Summertime [Open]

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi sat by a the mirrored black water of a small pond. Nearby, a wisteria plant was coming into bloom, dangling its delicate, curved violet flowers toward the earth.

As promised, a tray of chilled watermelon slices was set to the side, near the wooden steps leading down to the garden and free for any passersby to take. For his part, however, Zouichi occupied himself with feeding a small group of googly-eyed baby goldfish, who darted back and forth through the water to gobble up stray flakes of fish food.

It was nice to take a break from exploding ghost wolves lions once in a while.

Comments

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Emergency Rations jumps up on the table and sniffs the watermelons. She licks one with mild interest before walking away from it, tail up in the air like a banner.

She's far more interested in the goldfish. She pads over to the other side of the pond from Zouichi and starts swatting her paw under the water at them.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Howard, you're eating that one.

The goldfish dart out under the lilypads at the sudden appearance of the new intruder, instinctively driven to hide.

Sorry, Emergency Rations, no fish for you.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Emergency Rations goes and sits at Zouichi's feet, staring at his as if it's his fault the fish left and therefore his responsibility to give her an adequate substitute snack.

She yowls at him to reinforce her argument.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Hey, don't look at me," he said. "You're the one that scared them off. All I have is some cactus fruit candy."

He took one out as if to show her the Geartopian candy. "You act like Howard never feeds you."

[quick_strike]

Oh boy, Alend got the message and if there was one thing she jumped at on this ship, it was fresh fruit. She may have not known what a watermelon was exactly but the term 'melon' was pretty universal. So she invited herself without warning. Without any greeting, she grabs a slice and takes a small bite of it.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi looked up to see Alendian there; he gave her a little wave. "I didn't know you were such a fan. You can get more of them on the planet, you know."

Maybe it was a good decision to set aside the rest of the melon inside.

[quick_strike]

"Fresh food should always be relished." Any hot comment she had was washed away by the fresh, cleansing taste of watermelon. Alend did make a note to visit the planet at some point to get some more fruits if required. But right now, what mattered most was what was in front of her.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Well, Zouichi wasn't a huge expert on food, but he imagined it was nice to get fruit instead of slop once in a while. "Well, if and when the trees here start producing cherries, I'll be sure to keep you in mind. Did you enjoy the movies?"

He was guessing the answer was 'no'.

[greeedycat]

The Greeed had mostly just been better acquainting himself with the area, getting used to locations and trying to find blind spots. But he'd seen the network post, and seeings as he'd found the inn...he walked in, for some reason. Japanese architecture always confused the hell out of him with its lack of straightforward layouts, but eventually he stood awkwardly on the walkway, overlooking the garden. Only then did he sincerely begin to wonder why the hell he had come here. If he over-saturated their meetings, then he'd lose a potential ally.

But he just kept standing there awkwardly, looking damn confused.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

The Inn was especially... eccentric. Zouichi looked up, spotted Cazali, then motioned to the tray of watermelon. "Go ahead and take a few," he said. "Unless Greeed hate fruit or something."

[greeedycat]

A glance at the watermelon, then Zou, watermelon, Zou, watermelon.

"Greeed can't eat. I won't waste it."

Aaaand he promptly plopped down to sit somewhat nearby, itching the back of his hat.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"What do you mean you can't eat? You can't, or there's no point in you doing it?" Zouichi stood, letting the baby goldfish swim off into the water to amuse themselves.

Actually, if he couldn't eat, why'd he bother finding his way down here?

[battorch]

Tim was silent, approaching the inn, where Zouichi had indicated he would be, via the comms. Obviously the invitation had been pretty general and all compassing, but Tim also made an effort, generally, to avoid being too presumptuous. He wasn't much for relaxing, but he was also trying to remind himself that he had to put out a certain amount of effort toward connecting to people. Making allies on the ship was valuable, if nothing else. If he and Zouichi could be considered 'allies.' (It was as good a word as any for them, probably.)

He peaks over at Zouichi, nodding his head to him in greeting. "Uh, hey."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi looked up to see Tim there; he raised a hand in greeting, but remained where he was for now.

"No programming work today?" Or other work, for that matter. Maybe Tim was finally taking a break.

[battorch]

"Hn. Stretching my legs." Tim frowned faintly, before he took off a glove and carefully picked up a piece of watermelon. He moved a bit closer to the other man, before he elaborated a little: "Can't stay for long." In other words yes, he had work. And no he was not planning on leaving it for more than a few minutes.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"You really should try to get out more often, before rumors start circulating about the Ghost of Engineering. 'He lurks between the computers, rattling his spectral connection cables, looming threateningly over unsuspecting young programmers and correcting their syntax...'"

Zouichi touched the water with one finger. Admiral Cartwright swam up to try and eat it. Fish were kind of dumb that way.

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

"Watermelon?" Jr. looked over the tray curiously. "You get these down on the planet?"

He glanced over to Zouichi chilling near the pond. "What'cha doing over there?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, in exchange for some farm work. Once everyone's done eating the melon, I guess I can hand the seeds off to someone who actually knows how to grow them."

Zouichi motioned for Jr. to come over. "I got some baby fish at that shore leave planet. Do you want to name one?"

Fish are TOTALLY THE BEST, okay?

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

"We can ask someone who hangs around Hydroponics, maybe. ... Also, asking them to teach us how to do it wouldn't be a bad idea! We could grow maybe at least one out here somewhere."

He moved over to the pond to peek in at the little fish swimming around. "Ha! You actually got some like you said you would!" He crouched down to get a better look. "And sure, I'll name one!" He went quiet, thinking for a moment before speaking up again. "How about Aronnax?"

[moms-temperment.livejournal.com]

Something, white, furry and (weirdly) feathered soars over and lands near the plate. It scratches itself with a back leg and shakes its wings before settling.

Taro sniffs at the watermelon then looks at Zouichi cautiously.

"Zouichi!" Comes a loud, happy call that the creature seems used to as it doesn't even jump.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi looked first at Taro, who might as well have come out of nowhere, and then for the owner of that voice, which he recognized instantly as Hana's.

"Long time no see. Have you been down to Geartopia yet?"

[moms-temperment.livejournal.com]

Hana came jogging over, mane of hair bouncing as usual, bright grin on his face.

"Yeh! I went down with Cassandra!" Which was pretty much a given. Where one was, usually the other wasn't far behind. Often holding hands.

"Me, Ruffnut and Mindy hung out a little down there too. It's pretty cool." He shrugged. "I mean, its got trains which are kinda cool."

[punchedoutdestiny]

In steps a man who looks a little lost, at least until he spots Zouichi, as that's who he was looking for. Simon steps up, passing the watermelon up completely (for now), and waves a bit as he approaches.

"Don't suppose that offer for the room here is still open, is it?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi recognized the voice, even though he'd only just met Simon recently. "I suppose it is," he said, looking up from the little goldfish darting back and forth to gobble greedily at the flakes he'd spread across the water's surface.

"Tired of Crew Quarters?"

[punchedoutdestiny]

Simon sat down by the water, watching the fish with a quiet chuckle. "Not quite - tired of sleeping in Lagann. Reminds me of home, but it's not the best place to sleep for long periods of time." He had a sheepish look on his face as he said this, but his attention was still turned on the water.