Where mountains dance

And there he was, the victim, would be victim from before. And there he stood so close. A few meters. Maybe two, maybe three away. Just a few steps. Smiling that fake smile. Just like his. They seemed to understand each other on a certain level. Nothing was honest in this garden today. Everything was a lie. He had seen to that. There were some things that were a lie and a truth. There were some things that were a lie in a lie.

And there were the flowers. They were true. Quite true. There was a rosebush that was complete. No damage done except that the bed that it was in was quite unkempt. Weeds were growing. (He had let them) Some of them were decidedly unpleasant things. (He had seen to that- Just throwing selected bits of the detritus made by his other weeding sessions in the bed had been enough. Some things grew, after all, just like weeds.) Poisonous things. Things that made you itch. Things that stained your skin and clothes. And things that made you want to crawl into a little hole and stay there for a long time if you were stupid enough to ingest them.

He had made the effort to conjure up this little piece of gardening just for this very special day. And still that smile of his was slightly bitter.

Saphirus stood at his mercy a part of him thought. That, too, as he knew very well, was a lie.

“I hear you made it on the team.” No need to mention which one. And no need to mention that news of the X-men traveled freely here in the gardens where children of all ages shouted. And on the staff meetings where such things might just be mentioned. Yes. I hear. Remember that. I hear. He was still smiling. Nothing changed with his words. The bush was still in flower. A slight breeze picked up and blew its fragrance toward them. For those who had a nose for it it was delightful. Sweet with jut that hint of danger. It might also have been his voice. Minus the sweet part. Cold with just a hint of danger. “Congratulations.”

He lied. Somewhat.

“You see there is some work to be done here. Nothing heroic, but the weeds need to go out of the patch and into this bucket.” He pointed to said object. There would be no gloves for Mr. Saphirus. There would be no tools. “And please make sure you get rid of the roots. These things grow back of you don't get them out.” And the task was set. Coldly. Without irony. Martin turned around, taking some other things that lay around. It seemed he was going to clip the grass on the edges of the flower patches. Nothing too serious. But those eyes were quite often looking back to that Mutant by the rosebush. A climbing rose. With thorns. And lots of weeds, too. Part one. Have fun. Ill not let you go.

There was no hint of satisfaction in his face as Saphirus hit himself with the gardening implement. It was, after all, just the beginning of a very long day. The only detectable motion, and it was not one of delight, was the sight of the crowbar that was now used as a gardening tool, too. Again these rash decisions. He was tempted, thoroughly tempted to sigh. That boys impertinence... Something tugged at his arm, just as he was about to turn away. Tugged from below. A small smile crossed his face. Just what he needed, when he needed it.

It had taken not much, just a few sweets here and there to reinforce a child's good habit of visiting the gardener during a certain period of the day. He always came by now and asked whether he needed some help with this or that. The fact that he was the schools next big gossip seemed to have eluded the gardeners wandering attention totally. He seemed to just be handing out menial tasks to the child. Small errands that always led to some form of benefit on his side. He did in no way reinforce the bad habits. He just opened ways for them to reinforce themselves. All for that one sake. And maybe a few others. Gossip was a highly useful tool. One that could never be controlled tightly enough. Especially in a school of young children.

“Why,” Did the child ask with that innocent simplicity that sounded always false from the mouth he was wearing now. “is there an X-men digging in the garden with a crowbar?” The little boy was full of curiosity. He did not bother to lower his high voice. Or, as one could probably infer from his age and demeanor, to keep this a secret from his friends here at the school. He was in fact, intensely curious, eying at Saphirus without any restraint. Martins voice was nowhere near lowered either, carried across the lawn and to the bushes. “You know what happens if you try to cheat at school? If you make the wrong choices as the teachers call it?” Understanding blossomed on the child's face. And that little bit of unrestricted malice that children were permitted he positively threw his bright children's smile at the penitent. “So he was bad?” “Very.” The gardener prompted to answer the child's inquiry to seemingly even greater delight on his part. Such an amount of juicy gossip... maybe?

Or was it something else?

He positioned himself in a way in which he was both able to eem like he was entertaining the child some more, while just occasionally his look flickered over to Saphirus. Does it bite yet?

Padding quietly down the hallway, with a little note in one hand, and a banana in the other, Andrea re-read the rather mysterious note once more, and took another monstrous bite of her food. Effectively ending it's brief existence in two massive chomps.

While highly suspicious, she had an inkling as to who it may have come from, which is why she had accepted it from the small girl child in the first place. She passed by a few windows, peering out into the front yard of the mansion, before she turned a corner and headed back towards where she was told to go. She tossed her food waste into a trash can as she passed, taking steps to make sure it didn't hit the rim and flop out onto the floor... and then paused at a window near her. Outside, farther down the wall she could see martin...or at least his back, standing next to a child. Saph was not far off, elbow deep in weeds and dirt.

She smiled lightly, tucking a few wriggling strands of hair behind her ears, and leaned up against the window sill for a moment. She hadn't realized Saph would be there as well... A quick glance down at her clothing told her she would probably need to go change... into something less baggy, and maybe a little more dirt proof. Before she moved though, she watched Saph stand and walk over to join Martin and the child. He knelt down next to the boy, spoke a few words she was to far away to hear, and withdrew a yo-yo from his pocket.

Andrea's smile grew a little more at the sight. Saph had given the kid a toy. A gift. The older man patted the kid on the shoulder, and the kid scampered off. With a giggle, Andrea pushed away from the wall and turned back towards her room. She would change, gather a sturdier pair of gloves, and then head out to meet the two men. The day was going to be so much fun!

Saph's mind displayed a neatly organized buffet of responses to Martin's utterance of. "I do not recall us being on first name basis.". He could be terse; a quick. 'F*#% off, snowflake.'... nah. Too harsh. Mocking? He could always go the childish rout and say the same phrase back to him in a higher pitched voice. Nah, that was too juvenile. He said his second line, and Saph immediately knew what to say.

"Aww, c'mon. Lighten up Marty. We're all friends here, right?" He gave a wink, and then added in for good measure, "Besides, I never had any parents." He was going to let Martin slip on the whole acting like he was older thing... It was probably just the way he comforted himself. He seemed like the kinda guy that had to be right; had to be in control of the situation. Acting like you were a grandpa or something must just have been part of the package.

The gardener spoke on the subject of the ivy, and blinked. "Huh... that's funny... I thought we paid someone to get rid of stuff like that. Wonder who... oh well... Off to the heap!"

The X-man trainee took the bucket from him after he retrieved it ,and walked off to go put it in the compost. He noticed it was steaming a little because of the hot weather, so that should have been a hint of how bad it would smell. Oblivious, he leaned forward to pitch the bucket, and got a nose full.

"Whheeeew! Hah hah! This stuff smells like crap! What, is this were you keep the roadkill or something?" Being a man's man, horrid stench only gave him something to laugh about. He leaned in and took another brief sniff, coughing a little, and then shaking his head. "Oh man, you gotta smell this." He looked at the ever stoic Martin, blinked. Nah, he didnt seem the type to appreciate the bad smell. Well, back to work, then. Saph reached up and wiped his brow with his sleeve. Jees, it was only getting hotter!

He stretched his arm as he walked back to the rose garden, bucket in hand. He was prepared for a long

At Saphs reply and eyebrow was raised. If there was such a thing as winter in summer: Here it came. “The lack of proper parents might explain your total lack of manners.” Sharp the answer. In his face like a twig bent back too far. Cut. The eyebrow went back to its proper place. “It is not an excuse though. You will find a work by an author named Knigge in the schools library. I recommend him.” That dryness had not vanished yet, was still there sucking, like the hear, every but of comfort from this place. Better then any vacuum cleaner. Better then anything else. Better then human. The lack of parents also would explain his love of rotten smells. Of course nobody had taught him to be sanitary and how to use deodorant. It was menial, was it not? It was something that could be forgotten. If one did not want to blend in with society.

He watched him move back into working position, when, out of the corner of his eye he saw something approaching over the lawn. He turned around to face the green woman greeting him, some kind of smile on his lips. Halfway between fake an earnest. Halfway truth. I am glad you are here it said. That part was honest. I did want you to come help me it said. That part was honest as well. Only there never ad been anything about gardening in his mind when he had asked her to come into the garden today. Different plans. Different concerns.

Like doing the job of two people that should have been there for baby Saph after he had beaten his way out of his mother.

“Thank you so much for coming Andrea” His voice said warmly. Much too warmly. Soundly as well. Audibly. He stepped forward, moved, and, in one swift movement he was trying to wrap his (very much clothed, thank you I don’t want to hurt this someone seriously) arm around her in a very unbecoming fashion for a passing acquaintance. Very unbecoming.

“You know I could show you how to prune. Over here.” He positively cooed. For him that was him sounding much less terse than normal. Friendly even, pleasant. Cooed. Audibly.

“Thank you so much for coming Andrea”

She smiled back, if a little flustered. The arm around her only helped to jumbled her thoughts even more, so much so that she couldn't really think of anything to say beyond, "You are welcome.." Personal contact had never been her strong point. She shifted nervously, and scratched at her flushed, brown cheek. It was awfully hot... and only getting hotter. Before she could accept his proposal of being taught how to prune, which was something she would have rather liked to do, or wonder at why Martin sounded so... gushy... Saph sauntered up and cut in the conversation before her.

"Mornin beautiful! You're here to help?"

Her blush tripped, dipping down well past her cheeks and down the back of her neck. She fidgeted more, and pressed her palm to her cheek, unknowingly adopting one of the cliche female poses from her favorite novel genre. "Yes... I am here to help..." She cleared her throat, attempting to wrangle her emotions back into line. More words came to mind, fixing themselves into sentances and questions. Polite chatter that would help to smooth the situation and get her back into working shape. She couldn't prune things while fidgety and distracted, after all. Unfortunately, the poor unknowing Greek was caught in a game.... and when Saph removed his shirt she felt what was left of the blood in her body rush to her face. She was suddenly very... very dizzy...

~~
Inside the mansion, three giggling teenagers happened past a window at exactly that same moment. Three pairs of mascara and shadow laden eyes went wide, and three lip stick clad mouths dropped open in shock. "Oh... my... gawd. That guy is like... soooo hawt!" Three head nodded in unison, and each girl whipped out rather expensive looking cell phones. "Daaaaym, Lookit those abs!" Each girl grinned at the other, faces eerily similar in appearance. They were triplets, after all. "Isn't he like staff around here or something? I think I've seen him before..." One girl pursed her lips, tapping her phone against her chin. "I dunno... but who cares! He's hot, and that's all that matters! O.M.G, I can't wait to show Sophie!... she's like, totally going to sooo jealous that she missed this." The girls giggled and highfived each other. "We, like, need to spread this around and stuff... Oh! Like, let's make something from it!" They nodded again, snapped a few more pictures and skipped off toward their shared room with visions of posters, screen savers, calenders and fan sites dancing around in their heads... "Like... i'm going to edit in a fireman's hat and stuff!" More giggles. "And a police hat! And cowboy gear! Gawd, this is going to be sooo much fun!" They vanished around a corner, musing about who he was and if he was single or not...

~~
"She already knows how to do that stuff. She works at a flower shop. y'wanna give me a hand?"

She didn't even hear the question. A scene from one of her books was standing right in front of her, glistening abs and all. Her hands flew to her mouth, she mumbled a quiet "oh my..." and Andrea dropped like a fly. Her knees buckled, and with a whoosh she dropped ungracefully into the dirt. Face, meet gravel. Gravel, meet face. They shook hands, and she groaned in a muffled manner. Though she had only blacked out for a second, she didn't feel like getting up... no, getting up would mean facing a shirtless man, and certain embarrassment from feinting because of aforementioned shirtless man. As painful as it was, she was quite happy to remain lying face first in the dirt, with her rump in the air and her knees tucked neatly into her chest. Yep... she preferred this much more.