Neolithic PHO Prompt
For any PHO submissions.

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♦ Topic: Oddly Polite New Villain
In: Boards ► America ► Brockton Bay
Bagrat
(Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On Jan 8th 2011:
There's been some rumors floating around for the past couple days about a new villain here in Brockton Bay and I can now confirm them. On Wednesday, Bay Goods was robbed by an unknown cape whose descriptions I've seen matches the cape calling herself Hausos who just raided the local Ace Hardware. Yes, I'm posting this from my phone while on scene.

As the thread title says, it was probably the politest robbery I've been in here, with the cape, pretty sure it's a she, just telling us to go about our business and that she'd really rather not hurt anyone before grabbing a cart and acting like she was just another customer.. Not being an idiot, I went back to my own quest for household repair supplies.

I can confirm that she's a Tinker too, as I came across her collecting power tools at one point. Didn't even get threatened for going near her, which was honestly a little surreal. Nice though.

Hopefully she manages to stay that way and not get sucked into one of the gangs or killed.

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♦ Topic: New Ward Zenith
In: Boards ► America ► Brockton Bay
Reave
(Original Poster) (Verified PRT Agent)
Posted On Jan 10th 2011:
The PRT ENE would like to announce our latest Wards member, Zenith.

A video of her introduction can be found [here], but for those of you who can't watch it right now, she's a Blaster-Shaker who produces white-gold energy projectiles around herself and generate a bright illuminating field up to a block away. Her costume is a simple blue dress overlaid with golden armor plate on the hands, feet, and torso, with a visored tiara bearing her sundisk logo.

**more here based on any recommendations**

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♦ Topic: Empire Activity at 3rd and Bay Road
In: Boards ► America ► Brockton Bay
Brocktonite03
(Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Posted On Jan 10th 2011:
Rune and Krieg just flew past my window, heading down towards Bay Road. I'm not sure what's going on, but given that Krieg's involved, the Empire thinks it's important and requiring a lighter tough than Hookwolf.

Edit: Make that North Ave, as I'm hearing someone shouting about Nazis and Argentina. Might be a Merchant?
Edit2: Now there's fire and not like somethign out of a Molotov either. Way too bright.
Edit3: THat new Ward's here, I can see that light aura she has coming from North Ave. And it sounds like whoever the Nazis were after is now shouting at her too. Can't make out what;'s being said though, and I sure ain't opening a window to get a better hear.

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Re: Danny and Failures
I'll get the replies in a bit, but first I should address the confusion over how Danny's neglect went unnoticed.

Legion's been with the Protectorate since August 2010, about five months before the story starts. At first, not much changed, but being a professional hero and a de-facto workaholic is a bad combination for a father, leading to less and less 'Danny time', ultimately resulting in Taylor being home alone since the start of December. This, of course, is the point at which the food runs out and Taylor fully accepts the nemesis contract.

While Taylor's not going to learn about Danny being a cape for another few months, shit's gonna hit the fan for him a fair bit sooner. Dauntless, as a fellow dad cape, is going to be particularly unimpressed.

Edit: dammit autocorrupt
 
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Neolithic Interlude PHO
Porting PHO formatting is a real pain...

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Welcome to the Parahumans Online message boards.
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You are viewing:
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♦ Topic: Oddly Polite New Villain
In: Boards ► America ► Brockton Bay
Bagrat
(Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On Jan 8th 2011:
There's been some rumors floating around for the past couple days about a new villain here in Brockton Bay and I can now confirm them. On Wednesday, Bay Goods was robbed by an unknown cape whose descriptions I've seen matches the cape calling herself Hausos who just raided the local Ace Hardware. Yes, I'm posting this from my phone while on scene.

As the thread title says, it was probably the politest robbery I've been in here, with the cape, pretty sure it's a she, just telling us to go about our business and that she'd really rather not hurt anyone before grabbing a cart and acting like she was just another customer.. Not being an idiot, I went back to my own quest for household repair supplies.

I can confirm that she's a Tinker too, as I came across her collecting power tools at one point. Didn't even get threatened for going near her, which was honestly a little surreal. Nice though.

Hopefully she manages to stay that way and not get sucked into one of the gangs or killed.





(Showing page 1 of 5)




►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 8th 2011:
Ohh a new tinker is in town. I wonder what their speciality is, hey #bagrat do you know what else they grabbed? anyway onto the robbery itself, well it's good to read that no one was harmed another villain in town is concerning and a tinker at that.


►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 8th 2011:
Are we sure she isn't already in a gang? Maybe she's Squealer and Skidmark's daughter, and being polite is teenage rebellion since obviously swearing, doing drugs, and reckless driving wouldn't count.

►Ossa-Regis (Has Milk)
Replied On Jan 8th 2011:
I'm betting my playstation that this new tinker chick somehow stays solo.
If not... Well I can always buy a new PS3.


►Bruce Lao
Replied On Jan 8th 2011:
A polite villain? In Brockton Bay of all places? What next, Kaiser annoucing he's gay?


►SeemsPhishyToMe (Verified Not A Fish)
Replied On Jan 8th 2011:
Wow, even for non-cape robbers that's polite. I've worked retail before, being able to just call up and report stolen merchandise rather than that the entire front of the store needs to be replaced must be a nice change of pace! Loss Prevention probably wouldn't even mind considering the other option.


►Trufla (Unverified Cape)
Replied On Jan 8th 2011:
Huh. Sounds like a newbie Tinker caught up in a creative urge. Things like actually paying for goods sort of get sidelined if they've been too long without workbench time. I have to wonder what sort of specialty they have if materials from a hardware store are all they are looking for. Here in Greenland, a store like that would have basically home repair goods for plumbing, electrical, and basic construction projects, with a bit of camping gear and a few home appliances.




End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5




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♦ Topic: New Ward Zenith
In: Boards ► America ► Brockton Bay
Reave
(Original Poster) (Verified PRT Agent)
Posted On Jan 10th 2011:
The PRT ENE would like to announce our latest Wards member, Zenith.

A video of her introduction can be found [here], but for those of you who can't watch it right now, she's a Blaster-Shaker who produces white-gold energy projectiles around herself and can generate a bright illuminating field up to a block away. Her costume is a simple blue dress overlaid with golden armor plate on the hands, feet, and torso, with a visored tiara bearing her sundisk logo.

Normally these are more complete, but our usual PR poster's not available and my packet here isn't very complete. So seriously, check the actual intro video.



(Showing page 1 of 1)




►Eulalia
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
Sure the dress is simple but at least her costume has some armor? Not that it is necessarily actually functional rather than just ornamental. I know Wards aren't supposed to get in fights, but having so little armor always worried me, the local gangs aren't exactly paragons of reasoning. If they're going to do patrols why not give them useful gear rather than comic book uniforms?

Not sure about the tiara though. I always thought Glory Girl's was silly, Zenith's has not changed my mind.


►The European Lurker
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
Do I have my thoughts about this new Ward? I sure do.
First of all, dress with a tiara sounds a bit Glory Girl. Granted, the armour not so much. Golden armour plate though? That's ... I suppose we should be glad she actually got armour - looking at whichever idiot designed Vista's costume here - (not really though, so the PR Team can stop looking for a Stranger having infiltrated which ever building the designer is in, I'm not in the USA anyhow) but golden armour is still a tad pretentious.

About the energy projectiles, we haven't seen them in action, so I can't say much about those. But a bright illuminating field up to a block away? That's one way to let everyone and their pet goldfish find out you are near.

Still glad there is an entire ocean in between myself and BB


►Glory Girl (Verified Cape) (New Wave)
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
I didn't know people in Europe actually knew me. Anyhow, Crystal (Laserdream) had the same thought concerning the dress and tiara combo. While you might have a point about golden armor. In her case, it's the color of her power itself, so she gets a pass.

Why are you reading about Brockton Bay anyhow?
Edit: did you just type PR Team?


►The European Lurker
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
Schadenfreude mostly, however bad my home gets with the Three Blasphemies, and worse: Gesellschaft. I can read about Brockton Bay and know that some places have it way worse than we do. Not that Brockton Bay is worse than the CUI or what's left of Africa. But you have internet access.

I suppose I must agree about the armour colour being somewhat understandable, if you know her power uses those colours.
Edit: why yes, I did. Having PRT stand for Public Relations Team would be much more accurate


►Trufla (Unverified Cape)
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
I can already see the mememakers grabbing clips of the Beatles tune for this one.


►Feychick
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
Her smile... There's something about it I can't quite place, but I don't like it.

►Vista (Wards ENE) (Verified Cape)
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
Seriously guys? This again? The plating on my costume isn't repainted athletic pads, it's cemented carbon weave. Bulletproof, knife-proof, impact resistance, fire resistant... Clock's got the same stuff in his suit too, just in slim-form panels, as does Triumph. Aegis's got some sort of tinkered up kevlar and is a Brute. Honestly, Zenith could use more armor.

Seriously, you'd be seeing far more dead Wards if we were running around in spandex and plastic. And that's for cities far safer the the Bay. Would I like to have more armor? Yes. My skirt's not much protection after all, but we don't have the Tinkers to give everyone power armor or semi-powered harnesses.


End of Page. 1



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♦ Topic: Empire Activity at 3rd and Bay Road
In: Boards ► America ► Brockton Bay
Brocktonite03
(Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Posted On Jan 10th 2011:
Rune and Krieg just flew past my window, heading down towards Bay Road. I'm not sure what's going on, but given that Krieg's involved, the Empire thinks it's important and requiring a lighter tough than Hookwolf.

Edit: Make that North Ave, as I'm hearing someone shouting about Nazis and Argentina. Might be a Merchant?
Edit2: Now there's fire and not like somethign out of a Molotov either. Way too bright.





(Showing page 1 of 1)



►Brined_Brocktonite
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
I'd been wondering who might be the cause of this disturbance, but this comment cinches it for me. It's probably that new tinker villaness who popped up a few days ago. Tinkers are prime recruitment for the gangs and a white girl with a beef with the government would be a good recruit for them. With Krieg and Rune being a good recruitment team to send on part of the nazis. As by force or by choice, the pair would do well to grab a baby tinker teen.

Clearly sounds like they're not going to be succeeding in a willing recruitment. You don't yell something like that at nazis you intend to join. So hopefully the forced recruitment fails. The Empire hasn't had a tinker for a good while from my memory of their too large and semi-regularly rotating roster, and even an enslaved one in their ranks would be bad for the city.


►Brocktonite03 (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
THat new Ward's here, I can see that light aura she has coming from North Ave. And it sounds like whoever the Nazis were after is now shouting at her too. Can't make out what;'s being said though, and I sure ain't opening a window to get a better hear.


►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
If Brined's right, that could be a problem. Zenith's got the same attitude towards villains as Brandish. Gonna message Clock just to be safe though, especially if the fire's from another new parahuman we've been watching for.


►AllSeeingEye
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
Too late #Vista. Your girl just smacked Hausos with a blast strong enough to throw her back several feet. And I think they know each other, or at least Hausos thinks so going by what she starting shouting when the Wards showed.

On the other hand, from where I am at least Hausos looks like she might be high on something, so who knows.

I also have confirmation of a second cape with her, a brunette who doesn't look to be wearing a mask.
Edit: And the Nazis are legging it, Krieg carrying Rune. Not sure what it was that Hausos threw at her, but it seems to have incapacitated her pretty well.


►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
Thanks #AllSeeingEye. I'll get this called in and the higher ups can get this sorted, preferably without an escalating rivalry.


►AllSeeingEye
Replied On Jan 10th 2011:
One more update, #Vista, Hausos and her Blaster friend just left. Gallant and Zenith aren't following, and seem to be arguing, even if I can't hear them.

So overall, the outcome of this is: E88 tried and failed to get their mitts on the newest local Tinker, Zenith is trigger-happy and Hausos hates her as much as she does the Nazis, and has possibly recruited an unknown. Looks like things are going to be interesting around here for a while...

End of Page. 1


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Missy dropped her Wards phone and flopped back on her bed with a low groan. Interesting was an understatement. With the Empire intent on getting the new Tinker, said Tinker's apparent dislike of the newest Ward, Zenith herself, and latest round of mutually aggravating stupidity, the Bay was a powder keg with a lit fuse. If Hausōs established her own faction or Coil got involved? Things could go to hell very quickly.

Picking up her phone again, the thirteen year-old dialed a carefully memorized number. "Mike-Sierra Niner Bravo Seven Four Echo Eight Three. I've got some information on an incident..."
 
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Agriculture 1
Guess what's back?

Unnamed Location, Tǩóymos, Jan 31, 2011.

"We really need to name this place."

I glanced over my shoulder at Emily from where I was examining a fruit tree. "What brought this on?" I asked, reaching up for one of the oblate green orbs hanging from the branches.

The other girl shrugged, "Well, we can't just keep calling the camp, 'the camp' and you kinda stopped naming things after some landmarks. If we're building a new world, we need to at least name the settlement and surrounding region. Maybe even the continent too, if we're feeling ambitious."

Looking over the fruit I'd picked, I thought for several moments before responding, "True… Still, feels a bit out of nowhere at the moment considering we're literal miles away from base, seeing if we can find another local food that won't get us high or needs heavy processing to not poison us."

Hefting the fruit, I added "Pretty sure this is it though. Matches what the drones spotted, and the data showed them clear of any known problem compounds. Not much to speak of nutritionally speaking either beyond a ridiculous amount of Vitamin C, but hey, scurvy would suck."

With that, I tossed the fruit at Emily, who caught it against her chest. That earned me a glare.

"What, are you wanting me to be the Guinea pig this time or something?" she grumbled. "If this gets me sick or high, I'm burning all your tea."

Shooting her a flat look, I plucked a second one and asked "Have I given you a reason to think that I'd do that? No, this should be perfectly safe based on what information we have. The worst that could likely happen is you find the taste disagreeable, and besides, I'm having one too."

Emily raised an eyebrow at me. "Alright, if you're that sure…"

Carefully pricking the fruit's skin with a nail to test the toughness, I then took a bite. Sweeter than the blissfruit, but also a little tart. Good though, and the Vitamin C content was supposed to be ridiculous. Letting out a contented hum, I kept eating. Definitely a much better experience than my first experience with the local edible flora. Sure, it'd netted me my first proper recruit, but there was a reason we'd dubbed the pseudo-oranges what we had.

Then a delighted moan came from Emily, who it seemed was devouring her fruit like she hadn't eaten in days.

"Guava! You found guava! We can have an unlimited supply of my favorite fruit!" she squealed like an excited fangirl. "These are so hard to get back in the Bay, and my gene donors hated it when I could actually find them. Some bullshit about not being fit for 'proper white folk' or something. Like they're not next on the chopping block once the Nazis run out of people with a darker skin tone and different beliefs."

Snatching herself a second fruit, she then glanced at me. "Think we can hit the Empire sometime? I kinda wanna burn some of their shit down after looting it."

"Well, I'm told I've got legit Viking blood through my paternal grandfather," I said. "Who'd find the idea of going Viking on the Nazis incredibly fitting given that he had to flee Normandy thanks to the OG version…"

That got a slightly mad laugh from Emily, who continued munching on her… gu… ava?

Shaking her head, she continued "Awesome. Now, I think we got a little bit distracted. Place naming."

I sighed. "There's no escaping this, is there?"

The amused look I got in response as she kept eating told me no.

"Fine, fine, I'll start coming up with meaningful names. But don't complain about pronunciation issues, since I've got a theme to stick to here."

"You named stuff for capes and things you found there Tay," she replied with a roll of her eyes, "That's not a theme."

That brought a smug grin to my face. "Oh no Emily, I'm talking about how I named the world. Etymology!"

Ignoring my companion's groan, as she'd brought this on herself, I continued "I'm thinking maybe Eauberg, as it's a sheltered place on a river."

Emily gave me a stink-eye. "That's horribly uncreative…"

"Oxford literally means that it's a place oxen can ford a river," I shot back. "And I'm joking, it doesn't flow right. Something Celtic might sound much better, say, Kairafon."

"And what does that mean?"

I grinned "River town, or river stronghold. It's also two different, if related, languages, but they fit together well enough. Much better feel to it than the Germanic-derived one."

Finishing off her fruit, Emily signed. "Okay, still uncreative, but it sounds nice enough to use. Pronounceable, and sounds like a place name instead of gibberish."

"Alright then, Kairafon shall be our settlement's name from here on," I said, snagging one more guava for myself before turning back towards home. "Now, we should probably start making our way back there before it gets dark. It took us hours to get here and we've got stuff to do when we get back."

Getting another groan as a response, I added "You can take a dip in the hot spring and relax first. We're not that pressed for time, at least not if we get going now.

It was entirely so she could relax, not because of any other reason. I wasn't a boy after all, I just found her aesthetically pleasing, even fully dressed. Not like a decoration, just… guh… What was wrong with me?

***

While Emily had her soak, I set up the kitchen and began gathering materials for cooking. An early dinner would be nice, and it'd serve to distract me from whatever it was that was going on with my mind. Probably was just some normal reaction to going from being alone for prolonged periods and now having someone else around constantly. Humans were supposed to be social animals, and finding one's self becoming super attached to a friendly member of the same species wouldn't be out there.

Yeah, that made sense. Best not to dwell on it any further, that wouldn't get me anywhere.

Laying out a cutting board and a summer sausage, I started chopping up the tube of cured meat with my still mostly unused hunting knife. Tossing that into a frypan next to the camp stove that I'd need to replace with a woodstove at some point, I moved on to dicing a portion of our precious Bet-sourced fresh vegetables in the form of a small onion and a leek. That was followed into the pan by a handful of golden-hued local tomatoes that more resembled large peas in size, rather than the much larger ones I'd been used to previously. Unlike the potatoes growing in the area, these didn't require detoxification to become edible, which was nice.

Placing the pan on the stove and igniting it, I then got to work opening up a can of corn, which then went in as well. Not exactly what I'd consider fine dining, or even something particularly tasty, but it was food, and it was reasonably filling. Still needed a bread of some sort that I could make, as that would be great.

Actually, most grains weren't typically found in heavily forested areas. Grasslands and open woodlands would be a better place to look, so it'd be smart to figure out how to find such biomes. Or I could deal with not having grains at first and bite the bullet on getting heirloom cultivars for wheat, rice, and corn from one of those survivalist sites after I finished getting the power grid and dimensional comms set up.

"Mmmm, that smells good Tay."

I almost jumped at the sound of Emily's voice from behind me. She'd finished her soak already?

Turning to look over my shoulder at her, and immediately turned back to the cooking with a blush burning my cheeks.

"Dammit Emily, would you put your shit back on?"

She had the gall to giggle. "What, I thought you were fine with this sports bra when you tossed it to me last week."

Then, her hot breath ghosting across my ear, she added "Or do you like it more now?"

"Winds, could you not?" I grumbled, carefully directing the glare I wanted to aim at her towards the meal. "Yes, you look great, but also distracting. So, shirt."

"Fine, fine. But I'm putting on something lighter, it's really starting to get humid now."

The sooner I got through whatever this was, the better. I was pretty sure we might be approaching a rainy season, and if so, we'd need to be dressing even lighter to deal with it. That, and get an actual solid building built, so we didn't have to worry about the temporary structure's thatch getting overwhelmed by the weather. There were ways around that, but tiled roofs were simply more durable and longer-lasting.

Checking the food, I switched off the campstove and picked up the pan. "Right, food's done," I proclaimed. "Grab the plates would you?"

I brought the pan over to our eating area, a folding card table set on four rocks, and set it down on the flat stone Emily had found to use as a combination hot pad and anchor weight. The other girl was already sitting cross legged on the ground at the table, with the plates and camping sporks we'd acquired set out. Hardly a fine dining establishment, but I didn't think either of us particularly cared, especially since it was far better than what we could've expected living on the streets.

"So, you seem more easily distracted these days," Emily stated. "Especially when it comes to me. Anything on your mind?"

"It's most likely nothing," I replied, with an eye roll. "Probably just a quirk of the human mind adjusting to having friendly company after a prolonged period alone. I'm sure it'll pass soon enough, so don't worry about it."

That drew an odd look from her, but I shrugged it off. It really was the best explanation after all, it wasn't like I'd be attracted to her or something. Not that she wasn't cute, but I was pretty sure it wasn't something I could do anymore.

After that, the two of us ate in silence, not wanting to let the food go cold. I was actually a little disappointed how it turned out, but there was only so much I could do with what was available. Spices and a wider range of herbs would go a long way in improving it, but we had to prioritize when getting supplies on Bet, and we hadn't found any peppers or equivalents here yet. So I'd put up with it.

My eyes wandered over to gaze towards the wetland area upriver where my drones had spotted the massive moose-like animals. Fresh meat could be a nice addition as well. Or fish, since while the human population of Kairafon had doubled since I first saw them, that still only made two people. Salmon or something would be far less of a problem to deal with than a literal ton of meat.

It was really rather annoying that I'd been here for almost a month now and had only once encountered a potential game animal of a practical size. Maybe I should head out and set up some traps in the forest or something, it would at the very least be worth a shot for actual fresh meat for once…

Also, steal some fishing supplies next time we hit a store that carries them. Seafood was supposed to be good for keeping one's diet balanced if you didn't have access to a diverse range of agricultural products.

As Emily grabbed my empty plate, I let out a small sigh. There's always something new on the list of things to do when you're building a new civilization from the ground up. Anyone who didn't have such concerns as their job would be stunned by just how many things need to be done to simply avoid dying of malnutrition or dysentery. As I had learned almost immediately.

Hobbyist work, this was most certainly not. There's a reason it took everyone so damn long to go from foraging and bashing rocks together to agriculture and metalworking.

***

Kairafon, Tǩóymos, Feb 1, 2011.

I jolted awake at a strange sound. A buzzing noise that wasn't an insect or anything I could identify. Emily moaned and rolled over to look at me. "Answer that damn phone would you? And go outside so I can get back to sleep…"

Phone…? Right, the Cauldron phone. Which shouldn't actually have signal, as I hadn't gotten to setting up that comms relay yet…

Groaning, I sat up and grabbed the Winds-scorned device and made my way out towards the top.

"Hausōs here," I grumbled into the phone immediately after connecting the call.

The doctor's voice came back in an apologetic tone "Your grace period has elapsed and your nemesis has an encounter lined up."

Fuck.

"That's a pain. Still, I'm relatively stable now even if we're still doing a lot of foraging for food here. So, what does her bitchiness want me to do?"

"You are to rob a store in the Weymouth Mall at 6:30 PM on Sunday the 6th. As a reminder, you must spend at least twenty-five minutes at the target and cannot retreat from the encounter for a minimum of five minutes. You may bring your associate and she is not bound to remain once the encounter begins."

I could practically hear her smirking at that. Emily could bolt with whatever we took if it was valuable to us, and Emma couldn't stop it. Sure, she could force us to reveal the anchors in doing so, but Armsmaster was probably at least suspecting some sort of teleportation by now, given how we kept disappearing from our raids. As long as he didn't track down the base unit, we should be fine.

"Your payment," the doctor continued, "will be a standard shipping container of agricultural supplies equivalent to five thousand dollars. The container itself is not part of the payment and should not be treated as a source of steel, as it is present for the convenience of yourself and Cauldron staff. Please enjoy your day."

With that, the call ended and I just barely noticed an opening in the sky above the treeline on the far bank snap shut a moment later. So that's how they made the connection.

As the sun had just crested the horizon there, I turned back to the base. It was still earlier than we normally were up, but now we needed to get that comms relay up and running as soon as possible. Which meant getting electrical generation going. Happily, we'd already mostly dug the channel for hydro. It wasn't an ideal setup but a fast current should make up for the lack of an elevation differential.

Reentering the shelter, I gave Emily a shake. "We need to get a move on, my little deal with a devil's come due and that means we need to get our internet connection running."

The brunette groaned. "Why did you agree to this again, and why did they need to get us up now?"

"Because that was the deal that got me here, and I think it might be a dimensional time difference or something."

My compatriot grumbled invectives under her breath about shadowy organizations that don't care about time zones as she pulled herself out of bed and got dressed. I got the distinct impression she wasn't impressed with Cauldron… For good reason, I still wasn't happy with the whole thing either, even if it did get me a fresh start.

In the meantime, I began gathering the materials we'd need to construct the hydro-generator and wire it up to the shelter where we'd be temporarily keeping the relay. It would get its own dedicated structure when we started building our more permanent construction, but it'd save time right now to just keep it with everything else. And make rigging a power feed for things like the laptop and relay anchor much simpler, as it meant only having one line being run instead of having to branch out.

Thinking about it, geothermal power would be the best choice going forward, as that would have the least impact on the environment and I recalled something about Iceland doing interesting things with it like creating mineral baths. And, like them, we had an abundance of underground heat. I'd just need to make sure it won't shut down the existing hot springs. Hot springs were amazing even in a tropical environment…

It didn't take long for me to start smelling something cooking, which meant that Emily was ready for the day. Hopefully she caught the urgency of the situation and got something particularly good going, because this was going to be a very hard few days. Probably should make her aware exactly what our time frame was.

"How long do we have?" Emily asked as I approached her. Oh good.

"The job is Sunday evening at 6:30 local time, with us hitting a store of our choice at Weymouth."

My friend groaned. "Busiest time there, and basically guaranteed to attract a hero response. Possibly from multiple sources even. Joy. How long do we need to stick around for?"

Settling down at the table, I replied "Me, about half an hour. You aren't covered by the contract and can fuck off with the loot as soon as the white hats show, assuming we hit a place that has stuff we can use. Which is the big reason we need to get power and the communications relay up, I don't recall what all's at Weymouth right now aside from clothes. And they won't be stocking the kinds we need at this time of year."

"Bit out of our normal MO isn't it?" She asked after a few moments of contemplative silence. "Going from quick in-and-out runs, to prolonged robberies will change how they respond to us."

I gave her a weak smile. "Happily, we aren't going to be doing nothing but contract crimes like this from now on. The deal was that I do eleven of these jobs for them, in exchange for this world. It's not ideal, but also hardly the worst price one could pay for such a good place for a fresh start."

A thoughtful look crossed Emily's face. "Yeah, I can see that perspective. And crime does pay if you're doing it right, which is definitely showing right now. I don't think we'd have gotten very far trying to do this legit at least. We don't have the funds, the connections to get financing, and the government wouldn't spend anything on us either, as an offworld settlement doesn't help further the fascist police state. Though the bigwigs might be interested in a perfect Endbringer shelter and completely private vacation spot."

I scowled at that. "Okay, fuck the very idea of trying that. I'm sure not helping the storm dashed parasites who left the Bay to rot. It'd be trading a fence for chains anyways."

With that said, I picked up my mug, which she had helpfully already prepared with tea. Taking a sip, I blinked in surprise. This wasn't the Yorkshire stuff I'd been drinking since Contessa had left it for me, but something… different. Fruity, with a hint of chocolate.

"Emily," I said slowly. "Where did you get this tea?"

"I made it, actually." She replied, smugly. "Dried some blissfruit blossoms, then steeped them. Like it?"

Giving the mug a suspicious look, I carefully set it back down. "Blissfruit? Seriously Emily? Why would I want tea that gets me stoned?"

"You did say that the flowers had no meaningful concentration of cannabinoids when you actually scanned for them, so I figured it'd be fine."

Right, that had been the case, hadn't it. Picking the tea back up, I gave it another, more cautious, sip. It was a good tea, and strong too. If I remembered the scans correctly, it had almost as much caffeine as your typical arabica coffee. A third sip, and I nodded in satisfaction. "Okay, this is approved for further brewing."

The befreckled pyrokinetic grinned in satisfaction, then scooped a pile of scrambled eggs, assorted vegetables, and meat onto a plate that she then handed to me. The half remaining in the pan was promptly attacked with a spoon. As usual, eating took precedence over anything else, given that we didn't really have the spare time for chit chat over meals. With the amount of work we'd be doing today, it was even worse.

Sighing, I downed the rest of my tea and dug into my own food. Even with all the components ready and plenty of premade electrical wire, this was going to be a chore and only part of that would be getting the current right.
 
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Agriculture 2
Brockton Bay, Earth Bet, Feb 6, 2011.

Jewelry store robberies were almost as cliche a crime for a cape as holding up a bank, but Weymouth Mall was mostly filled with clothing and assorted home goods outlets, with the only other alternative being a single electronics shop. And while that would score some really useful parts, I didn't yet have a pressing need for digital systems. Not that there was the power for much either.

What made me decide on hitting Silver Dawn Jewelry over one of the outlets that might have possibly had some useful things was the fact that Emily knew the owners thanks to her parents. More specifically, the fact that they'd admitted having Empire connections at a dinner party at the Jacobs place, safe in the certainty that they were wholly among friends of the cause…

Also, the already processed gold and silver would be very useful in tinkering up a few things to make our lives easier, like an electric stove and a bread oven. I'd probably also be able to get what I'd need for a decent smelter, but that wouldn't be of much use until more electricity was available. Maybe I could also see if they had any wire in the back, and throw together something out of those power tool batteries so I could get more power? It'd mean needing to crack the vault most likely, but it'd certainly help with the annoying 'you need power to make power' problem.

Nodding to myself, I gave Emily the signal.

My friend promptly shoved the door open and strode inside. I couldn't help but grin at the sight of her sauntering over to the counter with the tassels of her riveted leather dress swirling around her legs and the fluorescent light gleaming on the beaten copper of her mask. The outfit we'd come up with for her as Askā was stunning and did a surprisingly good job of displaying the meaning of her cape name despite the simplicity and lack of available material even compared to my own. The small deposit of native copper my drones had discovered had been very useful in that, as the metal does look rather like solidified flames when properly shaped and polished.

Paying our by-now standard introduction no mind, I slipped into the store with my drones and made a beeline for the display case containing an assortment of necklaces. Mom had taught me ages ago how to spot some of the more subtle Nazi symbology so I could better avoid accidentally falling into a trap, and the jewelry before me was rife with some of the more obvious examples from those lessons. That cemented Emily's intel rather nicely, and proved that her gene-donors associated with some less than sensible people. You'd think the Nazi money laundering front would avoid anything that might draw them attention like that, but that's Nazis for you.

"Ah, gold. This will prove useful, though it escapes me why people would waste twenty karat on tasteless crap like this." Saying that out loud was probably unnecessary, but it was all part of the presentation.

As Emily continued into the back for the vault where they kept supplies, I bent over to study the case and hummed softly. The windows were too thick for me to shatter, and I had no idea if I could pick the lock, but the case itself looked a bit less solid. Drawing my knife, I gave the frame around the lock a firm tap with the butt, only for the half-inch slab of polycarbonate to fall out of its mounting.

Well, that was unexpected.

Reaching in, I started pulling various necklaces out from under the pane of transparent plastic, focusing on the gold and platinum ones. The latter were less important at the moment, as I didn't have much immediate use for that metal even if it'd be good to have. It could always be traded to Toybox for other stuff for example. I outright ignored the handful of pearl strands entirely, as those were worthless for anything but being pretentious. Not nearly enough metal in them to bother with.

Halfway to dropping the gathered jewelry into my bag, I froze as a wave of something I'd only once before felt but would never forget. Glory Girl. Because of course she'd be at the mall when I had to rob it. There went all our plans, and the only thing I could hope for was that Emily had managed to empty the vault of what we needed. Losing the necklaces I'd just collected wouldn't be a problem so long as she'd gotten the real objective. We wouldn't be hitting anything else tonight either, but that was why this place was first.

Half-turning, I looked to the door, where Vicky, in civilian dress but clearly gone hero mode, was floating with her arms crossed.

"Jewelry stores aren't your normal MO Hausōs, why are you here?" the platinum-haired girl coolly intoned. "I'd be rather annoyed if you're moving into general villainy…"

Fighting to remain calm in the face of her aura, I held up one of the necklaces. "Oh, I'm just needing some materials for higher performance conductors to get some better electrical generation going. And I figured I'd come here because well, look at this thing."

Pointing at the three interlocking triangles of the pendent, I continued on "This place is pretty clearly connected to the local infestation of hostis humani generis, so I figured it was a good place to get what I needed without inconveniencing decent people."

The older girl just raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that's not actually evidence of anything, right? They could well not know what that symbol means. I sure don't."

I snorted. "Mom taught me how to identify this shit when I was eight so I could avoid it. And we have the internet for finding this sort of bullshit too. Besides, my friend helped me pick this place out based on stuff she knows because of things behind the mask that I've long been led to believe we don't talk about. If not for that, I'd probably have gone for the national brand outlet on the next floor. It's owned by the company and not a franchise, so robbing them wouldn't have as much of a local impact."

"Or you could've joined up with New Wave instead of going villain," she retorted. "I've heard about you not liking the PRT, but that doesn't eliminate your options for heroism."

While it was lost on her because of my visor, I gave her a flat, unimpressed look. "Do you really think that New Wave could actually support a tinker? And even if it could, I'd have to unmask, which would lead to a host of other problems for me that your mother could not, or possibly would not help me with. Frankly, villain was the best option, and that was before Little Miss Police Brutality joined up. Having to make nice with her wouldn't be worth the entire PRT budget, let alone whatever scraps I'd get as a Ward or affiliate tinker."

That was, to my surprise, met with a shrug. "Well, worth a shot. I figured I'd at least say it after the PRT briefed us, even if it wasn't likely to go anywhere. Still, please put the jewelry back and come with me. Regardless of your reasons, you've still a criminal and I can't just let you get away. The PRT does have programs for capes in your situation, and I'm sure your restraint means you wouldn't even need to spend time in the Wards."

Well, I guess that's that then. I didn't particularly want to fight the Alexandria Package, but I didn't really have much choice. My location favored me, as she couldn't really use her mobility here, and she seemed to understand that going all out would be a bad idea. Which meant that I actually had a chance to hold out long enough for Emma to blunder in and allow me to disengage. Lasting five minutes before retreating would be simple after that.

A chime sounded in my ear. Emily must've finished then. Good. At least we'd be getting something out of this raid. Smirking at the knowledge that my friend had bugged out with a sack of loot, I flung the necklaces I was holding at the girl who had helped me get some basic camping gear mere weeks ago.

Vicky, it seemed, had no idea how to react to having jewelry thrown in her face, allowing me to retreat further into the store. Which was looking like it might've been a bad idea, as there was far less cover than I'd been thinking there was, and the only places I could really go were the vault, which would mean getting cornered, or the employee access door the place had. Not being stupid, I dove through said door without a second's hesitation. This set off an alarm, as it seemed like it might've been rigged as a fire door if a keycard or code wasn't entered first. Presumably for reasons like this.

Shoving a random convenient water cooler over the door to buy me a moment's time, I sprinted down the narrow hallway before slamming myself through another door into one of those overpriced clothing stores aimed at stereotypical teenage girls that were everywhere for no discernible reason. Seriously, I'd never actually seen any girls going into or out of one. But that oddness aside, it was a much better place to play cat and mouse with Glory Girl than the jewelry store if she caught where I'd gone.

Carefully weaving my way through the racks of impractical-looking underthings, I also sent off a command to my drones, to position themselves in the atrium so I could watch for Emma's arrival. Best to not miss the Queen Bitch showing up. It would also hopefully keep them out of the way when things started getting messy.

Much to my surprise, there were no signs of Vicky having followed me into the store even though I shouldn't have had much of a lead on her and her flight would've made up for it. Maybe I'd bought just enough time for her to have not noticed which door I'd gone through in the hallway? Regardless of that, I needed to keep moving and hope I wasn't being stood up here, as playing hide-and-seek with an Alexandria Package for twenty-five minutes didn't sound all that appealing. The opposite of appealing, actually.

Maybe I should talk to the doctor about the rules again, to see if there was some way I could avoid that happening again?

Quickly making a note of that, I kept moving through the store, occasionally dodging middle-aged women and teenage boys. Well, that explained things better about the store. Still, it wasn't that important, so I shifted some attention to the drone output feeds as I found a display that looked like it'd provide decent cover without restricting my ability to relocate.

Vicky, it appeared, had so far declined to actually pursue me, likely out of a desire to minimize damage. Seemed her reputation was overblown then, or at least she was holding back owing to my status. Didn't matter much which, but it was of note. Especially not with Emma likely not following the other heroine's lead.

With that in mind, I settled into a position that would allow me to rest without preventing me from moving quickly. Might as well get a bit of relaxation in after the first encounter before the main event started.

Several minutes passed with there still being no sign of pursuit. Which was odd, Glory Girl not engaging in a damaging high speed chase was one thing, but it looked like she hadn't even left the store yet. Was she securing the scene or something? Selecting the feed focused on her for closer examination, I found her talking, or perhaps arguing, with the manager of Silver Dawn. Not having a microphone or audio pickup on the drones was something I should probably correct at some point…

Making a quick note of that, I turned my attention back to the feed from the drones watching for the Wards. Lasting the requisite five minutes shouldn't be too much of an issue, but it also wasn't entirely clear if I had to be actively committing a robbery when my nemesis confronted me or not. Erring on the side of caution was the best bet, but there was the matter of what to grab, and whether to be serious or make a game of it. There were pros and cons to both approaches, but they were fairly equal. Maybe I should go for something to fuck with her head while still be useful?

A quick check of the feeds again showed it was still clear, and a grin found its way across my lips. There was a place here that fit the bill, and would hopefully also mess with whoever was unfortunate enough to be patrolling with her today. Suppressing the urge to giggle like a crazy person, I slipped back out of my hiding place and made my way out of the store.

Why there was a cosplay and live action roleplay shop here, I had no idea, but sweet Kyne was I grateful it was…

Continuing the string of surprises, barely anyone even so much as glanced at me as I walked across the mezzanine to my latest destination. Being considered a non-threatening villain was definitely paying off here, both with Vicky not acting as her reputation indicated and with people just being chill around me. How long it'd last was up in the air, especially with the Empire's interest in me and Emma's seeming obsession with making me suffer, but I'd make the best of it while I could. And even with that in mind, there were still things I could do to preserve my standing if I was careful and deliberate. Being now able to actually have a PHO presence would definitely help with that, as would the eventual recruiting drive I'd be starting once I had full-fledged farms up and the start of an actual proper settlement built.

I almost burst out laughing as, the moment I strolled through the door of Leonard's Medieval Ware, the Wards entered the mall. Next to the gaudy figure of 'Zenith' was the leonine Triumph. Honestly, I kinda felt bad for the poor guy. He was not going to come out of this looking particularly good, no matter how it ended up going down, as he was the leader of the team and there was no way he'd be able to keep Emma on a leash.

Happily, it didn't take long for me to find something I wanted, as the store was pretty well laid out. Specifically, a pair of really nice light-weight blouses made of linen that looked like they'd do well in Kairafon's climate. Checking the sizes, I then grabbed both, plus a third that I thought might suit Amy, before checking the drones again. Triumph and Zenith were now on the same level as I was, but clearly were headed towards Silver Dawn. Which meant they were likely meeting up with Vicky, rather than immediately searching for me.

Well, that meant I had more time to find more things.

Wandering over to another aisle, where I grabbed several string bags and a more fantasy-style leather backpack. That one probably wasn't the best choice, but it was convenient and that was what mattered at the moment. If maintaining it was too much of a hassle, that wouldn't be much of a problem. Normal backpacks would be something to grab later anyway, and we'd have more options there.

The Bitch and her handler were still at my initial criming spot, so I moved on to look for other useful things. I'd probably miscalculated just how long it'd take them to do their thing, but it was proving to actually be beneficial to me at the moment. A pair of leggings that'd look nice on Amy, two tunics for Emily, soft-soled shoes for me, and some sturdy belts were promptly collected, before I got bored waiting and recalled my drones. That, it seemed, got their attention.

Rolling my shoulders, I quickly stuffed everything I could into the backpack and donned it. Amusingly, the girl at the counter just waved at me before abandoning her post for the relative safety of the employee hallways I'd used earlier. Smart of her, and showed that she was paying more attention than the heroes.

In the hopes of minimizing damage to the store, I stepped out before the Wards could reach it and began to 'make my escape'. Triumph then cut me off.

"Well hello there shouty boy," I drawled. "I see you drew the short straw today, going by your current patrol partner. Tell me, how many homeless people has she blasted this week?"

I wasn't exactly homeless these days, but Emily and I hadn't gotten an actual house built yet, so eh.

Emma glowered and opened her mouth before being cut off. "Please don't antagonize her Hausōs, this does not need to turn into a fight. Just put down the stolen goods and come with us, there's options for you that don't require being a criminal. You wouldn't even need to be a Ward if that's an issue for you."

"Options such as being a pet tinker for the PRT? Or are you talking about carceral slavery for some big corporation under a glorified form of house arrest?" I asked, deftly ignoring Emma's scowl. Not reacting to her was a long-practiced skill after all. "Because that's the alternative for capes too useful to toss into prison. And I for one have no desire to provide any support to the fascists in DC or their donors. Starting over from scratch on a completely virgin world would be preferable to that."

A lunge from my gold-and-blue nemesis was trivially dodged, and in an amusing reversal from school, she was the one to wind up flat on her face. Not intentionally on my part though, she'd merely over-committed herself.

"Well," I commented with a tone of amusement. "You didn't jump straight to assault with a parahuman ability. Progress!"

A bit over three minutes, and I could disengage and retreat.

Triggering a command, the portable anchor I'd managed to splice into one of the drones activated, taking the three back to base with an odd crackle. That done, I leaned over and grabbed Emma by her collar before yanking her vaguely upright. She promptly fell to her knees the moment I let go, as she'd apparently not prepared herself at all for standing.

What on earth were they teaching her, if she was this incapable?

That cold golden glow flared to life, and I leapt backward just in time to avoid a blast. Welp, looked like the brutality was still there. And if that was how she wanted to play…

A/N: Emily's cape name is reconstructed Proto-West Germanic for 'ash'.
 
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Agriculture 3
Brockton Bay, Earth Bet, Feb 6, 2011.

Darting forward, I grabbed Emma by her pauldrons and heaved. While in November I'd have struggled to do much, my new physical lifestyle meant that I sent her sprawling at her teammate's feet. Triumph just sighed and pulled her upright.

"And that, Zenith, is why throwing yourself at someone is not part of the playbook. You're lucky you didn't break your nose in the process," he scolded. Sounding genuinely put out by it too. "And that's on top of how you're looking like you managed to concuss yourself."

Hooking her arm around his shoulder the best he could, he then added "Which means we need to disengage for safety reasons."

Well, that was… anticlimactic.

Watching the Wards leader hauling his subordinate away felt almost hollow, like I'd been cheated. I'd wanted to turn back in kind some measure of the humiliation she'd inflicted on me, and I'd been denied. But there was also something… right about it, too. A challenge overcome by turning it on itself, rather than by base violence. A triumph of civilization over primitive savagery, if I were to be poetic.

Glancing back at Leonard's, I reached into my sole currently accessible pocket and my fingers brushed against a small piece of metal. A gold nugget I'd found yesterday and must have accidentally left there. My best guess was that it was around four ounces in weight, and Leonard's was a local place…

Placing the nugget on the counter took mere seconds, and then I triggered the recall system.

***

Kairafon, Tǩóymos, Feb 6, 2011.

Shrugging off the backpack the moment I reappeared at home, I set it down with the other supplies along with my visor and headed off to find Emily. The other girl, it turned out, was stretching on a rock looking up at the darkening sky, her costume laying discarded on the ground beside her. Doing my best not to stare, I wandered over.

"You're back sooner than I was expecting," she commented, arching herself so that she could look at me better, doing an excellent job of showing off just how well the past month had been for her. Even with the dwindling light, I couldn't miss the light tan or admittedly subtlety toned muscle that had built up.

Swallowing, I replied "Glory Girl didn't pursue me, and then the Wards took long enough to show that I was able to do some more shopping. Zenith then managed to hurt herself badly enough that Triumph had to call things off before much of anything happened. Honestly, it was a bit disappointing how uneventful it was. Though the fact that she might've concussed herself by failing to bodycheck me is amusing…"

"So she is Emma then."

I blinked. "What?"

Emily snorted. "Bitchy redhead you don't like, right height, right build, had this look of superiority when she blasted you last time… Your smugness at her injuring herself cinched it honestly. Zenith is Emma and you recognized her faster than I did."

Then a sudden inhalation. "Your contract… you've basically been hired to be a safe villain for the Wards haven't you. And Emma knows who you are too, and is trying to keep bullying you thro-"

Harsh fluorescent light flooded the area as a portal suddenly appeared. In the stark white hallway of the Cauldron compound stood a woman clad in a suit and a fedora on her head.

"That is far enough Miss Jacobs."

The portal then collapsed into nothingness like it had never been. Silence sat for several long moments before Emily spoke again. "What the fuck was that…?"

"My shady benefactors most likely," I replied to my now wide-eyed friend. "At least that looked like their hallway. They're into a lot of sketchy things, and I have no desire to know more than I already do. Which I'm not allowed to share by the way."

Swallowing audibly, she rolled over onto her front and sat up. "Right. Safer topics than mysterious creepy shadow organizations. Like religion maybe?"

I snorted and sat down next to her. "If that's your idea of casually inquiring, it needs work. Just ask if you're legitimately curious, it's not like I'm going to try and convert you."

"I'll admit to being somewhat interested in what exactly is up with the Kyne stuff," she replied with a slight shrug. "Not particularly into religion myself, too much evil shit being justified by abusing it for me to be comfortable with any of the ones I know of, but I don't believe I've heard anyone but you talking about Kyne."

Gazing up at the sky, I sighed. "The Cult of the Storm Hawk isn't exactly common knowledge, and most who have heard of it are put off by the whole 'cult' thing. It's 'cult' as in the religious order of a deity within a wider pantheon, not the scummy isolate you from everyone to become dependent on the leaders kind most people think of. Nobody actually knows who the other gods might have been though, as only Kyne has had anything uncovered beyond vague references. We know she was part of a group called the Hearth Gods worshiped as part of everyday life and that her husband died, but that's about it for how she fit into that now lost pantheon."

"Her origins are unknown like basically everything else, but she's a mother goddess with dominion over storms and the hunt, a warrior who defends her children and cares for them in death. She asks little, beyond that her adherents respect the natural world and each other. Mom picked it up when she ran with Lustrum, and I took to it rather strongly after she died."

Emily, to my surprise, slid herself about and dropped her head onto my lap. "Huh. That's rather bare-bones and not what I'd been expecting. Now I think the question would be 'where did Lustrum find a fragmentary religion'? Because she doesn't strike me as the type to go digging for ancient faiths to revive."

"If Mom knew, she never said," I admitted. "Though I do know that she didn't just make it up, as some video game company on Aleph's been funding research into it for almost twenty years, and I saw something about a temple being found in their Ukraine a year or two back."

Squirming in a way that set my cheeks ablaze, she said "I wonder if anything new will come out of that then? Who knows, you might find yourself needing to familiarize yourself with a new god or something. I know reconstructive religion's a popular thing these days, but you and whoever else worships Kyne seem to have the most interesting one."

"Honestly, I'd make a note of it and just stick with Kyne herself," I replied with a couple of pokes to the cheek in the hopes of getting the squirming to stop. "Because barring any particularly appealing rediscovery, I think the Hawk's enough for me. An agricultural deity would be nice though, given our project."

Emily's lips twitched, before she stood up and headed back towards the shelter. "Well, we should probably start getting ready for bed. You especially, since you're the one who did most of the running around and stressful shit. Passing out in your armor isn't fun from what you've said, so you'd best avoid it again if you don't want to wake up all stiff."

Letting out an annoyed groan, I stood and followed her. Why was she being such a mother hen? It was… odd.

***

Kairafon, Tǩóymos, Feb 7, 2011.

A loud boom jolted me awake. The first thing I noticed was that the air was heavy and oppressive. The second was the wind buffeting the still makeshift shelter. Drenched in sweat, I sat upright as another boom, this one long and rumbling, sounded. Thunder. It was thunder. And I was in the tropics. Scrambling in a half panic, I slid past a stirring Emily and all but jammed my visor on. Sending the drones up as high as I could get them, I breathed a sigh of relief as the storm was almost immediately revealed to be to the east and moving further in that direction.

Flopping back down with a groan, I declared "We need weather radar fast."

"Wha?" Emily eloquently inquired groggily.

"Wet season's starting I think. Near-constant rain, heavy fog, possibly hurricanes. It's not going to be a fun time for the next few months…"

My friend mumbled something unintelligible before speaking again. "Great. What time is it?"

"About quarter to seven, so not that much earlier than we normally wake up," I replied after checking my HUD. "We're lucky and the storm's missed us, but there's still a heavy fog out there and the wind could pick up at any moment. I'm reasonably certain the shelter can take it, but getting it reinforced would be a good idea. Then once the weather clears up enough, we're going to start working preparing to replace it with something sturdier. My current thought is making us some concrete, as that's easier to put together quickly than bricks. We'll need to get a bunch of plywood sheets to make forms for the walls and fire bricks to build a kiln for firing roofing tiles, but it shouldn't be too hard to pull off because it isn't one of the contracted jobs, we can just go in, grab what we need, and then pop back home without any strings attached."

Then, stretching as I stood, I added "And actually, screw building a radar thing. We don't have what I'd need and we've got like twenty pounds of raw gold that we might be able to trade to Toybox for a more capable weather monitoring system than a primitive ground-based radar could without whatever strings going to my… benefactors… would inevitably have."

Giving an annoyed grunt, Emily pulled herself out of bed as another rumble of thunder rolled across us. Dressing quickly, I thought I heard her mutter something about 'amazing legs', but probably imagined it. Even with the changes in lifestyle I'd been through having burned off my old paunch, I wasn't much to look at. A toned stick was still a stick.

As I exited the shelter, the eastern horizon lit up in a brilliant curtain of blue-violet light as lightning shot through clouds hidden from sight by the dense fog enshrouding Kiarafon. If it weren't for the fact that I was wearing my visor and hadn't been looking in that direction, I probably would be blinking spots out. A tooth-rattling rumble hit seconds later just as I was crouching down to check the wire path into the shelter for leaks. Glancing at the drone feed again, I sighed. There still wasn't a clear view of the storm's size, and it looked to my inexpert eye like it was going to pile up against the mountains and flood the Alexandria.

The terrace with the crops was hopefully high enough not to be drowned, but the isthmus would definitely get inundated, which would be somewhat problematic. Kyne willing, the raft would still be usable for getting to and from the mainland.

"Out of curiosity, how does your faith view this sort of situation?"

Emily's voice from behind was unexpected, but I managed to disguise the flinch as turning to look at her. "A bit early for theological questions isn't it?"

The other girl snorted. "It came to mind, so I'm asking. Do you need to make offerings, or just pray for better weather?"

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Nah, we just accept things as they are. Storms are a part of life, and accepting that is necessary. Praying for safety is one thing, but asking that a storm not pass through is selfish. Far too often people forget that the world does not revolve around us, and that our problems with the natural world are because we keep failing to take it into account, instead of it being bad."

"Yeah, that's rather different from what I'm used to hearing about," she replied with a thoughtful note in her voice. "Though it's a sensible one I think. A nature goddess, no matter how friendly to humanity, would logically be focused more on nature than helping people control it. Also works out nicely from a secular standpoint, as your religion's original adherents probably noticed that praying or offering sacrifices for good weather didn't really provide notable results."

"Some religions have strict rules and mandated sacrifices," I grinned, "But that doesn't actually help people with the actually living that way part. 'Respect nature and the people who are just trying to survive it along with you' is much simpler and more straightforward. The Cult of the Storm Hawk has exactly zero principle that can be used to justify intolerance of anyone but the intolerant, as they make things harder on everyone else by weakening the group."

"Well, that's my curiosity settled for the moment. I'll get to work on breakfast while you finish up with what you're doing."

And wasn't that an abrupt shift. I was pretty sure I hadn't offended her in some way, but it was a little disconcerting regardless. Or maybe it was just me being still not fully awake.

***

Unnamed Location, Tǩóymos, Feb 8, 2011.

We needed a proper boat. The raft just was not suited to the task of hauling piles of rock, let alone doing so on the more open waters of the sound I had never actually gotten around to naming. It was good for traversing the Alexandria and moving small loads of material, but a freight barge it was not. In retrospect, grabbing a pallet or two of cement bags on a raid might have been a smarter move, but this at least meant getting some better local infrastructure.

Which was probably why I did it in the first place, come to think of it.

Then I froze, eyes widening as something clicked into place. My power, I might have just figured it out. Stubborn focus on creation of infrastructure, ability to casually determine what I needed for building major projects, instinctive ease in identifying the utility of resources… There was only one thing I could think of that really fit.

"I'm a civilization Tinker…" I breathed, almost not speaking the words aloud. That… it couldn't be the case. It was beyond anything any cape had had. But, a part of me reminded me, wasn't that also true of the Triumvirate? Or, more specifically, Eidolon. Actually, he, the Fairy Queen, and the Butcher were all… odd capes. Could there be some connection there?

I shook my head at that. I was getting back into Void Cowboy territory there, and straying a bit far from where I'd been intending to be thinking. The conspiracy theorist track was not a good one to be in for a cape, and if I were right about my specialization… Not good. And similarly, I should probably work more on my long-term planning. Too many times already had I run into issues with not looking far enough ahead, like with the shelter. Finding local foods was important, but without a proper handle on the local seasons and no weather information, a solid building that could withstand big storms is something I really should've gotten started on before now.

That firmly set in the back of my mind, I turned my focus to other matters as I kept punting my way through the shallows. Specifically, the layout of what Kairafon would become in the near future. The storehouse was already our active project, but an actual house was definitely up next, followed by various workshops for smithing and other tasks. Farm buildings would come after that, as would more houses for later recruits.

And speaking of recruits, I'd want to get in contact with Amy again. Both to let her know I was still alive, and to see if I could talk her into defecting before she was overcome by stress. She didn't deserve to be treated as a walking medkit like the news and PHO often did. Sure, her power would be a great benefit to my… whatever it was I was up to, but more importantly she'd be able to be Amy instead of Panacea. Aside from emergencies, her power would be used for what she wanted, rather than as a band-aid on the festering wounds of a dying city that didn't appreciate her.

The question was, how best to get in contact? I couldn't exactly rely on going out and bumping into her in civvies, but at the same time I didn't actually have any other means of getting a message to her beyond possibly sending her a PM on PHO and neither option for that, making a new civilian account or a cape one, was likely to actually work. Going the civilian account route would mean she'd probably ignore it as some rando trying to get close to her, while the cape account most definitely would go nowhere due to being a villain. Sure, she'd been clear that she, personally, didn't give a shit, but Brandish catching her chatting with a villain would likely not be conducive to finalizing Amy's recruitment…

Making a cape account was still going to happen though, as it'd be useful in both PR stuff and later recruiting, even if it probably wouldn't help with getting Amy onboard faster. What the screen name would be was another question of course, as I wasn't sure if it should be a personal cape account or one for the group I was building. Which itself needed a name, and a determination of just what it was that I was doing. Which probably should come first, as a country had different naming needs than a cape team or a movement.

Eh, going for the personal cape account was probably the best choice, as people would actually recognize who it was that way. I could always launch a more general account later if it were needed. It'd also have the benefit of not making it look like I had a larger organization than I actually had. People would assume that I was just giving a fake sob story at that point, rather than understanding that it was something I was building to alleviate my situation, which would take away the protection I got from being a known destitute. Also, the PRT would have to start being more aggressive towards me if it looked like I was building or already part of a gang.

Better by far to start the primary recruitment drive after it was clear that I wasn't going to be challenging the US Government's authority. I knew how well rocking the boat went for Lustrum.

Moving on from that line of thought, I had to decide if I was going to use my cape name as my handle or something alluding to it. I could even slip in a reference to where my base was with little issue or hint at being somewhere other than Bet. It'd take a pretty good Thinker to get that, say, 'Dawn Of The Coast' meant that I was based in a tropical coastal area on a different Earth, and I doubted I warranted Watchdog attention. Other villains would be a bigger concern, but there weren't any that high-end in Brockton Bay and I doubted that any outside group would be paying attention to a minor villain of little consequence.

Well, the Elite might because I was a Tinker, but that would require them paying the dying wreck of a city any consideration.

I froze mid-sweep. There was another group I would have to worry about once I started recruiting beyond possibly getting Bastard Son after me with intent to press-gang, the Nine. They were generally cowards, but they'd still attack places with major cape presences if things were unstable enough or they felt that getting at specific capes was worth the risk. Typically capes who were inspiring hope. A Tinker offering a fresh start to the people of a city on the edge, far from the crumbling mess of Earth Bet would definitely be targeted by both Jack Slash and Mannequin…

Well, I had months before that became an active concern. Months to plan out a response. And, perhaps, ensure any such attack backfired on them…
 
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Agriculture 4
Brockton Bay, Earth Bet, Feb 10, 2011.

A knife snapped against my brigandine as the clearly drugged out of reality Merchant attempted to stab me with the rusted blade. Why these losers were trying to rob a home improvement store, I had no idea, but it was rather annoying. It wasn't even like they'd brought a vehicle to haul off the appliances for drug-making or whatever it was they did, so it really didn't make any sense for them to be here. Or were the morons looking for chemicals to feed into a meth lab?

Ramming my fist into the now disarmed dumbass's gut, I then followed up with a knee to his groin and a leg sweep. Letting the poleaxed man drop, I then slammed an elbow into a second ganger's diaphragm. Instead of having the wind knocked out of her, she vomited all over her downed compatriot before passing out in a heap. I grabbed the piece of rebar she'd been holding and tossed it into a bin full of PVC piping before moving on to the plywood sheets that I'd come for in the first place.

I felt, rather than heard, the heavy footfalls as I reached for the last things I'd be needing to begin building my first permanent structure on Tǩóymos and let out a low groan. Was nothing going to go right on this run?

"Please tell me that it's Armsmaster approaching me, rather than the Nazi Murder Blender or one of the fascist bikini models," I snarked, doing my best to keep my heart rate from spiking.

A voice I had to have heard a thousand times on TV spoke in reply. "I'm impressed you noticed me Hausōs, given that your drones aren't about right now. Maintenance issues?"

Turning to make not eye contact with the man who had been my favorite hero and was probably technically here to arrest me, I couldn't help but feel a pang of resentment. Of Emma, who was working with him despite being even less of a hero than I was. Of Armsmaster himself, because of his ability to readily source any material or equipment he needed. And of what the man ultimately represented. The United States government, that didn't give a shit about anyone who wasn't rich unless they were a cape. Mom had once said things were different before parahumans, or at least there was an effort to make it seem that way, but that time was long since past.

In fact, with Cauldron selling powers, it wouldn't be at all surprising if there were numerous secret parahumans among the rich and powerful. Major business leaders, A-list celebrities, politicians, maybe even the PRT, for all that it'd be illegal… And depending on when the whole thing started, they could've been there since the Eighties. Hell, Cauldron might've been responsible for powers being a thing in the first place for all I knew. It'd certainly explain some things…

Pushing all that down, I shook my head in response. "No, they're just elsewhere in the building as I wasn't expecting to get jumped by Merchants right off the bat. Threw my entire flow off, which is rather annoying. Now, I'm guessing you're here to arrest me?"

Much to my surprise, that elicited a chuckle in place of the expected confirmatory nod. "Do you want me to? Personally, I would rather see you join either the Wards or the Juvenile Cape Rehabilitation Program of your own accord, but the system would settle for you getting your feet under yourself and moving away from crime as soon as possible. The only things I plan on asking you right now are what you're looking for, and why you haven't been 'paying' with gold nuggets if you have access to them."

"Uh, I was needing plywood to make forms for pouring concrete," I said in a slight daze. Why was I telling him that? Like, it would probably not hurt at this point as they'd have to be actively trying to not know I was based somewhere outside the city at this point, but just outright telling him I was working on felt a little off. Probably because of the risk of some Protectorate Thinker puzzling things out. On the other hand, I was now curious as to just what Armsmaster was planning.

"As for why I haven't been paying with random bits of gold, I have exactly no idea how or where to convert the stuff into cash, and nowhere takes the stuff as normal payment. Doing so at Leonard's was kinda spur of the moment due to having actually had the nugget in my pocket at the time. That, and they were selling quality handmade clothing, which is really good to have…"

The Protectorate leader nodded with what seemed like a thoughtful look on what was visible of his face. "Yes, I do see how that would be an issue for a young displaced cape. Still, I cannot allow you to rob this store."

He then pulled a card out of a pouch on his waist and held it up. Not a business card though, but a credit card or similar. "Recall your drones then Hausōs and go find a trolley, this robbery is being thwarted into being a perfectly legitimate shopping excursion."

I stared at the man, wide eyed. That… was not supposed to be how this went. It wasn't that I wanted to fight a cape I'd admired for years, but him flipping the script like this was disconcerting. Still, it probably was a better outcome from a material standpoint, as this meant being able to get more plywood than I'd have otherwise been able to. There was even a decent chance of being able to get enough to build the storehouse walls in much larger sections.

Triggering the recall function on the drones as asked, I then set off back towards the front where the specified carriers were located. As I did so, I spotted a pair of normal cops standing guard over the two Merchants and had to suppress a shudder at the look one of the two officers shot at me. It wasn't a pleasant one, and not in the usual way. Like he wanted something but wasn't sure he could get it. Which was creepy.

Very deliberately moving on, I quickly found what I was looking for and made a beeline back to Armsmaster. Something told me that sticking around that man was a bad idea.

"So then," the hero said as I started loading the big plywood sheets onto the trolley. "How long do you think it will take you to reestablish yourself and be able to start supporting your tinkering through legitimate means?"

Oh, that was the worst thing he could've asked. I couldn't give him any answer that would be even vaguely satisfying to him without revealing Cauldron, and doing that would… probably not end well. So I'd have to give the only response that I had.

"I don't know. Food is becoming less of an issue, some things I can now get by trading with Toybox, and most of what's needed to start exploiting the local resources I already have in some form or can make soon enough. But things like medicine and proper clothes are a different story. Same with a bunch of construction materials like the plywood. I can build the infrastructure, but that will take some time and the only way to speed it up is more people. And your bosses are unlikely to appreciate me recruiting on any meaningful scale."

I paused my shifting of sheets and rolled my shoulders with a groan. "Assholes probably would claim I'm building a gang or insurgency. I'm not interested in contesting control of anywhere, nor establishing a criminal organization to parasitize on those just trying to get by. I'm just doing what I have to so I can have my own life again..."

"Are you being blackmailed?"

The question caught me off-guard and I couldn't help but wince. "Not… blackmailed, exactly, but the deal I had to make to get the place I'm living now has… well, I have to occasionally hit assigned locations for them. What they get out of it, I can't tell you, but it's the price for a fresh start that I'd badly needed."

Armsmaster frowned, but didn't comment. Instead, he just turned and pulled down a selection of large lumber beams, adding them to the growing collection on the trolley.
"There, I believe you now have everything needed for casting concrete. Is this a reinforced structure or unreinforced?"

"Um, unreinforced," I replied, almost stumbling over my words at the fact that I was technically talking tinkering with Armsmaster. "It's just a small single story storehouse that can survive harsh weather better than the quick and dirty thing I threw together earlier. Not like the Romans did reinforcement, and what I'm building is nowhere near their level. Just a few basic structures I'll be needing."

"Then unless you need anything else here, we're done," the hero stated. "Though before we proceed to the check-out, I think it prudent to pass on a warning. The fact that Askā selected Silver Dawn based on knowledge acquired in her personal life got out, and the Empire may be able to use that information to compromise her identity. If they do, it's possible they could find your base should you use nearby communities as places to be out of costume. Should that happen, well, the Empire is suspected to ignore the unspoken rules when they can get away with it and has connections to a German cape group called Gesellschaft that is known to engage in human trafficking."

I shuddered. The idea of the Nazis getting access to my base… That was not at all pleasant to consider. Happily, they didn't have any Tinkers of their own. "I don't think there's a risk of them finding me, but thanks for the warning anyway. I've been back here in civvies and they might be able to possibly link her to me in other ways."

"Best to avoid being out together either way, as you were already in their sights and hitting a front or sympathizer while all but admitting your teammate is from a sympathizer family is only going to make it worse."

Nodding, I began pushing the now fully laden trolley towards the front. "Yeah, we didn't think that quite all the way through, but what's done is done. And, uh, how are your superiors going to take you buying me stuff?"

He snorted, a very unexpected sound from the man, in response. "This is actually on an expense account we have specifically to pay off villainous tinkers so they focus more on their work than crime. You're probably the first to benefit from it locally in several years, as Leet commits crimes for entertainment and most other tinkers who turn up in the Bay don't stick around. There's currently a grand total of five here not part of the Protectorate. We might be up to six soon though, as Lung is suspected to be attempting to recruit the Cornell Bomber for the ABB. And a bomb tinker is the last thing this city needs."

That sounded like an understatement actually. The Bay needed a terrorism-inclined bomb tinker about as much as it needed a visit from all three Endbringers.

"Hopefully they take each other out instead," I replied with a scowl. "Preferably managing to somehow off Kaiser in the process. I don't think the Bay could survive having tinkertech bombs going off every time the ABB and Empire clash…"

Armsmaster nodded at that. "Quite. Now, once we've got your items paid for, there are a few more things that need to be covered. Mainly checks Child Protective Services requires us to make, but also some Dragon and I feel are necessary."

Wincing at that, I made the groan familiar to anyone working with teens. One of the greatest downsides to being non-threatening and then not fleeing when confronted: government bureaucracy sticking its nose into my business…

"Relax Hausōs, all CPS wants to know is what steps you're taking to ensure you're taking care of yourself. They aren't looking to micromanage you like the Youth Guard has tried to do with underage independents, just confirm you aren't doing anything stupid like subsisting on junk food, and see if you need to access any of their support resources. What you tell me will determine what assistance they'll offer, it has nothing to do with you engaging in villainous activity, just their standard approach to underage parahumans operating without adult support. My own interest is in ensuring you have sufficient ability to use your powers so you don't suffer from the known problems stemming from not using parahuman abilities that may drive you into more serious criminal activity. Dragon wants contact information and details on your internet connection so she can address any validation problems you have and reduce the number of sourceless requests."

I blinked and stared at the hero, who merely chuckled in response. "I've heard that enough times to know what that groan means. I don't like how so much of this support is limited to parahumans, but that is likely because it's capes who pose a big enough threat to force the government to actually offer solutions. And unfortunately the existing system is still better than the parahuman warlordism that looks to be the alternative, so here I stay."

He then began scanning the tags on the various pieces we'd collected with the doohickey the self-checkout station had. A dozen eight-foot sheets of plywood, another dozen 4x6 boards, and a caulking gun with three tubes that he must have grabbed while I was getting the trolley. This haul was vastly better than I'd been expecting, and I wasn't actually sure how I'd bring it all back. Armsmaster however seemed to have also noticed the issue, as he started binding the boards and sheets together with some sort of plastic tie extruded from one of his gauntlets. Probably some sort of restraint fabricator normally.

"So," he said once he'd run the expense card and confirmed the purchase. "What are you doing for food security? Agriculture I presume is part of it, going by how you've acquired seeds and potatoes, but what we know you have isn't going to be sufficient to have a good diet."
This was going to be annoying to explain without giving things away too early…

"And so you are aware, one of the fruits you dropped during your first encounter with Zenith was recovered and analyzed. I know you aren't on Bet," he added quietly, seeming very deliberate to keep anyone else from hearing.
Well, shit. That… could be bad. Oh Winds, that could be very bad.

Taking a deep breath, I replied "I… would appreciate that information not spreading, especially since I'm not remotely prepared to handle the inevitable response."

When he gave an understanding nod, I continued "Foraging is currently my main source of food that isn't coming from crime, though we're working on getting a proper farm going with a wider range of crops and Askā is currently testing some different ways of fishing and trapping. Hopefully we'll be able to stop relying on processed meats and canned fruit within the month, and if the survivalist sites pay off we'll have the agricultural side of things fully handled. Overall, nutrition's mostly worked out and adequate, if my scanners are as good as I think they are."

Armsmaster gave me a slight smile and a satisfied nod. "Excellent. That should be enough to keep CPS from demanding access to your base and putting you through survival courses for the next year."

My incredulous look lost behind my visor, he continued "Now, what are you doing to satisfy your power needs?"

"Built a hydro-generator, datalink for internet, currently making concrete and clay roofing tiles. That all seems to be doing the trick for now, but I'm starting to feel an itch to forge something soon, so I'll need to build a forge reasonably fast."

Even with his eyes concealed, I could see the skeptical look he was giving me. What could I say, my power was amazing. And helpful as he was, I wasn't telling him my suspicion about my specialization, because that was something he would not be able to get away with concealing outside of a declared Truce. A civilization Tinker would be far too big to be overlooked, and everyone would be after me if so much as a rumor got out…

"As for my internet connection, I used a protocol similar to the one used for interfacing with Aleph's internet, just with a different identifier string to avoid looking like an Aleph connection. Which, thinking about it, might be why my attempt to sign up on PHO failed, since it's supposed to be configured to only take Bet traffic."

A soft whir heralded a business card emerging from his currently still stowed halberd, which he then passed to me. "Here. If your email address is valid, just send Dragon one and she will be able to help you get your connection sorted out. Be aware though, she will be sharing it with CPS so they can communicate with you as well. It isn't malicious, just her following the law regarding unsupervised underage independents. A warrant would be required to trace your account, and I suspect you're not hosting it yourself anyways."

I stared dumbstruck at the man. He'd just handed me some of the most coveted contact information on the planet in the most casual manner. So I could get help troubleshooting my internet connection. Me. A nobody villain. Kyne's Breath, what was my life now?
 
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Agriculture 5 New
Kairafon, Tǩóymos, Feb 10, 2011.

"So, how did your excursion go Taylor?" Emily asked as I exited the storehouse. She looked to be frying something somewhat resembling a fish, if fish were six-legged land animals with jaws that could crush a coconut if it weren't only eight inches long.

Dropping down next to her, I replied "Surreal. Ran into Armsmaster, who proceeded to buy me what I needed instead of making even a token effort to bring me in like the Wards do. He then inquired as to if I was taking proper care to ensure I was tinkering enough and eating right, then gave me Dragon's email address so we can sort out internet trouble and talk shop. The only way it makes any sense is if this is some sort of recruitment play, but I'm honestly not sure where the hook is in the bait. There has to be one, but where?"

An arm wrapped around my shoulder and pulled me close against her as she continued to cook her catch. "It's possible there isn't. As much as the government sucks for normal people, they treat even the Empire with a light hand out of fear. Flipping you would look good on his file, yes, but the PRT's job is to keep people like us from deciding that tearing down the government and taking over is the better option. If that means being nice to you and buying stuff to keep you happy, so be it. That is the catch you were looking for. And Armsmaster might even just be trying to help you with the tools he has available. Or he could be doing so as cynically as the government he works for. We'll see in time."

"Anyways," I said, deciding to change the subject. "I see your own efforts were successful. What is that thing you're cooking?"

She shrugged, "Some sort of coelacanth relative if my web browsing is at all accurate. Different enough that the issues the Wikipedia article says exist for eating them don't seem to be present in these ones. So might not be coelacanth at all, just something that has a similar look. Probably doesn't matter though, food is food and we can call it what we want."

"Well, it smells good at least. Maybe it's not what it looks like, but that doesn't really matter beyond whatever novelty there might be," I replied, smiling slightly. "Any other successes?"

"Caught a ground-dwelling bird about the size of a chicken, but it escaped when I tried to extract it from the snare it was in. So that needs to get sorted out if we want to have those as an option. Other than that, nothing yet. Though knowing more about the local wildlife would probably make finding the right traps easier…"

***​

Kairafon, Tǩóymos, Feb 11, 2011.

Digging footing trenches for concrete walls was rather different from ones for setting crude wooden walls. Instead of a scant couple of inches for bracing, I had to cut all the way down to the bedrock to have a good enough space for a proper foundation. Admittedly, it was only around eight inches, but that was still rather a bit more digging needed. Getting the footings done right would be a bit of a pain, but without a frostline to worry about, I wouldn't need to get fancy. In fact with the local conditions being what they were, I probably could even just go with a simple slab for a foundation, but it would actually be more work than fiddling with footings. This way, I could build the new storehouse around the old and then dismantle the latter once the former was completed, rather than having to either pick a new site within Kairafon and doing a lot of moving of supplies or dismantle the old storehouse first and then not have any shelter for people or supplies until the work was done. It meant having to make a floor afterwards though, instead of being able to just use the base slab, but I could deal with that.

Despite the impression I had probably left with Armsmaster, I wasn't planning on casting the entirety of the walls, but rather just the lower portions, as I didn't have what I needed to pour the stuff higher up. The upper section would be made of concrete bricks more like what the Romans often did, and would likely have a slightly different composition. Nothing huge, but poured concrete required more specific fine aggregate than the brick form. River sand, rather than any grit I happened to have on hand. Happily, I had a variety of sands to choose from, including well-worn riverine stuff.

Once the footing trench was done, I walked over to where Emily was agitating the thick slurry we'd blended up earlier and scooped a mass of it out with a bucket we'd acquired in a previous raid. That bucketfull was then dumped into the trench, followed by another, and another, until it was filled with slowly setting concrete. With that done, I quickly set about assembling the forty-eight foot long mold that would form the bulk of the main wall. Everything else would have to be bricked in with smaller hand-formed blocks later on. For stability and strength reasons, the plywood sheets were set such that the bottoms were further apart than the tops. This would change as material was added to fill the space, pushing out the upper part and resulting in a straighter wall than I might otherwise get with the limited bracing I could apply for stiffness.

Filling the mold took many batches of concrete being mixed, and quite a bit more time than I'd been hoping for. Which meant I'd not be trying this method again any time soon, as it was not offering much benefit over block construction at this point, what with the fact I wasn't doing any reinforcement and didn't have the tools to easily pour concrete. That, and blocks could be produced in bulk ahead of time instead of struggling with one of us stirring concrete while the other poured it. At that point, all that would need doing would be adding water to a cement premix, which would be far more manageable.

"You know," Emily said, plopping down next to me where I was sprawled on a rock "this probably would've been a lot easier if we had gotten a bunch of cement bags and a mixer, instead of scrounging up the raw ingredients and combining by hand."

Letting out a low groan, I replied "I'll agree with you on it being easier, but making our own is the better choice. More control over the properties, no fly ash, and the less thorough blending makes for a degree of self-repairing capacity in the material. Getting a mixer though is definitely something that would be good to do before we start on any other buildings."

"Yeah, no shit we need the mixer Tay," the other girl retorted as she laid down herself. "The biggest one we can find, preferably. A clay-lined pit and a stick is a terrible method and we had to make up more far too often for my liking."

***​

Kairafon, Tǩóymos, Feb 12, 2011.

Of all the things I'd expect to find outside the storehouse in the morning, a four-legged avian that vaguely resembled a cross between a dog and a large cat was not one of them. Nor was said strange animal looking up from where it was curled up against the still encased concrete wall and giving a warbling trill before lowering its head back into the feathery ball of clearly predatory animal on that hypothetical list. This looked to be the local equivalent to a wolf or wild cat, so why was it here, acting almost as if it were a domestic animal? Was it a sign from Kyne that I was doing well? An animal that decided we weren't a danger to it and had a nice place to take shelter? Or was I just dreaming?

"Taylor," Emily said, poking her head out from behind me "is that a cat-bird that's acting like a dog?"

Well, that answered the last question. Still nothing on just why this critter had decided to show up here. On second thought though, I could probably rule out it being a sign, as throwing animal companions at people didn't really fit what I knew about the wild goddess. That just left figuring out what made this clearly predatory animal decide the strange bipedal things with the weird smells and noises were safe to be around. Because it was not normal behavior for wild animals, and the circumstances I'd heard proposed for how humans started domesticating wolves into dogs weren't really at play here, same with the theories about cats.

"Looks like it," I replied, still staring at the animal. "I genuinely have no idea why it's here though, or why it's not being aggressive. Really the only thing clear to me is that it doesn't consider us a threat at the moment. Approaching it could very easily change that though, so it'd be best to keep our distance and let it make the first move again."

Emily nodded and then disappeared back inside to grab the cooking gear so we could have breakfast. We'd have to keep an eye on the cat-bird thing, but so long as it didn't get in the way or steal food from us, we could probably more or less ignore it for now. If it started causing problems, we'd deal with it then, as it could otherwise end up being helpful and domestication would always have to start somewhere. And there was a good reason dogs were the earliest animal we domesticated, not some form of livestock.

Putting that aside for the moment, I began inspecting the concrete as best I could without approaching the cat-bird too closely. Which wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do, but I managed well enough to get a good idea of the condition of the wall. The curing was going well, aided greatly by the heat and humidity, but still not far enough along to remove the mold. This evening or tomorrow morning would be better for that, as the wall would be solid enough by then. Once that was done, it'd be time to start making blocks to fill in the ends and bring the wall up to full height.

This would mean more expeditions to gather the raw materials, as we'd used up almost everything we had collected previously. Fortunately, our prior work would make this time easier, and the change to a dryer formulation would simplify things. Less sea water needing to be collected and hauled back up river, no concerns about the sand type, the ability to have both of us working to make the stuff and then form it, and the fact that we could take a bit more time with it. While I still didn't have a good idea of exactly what the weather was going to be, it was at least becoming clear we weren't actually in the wet season quite yet.

Once we had the materials to finish the walls and the mixer we were planning on stealing, figuring out the roof would be next, as that would be less straightforward. Making and firing tiles would be pretty simple, but the framework that those would be mounted on was going to be more annoying with what we had available. While tools to shape wood had been acquired over the past month, this was something that might be better served by Bet-sourced treated lumber with greater moisture resistance than the raw timber we could produce locally. I probably should've seen about getting beams for that purpose with Armsmaster, but that's hindsight for you. It wasn't like I couldn't correct that oversight my normal way.

Shaking my head, I turned back and walked to our cooking area where Emily was frying what smelled like pancakes. Something we'd had maybe once since she grabbed the mix box on her first run. It'd be a nice reward of sorts for all the hard work yesterday, and treats were essential for keeping up motivation in survival situations like this. Just like the tea from both the remaining bags that I was gifted, and the stuff Emily had started brewing from blissfruit blossoms.

My friend looked up from the frying pan with a slight smile. "Done with the wall for the moment then? Figured I'd have us something nicer than usual after yesterday, even if it is a bit more work. Would be nice if we had bacon or link sausage, but hopefully that will happen eventually. Probably with scratch-made pancakes instead of the instant mix stuff. Might even do guava jam or something so we can have a truly amazing celebratory breakfast to mark us having reached the point we can do that."

"I think baked French toast might be better for that," I said, sitting down next to her, "but otherwise sounds great to me. Might even end up being part of a harvest festival of some sort. First grain harvest after we're self-sufficient maybe. There's an entire new culture to build on top of Kairafon, and the two of us have a boatload of influence over what that would be right now. And probably will for quite a while, until we have a meaningful population at least. Maybe longer, depending on how much people follow our lead there."

I paused and blinked. That would mean… It couldn't. But I was pretty sure it did. "This is probably a big responsibility that we should treat with gravity and respect rather than abuse it for fun and our own benefit. On the other hand, it's an opportunity to build a society in our preferred image…"

Emily snorted and replied "Don't let it go to your head Taylor, and don't design it solely for shits and giggles, and it should be fine. Practical but fun I think should be a good base."

"Nuts, that means no dancing in the rain tradition," I snarked back with a grin. "How will I ever enjoy myself?"

That got me a laugh and a smacked shoulder, before the two of us just sat in companionable silence. Or what I hoped was companionable silence. Either way, it was just the sound of cooking, the hissing burner, and the wildlife. Several minutes passed before either of us spoke again, and her chosen topic caught me off guard.

"So, what do you think will happen to the old world once we're at a point where we can safely cut ourselves off from Bet?"

That… wasn't something I'd given any thought, but that was probably because it didn't seem to matter. "No idea, but probably not much. Even if we were to siphon off the entire population of Brockton Bay, it wouldn't make any real difference there. Even with the Endbringers, there's five billion people on Bet, and almost three-hundred million in the US. We can't possibly have a noticeable impact on anything there, especially with how we definitely aren't going to be bringing in the entire city for obvious reasons."

Laying back and taking a deep breath, I added "Now, what happens here is easier to answer. We grow and expand, developing new technologies and ideas, new culture, and a better world. It might sound naive, but I genuinely think that if we play our cards right we can make something beyond what anyone back on Bet could ever dream of. I'm the daughter of a union man and a former activist, I was taught about what the world could be like if we had a system that was meant to meet everyone's needs instead of enriching those who already have more than enough… We could accomplish that here, and without all the pitfalls and failings of those who tried to build such a system in the past. We aren't having to fight a civil war or an insurrection to make an opening, nor do we have opportunists waiting in the wings to take over once we've spent ourselves doing so. If we have enough set up, and bring in more people carefully, we could have something durable established by the time we start having to worry about it."

Taking a moment to flip the pancake she was working on, Emily said "You know, I didn't exactly take you for a communist, given your dislike of authority and government."

"I'm not," I replied with a snort and a soft shove. "Anarchist perhaps, but I've never really thought about this sort of thing in terms of ideology. I just think that there is no reason for some people to have an abundance while others are struggling. Happy, healthy, and well-fed people are going to do better than sick, hungry, and miserable ones, and that benefits everyone."

"So basically if your ideal world lines up with an ideology, you don't know or particularly care. You just want what you want," she stated.

"Yep, my goal is really just a proper answer to Sir Terry Pratchett's Boot Theory of economics. The fact that being poor costs more than being rich is both ridiculous and pointless. If resources are that scarce, we shouldn't be wasting them on cheap garbage that doesn't last and instead try to distribute them as evenly as possible in order to provide as best we can. Anything else is just willful cruelty. And that offends me," I said before standing again.

Walking over to the edge of the headland, I stared out over the river towards the sound. "We have so much here, so much potential… It'd be a shame to waste it on petty bullshit as humanity has been doing. This won't be some sort of flawless utopia, but that's not really the point. A new start, with a new direction and a new set of ways it can go wrong. But a chance to make something better and greater nonetheless."

Emily snorted, before tossing the now finished pancake onto a plate. "Alright Tay, you sold me on this a month ago already. Enough with the monologuing and have breakfast you firebrand, we can talk about how to organize the colony once we have an actual foothold here and not just a half-built warehouse. Priorities, girl."

I couldn't help but giggle at that, and accepted the offered plate with a smile. "Yeah, we've got a lot of work to do, and it starts with eating."

***​

I slumped to the ground with a groan next to the raft almost immediately after the two of us finished unloading it. The pace we were setting on resource gathering was probably not a healthy one, going by how sore I was, but I wasn't sure if we had much choice in it. At least one permanent structure was needed before the rainy season hit, and we didn't have a good idea when that would come. Still, once the storehouse was finished, we could slow down safely, take our time, and relax a bit. Probably take advantage of Dragon's contact information at that point too, and see about ordering those seeds that we'd be needing to have a sustainable supply of crops.

After several minutes of lying like a log, I gingerly pulled myself to my feet and started back up the path towards the higher terraces. It was time to check the concrete again, and I suspected that I'd be peeling off the plywood too. The wall was curing fast, and it was likely at the point where it could stand on its own. Hopefully I'd be able to reuse the panels, as there were other things I could use them for afterwards. I could do without, or utilize smaller pieces, but them coming down intact would be preferable.

The cat-bird critter was nowhere to be seen when I reached the storehouse, so I got right to work. As I'd expected, the concrete had indeed cured enough to be reasonably solid, and thus the plywood removal began. Annoyingly, the first piece broke as I peeled it off the wall, but the rest came off more cleanly. This left me with five reasonably whole sheets and a pile of fragments, some of which looked like they could be salvaged for various uses. Like making a brick mold, or rather a template for multiple such molds. Looking over the recovered materials, I blinked, then smacked my forehead into one palm.

"Why didn't I get a crowbar for this?" I groaned. "That would've made it so much easier!"
 
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