"whos hans?" she looked at him.

"Hans is... my brother," he said, though he heard his imagination say something else. To put it bluntly, it was rude and certainly not appropriate nor beneficial to him for Miss Paige to hear it. Therefore, he ignored his imagination, as he had become greatly accustomed to in the late months. Instead, he smiled an unconvincing smile. "There is a lot about you that reminds me of him."

"really...." she stared at him, her green eyes glittering.

There she went with that staring again. "Yeah," he said trailing off, trying to think of good qualities that reminded him of his brother. "Your... uh... boundless energy, for one. He was somewhat like a cat himself, though not quite the same way you are." He kept getting distracted by her eyes. "How do you get them to do that?"

She twitched them, "not sure" she swished her tail.

"That... is a very odd skill you have," he said, his own brown eyes seeming to be as dull as his personality. There was an old adage about eyes. Something about being windows to the soul. He supposed that his indicated his age, or the age he acted most of the time.

"So where would you like to explore next, then?"

"you chose" she smiled.

"Well," he said, looking around. "We're already outside. Do you suppose this inn might have a garden?" If not, it would benefit them to have one. A place that served food often would save money by growing their own ingredients. "Unless you would rather go back inside," he said. He couldn't hear his imagination speaking to him anymore, which was both good and bad: it meant that it was quiet for a short time, but it also meant that it was waiting for a right moment. Imagination never sleeps.

"sure we can see if they have a garden" she looked at him.

"Oh good," he said, smiling. There were few things that he actually enjoyed in life, and one of them was growing things. He had once described it to a friend as 'finding common ground,' and she had never quite understood what he had meant by that. But she had, of course, put it up to him being strange and a little bit out of his mind.

He couldn't help but notice that Miss Paige was looking at him a lot. He wondered why. Was it because he was interesting? Was it out of politeness? Maybe she's judging you, said the voice again, almost out of a yawn. I mean, you don't exactly come off as 'normal' to these folks.

They came across the garden. Or... a garden. He was unsure if it belonged to the inn or if it was some poor farmer's attempt to find good soil. There was one tomato plant, which had not had a fruitful season and was a sad shade of yellow-green. Leonard sighed at it.

Paige saw what he was looking at, "eh...this garden needs some tlc" she remembered her mother telling her this when they would plant gardens together.

"'TLC?'" It was a phrase that he was unaccustomed to hearing. He shook his head. "No, it needs proper soil. They packed the dirt very tightly when they planted, but soil needs to breathe. Otherwise, no oxygen gets to the plants." He knelt by the plant and shook his head. "What a shame..."

He put a hand to the ground for a second. You are so predictable, Leonard...

Nothing happened for a moment, and he took his hand away. Another moment, and the tomato plant slowly became a much healthier green: the color shooting up from where the stem protruded out from the dead earth, spreading as it reached its destination at the ends of each curled leaf. The leaves, which had curled from lack of nutrition, unfurled as they accepted the fresh nourishment. The single tomato hanging from the vine showed a hint of red.

Leonard smiled. "Much better."

Paige blinked, "woah" she smiled at him, "you really know your plants"

"I made the soil better," he said, getting up and brushing dirt off his knees. He wondered if the inn would still take him in with dirty jeans. Some places were picky, as was his experience. He supposed if he still had money they'd be less likely to object.

"Its sort of hard to explain, but plants and soil listen to me." You know, sometimes I think you enjoy the company of cucumbers more than you do people, his imagination huffed at him.

"i understand sort of my daddy used to be able to do the same thing" she smiled at him.

Leonard's eyes went a little wide. "Really? Was he a Fallen Star, too?"

It occurred to him that she may not know what he meant by that. Not every city offered the same explanation for people of his kind. But he had opened his mouth, and there was really no undoing what had already been done.

"i think he said something about that but i dont remember" she looked around.

"So... you don't know who the Fallen Stars are, then," he said, a little disappointed. It had been a long time since he had said that to someone without them thinking he was crazy. They thought he was crazy, regardless, when he began talking to himself, but that was neither here nor there. "I was hoping to run into more like us on my journey."

"my daddy wouldnt explain it to me" she sighed, "im sorry" she looked at Leonard sadly

"Its alright," he said. "I already know the story. I was just hoping that someone else did, too. Hoping that I wasn't making it up, that I wasn't crazy. At least I know now that there are some people out there who know what I am talking about. It makes me feel less like I belong in an institution." You mean another institution, his imagination sneered.

"i dont think your crazy" she whispered.

It was not the kind of reaction he was expecting. But then, he was talking to someone who was part-feline: which was in and of itself something he would not have expected. He put a hand over hers, acknowledging her, thanking her. "I think I needed to hear that... thank you."

Sort of a shame she can't hear what I think of her. Rrrrraow...

He winced.

She smiled and hugged him, she could tell he needed a friend to talk to, then she noticed him wince, "whats wrong?"

"N-nothing," he stuttered. "Just... a..."

A terrible thought has moved into my mind, his imagination began to sing. Leonard had to hold back to prevent from singing along.Like an unwanted room-mate drunk on wine.

"Just... uh," he started again. "Its getting late," he said, covering and trying not to flub his words as they meshed with the petulant voice within his brain. "I think perhaps we should move back inside to see if there is someone who can give us our rooms."

It feeds on my happiness won't pay the rent / I must take proper measures to evict it, it sang while Leonard tried his hardest to ignore it.

She smiled, "okay" she wandered inside, she went to this nervous looking boy and asked for a room, "thank you" she smiled at him and looked at Leonardo.