Work Text:
“This is nice.”
Swamuel Mora looks over to Atlas Guerra as she suddenly speaks, facing away from them as she weeds. Turning to face the sprouts in front of them again, Swamuel pats the loose earth in front of them firmer, soft against their small hands. Patting in a circular motion, the handprints soon became unrecognizable.
It’s morning, early enough that there is a slight chill, and the leaves of the sprouting pea plants are damp with dew. There is a stillness to the air, making every sound crisper to the ear. Mornings like this tend to feel as though everything about the world has paused—but rather than possessing a dreamlike quality, everything is sharp and crisp to the senses.
Atlas puts down her hand weeder temporarily, and proceeds to wipe her hands on her pants. She lets out a breath as she braces and pushes off her knees to stand up straight. She only has to step around the sprouts for the carrots in order to reach Swamuel. Portions of the garden are currently not in use, since Atlas plans on rotating plants around for the soil. As a result, the two of them remain close in one particular portion of the area. Swamuel looks up at her as she approaches them, shuffling a bit to the side so she can more easily crouch next to them to admire the recent transplants.
“You’re so good at this Swammy,” Atlas reaches around them to pick up and stack the empty pots. “Is this as good a break for you as it is for me?”
Swamuel rubs their hands together, slightly cold as they listen to Atlas talk. She gestures at the small leaves of the plants in front of them, new sprouts that will take further root in the future. “I think we forget sometimes about the rest of the world, I find this grounding when everything else seems too important.”
Swamuel leans on Atlas a bit with a small nod. They shift a bit to spend more time sitting next to each other, watching the garden around them.
Rush Valenzuela seems like the type of person who would either accidentally stomp whatever he grows, or forget to water for days on end by accident, too caught up in a different project. Watching them take to the garden is a pleasant surprise for Gita Sparrow.
It’s also one of the few times that she can see him not as wound up or distant. Rush tends to seem a bit distant in regards to what he does on the Firefighters. Sharing this activity together lets the both of them get to know each other outside of work.The manner in which they help her with pruning the carrots right now is purposeful and methodological, a similar drive to what Gita sees when he works on something. The repetitive manner of pulling the small carrots out of the ground is soothing in some ways perhaps.
Swamuel isn’t here now, but still comes by to help. Their handwriting marks several of the seed containers kept in storage, others scrawled with penmanship Gita is not familiar with. Swamuel was also there when both of them showed interest in the garden a few weeks into their time on the team respectively. Gita enjoys spending time within the garden, seeing something change and flourish due to her effort is reassuring in some manner. Rush does not do this as often, but comes by at times, like today.
Gita hums a bit, digging slightly into the soil to loosen a sprout too close to the others. The soil gives way with a slight tug, the entire root coming out clean. She strokes the slight fuzz of the thin roots that dangle before tossing it lightly onto the container they brought with them. Rush is also relatively quiet, occasionally muttering something to the plants. They'll likely put them in the compost. Sometimes Rush will clean a few off to nibble at them, but they aren’t big enough to do much with them at the moment.