SIXTY SEVEN ✖ VOICE & SPAM

[wedonot]

[Private to the Admiral]

May I have a set of keys to the greenhouse, please?

[Public]

Since Ivy's left, [Vanished, really, he probably shouldn't use the euphemism even though it's impossible to know if this is permanent or not.] I've asked the Admiral to give me keys to the greenhouse. I hope no one minds.

[He doesn't... actually know all that much about gardening from a first hand perspective, but he feels like someone owes it to Ivy to make sure the plants are well cared for.]

[Spam for the Garden]

[The problem with this plan is that Charles doesn't really own clothes that are good for gardening in. He's got clothes he wears to run in, and spar and fight in (which is still sort of strange to think about, because he still hasn't really made peace with the idea of being a fighter), and the rest of his wardrobe pretty much screams frumpy professor or at least "I haven't gone shopping for clothes since the 1950's" to any modern observer.

So he's kneeling in the garden pulling weeds after he makes his brief announcement, wearing a borrowed pair of gloves and getting dirt all over an old pair of slacks, but he doesn't really care. It's good, to be outside doing something productive and methodical, and it helps make the recent losses and the lingering presence of the flood easier to bear.

He knows he should be checking in with people - his family especially, because it seems like they've been hit particularly hard recently - but at the moment, it's easier to carefully uproot the weeds and replant them somewhere where they won't choke the life out of the other plants.

Considering how much Ivy had cared about everything that grew here, he doesn't want to kill them if he can help it.]

Comments

[onlysurvivor]

[Kelsier shows up to the Greenhouse not long after Charles makes his announcement. He actually knows quite a bit about tending to plants.]

Need help?

[wedonot]

[Charles manages a smile for Kelsier - it's actually genuine, too - and scoots over a little so he can sit down next to him without sitting in the trash bucket.]

Sure. I'm trying- [And he lets out a sort of baffled, 'I can't believe I'm really saying this, good God, I probably need better coping mechanisms' laugh at himself as he surveys his work and realizes he's going to have to explain himself.] To transplant the weeds as best I can to another part of the garden. I don't want them choking the plants in this section, but... [And now's when it's starting to hit him a little that he's lost a lot of good friends lately.] Ivy loved everything that grew here, and I don't want to just rip them up and throw them away if I can help it. If that makes any sense.

[onlysurvivor]

They're green. It makes sense.

[He drops down next to him. He doesn't bother with gloves because... what's another scar?]

To cultivate any plants we would have to constantly uncover them from the ash. Forgive me for saying but this is less depressing and is more... pure.

[He starts to dig around a weed, they never had these problems where he came from. It was a struggle to grow anything. Overgrown is an almost alien concept.]

I talk to them.

[wedonot]

I can imagine. [But he honestly can't imagine how difficult it would be, to live in a world like that. That had pretty much been what Shaw hoped to create - the world he saw in Emma's thoughts and Shaw's were both bleak and grey and dark, in more ways than one.

Botany might not be his particular specialty, but living in a world like that seemed hopeless and sad.]

That apparently helps them grow. I've never been certain if it's just an old wives' tale or not, but it's sort of a nice thing to think, that they like listening to you.

private

[indispensible]

Do you . . . need help?

[This may be a terrible idea. But. Too bad.]

private

[wedonot]

[Eh. Charles is like, the king of terrible ideas. HE JUMPS INTO THE OCEAN TO SAVE PERFECT STRANGERS FROM DROWNING.]

I wouldn't mind company.

private

[indispensible]

If Zane is there, I'd rather not bother him.

[Which Charles might notice is a significant change from previously. She has never given any ground - surrendered any territory, as it were. But Zane knew Ivy better, knows the gardens better. If he wants to mourn first, she won't get in his way.]

[tolaywaste]

[Alex finds Charles towards evening, just before dinner. He's silent, just walks up behind him and watches him work.]

[wedonot]

[He's sensed his approach pretty much as soon as he was out on deck, even though the telepathic contact's so gentle that it's basically nonexistent. It's just a defense mechanism - he doesn't like being snuck up on, especially not here.

And while there's definitely a part of him that wants to immediately reach out to Alex and let him know that he's happy he's awake and hadn't been forced to leave without saying goodbye, he doesn't want to overwhelm him when he knows he's hurting, too. Probably worse than Charles is in a lot of ways, because he couldn't say goodbye to Jean, and God knows Alex takes that kind of thing hard.

So once he's done transplanting what looks like a dandelion, he wipes his forehead on his sleeve and turns around to look at him, managing a smile. There's a gentle brush of affection projected his way.]

Hi.

[tolaywaste]

[Charles will brush grief, pain, loss, anger. Lots of anger. Nothing is well-containing, everything straining at the edges to explode. He hurts deep, rifts spreading in him that he doesn't even realize are there at all, let alone as severe as they've become.]

[There's a smudge of dirt on Charles's forehead and a feeling of love in the air. Even Alex can manage a smile in the face of all that. Just a little one.]

Never seen you garden before.

[private]

[lastincident]

Thank you.

[ Ivy will be snitty about if she returns -- but Bruce is allowed to be grateful. ]

[private]

[wedonot]

[Why, they're pals, Charles is making sure her plants don't die in her absence. B(]

You don't have to thank me.

[private]

[lastincident]

No, I don't. But I am anyway.

[spam]

[heisrisen]

[He wanders in, kneels beside Charles in the dirt without thinking twice. He doesn't have gloves - Charles has the key to the shed, after all - but it's not as though his hands really need the protection.]

We imagine you have plenty of volunteers.

[spam]

[wedonot]

People have been stopping by. [They miss Ivy, or want to do something to help the garden now that its protector is gone.] But if you'd like to arrange something more permanent, I'd appreciate the help.

[spam]

[heisrisen]

We had a garden, on Home.

[He thinks of it in past tense, now, with a soft pang. He hopes the...thing that took over his capital hasn't destroyed it. The apple bonsai, fruiting just once each every seventy years, indescribably sweet. The impossible fountain. The modified Ebran tuftgrass and the pulse vines and the iridescent hummingbirds.]

We didn't tend it ourself, of course, but we kept up with the scientific lineages of all the stranger specimens. And we loved it.

spam;

[velocette]

[It's been a while since he asked for counseling. That's not out of fear of treatment, it's just the Motorcycle Boy's brain at work: he forgets where he is. Sometimes he forgets who the people nearest to him are. Twice now, he's forgotten he has an inmate (and when he remembered his responsibilities he forgot Harvey's name).

It always comes back in the end, though. So when he walks into the garden and sees Charles he smiles.]

Hey.

spam;

[wedonot]

[Charles senses his approach, but doesn't look up from what he's doing until he's addressed. He wipes his forehead on his sleeve and manages a smile in return.

He's still sad, but there's no question that this is helping. It's good, to be doing something.]

Hello.

spam;

[velocette]

Are you okay?

[He figures he ought to ask that, not just because Charles seems tense, but because psychiatrists probably rarely get any concern about their welfare. Of course, he admits, that might be wrong; he's never known anyone besides his dad who even graduated high school. Maybe with education comes people who give a damn.]

private

[godsays]

I'll work there.

[ He needs another job anyway. ]

private

[wedonot]

Thank you. I appreciate the help.

private

[godsays]

I mostly know things from books.

Ivy didn't trust me.

[Private]

[wecanavenge]

Feeling a green thumb, now?

[He's not quite sulking; Erik doesn't sulk. But he is frustrated, annoyed. Sad, though he won't say it aloud.]

[Private]

[wedonot]

No, I'm fairly certain my hands are still pinkish. Under the dirt, anyway. [He can feel the sadness, and he wishes he could do more to ease it. But there's no way to really fix this.]

I didn't want things to fall apart without her keeping an eye on things.

[Private]

[wecanavenge]

They won't, unless someone comes along to ruin it. [It's not a dig.] They don't need her to grow. She just made things grow better.