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Published at 22nd of January 2019 08:22:12 PM


Chapter 44

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Q walked down the stairs quietly, not wanting to wake up Jinn and Rhapsody who were sure to be sleeping. Tal looked up when he walked into the kitchen. "I'm making a Spanish Omelette for Pops, want to try one?"

Q nodded, "extra jalapeños on mine. What can I do to help?"

Tal moved the chopping board in front of him and handed him some green bell peppers, red peppers and jalapeños. "Chop em up.. but not too fine."

"Yep.." Quinn started chopping up the peppers.

"Is this a breakfast club?" Anna asked from the stairway.

Tal nodded.

Quinn nodded.

Anna was wearing little kid pajamas, red plaid one-piece complete with fufu bunny slippers. Her short black hair was sticking straight up. "Can I join?"

"Nope," Quinn replied.

"Could prove difficult." Tal said with a serious face.

Anna stuck her lip out and sat down on one of the island chairs , her little bunny slippers swinging back and forth.

"Those are nice slippers." Tal Commented.

"Very nice... Should we take a chance on her?" Quinn looked at Anna while scratching his chin.

Tal let out a reluctant sigh.. "Fine, you are on juice detail." She pointed to a bowl of Oranges and Lemons.

Quinn paused his chopping for a moment. "3 oranges for every half lemon squeezed."

Tal nodded in agreement. "3:1/2 Don't mess up the golden ratio."

Quinn continued cutting, "you have one chance!

Anna laughed happily as she bounced over to the bowl of fruit and pulled out the squeezer from the shelf. "I can do it!!"

Twenty minutes later, Ren emerged from her room. She was still using the walker, but her mobility was improving fast.

"Looking good Ren!" Q was setting out silverware for everyone, he paused to pull out a chair for Ren and then moved her walker out of the way.

"Thanks Q! I hope to be rid of that thing by next week."

Tal looked at the stairs, "they probably won't be up for a while, the time difference is crazy."

Quinn nodded, "figured so."

Pops came out of his room a few minutes later, and the five of them sat down. They joined hands.

"Thank you for the meal."

"And God bless Quinn." Tal said softly under her breathe.

Quinn picked up his glass and sampled the juice. He stopped after a small sip. "Oh... that's not right."

"What?" Anna picked up her glass and took a big drink, and then licked her lips. "What are you rambling about Q-bear? That juice is perfect!"

Tal took a drink.."Too much lemon."

"Huh? I got it exactly right!" Anna watched as Pops sampled his.

"Close, but that's not the golden ratio." Pops shook his head in disappointment.

Tal sighed. "Bitter disappointment I'm afraid."

Pops nodded in agreement, "Epic Fail."

Q stared at Anna, watching her pretty almond eyes beg for sympathy. "Legendary loss!"

"Please forgive me!! I had one half lemon left, was I suppose to throw it away?" Anna bowed her head as she pleaded for mercy.

"Vote?" Ren put a serious face on.

Tal put a thumb down. "Out!"

Pops put a thumb down. "Out"

Quinn smiled and put two thumbs down. "No breakfast club for you!"

"Hmm.." Ren seemed to think about it for a moment, and then raised both thumbs up. "You're in!!"

"Wait.. for real? I'm in?" Anna's smile widened.

Tal nodded, "the breakfast club president has the power to override."

"I've been the president since I was three!" Ren noted.

"Self-appointed," Q muttered under this breathe.

After cleaning up breakfast, Pops went to log-in to TAP, while the rest of the household relaxed on the living room couch.

Quinn was sitting next to Anna, playing thumb-war. "Hey those supplies I ordered will be here today, should arrive this afternoon sometime."

Anna scowled after losing her 6th in a row. "You must be cheating... I'll keep an eye out for the supplies."

"Could use your help Tal. If you don't mind." As an engineer, Tal was naturally adept at building things.

Tal's face lit up. "What we making?"

"Going to make 3 garden plots." Q dug a piece of paper from his pocket, that he had scribbled the notes on. He handed it to Tal.

Tal read the paper carefully. "Twenty feet by three feet wide? Just one row each then."

"Veggies?" Anna was a notorious snacker, but always healthy food.

Quinn thought about it for a moment. "Two rows of veggies, and one row of peppers. I haven't decided which kind yet."

"Can I help pick?" Ren smiled sweetly at Quinn.

"I'll let you choose one row."

After breakfast, Quinn surprised Tal by asking her to go on a bike ride, they spent an hour riding on the mostly empty streets of Las Vegas.

"You look cute in that bike helmet Tal." Quinn wanted to mention how nice her bike shorts fit, but he decided not to.

Tal laughed at him as they pulled into their driveway, "if my helmet is so nice, why have to been staring at my ass the past twenty minutes?"

Anna was in the kitchen when they walked in. "Hey that stuff just after you left!! It's all in the back yard."

"I better get working, maybe I will log back in tomorrow." He winked at Tal and headed up the stairs.

"Can I help? This girl right here is great with tools!" Anna pointed to herself.

"I don't think so." Quinn shook his head.

"Could prove difficult." Tal shook her head.

Tal followed Quinn up the stairs, "think I'll wait until after we finish to take a shower, just need a minute to change."

Tal shook her head and followed him into his room, "we are roommates now remember? Go ahead, I'll shower now and meet you outside."

She sat down and pulled up a hud, Quinn changed quickly, pausing for a moment to kiss the back of her neck on the way out.

"Hmm...going to be harder to find time now." Tal sounded regretful as he walked away.

Quinn put on his toolbelt and grabbed a second one for Tal. He found his screw guns and grabbed a bucket of fasteners.

Of course the pallet was dropped right next to the back doorstep. "I should have had Anna tell them to drop the pallet next to the back fence."

Tal came out a few minutes later and helped Quinn move all the supplies to the back fence. "Would have been easier if they had just dropped this at the back fence."

"Maybe so, toolbelt looks good on you Tal."

Tal was wearing a blue t shirt and jeans, with long pants you wouldn't know that she was missing part of her leg. She always put whatever shoes she was wearing on the prosthetic as well, today it was an old pair of combat boots.

She smiled at him, "haven't had my work boots on in so long."

They worked well together, Tal did the measuring and Quinn the cutting, they took turns with the fasteners. Before long they had finished the frames. They were 16 inches deep, three feet wide and twenty feet long.

"Smart thinking getting screen for the bottom," Tal said as she helped Quinn unroll it, and then held it flat as he stapled it in place.

"I figured if we just sat the frames down, eventually the we'd start losing our soil." Quinn handed her the stapler as they switched places. Tal was a person who liked doing things with her hands, and she was very good at it.

They attached the screens to the bottom of all three plotters and then turned them so the screens were down. They both stared at the bags of dirt stacked next to the door.

"Now would be a good time to bring out a wheelbarrow." Tal gave Quinn a questioning look.

"Yeah.. I don't have one of those." Quinn glanced at the gardening shed.."Since this is a new house, smart money says that the shed is empty."

"One way to find out," she started walking to the shed, Quinn felt Tal grab his hand and pull him along.

"Um.. why am I coming?" He let Tal pull him along, honestly she was a lot of fun to hang out with, so he didn't mind.

"Could use help.." Tal smiled at him. "Sides there might be frogs in there," she muttered quietly.

Quinn opened the sliding door to the small shed, "wow.. seriously ." It was completely stocked with new rakes, shovels, shears and flower pots. In one corner was a big red wheelbarrow.

"Dibs!" They both yelled at the same time and jumped at it.. Tal got there a moment before Quinn, but he decided it was a tie and jumped on too.

"Quinn this thing will break if we both try and get on it!" He sighed reluctantly and let her have the 'seat of honor.'

Tal's full lips hid her smile as she raised her chin and pointed toward the door. "Kindly transport me outside!"

"...." Quinn.

He gripped the handles and maneuvered the wheelbarrow through the doors. "Lets enlist some help."

Anna sat at her desk watching her two friends working together. She had wanted to go out and join them, but she could feel the nice vibe they had going on and decided to get some things done instead. She really liked living and working with this family.

The faction website was up and running. Anna had decided to treat the NPCs just like the players in regards to marketing. There was pictures and bios of every NPC and Player on the faction website. The Songbirds in particular were garnering a lot of interest, their sections seemed to have a ridiculous amount of traffic. 'We are something new, so why not go with it?'

She looked up to a tapping on her window, standing she could see Quinn looking up, he had been tossing pebbles. He motioned her to come outside. Tal was sitting in a wheelbarrow while Quinn was pushing her around the yard.

"Hey! This girl wants to do that!" Anna took a moment to throw on some jeans and sturdier shoes before coming out.

Quinn motioned to Tal and pointed at the back door. Anna was skipping across the yard.."Me.. Me. I want to get in too!"

Tal's smile widened as she watched Anna, the pretty lawyer had quickly found a niche and was thriving as a TAP manager. She moved aside and let Anna sit beside her.

"Get moving Quinn!!" Anna cheered him on as he started wheeling the two of them around yard.

Quinn shook his head, "At least I'm getting another workout in."

After wheeling the 3 dozen bags of black dirt back to the plotters, they started opening and emptying them.

"Should be 12 bags per plotter, " Quinn shrugged, "unless I messed up."

"I'm thinking you are right on the money," Tal had dumped half of hers in already and was smoothing it out.

Quinn looked down at his hands covered in black dirt, then stared at the girl's gloves in envy. There were a couple packs of gloves in the shed but nothing close to his size.

"Hey Anna..."

She looked up at Quinn, 'damn he's done already.' "What?"

"Got something on your face, " he pointed to his cheek.

"Hmm? "She brushes at her cheek with her glove. "Good?"

Quinn shook his head, "other side".

She brushed the other cheek and looked at him . "Now?"

Quinn nodded, 'in my defense, she's just as cute with some dirt on her face.'

He started picking up the empty bags and tossing them into the wheelbarrow, along with the odds and ends. Tal was rounding up the tools.

"Can I plant something?" Anna's pretty, dirt covered face was smiling at him.

Quinn felt his conscious punch him in the gut. "As long as it isn't pineapples."

Anna frowned.."That some sort of native Hawaiian slam?"

Quinn froze, "don't get the grass skirt all bunched up, what do you want to plant?"

"Attack!!" Anna jumped on his back while he was bending down to pick up more bags, causing both of them to tumble to the ground.

She tried to hold him down, but it was hopeless. Quinn stood up with Anna draped over him.

Tal nodded in approval, "a take down, 5 points."

Anna had one hand raised in victory. "I win, I win!!"

Quinn was laughing so hard, he let her have the win. "Good job Anna banana!"

She froze in her victor poise, "oh god.. who told you to call me that? Did my brother call when I was in the shower or something?"

Quinn smirked... 'a sensitive spot? ' "Just a shot in the dark...my happy life returns."

They sat around the pool talking. Tal finally pointed out that Anna's face was covered in dirt, it was a few minutes before she remembered why... Quinn could tell that she wanted to 'attack.'

They were sitting there when Jinn and Rhapsody finally made an appearance.

Rhapsody waved at them, but quickly paused in her greeting to test the pool with her fingers. "You should have mentioned you had a pool Quinn!"

Jinn took a seat next to Tal, "we both logged in last night when we turned in, those VR chambers are super nice."

"Yeah Quinn, you are living pretty large here!" Rhapsody joined them, taking a chair from the other table and dragging it over next to Quinn.

"You are welcome to stay as long as you like," Tal said the words that made Quinn cringe inside.

Quinn had walked over to the garden hose and was rinsing his hands, a minute later he came back and helped Tal with her boots. "Better get the mud off these as well."

"Who knew Quinn was so helpful?" Rhapsody loved to tease him.

Quinn glanced at Rhapsody and shook his head. How can that green haired Dryad be this girl? "Rohas is a pretty name."

"Think so?" Rhapsody's smile was exactly the same as in TAP, it had an element of devil in it. "It's not easy being a girl named Rohas Rosario. "

Q felt his grin widened. "Oh god, that's beautiful... Ro-Ro."

"Oh crap." Tal knew it was coming.

Anna laughed at the teen. "Welcome to the club sister."

Jinn smiled at her friend, "Quinn loves giving nicknames."

Rhapsody gave Quinn a sour look. "No way."

He nodded at her, "fraid so Ro-Ro. Second favorite thing."

Tal felt herself blush slightly, everything fit into the 'second favorite thing' category for Quinn. There was one exception, and Tal definitely knew what it was.





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