[Event] Letting it Grow

“Before we start I just want to say this is a judgement free workspace. So long as the Queen has seen you as an Ally of Atlantis, I will try to avoid the question of why a carnivore of all things is helping us spread our influence. “ Paradise spoke, eyeballing the white and grey Albertosaurus and barely keeping the questioning and suspicion out of his voice. The brightly colored yellow and green Oviraptor shifted a bit nervously in place, dancing on his feet a little before feeling a bit of relief wash over him when the Albertosaurus spoke up and answered his questioning. 

“As someone now living on these islands I don't think your plants will thrive in every part, or benefit the residents and native wildlife if you were to push further into occupied lands. I have the experience now, I believe, to coach you on some places I think your plants will be benefitted, and so will you and the natives. “ Crucible would explain his reasoning mildly. He would try to appeal to Paradise by showing he understands. “I know what it is like to want to leave a failing land. “ 

“That explains why you brought us to this land of dry bushes. “ Sagittarius would comment. The grey Oviraptor was still keeping his distance from the Albertosaurus some, his black-tipped crest fluffing up and down. Sagittarius was there to help teach the fresh faces on caring for their seeds. He moved to stand closer to Paradise, taking a look at their students…helpers…whoever these dinosaurs were. All Sagittarius and Paradise knew was these dinosaurs were vetted by the higher court, so they were probably all safe. Though off choices. The carnivore with the long legs and tiny arms, the herbivore with the long claws and longer neck, and then the herbivore with no hands to grasp things with and a spiked club on his tail. 

“It is. “ Crucible would answer the comment that wasn't really a question. Part of Crucible just wanted the Atlanteans out of the way of the Islanders so there wasn't anymore conflicts. “This dry land does not like plants, but your plants are strong and should be okay. These plants can die and help feed those ones, is that how it works? “ The pale Albertosaurus would ask. 

“It can. We can also feed the plants with bodies. “ Paradise would say easily, and one could imagine a nonchalant smile as if they didn't just mention giving bodies to their plants. 

“We should clear a spot of this life, and start fresh for the next. “ Sagittarius would suggest, looking away from the awkward group and to the dry plant life around them. “Can you…bigger…dinosaurs please pull up all of these plants?” They would ask. 

“Sure.” 

“Sure.” 

“Not you-” Paradise would cut off Penumbra before she could accept the job. “I want you to help till once the big stuff is gone, those claws look perfect for that job. “ 

Penumbra, a Therizinosaurus, definitely had tools for that job with claws that were three feet long. 

With their first jobs given to them, Crucible would help Starbreaker the Shunosaurus clear the land. 

They were working scrubland in a sort of shallow valley which offered a little bit of shelter and other benefits, a place Crucible had chosen as he coached the Atlanteans. Now Starbreaker, he was no slouch. He was a solid Shuno and he took to pulling up vegetation quite naturally. He might not have had the neck muscles of Crucible but he had the body length and strength to get leverage over stubborn shrubs and other vegetation. Starbreaker was the one that marked a place to stay laying down what they pulled up. As they worked, he would also work on smashing the pulled up vegetarian into smaller bits. Breaking the bigger pieces down and softening up the vegetation in general as advised by Sagittarius and Paradise who were overseeing him and Crucible. Smashing and grinding the vegetation into a pulp would help it decay faster and feed the plants the Atlanteans wanted to grow.

When Crucible and Starbreaker were done with pulling up vegetation then Paradise and Sagittarius would have Starbreaker specifically start to walk the patch in a pattern. The point of him walking over it over and over was that with his relatively flat feet he would bit by bit flatten out the plot of land that the Atlanteans wanted to use to start spreading their influence with. Starbreaker did as he was told and it was something quite time consuming. While he plotted along flattening the land down he would occasionally have to use his toe claws, as limited as they were, to pick a rock or a leftover stump out of the ground and the. Move it over to the disposal pile before he would return to the plot to flatten it out. Once Starbreaker felt he was done he would go around the edges just to make a nice boarder. He would of course ask Sagittarius and Paradise if everything looked good to them so they could do the next part which Starbreaker assumed was planting the seeds. He didn't know how that worked. For now they did tell him they didn't really need him for the next step, so after double-checking the flattened plot of land Starbreaker would move aside and give them room to work. 

“Okay, here's how this is going to go. “ Paradise would start. “Penumbra you're going to use those big ole claws of yours to till the land for us. Just take them and drag them across the dirt in nice rows.  Just like this. “ Paradise would demonstrate by tilling the ground with his foot claws by scraping the tips of them through the dirt.

 “Make sure you don't go too deep or too shallow. “ Sagittarius would add. 

Penumbra would do what she was told, taking her time as she used her massive hand claws to make trenches in the dirt. She tried to make nice, parallel rows that spanned the length of the flat plot of land they now had. By the end of her digging her neck hurt a little from bending over and looking down so long but thanks to her height she could see her work and was a bit pleased with it. She would move over to the edge of the plot and out of the way, looking to the two Oviraptors for guidance. “How is that?”

Sagittarius and Paradise would move forward to inspect Penumbra’s work. “It looks good. “ Paradise would comment.

“Looks good to me. “ Sagittarius would add, confirming.

“And now what?” Crucible would ask.

“Penumbra can help us plant! Come here and take this pouch, then go down the lines to drop seeds in. “ Paradise would move to Penumbra and offer a burlap sack that was full of seeds.

Penumbra would do as she was told and start at one end of the plot and work her way down. It took some work to get a pace that didn’t drop too many, and to avoid a pace that dropped too few and left big gaps. The first few rows were tests for Penumbra before she seemed to get the hang of sprinkling the seeds. It didn’t take as long to spread the seeds as it had to flatten the plot, Penumbra just steadily working before she got to the end of things and once more moved out of the way.

“What is next?” Penumbra would ask, looking to Crucible and Starbreaker, before turning her attention to the two Oviraptors expectantly. They of course would go about coaching Crucible, Penumbra and Starbreaker on the rest of the process, having Penumbra cover the seeds with dirt before having Starbreaker and Crucible bring over bags of water to wet the plants down. The dry soil greedily soaking up the hydration. It would…at least hopefully…Be a start.

They would just have to let it grow.