[Open] All the Leaves are Brown

[sunshinesally]

Who: Sally Boyle and you!
What: Arrival, opening up shop, a few odds and ends.
When: From now until it is no longer useful!
Where: Jack's Marina and around town.
Warning(s): Illicit substances, references to the death of a child, possibly more. Will update as needed!




-I've Been for a Walk-

To Yorick's credit, he did his best to lead Sally through the motions of getting settled in Pumpkin Hollow. He was kind and patient and a silly old thing. And yes, the town is cursed, room at the inn, work options, food vouchers, blah blah, that's all well and good but the whole time Sally had only one thing on her mind.

Where is Gwen?

The very minute that Yorick and Mayor Poe turn her loose again, she forgoes the tavern entirely and makes a beeline straight for the beach. Huddled in the sand, she sits and watches the docks with her rail-thin legs hugged tightly to her chest, hoping to see the ferryman return with her infant daughter.

Part of her hopes he doesn't. Because that would mean...

But if she isn't here, then what happened to her? If Sally didn't survive the crash, where does that leave Gwen? At least if she was here, they wouldn't have to be apart. Sally could find a way back... for both of them. Or maybe make a new life for the pair of them here. But what if little Gwen didn't get that chance?

It will be a while before the ferryman returns, but he will bring Guinevere Boyle with him. However, Sally doesn't know that. So she will wait here on the beach even as night falls.


-He Knows I'm Gonna Stay-

It takes a few days, but once Gwen arrives and Sally signs up for work as a physician, the pair are finally settled in. (Sally makes it clear to Mayor Poe that her expertise is in pharmaceuticals and she is, first and foremost, a chemist, but that she's got a lot of experience with first aid as well.) It's a small place, but it's theirs. A small drugstore and simple clinic with a small apartment on the upper floor. It has a study, but Sally converts it to a nursery.

Thus, the Blackberry Apothecary is born.

Basic clinic services and injury treatment is available here, along with all manner of helpful medicines made from local herbs.

And maybe some more interesting things if you ask the right questions. She does, after all, remember the recipe for Joy.


-California Dreamin'-

With Gwen strapped to her chest and a bag slung over her back, Sally ventures out into the woodlands to collect necessary herbs and flowers for her apothecary before the chill kills them off. Sage and rosemary, ginseng and yarrow, foxglove and poppy. If anyone approaches her while she's out foraging, she'll spit out a customary Wellington Wells greeting like a reflex.

"Lovely day for it!"


-Wildcard-
Always open to ideas!

Comments

~California Dreamin'~~

[tisnotthehouse]

November is a good time for harvesting yarrow, valerian, and marshmallow roots, not to mention mushrooms and the last straggling shoots of rosemary and thyme...And you know what else likes to nibble on these plants?

Rabbits.

Which is to say, the sticky snare that suddenly draws tight around Sally's wrist was not meant for human prey, and so it is fortunately not strong enough to drag her along the ground or endanger Gwen. She might even have been able to free herself before too much time passed -- but before she can do much more than curse and pick at it, the spinner appears.

"Oh no," Tarantulas says, rubbing his forelegs together in complete mortification. "Oh no, I'm so sorry. I didn't know anyone else would be out here."

[sunshinesally]

As the yanking, snaring web sends Sally pitching face-first towards the ground, she catches herself with her free hand and lets out a sharp cry of surprise. "Oh, fuck in a bucket. What the---?" She tugs at her hand with a look of consternation on her face. What kind of spider could make a web like this?

The question is almost immediately answered when Tarantulas materializes from god-knows-where. Sally gawks at him for a long moment.

Then she begins screaming.

[tisnotthehouse]

"Gah!" Tarantulas shrinks back -- both literally and metaphorically. He skitters several steps backwards while also shrinking to roughly the size of a housecat.

"Please stop!" he whines, pedipalps raised as if trying to cover a non-existent pair of ears. "I'm not going to hurt you! Ma'am, please calm down!"

Should he just go? The snare isn't that thick, and she must have a tool for cutting plants or digging up roots...but just leaving her like this doesn't seem very pro-social, does it? Springer would want him to stay and help her no matter how much of a fuss she made.

[sunshinesally]

"TALKING SPIDER." At least she remembered how to make words. "HOW."

[tisnotthehouse]

"You literally work with a talking ambulance!!" Tarantulas yelps, nerves too jangled to be diplomatic. "I'm an alien, I evolved on another planet. Oh for the fragging Matrix's sake and the lost sparks of the Thirteen..."

He transforms into his humanoid body, size suddenly increasing threefold as his mass snaps back to the default. "Is this better?" he asks desperately, spreading his human hands to show her that they are both clawless and empty. "Please, please calm down, I swear I don't mean any harm."

[sunshinesally]

"Alright well, First Aid is just a robot who can change into an ambulance and I knew that about him before some random wagon rolled up and started talking to me! So...!" Sally huffs indignantly. "But, ah. Either way is fine now that I know what's going on. You just gave me a nasty surprise, you know."

[tisnotthehouse]

"Yes, well I wasn't expecting to encounter a screaming human in one of my rabbit traps," Tarantulas grumbles. "So we've both gotten a nasty surprise today."

He transforms back, admonishing Sally to "hold still, now," as he reaches out with one claw-tipped leg to smoothly cut through the silk holding her in place, his claws barely even brushing her skin. "There, no harm done. Apologies for the inconvenience." This is him making an effort to be gracious; he didn't realize anyone other than the rabbits had any particular instance in this part of the woods.

[sunshinesally]

Sally sighs with relief as she's released. "Oh, think nothing of it. It was an accident on both our parts." She rubs her wrist thoughtfully for a moment before Gwen becomes fussy, having been spooked by the previous yelling. "Oh, no, honey! Mummy's sorry, everything is okay! Shh, shh. It's alright, darling."

Gwen seems to settle at Sally's affections, hiccupping softly.

[tisnotthehouse]

Tarantulas flinches when the baby starts fussing, but not in displeasure. He shrinks again and edges closer, peering up at the sling strapped to Sally's chest.

"Your child?" he asks softly. "Are they alright?"

[sunshinesally]

"Hm? Oh, yes." Sally bounces and rocks Gwen lightly. "She was just startled by all the yelling and things have calmed down enough for her to cry about it now. Just a delayed reaction caused by a freeze response to fear. But she'll be right as rain in a minute."

She leans toward Tarantulas a bit. "Look, see? Mummy just got startled, but he's not so scary, is he?"

At this, Gwen locks eyes with Tarantulas and ceases fussing to stare owlishly at him. She seems utterly transfixed.

[tisnotthehouse]

Tarantulas, too, is transfixed -- by the infant human's tiny size, the frailty betrayed by her frightened cries -- and yet, see how boldly she stares at him now! From fear to curiosity in a handful of seconds, could there be anything more wonderful?

...Ostaros used to look at him like that once...

Tarantulas jerks backwards as if avoiding a blow, ducking his head until his pedipalps nearly drag in the dirt as he stammers, "I should go move my other traps...I'm truly sorry for causing you so much trouble..."