sixthiterationlogs | what a garden to be made ( OPEN )

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what a garden to be made ( OPEN )

WHO: Beverly Crusher
WHERE: Hospital, outside House #15
WHEN: Second week of May
OPEN TO: Anyone, with one closed for Wanda
WARNINGS: Nothing for now, will update if necessary
STATUS: OPEN

HOUSE #15

It was a strange box she'd found that morning. What was even more strange was what she had found inside the box. A bunch of seeds of all sizes and shapes stared up at her, glinting in the little bit of light filtering through. What startled her more than those were the gardening tools resting above the seeds. It was like someone knew she liked gardening, knew she would want to help out and wanted a garden of her own. Was this something those Observers she had heard so much about liked to do?

Pulling out the tools, she set them aside and began to sort through the seeds. There were so many, she barely even knew where to start. Two of most things, except one willow and four aloe. The willow made sense, though she hoped it was the seed for a smaller willow tree. The aloe plant also made sense. The more aloe they had, the better off everyone would be. Some of these would have to wait for a greenhouse or something of the sort. Otherwise, the climate here would kill them. But some she could go ahead and plant.

So for the rest of the week, she could be found outside when she wasn't on a shift at the hospital. With tools in hand, she's either working on getting some of the seeds into the ground or trying to remember how Annie and Finnick were doing their fence so she can make her own. The last thing she wants is to have her new garden get eaten or run over when it finally starts to grow. She makes a point of looking for anyone who might want to help on either one of these endeavors.

HOSPITAL

Her colleagues at the hospital are all very important here. Beverly doesn't know what each of them knows about herbal remedies, but she sees no reason not to offer what she does know to them. The more of a supply of those remedies they have and the more people who know what they are and how to use them, the better. So at some point during the day, she finds each of them, walking up to ask a few simple questions.

"I've just received a bunch of seeds for herbs and plants we can use for medicine and poultices when they finally grow. How much do you know about medicinal herbs?"

WANDA

Wanda is one of the people Beverly wants most to work on her garden with. Unfortunately, not knowing Wanda's schedule means she isn't familiar with the proper times and places to try to catch her. So Beverly sorts out a handful of the ones she wants to plant now, setting them aside so she can plant them with Wanda at a later date. It isn't until the end of the week that she finally happens to make it into the Inn at the right time to find Wanda. Making her way over, again being careful not to sneak up on her, she offers a small but very warm smile.

"I remember you being interested in gardening," she comments easily. "I've just discovered a whole bunch of seeds that I'd like to plant. If you're interested, maybe you could help me."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As a victor, Finnick had been something of a special case in Panem. He'd been rich, famous, popular in his district and the Capitol, bringing something of the charm of the districts to the Capitol and the sophistication of the Capitol to his district. Or so they said; he hadn't thought there was anything charming about working yourself to death trying to meet a fishing quota, or anything sophisticated about exploiting the poor.

One thing he hadn't been was an expert. He could fish well enough, he could wield a trident to impress the Capitol, but nobody from District Four would have turned to him for help with something like this, because the life of a victor excused him from the lifetime's work that gave the old fisherfolk their expertise. So it's flattering, in a sincere way he's not used to, to be asked for help based purely on something he and Annie achieved.

Finnick stops just beside Beverly and watches as she points out what she's done and where she thinks the fence will go.

"We worked out it was best to start with the fence posts. Maybe three or four big ones over that area," he continues, gesturing to show her where he means, "then some smaller ones in between. The big ones sort of anchor it and you weave around the smaller ones."

He smiles. "Should keep any geese wandering by out of your garden."

Beverly nods at the explanation. It makes sense and hopefully if she has someone to help while she gets started, she should have a better idea of what to do without anyone to help. If not, she knows who to call for help. She does laugh at the idea of geese wandering around.

"Let's hope so," she agrees. "The last thing I want is for some bird to come around and think my garden is lunch." She'd been more imagining deer and other large game coming around to snack, but birds are a concern as well. Hopefully the fence idea will keep them all contained.

"Well, the most I have as far as tools is a small trowel. I guess that'll have to do to dig proper holes." She's got a hoe and cultivator, but neither of those is particularly suited to digging specific post-sized holes.

"It's been made clear to me they need to stay out of people's gardens."

Specifically, Johanna's garden, and he'd believe of Johanna to actually attack the birds if they wandered too far, despite Finnick's unspecific but firm comments to her about the undesirability of anything happening to them that would upset Annie.

They do wander less, now they have a fence and are getting used to walking in a flock with Annie keeping them in line. But it's still an important point if Beverly is going to be growing things here.

He considers the ground in front of them; he's not familiar with gardening tools, but he and Annie had to make do with sharpened sticks when it came to digging, so she's probably doing better than they had been. At least her gardening tools are designed for digging, right?

"We used sharpened sticks," he says dryly. "Do you have anything to cut the wood with or sharpen fenceposts to make them easier to drive in? We had a hatchet and machetes, but there's some other tools in the storeroom at the Inn. We borrowed a hammer from there to drive in the posts. Worked so far."

"They're a nice touch, but I wouldn't want them turning up my plot here," Beverly comments, thinking that having her garden get destroyed would probably be one of the worst possibilities. She doesn't really know what she would do if that happened.

She considers the rest of what he says seriously. She's not much of a woodworker, so none of that will come easily to her, but she's willing to learn at least. The hammer she did borrow already. Not so much the rest.

"I borrowed the hammer already, but the rest I guess I'll have to go back for. Woodworking was never my strong suit. Although..." She pauses, head tilted. "We might be able to find a small knife in the survival kit I found." It had been tucked away and no one else had claimed it, so she figured she might as well make use of it.

"You might not need to go back if you've got that kit. Not if it's like the one I have."

He suspects it might be: Jo Harvelle had given out more than one of those kits, and some of the people who'd had them are no longer here. He's aware that things that belonged to people who have since disappeared often find their way into the possessions of those still here. He should be aware of it: he's benefited from it himself, claiming a pair of daggers and some clothes that had been abandoned.

The important thing, though, is knowing that those kits had very serviceable knives in them. Finnick carries his with him, and he pulls it out now, holding it out for Beverly to see, though he doesn't unfold it.

"I got this in a survival kit, and an axe, too. Annie and I managed with those and a machete, but you could probably get by with the knife and axe."

In all honesty, she hasn't really cracked the whole thing open yet. She'd peered in just to get the idea, but hadn't really looked. Now seems like a good idea. Nodding at Finnick's words, she heads up the porch to grab the kit from its spot, opening it and motioning for Finnick to come take a look with her. If they do find things in here, it'll make her life a lot easier.

"Were there a lot of these kits in circulation before?" she asks curiously as they both sort through what's what.

It looks the same as the one he has, though a black backpacks can be hard to tell apart. It definitely isn't the same as the standard ones with the flame insignia that everyone gets given when they arrive. When he steps over to join her in looking into the kit, he nods.

"Looks the same. Should be a good knife in there somewhere, and that orange axe."

He points it out, then peers in again, but he looks up at her question.

"A bunch of them got given out. Maybe six months ago or so, one day presents just appeared in the main room at the inn. Gifts for people that none of us had actually meant to give, but things we'd been thinking about. Jo Harvelle gave out a lot of these, but I guess some of the people who got them aren't here anymore."

Of course, neither is Jo, who'd been suspicious of this place and wary of trusting things here, but who had also seemed to have a hand in the early organization of the little community here. He's not sure if there's any pattern to the people who disappear here, but he doesn't like the coincidence, if that's what it is, much.

Whatever the instance of her finding this kit -- it had looked interesting and another backpack couldn't hurt -- Beverly finds herself grateful that she'd picked it up. She finds the knife and the orange axe, pulling them both out to examine them. They do look like they would be good to use for this.

"Almost sounds a little telepathic," she comments off-hand, raising her eyebrows at him as though to suggest how creepy that really does sound. "Well, it was sitting around, so I thought it might be good to put to use. Better than letting it catch dust, wouldn't you think?"

If it were hers to begin with, she would want it to be used.

"All right. So what do we do with these?"

It's good to be able to do something practical with Beverly, after the way their last conversation had turned out. He doesn't want to be remembered for that, for the things he'd said about the Capitol and Panem, or for the things he hadn't said, either. It had been dangerous, and he'd rather she think of him as someone with practical skills than someone who had come too close to treasonous words for his own safety.

Besides, it's probably a good thing for her to think of him as somebody she owes, says the part of his instincts that deals with leverage and secrets.

"Yeah," he agrees, his tone making it clear that he's not pleased with the fact. None of them had been able to work out what had happened with the gifts, or how it could possibly work, but the concept of the Gamemakers here being inside their heads to know their thoughts is horrifying.

He lets out a long breath, then nods his agreement with her assessment.

"Stupid to waste something like this when we need it," he says. It's what happens in the Games, so he's not about to judge the fact that it happens here, too. He'd have done the same if he'd found something like that clearly going unused.

"The axe is good to have just to be able to cut the wood if you need to. Could be hard to find enough good, straight dropped branches for the fenceposts, so you might need to cut something to size, or fella branch."

Not that he knows all that much about woodworking, though he has vague ideas from things he's seen on television.

"We found that if you sharpen the end of the fencepost a bit, it's easier to drive in. Basically, you use one of these to carve the end until it's got a point."

A part of her hates the necessity of everything, that they have to fend for themselves like this, but this is what they have to work with. Whether they like it or not, living here is something of a fight for survival. It is what it is and they have to go with it or risk losing. The kind of loss that would come with this... she doesn't like to think about it.

She nods, eyeing all of the wood working she's going to have to do, and wipes her forehead a bit with the back of one arm. It's a lot to worry with and rather overwhelming at the same time. At this point, she isn't sure if she'll have the energy to deal with it all right now. It might have to end up being a project for a day all its own.

"That all makes sense," she agrees, folding her arms over her chest like somehow glaring at everything will make it work for her. "I'm starting to think this might be a multiple-day project." Not that she expected it to be easy, mind, but this is more than she'd thought about. "If I spend today sharpening the wood posts, I'll be able to actually start on the fence part tomorrow."

He has to smile at the way she glares at the wood she's gathered. It had taken Finnick and Annie longer than he'd thought it would to build their fence, too, even with the two of them and a little familiarity with some of what they were doing.

"At least you won't have geese helping," he says, a little dry, because whatever the geese had been doing, quite often it had not been helping. Sometimes they'd wandered a little way away and started grazing, but there had been other times when they'd simply tried to escape.

He pauses, joining her in studying the garden in front of her.

"Do you want me to come by tomorrow and see if I can help?"

It's stated a little awkwardly, a little suddenly, but he says it, in respect to Annie's desires for the two of them to become closer to some of the community. Besides, he likes Beverly, and she'd been sympathetic to the plight of the people of Panem.

Hard labor does take time, as does engineering, and that’s basically what this is. If she had Geordi here, they’d probably have this finished in a day, even without the technology he’s used to. But she’s lucky enough to have anyone at all offering to help and she’s not about to turn that down. Even if the image of geese trying to help does make her laugh lightly.

She turns back towards Finnick at his offer, her eyes lighting up with gratitude. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d really appreciate that. Something like this seems like it would go faster and easier with more than one person working on it.”

Besides, she had helped them with theirs previously. It's only fair that one of them return the favor.

She does look genuinely pleased at the offer, and it seems that she accepts it out of a real desire for his help. He's aware that it's unlikely to be anything particularly personal, since they're talking about helping to build a fence, but it's reassuring to know that at least one overture of goodwill to the community is being accepted.

He gives her a lopsided grin in return for the laugh. The geese, it's true, aren't really very good at helping with anything, except keeping the grass short.

"Sure. I'll see you then, bring some tools. Should be able to get a good start on it."

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what a garden to be made ( OPEN )

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