Chapter Text
Jean was in a situation. It wasn’t necessarily one to be concerned over, but, as she sat back against her heels, her knees and hands covered in dirt all the way up to her elbows, it could certainly be termed embarrassing.
Because a citizen had come to the Knights and said please help, my garden is coming to life! And no one else had been around and Jean had been working on her third cup of coffee just at the beginning of the afternoon… and so she agreed.
She gathered her sword and her gauntlets and followed the kind older gentleman who had absolutely in the past made comments on how useless the knights were but that didn’t matter because everything Jean did, she did for Mondstadt.
Which now included tilling some old man’s garden. He had told her everything moved around, the mushrooms are alive, they’re going to get me and Jean wondered if she could make a note to Barbara to possibly… keep an eye on him.
But she took his claims at face value and hunkered down in the garden, a mushroom garden, which was kind of nice. Jean liked mushrooms. But she waited, and waited, and dug through the dirt in boredom, and then she noticed a mushroom essentially… slip back into the soil from whence it sprouted.
Jean had frowned and pursed her lips and made her way closer. A small hole, a divot in the soft dirt. She poked at it and then swept away handfuls of dirt.
“I must say, I wasn’t expecting such a view on my afternoon walk.”
The charming voice cut through Jean’s focus and she spun, from her incredibly dignified position on her hands and knees amongst the dirt, to see Lisa smiling at her kindly.
Not even a smirk, or a teasing look to her eyes. Just a sweet smile as she waited for Jean to focus back on her.
“I would stand and greet you properly, but I believe I would only insult you with how dirty I am.” Jean grimaced and Lisa laughed at her words. Not at her though, never.
“What has you on such distinguished gardening duty today, Jean?”
“His mushrooms are… alive.” Jean admitted, finally accepting that she felt silly kneeling so far from the fence that Lisa was leaning on. She stood and brushed her knees off with equally dirty gloves which only made it all worse.
“I see.” There was the teasing. Lisa looked at her with the knowing glance of a brilliant woman who was biting her tongue, hard, to not say something far beyond Jean’s comprehension.
Instead, Lisa said, “It’s a slime, dear.”
And Jean tilted her head in profound confusion.
“Pardon me? What do you mean?”
“Come here.” Lisa asked her, curling her fingers twice to beckon Jean closer. Either would have worked, both had Jean nearly stomping through the various mushrooms to be here as soon as possible.
“Now, I thought you would know this, seeing as your favorite pizza contains a mountain of mushrooms.” Lisa trilled once Jean was just next to her, a mere simple fence separating them.
I like that you remember that about me is not what Jean said, though she felt those words with all her heart. Instead she looked at Lisa encouragingly, waiting for whatever show or brilliance she was sure to put on.
“The philanemo mushroom is, for whatever reason, a beloved snack for slimes. They bother my garden every now and then.” Lisa explained.
“What does your garden have?” Jean asked immediately, knowing very little about plants and mushrooms that weren’t already cut up or purchased from the market. Lisa simply laughed and shook her head.
“Hardly the point, darling. I’m saying, there’s a slime. Likely dendro, hidden beneath the soil. Give me only a moment.”
Well surely Jean would give her many. But Lisa didn’t need long. She made a simple gesture and the air flashed with a faint purple glow and They heard a rather heavy thump beneath their feet before a little green slime was erupting from a pocket in the soil and scurrying off.
Jean blinked a few times.
“I can’t say that’s what I was anticipating…” She trailed off.
“Lucky for you I was nearby, hm?” Lisa teased, tugging her silk glove off of her hand to brush at some of the dirt that had found its way to Jean’s coat. “You really are a mess. It’s quite cute.”
Jean knew and didn’t even need to see herself because her cheeks flared so heatedly, she blushed and ducked her head, did her best to remove more dirt that was ground in at her knees and over her gloves.
“Thank you, Lisa. I’m sure I would have been crawling around here until sunset like a fool without you.” Jean glanced back up, she lifted her head and demanded a little more composure of herself.
“You’re very welcome. Maybe next time you can ask for assistance instead of doing everything yourself.” Lisa said pointedly and absolutely didn’t mean this particular garden but every single thing that Jean did. She plucked at the collar of Jean’s coat once more to help fix her appearance (a lost cause at this point) and patted Jean’s shoulder. “I’ll see you later, Jean. Have a good evening.”
“You as well, Lisa.” And Jean watched her continue on down the street, walking further from her.
“You’re just going to let that little slime ball go?”
She turned in surprise to see the old man practically giving her the stink eye.
“Ah, right. I’ll go find it. Thank you for procuring the Knights services, have a good day sir!” And Jean hopped over his fence smoothly and almost followed after Lisa, but instead she went in search of the little garden eating dendro slime.