Fantasy In Plain Sight [P]

[Gary Sue]

The blond man stood outside of the huge mansion, silently. He had finally gotten a job in the same field as his father, and with what experience he'd picked up from helping out in his dad's jobs and with his mom's flower shop, he knew how to treat plants properly, arrange gardens and quite well at that. To find himself working for one of the most influential people in his town though, he definitely did not expect. With a deep breath, he nervously approached the entrance and was shown around the premises by one of the head servants of the estate. Of course, he was anxious through and through, stiff as a statue and following around. The garden was big and needed a bit of tending to from what imperfections the previous gardener had left in their wake. Nothing too much though.

As the showcase of his new workplace finished, he tried to calm himself down as he got ready to get down to work. "Maybe having looked around even from outside a day earlier or so would have helped out...", he noted mentally and pinched the bridge of his nose, looking down at his backpack. There was a long day ahead of him, after all. He lifted his gaze to look over to the toolshed further to the side of the garden, figuring he should see what they have and what they don't, and get changed into his uniform. He entered it and quietly looked around as he closed the door behind him, getting back out within just a couple of minutes with a pair of shears for a start.

Now dressed with a pair of boots, some somewhat baggy beige overalls and a purple shirt, he approached the hedge by the main pathway and sheared whatever he saw to be overgrown into form with the rest of it. He was pretty confident in his abilities, but the constant feeling of being looked at made him unnerved enough to look around every now and then. Granted it was his first day, some other servant might be overlooking him to make sure he was doing a good job, let alone the fact he hadn't gotten to see his boss in person yet. If anything, he wasn't sure he'd ever seen her out of the mansion, or aside from big discussions and festivities in the first place. "She's probably busy with important stuff... Yeah. Wouldn't be too surprising.", Ethan tried to keep his mind busy as he worked on the garden however best he could. Whatever could put him at ease in the moment.

 

[NightmareWeaver]

Evanlyne Risewell, a name that had become very well known in the town of Houndhelm. People often spoke of the rich and powerful woman who scarcely showed her face in public. The Risewell estate itself was a bit of a mystery, hidden in the woods, often hard to find without getting lost. There were even rumors of people mysteriously going missing in the forest surrounding the estate. You were not to go looking for it unless specifically invited, then your trip would be safe and you'd be met with no trouble in finding the place. But of course, these were all stories, were they not?

Upon Ethan's arrival, a stiff middle aged man would greet him at the entrance of the mansion. He introduced himself as Edgar, the head butler. He would then show him around the servants quarters, including his room, followed by a tour of the garden. At first glance, it was your ordinary run of the mill garden, fit for a noble estate. But upon closer inspection, one could notice one thing. A large portion of the flowers consisted of species such as evening primrose, moonflower, brugmansia, night gladiolus, and others of the sort. In other words, they were flowers that bloomed at night. Many were foreign, the type that local gardeners wouldn't get their hands on easily.

"Our Mistress is quite attached to her garden. I trust you will do a pleasing job." Edgar left him with those parting words, spoken almost as a warning. He was left alone to his work after that.

That is, until the sun began to set, spilling its warm colors over the horizon. The person that emerged from the mansion could only be Lady Evanlyn herself. Each one of her movements was of an astounding grace. Even in the warm light of the sunset, her skin looked pale as snow. Her hair, only a tad more colorful than her skin, fell over her exposed shoulders in waves. The red lipstick brought out the thickness of her lips, matching her evening gown. Her facial features did not match those of a plump, desirable lady you'd find in renowned paintings decorating the walls of a proud noble's home. They were sharp, almost threatening to cut anything that might come near them. As she made her way down the paved path, icy blue eyes ran over the flowers that were just beginning to open, as if presenting themselves to their mistress.

Eventually, her gaze fell on Ethan and her lips stretched into a smile as she now began to walk towards him. "You must be the new gardener. Why, you could match my flowers. I didn't expect you to be so easy on the eyes." She let out a short little laugh. "What is your name, darling?"

 

[Gary Sue]

Having been working since the morning, Ethan wound up humming to himself as he treated the garden however best he could. A trimming for a start, and just when he was about to get to the flowers, he heard a door open and turned to look, silently admiring the pale lady that came out. He was left in awe, watching her approach quietly and letting his eyes take in her form that ever so gracefully approached him. Before he knew it, he was the center of her attention, and the compliment completely threw him off balance and got rid of whatever composure he'd managed to build up so far. "It's Ethan... Harwood...", he muttered lowly, stunned before he cleared his throat, repeated himself more clearly and added a "... Madam.".

With a sharp breath, he tried to pull himself back together and with a red tint on his cheeks, he just smiled back at her and offered a bow. "You must be Lady Evanlyne. Thank you for letting me take care of your garden.", the boy was quick to pay his respects and turn his head to look at the flowers, being surprisingly unfamiliar with a few of them. "Most of them seem to bloom at night... You're a fan of the later hours?", he turned back to the mistress of his new home, before realising he might have been too informal in addressing her. "I-If I may, of course.". It wasn't always that he, or anybody from his family really got to speak directly with one of the nobles, from this town or any. Even when the occasional servant would visit his mother's flower shop, they'd quickly stumble out as soon as they got whatever they needed.

He occasionally looked behind him at the flowers, noticing some of them were a bit roughed up. Infrequent watering? Maybe too much watering? Whatever it was, they needed a bit of rest to recover from whatever had worn them out. "The previous gardener mustn't have been too much of a fan of their job. Some of the flowers seem tired, but... I can help them recover given time.", the petite gardener said with confidence and turned back to the pale giantess, at least in comparison to him, giving her as much of a reassuring smile as he could muster. Her presence was a bit overwhelming to the point of making him feel too humble to be in her presence, and it was definitely making him all the more nervous to be in this position.

 

[NightmareWeaver]

Evanlyn found his flustered reaction entertaining. She brought a gloved hand to her mouth as she watched his attempt at composing himself. It made her think of a puppy that had just been startled, but tried to act brave. Edgar had done so well in hiring him, he'd remembered how much she loved pretty little things. "Dear me, you're an amusing one. That is me indeed. And you'd be right."

She returned her gaze to the garden and released a small sigh, the smile leaving her face. "I prefer to do my work during the night and, thus, I also visit my garden during late hours. And so I wanted my garden to suit my needs. Which was a bit of a challenge. You wouldn't believe how hard it was, obtaining so many different species of flowers that bloom at night." She looked into the distance, this time with a look of disdain towards nothing that was currently present, a hand indignantly resting on her hip. "That imbecile... had I allowed him to work here for too long, he would've killed my carefully picked beauties." When she looked to Ethan again, the irritation left her features. "At least you give the impression you know what you're doing. I'll put my faith in you."

She took a few steps further down the path, but stopped again with another sigh and reached for one of the flowers nearby. Her finger caressed its underside, pushing it up so it'd face her. "It is hard to find proper servants these days. Here I am, offering such good payment and they are all put off by those ridiculous rumors. People are too gullible for their own good."

Ethan probably did not know this, but most nobles never bothered having such lengthy conversations with their servants. Normally, he should have gotten a quick "I look forward to good results" before Evanlyn was on her way. It wouldn't be proper for someone of her status to be sharing her thoughts with a gardener. But since she rarely left her estate and conversations with other nobles never failed to tick her off, she'd made a habit of chatting with any servants that happened to be awake and nearby.

 

[Gary Sue]

Granted he knew most species that seemed to grow around their parts and almost half of these were foreign... he could imagine. "They're very pretty. You have very good taste.", he complimented her, although it came off more casually and less so like he wanted to get on her good side. Out of appreciation for her fondness of flowers, probably. With her words though, especially that 'I'll put my faith in you' paired with Edgar's previous rather ominous remark, it felt like more weight had been put on the man's shoulders. Not so much weight he couldn't lift, but more so to strengthen his sense of duty. Although everybody did seem too stern, but that's just nobles for you.

When Evanlyn had started getting closer to the gardener to appreciate the flowers, he took a few steps back to give her some space and watched her quietly admire it, frowning at her mention of rumors. On one hand, he'd heard them and they served their purpose just right- nobody he knew had ever tried looking for the mansion and stepping foot in the woods before. On the other, he'd gotten all the way here just fine and he had to have found the position somehow. "To spread all these rumors for somebody as nuanced as Lady Risewell though...", he huffed internally, with both of his arms dropped and a slightly disappointed expression.

"You mean the rumors about people going missing, Madam?", he asked her, with furrowed brows. Just from having met her right now and seeing how hurt she was at the prospect of her flowers getting mistreated, he could tell that she cared a lot. Add to that all the near mortifying experiences he'd heard others describe from their interactions with nobles, and so far she was almost as easy going as the neighbors he'd grown up with. Maybe to a worrysome extent, but she felt... safe to be around, for lack of a better way to describe how Ethan felt about her domineering presence right now. "You should pay them no mind, rumors and gossip are just that. And not everybody will fall victim to them either. If that were the case, I would not be here right now.", he tried to sound grateful, giving her a faint smile and hoping he'd help relieve her a bit. There was only so much he could say without stepping out of line, after all. The amount of worries on her mind though... The blond looked back at the mansion and thought to himself, quietly, before turning his gaze back to his mistress. "She must have a lot on her plate anyway if she's that pale... It looks like she barely has any time to step out of her estate."

 

[NightmareWeaver]

If her expression had gone sour for a few moments, a pleased little smile had now returned, it almost looked like one of victory. Not because his words succeeded in comforting her, but rather because her little act of worry had passed as genuine. Like most of her servants, he was easy to fool. So long as she played nice, most of them saw her as the perfect mistress. She never mistreated them, never gave harsh punishments, and as long as all things were in order, they were often praised or rewarded. She knew all too well that commoners' gossip could spread like wild fire and the best way to combat it was to make sure a number of people had a reason to deny it unflattering words. Making herself look suspicious even to her servants would be spelling disaster for her.

"I suppose you're right. I don't think anybody enjoys being associated with ghost stories and death warnings, but it is what I get for deciding to build my mansion in the middle of a thick forest. It seems wolves and the lack of direction weren't exciting enough to explain a lost person or two. They'll find something new to talk about eventually." She let go of the flower and turned to him fully. "Well I won't keep you from finishing your work any longer. Speaking to you has not been unpleasant. Take good care of my lovelies."

She began to walk away with a small wave of her hand, continuing down the garden path. By now, the sun had nearly set fully, leaving only a small amount of light over the garden. As a result, Evanlyn's skin and hair shone brighter than before, giving her a ghastly appearance. This little encounter had put her in a good mood. Perhaps she'd have more than flowers to look forward to when visiting her garden from now on.

 

[Gary Sue]

It seemed like although he managed to help get her mind off of the rumors, she was still somewhat stern with her words. No matter, she probably was all too used to speaking and acting as formally as she could. When she turned to face him, Ethan straightened his back fully and gave her a confident nod, and then she turned away and started to walk back. His body loosened up a bit more, as he smiled and spoke clearly. "Thank you for the company, Lady Risewell! I won't disappoint you.", he spoke just loudly enough to be heard by her, bowing as he thanked her and then looking back to the garden. "... Nobles, huh?", he muttered under his breath and looked back at his mistress with a smile of appreciation.

Crouching, he picked up the watering can and started to tend to the flowers with all too much energy. "They look to have their hands full.", he finished and then went quiet, bar the low humming. While she was moving away, it might as well have been the only thing heard other than the clicking of her shoes and the droplets hitting the petals and soil the plants had been planted in. Although her appearance would normally be more than enough reason to worry, something about the setting and how elegant she looked made him feel at ease. Unbeknownst to him, the blond had been charmed maybe a little too well. And for a noble, she definitely went leagues above and beyond to prove she wasn't like the rest. That's what it felt like to the naive one at least.

It didn't feel like too long, but before he knew it a wave of drowsiness washed over him and he was starting to feel unstable on his feet. It was only when he realised the flowers were in full bloom and looked up that probably, it would be best to go to sleep as well. He could continue servicing the garden however necessary the next morning, after all. There was something that confused him though, thinking back to what Evanlyn had said. He turned his head silently outside of the garden and into the forest, scanning the surroundings and keeping his ears on the ready. "... There really are wolves here..?", he asked himself and the response? Silence.

With a sigh, he scratched the back of his head and pulled his sleeves up, shaking his head and rubbing an eye. "Probably sleeping or something... I should follow suit anyway.", he finished off and turned around to gather the tools, store them back in the shed and upon knocking on the mansion's door, there was Edgar. He'd show him around to wherever he would stay, and the next day, more of the same would follow. Or that was the plan he had in mind at least.

 

[NightmareWeaver]

Once again, Evanlyn made no appearance outside her manor during the day. Sometimes one or two servants wandering out to fetch a thing or two might've mentioned her name or something she might've asked to be done, but her existence was limited to that. During the afternoon, Margret, a young woman who claimed to be her ladies' maid came into the garden and asked Ethan to cut a few flowers, some of the less wilted ones, so she could make a small bouquet. "The mistress likes to have them by her bedside when she wakes up," Margret said.

Once the evening came, Evanlyn emerged from the mansion once again. It was about an hour later than the previous night. This time, she wore a bandage on her left hand and half of her forearm. The skin was very red where the bandage ended, despite it looking like it'd been treated. Perhaps it was a burn of sorts. The maid had forgotten to close the curtains in the morning and Evanlyn's hand had wandered out of the thick black curtains surrounding her bed while she slept. She'd woken up with a terrible burn.

As she began her walk through the garden, she made attempts at burying it amidst her dress in hopes it may not get noticed. When she came upon Ethan again, she greeted him with another smile, although this one was much more strained than any of the ones she'd shown the previous day. "Good evening. You've been hard at work again, I assume. Would you mind taking a walk with me?"

Most servants had been avoiding her since she'd woken up. Although she was normally a good mistress, they all knew being in her presence when she was angry was never a pleasant experience. It was something that happened rarely, since she wasn't easy to anger. It involved a lot of tension, extra work being assigned and sometimes firing the first person to make her mood even worse. Then she'd go back to the pleasant chatty lady she normally was. But something or someone had to soothe her at one point and apparently that task had currently fallen on Ethan, who likely didn't yet know when or how to avoid her. Having been outside the whole time, he probably hadn't even heard she was upset in the first place.

 

[Gary Sue]

The night's sleep had been good, and he could really do nothing to complain about the conditions in the mansion. Serving under Evanlyn seemed like one of the best jobs one could ask for, and his attitude towards her the day before probably made that clear. And so, he woke up the next morning, had his breakfast and quickly got to work. By the time it was afternoon, Ethan had found it a bit odd that Margret came asking for flowers at this hour, but seeing as he'd already treated most of them, he might as well pick the ones that were in the best condition. He specifically picked one of the flowers Evanlyn was admiring the night before, grinning and offering the maid the banquet once it was ready. "I hope Lady Risewell had a good night's sleep.", he wished her and watched her be off.

Then, work continued as usual. When it was evening, Ethan was looking at some of the pricklier parts of the garden, carefully not to end up with scratched up arms. Everything was well, of course, until he heard his mistress' voice behind him and suddenly pulled his arms out of the bush he was inspecting, finding himself with a few small scratches. Despite flinching though, he quickly stood up and bowed to greet his mistress before giving her a nod. "O-Of course, madam.", he hurriedly responded and looked down at his hands, some of the small wounds pouring out a tiny bit of blood. "I'm too jumpy... Just have to be more careful next time.", the blond sighed and looked at the dissatisfied noble.

"Is... something bothering you, Milady? You don't look very satisfied.", he tried to see what was wrong, thinking about how high spirits she seemed to be in the day before. Checking his tools, the boy just let them be and nodded to the vampire, as though asking her to lead the way. Ethan wanted to compliment her garden and her taste in flowers, but he wanted her to get whatever was on her mind off first. Maybe he'd be able to help her loosen up again, like he thought he did yesterday. It seemed as though for now, he hadn't taken notice of her bandaged arm, as he had been too busy paying attention to his own predicament and trying to keep himself composed near Evanlyn.

 

[NightmareWeaver]

Evanlyn started walking down the path as her lips pressed together in an expression that look like a cross between a grimace and a smile. All her hair was gathered into an elaborate bun today and the sleeves of her dress covered her shoulders. It was a dark blue one this time and it brought out the paleness of her skin just as much as the red one from the previous night had.

"Satisfied I am most definitely not, Ethan. Not today. You would think it an easy task, for someone to properly close a pair of curtains." She would speak with many gestures of her hands. Although her tone hadn't quite reached the point of aggressiveness yet, it didn't sound merry either. Some words were spoke through her teeth. "Especially when I make it clear that I want them closed each time and how important it is that they stay this way..." Her voice trailed off and her stride eventually came to a stop as she turned towards him with a small frown. It looked like she was... sniffing the air. And whatever she was smelling brought her a step closer to him. "What is that..." She never finished her sentence. Out of reflex, her bandaged hand shot out to grab his wrist with an alarming speed and bring it in front of her face.

A strange look appeared in her icy blue eyes, the type you'd give to a freshly cooked steak that's been laid before you. The smell was intoxicating, saliva gathered in her mouth along with the urge to lean in and take a bite. The wound looked awfully fresh too, like it had opened only moments ago. The grip on his wrist tightened momentarily. "I see I'm not the only one who suffered a recent injury." She finally managed to take her gaze off the blood and look into his eyes again. "You should be more careful." Her mouth opened a little wider at the last word, and for a split second, it looked like her canines had gotten longer. A little too long. Then she let go and turned around to resume her walk.

 

[Gary Sue]

Ethan had noticed the change in attire, complimenting her unusual features as yesterday's outfit did. When she approached, he felt a bit menaced by her change of expression. Rather than her stern features being more welcoming, she seemed on the verge of snapping, and the way she talked with her teeth almost greeted, that just went to show. "... I see...", he mumbled somewhat quietly, intimidated by her appearance before she... started to smell the air? "Milady, is everything f-", he loosened up a bit and flinched when she suddenly firmly gripped his arm, getting a dry swallow out of him.

Although she was rather unpredictable, the gardener was doing his best to avoid eye contact and hide his face, with his cheeks slowly going red. "S-Sorry madam, I scratched myself when...", he tried to excuse himself and looked at her, only to see her cold, blue orbs peer right into his own. Her words almost echoed in his head as she tightened her grip, getting a quiet yelp out of the petite worker and a slow nod. "I'll take more care in the future...". His eyes were going all over the place, wondering why he felt in danger and catching a quick glimpse of her fangs before she let go and turned her back to him. He looked down at where she was gripping him, trying to pace his now sharper breathing. "What the hell was that...", he wondered and looked at her, understanding one simple thing after this baffling interaction.

"She's almost a different person when she's angry. I shouldn't anger her further...", Ethan hurriedly ran closely behind her and with a swift pace tried to walk alongside her, looking at her bandaged arm and trying to assess whether it was a good idea or not to ask what had happened. Although he still wasn't very sure where he stood on the matter, he went forward and -maybe stupidly- asked anyway. "Your arm... Did you hurt yourself somewhere, Lady Risewell?", his voice was still fearful, yet concerned. "Her skin seems irritated where it's been bandaged up... That's probably what bothered her this much..."

 

[NightmareWeaver]

Luckily, the sight and smell of his blood had completely distracted her from the fact that she was angry, since she'd now focused all her energy into seeming less thirsty. That little slip up had been risky. If she'd had just a little less self control, she might've done something impossible to cover up or make excuses for. Irritated or not, it would do her no good if this boy went running into town, yelling that she was a vampire. And he was a little too cute to simply kill off, she'd only had him for a day. His constant nervousness around her was rather endearing.

Her features finally relaxed, though her gaze now remained straight ahead, no longer wandering to him. Evanlyn cleared her throat. "Apologies, I am normally not this forceful. That was rather unbecoming of me."

Her steps had also gotten slower and her posture had become less stiff. She raised her hand to eye level upon hearing his question, as if this were the first time she noticed the bandages. "This? It's a burn. Since I'm always locked away in my residence, my skin has become sensitive to the sun." Cuts, bruises, broken bones or torn muscles, everything healed remarkably fast and left no scars. But the burns, those healed so slowly. And it was not the pain that she despised most, it was the look of it. Her skin became stained, it bubbled up in places, hideous, disgusting. She hated having such imperfections on her body. "I despise wounds, they are unsightly and they suggest weakness."

 

[Gary Sue]

Right now, the boy had found himself in a state where it was hard to make sense of things, and he could just tell that something was off. He tried shaking that feeling off though, as if it were just caused by fear. For now, he foolishly tried to excuse her behavior once more as just the result of anger and... hopefully, hurt at seeing him scratched up. Yeah, that would have to be it. That's the lie he stuck with, for now. "No, it's alright. I just don't...", he tried to speak before coughing to clear his throat, trying to move the shakiness out of his voice and word himself properly, so he didn't come off as rude. "I don't think you should be seen holding a commoner so closely, madam."

As humble as he tried to come of, that was the best thought his gut feeling could land on. It must have been the third or so time he found another excuse for how horribly shaken he felt just a few moments ago. Any other explanation would be paranoid at best, and he knew that just couldn't be true. "I see...", Ethan muttered at her explanation, looking down at the path they were walking before he looked back up at her. "With all due respect...", he choked on his words, realising it'd rub her off the wrong way if he spoke his mind so casually right now. She'd already had an outburst once today, best avoid another one if possible. "If it's comforting any... you seem anything but weak, Lady Risewell.", he gave her an endearing smile and looked down at his arm, before back up at her.

"You're in full control and you know how to handle everything.", he finished with a stupid grin, covering up the other thought on his mind and then going silent again. Throughout the conversation, his eyes hadn't once gone to the bandages unless she was specifically talking about them, and he didn't seem to find them as repulsive as she did, for all it mattered. If anything, it was reassuring for him that even someone as seemingly untouchable as Evanlyn could still get wounded. Still, that didn't mean he took much pleasure in seeing her in such a state, but there was little he could do about it. That is, until he got an idea. "... May I propose something?", he looked up at her with confidence and spoke formally, something clearly having come to mind.

 

[NightmareWeaver]

Evanlyn suddenly burst into a fit of laughter, the sound spreading through the quiet garden. She brought her uninjured hand to her chest and threw her head back. It only lasted a few moments, but it was probably the loudest thing she'd done so far. "Oh, aren't you delightful?" she spoke once it had died down, finally looking him in the eye again. "People think I live in some sort of ghost mansion in the middle of a spooky forest. Do you really think I'd let the opinion of others dictate how closely I hold my servants? I think you'll come to learn soon enough that I mostly do as I please." It almost sounded like a warning, though it was nowhere near as intimidating as her tone had been when she'd grabbed his wrist earlier. It was still spoken with a smile on her face.

She directed her attention towards the flowers at last. There had barely been a chance to notice them since she'd come out here. Though as she did so, she continued to listen to what he had to say. Of course his words only brought her delight. If there was anything she enjoyed more than someone praising her beauty, that was someone recognizing her power and authority. "Yes, some would say that's rather rare for a woman. They should know ambition has no gender." There had been a time when she herself had been lacking in power. Many sacrifices were made to get where she was today. But that only made the victory all the sweeter.

She raised an eyebrow at his question, turning her attention to him again. Seeing him switch to a more confident demeanor sparked her curiosity. "Oh? Go ahead."

 

[Gary Sue]

Her laughter confused him a bit, but she did make a fair argument. When she went on to explain herself though, his more paranoid side didn't seem to help muster anything but an awkward laughter out of courtesy. He did his best to not dwell on it very much, and his eyes looked back down on her injured arm before he gave another confident nod. "There is a plant called aloe vera. It needs some very special conditions and good care taking, but... I'm certain my family has some in good condition back in town.", he continued as formally as he could, checking to see the descending sun before he turned his gaze back into hers.

"It's late right now, but could I be allowed to head to town tomorrow? I'll take as little as I can and return with some aloe for the garden to grow, and some to make an ointment for your burn. Normally, we just kept it for exotic purposes, but a botanist told us we could make a cream out of it if we ended up somehow getting burn marks. It should help hasten your recovery, madam. That's all.", Ethan finished and almost lost pace of his breathing, as though he was tensed up and just finally relaxed again. "I'm sorry if that was too blunt of me.", he continued and lowered his head again, looking at the path and occasionally raising his eyes to look from their corners at the plants he'd been treating all day.

 

[NightmareWeaver]

Evanlyn was normally not a very easy person to impress. She'd been around for a long time, seen and heard many things and the people currently surrounding her never had anything new or interesting to say. They were always oddly frightened of anything new or out of the ordinary. Or at least the humans were. Because of this, she was sometimes under the impression that she'd heard and seen it all. So she was somewhat surprised to hear Ethan's idea. She'd never heard of such properties belonging to aloe vera. Granted, the only plants she'd ever shown interest in were the ones that looked pretty and could decorate her garden. Still, this new information pleased her. Not only was it something she hadn't known, but it could help with the dreadful burns as well!

"Ethan, dear, you've just made my night! Do make it a habit to be blunt, as you put it, when you get such wonderful ideas. You're already proving I made the right choice in hiring you." She smiled sweetly. "Yes, you may go into town tomorrow and bring back some of this aloe vera you speak of. If it can speed up the healing process of these awful burns, I want it in my garden. I trust you to properly look after it."

 

[Gary Sue]

The young gardener wasn't sure what response to expect after that outburst of hers. So when she almost squealed with excitement, he raised his head in near disbelief, returning the smile out of excitement with a glimmer in his eyes. All this praise was doing him good, inflating the ego he'd had knocked down a peg just a few moments earlier. "Y-Yes ma'am!", he returned back to his more reserved and demeanor almost instantly, looking down at her bandaged arm before back up at her with a reassuring grin.

If he was confident about helping her out in any way that didn't involve gardening, this was it. With his chest now puffed outward slightly as though it were filled with pride, he looked back at the path they were walking and tried to think of a good spot where he could place the potted plant he'd be helping add to his mistress' collection. Somewhere that it wouldn't stick out too much probably, but... Oh, he could think about it when they weren't together again. "Is there anything else you need picked up from town, Lady Risewell?", he thought to stretch his offer now that he had a planned trip over to Houndhelm, thinking it might do good to save some of the other servants a bit of effort and fill in their roles if he got the chance to.

Although he really liked his current outfit for the work, he was certain that it'd wear eventually, so it wouldn't hurt to pick up another one to keep around, in case she wouldn't ask anything of him. To think he'd go from being scared to no end to being excited for the next day in this short a time... It really went to show how much he, happily, depended on others to make or break his day more than anything else.

 

[NightmareWeaver]

Evanlyn decided that she liked that look of excitement on his face just as much as she liked the frughtened one he'd showed her earlier. It was the privilege of being pretty, she supposed. Pretty faces looked good regardless of what expression they were. And how rare it was for a man to be pretty, too. Usually, their features were bigger, less delicate, rougher if you will. But Ethan had the type of pleasant looks you'd expect from a woman. It was a shame he was only a gardener, she would've loved to dress him up nicely in all sorts of pretty clothes.

"Edgar is in charge of keeping count of everything when it comes to necessities. So you'll need to ask him if you'd like to replace someone else's trip. As for me personally, I suppose there would be one thing. I'll write it down and have Margret give it to you before you leave."

She turned to look at the sky. It had gone black, many stars now decorated it. She sighed. "It's gotten late. I suppose it would be cruel of me to keep you up and out much longer, so I shall end my walk here. Have a pleasant night, Ethan." With one last sweet smile, she began to make her way back towards the mansion.

 

[Gary Sue]

If helping out with more chores required speaking to Edgar, maybe he'd just... not do that. Thinking he'd met Margret at least once before though, he agreed with her and looked up at the clear night sky as she did, only to return his attention to Evanlyn as she spoke to him. It really got late while the two spoke, didn't it? He gave her a nod and returned the smile with a light red blush on his cheeks. "It's not a problem whatsoever! Have a good night, Lady Risewell.", he dipped his head in slightly with a small bow, watching her leave towards the mansion and looking at the sky once more.

Maybe it was because of how fast things felt to be going, but... there was some uncertainty in him. This encounter was much longer than he thought, and it was a lot more intense and confusing too. Nothing a good night's sleep can't fix... hopefully. He lowered his gaze to the path, taking a few minutes to ponder about where he would put the new plant for the garden tomorrow, deciding it'd go best with the plants that needed the least frequent watering and looked best alongside it. Among a few of the hedges, there were some nice spots he could place the pot and see if it fit tomorrow. He had a good rough draft for the time being though.

With that, he decided it was about time he headed over to turn in for the night. And so, he went over to his room and after changing out of his uniform, fell asleep. It had probably been a few hours when he suddenly found himself standing on the garden's path alongside Evanlyn, who seemed to be glaring straight into his eyes. Before he had the slightest chance to speak or do anything, she grabbed his arm tightly and yanked it, causing him to immediately shoot up, out of his bed as he woke up from the nightmare. Cold beads of sweat were on his face, as he realised it had just been a dream. A bad dream, but... It wouldn't keep him awake all night.

Everybody had their moments, this was just a bad one for both of them. Ethan stayed awake for a few minutes, until he eventually laid down and gave sleep another try. This time, there were no nightmares or interruptions, bar the sunlight falling on his face as he groaned and got up. He hadn't rested well, but it was enough to run the day's errands like he promised. He stayed in his more casual clothes rather than his gardening attire, stepping out of his chamber and standing by the front door of the mansion. That's when everything clicked- of course he'd met Margret, she was pacing about, seeming to be taking care of something around the estate. And so, he raised a hand to get her attention and called out to her. "Miss Margret! Do you have Lady Risewell's request?"