Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hah, she’d blushed, just a little – that was rather adorable in its apparent innocence.

“It means,” he replied leisurely, “that your guardian could, if she felt so inclined, hire me through the establishment I work for, to keep her company.” Or more. He gave Jasa a meaningful look and quirked a brow, wondering if she even had the money to afford him. His rates were in the upper range, even though he was not a popular type and … ‘damaged goods’, was how the Madame had put it rather bluntly once, when trying to get him to agree to an implant.

‘That’s all there is to it?’ Nephrite queried, wondering just why Amon had always made such a fuss about his job then. And – more importantly – why she never was allowed to tag along. If people wanted company so badly they paid for it … The more, the merrier, right?

“Wrong. There’s a little more to it, honey,” Amon hinted, stifling a bit of a laughter as he petted Nephrite’s head. There’d be no way for her to know, of course, what with him continuously putting off that way overdue ‘bees and flowers’ talk.

He murmured a quick thanks to the waitress when their meals were served, digging in as soon as she’d left. This was one of the better restaurants, he decided. At least in the sense that ‘hot’ in the descriptions on the menu actually meant hot.

“Sure, that’ll work, they’ll forward it to me.” There also was his PO Box, but he couldn’t remember its number off the top of his head, so he didn’t mention it. “Thank you so much, that’s going to help immensely – I owe you one.” And it wouldn’t be long before he’d have to call her, he assumed. He didn’t know a thing about this whole gardening s**t and considered himself more than lucky to have come across someone who did. And a fellow ‘guardian’ no less – they could rant and share their woes about raising those troublesome little shadowy nuisances.

Nephrite eyed her fellow fiend curiously, not entirely sure if she liked him or not. She never went and broke things intentionally. Out of thoughtlessness or in accidents – sure, that happened often enough – but she never did it intentionally, least of all to blackmail her guardian. She had other means to get what she wanted.

(( Amon saiz his contract doesn't allow him to give out favors for free, but he could arrange for a reduced rate if Jasa should be ... interested. X3 ))

“I keep putting it off, yes,” Amon admitted good-naturedly. “She looks and behaves like a spoiled child, most of the times, and occasionally like a bratty teen. That makes it kind of hard to judge just when the time would be right to tell her ... After all, technically she’s only three years old?” He eyed Nephrite thoughtfully. Goodness, had she really been with him this long already?

“Oh really?” He said softly, when she spoke of taking him up on his offer, quirking another brow. That was … unexpected, to say the least. He hadn’t thought she’d actually consider it, not right away at least. “In that case, I could probably arrange for a discount as I’m in my employer’s good books.” He shrugged. The young woman seemed to be plotting something, that much he could tell from her contemplative expression, and from her comments he strongly guessed it had something to do with her parents. A prank of sorts, he’d bet. He chose to rather not comment on what she told of her relationship to them, as it might spark questions about his own parents which was – a touchy subject, to say the least, one he’d rather avoid.

Nephrite giggled soundlessly, very much aware just who ‘Mr. You-Know-Who” would be. But she wasn’t telling~! ‘It’s pretty dresses,’ she generously chose to inform Ruku about her bags' contents. ‘And hair sticks, and shawls. And scented candles. And incense sticks.’ She wondered if he might like those, but then recalled Athan had said that other fiends couldn’t smell things like she did. But maybe he’d like the candles, even though their fragrance was lost on him. ‘The candles are flower-shaped. And they float on water. Do you want to see?’ She was wary showing her new dresses to the other fiend, lest alone allowing him to touch. Silk burned easily, she knew.

‘Algie!’ Nephrite perked up visibly upon the mention of the wizard’s name. ‘I met him, he’s nice. He gave me a lotus flower, which he made out of a-’ She abruptly interrupted herself, eyes widening, and she clamped her hands in front of where her mouth would have been if she were human. She had been, at some time, probably. Old habits died hard. ‘Bloo’s very nice too, but still tiny,’ she added, tail swishing nervously. Woops, she’d almost slipped about Algie being a wizard, which Amon wasn’t supposed to know! Or he’d never agree to meet the nice man.

Amon eyed her, a little wary. It was obvious the little fiend was hiding something from him. “She keeps insisting I ought to meet him,” he said slowly, “but wont say why.”

‘Because he’s nice!’ Nephrite blurted. ‘And he can … he might … You should talk to him, really!’ She fidgeted nervously, but then chose to turn her focus back onto Ruku, or else she’d for serious slip and say something she didn’t intend to and would mess everything up. She retrieved the candles from one of the bags, holding them out for Ruku to see. They were intricately shaped like miniature lotuses, hand-carved, not cheaply cast. They were supposed to smell like actual lotuses, which they totally didn’t, but Nephrite liked their scent anyway. It just had nothing in common with the fragrance of the actual flower, of which she’d bluntly informed the rather embarrassed sales person.

Amon shook his head, his features displaying mild frustration. “Sometimes, I just don’t get her …” He took his time to finish off his meal before he replied to what Jasa had said. So she did want to get back at her parents, heh. He wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to get involved in that, but … it might be fun. “Well, I’d at least like to promise you that I’m going to put some extra effort into my performance, should you decide to hire me.” He didn’t mention the discount again, after all the young woman had no idea yet as to what to expect concerning his rates.

Amon gave a laugh. “‘I want’ – he’s just like that little princess here, always making demands. Glad to know I’m not alone in my suffering.” He grinned when Nephrite gave him a slightly insulted stare, and then gave a huff and turned her back to him. “I’m certain ‘junglely’ must be a word – if not, it totally should be one.” Was it wise, to encourage the little one? Probably not, but it wouldn’t be him having to deal with it, he thought with a bit of a smirk.

He listened to what Jasamine had to say about Bloodstone’s guardian, considering what he’d heard. Perhaps it was simply his paranoia rearing its ugly head that he suspected an agenda of sorts behind Nephrite’s insistence to meet the man. And if this Algernon indeed had two daughters of his own, just as Jasa had said, he might be just the right person to ask for advice on raising Neph.

‘She does like lists a lot, doesn’t she?’ Nephrite asked Ruku, keeping her telepathy private momentarily as she cast a sidewards glance at his guardian. ‘So you will get a waterfall? And a pond? In your room?’ That did sound amazing, she had to admit. But she disliked humidity a great deal, so she didn’t want any of it for a change. But what kind of candles to pick for a room like that? She knew what a jungle looked like, sort of. From when she’d been in the- Oh! ‘Have you been to the botanic garden?!’ she exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands. ‘There is a huge greenhouse there full of tropical plants!’

‘Tell him about the bazaar,’ Amon suggested, trying to listen to what Jasa had to say and looking a wee bit annoyed at the distraction. ‘And do so quietly, keep it out of my head, if you please. I’m trying to have a conversation here.’

“So, essentially I’d be posing as your boyfriend to get them out of your hair for a little?” He shrugged. “Nothing strange about that, I’ve had engagements like that.” Though, from the hint of mischief he glimpsed upon her features, he strongly suspected he was very much not the type her parents had in mind for her. It felt … bittersweet of sorts. Despite her annoyance with their plans for her and putting up a rebellion she seemed to have a fairly normal relationship to them. It made him feel a little envious of her.

“It may not be my place to say,” he said softly, with a seriousness rather unusual for him, “and I’m certainly not the right person to give any kind of advice in that regard. But you do realize they care for you? They probably only want to make sure you wont get hurt, that there’s someone ‘proper’ watching over you while they aren’t around.” He paused. “You’ll have to convince them you can take care of yourself.” He shook his head at himself. Right. Look at who’s talking, smart a**. Like you’d really know about any of this s**t … He’d been thinking ‘too loud’ he realized, when he noticed Nephrite staring at him curiously. ‘Take care of your own business,’ he shot at her.

Nephrite quirked a brow at Amon, unconsciously mimicking her guardian’s expression, and then launched back into rambling about how wonderful the Grand Bazaar was, and what kinds of candles and candle holders might be obtained there. ‘There’s floating candles made of coconut shells, those would be perfect?’ Did coconuts come from jungles? She’d have to look that up. ‘And once they’ve burned down, you can reuse them, putting just about any candle into the shell.’ She liked especially liked those which actually smelled of coconut, and it was one of the few scents even Amon liked as he used coconut cream a lot in his cooking endeavors. In fact, he kept claiming it made him hungry. ‘And in the glassblowers’ hall, you can get floating candle holders. And flower shaped candles would look nice too of course.’

Amon made a face when the term ‘stealing’ was mentioned. That was indeed somewhat of a problem with his charge, though it wasn’t quite the right term. “Neph is … not entirely realizing not everything is hers to take,” he said, with a sidewards glance at the fiend. “Wouldn’t call it stealing per se, as she never tries to be sneaky about it …”

He listened patiently when Jasa explained a little more, and nodded slowly. So hers was an alright relationship with her parents, despite everything. Nice to know not everyone was raised by crazy-a** cultists – he envied her for this bit of normality, just a little.

‘They have them,’ Nephrite nodded. ‘Just … can’t tell you where.’ She shifted uneasily for a bit before she finally admitted: ‘I get lost a lot.’

She frowned, trying to think of anything else she could suggest. ‘There are plants which grow in water? Oh, and how about fish? I have a fish tank in my room,’ she announced proudly.

“Whenever you feel like it.” Amon nodded. “I’ll give the Madam a heads up so that she’ll know what this is about and … that I owe you.” He gave a sheepish grin. Really, he had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before he’d have to call the young woman for the first time – he didn’t know a single thing about greenhouses. Or or gardening.