Fic: Mellow Fruitfulness
Title: Mellow Fruitfulness
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, TARDIS.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: It’s about time for the annual apple harvest aboard the TARDIS.
Word Count: 1220
Written For: Prompt 238 - Apple Picking at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
A/N: Set in my Through Time and Space ‘Verse.
Living and travelling in their own TARDIS meant that Ianto and his husband had never needed to find a planet to settle down on, a place where they could make a home and raise a family. Their home travelled everywhere with them, and while they did occasionally choose to stay in one place for a while, just because they could, it seldom took more than a few months before they were ready to head for pastures new.
The TARDIS herself didn’t mind either way. Whenever they stopped for a while she’d root deeply and set about replenishing her supplies of raw materials which she used to grow new rooms, or to produce whatever her two travelling companions might need, anything from clothes and accessories, to furnishings, even sometimes food, although Jack and Ianto usually preferred to grow their own in the garden room, and sample the various local cuisines on whichever planet they happened to be visiting.
Back when she and Ianto had first found each other, the garden room, like so many areas inside the TARDIS, had been rather small, hardly bigger than the backyard of the house he’d grown up in. Nowadays, it covered many acres, including a ‘kitchen garden’ for growing fresh vegetables and herbs, a park-like area for exercising their dogs, and several orchards, where they grew a wide variety of fruiting trees, from plums, pears, and cherries, to peaches and apricots, oranges and lemons, even grapefruit. By far the biggest orchard, however, was the one where they grew apples. There were almost a dozen varieties by now, including Egremont Russet, Cox, which amused Jack no end, and the tart-flavoured Granny Smith.
Out in the wider universe, the fruits of planet earth were hard to come by, and while there were plenty of delicious alien varieties to be had, such as gleeges, quadrifoons, and loofs, sometimes Ianto craved a taste of home. What had started out as a couple of trees to provide fruit for themselves had somehow grown to over a hundred, producing far more fruit than the two immortals could ever hope to eat in a year, even with stasis pods that could keep foods at peak freshness for centuries, but they’d easily solved the problem of what to do with the excess. They simply toured the markets on various planets, bringing apples and other earth delicacies to a whole new, and very enthusiastic, clientele.
“Looks like our latest crop of apples are about ready for picking,” Ianto commented as he and Jack strolled through the apple orchard, Jasper the golden retriever and Bryn the border collie racing around them, playing a doggy game of tag among the trees with Jack’s spaniel puppy, Rolo.
Jack nodded as he looked at the trees, heavily laden with ripening apples. “They’re fruiting particularly well this year. We should get three or four bushels of fruit from each tree. Even if we keep two or three bushels of each variety for ourselves, that should still leave us with…” Jack paused, a distant expression on his face as he tried to mentally calculate the quantity of apples they’d have for sale, then gave up in defeat. “A lot.”
‘I estimate four hundred and seven bushels altogether,’ the TARDIS informed then. “Somewhere in excess of fifty-one thousand individual fruits. An excellent crop.’ There was a note of satisfaction in her voice, as well there might be. She controlled the growing conditions in the orchard, from the temperature, the amount and quality of light, and the length of the days and nights, all the way down to the nutrients in the soil, and the amount of rainfall the trees received.
“Which will sell out in no time,” Jack said. “We might need to think about planting more trees if demand continues increasing the way it has been.”
Ianto rolled his eyes. “Let’s just concentrate on harvesting what we’ve already got, shall we? It’s going to take a while with just the two of us this year.” The previous year, they’d had the willing assistance of several Tallans, who were travelling with them at the time. But the Space Wombles, as Ianto had privately dubbed them, had returned to their homeworld a few months previously, and apart from the new puppy, the two immortals hadn’t taken on any travelling companions since.
“I suppose you’re right; we shouldn’t count our apples before they’re picked.” Jack smiled wryly. “It’s a shame the dogs can’t help.”
“They’d crunch up more apples than would end up in the baskets,” Ianto pointed out. All their dogs enjoyed an occasional apple. They ate a very varied and healthy diet, just as their owners did, and it showed. Jasper and Bryn were both twelve years old and as fit and full of energy as the new pup. Space travel definitely agreed with them.
‘I will arrange the baskets and the anti-gravity carts if you are ready to begin the harvest,’ the TARDIS announced cheerfully. ‘While you pick the fruit, we can discuss where to sell this year’s crop, and how many bushels we should take to each market.’
“I guess that’s our cue to get to work,” Jack said, grinning at his husband. Not that either of them minded. Apple-picking was a pleasure because unlike the apple-pickers on earth, they didn’t have to rush. The apples would remain perfect as they were picked, and the baskets contained stasis technology to keep them that way until they were sold. Even if they spent six weeks picking apples all day, every day, there would be no spoilage. Indeed, the TARDIS could arrange it so that within the apple orchard, almost no time passed while harvesting was underway, and the weather remained perfect.
It was a pleasure to pluck the apples from the trees and place them in the large wicker-effect baskets. Green, red, yellow-green, pinkish, russet… so many colours and varieties. Every so often, Ianto or Jack would pause to enjoy a freshly picked apple, biting into the sweet, juicy flesh. There really was nothing to compare to homegrown fruit.
Time seemed to fly past, with frequent breaks for food, naps, and other activities, but the two men scarcely left the orchard until all the fruit was picked.
“What should we do with the proceeds this time?” Ianto asked, studying the baskets of ripe fruit. “Maybe we could find a worthy charity to donate to.”
“We could do that. Or we could buy a couple of flying unicorns.”
“You and your pets,” Ianto teased. “As if we didn’t already have enough with the dogs, the birds, the chickens, and the guinea pig colony.”
“Why shouldn’t we have pets? We’ve got plenty of space, and just think how much fun it would be to fly about in here on our unicorns. Anyway, we can make up our minds later. Right now, we have a market, or several, to get to, and a lot of fruit to sell. We can decide what to do with our earnings once we know how much we’ve got to play with.”
“Fair enough,” Ianto agreed, helping Jack unload the last of the anti-gravity trolleys, and stow the full baskets with all the others in a large, airy room just off the console room, where the produce would stay until it was sold. “Off to market we go!”
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, TARDIS.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: It’s about time for the annual apple harvest aboard the TARDIS.
Word Count: 1220
Written For: Prompt 238 - Apple Picking at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
A/N: Set in my Through Time and Space ‘Verse.
Living and travelling in their own TARDIS meant that Ianto and his husband had never needed to find a planet to settle down on, a place where they could make a home and raise a family. Their home travelled everywhere with them, and while they did occasionally choose to stay in one place for a while, just because they could, it seldom took more than a few months before they were ready to head for pastures new.
The TARDIS herself didn’t mind either way. Whenever they stopped for a while she’d root deeply and set about replenishing her supplies of raw materials which she used to grow new rooms, or to produce whatever her two travelling companions might need, anything from clothes and accessories, to furnishings, even sometimes food, although Jack and Ianto usually preferred to grow their own in the garden room, and sample the various local cuisines on whichever planet they happened to be visiting.
Back when she and Ianto had first found each other, the garden room, like so many areas inside the TARDIS, had been rather small, hardly bigger than the backyard of the house he’d grown up in. Nowadays, it covered many acres, including a ‘kitchen garden’ for growing fresh vegetables and herbs, a park-like area for exercising their dogs, and several orchards, where they grew a wide variety of fruiting trees, from plums, pears, and cherries, to peaches and apricots, oranges and lemons, even grapefruit. By far the biggest orchard, however, was the one where they grew apples. There were almost a dozen varieties by now, including Egremont Russet, Cox, which amused Jack no end, and the tart-flavoured Granny Smith.
Out in the wider universe, the fruits of planet earth were hard to come by, and while there were plenty of delicious alien varieties to be had, such as gleeges, quadrifoons, and loofs, sometimes Ianto craved a taste of home. What had started out as a couple of trees to provide fruit for themselves had somehow grown to over a hundred, producing far more fruit than the two immortals could ever hope to eat in a year, even with stasis pods that could keep foods at peak freshness for centuries, but they’d easily solved the problem of what to do with the excess. They simply toured the markets on various planets, bringing apples and other earth delicacies to a whole new, and very enthusiastic, clientele.
“Looks like our latest crop of apples are about ready for picking,” Ianto commented as he and Jack strolled through the apple orchard, Jasper the golden retriever and Bryn the border collie racing around them, playing a doggy game of tag among the trees with Jack’s spaniel puppy, Rolo.
Jack nodded as he looked at the trees, heavily laden with ripening apples. “They’re fruiting particularly well this year. We should get three or four bushels of fruit from each tree. Even if we keep two or three bushels of each variety for ourselves, that should still leave us with…” Jack paused, a distant expression on his face as he tried to mentally calculate the quantity of apples they’d have for sale, then gave up in defeat. “A lot.”
‘I estimate four hundred and seven bushels altogether,’ the TARDIS informed then. “Somewhere in excess of fifty-one thousand individual fruits. An excellent crop.’ There was a note of satisfaction in her voice, as well there might be. She controlled the growing conditions in the orchard, from the temperature, the amount and quality of light, and the length of the days and nights, all the way down to the nutrients in the soil, and the amount of rainfall the trees received.
“Which will sell out in no time,” Jack said. “We might need to think about planting more trees if demand continues increasing the way it has been.”
Ianto rolled his eyes. “Let’s just concentrate on harvesting what we’ve already got, shall we? It’s going to take a while with just the two of us this year.” The previous year, they’d had the willing assistance of several Tallans, who were travelling with them at the time. But the Space Wombles, as Ianto had privately dubbed them, had returned to their homeworld a few months previously, and apart from the new puppy, the two immortals hadn’t taken on any travelling companions since.
“I suppose you’re right; we shouldn’t count our apples before they’re picked.” Jack smiled wryly. “It’s a shame the dogs can’t help.”
“They’d crunch up more apples than would end up in the baskets,” Ianto pointed out. All their dogs enjoyed an occasional apple. They ate a very varied and healthy diet, just as their owners did, and it showed. Jasper and Bryn were both twelve years old and as fit and full of energy as the new pup. Space travel definitely agreed with them.
‘I will arrange the baskets and the anti-gravity carts if you are ready to begin the harvest,’ the TARDIS announced cheerfully. ‘While you pick the fruit, we can discuss where to sell this year’s crop, and how many bushels we should take to each market.’
“I guess that’s our cue to get to work,” Jack said, grinning at his husband. Not that either of them minded. Apple-picking was a pleasure because unlike the apple-pickers on earth, they didn’t have to rush. The apples would remain perfect as they were picked, and the baskets contained stasis technology to keep them that way until they were sold. Even if they spent six weeks picking apples all day, every day, there would be no spoilage. Indeed, the TARDIS could arrange it so that within the apple orchard, almost no time passed while harvesting was underway, and the weather remained perfect.
It was a pleasure to pluck the apples from the trees and place them in the large wicker-effect baskets. Green, red, yellow-green, pinkish, russet… so many colours and varieties. Every so often, Ianto or Jack would pause to enjoy a freshly picked apple, biting into the sweet, juicy flesh. There really was nothing to compare to homegrown fruit.
Time seemed to fly past, with frequent breaks for food, naps, and other activities, but the two men scarcely left the orchard until all the fruit was picked.
“What should we do with the proceeds this time?” Ianto asked, studying the baskets of ripe fruit. “Maybe we could find a worthy charity to donate to.”
“We could do that. Or we could buy a couple of flying unicorns.”
“You and your pets,” Ianto teased. “As if we didn’t already have enough with the dogs, the birds, the chickens, and the guinea pig colony.”
“Why shouldn’t we have pets? We’ve got plenty of space, and just think how much fun it would be to fly about in here on our unicorns. Anyway, we can make up our minds later. Right now, we have a market, or several, to get to, and a lot of fruit to sell. We can decide what to do with our earnings once we know how much we’ve got to play with.”
“Fair enough,” Ianto agreed, helping Jack unload the last of the anti-gravity trolleys, and stow the full baskets with all the others in a large, airy room just off the console room, where the produce would stay until it was sold. “Off to market we go!”
The End