Everyone was different. It was these differences that made a community great.
But there were some differences that never came into play when you lived on a foggy, dense island every day of your short life. Now that the sun was out, one particular difference in Robert had started to burn within him. With nothing left to do but lay in his bed and cry, he decided to turn to a skill that he'd grown up with his entire life.
He was sick of death. It was time to create a little life.
He'd climbed to the top of the volcano, where a giant greenhouse awaited him. Inside, there was no one there searching for evidence. No hunters tearing things apart. And there was nothing there to remind him of Clarice - because he'd never been here. It was a nice, fresh start, filled with the smells and feels of his childhood. It was exactly what he needed.
So he pulled off his coat and shirt, threw them somewhere safe in the back, and folded up his pants until they were at his knees. The first thing he was going to need was fertilizer - and he found it, in bulk. He started by carrying one giant bag on each shoulder, in and out of the greenhouse.
Nothing Yet
sammpai
Eight
Seussi
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2013 5:19 am
The longer the fog was absent from the island, the more problematic the sun became. Mimsy might have enjoyed the view of the night sky, but she had most definitely not missed the sun. She was beginning to believe that the view was not worth it when the days that followed were like this.
Sunny. Beautiful. Scorching.
Just as she had in the Sahara, she stood out like a beacon as the sunlight caught her skin. In a clumsy attempt to make it less terrible, she wore her coat draped over her shoulders, and a polka-dot sun dress - the only item of clothing that didn't make the outdoors feel especially like a sauna.
It didn't help.
As she walked towards the greenhouse with the hopes that 'observing' instead of actually getting her hands dirty would count as fulfilling farm duty, she noticed that someone else from her division had apparently already made it here.
"What are you doing with that? Have you discovered a location on this island that is not already filled with a surplus of bullshit?" She raised her eyebrows at Robert and hugged a large book to her chest.
This felt a lot like the first day of high school, for reasons that she could not place.
With the fog lifted, the island was much easier to traverse and after getting lost so easily after the tear, Shiloh figured it would be best if he learned its layout. What he hadn’t expected, however, was to stumble onto a massive greenhouse. And he certainly hadn’t expected to run into Robert and Mimsy there, but the surprise was not unwelcome. As he peeked his head in, he waved, calling out as he ventured over.
“Heeey!”
Shiloh was dressed a lot like Robert, though his physique was not nearly as impressive as the giant Life hunter’s. He wasn't scrawny by any means, but there was no way he was ever going to get to that size. But he had spent a lot of time in the sun the past few days, not at all minding the heat, and had ditched his shirt and jacket a long time ago, leaving them folded neatly in his room. He’d rolled his jeans up but because he had unfortunately not packed for the balmy weather, he was still wearing his ducky boots. He really needed to find someone who could hook him up with a pair of sandals.
He stepped beside Mimsy, watching Robert lug the big bags of fertilizer around, impressed. He knew those suckers were heavy.
“So, this is a thing I didn’t know existed,” he commented, referring to the greenhouse. “What’cha guys planting? Do things even grow here? Damn, if we could grow some sweet corn, I would be in heaven right now.”
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2013 9:02 pm
Mimsy's question ended in the word bullshit, and for that, Robert found it extra funny. He shook with laughter, dropping both bags down on top of the pile of 14 he'd already carried out, and wiped his forehead with his forearm. "Oh my God, you're so ********' sassy." He quipped, putting his hand up flat to shade his eyes while he got a good look at her. He whistled. "And look at you, with your little sundress!" Somebody did not know how to dress for farming, but he didn't mind doing all the work for her. He hadn't expected help, anyway. "Never seen you in one of those. You look right pretty."
He heard Shiloh's call, and lifted his head to get a look at the boy - nodding in approval. Now there was a guy ready to do some dirty work. "Hey, cupcake. You comin' to help out? I got all the fertilizer out of the house, but the bags need to be opened and spread across the only field we got here. I haven't even looked at the seeds yet, don't really care what we got, so long as it's somethin'."
The beating sun felt so good on his skin. He'd missed this. It felt like food for his soul.
Had they suggested an entire Life team to do this sort of labor? Mimsy wondered if this was some sort of silly joke when Shiloh arrived, but she smiled and gave a small wave in greeting nonetheless.
"Hello, Shiloh. I am not aware of what is being tended to within this greenhouse - all of the work with plants that I have done has centered around plants on the other side of existence, and FEAR-based plants are a much different beast, so to speak." With a shrug, she glanced towards the structure. "I am sure that you could attempt to cultivate some sweet corn, if it is sustainable here!"
The sound of Robert's laughter distracted her from their conversation, and the smug little smirk that she wore in response to her sass faltered when she looked over at him, and he whistled and complimented her. There was a clash of happiness and mild annoyance and flattery and adoration, odd things that she was not used to maintaining, and she felt very dizzy.
She felt like...
...like maybe...
Disoriented and unable to stand up straight anymore, she fell backwards onto a pile of mulch and blinked wearily at the ground.
"The...it's the heat," she mumbled, pressing her hands over her eyes. This was not the kind of environment that she typically existed in, so it made sense. It was the only thing that made sense. She took a deep breath and slowly gave them a crooked smile to prove that she was okay, because that seemed like something she should do.
"I will remain in the shade to observe the two of you, so I can ensure that everything goes smoothly, and that neither of you put yourselves in circumstances that require medical attention."
Despite her suggestions, she had not even made it through the entirety of her sentence before she had the large book open in her lap.
Nio Love
sammpai
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2013 10:46 pm
“Heyo,” Shiloh answered them both, and then he tilted his head at Robert, not sure how he felt about dessert-based nicknames. He supposed it was better than sugar, at least, and he had called the man ‘********’ on multiple occasions- it was probably par for the course. He gave him a bit of a salute, glancing at the field in front of them. Spreading fertilizer was s**t work, but someone had to do it.
“Well, I’ll get to work but if there are corn seeds in there, you let me know, big guy,” he grinned, patting Robert gently on the arm. Mimsy had caught his attention with her talk of FEAR-based plants and he turned to her excitedly.
“Say, that’s really neat… Do you think you could do crossovers? What sort of plants do they even have? Mimsy, have you ever had sweet- Hey!”
He had sort of prattled on, missing their exchange as he pondered the possibilities of flying bat-corn. But when Mimsy tumbled into a pile of mulch, he quickly crouched beside her, looking her over with genuine concern in his eyes.
“Are you okay? Do you need water? Shoot, I’m an idiot, not bringing any… Robert?”
Never mind that she had explained what was wrong, or the fact that she had already opened her book.
People were up here because they'd been.. asked to? Robert felt a little sheepish - he'd just come because this was where his heart had led him. Now he was taking other people's jobs instead of doing his own.
He hadn't been to the infirmary since -
"Whoa-" He was moving forward before he could think, but Mimsy was already down on the mulch, and all Robert could do was kneel in front of her and check her. "Careful there sweetheart, that could have been a rock you just landed on." Why was she fainting? He guessed she wasn't the type of girl who could handle being out in the sun for this long. This was probably the worst job they could have assigned her.
He reached towards her, took her wrist, and started to check her pulse. It was way too fast, and when he leaned in to look at her eyes, they were too dilated for sunlight. He ignored the fact that she was already pulling out a book, and batted her hand away from it.
"You need water, first." He stood back up, nodding to Shiloh in agreement, but he grumbled very quietly under his breath. "Talkin' 'bout us needin' medical attention, when she just gone and almost fainted on me.."
He was in and out of the greenhouse with a bottle of water in under a minute. It was cold, beads of condensation already dripping off of it. He bent back down in front of her and held it to her neck. "You can help us pick out what to grow after we've dumped all the mulch. And uh, do them crossover things cupcake's talkin' 'bout."
He had no idea what crossovers meant. Wasn't that like when Buffy was suddenly a musical or something? What did that s**t have to do with farming?
Nothing Yet
sammpai
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 1:10 am
Some talk was floating around about a greenhouse at the top of the volcano, and Finn decided to investigate it for himself during some of his spare time, his interest peaked, and his curiosity requiring him to see for himself whether or not it was true. Since the tear he found himself feeling rather lost, quite a lot more so then usual. He knew he had a purpose, that he had signed himself up to be brought here to fulfill that purpose, but lately he also felt like he just needed something....more.
And so he arrived on the scene, not because he had been asked to, but because he had wanted to just see it for himself. He wasn't expecting to come across any others, to see a flash of familiar pink hair belonging to his fellow tentacle watcher,Shiloh. or he and another man fussing over a woman who was sitting on the ground. The sight alone was enough to halt him in his tracks, to actually make him think about how sociable he felt like being right at this moment with the hot sun beating down on him, him wearing a plain black t-shirt, fitted but not too tight, jeans (which might have been a little tight lets be honest), and slightly heeled cowboy boots,
....In the end he found himself jogging towards them, because again, in the end, there was a woman on the ground, and he did kind of want to look good in the eyes of the people he had to work with and live with and generally spend probably way more time with then he actually really cared to everyday for the rest of his likely now drastically shortened life.
"Hey, princess." Wait, was that a derogatory term? Sexist maybe? Oh well.
"You okay?"
He'd introduce himself to everyone in due course. First things first here.
sammpai
I have no
Nio Love
idea what
Nothing Yet
I'm doing hi /o/
Seussi
Ice-Cold Hunter
Offline
Nothing Yet Crew
Obsessive Stargazer
Offline
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 1:35 am
Though Mimsy might have been able to string several sentences together just fine, she still looked woozy when she smiled and nodded at Shiloh, her smile still lopsided.
"I am fine. And you aren't an idiot. It was only a bottle of water, not a tragic mistake of failed intellect." In an attempt to be helpful, she tried to pat him on the shoulder, but missed his shoulder entirely.
She was fine, really.
"Well, it wasn't," she mumbled to Robert, eyes tightly closed in what appeared to be frustration. She clenched her teeth when he took her wrist, but didn't pull it away from him, fingers lightly curled as if they were on standby to make a proper fist.
When he stopped checking her pulse and moved away from her, she seemed to calm just slightly: her eyes were no longer so firmly shut, and her shoulders were less rigid than they had been. It almost appeared as though she were relaxing in the shade and taking in every ounce of environment that sitting atop a pile of mulch had to offer.
Until Robert put a cold water bottle against her neck. She went rigid, as stiff as she used to when he hugged her. Her eyes flashed open in a panic, and she tried to wriggle away from the water, as if it was threatening to melt her skin. Quick, frantic breaths went in and out of her mouth as she began to hyperventilate, trying to respond as rapidly as possible to everything he said.
"Yes, okay. I will carefully examine the options to determine the best viable outcome. Splices or crossovers will take a bit of time, however, as I will need to--"
Someone called her 'princess'. Princess. She burst into amused laughter at the man she didn't recognize, and tried to simultaneously wave at him, smile at him, nod in response to his question, and calm herself down at the same time. The results were very sloppy all across the board, but she made an attempt.
"Yes," she finally squeaked out, when nothing else was working.
Nio Love
sammpai
Seussi
WE LOVE U
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:20 am
Shiloh took a step back, leaving Robert to work his magic. Robert hadn’t forgotten to carry water on a heat wave of a day. While the taller life hunter assessed her situation, Shiloh’s attention travelled to the man running towards them. He wrinkled his nose at him, when the introductions stopped at Mimsy, though he supposed he couldn’t blame him for being concerned, and if he considered it honestly, it was chivalrous to tend to her first. Nonetheless, he leaned over, pushing his face in front of the new arrival’s.
“Hey there new buddy! Perfect timing, we could use an extra hand, right Robert? And Princess is a-ok, right Princess? She just needs some good old rest and relaxation.” He chuckled, shooting Mimsy a grin.
“Robert’s right though, Mimsy, you should stay put and plot out how we’re gonna plant all this… And if you think of a way to make vampire carrots, I wouldn’t say no to that either… But hm, maybe we should find you a better chair than dirt…”
Distracted by thoughts of terrible FEAR-veggies, Shiloh trotted off to where Robert had retrieved the water, hoping he’d be able to dig out some sort of seating arrangement for Mimsy from the supplies.
Is this not akin to something from thine 'teen horror movies'? Matilda protested as Heidi made her way up to where she saw activity on the volcano. Heidi snorted and rolled her eyes before she spotted what she was looking for. Whoooaaaa! A greenhouse?
...Who puts a greenhouse on a volcano?
But at least these were people she mostly knew! Mostly. "Hey guys! Hi Mimsy!" Heidi called out, giving the guys and Mimsy a wave. Whoa. Mimsy was laughing. Even though she had also done this on the beach during the meteor shower it was still pretty new to her to see the girl so carefree. It was nice to see!
"I didn't know this was here.." She spotted the mulch Mimsy was sitting on and seemed to perk up a bit. Oh! They were actually using the greenhouse. The greenhouse on top of a volcano. That was a thing. Okay. Cool. "Can I help with whatever you're doing? I don't mind getting my hands dirty."
Nio Love
Nothing Yet
Seussi
Sammpai
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:00 am
Whoops. Maybe trying to cool her down wasn't the best idea.
Robert left the water on her lap, and patted her knee gently, before standing up. She was already saying.. things.. that made his eyes go fuzzy - plus she was laughing, and Robert knew that was a sure sign she was light headed. So he bent down and kissed the top of her head, before leaving her alone to calm down and hopefully drink some water.
Except Shiloh was.. wow, he was saying some things.
"I ain't plantin' no vampire carrots." Robert had to put his foot down, somewhere.
Another person - no two - came to help, and Robert was starting to wonder if things were getting a little crowded. Farming with too big of a group was like cooking in a kitchen with a dozen cooks. It started to get messy.
"Heeey." He was the one who'd come out of his own accord. He didn't know if all these people had been sent here or not, and now he was starting to worry someone was going to come and kick him out. It would break his heart. "Sure, yeah.. helping hands." He gave Heidi a sweet smile, and reached his hand out to shake the hand of the new guy. "I'm Robert. Just roll up your sleeves, take off whatever you don't want dirty, grab a bag of fertilizer, open 'er up and cover the field. It's the most time consuming part, but the most important too. I highly doubt this field's gonna bloom s**t unless we cover it in .. s**t. HAHA. YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE."
He looked at each person as if to say did you see what I did there.
Then he slumped because no one cared what he did there.
It had taken quite a bit of mentally talking herself out of hysterics, but Mimsy's breathing returned to a relatively normal state, albeit a little bit shaky at times, her words carrying an intermittent tremor.
"Yes, the distressed Princess will survive, but only if she is granted enough time for relaxation." She gave both Shiloh and the man she didn't recognize a very hopeful look, as if to say 'please don't make me die. "I am afraid that I lack agricultural knowledge, so if we work together with the necessary information, I think that I can be of assistance."
When he left, presumably to graciously obtain a better chair than dirt, Heidi arrived and greeted her specifically. Her friendly waves were beginning to feel a bit tired, but she spared one for Heidi anyway.
"Hello, Heidi. You are welcome to join us!" Because the more replacements for her labor, the better. She wondered, after listening to her admission that she was unaware of this location, if she was mistaken about an assignment. How many of them were here of their own accord?
Thankfully, that fact didn't really matter, as she found herself completely incapable of thinking about much of anything at all when Robert dropped the bottle beside the book in her lap, patted her knee, and kissed the top of her head.
What did it mean.
Why was interaction so difficult to comprehend and mimic? Why did miscellaneous pieces of missing clothing cause a problem now that it didn't cause before? What the hell was in that lock?
There were commands to start working that came from Robert, instructions to roll up their sleeves and spread fertilizer and get dirty.
Mimsy stared vaguely in the direction of 'forward' and fanned herself.
This heat was unbearable.
sammpai
Seussi
Eight
Nio Love
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:44 pm
Well he wasn't really expecting his concern to be met with laughter, and he blinked once slowly, before a slow smile started to form on his own face, a bare flash of white teeth that did nothing to warm his eyes, eyes that often looked calculating, serious eyes, he was told. Her reaction was...well it was amusing, the say the least, and he gave her a nod from where he stood leaned over with hands pressed against thighs.
And then somebody right in his face, intruding in his personal space, making his smile slip away as he hastily straightened up and took a step back to get some room, before reaching up to wipe away a light film of sweat, likely from his hike to get up here and from his short run, with this back of his hand. "Buddy." He repeated, all traces of humor gone, as he tested the word on his tongue. And wait, what? An extra hand? Christ this guy jumped from subject to subject quickly.
........Vampire carrots??
"Uhhhhh, ya I really just came to se---" He stopped mid sentence when another arrival came on the scene, pausing to let them all sort of..chat it up, while also trying to get his bearings. So they were doing what here? Planting some crops? That seemed to be what he could gather from the conversation at least. Getting dirty. Ya, that had him smirking a little bit for sure, but he tried to stay focused, and tried to keep his smart a** mouth shut.
He'd told himself he was going to try and change, after all. Nobody here knew what he was like before he came. This was a chance to start over.
By the time Robert introduced himself, he'd already decided that he would indeed lend a hand, and he gave the other man a warm smile, before giving him a firm handshake. "Finn." The name was for everyone, and he gave them all a glance as he said it, "And hey, sure, I wouldn't mind helping out." It'd actually be...nice, in it's own way.
Take off what ever he didn't want dirty, hey? He had to bite back a bit of laughter at that one, considering it was the jeans he was more worried about then the shirt, but he'd look pretty silly doing this wearing just his shirt, boots, and underwear. Ah well, going shirtless seemed to be the style, so he pulled the black t-shirt over his head, and leaned down to set it near the girl who was sitting on the ground, giving her another flash of teeth as he did so. Like Shiloh, his build wasn't as impressive as Robert's, but being no stranger to physical labor and working out at the gym, his body wasn't something to laugh at either.
At least...he didn't think so. Princess over here had already laughed at him once already, so he was sure she could do it again.
Right, so the fertilizer. He tore his eyes away from her and straightened back up, making his way over to where all the bags were laid out, then turning back towards the field itself. Everything by hand, no machinery to work with. This was how his fathers father would have done things, though even they might have at least had horses to help out.
"How are you planning on plowing this s**t in?" He asked, looking back towards Robert as the unspoken leader of this little gathering, giving him a look like ya see what I did there too? It's not that funny is it.
sammpai
Nothing Yet
Eight
sorry I swear he'll be more sociable with everyone when I get more comfortable with him ;;
Shiloh made his way back, two wooden crates tucked beneath his arms. He set them down next to Mimsy when he re-joined the group, and straightened up, wiping the sweat from his brow. The boxes weren't at all heavy, but man it was stifling at this altitude. Mimsy wasn't the only one feeling hot, though Shiloh's only problem was the sun.
"Here you go... They aren't very big though, so I brought you two. But then again, I am not sure how comfortable they'll be, the mulch might have better back support."
He laughed, before bending over again and picking up some things he'd gathered on his trip. He happened to catch the tail end of the conversation, and he tossed a pair of gloves at the newcomer (he'd missed introductions) and then another couple sets Robert and Heidi's way.
"Thought these might come in handy... Heh, get it Robert?" He grinned, the turned, surveying the field again with his hands on his hips. "Alright, let's spread some s**t! For vampire-carrots!"
