August 28, 1893 — East Ridge Farm
@"Daffodil Potts" Declan Plunkett

The new school year was fast approaching, and Fiona was realizing that her free time was drying up faster than she'd expected. It was oddly nostalgic, really, back to a time when she was a student trying to find ways to fill her summers. Somehow, the beginning of the school year still snuck up on her and it was a race to get everything done in time.

Still, some things she was happy to do. This morning found her arriving at the Plunkett farm to help her friend, and in an area of interest that Fi was not able to explore nearly as much as she liked these days. "Good morning," she called out as she arrived.

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For someone who was raised in a barn (not really, but it felt that way), Declan should have been able to solve his own plant problems. He'd been so busy running around the farm getting all of the usual morning chores settled, all the animals fed and watered, that he'd nearly forgotten he'd asked Fiona to come help him take a look at the garden.

Something was eating every last one of the tomato plants and though it wasn't a magical plant, something told him whatever it was destroying them was indeed magical and nobody had ever outwitted him in herbology like Fiona had. With Daisy at his heels, he trotted over to the gate before the house to meet her.

"I'm glad you came, I'm stumped," he laughed quietly as he opened the gate for her. "Something is decimating some of the vegetable gardens and I cannot for the life of me figure out what." A magical pest? Magical blight? He was out of his depth here and though he hoped she wasn't, as she was clearly much brighter than he was, he was loathe to admit he needed the help.

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"Of course," Fiona said. She was well-versed in garden troubles, having spent most of her life so far amongst plants. It came in handy quite often. "Lead the way."

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Making sure to secure the gate, Declan gestured toward the vegetable gardens that were on the other side of the barn. "The tomatoes are almost irreparable. I've tried everything I can think of." They were going to be out some good plants if he couldn't figure it out. He should have thought ahead of time if Fiona's herbology knowledge extended to normal run of the mill vegetables, but he was hoping at least two heads were better than one.

As they rounded the barn, the little white picket fence around this section of veggies came into view and he found the gate, heading in. "Look at the leaves," he all but whined, frustrated by it all over again.

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Fiona stooped dutifully to peer at the leaves, reaching out to move them one way and then the other to get a proper look at them. "Well," she said after a moment. "I think you have an infestation of some sort here." She straightened up and started carefully picking her way into the midst of the plants, saying as she did, "Have you noticed any burrowing holes nearby?" She supposed not, probably, or he wouldn't need her to diagnose the problem. Still, she had to ask.

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Declan could only shrug, he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary, but motioned for to look around for herself. "I hadn't noticed anything, but didn't look specifically either." It would have been obvious, wouldn't it? Truthfully he was so flummoxed and frustrated by the whole thing at this point that he hadn't even thoroughly checked. "I put out some deterrents, but nothing seems to be working." He'd planted marigolds, which kept a lot of small furry creatures out, mint tended to keep bugs away, but maybe this was a magical pest he hadn't thought of.

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Fiona hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps I could brew you something to put on the plants to deter pests," she said. She could think of a few options that wouldn't affect the plants themselves, at least. "We can see if that does the trick."

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"Do you think that's all it would take?" Declan was still trying to work out what it was that was destroying the plants. Maybe he should put out some other sort of plants to see if what he could drum up. "What's that?" Declan had just changed a glance at the bottom of the stems when he saw something crawling along.

Careful of the plants themselves, he tiptoed down the rows to get closer to the plants. Whatever it was had disappeared, but he started digging around in the dirt to see if he could dredge it up. "This is ridiculous," he muttered. Unafraid to get dirty, his entire life was dirty, but chasing after pests in his plants was another thing entirely. He didn't have time for this!

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"Maybe," Fiona said honestly. Mostly, it was a place to start since they didn't have a clear idea of what they were dealing with. It was nothing but frustrating to have to do things by trial and error.

"Hmm?" Turning to get a closer look, Fiona's hand shot out, on instinct, at the sight of something moving along the stems. She had just enough time to register the feeling of something wriggling before--"Ow!"

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Declan was distracted by rooting around the roots to see whatever it was that bit Fiona. He cursed under his breath and straightened up. "You alright?" He lumbered over, but his hand were covered with dirt, so he offered his handkerchief instead. "Is it bad?" The last thing he'd anticipated was anyone getting hurt. "Ma's got all manner of things in the house," Declan offered if she thought she needed it. Of course Fiona was far more qualified here than he was, but he didn't like feeling useless.

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[post]Fiona frowned down at her bleeding hand, thankfully more perturbed by the injury than really harmed. Still, she said, "It's not bad, but I should get this cleaned up before we continue." Straightening up, she gestured for Declan to lead on toward the house. They could deal with the garden afterwards.[/pos]