Welcome to Gaia! ::

The island was hot without the fog, but Shiloh didn’t mind. In fact he was kind of glad to see the sun again, and had stripped down to the bare essentials, meaning his pants, rolled up to his knees, and of course his ducky boots.

He caught sight of Nevada as he walked outside, and his expression brightened. She had definitely seemed like a really nice girl, and as he knew only a few people on the island, he was always keen on making new friends.

Walking up beside her, he stooped, admiring the flowers too.

“Pretty, huh? I think they’re glad the sun’s out.”

“See, told you I’m adorable,” he laughed, sticking his tongue out at her. He hadn’t really expected his rubber boots to stand out all that much; at home they certainly hadn’t been a huge fashion statement, just a silly joke. Not that the people at Deus seemed anymore conservative than home, but it seemed a lot of them had perhaps more refined tastes. They were respected and intelligent individuals after all, it only made sense but Shiloh sometimes wondered if he wasn’t a little out of place. He was like the little flowers that had cropped up, pretty but not a whole lot else going on. Not to say that he was stupid, but amongst his colleagues here, he certainly felt a little lackluster.

“New life, huh? Seems like there is a lot of new life popping up… Like that tentacle in the water. Only it’s not nearly as pretty to look at as these little guys though. Do you think we’ll see more of them?”

Shiloh laughed softly, and was about to comfort Nevada’s genuine concern over the tentacles but it was grower more and more difficult to get any words in as the woman continued on about flowers and planting. He opened his mouth to agree with her, but it seemed like he didn’t have a choice, and he was laughing again as she dragged him off to the Life labs and miraculously managed to scrounge up some seeds.

Frankly, he was rather amazed at her.

“Those sound perfect, I’d love to, Nevada,” he answered, smiling at her brightly. He certainly hadn’t expected to leave his small farming community to come to Deus and do more farming, but in all honesty, it was far more comforting than avoiding the eerie swirling fog that usually covered the island. Besides, Nevada seemed like a lot of fun, and he looked forward to learning more about her.

“We’ll have to find a less sandy spot though, I don’t think they’ll thrive as well as the flowers. Maybe we should try replanting some of those too!”

It hadn’t occurred to Shiloh to simply just ask for seeds, so the fact that Nevada had managed to procure some was impressive to him indeed. He nodded at her. The cornfield would be their best bet. But as she continued her line of questioning, he couldn’t hold back his laughter, and he stroked her arm reassuringly.

“No, no, it’s fine, they should be okay! We just have to dig far enough down that we take both the flower and its roots. Besides, we won’t take all of them, just enough to start a new garden.”

He smiled at her kindly, and bent to pluck a single flower, reaching up to tuck it gently in her hair. She was a bit uneducated, it seemed, about the ins and outs of agriculture, but he was sure she was a lot smarter than him when it came to everything else. She was certainly cuter, he was sure, and he smiled again.

“A worthy sacrifice,” he said, admiring his handiwork.

Shiloh was glad Nevada was so quick on her feet, in only what seemed like minutes, she had brought back buckets and shovels, while he had been busy deliberating on how he was going to carry all of the flowers in his arms. Her way was better, and much smarter, and he smiled brightly at her upon her return.

"Those'll do perfect," he said, gathering up a couple of the buckets and a shovel after he'd placed the flower in her hair. He didn't skip a beat, acting as though giving a pretty girl a flower was the most natural thing in the world. Truth was, he hadn't given it much consideration at all, only that she had liked the flowers and so he assumed she would enjoy one as an accessory. She was a nice girl after all, and he wanted to do something nice for her.

"Any is fine with me, if you have a particular preference? Those white and lavender ones might do better with a more tender touch, if you are so inclined."

He was smiling at her again.

Shiloh laughed.

"Naw, any colours are pretty much good for me. After all, the way to a man's heart is his stomach and all that, crop flowers are the ones I like best, 'cause it means food is gonna be sprouting up next."

Nevada didn't seemed any better equipped to choose colours than he was, seemingly she liked them all. He couldn't blame her, they were pretty, all of them. They brightened up the place, and he was sure they'd look nice elsewhere too, even if they didn't have much use besides decoration. In a place as dismal as Deus, the power of decorations wasn't something to be overlooked. Deciding to just grab a few of each colour, he carefully dug a wide enough radius around the flower's base, and continued digging down until he could scoop out the roots.

"Well, they might not take anyway, if they don't like the soil, there's always a risk with transplanting things. But just be careful not to injure their root systems, and hopefully they will thrive okay." Shiloh was used to planting, though his expertise definitely wasn't in the field of flowers. He likened that they couldn't be all that different from planting anything else though, just a bit more delicate. "I grew up on a farm, so you learn the ropes growing up. You know, city girl, last time I checked, flowers still grew in the suburbs."

He was teasing her, his own upbringing, though it had been on a farm, was far removed from the rugged and poor working farmer's life that most people usually pictured. His family had been well off, and though they worked hard, they had never wanted for anything, and for the most part, they had lived in luxury.

“It is for me at least,” he smiled at her, picking the flowers carefully and putting them into the buckets. “Nothing says ‘I love you’ better than a nicely cooked meal. And considering the grub we get around here, pretty sure I’d just about marry the first person to grill me a steak.”

He frowned a little as Nevada explained the reasoning behind her lack of a green thumb, and he shook his head as he stood up.

“That’s no good, I mean, I can't imagine being cooped up like that. But yeah, corn fields,” he agreed, nodding in their direction, continuing once they started to walk. “I mean we had workers too but my dad was determined that we learn what hard work was, so my siblings and I helped out with the farm a lot.”