The sun bore hard down on the flower bead, the petals spread out like solar panels soaking up as much light as possible as Summanus cared for them. He was planting some new flowers along the road in an attempt to brighten up the dismal road. He was in the lower ring, and the rows of bright colored petals and lush green leaves and stems were quite out of place along the dull grey and brown surroundings and the street filled with litter and mud. That was how it always was. his job was to keep the grass alive and clean, but Summanus always took gardening a step beyond. Wherever he went, his area always stood out from their surroundings. He worked steadily and patiently, enjoying the sound of his spade dig out areas to place the new flowers he was relocating from another section of the lower ring where the flowers he planted were too dense. As he placed them, he spoke softly to each one, "Here is your new home, I promise that you will like it. I will come here each week to take care of you. It is your job to brighten these streets, and lift the spirits of anyone who sees you." He gently patted the tops and gave each one a bit of water.
"See, there he is." a voice sounded from behind him. "They say that he cares more about his precious flowers than he does real people, I heard that he even talks to them!" Summanus ignored the voices, and continued his work.
"Ignore them." he whispered the his flowers, "I know that you are all important. more than anyone realizes." he smiled, continuing working.
He heard two pairs of footsteps approach. "Hey, what's that?" one asked as they ben down and grabbed a jasmine vine from his box. the man picked it up sideways and let it hang.
"If you hold it like that, you will damage it." Summanus offered politely.
"Who cares?" the second man laughed.
"Yeah, it looks like a weed anyway." It was in fact a plant that Summanus was planning on taking home and planting in his personal garden, and growing for tea. Before Summanus could explain that, the man threw the vine to the ground and lifted his boot over it. But as he tried to stomp down, his foot strangely stopped above the vine. Looking down, he saw that the gardener had caught his foot and was holding it in place. Gently, he reached under and retrieved the vine, placing it back in his box with the rest of the uprooted plants.
"This is the only time I will say it." Summanus said firmly as he let the man's foot drop, "Do not harm any of these plants."
The men laughed, "Or what?" one of them mocked, "You will plant some more?" without any hesitation ,the other man kicked the box, sending flowers, dirt, and vines flying through the air. But Summanus could not let them fall. as quickly as he could, he caught the box, and snatched five of the twelve plants from the air. unfortunately the remaining seven fell to the ground. He gently picked those up to, as the men's confusion dissipated.
Once they were all safely in the box again, Summanus stood and stared hard at the two men who decided that the gardener was crazy, and slowly began laughing, assuming that he missed the last seven plants because he was clumsy. "Instead of harming defenseless objects, why don't you challenge something that can fight back?" The men both smiled, and one threw a punch at the gardener. Summanus lifted his hand, and placed his palm on his opponent's fist. However, instead of catching the punch, he twisted his own wrist, and his arm slithered like a snake around the man's own arm. with a slight flex, his opponent's arm was bent outward in a painful position. applying a little force outward to the side, the man fell on his back. From here, Summanus had the option to dislocate the shoulder, elbow, and wrist. However, he decided to let go of the man. Looking at the other man, he silently challenged him, raising his hands up, palms outward, fingers only slightly curled. The man grimaced, but he understood that they made a mistake. Instead, he bent down, helped his companion up, and they slinked away. "Fools."
Kneeling down, Summanus finished his work, planting the rest of the flowers. He had no time limit on his work, as he simply worked until he finished that day's section. then the next day, he would move on to the next area he was in charge of. Seven in all, it was a one week rotation. He worked as if the incident did not bother him, Something similar happened every couple days or so. Most of the Variants steered clear as they heard of his reputation from the war, but civilians never really learned. they only heard about the crazy gardener who talks to flowers. They were like children, waiting and looking until they found him, then pushing his buttons trying to make him angry as if it were all a game. Vile people.
Once he was finished, he placed his tools in the box with his jasmine vine, and walked home.