[Kindness ORP] The Granny Garden Crusade

[Ruriska]

Live and Let Wine had the reassuring sort of personality that allowed Witch Hazel to give a soft sigh of relief, as if somebody here knew something and it wouldn't be all up to her to sort out the sudden group of children. Even if the other professed to rarely do things on their own, she certainly seemed capable regardless.

"My name is Witch Hazel. It's nice to meet you all."

She smiled at Spring Fling, who was proactive in grabbing some gloves and getting to work. The hoverboarding Mer was interesting. She hadn't seen many of the lake dwellers but apparently they were just as keen on gardening as anyone else.

As for Aegis, well, she certainly was enthusiastic about showing off her strength. Which was fine. They'd need the muscle.

Witch Hazel was not at all comfortable with trying to delegate tasks but she was going to do her best to keep everyone on the right track. "Um, there's three main jobs to complete. Weeding, pruning and cutting the lawn. There's meant to be a push mower and a green bin around the corner, if we can get to it."

Now that she was talking about the task, Witch Hazel was even more grateful they were all here to help.

"Maybe you can point out the weeds?" She asked Wine. "And maybe someone with wings or someone who can reach for the lawn?"

[spoiler]@Syrcaid @Fealine @Chrys @Erina_Nobara @FrostyPeaches @elvyralani ralani  [/spoiler]

[Syrcaid]

Live slung her massive purse over one of the fence slats.  If anyone stole the darn thing, they'd have to really want to.  It was large, gaudy the more you stared at it, and only had a pair of sunglasses in it.  The little unicorn shoved her hat down on her head and would have rolled up her sleeves if she had any. 

"The only way to see what's what is to get in it," she slowly went into what should be the entrance of the yard.

She used the tiny magic available to her horn to push some of the weeds aside and she looked down to see where she was stepping.  Live blinked and peered down as though she were on safari.

"There's a whole bicycle in here!" she exclaimed.  "And over there's a soccer ball!"

@Ruriska @Fealine

[Fealine]

"Sooo just dive in, got it." she nodded and, if a phony could roll up her sleeves, she would have. Grinning she charged forward with Live and began ripping out anything that looked like a weed. Or at least until the other filly found an entire bicycle. "Woah, wonder how long that's not seen any action." she grinned, giving a flutter of her wings and alighting herself on its seat.

It creaked and made several weird noises and for a moment she frowned before finding the rusty old bell and tapping the slide. It gave a pathetic dulled sprrrrring noise before sounding like it literally croaked. "Well...that's lame." she frowned and picked a few over grown vines from its handles.

@Ruriska @Syrcaid

[Syrcaid]

"Help me get it out of here," Live asked Aegis.  "The fewer surprises in this grass, the better!"

Live tugged at the bicycle, only to find weeds had twirled around almost every single spoke of its tired wheels.  She cut away at them with her horn as best she could.

Grass started to stain her forehead and feet.  She was glad she didn't have any allergies!

@Fealine @Ruriska

[Fealine]

"OH, sure." Aegis said, fluttering her wings and landing back down on the ground.

"Hold up." she called to Live, rolling her shoulders and punched at the ground to start ripping the weeds off the tires of the bike before giving it a good kick forward once she got most of it untangled. "Watch out!" she grinned, peering over at Live.

@Syrcaid

[FrostyPeaches]

Wave gave a longful stare at the choices given. "Pushing a mower with a hoverboard seems like a REALLY BAD idea..." he told her...he could already imagine the mower go off on  its own with him flailing about since he doesn't have back legs to turn the clunkky thing... he really wanted to help but felt like it was better to not touch the machine... he gave a slight moan and looked at the other two phonies nearby to see what they're  doing...

"Uh i will cut along this area to get to the green bin! At least with a hoverboard we can tie the bin to it and i can carry the grass away! "

He took a pair of oversized scissors (im so sorry its that big gardening tool but my brain cant remember atm will edit in later orz) and started to cut the grass down to size, and hoped that he could clear a path for himself to get to the plastic container to throw or heave the cut grass in.

Looking back at the others,  he grinned as he found a deflated beachball to show them and threw it over the fence. He'll pick it up later when the grass is cut and  mowed down and tidied up.

@Ruriska @Syrcaid @Fealine

[Ruriska]

They were all getting to work and Witch Hazel had been about to start pruning but her attention kept shifting back towards Wine and Aegis as they fought to free the bike. Clearly they wouldn't make any progress until that was out of the way.

"That's a good idea," she said to the mer, smiling slightly, before stepping over to check out the old bike. Aegis was going at the weeds like crazy, tearing up plants and dirt without a care. The kick the followed helped dislodge even more of the tangled growth and so Witch Hazel grabbed at the handles and started to pull, trying to drag the rest of it away from the weeds.

@Syrcaid @Fealine @FrostyPeaches

[Fealine]

Aegis grinned as Witch Hazel began to tug on the bars. "Let me know if it needs another kick!" she said, putting her back hooves up on the wheel and began to walk backwards to try and help push it out. She used her wings to help steady herself but she couldn't see much from that angle, even with craning her head over her shoulder. "Oh. And let me know when to stop yeah?" she asked, full on dirty and grinning.

@Ruriska @Syrcaid

[Syrcaid]

Live slung her purse on the sturdiest looking fence post and found a pair of garden shears and a trowel.  There were garden stones that looked like they had once formed a ring, but now it was more like a sad, disconnected and squashed loop.  She dug up the grass to make a clear patch of earth and pushed the stones around it to make a more defined section for fresh flowers.

There didn't seem to be anything growing or blooming at the moment, so she cut the grass down as evenly as she could.

"If anyone finds anything that looks remotely like it could have been part of a flower patch, I can dig it up and transplant it here," she called out.

@Ruriska @Fealine @FrostyPeaches

[Ruriska]

Witch Hazel was not used to hard labour and she was beginning to learn the limitations of someone who had spent most of their foalhood cooped up inside. It was lucky Aegis was so strong because that was the only reason the bike started to move, even with Hazel pulling as hard as she could.

Finally it started to pull free and Witch Hazel didn't even have time to say stop when the bike suddenly popped free and sent her tumbling backwards. She landed on her back with a startled 'oof' and then lay there, breathing heavily.

She lifted a hoof-up in agreement when Live called out. Yeah, looking for potential flowers seemed like an easy next task.

@Fealine @Syrcaid

[Fealine]

Aegis couldn't help but snicker when Witch Hazel tumbled backwards and landed with a splat. It simply put a grin on her face and pride in her chest at her strength.
Still, for as much as she was a harsh butt, she had her moments. "Here." she said as she took the filly's outstretched hoof even though it was lifted in agreement and helped the other get her legs back under here. She turned back towards Live and tilted her head but nodded. "Not a plant expert but uh.... I'll let you know. I'm more of a strength filly myself.... so if you need any heavy lifting I'm your gal!" she grinned, beating her wings proudly, grinning and wiping a hoof across her face, only to smear a bit of dirt across her cheek - which didn't seem to bother her in any maner.

@Syrcaid @Ruriska

[Syrcaid]

"...so if you need any heavy lifting I'm your gal!"

"Excellent, then you can help me put these garden stones all around this patch I've cleared out!" she said, waving her crooked trowel.  "I can use some magic, but nothing like what I'd need to move these stones about.

She started to shear, trim, and shape the grass around the newly recreated flower patch.  "There were roses here, but they're long since dead."

Live pulled up a twig with her teeth and yanked it away.

"Even their thorns gave out!"

@Fealine @Ruriska

[Ruriska]

Witch Hazel was grateful for the hoof up and returned upright, no worse for wear except for some extra dirt. "Thank you."

Live looked like she was already making great progress and so Hazel grabbed the handlebars of the now freed bike and started to pull it away from the garden to clear up some space. Now that it wasn't being tied down by plants and earth, it was awkward but not too heavy.

She dragged it out and left it on the nature strip, then took a second to catch her breath.

Phew. The garden was looking... better? Sort of. You could at least tell some progress had been made. Those blackberry bushes were going to be hard to tackle though. Their thorns hadn't given out in the slightest.

@Syrcaid @Fealine

[Fealine]

Aegis eyed the stones a bit, almost as if second guessing herself before grinning. "Sure, leave it to me!" she said, getting to work and moving a stone, albeit one by one, around the path the other filly had created. It was a bit harder than she expected but she reminded herself that this would be perfect exercise for building muscle. As always, she remembered to try and lift with her knees. She did her best not to get in Live's way so took a few moments to stop and catch her breath, glancing back at Witch Hazel. "You good over there? Almost done here." she noted, gesturing to the rock path that was now looking more like a real flower bed from the combined efforts.

@Ruriska @Syrcaid

[Syrcaid]

"Here, let me help you!" Live said, assisting with the rock placement using what little magic her tiny horn could offer and whatever leg power she had.

It became a clear enough patch and she transplanted whatever she could.  She was covered in dirt and absolutely okay with that.  It felt fine getting leaves in her hair and dirt between her little split toes.

In fact, it felt good to just... do good!  Without having to throw money at it, like her parents did. It felt nice being part of a community effort, even if she didn't know a single person there.  Live felt like she could contribute more than what her parents ideas of contributions were, if only they let her prove herself more.  She didn't want to be seen as a spoiled heiress.  What would happen if they suddenly lost everything?  She didn't want to be ill prepared.  If she could gain some real world experiences, it would be less difficult as she became an adult.

"It was really fun working with all of you," she said, sitting down to clear yard clippings off her face.

@Ruriska @Fealine