#was thinking maybe bonsai but I have no outside space and I read lots of bonsai-able species don't do well indoors | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jo-the-schmo · 6 years ago

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It Smells Like Rain. Part 1

A/N: This is the first fic I’ve written for MCU, so honestly a lot of stuff is gonna be weird. I kinda mixed universes and make mentions to things that have happened because those movies are too good to not? I promised my friend @aurasphereriolu2 I would write this so I hope you enjoy this Thor x gender neutral reader.

Warnings: Swearing, puns, not much else honestly?

Word count: 6,855

Your nose instinctively scrunched up when you stepped out of the sleek, nondescript, black car that took you into the city. The driver stepped out as well, along with your new sorta boss, Nick Fury. “It smells disgusting here.” You almost felt like gagging, the swirling scent of smog screamed into your nostrils. Nick let out a chuckle that didn’t really suit his character. “You’ll get used to it.” He motioned for you to follow him and the driver into the Avengers tower. You adjusted the band on your fingerless gloves as you all made it past security and into a reflective elevator. You decided to break the silence, “So, got any tips for a newbie?” You said with a hint of sarcasm. But Fury seemed to actually ponder that question. “If you don’t break anything and are okay with dark humor, you’re in with Tony. Just be nice to both of our local spiders and neither should have a problem with you. Don’t be an asshole to Cap. Keep it calm with Bruce and Barnes. And just exist around Thor, then you should be fine.” “Wow, last one sure sounded easy.” You snorted. “He is.” The elevator dinged, sliding open its doors to reveal a spacious room. Extremely modern, stylish, and only semi professional. You were surprised the room was empty, that’s a rare sight for a place that’s supposed to be extra protective. “Alright kids, you know I called a meeting, get your asses in gear.” Fury’s voice shifted to being almost as dramatic as his jacket. Seriously, that thing cannot be too practical. It sure looks cool though...I kinda want one. It only takes a few moments for the room to fill with people. The first of which being the famous Spider-Man. “Sorry! I had to find my mask!” He lets out a charismatic laugh. Why do I feel the strange urge to protect him with my life? Next is the Captain himself, with a sweet grin and some semblance of facial hair going on. “Hello! I’d like to welcome you to the Av-“ he’s soon cut off by another man, Tony Stark. “That would be my line, Colonel Purple Mountains Majesty.” He takes a bite of a...peach? Is that just a straight up peach? “Don’t steal my thunder.” “And you shouldn’t steal mine!” A booming voice echos from down the hall as a tall, blond man comes behind Tony and puts a strong arm around him. You recognize him as Thor. He’s bigger? In person? Weird. “Can we stop doing this cheesy lead up as a way to cleverly introduce ourselves? You all are giving me a migraine.” Black Widow says with disdain as she strolls in through a different hallway, reading something on a hologram tablet. “I’ll second that.” Bruce Banner mumbles as he adjusts his glasses. Has he...slept? Recently? He looks like he’s dying a little bit. Bruce looks around. “Where are the others at?” “Probably getting into trouble.” Thor sighs with a smile on his face. You cannot read what emotion he’s feeling. “Hopefully the good doctor isn’t.” Tony rolled his eyes. “Alright, enough of family sitcom intro sequence, I don’t care where the hell the others are because they aren’t my responsibility. We have important matters to discuss.” Fury gesture a hand towards you, as if he were presenting you. “I’d like for you all to welcome our newest agent. On normal circumstances, you all would’ve met her already. But unfortunately, those aren’t our circumstances. This is Agent L/N. They’re here to help deal with our recent conundrum...” Fury trails off. “Oh! You mean Metalhead?” Spider-Man suggests. “That is...not the name we were going with but yes, Metalhead.” You can’t see the facial expressions on whoever is wearing that mask but you can feel him smirking. Tony walks over to you in confident but effortless stride. Everything about him seemed very natural and blasé. You were surprised by the fact that apparently he enjoyed Metallica, at least that’s what his shirt suggested. “So what’s your deal? I need to come up with a clever nickname.” And apparently he’s extremely self aware. He extended his hand to you. “Got a name?” “Y/N.” You shook his hand with a firm grip before Fury answered his earlier questions. “Agent L/N is going to aiding you in your pursuit against ‘Metalhead’. I picked them specifically for the job because- well, maybe I should let them show you.” After hearing multiple people agree, you were ushered over to the center of the room with everyone surrounding you in a circle. You took the glove off your dominant hand and let in a deep breath. At least the air in here is a little cleaner... You looked around the room for a good place. Thor took especial interest in what you were doing. Finally you found something that wouldn’t break. You spotted a bonsai tree by the large window and gently showed your hand in its direction. The veins in your arm began to glow and in an instant, the bonsai began to grow rapidly. Spider-Man latched onto the wall near the elevator as he gasped in surprise. You took slow steps toward the shaping tree. A branch lowered itself down to you and allowed you to step onto the trunk. It didn’t buckle under your weight because of your infused power. You waved your hand and the tree extended, moving you back to the center of the circle. Everyone was thoroughly surprised by the realization. “You’re a mutant?” Widow asked. Banner seemed confused. “Wait, why a mutant? Aren’t they kinda a different department or something?” He asked, eyes squinted. “Well I’m not a teenager anymore, and let’s just say that the whole setting doesn’t fit me anymore.” You could tell everyone wanted you to elaborate but instead you hopped off the bonsai and waved it away. The tree twisted and shrank back down to its original size, looking completely untouched. “Looks like we got a second green thumb around here.” Tony pointed out. “I hate that.” Cap said with a grimace. “Get them accustomed to the area and I’ll check back in tomorrow so we can go over plans. Tony, play nice, we need them for this.” With that, Fury left with the elevator. “I’d offer to show you around but Bucky asked to train with me after the meeting. Call me Steve, by the way.” I’m gonna call him Rogers. You thought as he quickly left the room.

“Same here, the big guy and I have some-“ Tony pauses. “Spidey, cover your ears.” You raise an eyebrow when you actually see Spider-Man cover the sides of his head with his hands. “Some science shit to work on.” He signals for the ear covering to stop.

“You don’t have to do that y’know? Swearing isn’t a big deal.”

“The fact that you call it swearing means I’m right in my decisions.” Tony pays Bruce’s shoulder and the both of them turn around and open the door to an all glass lab.

“It was nice to meet you, Y/N! I have to go work on my suit for a bit, but I’ll be back later to pick your brain!” And with that, he bounced out of the room. He sure is enthusiastic. You turned your attention to the blonde woman in the outfit that matched her personality.

“I just don’t wanna do it. Big, dumb, blonde idiot, you blabber to her for a bit.” She barely looked up from the screen. Thor let out a hearty laugh.

“Don’t mind her, you get used to her.”

“She’s charming.” Though I suppose I’d be in the same mood if this was my everyday. Thor gave you his hand. You slid your glove back on before shaking his hand. His grip was surprisingly gentle for someone so...that.

“My name is Thor Odinson. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Likewise.” You took a deep breath through the nose and suddenly were caught off guard. What’s that...smell? “Rain?” You pondered out loud. Your hand fell back to your side as Thor clapped both his together with a bright smile on his face.

“Ah, you smell that? You must have a good nose, I never hear people comment on that.” He seemed almost excited that someone caught on. “I’m the god of thunder, the scent comes with the deal.” You fell silent for a moment.

“Oh, I’m gonna have to be around you A LOT!” You allowed yourself a sigh of relief. “Do you know how bad the city smells? I hate it! I’m gonna need to set up a greenhouse here or something.”

“Well I can provide the rain if you have an open roof.” Thor spike with delight

“Think Stark will be okay with this?”

“I’d wager so, he’s usually fine with most of our antics.”

“Well I need one anyway, can’t really sleep in a stuffy room with chemicals spilling around me.”

“Let me show you around, it’ll give you an excuse to figure out where your choice of stay will be.” You followed him around for a majority of the day, incidentally learning a lot about him with every floor.

“You seemed the least surprised about my whole, plant thing. Guess it’s not too weird in comparison to being a god.”

“That, and someone in my realm has that exact skill set. Asgard is quite the place.”

“Why is there a hole in the wall there?”

“That would be my brother, Loki. He had a bit of a rat incident, got stuck in the wall.”

“Wow…”

“Yeah, that’s my brother for ya.”

You were able to understand a general layout of the building and knew where your room was supposed to be. But you refused. You didn’t have much sent with you so managed to convince Thor to grab a few bags while you got all your potted plants and made your way to the only space that connected with the outside other than the ground itself. You were fully aware that this area was meant for the helipad but you didn’t care. Thor seemed rather confused, examining you as you flitted about the open, outdoor space.

“You...plan to sleep outside?”

“Fury obviously didn’t get the memo…”

“What memo?”

“I can’t exactly stay inside for too long.” You had him put all the stuff down so he could focus on what you were saying, since he was obviously still perplexed. You ungloved your hand once more to demonstrate. You usually tried to let nature take its course with your plants but for the sake of explanation, made an exception to your rule. With the opposite hand, you carefully extracted a piece of a succulent you were trying to propagate.

“My body is heavily in tuned with the natural world.” You paused and made sure he watched as you placed the small shred of green onto your naked palm. In an instant, the succulent began to grow, and it wasn’t long before it came to its full size. It took 2 seconds. “So much so that I can bring life to something that has long since past. But that comes with a few setbacks on my end.”

“What do you mean?”

“My body itself acts more similar to a plant than a flesh person. I need to be outside a surprising amount. I actually did sleep in the court yard back at Xavier’s. And if I’m being completely honest, my presence out here might help clean the air a bit.” Thor nodded along, he didn’t seem confused anymore, he actually looked quite pleased with what he learned.

“Well, that certainly is a wonderous ability to-“ his hand reaches for your own, the one that held the succulent. You panicked and dropped it to the ground, pulling your hand back just in time to escape Thor’s touch. You hastily put the glove back on as his own hand reeled back in surprise. “I apologize, I certainly did not mean to-“

“No, no! You’re fine, you are all good! Just...just don’t touch my bare hands. My fingers are okay but not my palms or the backs of my hands. Just a safety precaution.”

“Do you mind me asking why exactly?” His words were soft and curious.

“Well, my power generates from certain points on my body. My palms and the soles of my feet. I can pull the power to my fingers and stuff like that, but there’s no guarantee that bare contact won’t just turn whatever I touch into something more...organic? It isn’t intentional, it just happens and I never know when it’s coming so I always cover my palms.”

“That seems rather stressful…”

“Pfft, mine’s a summer breeze compared to some other mutants. As long I’m not stupid and you’re not stupid, it should be okay. Which neither of us are, nor anyone in this building from what I’d guess.” You laughed at your own statement. After all, some of the world’s greatest geniuses are here. But Thor seemed rather surprised by your statement. He quickly shook it off and his usual smile was brought to his face.

“Well, let’s go bother Stark in his lab, you do need somewhere to sleep!”

…

Your stay with the Avengers has been interesting to say the least. In the time you’ve been there, only 3 days, you have seen 5 windows shatter, a coffee machine literally implode, and have gotten stuck to the wall because Clint (who had just come back after some time off) decided to scare poor Spidey while you got caught in the crossfire of his reaction. There were plenty of good things to come of it though.

You did in fact get your greenhouse, that night actually. You didn’t expect Thor to be so persuasive, but you suppose it’s not too outlandish to see that. Spider-Boy (name pending) also kept to his word. He did find you the next day and ‘picked your brain’ for a bit. He was a nice kid, a smart one too. He never ran out of questions to ask you, but was always very polite about it.

Today, you were in your greenhouse. It wasn’t, gigantic or anything. Not nearly as grandiose as your one back at Xavier. You were glad they kept their word when you requested someone still take care of it. But you were just happy that you had something to work with. You took off your gloves and slid them into your back pocket. With a wave of your hand, two tree limbs exuded from your arms and pushed open the folding roof, careful to not break the glass. This by far was your favorite feature. The glass panes were good enough to allow proper sunlight but something about letting the sun into the small structure whenever you wanted was very nice.

As you got yourself busy, you became lost in thought. You were supposed to come here to help solve the ‘Metalhead’ problem but it hasn’t been talked about since your first day. Furthermore, he’s been keeping a low profile ever since you arrived, it was making you a bit anxious. You wondered what he could be planning. I should talk to Tony and Rogers about it when I get the chance.

“You’re up early!” You heard the voice of the young Spidey as he perched himself on the edge of the greenhouse.

“Early Bird gets the worm, yeah?”

“Oh, worm?” You facepalm. He laughs at your reaction.

“Are you ready to get to work?” For the past 2 days, Spidey has been dropping by to help you with your plants. Apparently he can’t take care of a regular plant to save his life.

“You bet!” He hopped down and put a pair of gloves on over his already covered hands, which never stopped being funny to you. You tried to change up which bed he took care of so that he would learn different things. Today you instructed him on how to care for the few small trees you had inside. One being a peach tree (under Stark’s request). Man likes his peaches, I guess.

The two of you were oddly silent when you worked. This was unusual for him at least because he always had a question to ask. Can you sleep inside? Yes. Why don’t you? Well, my body gets a lot of its energy from being outside in general. Are you telling me you go through photosynthesis? Sort of, the sun does play a part in it but being outside in general keeps me working. Winter is a bit of a struggle but I make it work. Do you need to eat? Yes, I do. Most of my energy comes from being outside but I am still a person. He’d ask a lot about your powers but also about your favorite movies and shows. He was happy to hear that you plan on sticking around in the city to help with air quality. How much clean air do you generate? Hmmm, last time I checked it was about the same amount as 10,000 trees. That’s a lot of damage! Yeah, it is. How exactly does that work? Well, trees can absorb harmful gases and pollutants in the air and filter clean air back out. My skin does the same thing. You almost didn’t notice him finally start talking while you pondered.

“Why do you do this?”

“Hm?” The question was vague but genuine.

“Why do you take care of plants by hand when you can summon them whenever you want?” That was a question nobody had really asked you before. It took you a second to find the right response.

“Well… Where’s the fun in that?” You paused what you were doing and turned to look at him. “There’s no satisfaction in just making something happen. You have to work for it, understand it, create it. My powers are in tuned with nature but I am not nearly as wondrous as the natural world. I just…” You turned back to the amazon lilies.

“Just what?” He asked shyly. You looked at him but continued to plant the lilies.

“You’re a smart boy, Spidey. Why is a smart guy like you asking so many questions?” This is what was really getting to you. Even with his mask on he looked nervous.

“So many of the Avengers are fantastical in some way.”

“Are you telling me you aren’t special right now? Because if you are, I swear, I WILL turn you into a willow tree!”

“I’m sorry! I guess it just...kinda gets to me sometimes? Please don’t turn me into any sort of non sentient organism.”

“Alright...but this is your only warning boy, I’m watching you! You better like yourself or I’ll get upset and you won’t like me when I’m upset!” Spidey made a pfffffffffft noise and laughed.

“You can’t just steal Bruce’s thing!”

“Shhhhhh, don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.” You smiled. He’s a good kid, he shouldn’t feel let down. You made a note to talk to Tony and Rogers about this too. Something made a frantic beeping noise.

“Oh! Sorry! My Aunt is calling. Think we can continue this later?”

“Sure thing, kiddo.” And with your go ahead, he did a sweet flip out of the greenhouse. Can he just not use doors? The curse of being Spider-Boy… you heard a knock on the glass door adjacent from you. In the doorway was the other reason the past few days had been so pleasant. “Visiting my cabin in the woods so soon, Goldie Locks? Figured you’d at least wait till noon.”

“I could say the same for you.” Thor grinned. Thor was...an interesting guy. You weren’t expecting the guy you saw on TV all the time to be quite like this. He was big, loud, and a bit on the dramatic side. But he was also the most gentle person you had ever met. At least around you he was. His voice was always more soothing when it was just the two of you. But this time he sounded a bit more concerned. “I heard what you said to the spider boy.” I knew that name couldn’t be original!

“How much?”

“All that I needed to hear.” He came closer to you, leaning his hip against the desk that converted into your bed. “Why were you up so early?” Nothing seems to get past him. He’s very intuitive.

“I’m...anxious? That’s probably what it is. Sleeping has been a bit of an issue.”

“Why so anxious? Anyway I can help?”

“You’re too sweet.” You sighed and thought for a moment. “I feel like I’m not getting anything done. This is my third day here and the whole reason I’m here hasn’t been brought up once. I feel like I’m just sitting around.” You turned around, resting yourself partially of the edge of the wooden flower bed support, staring down at your hands. You were so lost and thought that you didn’t catch what was happening until the last second. Thor was standing in front of you. Your hands shot back and hit the board, gripping into the clean wood, while he leaned in close.

“Need to stretch your legs for a bit?” The smirk on his face made you blush but also slant your eyes.

“Can you be more specific? Context would be important here.” You gave a forced chuckle.

“Training! I’ve been dying to see you in action and I think I could convince some of the others to come along!” He’s so pretty when he’s enthusiastic.

“I guess? I mean, I’ve got nothing else to do!” Your lips tightened into a thin smile. He pulled himself away and clapped his hands together.

“Excellent! I shall inform the others, see how many participants I can gather. Will I meet you back here?”

“I suppose so…” And with that, Thor left with a little more bounce in his step. You let out a heavy breath and managed to unferel your hands from the planks of wood. You hesitated, but knew you had to see. 2 patches of moss in the shape of flustered hands. “Damnit…”

About 30 minutes pass by the time Thor meets back up with you. He changed from his casual clothes into his battle attire which you had never seen in person. You weren’t entirely sure why your anxiety had gotten worse. This was supposed to be at least a little fun. It was supposed to NOT make you anxious. Maybe I just need to wait till we get there.

“You ready to go?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be!” You literally followed that up with saying ‘ha’ three times. “Who’s coming along?”

“Barnes, the boy, one of Stark’s suits, and I believe Banner is coming as well!” He sure is excited. “Can you fly?”

“What?” You heard a light thud, and suddenly another voice had entered the conversation.

“Mr.Barnes and Mr.Bucky are taking one of the aircrafts. Are you going with them? Because Thor will be hopping around and I’ll be swinging.”

“Yes, what he said.” Thor chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

“Hm, I think I’ll make it just fine if you guys lead the way.” Thor could read the mischievous glint in your eyes. You closed the door of the greenhouse behind you and walked over to the edge of building. You took off your gloves again and attached them to one of your belt loops.

“What are you doing?” They both asked in unison, which was kinda weird.

“You’ll see.” You sang. You shot Thor a wink before you leaned forward and let your body free fall. You heard Spidey exclaim ‘oh shit!’ as you fell. This was one of the benefits that your powers gave you. You smiled as the air built around you. You watched in bullet time as ivy began to coat the ground and up the wall of the Avengers tower. And then the falling stopped. You were completely relaxed as you hung motionless in the air. That is, until you felt something whiz past you and land on the sidewalk about 10 feet below you. Worried eyes looked up at you.

“Are you al-“ he stopped as he noticed what was going on. A cottonwood tree had grown on the side of the structure. The roots sprawled, none going through the building. You hang from an ivy vine that coiled around your left ankle and up your leg, the other one bent as if you were trying to hug your knee. Spidey landed on the trunk above you, clearly stunned.

“How do you stay upside down so long? My head is already starting to hurt.”

“That was so cool!” He exclaimed.

“Thanks kid, you need to teach me how to swing around without the blood rush.” You looked back down at Thor. “You alright down there big guy?”

“Yes, you just gave me a bit of scare.” He brushed off the worry and continued. “At least I have an idea of what to expect during training.” You heard the click of camera and phones going off, people around you were taking pictures. You waved politely for them.

“Lead the way, boys. I’m ready to go!” More vines crawled over the trunk and managed to pull you up, but instead of Boston Ivies, these were littered in yellow flowers. “Black-Eyed Susan’s? Huh, that’s a good one.”

“I could just carry you. Don’t want to waste any energy for training.” Thor suggested.

“Ha! That’s just what you want, buddy. Spidey, lead the way!”

“You got it!” Without skipping a beat, he began to swing away. You took a running start down the winding branches of the tree before they began to carry you. Then you ran again. Your body and powers already sensing your next move, a white willow shot out of the ground. The tall, branching trunk wrapped around a lamp post in multiple directions and caught around your leg, keeping you still for a second. You felt the white and gold specs of energy blow past you, like leaves and petals do in anime and cartoons for some reason that no one talks about. The cottonwood tree and boston ivy on the tower was gone.

“That’s certainly impressive.”

“Just wait until we get to our destination, tall, blonde, and handsome.” You took the opportunity of Thor’s shock and got the fuck out of there. It only took less than an hour to get to an open field where Spidey was waiting since you were essentially running from your consequences.

“Took you two long enough!” The boy said just as you jumped down with Thor following close behind.

“You always need to properly stretch before you do anything physically exerting.” It wasn’t long before you heard a helicopter coming by in the distance. You decided to take a look at your surroundings while it landed. Guess I should’ve figured they all don’t train inside...that wouldn’t really make much sense with their skill sets.

“Sorry we’re late, had to pick up some equipment.” Bruce explained as he came closer to your small group with Bucky in tow.

“Equipment? What do you need equipment for? We’re training.” Thor questioned.

“You all are training, not me. I’m here out of curiosity.”

“He wants to see what they can do.” Bucky pointed at you.

“Exactly. I’ll be over here…” he pointed to the side and began to walk in the direction. But before he made it to his destination, be pulled out something that looked like a beeper, pressed it, and threw it behind him. Thor smirked and said-

“In 3...2...1…” And there it is, pieces of one of Stark’s suits flew in, building itself over where the beeper landed.

“That’s super neat!”

“Eh, that’s an older model that remade for training. Not nearly as cool as his normal suits.” Spidey punctuated.

“Well, let’s not waste anymore of Banner’s time. He’s just as curious as the rest of us.” He smiled at you before raising his voice to everyone else. “Spread out! It’s time to get to work.” Everyone nodded but you had another trick up your sleeve.

“Good luck, boys. I’ll be keeping a BUCKeye on you!” You clapped your hands and pushed them into making circles reverse of each other. The grass on the ground grasped at your feet. Dandelions crawled up your form. Then, you were nowhere to be seen. Because you were literally underground. Last time I used that was to get out of a reeeeaaaaalllly awkward conversation. Quick moves!

You never know where your powers will take you, they do their own thing sometimes. You shot out of the ground and onto your feet, surprisingly not dirty. Nice job roots, you’re getting better at that. The first thing you noticed was a pond. Cool beans! It’s like a little park here! Why the hell is their a pond in the training grounds? Ooooo! Creeping Jenny! A sneaky gal!

“Don’t let your guard down, bud!” You heard Bucky charge at your from behind, a wall of roses sprawled an inch from your back.

“The only things down are my serotonin levels, Buck!” Making a sharp turn, you lunged and dragged your hand across the spotty ground, making a semi circle around where Bucky had to slow down. Even though he tried to jump out of the way with those good, good reflexes, you anticipated him. Three roots pulled him back into a sort of hug with their buckeye tree. One caught him on his waist, his still people hand, and his left leg. “Get it? It’s a both a pun on your name and the one I made earlier.”

“You’re a clever little shit.”

“Yeah I am, you can easily break that so I’m gonna bounce and have you catch up with me in a sec but I just got one more question.” He looked confused. “Who the fuck names their kid after the most irrelevant president?” And with that, you straight bounced out of their. Meaning a shit load of bamboo shoots punctured through the ground and shot you in the air. Your curled yourself into a ball while zooming through the air and felt something soft and fuzzy wrap around you. You felt yourself land but it didn’t hurt. You relaxed your muscles and realized you were covered in Lamb’s Ear and under you was a round patch of Irish Moss. So soft! You gave them both a little squeeze before getting up and going into a sprint. You heard a familiar ‘woosh’ noise and quickly phased into a nearby tree. Red and Blue were heading your way, and fast. Better think faster! You were pushed back through the air, your back bending and until your feet hit the surface of a another tree across from the original one. The motion caused the white glimmers of energy that you focused on to form into a cluster of bengal clockvine. Of course, Spidey would be able to sense this coming, so your only option was to overwhelm him with numbers. The entirety of the 2 trees you moved between and the space in between were saturated by a mass of thin green vines, leaves, and purple trumpet shaped flowers.

“NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO N-“ he was almost able to avoid them, which was extremely impressive. His foot got caught on the top, making him trip in the air, and slam back onto the opposite side of the wall. You climbed around and jumped onto a branch a few feet away that gave you a good look at your handy work. The boy was literally upside down.

“Oh look, a spider in my web! You doing okay there? I almost didn’t catch you, kiddo!”

“Yep! I’m fine, nothing wrong here!” He groaned.

“Where’s the suit at, kid?”

“I’ll never tell! No snitches in MY Avengers!”

“Good looking out. Barnes is probably on his way, tell him I said sorry about the puns when you get out!” The branch bent and lowered you to the ground, you ran as you waved bye to the kid.

Alright...now if I was a suit worth more than my life, where would I be? You saw dark clouds rolling in at a strangely quick pace. Probably trying to fight a literal god to prove a point, yeah that sounds about right. Grand entrance time!

You slowed down to halt and scooped up a handful of dirt, squeezing it against your bare palm. You felt the ground shake under your boots, cracks pooled through the dry soil. Your hand felt the prickle of dull needles as your eyes saw the world spin. With loud, gnarly cracks, you stood near the top of a Sugar Pine, you estimated roughly about 200 feet tall. You could’ve made it taller, or manifested a different species of tree entirely. But you didn’t want to waste all your energy on being showy. Only waste SOME of your energy of being showy! Good plan.

You stayed still as the roots...uproot. It was less like the pine was walking and more like it was slithering. The roots acted like snakes, but the snakes were carrying a 2 liter container of water...or something similar to that. For most people, they’d be freaking the hell out, but you were accustomed to this. In fact, you barely held on, there wasn’t a point in being nervous about this. Is it weird that I’m less bothered by this than being really close to a one-eyed god? Eh, probably not, right? You felt the air chill around you and shivered, but it wasn’t unpleasant. The feeling of soft electricity hit you first, then the voices faded in.

“Come on, Stark! You can be faster than that, even if that’s just an empty shell!”

“Hey! My suits are not empty, I’ve got AI in there! You better watch yourself, pretty boy!”

“Aw, that’s sweet, you think I’m pretty?” Thor taunted.

“Am I interrupting something? Should I come back later?” You shouted. 4 explosives locked on and fired toward you. “Whoops!” You dropped down and let a lower branch catch you, the top part of the pine was blown off and on fire. These were just the baby bullets. He was going easy on you. “Well damn, if you’ve already got the wine out, I might as well stay for a glass!”

“Dumb one-liners are my thing, Justin Timberlake.” This will truly be a battle of puns.

“Sorry to steal your game, rich boy.” The branch flung you up into the air. The suit aimed its palm at you, radiating with energy. And just before it was able to lock on to you, gravity was getting ready to pull you back down. You had essentially done a flip in the air and were nearly hovering over the Iron Man suit. Human eyes meeting robotic ones. You let the dirt in your hand go. The granules slipped from your fingers and trickled over the suit.

In that moment, you realize some things. First, Tony was controlling the suit, not letting one of his AI’s handle it as he earlier suggested. Next, there were at least a few gaps in THIS suit, not totally airtight. Finally, that pun he made was really good and you’re gonna have to think for a little bit to find a comeback. The suit reacted to what you did.

“Did you just throw dirt at my suit? You’re cleaning this!” You landed on a Lawson cypress that was only about 150 feet tall. Damn, am I getting tired already?

“Oh that shit’s never coming out.” You called with a smirk on your face. It was faint but you could see some green peeking out around where the joints in the suit would be. It’s arm twitched.

“What the hell did you do?” Tony’s voice was starting to sound crackly.

“Just a little gardening!” You sang. “Sheet moss is really good for covering almost any material, and is super soft too!” The suit started to convulse. “Sorry for hacking into your system with literal dirt. Imagine if that were someone’s intestines, gross right?” The lights went out and it began to fall. You whistled as it went. You looked back at Thor who was gripping Stormbreaker. “Think he’s gonna make me pay for that?”

“Doubtfully. Stark is a complicated man but he’s not heartless.”

“Good, didn’t think he would be. So...wanna do a quick round? You barely got to match with the suit before I spoiled your fun.” You moved your hand softly, making the branch you stood on raise and move closer to Thor until you were only a foot apart.

“I don’t want to fight you, even in training.”

“Why not? Is it because I’m a gentle little flower?” You teased. That’s what most people thought of you but you didn’t blame them. Your powers were more defensive than offensive.

“Quite the opposite, actually. You scare me a bit. I know when to pick and choose my battles.” He snickered. “I’d rather fight someone who can beat me in strength than someone who can outsmart me. Though, either impressive.”

“I mean, yeah, you ARE a god with superior strength and intelligence...isn’t that you thing?”

“Ah, you flatter me.”

“I THINK YOU MEAN FLATTEN!” You hardly had time to register the voice of Spidey before the cypress beneath you started to bend into a cocoon around your body. You couldn’t move but felt yourself get hit and thrown back.

You weren’t sure how long you were in the air for but you sure felt the landing. Your body rattled against the wooden shell, feeling dizzy and your head aching from what might have been a mild concussion. The cypress faded into specs of light absorbed into the air. Your muscles strained as you attempted to sit back up, but what you saw horrified you.

“What the hell…” Chrome blinded you with the mid afternoon sun, making the site serene in a grotesque manner. You weren’t sure how much of the crime lay before you but that didn’t manner. Coated in a metallic sheen were at least a dozen of what looked like Green Ashes and two stationary, humanoid figures.

Mouths were open in a silent scream, arms outstretched. Their metallurgic layer almost looking ghostly. You sat motionless for a few moments and drank in the scene. Adrenaline boiling. Then you came to your senses.

“Fix it! I can fix it! Fix it…” You tried your hardest to break through your fears and generate all the power you had left in your system. Push it back, I just need to push the particles back and do it fast enough for them to not react. Simple stuff! You slammed your hands into the cold earth and imagined your energy flowing back into it. It would be like a defibrillator shock on a dead corpse. Your body felt lighter and more weak, something was definitely happening.

But you saw nothing. Your tried again, and again, more energy, more violently, until your hands shank into the ground just to TRY and make something happen. The metal was spreading, it was still a few feet away from you. It was slow if anything else. You felt no life in this area, despite all the blades of grass and trees in front of you. Everything coated was dead, or so close that it almost didn’t matter. Your head ached and begged for you to stop. But you had to do something.

“Y/N? Where are you? Are you hurt?” An accented voice called out, but you didn’t have the strength to answer. Trap it, I can trap this patch until we find a way to contain it and reverse it. Grass scraped under a quiet but firm step. “Do you need medical-“ but he was cut short by what he saw.

With trembling hands, your nails scratched into the soil, your body screamed in pain. You had never exerted this much energy before, you never needed to.

“Just trap it, hold it, trap it, hold it, make it stop.” A few dozen stalks of white bark stained with grey patches erupted around the patch of land, shifting all the natural trees back. Yellow leaves sprouted quickly and dotted the sky from what you could see. They were unnaturally close together and made somewhat of a dome shape but that’s exactly what you needed. Something dense that would save time. A strong hand gripped your shoulder.

“Can you hear me? I’ve been calling out to you-“

“Pando, the trembling giant. They share a root system so I’ll be able to have it circulate a little longer than it’s supposed to. I can’t push it back.” You had panic in your heart but a numbness in your brain. The voice was quieter than before but it didn’t sound intentional.

“We need to get back to the others-“ your mind cut something out. “Just hold on, I can-“ your eyes shut, you something support your back and behind your knees. “We’ll find him.”

#marvel fic #thor x reader #thor odinson #mcu fanfiction

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flapperfromthefuture · 7 years ago

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Confession time: I am a crazy plant lady. I take good care of them and they make me happy, so it’s okay, right? When I’m a little down, I repot a plant or two and I feel great. When my anxiety is ramping up, I buy a new plant. Or two. Succulents are like five bucks. They’re cheaper than ice cream and they don’t have any calories.

I may have too many plants.

So when I drove past one of my favorite spots in town, the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, and saw this sign, I did the full cartoon slam on the brakes and shouted to no one, “Put that on my calendar!”

This sale kept me awake at night for two weeks. When it finally arrived, I got to the gardens at 10 on Saturday morning, because I wanted to see the good plants before they got sold (anxiety!). I wasn’t planning to stay long or even buy more than one or two plants. I’ve been to the orchid sale and bonsai sale and the flower basket sale so I know these events get crazy and I get anxious, so my trusty strategy has always been “get in, get plant, get out,” and it’s never let me down .

But there’s regular crazy and then there’s succulent crazy.

At only a few minutes past 10 in the morning, I found myself at the end of a rapidly growing line that had already spilled outside the actual building.

Now, if you’ve read my previous post you know that I’m a Disney veteran who does not get thrown off by a line—but they don’t sell exotic plants on Peter Pan.

People on their way out were passing by every few minutes, carrying giant boxes full of plants that I. wanted. A man the size of a linebacker hustled by with his arms full of air plants. A girl with a giant Amazon box full of plants said, “Can’t wait to get them home and introduce them to their brothers and sisters!” and I wanted to cry.

MY plants needed new brothers and sisters!

This was not the usual plant crowd either. Sure, the requisite elderly ladies in sun hats and purple sweatpants were there (aka my heroes) but there were also hipsters with too many tattoos and questionable blue hair stripes, people with kids, babies in strollers, college kids excitedly planning where to put their plants on their single windowsill.

I texted Stella, “Good news! I’m not the only crazy plant lady. Bad news: the crazier plant ladies are going to take all the good plants.”

“Yeah man, you gotta get in there,” she said. “The plants need you!”

The young couple behind me were in full complaining mode. “We don’t want to spend our whole Saturday waiting in line,” they agreed, and bailed.

Those people wouldn’t last long on New Year’s Eve in Epcot, I’m just saying,

I was now about halfway to the entrance.

I focused on my phone so I wouldn’t look at the people leaving and the plants they had bought, but still, I was consumed with anxiety. What if they ran out of plants? What if I got in there after all this effort and all the plants left were gross and dying? What if my dream plant is in there? I don’t even know what my dream plant would be, but what if I have one and it’s in there and being bought by someone right now who won’t know how to take care of it and it’ll die—

An elderly woman with pentagon-shaped glasses—yes, pentagon-shaped, five sides—brushed past me and decided to address the entire line.

“It’s worth the wait!” she said. “They won’t run out of plants, I promise. I’m only leaving because I have too many. But it’s worth it!”

I watched her head out the door, wondering what adventures awaited her.

“I want to befriend this person but I can’t leave the line,” I texted Stella.

I have worn glasses since the second grade and I have never seen pentagon-shaped frames. They were tortoiseshell. Where does someone buy pentagon-shaped tortoiseshell glasses? What experiences has this person had that made her go, “You know what? Rectangles and ovals are boring. Life is short. I’m going with the pentagons.”

I would buy her whatever drink she wanted to hear her life story.

After a good 25 minutes (which as my dad will tell you, is not that bad, especially for a big ticket ride. We could do 25 minutes for Toy Story Mania in our sleep), I was at the entrance to the show. My muscles started to tense, ready to run in as soon as the young volunteer who got the coveted job of “bouncer for the succulent sale” deemed me worthy of entering.

“This is pretty crazy,” I said, flashing my best smile.

“It always is,” she said. “You can go in now.”

I swear I heard a choir sing.

There was a table full of cardboard boxes and I made sure to take the smallest one, as an attempt to counter my hoarding tendencies. At this point, I swear I was only going to buy one plant, maybe two. Stella wanted one, and A needed a new hanging plant for her office.

I ventured into the fray, carrying my little empty box in front of me for protection, and a third mission made itself imminently clear: survive.

If you’ve ever been in a crowded elevator and then the elevator stopped and another dozen people got in, and the elevator was also full of plants and also an actual greenhouse with glass walls that, you know, conduct sunlight, you would understand the vibe of this sale.

In other words: claustrophobia officially triggered.

There was a line around each plant table, a line to get into the line for each table, a line to pay, and plenty of people were in a line but had no idea what the line was for so there was a ton of confusion and “Is this the line to pay or the line for air plants?” and people jostling for position and it was far from the chill and relaxed ambience that you usually get in a botanical garden. This was Black Friday for succulents.

A woman behind me loudly complained that she had just set down a plant she wanted to buy for two seconds and someone had grabbed it. No one around her looked sympathetic.

It was every plant person for themselves.

I don’t remember when I transitioned from “buy two plants” to “buy every plant” but it must have been somewhere around the time that a guy tried to sell me this rare little beauty—for 45 dollars!

I put that sucker right back. Do I look like I started buying succulents yesterday?

Of course, I almost bought a rare plant from Indonesia that depends on ants colonizing its root pod for nutrients. I almost bought three of these.

I thought A might like one as well, and then I would have to get one for Stella too, because who wouldn’t want a super-cool ant plant?

When I told A, she was horrified.

“If your plant lived that would mean you had ants! In your house!” she said.

“I thought they looked cool!” I said. “And they were only 7 dollars!”

“You’re paying 7 dollars TO GET ANTS!”

Fortunately, sanity prevailed in the moment, and I put the ant plants back. Still, I was in frenzy mode. I picked up a plant, then put it back a few minutes later. I grabbed a plant for Stella, fell out of love with it, then got her a different one. All the while I’m weaving in and out of the endless lines of hot, sweaty people, their faces all dawning with the sudden realization that humans are indeed animals and we will resort to our most primal instincts in mere seconds.

Perhaps the more evolved being is . . .the humble succulent?

Fortunately, Disney trained me well, and I wove in and out of the crowd with a minimum of panic symptoms. I did have a quick fantasy about bumping into my first anxiety therapist and saying, “I did it! Look where I am right now!” But then I would have had to shove her aside to get to the plants.

And then, I saw it—the Holy Grail of the succulent sale—the only hanging basket left in the entire joint. I grabbed it before I could even read the tag to know what kind of plant it was. And not to brag, but I read very quickly. That’s how heightened my reflexes were.

“That’s a really nice one,” another seller told me. “Just don’t overwater it, and it’s almost indestructible. Hey, and it’s my last one! You were lucky.”

I clamped down on this thing so hard that you’d think I was trying to sneak it out of the country. Actually, getting it out of the sale was almost as hard.

Now that I was struggling to make my way through the throng with this basket on my arm, people were whipping around to look at me and loudly ask if there were any left.

When I said, “Sorry, this was the last one!” they looked at me the way my cat does, when he’s hungry and bites down on whatever body part I’ve make the mistake of exposing to get my attention. The narrowed eyes of, “You have something I want. Prepare to die.”

My box was now stuffed tight with six little plants—one for Stella, one for A, and (cough) four for me. A volunteer very kindly offered to get me a bigger box and that’s when I realized, “I gotta get out of here.” You know, the way that Dorothy or Coraline or whoever is having a great time in the other universe until something makes them realize, “This isn’t right! I have to go home!”

This was my Auntie Em moment. But getting out was even rougher than getting in, plus I had this hanging basket on my arm, and it was the last hanging basket in the entire sale.

I finally understand the expression, “People were on me like I had the last bump of coke at the party.”

It took three different attempts, but I finally got in the right line to pay. It took all my strength not to duck out and take one more look-around or grab one more teeny tiny plant that was only $2 and needed a home where it would be loved . . . anyway, I cashed out, and honestly it was cheaper to get seven plants than to go out to brunch, so I did really well.

As I made my way to freedom, past the now even longer line, people looked at my hanging plant with envious eyes. “Did they have a lot left?”

I hustled my way past before anyone could offer me money for it.

The line was easily three times longer than when I went in—instead of extending just outside the building, the line now went around the building and into the parking lot. So if I waited 25 minutes, those people waited around 90. That’s a Space Mountain during spring break wait.

I made my way to my car, which was parked a full nautical league away, carrying this box and heavy hanging plant. My arms were shaking by the time I made it.

I had been at the gardens for two and a half hours.

When I got home, my cat was waiting for me with an expression of, “What did you bring home this time?”

The Apocalyptic Succulent Sale Confession time: I am a crazy plant lady. I take good care of them and they make me happy, so it's okay, right?

#ann arbor #anxiety #funny #gardening #plants #succulents

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rockin-llama · 8 years ago

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92 (I think it was 92???)

tagged by @fxvixen ayyyyye pretty ladayyy

rules: fuck the rules (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

LAST…

[1] drink: water

[2] phone call: this solicitor that won’t leave me alone. Really, I need to get on a do-not-call list

[3] text message: “xo”from my Mom

[4] song you listened to: “Waving Through a Window”

[5] time you cried: ummm, maybe a few nights ago while reading? I don’t really keep track, I get emotional over books.

HAVE YOU EVER…

[6] dated someone twice: as in, date the same person twice (no) or date two or more people (yes)?

[7] been cheated on: yes

[8] kissed someone and regretted it: not really. There was this really drunk kiss with my half-aunts husbands nephew. Which even though that’s far enough away from being incest it still weirded me out when I sobered up. Plus I can’t remember his name for the life of me.

[9] lost someone special: yeee

[10] been depressed: ah, haha, hahaha

[11] gotten drunk and thrown up: gotten drunk, yes. Never to the point of throwing up though. I’ve felt pretty sick the next day though.

LIST 3 FAVOURITE COLOURS:

[12] Blue. Like, a deep blue. Not so dark that it looks black, but, like, deeeep.

[13] I’ve always liked dark greens, but they don’t really look too good on me.

[14] Rolanberry Red

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU…

[15] made new friends: yep

[16] fallen out of love: not really

[17] laughed until you cried: oh yeah

[18] found out someone was talking about you? Bitch, who wouldn’t talk about me.

[19] met someone who changed you: maybe??

[20] found out who your true friends are: What constitutes as a “true friend”? I’ve always been perplexed by that notion. A friend is a friend. I just talk about different things with different people.

[21] kissed someone on your facebook list: Bet y’all’d like to know who ;) (that was me channeling inner middle-school Marina)

GENERAL…

[22] how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: Now, this is something that I have to pick over. “in real life”. Like, if I have you on facebook I’m considering you as a part of my life (does that make sense??) And a lot of my facebook friends I have met through playing online games. So, no, I haven’t met them in real life (yet, someday I will take a massive road trip) but I consider us friends outside of playing games. So my answer is yes, all of my facebook friends I know in real life.

[23] do you have any pets: Jellicle (Jelli for short) is my kitty cat at my parents house. Unfortunately I can’t have free-roaming pets in the house I’m renting so I only have a beta fish, Hemingay, a bonsai tree (Groot 2.0, the first one was stolen off my porch), and a philodendron named Phil.

[24] do you want to change your name: Nada

[25] what did you do for your last birthday: uh, pretty sure I was playing video-games

[26] what time did you wake up: 10ish

[27] what were you doing at midnight last night: reading

[28] name something you cannot wait for: to move to the mountains and have a horde of huskies

[29] when was the last time you saw your mother: about 4 days ago

[30] what is one thing you wish you could change about your life: I wish i had a little more motivation??

[31] what are you listening to right now: my fan running in the background

[32] have you ever talked to a person named tom: yes, I know a lot of toms. What the fuck is up with this question?

[33] something that is getting on your nerves: people who don’t hit “reply all” in a group email. For real peeps, we’re all seniors in college. You should know this by now.

[34] most visited website: uhhhh, I’m honestly not sure. Tumblr is definitely up there, but even though I hardly ever post stuff I open facebook out of habit.

[35] elementary: what about elementary? Are you asking what school I attended? Who my teachers were? If I ever pulled the fire alarm? WEll, I didn’t pull the fire alarm, but I did like to flood the bathroom sinks and report to the teacher that “someone clogged the sinks again”. I was a weird child.

[37] college: comme ci, comme ca. I’m pretty much only taking online classes this semester.

[38] hair colour: so up until I was around 12 my hair was white blonde. When i hit puberty though it slowly started changing color. I now have light brown hair, but in the summer it has blonde highlights.

[39] long or short hair: shoooooooort. I have an undercut that leads to one side being shaved.

[40] do you have a crush on someone: ehh. I’m attracted to a lot of people but i’m not interested in starting a relationship at this point in my life.

[41] what do you like about yourself? So it’s very cliche, but I fucking love my eyes. They range from green to gray to blue. And I have abnormally large pupils so they really accent them. People in high school just assumed I was high all the time.

[42] piercings: dude, guys, peeps, I love piercings. And I am majorly attracted to people with piercings. I have my double lobes done and an industrial bar on my left ear. If I didn’t bite my lips so much I would consider getting a lip ring because I fucking love them.

[43] blood type: AB- , yeah, I’m one of those people

[44] nickname: Mina/ Mina Bina, Rina, MooMoo (thanks Final Fantasy)

[45] relationship status: pining for dogs

[46] zodiac sign: virgo

[47] pronouns: she/her

[48] fav tv show: hmmmm, D. Gray-Man (does that count as a tv show? I don’t watch tv)

[49] tattoos: I have so many tattoo plans. I want the fuckign white tree of Gondor on my back.

[50] right or left handed: right, but I eat properly with my fork in my left hand.

FIRST…

[51] surgery: I had seven stitches in my chin when I was seven years old. Buuuuuut, I’m having major surgery this summer to reduce the size of my boobs. It’s gonna be a grand ol’ time. (hellooooo pretty bras)

[52] piercing: first lobes when I was 7

[53] best friend: I mean, I always call Staci my best friend. And we’ve known each other for our entire lives.

[54] sport: Technically I played soccer in kindergarten, but I wasn’t good at it.

[55] vacation: there’s pictures of toddler-me running naked towards the ocean in Florida with my mom chasing after me with my swimsuit.

[56] pair of trainers: oh fuck if i know, they were most likely blue and from JCpenney’s

RIGHT NOW…

[57] eating: cough drops

[58] drinking: coffee (I know, it’s a disgusting mix with cough drops)

[59] i’m about to: pretend the college didn’t just call me to pay my bill, lol too bad my voicemail inbox is full ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[60] listening to: “Wildfire” - Keston Cobblers Club (it’s incredibly catchy, I strongly recommend)

[61] waiting for: the day I live in the mountains with dogs.

[62] want: for me to decide what I want for dinner

[63] get married: I guess I’d like to be married someday. But I often like to disappear and just be by myself, so, someone very understanding and able to give space would be needed.

[64] career: right now I work full-time as a Kitchen and Transportation Manager at a daycare. It’s amazing. So, I’m basically a fancy lunch-lady. But i’m also a full-time student. One day I will be a famous author and able to support myself through writing (hah_)

WHICH IS BETTER…

[65] hugs or kisses: So I really love hugs. Probably because you don’t get judged by hugging people platonically. And i’m always cold, so body contact is a major thumbsup imo. Buuuuut, I do also like kissing. But kissing kind of involves a hug (at least, most of the time?) In short, hugs are better just because they’re involved in both.

[66] lips or eyes: eyes

[67] shorter or taller: I like my fruity drinks tall, but since I am also a fan of a Manhattan I’m used to short cups as well.

[68] older or younger: I like how many of these questions aren’t even questions, they’re just assuming you know what they’re asking. And I’m a little peeved that I know exactly what the assumption is. idc

[70] nice arms or nice stomach: I like necks. Like, damn, especially since chokers are back in fashion now allllll of my attention is drawn to the neck.

[71] sensitive or loud: are you insinuating that loud people can’t be sensitive?

[72] hook up or relationship: neither here nor there

[73] troublemaker or hesitant: ???

HAVE YOU EVER…

[74] kissed a stranger? kinda

[75] drank hard liquor? yeeeeees (see earlier comment about Manhattans)

[76] lost glasses/contact lenses? kinda? I misplace my glasses all the time when I’m cooking

[77] turned someone down: yes

[78] sex on first date? ehh, there’s a lot of “depends” that can go into this

[79] broken someone’s heart? *shrugs*

[80] had your own heart broken? *shrugs* you’re assuming I have a heart to begin with

[81] been arrested? ;) ... no

[82] cried when someone died? yes

[83] fallen for a friend: muahahaha

DO YOU BELIEVE IN…

[84] yourself? yeah, most of the time

[85] miracles? I’m not a firm believer in praying your worries away, so if that’s the type of miracle you’re asking my answer is “no”. However there have been some major moments of coincidence. I’m putting my money on aliens getting bored.

[86] love at first sight? Does my cat count? I saw her and knew immediately that I wanted to adopt her.

[87] santa claus? only if I can live in the North Pole

[88] kiss on the first date? yeeeee, most likely

[89] angels? Coming from a scientific point of view, I know for certain that the probability of humans being the only advanced race out there is practically nil. Therefore, I have no right to say whether or not angels exist somewhere. I know my late-grandma always did, she prayed to them every morning.

OTHER…

[90] current best friend’s name: Staci! I said it earlier, probably, but I’ve been working on this for a few days and don’t feel like scrolling all the way up.

[91] eye color: I thiiiink I also said this. But blue, gray, greenish

[92] favorite movie: Princess Mononoke

i’m tagging No one! Ha!

#i've literally had this open for most of this week #woops #enjoy my intentionally sarcastic and ambiguous comments #shutupmumu

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