EVENT | LET IT GROW, LET IT GROW

[ironwood]

Characters: All!
Date: March 15-31
Location: Large, open spaces in Keeliai, at the outskirts of the city, and near some of the fields
Situation: Assembly and construction of new hydroponics facilities and expansion of the greenhouses is in full force. Time to grow some food!
Warnings/Rating: None

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The past few months have been difficult for growing food; it has probably come to the attention of some that perishable food, especially greens and fruit have been in short supply. Using technology acquired in Tavimbi, a large number of hydroponics systems are being set up, and the existing greenhouses are being expanded in order to make up the shortfall of good growing conditions. The past few months have been focused on getting all of the pieces ready, and now it's time to assemble and plant.

It's important to take advantage of the warming weather and begin growing as soon as possible. As such, everyone who's available to help is asked to do so. There are opportunities to assist with major components of construction as well as assembly of hydroponic equipment. While it's not required to volunteer, there's a certain air of expectation that anyone available to help will be helping. After all, if there's not enough food, Keeliai is in big trouble.

Comments

GREENHOUSES

[ironwood]

The greenhouse expansion is primarily outside the city, along the outskirts. Some meadowed areas and other open tracts of land not currently being used for cultivation have been sited for this purpose. Rather than trying to construct all of the greenhouses out of glass, which is heavy and expensive, most of the new greenhouses are built with a wood and metal framework over which sheets of translucent material are draped and secured. The result are long, tube-like buildings with sections of the sheets along the lower parts of the walls that can be raised or lowered to adjust airflow and temperature.

For about a third of the greenhouses, that's it - the produce will be planted directly in the ground, rather than in trays or pots, such as root vegetables and tomato-like vine plants. Another third are to be filled with long rows of raised tables for shallow-rooted plants, and the rest will house flat hydroponic beds and tubes.

Almost as soon as each building is constructed, the process of bringing in trays, pots, guide lines, soil, and seeds begins!

[bostonhowler]

When Brigid had told the Arbitrator that she was raised to take care of the less fortunate, she hadn't been lying. She often volunteers for things because she feels that it's her duty to do so.

Helping grow food? Well, she's never done that before and is happily taking orders from whoever is in charge, working with the kedan to grow the food they all need to survive.

While she could put on displays of werewolf strength, she doesn't. Instead, she carries just as much as other people, and soon works up a sweat, going back and forth.

She's actually enjoying herself.

[celticromanstone]

Heather has a black thumb when it comes to growing things. However, she'd volunteered to come out here and be on the medical team. Big scale projects like this? There's always someone with splinters, bumps, bruises, and more to be seen to. Plus, she's making sure people stay hydrated and what food there is to be distributed, is distributed evenly.

So, she can be found, wandering through the area, offering water to those that look like they need it, pulling out splinters, and generally helping without actually doing the planting or building.

[ten_zero]

Bisi was already helping with the hydroponics construction, but since the counselors started to contact her she's feeling even more... is pressured a bad word? To help more.

She lets the Kedan director her wherever Valkyr's physical strength is best needed, content to act as construction equipment for as long as needed.

OTA

[lasergrenades]

Pepper's always been the type to want to help people. That usually constitutes fighting bad guys, but in Keeliai that's also meant storm cleanup and now greenhouse construction. The armor is on standby in case there's a need for heavy lifting, but most days she's out on her own, chatting and laughing and generally having a good time doing the work.

On some days, her ka, Vee will also join in, particularly when there's a need for someone tall. Vee stands at nearly ten feet, and while she's usually armed to the teeth, she sheds some of her plating and leaves the swords intangible to seem less imposing.

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis didn't arrive to help with the construction or planting, heavens knew she was better at death and destruction than anything else, but she could offer aid in other ways, such as organizing her forces as guards to watch everything over night. Ensuring that there was no tampering to the buildings or materials. There was less need of them during daylight, so Valdis was on her way home when she saw Pepper and the young woman's ka working away at putting up another greenhouse.

[lasergrenades]

Pepper's never been much of a builder, but she was social, and this was a project that benefited the city as a whole. As such, she spent as much time as she could lend away from work and training.

When she spotted Valdis, Pepper waved at her, and Vee turned to look over her shoulder as she raised another section of piping overhead to kedan on a temporary wooden platform.

"Hey! Checking on the progress?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis walked over, stopping a few feet away and looking at the manifestation of Pepper's ka when she answered, "Not exactly. I was organizing some of the officers to guard the site tonight. I'm worried about vandalism."

She still didn't trust the cultists not to screw with something, no matter how quiet they had been as of late.

[lasergrenades]

"Makes sense." The greenhouses could be a ripe target for cultists, Pepper knew that, but she didn't want to voice it and tempt any fate that was listening. "This is Vee," she added with a smile, noticing that Valdis was looking at the ka more than her. "I showed her card to you a while back, remember? Normally she's got more armor on, but it makes some of the kedan a little edgy."

Once Vee had handed off the piping, she turned to Valdis and inclined her head. It is a pleasure to meet you.

"Oh. Yeah. She doesn't talk with her mouth."

[wrathfulkhan]

Oh thank God. The expansion project had come along at just the right time for Gene to throw himself into it and not think about everything that had just happened. He doesn't want to think about his mother and how she's gone, again. He's armored up, aside from his head (because the full Mandarin armor is meant to be a little intimidating), and he's focusing all his mental energy on building, not destroying.

He should have done something like that from the start, but hindsight was always 20/20. And he's not sure he wants to get too close to Pepper when Vee is out helping her. He's not certain what the ka thinks of him, and the concept makes him uneasy anyway.

Everyone's got to do their part, though, and Vee's no exception, he supposes.

[lasergrenades]

Pepper has been concerned about Gene since his mother left, for good reason. At least he seems active, not throwing himself into work and wearing himself to the bone. That doesn't mean he's exactly been himself, all the way, but this is perhaps a better way to cope than otherwise.

It's still a little weird seeing him in the Mandarin armor, but she's glad he's left the helmet off. Pepper waves at him when she spots him (which isn't hard), and then helps lift a section of scaffolding up to Vee.

"Hey, Gene!" She heads his direction, smiling. "Man, sometimes I forget how tall you are in the armor. Enjoying the build party?"

[wrathfulkhan]

Pepper should still be concerned. Gene is a very good actor.

And he tries to leave the helmet off whenever he armors up for non-fighting business, anyway. Bakura doesn't like it, and it gives both Tony and Pepper a case of the uneasies.

When she approaches, he looks down at her, and puts his hands on his hips regally. "Yes. I am very tall. It's almost like this was designed to make the wearer seem larger than life." Then he takes a knee prior to sitting, and reaches for his canteen. It's not easy to do that in this, so, downside. "Sure. Enjoying is a word for it."

[lasergrenades]

That he is.

Pepper leans down to pick up Gene's canteen and hand it to him, saving him the potentially awkward scrabble of armored claws. "Well, what's another word for it?" she asks, raising an eyebrow in the mildest form of suspicion, but she's still smiling. "And don't throw a thesaurus at me, it'd bruise."

Says the girl who hurled a book in class once upon a time.

[spoilsfun]

Conan's curiosity had drawn him to the greenhouses, following people around and finding his way into every corner of the site. With construction like this there wasn't much for a kid his size to do, but he was more than interested in learning about everything that was happening.

[simulsimul]

Kratos had been spending a significant amount of time with the construction, now that repairs in the city weren't so widespread. It was something to do with his copious free time. He'd also been keeping a distant eye on the child he'd noticed wandering around. There were a few -- mostly children of the Woodsmen -- but this one didn't appear to belong to any of the Woodsmen, and Kratos thought he'd seen him on the network.

Until the greenhouses were covered, Kratos didn't have the time to approach the boy himself, seeing as he spent most of the time prior on top of the greenhouses, getting the roofs situated. Bringing in the plants provided an opportunity, and Kratos took advantage, carrying a tray of seedlings he'd been given.

Kratos did make sure to let a footfall sound as he approached the boy. Just in case the boy was the flighty sort. "Would you like to help?"

[spoilsfun]

He stiffens in alarm at the sound of the footstep, but by the time he turns around the only expression on his face is curiosity.

"Mmm, I'd like to! But when I asked earlier everyone said I was too young to help."

[simulsimul]

"Then they didn't try very hard to find a task more suited to you." Kratos nods toward the end of the row. "Why don't I show you how to plant these seedlings?"

There's something odd about the boy's mana, now Kratos is near enough to separate it from everyone else's. Something which, when not looking, feels alarmingly like Mithos; but not because the boy didn't read as human, so much as there being a discordance in his mana. In Mithos, it had existed whenever he was appearing as Yggdrasill.

... Interesting. Slightly alarming, but interesting. Kratos makes no mention of it as he starts down the aisle. "What's your name?"

[schrodingersghost]

Almost as soon as he arrives, Danny is making his way over to check out the hydroponic equipment. He wasn't an expert, but one of his friends back home was a greenhouse nut. She's shown him around all the equipment in her private greenhouse more than once. Between that and all the time he'd spent helping his parents with their inventions, he figured he had the best chance of being useful there.

Later in the day, he returns as a ghost and offers to help out with any heavy lifting that needed to be done.

[of_deduction]

Sherlock is not here to be a good samaritan he's here for one reason and one reason alone: Research. He needs an updated knowledge of flora and fauna so he's here to collect samples. A few small test tubes full of stolen soil and leaves won't hurt the project and if he's asked why he needs the samples he'll explain it's for a very important case.

[ninjainviolet]

The moment Sheena had heard about this, she knew exactly what she was going to do. Arriving at the spot, she spoke to the ones in charge and offered them help in a form they probably had never expected: one huge rodent with a shovel and a bow-like propeller on its head.

Because who better than the Spirit of Earth to take care of the land, making sure it could be used for planting?

He takes on a shorter appearance so he won't frighten anyone, but he's still hard to miss as he uses his shovel and magic on the land. Sheena follows behind him, marking off the lots he's completed so they can be covered, waving to anyone she knows, or inviting those who look curious over to talk.

HYDROPONICS

[ironwood]

There are hubs for hydroponics in most sectors of the city, with several in Water, and a few tucked in with the greenhouses outside the city. These are smaller than the greenhouse hydroponics facilities and designed to be used just about anywhere that there's space. The largest, dedicated hydroponics operations are modeled closely off the Tavimbian design, with vertical rows of grow tubes that can be rotated to ensure even light coverage. These structures maximize on vertical space, but are a little tricky to put together to ensure that the water and nutrient delivery pipes are properly secured.

In places where there isn't enough room for the wall structures, there are two kinds of grow towers. The towers are great for use both indoors and outdoors, and while most of these towers are overseen by agricultural specialists, some are also being offered at a moderate cost to be used in people's homes. It is worth noting that there's also a maintenance cost to the towers; they're not cheap, but they're not exorbitant, either. If anyone is interested in purchasing one, there are workshops that will be offered both this month and in the future.

Workshop

[ten_zero]

Bisi is interested in buying some of these small indoor towers for her home. She doesn't have a lot of expenses, so she focuses on saving up for one or two.

Bisi pays strict attention during the workshop, taking numerous notes and asking lots of questions.

[isochrone]

Elizabeth had also signed up for the workshop, because she both wanted to help people and learn something new all at once. She didn't have the greenest thumb, although she'd managed to grow some plants near the windows of the Tower, but this was her first time attempting anything of scale.

But it was nothing compared to the studious notetaker beside her. "I don't think we're being graded on these," she leaned over and whispered, smiling playfully at Bisi.

[ten_zero]

Elizabeth's clever joke was unfortunately lost on someone who had never had conventional schooling. And even if she had that had been centuries ago.

Instead, she thought she might have missed something about balancing angle.

"Did I miss something about mounting angles?" She started looking through her notes, how did she miss that?

[isochrone]

"Mounting...?" It took Elizabeth a moment to realize where that seemingly unrelated tangent had come from, and then she giggled. "Oh, I meant like people get graded on assignments in school. At least, I'm pretty sure that's how it's meant to work."