Moving in. ((For sweetcandygirl))

[alittlehinky]

Cricket is somewhat timid by nature, but being in a strange place, rather than sending him scurrying for cover, creates an impetus to seek out company and security. He's also just a bit pliable, so chances are he was willing to go home with the first person who invited him (although he wasn't expecting an invitation). Lucky for him, then, that the one to invite him in is well-intentioned and warmhearted, if decidedly odd compared to the culture he's familiar with.

He hasn't fully gotten the measure of Harley Quinn, and he's aware of that, but from what he has seen, he thinks she's a very sweet lady with A Past, and probably also Trouble. That's okay. He doesn't mind Pasts or Trouble.

After finishing his banana split, he follows her trustingly wherever she's headed. PINpoint technology is utterly new and bizarre, but he accepts it like he's accepted all the other crazy things around. He'll have to get his own later.

Comments

[sweetcandygirl]

Harley leads him to where a few Nexus apartments are located. Hers is located by a lake, nearby a large forest. Looks like others can rent a place in the Nexus.

Her apartment is just as colorful as Harley herself from the outside, with bright yellows and orange siding.

She unlocks the door, and Poochyena heads inside first. The front entrance is small, with a place to set shoes and coats, before it leads immediately into a bachlorette-style kitchen to the left, and a small seating area by a bay window to the right. The open concept setting of her place has a large living room, with cathedral ceilings. At the far north of her apartment is a set of stairs that led to her loft bedroom. The bathroom is located behind a closed door on the main floor, right underneath the bedroom.

There are several silks and ropes hanging in the open living room, which has no other furniture. If he looks up, he will see an aerial gymnastic equipment that has been secured to the cathedral-ceilings.

"Welcome!" Harley smiles.

[alittlehinky]

He pauses on the walk outside to eye the lake, not so much with awe (there are plenty of lakes in Franklin County), but with definite pleasure and interest. He'll ask her later if fishing's allowed there--although she won't be able to eat the fish, so if so he'll either catch and release or keep it for himself.

He is not used to such bright dwelling-places, much less a living room furnished with silk and ropes. He gapes candidly at the setup, head tilting back to eye the ceiling. It's like a Church and a Circus got together and had a love-child, he thinks. But that's not necessarily bad. Take some getting used to, is all.

"You practice in here a lot?" He asks, blinking up and then looking back at her face with a sheepish grin. "I never seen anything like it."

[sweetcandygirl]

"I do. And I am a bit of a night owl. But we will figure out a schedule so I am not in your way." Harley explains.

"I have a pretty big fridge, so feel free to claim a section as yours."

"And over here is the door to the greenhouse." The door is located in the kitchen, along the east wall. And it leads into a huge greenhouse built beside the apartment. Harley has a lot of vegetable plots, and yes, there are raspberry and strawberry patches. And a huge lemon tree.

There are also some plants that might be foreign to him.

[alittlehinky]

"Fridge? That's what you call the icebox, right?" Foreign terms, but he's not bad at context. Wait till he finds out she doesn't have to have ice delivered to her!

The greenhouse is what he's more interested in. He's not much of a flower-child, he likes plants because they mean food, but even at that rate it's an amazing garden. He gives a low whistle, looking all around.

"There's so much. I never seen a greenhouse this size!"

[sweetcandygirl]

"Thanks. Pam helped me get it started." Harley reaches out to a sunflower, and it actually leans in towards her, nuzzling her hand. She might not have the same ability Poison Ivy does -- but these plants know who she is.

[alittlehinky]

His eyes widen. "It moved. Is it supposed to move?"

Academically, he knows plants move. They turn toward the sunlight. They grow. Some of them wrap around other plants. It usually happens too slow to see, though, and he's never heard of one cuddling up to a human person before.

"...what else do they do?" He doesn't want to get in trouble with these plants, here, Harley.

[sweetcandygirl]

"Some of them do. My friend Pam has a special connection to plants. And they are a lot more intelligent than other people take them for."

Harley explains.

"Don't worry... I ain't got any dangerous ones here."

[alittlehinky]

"So...they ain't gonna get angry and choke me, then? As long's I don't do nothin' bad to 'em. Which I won't. I like plants. Plants are pretty."

He raises his voice a little to make sure the contents of the greenhouse overhear. Hello, green friends.

[sweetcandygirl]

"Not these ones. And once they realize that you are helping to feed them... they will warm up to you." Harley smiles.

One of the sunflowers leans towards Cricket to check him out.

Harley gives him a bag of plant food. "Try it. Just a little."

[alittlehinky]

"A'ight," he's willing to take her at her word. "Do they understand what we're sayin', or do they just respond cause they know we're close by?"

He blinks at the sunflower as it leans close, and tentatively strokes the edge of a petal. "Hello...ma'am?" He looks at Harley. "Are flowers sir or ma'am or neither?"

Probably neither, but he associates flowers with girls. In any case, he takes the bag and gingerly gets a pinch of plant food between his fingers, sprinkling it on the soil at the flower's base.

[sweetcandygirl]

"They are just responding because we are close by." Harley tells him.

"Neither. But you can call them ma'am if you wanna..." The flowers seem to stand taller in appreciation of the plant food being sprinkled on their soil.

"I can also show you the sprinkle system."

[alittlehinky]

He seems a little more settled now, no longer concerned about being bitten by flowers. It's not exactly that he's timid by nature, but he does try to head off trouble before it starts whenever he can. And in a new place with a new friend, he wants to be on his best behavior.

"Sprinkle system? For watering 'em?" He nods eagerly. "Yeah, I wanna learn how to look after 'em right. I guess you don't really...need a tractor or a tiller or anything, in a hothouse, but if you ever do, I can probably fix up an old one for you. Done it before."

[sweetcandygirl]

Harley guides him to the far wall, where there is a large electronic panel that monitors the lights, the sprinkler system, the humidity.

"Don't know if this will be too complicated for ya..." She has figured out he might be from a less technological-advanced world than where she is.

"But this monitors everything. I can show you how to check the readings to make sure that everything is on schedule."

[alittlehinky]

"Ain't nothing I can't learn, given some time." He has yet to meet anything mechanical he can't figure out, but yeah there's a huge technology gap. He eyes the panel, following the connections up the wall toward the sprinklers, then studying the digital display without touching anything.

"Yes, ma'am. I'd appreciate the lesson, whenever you want. It don't look like anything I worked on before, but I can sorta see what it must be for."

With enough time in the Nexus, he may find he has a hidden aptitude for technology beyond stills and vehicle engines.

[sweetcandygirl]

"We can go through a lesson tonight, of checking the systems." Harley heads through the garden, selecting some vegetables for a stew for supper.

"And ya don't really have to call me ma'am all the time. Especially if you are staying here." She laughs.

((sorry, I'm terrible.))

[alittlehinky]

"I'd like that," he follows her, matching her speed, although the cadence of his walking is naturally different due to the leg braces. He recognizes most of the vegetable plants, at least, touching the ground around roots here and there as if to check the preferred moisture level they're used to.

"I don't?" He blinks at her. "Do you not want me to call you ma'am?"

It's sort of reflexive, that kind of honorific, in the culture he comes from. Sir, and Ma'am, and Miss and Mister. But he can learn different.

no worries. backtagging <3

[sweetcandygirl]

"Nah. Makes me feel old. Besides we are friends. So it should be just Harley. Or if you are one for nicknames, I am cool with that." Harley waits for him by the greenhouse door, before heading back into the kitchen.

ty!

[alittlehinky]

"You ain't old," he protests at once, although he's not sure how old she is. Probably closer to Miss Maggie's age than his own, but Maggie wasn't old, either. "I just wanna be respectful, 'specially since you're being so kind."

He's smiling again, following her back into the kitchen. Of course, being respectful to someone includes addressing them the way they want to be addressed, so he'll do as she asks, no question. "Harley, then. Unless I think of somethin' better. Can I ask a favor? I mean...you're already doing a lot for me, but would it be a'ight if I set up a still in the back? I don't know much, and I have to catch up on what I do know, but I can make good moonshine and maybe earn some money like that."

[sweetcandygirl]

"I appreciate your efforts, Cricket. But just Harley is fine." She grins.

She pulls out a chopping block to start cutting the vegetables. She lights up at his next question. "For sure! We could do that. Love me some moonshine."

[alittlehinky]

"You do?" He shouldn't be surprised. The only people he's known who didn't care for a little white lightning now and then were either extremely religious or working for the government (and probably lying about what they did and didn't like to drink). "Well that works out pretty well, then, because stills and engines are the only things I know. But I know 'em real well."

He looks thoughtful, going to the sink to wash up. "I'll just use whatever money I earn for good copper until I can build it. It'll make people sick if you don't use new, quality coils. What can I do to help cook here?"

[sweetcandygirl]

"I would offer to be your first client, but alcohol has no effects on me. So you would have no clue if it was too strong or not."

"And maybe we can get you working on a electronic skateboard for me."

Harley nods at one of the cabinets. "Bring out a large pot, and start boiling up some water. And then you can help me cut some veggies. I have a compost pile for the leaves."

[alittlehinky]

"F'real? So you just drink moonshine for the taste?" That's counterintuitive; there's good shine and bad shine, but all of it's more burn than flavor as far as Cricket's aware. "How come it don't affect you?"

He has no idea what an electronic skateboard might entail, but as soon as the words leave her mouth he grins. No project is to esoteric for him to attempt. He'll figure it out. "Draw me a picture of what you want and I'll see what I can do."

He retrieves the pot and fills it slowly at the sink, as she says--and without saying 'yes ma'am' as is his instinct. He's learning.

[sweetcandygirl]

"I am immune to any poison or toxin, and that sort of includes alcohol." Harley explains. "My friend who gave me some of those veggies gave me chemical overhaul a while back to save my life. It enhanced my healing, my agility, and included the immunity."

"Once that pot is boiling, I have a vegetable stock."

[alittlehinky]

He puts the pot on the stove, and eyes the dials a moment. He's used to gas stoves, not electric, but he's not intimidated by the modern look of the thing, so after a moment he sets the temperature about where he thinks it ought to be for boiling water and turns back to her.

"Your friend...you said she was your girlfriend?" He looks thoughtful. "Can I ask...it ain't my business, and not to be rude or nothing, but you and she was more than just friends, right? Is that..."

Pause. Huff. "Where I come from, I can't say that ain't done, but it ain't something most people admit to. Are things different here? Like, it's okay to say so?"

He's never been in a relationship, really, barely courted, because girls aren't that interested in a kid with no money or prospects, but the more he thinks about it, the surer he gets that he's been in love with Jack Bondurant for years. Nothing was ever going to come of it, whether Cricket lived or died, and Jack had a girl he was dead set on marrying anyway, but it might be nice to be somewhere it's safe to admit to things.

[sweetcandygirl]

She gives him a slight nod after she checks on the temperature, letting him know that he managed that electric stove just fine.

"Oh honey... I don't like labels. I have dated men. I have dated women. I had a long-term relationship with both a man and a woman at the same time. But dontcha worry none... while you stay here, I won't be bringing anyone home for some fun."

"And it is okay to say so around me." Harley smiles brightly. "I ain't going to judge someone for who they are attracted to."

"You sort of have to think about who you are talking to in the Nexus, before you talk about 'bedroom' stuff. Some people won't even talk about it."

[alittlehinky]

He nods slowly, following along, then blinks and turns pink at the idea of a three-way relationship. Shoot, he didn't know that was an option! With no one getting mad or anything?

"A man and a woman all at once? How--I mean--Jeezus, I ain't asking about the details--never mind!" He doesn't need her to think he wants to know if they all slept together at once. He kind of does. That is very, very not his business, and his poor little brain couldn't handle the information if she provided it.

And now he's super flustered. "Ma'a--Harley. It's your home. You bring anyone home you want and tell me to work in the garden while you're relaxing, and I'll do it. Wouldn't judge; that ain't my place." Granted, living around a sexually liberated woman will take some getting used to, but Cricket feels like he knows all he really needs to about Harley already: she's kind enough to take in a stranger and ask nothing in return.

"I...I guess I just kinda had a crush on my best friend for a while. Don't really matter now, since I ain't there no more, and he was courtin' the preacher's daughter anyway. Only I like girls, too, so I don't know."

[sweetcandygirl]

She smiles as he gets all flustered. And starts putting vegetables into the now boiling pot of water.

"Well, if you want details, I am the person to ask. I have no shame in what I have done, or who I have slept with." She hands him a spoon to start stirring, while she starts cutting a different set of vegetables up.

"You might find someone else in the Nexus. Who knows. I know of people who have cross-dimensional relationships. I date people from other dimensions."