deercountry | here comes the sun

It was, yes. [Blue turns away from the window, his eyes surveying the bedroom-to-be.] But not anymore.

My family left. If I stayed here...it would be too much. Mu don't do well alone.

[he pushes away from the sill to start to move back toward the kitchen should the wolf permit.]

So I've come to say farewell to it.

[ ammy only watches the boy shift across the room and the the next from where she came before slowly padding along behind him.

”and this garden?” she looks to a pot with a wilted bud in its middle, steps closer to it to kindly regard dying leaves going from green to dry brown. it had nothing to do with this, poor thing. her celestial brush strokes a circle around the plant, and with it, its stock turns green, rises high with life and blooms.

”shall you give it life anew?” ]

[Blue turns his head and watches the happening, feeling a flutter of unease that shifts to wonder as the little plant regains its vitality. this will continue to be something surprising to see, even though this is the very same creature whose footsteps planted little gardens when she climbed up dark, sea-stung stones on the cliff side.

he hesitates a beat longer to consider her question, his eyes on the plant.]

...I don't know how. [what greenery that existed in the Shangri-La was synthetic, and he'd never been allowed in human spaces where such activities occurred. it's an unknown practice to him and his kind, though... though he had murmurings in his dreams of growing new life on the red planet of Nazca.

it's nothing he saw for himself, however.]

[ "would you like to learn?"

she would not be able to lend him her celestial brush, but amaterasu has better plans. her snout, cold and wet, finds his side and bumps his hand.

"i can teach you, the old-fashioned and satisfying way."

[Blue's expression grows more curious than pensive as his hand is bumped, prompting him to lift it and gingerly rest it atop her head. she is very soft and good...and insistent, isn't she.]

This body of mine is weak. Will it...take much labor?

[ there is no way she would ever shy away from praise. her triangle ears give way and her eyes grow small to receive the humble petting. do go on.

"not if you sit! consider: you may borrow my restlessness to rest yourself, and i shall borrow your hands and thumbs to prepare the sapling beds. would this be a fair trade to you? it looks such to me." ]

Edited 2022-04-22 12:38 (UTC)

[Blue considers her intentions for a moment. borrow his hands and thumbs... he wonders what that will look like.

with a gentle nod:] If you will teach me, I will try to learn, yes.

[...]

Though... I should clean...first... [because now that she's mentioned it, he's more aware of the stench. oh, dear.]

[ "yes, you should."

what! she's not going to offer herself to help here, too? amaterasu had a plan, but, foremost, she huffs up and begins to pad around, exposing her intention: "i will fetch the tools you need and put them all in one place. if you have not finished by then, well— maybe i will help, if my stomach doesn't do something unpleasant." ]

[Blue simply nods, taking no offense to her excusing herself to the task she wants; it makes enough sense to him, and he wouldn't think to enlist her in a chore tied more to his own healing than anything else. he has to do it.]

It may take some time. But...I should be here. For a little while. [for as long as he can stand; it may take some breaks.]

[ amaterasu gives the boy one more lasting glance before, her panting begins, and off she goes! in the inside of the home, around it, poking and prodding her nose it places it may and may not belong— and finally, if anything seems to be running low, or missing, amaterasu does just that: fetches them. dirt, seeds, a few human utensils here and there, and something for water.

ammy returns and it's difficult to tell what time it is, with no sun in the sky, but she's here. she has a miniature hoe in her teeth. and, well, she might have taken these things she's now placing in a pile of gardening tools from places and people who used them.

if anything, she'll give them back. what was not to take, of things lying around? ]

[Blue isn't as quick to get back to work as she is, himself still a bit under the spell that this house has on him; any time he turns too quick, he fears seeing shadows of the wicked thing he'd become, or sign of one of his friends under his thrall. the darkness certainly doesn't help.

he eventually gets to it: with the lion's help, he uncovers and bags up all of the perished perishables - needing to take ample breaks to get his stomach back under control - and set them in out in...whatever fashion Trench has for garbage disposal. editor, put that in.

the gentle clink-clink of Ammy's pile growing eventually draws him outside of that new bedroom to see her there.]

Where...did you find all of this?

[ "outside, of course."

she seems— so proud of herself, panting and tail wagging whichever way. her omen trickles out, the fun-loving dolphin she had yet to name, and whistles around the wonderful pile of gardening tools.

"oh, it smells much better. are you ready?" ]

[is he ready? he can't say he knows for certain, embarking on a task he's never done before. one he was...going to do with Flynn.

Blue hesitates, feeling that beat of sadness, missing his dear friend, before he exhales, lets it settle in him, and nods despite it.]

Yes. I will try.

[ "excellent. you will do." there is nothing radically impossible about planting a seed, after all. amaterasu sits herself down with her back erect and making sure she is next to the boy and overlooking his movements.

she pointedly eyes a small hand shovel, and thinks: "if your fingers need rest, use that metal claw. have you chosen a seedling?" ]

[Blue carefully moves some of her finds and lays them out for easier grabbing and use as he may find before going still and looking about for these seedlings of note.]

Is there...one or the other I should favor? [he knows very little about horticulture.]

[ ”i am a poor role model for that sort of choice,” she says, shaking her head in a way that flaps her ears against her skull.

”mothers can’t choose favorites.” even if she jokingly refers to every one she comes by as her favorite. she continues: ”but since you are not a mother, i can tell you this: i’m sure no seedling is more deserving than the other. choose the one that calls to you.” ]

['mother,' she says... she really is a strange being.

while he looks over the offerings, 'the one that calls to you' brings to mind:] You never...told me. What to call you. [at least...he doesn't remember it. lots of mention of 'many names,' and he wasn't really in the right headspace to put a name to memory then.]

...Did you?

[ "did i? oh, it doesn't matter if i did. ammy, ammako, amaterasu, snowy, furball— those and more, so you may take your pick."

amaterasu regards where the seedlings are, either in little packages, or wraps . . . hm, she'll take this one, whatever it was, for her own project while blue made his own. it was a random choice, by smell, but worry not, little seedlings . . . they'll come back for you!

"so much choosing to be had today, hm?" ]

Edited 2022-04-29 14:44 (UTC)

[that list of names sounds quite familiar, and...the fact she's given no preference to any...also familiar.]

...Ammy, then. [since it was the first one she spoke, and the last one sounds a bit rude.

she is right, though: many choices today... Blue decides to just pick the seedling closest to his hand. first name, first seedling. easy.]

[ ammy makes sure to gently bring a pot before her, gripped between her teeth and set down in front of her.

”first, we shall soften the beds. fluff up the dirt, the way you would a pillow for your head, or a bed for your body.”

the way she has to do this is— well, it’s much easier to do it on the ground, in this case, or a larger bed. perhaps she could leave this pot for his next? she needed something larger, for her paws.

well— this one should do the trick. a tray-like dirt bed at ground level. amaterasu drags it over the same way, teeth first, and once it’s close enough to blue for them to work together, she begins pawing at her tray with a delicate swiftness. no digging wildly, as much as she . . . would like . . . her wagging tail may be telling a tale.

”who would not like a soft, cloudy bed to rest in?” ]

[Blue hesitates in taking the pot, finding Ammy's pivoted to one of the longer troughs, but after she gets to work in there, he takes the smaller pot more suitable for his hands and...fluffs...dirt.

definitely something he didn't expect he'd ever be doing. it's a shame he had been long asleep when the younger Mu generations began to learn to cultivate the harsh red soil of Nazca, to coax them to yield true, natural plants and food - something he and the other elders hadn't had taste of before.]

[ ”now, make a hole,” to which ammy executes by hovering above a good, airy spot— before dunking her snout right in, holding (all this while wagging her tail and waiting for the dirt to naturally give way), then giving it a little wiggle to open up the circle around it.

clasping her chosen seedling between her front teeth, as delicate as holding an egg against her canines, she returns to the hole and drops it in. hanging on the edge, she gives the seed a little encouraging push by her nose— now completely dirty.

”then put it to bed.” ]

Edited 2022-05-01 03:57 (UTC)

[Blue's mouth quirks a little. fluffing pillows, putting to bed...she really does consider them as children, doesn't she?

while making that hole his fingers pressed together:] Can you tell? If...they're content or not. Where they're planted.

[ ammy now presses a paw into the dirt some ways off from the hole she’s made and has put her seed in. with her claws digging in, she pulls a sheet of dirt on top of the hole, and repeats this rowing at least twice, to make sure it’s covered up.

”they’ll tell you themselves! when they’ve broken through their beds to give you their hellos as a sapling. don’t forget to tuck yours in.” ]

[with his hands, not his nose, he pushes dirt back over the seedling, smoothing it out evenly in the pot. his fingers linger there a beat before they withdraw to his lap.

quietly:] That's the first time...I've ever done that. All the greenery of Shangri-la...was synthetic.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject