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[AndromacheNY]

There is a very large garden behind the newly discovered House Progenitor Stronghold. It's divided into four square quadrants divided by large stones to make a path. Smaller stones create footpaths within the four areas. Despite its expansive size, it has the quaint charm of a cottage garden - rambling and purposeful at the same time. And it is expansive. With the four quadrants together, each roughly 19200 yards-- it's more of a farm field in scale than a garden. Nevertheless, it's attitude firmly insists that it is in fact a garden. A quaint, rambling but purposeful 5.3 acre garden. Whoever designed it apparently had no designs on pompous topiary nonsense and no fear of mulching.

In the center where the four quadrants meet is a dainty little apple tree much smaller than one would expect given the obvious established state of the other plantings. Around the outside border, there are some purely ornamentals, but no fence. There's a boundary of frost-heave stones. Some of the edibles that heal, like the mint, are rambling over those stones.

Andromache, Sibyll, and Andi's five and a half year old twins are all working in the garden. A large octagonal tent pavilion has been erected outside the garden border at the dividing point between Northwest and Southwest quadrants. The pavilion is covered with brightly colored batik silk and offers ample shade over a collection of picnic blankets, sitting pillows, a couple of large wicker hampers and two children's back packs.

Andromache is dressed in has just finished erecting a wooden pen for storing compost-able materials and is now setting up some sort of automatic scanner to take readings and record the progression, growth, and activity in the garden. She's wearing a pair of tan denim overalls covered with small pink roses, a ribbed sage green tank that clings to everything and reveals her tanned arms, and a  pair of obviously loved brown leather boots. Her hair is pulled back in a low loose bun and kept off her face with a white gauze scarf.

Thea and Kay are clad respectively in purple and turquoise dungarees and teeshirts and little rubber gardening clogs. Kay's straight black hair and Thea's wild black curls are tied back with their new favorite accessories: a pair of (suspiciously Uncle-Carlos-style) bandanas, each in their favorite color. The origins of these they occasionally giggle about but won't yet reveal. The girls are in particularly high spirits out in the big wide Nexus with Mommy and Sibyll. They've been tasked with collecting all the loose twigs, grass, and dead leaves they can find and filling up the wheel barrow as many times as they can. They're taking the job very seriously and joyously scamper about with their arms full of plant debris.

Sibyll is wearing a light knit cotton top, jeans, and brown leather boots with buckles that comfortably walk the line between cowgirl and biker chick. She keeps an eye on them and pushes the wheelbarrow to keep it close to the twins' ever-flitting work area. The children's mood is infectious, and she appears to have caught it much to everyone's delight. There is a playful and industrious energy surrounding the family.

As the family works, the little girls sing. At first it appears to be one song, but the girls take turns singing in counterpoint and before long it becomes clear that they're singing two entirely different songs but they mesh together perfectly. Andromache clearly knows both songs and joins the girls in a line here or there seems intent on getting the techy stuff done so she can go back to playing in the dirt.

[ooc: Thea's words in purple. Kay's in aqua.]

"Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
Gonna mulch it deep and low
Gonna make it fertile ground"

"When a thing is wick, it has a life about it.
Now, maybe not a life like you and me.
But somewhere there's a single streak of green inside it.
Come, and let me show you what I mean."

"Inch by inch, row by row
Please bless these seeds I sow
Please keep them safe below
'Till the rain comes tumbling down"

"When a think is wick, it has a light around it.
Maybe not a light that you can see.
But hiding down below a spark's asleep inside it,
Waiting for the right time to be seen."

"Pullin' weeds and pickin' stones
We are made of dreams and bones
Need a place to call my own
'Cause the time is close at hand"

"You clear away the dead parts,
So the tender buds can form,
Loosen up the earth and
Let the roots get warm,
Let the roots get warm."

"Grain for grain, sun and rain
Find my way in nature's chain
Till my body and my brain
Tell the music of the land"

"Come a mild day, come a warm rain,
Come a snowdrop, a-comin' up!
Come a lily, come a lilac!
Come to call,
Callin' all the rest to come and see!"

"Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
Gonna mulch it deep and low
Gonna make it fertile ground"

"When a thing is wick,
And someone cares about it,
And comes to work each day, like you and me,
Will it grow?"

Andi and Thea perk at the familiar question in the song and respond, "It will!" to their cue.

"Then have no doubt about it,
We'll have the grandest garden ever seen!!"

"Plant your rows straight and long
Season with a prayer and song
Mother Earth will make you strong
If you give her loving care"

"You give a living thing
A little chance to grow,
That's how you will know
If she is wick, she'll grow.
So grow to greet the morning,
Leave the ground below.
When a thing is wick
It has a will to grow and grow."

"Mommy! Sing!" Kay urges.

Andromache laughs and offers them a verse before adjusting another setting on the scanner and letting Thea take up the song again.

"Come a mild day, come a warm rain,
Come a snowdrop, a-comin' up!
Come a lily, come a lilac!
Come to call, calling all the rest to come!"

"Old crow watching from a tree
He's got his hungry eye on me
In my garden I'm as free
As that feathered thief up there"

Calling all the rest to come!
Calling all the world to come!

And all through the darkest nighttime,
It's waiting for the right time.
When a thing is wick, it will grow!


By the time the two songs reach the end, the wheel barrow is full and the little girls are a little breathless from singing and dashing about simultaneously.

"Mommy! I'm thirsty!" Kay calls running up and grabbing her mother around the legs.

Andi kisses Kay's head. "Take a break then, Bunny. Looks like we have to dump that wheelbarrow anyway. Good Job!" Thea scampers over and receives a kiss of her own. "Okay chickadees. Cold juice boxes in the hamper. Take off the clogs and then the gloves before you go into the tent so you don't get soil on everything okay?"

The kids chime "We will!" and dash for the tent.

Andromache strolls over to Sibyll and slides up flirtatiously. "Hey Beautiful. I haven't seen you around here before. Can I buy you a juice box? I hear their raspberry-apple is exceptional."

[Fox McCloud]

Fox is walking twards the garden in his areospace armor.  Looking around.  He turns to Andromache "Trying to fix it back up?"

[AndromacheNY]

Andi wraps her arm around Sibyll's tiny waist, turns, and waves smiling to Fox. "That's the plan. Care to join us? We've got plenty of work and plenty of comforts. You're welcome to help yourself to either. Have you met my daughters? Kay and Thea?" She gestures to the little girls in the tent. "They're in charge of resting at the moment."

Thea pops her curly head out and sees the Vulpine man in the shiny metal suit. She grabs something, dashes out of the tent towards him, leaps over the rocks and such and in a wink is standing at his side. She grins and offers up a juice box. "Hi! I'm Thea. Do you wanna juice box?" (She's surprisingly fast and agile , even for a healthy kid with boundless energy.)

Kay seems content to laze in the tent but watches the goings on with keen interest.

[TheonlyShamus]

In the distance the gathered avatars can see a small flash of gold light. Blinding at first if directly looked at then gone In a blink of an eye. Nothing seems to be there though once it's visible.

[Sibyll V. Alexandra]

Sibyll looks at the flash and frowns lightly.  She pulls out her tablet and types in a brief message, before tucking it away again. 

After tucking it away, she breaks from Andromache's hold and runs up behind Thea, and scoops the girl up onto her shoulders. 

"Gotcha Squirt!", she says to her rider.  "Mr. Fox here is what they call one of those silent, thinking types.  He's busy pondering every last tactical outcome of accepting your juicebox.  But don't worry he'll come around to it eventually.  Mr Ashleigh says Mr. Fox is a genius, when it comes to strategies...for dealing with rogue juice boxes.", she says winking at Fox.

[Fox McCloud]

Fox's  helmet unfolds back into his armor revealing his face.  Ignoreing Sybyll, almost as if he was not comfortable with her being there, he shakes his head at the child "It was nice of you to offer, but no thank you." he says with a warm smile.    He looks to Andromache looking much more serious.  "You should be careful digging around here.  You could uncover something that isn't ready to be resurfaced."

[TheonlyShamus]

"Thats what we are here for Fox, just incase anyone does that."

Shamus comes walking in from the direction of the stronghold with a empty bag and in his other arm two odd looking poles.  He then just drops the poles on the ground with no care in the world and looks around at the group thats gathered and he begins to smile.

"May i join your picnic? I tried another one but it got really awkward really quickly."

[AndromacheNY]

Thea squeals delightedly as Sibyll lifts her and laughs at the unexpected treat of a Sibyll-ride. She nods with some interest at Sibyll's explanation. She leans over and kisses Sibyll's cheek with slightly sticky lips. With Fox's perfectly polite refusal she shrugs, smiles, pops the straw into the juice box. She's about to drink it herself when she spots Shamus. "Hi!" She waves from her perch. "I'm Thea. That's Kay." (she points) "That's Mommy and this is Sibyll. Would you like a juice box? You could have this one. I didn't drink any yet. Or you could get another one over there. Mommy brought lots."

"Thank you for your concern, Fox." Andromache nods. "I'm taking every precaution.  I've been researching the garden since before we started. None of the plants in this half of the garden are dangerous. In fact about fifty percent of this area is medicinal. The girls are only clearing the debris from the top so we can see to the needs of the plants trapped below. As for artifacts, I'm taking scans of the whole area that go several yards down."

To Shamus she grins. "Of course you're welcome. We'd be delighted if you'd join us."

"We've got other stuff too!" Kay hollers from the tent, still comfy as she can be in the shade on a pile of silk pillows. "But Mommy won't let us have desert until we've had lunch. Did you have lunch??"

[TheonlyShamus]

*Shamus laughs*

"Thank you but no thank you Thea, you enjoy the juice box i'm not quite thirsty"

*Shouts to Kay* "No I haven't eaten lunch yet but i did already have a cookie so i'm not that hungry."

*Shamus then looks back to Andi* "Thank you just incase i have dessert being set up as we speak when ever your ready."
He glances over to Thea "But lunch first" to hopefully squash any resistance and pleading

He then looks back to Andi "My have they grown" OOC: wether they have or not

Everyone notices Shamus is completely unarmed for one of the first times in a long time and has a more peaceful manner about him as if nothing will harm him.

[Sibyll V. Alexandra]

Sibyll bucks Thea slightly on her shoulders.  "Hey Squirt?!  How about a drink for the noble steed?  Oh...wait, he's not here.  But I'll take a drink anyway!"

She then looks Shamus over and tilts her head inquisitively.  "You all right there?  Looks like you need to to cut back on the otter cookies.  And thanks for not contributing earlier.  Are you busy today?  I'd like to get a minute with you and Andi."

[AndromacheNY]

"Okay!" Thea hands down the juice box to Sibyll. "It's nice and cold. See?"

[Oh, they absolutely have grown. They're tall for not-quite-six-year-olds and Thea has the muscle tone of a child who began training in gymnastics and free weights in the womb. Thea, who used to be significantly smaller than Kay is now a bit taller.]

Andi gives Sibyll a slightly curious but distinctly pleased smile.

[TheonlyShamus]

"Anytime you like to speak Sibyll we are all friends here."

Shamus then wanders over to where he dropped his sticks.  He then begins to plant one in the ground and he turns the head on top counter clockwise.  As he does this little tiny legs pop out and root in the ground and a small whine can be heard as it powers up and then the other 1 meter away. He then taps on his ear and a blue light begins to flash. 

[Sibyll V. Alexandra]

Sibyll gives a quick indicatory glance up to her rider.  And then looks over to Andromache

"Andi, hon?  Grownup stuff?"

[AndromacheNY]

Andi tugs at her daughter's ankle gently and kisses it. The little girl giggles.

"Hey Monkeyshines, grownup's have to talk boring business stuff. Go tickle your sister and get her to help you set out a proper picnic for lunch. Sooner you ladies have a nutritious lunch in your bellies, the sooner I'll let you see what Susette and Giselle packed up for our after lunch tea party. Let Kay be in charge of napkins okay? You're totally Princess In Command of Beverages And Silverware."

Thea takes very little time to consider. Grownup talk is often confusing anyway. "Sibyll?" She taps Sibyll's head. "I'm not falling, okay? I just gotta get down. I've got important picnic asponsabilities." She slides her legs off Sibyll's shoulders let's go and slips down her back. She hugs Sibyll around the waist. Then she turns to Shamus and Fox. In her most polite way she says, "Please excuse me. I'm going over there now." With that she scampers off toward the tent.

Kay, who had just started to get up to see what the man was doing with the interesting sticks, stops when Thea comes running back. There are sounds of a brief negotiation about napkins and and drinks and forks. Kay, at once seeing the opportunity Mom is offering her, gets excited and goes happily back into the tent with Thea to start setting up lunch.

Andi watches a moment and nods with satisfaction when it's clear the kids are well occupied.

"It's all you, Love." She smiles to Sibyll.

[Sibyll V. Alexandra]

Sibyll nods.  She pulls out a set of fingerless gloves with moonstone cabochons on the backs of the hands.  She slips them on, and there's a slight sound of an energy crackle.  She then puts on a monocle eyepiece, which includes another crackle-spark.  She begins making motions, like she's typing on a keyboard that isn't there.  Finishing typing, she pulls out her tablet, and grabs at a piece of seemingly empty air, which she drags to the tablet.  On top of the tablet 3 plastic films appear.  She hands them out to the other adults

"Sorry, quick bit of secure back-end networking to be handled.  Okies.  This is a summary report on recent inventory intakes, and eyewitness reports regarding the inventory intakes, over at HQ.  I've been looking at it.  I can't say I'm surprised, but it's not happy making.  Andi, I'm sorry hon.  Oh, and this place is not yet quite secure, so please use discretion in your reactions? 

Mainly, I am concerned about the notion of what is currently being collected, and to what revolutionary ends such sensitive data might be used for.  Can I ask, that you not contribute until I've taken this report to The Chairman?"

(see PM's for description of the document.)