Oasis

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door opens on a blasted landscape of rock and desert scrub; Ellen's using a tin-walled shack's door for the Milliways trip. Nearby a two-headed cow is contentedly chewing on a low, scrubby bush. One head lifts to get a better look at the new arrivals. The other one continues eating.

"That's Shiphrah and Puah," Ellen says, "my riding Brahmin. We're not far from Oasis- the path is through that rock formation up ahead."

Comments

[jack_inthegreen]

It takes a moment for Jack to process the sight of Harold, to regain control of himself so he doesn't fall to his knees in grief.

"I've brought seeds and seedlings," he says," fruit, vegetables, grass, flowers--everything.

"May I touch you?"

He's not sure what his touch will do to Harold. He hopes it's something good.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Go ahead," drawls Harold. "I don't get folks asking me what I want so much these days. I gotta say, it's kind of refreshing."

[jack_inthegreen]

"I don't know what's going to happen if I do," Jack says. "You and I, we're not very different. Tree-shaped man, man-shaped tree."

He looks up at Harold's face and lays his hand on Harold's bark.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

For a moment, there's nothing.

Then, there's a sense of... cooperation, perhaps, or coordination; the words aren't really right but they're as close as human language gets. The trees and other plants of a living forest have intertwining root systems, contacting each other here and there and everywhere else. Around here, they're denser by far than in most places, and Harold's extend in every direction throughout most of the green. At Jack's touch, the silent flow of communication and information and life that permeates most natural greenery opens up further, extending outward from one little part of Harold's tree-bound body to all of it- to everywhere that the tree that took root in his head so long ago touches, whether above ground or below it. And more; whatever root or tendril or mycelium his root fibers touch passes its information along as well. If there is any plant or plant-kin in contact with his root system, anywhere, he is aware of it, and of what it is aware of.

"Well," he says aloud, if an awed whisper can truly be called 'aloud'. "I'll be..."

[jack_inthegreen]

He caresses Harold's face. "I hope you'll be a lot less lonely."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I kinda get the feeling," says Harold, "that that's not gonna be a problem any more. I owe you one for that."

[jack_inthegreen]

"You owe me nothing. I'm here to help."

He inhales. "Now, about all these seeds. I have a mind to just be Johnny Appleseed and scatter them wherever they'll grow, but if you know particularly good or needful places, I'll start there."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I can point out a few places here in the valley you'll get good growth for 'em," says Harold thoughtfully. "But if I were you, I'd make sure at least half of 'em got planted outside somewhere. I haven't moved from this spot in a long, long time, but I remember how dead it looks out there. The people who live here'll make sure whatever you plant grows up safely, but you're probably gonna have to be the one to make sure it grows everywhere else, too. You or that girl who's been coming since last year."

[jack_inthegreen]

"The valley is thriving," Jack says. "It's outside that I'm concerned about.

"A lot of these will grow wild. They're strong enough. All they need is wind and animals to help them spread.

"The rest--well, I'm happy to come back."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Harold's branches dip in the closest a tree like him can come to a nod. "In that case," he says, "I can tell you how to find the old Potomac river, from here. It's not what you'd call a healthy river, but it's water, and that's always a good way to start things growing."

[jack_inthegreen]

Jack gets out his sketchbook and sits cross-legged on the ground.

"Go for it."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Harold closes his eye to think for a moment, and then starts describing the terrain as best he can remember it from before he took root. It's a long, rambling description, and he backs up and revises his words several times along the way, but he does manage to lay out a reasonable description of the region and where its watercourses are, or at least where he remembers them to be.

"You're going to want to be careful of the mirelurks," he adds. "Anywhere you get a lot of water, you're going to get those, and they're not what you'd call friendly."

[jack_inthegreen]

Jack draws a map as Harold talks, retracing and erasing when necessary.

"Are they sentient?" he asks about the mirelurks.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Nope," says Harold. "They're just big crabs that walk like a man. Still just animals, though. Some of 'em live in the caves here in the valley. The people here hunt them once in a while."

[jack_inthegreen]

Jack quickly draws a big, two-legged man and writes, Here there be mirelurks.

Never let it be said he's a god without a sense of humor.

"I'm not much of a fighter," he admits.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"There's probably somebody local you could get to help you with that," says Harold. "Those crabs aren't what you'd call bright, I remember that. If they don't see you movin' around, they won't try to find you."

[jack_inthegreen]

"Dumb and and dangerous," Jack sighs. "Fun."


[ooc: Pause for the night? I've been at the computer a while and need a break.]

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

[OOC: I was just going to ask the same thing- I have to be up early tomorrow for a bike race.]

"There's a lot of that out there," says Harold. "I'd come with you and help you if I could. Best I can do is wish you luck."

[jack_inthegreen]

"You can, in a way," Jack says thoughtfully. "If I start planting near where the roots connected to you end, then with planning and good fortune the contact can continue. I have tree seedlings and fungus that can spread very far."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"You know," says Harold, "that just might work. Can't really hurt to try- whatever Birch thinks."

[jack_inthegreen]

"I suspect Birch doesn't have the best interest of the continent at heart," Jack says. "Only his own valley."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Yep," says Harold, "pretty much. He'll get over it eventually, I suppose. Not like he'll have a choice."

He makes a rough, rasping noise that might be a laugh.

"Serves him right for not paying more attention, if you ask me."

[jack_inthegreen]

"Paying more attention to what?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Long story, friend," says Harold. "Long story. But the short version is, back before that gray-haired friend of yours got here, I tried to get him to put me out of my misery. Only he didn't think I meant it. Thought it was his god trying to test his faith. And then he decided I really meant I didn't want the green to get any farther than this valley. Gave up trying to talk to him after a while."

[jack_inthegreen]

"Oh, religious fervor," says Jack with a sigh. "Isn't it grand."

He pauses a moment. "I'd like to come back and visit you again. When the planting is done but after that, too. Is that all right?"