Tuesday: Plant Parenthood

[mylandmyrules]

Healing by way of plants might be quicker, but it was as if all the time and energy your body would have put into healing naturally got used up all at once. She'd finally managed to get up and showered, throwing her clothes and bed sheets into a bag until she had time to wash them - and see what scraps of her clothes could be saved. She'd had every intention of going to the gym to at least thank Gladio for his help, but honestly even walking that far seemed like more effort than she could manage. She sent off a quick text to Marc before getting reaady for work.

She finally made her way downstairs to open the store, but mostly she'd be sitting in a chair with a cup of tea and resting. Her cats had mostly forgiven her for leaving them without food and companionship and were taking advantage of hee sedentary nature to take turns sleeping on her lap. If she dozed off on occasion, neither of them really minded and the bell on the shop door was enough to wake her for any customers or visitors who might stop in.


Plant Parenthood was open. Ish.

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[sword_chocobro]

Well, at some point later in that day, that bell on the shop door would be ringing, not so much with a customer as much as someone who, at the end of his day at the gym, made a pitstop to bug his roommate at the diner for some food (somehow, he didn't quite think Nell would be as approving of recovery Cup Noodle^TM as others) and then swung around to see what the best method of delivering it to its intended recipient would be.

Her being in the shop and the shop being open (ish) just made it that much easier.

"Nell." A nod, a faint smile, and a quieter greeting, with respect to the sleepiness. "How you feeling?"

[mylandmyrules]

Nell smiled at him. "Gladio. Thank you so much for rescuing me on Sunday. I don't think I could have gotten home nearly as quickly and I probably would have ended up sleeping right here on the floor without you."

She then remembered something and ducked her head as she blushed. "Did I really yell at you to not look at me?"

[sword_chocobro]

"If," Gladio countered pointedly, with a lift of his brow to match, "you'd have gotten home at all, but who knows? Maybe you'd've been lucky and some squirrels would have found you if I hadn't."

He moved over to the counter to set the bags of food he'd brought down.

"And yeah," he met that ducked head with a grin, "you really did. Glad you made it into bed alright, though."

[mylandmyrules]

"I could always have slept on the bench," Nell said with a shy grin. And then a slightly bigger grin at the image of a bunch of squirrels carrying her home. "'Course if it had been squirrels I might have looked like one of them fairy tale girls that the animals take care of. The one who did all the cleaning, but the animals helped?"

Nell hadn't exactly had much exposure to fairy tales, but she'd caught parts of an animated kids' movie or two here at Fandom.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "There you'un was helping me out and all and I got all yelling-like." She had a tendency still to slip back into church speak when she was tired or flustered. "I am very grateful. I think I slept me the most part of two days."

[sword_chocobro]

They didn't really have fairy tales quite that in Eos, though that did sound like maybe something Iris would have been into growing up, so Gladio could get enough of the general gist of what Nell was describing to shake his head in amusement. "Cute as a bunch of squirrels dragging you home might've been," his grin was almost to a wink, but not quite there yet, "I still think you got the better deal out of it.

"And good," he added, with a firm nod at the sleep report, "I'm glad to hear it. It's clearly done you some good, too. And don't worry about me. I can handle a little bit of yelling."

[mylandmyrules]

"I definitely did," Nell agreed. "I got the much better deal."

She sighed a little. "I feel like I'm being wickedly lazy, just sitting here and not working, but I'm still all over exhausted, so it seemed best to rest myself so I didn't have to call you to carry me up the stairs again."

Was she blushing a little at her daring? She was.

"And I will try not to yell at you again. 'Specially when you'un is doing a nice thing for me."

Her nose had finally caught up with the smells from the bags and her stomach rumbled in response. "Oh, excuse me!"

[sword_chocobro]

"No shame in letting your body rest if that's what it needs," Gladio told her with a firm, serious nod before the grin came floating back up again. "I knew a guy who was so exhausted, he slept for nearly ten years, actually. Thankfully, I don't think you've got it quite that bad.

"But if you do need the help," he added, because now he kind of had to, especially since he was pretty sure he was detecting a bit of a blush there, "I am already here, you didn't even need to call.

"You should," he nodded over toward the bag, "probably eat first, though. I wasn't really sure what you'd like, though, so there's about a half-dozen half-sandwiches of different moddable kinds, some of the cucumber soup they had on special, some chips, and half an apple pie. All from Luke's, don't worry, I didn't make any of it."

[unusual_sith]

In the morning, late enough not to wake up Nell if she slept in normally, Lana came by as promised. She brought a lunch of burgers and milkshake specials from Luke's, and reached out with the Force to try to stop the bell when she saw Nell was napping. Though by that point it might be too late.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell wasn't sleeping heavily enough to miss that, but it was okay. She picked her head up from the table and put on a pleasant smile before her brain caught up to her and she recognized Lana. Who got a true smile, if a little regretful. "Lana! Hello. M'so sorry. I think I fell right asleep while I was talking to you on the phone. I'm so sorry! And so glad to see you!"

[unusual_sith]

Lana chuckled. "That's perfectly all right, so long as you are. I brought lunch, if you like. And can you use any more healing?"

[mylandmyrules]

Nell's stomach grumbled at the mention - and smell - of the food. "Oh dear. I think it's pretty clear that my stomach does like! It's awfully kind of you'un."

She considered for a moment. "My plants and I got the worst of it, but I wouldn't say no to a little more help." She did still have some smaller cuts and such that hadn't been completely healed and her hands, though worlds better, still had that pinkish new skin look.

[unusual_sith]

"I can't really help with the plants, I'm afraid." Lana put the bag down on the table. "And feeding you is a perk of being your big sister. Call it repayment for the delicious things you've made me, if you like."

She pulled up a chair and looked Nell over more closely. "Get started on the milkshake and give me your hands; the burger will do better once they're not so tender."

[mylandmyrules]

"Oh no, those plants are a goner, I'm afraid," Nell said. "But I was able to use them to heal a good deal of the damage."

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, milkshakes! I had my first one on Saturday. Duke made it for me and it was delicious." She took a sip then held out her hands to Lana. "They're ever so much better than they were before."

[hasaknightjob]

Sometime after lunch Marc stopped by. Yeah she'd said she was fine in her various text messages but if Marc didn't check then Steven would. And Nell didn't need Steven hovering.

Marc wasn't going to wake Nell up if she was sleeping though.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell was not sleeping, though she was still, to her mind being almost unforgivably lazy. Her face brightened when she saw him. "Marc! I didn't expect to see you'un, but I'm awful glad to!"

[hasaknightjob]

Marc gave her a once over to see how she was. Then, since Nell couldn't read narrative, said, "If I didn't check, Steven would."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell was still looking a bit rough, but ever so much better than she had been on Saturday or Sunday morning pre-plant healing. She nodded. "I saw he texted and it looks like I texted back while I was still half asleep. But yes, I'm sure he would have. Sorry about not meeting you at the gym."

Marc would probably have wanted to march her right back home if she'd been that dumb.

[hasaknightjob]

"Don't worry about it," Marc said. He looked around. "Should you be working?"

[mylandmyrules]

Nell laughed. "I don't think anyone could call what I'm doing working. Mostly I'm just sitting and sipping tea and looking out the window. Or napping. I keep dozing off."

[drumsticksandd20s]

Well, Steph had said she was going to stop in, but now she was doing so for a slightly different reason than originally intended.

So here she was after lunch, entering the shop as quietly as she could. Which... well, she failed that stealth check, banging her shoulder noisily into the door frame on her way through.

Oops.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell's eyes flew open and she jumped a little causing Cyguns to grumble a little and jump down from her lap. Which was fine with Rigel who took the opportunity to jump back up into her lap.

"Steph," she said with a smile. "Welcome. I'm glad to see you."

[drumsticksandd20s]

"Sorry," Steph half whispered, half mouthed, looking absolutely chagrined. "Is now a bad time?"

[mylandmyrules]

"No, no, please, come on in," Nell said. "Hospitality and safety while you're here."

She started to stand, changed her mind, and gestured to the chair near her. "Please come sit. I'm still recuperating from, well, from the effects of the fire, I suppose."

[drumsticksandd20s]

"Hospitality and safety," Steph echoed, smiling faintly as she settled into the chair -- turned slightly sideways, of course, with her feet hooked into the rungs, because as she might say she was too queer to be physically capable of sitting normally. "I really like that."

She waggled her fingers to the kittens and asked, "Yeah, how are you doing after that? You seem kind of wiped still."

[mylandmyrules]

"It's a church-y thing," Nell said, "but one of the few good ones, so I've kept it." No sense throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

She nodded. "I am still pretty exhausted, but with the help of Gladio and two of my plants, I managed to heal the worst of it, but it left me, well..." She gestured to her tired self.