[Open] Farming Club Shenanigans

[nedofpies]

Who: The Farming Club! Also open to anyone who wants to come by and harass them.
What: Agricultural avengers assembling to till some soil, plant some crops, water the ones they've already got, and converse amongst themselves in a lively fashion.
Where: A large patch of open space between House 11 and the edge of the woods.
When: Day 79-81 (please indicate which day in the thread header!)

Ned's not really one for leadership, but it isn't quite so daunting when he knows he's just acting as a kind of deputy. Erik was the one who said he should get everyone together, and so get everyone together he shall. He put out a message on the network the previous evening, naming a time and place and politely (and a little awkwardly) requesting that everyone whose name is on that trusty list for farming duties show up to help get some more things planted.

They won't be able to accomplish it in one day. Some things will need to go in other places with different soil types (according to Lydia, anyway), and some things will need to wait for the greenhouse to be built. But in the meantime there are plenty of things to be done. Grass needs to be cleared, to give them a larger plot to plant in. Someone mentioned irrigation systems. He thinks there are other things - ways of regulating sun and shade, of keeping the crops safe from birds or other dangers. He hopes he'll have enough willing hands to help do them.

Ned's brought all the tools he can find - shovels, trowels, gloves, seeds, and assorted other items. He has also set up a wobbly table that he found in the church basement, with a few pitchers of cold lemonade and a dozen or so glasses on top. There is a social component to this too, he knows. It's part of all of them working together, against the people who brought them here, looking into a future in which they aren't starving and at one another's throats, but dependent on one another to keep all this going.

Comments

Day 79

[bluesrat]

Rat's been hanging around in the library reading up on gardening quite a lot, but it's probably just as well he left the books there since other people seem to have brought them. What he does bring is a single dusty volume on irrigation systems, a handful of papers, and some long pieces of pipe that aren't too rusty. Who knows where he's managed to scrounge them from, and putting them together without welding equipment might prove tricky, but he's trying. He's lugged them here wrapped in his own jacket, since he lacks anything better to carry them with, and since they're neither small nor light his arrival may not be unobtrusive. Once he gets them close enough to where the tables are he has to stop to cough and catch his breath.

[tryingitall]

"Feeling any better?" Balthazar shows up next to him, reaching to help with the burden. "You'd better heal up; you need your voice."

His expression is warm and friendly, but there's a question in his eyes, too. He's realized by now that the way he rescued Rat probably begs some significant questions.

[bluesrat]

He gives a friendly smile as he feels somebody else help lighten his burden, but when he sees Balthazar there may be a slightly flicker to his expression. He still as questions, but he's also been trying to decide whether or not he really wants to ask them.

"I'm doing better. Might need a few more days. Anyway, all the best jazz singers are raspy." His grin widens, but it's deliberate this time. His gaze is searching Balthazar's face a little, holding the questions he hasn't asked yet. "You doing okay?"

[tryingitall]

He sees that look, and he's not sure what to make of it, but at least it's not sheer terror. He won't make the first move, but Rat can ask questions when he wants.

"I had a minor injury, but I'm more or less recovered now. Oh! And I found some plastic sheets we can use for this, but I'm still working on containers. I thought perhaps old washtubs or something..."

[bluesrat]

Even in the midst of flames and smoke, Rat didn't look terrified. Anxious, perhaps. "Well, I'm sorry if I don't know how to return the favor you did me..." He glances at their supplies, rubs the side of his jaw, and nods a little.

"That could work. Tubs or basins or anything like that. But what do you mean by plastic sheets...?" That's easier to ask about than how Balthazar jumps through space.

[tryingitall]

"Or maybe just some five-gallon buckets?" He shrugs ignoring the comment about favors (really, it was nothing), then beckons him toward the house. "I'll show you. I cleared out our attic and found a few odds and ends I thought might have some use some day. You can come in, my housemates don't bite."

[bluesrat]

To him, jumping halfway across town in a heartbeat seems like a pretty big thing all by itself, and he's grateful to have been along for the ride. The smoke might have overtaken him otherwise, and that's a slow, painful way to go.

He's surprised to be invited inside, but nods and follows. "I think all the houses are occupied right now, so that limits where I can scrounge for supplies. The pipes were a lucky find, even if I did almost break my back carrying them."

[tryingitall]

"Are they really? I'm not sure whether that's good or bad. I mean, it's good that people aren't dying, but if other captives keep coming in, we're going to have to budge up, aren't we?" He leads Rat through the door and into a kitchen that looks like the flood is going through minor remodeling.

"Careful not to trip over the rough patch there. I'm still trying to work out what to repair it with."

[bluesrat]

"I guess so. I'm afraid I've had a hard time working out just how many people there are here, exactly." He glances down and tries not to look too surprised at the state of the floor, although he's definitely curious. He'll just step over some of that.

"There's a project to fix up the diner, maybe we should come over here next?"

[tryingitall]

"I can't keep track, either. People come and go, and sometimes you get new voices on the network or the friends of the departed mourning, but not always. We really ought to keep better track, somehow." Balthazar heads into the living room, where a couple cardboard boxes hold odds and ends, including a large aluminum washtub and a plastic wastebin.

"No, no, that floor is my project to fix. I'm the one who damaged it, and I promised."

[bluesrat]

Once he starts for the boxes, Rat zeroes in to look. picking up items and looking thoughtful over them. He picks up a clear plastic shower curtain and looks it over as if he's never seen such a thing before. "You... is that something I shouldn't ask about? It doesn't look that bad..." He's not sure what the hell Balthazar did to the floor, to damage it that badly.

[tryingitall]

"Have you been informed about the little tricks the place likes to play on us? I got turned, briefly, into a very hungry monster. I ate the linoleum, and part of the surface beneath." He shakes his head.

"You probably don't want the details."

[bluesrat]

"...Only in vague terms. nobody seems keen to give details, but if it involves traumatic personal experiences, I guess I can understand why." He frowns mildly, playing with the shower curtain a little, testing the tensile strength and stretch with interest.

"...A monster? Re-sorry. Never mind. You're right, of course..." Except that he's so very curious. Rat is trying to be polite, but right now that's warring hard with his inquisitive nature.

[tryingitall]

"If I thought past experiences would help prepare you for future ones, I'd share, but there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason with these experiments." He sighs and sits lightly on the arm of the couch.

"You've been polite, but I assume you're wondering what the hell I did to you the other day."

[bluesrat]

He looks a little sheepish, as he often does when he's called out on things he's too polite to say aloud. "To put it mildly. But you saved my life. I wasn't about to push. Thank you again, by the way." He gives a wheezing cough, and puts down the plastic to give Balthazar his attention.

[tryingitall]

"You're welcome. That whole business was a mess; I'm just glad no one died in it." He smiles weakly and tilts his head back as if to study the ceiling.

"I don't know whether you're a religious man. I don't really want to influence any beliefs you might have. But I'm an angel. A fairly young one, as angels go."

[bluesrat]

"I'm... not especially." He blinks, and runs a hand over his face, watching Balthazar carefully. There's a long pause before he speaks again, taking the time to gather his thoughts. "I'm not sure what I'd expect an angel to be like..."

[voliere]

Elizabeth is checking up on something in one of those books near the tables, so when she hears that coughing, she looks up. Oh, that's Rat, and she doesn't quite flail, but she does hurriedly put the book down to scoot over to him with a glass of lemonade and a concerned look.

"Are you alright?" She very, very lightly sets her fingertips on his back, hesitant to touch but wanting to steady him. She's sure it's not even that bad, she just... you know. Wants to make sure.

[bluesrat]

The touch comes as he's straightening up from putting down the pipes, and he gives her a smile, but coughs once more. "I'm okay. Glad to see you weathered things all right." Everything since the day the Doctor tore a hole in the world has felt like recovery, and things are only just now returning to whatever normal is, for this place.

[voliere]

She gives him a little smile. "I've weathered worse, I think," She says, drawing her hand back and offering him the lemonade. "Is the cough because of the past few days' events?"

[bluesrat]

That lemonade looks awfully good right now, and he takes it with a nod. "I was supposed to be helping out in the woods, but mostly I just got caught in the smoke when everything went up in flames..." He takes a grateful gulp of the drink. "Balthazar saved me."

[voliere]

Ooh, that just makes her bristle again, the fact that Rat was caught in the smoke. Dilandau makes her blood boil, and that's hard to do. In any case.

"Balthazar?" A beat. Oh, right. "Ah, he introduced himself to me the other day. He seems to be a good sort of spirit. I'm glad that you're safe. I had... worried, that I was to be responsible for a large number of injuries."

[bluesrat]

Rat just nods peacefully, and rubs his back a little, grateful to have set his load down. If he's bitter at Dilandau, he's not about to go on about it. "Yeah, Balthazar's a nice guy, whatever else he is, and I'm not hurt. Just need a few more days for my lungs to sort themselves out. I guess cutting back on cigs won't hurt me, anyway."

[voliere]

She smiles a little. "No, I suppose it won't. It may be a good thing, after all, since I hear those are hard to come by." She glances at the supplies Rat had brought. "I'm glad that you aren't hurt. I assume you're alright to do... whatever this is, what have you brought along?"

[bluesrat]

"That's nothing new, for me." He gives a lopsided little smile. Food is more important than cigarettes, and sometimes he has to choose between them. Then he gives a shrug, but tries to stifle his next cough for her sake. "I'm on the mend. Anyway, this needs doing. The pipes are for an irrigation and water filtration system." He gestures to the collection he's hauled here.