[ PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT ] ; take a step back, i'm on fire

[postictal]

[Hey, everybody, guess what? Tim's been a busy boy.]

alright 2 things

1. i got 30 flare guns. each has 4 rounds with 2 colors: red and blue. blue is if you need help. red is to tell everyone to clear out cause of serious danger. i'm at the storyteller's temple if you need one. don't need to trade anything but like i said i only have 30 so if you travel in a group and keep together you should just have 1 between you all. if you run out of flares you gotta ask ST for more.

2. who here knows how to fight. just putting it out there it might be good to have some people we all know can handle themselves if someone needs help. guard task force security group call it whatever you want itd just be damn handy to know who to ask for in a fight

thats all

-tim

[ooc: feel free to respond here via the iStone 5s or via an action prompt at the Storyteller's temple!]

Comments

[prettypurpleparlor]

Fair enough.

As for the flare guns, I can do something similar by just tossing out some magic and aiming directly up. It doesn't allow for the useful color-coding you mentioned, but since we don't have an unlimited supply I thought it better to leave them for people who didn't have even that option.

[Honestly, given how her bullets are shaped... If people see a bunch of spiders and baked goods, they're probably going to be able to guess whose magic that is. So at least they'll be able to tell it's her?]

[postictal]

[So she's set. They're fortunate that enough magic-users are capable of signalling in a way that'll be recognizable to others.]

Makes sense. 'Specially with that whole...mess with the sun, I think it's good if we have something that we know's gonna show up in the dark. [Stuff travels by word of mouth here. And fast.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

Quite. Your decision to begin stockpiling food is timely, seeing as I'm not sure how well crops will be growing for the duration.

[She was already making sure to build up a good supply of food before she heard about the whole 'week of total darkness' thing, but that made it an even higher priority.]

Speaking of which, how are you doing on warm clothing at the moment? I've been warned it's going to be rather cold while we're without sunlight, so I've been weaving a few things that might be better suited to the chill.

[postictal]

Right now, I've got enough flammable shit to keep me going.

[So...no jackets, or much of anything. He lost his blanket tearing it up for other people's injuries. But they've got an abundance of lumber and he's got an abundance of ways to set that wood alight, so he should be set. Light and heat might make a good barricade, to be sure.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

I'm not sure that's necessarily the best way to keep warm, but I suppose it's better than nothing. Do at least feel free to send anyone who you find needs some warm clothing my way. A scarf or two is hardly that much time out of my day, and I'd rather not lose anyone to frostbite.

[Do you see this face, Tim. This is the face of a spider who is judging your life choices. But she's pretty sure you're a grown man, so she'll accept your answer for now.]

[postictal]

I'll, uh...I'll pass it around.

[Like a grown man who makes positive personal choices, he's already considering other people he wants to end up handing scarves to. He knows of at least two children who might need them and wouldn't think to ask for them for their own selves, and potentially a third and fourth.]

I'm pretty sure we're all gonna be moving around enough to keep our blood warm, anyway. [That's excluding people who don't have blood, Tim. Bad.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Well, she appreciates that he's at least trying to take care of someone, even if it's not himself...]

True enough, but from what I hear it's expected to last about a week, isn't it? I assume we're all going to have to sleep at some point.

[Except Ardyn, maybe.]

[postictal]

Yeah, well. Sleep is overrated anyway.

[He doesn't sleep much, even when he's actually trying to get some rest for once. That's not a luxury of his.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet gives him a flat look.]

I may not know much about human biology beyond what you can and can't eat, dearie, but I'm fairly certain if you try to go seven full days without any sleep you'll die.

[postictal]

Twenty minutes every other hour still counts as rest.

[In what world, Jimothy, is this an acceptable way to live while the islands are under night siege.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

...

[This is probably the least impressed a spider has looked about anything, ever.]

That is a terrible idea but I can't actually stop you. Please try not to stumble off the edge of a cliff while in a sleep-deprived haze.

[postictal]

[It wouldn’t be the first time he ends up doing something stupid because of sleeping habits. All the more reason for him to keep as vigilant as it’s possible to be - he doesn’t have a damn choice.]

No promises. [Anyway. Shifting things right along - building ruin exterior! How about that?] Figure this place could make an okay armory and supply area.

[prettypurpleparlor]

I don't demand that you succeed, dearie, only that you make the effort.

[But yeah, okay, she'll drop it and move on to the actual topic of all this. Looking the buildings over, she nods thoughtfully.]

Yes, I think you're right. We might want to build shelves or find some other way of keeping things off the floor, both for sanitary purposes and in case of another flood, but not having to start from scratch on walls and a roof would be a great deal quicker than the alternative.

Food and other supplies I'm already aware of, but what were you planning for an armory, exactly? I know there's a few scavenged or personally made weapons about the place, but I'm not sure of much beyond that...

[Honestly, she has magic, using an actual, physical weapon doesn't come up a lot.]

[postictal]

I guess "storage" is a better word for it. But I, uh...I had another thought.

[They've got skeletons of multiple buildings here, which means they've got quite a bit of wiggle room where things are concerned. And maybe it's a bad idea, considering everything, but if he wants his ear to the ground, if he wants to know what's going on at any given time, it's a good place to start.]

What d'you think about trying to make sort of a...eatery, or bar, or something?

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet generally looks fairly content, most of the time, she's not the type to be gloomy... but for what might be the first time, Tim may now be seeing her look absolutely, genuinely delighted.]

[She knows that there are plenty of useful, logical reasons to do this... but beyond all the practical parts, she's just really missed her café back at home. Sure, it wouldn't be the same, but it would be something.]

I think that's a wonderful idea. By any chance, do you need a cook?

[postictal]

[Score.]

[Maybe it isn’t the most steadfastly practical approach, seeing as they’ve yet to establish any other sort of organized civilization between the lot of them, but it’s got its uses, he’s damn sure. A solid amount of business goes down in communal spaces like bars and cafes and things. It’s the easiest way to discern what most everyone is thinking at any given time.]

By any chance, I do. Not like I can really pay anybody, but... I dunno. Interested?

[Based on how this is easily the happiest he’s ever seen her, he’s gonna go with “Yes”.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

As a matter of fact, I am. The islands seem to be running on the barter system as it is, anyway, so presumably we'll be able to work something out with our customers in time.

[She is- she'll freely admit- greedy, but she's practical enough to know that you can't make an economic system work unless you have things properly set up to support it. If this does end up turning a profit somehow, great, but if not then at least she'll be having fun.]

[postictal]

Good.

[It's...surreal. To have an idea like this, and the promise that it might come together. He can build shit, and Muffet knows enough about how businesses work, about how to establish something like that, he knows, to fill the significant gaps in his scant knowledge base.]

I know it's not, like...a priority. But if we're stuck here together, we might as well start acting like more of a - I dunno. Community, I guess?

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She nods in agreement, already starting to mentally run through ways to make this work and the supplies they might need for it.]

I'd say it would be a benefit to everyone, if we can. We can't force people to work together, but if they become more willing to cooperate with one another then we'll be able to accomplish a great deal more than anyone could alone. Community building is how that starts.

[Her business might be large and successful now, but at the beginning Muffet was essentially running a local, personally-organized charity with a staff of herself and whichever family members she could rope into helping. The Spider Bake Sale wouldn't have succeeded without group effort, and she knows it.]

[postictal]

If there's anything I know about people, it's that they're real good at coming together when there's a space to do it.

[And, a little more duplicitously, he privately thinks that it's extremely likely that cultivating a space like that will make it far easier to keep track of the comings and goings in regards to everyone else. So maybe they're both doing this for selfish reasons.]

[Does it really matter, in terms of an end result?]

I can get a lotta the physical stuff done, at least in terms of hauling supplies over, repairing some of the buildings.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Oh, Muffet's far from unaware of the potential for gathering useful information this way- she just doesn't see the problem with the two of them benefitting from something that also helps others. Ideally, everyone walks away from a good bargain happy.]

I think I have a decent idea of what I'll need to bring in for food supplies, it shouldn't be too difficult. As for the building repairs themselves, I admit to knowing relatively little about architecture, but I can help with the heavy lifting.

[Like many arachnids, Muffet is surprisingly strong for her size. ...Also, there's always magic if something's too difficult, magic is usually pretty helpful.]

[postictal]

Monkey compound's still got a lotta lumber we could use, if we need it. I guess we could always pull from Monsun if we need to, but...

[He trails off with a grimace and a shrug. Personally, he'd rather not venture back to that wooded side if he can help it, but the option exists. As long as he's prepared for it, it might be easier to stomach, if only for a brief period of time.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet looks equally unthrilled at the idea.]

We can work with that if we have to, but honestly I think if we're going to be trying to cut down trees anyway, it makes more sense to start in the nice, non-psychically-threatening forest we have here already.

[postictal]

If we end up cutting down all the trees we have here, we're gonna get stuck waiting around for years or asking the Storyteller for more to grow. [Hence the need to outsource.]

The other islands might not even last forever. So if we can grab what we can while they're around, I'm thinking that's the best choice we got.

[prettypurpleparlor]

I suppose I could just stand on the desert side of the river and toss a line of magic at the nearest tree, then try to pull it over...

[Yes, Muffet did just suggest fucking lassoing a tree like that's a totally reasonable plan. In her defense, it worked with Ignis?]