how does your garden grow?

Mary Regis | 26 | she/her

[farmermary]

jessica sula | she/her | cis female | hey, you know mary regis? i’m pretty sure they’re 26 and have lived here for 2 years. they spend most of their time at her farm but also go to the beach a lot. if you ask me, they can be adaptable, but also rash at times. if you want to get on their good side, give them a blueberry wine next time you see them! | kirby, 23, she/her, cst

full name: mary phyllis regis

age/d.o.b.: 26, october 27th 1995

gender/pronouns: cisfemale, she/her

sexuality: pansexual

height: 5′5″

+ traits: adaptable, friendly, energetic, attentive

- traits: rash, pushy, stubborn, pernickety

hobbies: fishing, knitting, gardening

friends: amelia kelso, sofia torres, shane bailey (according to her)

“i dropped everything, and moved to the place where i truly belonged.”

mary was born and raised in zuzu city, to a pair of hardworking parents. they were your traditional family in just about every sense - dad worked, mom stayed home with mary, and mary went to school and strived to get straight a’s. they lived a pretty simple, cookie-cutter life in their little town home, but they were happy.

from the very get-go, mary was a delightfully happy kid that wanted to take part in everything. she joined every extra curricular she possibly could, even if she didn’t really care about it. (dictionary skills? yeah right, c’mon mary) she just liked being included and she liked learning new things! as long as she was busy and in decent company, she was happy.

applying herself was her favorite thing to do, so when she was getting close to the end of high school, she started looking at job opportunities in the area. as much as she wanted to travel and do more with her life, she figured staying close to her parents when she was so young would be smart. so it took her a while to land on a career path, but she eventually found a job that she thought would be fun: travel agent. the job description was glowing - help people find their dream destinations, watch them living their dreams and having fun. it sounded fulfilling, and like something to pay the bills in the meantime.

it wound up being more boring than she could’ve imagined. all the fun, exciting, fulfilling opportunities promised to her at her job wound up dissipating into desk work. cancelling reservations, booking tickets, researching bundle discounts. the most fun she had at that job was the boss’ birthday where a balloon artist came in to entertain them, but they were told after the fact that having balloon animals on their desks counted as distracting décor and that they had to trash them. to put it simply, it sucked, and every other job opportunity that presented itself sucked equally.

it wasn’t until mary was twenty-four, her soul mostly sucked out by her job, that a conversation with her mom spurred an idea. her mom’s college best friend (a woman she knew as aunt lacey, despite only being facebook friends) was selling her father’s farm out in pelican town, a decently long bus ride away. mary hadn’t done a hard day’s labor in her life, yet she used her savings to buy the old, overgrown plot of land and moved out there the following month.

it took... a while, but mary fell into a groove at the farm. she figured out growing crops, got the hang of raising animals, and even found farmers made a pretty penny selling produce out in the big city. it was a huge adjustment, only made possible by her dear friends and neighbors amelia and sofia, but she got there. she adores her little, quaint life in pelican town, and feels like she finally found the place she belongs.

[farmermary]

What was the biggest struggle you faced when you took over the farm?

"Oh my god, literally one hundred percent of it. I don't know why I'd just been thinking it wouldn't be so hard and that I'd get the hang of it, but I had been wrong. Oh so very wrong. I guess if I had to pick just one thing, though, it’d be the sheer amount of manual labor I had to put in. My property was a disaster when I first moved here, it hadn’t been tended to in a while, so I had to clear out a lot of rocks and weeds, get the soil ready for planting, get rid of so many pesky trees that were in the way. It was constant physical work for a long while. Melly and Sofi were the only things keeping me from going insane during that period, and now I’m pretty used to it! But man, I wasn’t fully ready for what I was getting myself into.”

[farmermary]

azurecapitalist​:

back and forth. back and forth. back and forth. very tips of fingers repeated a silent, absentminded gallop across same several inches of manager’s desk. how long had he been doing that? too long. how long had he been staring, bleary-eyed, at empty seat on opposite side of table? too long. how long had he been alone in store, listening only to faint buzzing of fluorescent bulbs high above? lights clicked off, plunging space beyond morris’ office door into darkness. too long.

with yawn that popped jaw, he stood. he made note to turn off timers on lights. it was the same note he made yesterday. and the day before that. and the day before that. maybe if he thought about fixing it just one more time, he’d remember to actually do it when it wasn’t… what time was it? gaze shielded by round lenses slowly turned to clock on nearby cabinet. damn. no going home that night. better to just nap at his desk and hit the diner early for as much coffee as it took to keep him mostly upright for following work day. again.

he laced fingers, pushing palms outwards to crack knuckles. fresh air would do him some good, even if sun had long since gone. maybe walk would even wake him up a bit. ha. he wished.

as he fumbled with store keys to lock front doors behind him, he wondered if trying to sleep in his office was even worth it. 

maybe he’d see if saloon still had lights on.

It was much later than Mary usually had dinner. Most of the time, she wrapped up all her work for the day at a decent time to cook for herself and maybe watch a few episodes of Hoarders on Hulu before she wound down for the rest of the day. That was her ideal type of evening, at least. Today had been very different. With the snow finally melted and the days getting warmer, ever so slightly, she was finally able to let her animals out again to enjoy the sun. But, after a long and cold winter, she forgot she’d left the far gate open for ease of access crossing over her land, and her chickens were so glad to no longer be cooped up (ba-dum-tss) that they haphazardly strutted right through the opening in the fence.

Cut to a probably hysterical afternoon of chasing the escapees around until she managed to catch them all. It was not easy, especially when it came to Leonard, the rooster of the flock that had a bigger attitude than even Shane did. By the end of the ordeal, she had a lot of scratches and peck marks across her arms and a comical amount of feathers strewn about.

And to top it all off, her frozen dinner burned in the oven while she was in the shower, setting off her fire alarm to blare loudly and obnoxiously as she rushed into the kitchen, wearing just a towel, to take it out of the oven and open the windows to air out all the smoke. That was sort of the last straw.

So, in fresh clothes, Mary headed into town to get something to eat at the saloon. She knew most people had probably already headed home, save for maybe a handful of drunken regulars. Usually, she loved the company the saloon offered her, but this was okay. She was more than happy to chit-chat with Gus as she ate her dinner.

And Morris! They both appeared from opposite sides of the saloon, heading towards the door, at the same time. Immediately, Mary’s head quirked in curiosity. JojaMart closed hours ago. “Working late?” she asked in lieu of an actual greeting, stepping forward to open the door for him.

[farmermary]

carsbake​:

“Pleasure is all mine.” He said as he shook his hand then added “ well it’s the truth. and I mean it.” He said with a smiles widely as he then said “Well thank you as he looks into her eyes then nods “Yes we are. We have about 4-5 albums. The male replied in response. That’s some good music but you have to be ready for loud guitars, party music and ready to rock out.” Carson said with a laugh.

“Ooh, loud guitars and rocking out? Sounds like a fun time. Maybe it’ll get me out of my Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears loop.” Not that Mary actually wanted to escape that loop. Throwback pop gave her life, really and truly. “I’ll check it out, though! It’s definitely time to expand my horizons!” She smiled brightly. “Are you from around here? I know I’ve seen you around town, but I guess we’ve managed to miss meeting each other.”

[farmermary]

sofitrres​:

-

it was moments like these that reminded sofia of why she loved pelican town as much as she did. zuzu city had its perks, so did the island back in her home country, but never in a million years would she have become this close to her neighbors anywhere else. maybe, if she was lucky, she would’ve formed some close-ish relationships with some coworkers at some desk job in a lab, had she stayed in the city after her separation. the kind where you never really learn anything about each other, make plans for a dinner that never happens… and that only if she was lucky. in pelican town, her neighbors were some of her closest friends, and in the case of mary, something more like family. sofi loved watching her develop her skills and seeing the results of all of her hard work. the very least she could do was bring her flowers every so often, especially if they were particularly pretty.

the woman mirrored the younger farmer’s smile the moment she saw it, feeling delighted by mary’s reaction to her little gift. “i’m so glad you like them!” she said wholeheartedly. “if the weather continues to improve, i’ll have more for you soon. frida got some paints from my parents, she’s really excited to paint a vase for you… but you didn’t hear it from me, alright?” the woman let herself into the other’s home, just as she would’ve expected mary to do if the roles were reversed and it was her at sofi’s door. she took a look at the half-finished hat on the table, and a wave of affection toward mary hit her hard, like a brick to the heart. “it’s adorable, oh my god. and with her little boots? she’s going to look so cute.” the mother grabbed the project carefully, trying to compare its circumference with what she estimated her child’s head size to be. “i think it’ll be perfect. and if not, she’ll definitely grow into it in no time, the beansprout.” sofi concluded after a second of examination. “you are so talented. and you’re spoiling my kid rotten!” she added, playfully.

...

Moving away from her parents had been really hard for Mary. They’d been close her entire life - a lot of kids went through a phase in their teenage years where they resisted their relationship with their parents and forced a moody wedge between them. Mary had never done that. Her mom and dad had been her closest friends her entire life, even into her adulthood when she moved out and got a full time job. Moving out of the city and into a completely unfamiliar place had been an easy decision, but saying goodbye to her folks wasn’t easy. The tight-knit community she found herself in when she bought her farm, though, kept her from feeling too lonesome. It was hard not to know and love everyone out here, and Mary was endlessly grateful for it. Sofia in particular, honestly. Just a very short walk down the dirt road that connected the farms to the rest of the town, she’d gotten very close with both Sofi and Frida. They’d become her little family - a sister and a niece she’d never had but always wanted so greatly. She adored them both and the little familial bond they’d grown to share.

At the promise of a new vase incoming, Mary gladly locked her lips symbolically and threw the key over her shoulder. “I didn’t hear a thing. But even though you told me, we both know I’m gonna cry over it. I still have the jewelry box she painted for me for my first Christmas here and I still get emotional when I see it on my dresser.” Carefully fluffing up the flowers in their vase, Mary beamed at the addition to her windowsill, sitting between her oven timer and a framed picture of her and her parents. “I know! That’s why I made the trim pink - it’ll match her winter outfit so well.” She smiled back at her gleefully. “As if that kid could ever be rotten. She’s got a heart of gold. I’m just making sure it’s decked out and warm.” She giggled, turning to lean against her kitchen counter comfortably. “So I take it you managed to save your tulips and daffodils? Does that mean you and Evelyn are gonna be putting the flower boxes out in town again soon? I know it’s still too cold for the bees to come back out and everything, but I just miss them. They’re so nice to see when you come out of the saloon.”

[farmermary]

mediice​:

“that’s the one!” he laughs and shakes his head, leaning back in his seat. “fuck, i miss that place, though. i remember getting absolutely blasted one night playing bowling.” he paused. “then again, that sounds kind of depressing now that i’m saying it out loud.”

he crosses a leg and nods his head. “five, but it’ll be six in a few weeks. half a year. seems insane to me. feels like i’ve been here my whole life.”

“I went there for my twenty-first birthday and had my first beer, and it was so gross I puked right after I finished it. But I made it to the toilet in time so we were all safe.” She laughed at the memory, and at his reaction to his own story. “I mean, I chose to spend my first night as a legal drinking adult there with just my parents, no friends, so mine is pretty depressing too. But who cares - fun is fun, no matter where it is!”

“It’s really just a magical place, isn’t it? I feel like I’ve belonged here forever, too.” Mary smiled a warm, pleasant grin. “What brought you out here? Just the job opening, or?”

[farmermary]

crestfallenx​:

“A salad?” Walden asked, scrunching up his face. “I mean, I’ll get you that salad, no need to be  Karen about it. Fun idea though, we’ll keep that in mind for if I get really bored later. Let me make you a mocktail though, if you don’t feel like alcohol? I make a mean virgin mojito.”

“Okay, Karen Mary can go on the backburner,” Mary promised with a firm nod, sliding into one of the bar stools. “I could go for a virgin mojito! Could you toss some raspberry or something in there for me, too? That’ll make it a little more complicated to keep you busy. Please and thanks.” She gave a big, hopeful smile.

[farmermary]

ameliakelso​:

Being in the kitchen with Mary was something that the woman constantly looked forward to whenever they both had time. Whether that was at the end of their days or on the weekends, the blonde was also giddy about the next opportunity to cook and bake with her best friend and neighbor. Ever since Mary had moved to town, she’d been a staple in Amelia’s life, and the farmer was thankful for that. It gave her something to look forward to in between the daily routine of her work on the farm. Though as most anyone in her line of work knew, any day could mean it wasn’t routine. But her point still stood, which was why a soft smile still tugged at the corners of her lips as she washes the produce she’d brought over to Mary’s.

“Those sound delicious, M. Believe it or not I actually saw a recipe for them the other day too that looked good and even pretty handy.” A laugh escaped Melly as she lightly shook the strainer over the sink before setting it on a towel on Mary’s kitchen counter. “And you know I’ll never turn down barbecue sauce either, plus this recipe even said–if I’m remembering the reviews correctly–tastes like chicken?” She recited in reply before blue hues watched her friend with certain amusement at the other’s evident excitement. “I love that idea! I haven’t had rhubarb anything in awhile, so I’m due for something of that nature asap.”

Mary didn’t struggle to make friends anywhere she went. She loved people and people usually liked her plenty, too. But Amelia had been a real gift from above when she’d moved onto her farm. Not only had she played a huge hand in helping Mary out with this whole farming thing - genuinely, without the help of Melly and Sofi, she figured her farm would’ve failed and she would’ve been bankrupt in just a few months - but she’d also become Mary’s biggest support system since moving out here. They’d become fast friends, and Amelia had wedged herself into part of Mary’s regular routine. She adored her and the time they spent together, be it through their shared meals or conversations through their shared fence.

“Was it the one from Queen of the Sauce?” Mary asked excitedly when Melly agreed. “I live and die by her recipes, dude. She’s where I got that salmon dinner recipe I made for us the other week. She’s seriously a food wizard, I swear.” She ducked down to dig through her carefully organized cupboard for a big metal mixing bowl, placing it on the countertop. “Do you wanna grab some eggs out of the fridge for us? I think we just need two for the breading.” She withdrew her phone from the pocket of her apron so she could find the recipe again. “And then I have panko in the pantry so this should be easy-peasy. As long as we don’t drastically mess it up, but I like to think we’ve gotten half decent at cooking by now!”

[farmermary]

shane-bailey​:

Today, like most days, was exhausting. His shift at JojaMart seemed to drag on and on, Morris was particularly up his butt about his job performance today, and so on. Now that he was off though, he was looking forward to drinking alone at The Saloon like he did most nights. However, as he made his way into The Saloon, he knew right away that that wasn’t going to happen. For whatever reason, one of the farmers in town, Mary, was dead set on becoming friends with Shane. Some of the things she did to get his attention were mildly amusing, but most of the things she did were not amusing to the older man. 

As he made his way into the Saloon, he did his best to not try and make eye contact with her. He knew Gus knew what he wanted, so he hoped he’d just leave it on the counter for him to grab so he could make his way to his little corner to sulk like he always did. For whatever reason though, that was not the case. Mildly annoyed, he let out a small sigh and turned to make his way to the bar. He kept a few seats down from Mary as he waved Gus down to order his beer. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her looking over at him so desperately hoping to grab his attention. With another sigh, he turned and faced her, a very unamused expression plastered on his face. He nodded his head to her question, looking briefly to the plate before looking back up to her. She then offered to share them with him and it caused him to roll his eyes. Knowing Mary she had probably planned this all out.  

Begrudgingly, he scooted down a few bar stools so he was now sitting next to her. “I’m only agreeing because it’s free food,” he said before pointing a warning finger at her, “Don’t let it go to your head,” he said before popping one of the pepper poppers into his mouth. “Did you wait to order these till you knew I was coming?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the pepper poppers, “They’re still pretty warm,” he commented. 

...

Shane didn’t love Mary. That much was very, very obvious. He was always exasperated by her, always rolling his eyes, always doing everything in his power to avoid the conversations she so desperately wanted to have with him. But that never discouraged her. For her entire life, there’d never been an option that people didn’t like her. Not because she was full of herself and assumed everyone would love her - just because she was of the firm belief that anyone that wasn’t her friend would be in no time. And generally, that was true. She was friendly and gave people what they wanted, with a positive attitude and big smile. But in the two years she’d lived in Pelican Town, Shane had been very, very avoidant of her and all her stabs at bonding with him. He wanted nothing to do with her - or anyone, for that matter. That wasn’t going to remain the case, though. She was certain of it.

So far, the Pepper Popper Project was working. He was very pointedly looking away from her when she first addressed him, but the hunger he’d built up over his shift at Joja got the better of him. Mary wore a bright, broad smile as he relented and scooted down a few seats to join her rather than taking his usual place in the far corner of the room. 

“Yeah, of course! I only offered because I didn’t know how big the order was,” Mary lied with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. She took one of the pepper poppers, that she’d never tried before, and held it in her hand to let it cool off for a moment. He was right, they were still very warm. “What? No! I didn’t even know you were off work yet.” Again, another lie - Shane saw right through her,  but she was holding steadfast to her innocence. “It was just lucky timing, is all.” She dipped her pepper popper into the cup of ranch that came with the dish and took a bite, but immediately exhaled in surprise. Gus wasn’t fucking around with these, they were spicy. She swallowed the spicy mouthful and took a long drink of her water in an attempt to soothe her mouth, but it wasn’t very helpful. “S-so, uh, how was work?” she asked in a strained voice, trying to act as though the surface of her tongue wasn’t in awful pain.

[kaceyrps]

JESSICA SULA in PANIC

1.04

[farmermary]

mediice​:

starter for @farmermary​

“so, you said you were from zuzu city? where’d you live? i lived by the pizza and bowling combo place in some cruddy little apartment. hated that place, honestly. it smelled like cheap pizza. it was loud all the time too. i get way better sleep now.”

“No way - Pins and Pies? I love Pins and Pies! I went there all the time when I was a kid! I actually grew up not far from there - that neighborhood Moa Park. It was just a few blocks away from there. It was definitely loud; I couldn’t sleep to save my life the first few weeks I lived here because it was so quiet, it was unnerving. Now I love it, though. You’ve been out here for what, almost six months now?”

[r182ycel]

[farmermary]

@ameliakelso

[farmermary]

carsbake​:

Smiling as he looks at the female as she spoke to him and told him he had a great voice and she liked his song and replied “Yes. I’m actually in a band named Saving Annie. I’m Carson by the way. You have an incredible smile.” The male said as he looks into her eyes then said “Your eyes are amazing and sparkly as well.” Carson licks his lips then looks down as he got a bit shy as he said that.

“Mary!” She offered her hand gladly to shake his, her smile bright and broad. “Oh my gosh - thank you! That’s so sweet of you to say.” Her cheeks warmed up at the influx of compliments, but her smile only grew. “You’re super talented! And you have a great smile too!” She made herself comfortable in the sand beside him, running some absently through her fingers. “You said your band is called Saving Annie? Are you guys on Spotify? I’ll have to check you out - I basically only listen to early 2000′s pop, I’m in desperate need of some new tunes.”

[farmermary]

crestfallenx​:

“So what can I get started for ya?” the bartender asked, tossing his towel over his shoulder. “Hell, I’ll even make it extra strong. You’re the first person to come in for a hot minute and I’ve been bored out of my mind.”

“Ooh, I was just gonna ask for a salad...” Mary gave an exaggerated grimace as she leaned against the bar. “But if you want, I can send it back a hundred times to give you something to do! I’ll roleplay as an obnoxious Karen customer.” She flashed a playful grin his way.

[farmermary]

carsbake​:

Carson had gone down to the beach with his folding chair and sat down in the chair with his guitar and began to strum it not knowing anyone was around as he began to sing his song “ And it goes to show, How you make your way into my dreams again. And the less we know.Yeah the more we break right apart. So we’ll raise the stakes and show them.Yeah the more we break right apart.So we’ll raise the stakes and show them.” As he heard someone behind him and said “How long have you been there?” Carson asked as he looks at the person besides him “Also what did you think of the song.”

The beach was one of Mary’s favorite places to be in her down time. The water was relaxing, the sand felt nice beneath her feet, and fishing had become one of her favorite pastimes since moving out to the valley. She often had Amelia or Sofi accompanying her, but for right now she was by herself. Or so she thought. The sound of a guitar melody and a gentle voice greeted her as she got closer to the dock, and she stopped to listen to the rest of it before Carson noticed she was there. “Only a minute!” Mary assured him quickly. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop - but it was really nice. You have a great voice.” She dropped down to sit in the sand beside him. “Did you write that?”

[farmermary]

sofitrres​:

it had been at least a couple of weeks since sofi had seen mary, and it was entirely because the former had barely left the greenhouse and her home lately. end of winter was rough for the trees and the flowers, but thankfully, and with the help of the nice weather starting to take over pelican, she had managed to save her daffodils and tulips. the hyacinths never seemed to be in trouble, although sofi sure had been worried for a moment there.

as a little tradition since they’d known each other, sofi grabbed some of her favorite flowers, a variety of white, yellow and orange daffodils, cut them all nice and neat, and placed them in one of her many spare vases to deliver to her friend. the woman knocked on the farmer’s door, never happier to live in a town so small where these kinds of gestures were nothing out of the ordinary, and gave the younger woman a grin when their eyes met. “good morning, i brought a gift.” sofi greeted, extending the vase of daffodils towards mary. @farmermary​

In the two years since Mary had purchased and subsequently moved onto her farm, going a few weeks without seeing Sofia was honestly pretty rare. They’d become very, very fast friends when she’d first moved in - Mary couldn’t count the amount of times she’d gone taken the short yet scenic walk over to Sofia’s to ask some question in regards to her crops or her greenhouse or the soil conditions. Basic farmer information that had been completely lost on her at the time. She’d become relatively competent with a little time, but her trips to Sofia’s didn’t cease thereafter. She had grown exceptionally fond of her fellow farmer and her little girl.

So when it was Sofi’s face greeting her on the other side of the door, a wide beam crossed over her full face. “Sof, they’re gorgeous!” she gushed as she accepted the vase. There was a growing collection, either spread out throughout her house or gathered under her sink for storage, of the cute little vases Sofia brought flowers in, and she loved them all dearly. This one was going to be a very pretty addition to the group. “Thank you, I love them. My windowsill has been missing your flowers.” She stepped back into her home, leaving the door open in her wake so Sofi knew she could follow her inside, and placed them on the windowsill above her kitchen sink. “You came over at the perfect time, actually - can you look at that?” She nodded at a half-knitted hat sitting on her table, her crochet hook still hooked through the woven yarn. “Do you think that’ll fit on Frida? I know winter is basically over, but I just needed to make her a hat that matched her yellow coat better. The one I made her in October just isn’t cutting it anymore.”

[farmermary]

Mary was the kind of person that needed to be friends with everyone. She was very outgoing, very friendly, very driven - and very, very much desperate for everybody’s approval. Honestly, most of the people in Pelican Town that she’d met since moving here had come to like her, or at least be neutral enough to not mind her. Shane was kind of a different story. He was a tough nut to crack, that was for sure. But Mary wasn’t deterred by his bad attitude and his constant dismissal of her. They’d be friends if it killed him.

Bombarding him after a shift at Joja was, almost definitely, not a good time to try to hang out with him, but it was her plan. She’d come to the saloon for dinner that night, as she often did when she didn’t have the energy to cook, and ordered herself a large order of pepper poppers. Really not her favorite dish - hot peppers were not her speed - but she had a game plan. Once Shane came in and came up to the bar for his usual beer, she exhaled a loud, dramatic sigh.

“Oh, Shane!” she greeted, feigning surprise at seeing him there. As if it weren’t one of the only spots in town to hang out comfortably. “Hey, you like pepper poppers, right? Do you wanna split these with me? There’s just way too many for me to eat.” She gave him a casual smile, like she hadn’t planned this out and timed it carefully so the dish would still be warm when he arrived. @shane-bailey​