donkeyballs | Reverie: IC Inbox

Doc gave me a quick run down, but I'll admit I ain't never been much of a farmer.

[ He smiled at her, warmly. ]

But it can't be that hard, right?

[Her smile turns to a grin.]

How many Martians does it take to plant a garden?

Think if you got enough Martians in the room, they'd know better than to stick a pilot and a marine on duty.

[ He shuffled over a little closer, holding out a packet of seeds for her. Peace lily. ]

Alrigh' - from what I understand, you gotta get them into the growin' medium, in the little pockets, right? Then the roots grow down into the water.

[She takes the packet, nodding seriously, though there's still a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.]

Seems idiot proof to me.

[ If he edges closes enough that his knee just bumps her, no one can blame him, okay. He needs to be able to show her what he's doing.

He tries to keep a serious expression while he speaks, but he keeps breaking it with a grin that keeps threatening to rise on his lips. ]

Hey now, Gunny, this is a very serious endeavour. We only got so many seeds, now, a wrong move and we could lose 'em. So you'll need to keep all your attention on this.

[ It would come across more chiding if he didn't look like he was trying not to laugh the whole time. ]

Uh huh.

[She shoots him another smile, then reaches up to run her fingers through his hair, trying to push it back into its usual style.]

You've got my undivided attention.

[ A faint bit of colour rises to his cheeks, and he looks far too pleased, but he keeps his hands to himself. ]

Yeah, I can see that. [ Teasing, his lips twitching lopsidedly while he smiled. ]

Not sure I'd count my hair as growin' medium, though...

[God, he's cute. It's unfair.]

No? My mistake.

[She lets her hand drop, her knee still bumping into his.]

It's not going to do what I tell it to, anyway.

It definitely ain't. If you push it too hard, it'll start doin' the exact opposite, just to defy you.

[ He swayed a little, pushing his knees into hers a little further. ]

Though god knows I need to trim it. It's gonna start gettin' wild, if I don't.

[ He picked up one of the little pods and held it out to her. ]

For the Peace Lilies, you gotta put the bulbs about six inches down, so you gotta put a little bit of the growin' medium at the bottom, put the bulb in, then fill the growin' medium up to the top of the pod. If the bulb has any little green bits on it, make sure those are pointed upward, otherwise don't worry about it.

[Bobbie takes the pod from him and studies it as he talks.]

Alright. Sounds pretty foolproof. I can't help with your hair, though.

Yeah, it's a lot simpler than I thought it was gonna be. Turns out most of the difficult parts are in the water, rather than anythin' else. Who knew.

[ He grins and runs a hand through his hair. ]

Well, if you keep messin' with it, I might just leave it as-is.

So it's Prax's problem.

[She reaches out again to snag his hand.]

And I think the messy look is growing on me.

It's Prax's problem. [ He agrees, cheerfully.

She takes his hand and his smile grows, a little bit, that warm in his cheeks still there. He gives her hand a warm squeeze. ]

You know you just opened yourself up to about ten jokes about plants, right? Somethin' about mushrooms...

[ But mostly he's just deflecting because - haha - Gunny likes his hair... ]

Edited 2018-07-12 15:41 (UTC)

[Bobbie laughs quietly, lacing their fingers together. So much for gardening.]

Something about mushrooms? Is that all you've got?

[ Kind of hard to garden with one hand, yeah, but he doesn't look displeased. He just lets her lace their fingers, and then he squeezes them again, his thumb brushing the side of her hand a little aimlessly. ]

You know, careful or the mushrooms will grow on you - somethin' like that. There's a reason I ain't a comedian.

[She snorts, shaking her head.]

Puns aren't your thing. Stick to flying, sailor.

Farmin' ain't my thing either, but I'm still tryin'.

[ Or he was. Now one of his hands was completely occupied, and honestly? He wasn't that upset about it. ]

[Bobbie gives his hand a little squeeze, then lets go.]

Let's get to it, then. What first?

[ Oh.

Dammit.

He managed not to look disappointed, at least, as he grabbed a pod, and pulled the bag of growing medium - something that looked somewhere between cork and dried sponge and twigs - closer between them. ]

Just grab a bit o' that, put it in the bottom, then the bulb, then six inches on top. A bit'll spill out the holes on the bottom but don't worry about it. Most of it'll stick together.

[Bobbie takes the little pod and does as he says, pressing the growing medium into the bottom and then safely nestling the bulb inside. She brushes a lock of hair out of her face, leaving a little smear of dirt on her cheek.]

Who needs Prax, huh?

Edited 2018-07-15 16:35 (UTC)

Considerin' that he still had to walk me through this three times, I'm gonna go ahead and say that I do.

[ He glanced up, just to catch the slight streak of dirt, and it was -

Well, god damn it, it was really cute. Really cute.

God fucking damn it.

He raised a hand, gesturing uselessly to his own cheek. ]

You, uh - you got a bit--

[Oh, whoops. Bobbie tries to brush the dirt away, and just manages to make it worse.]

Am I good?

[ Aw, hell.

He's pretty sure that should be illegal. ]

No, uh - Here, just hold still a sec - [ He wiped his hand on the pantleg of his jumpsuit, then reached out, gently running his thumb over her cheek to brush the dirt away, trying to ignore the heat he could feel under his cheeks. ]

There. All good.

[Is that a blush? It's adorable, and Bobbie smiles, not realizing that she's leaning into his touch. It's subtle, but definitely noticeable.]

Thanks.

[ Yeah, it's a blush. He can't help it.

The same way he can't help the way his thumb lingers, a few seconds longer than it really needed to.

Then he clears his throat and pulls away again, back to work, with a stupid little smile on his face. ]

You just gotta fill it up, now.

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marineris - 2018-07-15 17:49 (UTC) - Expand

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donkeyballs - 2018-07-17 00:24 (UTC) - Expand