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

[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.

[righthemisphere]

Oh.. wow, you mean really long winters.

That's intense.

I'm Raleigh, by the way. I don't think I've caught your name.

[dohaeris]

[she'll explain her name when he comes with the groceries. she's almost sure he's not a threat, but she needs to be careful about it.]

Oh! I'm called Alayne. It was the long summer, really. None of the other seasons were ever ten years.

[though of course people kept saying long summers meant long winters.]

How long were your winters?

[righthemisphere]

Alayne.

[Saying it aloud in an effort to better remember. His memory is trash.]

I'd say.. five or six months? Pretty long for where I come from. But if you go further North it's snow all year long no matter what.

It was fun when I was a kid, but we traveled all over so it became more of a novelty. Then when I was older and came back to Alaska it was just cold.

[dohaeris]

[sansa is probably not going to help matters any by telling him her true name and the conditions under which he should use it. she laughs.]

That's not long at all! Two years would be short, I think.

[she doesn't really have a lot of experience.]

We have the Lands of Always Winter, too, but nobody lives there.

['live' being the operative word.]

It's very cold and dangerous.

[righthemisphere]

[Probably but he loves all you fantasy world people's cool sounding shit so. Lay it on him.]

Yeah, same. I think we've got like one base of researchers at the north pole unless you count Santa.

[dohaeris]

[it's not that kind of true name raleigh]

Santa?

[sounds too much like sansa tbh]

[righthemisphere]

Yeah. He lives up there with his flying reindeer and workshop full of elves. They make toys for the world's children. You write him a letter every year saying what you want and if you've been good enough he makes it and leaves it under your Christmas tree on December 25th.

[dohaeris]

That's wonderful.

[sansa recognizes a children's story when she hears it. unfortunately:]

Our Land of Always Winter only has horrible monsters made of ice that hate all that lives, especially naughty children that wander off in the woods alone, or run too close to the millpond.

[righthemisphere]

Huh. Well you’re missing a trick, there.

I’m guessing the evil ice monsters don’t give you stuff.

[dohaeris]

[a little laugh.]

No one's ever lived to find out.

[righthemisphere]

Huh. I’ll keep that in mind if I ever have the pleasure.

In the meantime I’ll see you tomorrow?

[dohaeris]

[she beams.]

Yes. Of course.