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 Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 11:22 am
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"Huh." Sephos found the farms of the field region odd at first glance. Compared to his home, and even to his garden, they were incredibly, artificially ordered, constrained into rows and columns. And yet, on second glance, it was not so different. They were still plants. They still brimmed with life.
Maku hoomed, gesturing with a creaking bough. Petals and dirtied nectar dripped from his foliated beard.
"Yeah. I know." Sephos said, squinting at the slightly crumpled and water stained directions, "We're here. Pull the bag over, okay?" Maku obediently swung the large cloth bag along the wood that comprised his 'shoulder'. It held many planty things - things that Sephos hoped to share with the fellow plant enthusiast.
He cupped his hands around his mouth. "HEY! VALAON! ARE YA HERE?" he shouted across the orchard.
Valaon was doing her daily regimen of harvesting and tending to her livelihood. She wiped the sweat from her brow after finishing weeding the smaller section of her lawnring. She looked to Crapple before motioning to the baskets to be taken inside. As she watched Crapple leave with their produce, she looked to her bandaged hand. They were almost out of herbs.. Perhaps it was time to give that other troll a visit.
It was if on cue, valaon heard the other calling for her. She squinted, wiping her brow again before going to see who it was that had come to bother her work. Her brow raised as a tiny little smirk crossed her fact, resting her apple picking tool on her shoulder. "I am. I was wondering if ya would drop on by soon." She greeted, "whacha got thur?" She asked with curiosity as she motioned to the bag.
Oh, hey, there she was. He gave an additional grunt of greeting before stepping down from one of the twists and gnarls of Maku's 'feet' - he'd used them to give himself slightly more height, but they stank and it was better to be on her level besides. "Stuff." He said, reaching for the bag.
Maku obligingly placed the bag on the ground, a cloth edge slipping down to reveal... A nice cornucopia of things. A bushel of mushrooms, a bouquet of various herbs, a pumpkin, a bag of small green vegetables (tomatoes perhaps?) A small bushel of various peppers (some long and green and others simply... Bright). "Plant stuff" he said again.
Valaon watched at the other troll retrieved the bag and opened it to show her its contents. A smile slowly showed as she looked at all the goods. "Oh. Those look pretty good." She told him, "Grow 'em yurself?" She asked curiously. She looked to Sephos then to the plants, "well, come on. It'll be more comfortable if we admire yur plants in ma hive." She more or less suggested.
She was right - they did look pretty good, didn't they. He was actually pretty proud of them. "Yeah" he said. Obviously he'd grown them himself. Maku had helped a little, sure, but with the plants in his nursery, that was all him. "Oh. Ok." He wanted to look at the Apple trees more, and talk to her about them, but he could also do that later. maku took up the bag again, happily ready to carry it wherever it needed to go. "You got a nutrition block?" Of course she did, "Maybe could chop n' cook some of it up, too." Because, as he thought about it, he was a little hungry...
Valaon rubbed her neck before moving to lead the pair to her hive. Opening the large door, she slipped in and clean up briefly. "Oh, ya got more of yur herbs? Imma 'bout out." She asked as she looked to her bandaged hand then to moving to her nutrition block. "Help yurself." She motioned, opening to her thermal hull and pulling out some more ingredients. "If ya are willin', ya could help pickin' apples and other produce in ma lawnring... And maybe we can mak'a pie?" She offered.
"Yeah. Brought a bunch of 'em." His herb garden was doing well this season - lush and green and, for some of the plants, fragrant. He took out the herbs and set them on the counter for her before finding a knife and a board and chopping some vegetables - onions and fresh bell peppers and one spicier variety. He was normally fine just frying up vegetables in a pan, but he'd caught a glimpse of eggs and cheese... An omelette? He'd only had one once before but he remembered it being really good and not hard to make... He proceeded to help himself. "You want some of this?" He asked gesturing at the omelette in progress. He nodded briskly at her question. "Yeah. Like to help." Though his dour face seemed to say otherwise. He did like pie. And picking produce. "What've you got growing in yer lawnring?" He asked curiously.
Valaon moved to grab a knife as well, cutting up some avocado and mushrooms. "Yes please. Lookin' good. Don't think I've ate today." He explained as she finished cutting and looked through the herbs. "Mind if I keep some on 'em?" She asked, pointing to the medical herbs.
The greenblood raised a brow. He said he wanted to help but his facial features said otherwise... However, Valaon assumed that was just was his face was like. After all, she had resting b***h face. A smile grossed her face as he asked about her lawnring, "ah. I've got sum berries, varieties of fruits... Vegetables... I got pretty much everything." She noted the. Rubbing her neck, "no mushrooms or herbs..." She added.
Eating was important. He stirred the liquid mixture rapidly, whisking it together as a pan with a drizzle of olive oil heated.
"Yeah. They're yours. That's why I brung them." He explained. She'd wanted medicinal herbs before, so he'd thought to bring them this time. He'd have to go out and look at her garden, see what he could add to the omelette. Fruits were good for you, and tasty besides. But right now, he knew, he needed to attend to the omelette... "Can ya bring in some of those berries to go with it?" He said, holding a spatula with authority as the egg mixture began to slide and sizzle in the pan.
Valaon looked back at her hand again when sephos called the herbs hers. "Thank ya.. Crapple and I get cuts sum times." She explained as she made sure everything was cut that was going into the omelets. She tilted her head curiously at the mention of berries. "Berries?... Never thought of berries goin good with eggs." She commented before walking out to her lawnring with a bowl. She looked through all her berries, selecting the most ripe ones and putting them in the bowl. Once the bowl was full, she rejoined sephos. "Smells good."
"They don't go in the eggs or anythin." Said Sephos, watching the egg mixture carefully before starting to put in the fillings, "but they're nice on the side." Not that he was a culinary... Anything... But he wanted eggs, he wanted berries, and therefore they should go together. If they didn't taste so good, whatever. He'd deal with it. He folded the omelette while she was out, sprinkling salt and pepper on it as it cooked - a trick that the troll Maku has parented before him had learned, and which the tree beast had gleefully passed down. "Yeah." Sephos said, squinting at it for a moment and poking it with the spatula. After a few seconds, he turned off the heat. "Should be done." He said. He separated them out onto two plates and put a handful of fruit on each. He handed one to her, grabbed a utensil of some sort (as long as it worked he didn't care,) sat down and started eating without waiting for her at all. And why should he? He usually ate alone, after all.
Valaon watched as Sephos made out two plates then sitting down to eat his own food. Without much thought. she moved to grab her plate and put a couple of berries on it then adding an apple. She then leaned against the counter, grabbing a spoon and starting on her omelet. She blinked with surprise on how much flavorful it tasted in comparison to her own omelets that she usual made. "..This is really good." She commented, taking another bite. "Whacha put in it?" She asked curiously, wanting to make her own like his every time.
Sephos may have side-eyed her when she took up a spoon to eat an omelette. But he had no issue with it. And, since it seemed to work for her, he didn't actually care. Certainly he didn't care enough to give it more than a passing glance. "Ya put stuff in the egg part." He explained, "the salt, herbs, it goes in the egg when you're mixing it." What was the word for that? Whisking? Whatever, she probably got it. He swallowed and drank some water, wiping his mouth with a napkin (his sleeves weren't long enough at the moment) "Then ya put the filling stuff in early, when the egg is still kinda went, and shift it around so it... Uh..." He gestured the action, at a loss to describe it. "When it gets on the sides you fold it down and then you... Uh... Fold it over." His hands had left his utensil to aid him, ending in them palms down on the table. "... That's all." He resumed eating.
Valaon listened to him explained how he made the omelette as she ate her food. "Simple enough." She replied, "can ya cook other dishes?.... for me, I'm mostly good at cookin' strews and soups. Pies too." She explained as she finished her food, noting the flavor of her berries which where picked at the perfect time.
"I should come by yur hive next time. I'm curious bout yur lawnring." She mentioned as she moved to wash her plate and spoon, looking to see if sephos was finished with his plate.
"Some..." He said, wiping his face on a napkin and leaving it in a crumpled heap, "Can do cookies, baked goods..." When he managed to get his rustic oven to work, or borrowed Rastin's oven. "Pies too... Mostly stir fry." He had already dumped his finished things in her sink.
"The berries were good." He commented, thinking about what she'd said. Come over? Sure, why not? He stepped out of her way and started tidying the rest of the kitchen "... Need help with the harvest?" He asked, a little reluctantly, as he brought the cutting board and knife to rinse, "The apples... The berries...?" It was more or less a question; what else was she growing for market?
Valaon cleaned the dishes as she listened to sephos discuss what he could cook. "...ah, 'm mostly good at pies n stuff.. bakin' too. Sum good ol' cookin' too." She explained, taking the cutting board and knife to clean. "Glad ya enjoyed." She dried off her hands, looking to the other greenblood. "Nah, 'm pretty good just me and ma ol' lusus." She nodded, "We already harvested most the apples, grapes, oranges, lemons, limes, peaches, pears n guava.... most ma not trees too. If ya like, I'll give y'all a tour?" She asked.
"Okay." He figured he'd offer, since he was here, able, and knew his way around plants. But, oooo... She sure had a lot of varieties on her farm. He'd have to look at the soil here, if it could support so much. At the mention of the very thing he had idly been thinking about.
He very visibly reacted, his eyes as bright as embers in earnest eagerness. "Yes! I'd like that!" Sephos said, his usual monotonous voice spiced with honest feeling. "It would be... Real nice to see yer land"
Valaon gave a little cocky grin, "Alright, come on and follow. Yur gonna like it, I believe." She told him, leading him outside and to the start of her lawnring. "Hur are ma produce n' smaller fruits." She introduced before moving on to her vineyard. "Ma grapes n' other viney s**t."
What a variety of plants she had - what a range of soil types she would need! Sephos wanted to ask her for cuttings and talk about varieties, care, maintenance... All those things. The farm was definitely different from the woods - everything was different. So orderly, so productive, so... Different. But different in a good way, a way Sephos could understand. However, they were moving fast, and Sephos managed to get out a few appreciative noises. Maku himself groaned appreciatively, lifting a vine carefully to inspect it. The tree beast approved, despite the non-nativeness of the plants.
Valaon looked to Sephos after showing him around a bit. She could see that he was as into her lawnring and orchard as much as she was. "Did ya wanna take a few cuttins home?" She asked, "ya can't take ma good tree cuttins but I'll let ya have some of ma others." She added, "whatcha say?" She asked.
"Yeah." He said, nodding, "I'll take them back. Start them in my nursery." Maku nudged him with a woody hand. "... You can come and see my cuttings..." Sephos added awkwardly, "If you want."
Valaon nodded, "sure. I'll come by soon either before or after I do sum sellin' of my produce." She told him, "feel free to take a bit of soil." She advised.
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