trans_9 | Roaming, restless [After Dungeon Keeper]

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Roaming, restless [After Dungeon Keeper]

Morgan was restless.

When restless, he tended to roam the ship, checking on things he knew of, or seeking out places he didn't out of curiosity. Today was a little of both. After the pitched battle in Hydroponics, he felt a particular obligation towards one plant in particular: the apple tree he'd helped Applejack grow from a seed. For all that he'd done his best to contain Hydroponic in the fight, he hadn't been able to do anything specific to protect that plant.

Done there, he headed back down in the City, off to one particular place that had caught his interest when he had heard about it: an 'air temple'. Not on the map, not listed in the directory, or he'd have wandered over just to take a look a long time ago. Now that he'd heard about it, well...

Time to investigate.

[OOC: Just say where you find him; it can be pretty much anywhere, since his trip covers a lot of ground across the ship.]

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"Never!" She agreed, definitely looking a little happier. "We'll make 'em pay. I might twist some more metal around if I've gotta."

She rolls on her side, taking in more of that artificial sunshine. Not that she'd tell the others this, but there was time for a good rest every once in a while.

The scandal, AJ. But seeing her lounging and at least momentarily content makes him smile. He flopped back onto the grass, sprawling out again.

"What do you do when you're not tending to the plants here?" he asked.

"Catch up with the plants. Walk around 'em sometimes. I was tidying up my little barn for a while, but it's as finished as it'll ever be."

Her hat falls to the side, but she doesn't care. "Anything new out there? I don't get out too much, just to eat the mush."

"That's pretty much your life, huh? Taking care of the plants and the animals?" He couldn't imagine it; he had too many things going on to focus so narrowly. But they were from different worlds in more than the literal sense.

"I haven't heard too much about anything special, but honestly, I haven't been paying much attention. After everything that happened... gotta step back and take a breath, you know?"

"And making our living. But nopony's got money here, we just work to live." That was a rough adjustment, but it was freeing in a way. She could just give and help wherever she liked, but old habits died hard.

"You deserve it. You've been fighting. Just...stay a while, the weeds won't eat us."

Her comment earned a genuinely happy laugh, just from the sheer amusement. The fighting, after all, didn't bother him. He enjoyed fighting, a little more than he probably should given that the goal of martial arts was to need never use those skills. It was the loss of friends that got to him.

"On Earth, there's a kind of plant called kudzu. Viney plant. Grows about a foot in day, and it is pretty much a weed considering it ended up someplace it shouldn't. So if we sat around for too long somewhere close to that..."

Now there's a shocker. Her eyes widened as she imagined being wrangled by kudzu. "We'd be buried, right? Is it magic, like your seed?"

"Nope, it just grows that fast naturally. It's a real pest of a plant, it got introduced where it shouldn't have been and it just spreads and spreads..." Good intentions, gone horribly wrong.

"Bunch of farmers didn't know what they were doing? No surprise there. Nature will one-up you like that."

She rolled upright, staring in wonder at the field in front of them. "But no, that's not all I want to do. I wanna fight too."

"From what I saw when the robots were coming for us, you do a lot more than just wanting to fight," he said, stretching out an elbow to nudge her with a smile.

"Won't deny that," she admitted none-too-modestly. "But I'm gonna do more! Nopony touches my orchard."

"I'm all for making that vow a reality!" He lifted a hand up to punch his palm, which would've been a determined and powerful gesture if he weren't flopped in the grass.

"Darn' tootin!" she laughed. "Now why don't you take up an apple and have a bite?"

She casually taps the side of the tree, causing precisely one apple to fall between them.

Morgan caught the apple on pure reflex alone, then, somewhat comically, turned his head to stare at the fruit in his hand.

"Did you just.... " He sat up to look at her with an expression midway between surprise and awe.

"That was incredible."

"You get to know the trees after a while, learn to go easy on 'em," she laughed, gently butting her head against it. "Or maybe it was a lucky guess!"

Nah. She was that good.

"...If you can do that, you're amazing," he said wonderingly, shaking his head. "Application of force that precise is just... just..." He lifted his hands, describing confused circles with them. "Amazing. It really is."

"It's just what we Apples do best. Apples! I could take down the whole bushel if I wanted to."

She tips her head against the tree, happy as always. "We can't fly or do magic. Us earth ponies have gotta do something right."

"Well, what you just did with a simple tap would take my magic to do, and years of training besides. And more than that, it's..." He leans back, trying to think of the words. "That was such a pure expression of everything I've ever tried to learn that I'm not entirely sure you should be learning from me and not the other way around, now."

"Now don't be silly," she shook her head, leaning over to nudge him. "Everypony has their talents and the things they've gotta learn. I've been focusing on apples. You can teach more."

"Maybe you've been focusing on trees," he said, nudging right back, "but if you can apply force that precisely, to that great an effect, then all I need to do is help you generalize that to opponents. I mean.... That's it, Applejack. At least when it comes to hard style martial arts, you just put masters to shame."

"Then show me. Learning takes time!" There's no need for him to worry so much, she thought. He was plenty useful.

"...not that I'll say no to mastering."

Worry? That wasn't it. He was just very, very impressed.

"I will. Whenever you want. It will be glorious!" he said, fist thrust into the air. (Every once in a while, he did lapse out of "martial artist" and into "lead guitarist", you know.)

Applejack laughs. "It sure will be. I'm looking forward to it, sugar."

"Me too. More and more with each passing day."

He took a bite out of the apple and almost melted, just because it was so good to have a real honest-to-god apple instead of mush or mush disguised by illusion. Also, apples are delicious. He savored the bite, chewing slowly, before finally swallowing.

"I'd like to learn something, too. If it crosses your mind to trade teaching for teaching."

"What do you want to know?"

Applejack wondered what she could possibly teach to someone who could do anything they put their mind to. "Herding, apple-bucking, baking, gardening, juicing? I'm sure you could do all of it."

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