aterat | July Distractions

Entry tags:

July Distractions

Who; Llewellyn and people
What; 1 open + 1 closed log
Where; The Watts-Maresh residence and/or somewhere between the market and their home
When; Early July
Warnings; None, but I'll update if necessary

A much needed coat of paint and conversation. - Closed to Rhy Watts-Maresh

It was strangely satisfying, Llewellyn had decided, to work on fixing up and improving their home since they moved in. Admittedly… He had fallen behind on that project, since disappearing and returning. It took the detective longer to bounce back to the life he loved and cherished in this place beyond sinking a little deeper into work again, and it had been frustrating… Probably worrying for Rhy, as well, as much as Llewellyn didn’t want to be the cause of it. Perhaps being a little more attentive and overcompensating a bit in an attempt to dissuade such concern.

But time and a few… proper nudges had eventually gotten him to set his head on right again.

The gate that had broken in the storm was first, given how Pretzel had developed a penchant for wandering to find people he liked without either of his father’s knowledge. Then a couple of windows that were stuck from disuse, and the stair railing that was loose. It proceeded quite nicely from there until the only things left were cosmetic changes. Decor, furniture, and painting. Llewellyn trusted Rhy’s judgement there a little more than his own, but it was nice to share in those decisions together all the same.

This had all brought them both to today, to work in the next room of their choosing. The kitchen needed a little work, but they hadn’t really rushed given their skills were a novice at best. Changing he handles out, cleaning, and painting.

The cupboards specifically needed fresh coats of paint in a more suitable shade, and they both were keen to get the space completed… Perhaps for similar reasons, though they hadn’t really gotten onto that subject yet. One thinking the other was agreeing or simply looking forward to moving forward with making the space just right for them, and hoping to continue to improve their own less-than-perfect cooking skills for future meals.

Finishing a small cleanup after sanding the cupboards to prepare them for a fresh coat of paint in an eye-catching shade of red. Sometime not too loud in tone, and complimenting the golden, honey-oak counter-tops and accents. Llewellyn finally looked up to find his husband, satisfied with the work thus far, and ready to start the main part of the job. “Do you know where we put the brushes, love? I um- I have the cans of paint tucked under the sink, but I can’t recall where I set those down…” He commented in a befuddled tone, looking around the space with light confusion.

A Garden Distraction. - Open to All

It was well overdue by this point, Llewellyn mused, as he stared at the empty space that was currently the fenced-in yard of the house he and Rhy had been fixing up. The space was going to be a lovely garden for them to sit and enjoy, and for him to keep himself busy about perfecting as a hobby he’d only dreamed up since his days at the Sphere. It was only as delayed as it was due to his own unfortunate state of mind… But he finally starting to… shift his focus as he adjusted to better distractions than working (or drinking) all the time.

He wanted to make the space that they’d spoken of, and keeping his hands busy had always been integral to Llewellyn’s peace of mind… It was this particular hobby that he found the most beneficial in that, finding some peace in the quiet work and the fresh air. He had always been most comfortable outside under the sun, after all, feeling less trapped and closed in than he did when he was cooped up in a room or office.

He had his work cut out for him, though, thanks to the delays. Plenty of the starters that Aerith had allowed him to work on in his spare time at her garden were ready to be planted in the ground before they became too constricted in their pots. And there were a lot of them considering the extensive list of things he intended to put in.

The garden focused heavily on roses, of course, with Rhy in mind. A wide variety of them planned to be positioned and sorted in pleasing ways for admiring. The most important, of course, being the red and golden yellow mixed blooms of a hybrid tea rose he’d grown special for his husband. Then from there, a massive collection of flowers he favoured or had thought would fill in the spaces nicely, and a few selections made specifically with a friend in mind. It would be beautiful once it was done, certainly… A nice space for them to sit at a small table over lunch or just relaxing… But first he needed to get things in the ground.

Llewellyn, realizing he couldn’t transport so much earth and plants on his own, had hired a chocobo drawn cart to carry it all back through the city to their home near the market district. Which was… Admittedly a bit awkward, since he was leading it by the harness carefully, since it wasn’t a wagon meant for riding so much as transporting goods and was even less experienced with chocobos than he was with horses. Anyone watching might find it amusing as the bird plucked at his hat lightly in an attempt to steal it every time he slowed and waited for someone else to pass.

(ooc: People free to spot him heading back to the house with the cart of plants/earth, or to stop by the house themselves!)

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Luna tugged the notepad she had affixed to her back like a backpack and began to write. 'Its okay. I'm always happy to play with him but I'd like to help with the garden if I can.' She turned the paper towards Llewellyn with a warm smile. She loved to play with Pretzel and often stopped by the house or the office to do just that but today she hoped to help out too.

She paused thoughtfully, flipped over the paper, and began to write again.

'I don't know anything about gardening. Will you teach me?'

“Of course, there’s a lot that can be done.” He responded with a smile, leading her over to one of the flower beds he’d already been preparing. Crouching down to kneel next to it and pulling some of the tools he’d gathered to organize for them, like small trowels and a couple pairs of gardening gloves. He’d tried to find the smallest pair he could for Luna to use as well.

The question gets another nod, holding the smaller pair of gloves out to her to put on. “I would be happy to teach you about gardening. Today will be fairly easy. We just need to get these little ones in the ground to uh- make sure they have a chance to get bigger. I’ve already figured out the best way to organize them, so they get along.” He added with a small chuckle, since some plants were better on their own or next to other things. “We’ll use these to dig holes and move them from their little pot homes to the ground.” He added with a little wave of the spade at the flower pots sitting on specific patches of earth where they would go.

Luna slid the notepad and pen off her shoulder and placed them on the ground out of the way so that she could focus on the garden without it getting in the way. The gardening gloves are a little big but they fit well enough and she's sure that she'll continue to grow and soon they'll fit perfectly.

Luna looked back at the flower pots and then down on the ground. She wanted to ask a question but wasn't sure how to do so without her notepad. In lieu of writing, she measured the space between some of the soon-to-be holes and noticed that a few were further apart. She glanced up at Llewellyn quizzically and pointed to the areas that were different to let him know that she had a question.

At least Llewellyn can get a decent idea of the question in his younger friend’s mind. Offering a light smile as she pointed to the differently spaced areas marked for planting. “Ah, yes. I suppose those do look a little uneven compared to the other spaces, don’t they?” He mused thoughtfully, tugging on his own gardening gloves and reaching forward to lift a plant and begin digging into the earth to make a deep enough space for the plant to go into.

“You see, some kinds of plants and flowers need more distance between themselves in they’re going to mm… grow to full size and flourish. While others don’t mind being nestled a little closer to others, like these here.” he gestured with the trowel to the flowers waiting that had been spaced a little closer together.

Luna listened patiently throughout the explanation and then began to replicate her teacher's action. She leaned forward and began to make the small existing hole deeper for the roots of the flower to be potted. Her fingernails quickly became caked with dirt but Luna didn't mind. She had arrived with the intention to help Llewellyn and that came with the obvious caveat of getting dirty.

Her hair fell to either side of her cheeks, blocking her view and getting in the way. Without care for the dirt on her hands, Luna pushed back her hair and then continued digging. Her hair fell again and the process was repeated until the hole was dug to the same depth as Llewellyn 's hole.

She reached for the flower to be planted but paused to watch Llewellyn. Luna was a bit worried about hurting the flower's roots.

Llewellyn smiled a little, giving her some encouragement as she copied what he was doing. She was doing a great job, and the fact that she wasn’t shying away from the dirt was good since it was kind of hard to avoid it when working in the garden. He had learned quickly after he started working with Aerith to keep a spare change of clothes to work in that he didn’t mind getting messy and wouldn’t be a great loss if they were ruined.

Though, as she seemed to be having difficulties with trying to keep her hair out of her face, he hummed a little. “Here, hang on a moment… I can uh- help with that.” He commented, getting up and tugging off his gardening gloves to disappear into the house for a moment. He knew there were some ribbons around somewhere, between Rhy’s projects and his own floral displays. He was sure there was a nice silk ribbon somewhere.

It took a few minutes, but he did eventually find a nice dusty rose coloured one that he returned to the yard with. “Here now, if we tie your hair back it’ll stop getting in your way?”

Luna lifted her head to watch Llewellyn dash inside and once again tucked her hair behind her ear. There were now more than a few clumps of dirt caught between the strands of chestnut hair but Luna didn't mind. She'd clean up before setting into Llewellyn's home so that she didn't make a mess.

She waited until the towering detective returned and smiled at the ribbon draped across his palm. Luna mouthed the words, 'thank you' before turning her back to Llewellyn, silently asking him to tie up her hair. She was able to braid her hair but all other hairstyles had been done by the maid who took care of her and her mother, she didn't actually know how to tie up her hair without assistance.

Hopefully, Llewellyn knew the best way to use the ribbon to keep her hair back.

“You’re quite welcome, Luna.” He responded with a smile, making a mental note to see about keeping some things around specifically for moments like this in the future.

Llewellyn’s experience with helping someone tie their hair back was honestly fairly limited, given he’d grown up with two boys and his older sister had left him when he was still quite young. He had probably only been a little older than Luna was, really. So it isn’t as though he’d really had much opportunity to learn… But he did at least have some fuzzy, scattered memories of watching Clarissa before she left, doing her own hair that had been quite long.

So he had a vague idea of what he was doing, and carefully gathered the hair back and tying the ribbon in place. It was a little trickier than he imagined, though he was mindful of not getting her hair caught as he tied the bow. It isn’t perfect by any means, and Llewellyn tacks on another mental note to learn how to do this properly in the future, but it does at least help to keep the strands out of her face. “There now, I could probably use the practice, but I think that should help?”

The ribbon loosely held her hair at bay and while it wasn't skillfully weaved through the silky chestnut strands or artistically tied in an elaborate bow, it was perfect. Luna's cheeks flushed a light pink as she gently nodded her head. She was careful because she didn't want the ribbon to loosen or fall free.

With her hair no longer in the way, Luna turned back towards the garden and began to gently place the row of designated plants into the marked holes. She was very careful with the plant's roots but clumsy. Replacing the dirt seemed difficult because Luna didn't want to hurt the plant when reburying the roots. She looked over at Llewellyn and watched him for a few minutes before perfectly replicating his movements.

With one plant fully interned into the earth, Luna looked up at Llewellyn with a bright proud smile.

Llewellyn watched for a few moments once Luna had turned back to the garden, just to make sure the ribbon wasn’t going to slip out or come untied on her immediately… But it seemed like it was holding well enough, and so the man smiled to himself for having managed to take care of the problem for her and finally turned back to the plants waiting to be put in the ground.

It was work he found rather relaxing, honestly. More so than taking care of the odd houseplant or working at Aerith’s shop. It had a nice personal touch to it, and it was nice to actually be able to share it with Luna… Especially since he hoped she would be able to enjoy the garden as well when she visited. He wanted the space to be comfortable and beautiful for both Rhy and her to spend time together, and the detective hoped that one day the three of them might enjoy lunch or snacks at the little table they were going to set up… It seemed silly, perhaps, but he had a hard time not thinking about how nice it might be to see them all together one afternoon after everything that happened in his world.

As he got a few plants transplanted from the pots to the soil, he kept a close eye on his companion to make sure she was alright. Both to offer help if she needed it, or to see if she liked the task or if she might be getting bored. But the smile turned his way, gets a soft, proud one in return. “I dare say these plants will be very happy, Luna.” He started with a nod, sitting on the grass in front of the flower bed as he tugged another pot closer. “You’re mm… What some might call a natural!”

Luna looked up happily at Llewellyn and began to dig and plant in the next space that had been marked. She had never gardened in her past life, having the invisible employee's tend to the small neat garden located between the walls of the secluded hunting castle where she'd been born. The process was calming and it reminded her of the first time she'd sat in front of an easel to paint. She was clumsy but it was fun and with each passing motion her skills increased.

She smiled up at Llewellyn and happily nodded her head before continuing onward. She felt her nervousness with each plant improve however, with the sun beating over head, it only took the process of re-plotting three plants for her to begin to yawn. Luna was training with Mono and learning to run away but her body was as weak as her mothers and she got tired quickly.

With a little a little smudge of dirt on her cheek she curled up in the thick grass and closed her eyes for a few seconds, hoping that Llewellyn would wake her up after a short nap so she could keep helping.

Llewellyn, of course, hadn’t expected her to assist with all the planting to begin with. He had put aside the plants he knew would be easy for her to manage while they worked, and then would take care of the rest easily on his own.

At some point, he had presumed the lesson would end and she could go play with Pretzel or they could stop and have a small lunch of some kind. Probably sandwiches given that was the extent of his current kitchen knowledge… But when she curled up sleepily in the grass, he tilted his head with a soft smile and let her rest. He would wake her up later to eat, and for now, it was just nice to know where she was and that she was comfortable.

It didn’t take long for Pretzel to curl up next to her protectively to nap himself, and Llewellyn simply kept working quietly while he let her get the rest she needed until later. He might have snapped a small picture of the two to show Rhy later on, but otherwise, it was a nice and peaceful silence under the warm light of the afternoon.

( Is this where you want to wrap? ]

[ooc: yes wrap! <3 this was so lovely & cute.]

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July Distractions

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