Private Finished Misunderstandings

“Inner peace… what a joke” quoted a voice traipsing off into wind, the rather vivid image of velvet beauty was this red Peony flower in Julian’s hand. It spoke to him with disgust, anger and resentment for he had plucked it somewhere along the edge of town… not gently, not gathering it up by the roots for replanting but plucked it like some artless yet jubilant five year old that didn’t understand that flowers were living creatures to. He hadn’t been that careless since he was five years old as a matter of fact, that’s when he first started flowers talk and became so self-conscious about walking through gardens or open fields during spring.

Trudging along the grassy plains, luckily he was following a beaten path of dirt and not creating more casualties… perhaps that was his subconscious trying to spare him further grief. As he moved along, Julian was growing ever closer to a familiar location that had nearly cost him his life. Above the clouds loomed with ominous intent, a storm beckoning off in the distance threatening to drown both him and this poor doomed flower.

Off in the distance he could see it, the edge of the tree line and the many signs indicating immediate peril to all those entering. Just some hundred yards or so he stopped before it, looking out to it and still the flower cursed him for ever being born. If it weren’t for his savior he never would have made it out of that forest, perhaps he never left… perhaps this was his version of hell… did druids even believe in that? Clearly disorganized, Julian’s thoughts were as muddled as the ground beneath him if it began to rain.

A light bead appeared on the tip of one of the flowers pedals, one and then another until a light shower of droplets began pattering down upon Julian’s already damp exterior. Thinking he was just about to have walked off the uncomfortable wetness he sighed heavily, his mind weary and deeply down trodden in depression.

“Hey buddy, you okay?” the flowers tone changed, perhaps in the inevitability of knowing it was going to die, it at least wanted to know why… something Julian had been pondering this entire time.

“Why… why didn’t he say something? He could’ve said he found me repulsive, that I was coming on too strong, that we had just met or… or… ANYTHING!” he screamed at the flower, a few of it’s pedals falling at the intensity and anger in his voice. Having been moved around his entire life, Julian thought by now he’d be used to rejection, leaving others behind or running away. Plenty of people had told him when he was young “Cheer up, no one will like you if you’re sad all the time”. Sad because he’d lost so many friends over a lifetime, people friends, creature friends, flower friends… so he put on a happy face, acted fun and confident to attract as many people to his winning personality in hopes they’d stay friends even after a move… but most people eventually stopped calling or picking up there phone and when all you do is jump from place to place to place, everyone says the same things.

“Oh I wish I had your life, I wish I could see the world” that would be great, if he was an adult that did so by choice at the time. But much like military brats, Julian had little choice but to follow his family’s lifestyle, cultured as it maybe through an endless waltz of loss or rejection.

At least rejection was comforting, people saying he was too happy, too weird or just had too much personality was giving him a reason. Even in the arms of a different man or woman, of which there really had only been two. A blonde haired town crier/greeter, boy had a silver tongue and knew his way about town like he wanted to be the next mayor… not that he didn’t spend most of his time in and out of the mayor’s office. Then there was this big brassy Irish girl from Dublin, she could bench press him and still have enough energy to run three times around Lochness as if she meant to find, kill and cook the beast for the villages supper… lovely father at least, donated a majority of his families fortune to charity cases like Julian’s family. Those two didn’t last however, the first because he couldn’t be as happy as the blonde boy and the second… well because he didn’t have the stamina to keep up with the tomboy.

Much as he tried to convince his parents to settle down, that is why he left them behind to settle here… he was tired of moving around and just wanted to settl…

“Oh shit!” Julian exclaimed, mindlessly he’d been standing in the same spot long enough that the second he tried to take a few steps forward again, he had went off the path and stepped into a patch of grass that was so saturated by a nearby farms water tower that his right leg was knee deep in mud. Reaching for the nearby post that…

“That’s new” he said, clearly recognizing the field where he had been chased by a bull into the forbidden forest. Following the fence, he spotted were he’d last entered the forest. Had it only been there last time, maybe he would’ve just hopped the fence, avoided being impaled and entering the forest of no return. Patting the fence to be certain it was sturdy, he barred his weight into the post and lifted his leg free.

“Why the hell am I here?” looking around he saw the area had nothing to offer him and he had little desire to tangle with a beast once more. Maybe in his clouded mind he thought returning to the place he was saved would clear up his confusion, maybe it was survivors guilt… or less likely, maybe he was a sprite returning to where he had died to face his corpse and the realization that he hadn’t been saved and that this entire time he’d been living in a world between worlds… trying and failing to deny the fact he’d met his demise and was now living a lie in order to cope with death?

“Nah… I’m alive” he proclaimed, rather confident in his beating heart or at least if he was in denial, he was going to swim in that river until he drowned.

“HEY! A little help asshole!” speaking of drowning the flower he almost certainly doomed was beginning to get washed into the hole in the ground where his foot had just been freed. Gently grabbing up the flower, he shielded it from the rain with one hand and carried it to the nearby barn. The animals were all out in the field, getting much needed relief with the light misty rain and Julian was able to find a nice little nook beside the barn with a little coverage and not too much water build up as to drown a rooted plant.

“Great thinking, this looks like a nice spot to bury me alive” the planted smarted off, unknown to it, Julian had a different fate in mind for it. Moving a small patch of earth and burying the broken shaft of the plant in the dirt he examined the plant a moment.

“I can’t regrow roots that fast and most of my pedals are gone” it said defeated, the life in it’s voice fading fast as was the anger it held towards Julian… at this all it probably wanted was someone to sit with it until it died.

“Don’t worry, we've got this... together” Julian said, holding a palm to the earth below the shaft as he began muttering an incantation. The spell wove about the flower encouraging roots to grow within the soil, it was a basic spell to plant seeds… but what Julian did next, his saving grace was one thing he knew only a few druids could do besides him. The plants petals began reforming, its roots growing to a more vibrant length and girth as Julian’s magic fused with the life force of the flower and within moments it was a full grown bush.

“I’m sorry” he said, standing once more and getting ready to walk away from the now fully formed and thriving plant… what right did he have to speak to this plant, even if he brought it back to life, he was responsible for it’s misery in the first place.

It was about this time that his phone began to ring… the first time he ignored it. But when a pedal of the very bush he’d just brought back to life touched him, he could feel it’s happiness, hear it’s elation and excitement at being surrounded by new friends and family. For just a moment, he was reminded why he loved nature, why he loved being a druid and then he answered the phone.

“Hello?” his voice was scratching and distant, both because he’d been crying and because of how happy he was to see the life he’d brought into the world made it a slightly better place.

“Uh hello?” he greeted the strange caller yet again. Seconds of silence went on and he was about ready to hang up the phone, completely soaked from head to toe Julian just wanted to head back to the dorms, peel out of his cloths and…

“I’M SORRY!”

“Holy Shi!” Julian's voice came out at a whisper by comparison to Chester's. Nearly jumping out of his skin, his phone fumbling in the air as it launched briefly above him, he almost caught it several times and finally just dipped forward into the mud with it alongside his ear as he listened to Chester pour out every intimate detail of his life. Turning the volume down after sitting up so he didn’t suffer any hearing loss, Julian pressed himself up near the barn to a patch of dryer grass and began listening, really listening to what Chester had to say… or well, yell.

Everything started making sense, as much as it could out of context anyways but he understood now why the boy had so quickly abandoned good manners and left Julian without so much as a “your weird or I don’t like you that way” kind of comment. Geez, the more he listened the more he thudded his head against the barn for being so emotional and over the top. Then came the realist part of the call… he was bleeding, he was hurt and Julian had made him a promise.

“heh, go figure… I was just coming to see you” he lied, standing up, dusting himself off figuratively and looking out across the way. God’s it was going to be a long walk, at least he knew the way from the memory of their flight from the first time they’d met.

“You wouldn’t be still be doing pickups and deliveries?” he teased, taking his first step in the right direction. The rain as he moved began slowing to a stop, as if to say smooth sailing traveler and with his mood returning he clarified the joke.

“It’s okay, I need the exercise, B…T…W… what happened, are you okay and where’d you get my phone number… are you sure you're not stalking me?” with a sly grin he began weaving magic into his clothes as his voice became more light and energetic. Garments beginning to dry but not clean he was more focused on moving forward and not catching pneumonia than cleaning himself.

Back muscles twinging with the dull sense of throbbing pain in his feet, Julian felt like he was about to fall over with each new step. Falling backward onto his butt bottom bones, he smiled at the mention of a reprieve to give his body rest while awaiting a chariot of mercy.

“Please… do send him, I can barely stand right now” he whimpered, about to start crying as he texted his GPS co-ordinates. Oddly enough even in a different dimension these non-mage inventions were quite efficient, it even told him the name of the farm he was next too.

“Huh” that was neat he thought, scrolling about the area on his phone as Chester mentioned dinner… his stomach growling at him like the Bandersnatch, bottomless pit that he was it half made him wince and smile at the same time.

“Pizza maybe?” he mused aloud, having little clue for what else the isle offered and honestly just wanting something bad for him for a change. Strictly speaking, Julian normally ate decently, but with friends he liked to splurge a little. Reaching to the back of his pants, he was about to offer to pay only to find his wallet, money, cards and all soaked… not that he needed to have a dry card to read the numbers but it was his father’s emergency card. “Emergency pizza, I’ll text him later” he thought internally.

Waiting until Chester was thoroughly finished embarrassing himself with offering Julian a place to sleep, Julian nodded in agreement, only to realize he was speaking over the phone and quickly acknowledge that he had been paying attention.

“Of course!” he said perhaps a little too enthusiastically.

“I mean… I’d like that” he returned a little more casually… yeah right… smooth Harrison. After beating his brow for being such a dunce, he went to weave some magic about him to clean his clothes, only to realize that although his stores weren’t entirely depleted from growing that bush… honestly he figured he’d be exhausted, but finding that he wasn’t… that was interesting. Thinking back he could feel something else assisting him with the plants growth… was it some magic about the farm, was it this Manta Carlos or whatever? Resolved to meet with a local historian later and get the Ben & Jerries’ scoop about the matter.

“Whatever we get though, I’m paying…” he stated matter of factly, hoping Chester would let him.

“It’s not much, but I really feel bad about earlier… I kinda… sort of should have highlighted wanting to be your friend more. I don’t often flirt that much, "noticing you noticing me and putting you on notice that I noticed you too" was this thing I saw on Fresh Prince of Delaware with Willard Smithe as a kid… I wasn’t teasing, I like you, but it’s my corniness… I can’t help it” such a nerd he thought, always trying to make people laugh in the worst circumstances. In hindsight he felt like such an idiot, even if he openly admitting to being one from time to time he really felt like a proper one about what he had said back then.

"So... friends, at least for now?" he offered, hoping not to hear a dial tone and received a restraining order notice on his dorm room after walking the whole way back... gods why does everyone assume being a Nomadic Druid means you have to like walking everywhere?

Snickering at the other boys plight, Julian couldn’t help but laugh as Chester sounded so overwhelmed by the limitless options before him. Being so new to the area, Julian had no clue for what this strange magical land did or didn’t offer. Though with great power came great responsibility, that being said, Julian was hard pressed to think of a viable option… but then his nerdiness kicked in.

“Usually it depends on the place, most people like to feel out what place makes what kind of pizza with quality before committing to anything, but… how’s about a deep dish meat-lovers with extra marinara… in this one series I’m watching, the guy playing the Alpha Grim Reaper orders it and serves up a slice to one of the two main characters… it looked so… delicious” emphasizing the last bit, Julian’s wiped his lip thinking it was his inner mouth that had been salivating.

“I mean if it’s good enough for Hollywood, why not us?” he mused, laying back into a patch of thick, yet soft wild grass as he contemplated this being his last meal and how lucky he’d be if it was… though he hoped it would not be his last with Chester, feelings aside, Chester had easily worked his way into Julian’s life and become a major part of it. Saving his life was only one crucial point in their journey together he figured… that damn Lotus plant still bugging him, he wondered if they would be sharing this mystical journey together.

Hands extended out with his eyes slowly flittering closed, Julian felt the beckoning of sleep sweeping him up in its embrace and its desire to drag him under. The cold seeping into his bones, Julian coughed lightly, his eyelids becoming so heavy as he lay in this wet earth, in his wet clothes with his temperature rising slightly higher with every passing moment. It was brief moments later that a car rolled by him, almost entirely past him before stopping, turning its wheels in reverse. Julian heard a door open, an umbrella open and step by step he felt through the ground steps of a lighter man coming towards him… a man in black finely polished shoes, finely tailored pants and coat with white gloves and dark air about his visage.

“Harrison…” it beckoned to him, repeating his name in an indifferent tone.

Was this death, had he made up all that about reconciling with Chester so he could pass on in peace? Eyes suddenly flittering open with less drowsiness as a sense of warmth washed over him, Julian remembered Chester had sent a driver to attend him.

“Julian Harrison” the man said, almost reluctantly, thinking he’d been sent to fetch a vagabond sleeping in the gutter. Peeling himself out of the mud, Julian as comfortable with being covered in dirt stood a refreshed man and nodded his appreciation to the man before calmly stating.

“I am he, you must be Chester’s man, god bless you sir, I really appreciate the ride… just about caught my death out here” he teased, for those who didn’t know, a druid could sleep literally anywhere in the wild and wake completely refreshed and full of energy. Where most people would wake up with the flu or some other deadly virus for being so careless, druids had such an affinity with nature and in this place were magic thrived like a thousand suns, this quick power nap was all he needed to set his body to a temperature that heated up his entire person and whilst infusing magic into his clothes both dried and cleaned them before stating cheerfully before the man witnessing this oddity.

“Shall we be off then, don’t want the pizza getting cold” with a smile he let himself in the passengers front seat and buckled himself in.

“SO… what kind of driver are you, are you like Jason Statham and you transport all manner of people and things wherever they need to be for huge sums of cash… cause, I think I ruined all my bills” he held out several loose Euro’s that had only just been dried so they appeared as Julian, still covered in a dry dusting of dirt and wrinkled almost to unrecognizable condition.

It had been a long arduous ride back to Chester’s home, Julian wouldn’t have thought Mr. Tomoya was the talkative sort at first glance but the second Julian had made a movie reference the two were going back and forth reminiscing and comparing all the greatest action packed movies of his dad’s generation up until now. Julian had and always will be a fan of the agent with a license to kill, thrill and chill James Bond as portrayed by Sean Connery. As for Mr. Tomoya he ought to have guess, he was more of a fast’n’furious kind of guy, preferring the famous XXX known as Vin Diesel. The two could’ve talked for hours about the many amazing features in Hollywood as Julian considered himself a rather adept movie buff, but Mr. Tomoya brought in crouching tiger, hidden dragon when Bruce Leroy snapped Chuck Horris’s arm… they had arrived and Julian had thoroughly admitted defeat.

“I am not worthy” he feigned bowing to the man’s superior knowledge of the screen, his best and brightest list was no match for Mr. Tomoya and Julian knew it. When he finally exited the vehicle, it seemed as if he had blinked from one place to another in record time. Not that he wanted more time to themselves, but it was always interesting meeting new people and as he gave Chester a warm smile in greeting and the two waved off Mr. Tomoya.

“Have a good day Mr. Moya and don’t forget to live free and…” he expected the man to say die hard, but what Mr. Tomoya actually did made Julian’s O face come out.

“Yippie ki yay, Mr. Harrison, it was a pleasure escorting you”. Getting in the car without looking sideways at them as he drove off, Julian almost did a back flip as he could hardly contain his inner nerdgasum.

“Mr. Moya is the best driver ever! Like omg, he knows so much about Hollywood action thrillers!” he declared, so hyped he almost missed the part of him being wet but Julian was just pumped with Adrenaline as the pizza driver arrived that he in a louder than normal voice, whilst moving around excitably replied.

“Nah bro, druid magic, it’s like a hot shot of expresso! So hot, it dries cloths!” Julian wasn’t kidding the entire ride back from the farm, he was tapping his feet like a mile a minute to the conversation he was having with Mr. Tomoya. Julian shook his head when Chester and the Pizza man started making exchanges, much as he had wanted to pay for the food, even Mr. Tomoya wouldn’t accept his five, ten or twenty pound notes in the condition they were in… suffice it to say, he’d have to run down this high tonight on a treadmill or making a currency exchange at a nearby bank, but whoops too late for that. Julian started pacing in place as Chester’s cats showed up and began Oooh’ing and Awing at their cute little selves. Before he knew it, Chester was being overwhelmed and calling out for his help… at first Julian was torn, which to save the boy or the pizza? But instinct and the already unnatural surge of adrenaline pumping through his veins made him swoop in for Chester, catching him mid fall with an arm around shoulders and lower back as the pizza man lurched forward to keep his grip on the bag they had been exchanging. Leaning him back forward, Julian began dancing as if he had won the fucking lottery.

“Woooo! Did you see that? I snatched you right out of the air… I mean up, damn that was cool!” Julian like a kid that had just done a line of pixy sticks and had been caught, turned to look at the pizza man and Chester and immediately felt embarrassed, which brought his high crashing down.

“I mean, that was close are you okay, do you want me to help you inside?” he offered, bottling up his damaged pride and slipping the driver a crumbled up ten pound note, taking the food as he whispered.

“Please don’t mention this to anyone…” the look on the fanged once face relayed the opposite message… yeah, he was going to tell everyone.