Growing Something Good

[Thalia Tait]

Thalia stretched up her arms, grunting as the loosening muscles protested. Real gravity had been difficult to adjust to, sure, but the work on Earth made her ache. Yet, it was a rather pleasant feeling, putting her all into work that had such a great reward to it. Sure they could just stick a slab of meat over the fire and call it a day, but figuring out what small little plants it tasted good with was incredible. Meat in general was incredible. It always made her feel so very full and bursting with energy!

Her stomach wasn't fond of meat in the morning though. Dried, perhaps, but only a little and nothing with too much fat. Veggies were alright in the morning, but there was only so many ways to make them, it was getting boring for her. Now if only she could make bread.

She had read about bread. The many different kinds. The different textures. The different tastes. There were kinds that were light and fluffy and rich, probably like eating clouds. And there were kinds that were heavy, dark and nutritiously filled with vitamins, the milk of the Earth itself. But to make bread you needed ingredients that Thalia just couldn't figure out. Grain, for one. How could you tell it from just wild grass? Yeast. Now that was probably near impossible, besides the natural stuff in flour... And milk. Yeah right. What, was a deer just going to let her have a cup or two?

Well, she suppose the milk could be supplemented with water and maybe animals fat and sugar. And yeast...Well, if she left the dough alone long enough in the sun or near the fire to warm, maybe it would rise some on it's own. And not all bread had to have milk, right? Maybe water, salt and some eggs would work. 

Well, water, salt, eggs, nuts, seeds, and sugar were things she could find, if she looked long and hard enough. But grain... She couldn't tell it from the fluffy stuff wild grasses grew. She hadn't that long of schooling in the farm station, learning both her father's profession and her mothers. And her lessons had been interrupted when she was sent to the Sky Box... Maybe...

Maybe she could ask someone who had been raised on plant knowledge! Monty Green ! He knew all kinds of things! He was for sure number one when it came to farming! Thalia bounced on the balls of her feet and set off in a jog to find him. Looking around people, looking over people, looking around trees, looking in tents (oops didn't need to see that!)... Just where was Mister Greene Thumb?

[Monty Green]

Earth was everything Monty had imagined it to be and more, he'd spent a lot of time on the ark thinking about what it was like on the ground, not that he ever thought that he'd ever see it for himself. Everything was so bright and colourful and everything that the ark was not and now that they were on earth, they had so much freedom. They were no longer prisoners and there was so much to explore, on the ark there was only so much you could explore before things got boring, but on the ground there was so much space and they hadn't really seen much of the world outside of their camp yet.

Of course, there were more important things to do now that they were on the ground and didn’t have adults to depend on for food and security. Food was a worry, the only way to feed themselves was to go out and hunt their own food or forage in the forest for nuts and other edible plants that grew there. Monty was one of the people who had been told to sort through the plants and nuts that had been brought back and sort them into portions so that they’d have food when the colder weather hit and the only way that the food would last them would be if they rationed it. Occasionally he’d find something that he didn’t recognise as being edible and he’d toss it aside but most of the stuff that had been brought back seemed to be safe, at least as far as he could tell.

Monty looked up as he saw a girl run past him, he recognised her and thought that he’d heard her name was Thalia, but he could be wrong. She looked like she was searching for something, he wasn’t sure what she was looking for but she seemed to be checking every corner of the camp for whatever it was. Leaving the unsorted nuts behind, he began to follow her, maybe he could help her find whatever it was that she was looking for and in the process, could stop her from annoying any more of the delinquents whose tents she kept peeking into. “Hey, Thalia is it?” he asked her uncertainly as he caught up with the girl “do you need any help looking for something?”

Thalia Tait

[Thalia Tait]

Thalia's wild dark hair was bouncing around her head, just as much as she was bouncing in her search for the ever elusive Monty Green. Turning on her heel when someone said her name, she looked rather surprised. After all she wasn't usually the person people went looking for. But her face lit up like the Ark during a holiday when she saw who had asked her name and caught up to her. Why if it was none other than the person she had been looking for! 

"Monty Green!" she cheerfully chirped his name and lightly took his sleeves in her own hands, "Just the person I was looking for!" Down right delighted in finding him, she was beaming warmly, her eyes gleaming with excitement and her words bubbling up and past her lips with every breath. "I need you help, if you aren't too busy," she tugged on his sleeves in her excitement, then realizing that she was holding onto him, let go and laughed lightly. Putting her hands up, as if to proclaim no harm to him, she tipped her head to the side apologetically. 

"Sorry," she smiled sheepishly, "I got a bit excited." She pushed her hands into her back pockets and rocked on her heels, her feet to energized to stay in one place. Tipping about, she grinned almost mischievously, down right pleased with her discovery of him and her very delicious plan. Well, hopefully it would be delicious. But with the two of them working together, how could it not be? Everyone knew how smart Monty was, with his knowledge of both plants and mechanisms. And she was always cooking meals and throwing things together to keep even their small rations tasting well and satisfying. 

"I was hoping to enlist your help, Mister Monty," she said in a rather playfully teasing way, even throwing in a wink. It was all her energy from such bright prospects and all that running around, but who couldn't help but be just a bit more cheerful with all the light and bright colors of Earth around them? It also was an added bonus being around someone who probably had an appreciation for plants like she did. Not to mention all the thing the forest gave them. These were assumptions, of course, but she wanted to get along with someone who she could have more things in common to talk about with. And now she had a reason to talk to one of them! Today was going to be a good day.  "I was hoping you could help me find ingredients to make bread!"

[Monty Green]

Monty wasn't expecting the girl to grab onto his sleeves like she did and he hadn't expected to discover that he was actually the person that she had been looking for. He thought that this might be the most excited anyone had ever been to see him, he didn't know why she was so excited to see him but apparently she needed him for something. She tugged on his sleeves when she next spoke and the action brought a small laugh from him "I'm not busy" he confirmed, knowing that he could spare the time to help her out, he couldn't exactly turn her down, not when she seemed to happy to see him. "You don't need to apologise" he told her, waving off the apology, she'd done him no harm, she was just overexcited and he couldn't exactly blame her, they were on earth, he'd never thought that it would be possible.

He waited for her to explain herself and her excitement, watching as her voice took on a playful, teasing tone and she winked at him. He could tell that this was a person who had a lot of energy, she could barely manage to stand still and he wondered if he would be able to keep up with her "bread?" he questioned her once she'd gotten to the point. He'd heard about bread, he didn't know how easy... Or hard, it would be to track down the ingredients to make it, but Thalia seemed to think it was possible with his help and he'd never been one to turn down a challenge. Although he'd been recruited by engineering, growing up on farm station had taught him about the many different plants and how to identify what was edible and what wasn't, he was a fast learner and he was sure that he'd be able to help her.

"I can definitely try to help you find the ingredients" he agreed, not wanting to turn her away when she was so excited by the idea of being able to make food. He couldn't promise that their mission to make bread would be successful,  but the least they could do was try and maybe they'd find something else that was equally amazing along the way. "What do we need to make bread?" he asked, he wasn't exactly somebody who ever thought about reading up on the process of bread making, nor was he particularly interested in making bread, but they were on earth and had very little food at that moment and bread was food. If they were successful in their task of tracking down the ingredients and making bread that was actually edible then at least they wouldn't starve, at least, not yet.

Thalia Tait