Field Work
The pale skinned young woman donning a wide brimmed, corn silk colored sun hat daintily fanned herself with her collapsible fan, the wood and fabric decorated with intricate yet alluring Asian motifs. She sat on a forest green blanket beneath the wide canopy of an apple tree, her right leg and ankle propped up by a roll of hay that was covered with a red and white flannel shirt. The young woman reclined against the tree, easily so with her purse and a heavy denim jacket at her back to act as a makeshift pillow.
The western orchard of Sweet Apple Acres was teaming with ripe apples hanging fully formed from their branches, and the day was so bright and crisp that the young woman could still see the dew hanging from some of the leaves. Such clarity! Such beautiful flora, maintained by practiced hands and affectionate tending. Though in a honesty, the beauty of the orchard was the farthest thing from the woman’s mind.
After spraining her ankle from falling over a raised tree root, the young woman, known to many as Rarity, sadly could not go through with her original plans of helping her farmer with the western orchard as she had said she would. Rarity, however, refused to abandon the farmer, Applejack, as she tended her family’s land, so she opted for “studying” the work regime that was necessary for harvesting apples. So Applejack had tried to make the fashion forward lady as comfortable as could be allowed, given the circumstances. She even used her own favorite shirt to make the roll of hay more bearable for resting Rarity’s aching ankle. After making sure she was comfortable, Applejack had returned to work. Rarity fanned herself again as she watched the farmer go about her work, a subtle grin playing at her ruby red lips.
‘Oh, but that’s not all you’re ‘studying’, is it, you dirty birdy?~’
Rarity watched as Applejack easily hefted five wooden apple buckets out of her cart in one swift motion, the tall blonde moving about as if on auto-pilot. The world seemed to move in slow motion as Rarity, with her keen eye for details, took in the lovely display of power. Rough and calloused hands held firm grips on the weathered rims of the buckets, arms taut and muscles standing out as she carried them. The suns’ light reflected off the sheen of sweat on Applejack’s tanned arms, neck and face, bringing out the lines of muscle even more. Rarity was so lost in thought that she wasn’t aware of the loud flapping noise her fan was producing, making the apple farmer stop in her work and attend to her, squatting down to the woman’s eye level while passing an arm over her forehead to swipe at the falling sweat.
“Rarity? Sugar cube, you alright?”
If not for the feather light touch from a calloused hand, Rarity was sure to have ogled the sight even more. With a lady like *ahem* and a shaky flap of her fan, the purple haired woman gave her most convincing smile and batted her lashes at the concerned blonde.
“Oh, Applejack! Darling, I’m fine, just a tad…flustered.”
‘Mm-hm.”
“Er, by the heat, dear!”
Applejack gave her a lopsided grin and a brief peck to the fashionista’s cheek as she rose back onto her booted feet to return to her buckets.
She flexed her fingers, wrists and arms and reared her arm back, priming to strike the tree. Before she let out a cracking punch to the tree, Applejack grinned widely and yelled out towards Rarity without turning her head around.
“I thought it was yer left leg ya done messed up, sugar!”
There was dead silence behind her, save for the sudden *crack* of fist to tree.
Next prompt: Preference