[CLOSED] People are like plants; we all lean toward the light.

[markwatney]

WHO: Mark Watney
WHERE: South Village Inn
WHEN: 30 November 2018
OPEN TO: ALL - Closed to new threads
WARNINGS: n/a

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I think it's probably fair to say that this past month turned out to be a real doozy, and not necessarily in the sort of ways any of us might have expected.

A lot of people got sick — Very sick — and I was one of them. Truthfully, I've only started feeling 100% these past couple of days, although part of that is on me: I don't do well with being stuck in bed, especially when it's the end of the final growing season of the year and we're looking down the barrel of winter. I'm sure I wasn't the only person pushing myself when I probably shouldn't have, but hey, we're all feeling better now, right? Full steam ahead and all that.

And we're kinda gonna need to be full steam ahead, because the last couple of months have outstripped even our contingency numbers for new arrivals. We've gotten a bunch of new people, and did I mention winter is almost here? Because winter is almost here, and I'm starting to wonder how we're going to keep everybody fed if we maintain this rate of newbies.

A little earlier, I popped into the storehouse, took a gander at Gaius's numbers. Currently I'm seated at one of the tables in the front room of the South Village inn, mouth pressed against my knuckles as I consider notations in a little notebook open in front of me.

We'll make it through regardless; we've done it under worse circumstances before. But if we're going to get ahead of this wave, we've got to do it now. And I can't do it by myself.

I twist my hand away, type out a message on my smart watch:

Impromptu confab on making our food stores stretch for the winter. If you've got time and/or ideas, pop by the inn and see me.