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 Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 8:35 pm
Growing up Reed had never had space at home that other living things seemed to need. Even now that he had his own space at SH he felt he was far to busy to keep any kind of a pet, wouldn't know the first thing about caring for one anyways..
He'd never had a pet, nothing with fur or scales, nothing fuzzy four legged or companionable. No dogs; cats, birds or fish. Never the energy, never had the time, the only thing he had had that could be considered 'pet' like in his youth had been a plant. A very small potted fern, it was both quiet and easy to deal with. It didn't require regular feedings, or pee on the rug, didn't need to be taken out for walks; and so long as he kept it in the window it seemed to thrive just fine.
Reed supposed that was where his love of gardening had started, with a simple house plant, and since then it'd grown continuously. Though he'd sooner die then admit it, he absolutely adored being surrounded by all manner of flora, to the point where he'd started making his own little plots for various things in the park he so often frequented. Not for other people of course, he couldn't care less if they enjoyed the flowers or not, he did it for purely selfish reasons. So that when he needed to get away from it all he had something to pour himself into, somewhere quiet and sweet smelling he could go and just relax.
In fact Reed found himself there again, off in a corner of the park. Meticulously working on a small plot of tulips that he'd planted weeks earlier. Bent over them with the most embarrassingly wistful smile on his face as he weeded the little bed. He planned on adding more to it, maybe going off to a greenhouse and buying some pre-grown instead of bothering with seeds this time..
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:09 pm
Despite her father writing articles for the newspaper about plants, and the bamboo he kept in the back yard, Melody knew very little about plants. She knew they were gorgeous and smelled good, was quickly learning what kind of properties cherry blossoms had. But, in the end, that was the extent of her knowledge.
And with music, school and senshi dealing taking up her free time she didn't have the chance to learn anything about it. Or have the time to think about wanting to learn.
Regardless of what she did or didn't know about plants and flowers, the blonde Vietnamese girl did know that she enjoyed the park on the rare days that she had little to do. It was a perfect time to sit and think, or just enjoy a quiet and tranquil day. Hands behind her back, cello case absent from her person today, her heels clicked on the sidewalk as she roamed her usual path.
Today, however, there was some one new. Out of all the days she had taken this path -which had been since she'd run into Azzo back before her classes had started back up after the whole BP incident- she had never run into this young man who, judging by the way he hovered over the tulips, seemed to have a fondness for this spot. A small, sweet smile twitched on her lips and she came to a stop beside him.
"Do you take care of all the plants in the park?" she asked in a soft voice that held no ill intentions. "Or just this lovely little patch of tulips?"
She had crouched down with her arms resting on her knees, the hem of her dress brushing the sidewalk as her pigtails fell over her shoulder to watch him better. Hopefully he wouldn't get upset at her intrusion.
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:12 am
Reed twitched, startled slightly by the intrusion of the gentle female voice. He'd been so deep in his own world that he hadn't noticed her until she was right there next to him. He knew he shouldn't have been annoyed with her, after all he didn't own the whole park; public place, people could do what they wanted where they wanted. He wasn't doing an activity that warranted other peoples attention either, gardening was something one did by oneself, an activity that most people viewed as boring even...
"Do I look like I work for the city. Here to do they're landscaping maybe?" Reed huffed softly, turning away from his little garden to glance at the girl. She wasn't bad looking really, maybe had a bit too much makeup on, but otherwise a fairly soft face, beautiful hair. The pigtails made her look young, but the way she spoke..
"Uh, Tulips?" Reed blinked stupidly for a moment, a bit surprised that she knew. Not that tulips weren't common, but most people couldn't pick out a true flower from a blade of grass. "Just this one right now..really I only care about the ones I plant.." The statement wasn't entirely true, he cared about all the flowers, but he only took care of the ones he planted.
Reed felt like a bit of an a**, here she was complimenting him and he'd decided to be curt with her, great first impression there.
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 8:49 pm
If his curt reply at first bothered her she didn't show it, the soft smile never fading from pale colored lips. She had interrupted him after all, no harm no foul. In fact she almost giggled.
"No, I suppose not. At least you don't seem dressed to work for the city." A shame really, he seemed to pour a lot of care into the tulips. Not many of the landscapers around the park seemed to care much any more.
How much of that was due to senshi battles and the presence of youma and the Negaverse? She tried not to think about it.
"It looks really pretty, I can see the care you give it. I just didn't know how many of the newer plants found around the park maybe yours."
As he glanced at her she had a moment to look him over, glad to be able to tell more about him other then he liked flowers and had purple hair. He seemed older then her, judging by his facial shape and over all feel of him. She just didn't know by how much.
He had gorgeous eyes though, a color she didn't think she'd seen before. Her cheeks pinked just a bit.
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:57 pm
"Thank you, you know most people who notice them don't seem to have a clue. Flowers are all just nice to look at and nothing more. They don't see all the benefits, or the hard work" Reed hummed softly, eying his little patch of work lovingly. "And the rest, well..I'll tell you most people who catch me out here doing this, they tend to be quite annoying." Assholes was the proper word to describe those people, flowers planting flowers was considered such a feminine thing, so many little stigmas that ran along with being a guy who liked to garden.
It wouldn't have been polite of him to have said that though; no swearing was mean. And though he usually didn't care how he spoke to strangers, she seemed to know enough about flowers to gain some respect from him. "Your different though, unique. I'm curious, how much do you really know about flowers or gardening in general" Reed asked curiously, eager for conversation with someone who had even a little knowledge on his favorite subject.
That, and she was absolutely cute, maybe too young, but still..cute..dainty..she reminded him a bit of a flower even. It was strange but he couldn't help thinking about it.
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:07 pm
Had he mentioned her "resemblance" to a flower aloud she likely would have laughed nervously and tried to change the subject. Before her life as a senshi she wouldn't have thought twice about being thought of as a flower. Now, however, it would be a subject she'd have to avoid for fear that some one may just find a way to piece together that she was the Senshi of Cherry Blossoms. Some times double lives sucked.
"Of course they don't," she replied in the same soft and gentle tone. Some people tended to get annoyed by the fact she was always so gentle and quiet, often very soft in everything she did. It was probably accurate for him to guess she was always like this.
"No one really understands the hard work behind beauty or creativity unless they themselves work with it."
"Sadly I don't know enough about flowers or gardening. Not enough to be relevant I guess." A sheepish smile, hand moving to brush a pigtail over her shoulder. She knew enough about flowers to appreciate the hard work that went in to making them look and smell wonderful. Appreciate his love for flowers and the care he put into them.
"What little I know, I know from my dad. Just like I knew they were tulips because he wrote an article on them once for the newspaper. It's one of my favourite of his."
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Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2010 11:11 am
"Well, no one but you it seems." Reed chuckled giving her a soft smile, really Reed didn't mind her soft tone, if anything it made her easier to talk with. He wouldn't have to compete for his own chance to speak, wouldn't need to be yell, or exchange sarcastic remarks with someone as gentle as her. Not that he didn't mind having a good verbal battle every now and then, but sometimes it was nice to have a decent, fun, conversation. Especially one about his favorite things!
So often it ended up he was dragged into other peoples 'fun' interrupted in his own daily routine only to be shuffled off elsewhere to do what 'they' wanted. "Uh, is that so? This may be a bit presumptuous of me, but is there anyway I can charm a few free issues out of you!" Reed beamed, he'd be more then happy to exchange a trip to the movies or trip to the mall in order to bribe the dear girl. It would be more then worth it to him if he could get some free gardening tips..not that he needed them..but if her father was good enough to write articles on them, to get them published even. Well who was reed to question his talent!
"Thats cool you know, that you have someone at home to learn from. I never had anyone to teach me really, sort of developed the hoby on my own, and I come out here because there never seems to be enough room at the dorms to do what I want." That and he didn't want anyone else to ever see him doing it, at least in the park he could be semi-secretive with his work. "Do you two garden together too, you and your father?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 12:48 pm
She flushed prettily but nodded. "Well, I should I hope with how much work I put into my music. It's not quite the same as working with flowers, but there's still a lot of hard work to be done."
She knew enough about hard work to recognize some one else's and had the sense to appreciate it as well. So many people took so much for granted, it made her sad.
A laugh escaped her as he grinned, his question amusing her just a bit. "You don't have to charm me at all. My dad has several copies at home that he's always willing to hand off to those who need them." He'd be glad to get his older copies off of his hands for sure. "And no repayment is required either!"
The last part was an after thought, just something she felt should be said.
"For being self-taught you're incredibly talented. Don't ever think that just because you didn't have any one to teach you that you're not just as good." A firm nod, she truly meant what she said.
Though as for gardening between her and her father... "Ah, well not really. I'd like to think if I didn't play the cello we might. Though even then I don't really live at home at the moment. I live in the dorms, so my dad and I don't spend a lot of time together unless I'm home for the weekend."
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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:56 pm
"Well aren't you a kind soul, giving them to me free of charge? I still feel like I should owe you something though." Reed gave a small smile, was she blushing? She was like most girls really, and she seemed to like being complimented just a bit. The cherry on top of it all being that she had a less aggressive type of personality then he was used to, not as challenging but not unlikeable either.
"Well of course I'm better then them! Better then most I'm sure, but it'd have been nice to have had someone else to garden with. You know, do the whole....bonding..thing.." Reed shrugged, being alone wasn't so bad, oh no, he wasn't complaining at all. It gave him time to focus, gave him a chance to improve himself without anyone else's help, and that was always nice to brag about. Who needed people to do activity's with anyways? Surely not him, heck no, he was self sufficient and independent all the way!
"Hn, so your a music lover? A cellist even, you know I'm surprised you don't garden more. I've heard plants love classical music, helps them grow better then any other type." While her love of music wasn't so unique, someone who played the cello, and a dainty blond haired girl of all things, that made it more interesting. He'd honestly been expecting flute, violin, a more frilly instrument then a cello.
"Dorms huh, that cant be fun. I live in a dorm myself, it's not to bad really, not a lot of room there, but really no different then my parent's home." Though reed still wished he had more space somewhere to garden at that place so he wouldn't always have to come here, the dorm's always seemed so tiny, and he could never focus on anything but studying while he was there.
"I hope I'm not digging too much, but where exactly do you go to school?" He swore he'd never seen her at SH, he would have noticed someone like her, even if they didn't have classes he usually had a good memory of faces. Not names no, but faces were easy.
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Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 9:35 pm
"I know, papa's said the same thing but I just never found the time I guess. Before the incident last year I had a tendency to throw everything into my music. I'm trying to change that, trying to make more time for me and any friends I have." Which the number of friends she had was steadily growing.
"Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you teach me about gardening as payment for the magazines?"
He was charming himself, actually, well mannered and polite. Sure he seemed to have a few rough edges but who didn't? He was extremely easy to talk to as well, something that gave him high points in her book because she did sometimes have issues talking with new people.
Such was the curse of throwing most of her life into her music.
"It's not digging too much!" she reassured him with a bright smile. "Besides you have to at least be sure I don't go to your school. I go to Crystal Academy, the all-girl's-snob school." At that she made a face, nose wrinkling just a bit. It was obvious she didn't have much of a love for her school. "Luckily this is my last year, so soon I won't have to deal with it anymore."
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