"Vanessa! How can we help you today?" said Elder Sampson jovially. "Salutations. I have… I wish to travel out of town next week" I expined. "That should not be a problem. Are you just taking Victoria again?" asked elder Laurent. "Um… I think it may well be a problem actually. And no, this will need many pairs of hands" I said, perhaps a little too cryptically. "If you believe it will be a problem why are you going" he asked with an annoyed eyebrow crease. "I believe the benefits outweigh the risks" I noted. "Expin both if you would" said elder Laurent.
"I need money. Back before the whole captured by hunters incident I had a stipend paid by a charity based out of New York state. But Vanessa Wolfe might well be a wanted criminal for escaping wful custody and murdering four members of the United States armed forces. If I so much as swipe an ATM card an arm is going to go off somewhere. So I'm basically starting from scratch" I expined.
"So you're going out in order to get your stipend restored?" asked Elder Laurent. "No. I'd need to build a much deeper identity for that. I'd be gone for weeks. I'd miss way too much school. Also, there's always a chance someone might decide to run a background check and then we're back at square one. No, That path is too much risk for too little reward knowing there might be hunters out there" I noted.
"I thought you said you burned the hunters to the ground?" said elder Laurent. "I believe I did. But that's no reason to throw caution to the wind" I replied. "So what is your actual pn?" he asked. "I'm going to setup a tent at a farmer's market. Basically outsiders will come by and trade money for fresh food. The town has that in abundance" I stated.
Elder Laurent smiled. "How much money do you expect this operation to make?" he asked. "I don't know. Its not like I've ever done something like this before" I admitted. "Perhaps take a guess?" he suggested. "Um… a few hundred dolrs a day maybe?" I replied.
Elder Laurent sighed. "Well, why not… My fellow elders: I have been telling you for years that we should be finding ways to make money at scale. I have informed you of how we might use it to acquire greater quantities of propane for our ovens and of clothing for our people and of all the things we rely on raiders to supply, and that we can never supply in sufficient quantity. I wish to involve myself directly in her pn, should you all approve it" he spake.
"Well I'm all for the bakery running out of propane less often" said elder Nichos. "Absolutely not!" cried elder Ange. "Why?" elder Laurent asked coldly. "Its too dangerous. I will not risk any of my people on some cockamaemae scheme by an idiot child" she said. "Oh, NOW you're worried about the danger to our people?" spat elder Sampson. "We know how to raid. This is something we've never done before. We can't risk it" she stated calmly.
"If I may" I interjected. "Shut up!" snapped elder Ange. I gave her a very cold stare. She flinched as if struck. Nothing to do with my powers I swear. I opened my mouth and shot her a gnce, daring her to interrupt. "As it stands, raiding parties commit petty theft, breaking into houses and/or shops, right? That's suspicious behaviour. That attracts attention. On the other hand, there's nothing suspicious about selling fruit or vegetables on the street. That's legitimate enterprise. Arguably my pn is safer than the existing system" I stated.
"Its an untested idea!" she excimed. "You cannot possibly predict all the risks" she added. "You can't predict every risk while raiding. How often do raiders get caught? What happens when that happens?" I asked. "We get shot" grunted elder Sampson. I flinched. Well that expins the bullet wounds. "The chances of getting shot while selling vegetables are far more remote than being caught trying to spirit away other peoples' stuff, even if it looks like junk" I noted.
"I'm in! I hate getting shot!" said elder Sampson cheerfully. "I forbid it" cried elder Ange. "I don't answer to you" ughed elder Sampson. "You'll get yourself killed Sam! You're not a young man anymore" she chided. "Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you Ange!" scoffed elder Sampson. She stared at him angrily though curiously she didn't deny it. Perhaps they had an adversarial history.
"What do you think elder Maggie?" I asked. She sighed. "I think it will happen whether I will it or no. Laurent has always believed we should find alternatives to raiding. There's no stopping him now. But please Laurent: be careful. You've always been the cleverest of us. But you have also been cocksure and sometimes failed to anticipate risks. Be careful and return to us safe" she said, her voice heavy with concern.
"Okay. Well if this is going to happen I'm going to need some stuff" I said. "This isn't happening" yelled Ange. "You're out ruled four to one. I think this is happening" I said, not unkindly. "I won't allow it!" she reiterated. I fixed her with a stare. "Do you not get the point of democracy?" I asked. "The decision of the council must be unanimous. I will not allow this to go ahead. It will not happen" she decreed.
"Well in that case I'm putting all pnned raids on hold" said elder Sampson. "What?" she gasped. "All raids must be unanimously approved by the council. You seem very concerned about danger all of a sudden. Surely if its too dangerous to sell vegetables its too dangerous to raid?" he asked. "We need to conduct raids to ensure our people remain clothed. Remain warm. We'd be crawling around in mud within a month if we stopped raiding!" she gasped. "Pah, who needs clothes" he ughed. She stared at him hatefully for a few seconds. "I withdraw my objection" she sighed.
"Great, now can we please move onto the logistics" I snapped.
Of the many witches that kept the town running, one of the most important were the aquakinetics. An advanced trick, discovered decades ago allowed them to split certain substances from the water in the river. Nitrates for example. A couple of times a year, all the aquakinetics to the smallest child would go down to a bend in the river where silt was deposited and use their powers to separate out the nitrates and phosphates. This allowed them to recycle what would usually be washed away by the rain and repeatedly grow new pnts from the same batch of guano they'd acquired in the 1890s.
Once the fertilizer had been recovered from the river, it was rounded up and left in a massive shed near the edge of town for people to take what they need. And right now Leah was helping me carry a ten pound bag of the stuff out to Emily's farm. "So where are we going?" she asked. "We're taking some fertilizer to a farmer" I expined. "Why can't they come for it themself?" she grunted. "Because she's not welcome in town" I replied. "Wait, we're not going to see mad Emily are we?" she gasped.
"She's the best grower in town" I stated. "She's also mad!" replied Leah. "Really? What's she done that's mad?" I asked. "She… Y'know!" Leah grunted. "What do you know and why do you think you know it?" I recited. "Huh?" - "What makes you think she's mad?" - "Everyone says she's mad!" - "Everyone knowing something doesn't make it true" - "Well everyone can't be wrong!" - "You'd think that. Then again, everyone knows that magic isn't real" - "Well that's different. Outsiders are dumb" - "I cannot say the people I've met in this town are any notably less dumb than the people I've met beyond it. You yourself followed a girl into the woods, got sshed up with a knife and then failed to make the very obvious connection" - "Well most outsiders don't have powers"
"See that's what I mean. What do you know? I don't have powers. Why do you think you know it? Because I'm an outsider and outsiders don't have powers. What do you know? Emily is mad. Why do you think you know it?" I trailed off and made a hand gesture where I straightened my hand out like a knife and rotated my wrist. "I'm… not sure. I just know" said Leah. "Never trust an opinion you can't think of a reason for. Even a stupid one like “I like barbie because she wears pink”. That's actually the best way to make sure I can't control you with my powers when you're not even in range of them" I said.
"Seriously?" she said. I nodded. "My power works best on those who don't question why they do the things they do. A little internal consistency checking makes you exponentially harder to manipute" I told her. "So you don't think Emily is mad?" asked Leah. "I'm not sure. She admits she beat the tories out of a guy on his wedding day. That implies a certain emotional instability. But that's just her worst moment. Its not fair to judge her on that alone. When I talked to her yesterday she just seemed… sad" I pondered.
"So you don't think we're in danger?" she asked. "I can kill people with my mind and you kicked a thousand pound cow shifter girl a mile into the air in kickboxing st week. She makes pnts grow. We are not the ones in danger" I pointed out. Leah chuckled. "Okay fair"
We came to the door of Emily's cabin and I politely knocked. She answered almost immediately. "Ah, Vanessa!" she said brightly. She was covered in mud. "Hi Emily. We brought fertilizer" I said. "Oh, thanks. Just leave it over there" she said, pointing to 5 sapling avocado trees. Leah walked over and put it down. "Don't suppose you have more coffee and cookies" she asked. "Sorry, the cookies were the only ones I have until I go shopping again" I said. "You're fine, you're fine" she replied.
"The elders approved the trip" I stated. "Oh, that's good. So you'll be out of town then?" she replied. "Yes. Its going to be a whole production, with shifts to watch the stall and teleporters to keep it stocked…" I sighed. "Hope you have fun" she said. "I'll tell you all about it over coffee afterwards" I promised. I bid her farewell and began walking back towards town with Leah.
"See, not mad, just sad" I said. "She was buff… especially for a non shifter" Leah noted. I nodded. "Farm work would do that to you" I stated. "Does she not have help around the farm?" asked Leah. "I'm pretty sure this is the second time she's talked to someone happy to see her in as many decades" I said. "That's messed up!" she replied. "Forever stripped of community over one little mistake… I actually have seen worse but…" I said.
We walked in awkward silence for a minute. "So what are those trees you have her growing?" asked Leah. "Avocados. They go for three dolrs a pound. Same amount of potatoes are only worth fifteen cents" I expined. "What do they taste like?" she asked. "Pretty good. Not as good as they cost but pretty good" I said. "Do you think the rest of the town should start growing them instead of potatoes?" she asked. "Why? They'll be useful for trading with outsiders due to their artificially infted value but outside of that they're not special; just yummy" I replied.
"Vanessa, I know you don't especially care for mathematics but I must insist you pay attention today" said the mathematics teacher. "Okay, I know I'm not particurly good at it but I take umbrage with your characterisation of me that I don't even try" I pouted from my usual seat near the front. Even though he was expecting to see me he still jumped.
"Alright. Css, Vanessa here is going to participating in commerce next week. And one of the fundamentals of commerce is calcuting prices on the fly. Tell me Vanessa: How much do you intend to charge for a potato?" he asked. "They're like 75￠ in Walmart so I guess a like forty cent?" I hazarded. He fixed me with a disappointed stare. "Are you taking this seriously Vanessa?" he asked. "Well… to a certain extent yes? I'm more worried about what will happen if w enforcement turns up" I replied. He tutted. "So lets imagine Vanessa is selling potatoes for forty cents each. Say I come along and buy three potatoes. How much would would I have to pay Vanessa for her three potatoes" he asked. "A dolr twenty" I snapped. Its not like four times tables are remarkably hard.
"WRONG! You forgot the twelve to twenty percent sales tax!" he cried. "Sales tax? We're a popup farmers market stall that's going to vanish without a trace the next day, why would we NEED to add sales tax?" I cried. "Won't your customers find it suspicious if you don't add the sales tax?" he replied maniacally. "… ???" I grunted. "Now, assuming a seventeen percent sales tax, how much would you charge me for three potatoes?" he demanded. I pulled out my phone, opened the calcutor and typed in 3×0.4×1.17. "A dolr forty" I snapped. "The heck is that?" he demanded. "Its a phone. Among other things it does mathematics for you. All outsiders have them and it would be more remarkable if I didn't use one to calcute the more complicated orders" I stated.
"Well…" he stammered. He looked a little crestfallen and I felt a little bad. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to undermine your point. Please continue the lesson. I won't interrupt again" I said. "Why? Your phone can just do all this for you anyway" he pouted. I chuckled. "Calcutors make things easier by doing the annoying parts for you. They can do addition, multiplication, subtraction and division far faster than a human mind. But they are only as good as their wielder. You still need to know what you want to do with the figures. You need to know that to calcute the sales tax you divide by one hundred, multiply by seventeen and then add that number to the initial figure" I expined
"Furthermore, if you know a bit of algebra you can merge those three steps into a single equation by just multiplying by one point one seven. This might be a more complicated equation to a human but a calcutor will solve it in a microsecond" I expined. "You figured that out with algebra?" he asked hopefully. "Well no. My mathematics teacher at my old school showed me the trick" I admitted. He chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like you" he chided. He then put a list of prices on the board and five questions based on those prices.
I sighed and then worked them out the long way. While it wasn't something I intended to do while customers were waiting, exploiting my teacher's ignorance of technology to get out of schoolwork just felt dirty. Arguably there was nothing making me, but one of the many things my father used to preach like it was the coming apocalypse was societal skill regression. The government he posited, was creating a system where we had no connection to the way our world worked on a fundamental level. Where nobody knew how to calcute sales tax by hand so sales tax was whatever the government told us it was. Give us a trusted tool to think for us and then once everyone was used to relying on the tool, switch it out for something that would toe the party line. And while on some level I thought he was full of shit, you never fully escape the way you were raised.
(No, he wasn't talking about rge nguage models. He genuinely thought that if people used pocket calcutors to calcute their sales tax, the government could control those calcutors and use them to exploit us)
"You called, principal Bck" I said. He jumped. Weird. I thought I had my powers completely disabled when I walked in. I tried to rein in the energy but the second I stopped focusing it seemed to burst from its hiding pce in my mind. Must be a reverse of my feelings towards Rose, Alice and Leah. I did not like being around this guy and I found it difficult to let my guard down around him.
"Ah, Vanessa. Yes, I did" he replied. He reached into his desk. "I just got this harvest day schedule from the elders. I noticed that mad Emily's farm is on it. When I asked why they informed me that was at your request" he expined. I nodded. "Grower Emily is growing an extra profitable superfood at my request. When I asked around I was informed nobody but her had the skills necessary for the job" I stated.
"That can't be true" he stated. "Is there a better grower around?" I asked. "Nurse Renee?" he replied instantly. "Emily came at her recommendation" I said. "What would make her say an insane thing like that" he grunted. "Well I'm not a farming expert but I believe she's been extracting food from the same tiny patch of nd for twenty years without ever restoring nutrients to the soil with fertilizer. That implies a certain level of talent" I stated.
"Pah, that's probably a parlour trick that any grower could do" he dismissed. "Well I'm sure Nurse Renee could tell you what specifically is special about her. She was able to grow avocados from pits that were rotting in my compost pile for up to five months. That's good enough for me" I stated. "You should be more careful about who you associate with. What if she hurts you?" he demanded.
"Sir, I've literally killed several people. I am not the one in danger" I said lightly. "The greatest danger is the danger you don't see coming" he warned. "I have enough things to be afraid of without being afraid of my own shadow" I dismissed. "Ugh, fine. Don't bme me when you wind up seriously hurt. And you will get seriously hurt, that woman is a psycho" he scoffed. "Your warning has been noted" I replied neutrally.
"Well even if you won't heed my warning yourself, I cannot allow her to hurt any students. I will not be granting leave for them to go where they may be in danger. And if you skip school to help her I'm going to have that decred an absence" he decreed. "Fine" I said. I was hardly going to be missed. The joys of being practically invisible even when I was present. I could easily sneak out once role was called.
You'd think that harvest days would be considered a fun day off from the monotony of school life. In other pces perhaps. However, in the town, high school was basically just a building where all the young people hung out. There were no state standardized tests. The teachers didn't care if you ignored them so long as you were quiet. There was no colge to study for really. The whole institution felt almost out of pce. Like an element of some childish writer's story, added to the setting not because it fit, but because school was all the writer had ever known and so assumed it the default state of affairs and not an institution designed to create obedient factory workers; something which the town had no demand for.
The work was actually fun. They'd sic us on a field of potatoes or carrots or an orchard of apples and give us knives and tell us to fill the crates. All the while we were free to talk among ourselves. Or flirt like we would literally die tomorrow. Or sing an obscene working song about how we were cutting down wheat so our wives would give us muffins.
But I'll be damned if I wasn't sore and miserable after a day of this. My arms burned, my legs cried and my hip felt like I had been shot all over again. I had to have Leah give me a ride home the first day, and the second wasn't better.
The third day, on the way to harvest onions, I had Rose, Alice and Leah break off from the group and follow me down a slightly different path. "Wait, where'd everybody go?" excimed Rose. "We're harvesting something different today" I replied. "Huh?" she asked. "Emily needs help harvesting too you know" I noted. "Mad Emily? No way, I ain't going near that schitzo" she excimed. "Fine by me, you can go back and rejoin the main group if you want" I stated.
"Come on Leah" she said. "What? Nah, I'm staying" said Leah. "Are you nuts? she'll kill you" Rose excimed. "I don't think she'd hurt a friend of Vanessa" stated Leah. "But what if you're wrong L? What if she does hurt you?" she whimpered. "Yeah, a grower seriously hurting a beastshifter. That would be the day" ughed Leah. "Be serious!" cried Rose. "We can take her" ughed Leah.
I turned to Alice. "You okay picking avocados for a woman called “mad Emily”" I asked. "Sure" she beamed. "Mad Emily never pantsed me in front of a hundred people" she said with a disgusted gnce Rose's way. In spite of all the time we'd been spending together recently, I got the distinct impression they still didn't like each other. Leah treated her cordially at worst when she wasn't actively begging her for erotic shapeshifting tips. Rose though looked at her with naked hostility and the feeling was clearly mutual. I didn't intervene. I only intervened when I thought Alice was losing. Getting to trade barbs with her former bully and coaching that bully's girlfriend on kissing better was doing wonders for Alice's self confidence.
Rose chose not to leave without Leah. If Emily did go mad and try to hurt Leah, I felt nothing but sympathy for her. Rose was damn scary! When we arrived Emily was already out in the field harvesting avocados. There were now a dozen fruiting avocado trees. "Hi Emily" I called. She dropped an avocado. "Ciapheus's cock! You scared me Vanessa" she excimed. "Sorry. Part of my power" I said. "You… didn't mention you had a power" she said. "It didn't seem relevant" I said mildly. "The elder's said my harvest helpers had been canceled" she noted. "Well what they don't know can't hurt them" I smiled.
"Mind if I take my clothes off in your house so I can shift without ripping them?" asked Leah. "Oh, sure" replied Emily. Alice shifted her fingers to grow bony cws from her finger tips and the heels of her hands which she then used to scale the nearest tree. Then she shifted one hand back and began cutting avocados with one hand and catching them in the other before dropping them down to me so I could transfer them to one of the crates. Well at least the elders had had the decency to provide those.
Leah emerged in all her wolfy glory and alighted to the canopy in a single effortless leap. Rose elected to pick up her knife with her telekinesis, levitate it to the canopy and begin cutting avocados down that way. He brow screwed up cutely in concentration and she wasn't much for conversation. I got the impression she was enjoying herself though. Emily took on the duty of catching Leah's avocados as she dropped them.
They were weird Avocados. They were far rger than I was expecting. Each one must have weighed a whole pound. Curiously I cut into one with the farming knife I had been lent. The pit was of average size but there was so much more fruit around it. I cut a piece off and tasted it. It tasted normal at least and the texture was the same as far as I could tell. I looked at Emily and sighed.
"I think you might have overdone it" I noted. She chuckled. "Sorry, my soil's been barren for so long I was used to growing pnts like they had to fight for every scrap of nutrient" she ughed. "Lemme try" called Leah, and descended from the tree, nding gracefully and even giving a theatrical little bow. I cut her a piece and handed it to her. I also cut one for Alice to take with her back up the tree so Alice didn't have to climb down and back up again. Then I cut pieces for Emily and Rose.
"This is great!" Emily excimed. "I suppose" I said. "You don't like them?" she gasped. "Well its not that I don't like them. Its just that I could eat for two days for the price of a single Avocado if I was careful with my budget. Hence I feel kinda… guilty splurging on them" I admitted. "Well these are on me" beamed Emily. I sighed. "Its not that simple. Not being able to afford something… feeling guilty about every little pleasure because you've been forced to think in opportunity costs for so long… its an experience that stays with you. Messes with you even when the financial bad times are over" I expined.
"Damn. This money shit is fucking stupid" said Rose. "Well… yeah…" I sighed. "Do you think maybe seeking it out might be a bad idea? What if the idea spreads to the town" she reasoned. "I won't let that happen. I don't like messing with memories but if ever there were a time, saving an untouched paradise from capitalism's corruption would be it" I replied, colder than the day I drowned.
After about two hours I told the others I was going to make lunch. I told Rose to take over from me catching Alice's Avocados. She wasn't thrilled but she was also clearly exhausted from using her powers for so long so her resistance was rather token. I went over and lit Emily's fire pit and then extracted the fresh baguettes I had gotten from the baker's this morning from the basket I had again borrowed from Alice's mother.
I cut them lengthways with the farming knife (after washing it thoroughly, disinfecting it with a chemical cleaner I had brought from home and then washing it again for luck) and then skewered them with the meat spit. I washed that too. It didn't appear to have been used in years but was still quite dirty from being left outside.
It took a while to toast several whole baguettes on an open fire but I managed it somehow. Then I ground up some bits of the avocado I had cut into earlier with a pestle and mortar (which actually was retively clean) and spread them on the baguettes to make avocado toast. "Lunch" I called.
Emily only owned two chairs, so Alice, Leah and Rose were forced to stand. Emily got one seat because it was her house and I pulled the disability card to score the other. (Trust me, if I had the strength to stand I'd be standing with the others in solidarity but well… you get shot and see how much you like standing for long periods of time without breaks)
"Behold: avocado toast. The recipe many if not most of our end users will be making" I excimed with a flourish. Everyone took a piece of creamed avocado on crispy sourdough. I'm not going to lie, after picking avocados for close to two hours, it tasted like heaven and I had demolished almost half a baguette on my own before the shock from the first bite wore off. It went down a treat with everyone apparently. Leah managed to eat 3 whole baguettes on her own. These were generous, foot and a half long baguettes too.
After lunch we returned to Avocado picking. I returned to being Alice's catcher while Emily returned to being Leah's. They were clearly the fastest of all of us, clearing five trees in the time it took me and Alice to clear one. Rose was the slowest, still working on clearing her first tree. I didn't chastise her. She did love practicing with her power. It wasn't as showy as Leah's or as utterly terrifying as my own, but it was hers. It was what made her special and I think I could appreciate how hard she worked to make it work for her. By the time she turned twenty she'd probably be able to repair clockwork without touching it.
"OW! BUGGER! I excimed. "What's wrong" called Alice. "You dropped an avocado on my boob!" I called back. Alice paused. "You barely have boobs!" she excimed. "Yeah well, they're growing in and unlike some people's they actually hurt when that happens" I seethed. "Huh?" called Alice. "Boobs hurt when they grown in ya dumb boob!" snarked Rose. "Oh! Really?" she asked.
"Yes. A lot. Please for the love of god aim for my hands not my chest" I grunted. "Sorry… Hey didn't you say you were, y'know… to-rans-gender?" said Alice. "That I am" I said cryptically. "Then why do your boobs hurt but mine don't" she asked. "Well my medicine works by working with the body's natural processes. Therefore it comes with all the drawbacks as well as the perks" I expined. "Oh… Cool… Can I have some?" she asked.
"When I have more disposable cash maybe. Right now I'm skipping doses to make it st me to the end of the month" I told her. "Is that bad?" she asked. "Yes. Very bad" I replied. Alice was silent for a moment. "Then lets make as much money as possible so you never have to worry about skipping doses again!" she decred.
I shook my head. "Money is a corrupting influence. Anything beyond two hundred dolrs I'm giving straight to the elders for the good of the town, minus the avocado money which I'm putting in escrow" I stated. "What's escrow" she asked. "Money that you're holding onto as leverage but don't spend" I stated. "Why are you putting it in escrow?" asked Alice.
"The town wouldn't send a single sodding person to help Emily with the harvest. I'm not letting a cent of that money go to the town until the elders fucking apologise for that" I said with an evil smile. "Aw! You don't have to do that!" said Emily. "Its what's right and proper. If you won't stand up for your friends you're a fucking shitty person" I stated. She stopped catching avocados for a moment to give me a quick hug.
