Life is like a box of chocolates

[notpatsy]

Who: Trish Walker and you
When: Tail end of first week of March
Where: Garden and Bruce's room
What: Sullenly eating chocolate and cursing the existence of Feelings
Warnings: Will add if necessary

Garden

When a man and a woman like each other very much... they sometimes come to the conclusion that it would still be best if they didn't make things complicated by trying to have a relationship whilst traveling through space in a ship whose captains kidnapped them from another dimension.

And sometimes, even knowing that that decision really is a very sensible and mature way of handling things, the woman decides to hang up a blanket between a couple of bushes, wrap herself in another blanket and sit in her little makeshift tent and eat chocolate and drink a lot of something that at least tastes a lot like milk. She's never sure about anything she gets from the mess hall here, in all honesty.

Look, sitting alone in her bed just made her think of Bruce's bed and that just started up a whole cycle of sad thoughts so she decided to go for whimsy.

She's sitting cross-legged and balancing a notepad on one knee, thoughtfully chewing on a piece of chocolate as she tries to come up with what to talk about during the following day's broadcast. "Interstellar dating" it says on the top of the page, though she isn't actually going to ask anyone on board about their love lives. She's just brainstorming a bit because it beats sitting around dwelling on her own frustration.

It's a crush. It'll pass.

If it doesn't, she might start breaking things.

Insomnia crisis (closed to Bruce)

For a while there, Trish went back to pretty much hardcore ignoring Bruce because she simply couldn't figure out how to talk to him without screaming 'KISS ME, DAMN IT' with her entire being, which not only felt uncomfortably needy but also wasn't at all a good step in the whole 'let's be friends' direction that they have sort of agreed to take.

It does help a lot that Jessica is on board now, since that kind of shifted her emotional centre of gravity in a big way. She still aches for Bruce pretty much all the time, but he's definitely not the person on board that she's closest to anymore.

That said, when night comes creeping and she can't sleep, it's not Jessica's arms she wishes she could feel around her, and eventually she just sort of cracks and gets out of bed to make her way over to Bruce's room and knock on the door.

Comments

[hyperkinesia]

It was impossible not to notice that Trish was ignoring him, but after their talk, Bruce can't really blame her. In fact, he thinks that this, much like everything else they decided on, is for the best. Unlike what some people believe, absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder, even if in the span of a few days it's hard to see that.

With time, he hopes, that'll change. But then there's the fact that they're stuck on a spaceship together, and it's only a matter of time until they run into each other somewhere. Makes the whole thing a lot more complicated, and Bruce doesn't even know if avoiding each other will do anything but make them hurt even more in the long run.

But it's for the best. It's what Bruce tells himself as he goes on with his routine, does his work, has his meals, goes to sleep, while trying (and failing) to not listen to her broadcast. Having a head full of her voice probably isn't the smartest move right now, but anyway.

At least at night he has time on his own to just relax, forget about everything by diving himself into a book and get lost in the pages until sleep weighs his eyelids down. The knock on the door is unexpected, though, Bruce's eyes lifting to the door for a couple of seconds before he sets the book down on the bed and gets up. Glasses still on, he's already in a T-shirt and sweatpants, clearly dressed for bed, but he doesn't really care that that's how he looks when he walks over to the door and opens it.

His expression immediately opens in surprise, though it's brief and discreet, shoulders squaring as he straightens up just so.

"Trish." Why yes, genius, she knows who she is. His eyes scan her briefly, settling on her face again, as if that'll help him decipher why she's here. "Is everything alright?"

[notpatsy]

Trish would have preferred to be dressed in a similar fashion, but she doesn't have anything to wear beyond the uniforms she's been given and the clothes she was wearing when she arrived on board (minus the shoes) so she doesn't really have much of a choice other than to show up wearing her civvies. Her version of being dressed for bed involves not really being dressed at all, which just isn't very practical in moments like this.

His question actually sort of stuns her for a moment, and she isn't proud of the fact that she does give him a look that pretty much asks the question why anyone would ever call him a genius.

Seriously though, he wants to know if everything is alright? Does he really think everything could be alright at the moment?

God, he's a jackass sometimes.

"No. No it's not."

Everything sucks, Bruce.

[hyperkinesia]

He ducks his head and drops his eyes in instinctive guilt at her look, though he hadn't quite meant for the question to come out like that. He was simply wondering if anything had happened to get her upset —or more upset, anyway—, wanting to know what caused her to just show up at his door like this.

Not that he minds. She doesn't need a reason why, and while avoiding each other might be their own stupid way of dealing with all this, he's not going to shut the door on her face.

"Sorry," he mutters as he steps aside, giving her the room to walk past him. "Come on in?"

[notpatsy]

She takes that invitation and makes her way into his room, going over to his bed to sort of awkwardly sit down on the edge of it.

"Thank you. Sorry for bothering you, I just... I can't sleep."

And while that would usually probably be Jessica's problem to deal with, tonight Bruce is the lucky man who gets to take care of an over-tired Patricia Walker who is more than a little done with just about everything.

[earthandpine]

Of all the things Rosethorn expected to find during another of her probably-too-frequent, she-really-ought-to-spend-more-time-outside-of-work visits to the garden, a blanket tent wasn't one of them. She makes her usual stop at the altar, plucking an errant kitten's claws from the sleeve of her robe after a brief prayer, before heading over to investigate.

Like the tent itself, its occupant comes as a surprise when she peers in and sees Trish. She thought maybe one of the children had built it, since it's definitely not needed for shelter in the middle of a ship.

"Is this a private tent, or would you welcome company?" Company entails Rosethorn and the single kitten in her hand, for the moment, but where one kitten goes, the others will follow. They're particularly fond of Rosethorn.

[notpatsy]

Sometimes you just have to let your whimsical side go wild and design a ridiculous superhero costume for your best friend and come up with the alias "Jewel", or build a blanket fort in a spaceship garden for no good reason whatsoever apart from the fact that you damn well feel like it.

Rosethorn gets a smile that is perhaps not the sunniest expression imaginable, but it's definitely genuine.

"Kittens will grant you entry anywhere."

She's having a shitty week, something furry to hold is just about optimal at the moment.

[earthandpine]

Rosethorn snorts, crouching and settling herself cross-legged on the floor of the tent. She passes the fluffball to Trish. "That begs the question, how many kittens are too many for you? They'll all listen if I call them over. It's getting rid of them afterwards that's the hard part. Kittens usually only listen when you ask them to do something they already wanted to do in the first place."

Does Trish really want a multitude of kittens climbing all over both of them and the inside of the tent? If the answer is yes, Rosethorn can make that happen. "I'm Rosethorn, one of the gardeners."

[notpatsy]

Trish lifts the little ball of adorable to her face to rub her cheek against the soft fur before she gently sets the kitten down in her lap, she doesn't want the little cutie to feel trapped.

"Today I am very okay with unlimited kittens."

It sounds like a pretty good distraction.

"Nice to meet you, Rosethorn. I'm Trish."

[foggybear]

Foggy doesn't really get along with nature, and that includes fake nature. Or real nature in a fake environment? Central Park's alright, but mostly to angrily throw bread crumbs and pigeons after a break up.

There are no bread crumbs nor are there pigeons, and Foggy hasn't bothered contemplating anything since coming here. Not about relationships, or the meaning of life. It's mostly been 'why does this feel strangely like college all over again, but with lasers and space ships.'

That's the reason he's in the gardens, and as he makes his way around he's pleased that, however weird said garden is, some thing resemble earth. There's trees, at least. And not...everything else.

The tent sticks out as a sore thumb, makeshift or no, but he's unsurprised when he pokes his head in and notices Trish. It seems like an incredibly Trish thing to do, eat chocolate and..

His brow raises.

"Are you waiting for a date, Miss Walker?"

[notpatsy]

If Foggy were to voice his college thoughts to Trish, she would agree wholeheartedly and also thank him for managing to so elegantly capture a multitude of her current frustrations in a single phrase.

She lifts her notepad up to hide her writing from Foggy as she gives him an accusatory look that really doesn't have much sting to it since she is also smiling.

"Okay, first off you shouldn't read people's notes without asking first, very rude. Secondly, I'm not waiting for a date."

Because it has been made rather clear to her that there will be no dating going on here.

"Unless you're volunteering, Mr. Nelson, in which case I'm still not waiting since you're here."

[foggybear]

The maiden is shy. The accusatory look is met with Foggy raising his eyebrows in response, completely unphased from her half-glare. Especially since she's smiling, too.

Yeah. This is nice. He chuckles, glancing over at the paper, and then the chocolate. He's seen this in movies. His sister, too, post-breakup. Or anytime 'boy trouble' came around. He should have probably paid attention, but in the Nelson household it's best to run and hide when older siblings are on an emotional rampage. He hums thoughtfully, asks if he can sit, and without actually waiting for Trish to say he can--which he supposes is rude--he takes a seat next to her.

"As much as I would enjoy sweeping you off your feet in an absolute whirlwind of torrid, wanton lust, it looks like you're already pining."

[notpatsy]

Okay that smile develops into a full-on laugh. Foggy has a real gift for making that happen even when things are super shitty. That's one of the many reason why he's a great guy to hang out with. She thinks to herself that she really hasn't done that enough lately, and resolves to change this.

"Very uselessly pining."

She's not even going to bother with trying to deny it.

"I'll keep that whirlwind of torrid, wanton lust in mind though. Sounds like a good time."

[cookshisgoose]

It was impossible to miss the blanket fort in the garden. It was even less hard to notice the grown woman inside, very clearly eating lots of chocolate.

Peggy considers not bothering her. She's very clearly distressed by something, otherwise she wouldn't be doing this, but whether that meant she truly wanted to be alone or not was the question. Then again, if she didn't want to be bothered, she shouldn't be out in a commons area.

At the very least, she decides to check on her, peaking around the edge of the blankets and offering a small smile, but also a look of concern.

"Are you alright, dear?"

[notpatsy]

"Depends on what your definition of alright is."

Actually, at the moment Trish is mostly leaning in the direction of "no" at the moment, but she's sort of trying to find a positive-ish angle here.

Which is why she holds out a bag of pretzels and gives Peggy a sort of weak smile.

"Pretzel?"

[cookshisgoose]

No one answers that unless they're just avoiding the answer. Which is pretty much an answer in itself.

"It sounds like some needs to talk. Or a distraction, at the very least." Even if Trish seemed to be trying to put a positive twist on whatever was bothering her, it didn't change the fact that something was bothering her.

She offers her thanks as she accepts a pretzel, but before she begins to nibble on it, she nods to the empty space in the tent.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Honestly, given the million and two things on her own mind, she could use a distraction herself.

[notpatsy]

"Absolutely not. There's plenty of room and plenty of chocolate."

And she would probably feel a little less pathetic if she shared both this space and the sweets with someone else.

It would become more of an adorable picnic than an exercise in just how much one can wallow in self-pity before just turning into a puddle of goo that smells vaguely like navel.

If you don't want to know what that smells like, just be happy about it and don't try to figure it out.

[higginsdrive]

Things were always pretty easy to read when it came to Trish. She actually tended to show her emotions in front of people, unlike her. She hadn't pushed the topic too much, considering there was already plenty to deal with... But, when something caused her sis to actually go off and mope in a makeshift tent in a garden? Well, maybe it's time to push that up to the top of her priority list.

Grabbing a few props on the way, she moves towards Trish's hiding spot which on a ship like this wasn't all that hard to find.

"Ok, take a kitten and start talking." It's worth a shot. People like cuddly fuzzy things, right? Besides, it's a better opening than who's ass do I need to kick - although it's on the tip of her tongue.

[notpatsy]

"About what?"

Said as she somewhat absent-mindedly accepts a kitten and moves over to make room for Jessica to settle in with her under the blanket. Sure, sometimes they both practice the 'I am shutting you out for your own good' logic to their relationship in their own individual ways but this really isn't one of those times for Trish. She could use the support.

[higginsdrive]

She quickly settles into the offered spot, definitely feeling like a teenager again. “Don’t even try to pull that bullshit with me. You know about what. Did he hurt you?” And she doesn’t mean just physically. She knew how delicate Trish’s emotions could be at times, how much Jessica fought to keep all aspects of her safe. It was something she’d raise hell over if that had managed to already get fucked up within a few weeks of being here.

Someone would pay, it may not happen right away but she would see it through.

Garden

[devilofohara]

If it's any consolation, Trish isn't the only one who's been having a shit week. Robin showed up on a strange planet a little less than a week ago, and it's pretty much been downhill since then.

A full six-and-a-half days later, the young girl has finally been dragged aboard the Moira, given her MID and examined and all the other good stuff that comes with arriving through the Ingress. Now, just a few hours after her boarding, she's still exploring the place. She's still quite dirty from a week surviving on Ceta's surface, and her face and hands are covered with bruises and scratches, and her hair doesn't look like it's been washed in sometime - after all, how could she even think about washing up when she hasn't scoured this ship for potential exits and hiding places in case there's trouble?

Which is precisely what Robin is doing as she wanders into the ship's garden. Her eyes are wide - she has to admit, she hadn't expected to see something like this aboard a spaceship of all things. It doesn't take her long, however, to discover the blanket fort in the middle of the garden with a sad, chocolate eating woman inside. And, after that discovery, it takes even less time for her to poke her head inside.

"Hey. Can I have some of that?"

Re: Garden

[notpatsy]

Trish's eyes widen in surprise and concern, because that is one roughed-up looking kid, something that strikes one hell of a personal chord with her.

"Of course."

Trish grabs a random bag of candies and hands it all over to Robin.

"Here."

Really, what this situation actually calls for is a bath, some medical attention and an actual meal, but they can start with chocolate and work their way up from there.

Re: Garden

[devilofohara]

Honestly, Robin hadn't expected to receive a whole bag from this woman, so when Trish hands it over it catches the young girl by surprise. She accepts it, though. After that, she thinks about leaving this woman and going her own way, but instead opts to stick around - if only to see if this woman is generous enough to part with anything else.

"Thank you," Robin says, as she unwraps a chocolate and pops it into her mouth. She invites herself further into the makeshift tent, settling on the ground not far from the older woman. "I guess you've been here a while?"

It's just a guess, but Robin's pretty sure that it's a good one. One doesn't show up on a spaceship all of a sudden and decide to make a blanket fort for no reason, after all.

so late

[handing]

They've barely been on this planet for a week, and already Pepper is lamenting the fact that she can't leave the ship. Not that there's a lot to see down there, if rumors are to be believed, but something in the idea of it, or maybe the fact that she's getting all her information secondhand rather than seeing it for herself, simply bothers her. Or maybe it's the ever present reminder of Extremis, a secret she keeps that's now keeping her as a prisoner.

Whatever the reason in the end, Pepper heads to the gardens just to feel like she's not entirely stuck on the spaceship. It isn't exactly outside, but it's better--and also curiosity inspiring when she sees the makeshift tent nearby. She really can't help but walk over, bending down a little to see who might be inside.

"Trish?" Not who she's expecting, to be honest. "I know it can be hard to share a room, but I didn't think things were this bad."

so loved <3

[notpatsy]

The comment makes Trish laugh a little, and she shakes her head. The room-sharing isn't ideal, but it's not as if living in a tent in a public area would solve the whole "no privacy" problem.

"My immature side is very dominant today so I decided to just indulge it for a bit."

eee <3

[handing]

Clearly, considering Pepper's currently invading Trish's space.

"Uh oh. What has the immature side showing?" Because in Pepper's experience, it tends to be either extreme giddiness, or extreme frustration. Granted, most of said experience comes from dealing with Tony's immature side, but she's been known to do something silly every now and then.

Still, in a tent in the gardens, and with--is that chocolate? Oh, Pepper is definitely willing to bet on frustration.