#wildflower182

“How did you come to take an interest in such a large vegetable, umral?” Thorin smoothed the last handful of mulch with his trowel and sat back on his heels to wipe away a trickle of sweat from his brow.

“Oh there’s a little everyday glory to growing something bigger than yourself, isn’t there!” Bilbo offered Thorin his handkerchief, but held it out of reach til Thorin had tugged off his dirty gardening gloves. “And anyway, think of the food!” Bilbo shut his eyes rapturously and pressed one hand to his heart, “Pumpkin mash, roast pumpkin, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pudding, pumpkin cake, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pickles, pumpkin ale, pumpkin punch! Oh Thorin, pumpkin ice cream!” Bilbo was in such a state at the idea that he was compelled to brace himself against the pumpkin and sip from the glass of cordial he’d brought out for Thorin’s refreshment. 

“That is rather tremendous pressure on my appetite,” said Thorin, somewhat gravely as he was enjoying himself far more than would be advisable to let on. “Though I suppose the biggest is destined for the fair and some Sackville Baggins comeuppance?”

Heya! 

It takes place before TOG by about 10 years, in 2008, in part because that’s when I last lived in Rome, which is where the story takes place. The setting and year isn’t any kind of reveal, it’s mostly picked for plot convenience. It’s not meant as this HUGE event like the Old Guard film, more of an episodic “one of their recent doing-good missions went wrong at the end and there’s an unexpected consequence” which is Nicky losing all memory back to the day he first died. 

No disrespect is meant to not have Nile in it but my plot demanded that:

1) Andromache is still immortal (murderous Crusaders in a 2 bedroom apartment are gonna murder and I’d rather it not be final, is all I’m saying) and

is that the current king of england

thank you so much for asking sorry i took so long to respond! one of my fave fics i’ve written is For To Quench My Thirst, so I picked a passage from there. Aziraphale has decided to move to Sussex after the not apocalypse, and he invites Crowley to come with him. They’ve still not talked about their feelings for each other. When they arrive in Sussex, Aziraphale surprises Crowley by presenting him with an abandoned garden for him to start tending again. 

“Of course I want it,” Crowley lurched forward a step or two, still clinging to Aziraphale’s arm, into his lovely, abandoned, gloriously wild garden. It had been a garden once. There was a scraggly sort of fruit tree on the far edge near a crumbling stone wall and a very overgrown patch of herbs choked with mint. A waft of honeysuckle that Crowley hadn't quite seen yet. Defiant buttercups here and there, arrogant daisies nearly everywhere, and in the centre, encircled in tangles of ivy and roses, a winged statue rose out of a small fountain. The place was abuzz with bees, nimbly dancing wee yellow fuzzies and tottering fat, black bumble bees. It smelled divine.

The garden is important to them for quite a few reasons. Like it’s a deliberate, conscious allusion to the way they met and it emphasizes their connection to each other as well as to the world. This garden in particular is kind of a rebirth for them. 

I feel that Aziraphale is showing Crowley a really profound level of care and understanding. Tending this abandoned garden is really healing for Crowley. He’s really moved that Aziraphale knew how happy it would make him to be able to tend the plants. Aziraphale is a sensualist, and that’s not Crowley’s thing as much, but Aziraphale wants Crowley to like. Cultivate enjoyment of his physical form, yknow? Like develop an appreciation for those sensory experiences. 

So he offers him this paradise where the air is fragrant and it’s secluded and peaceful and the wind is in the leaves and he grows delicious things after spending some time tenderly nurturing them. Crowley has the chance to luxuriate in his enjoyment of some mortal task for no reason other than it brings him great pleasure. He doesn’t have to pretend he’s trying to doom or torment someone else. And he ALSO gets to practice gentle, diligent care in this safe, emotionally uncomplicated situation. He gets to perform a little low stakes rescue and offer some tlc for the pure joy of helping and growing. He gets to save something and make it healthy and beautiful again. 

holy shit lidds this post gave me enough XP to level up

…rings a bell… @ captain-liddy have you read Bedtime…

maybe 'metamorphoses' for s2? because that's when we get the thomas reveal? but then you'd have two books... so maybe the cache of gems for s3??

this could just as easily have been posted by moftiss about s4