healing hands and meditation

[ethnobotany]

WHO: Beverly Crusher
WHERE: around House #15, the hospital, wandering around town
WHEN: April 10th
OPEN TO: ALL
WARNINGS: TBD, will update as needed
STATUS: Open

---

Beverly has been a resident of this tiny little village for less than a month and she wouldn't be able to say that she has settled in by any stretch of the imagination. By now she has claimed an empty house and is starting to figure out a routine, the latter of which is by far the only real settling she's actually done since she got here. The last thing she wants to do is get complacent here. Not that she really thinks she can, given how much she misses the Enterprise's crew already.

So today starts out as normal. She hunts for herbs that might be around to stockpile or use. Naturally, she can't help muttering about wanting several others that don't grow here. The supply on Caldos had been much better than this one, even on Arvada III during that disaster. Still, it's better than nothing and she knows better than to complain too loudly. If Q really is involved, he might take that as a challenge.

About mid-morning sees her cleaning her new house as best she can. She might be from a very, very distant future than most of the people and equipment here, but that doesn't mean she can't get down and dirty. Every so often she takes a break outside, looking around the property for a good place to think about starting a garden.

After she's had enough cleaning, she takes to wandering the village. She pays a special visit to the hospital, to check up on which of her colleagues is around and catch up with them, as well as the fountain, too see if there's anyone who might need to get pulled out of the water.

Late in the day, closer towards evening, she can be found out by her house again practicing Mok'bara, which looks like some kind of intricate and very slow full-body dance. It's not much of a dance and if anyone tries to interrupt her physically, she may or may not slide into using the techniques she's practicing as they were intended: as martial arts.

Comments

[3ofswords]

As always, the canyon seemed to have a way of listening, providing or thwarting the things they spoke aloud. Sometimes even the things they didn't, but it had only been several days since Moana had asked, not quite for advice, for ways to be more in touch with her surroundings. Meditation had seemed an obvious and glib answer, and he hadn't been any more serious when he wondered if a teacher might appear from the fountain--

But here he is, walking along the path and pausing to watch a woman stand one foot and pull her hand through the air as if underwater, like a staple of the park. Every morning on the way to school, the same leather-tan old man practicing tai chi at the top of a slope, under a tree. Not necessarily the same man through the years, but the same type.

At least there's some variation here, he thinks, head tilted at the same angle of Aurora's as they watch her. The growing puppy is heeled literally between his heels, his legs on either side of her core to prompt her to stay with him. "Are you some kind of yoga instructor," he asks--it looks like tai chi, but there's enough variation in her movements that he can't really place it.

Thankfully his mother hadn't made him learn the martial arts any more than she'd tried to force his lazy hands into proper calligraphy.

[ethnobotany]

By the time someone else has wandered up, Beverly is at least focused enough on what she's doing that she doesn't fully notice right away. So to say she's a little startled at the sudden voice would not be wrong. She does manage not to jump at it, but she does stop mid-motion and turn to study the person. It would be nice to have people who would wait for someone in meditation to stop meditating, but she supposes she can forgive them for not recognizing that aspect of what she was doing.

She sighs and shakes her head, feeling disoriented from being interrupted. "No. I was practicing a meditative form of martial arts." There's more to it than that, of course, but she needs a moment or two before she'll be able to really focus on that. Even after all these days of living here, she's still uptight from her recent experience with the Borg.

[3ofswords]

"I could see that," he says, before reining himself in as well as he's reined in the dog--yoga might as well be another litmus test for new acquaintances, a start in determining the gaps between experience. "Sorry, where I'm from, it's related to meditation, and I'd mentioned it to someone at the gathering Peggy held earlier."

Now that the woman isn't carefully meditating, thanks to his interruption, he figures Aurora can do little harm, and lets her go to sniff her way up to the woman's feet in hopeful greeting. She's a friendly animal, not yet exposed to any reason not to be.

"I was just on my way to the inn, to see what's left in the kitchens. Did you need anything?" If she wasn't interested in company, he could just bring it on his return to the house.

[ethnobotany]

Forcing herself to relax a bit, Beverly waves away his apology and decides that maybe now is a good time to call it quits anyway. She wasn't getting very far. Worf would have her working harder, but she's not sure that would go as well as intended. So she just runs a hand through her short blonde hair, which is slowly turning back to red at the roots by now, and tilts her head slightly.

"I hadn't thought about getting anything else to eat," she answers honestly, "but a cup of water might be nice." Or something else. Basically, she's not at all opposed to company this time around. She's usually pretty friendly and even with her recent Borg experiences she isn't going to change that part about herself anytime soon.

"What I was practicing was meant to clear the mind so that reflexes can take over," she explains next. "It's supposed to make the fighting style easier to enact in actual combat, but I haven't quite mastered that, yet." She offers a rueful sort of smile, thinking Worf would have a lot to say if he could see her now. But she does a lot of thinking on a normal day, so he should be used to that by now.

[3ofswords]

"The mind-clearing or the combat," he asks, curious and conversational. Aurora returns to his side, somewhat used to being given a pass by some of the villagers. She's almost shy now, walking on the other side of his legs, gently back-tracking to sniff at the woman's heels as they walk, returning to his side to gauge his own reaction to their new friend.

She really is like a kid, and he pauses to reach down and scruff the fur around her ears in reassurance. "I'm Kira," he adds, remembering himself near the midpoint of their journey. He's pretty bad at that part of introductions, and he's sure Kate or Credence have had to fill in the gaps for some of those he's met.

"And this is Aurora?" The question isn't of the dog's name, but rather: do you even introduce your pet? It's not like anyone's going to come calling for her at the house.

[ethnobotany]

Now that she's got a moment to breathe, her attention falls on the dog. After a moment or two, she leans over a bit as Aurora sniffs at her while they walk so she can offer her hand. She's never exactly been a dog person, more a cat-lover, but she figures that's mostly due to a lack of initiation. Why not fix that now?

"The mind-clearing," she offers lightly, her lips twisting with mild amusement. "But I've never exactly liked combat by itself, either."

She can fight, of course. She just prefers not to need to. It's part of her idealism, something that has somehow survived despite all of her years in Starfleet and everything she's seen.

"Beverly," she responds, by way of introduction. "Aurora is a lovely lady. Did you find her here?"

[3ofswords]

Both sentiments are easily understood, easy to return a smile to, hanging back to give her a moment to greet the dog. "A friend got her as a gift, one of the boxes they leave people. She doesn't seem to know whose name was on her at the time, she follows me around as much as she doesn't."

It might just be the fact that he handles food more often than Casey, and Bodhi seems to get his afternoons with her by virtue of staying still the longest. "She's the first dog I've ever had, but she behaves, and that's all I really need."

"If you don't enjoy combat," he asks, heading around the front of the inn to the door that leads directly into the kitchen, "can I ask why you learned it? I'm...deciding if it's worth the time, I guess."

[ethnobotany]

"Well, she's lovely and she looks well-trained, too," Beverly comments, watching as she stands again to keep walking. "I've always been better with cats, but a good dog can go a long way." Some days she even misses Data's cat Spot, for all that Spot could be a bit troublesome. Cats were just more her thing.

The question gets a slight tilt of her head in consideration. It's not entirely a hard question to answer. More that it's difficult to explain without saying too much. "Self-defense mostly," she admits. "Much as I don't like the necessity of it, I do think it's a good idea to know how to defend yourself. Besides, the organization I work for strongly suggests combat knowledge. It can't hurt when you don't know what you're going find."

[3ofswords]

"I am too," he says, glancing down at Aurora like she might hear him and take some offense. "Mostly because I'm lazy and I had a lot less time on my hands back home, but now that I don't live at the inn, I don't see them as much."

Aurora was certainly more hands on, but she also came when he called, and if he needed a companion, he never had to wait on the mood to strike her for it.

Her answer makes sense, and he isn't sure what else he expected. It's always made sense for others, for people like Ty and Nicky to be protectors, for people like Casey to at least watch their own backs. Without explaining his gifts, he isn't sure how to express why he struggles with it, even when his own life is on the line. "So far I can only think of one thing we've had a chance to actually fight," he says instead. "And it was the kind of monster you can't face with just your hands."

[goldsteins]

There's a different ring to life in the village. Quieter and stiller in ways that makes the woman from the city uncomfortable. A life accompanied by magic and little more to do tossed about and much had to be learned. At least a simple life wasn't beyond her-- Tina Goldstein had never had much need for anything more than her sister and her work. In many ways that aspect of the village suited her, but even by her standards she felt restless at all times.

Which is what leads her to take to her walks. She usually tries to find her hands into doing something at this point, but Queenie has appeared to make friends. Even if she hadn't the woman couldn't sit in the house when she had free time, even if she's simply settled on the fact that having her sister made it enough of a home. She wanders instead and has found that the village offers different types of people and different sights-- The woman doing some odd form of physical activity one of them.

Was it a no-maj thing? She finds herself halting without really thinking about it, brows creasing on her forehead as she takes in the image. It's strange even for a no-maj she thinks-- Or at least anything she's ever seen (then again wizards were fascinated by soccer). Her voice fails her and even if it didn't she'd find it rude to interrupt. For now the younger woman remained a curious observer.

[ethnobotany]

On the plus side, Beverly's attempt at meditation doesn't get interrupted. That's always helpful. On the down side, she's not really managing enough of what the meditation is supposed to be doing for her. She feels off balance and nothing is really helping. No matter how hard she tries to focus, she can't quite manage to line up the right feel. Maybe that's the problem; she's hyper-focusing. So, after another minute or so, she huffs out an annoyed breath of air and finally opens her eyes.

Only to find that she has an observer. It's enough to make her feel a little self-conscious, though not by much. Still, she offers a small smile as she pushes some of her hair back. "Everything all right?" she calls just in case there's something else that this woman might need rather than interest in what she's doing.

[goldsteins]

Tina can't help but look a little sheepish at being caught, but it wasn't as if she was hiding it either. At least there was the excuse here that the woman's home was right next door to he own (which wasn't much of one since she was heading back that way as it were). The younger woman shakes her head quickly, smoothing out her features from the quizzical look she had worn moments prior.

"It's fine," she responded curtly, letting out an exhale of her own, "I've never seen anyone doing waht you are s'all. Sorry, I'll just head inside." The words fall all too quickly, there's still certain curiosity in her tone-- But she's hardly going to remain and make the woman (or herself) feel anymore self-conscious than she does. It's not as if she hasn't seen plenty of odd things.

[ethnobotany]

Beverly waves off the apology easily. This woman hadn't interrupted her, so it's easier to get over the idea of having been watched. At least Mok'bara is soothing. Not as soothing as if she had been caught gardening, but it's better than some things she could have been doing.

"It's all right. You don't have to go." More because Beverly is often far too friendly for her own good. She sees no reason to shoo off the other woman too soon. As if to punctuate that thought, she steps forward and offers a hand to shake. "Beverly Crusher. I was trying to meditate, I guess, but it wasn't working too well."

[goldsteins]

Tina's far too unused to the ease-going way people seemed to have about people here. Something like this would be brushed past and forgotten within moments in the city, by wizard and no-maj alike. It's a friendliness she always felt was reserved for her sister so the mild surprise that crosses her features isn't too unexpected.

She tucked her hair behind her hair before stepping forward and grasping the offered hand. "Tina Goldstein," She responded evenly, her nose scrunching up in thought about meditation. "Meditation wouldn't work for me even on a good day," she commented with some humor, "but I always thought it didn't involve moving." Then again, she knew very little about that at all.

[ethnobotany]

"You never know until you try," Beverly points out with good humor. "Sometimes it takes a while before you start to see any kind of result and even then it isn't always easy to find." Sometimes she still has trouble with it, depending on where her head is on any one given day.

Her smile turns a little bit wry. "The type I was practicing is more to relax your mind so your reflexes are sharper, but sometimes I just use it to take the edge off my mind. It's not really working well today, but that happens and it's always worth trying." Even if Worf would likely have a few choice words for her about it by now.

[goldsteins]

"Unfortunately, I don't usually have enough time for something like that," She returned, giving a roll of her shoulders. Time off wasn't something she gave herself, at least her idea of relaxation was reading a book and she rarely gave herself time for that.

Her brows furrowed and Beverly earned a short laugh. "I can't imagine why," She offered. Even after a few weeks here she's still not at all comfortable and has heard the same for those who had been here a few months longer. "It'll come to you."

[ethnobotany]

Beverly has known enough workaholics in her lifetime, and served under plenty of the Starfleet variety, to be able to at least suspect when she's run into another one. For a second she just watches the other woman. The signs are there and the roll of her shoulders says enough as to the state of the woman's 'relaxation' efforts.

"Don't have time... or don't make time?" she prods gently. Between Jean-Luc and Worf, Beverly has had her fair share of prodding people into taking shore leave and rest breaks when they need it.

"It will," she agrees. "Maybe later, after I've had some time to focus on something else. If I had a good book, I'd be reading." Or pruning a plant or working on a cybernetics paper or any number of things she can't actually do here.

Outside/Garden Scouting

[scepterschild]

Wanda couldn't say that she happy with this world but she was now thoroughly used to it. Her days varied, the only schedule that she kept involved stopping at the inn to help Kate in the kitchen and the process of preserving food.

Winter was coming to an end and since then Wanda had been thinking of starting a small farm which would have a small garden as well as a few livestock to feed her and her small family. Obtaining materials was harder than it seemed with livestock and seeds claimed though Wanda was nothing if not persistent. The following problem was that Wanda knew absolutely nothing about gardening.

That's why she stopped when she saw Beverly outside, peering at the ground as if it offered some sort of secret. "What are you doing?" Her accent was thick however her statement was clearly spoken.

[ethnobotany]

Beverly isn't so wrapped up in herself and her work right now that she doesn't notice anyone else walking nearby. She might not know everyone here -- often she feels like she doesn't really know anyone here, even the people from her universe -- but she has always been friendly. Having another face nearby is rarely a bad thing, even a strange one.

So she glances up as the other woman speaks, offering a small smile before she glances back at the ground for a minute. "I guess I was sort of surveying the land," she admits with a shrug. "Someday, when I can get my hands on some decent seeds, I'd like to start a garden here. Maybe something useful, like medicinal herbs or something we can eat. It really depends on what I can find. I just know I need something to grow, even if it's just a hobby."

Ethnobotany might be a bit more difficult here, but she has a feeling it'll be even more important in a place like this. Botany and farming in general. All the same, it'll give her a hobby to sink her teeth into, something that isn't just all the hours she'll be putting in at the hospital.

[scepterschild]

"You're a doctor?"

Wanda's voice was curious but subdued. She knew that some didn't like talking about their pasts, their skills or anything pertaining to their time outside of their current prison. She'd met some who were more open but it was never something that she pressed.

"And a gardener."

This was more of a statement, a light smile tugging at her lips. She was a little envious. Her own skills involved killing while this woman focused on growing and healing. As far as Wanda could see, they were complete opposites.

"I plan to garden too but I don't know anything about it."

[ethnobotany]

Beverly's laugh in response is soft, but amused. Seems she can't hide that part of her, even if she wanted to. "That obvious?" she asks lightly. "One of my hobbies is called ethnobotany. It's the study of plant life in relation to human life. Basically, I like to grow plants, but I also like to see how people interact with them." She's a botanist who likes to study more than just the plants.

Pushing some of her hair back, she tilts her head in consideration. There's no reason why she can't offer to help Wanda figure out how to garden and that might help Beverly herself get back into it here.

"I'd be happy to teach you what I know, if you'd like," she offers.

[scepterschild]

A light smirk tugged at her lips. "A bit." It'd been an easy guess.

Wanda raised an eyebrow at Beverly as if she couldn't understand Beverly's explination of a ethnobotanist. There were maybe a handful of ways that humans interacted with plants as they grew; unless she was talking about biological systems in which the reactions were endless.

"If you have the time. I'd listen."

She's learned to pick up what she can.

[ethnobotany]

Beverly's lips twist with barely-concealed amusement at Wanda's admission, though it doesn't last too long before it turns to a considering sort of expression. There is a lot she could teach a beginner, a lot more than they might have time for in one day. They could make this more than a one-time deal, though. Beverly wouldn't mind that at all.

"I don't think I can teach it all to you in one day," she admits with a wry smile. "But I'd be happy to start now with the basics. If you'd like to come back every so often, once every other day or so, I could teach you more."

And then maybe she could get into more of the details of her hobby while they're at it.

[scepterschild]

Wanda nodded her head in a quick motion before looking at the house behind Beverly. "This is where you live? I can come back here." That town wasn't that big, it wasn't as if she was going to forget.

"When would you want to start."

The interesting part about this village was that any obligations or future plans were now nonexistent. Wanda had time and would push things around accordingly.

[ethnobotany]

"So far it is," Beverly answers, glancing up at the house. "It seemed like the best place so far." The only one that really looked like she could make it work. Some of the others were nice, but... not like this one. She probably won't end up living along forever, given her tendency to adopt people and the other Starfleet personnel around -- or honorary Starfleet, in the case of Nerys.

"I don't have seeds right now, but I'll be looking around to see if I can't find a way to barter for some or find any in the wild," she admits, chewing the inside of her cheek for a second as she thinks. "But we could go over the basics now, if you'd like. Things like checking soil or figuring out what kind of plants you'd really like to grow if we had infinite supplies. Something like that."

She'll probably start them with simple things and work their way up once Wanda shows interest in more details. If she does.