he's a good cover artist i've herd afew songs he's done covers of before you should check out his cover for The Lion King song be preparedI'd never heard of this guy before, but he sounds awesome!
Have a gilded post.
Contractual Villainy
- Thread starter Sandy River DL
- Start date
OK, so, I got distracted and lost where this was for a bit, but thanks to someone highlighting the thread for me, lets get back to it.
My basis for that comes from reading human physiological development texts, and the training with both logic and empathy required to separate cause proxima from cause ultima.
For children, and we must remember that for all Missy takes pains to present herself as mature, she is still a child, cause only extends, intuitively, to the immediate.
Using Missy as the example, because she is the discussion context.
She is aware that the PRT, the Protectorate and the Wards program have flaws, and long standing issues, however has not fully explored what that means outside of the context of how those agencies interact with herself.
The Wards program, and specifically her place within it is something that she is using as a coping mechanism for her own long standing trauma, leading to her being unwilling to cast a too critical eye over it. After all, being Vista gives her a sense of meaning, and an escape, (albeit a few hours at a time) from the abuse of her parents.
As such, Missy's initial response to anything that threatens to remove that coping mechanism, and remove that sense of meaning, would be hostile.
Such a threat would include new regulations restricting access to, or reducing hours of, the program.
So with that in mind, the immediate knee-jerk reaction is that the cause of those new regulations is the enemy.
It can't be the PRT/Protectorate/Wards Program, since that would involve quite the case of cognitive dissonance, despite the fact that they are enforcing the new policies.
It could be the Youth Guard, but what has caused them to do something now? After all, in Missy's mind, the YG are ineffectual busybodies gritting the gears. they *don't* make major moves and upset the proverbial apple cart.
So is has to be the fault of whatever prompted the YG to take action, and that comes down to the PRT's interactions with Taylor.
Remembering that the PRT is coded as "The good guys", means that Taylor is automatically coded as "The bad guy".
Missy is a twelve year old at the start of Worm canon, she is only starting to develop the ability to look at a sequence and automatically start parsing it backwards to a root cause. She *can* do it, but she would need prompting to do so.
Doing it automatically, isn't common until people are 16-17, and frankly, a large number still fail to do so in their mid twenties.
Present the situation in way that gets around the selfish framing of "It causes me harm" and sure, she'll see a fellow victim of " the powers that be", but without that, she'll never look for it. After all, it really does "Cause me harm", and so the ideal that Taylor is not the cause of the pain, but only the unwitting activator of it, will go unexplored.
And given that, why would Missy consider that Taylor has anything real to offer her?
For that matter, why would Taylor offer anything to someone who only attacks?
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
We're still confused as to how that lands Missy on blaming Taylor. She doesn't need to put the blame on the PRT or Youth Guard, when Emma/Danny (whichever you want) is right there. Doing stuff she's long since internalized are wrong (Emma) or reminding her rather uncomfortably of her own Trigger (Danny).
- Location
- Beyond the Unknowable Veil
And here we have the author's authorial authorized version. With authority.
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
And that's not even dealing with how Missy neither knows about the Emma-Danny-Hausos connections, nor has anything happened to impinge on her Vista Time.
Yeah, this is why Psych is hard.
Yes, Emma and Danny are right there, but the link between them and the pain/loss that Missy feels as an ultimate result of their actions is not as obvious.
In isolation, yes what Emma did/is doing to Taylor is bad, Taylor deserves Empathy. Yes what Danny did to Taylor is bad, Taylor deserves empathy.
Yet combined with how Missy feels harmed as a result of Taylor's actions, there would be a temptation towards 1, feeling that those actions are pre-post-emptive punishment for the pain that Missy feels, and 2, " How does your pain mean you get to hurt me?", neglecting that Taylor had no intention to hurt Missy at all.
this is rather more to the point, however, this discussion does rather hinge on the fact that those connections will get out, and most likely by way of bureaucratic ass covering
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Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
Again, if Missy sees Emma going Police Brutality on Taylor, and then she gets her Vista Time curtailed, she's be more likely to blame Emma. Because Emma do Bad Thing, Missy Suffers. You don't need much maturity to see that kind of basic cause and effect. And she's a fairly mature twelve too. She's young, not stupid.
And again, nothing's happened to impinge on Vista Time, so we're not sure why you're so into finding reasons for her to dislike Taylor because of someone she's established to not trust (you'll notice that Emma doesn't know her civilian ID) or a much older man she happens to work with.
and yet, I am aware of thirty year olds with no major mental impediment who would have trouble with that concept. The cognetive bias of someone presented as a villain can, and often does overwhelm that spark of sense, in those who are not in the socioeconomic position of that "villain".
Anything that promises to invoke greater and more intrusive oversight is a threat to "Vista Time", as Vista is prone to freelancing (working outside of the oversight of the chain of command). The idea that someone will check more carefully the hours and extent of on duty time is very much a threat to Missy, as she uses as many of those hours as she can possible scrounge to avoid her parents.
as for Emma not knowing Hausos's ID, true and partial point. As you stated that Missy isn't stupid, well neither is Emma (Foolish I would give you). Emma has atleast some clues pointing to Taylor, even if she doesn't have certainty.
but hey, If you are stating as the Author that you don't want to take the Fic in that direction, all good.
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
...Missy's been a Ward for two years, and knows that briefing about the kind of villain Taylor is quite well. She'd hardly blame the actions of her own team mates on someone she's well aware is in a bad place.
Emma doesn't know Vista's civilian ID.
to avoid an argument that goes in circles, I will take this as a declarative "we aren't going there"
ah, this bit I misread.
Agriculture 1
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
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.
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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MaimakteriAnn
(Verified Sleepy)
- Location
- Enormous And Round Terran Homeworld
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Dr
oh nice. i love this one.
I cant wait to see the mall raid. Also I hope some other hero uses the time to establish themselves in the public's mind as Hausos' white hat opposite. Hopefully someone seen as trying to redeem her. It would drive Emma up the fucking wall. Oh god. or she is benched that day for bad behaviour and cauldron rules it her own damn fault for behaving badly after she set the date.
There are so many ways this can go deliciously.
I cant wait to see the mall raid. Also I hope some other hero uses the time to establish themselves in the public's mind as Hausos' white hat opposite. Hopefully someone seen as trying to redeem her. It would drive Emma up the fucking wall. Oh god. or she is benched that day for bad behaviour and cauldron rules it her own damn fault for behaving badly after she set the date.
There are so many ways this can go deliciously.
EnygmaSoul
Company of Negotiable Virtue
- Location
- In your eyes and in your arms and in your head.
Sandy! I'm so glad to see you actively working on this again!
- Location
- Philippines
Yay update
Also the start of her part time villainy
Also the start of her part time villainy
Although around 2011 was when the book stores were starting to close before making a bit of a comeback.
Hollow Mask
Horrid Failure
- Location
- South of Dignity, North of Embarassment
Hallelujah, This is back! *Points dramatically* To the Re-Read!
But, more seriously, depending on the nature of the Mall and it location, could yield: Armor/Protection, Bedding/Linen, Cooking supplies/Food, Entertainment, Food, Gardening, Hunting and Tinkering supplies. People who knew Taylor could be present. Lots of interesting options. I look forward to seeing the next act of villiany.
But, more seriously, depending on the nature of the Mall and it location, could yield: Armor/Protection, Bedding/Linen, Cooking supplies/Food, Entertainment, Food, Gardening, Hunting and Tinkering supplies. People who knew Taylor could be present. Lots of interesting options. I look forward to seeing the next act of villiany.
- Location
- Europe
The stoned hobo is sticking up a convenience store whilst mumbling about munchies^^
I love the idea^^
The thoughts running through Emily's brains were hilarious. the context-less reactions of taylor can be understood in so many ways.
I love the idea^^
The thoughts running through Emily's brains were hilarious. the context-less reactions of taylor can be understood in so many ways.
I love the dimensional get-away ! Can't wait to see others females members of Cauldron lounging in the hot springs and 'Tessa sipping on prime biological coffee !
Thank you for writing !
Thank you for writing !
Please tell me Taylor isn't going to be wiring her only way back in series, that is such a bad idea for something that likely needs a stable supply of power, also is Taylor going to be adding any form of transformer to prevent damaging power spikes?
- Location
- Beyond the Unknowable Veil
Optimus Prime! Defender of delicate electronics!
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
It lives! Glad to see this one is back.
I've got the target picked and the scene underway, and I think people will find the choice an interesting one...
Next chapter, which will hopefully not take nearly as long to get out. And as for the rest of this, well, Planz are had.
I think everyone will find the choice of target and the reasoning interesting. Along with the local response.
At the moment, she's making a single power line to her exactly three electricity-needing systems, which are connected to the line by breakers. She'll get a more sophisticated set-up built once she's no longer using a bare-bones DC circuit feeding two battery chargers and a piece of conventional bullshit tinkertech.