[Hopetoun] Fencing in Feelings, Hemming in Hope

[Vega]

Cylus 30th, 721

following this

She had been in this situation so many times before.

Looking at the pile of wood and the beautiful Oasis which she'd created, Vega considered that she needed to think about this logically. The farmland around Hopetoun was fertile, with the volcanic soil and the oasis now together, plus Sir Chip's growing of things. It was looking more and more like they would soon have a lot of fresh produce. "The thing is," Vega said to Reese, her cousin, "We've got this oasis, an' all this green stuff, an' we've got the farmland, an' Sir Chip's orchard. But it would help if it were protected from predators, you know?" Reese looked at her and he sighed. He was about to launch into one of his 'they're not biqaj, they aren't our clan, why do you want to help them' speeches, and Vega glared at him.

"I want you to jus' not," she said. "Jus', for to-trial, please, jus' don't be an ass. We came here because I need to rest, Reese. I need to. An' you know, an' I know that I can not do that while I'm sittin' around. I need to be busy, an' this place is run by someone I think is ok," in fairness, it was not bad as assessments went. Most people were firmly in the 'irritatin' dweeb' category as far as Vega was concerned, and Darius was 'ok'. He wasn't a friend yet. That would take longer, or more, or something else. But, he was firmly in the category of 'ok'. "An' maybe we can help. That is goin' to be better for me than any luxury resort an' you know it. So, can we jus' build a fence around this oasis an' the farmland, an' the orchard, please?" Reese looked at her and he sighed.

And in that sigh, Vega knew she had him beat.

"Fine," Reese said. He looked at her and Vega smiled. "Thank you," she said. Reese, Shon, Huw, her three cousins had been worried about her because of how things had turned out in Rharne. Vega was pleased for their love, happy for their concern, but equally, she didn't want their fuss. She would be the first to admit that she was a contrary and demanding woman. "So, what do we do?" Vega asked.

"Well, first thing, is we need to decide on the type of fence," Reese said and she frowned. "Decorative, or functional?"

That was a no brainer for Vega. "Functional first an' foremost." she said. Looking at him she raised an eyebrow and then spoke. "I want to make it the best it can be," she said. Reese gave her a look which told her what he was thinking; and he was thinking that she was about to make his life harder.

"Look. What it we make this like a sandwich of two fences?" He sighed. "That's a gabion fence, Eva," he said. "You want a gabion? The stone fence with a wire mesh around it?"

"Yes an' no," she said. He rolled his eyes. Not even the complicated was straightforward with Vega. "So...?"

"Outside, it'll be a fence. Six foot tall, I reckon. Then, a foot away from that, a foot inside, another fence. A livin' one. I'm reckonin' that should be a mixture of cranberries, gooseberries an' herbs. In between the two fences are stones an' rocks sittin' on top of troughs. The stones an' rocks an' stuff, they collect up the rainwater an' that drains into the troughs, so that we can build an irrigation system later." She looked at him and saw the expression on his face. "So, we'll have fruit, an' herbs, an' we want to make sure that there's mint growin' too, to keep away the birds. Outside fence, inside livin' fence, an' a gabion in between. Troughs underneath for fresh water an' irrigation, an' that'll be a fence that's actually useful."

Reese looked at her and shook his head. "You can't help it, can you?"

Vega beamed at him. "Nope," she said. "The moment I wake up, I have to be demandin'. So, you up to it?"

He sighed and nodded. Vega beamed.

[Vega]

Cylus 30th, 721

following this

"Alright, Eva," Reese said and he sighed, rather dramatically. "Outside fence, six foot. Then, we have the inner fence. We'll make that the same height." He looked at her and thought about it and he turned to her. "What we could do, if you wanted, rather than have all of the inner fence be a living fence, we could do alternate panels. Half the panels could be a growing, climbing, living fence. But every alternate fence panel could be a series of shallow vertical pots for planting." Vega looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Like on the Dreamer?" she asked and he nodded. "Like on the Dreamer, and the side of Arlo's cart. OW!"

The ow, of course, was as she thumped him. "It's our cart, Reese, our cart, our dog, our camp an' our life. Get out with yer 'Arlo's cart' nonsense, you dweeb." Reese grinned, happy that he could still wind her up.

"In those vertical pots, we could grow spinach, that's good all arc around, except the coldest, and it's good and sturdy as a grower. Spinach and onions, they'll work." Considering it, Vega nodded. "Righteo. That works then, don't it? An'' in between the two fences we have stones an' rocks, all sittin' on a wooden or wire mesh over troughs which collect water, right?" Reese nodded.

"Ok. So, what do we do?"

Reese looked and considered. "We mark out the corners of the outer fence. Then, we mark the fence posts. The corner posts. After that, we work out where the supporting posts are. We bury them, those posts, at least one third the depth of post. So, six foot high, we need it eight foot in total, minimum." Vega frowned. "If we're drivin' it into the ground, can I make the bottom of it a spike?" He nodded. "Ok, so lets get goin' then. An' get measurin'"

Reese shook his head. "I can do that. You get started on the woodwork, I'm no good at that. Make the corner ones deeper, Eva."

[Vega]

Cylus 30th, 721

following this

Vega sat down next to the pile of wood and she chose the best pieces. Four of them for the corners. Picking the shortest one of the four, she measured and then measured again - adding another half a foot to the eight foot needed. After she had measured it twice, she cut it, then she cut the other three to match it. Then, she measured the six foot she needed. That left the rest for below the ground. Vega concentrated on that first, making sure that she had a sharp pointed edge, able to be pushed into the ground.

Each corner piece, she cut and sanded to the same shape - especially making sure that the sides were flat. As she did that, her cousin got on with the measuring. Vega looked up and frowned. "Why're you gettin' string?"

"It's called a builders line," he said. "I tie the string and make sure it's taut, because I need to make sure that I am basically showing how and where the fence sections are going to go." He looked at her and explained, "and we can see, look, where the string is dipping, it needs to have a post. We'll try and make sure that there's posts long before that, but it provides us with a minimum. A baseline."

Vega nodded. "So, what now?" she asked. He gestured to the wood. "More posts. Not quite as deep, but deep. We can make sure that you get them to the same height. Then, it's planks in between. After that, we make the troughs. How do you want to hold up the gabion above the troughs?"

It took Vega a moment to work out that he meant the rocks and stones and she considered. "I think a wire mesh, if we can? Can we run that on the bottom of the inner an' outer fence? Like, joinin' them together at the bottom?" He nodded. "We can."

Vega beamed. "Then lets do that then."

He looked at her, rolling his eyes "All of this will take trials, Eva. You have work to do." She glared at him. "Get on with it, then."

And so, she did. Vega started the work needed on the slats for in between the fence posts. Then, once that was done, Vega would get going on the troughs and then finally on the vertical plots. Those were small shallow pots which would fit in to the alternate sections of the inner fence. Given that, she thought, they'd have a fence that kept out animals, grew spinach, mint, gooseberries and onions, stored water and looked nice. And then, she knew, things would be improved and she would have made a difference.

And that would be good, because Vega was doing this so that she didn't have to deal with the fact that she thought she was pregnant. She didn't want to think about it, because if she thought about it then she'd be terrified. Lowering her head, Vega got back to her work and she held her tongue rather than even considering discussing it with him. She hadn't told Arlo yet so she most certainly wasn't telling Reese.

[Jackalope]

Experience: +10 xp.

Knowledge:
Skill
Construction: Fence-building
Construction: 6ft fence poles should be planted 2ft below ground
Construction: Use a builders line for fence construction.
Construction: Types of fence
Design: Gabion fencing
Design: Functional living fences.

Skillplay: Appropriate to level

Loot: None.

Injuries/Overstepping: None.

Renown: +10. You don’t see spinach fences every trial.

Comments:

A fence to keep out the annoying dweebs! Vertical farming for vertical people! Or something.

I enjoyed this thread. It skillfully combines something practical with something deeply personal for Vega (”Fencing in Feelings” is a perfect title for this). At the same time as being character revealing, it is also intriguing. I want to know more about Arlo’s cart now!

I also like how the NPC isn’t just a construction robot, but a believably self-willed, slightly surly person with a meaningful relationship to Vega.

I would have added Persuasion, Leadership, or Rhetoric to the list of skills used since you needed to cajole Reese into building the fence.

Enjoy your rewards!