#greeneroot

[vuulpecula]

✖ @greeneroot ❤'d for a "teeny tiny" starter !

"There any feed and seed stores around here," Fox asked as she leaned against a truck. Watching Maggie approach with the sun behind her back, she had to squint just to see her. With her face hidden in shadow, sable hair turning honey where the light shined through, it could've been her own sister. No, that wasn't right. Kyla would never be caught dead on a farm, skin flushed and shinin' from hard work--she'd be layin' spread out, sunglasses on, lips painted, tanning in the grass, lettin' others do her work for her. Still, the thought made her throat tight.

"Rural King, Tractor Supply, I figured maybe a Mert County Feed and Co." Another supply run so close to the last was pushing their luck, she knew, but she'd been chewin' on ideas of the future and figured there was no time like the present. "Could stock up seeds, maybe cannin' supplies, they've got medical stuff too. Don't know how many people would think to look there, not with grocery stores and pharmacies nearby."

Her arms crossed as if she was protectin' herself from a denial. The 'it ain't a good idea' she was anticipating. The tops of her forearms had gone from pink to a warm, almost walnut red. Sunscreen. They'd have that too. "I know you'd probably rather go with Glenn," the corner of her mouth quirked up in an almost smile. She hadn't known what they did, could only suspect, but seeing him happy had been enough. Joy was rare and he deserved it. "But, I can promise you we'll find somethin' sweet." The ghost of her smile solidified, turnin' sharp at the edges. "I've been cravin' peach rings for weeks and places that like always have a great selection. Guess farmers have pretty big sweet-tooths."

[vuulpecula]

✖ @greeneroot inquired: church

halloween location prompts | accepting

↳ church : an abandoned church

When the rain came, it was unrelenting. Soaking through straight to the bone in a matter of seconds as they ran for cover beneath a sky cracked open. The church was lonely, standing solitary just off the road. Fortunately, there were no dead waiting in the pews as they clamored inside, trailing rain water and mud across worn wooden floors. The polish gone dull from patrons once devout now vanished. It might've been abandoned before the world collapsed and judging by the graffiti sprayed across the walls, it had.

THE LORD WILL PROVIDE.

Standing stark against the white walls growing dingy with age and damp, the words dripped red behind the pulpit. Something about them had made Fox laugh. She supposed, He had provided. That laugh though, it ricocheted around her ribs in a way that felt too heathen for a place like this. Unnatural. Unbridled. Or maybe it wasn't the words at all, but the fact that they had run near shrieking beneath lightning and thunder in a way that felt juvenile. Youthful. A handful of years younger and maybe it would've been closer to a scene at a summer camp. The kind her family could never afford. With swimming and smores and friendships forged running through rain from the mess hall to the cabins. Maybe in another life they'd met like that and some part her in this one could still feel that joy.

Breathless, with ribs already aching, she looked out one the cylinder glass windows at the world gone white with rain. It was still bright, which meant the storm wouldn't be too bad. "I can see blue sky on the horizon; I give it thirty, maybe an hour." Fox glanced over her shoulder at Maggie, feeling oddly exposed after laughing hard enough to make her own eyes water. "Less if we're lucky."

Looking back out the window, she took in the green blur that must've been trees further across a pasture, then nearer, a cemetery jutted up against the church. Grey lumps of headstones sat in mud already flooding. The coffins underneath had to be waterlogged and rotting. It was a simple scene, one that could be found near any and every church, but something was off, out of place. The mirth that lightened her limbs was dissipating, drowning beneath all that water with a gravestone anchor that said 'somethin' ain't right'. She leaned closer, squinting through the imperfections in the glass at a lump of brown nestled between stones. Too high even with the deluge. Fresh dirt.

"--Maggie," whispered as soft as a prayer. "I don't think we're lucky." Maybe it wasn't them the Lord had provided for.

The dead didn't dig graves.

[rheeroots-a]

@greeneroot AS MAGGIE GREENE - RHEE, CONTINUED.

as maggie tells the tales of her father, enid could feel his energy radiating from her in gentle waves. hershel, she remembers. his name comes to her in glenn's voice, a memory she refuses to let go. her words paint the portrait of a man she could clearly see helped sow the seeds for the foundation maggie was still standing on today. it was a foundation she'd shared with enid since, allowing the girl a chance to rebuild the one that had started to crumble under the pressures of this world.

she's quiet, attentive. she tries to imagine the farm maggie spoke of. the animals and the greenery free of snarling corpses that only bring death nowadays. she imagines maggie as a child, living a life free of the horrors they've both grown to know. then there's the calf. the realization creeps up on her before colliding into her with force. her stomach flips when she finds herself relating to the animal. both were born into a world that brought on suffering far too quick. both got a second chance.

there's a comfortable silence when maggie finishes. " i wish i got to meet him. " hershel. the man who raised a little girl who cried for a half - dead calf that would grow into the woman who made enid feel like she wasn't too far gone either. " but i feel like i did, in a way. 'cause i know you. " enid's voice, soft like honey, sweet as it too - ringing clear and bright. " i mean ... 'ain't nothin' over 'til you decide to quit tryin'?' that kinda sounds like you. " she nods knowingly. " he's still here. "

there's a part of her that's truly at peace in this little trailer. she found family again. with maggie, the baby on the way. " when i first met you and glenn, i was scared. usually that translated into me being mean. rude. " eyes drift to her hands. " but like your dad and the calf, sometimes, it just takes someone to care enough. someone who knows exactly what to do. " eyes soften as brown meets green - gratitude and comfort settled in them. " i think i might've been your half - dead calf. " her eyes sparkle, lips settling into a tender smile. " glenn's too. "