staymods: (Default)
staymods ([personal profile] staymods) wrote in [community profile] staysilent2021-09-06 08:13 pm

September 2021 - Power


Power


It happens early one September morning. As the sun shines onto the recently repaired solar panels, power abruptly flickers to life within the Town Hall. Given that power is only supplied for a couple hours every night normally, constant power to the building is a big change.

Mauri looks impressed by the change. "Well. I didn't expect all of you to become electricians so quickly." He says it with a touch of amusement to his voice though. Even if he's not saying direct praise, he is definitely proud of everyone for working so hard.

The addition of power full-time also means that the cold storage section of the food storage building is up and running too. And with the nip in the air at night and how the crops in the farm are close to ripe, it's not a moment too soon. Preparations for fall and winter will need to start before too long, if everyone is going to want enough food around to comfortably survive the winter.



Gravekeeping


Improvements to the island have been made, but there's still a lot to do before winter arrives. Defenses need to be sured up, firewood needs to be cut, food needs to be dried and stored, and much, much more. Winters are harsh in Finland, and going into them unprepared is a surefire way to spend the winter cold and hungry. At best.

But even with everything else left to do, Mauri is going to approach the Otherworlders in early September with another task. He's been tending to the graveyard over the summer, but there is still a lot of cleaning left to do. While it's not vital to survival- he will reassure everyone that the souls of the dead have long since passed on, and that this is more to honor them than as a form of protection- cleaning up the graveyard before winter would be a good way for the Otherworlders to show that they respect those who lived here before them. He only asks once too, and won't badger the Otherworlders to do it after that one request is made.

Will you help? Or will you focus your efforts on preparing for winter?
argentlarvae: (37)

[personal profile] argentlarvae 2021-09-07 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
gravekeeping
[Cyan doesn't need to be asked twice, he's more than willing to help out in the graveyards during the slowly shortening days. He's there, cleaning leaves off of headstones and pulling back plants that threaten to grow where they aren't supposed to. Maybe a bit oddly, he's also collecting a certain type of flower that grows near the graves, and gathering it up into a basket.]

cooking(?)
[Everyone's working on making sure there's enough food to last the winter, and Cyan is... no exception? He's frowning a bit as he stirs something in a large pot hung over a cooking fire.

It doesn't smell like food. It doesn't really smell like anything.
]
maidofmistakes: Unsure but happy look. (I really want to know why)

cooking

[personal profile] maidofmistakes 2021-09-07 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
Hi! [She waves, walking over instead of flying.] Uh... what are you making?
ghoulserrand: (Wandering)

[personal profile] ghoulserrand 2021-09-07 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
[Teo likewise didn't need to hear a second request. He'd already visited the graveyard often enough, he just never thought to clean it up until then. He feels a little silly now, that it didn't occur to him, but there's nothing to do about it but help out. So, he's here and pulling at plants.

He notes Cyan and he means to wave, only to pause and tilt his head at the collection in the boy's arms.]


Making... a bouquet...?
argentlarvae: (65)

[personal profile] argentlarvae 2021-09-07 04:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[He's more than a little startled as she walks up.]

It's, uh-- [But then she's walked close enough to look inside the pot, where he's boiling... a bunch of flowers (all the same kind) in a small amount of water. Weird.]

I realized they probably won't grow in the snow, so I need to figure out if I can keep them somehow!

[Cyan????]
argentlarvae: (51)

[personal profile] argentlarvae 2021-09-07 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
... no. [He looks a little... concerned? He wasn't expecting anyone to ask.]

They're just... sort of like flowers that grow back home, that's all.
ghoulserrand: (Wandering)

[personal profile] ghoulserrand 2021-09-07 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[That's a weird amount of concern. Did he forget to put his mask on? No, that would garner way more than just concern. His head tilts a little bit further.]

So you're... picking them all...?
argentlarvae: (33)

[personal profile] argentlarvae 2021-09-07 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
No... [he tugs the collar of his tunic up, just in case it was starting to slip (it wasn't)]

I've been using them for... a medicine [sort of] and they work almost as well as the ones in my country. I need to figure out how to preserve them for the winter, so I thought that while we're cleaning up I'd make sure to collect a lot so they don't get thrown away.
ghoulserrand: (Goggles)

[personal profile] ghoulserrand 2021-09-07 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Medicine... I see... I didn't know you were sick...

[He glances around at the cemetery.]

Would be good then... to let everyone know... so we can keep an eye out... Maybe you can... dry it and... crush it up... like powdered herbs...

[He looks back to Cyan.]

You seem... nervous... I hope I haven't...done anything...
Edited 2021-09-07 22:47 (UTC)
argentlarvae: (73)

[personal profile] argentlarvae 2021-09-07 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I'm not sick. [cyan???]

And it's not you, I just realized today that I don't know what winter's like in this country. The summer days were so long....
maidofmistakes: Embarrassed, looking upward. (Hey. I left a taco in your dishwasher.)

[personal profile] maidofmistakes 2021-09-07 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Um... don't you usually dry out flowers you want to save?
argentlarvae: (33)

[personal profile] argentlarvae 2021-09-07 11:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I tried that but when they dried out they didn't work anymore. I think they'll still work if I boil them...
ghoulserrand: (Erm)

[personal profile] ghoulserrand 2021-09-07 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[?????????????]

If... you're not sick... why do you need... medicine....?

[Is this the medieval or whatever equivalent of getting high on cough syrup?? Should he be doing something about this?]
argentlarvae: (65)

[personal profile] argentlarvae 2021-09-07 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
I-!! I don't have a plague! I just-- I just need them!

[Is this the medieval or whatever equivalent of getting high on cough syrup??]
ghoulserrand: (Erm)

[personal profile] ghoulserrand 2021-09-07 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[.......................]

.......................................

[.......]

Explain.
maidofmistakes: Looking up. (She's asleep in a Fisher-Price toy car.)

[personal profile] maidofmistakes 2021-09-07 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
So they're an ingredient for something! Maybe we could try and build a greenhouse so they'll survive the winter. Glass might be hard to find, though there's some in the garbage after we fixed up a few of the houses. And maybe sea glass from the beaches would work, too!
argentlarvae: (51)

[personal profile] argentlarvae 2021-09-07 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
It's more like... if I don't have them I'll get really sick. [cyan]
argentlarvae: (51)

[personal profile] argentlarvae 2021-09-07 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
They only grow in certain places, you can't grow them anywhere else.

And they're like a medicine. I... I need them. [he looks a little upset?]
maidofmistakes: Cautiously offering something. (Just gave candy to a strange child.)

[personal profile] maidofmistakes 2021-09-07 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[Being semi-in charge of the farm work, Supergirl gets right to work on the harvest. You can find her on the farm, pulling up potatoes and hauling them in a wheelbarrow that she probably doesn't actually need; if she sees you, she'll wave.]

Oh, hi! I think we managed a lot, but I hope it's enough. I mean, there aren't many of us here... Can you start on the beets? They look ready to pull.

[Though she can't help but offer her help with the graveyard, too. Mostly just washing off headstones and picking weeds and --]

Sorry! Oh, no, oh, man...

[...accidentally breaking a headstone, apparently. She tries to stick it back in the ground with a defeated sigh.]

I hope we have glue or cement or something.
maidofmistakes: Apologizing. (So I literally just wrote "sorry")

[personal profile] maidofmistakes 2021-09-07 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
You can't replicate the conditions, even if we take some of the soil?
argentlarvae: (73)

[personal profile] argentlarvae 2021-09-07 11:56 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't think so. Something like them grows in the wild in my country, I don't think you can grow them in a garden unless you......
ghoulserrand: (Erm)

[personal profile] ghoulserrand 2021-09-07 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[His hands rise up to the covered part of his face, pressing palm to palm.]

...If you're... addicted to something... I think we should... see someone about it... not... eat more drug plants...
maidofmistakes: Self-conscious. (Oh boy I hope we come out of this alive)

[personal profile] maidofmistakes 2021-09-08 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
Un...less you what?
argentlarvae: (69)

[personal profile] argentlarvae 2021-09-08 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
[He flinches a little, and looks away from Teo, down at the flowers in his hands.]

It's not... [He sort of wants to say "it's not like that", but it is. That's how Jade had described it, like a drug.]

It's not that easy.
argentlarvae: (51)

[personal profile] argentlarvae 2021-09-08 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
... they only grow where something dead is.

[So unless you want to bury like, dead fish or cats or--]

I got these from the graveyard.
ghoulserrand: (Wandering)

[personal profile] ghoulserrand 2021-09-08 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
[His shoulders drop a little, though it's not as if he can look sympathetic through the goggles and gaiter.]

It could be... Faust has magic... he might be able... to help ease things... And... I could try and help out... however I can...

[He shouldn't volunteer Faust like that. Faust would hate being used for his magic and if this works out he's going to owe a lot of apologies. But he's not exactly sure how *else* withdrawals would been handled in teens of the post-apocalypse.]

I'm not going... to judge you... at least...

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