasn’t something to quibble over though, and frankly Aster did feel a bit bad for not having as much time to spend with the creatures he more regularly worked with lately. Avander, he’d taken with him on a recent fishing trip, so that was that. Grunty… Well, Grunty didn’t ever seem to mind one way or another, so Aster knew he didn’t have much to worry about there. Azalea was going through some… changes of her own right now, so he was leaving her be until her body settled down.
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 11:46:18 GMT -6
He should probably spend some time with Summer one of these days. They saw each other on a daily basis, but the same could be said for Rhys; it didn’t necessarily equate to quality time.
Aster and Rhys chatted a little while they made their way to the garden, going back and forth about this and that. Rhys had found other things to amuse himself with when Aster was away, and now he told Aster about some of them, narrating in his usual animated if slightly tangential manner. Aster mostly listened, content to not have to deal with the burden of carrying the conversation. His contributions were the occasional nod or thoughtful hum, or even a laugh here and there as Rhys carried on with his anecdotes.
In this manner it didn’t take them long at all to arrive at the gardens - or at least the walk felt shorter, anyway.
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 11:46:44 GMT -6
Fortuitously for Aster, he was finding that Rhys did in fact make good company, especially when they weren’t at odds over something. It was good, since Rhys was a part of the family now, and Aster had brought him in to serve in a specialized role at the estate… It would have been trickier if he was difficult to be around. He didn’t know to what extent the labs could decide the mental and personality outcomes of their creations - their workings weren’t something he liked to dwell on. But whatever the reason, Rhys had turned out to be an affable individual, and not so much so that he became a nuisance either.
Mostly, anyway. Everyone had their days, after all.
The pleasantries carried on until they actually arrived at the garden plot. They passed a few other such plots on the way in the complex of garden plots.
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 11:46:57 GMT -6
As they did, Rhys admired this arrangement of flowers or that landscaping layout, marvelling at everything there was to see. There was still something of childlike wonder in the way he regarded the world, though Aster was doing his best not to see Rhys as a child anymore. Maybe he ought to liken it more to someone who was just very sheltered, though framing it that way made him feel worse about not taking Rhys out and around more often.
There was no easy solution to this, was there?
But Rhys, at least, seemed content to carry on as jovially as ever… Right up until they reached Aster’s own plot, at which point his good cheer gave way to amusement, at first, and then horror.
{Whoa, whose plot is this?} Rhys exclaimed, radiating mirth as he regarded the plot in question. {It’s so overgrown! They must not have taken care of it at all!}
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 11:47:08 GMT -6
“Right,” said Aster. He wasn’t sure what kind of expression he ought to be wearing, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t wearing it. At times like this, having a stoic facade came in handy, he supposed.
{Look at all these brambles! And the fencing, it’s all broken up… Do you think they ever tried to grow anything here? All the flowers here look like weeds…} Rhys fluttered here and there, inspecting the plot from different angles, broadcasting his thoughts all the while. Aster’s expression didn’t change, but now there was nothing to wait but for Rhys to wind down so he could break the news. {Whew! I guess this just goes to show how much care goes into those other ones, huh?} Rhys flew back to Aster’s side. {I’ve had a good look, so we can move on now. Where’s your plot anyway?}
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 18:14:33 GMT -6
Aster said nothing, and only arched a brow. And then he waited for the other shoe to drop, as it inevitably would. Rhys could be naive, but he wasn’t stupid.
Slowly, he felt horror unfurling from Rhys as the Felusine’s eyes went wide.
{You’re kidding… This is ours?} Rhys looked at the overgrown plot again, and then back to Aster. He was trying, Aster could see, to walk back his words, but in the end Rhys couldn’t even bring himself to do it. Aster could see him trying to find something anything nice to say, and coming up empty.
“Afraid so,” Aster said. Frankly he wasn’t bothered by Rhys’s dismay, for the most part. It was a fair assessment. The garden, if it could even be called that, was genuinely overgrown due to too much neglect, and not fit for use as much more than…
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 18:14:45 GMT -6
Well, they’d have to clear it out first for it to be of use as anything, really. And Aster had given away most of his gardening items to Aubrey, who had more of a knack for this sort of thing anyway, so it wasn’t as though he had really planned on doing much gardening to begin with.
Still, it would be good if they could get this garden in working order, or at least get it to a place where it looked more like a plot of land with potential rather than something to be dealt with… Since they had come all the way out here, they might as well get to work.
“It’s alright,” Aster said. “We just need to clear out the brambles and weeds, fix the fence, and do something about the soil to loosen it up. After that we can do whatever we want with it.”
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 18:14:57 GMT -6
{You say that like it’s easy,} Rhys said. The evident dismay in his voice told Aster that the Felusine didn’t believe that implication one bit. And to be honest, he was right about that; it would be difficult work, and it was going to take time. But it was something to do, and Aster wasn’t the type who shied away from hard work, having known enough of it in his lifetime.
“It won’t get done with us just standing around, will it?” Aster said. “Come on, lend a hand.” He hopped over the poor excuse for a fence, which was pretty much disintegrating slowly where it stood, and took out a rough machete, with which he began hacking away at the worst of the brambles. Honestly, it might have been better if he had brought Summer with him, since she would have been able to burn away the worst of it.
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 18:15:13 GMT -6
But then again, they hadn’t done this sort of work before, and it was entirely possible that they would end up setting the surrounding plots on fire too. That… probably wouldn’t go over well with the other gardeners who lived around here.
So maybe it was for the best that his companion was Rhys after all.
Aster himself had gotten his hands on a fire node recently, so in theory he ought to be able to set things on fire too, even without a lighter and all. But the trouble was, the spells he’d learned so far had more to do with healing and sunlight than burning anything. One wouldn’t think that fire had the capacity to heal, but as it turned out, one would be wrong about that.
To be honest, he didn’t really think any of the spells he knew would help him out here.
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Post by Noa on Aug 22, 2020 18:15:23 GMT -6
He had destructive spells, but they were of the wind element, and all they would manage to do was fling the plants around. He’d probably end up making more of a mess for them to clean up than anything useful. Many of them were enhancements meant for the user or an existing target too, so that was a no go, of course. Thus the only recourse left to him, in a practical sense, was to hack away using good ol’ elbow grease and a blade.
… Though come to think of it, he wasn’t the only one with magical capabilities. Or something like magic, anyway, in the case of Rhys. He didn’t know what exactly it was that creatures did, since it wasn’t magic the same way his was, with nodes and spells and such, but Rhys certainly possessed some unique capabilities. Most were related to healing, but he did also wield a little power over plants.
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