Scene #2908: Leve: The Not-So-Secret Garden ft. Eleanor and Bertram

Owner	Pose
Eleanor Lamb	The house is nestled afely away in one of the buroughs of Njorun, in the region where Union staff and officers raise their families and keep them safe from mst of the ravages of war. The house itself is rather plain, save for the well maintined playground, and a large bronze statue of a massive diving suit that sits near the front walk of the house, keeping a watch over passing traffic. There's a pair of young ladies playing in the large sandbox near the playground equipment. Past them can be seen what might have been a patch of wild flowers at one point in time. Now it is a slightly messy tangle of scrub grape vines and quickly sprouting box elders.
Bertram Silent	Bertram isn't wearing his usual robes, no, he's settled for something far more practical for daily work. Cotton trousers and a cotton doublet, with sturdy work gloves and a toolbelt. On his back he carries both a scythe and an axe, both with blades made out of iron. He walks up to the house, smiles at the girls, and then starts to head for the door.
Eleanor Lamb	The less shorter of the girls, a blonde, waves cheerily at Bertram. "Hiiiiii, you must be the fellow that Ellie called about the jungle." She hops up out of the dirt, brushes off her pants and... rushes over to the statue. Which as it turns out is not a statue. The portholes on the larg diving suit turn a vaguely warning yellow, and it emits a rumbling, grumpy whale noise. That is until the young lady hops on its shoulder and pats it on the head. "It's okay, Mr. Bubbles, he's just fine, he's okay." Apparently, Strange Men With Axes is enough to trigger a warning reaction from the Big Daddy. THose lights fade back to green, and the large suit lumbers up to its feet and starts to walk a perimeter patrol of the yard. The young lady hops of, and holds out her little hand to the tall fellow. "Hi, I'm Alice, it is very nice to meet you!"
Bertram Silent	Bertram crouches down to get on Alice's level, shaking the hand gently without being weak and sloppy. "I'm Bertram. Is Miss Lamb around?" He smiles, and glances towards said 'jungle.' "Someone should've looked at that aeons ago. Guess I'll have some work to do."
Eleanor Lamb	The young lady nods, and smiles. "I'll go get her!" She skips her way over to the front, door, props it open a crack, and screams. "ELLIE THAT GUY IS HEREEEEEEEE." The Big Daddy warbles again, turning in place, but... nothing's happening, so it goes back to its patrol. It's a short moment before a slightly harried looking brunette woman shuffles out the front door. Miss Lamb smiles, brushes some flour off her hands, and smiles. "Mr. Silent. Thanks for coming out. I trust Hank didn't spook you too much." She glances over at the lumbering Daddy, before pulling a pair of leather gloves from her pockets. "I' have gotten to that myself but out of my many skills, home gardening wasn't one of them."
Bertram Silent	"It's no problem at all, I've dealt with scarier things. At least superficially scarier." Bertram reaches for his scythe, it's not a full-size one, but significantly larger than a sickle, and looks at the mess in more detail, planning a plan of action. "It's fine. I'm always glad to help. Is Alice your daughter?"
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor smiles a bit, and shakes her head as she leads Bertram towards the back yard. "Ah, no she's not. She's... she's adopted, but only in the idea that I'm responsible for her. Foster, in a sense. All of the girls who live here are hopefully in a temporary situation." The young redhead that was playing with Alice is trailing behind the pair at a 'I'm Not Scared' distance, watching them with some interest as they approach the 'jungle'. "It's a long story, but we are all Sisters."
Bertram Silent	"I see. It's good that they have a place to call home, with someone who cares for them." There's a smidge of something a little less than pleasant in there, a bitterness perhaps. Perhaps envy. It's hidden behind fake smiles and forced cheer, and he immediately starts working on cutting down the extraneous plants. First rough, getting rid of the large, easy to remove parts, hacking away with his scythe. "So what's your name, little one?"
Eleanor Lamb	Don't think she missed the flicker of Emotion. Elle politely doesn't say anything, but mentally notes it for the future. The young lady startles. Oh man, she's been spotted! The redhead scampers behind Eleanor, and the older girl smiles a bit, rubbing at her hair with the leather gloves. "This one the youngest. Her name is Mary." A tiny voice from the girl. "I'm six." Elle smiles, and shakes her head. "She's doing first grade this year, so that's exciting." She ruffles Mary's hair and murmurs. "Okay, we're doing stuff with sharp things, so keep back if you're going to watch." Mary nods a bit and backs up, looking with some interest. Eleanor shufles into the bush herself, starting on the end away frm Bertram and moving to yank at grape vines.
Bertram Silent	"Nice to meet you Mary." Bertram smiles kindly, and then gets back to work, letting Eleanor grab the plant matter he cuts off and finishing the broad strokes. It's then that he grabs smaller tools, a little sickle designed for precision work, and he gets on his knees. "Do you want me to come back every few months so I can prevent it from getting this bad again, miss Lamb?"
Eleanor Lamb	"Oh that'd be lovely thank you. I, ah. Well, I wouldn't say-" An affected, housewifey voice. "'Oh I just don't have a man around the house'" And away goes the voice. "But it's, ah... Usually just me, the Sisters and my clients aroun these days. Most of the Puella have been absent for a while, and I haven't had to rescue any other magical girls, so..." She sticks out her tongue and moves to expose one of the mother vines of the grape plant. "As you might gather, I have a tendency to try and help young ladies in rough situations."
Bertram Silent	"That's a very good thing to do." There's a slight hint of bitterness again there, but it's obscured as much as he can, and he's not loooking at Eleanor, working at clearing out this patch of garden quite diligently. He's not the best, but it's better than a typical home owner would do to his own garden. "Nice place you have here."
Eleanor Lamb	"Oh! Ah, thank you." She's distracted, slightly, by the biterness she can sense, her mind trying to place the reasoning as she removes excess weeds and biomass. Though. Eleanor murmurs. "If there's something on your mind, Mr. Silent, I'd be happy to talk about it. It's reasonably private out here, and the Sisters can be trusted." There's a bit of worry in her voice at the request. "I'm sure you know of my position with the Union."
Bertram Silent	"Oh, it's nothing really." Bertram downplays it, finishing up some more and getting out another gardening tool to pull some weeds out of the ground without harming the desirable plants. "It's just, well... the orphanage I grew up in was not a happy place." And then, he sounds both bitter and angry. He's clearly got some kind of grievance against it. "But that's in the past, you don't need to worry about it."
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor murmurs a bit at that... And sighs. "I can assure you, the one we grew up at... was horrendous. So I can understand your pain there." She gently plucks up at the smaller bits Bert's working at, and sighs. "I won't bore you with the specifics of the process, but my Sisters and I were used as fuel sources to power a process that gave people extraordinary abilities. It was..." The bitterness boils up in her as well. "But it is likewise in the past, and that is one reason I wish to give these girls better than what they grew up with."
Bertram Silent	Bertram nods, and takes a deep breath. "Okay, so, my parents died defending the city state Ala Mhigo from the forces of Garlemald. The Garlean Empire won regardless, and they placed me in an orphanage where they proceeded to slander my family by branding all people who resist the Garleans as savages and inferior peoples." Oh, he doesn't sound happy about that, his fists clenching. He sounds like he hasn't spoken about this particular aspect before. "May Rhalgr's wrath rain destruction on them all."
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor... Sighs. That's a familiar story though she doens't say that out loud. What she does do, however, is put down her pile of weeds, shuffles over to Bertram through the tall daffodils, and puts a hand on his shoulder. There's something warm and calming about the gesture, perhaps a little preternaturally so. She's not doing anything untowards with her powers, but there's a sense of...sharing. Like she's offering up a bit of her emotional state to help Bertram.
Bertram Silent	Bertram does calm down from it, and he lets out a deep, deep sigh to further calm himself down. "I'm sorry, let's get back to work." He finishes weeding that section, and goes to pick up some of the plant matter he removed, putting it all in a hempen bag. "One day... one day we'll free Ala Mhigo. I know this."
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor smiles at that, and nods quietly. "I... I can understand that. One day I will return to Rapture and end the awful place and be done with all of it. But that day is not today. Today a nice man is helping me with my gardening, and we are having a nice conversation." She helpfully takes up the hempen bag, and starts stuffing more plants into it. "I've got a burn pit in the back to help torch this, if you'd like."
Bertram Silent	"Right." Bertram picks up a few more pieces, it's pretty much all at this point. "We can torch this, sure. I'd like to keep the bag, but we can dump it all out in the fire pit." He then can't help but ask, "Pray don't spread that part of my past around." It's a gentle request, but it sounds serious to him.
Eleanor Lamb	There is a very serious look from Eleanor, as she turns to face the taller man. "Mr. Silent, all of these things people divulge to me are kept in the strictest confidence. If you do decide to take up sessions with me in the future, the only people who shall have access to any of that information are myself, you, and the Union should a danger arise. But that last one is only ever for manditory sessions, and only in th broadest terms." Those eyes flare and sparkle as she sighs. "That's my policy, and it's the policy of all people who take up this profession. Or it should be, anyways."
Bertram Silent	"It should be. It's mine in the rare occassion that I take up the role." He sounds like he knows it's part of his duties, but doesn't really feel comfortable with them. "A healer's secrecy ought to be sacrosanct." The ought suggests that he's not so sure it always is, perhaps bad history there, too. He looks around, "So where's that fire pit?"
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor smiles and hikes the path behind the house to a fire pit with benches around it. A cooking grate has been moved aside, and the young lady helpfully upturns the bag, piling damp greens on the ashes. "So. I know you are a magus of some rather excellent strength, but that's not the only power source out there. Where you have magic, I have science." She snickers, and holds up her hand. Her forefinger and thumb kindle into flame, the flesh cooking but not burning away. A smile an a snap of the bunrning fingers, and the pile of greens light on fire an start to smoulder.
Bertram Silent	Bertram smiles. "I would never presume so, ma'am. Much as I despise the Garleans, I can't deny they've done excellent work compensating for their absolute lack of magic." He says this like that's a massively meaningful thing, though he also adds, "Of course much of their magitech was taken from Allagan designs, but it remains impressive."
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor smiles. "Well that's good. I know of some of those advancements through reports from the other Eorzea that appeared, but I couldn't help but think the conditions were similar in your home." She nods, the fire going out and her fingers nearly immediately healing back over. And then she sits on a bench and watches the thick smoke start to lift up from the grape fines and other detritus. "So what does a White Mage do in their off time, Mr. Bertram? Besides help ladies with their gardens?" She giggles.
Bertram Silent	Bertram laughs at the last joke. "It depends on the White Mage. Me? I like to cook and to play triple triad." He smiles and helps disperse the smoke by calling upon the air. "And sometimes I go fishing, it's rather relaxing."
Eleanor Lamb	The Big Sister mmmmhs a bit and bluhs at that last statement. "I can safely say I think I've had more than enough seafood to last a lifetime... and every manner of canned and preserved food as well." "Though a properly cooked bit of mollusc could turn out pretty well." She purses her lips and smiles. "I'll admit most of my time is spent on the girls and otehter things. I... I really do need to get out more often."
Bertram Silent	"Everyone has their own preferred tastes." He doesn't ask, nor does he seem like he intends to. "It looks I'm done helping with your garden, and I must needs attend to some other things I promised to do. I do hope you have a nice day."
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor smiles and stands up and bows. "Well, I wouldn't dream of holding you longer than you need to be here." There's a moment though, and she produces a business card from her pocket. "Here, in case you wish to contact me privately in the future."
Bertram Silent	he card goes into a pocket, and a card comes out. "Same." He just stands a bit awkwardly at the bow, not sure what to do, and settles on simply saying. "Well, I'll be back in fall to help you with your garden, if not before. May the Twelve be with you." And he starts to walk away.