Water, wood, and fish! -- what more could you ask for? [backdated to 11/22]

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin stands on the frozen surface of the lake in front of a small wooden shed the size of your average ice-fishing shack. The door is open, and through it you can see a three-foot-wide hole in the ice with water and slush oozing out. It is easily large enough to dip a bucket in, maybe a washtub, too. There is a shelf built into the back wall which holds pails, plastic bottles, and other useful containers that he and helpers found in the shops. ]

I've got a couple of announcements. The Fire Brigade and the Elfhouse have collaborated along with some of our other friends on three projects to provide some useful supplies:

1) I've chopped a hole in the ice here, near the north bank of the lake. There's WATER available for anybody who wants to come down here and get it. If you come down through the city center past the Sewing Shop and head straight for the lakeshore, you can't miss the kiosk. You'll see it sitting on the ice, not too far from shore. We're going to come down every day and make sure the hole doesn't freeze over, so water will always be available. If you're having a hard time with the weather or are not physically able to tote heavy buckets or containers, let one of us know, and we'll fetch the water to you wherever you live.

2) WOOD for fuel purposes. Heat your house or cook with it. My brother Maglor and I and the Firefighters ripped up the planking of the piers before the gods moved us here. We dried it out and stacked it in several places for distribution: the currently empty units in Delight's Housing; the Firehouse; and in my forge shack. Let us know if you want some of this lumber for fuel or building, and somebody will meet you and help you carry it home. We also burned some of it to make charcoal, which is easy to use for cooking purposes, and that we put into sacks to hand out. My boat is drawn up on the shore of what was South Island a few days ago, and I'll offer it as fuel, as a last resort. Otherwise, I'm saving it for building purposes.

3) FISH for tasty, nourishing food! The Elves and Sansa Stark worked hard for a week preparing my last few boatloads of fish from before the move. Two fish products are therefore available. We salted and dried some of it, which you can pop in a pot of boiling water and make soup of. The rest we smoked, so it's cooked and you can therefore eat it as is. Come and get it at Delight's Housing #06. We'd also be happy to offer some of this cache to anybody who wants to help distribute it -- the Bakery? The Speakeasy? Anybody who'd be interested.

[OOC: And anybody who wants to say their character helped with any of these projects can let me know at tangyminx and I'll edit your character into this post. Also, any character in the aforementioned list of collaborators can respond to those who comment here, if they feel like it.]

Comments

[hot_mes]

And that's where our views differ. [he's quite impressed, finally some logic] I believe the ends do justify the means. We couldn't know at the time how it would turn out, I did what I knew would work. Others just crossed their fingers and hoped. Hindsight is, as they say, twenty-twenty.

What happened was unfortunate but it's over. Long over. Brush yourself off and get over it. I'm only interested in getting out of here and if you are, too, then work on it.

[completelycrazy]

[Welp, whatever respect Newt was starting to drum up for Law is immediately demolished by those orders at the end. His anger flairs right back up again.]

Where do you get off telling me what to do? You don't get to decide when it's time to get over it. The orchard sure isn't over it! Check back in once it's grown and then maybe we can talk about getting over it.

[And now Newt is married to never getting over it... Sorry, Law. At least this is just getting added onto the long list of things Newt will never get over.]

[hot_mes]

[he doesn't mind. It's a fun game to play. Poor Newt, though.]

Check back with me in a couple months of this freezing weather and tell me whether the trees have survived.

[completelycrazy]

[Jeez, could this guy be any smarmier?]

Go check yourself. There's been, I don't know, druids or frickin' fairies or whatever speeding up the growth process. They probably have some way to protect the trees from the cold, and even if they don't, temps aren't in the danger zone yet.

[Admittedly, while he's a biologist, botany is about as far from his specialties as you can get, but he knows enough. He knows enough to make it sound like he knows enough, at least.]

If they do die, that's just one more reason why your little boat trip wasn't worth it.

[hot_mes]

[yeah medical science isn't botany either, they're in the same boat there. Making assumptions]

Oh, right. Relying on magic. [his voice practically drips air quotes] Sure, whatever. I still haven't been convinced to give a shit, so if you want to waste energy on being mad, that's on you.

[completelycrazy]

Yeah, magic. You know, the shit that can start fires and generate electricity and conjure boats without depleting an entire natural resource. Lucky for you, it's what's gonna dig us out of the hole you and your idiot friends put us in.

[Newt is not an expert on magic either, but two of those things he's seen happen and the other is something Kyna claims is possible, so... It's enough to found an argument on, probably.]

You should be glad we have some way to salvage the orchard. Do you know how long it takes to grow a tree?

[hot_mes]

I've heard the rumors. [if Harlan sees this he's going to get so much shit] But I don't come from a place where that's normal or expected. I suppose I'll believe it when and if I ever see anything like that happen.

You're really obsessed with the orchard. Are you descended from fruit? Or is the fruit like a girlfriend or something?

[completelycrazy]

Uh, rumors? That's all? Where have you been? Magic is all over the place around here. Like I was telling your buddy, if you had bothered to ask the network to secure resources before just deciding to chop down all the trees, multiple people in town could've hooked you up.

[Lucky for Law, Harlan is ignoring this entire post. But, yeah, he would indeed give Law lots and lots of shit!!]

Really? You don't know why I'm mad about an entire food source getting wiped out?

[hot_mes]

[he deserves it tbh, especially trolling Newt deliberately like that]

I believe I did. I probably phrased it in such a way that magic users might not have been inspired, though, since I don't hail from a place with magic. When I think of ships and supplies, I plan for manual labor.

[a soft laugh] I am when it's not our only food source. Mind you, balanced nutrition is important in a place like this, so some part of me does rue having to turn to tinned fruit over fresh, but in a survival situation the important thing is not starving.

[completelycrazy]

Magic doesn't exist where I'm from either, but we're not in Kansas anymore, dude. That's a crappy excuse.

[Not that any excuse would appease him at this point. He has a bad habit of arguing just for the sake of arguing.]

Uh, it could've been our only food source. See any gods around lately? What happens with the shops empty and Hope isn't here to restock them?

[hot_mes]

[honestly he's having fun. He should be out helping Sanji but nah, later.]

I don't know, but perhaps you could ask the elf who started off by saying they have an abundance of preserved fish. Or Black Leg-ya and his vast amounts of stored provisions.

Which reminds me, he did ask my assistance preparing for more food storage.