Issue 1 Downtime

Teri is in the rose garden, sitting on the ground with folded legs. She seems to be staring intently at a rose bush in front of her, mumbling to herself.

Zeryn was walking through the garden, in the general direction of the pointe. He saw Teri and stopped for a moment, looking at her from behind, then peered past her at what was, undoubtably, a very remarkable rose.

The rose was, well, a rose. There were a couple of ants going up and down the stem though. After a moment of him standing there Teri turns around.

"Oh. Hello!" she smiles.

"Hello!" Zeryn said with a polite, though sincere, smile. "Please, don't let me distract you," he added, "You seemed very... intent."

"Oh I'm just telling the ants to move their farm. They're hurting the roses."

"Indeed?" Zeryn said, seeming more interested now. "Were you finished? Please do not let me stop you, it would be a shame if the noble gardeners' handiwork was ruined."

"They're very stubborn, but we think they agreed to move them somewhere else."

"We do? I mean, of course we do," Zeryn said, not understanding but determined to fake it until he did. "Do... we need to find somewhere else for them?"

"Oh, no no, you don't have to do anything, we've got this. The plant lice can sit on the other plants."

"Oh, all right," Zeryn said. "I'm sure that I would not have been much help anyway. Contrary to belief, I cannot even talk to fish."

She leans back a bit and twirls around to Zeryn on her butt before sitting back down. "Why would you be able to talk to fish? Cause you're blue?"

"I'm not very sure myself," he said. "I'm sure it has something to do with growing up in the ocean, but of course that is ridiculous. It would be like assuming the rest of you can talk to dogs." He considered it. "Of course, now that I think of it, people do talk to dogs, but I think the expectation of understanding is important as well."

"Dogs do what they're told. Sometimes."