fandomtownies | Tuesday: Plant Parenthood

Well, one mystery had been resolved. For another, Adrian had told her to come here. So Ivy had bundled up the few scoops of strange soil she'd found on Monday, put it in a cloth bag-- and gone to find its source.

She had a set of sunglasses perched on her vivid red hair, which was pulled firmly into a ponytail. She wore muted green overalls, and the only hint of fungus-- for now-- was a few strands and a fruit peeking out from one sleeve.

"Hi," she said. "Are you the owner?"

"I am," Nell said. "Nell Ingram. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Pam," Ivy said. She held up the bag. "I found some unusual soil in my backyard after I arrived. Adrian said you'd be able to explain it to me?"

It wasn't a full lie. She had found traces of it in the Pick Your Poison garden. Just after noticing much more of it elsewhere on the island, first.

Edited 2024-09-24 19:21 (UTC)

Nell touched the bag. Soulwood soil. And Adrian again.

She refrained from sighing over him or doing anything other than nodding and looking a bit concerned. "It's nice to meet you, Pam. That is soil from my home forest," she said, "but I don't know how it would be in your garden. I was very careful to only put it out around trees in the forest away from anyone's property. I would never encroach on anyone's space.

"Has it been a problem?"

"A problem? No. There wasn't a lot of it," Pam said, lowering the bag. She'd found much more than this when she'd made her first exploratory pass along the island - the difference had been enough that she suspected wind or shoe would've carried it into that trampled little garden by accident. "Though it left me curious how non-native soil could wind up here. Why bring it all this way?"

"It was - still is, to some extent - a way for me to stay connected to my Soulwood back home since it's not safe for me to live there at this time," Nell said. "It also served as a bit of an early warning system should anyone dangerous from home - or elsewhere, I suppose - turn up here."

She considered for a moment. "And it made me feel less isolated after living fully connected to my woods for many years, I suppose."

Pam looked around the store, taking in the lotions, the plants, the scent of something-or-other on the air. "I understand that," she said. (Probably better than she'd admit.) "But I hope you were careful. The microbes in that soil could change the environment in this place in ways that are hard to anticipate."

What, like absorbing a bioengineered fungus and letting it infect random people in the wild, Ivy? That kind of unpredictable and hard to anticipate? That really wasn't going to come back to bite you in the ass at all?

Nell nodded. "I was. Just the fact that it's been that way over two years now and still distinct shows that. It surprised me a bit. I honestly thought it would just merge in with the other soil and gradually be subsumed by it the way it would back home. Fandom, I guess. In any case I'm very sorry that some made its way into your garden, but it shouldn't affect anything there."

She noticed Pam's looking around the store. "Please, feel free to look around. Everything here is either made with things I have grown or that I have very carefully sourced. The teas and lotions and tinctures are all handmade in house by me."

"Locally sourced?"

In some things, she was nothing if not predictable.

"Sorry," Pam added, "I'm a botanist."

"Ohhh... " Nell breathed. "A botanist! Then I'd love to talk more with you about things sometime. Most of them are 'locally' sourced either here or back home since I can still pop in for short periods of time. Some of the more exotic items are from people I've met through my travels on Fandom trips where I was able to see them and how their products were made."

"I'd be interested in hearing about that," Pam admitted, fixing her eyes back on Nell. (She reached down quickly to pull a piece of fruiting fungus from her wrist, shoving it into her pocket.) "I woke up in the Pick Your Poison store yesterday. Sometimes I'm still surprised just how many chemicals companies can shove into a shampoo and still claim they're being 'sustainable'."

Nell nodded vigorously. "Yes! All those 'all natural' products that are stuffed full of chemicals. I, well, I grew up living off the grid and we made most everything we needed, so I learned early how to make things and found I had a knack for it."

Okay, far more than a knack, not that wasn't something she talked much about, at least not to someone she'd just met.

"Pick Your Poison... Didn't a Margo run that?"

"Apparently," Pam said. "She left the moment she saw me. I'm not taking it personally."

Though they probably would have had words about the inventory if Margo hadn't left so fast.

"I'm reinvigorating the garden there. Trying to figure out what plants native to this area could be."

"I can help with that if you want," Nell said. "And I have all sorts of seeds and seedlings if there's something specific you want to grow that you don't have there."

"I just... need to know what 'native' actually is," Pam said. "I know what grows around the Chesapeake Bay, but your soil is hardly the only thing unusual around here."

Nell laughed. "Not by half! There are all sorts of odd plants - and animals - that appear to be indigenous only to this island. Though, of course, they could also be plants that people brought with them from other worlds or universes that have made Fandom their home."

Nell had told him about the honey to be harvested, so Steven popped by late afternoon ~~so let's say after Ivy for timeline purposes~~ to see her.

"Nell, hello! How are you?"

"I'm well," Nell said. "And you? You're looking dapper."

Maybe a slight exaggeration since this was Steven, but still.

"Doing well, thank you," Steven said. He came in and glanced around for the kittens. Not that it wasn't nice to see Nell, of course, but kittens. "Your - I already asked that. Right. Still, good to see you. You'd perfect timing you know. Holidays are right round the corner."

"Oh, I'm glad then," Nell said with a smile as Cygnus peeked out of his sunny spot before coming over to check out Steven. Rigel just lay there lazily and hoped someone would come to him instead.

"I harvested a good bit of it already," she said. "I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing and how to do it safely before I had anyone else come. I saved some for Lana as well if she wants."

Steven squat down so he could be closer to Cygnus's level. He offered his hand to sniff before attempting to pet him. "Hello, little one. How've you been? Your mum taking good care of you?"

To Nell, he said, "That's brilliant, thank you. Means a lot to be able to use your honey. Makes it more special, coming from a friend."

"And even better for your holiday if you've harvested it yourself, I imagine," she said with a smile.

Cygnus had immediately rolled over and offered his truly-not-a-trap belly to be scritched.

"Ah! Now are you trying to trick me, young man, or is this a genuine offer?" Steven said to Cygnus. He tentatively tried doing a belly rub with just a couple of fingers.

"Plus always nice to have an excuse to spend time with a friend. And see how you're bees have gotten along. Been ages since I've been able to pop by."

Very rude of needs above and beyond the island to keep getting in the way of that.

Rude life for both of them!

"He loves that. Don't worry," Nell said. "And yes, it's nice to get a chance to see you when I'm not dashing in for a few minutes between classes!"

Steven relaxed and gave Cygnus more proper, but still gentle, belly rubs.

"How's that been? Did I tell you I'm managing to take a class this go round?"

"I'm enjoying taking classes again," Nell said. "And since I'm far less worried about... everything... it's much more relaxing. I'm glad to hear you found the time as well. What class are you taking?"

"Stark's class on Fridays," Steven said. "The only thing it bumps up against is my lunches with Llewellyn, and he's taking it with me as well so it sort of works out? So far? Can't hurt to give things a try, yeah?"

Steven stood up again so he could chat with Nell properly. He looked at her with concern. "Worry? Is everything all right?"

"You're still having lunch together, right?" Nell said with a smile.

She held up a half quickly. "No, oh no, but before I was always worried so I could rarely just completely relax and enjoy what we were doing. Now, things are much different."

"I see," Steven said, relaxing now that he knew she wasn't having problems. "And yeah, we do. I make something and leave it in the fridge at the station. Then it gets heated up as needed before Llewellyn and I eat. Bit of a challenge figuring out what to make that won't be hurt by the delay, but it's gone all right so far."

"Its getting past the season for it, but there are a lot of good cold soups. They're great with fruit or a sandwich," Nell offered. "Then you don't have to worry so much about heating it up."

"Soups aren't too bad for heating in the microwave either," Steven agreed. "And you? Things going to calm down a bit now that the weather's cooling down as well?"

Nell nodded. "Yes. Well, sort of. It will get quieter, but we're still harvesting and then we need to get the land cleared to be ready for winter. I won't do most of that myself this year, but I'll need to check in regularly."

"Are you doing all that alone?" Steven asked. "Or will your friend help as well? The one who watches over your home?"

"He and his crew will do most of the actual work," Nell said. "I just have to go over what needs to be done and how it all should happen."

"That's good," Steven said. "And kind of them as well. Do they share in the fruits of the labor? Or, er, the vegetables of the labor as the case may be?"

"Oh, of course," Nell said. "I wouldn't ask them to help with that work and not let them share in it!"

"The herbs of the labor as well," Steven said, amusing himself.

He cleared his throat, getting back on track. "Right. Shall we see to your generous bees then?"

"Absolutely," Nell said. "Just let me close up here first."

She locked the front door and set the sign to closed, then turned off the lights as they headed to the stairway.

"There've been some changes since you were last here," she said, gesturing to the hot tub and twinkle lights set all around.

"It looks lovely," Steven said as he took it all in. "The fairy lights are a nice touch. Bet those will be particularly beautiful as the days get darker."

"They're lovely to watch at night," Nell agreed. "Not so much that they take away from the stars, but a very nice addition."

She moved toward the hives. "So...~~and here we get very handwavey~~."

Nell explained the process to Steven and they began harvesting the honey.

Tuesday: Plant Parenthood

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