ph_logs | [Open] All the Leaves are Brown

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sally looks up at him. He'd spooked her a bit--- she'd been in her own head when he sort of appeared behind her. At first, she isn't sure what he means, but something about the way he looks out at the pier... She understands.

"Not yet," she says hoarsely. "How long have you been waiting..."

Sam moves fairly quietly when he's not laden down, trying to be unobtrusive in the hopes of being left alone. It doesn't often work, but he can try, right?

He doesn't meet her eyes when she looks up at him, but he's saved from the awkwardness of trying by their mutual attention on the docks.

"Haven't been here too long," he replies quietly. "Thought maybe I could catch the boat guy next time he shows, ask if he knows anything about a kid."

Sally nods, understanding the distance. She was right, then--- he's like her. A parent, waiting for a child.

"Me too," she says softly. "How old is yours? If you don't mind my asking."

The confirmation that they were both out here waiting on the same thing is met with a furrowed brow and absentminded sort of nod.

"Newborn." It's easier than saying she was still in her pod and rapidly approaching the max age a BB could be.

"Oh, goodness. That poor dear..." Sally frowns. "Mine is two months, so. Not too far ahead of yours."

She forces a smile. "Maybe when they're bigger, they can play together. Assuming we're all still here..."

"Hope they have stuff you can give kids that little around here," he murmurs; he knows how he might handle such a thing at home, but here? He doesn't know how they did these things without proper formula, or wet nurses, the latter of which seemed like an impossibility given what he's learned about the place so far.

The forced smile isn't returned, but Sam's expression does soften somewhat. After a long moment, he lowers himself to take a seat a short distance away, one leg pulled up for his arms to prop on.

"What's yours' name?"

"Guinevere. Gwen for short," she says softly, sniffling a bit. "Yours?"

"Louise. I call her Lou." He looks down at the sand, and pokes the tiniest handprint in it. Feeling a bit awkward to be near someone crying doesn't stop him adding, "She could use a friend, if she gets here."

Sally manages a smile. "They'll be thick as thieves, I bet. Two Musketeers."

The sentiment is cut short, however, by the ferry appearing on the darkened horizon. Sally pops up to her feet, practically spring-loaded. "The ferry!!"

The moment Sally's attention shoots to the ferry, Sam scrambles to his feet in kind, eyes on the boat, then back to her, before he's nodding in the direction of the docks and setting off in a determined stride. Any news at all would be preferable to waiting longer.

It's late, so there's no one to come greet the ferry as Yorick usually would. Instead, the ferryman comes onto the pier and waits. It's hard to tell from this distance, but it seems as though he's staring at Sally and Sam.

He is holding, in each arm, small swaddled forms. Roughly the size of very young infants.

"Oh thank God. Thank God." Sally doesn't need to be told, sprinting on wiry legs down to the pier with tears of relief in her eyes.

Gwen and Lou have arrived.

Sam's steps falter, but only briefly, breath catching. The relief makes him feel so light as he follows immediately behind her, dodging around her when she slows enough to take Gwen, his hands out for Lou and carefully, so carefully, taking her back and immediately tucking her against his shoulder with his hand behind the back of her head. She fusses a little at it, until he's lifted her to press his lips to her forehead. Just for a moment, it hardly matters that they all had to have died to be here, he's just happy that she's here, and that ostensibly she's safe.

Looking back at Sally, he doesn't immediately realize that the tears are falling just as readily for him, he's just quieter about it.

"Thank you, oh my god, thank you so much," Sally nearly blubbers to the ferryman, but he's practically gone the moment the two children are in the arms of the ones they belong with.

Sally covers Gwen's tiny face with kisses. "Ohh, Gwenny, Mummy was so worried about you. I'm so sorry you had to go through what happened but you're here and I will never, ever lose you again. I promise," she murmurs. Sniffling, she looks up at Sam and Lou. "And look! I found you a friend. Isn't that lovely? You can have a friend your own age. You won't have to be lonely."

Gwen looks around wildly with pale blue eyes, the thin tuft of brown hair on her head mussed comically from her mother's affections. There's so much to see and smell here, after all.

Sam, while more sober about his reunion with Louise, nonetheless clutches her tightly, hand around the back of her tiny head as he rocks, murmuring, "knew I shouldn'a left you, Deadman said you were sick, fuckin'-" no, no Deadman wasn't a liar. Not if Lou was here.

Sam's expression tightens and his eyes press shut. The fact that he couldn't be there with her at the end hurts more than any of it. His nose against her head, he takes a moment just to school himself while she squeaks her discomfort at being clutched, and immediately he straightens up again, looking back at Sally with his hands supporting her enough let her see the other child. She has no hair to speak off, just a down-fine fluff.

"Bet you're gonna like havin' someone besides me to talk to all the time, huh?" The smile is shaky, but it's there.

Sally smiles back, just as weary, but genuine. "If either of you need anything, I--- just signed up to run a pharmacy in town, so that's where you can find me. I'm here if you need me, alright? If you need medicine, baby playdates, someone to talk to... Come find me."

The smile he offers in return is small and shaky, but grateful.

"Same to you, if you need anything brought over, you know where I'm at. Gonna find somewhere else soon but I'll let you know when that happens."

[Open] All the Leaves are Brown

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wow the question mark in my last tag totally went awol

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