Tending Garden

Ever since awakening his Mokuton powers Tōri had become fascinated with plants. While it was a true marvel to so the process sped up with such immediacy using chakra there was something calming about gardening and tending to plants the natural way that called to him. There was just something about the grainy feeling of dirt on his hands that made him yearn for the garden and to get his hands into some earth. Sadly with most plants you didn’t want to get too handsy, they were best left to be without overly touching them up without doing damage to their growth. Bonsai trees were very different; they required you to be hands on with such consistency that he often forgot when going between his greenhouse and bonsai pots and had to make sure he readjusted lest he do some damage to his other plants. Today he was tending to the shadier bunch that didn’t like to be outside full time, pulling a stool up and grabbing some new pots as he prepared to repot this two year old tree that was finally starting to give some promise.

The member 'Tōri' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Bunny Arrival' :

Sliding over on the wheeled-chair he grabbed a box with wires and various tools before unearthing the box with the pot he had sought. The only pot he’d had at the time he started this one out two years ago had been a circular one, he’d always preferred boxier ones and was glad to be doing away with the unsightly pot. Carefully grabbing the small trunk of the tree he nestled it from its first pot and removed the series of small roots and dunked it into its new home, filling the surrounding space with small rocks and tree bark to keep the roots stunted and therefore the tree as a whole. Satisfied with its placement he grabbed the box with wires and began rewiring the branches, some needing more and less support as the branches took shape to the new angles he was desiring them to grow in. Once all the old wire was out and the new ones were installed he tidied it up to make it more presentable before putting it back on its shelf and watering it.

The member 'Tōri' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Bunny Arrival' :

Now that the plant was in a pot that was far shorter and less deep the plant was really able to form a mound of proudly displayed roots. This was far better and being propped up higher it would be given even less room for it to grow with the blanket of rocks and bark the roots were nestled into. Looking to the other empty pot in the pin he had grabbed this new one from he placed it in front of him, conjuring a small pile of earth that he placed within the pot he then formed a small sapling with his chakra that he stopped only shortly after sprouting. He had yet to experiment with a bonsai tree born from chakra and he was interested in how they may differ from their natural counterparts. This would be a fun one to watch grow alongside its new brothers and sisters the natural way, unlike its old Mokuton brothers and sisters that are typically grown with the utmost haste.

Having set aside his new experiment he tended to the other plants in his greenhouse, chiefly the peppers he had been taste testing to increase their heat. It wasn’t necessarily that he enjoyed hot food, but there was something about the heat from a plant he’d grown that was particularly enjoyable that he’d continued to chase. Cooking was far from his best talent, those were reserved for his shinobi arts that he practiced neigh constantly. Gardening was his most consistent hobby and release that wasn’t oriented towards training or gaining strength, rather it was tending to often weak and vulnerable and nurturing them into their best versions. This pause amongst his strive to improve his skills had grown into quite the necessity for Tōri, so much so that he likely hadn’t truly realized himself yet how important it had grown to him.

This hobby had also become a terrific place for him to stretch his creative mind, when coming up with new crossbreeding with his plants his thoughts would often drift to new ideas for jutsu. There were notebooks scattered all about his greenhouse and even shed for when the moment of inspiration struck, finding that immediately writing the idea down helped him to imprint it better in his mind. There was still much he wanted to experiment with in his garden with crossbreeding and his Mokuton chakra, unsure of how to properly incorporate the two but knew that there was something there and he was excited to try something out with them working in concert. The first thing he wanted to try out was if he could influence a naturally grown plant into increasing its growth speed with chakra similar to new Mokuton creations.

There was a dire lack of vegetables in Tōri’s garden of late, the only ones he had were a few peppers he’d been tinkering with for a few months. Just planting some herbs would go wonders to him cooking more at home, a quick step outside and he’d be able to sprinkle some fresh basil on his cooked eggs in the morning or a meal in the evening. Grabbing a tray he lay fresh dirt in the many little divots he planned to start an array of different herbs before they outgrew their starter home. Sprinkling them with water he placed the tray in a sunny spot in his greenhouse, eager for them to grow and to be able to enjoy his work in his cooking. His mother had never been much of a cook growing up, leaving him to take up the reins when they were both home and not both on missions. It was an activity that he hated as a child, his family would always make a big emphasis on inclusion with the cooking by everyone during holidays and celebrations. After growing up and being busy with missions he began to miss this as it became absent in his life, now craving it in the few instances where he was able to exercise this nostalgic art.

It was several weeks before he was able to return to his garden, thankfully he made use of his sealing arts and Suiton affinity to set up timed waters for those plants that required it while he wasn’t there. The plants seemed to have been properly tended to. He recalled when he tested the seals on a single plant and it over-watered it while he was away, thankfully he thought to try it out before setting it up on plants he cared more about. When you had plants that were tended for years at a time it was quite a loss when they died or became sick. You started to get attached to them, it could feel quite silly the sense of loss from something so simple but the more time he spent with this hobby he felt less and less absurd with the feeling. Loss was something that shinobi needed to be accustomed with to make it, it was an experience he was certainly familiar with though he considered himself luckier than a good deal.

Today was just a simple watering day, there wasn’t anything to do with any of the bonsai plants but they needed water nonetheless. Getting a can he filled it from the well instead of creating any with Suiton, he preferred to use natural though he hadn’t really experimented to see if there was much of a difference. He was sure there simply must have been some difference that a growing plant would miss from a Suiton fed diet of water, he was almost more hesitant to do it from what it might do to the poor lil fella. Some experiments needn't be done, that was for sure. After finishing with the watering he hung up the can and closed the greenhouse, taking some time to do some weeding and other rudimentary tasks required to keep his plants thriving. There wasn’t always a big harvest or new potting day to be had, most days it was just the little things that needed doing.

It had finally come time to harvest his first vegetables, excited to use some basil with his breakfast. Waking up early he went to his greenhouse and plucked some basil leaves before heading back in and starting his food prep with a couple of eggs sitting beside his pan. Lighting the stove he heated a splash of oil before cracking the eggs and mixing them in a bowl, cursing himself for having to resort to market cabbage and not his own for this impromptu okonomiyaki meal. Adding his own flour and a splash of water the batter began to loosen up as the batter formed to a proper consistency.

Placing that to the side he chopped his cabbage with the fine nice he had, glad to have finally splurge on a nice one after using a dull one for so many years. Dumping the finely sliced cabbage bits into the batter he began to mix it around before running out to the garden and grabbing a yucca as he noticed the thickness wasn’t quite right. Mushing up the white root in his ceramic grinding bowl he dumped the slimy mixture into the bowl before fully incorporating it into the mixture.

The pan was finally ready, holding a finger out a half-inch provided enough heat to cause him to instinctively move it away that told him it was time. With a spoon he poured the earthy mixture into the pan with a satisfying sizzle, spreading it out to many an okonomiyaki vendor’s horror. They always said not to touch it, let it settle. But Tōri didn’t give a rats ass about that, this was his meal damage and he’d fuck it up whichever way he say fit! Whichever gods were those that deigned one fit to flip a pancake-like creation without destroying it were merciful that day indeed as he found himself in the fucking zone when needing to flip it.

So cocky did this make him in fact that he dared do it a second time, miraculously succeeding! In a foolish second tempting fate he casually went to return it to cooking on the proper side when it all went horribly wrong. The middle of the pancake folded in on itself and it smashed into a sad lump in his pan with a bloated and undercooked belly.

Zoning out for just a second he looked at his sad creation, stumpy and steamy as it was. Still, the ingredients were all there; the mustard seeds he’d grown quite fond of adding along with celery salt and other goodies all cooked from his garden. Even with the cabbage not having grown here it was a splendid vegetable, surely the pride of whatever farmer took such good care of it. Taking a spatula he began to jab at the pancake, turning into a mess of scrambled goodness that would still fry up and taste nice.

After cooking for a couple of minutes he dumped the more stir-fried meal and lathered it with some mayo and savory sauce from his fridge. There are fridges right? He was just going to sail right past that very important world building detail that he should definitely have an answer to as the fried bits of okonomiyaki bits hit just right and his flavor buds were carried off to a proverbial pleasure town with each bite. After delicious if not misshapen breakfast he headed out for a busy day.

OOC: Exits