Garden notes [c]

[attr="class","fudge"]School had been... well, Liam had hated pretty much every moment of the day since he'd woken up that morning. It hadn't even been anything drastically different from any other day either; He'd woken up on time, eaten, dressed, and headed to school. He hadn't been late. He hadn't forgotten his homework or spilled anything on himself. And yet, it had still be a day when Liam had felt nothing but a seething, burning anger boiling just below his skin.

By the time he'd made it back home the only thing he could think of to try and relax and calm down was to flop in a particularly shady and out of the way patch of grass located near the small greenhouse and garden his family had allowed his foster-sister to use. He'd stretched out to the fullest of his extent (hardly impressive, in comparison to a lot of his other male schoolmates) and shut his ruby eyes in preparation for dozing off for a warm spring nap.

Liam didn't manage to get four, maybe five, minutes of shuteye before a strangely sticky and warm ball of slime pressed itself against his face causing him to scrunch up his eyes and wrinkle his nose before shoving what he knew to be a green blob away and sitting up.

"Seriously Hemlock, what have I told you about trying to ooze onto my face before? Look, you made my hair all crusty; it's going to be a pain to wash all of this out."

To prove his point Liam ran his fingers through his short pale silver hair. He couldn't truly be mad at the Pokemon. Hemlock was just trying to show his love to him in his own way. It was cute, but his Gulpin was still young enough to have little control of how he oozed and didn't ooze. Ponyta would burn you until they learned to control their flames; people could handle Gloom and Muk. Hemlock would get there eventually. In the meantime, it just meant he'd have to shower and change his clothes more often.

The sound of music notes - sung from a soft voice in an almost haunting tone - reached his ears before he could (lovingly) chew out his Gulpin anymore. He tilted his head a moment, listening to it before pinpointing the direction it had come from. It had to be Chloe then, coming from the gardens. Carefully getting to his feet he dusted himself up, sticking his tongue out at Hemlock teasingly before going to peek around the corner where his foster-sister was working. It had been a while since he'd bothered to peek in on her and her plants. She'd really done some amazing things with them. He'd never admit he was impressed but... he was completely impressed.

"I didn't know you could sing."

The words came out more cold than he'd intended. Arms folded across his chest he leaned against one of the many decorative lamp poles his parents insisted be scattered about the garden, watching her. Her clothes had gotten dirty already, it seemed. She can't have been out here for very long considering their school schedules but to be able to throw herself into work like this...

Liam was more than a little jealous.

✉ Sorry I've been/am sick ;A;
⌦ Chloe Herbart

[attr="class","fudge"]Shit, he'd upset her again. Liam had a nasty habit of doing that and he hated it. When he was younger it hadn't bothered him as much but over the year as they'd both grown up he'd learned to hate that side of himself. Yet he'd never - not even once - managed to be anything but cold and harsh to his foster-sister. These days he didn't mean any of it but old habits die hard as they say and the idea of showing even a tiny bit of kindness to her while still living at home and dealing with them was scary.

Scary to a point where he almost didn't even dare to breath the fact that he didn't really hate her even to himself.

"Long enough," was his reply to her question. (While it hadn't been that long he was unable to admit it. He wasn't sure which might have been worse - standing there in silence for a while listening to her sing and watching her work in her garden, or confronting her immediately. Since he'd taken the second route there was no telling what might have happened if he'd chosen to just watch.)

Ruby eyes dipped down to where Lotus was cuddled in Chloe's lap, fingers twitching slightly. He really wanted to join her on the floor to pet the Bulbasaur but the Pokemon had never once wanted him to come near him and he was sure Chloe would be equally displeased.

"Well, you should stop singing. Mother and Father would be disgusted if they heard you. You're supposed to be civilized, not reverting back to your ways on the Island."

Almost as soon as the words had spilled from his lips Liam had wanted to take them back. He knew it was to late however. They'd been spoken and his deed had been done. There was no use regretting what he knew to be one of his biggest faults. Chloe hated him anyways; digging and even deeper grave for himself wasn't anything different from their everyday lives over the past eight years.

Only the slightly oozing feeling of his sticky Pokemon pressing against his leg had Liam looking away from her. Silently he was relived for the distraction. He knew Chloe loved his two just as much as he wished he could love hers. A careful nudge of the Gulpin had Hemlock pushed away from his now goo covered pants, kneeling down to pat the top of his rubbery green head. He'd have to give the Pokemon something special later for saving him from saying anything worse to his foster-sister. He'd done enough damage today already, after all.

"I suppose you lucked out. They're not due back until tomorrow so there's no chance they overheard you. Just tone it down. You're lucky it was just me out here. If any of the staff found out you'd still be in trouble."

Liam wished he could convince her to sing more. He'd liked the sound of her voice and the haunting tongue she'd been singing in. He wasn't brave enough to tell her so and he knew he'd regret that.

⌦ Chloe Herbart