It's a bitch convincing people to like you. [Open to the 4423]

[phytotoxin]

Characters: Marluxia and whoever wants to bother him.
Content: Marluxia decides that it’s high time he went and saw the different parts of the ship, so meeting some of the crew is probably inevitable. Please feel free to bug him, get on his nerves and/or call him ‘Marlushy’ =D.
Setting: The 4423
Time: While they’re in port, but the time of the day

Comments

[anthypants]

Anthy leaned with her back against the sink, tablet in hand. She was trying to figure out what she could grow in pots around the ship. She'd had plenty of time to think about how much she'd missed her gardens, but she had always been too hesitant to ask the Captain for permission to have some plants in case she said no. But now that she had been aboard the ship longer, Anthy had noticed how people simply seemed to do things, so she thought perhaps she might just put some in someplace they would not be in the way

[phytotoxin]

The kitchen was one of the destinations that Marluxia had been looking forward to seeing. He hadn't really dealt with any airship travel in his life, so seeing a ship's galley was fairly high on his list of priorities.

He didn't walk around like he owned the place, but he didn't head anywhere with the sort of worried nervousness that could be expected of a new recruit, either. He opened the door to the kitchen quite brazenly and stepped inside, unaware of whether he required permission from the cook before doing so. He scanned the room with interest before allowing his eyes to settle on the only person in the room.

"Hello," he said, offering a smile.

He didn't say anything of the obviously startled look on her face.

[anthypants]

"Hello," said Anthy, recovering herself and cautiously returning his smile, although she remained slightly mesmerized by the sight of pink haired man. It wasn't just the hair, his eyes were also a deep blue like Utena's, and like her he was tall as well. And he did look very princely, although not perhaps, the way she might have been.

"You must be one of the new crewmen aboard...Can I get anything for you?"

[phytotoxin]

He shook his head gently and kept his smile in place. Well, she was pleasant. While the 4423 seemed to be lacking in real pirates, it did seem so full of offensive and rude people, even they weren't exactly pirate material. This girl though, she seemed nice on the first meeting.

"No, no. I'm just getting my bearings with the ship, but thank you for the kind offer." He offered a hand. "It's nice to meet you."

He was fairly sure he hadn't spoken to her at all yet.

[anthypants]

"It's nice to meet you too," Anthy replied. He seemed so polite and polished! He reminded her much more of the upper class men she used to know back in Melior than the pirates she had become accustomed to.

Then she remembered that there was something else you were supposed to do when you met someone. Something that she was not used to doing.

"My name is Anthy," she said, and extended her hand towards him.

[phytotoxin]

Marluxia shook her hand and nodded, making sure to remember it.

"Marluxia," he replied in a simple return introduction.

The kitchen seemed nice and the staff member present wasn't anything to complain about, either. He had half expected to be chased out of the room by a psycho wielding a frying pan, so it was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.

[anthypants]

"I like the sound of that," Anthy said blithely, unaware of what had transpired on the journals. "It's unique. I find that common names can be a little dull."

She smiled at him. She enjoyed his reserved, yet polite manner. He felt oddly restful to her, if....if...her mind struggled to find the description, yet she couldn't quite put her finger on it. He was unusual, though. It didn't bother her, but he felt distinctly different than other people somehow.

"Please let me know if I can do anything to be helpful to you while you get your bearings," she said. "It can be difficult to come to a new place, but I'm sure you'll make lots of new friends."

[phytotoxin]

"Thank you," he said with a genuine smile.

Since coming aboard, he'd got absolutely nothing but flak for his name and/or appearance, from everybody from ten year old girls, to a certain other Quartermaster.

"I do hope so." He replied in regard to the friend comment. He considered it unlikely, considering he'd already spoken to a few people over the journal system and found most of them to be tiresome or idiotic. Not all, but most. "You seemed awfully deep in thought when I came in. I'm not disturbing you, I hope?"

[anthypants]

"Of course not," said Anthy. While she was willing to do almost anything to ensure her own survival, Anthy often placed others ahead of herself in daily tasks, so that she didn't question whether or not someone was interrupting her.

She frowned a little. "I was only trying to plan out a little container garden. I would like to have a few plants you see, but I know they might get in other people's way if they're on the deck where the light is better. So I thought I might put in a few cooking herbs, and see if I couldn't still arrange them to be pleasant."

[phytotoxin]

Marluxia smiled at the mere mention of plants. He really did have a strong fondness for all things botanical, no matter what they were, so the fact that she was considering planting them, even just for cooking, really did make him a little happy. Flowers seemed so under appreciated of late, only really coming into popularity for the brief holiday of Amicus.

"Plants? My specialty." He told her, seeming distantly happy for a moment, like he was deep in thought, or reminiscing moments from times gone by.

Flowers, weeds, vines, herbs, creepers, trees --even plants of the carnivorous variety-- he loved them all. He didn't have such a soft spot for them that he objected to them being used in cooking, however. Everything has it's use, after all.

[anthypants]

"Really?" asked Anthy, brightening. It was so rare to meet someone who truly appreciated the botanical. "You must be the only pirate I've met who likes plants. Well, besides myself," she added with a little smile.

She knew it wouldn't be polite to press him too much, but she was very excited at the thought of having someone to talk shop with. Of course, Utena would admire her work out of obligation, but it would be nice to know there might be someone else who might enjoy it if she created a little green space on the deck.

"What sorts of things do you like to grow?"

[phytotoxin]

Marluxia chuckled quietly. He couldn't claim to feel much like a pirate, but he did start to think that joining the crew made him one almost by default. Perhaps that is how the crew got their ferocious reputation.

"Anything, be they plain or unusual. I favour flowers and vines, but it all depends on the space allowance and location as to what I'll concentrate on." He explained, brushing a few strands of his pink hair from his eyes. "I prefer if they have useful attributes to accentuate their beauty, though

[anthypants]

Anthy found herself a bit bedazzled. There was a strange tightness in her head, but she didn't think much of it. After all, her memories were so heavy it wouldn't be strange if she could almost feel them pressing down on her.

As he spoke, she could see the flowers opening in her mind. It seemed like another lifetime ago that she had walked in the sunshine among the green leaves, gently trailing her fingertips over tender new shoots and around the unfurling spirals of rose petals.

"Vines..." mused Anthy softly, recalling gardens past. "I never grew many of those, except climbing roses and perhaps sweet peas." Vines could be so thick and choking, but they were vital and full of life. For some reason she had never been especially attracted to them. "My favorite...was always roses." Even after everything that happened, she could not separate herself from them.

She shook the memories off. "I was thinking of some that flowered...lavender, rosemary, chamomile, flowing oregano, thyme..."

[phytotoxin]

Marluxia smiled gently. Roses were a favourite of his too, even if they were a little cliché as a flower preference. Even the simple act of summoning his scythe called it forth with a flurry of rose petals.

"Thyme might be a little difficult to grow with such low light, but the others shouldn't be too much of a problem." He said, considering it all. "Unless you can really anchor a pot down on deck, anyway."

He did worry about the chances of cigarette ash being flicked into the pots though, if that was the route taken.

[anthypants]

"Silver thyme, I was thinking," she said, a little shyly. "It needs less light, although it has a different flavor. More lemony."

She thought about the next part. "You can anchor a pot to the deck I think, if you used an eyehook and some netting. I was thinking you needed to use that anyway, to keep the soil from flying out if the ship made a sudden move."

Anthy wasn't worried about people bothering her plants. If they did, her vengeance would be terrible, and they'd never be able to feel safe about eating anything aboard the ship ever again.

[phytotoxin]

"Ah, you've really thought this through." He noted, still seeming happy about it. The mistreatment of plants by amateurs was something that stung him in the same way that other people felt about issues of animal cruelty and the like