[open] life is a flower

[broshaw]

Who: Sharky Boshaw and YOU!
What: Flower Power baby!!!
When: Across September
Where: The laundry room, Bobby B's, and the usual hot tub prompt!
Warnings: General Sharky warnings apply (so check his info post)

[laundry room] hyssops
[Sharky's breakfast had taken place in the buffet, next to a bunch of tall purple flowers that were actually super pretty. By the time he finished, he found himself suffering from an intense need to do some late spring cleaning... some fall cleaning, really.

Anyone who comes into the laundry room today will find it completely stuffed with various bits and bobs: old Tommy Bahama shirts; denim jeans from the diner; swimsuits; leather boots; and a whole pile of absolutely trashed clothes from his arrival back home. Sharky is in the midst of it all, stripped down to his boxers (out of respect for the young impressionable eyes on the ship!), his boombox playing a variety of disco music at a frankly obnoxious volume. He's hand-washing his boots while all of the laundry machines rock and roll.

The second the effects of the flower wears off, he'll abandon almost all of this mess for someone else to clean up, but right now? Right now, he is single-minded on his task, to the point where he won't notice if someone else comes in.]

[bobby b's] purple hyacinth
[He'd thought they were just more intense cleaning flowers, but the joke's on him! Hyacinths are a completely different kind of flower, and they do something much worse than turning him into a temporary clean freak. This one is a straight-up bummer.

Sharky can be found suffering from an intense bout of remorse in the evening, sitting in the back of Bobby's with a pack of cigarettes, his boombox, and a half-drunken bottle of old, expensive whiskey. Despite his bleary eyes, he isn't anywhere close to passing out, too busy going over the last fifty-ish years of his life and picking apart all the ways he's fucked up his life.

For some reason, he's picked some twangy indie-sounding chorus music to listen to, although at a much lower volume than he usually bothers with. Country music is the traditional music of a sad Montana boy, but he's fresh out, so he's making do.]

[hot tub] pansies
[What is with this dude and the color purple??? Anyway. After dealing with chronic cleaning and a level of regret that normally only comes after a long night of getting cross-faded, Sharky's doing his best to avoid any and all flowers!

Unfortunately, the hot tub is slowly being crowded by thirsty flowers; his usual 1 AM skinny dipping sesh means tolerating whatever fucked up thing said flowers are going to do to him. After about five minutes of standing nervously around in his shorts, he decides that they must be safe enough, so he shucks off his clothes and plops down in the hot, bubbly water that he knows and loves so well.

No drink this time; instead, he's just quietly reading a Nancy Drew book and enjoying some peace and fuckin' quiet. The boombox, a constant companion these days, is set up by his towel, playing the BeeGee's greatest hits at a normal volume. Sharky sings quietly to himself as he reads, and it sounds so normal to him that he doesn't even realize his mouth isn't moving while he does it!]

[wildflowers]
[hmu for something specific, or set up a prompt with a flower in the header and I'll roll with it!]

Comments

[broshaw]

[Sharky watches him start the piles to get into the swing of things, then follows his lead in organizing things.]

I should just throw it all out. But then it's like, someone's gotta go fishin' it all out of the ocean too, so that doesn't work. Then, when I pulled it all outta my room I saw that there was this big stain on the floor, and it's like, where did that even come from? I thought I'd like not havin' the ghosts cleanin' up my space but now it's like... ughhhhh.

[it's easier for him to just wordvomit all over the place while he instinctively and meticulously folds clothes that are literally ruined.]

If this is why you're always cleanin' shit up, I... Man, I dunno. I'm real fuckin' sorry I'm so goddamn messy.

[ring_for_giles]

A change always requires adjustment, whether you wanted it to happen or not. And I suspect you may not mind so much in the long run.

There's no need to apologise, it's not- [ He stops for a moment, as if focusing on the sorting, to cover while he thinks through his wording ] I have control over my domain, which I keep to my standards, and other people may keep theirs as they wish. I've no desire to change anyone's habits, least of all yours.

[ a breath of a smile, and a glance at Sharky ] Although I might advise against throwing things overboard in general.

[broshaw]

Yeah... I guess I've been puttin' it off pretty much since, what? April? Is that when all that shit went down? Gonna be real, it's hard to keep time straight around here.

[the momentary pause doesn't even register to Sharky, who's getting distracted by the 1 minute counter on some of the laundry machines.]

I guess you're right... [he shoots Giles a grin] But it isn't like I'm the only one. That water is fuckin' gross by now with all the weird shit people keep tossing in there. Hot dogs, clothes, probably bodies... [he makes a face] Must suck to be Friday. I figure she's the one who's gotta clean it all up now that the ghosts are gone. Maybe I should see if she wants help...

[is that the flower talking, or Sharky's innate need to be on the good side of any and all mother-figures in his life?? i won't tell!]

[ring_for_giles]

[ He pales a bit at the list. Mostly the hot dogs and clothes, the potential bodies don't bother him half so much ] I try not to think about it.

It might be worthwhile, 'many hands make light work' as they say.

[ With the sorting finished, Giles picks out one of the ruined shirts to demonstrate stain removing methods as promised. Something I am Not going to write out because cleaning is the bane of my existence and I'm with not flowered Sharky on this one: if you've got a magic ocean and an infinitely big free clothing supply simply toss everything in the sea. But Giles has very good methods that work well I swear. ]

[broshaw]

I wonder if she'd let me. She's kinda over-protective of her role, y'know?

[honestly same here. but when you're possessed by a magic cleaning flower, all you can hope to do is get your shit in order before it starts enticing you to scrub your skin off in the shower!

speaking of... the flower might be making Sharky physically clean, but that doesn't keep him from giving Giles a wolfish grin.]

Maybe once we're done here, you can help me clean up the rest of my room. Y'know, liiiike, the shower, maybe?? [;)]

[ring_for_giles]

You can but ask [ Giles is honestly expecting Sharky will have forgotten entirely about it before he reaches the point of doing so, which isn't a value judgement it just... is.

He returns the grin with a small smile of his own, leaning over to kiss Sharky without removing his hands from the what he's doing, so he doesn't have to think about washing or drying them first ] I'm sure that can be arranged.

[broshaw]

[oh definitely. he's already sort of forgotten about what he was talking about, distracted by a series of beeps as the machines finish their cycles in quick succession, and then by Giles as he kisses him. man, is he ever not gonna turn pink under that kind of treatment??]

Wish I wasn't so fuckin', like, compelled to fold all this goddamn fast fashion, 'cos that sounds sooo much better than bein' stuck in here for the next however long this is gonna take. I bet there's some kinda nerve gas in the vents or somethin'...

[ring_for_giles]

My guess is the flowers. Nothing good has ever come of changes to the environment of this ship.

[ He's got a plan brewing, one that gets them out of here sooner rather than later, without taking over entirely and still allowing Sharky to get out some of the compulsion ]

How about you take anything that feels the most important to do yourself and go to the other side of the room. As long as you don't look at me, I'll have the rest finished by the time you're done.

[broshaw]

Uuuuuuuugh. You're probably right. You'd think I'd learn by now, but nooo.

[he knew that stopping to smell the flowers would come back to bite him in the ass...]

I can do that! I mean, I can try. You're pretty distracting, y'know. [but he still goes to root around the dryers for the things he actually likes.] You better not get caught up staring at me, either, 'cos I'm also pretty distracting...

[ring_for_giles]

That I can't promise, my dear, but I'll have far more time for distraction than you will, so I don't believe it will pose a problem. [ he smiles, watching Sharky and making it quite obvious ]

[broshaw]

[he wiggles his hips as he turns back to his business, just for Giles's sake, even as he starts getting distracted by his pile of sports-based Tommy Bahama shirts. he doesn't even like baseball!!!]

[ring_for_giles]

[ Giles watches Sharky for a moment longer (especially since he's putting on a show), then turns back to his own share of the pile. Now that Sharky is distracted and turned away, he can tug at the strings of time and bend it to his will, allowing him to work at pace far beyond what should be possible, while still putting in all the care required to achieve near perfection.

However long it takes Sharky to finish, Giles is already done, and watching as if he'd never even moved. ]

[broshaw]

[he looks over just about 3/4ths the way done, making a face.] Aw, come on, that's not fair! You're too good at this, I'm never gonna get done... [but he keeps going, the pile of stuff he's leaving behind growing as his desire to get to the good part of this clean freak phase outstrips his need to meticulously fold everything that he wants to keep.]

What do we do with, like, all the stuff I don't want?

[ring_for_giles]

I have time on my side. [ As in a century of practice, or the literal concept of time? Yes. ]

Save them as rags for future repairs, deposit them back in the depths of the Tommy Bahama [ he smiles, just a little playfully ] or there's always the firepit

[broshaw]

Hmmm... If I put it in the Tommy Bahama, maybe it'll train the monster in there to not attack me?? That'd make it easier to explore... But burning is never not gonna be my first choice!

I guess if I shove it all into trash bags, that'll work for now? [he tests the idea out loud to see if it works with the compulsion he's got for keeping things clean. it... yeah, that should work, it doesn't feel like he's going to tear things apart if he puts the trash away.] Yeah, that doesn't feel like a total blow-off. And then I can take a brillo pad into the shower. [ha ha ha,] That's a joke, I'm not that compulsive yet.