betterplace | Log 1

[ She chuckles, collecting the cooking equipment, and putting everything but the knife and the soup pot away in the pantry. ]

I'd like to be able to put together a good kitchen, myself. But the gas cook-top and ovens will need to wait until we can work up proper sanitation. Hmm... [ She looks at the sky a moment from the front door, ] ...maybe a rainwater collection and purification system? Looks like we might see some rain.

[ She nods her head out the door, soup pot and knife in hand. ] C'mon, we're burning daylight.

Edited 2012-12-04 04:16 (UTC)

Coming, liebe!

[ She is not carrying the knife in an obviously defensive manner, but Tarvek probably recognizes a vaguely familiar fighting style that uses that grip. Just because they made it out of Mayfield does not mean old habits dissolve completely. She is scanning the ground more than one might in hostile territory, though. ]

How's your botany identification skills? If there's edibles, we might need them tonight.

[Grimaces.]

Not very good....barring a few particularly interesting specimens I made a point of studying when treating my sister, before she...um. Before I had to convert her, as it were. On the whole I know quite a bit out of books, and far too little first hand.

On the other hand, I can probably be the one on point looking for trouble, if you want to be the one primarily looking for floral roughage.

The more we can use that's already here, the better. I'm afraid that we might need to get into the storage under the general store.

[ She grimaces. ]

I know I'm going to have to spend some of my energy on seeds, ah!

[ She steps off to harvest some wild mustard that has gone to seed. ]

But I'm thinking we're going to have a lean winter.

Less lean than it might be, love. I suspect if people are willing and able to set themselves up with comfortable quarters, they can get through with their five wishes per day, so long as they don't get to extravagant. Indeed, if they are smart enough to make a big pot of bean soup it will last them for days.

You can do quite a lot with five intelligently chosen "make-wishes" a day.

Oof, don't call them that, hon. Wishes are dangerous in the hands of a... [ She stops walking and probably would have facepalmed if her hands were not occupied. ] mage. Wait, I've been acting like I can't do that anymore.

[ Putting the pot down and the chef's knife in it, she stands and makes a gesture. There are several clumps of weeds along the road that seem to stand out a little more, perhaps even glowing blue. ]

Hah! That still works! Can you see it?

Yes, dear.

That won't make them taste funny, will it? It's not like mutation or radiation, or something?

Nope! It's more like a spotlight, highlighting what I asked it to find, which was edible plants.

[ She's quick to start harvesting, but not all of them, and her movements become more efficient as she gets back into practice. ]

We only need enough for tonight, and I'm not taking the ones that need things we don't have to make them edible.

Sensible.

Should we spread seed as we go, too? To make sure some are planted even if those with less foresight than us over-harvest here?

Spread some, and collect some.

Can I help, or will I just get in the way?

You might keep an eye out for usable items we can take back to the diner.

[ She tucks a fallen branch under her arm. ]

Unless we find or make a wheelbarrow, we might need to refit the car to electric, soon.

[ As much work as she has been detailing, Ilsa is very cheerful about the whole situation. ]

I can build you a wheelbarrow, schatzi. I can build you almost anything. But I'll salvage what I can this trip.

Once I better understand how power works here, I'll come up with a way to run the Nash. No point doing something with it we'll regret later.

Part of the reason I parked it was because of the energy issues. Shoot, in a pinch, we could sleep in that.

No privacy, though.

My dear, I can do better for you that that. Even here. Even now. I still have enough wish-spark to make a big canvas tarp. If we use that to block off the pantry in the dinner, we've got a superb private room small enough to heat or cool easily for now. Or we can just sleep int the pantry and i'll use tonight's remaining energy to dream up as large a container of clean water as possible.

Water is going to be an issue, yes.

[ She straightens up, and heads down the road. ]

Big project for tomorrow for me is going to be a sanitation unit, I guess.

I don't think it's likely Annie left us without reliable water sources, or without a way beyond wishing to have food. So there will be a workable answer.

And if there's a workable answer, I can always improve it!

Oh, I don't think she would have done that intentionally, but I get the feeling she was rushed, here.

You know, they were building water reclamation plants for some places, instead of just waste treatment.

I didn't know -- that must be your world, not mine. But it's a good idea.

I still think there's probably a reliable water source. This is clearly built on a template of Mayfield, and only a fool fails to plan the basic necessities first before anything else. If she got as far as buildings, I suspect she'd already taken care of energy and necessary survival factors like air, water, and nutrition.

I'm thinking... since this is a closed system, even if there is additional energy provided...

[ Ilsa walks along, deep in thought. ]

Okay, so - both in physics and thaumaics, there is the law of conservation of energy. Basically, energy can be neither created nor destroyed. It can change state, but it's still there, yes?

[He has to work on this. Europan Science already warped earth-style laws of physics. Then there's another little problem.]

That might be true in your parent-world, with your physics. Mayfield, however, isn't a real world. It's a construct world. Energy rates have simply lever been logical, consistent, or mathematically predictable.

Yes, it is constructed. But Annie gave us a warning - even if it lasts a while, the system is finite. I mean, look at what we were able to do today. We were able to create something out of apparently thin air, but only have enough for a certain number of world-changing actions.

[ Nope, she is not going to call them wishes, ever. ]

Maybe it's the way I was taught, but I'd rather do as much as I can with the least amount. That's why I keep leaning towards using the efforts only for things we can't create from found materials.

Log 1

Vaguely Restaurant-like Building to the streets on the way to the bunker

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On the streets from downtown to the bunker

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