beautiful valentine's tomatoes

[aberrant_type]

[The post begins as video, but it's not pointed at Hange's face. All that's visible is the wood grain pattern on her desk.]

Hmm. First of all, something I've wondered about since arriving here: imPorts who've returned home. Before your returns, did you notice any potential exceptional events or situations that took place?

[That's it for that. The camera swings suddenly, landing on... a rather anemic-looking tomato, a rather sad shade of pink-orange. It's slice in half and a knife moves in and prods at the innards.]

Besides that, I've had cause to think about food since I've arrived here. My own people have suffered for almost ten years under the lash of hunger, forced to subsist off of limited rations. I'm sure those of you who know how such situations go realize how a population can suffer under hunger. Our children grow up small and malnourished, adults fail to thrive, our soldiers struggle to build and maintain muscle, on our limited rations, especially meat, which is expensive, a rare treat for a young recruit and not terribly common even for an officer. We've struggled for years with limited farmland and soil that grows gradually more exhausted.

Now, take this world! This place! I've seen more plenty here than I have in perhaps my entire life... the contents of one supermarket amounts to more food than some of our farms might produce in a year. And yet further research shows me that hunger is still a chronic worldwide problem, perhaps not here, but elsewhere. Humans continue to suffer. I've also heard that there is sufficient food produced to end the problem of human hunger, a problem that remains unsolved due to political reasons, economic reasons, and what-have-you...

I can't do anything about that at present, but I do have a small experiment I'm doing, that others are welcome to participate in. Invited to participate in.

[The camera swings again and now two tomatoes are being compared. The other one, sliced open, is rich red-orange and looks juicy and delicious.]

I have some tomatoes I'm willing to share... not to eat! Not at this point. But I'd like if imPorts would adopt them, plant them, and be willing to tell me how they do - and how they taste, once the fruit develops. They ought to be delicious, I'd say. Black thumbs are welcome, and especially invited, in fact, as these plants ought to be very hardy.

Slice your tomato in half and bury it. A pot might be best, place in an area with high sunlight. Water the shit out of it - I mean, until you see water running through the bottom of the pot, which ought to have holes in it for drainage - and then let it bake. I'll be checking back in on these!

As I said, they ought to be durable, grow quickly, and be very delicious. One hard watering, til the water runs through and the soil is soaked, and then left in the sun. Let me know.

[Hange bred the variety of tomato she's offering herself, using her plant manipulation ability. She bought several store tomatoes, force grew them, and hybridized them, aiming for traits of juiciness, intense flavor, hardiness, and fairly rapid growth. The fruit itself has no exceptional properties aside from being delicious, so there's no possibility for negative consequences if your character eats the tomatoes. Unless they're allergic to tomatoes.]

Comments

[ video ]

[nightmarist]

I'll take some.

[aberrant_type]

[Hange turns the camera around and smiles amiably at Ronan.]

Shall I deliver them, or would you prefer to pick them up?

[nightmarist]

I don't care either way. Whichever is more convenient for you.

[In case she was looking for an excuse to visit the Meadows again.]

[aberrant_type]

[Hange would love to visit the Meadows. A big quiet farm like that is what farms on her world should look like, not that any of them do.]

I'll make a delivery. Say, three?

[nightmarist]

[Farms on her world would probably benefit from having a creation deity residing on them.]

That works.

i had another idea

[aberrant_type]

[The things she could do with someone with Ronan's skillset... it's crossed her mind, certainly. But also the fact that the crown probably would have stolen someone like him away if it were possible, and then indoctrinated him. Or simply killed him off, by whatever means made it possible.]

Excellent. They ought to grow nicely with fairly minimal attention. You'll have to tell me how you like them.

Looking to add more varieties to your current crops?

[nightmarist]

[In other words, they would have done what everyone always tries to do with Ronan.]

I think Adam would appreciate some actual fresh produce around the farm. My garden mostly grows candy.

text

[h2no]

i'd like one
i know i dont
have the best track record with plants recently but its not for anything like that? i dont have the relic anymore
i just want this to see it grow

video, staring at the tomatoes

[aberrant_type]

The relic...?

[She's briefly confused and then... oh! This is one of the guys who caused all the plant action earlier. She fought some of those monsters and tried to take samples of them and all the samples disappeared, to her sorrow u_u]

Ah! Certainly you may. They should be very good for simply watching. Who is this?

beautiful

[h2no]

archie
crazy plant guy? i think. is what i'm known as now.
my crobat likes gardening. so.

i can offer some to blue as well. he has a grass type -- exeggutor. it naturally helps the growth of plants, though it wouldn't be "real" data, i guess. it's your stuff, so your choice.

i'm sorry about the famine, for what it's worth. i hope more people from your world arrive here so they have the opportunity to explore as you have.

[aberrant_type]

Don't fret. I didn't remember your name. [The problem got dealt with and didn't seem to do that much harm to Hange's extremely skewed calibrations, so she immediately forgot who was responsible for it.]

Thank you for your condolences. I realize there's famine and deprivation here as well, but it's a pleasant change to see a well-fed population. Anyway, I have plenty to share, so if this Blue would like some tomatoes to grow, I'll be happy to share them out. What do you mean by grass-type?

[h2no]

alright. i'll take one for him too, then.

it's
there's these creatures from our world that have elemental powers. exeggutor is like a living tree.

[aberrant_type]

A living tree... [She's putting 1 and 1 together, given his mention of the plant attack incident and now the living tree.] Similar to those that appeared during, hm, the... the incident with all the plants?

video

[liontomyself]

[Growing tomatoes....???? For science? These are both VERY GOOD THINGS and Leo has to actually try to contain his enthusiasm. Thank goodness he can grow his own tomatoes with magic but really.]

That simple to grow...? You just cut them in half and bury it?

[Leo pulls out a notebook, flipping it open and going through a few pages before jotting something down. Fascinating! He'd never grown one from scratch before.]

May I have one? I have never really grown plants without magic before, but I'm sure I can handle it.

video of a tomato

[aberrant_type]

Oh! You absolutely may!

[Hange sounds just stoked as fuck about the whole thing. Science really excites her.]

It shouldn't be much harder than that! It might even be better if you're a little inexperienced. I want these plants to be forgiving to beginners, so don't worry if you hardly know a thing!

Video of Leo crying because tomatoes are perfect

[liontomyself]

M-my country... doesn't really have any land suitable for growing... plants, so I have exactly no experience.

[Science is very exciting!!! Leo is just a young edgelord who tries so hard to keep up appearances but WELP. He just really likes tomatoes, ok.]

the tomatoes, a balm for all wounds

[aberrant_type]

What? None at all? [Her own world is highly limited when it comes to arable land, but they have some land.]

How did your country survive, if it couldn't do any farming at all?

Re: the tomatoes, a balm for all wounds

[liontomyself]

We took land from our neighboring country in battle, and otherwise subsisted on very little. A lot of meat, not much of it any good. Anything capable of growing in a cave, and some amount of foraging in our dark forests.

[If any country could use assistance in feeding it's people, it was Nohr.]

Recently, the war has ended and trade routes have opened up, so it should get better.

[aberrant_type]

Ah, a hardscrabble life, then. [Hunting can't support a large stable population. Even foraging in the woods.]

Congratulations on your improved circumstances. I hope my people will encounter such fortune. With whom am I speaking?

Video

[drivesadesk]

Huh, that sounds interesting. I'd like to try growing one of these. Is there a time limit on how long we have to get these?

[If so, seeing as Leo was also interested, he figured he could see about the two of them getting transportation back to the main land.]

Oh, and no, when I returned home nothing seemed different than usual before it happened.

Re: Video

[aberrant_type]

Thanks for your information! [Hange turns the camera around and grins amiably at the stranger. She's a hawkish-looking woman in her thirties.] I don't intend to impose any deadlines at this point. I suppose in regards to the future I can't say. You should have several weeks, at least - will that be sufficient?

Video

[drivesadesk]

Oh, yeah. That should be plenty of time.

Re: Video

[aberrant_type]

Good! With whom am I speaking?

Re: Video

[drivesadesk]

Jonathan Walsh. And you are?

Re: Video

[aberrant_type]

Zoe Hange. Please call me Hange!