Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

He couldn't help but laugh just a little more when she teased him about chopping something off, as though self mutilation were something he'd so carelessly allow to happen to himself. "Yeah right, only thing worse I'd chop is my cock and that ain't happenin'!" He jested as he returned the sheers to the shed to grab another tool, he looked to the wall to find a wooden pole with a metal rake for its head; so he could finish up with raking the gardens while Rei completed what few tasks she had left. Overall they'd definitely accomplish a lot more than he would've by himself, though the rest of the garden would only need the same care in due time. Hopefully by then the gardener was feeling better, then again Pat honestly didn't mind the idea of doing this with Rei again. It had been a fun and pleasant experience so far, and he'd only drank a little over half his rum during his time here.

Enough to feel a well generated buzz throughout his noggin anyway, still that didn't prevent him from doing the job appropriately. He was after all just a substitute gardener for the day, and afterwards he'd likely be needed for the final night of the beer festival. As he reached the place where he'd left off at the bushes, he listened to Rei once again as she easily put aside the fact he chose her. Why did she do that? It was almost like she didn't have any confidence in her self, or rather she didn't see her self the same way Wendell or Patrick did. "True." He agreed as he didn't wish to argue the fact she had a point, she did push it a little further when she returned the kiss with intent. Her intent though was... now what was it exactly? He couldn't quite figure it out actually, unable to see any other reason to sleep with him, other than the fact she probably felt sorry for him. That kind of thinking dampened moods though and he wasn't going to have that, not today seeing as how the two had already done a great deal with each other. "Well it's expected ya know," He reasoned when she mentioned the part about snapping on Sugar, "you love him after all. It's sort of like when he calls you his woman, but- er..."

He trailed off as he replayed the event of that night in his head, a furrow in his brow as he suddenly felt like an idiot afterwards. "Never mind, that's a very bad example. What I'm sayin' is you reacted like any other would, and if you hadn't then I'd been surprised honestly." He finished as he hoped it came off as a compliment, the rake angled to pull leaves towards him while he backed up through the garden. Then she decided to be modest and say she wasn't special, which again told Patrick that she didn't understand how Wendell saw her.... how Patrick himself saw her actually. He felt jealous honestly because he knew she chose Wendell, and even though he might've wondered the occasional 'what-if' scenario, he still felt inclined to see her personal happiness as his best interest. Wendell was the one who makes her happy albeit in a flamboyant sort of way, so naturally he felt inclined to see her happy with him at the cost of his own personal feelings. Still it bugged him that she spoke so simply about her self, enough to where he decided to remark upon it once more; but only in a twisted way to change the perspective.

"I don't think so, and clearly Wendell doesn't either." He disagreed as he continued his sluggish walk back with the rake used to pull in leaves and twigs. "See when a guy like Wendell claims he's interested in bein' exclusive, that's a pretty serious thing t' consider. I should know because I'm a man who prefers his personal freedoms honestly, but given he'd put that aside t' make ya happy; that's gotta mean-" He felt the back of one of his heels hit something hard that deeply rooted in the ground, in fact it had been a large root he didn't notice being there, and from there his balance immediately shifted him into a backward tumble. He'd expected there to be like a tree or something to fall against if he was so lucky, even luckier if he'd just fallen on the ground with minimal injury... but no. Out of any and everything in that garden he fell into a bush, a bush littered with roses and thorns that pricked all into the left side of his shoulder blade area. "SHIT!" He shouted loud enough for everyone else in the garden to hear, as he wiggled a few times to get up out of the bush as fast as he could. He could feel the stinging pricks all within his shoulder and middle back, a wince in his face as he hissed between clenched teeth.

Relief flooded her as he went away to put up the shears, coming back with a much less dangerous tool- a rake. There was not much chance of him injuring himself with that, well, at least not as seriously. As he began raking up leaves, the familiar sound of rustling and scraping metal against the grass permeating the air, she finished up with the weeds and scattered out the last bit of fertilizer. She carefully pulled off the gloves, careful not to get the stink and dirt of manure on her hands. Pulling the water skin from her side, she took a long drink.

Patrick was obviously trying to do two things and that was give her advice and soothe her and make her feel better. His advice was mediocre but he did a decent job of making her feel better. She smiled sympathetically as he struggled with his words, trying to formulate them into some kind of comparison that just didn’t make sense. “Well I guess any other would react that way. I kind of feel bad, though, girl left in tears. And who’s to say she even knew about me. I mean, she didn’t seem to be expecting me there.”

Rei remembered the wide-eyed surprise Sugar had at seeing her naked and in wait. Wendell might not have even mentioned that he was supposed to be ‘seeing someone’. The thought caused a little twist of anger in her gut that left a small burning pit there. Patrick seemed to disagree with her that she wasn’t special and chimed in that Wendell wouldn’t agree with that anyway. How would he even know? Had they spoken about her sometime when she wasn’t around? The thought made her nervous, not so sure she liked the idea of them discussing her.

It made sense that Wendell was a man who liked his freedom and making a commitment was considerable for him, though she wondered just how considerable it was if he was showing up in a state of undress with another woman. Maybe exclusive didn’t mean the same to both of them. But, before she had much chance to process it, there was a calamity of noise as Pat went tumbling backwards and into one of the thorny rose bushes in the garden. Rei jumped up from her place on the ground, noticing a few dots of blood coming through on his shirt. “Hang on.”

She took off inside and came back out with a bottle of antiseptic, a cloth, and some salve in a small jar. Rei got Pat to kneel down and peeled off his shirt, setting it on the ground. There was an array of pricks and small scratches littered across his mid back and shoulder. Dampening the cloth, she patted it along the injuries, wiping up the blood. “It will probably sting.” She warned perhaps a bit too late. “Now how on earth did you manage this?” Her brows furrowed in concern as she worked on cleaning up the cuts. “Can’t say I’ve ever treated someone for falling in a bush.”

Of all the things in the world he could've crashed into the damned bush had to be there instead, just shortly after he'd started to tell Rei how he felt the whole situation was. Of course he'd managed to worm his way out before any continuing torture was to be endured but he didn't get away completely free, his entire left shoulder and mid back littered with scrapes and nicks that many thorns created in his fall. Just like his accident Rei had been quick on her reaction timing to check the injured area as spots of blood seemed to seep into his shirt, which was just great because that meant he'd have to go out and get a new one now that this one was ruined. When she'd went inside to go grab whatever essentials she needed, he merely waited with a tremble in his hands, the water skin a demand on his mind as he thought long and hard about taking a long swig.

He wanted to so bad but at the same time he swore he could shake it off, that something like this wasn't worth stupidly drinking over. He clenched the hand that hung over the skin into a fist as he suppressed the urge to guzzle the drink down, his frown loosened as he heard Rei come back with whatever it was she went to grab. After she'd given the notion for him to kneel down he did so and peeled the shirt off from his back, his entire torso exposed to the airy breeze as she started to prepare the cloth with whatever she'd gone to grab. Upon the moment he felt the towel brush his back lightly the sting of antiseptic burned the cuts it seeped into, a low hiss through his gritted teeth followed as he tensed up from the sensation all over his shoulder. Rei had decided to warn him but only a little too late it seems, as the burning felt in all his cuts finally started to die down after a few trills. "Aye I think yer a bit behind on yer timin', might wanna warn me before doin' that again in the future." He joked with a short laugh to follow, his embarrassment present when she'd questioned how he accomplished such an amazing feat.

"Honestly I'm not sure." He responded with a few soft chuckles still sound in his system, a look back over where the rake was left when he'd fallen. Right next to it and in fact been a rather large and slightly gnarled root, knotted just enough to catch anybody's foot if they weren't aware. How fortunate he managed to discover it in the most 'gnarly' way possible. "Guess the tree just didn't like me." He joked once more as he felt the cloth rub softly over his wounds, a few presses here and there to help reduce the bleeding that occurred. When Rei's hand finally seemed to be high enough on his shoulder Patrick moved then, his right hand brought over to rest atop of hers and the cloth as he remained there, his face fallen into a sorry state as he spoke once more. "Really though; Wendell loves ya. I know because I just do." He reassured her with confidence in knowing she couldn't see the look on his face, deep down he was being honest because of the reason he knew. That reason was due to the fact he also loved her, in his own sort of way to say the least.

He just didn't have the courage to admit it and risk jeopardizing the somewhat rocky relationship he'd already built with the two.

“Sorry,” she winced, knowing that her bedside manner must seem terrible to Patrick. Her touch was extremely gentle, knowing that too rough of a swipe with the cloth could cause irritation and maybe even open the cut more. As it was he would be at risk for infection, having being pricked by less than clean thorns and subsequently falling into the soil of the flowerbed. Sighing, she dumped some more of the antiseptic onto the cloth that had now turned pink in spots from the blood it was picking up. Thankfully the cuts were small enough that his bleeding was slowing quickly. Her hand was stopped on his shoulder by the pressure of his hand as he remarked that he just knew Wendell loved her. "I hope you're right," she said quietly, inching her hand away, a tingling sensation remaining where their skin had touched.

The pungent smell of alcohol from the antiseptic permeated through the strong smell of fertilizer and the smell of the flowers. Her nose wrinkled a bit at the smell. Even though she was used to smelling it, the scents were an odd combination. When she had finally gotten his back and shoulder cleaned as well as possible, she stooped down and picked up the jar. Cracking the lid open, she scooped up some of the salve with her fingertips and began tapping gently against his skin to apply it. The coolness of the paste would calm his skin that was reddened from the irritation.

After she had covered every single scratch with a thin layer of cream, she wiped her fingers clean on the cloth before handing him his shirt back. “Just make sure that stays clean. I don’t want to have to go around slicing up your back to drain out any gross infection.” Of course it would be far from the first time she had done so, but it would be a shame to scar up his pristine flesh. She trailed back inside a moment to put up the first aid supplies before coming back out.

Back at the shed she grabbed a full watering can and quickly sprinkled some light showers over the flesh trimmed and weeded garden area. The water dampened the smell of the fertilizer just as she had hoped. When the can was empty she returned it to the shed. “I think we are all finished here.” She carefully deposited the gloves and tools back into the shed. “I’ll come by the tavern in a few days to check those.” One hand grasped his cheek as she pressed her lips to the skin of the other cheek. “Keep it clean,” she reminded one more time before walking back towards the street, cutting around the side of the building to avoid going inside.

He felt her hand softly slip out from underneath his and for a moment he thought to himself in silence, the hand that he used to touch Rei's looked at fondly as he wished he could be a little more honest with her. Deep down he knew there resided feelings for her and he knew if he had a chance, he'd likely take that chance at showing her just how much he did love her. She was caring, compassionate, and in every way someone a man could ever desire, and lucky for Wendell as he was just that man she'd come to choose in the end. He might not fully understand it for the time being but Patrick knew he'd learn eventually, and rather than screw up whatever rough patches their relationships would hit, Patrick wanted to be the one there to help them get through the thick and thin. How was a good question but he would find a way, first by cleaning himself up and getting his act straight, and then settle whatever this mystery was with the black book Wendell gave him from the crime scene.

If it did in fact lead him to discover who this murderer was, and there was in fact the connection between him and Dominek, then just maybe Patrick could put to rest the issues that continue to torment him still. After he felt her dab the cuts in antibiotics and spread a cream over the injured area, he accepted the shirt from her quietly as he listened to her instruction. He needed to make sure and keep it clean or risk infection, something he didn't really want to endure no matter how drunk he'd be. "Don't worry, I'll be sure this keeps clean fer a while." He reassured her as he slipped the shirt over his head and frame once more, afterwards he too rose to his feet as he checked to see their good work was done. "Aye, guess I'll go ahead and let Tio know then."

Just then he felt her hand come up to his cheek with the soft touch, the same soft touch that he felt that night with her and Wendell, and then on the other cheek her lips lightly pressed the skin as she gave him one final reminder. No matter how many times she would say it, the words wouldn't match in comparison to the gravity of her goodbye in that last moment. He'd felt his heart both stop and leap excitedly the moment he felt her kiss brush his cheek, a genuine feeling of happiness suddenly burst from within his stomach as he stood there petrified. He'd watched her leave and even then he still didn't want to move, he'd thought he'd daydreamed that last part up for the longest time, until finally he went to tell Tio that the garden was now tidy once more. After he'd been given the payment likely discussed between him and Daveth, Patrick went home feeling a little lighter in the feet than when he first arrived.