Things gone by [Open]

[greennotgold]

Fletcher should have known that it couldn't last. They'd actually been happy, relaxed, and enjoying themselves for once; of course it had come to an end. Everything had come crashing down around them. He should have predicted it. And Fletcher had spend the entire fight cowering, hiding, and clinging to his brother.

And now he was back on the ship again. He could have gone back to the science labs and picked up his plantsuit research again, or over to Hydroponics to do some work there, but right now he just felt lost. Again. As usual. He was ten years old; what could he do when a crisis like that came up?

Instead of doing something productive, Fletcher had run off to the Sensoriums. Right now, he was lying on his back in the garden at Belshio's house. Resting on his chest was a copy of the hologram picture Edward had taken back on shore leave: Fletcher and Russel standing in front of the line of statues that the two older brothers had transmuted. He wasn't looking at that right now, though; he was staring up at the bright blue simulated sky, watching the clouds float by.

Comments

[greennotgold]

"Huh..." He looked up at the sky, thinking about that. "I just... if we have to fight the Ohm again, it won't help, though." To Fletcher, he didn't really think anything he could do would be useful unless he actively kept people from dying.

[starlightace]

"Oh, come on, that's just silly." Nanoha holds a finger up. "If we fight the Ohm again, who do you think is going to be more effective? Fighters with high morale who have good, healthy food, or people sick and tired of the same slop every day?"

[greennotgold]

"Would that be better than fighting?" he wondered. "I was going to learn how to fight..."

[starlightace]

"Fletcher," Nanoha says simply as she turns to him and holds a finger up. "It's understandable that you want to fight to protect the people you care about. That's only natural, and it's very brave of you to do."

"But that's not the only thing you can do. We all have our talents, the things that we do better than others. And the more we prepare, the less actual fighting we'll have to do when it comes time. If you help feed everybody and keep them strong and their morale high, you might make more of a difference than if the only thing you did was learn how to fight."

"You can help out in plenty of different ways than just learning how to fight. Do you understand?"

[greennotgold]

He felt a bit chastised at Nanoha's comment. He looked down sheepishly.

"I... I guess so." He nodded. Growing food would probably be easier for him than hurting people. Whatever would be the most help was what he wanted to be involved in. "Brother and I could probably do a lot of stuff there..."

[starlightace]

"See? There are plenty of ways you can lend a hand!" Nanoha reaches up to tousle the boy's hair.

"If you truly want to learn how to fight so that you can defend yourself and others, then that's something you should do. But don't ever think it's the only thing you can do."

[greennotgold]

He nods, giggling slightly at the hair-ruffling.

"I... I think I'm going to try to learn to fight. But I won't give up on growing plants, either."

[starlightace]

A nod. "Good. We have lots of people here who can fight. We don't have that many who know proper agriculture."

[greennotgold]

"Um... I need to make a list of stuff to grow," he comments. "What're your favorite fruits and vegetables?"

[starlightace]

"Well, I've always liked strawberries - but it'd probably be a good idea to grow rice, too! There's a lot you can do with rice."