strangetrip | [EP] hands in the dirt, head in the sun

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[EP] hands in the dirt, head in the sun

After Vax'ildan caught her giving some of the plants a little nudge, Joanna was being more careful and not using magic as she tended the plantings. Getting her hands in the dirt and around growing things was grounding in ways she needed, with or without magic.

"No. Thank you. I have all the towels I need." The staff's obsession with offering towels was beyond Joanna's understanding, but was easier to ignore than the lack of aura and their general vagueness. "The fuchsias could use some attention, though. I was going to get to them after I finished here, but you could take care of them." The groundskeeper looked at Joanna with confusion. "The fuchsias. Bushes... small, carmine-" With no signs the woman knew what Joanna was talking about, she shook her head. "I'm going to clean up this bed today. Maybe you could find another part of the grounds to tend?"

The groundskeeper toddled off to do... whatever it was she was going to do, and Joanna let out a sigh of disbelief before catching the eye of someone passing by. "I had middle school students who were easier to talk to."

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"Suffocating," Joanna agreed. "These are fairly hardy plants. They can survive a lot, and will once summer comes, but a little help can make a big difference, same as it does for people. They'll be beautiful in a month or two, when the whole bed is purple with blooms, with hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees flitting around."

"Survivors." She stroked one of the plants leaves with a gentle finger and nodded. "Just need a helping hand."

She considered that, face blank, eyes distant.

"Tell me how to help."

Going with her gut was more Wendy's strength, but something made Joanna look at the girl more closely for a breath before asking, "Plants or people?" Plants were usually easier, but from what she'd seen, most of the people here were survivors of one kind or another, and could use a gentle touch as well.

And sometimes being the one to help was help they needed.

"Plants first." she said after a long moment where she looked back. "People are more complicated. They give me a headache."

Joanna nodded, wondering how literal River meant that. In past lives, Freya had gotten headaches sometimes as a girl, just from being around too many people feeling too much. But they didn't know each other well enough for Joanna to ask. Not yet.

So she began telling River about the plants around the inn and what they needed as they worked, starting with the bee's bliss in front of them.

River listened intently about the plants, Joanna was restful, and she liked to learn.

Eventually she said, "You aren't as loud as everyone else." Quiet. Or, quieter. On any given day the headache was literal, but not right now.

Joanna liked to think she didn't yell all that much, and she hadn't today around River, obviously. But quiet could mean more than that, and her mouth curved into an understanding smile. "I've had a lot of practice.

"What's loud – thoughts or feelings? Or both?"

"They aren't separate. Feelings and thoughts go together." She frowned, that wasn't quite what she wanted to say. She pulled a little weed and patted the soil then held it up so the top leaves and the stringy white of the roots were visible.

"Feelings are deep down, and they grow into thoughts." Like the weed.

Okay it might not be a weed.

Separating plants into weeds and flowers was more arbitrary than some people realized. No, the green shoot River had pulled wasn't the same as the rest of the flowers in this part of the grounds, but it wouldn't have done any harm there either.

Weeds and flowers, feelings and thoughts. Not so different.

"True, but some people are more sensitive to one than the other. I count myself lucky I don't sense thoughts."

"Not a sense. Not like seeing where I can close my eyes." But she knew, not as clearly as she might, she knew and she poked a little hole in the dirt and replanted the weed. The not a weed.

"Like a wave," she tipped her head back, and opened her arms to the sky, eyes closed now. "Have to learn to float. Or you drown."

You could still get caught in the undertow, get pulled into the depths, but she knew she might not come back up if that happened.

"You can't close your ears," Joanna suggested, a softness to her eyes as she watched River replant the young plant. "But you can cover them sometimes. Sound's a wave too."

She stopped herself before gentling a lock of hair behind River's shoulder the way she would've Freya or Ingrid. "If floating gets to be hard, and the headache's bad, come find me. I have a," potion, "remedy that used to help my daughter."

"No needles." She doesn't need to be told this woman isn't a doctor. But she's obviously wary of any remedies or medications. "Simon says, no more needles."

"No needles," Joanna assured her solemnly. "More like a tisane. I'll need to make sure we have everything I need to make it, but I don't think that's a problem." Most of the components she'd seen already either in the kitchens or growing on the grounds.

"Tisane: dried herb infusion." That got consideration before she nodded. Some of the things Simon had given her had been extracts, the Chinese after al had perfect the art of herbal and homeopathic treatments centuries before human's had abandoned Earth That Was.

"Shìyìng jíbìng de bǔjiù cuòshī."

[ooc: Chinese proverb. Translation - Adapt the remedy to the disease.]

"My Chinese is a little rusty, sorry. Practically non-existent. But I used to run an apothecary," she explained. "Herbal remedies are something of a family tradition."

"Simon is a Doctor," she didn't bother to translate, it wasn't really that important. Simon had given her all sorts of things, and rules: no caffeine, not a lot of sugar. She tried to follow the rules but none of the drugs he'd been giving her were readily available.

And she liked cocoa.

"But he isn't here."

"I'm sorry. It's hard being far away from family. And friends." Joanna wasn't certain which Simon was, but River said his name like people should know him, so he was probably one or the other.

Everyone should know Simon, at least a part of her felt that way. The other part knew that no one here knew who he was. Nor did they care.

"He's my brother. But he's okay even though he's a doctor."

"We can make allowances for family." First needles, now doctors – what had been done to this girl to leave her so wary?

"My late... ex-husband was a doctor, until he gave it up to study history. He was okay most of the time too.

"I hope we all find a way to get out of here, so you can return to Simon soon."

"Simon will come for me," she hadn't believed that the first time. But she wouldn't doubt him this time. If he could find his way here, he would come.

"Sometimes he's slow," so it could take a while, but that was okay. she sort of liked it here.

River sounded so sure; it reminded Joanna of her own time waiting to be reunited with Frederick, and the times she hadn't been as confident.

"I look forward to meeting him whenever he finally gets here." Such a well-loved brother of such an interesting young woman, yes, Joanna would like to meet him, she thought.

He was well loved, but not nearly as well loved as she was. Simon would come. Eventually.

"I will introduce you." Simon would like this woman.

"I'd like that. Thank you."

Satisfied with how the salvia looked and felt now, Joanna sat back on her heels, stretching her spine straight. "And thank you for helping today. It made the work more enjoyable."

"I am not busy tomorrow."

You know, if Joanna wanted help again. River often found herself out in the gardens anyway in good weather.

"Come find me, if you'd like. I don't know yet where on the grounds I'll be, but you're welcome to join me." It had been nice working together, and if Joanna could give River a focus and a respite from some of the noisiness for awhile, even better.

"And if things become too loud, or you want to see me some other time, I'm in 117, Building 2."

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st_makemeastone - 2017-03-01 19:44 (UTC) - Expand

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