WHAT IF I'M HURT AGAIN ☆ gardening

[wormwood.]

After the events of Pastel's death and Selby's subsequent breakdown, Tanglewood had been deprived of one of their nicest gardens due to unfortunate circumstances. That awful spore plant had taken over Selby's garden before it had been further destroyed by the medic, and now one of the main sources of greenery in the group that was actually intentional rather than just a consequence of them living within the swamp had been thoroughly wrecked. Wormwood wasn't sure if Selby was ever planning on returning his garden to its former glory, but he doubted that it would be any time soon if he did, given how busy the sawbone was currently, along with other attention consuming events. As a result of this, Wormwood had decided that he would try to make a bit of a garden himself, just to bring a bit of color to Tanglewood that wasn't just green. Sure, he knew that the middle of fall probably wasn't the best time to start a garden like this, but he didn't want to wait until after the winter, and he figured that he could help the plants along with his earth elementals, so that they didn't die at the faintest breeze. Sure, he wasn't really the greatest with his Earth elementals yet – he had only discovered them very recently after he first acquired his "chikorita" form – but he figured he could at least help some plants along if he focused enough. The way that he had first discovered his new elemental power certainly hadn't been pleasant in the slightest – it had ended up with Worm accidentally terrifying several of his clanmates, along with his rapid plant growth destroying some of the earth – but hopefully this would be more pleasant, and wouldn't end with anything destroyed, particularly not his house.

Shifting into his mutated hound form – which seemed to be the only one where he actually could use his Earth elementals, funnily enough – the guardsman moved out to the front of his house, settling back on his haunches in front of the two plant beds that laid before his porch. Taking a deep breath to ready himself, Wormwood stretched his little nub paws out to touch the earth in front of the beds, closing his eyes when the large leaf atop his head flipped over into his eyes. Letting out an amused snort, the guardsman imagined flowers growing forth from the earth, vibrant and beautiful, and overtaking the plant beds that they were destined for. Just as his thoughts predicted, his earth elementals kicked in, with several different kinds of flowers slowly peeking forth from the earth and weaving around each other, forming large flower bushes that immediately brightened up his entire home. Exhaustion gripped his now tiny body as he used his earth elementals, and he stopped after maybe a minute or two, panting from the effort of pulling so many different flowers forth from the earth at once. He smiled a little bit at what had come of his efforts, glad to see that at least his exhaustion had produced something good. He then realized with a start of horror, however, that not only had he pulled flowers up and out of the earth into the air, but also several different kinds of weeds that spoiled the entire package. A huff left the guardsman as soon as he saw them, and he shifted into his lion form to begin pulling the weeds out of the ground with his teeth, spitting them aside and grunting with effort. After several minutes of pulling weeds up, he glanced at his flowers before sighing and mumbling, half to himself and half to the area around him, "Does anybody around here know how you're supposed to care for flowers...?"

[glow=black,2,300]THE FREEDOM OF FALLING[/glow]

[wormwood.]

Wormwood honestly had to wonder how many times he would end up being saved by V. Not literally saved, like from death or injury, but saved nonetheless. The female had been invaluable in helping him have some sort of therapy amidst Roy's kidnapping, inviting him to tea at her house and offering him a place to vent and just be himself for a little while. He hadn't realized that he had needed somewhere where he didn't need to be constantly running himself ragged or devoting himself to something at every waking moment, but evidently Viera had, and he was eternally grateful to her for that. And now, here she was, offering him advice about the little guarden that he had pulled forth from the earth with his elementals – granted, he wasn't sure how much help she could really offer, considering that he had a bit of a blind spot in this area. Glancing towards the merriad of flowers that he had grown, the guardsman hesitated for a moment before speaking, one of his paws stretching out to support the petals of one of the colorful blooms, "I'm... not entirely sure what kind I've grown. I've only used those elementals a couple of times before, and I didn't really have any sort of plant in mind when I grew these. I just sort of... focused, and here they were." It felt silly to say, but it was the truth. Just as he never really had to envision his flames when he was using his fire elementals, he just sort of focused on the feeling of fiery anger inside, and then flames engulfed him in their warm embrace. Inside, however, he silently wished that he had focused on growing just one particular kind of plant, since he doubled that he could keep up with all the needs of every individual one – not to mention the fact that they were all wound up in one another, so what was good for one could be bad for another.

A soft sigh left the lion as he realized what a mistake he had made, but then he noticed V had continued on, her voice still calm and motherly, but with a bit of a teasing lilt. He was surprised by how much of a cub he felt like when he was around V, and he felt as though perhaps this was the sort of thing his mother would've helped him out with back then, if it weren't for the fact that his mother had taken no interest – and no love – in helping him. Shaking off the thought, however, he chuckled softly and nodded as his face burned in embarrassment, his skin no doubt red beneath his thick golden pelt as he mumbled, "You'd be right to guess that... perhaps I should've read up on taking care of plants before I did this. I was just so enthusiastic about planting a garden to try and brighten things up around here, especially with that plant that infected Selby's..." He idly wondered for a moment if perhaps he should also be worried about that nasty plant infecting his new garden, but then decided against it. After all, that plant had been condemned to Selby's garden ever since it appeared, and Worm wasn't sure that it was even able to spread seeds or anything like that. He then rumbled, pulling his paw back and resting it against the ground, "Hopefully you're right about elemental plants being a bit more durable, though. Pretty much all I've got to my name is the sunlight and a watering can... perhaps I could ask around and see if anybody has some mulch. Feza might have some, she seems to behave everything in that store of hers..."

[glow=black,2,300]THE FREEDOM OF FALLING[/glow]

[arcy]

[align=center]

[glow=#000,1,400]all you've ever done is been a noose to hang on to — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

[div style="width: 480px; height: auto; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13px;"]Crowley .. had a fondness for plants, admittedly. He always had. He wouldn't admit to it, of course, the same way he wouldn't to .. a lot of things, really. He wouldn't tend so caringly* if he didn't, though, and Crowley did love places with lush greenery.
*it was care as Crowley saw it, anyways. he was better at it when he wasn't trying to, it seemed.
He has mixed feelings on this.
"That's cheating," Crowley groused, with good humor. Using plant growing powers to sprout plants from the earth? What was wrong with tending to them the usual way? The serval shakes his head, the slightest hint of a smirk on his maw as the conversation continues. "I do," He offers wearily upon Wormwood wondering about mulch. There's a long pause before the serval continues. "Not sure if flowers need anything particular, but I have my own gardening supplies I can offer," Crowley's face twitches -- he realizes too late that this probably counts as a kind action. Disgusting and repulsive, how could he? Too late to take it back now, though! It's not like he's going to be working on this personally. Just giving somebody the tools to either fuck up or succeed. Of course.

[wormwood.]

When Worm thought back, he could clearly recall when he had seen Crowley wheeling a cart full of plants through town, mumbling to them and occasionally shooting them glowering looks as if to motivate them. When he had been thinking of people to ask for help with this, Crowley probably should've been near the top of his list, but the guardsman simply hadn't remembered. However, when Crowley came over and jokingly stated that using his powers was cheating, it all came flooding back to him, and he said with a soft chuckle, "You're probably right, but I'm not sure how much of a chance I would actually have to grow a garden if I did it without cheating. Never had much of a green paw, ya know?" He smiled crookedly as he looked at the demon, shifting a wing in a wave to greet him. He had honestly come to like Crowley and all of his mannerisms quite a lot, and it was nice to see the male around again, even if Crowley was internally panicking about his offer to be helpful. His eyes lit up when Crowley said he had mulch and gardening supplies. Smiling brightly at the other, he rumbled in a kind and warm way – which was honestly just sort of his default way, "That would be pretty helpful if you could. I don't really have many supplies, and I'm sure that I could get them back to you once I get some of my own." He wasn't sure when he would actually be able to get his own gardening tools, but he would try to get them back to Crowley as soon as possible.

[glow=black,2,300]THE FREEDOM OF FALLING[/glow]

[arcy]

[align=center]

[glow=#000,1,400]all you've ever done is been a noose to hang on to — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

[div style="width: 480px; height: auto; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13px;"]Crowley probably would've been somewhat pleased to hear that Wormwood had forgotten, to be entirely honest. He seemed to enjoy putting up a pretense of not having hobbies. Probably because the hobbies he did have were a bit .. transparent, and in general would probably get him another why crowley has gone native point from his superiors. ... Which made his offering even more jarring to even Crowley.
"So you just decided to dive in head-first?" Crowley's grinning, and he circles around Wormwood to get a look at the flowerbed. .. He wasn't lying about not knowing about flowers. Probably not too different from growing other plants,  but V did say that they had individual needs. Also like his plants, but Crowley didn't particularly feel up to research. Fortunately, it wasn't his problem.
Crowley shudders just a touch when Wormwood calls him helpful. Under normal circumstances, he'd probably snap out something to the contrary. He's right, though, so Crowley just throws away that tibdit without a second thought. Better not to dwell on it. "Not a big deal if you don't," He shrugs. Crowley was pretty good at finding stuff he needed -- wouldn't be too hard to get new supplies.

[wormwood.]

When Crowley asked him if he had just decided to jump in headfirst, the guardsman chuckled and nodded, rumbling as his tail flicked from side to side behind him, "Yeah, I suppose I did... i just wanted stuff up around here, what with all the... bad stuff going on around here lately. I mean, Selby's garden got pretty damn destroyed by that big awful plant that grew in it, and his was especially impressive... I doubt I'll ever get to that level, but I had to start somewhere, and I just kinda let my powers decide what I was going to grow." It was true that it probably wasn't the brightest idea to just jump in headfirst with no plan, and probably more akin to something Feza would do, but... at least it wasn't like he had grown some sort of awful killer plant or anything. The worse thing that would happen was that the flowers would all die, and he would need to start over – nothing that heinous. When the demon said that it wasn't a big deal for Aurum to keep the tools if he wanted, the guardsman made a pleased noise and said, moving forward to gently bump his forehead against Crowley's shoulder affectionately – the other had been his friend for a little while now, after all, and Aurum tended to be sweet to his friends, "Really...? Thanks, Crowley. I wouldn't even know where to start looking for my own tools to garden with, if I'm being honest." He offered the other a bright smile, his thick mane seeming to faintly glow in the midday light.

[glow=black,2,300]THE FREEDOM OF FALLING[/glow]

[arcy]

[align=center]

[glow=#000,1,400]all you've ever done is been a noose to hang on to — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

[div style="width: 480px; height: auto; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13px;"]Oh wow, Crowley has approximately no context for any of this. What did "big awful plant" even mean? Crowley decides it's not worth worrying about. He's not sure he'd want to know the answer anyways. "Eh, it's ... it's not like it matters if it's as good. Still serves its purpose," Crowley tells him with a shrug, feeling restless. He'll probably have to go ... knock some books off some bookshelves or something to make himself feel better about all of this. Being reassuring. Offering help*.
*it was worth noting that he managed some of this without a second thought some days. today just .. wasn't one of those days.
Equally worth noting was that, unlike Aurum, Crowley wasn't as ... accustomed ... to affection. Or even having friends** -- he'd only recently admitted to liking him at all. But mostly affection. Maybe Crowley can't be blamed for his instinctive flinch away when Aurum first bumps his head against his shoulder. The serval's face twitches and he freezes, unsure of how to respond.
**besides aziraphale, and that was .. complicated.
A moment of silence.
"I, uh, yeah," Successfully rebooted. Kind of. Crowley regards the lion with a strange sort of smile. "No problem. They shouldn't be that hard for me to replace -- I at least know exactly what I'm looking for," The smile morphs into a more teasing sort of grin. He can't help it -- even if a touch hypocritical. Crowley's impulsive even on the best of the days, the only difference is that Crowley already knows how to garden. "Feel ... free to ask for help, I guess. If you need it. Can't be too different from other plants," His beginning words strain like he's physically struggling with getting them out. And, if we're being entirely honest, he probably is. It's the most intentionally kind he's been in .. a while, particularly if you took Aziraphale out of the equation. It feels strangely natural, just past the layers of ... well, being a demon. Which Crowley doesn't particularly appreciate, to be entirely honest.

[wormwood.]

In all honesty, Aurum didn't completely understand the situation when it came to Crowley and being a good person. He could definitely tell that Crowley wasn't just a normal tangler, but he also didn't entirely know about Crowley or his status as a demon. It was sort of silly, considering Crowley was a demon and Aurum didn't know, meanwhile Aurum was an angel, and Crowley didn't know. Perhaps that was a good thing, since it meant that it couldn't effect their friendship at all – not that it would have affected Aurum's side of the relationship at all, since he had no reason to care about the divide between angels and demons. What he did care about, though, was Crowley, because Crowley had been nothing but covertly kind to the lion since the demon had first arrived here. Noticing the way that Crowley tensed up and flinched away when Aurum moved forward, the guardsman tried not to seem too hurt, wondering if it was just him, or if Crowley was nervous about all physical contact from anyone. Still, if it made Crowley uncomfortable, he would just avoid expressing his affections in a physical way. When Crowley offered him even more help, the archangel gave him a bright and warm smile, saying as he dipped his head, "Thank you very much, Crowley. I'll be sure to come and ask you for help with stuff when I need it. I'll probably need at least a little bit of help considering how inexperienced I am, so yeah." He chuckled a bit at his own words, shaking his head and flicking his tail from side to side before he moved to gently paw at one of his new flowers, watching it bounce.

[glow=black,2,300]THE FREEDOM OF FALLING[/glow]