Queen's note: Plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaants! And Friends

Welcome to the Wasteland

Chapter Ten:

Razorgrain

"I can't believe I forgot to lock the front doors last night." Megan winced, more at herself then anything, "Almost three centuries of keeping safe and I forgot to lock the doors...not that I'm not grateful."

She looked up at the two girls- young women… they seemed so oddly like girls to Megan. But also she did feel old in some ways.

Lana grinned from where she sat in one of the swivel chairs brought in the warm room, swaying back and forth with the smallest of squeaks. "I'm glad we heard you, though I'm sorry it wasn't sooner."

"I thought I had heard a whistle," Megan admitted, glancing at the taller man beside her, Jacky grinned back. "I thought it was them coming back early. So I was putting the box of chems I found up and… it fell. I couldn't breath after that."

Jake, the shorter of the two ghoul brothers and who had first come in the room after Lucy spoke up from the second couch "We were getting up to come over… then we heard the gunshots. That critter you girls had just about gave us a heart attack I will admit, standing on the outside wall like that."

"Buck was probably responding to us yelling." Lucy guessed, she was sitting up on a desk that was pushed to the far side near the door with the second desk. The one she sat on was at least clear, were as the one in the corner had Megan's cooking and dinning things on it, including a little hotplate and a kettle. All the dishes, pan and pot where neatly stacked and covered with small towels. A semi clear plastic box was near with dried out noodles.

Megan herself was sitting on the bigger couch, one that had her blankets and pillows neatly stacked, and another thin blanket tossed over for helping it stay clean. The older woman had a knitted shawl over her shoulders, mostly as a comfort thing then really to stay warm. It was one of the splashes of warm colors to the earthy tones in the room.

"Oh, um, when Lucy and I were poking around, we found the...razorgrain? In the barrels." Lana dug out the bag from her jacket, offering it back, "I took a sample but I didn't realize anyone lived here yet."

"You can keep it," Megan reassured, shaking her head at the bag, "Everything downstairs is older stuff, overflow, and I get so much every two weeks that I feed some to the wild turkeys and geese when they come up north. That way I can find where their eggs and nests are."

"You have an impressive set up." Lana noted, putting the bag away, not ashamed to admit that she wanted the seeds, "Is it really two weeks for each harvest?"

Megan gave a shy smile as the others nodded around the room, "For happy plants yeah, some times weekly if they're older and happy plants.

"That's amazing," Lana breathed, the little bag in her jacket feeling like it was worth more than gold, even if it did not do half as many things as she heard, just purely for the animal feed factor…

"Turkeys like it?" Lucy tilted her head, "I wonder if your quail would like the grain it makes... we'd have to crack it or crush it up for them."

"Quail?" The last man echoed, looking up at the two girls, coming out of his thoughts. Noel as he had been introduced as. "You have quail? Real ones?"

Lana hesitated but then nodded, holding her hands apart to show how by they are, "The biggest are around a pound now, but I have...three dozen or so eggs about to hatch soon...I was hoping to find one of those food traders to get some of the razorgrain to try it with my birds. I brought enough from home to get a good breading stalk foundation going, and I'm not ready to start harvesting any for a while."

"But they are real?" Noel had a wondering tone, the man was dressed in a not so old leather jacket in a bomber style. His eyes were silvery and lightened as he sat up a bit more, "I… well, my daughters used to have some as pets, a long time ago."

Lana reached back, feeling through the arrows in the quiver on her back, there were all fletched a bit differently to mark different types of arrows. She found one of them and pulled it out, holding the arrow by the head end she offered it out to Noel. He hesitantly took it, and then realized he was being shown the feathers on it, running a hand over the brown feathers.

"Quail and rabbits are normal for those like me to take out traveling from home." Lana explained, "They can eat the moss I brought with us, and there's still little bugs, but mixing the diets is good and helps with growing."

"You have a homestead not far?" Jacky asked, head tilting at the mention of rabbits, and like his brother Jake glanced at Megan.

"Not that far from Lucy and her family, a walk away from there. My sister and I have set up in the Co-op." Lana explained, pointing in the general direction. "We only just arrived in the commonwealth not long ago, so they and Deegan have been helping us get the feel of the place."

"Deegan?" Jake perked right up, sitting up to, "Edward Deegan of the Cabot House? He is in the area still…"

"... yes?" The young woman tilted her head, not triggered to be overly worried by still warry.

"We've been heading in this detection to see if he had any work for us." Jake explained, motioning to his brother, "Jacky and I are carpenters, and Noel is an electrician in basics."

"Really?" Lana tilted her head, exchanging glances with Lucy. They were trying not to show their excitement. "That's amazing! See, the whole reason we came here was to look for generators, and fridges mainly for our families."

"Lana and I were hoping to find laundry washing machines too… even if they had to stay over here for now." Lucy added.

Noel smiled, passing back the arrow to Lana, "If you don't mind this old man staying around for a while, I can help you with that."

"There's…." Megan started hesitantly, getting a nudge from Jacky. "There are a few different working washers in town, and generators. There's three in the basement here when the building only uses one."

"I don't want to take your back up." Lana shook her head, "You're home is really nice here Megan."

"I… I…" the scarred woman shivered, grasping Jacky's hand for reassurances. Her voice soft, hitching as she talked, holding back sudden emotions. "I'm…. tired of being alone... I'm tired of being scared...but I am scared of outside, I don't…want to be left alone anymore…"

Lana softened, thinking in the back of her mind of her own mother. Of how Deegan had mentioned that he has had some people that never wanted to leave his home, manor, once someone realized it was truly safe. This museum had been Megan's home for nearly three hundred years, but the want and craving for company.

The strawberry blonde moved forward, sliding off her chair and coming over to kneel in front of Megan. Grasping her free hand and pressing the trembling fingers between her own hands. Putting as much as real warmth and reassurances in Lana's own voice. "Megan, if you want to come with us, you can. I could use the help with my home, it's the Co-Op over by the nearby damn. I know my sister can be scary though, so maybe the Abernathy's, Lucy's family could use a hand too."

Lucy was climbing to her feet, her own eyes soft, "We could always use a hand in the farm."

"I...don't have a lot of experience with much." Megan admitted, "I really just know about plants, history and finding turkey eggs."

"That's still a lot," Jacky reassured, "Look at all you accomplished here."

Megan glanced around at the offices she had slowly turned into her little home. Then about her plants and the plants on the roof… the years of taking care of the building and learning how to maintain the generators by reading manuals. Finding things in town as Concord had always been fairly abandoned.

"I'm really just good with plants now." Megan murmured, blinking as Lana grinned at that.

"Being good with plants is what I want," Lana pointed out, her eyes bright, "That's sort of my whole thing, and for being out this far east. I'm from a seed bunker Megan, and I'm looking for another one out this way. But I need to set up a home first. If you really want to be out of here, but safe, you can help Valory and I."

"She keeps both of our families safe now," Lucy put it, taking Lana's lead and not mentioning who or what Valory was just yet.

"I… I think I'd like that." Megan murmured.

"I think most of us really only want that," Jake added softly, "Somewhere we can just have a home and some honest work. As nice and good as it is to work for the Cabots, its not consistent work right now, maybe in a few years when the Asylum needs shoring up."

"Getting some conveniences as a standard though would be nice," Lana chuckled, moving to sit on the other side of Megan for a moment. Giving the older woman a tight hug, no hesitation and it seemed to help some of the shivers and shakes. She wondered if Megan might do good with one or two of the rabbits as companion pets. As this and the next generations of rabbits were a breeding foundation for later meat rabbits… There was also the one dwarf bunny that had been born on the long trip over Lana had been admittedly cuddling a lot.

"I think I have something for you," Lana decided, "If you come over, and even if the cabins are a bit drafty right now there's plenty of room for you to have your own space. That cart down stairs? If you don't mind, I'd love to get that outside and Buck can easily pull supplies from here to the Co-Op."

"We can help with the drafts." Jacky smiled, "I remember the Co-Op, they were simple but sturdy cabins. Those were half pre-made, like ones used in newer campgrounds, way back when I was young."

"As for the cart." Jake tapped his chin, thinking of that large moose. It was horse like, though things would have to be altered to fit him… "I think we could help with that too. I wonder if more carts could be made… can't believe it hasn't been done yet."

"There's carts back home," Lana pointed out, "And other places, just depends on resources for wood and if not paved ones but dirt roads. Buck can pull about twice his weight, and when the girls are able to and ready, I can set them up in a team."

"Ready?" Noel echoed, listening carefully to what was said.

"Their dropping calves soon," Lana explained proudly, "Wouldn't be shocked if it was tonight for Luna, the Brahmin cow we have just gave birth yesterday, so all the hormones on the air, and both moose cows are ready to pop."

"Baby Brahmin?" Megan brightened a bit, "Are they the fuzzy kind? I used to watch a herd fifty years ago through the windows."

"Yep!" Lucy laughed, "Don't know where the mother found her bull, but the babies are fuzzy and brown, instead of white or cream colored. Lana and Deegan found her, loaded up with trader stuff but had been wandering most of her pregnancy I'd bet, with a deer herd."

"One of the Brahmin that lost their people?" Noel hummed in sympathy, "Poor thing."

"She's doing pretty good now," Lana smiled, thinking of the mother cow with her two calves, "We're kind of penning her into a small set area so she can recover from however long she was carrying that stuff. The milk is interesting though, it's...fattier than moose milk, not bad though."

"Really good for gravy." Jake grinned, getting a smile from the girls.

Megan leaned on Lana, trying to draw from the strength she sensed. Despite being older than Lana. the girl had experience with living in the outside world in general, or at least seemed that way. She was not scared of the world. "Would...the razorgrain really help?"

"I think it would," Lana admitted, "We could get a bunch growing, if their roots are deep enough, some growing on the hillside would be good in case of flooding or over spill with the dam. And Lucy's family have open crop space."

"I just have the oat and flower types. But you can both use them and the stored stuff… could I meet the quail though?"

"You can, I could use help with them, and the baby rabbits." Lana smiled at Megan, smoothing a hand over her head, no sign of being bothered by the scarring. "They're going to be more than a handful soon."

"I would like that." Megan nodded, taking a deep breath of the cool morning air that was coming in off and on with the breeze and the still cracked open. "I should show you my plants."

"You should rest still," Lana shook her head.

"Its still what? Seven in the morning," Noel snorted softly glancing at his watch, "There's still much of the day left. You rest and maybe we can break our fast. I found some mulberries to go with the winter berries."

"Winter berries?" Lana tilted her head, "What's that?"

"Its a kind of strawberry, but white." Noel explained, smiling, "Not sure if you girls know what they are. But they grow a bit wild."

"We have strawberries back home," Lana murmured, but seemed fascinated at what this new variation might be like. "They're only growing inside the cirrus tree wing. If there's any nearby I'd love to see them."

"You talk like you're from a big Vault." Noel noted as he tilted his head. "If I may ask dear, what is this seed Bunker?"

Lana grinned wide at him, "well… where I'm from is in basics a massive vault. Not Vault Tech, the original company was called Bolder Bay Technologies. My many times great grandpa had commissioned them as much as brought into the company and...sort of duped the old States to give him access and permission to build in several old national parks. To make seed bunkers like the ones that were in…. Sweden? Ours was in a place the bombs didn't drop near, but even the near by village were aloud to take shelter there with the workers. All the equipment was shut down against any emps. That way, once it was safe we could keep recharging the massive power cells and keep digging."

Lana made a motion with her hands, triangle like, "We have a lot of room to spread out inside the mountain, and the local hydro power plant helps with the lights and heat. It also recharges the cells for the drills. Once or twice a year we expand new 'wings' at different levels. By product slabs, bricks and ore are used to build the new homes in the valley."

"That sounds like a hell of a place...and... Seeds... all the pre-war seeds and trees?" Jacky frowned, "Why are you out this way Lana?"

Lana shrugged and spread her hands out, "What use are the seeds if we can't reseed? Despite the bombs not far you're lucky here to have low rads and trees that are resistant for some reason to radiation. But there's supposed to be another seed bank near here, another bunker somewhere in the greater Boston area...or near it. Soooo, that's what I'm looking for."

"You're looking for it." Noel hummed thoughtful as he echoed that.

Lana nodded, glancing down at her boots then reflexively to the window. "I know it may seem naïve to some, but I do believe that we need to try and spread healthy green again. There's some pollinators still, I had my flower flies hatch out already with the wild flowers around so there will be more when my plants start flowering. It's such a marvel there's still grass here and the radexes moss I brought is partnering with it so far with it. Brahmin and the wild dear like it so far like my moose do."

"Rebuild the world from the ground up." Jake said slowly, eyes dissentient as he looked into the past. Quoting the motto of his family's old business. His brother looking over, eyes widening though the girls missed the double meaning.

Lucy was nodding though, "It makes sense though, good plants to help earth, in turn it helps animals and us. Can't do much with bad ground, for our food or food for the animals we eat and use."

"You're right lass." Jacky ran a hand over his head, missing his hat and then chuckling to himself, "If this isn't one hell of a sign Jake, I don't know what is."

Jake leaned back into his seat, "You're right. They're right. We'd like to help you Lana, and as bad as it sounds I'd love to see some old foods again… would you maybe have brought any pumpkins?"

Lana held up two fingers, "Two kinds. A few seeds each and some of the watermelon for sure Deegan has laid claim to, he was going to give me some of each razorgrain, I'm all for different sources of the same plants. And to introduce me to someplace called the...Slog? they make something that helps plants with radiation?"

"We came from there," Noel smiled, "Spent the winter there. It's one of, if not the best ghoul friendly settlements, a bit of a hike but quite a bit more peaceful than Goodneighbor. They don't mind unaltered people visiting, or staying for a while though."

Lana smiled delighted to hear this from another source.

"I don't think I could make it that far. But I would like to see your place Lana." Megan added quietly.

"Should we go take a peek at the wagon?" Jake asked his brother who nodded back.

"It looked like it was made to be taken apart and put together in sections." Lana added, blinking as Megan took a deep breath and nudged her to get up.

"I'll stay with miss Hayes," Noel offered, pulling out a bag from one of his pockets, "And make some tea."

"I'll stay too," Lucy offered as she shifted, ready to trade places with Lana, "You should check in on Buck, pant lady, so he doesn't somehow climb the building or break in."

"Yeaaah, good idea." Lana smiled at Megan and gave her a squeeze around the shoulders before getting up with the carpenter brothers.

Lucy was shameless, or rather just as unbothered to sit down and offer to give Megan a hug. The scarred woman hesitated but accepted, and squeaked at the just as reassuringly tight hug.

Noel smiled, moving to sit on the money lady's other side, giving a quiet sense of her not being alone as he showed her the tea.

Reviews!

Justsomerandombastard:
Yay! lol I do like writing with 'background' characters, and in this case those people that show up to settlements wanting somewhere safe and honest to work. Part of that is me just taking a mentioned name to and running with it. The Carpender brothers are OCs, but Megan and Noel are mentioned in game!

Also, I may have done the same with names off and on. Lana is the 'little one' in comparison, Valory the deathclaw = Valor of a Dragon if that helps

I do have a 'big' plan for a larger village/town that will be the main Minutemen hub-town for trading and teaching. Not just Sanctuary, but that's going to be a slow built up to, and after someone (coughcoughcharonchough) shows up. I'm planning that the 'New Minutemen' are going to be re-building slowly and spreading out without any of the other big factions notice at first.

As for mole rats... I had forgotten about them until you mentioned them and it got me thinking. I was poking at ideas last night and think I'm going to incorporate different types, both the traditional naked mole type like you see in game and other giant rodents that are both native to the states I can see being lumped in the 'molerat' term. I think I have an idea of using a 'Royal Molerat' idea, that will also be known as a Lucy Cap-bear, going to mix in that idea you mentioned in another review of something that survived from a zoo

[should pop up around chapter 12, that's what I'm working on and needed an animal for]