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Rob quickly followed suit, powering up and leaping down to the street, then powering down again after doing a quick scan for Chaos auras. The Negas must have all been concentrating their activities in another part of town, because there was no sign of them here in the Arts District. Which was fine with him – the further away the enemy stayed from his home turf, the better.

"Hahah, I don't really write down most of the punk part of the music," he beamed, happy to continue talking about his work as a musician. "I just give 'em chord progressions and tell the drummer to follow the bass player who I tell to riff off the chords and leave them to it. The only parts I write down are the melody and some of the harmonies for the one bloke who can actually read music. Even the lead guitar stuff is all up in me noggin," and he tapped his head for emphasis with a grin.

"That said, I'd be more than happy to make copies of the music for you. Now that I know you're still around."

Offering her his arm, he indicated the general direction of That Place. "Shall we?"

"Nah," grinned Rob, "most rocker blokes learn by ear. If they're classically trained or have had lessons, then yeah, they can maybe read music, but precious few have that training. At most, they can read tablature, so that's what I give 'em. Or I do the old 'monkey see, monkey do" with them. Especially the drummer – he's good at apeing what I do." He laughed. "He's a bit of an ape anyway, is Pete. I call him my Little John, cause he calls me Robin -- that's me full name -- and he's big as a bloody gorilla."

He continued to smile happily as they left the Arts District and approached the sprawling DCU campus. It was nice, the closeness with which Sadie walked next to him, her hand in the crook of his arm. Made him feel like a proper gentleman escorting a lovely lady to tea, which of course he was. And he was enjoying talking about music with her. She actually got it.

"Yeah, I'll gladly write down some of the tunes we do for you. Most of them are English and Scottish trad, some Welsh, but I'll toss some originals in as well. With the words." Looking at her, he gave her a wink. "Just in case you feel like singing them too."

Surprised, Rob could feel the color rise on his cheeks. "Uh, sure, you can call me Robin," he replied, smiling. "Yeah, I reckon I am a bit of a woodland creature, aren't I? Me Eternal magic is all about running through the woods…"

He had to roll the notion around in his mind a bit. Apart from his drummer Pete, aka Little John, the only one who regularly called him Robin was his mother. It wasn't something he usually disclosed, his full first name, allowing people to assume Rob was short for Robert (a name he actually didn't like all that much). But somehow it felt okay to allow Sadie to call him Robin.

And she'd called him sweet. That made the color in his cheeks rise again.

Then she mentioned sea shanties. "Sea shanties! They're great fun. I do a few shanties in me busking sets," he grinned, then started singing. "Oh the year was 1778, how I wish I was in Sherbrouke noooowwww~" He broke off, laughing. "I can usually get the crowd singing along when I do those, especially the ones everyone knows, like Barrett's Privateers. Which ain't a proper shanty, 'cause it was written by a modern folk musician, but it has the spirit of the old shanties." He looked at her with a smile. "I could see you learning a few shanties. You're right, it would be very appropriate for you."

They finally approached the cafe known as That Place. Releasing Sadie, Rob opened the door for her. "After you, milady," he gestured with a smirk and a slight bow.

"I'll have to dig up a few mermaid-specific shanties for you then," Rob smiled back, following Sadie into the cafe. Mermaid songs should be fairly easy to find, he figured, since they were a popular theme. He could see her as a mermaid too, especially given how her Pendour outfit looked.

She mentioned gardening, though, and his eyes lit up. He headed for the seating at the counter and held out a hand to help her onto an adjacent stool once he was situated. "Plants!" he grinned. "I'm a gardener too, though it's hard to find much time these days for weeding and tending my patch, what with everything and the band and such. Me mum helps out though – there's a rose trellis gate between our houses, and she can come and go as she pleases. She does most of the weeding," he laughed.

"Between me and my mum, we've established a proper English garden in our backyards. Pergolas and water features, the lot. Even got a shed. You'll have to come over sometime and see. I think you'd love it."

"Make that two black teas, mine with cream and sugar," Rob said to the waiter. He turned back to Sadie and beamed. "It's a date then. We'll have a day of gardening in my backyard and take a proper English tea break in the pergola. And you can say hello to the climbing roses between my yard and my mum's."

This was something he was really looking forward to. He hadn't had a lot of time lately to just putter around playing Monty Don in his garden, weeding and pruning and just generally tidying up the plants. Things were getting a bit unkempt back there. And the fact he'd be having Sadie there to help made him extremely happy. She was turning into a good friend.

"You can do a lot with a community plot, actually," he nodded. "Back in England, we have community plots too, called allotments. People grow all manner of things in their allotments, though they can put up sheds and the like on 'em." Giving her a cheeky grin, he added, "I'd like to see your more 'out of this world' projects someday too. I, um, have a few of those meself."

Rob nodded with a wink. He knew what she meant; he had taken a few plants from his own garden to his homeworld to brighten the place up, and with careful tending they thrived in the new environment. He was also flattered that she was inviting him to visit her Wonder, and was excited to see what a Wonder looked like, since he'd never seen one. Of course, he'd have to reciprocate.

"Oh, you have sources then?" he chuckled. "All right, I'll leave the sweets to you. Better than pestering my mum to make tea cakes, she can barely make a scone properly, She's a music teacher, not a baker. And I can provide the tea – I have sources too."

The topic returned to gardens, and he lit up again. "I know some about 'em – comes from watching gardening shows. You know, Monty Don, Alan Titchmarsh, the Chelsea Flower Show, like that. I think England has more gardening shows on telly than soap operas," he laughed. "I've actually been to the Chelsea Flower Show a few times, seeing as it's right in me backyard, so to speak. Even seen the Queen once."

Their drinks arrived, and he doctored his tea with cream and sugar as he spoke. "The trick to an English garden layout is design. English gardens are extremely structured to look organic. I reckon that's the ideal for any gardener, but it's especially true with us Brits. We're mad for our gardens and very proud of 'em."

He couldn't wait to show her what he'd done with his garden.

"The Chelsea Flower Show is fabulous. All manner of garden designs, plants for purchase, celebs walking about, television crews filming the whole affair… it's a really major deal in London, if not the whole of England." Rob smiled as he waxed nostalgic for his favorite garden showcase. Times like this he missed London, missed Chelsea and his life there. But he'd established a life here in Destiny City now, and really felt no compelling urge to move back. This was home now.

He listened and sipped his tea while Sadie described what she'd done with her garden project at her Wonder. "Yeah, that sounds very French inspired to me," he nodded. "Very orderly and symmetrical, but no less beautiful than an English garden. And with a good fewer hedgerows," he laughed. "Though I suppose you're working within limitations of what you can do, yeah? I would absolutely love to see it sometime."

Shifting a bit in his seat, he leaned forward. "I'm going to suggest to you a programme to watch, Big Dreams Small Spaces. It's hosted by Monty Don, England's Favorite Gardener. He goes into tiny backyards and allotments and landscapes them to within an inch of their life," he grinned. "Maybe you could get some ideas from that, yeah?"

"I'd really like to see your space," Rob nodded, hoping she understood that he meant both spaces: the terrestrial one in her community plot, and the one she'd put together on her Wonder. "I bet it's lovely."

He took another sip of his tea and smiled happily at her. "You seem to have a real passion for plants and gardening, Sadie. Don't see that too often around here, at least not that I've been able to find." Grinning at her, he cupped his mug of tea in his hands. "Maybe I should visit this flower show in Philadelphia, see how it measures up to Chelsea. I dunno, though, the Queen's a big draw," he winked cheekily as he sipped it again. "And if you ever find yourself in Chelsea, let me know – I have a flat you could stay in, well, a cousin's flat but they're hardly ever there. I could even pop round and give you a guided tour."

Draining the last of his tea, he put the mug on the counter. "But yeah, I'd like to visit your gardens – all of them. I'll bring my guitar with me, and my pennywhistles – we could make a right gardening holiday out of it, yeah?"