Video; un: R.BECKET

[righthemisphere]

[Hey all, been a few months. You remember this guy. The shirtless guy with the giant mech. Well he's back. Clothed, this time. Though he might get more help if he were shirtless again, huh. Alas.

Raleigh is outside, sitting next to a planting bed, lush with vegetation. Like so much. It's a suspicious amount of plant life for Trench.

He smiles and waves. It's dark, but there are little torches all over so it's got a luau kind of vibe.

The camera pans so you can see the garden properly. It's two huge raised beds full to the brim on either side of the walkway to a huge, newly finished greenhouse . Lit from the inside, she looks something of a crystal palace.]

Do you all see this? This is the future.

I dunno about all of you but I'm sick to death of mushrooms.

[He pans through the veggies, all growing happily under warded netting. Lettuce, tomatoes, squash, beans, corn. Familiar for a lot of people. Very rarely seen in this world.]

Last month all my powers turned into plant stuff so I've been making and growing as much as I can. Things are hard here and the soil is awful, but it can be done.

[Raleigh moves towards the green house. Free range chickens dart around his feet as he goes, looking for food. He's the mama. Some of them are wearing little crochet hats. Inside the greenhouse is table after table after table of seedlings. The other side is all planting beds full of soil ready to go.]

I've been thinking about how important food is to all of us. Not.. well, obviously it's important, but I mean culturally, too. Making food from home.. having ingredients from home.. that's kind of our last connection.

[He sets his Omni down and reappears in frame. He looks tired, but when doesn't he.]

So.. Is there anyone out there who cares about this stuff? Because honestly I have the land but I'm learning as I go along and I could use the help. I'm not a gardener but I think we can scale this in a way that means we all get access to fresh produce. Like a co-op thing? I dunno. The land needs purifying, water, there's no sun.

I was part of a seed bank back in Deerington. Has anyone saved seeds from last month's growth? Would you donate them towards the cause?

Oh- also dairy. That's something I want to work on. This is a stretch but if you have goats or cattle let me know.

Yeah.. okay. Okay, thanks.

Comments

[dohaeris]

[lady is not her omen! someone has to keep an eye on the blood hound. sansa laughs politely when he mentions his dog, and beams at his offer.]

I'm learning a little of cooking. I'd like to know more about herbs. And I can make mint tea.

[fresh mint can't be oversteeped, unlike many of the teabags she has tried.]

You can ask the lantern imps for the Rookery, in Cellar Door. It's the building with a tree growing out of it.

[righthemisphere]

Works for me. I'll bring some herbs.

Even give you a pointer or two on the cooking thing? Only if you want. I'm not big on mansplaining.

[Fantasy medieval lady, please meet gen z boy.]

[dohaeris]

[mansplaining isn't as hard to figure out as some things, especially given the context. she giggles again.]

I would appreciate anything you could teach me of cooking.

[righthemisphere]

[He looks genuinely delighted.]

I'd be happy to. I love cooking.

[dohaeris]

[it makes sense that farmers know how to cook. they don't usually live with a kitchen staff.]

I never cooked at all before I came here. Nobody would expect a dressmaker to cook, where I was. We didn't even have stoves, or all the different little ovens. I can't even make bread.

[righthemisphere]

Bread is a cruel mistress.

[Do you have any idea how weird the yeast is here? One day a loaf comes out magic, another day you can't get the grain and spend six hours trying to figure out how to bake with ground mushrooms. Spoiler alert, you can't.]

What was your home like?

[dohaeris]

[oh, that's a loaded topic. she determinedly keeps any sadness out of her face and voice.]

I've always lived in large households. Many people in the Seven Kingdoms do. It's not very hard to find work in a castle if you don't like farming. Of course, I was born into it. The kitchens were massive, and the ovens had real fires. The cooks didn't like you hanging around them if you didn't work there.

[a pause.]

You're very good at gardening, for someone who says he's not a gardener.

[righthemisphere]

[Wow.. that all sounds pretty amazing. Like something right out of a novel. He wonders briefly if she knows Ariadne. The way they talk about their worlds feels similar.]

Ah.. well, I try. Last month my blood went weird and everything started growing. I've been working on building this place up since we got here and thought I'd take advantage of the luck while it lasted.

I should probably send the moss king a thank you letter or something.

[dohaeris]

[she smiles faintly.]

That happened to a friend of mine. He also has a glass garden. I shouldn't like to draw the Moss King's attention for any reason, though.

[righthemisphere]

It can be a double edged sword, for sure.

Have you found out who your patron is yet?

[dohaeris]

[oh no could the moss king be his patron. how embarrassing!!]

I haven't. Is there a trick to it?

[righthemisphere]

[Shame on you, Sansa. But you're in luck.]

They leave you a gift on your blessed day.. supposed to be a day with significance to you. I was given a sword in Febuary, so my patron is The Doorway.

[dohaeris]

My nameday is in the tenth month, which is [she glances briefly to the side with her brows furrowed in concentration as she runs through the names of the months.] October, but the months have more days in them, here. I wouldn't know when it really is.

[righthemisphere]

Hm.. I was here in October. The patron's name is Cloverfield. You can see him sometimes, wandering the outskirts of the city.

[dohaeris]

What is he like? Do you know?

[righthemisphere]

Lonely, but kind so I've heard. We've never spoken, personally.

They say he's like a lost little kid.

[dohaeris]

[a gentle huff of laughter that is disappointed, but not surprised. she can't help but think of sweetrobin, and all the hours she spent tending to him, hours she'd been so glad to get back when she came here. if she has to babysit pthumerians...]

He sounds in need of a patron himself.

[but there is one other thing.]

Does it snow in October? I think there would be snow sometimes, on my blessed day.

[of course there hadn't always been snow on her nameday at home, but the seasons here are different.]

[righthemisphere]

[A soft noise as he thinks. October...october...]

Not that I can remember. It was the harvest. I don't think the snow started until the month after.

[dohaeris]

[the tower is an extremely reasonable patron for sansa to have, and he even helps her stay well-stocked in fabric and supplies, but unfortunately he is not her patron.

a harvest before the snows begin sounds like autumn, even if there are only meant to be three seasons in this world. she finds that even harder to believe than their short and regular length. she frowns very slightly.]

I was born in winter, and it is the name of my omen.

[technically his name is winterfell. and in a world where winter was so short, and crops could grow under the light of the moon, none of the other seasons seem like...winterfell.]

[righthemisphere]

Kind of ironic, then. My omen's name is Spaghetti.

More like unlucky than ironic in Sansa's case, he thinks. Winter in winter with a winter patron. That would have been good.]

I was born in winter, too. It was snowing then, I'm sure. We have long, dark winters where I'm from.

[dohaeris]

[sansa doesn't know that spaghetti is a thing. she does know about noodles, though. she can't cook very much else to go with her mushrooms. she laughs a little and leans forward at the mention of long winters.]

Really? I haven't met anyone here who had any seasons longer than a few months, besides me.

[righthemisphere]

Well, [wryly,] when you live as far north as I did you don't get much choice.

[dohaeris]

[her face lights up.]

You're from the north?

[not her north, obviously, but a north. that surely must mean something? she reflexively darts a glance from side to side, as if she's expecting someone to be eavesdropping in her own home.]

There were summer snows, in the North, but the winters were said to be much worse. It was winter again when I came here, but I was only in the Vale. Still, they have a tradition where they kill a cow when the household of the Eyrie leaves for the Gates of the Moon, and see if it'll keep until spring, on the ice.

[righthemisphere]

[Household of the Eyrie... Gates of the Moon... The Seven Kingdoms... castles... Ah, it clicks. This woman, whose name he still doesn't know, is from some kind of fantasy past world. It's taken him long enough.

Maybe she's an elf. That would be cool.]

Did it?

[He imagines it would. Probably would have back home, too, if you went upstate enough.]

[dohaeris]

[why is it the placenames that do it]

I wouldn't know. I don't remember the last spring.

[just arya's birth and theon's arrival, neither of which are particularly prudent to mention or especially relevant. also she hadn't been in the vale at the time.]

I was too little.