Day 036: Moonlight Sonata
Summary: In the garden, Tink meets two doctors while humming Moonlight Sonata.
Date: 07/03/2016
Related: None
Tink Poe Sarah 


Horticulture Labs and Gardens
This room is bright, as the ceilings are almost dominated with lights meant to duplicate natural sunlight. The cement has been painted white, allowing light to reflect and brighten every corner of the sprawling hydroponic gardens. The floors are all in cement with small divots in the floor to allow for drainage. There are rows upon rows of plantlife, naked roots floating in water basins that are constantly moving thanks to the filtration systems.
Day 36

Unlike most who carry the title 'Doctor', Dr. Wolfe rarely ever sees patients, either medically (which he is cleared to do) or in therapy sessions (which he is also cleared to do). Instead, he spends most of his time in research labs, or working on complex organic chemistry formulas. You know, fun stuff.

This evening, Poe has found himself in the Horitculture labs, though he isn't here looking at plant samples for some attempt to improve the effectiveness of some drug, instead he's looking at the various plants that have their roots exposed in water basins appraisingly. He has his hands clasped behind his back as he admires the plants.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sarah Kirschenfeld is tending to her small rack of plants with psychotropic properties, ranging from St. John's Wort and aster to psylocybin mushrooms. Her cardigan is tied around her waist and she is humming to herself.

Tink is sitting under the lights plops down in between one of the rows looking over some papers she's been scribbling on. She has the pencil in her mouth as she looks at the cypher she's working on and hums Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to herself as she works with the green plants all around her. The other kids in the visitor's residence were making too much noise so up here, in the garden, she's able to hum away while she works.

The others present do not initially draw Poe's attention, but eventually his wandering investigation of the fauna located here takes him to Sarah. He slows as he approaches, head tilting to the right just a bit, "Hello there, Doctor." While they both in theory occupy the same field of medicine, they rarely have occasion to interact.

Sarah lifts her head, placing her spray bottle on a nearby glass table. "Oh! Good evening, Dr. Wolfe." The psychiatrist's ginger hair is restrained with a headband that would seem girlish, if not for the austerity and sensibility of her dress.

The mournful sounds of the adagio sostenuto are carefully crafted by the precise inflections of the teen's humming that lets the delicate notes mark the passage of time that it takes for her to work through the problem that's on the paper. It's like the internal wheels of her mind flow with the Moonlight Sonata, the sounds giving way to inspiration so she can work through some of the complexities of the Trigedasleng language. Tink doesn't notice the doctors as she works, really their conversation is just a series of notes outside of the song she's playing in her head.

A glances is spared for the plants that Sarah is working with. He arches a brow, considering them and then the other Psychiatrist. He nods a few times and then his gaze flickers over to Tink and her humming. He is silent as he watches her for a few moments and then turns his attention back to Sarah, "Psychotropics, Doctor? I didn't know you grew your own. Do you find the humidity levels problematic for the fungal varieties?"

"Given the inherent shortage of manufactured drugs and the issue of shelf life, I decided to experiment with other alternatives," Dr. Kirschenfeld explains. "Greenhouse domes come in handy for the fungi, especially ones that can be tinted to limit light." She notices Tink, working away on whatever she's doing, and blinks. She lowers her voice. "Are the adolescents allowed in the lab?" she asks, somewhat alarmed.

"Yes…the hydroponics have been made available to us," Tink answers, pausing in her humming to answer the doctor's question, "But not all areas…" She goes back to her humming, going precisely to the area where she left off as she makes a few more notes on her sheet. Tink might not be directing her attention in their direction but on some level she's aware of them. They're just not as important to her as the problem she's trying to solve on the paper.

The cant of Poe's head to the right as Tink speaks before he can is surely just curiosity worn at an angle. Like a tilted hat. "And so it speaks, and there are no other answers required." It. That's pleasant of him. Perhaps he has a better bedside manner than one might think.

Sarah gives a long-suffering sigh. "Surely there's a better pronoun you could have chosen, Poe," she says softly, turning back to her plants.

Tink continues to hum, the repetitive nature of the ostinato triplet rhythm slowly makes it progression to the allegretto, which is the more cheerful piece of the Moonlight Sonata. The progression is slight as it moves along, subtle. She wrinkles her nose and taps the pencil to her chin as she considers something, staring at the paper. For now the outburst just seems to be contained to answering the question.

Poe's icy and serious gaze settles in on Sarah, brow quirked at her, "I suppose I could have used a gender specific pronoun. She? I'm not sure it matters really in the end. If she…" he uses it explicitly that time, "was offended, I will surely apologize." And then he falls silent, and looks over to Tink, "However, she appears to be engaged in some sort of compulsive humming exercise." A beat pause, "Very strange." Well isn't he comforting.

"Given all they have been through, I don't begrudge them harmless self-soothing tics," Dr. Kirschenfeld replies without turning around. She carefully examines the leaves of her newest aster plant, clicking her tongue to herself in thought.

Tink stops humming once the thought is finished. She puts down her pencil and then glances over at Poe specifically, "Not compulsive…Berlioz said of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was is one of those poems that human language does not know how to qualify…it seemed fitting to hum it because I am trying to build a cypher for a language that has no written verse using a root of English because a lot of the words seem to bear some semblence but I think there's more there…just haven't been able to break through."

A quiet and unaffected 'Ah' is Poe's initial response to Tink's explanation of why she was humming. He seems to have little to no vested interested in his off the cuff remark about her humming behavior. A glance is spared for Sarah, "Yes…everything they have been through." he falls silent again and nods while considering. Then he returns his attention to Tink, "A cypher?" He hmmms to himself and says nothing further.

"Do you mean developing a script to adapt it into a written language?" Sarah asks, turning to face the girl. "How well do you understand it? You weren't out there all that long." She trims a few purple flowers, depositing them directly into a glass bottle full of clear liquid.

"No…a decoder to try to understand what the Grounders…I mean Outsiders are saying," Tink tells Sarah, answering her question which also takes care of what Poe asked, "One of them was trying to teach some of us…I listened. But it's very limited what I was given, but I think some of it has roots in English so if you can understand how they're structuring the words, you might be able to 'crack the code' of what they're saying." She gives a shrug, "It's a theory. Once I build the cypher, I'd have to test it…and that would require someone fluent to confirm so it might never see the light of day but it's a good exercise to keep me busy and Truman seemed to like it."

Uh huh. Poe's gaze lingers on Tink for several moments and he nods towards her, "It is an interesting theory. I think you'll find some difficulties putting together a linquisting decoding model for the Outsider language. Then again, I don't believe and of us know it, so perhaps it is just a variant of English." He shrugs once then.

"Seems like an interesting enough way to pass the time," Dr. Kirschenfelt remarks, carefully trimming more of the small flowers and dropping them into the bottle.

Tink nods at Poe's advice and tells him, "It's a good puzzle to noodle on." She picks up her papers and tells him, "Well…the idea has dried up so I might as well go downstairs and grab some snacks." She gives them a bright smile, "See you later." And then she meanders off to find her friends and grab some grub.

A nod is offered to Tink and then one to Sarah, "Have a pleasant evening. Good luck with your project." And then his attention shifts to Sarah, "Good evening, Doctor. Good luck with your psychotropic fauna." And then he too is making his way out of the hydroponics section.

"/Flora/, Doctor," Sarah corrects him with the slightest hint of a smug grin.

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