what a garden to be made ( OPEN )

[ethnobotany]

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."

Comments

[fishermansweater]

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.

[ethnobotany]

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?"

[fishermansweater]

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."

[ethnobotany]

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."

[fishermansweater]

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.

[ethnobotany]

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.

[fishermansweater]

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."