catch-all open log!

[rebells]

Who: Anyone and everyone!
Where: On the beach, and various other places throughout the hub island
When: Day 80, and the next couple days after
Open/Closed: open log for hub shenanigans!

[This evening, someone has placed an old, rusted-over camp stove on the beach near the coven's row of huts--anyone examining it in detail will see that it's not operational at the moment, but that could potentially be changed, couldn't it? If someone was handy with mechanical things . . . .

Next to it is a crate (which, from the weight of it is empty) and pinned to that crate is a sheet of paper with a map on it, something like a much cruder, black-and-white version of this:



with the following key:

1 - crags. Contain snakes which may be poisonous. Watch out.
2 - ocean, going about one mile out from the coast.
3 - lagoon. Contains thick reeds (could be woven or shaped into tools) and frogs (edibility uncertain).
4 - abandoned campsite.
5 - orchard. Currently, trees are diseased and bare. Plant healer needed.
6 - abandoned house. A family used to live here, from the looks of it. Still contains some useful supplies.

And there should be a 7 north of base camp with the notation "graveyard. Graves unused." but the player forgot and is too lazy to go back and fix it right now. Observant individuals will note that the map looks like a more detailed version of one hanging on the door to a certain coven member's cabin, one that has a note on the bottom: "Have information? Ask for Jay."

Other than that, it's a quiet night on the hub island. We've been here for a couple days; maybe you're getting restless? Want to check out that ocean, or lagoon, or even those crags? Maybe just go door-to-door in the beach huts? Maybe you're sick of shrimp and looking for other things to eat . . . hopefully someone's got a fire going tonight, and thought to kill a boar . . . .

What are you doing tonight?]


((here or here for place descriptions))

Comments

[deem]

I appreciate the help.

[Scanners can inuit all kinds of things, but there's nothing like direct, firsthand information. He's only been able to guess at how things worked in the past, unable to get confirmation, so he's more than a little eager as he sets the box down.

Don't mind him as he records her while she works]

Is that one a temperature control, or something else?

[He points at one of the knobs]

[soulcomet]

[smile, Madoka, you're on android camera.]

Sort of! You can use it to control how strong the flame on the burner is. You can't pick an exact temperature, though, you just have to adjust it to get the sort of heat you want.

[she says as she twists the knob, as if it were going to work.]

Cooking is just as much about instinct as it recipes ... at least, that's what my Papa says. Baking is more of a science.

[deem]

Really? Science, huh...

[He wonders if it'd come more naturally to someone like him, then. But that's a thought he shelves for another time, observing the way the knob moves and speculating what the settings would read as, without all that rust.

A flame would need some sort of fuel source, but that makes him wonder—]

Do you think it'd still work if the heating system was electronic, instead?

[soulcomet]

... Maybe? I'm not sure, honestly.

Is making fire using electricity something that you can do?

[deem]

Well, I was thinking... Fire requires fuel, but if you used an electrical system to heat up, say, metal plating, you could bypass the need for that fuel entirely.

[Sustainability and all that]

[soulcomet]

Oh, I see! So you'd be able to sort of turn it into a big hotplate...

What would you use as a source of electricity?

[deem]

Hotplate?

[That's a new term for him, as so many are]

Something renewable would be best, so... I see two options. I asked the Palai if I could keep a couple of bones for study, so maybe one of those would work. Otherwise, I can see if Alphonse wouldn't mind giving me a hand with some parts that I could use.

[soulcomet]

Ah ... A hotplate is pretty much exactly what you described! It's a burner powered by electricity, but it's meant to be more portable.

Do you think you could work out how to use solar power?

[deem]

Huh, I didn't know there were so many varieties of mobile cooking devices.

[It's so very interesting to him though]

And I guess I could... I'd just have to figure out how to make it more efficient so it wouldn't run low on power if there wasn't a lot of light at any given time.

[soulcomet]

You know, I never really thought much about it either. I guess since there are so many different ways to cook, there are just as many different tools to do it.

Um... [that makes her think of a question, but she's not sure if she should ask it, honestly.]

[deem]

[It certainly does seem that way. 9S can only wonder just how diverse it gets.

But her hesitance is something easy enough to detect]

Penny for your thoughts? [A pause] ...That's now it goes, right?

[soulcomet]

[that gets a little laugh out of her.]

I'm — sorry if this is rude, but I guess I was just curious. Do androids eat?

[deem]

Rude? Not at all. [And he sounds quite certain of that] We can eat, but we don't need to.

[The simplest way he thinks of to express it is—]

You could call it a luxury, rather than a necessity.

[soulcomet]

[food happens to be one of Madoka's favorite subjects.]

What sort of food do you like best?

[deem]

I guess I'd say sweet things... Not something I get to have very much.

[And when one's definition of sweet is basically fruit, well]

What about you?

[soulcomet]

Cream stew. [without hesitation.]

But, really, I like pretty much anything, as long as it tastes good! It was really fun trying all the different foods they had in Aimintas.

[deem]

I don't think I've had that before.

[But then, they aren't exactly culinary artists]

Was there anything you especially liked in Aimintas?

[soulcomet]

Mmm, well, a lot of the food there was pretty similar to the food we have back home! Lots of seafood.

But, I think the best thing I had there was falafel — I'd never had it before, and it was really different! I liked it a lot.

Did you, ah ... do a lot of eating while we were there?

[deem]

I'm pretty used to seafood too. It's one of the more abundant resources around.

[And it's pretty good, aside mackerel. Well, that tastes good too but it's absolutely lethal. Really not worth doing twice]

After Hakuno said those uh, pastries might've made her magic malfunction, it seemed safest not to get too adventurous. Think I've had more shrimp than I care to see again anytime soon though.

[soulcomet]

Oh! I have some snacks back at my hut that I dragged back from Aimintas. I'd be happy to share some with you, Nines.

[deem]

Are you sure? I mean, I don't need to eat, and it seems like we're still figuring out what there is around here...

[soulcomet]

[although it would make more sense for her to hang on to the junk food she has for when they might need it most, hoarding really just isn't in Madoka's nature. unfortunately, she's not a dragon.]

I don't mind at all! I have a lot — I filled up a whole sleeping bag with things to eat!

[carrying it back was. an experience. but she managed.]

[deem]

[That's cause for some staring, though whether she notices depends on her sensitivity to that sort of attention, what with the opaque nature of his goggles]

Wow, that many? How'd you carry so much?

[Not that he doubts Madoka's strength, he saw just how hard she pushed herself during one of the Uvi raids, but that's quite a large and cumbersome bundle to cart around]