Gabriel gave out a hearty laugh at Verdy’s mistake gave the dragon a friendly slap on his shoulder, keeping his paw there as he continued to laugh some. He gathered himself after the explosion of laughter, his floppy ears perked forward. “I would have loved to been there. Have to be honest I would have poked fun at you the whole time. “ He gave another throatful chuckle. “I have to say that during my time in the military that we joked around a lot. The still don’t let me live it down when I accidently called our head honcho by his first name. He was a good guy so I didn’t get in trouble but he defiantly gave me shit afterwards. He would come in and I would glance over at him and he would tell me ‘Stop eyeballing me Hox’” Gabriel gave a very soft chuckle, it could have even been mistaken for a giggle. “So after that I started staring at him purposely. Good times those were.” Gabriel said, leaning back again and letting his paw fall off the dragon’s shoulder as he remensiced on the memory. “He sent me an email about two days ago. He’s a good guy.” Gabriel added. The canine looked around and moved to stand, grabbing his things. “Want to walk around the garden? “ He asked.

Wow, that paw on his shoulder, he could feel the strength in the canine. No wonder he'd been military, he could handle himself no problem. "Usually think of that sort of stuff as being all tough and bossy. I've never been much for any sort of military, not that I have anything against it but definitely not for me. Heh, doubt any recruiter would even believe I was a dragon. Good to know there's a few nice ones too." Verdy saw him getting up and did the same. "A walk? Sure, you been through the whole garden yet or I could give a sort of guided tour. You'll love the rose garden."

Gabriel smiled and held his notebook at his side. [color=lavender’ “That would be great. I’d love to see it if you are speaking so highly of it. And don’t sweat it.”

[/color] The canine said with a smile. “Not everyone is set for the military, so there’s no worries there.” Gabriel gave another warm smile as he held out his hand for the dragon to take, a rather helping hand even though it wouldn’t be necessary, but that was the type of person that Gabriel was.
Some wouldn’t think he was military because of his personality but it was when others took a peek at his other side was when they realized why he would even go military in the first place.[/blockquote]

Verdy smiled as he got up with Gabe's assistance. "Heh, I could sound like one of those slightly annoying guided tour narrators or I could point out specific interesting things and answer questions. Whichever works better for you in a walk around the gardens." He was glad the canine understood. From what he'd been hearing dragons were all supposed to be one of three things. Rich, from some kind of military background, or killers. There were sub-genres to dragons too, like the suave millionaire, or the haughty inherited wealthy brat, even the AWOL crazy "twitchy" military dragons that got in and only wanted out. And he fell into none of these categories, a friendly new person being understanding of that meant a lot to him.

Gabriel smiled and looked around, taking in the shade as he saw the sun was slightly off its high point. He looked back at Verdy and smiled warmly at him. “If you act like the annoying type you might get me commenting on how bad your fake accent is if you try that route, or something along that line. So let’s stick with the specifics. Besides, I never really took my time drawing flowers, maybe in your field of work you can give me some important tips on their characteristics.” Gabriel liked this dragon, a lot more than the very one he knew just by the military. But still he never really meet or even talked to many. During his years in the military he was always told stories about how prone dragons were to be in the military. But here, standing before him was a one of a kind.
Gabriel seemed to have that odd thing about him that he found the strange ones. Not that he claimed they were strange, no he rather liked getting the unique ones because he could always relate to them. Besides, a nice stroll with some insight sounded like something he’d enjoy. Besides, his goal right now was to not get bored, and as of that moment, he wasn’t bored at all.

"Hehe, then I promise no fake accents and trying not to be the annoying one. The more interesting flowers and features I'll be sure to point out. Basically if it's pretty and colorful, stands out, it's a good flower." He was trying to hold back on the whole long lecture but still give out decent details. Things that might be useful for Gabe's drawing. "Lot of it is symmetry too. Makes the art part either really easy or really hard I guess. Here, let me show you." A practical demonstration followed with a nearby flower Verdy snipped from a bush. Round center, five petals. If I fold this flower up in half, right down the middle of any of these petals, it's a perfect match. Each petal, and the way they're positioned. Once in a while you might get an odd flower or plant but generally, it holds up."

Gabriel chuckled, in fact he hadn’t laughed this much in ages it seemed. He walked with the dragon until hee watched the young adult take a flower and clipped it off its mother plant. He stepped closer to examine as he folded the petals and rather surprised that the two could fold and match perfectly, it was something Gabriel never noticed. He gave Verdy a smile. ”That’s interesting. I never really sat down to study flowers like that. Knowing it defiantly helps. What about the way they look. Would you say, being good at this field; about certain traits that flowers hold. Are they all the same or do some portray different ones. Likes spots or certain number of stripes.?” Verdy made the canine rather intrigued and it was defiantly keeping the dog from going into boredom.

"Hard to say really, I kind of like the stripes myself but spots can be interesting. Traditionally you have the solid colored ones but if you want to get super amazing detailed, there's fine lines running up the petals usually, but unless you're really looking for them it's almost impossible to tell." There were a few more things he was able to explain without too much detail, like why some flowers had those different colors and patterns such as spots or stripes of other colors on them. "Just let me know if I start getting boring, heh." He kind of wondered what the canine would do if he did get bored though. Would he just try to liven things up again or tolerate being bored? And they were getting closer to the rose garden, his favorite part.

Gabriel had actually stopped and flipped his notebook to an empty page as he began to furiously sketch the flower. But secretly as well he began to sketch the dragon before him. He gave a smiled and closed it back. "It adds character, I like it. Hey maybe you can gather up some flowers and bring them to me and I could do a still life picture?" The canine smiled tenderly and noticed that the path was starting to wind down into a smaller path. Were they getting closer to the rose garden as Verdy had mentioned before? The canine was getting mroe anxious. He hadn't really began flirting all on yet but maybe, just maybe he might, as long as his art muse drops down and bordem arrises. Normally that's when his flirts will become the best.

"Really? Wow, I'd like that, thanks. I'll be sure to pick out a nice arrangement. Think this'll be the first time anyone's ever really done a drawing with me in it." The rose garden was finally in sight and the green dragon smiled more than usual. It was odd how much he loved this place considering how much pain it caused him. His scales weren't always up to the task of blocking the thorns and he was usually given the task of trimming and arranging the roses. He just hoped they were still neatly in their place and hadn't grown out too much. Last thing he needed was to be bleeding all over the place from a few dozen rose thorns wedged between his scales in front of a new friend. "Ah, my favorite place, the rose garden." It was impressive, tall archways with roses interwoven, dozens of hip-height "barrels" of rose bushes neatly trimmed back, and all of the area nicely enclosing around itself to block the inner view from anywhere else. Even a slight canopy of them, which still amazed the green dragon how they were grown up so high. And in the middle of it all the tool shed specifically for this section including many of the seeds gathered year after year.

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[BG=3b0b39] Gabriel gave a soft laugh and even found himself looping his arm around the smaller dragon beside him as he gave a soft squeeze on the male’s shoulder “Well you are worth drawing, especially around things you love. I look forward to it.” His attention after the words were exchanged changced when they arrived at the rose garden. Gabriel’s arm came off the shoulder of Verdy as he walked in more. The world around him seemed to completely stop around him. His eyes gazed and even turned, seeing the glory of the sun how the rays shined down on the pedals that begged for the fuel to make them grow. The archways which was covered in the roses, the barrels full of their own beauty as his eyes moved and gazed down all the way to the ground. Everything complemented the area beautifully and now, now Gabriel wanted to come here. The pure inspiration that the area gave him was almost overwhelming. ”It’s beautiful here…” He only whispered.

Verdy was grinning as he watched Gabe's face for the reaction to the rose garden. That soft whisper of admiration, that was what made every thorn that ever stabbed him worth it. All his hard work, his art, the time and effort all meant something when he got that kind of response. "I know, I do my best to keep it this way. Always gives me a sense of calm, some responsibility. And... well I like how it can always relax me coming here, the scents, the sights, the care put into every petal and every thorn." He did most of the work but honestly not all of it. And Gabe was a great person to be hearing the compliment from. And this was only part of the garden, the biggest part but still just a part. There was a smaller section where the roses were carefully pruned into specific shapes... Blake took care of that originally and then the normal gardening crew was instructed how to keep the shapes.

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[BG=3b0b39] Responsibility. Gabriel knew that term all too well. Staring at the array of roses around him, he was suddenly reminded of his time where such beauty was only in pictures. His his paw would rest on the mouse of the computer and his eyes stared at the pictures of nature. All he saw for months on end was nothing but water. Granted the ocean had it’s own beauty, but upon ports and new arrivals to new areas, what drew the dog were the landscapes. The beautiful flowers and trees that would grab hold of his very soul and drag him closer, sweetly suffocating him in their majesty. How he adored this place now. He gave a smile. Small and his eyes relaxed and closed. He took a large breath, blowing it out softly before opening his eyes again. He turned to look at the green dragon. Yes, he looked like he belonged. Everything around them made him glow in an odd and serene way. He wanted to take it. Take that step that would possibly make this even better. He walked over, standing before the dragon as he leaned in. His paw came up to cradle Verdy’s chin. He didn’t waste time after that moment as he kissed him gently.

Wow. Verdy had both been expecting something like this and shrugging off the thought of it happening until this moment. Now it was a reality, and he wasn't quite sure how to handle it. After a second or two instinct kicked in and he gently kissed the canine back. It had taken him by surprise but in the rose garden, well, it was a romantic sort of place just as much as it was a calm and relaxing one. And the longer the kiss went on the more he started to melt at the touch on his chin, the sweet lips meeting his own, such a perfect sort of moment. Verdy couldn't keep his tail from sort of wagging as he let go of his own mental restraints and enjoyed the kiss for as long as it would be given. These types of moments, the perfect tender ones, they didn't come all that often so when they did he always felt they should be taken.