st_arkravinghazelnut | Grow Big or Go Home

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Grow Big or Go Home

The Iron Man armor restoration couldn't have come at a better time--it was getting nippy, and carrying around spare layers just seemed like such a waste of a good pair of hands (that's what he had Happy for, after all). With the integrated nanotech, his armor could be a pair of whatever Tony needed it to be, and a nice autumn jacket and synthetic pants perchance rain was the order of the day. And a nice thermos of black tea. Sure, 17 ounces was overkill, but it wasn't coffee on a day where he didn't 'need' it. Baby steps.

While he had taken stock of each resident and the keystone species of the surrounding terra, Tony wasn't feeling particularly enterprising that day, but he wasn't in the mood to do nothing either. Solution: analyze the flowers at the garden and cross-reference it with the Language of Flowers text he'd found perusing the library selection. An idle, sentimental sort of endeavor but frankly, why not? He'd been in a rut with his research and his clever mind was due for a reprieve.

His fingers toyed with the petals of a rose whose thick branches elegantly climbed over a white trellis, splashing it with thick bouquets of red. Was there a rule in place about touching the flowers? Ah, well. He wasn't removing anything--'There went a petal. And another. It was going to happen eventually.' He took his hand back and looked to the side innocently. There, his eyes caught a bit of movement past a boxwood hedge. Two broad backs, working in unison. Unable to catch their faces, neither Tony nor F.R.I.D.A.Y. could discern the identities. They seemed too animated to be one of the laboring automatons.

"Nice roses." Tony called, simply to get a reaction out of whomever it happened to be.

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Thor's head bobs up from behind the hedge at the sound of Tony's voice. "They are, aren't they? I didn't plant them, they were here before I got here, but I do like caring for them."

With a flick of the wrist, a tiny little raincloud forms right in the space Thor directed, raining a cool shower on the roses Tony molested. Thor's hands are filthy with grime and dirt, and he could just as well manifest another raincloud for hygienic purposes, but since his hands are about to find themselves back in the dirt soon enough, there's no real purpose for it.

"Her name is Saga, by the way." Thor nods a head towards the bush, then brushes his brow free of sweat with the back of his arm.

Steve hadn't been the one to name the rosebushes. But when Thor had done so, Steve hadn't objected. It was nice to get his hands dirty--both figuratively and literally--in the beautification of the hotel. It gave him something to do, some purpose to serve. And Steve was finding that he was pretty good with the plants. He had a lot of patience and had been doing as much research as he could on the cultivation of the species that were found here in the garden.

when he heard Tony's voice, his head popped up, too, though a bit behind Thor's both in time and space. He gave Tony a warm smile and lifted a gloved hand to wave.

Tony straightened up at the sight of Steve in their midst, pulling his hand back to avoid it getting drizzled on.

"So, uh...not how I saw an OG reunion, I'll admit, also how are you guys not...?" There was a scoffing note in his voice as he gestured at the blonde, muscular pair, dressed for summer while he was done up in several layers.

Thor looks at himself, then looks over at Steve, then looks back over at Tony.

"You're cold?" Thor looks genuinely puzzled at this revelation. Clearly, judging from the light beads of sweat accumulating at Thor's brow, he thinks otherwise.

Steve didn't often get cold. Not after the serum and his physical transformation. Or maybe it was not after his being frozen for sixty years? He shrugged.

"We've been working in the sun for a few hours. I guess it warms a fella from the inside."

'Blugh.' The whole scene, sun in the sky (cold as it was) with a good 'ol boy working the gardens wearing earnest smile on his rock-steady jaw was so wholesome, Tony could have sworn he was watching a live action Normal Rockwell painting. The itty-bitty rain clouds elevated it to Disney levels.

"And that's..." Tony gestured with his thermos. "...Fun?"

"I thought you'd understand the appeal of taking care of something else," Thor says, with a knowing smile. Thor's tiny, Disney-esque cloud evaporates as it drains the rest of its rain over the rosebush. "Same principle, just the plants don't talk back."

"It's incredibly fulfilling." Steve wasn't sure fun was the exact word, but Steve liked the idea that he was giving back.
He felt like this was part of earning his keep. He gestured towards Thor. "Definitely no talking back."

At Thor's remark, Tony almost blushed. He masked it with swig off his thermos.

"I once, uh, was tasked with babysitting a plant. A lab partner's. It was from New Zealand. Was in this nice little red pot. Vanessa, Venelope..." Tony snapped his fingers, trying to recall the name. "Whatever, girl's name. It died. And I tried with that goddamn thing. Didn't give me any sign, it just died. You know how insulting that is?"

"Maybe it gave you a sign, but you didn't realize it. I thought brown at the ends of the leaves meant that a plant wasn't getting enough water. In most cases, it means it's getting too much."

Something he learned the hard way shortly after his arrival.

"If you wanted to give plant caretaking another shot, I don't think Rogers or I would object to you joining us." Thor looks over to Steve for his approval.

Edited 2018-10-23 23:17 (UTC)

"Plants speak a totally different language. It's just a thing one has to learn." Steve said, then wiped his brow with the back of his hand, leaving behind a muddy smear. He seemed to be unaware.

"It's supposed to be calming, working with nature." He added. "You should give it a go, Tony."

Tony scoffed again at Thor's advice. The memory still rustled his jimmies, even if it was a good thirty years ago.

"Right here, right now?" Tony gestured at his forehead, mouthing at Steve. Regardless, he approached. "I'm not dressing in the tank top. There's being casual and then there's mental illness."

"Yes, right here, right now," Thor says. "And you should wear the tank top. Unless you'll get too cold."

Tony gets cold way too easily. He's sure that Tony would look great in a tank top, though -- and he'd be qualified to know.

Steve didn't care what Tony was wearing. The man could afford to ruin a perfectly good suit with mud and grime, and then simply toss it out and buy a new one. But the tank top would probably be a lot more comfortable.

"Hey, whatever you wanna wear is fine with me. But you're likely to ruin those clothes if you come digging with us in that outfit."

"What was that, Rogers?" Tony dramatically splayed his arms out to the sides, his clothes morphing into a flattering black tank top before their eyes. It could have been white, but since when did Tony follow trends?

"They're self-cleaning, by the way."

Thor beams his approval at Tony. Not just because it seems like he's going to join them, but also because true to his imagination, Tony looks extremely good in that tank top.

"Come join us!"

Edited 2018-10-28 04:28 (UTC)

Steve blinked. He thought it looked like magic. Then again, he'd seen so many things in his hundred-ish years of life... some changing clothes were only the tip of the iceburg.

"Well, then. Now you've no excuse." Steve gave Tony a grin, then offered up the end of a shovel.

Tony felt eyes on him, and added a little swagger in his step for the benefit of the interested party as he approached. He could endure the chill for a few minutes.

Taking up the offered tool, Tony held it delicately between his thumb and forefinger, holding it up to the sun and inspecting it as one would a mysterious archaeological specimen. "By jove, some manner of ancient trinket! I date this to the neolithic period, perhaps from the Near East."

Thor flashes Tony an appreciative smile.

"You should join us and learn how they put these simple tools to use."

Steve completely missed the swagger. He just didn't see that sort of thing, even when it was directed at him.

He turned and picked up his own, simple tool, and started back in the ground again. They were digging holes to plant some new bushes, and it was a little tedious. But it felt good.

"See, you put the sharp, pointy end in the ground, then scoop the dirt out." He smirked.

"Cute, Rogers. You're cute. You're both cute." Tony tossed Thor a look over Steve's back and laid the tool back down just outside the boundary of the bed. All at once, his right arm was enveloped in red and gold and the nanites had formed a whirring jackhammer style weapon, aimed right at the dirt. A rush of steam escaped with a 'hiss'--just for flavor.

"We're a big past the era of using bovine scapula to drum up dirt. I like speed. Power. Efficiency."

Thor reaches up and grabs Tony by the wrist. "Shut up and sit down," he tells him. He nods a head towards the whirring jackhhammer.

"And get rid of that thing. It's time for you to go back to your roots and enjoy some quality time with your friends."

Steve watched the others. He gave a soft chuckle. They were acting like the proverbial old, married couple. He was absolutely sure he would have gone completely mad if his friends and teammates weren't here with him.

"Come join us in the stone age." Steve said, offering up the shovel once more. "It's good for you. Really."

Tony's eyes rolled so hard they took the rest of his head rolling with him. "How is it my fault one of you predates television and the other predates the flush toilet?"

And yet, Tony was the one to had to wear the most age out of all of them. There was a definite unfairness to it all.

Nonetheless, he relented, and flexed his bared arm as the nanites retreated. "I wanna revolutionize gardening, and you don't want me to...~" Tony sang to himself, kneeling and taking up the discarded trowel.

Thor can't help but wonder what's going on in Tony's head. Most of the time, he didn't come across nearly as infantile as he did right now. The only real differentiators here were Steve and the environment.

And only one of those was likely responsible for this change in behavior.

"You can revolutionize gardening later," Thor says, clipping one of the roses from the bush. He tucks it behind Tony's ear. "Stop complaining and get to work."

It was playing. Steve and Tony were so often the men with the weight of the world on their shoulders, that when they had a chance to play it felt incredibly strange. Steve really enjoyed it, though. When they had a chance to quip and quibble, to playfully jab at each other and have a good laugh. It felt really good to laugh.

He started up again, taking the large shovel and moving ahead in the line to the next spot. He dug in deep and fast, making room for the hedge bushes. "Feels good to earn my keep for a change."

Tony's eye fluttered shut as his head was accented with a delicate flower. He reached up, as if to remove it--and instead preened his hair to suit the splash of color, wordlessly seeking Thor's approval in the way he tilted his head this way and that before turning his attention to the dirt.

"Yeah. Because you were such a slacker beforehand." To Tony's credit, the sarcasm couldn't have been laid on thicker if he tried. He picked up a worm, wriggling right in the way of his path, set it to the side and mounded it back up so it wouldn't desiccate. "I get it. I've got my own projects keeping me busy. One'll allow me to live out the dream of being a lumberjack. Not my dream. Someone else's I'm sure."

Thor smiles at Tony as he tilts his head. There were moments where Tony could radiate charm so perfectly that it was practically seiðr. This just happened to be one of those moments.

At least until he started opened his mouth, at which point the magic abruptly vanished.

"An hour of gardening isn't going to condemn you to a lifetime of chopping wood."

"I dunno, it might. You'd better watch out, Tony. You might be stuck wearing flannel for the rest of your life." Steve teased, grinning softly. He was grimey and sweaty, but he felt truly alive as they worked with the earth and the plants out in the sunshine. He'd never known how fulfilling this gardening stuff was until he really got to working on it. Now he loved it.

"Hey, I am talking a proper job. One of the residents contracted me for it. Bo. Heard of her?" Tony shot back at the pair, clear out some roots and rocks from the perfectly good hole he was constructing.

Thor turns so he's better facing Tony. He looks at Tony uneasily.

"What does she want you to make?"

Steve wasn't sure who Bo was, so he continued shoveling dirt, eavesdropping on what he perceived now to be a conversation between Tony and Thor.

Bo's reaction to Thor's name had been intriguing. Thor's reaction to Bo's name was practically identical. Tony played it off with a shrug.

"An arch. Some kind of...ritual. I didn't ask." He had wanted to, but the end was more towards keeping himself busy, making himself feel useful, and (saccharine as it was to say) the warm, gooey feeling he got by helping others. He turned his attention to Steve, nudging the larger man with his elbow. "Wanna help?"

"You two really should stay away from her," Thor suddenly rises to his feet to his feet. He brushes his hands off on his pants. "Take my place for awhile," he tells Tony, directing Tony to the space where he was pruning just a few moments before. "I'll be back later."

Steve stopped his shoveling for a moment to lean against the tool and stare over at Tony. "As attractive as some kind of...ritual sounds," he said, giving his best Tony impersonation--it was actually pretty good, "I'd need a little more info before I sign on the dotted line."

A wave of confusion and concern washed over Steve as his friend stood abruptly. "What's wrong?"

"Everything's okay," Thor says, directing a finger at Steve with a smile. "Bergljot still needs watering. Tony, you take care of it. Rogers can let you know which one she is."

And with that, Thor departs.

That was a reaction. Stronger than Tony had anticipated. He watched Thor depart and then shared a look with Steve.

"I'll ask." Tony said with a sigh. "Later. When the flowers are accounted for. I started this, I'll finish it."

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Grow Big or Go Home

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