InsaneJournal

Who: Miguel and Applejack
When: Circa May 17
Where: Farmer’s Market
What: AJ’s home from her honeymoon and trying to get back to work
Rating/Warnings: Low
Status: Complete



Coming back to the real world after her honeymoon was such a let down. Though, she was still doing exciting things. Moving in with John, opening wedding gifts, sending thank-you cards... it was all a part of the process of starting her new life. AJ felt like a butterfly who had recently come out of her cocoon. It was strange, but she was happy. Very happy.

She was at the Farmer’s Market in her family’s booth, replenishing the baskets of apples she had on the table for sale. It wasn’t exactly apple season, but Mac was absolutely amazing in convincing those trees to produce nearly year round. These were good, too. The ones in the fall would be better, but these were still good.

Miguel was window shopping. If it could really be called that in a place that had no windows, but instead little booths full of things that looked super delicious to eat. Or grow. Or whatever. He was still pretty new in town, and as such was mostly just having a grand time of wandering around until he found something he liked or was interested in.

“Ooh,” he said, upon reaching a booth full of apples. “These look awesome.” So shiny. So... well shaped, for apples. Or whatever. Altivo would definitely be happy if he got some.

AJ broke into a huge grin as the customer came over and complimented her apples. “Would you like to try one?” She asked. She had a couple of them cut and tossed in some lemon juice to keep the color. “Here,” she said, holding out the tupperware for him to try. “It’s still a bit early in the season yet, but I think you’ll find they taste as good as they look.”

“Samples!” Miguel’s eyes lit up, as if he’d never been offered anything better than a slice of an apple in his life. That was not at all true, but he did have a knack for enthusiasm that few others could beat.

He munched for a moment, making a little happy noise. “Oh, no, these are very good. I guess I didn’t know there was an apple season, since grocery stores always sell them.” Well, logically, he was right.

“That’s true! They get them from all over,” AJ said, as if she knew everything about apples and apple farming. Let’s just say she knew quite a bit. “The best ones are the local ones, picked ripe at the peak of their season, and sold at market in the sunshine. Trust me.” She grinned, leaning against the table.

“Oh, I believe it and I definitely do.” Because Miguel was a little bit on the gullible side. But there didn’t seem to be anything false about her statement though, and that had to count for a lot. He thought. “I love apples. But I’ve got a horse who probably loves them more.” He grinned. Happy happy! “How much? For a -- uh. Basket?”

AJ gave him the price. It was absolutely fair, and competitive. “I’m sure that your horse would love these apples. Just not too many! It’d be awful to give the poor dear a tummy ache.” She’d heard that could happen with apples, even though it’d never happened to her. “Do you frequent the market?” She added, making small talk.

“Oh, I wouldn’t make him sick,” Miguel was just responsible enough. Sort of. He fished his wallet out, and fiddled though receipts and paper and all sorts of other junk in order to find actual money. “I’ve actually never been here before! I’m from Texas, and just moved here. Just kind of wandered into it. It’s really nice, you know? I saw a place over there --” he pointed behind him awkwardly. “Selling the prettiest tomatoes I’ve ever seen!”

“I was wondering about the accent!” AJ said, teasing just a little. “I’m from North Carolina. Recent transplant, too.” She added, then accepted the money and gave him a receipt. “Ooh, yes, good tomatoes. Just wait a couple of weeks, though. The tomatoes that come in the summertime are fantastic. And the strawberries... heaven.”

Miguel hardly had an accent though -- he was from a big city in Texas, and everyone seemed to talk pretty normally, as far as he could tell. He smiled, anyway, because it was cute and funny. “I like it here,” he said, of moving and then nodded thoughtfully. “I’d better wait then. But I’ll totally take the apples now.”

Well, they both had a hint of one? AJ was so used to spotting accents and asking people where they were from, making small talk and being a friendly salesperson that she noticed the tiniest of accents. “Probably a good idea to wait on the tomatoes. Some of them are good, but some of these around here are imported,” she added, as if giving him a carefully guarded secret. “They pick ‘em green and they ripen while they ship. It’s not great. The local ones will come from...” She pointed out a few of the shops that carried really good tomatoes during the summer.

Miguel loved the secretive tone, and found himself leaning forward and giving sneaky darty eyes to the other booths. It was fun. Like playing spies. Over fruit and veg. “Gasp,” he whispered, amused. “How could they. I’ll definitely wait for the real deal. I can’t support cheating.”

“I absolutely agree with you, Sugar Cube.” AJ said, then gave him a wink before standing up straight again. “You’ll find lots of really amazing farms that do all sorts of fruit and veg. Ours is almost exclusively apples. But some of the others have really great food year round, and don’t feel the need to import supplements from out of the area.”

“Sugar cube,” Miguel repeated, beaming in a way that clearly said he hadn’t heard a word she’d said after that. And how could he have? “That’s fantastically adorable.”

AJ gave a little laugh. “Sorry? Can’t help it. It just sorta slips out.” Even more now that she’d been dreaming so much about being a pony. “You should hear some of the slang I’ve picked up lately. It’s absolutely nutso.”

“Is nutso one of the slang words?” Miguel was teasing. At least, he was pretty sure it was. “Why? What are the words?”

“Well... Okay, now, this is gonna make me sound absolutely crazy, but... I have these bizarre, realistic, intense dreams. Where I... I pick up things. Sayin’s, whatnot. My accent comes back in full force sometimes after ‘em.” AJ said, feeling a bit silly about sharing the dreams with a complete stranger.

“I’ve heard about those dreams. er. On the internet.” Miguel admitted, looking instantly curious. It spelled it out though -- he’d never had any. He didn’t quite get them. “So you’re like -- from the South in your dreams?”

AJ was a little surprised. “Oh? I’ve only seen them in one place. Are you on Valarnet?” She asked, then went a little pink. “Right. Not exactly. I’m a pony in my dreams. It’s... technicolor and strange because I don’t have opposable thumbs, so I really don’t know how I do things... but yeah. That’s the gist of it.”

“Valarnet! Yes! I’m on that. Lots of nice people. Lots of strange people -- wait, pony? Really? That’s hilarious and awesome. And so cute.” Miguel was a mile a minute, but sometimes it couldn’t be helped.

“Strange people, but nice ones.” AJ said, giving him a nod and a smile. “Pony, really. My name’s Applejack in the dreams, and I work on an Apple Farm. A lot like real life, really.” She grinned at the cute comment. She was, galdarn it. She was the cutest of the ponies.

He wouldn’t dispute that. Even though it was totally weird. Then again, those dreams seemed totally weird. What else could really be said about it? “And what’s your name here? Not Applejack?”

“No!” AJ laughed. “Aponi. Aponi Jackson, but people call me AJ.” She said, reaching her hand out for him to shake.

Aponi. It was funny because it sounded like a pony. Miguel almost pointed that out, but his inner Tulio told him not to. Instead he gave a happy laugh and shook her hand. “I’m Miguel. It’s real nice meetin’ ya, Miss.” He laid a Texas accent on thick, just for her.

AJ loved the accent. She gave a little laugh, and shook his hand. “Texas Charmer. I guess it’s true what they say about everything being bigger in Texas.”

Miguel only laughed at that, clearly amused. “Something like that,” he agreed.