The Garden Dragon and the Lindworm

You can take the man out of the military, but you can never take the military out of the man.

Sŏng-min's eyes stared up blankly from his position on the bed, shrouded in a darkness only pierced by the faint light that escaped through the curtains. The steady ticking of the alarm clock upon the night stand mixed with the contented breathing of the furry companion curled up beside him.

Twenty thousand, four hundred and six. Twenty thousand, four hundred and seven. Sŏng-min counted along with each tick of the clock that past since he climbed into bed for the night. He'd read somewhere online that counting sheep, or anything really, was supposed to help send people off to bed. Somewhere else he'd read that rapidly blinking for about a minute helped tire out the eyes, which too also aided in the transition from being awake to being asleep.

By his account, it'd been one hundred thousand and some odd seven hundred seconds he'd counted over the past week.

It had to work eventually, right?

He left the bed several minutes before the alarm officially rang its tune, getting a jump start on his pre-work rituals. First he readied the dogs, woke Hye, and prepped to run the usual five miles. Afterwards he made the rounds, dispensing food for his continually growing horde of animals. After a quick shower he prepped breakfast for himself and Hye, while simultaneously gathering all the things he'd need to take to the shop. Tools mostly, but the odd file or two also needed to be stored away in his cabinet.

Finally, with just under two hours before the shop was to open, he rounded up the animals whose turn had come up to go to the shop; a pair of llamas, a variety of birds, and the two month old litter of kits with their mother. And Hye, of course. The red panda went with him everywhere, no matter what. Only after he'd become affirmed that nothing, and no one, was left behind did he start the truck and begin the long trek to the outskirts of Karakura where his business resided. While he and Hye didn't particularly mind the distance, truthfully Hye loved riding along in vehicles, the newborn kits along with the twin parrots hated it and no amount of Sŏng-min's attempted soothing was going to quiet their nerves.

Fortunately the roads were almost always empty at such an early hour, making the journey to the shop significantly easier and quicker which in turn allowed Sŏng-min to get the little critters to their respective locations within the pin.

The morning itself was as smooth as it always was, filled only with the occasional customer or odd stray checking out the array of creatures and critters foreign to the land. The only thing he hadn't yet seen was someone responding to the ad in the paper, and on the web, about the position he was hoping to fill.

The doorbell rang, signaling a customer had arrived.

Quickly the young man changed out of his soiled white shirt (birds were such nasty beasts) and slipped into an equally casual blue t-shirt; the fabric around the arm holes clinging tightly to his arms. With a brush of his hand to press out the wrinkles, he moved out from the back room with Hye right on his heels. Ahead of him his sad, dull amber hues glimpsed a blonde haired Caucasian girl handling some of his recent crop of tomatoes. The odd part about her was the invisible wall of heavy air that surrounded her, and the distinct and all too familiar scent of blood that waft across his flaring nostrils.

Naturally he wouldn't find anything odd about a white raven. Naturally.

Uneasily he shifted his weight, taking on a more defensive posture with his hands hidden within the depths of his pockets. “Can I....Ahem.” He turned his head to cough and clear out his throat, or so he'd have everyone believe. “Is there something I can help you find?”

The second attempt was much smoother, his tone having shed the uncertainty and slight shake.

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The blonde stared at the delish, mouthwatering, clean tomato in her hand. She did not become aware of the man greeting her until her raven pecked on the side of her head to get her attention. Finally, she peered over to the sad-eyed looking man and quickly dropped the tomato back in its stall with wide eyes.

“Oh! Uhm, hallo!” she spoke in her native tongue before correcting herself sheepishly. His eyes had caught her off guard from the first thing she laid upon. “I read this place has some nice gardening supplies. I was hoping I could get some tips for setting up my own even though I live in an apartment in town. I'm thinking of getting some pottery to set up around my room and need the best fertilizers” the girl’s cheeks flushed with red as she stared at the man’s eyes longer than intended. The white raven nipped at the strands of the blonde’s braids and squawked into her ear to break her out of the daydream. Freyleif huffed and annoyedly tried to brush the bird off her only for him to hop on the other side of her shoulder puffing up his feathers and glared at Hye.

“Sorry for Verdani, he can be bit annoying.” Freyleif bowed a bit with the bird holding on for dear life. “My name is Freyleif, nice to meet you.” as she straightens, Freyleif peered around the establishment then back to Sŏng-min with a smile. “Oh! I also read that you also take care of some animals? Who is this ‘lil fellow?” she gazed down to the red panda circling around the man’s heels. Verdani only looked even more annoyed as his master praised a cute little panda than him, the bird ruffled up his feathers and remained silent - only staring with deadly intent at the cute creature looking at them curiously. Feeling the distress from the raven, Freyleif reached over to pet the bird's head softly to get him to calm down and after a moment the bird's feathers flat against it looking much more satisfied in the attention.


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Sŏng-min

Somehow he'd missed the young blondes visibly bulging stomach, its current state blatantly apparent despite the clothing and jacket she wore. Many might have pitied the petite child in her current state, needlessly fretting for her having to raise a child when she herself was still quite obviously young herself, but not Song. Instead he found himself mystified by its presence, dreary eyes lingering for several long seconds over the taut surface the growing child hid behind. Where pity may have been, there was instead a twinge of jealousy.

“S-sorry.” He awkwardly apologized, forcefully and purposefully shifting his head and gaze away from the girl. The entire situation was unfolding in such a way he was by no means equipped to handle. Several times he opened his mouth to say something and each time raspy air or slurred, incomprehensible mutters escaped. In a quickly developed ploy he plucked the tomato she'd so roughly handled from its stall, pretending to examine the surface for any bruising or blunt trauma.

Avoiding any sort of eye contact, he nodded as she explained the purpose for her visit. “Uh, well. There are a variety of vegetables and herbs that can grow indoors...” After gently replacing the tomato he moved across the shop, rambling off an array of information. “I have several starter kits for things like...Tomatoes, mushrooms, avocados..” His eyes rose away from the materials his words were about, briefly taking in her sight.”You really don't even need a lot of space for most of them. For fertilizer I suggest something organic, probably homemade given uh..” Where his words stopped, his eyes began by falling back to her stomach.

A shift of his eyes brought the raven to view, its feathers ruffled and its beady gaze locked on Hye as she followed dutifully at his side. “It's a bird trait, I think.” Once again his eyes shifted, this time to nothing in particular as his mind wandered to the pair of parrots he could hear “talking” to everyone around them. “I have some uh..Mice I keep on hand for the view snakes I have, if you'd like to give him one.” His head nodded towards the small refrigerator where that sort of thing was kept. “But this is Hye. Hye, say hello.” The little panda rolled onto her back, both front paws waving up and down. “She's the only one I let roam about, only because I've had her for so long. The others I keep here or at home. You're welcome to take a look if you'd like.”

He acted oblivious to her introduction, hands and eyes making play at his attention being elsewhere.

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