It's like being first level all over again! [Mostly OPEN]

[greatcleavage]

Who: Roy Greenhilt and YOU?
What: Roy tries to sneak out to explore, brings back fantasy-chickens, and puts those ranks in Knowledge(architecture and engineering) to good use!
When: 9/19-9/21
Where: Enso
Warnings: None?



9/19 (Closed to Mercy)

If he thought at all that Mercy would object to his intention, he might have hid them better. But after the disaster of the first mission, he honestly thought she would be in no hurry at all to plunge headlong into likely disaster once again.

So without any subtlety at all, Roy laid out his meager supplies on the floor of the 'room' he called his own in their shared hut, taking an assessment of his stock. "Should be enough for a day," he muttered to himself as he checked the sharpness of the razor blade he'd found in a knapsack, "if I stick to the river and rely on it for water wherever possible..."

9/20 Chickens!

As sunset approached the island, a triumphant Roy Greenhilt returned to the mana pool with two brightly-colored bludrocks held carefully in his arms. A judicious application of oats, and a willingness to bring more than one at a time, had made the creatures docile enough to submit to this short indignity of a trip, and Roy couldn't resist.

"Good news!" he called out to the pool at large, and anyone who might be within earshot. "We've found a renewable source of eggs!"

This was, he had to admit, something of a come-down from epic battles against tyrants and nefarious fiends -- but it was also a clean victory and a necessary one. So Roy was perfectly willing to smile about his success and feel good about it, even if the sight of him carrying two birds was a fairly silly one.

Now they needed to make a coop, though, and prepare for long-term care -- especially if they wanted to relocate more of the bludrocs.

9/21

Roy gave a fairly direct impression, being a man who wore armor regularly and invariably had a massive greatsword worn on his back. One might be forgiven, then, for being surprised at his current activity -- making crude sketches on a large stone with a smaller stone that resembled nothing so much as blueprints.

He also had a tendency to comment on his work when others approached, even as he didn't look up. "I'm relatively certain that with available wood materials we can construct reasonably solid buildings, even accounting for the terrain. I think our ideal would be to develop either brickmaking or a means to quarry stone, but until then, we work with what we have. So besides a coop for the birds, we need storage areas, which I think we might as well make all part of one centralized building...."

He might be able to go on like this for some time, mind.

Comments

9/19 - you underestimate her motherly instinct

[caduceusoncall]

Mercy had a plan. Today she was going to scour the beach for canvas. She'd already managed an improvised knife out of glass and a bit of rope, which she could use to tear the ruined sails of the beached rafts into bandages. It was a nice, routine task in her mind. It could be done on land that had already been explored and proven clear of most dangers. She could pick up some coconuts along the way. So when she popped her head in to let Roy know of her plan, she felt equal parts dread and irritation that he was laying out supplies for a trip.

"Don't tell me we're going out again?" It's a hopeful question mark she adds to the statement. "Last time did not go well."

look he's older than her, come back when she's canon age

[greatcleavage]

"I am," Roy said, unaware that he was stepping into doom as he tucked his razor back into his pack where it couldn't bang against or cut anything. "Don't worry, I figured after last time I shouldn't drag anyone else along for another disaster."

[caduceusoncall]

"Nonsense." Her voice was firm, final. "I'm coming with you."

Mercy disappeared into the other 'room' to get ready. She had recharged her suit a day earlier, so that wouldn't be a problem. How Roy thought he was going to get out of there without a companion was beyond her - hadn't he ever heard of the buddy system? Fusterclucks be damned, she was forming an attachment to her housemate, he wasn't going to go sticking his neck out without medical help on standby.

Tucking everything she owned neatly into her pack, Mercy chided herself for getting attached at all. He had provided for her, protected her, and was generally just a good companion in the field. She viewed him similarly to how she viewed her coworkers back home - not quite family, but close. But out here, where death was a likelihood, that could cloud her judgement and sway her priorities in dangerous directions.

[greatcleavage]

"Wait --"

The sounds of bumping accompanied Roy getting to his feet, and just as she finished tucking up her pack, he stuck his head into her room, along with one hand to emphatically gesture. "After what happened out there, taking you would be the height of neglect of your well-being! You have to at least acknowledge that had only one of us stumbled onto that -- that thing, the subsequent retreat would have been much easier and less dangerous."

9/20

[souris_keteer]

You want praise, Roy? You came to the right mouse.

"Wow, really?" Mickey clenches his hands, amazed and grateful, almost bouncing on his heels. "That's amazing! Way to go!"

[greatcleavage]

Praise was always appreciated.

"They'll obviously take some planning to accommodate here, and there's some warnings I need to give anyone who wants to help transplant a flock here, but... This seems pretty good, honestly."

[souris_keteer]

Mickey looked at the birds, curious about something. "So if they belong to us... Did you give 'em names?"

[greatcleavage]

"I... did not. That had honestly not occurred to me."

9/20

[prettypurpleparlor]

[If Muffet looks amused, she also looks genuinely happy with this discovery. It's certainly a vast improvement on the last new creature he wound up finding- although admittedly 'better than the Fustercluck' is not a high bar to clear.]

Goodness, they're so fluffy.

[greatcleavage]

[Roy has seen a lot in his adventuring time. A LOT. And even HE would rate the Fustercluck as probably the worst thing ever.]

If they're unhappy, they fluff up even more. We found that out when I was trying to coax one away -- they don't like being separated from each other. Luckily, two together seems to work for them, or at least these two.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet actually giggles quietly at the thought.]

Oh dear- can they even move if they're fluffed up that much?

I think I recall hearing something about most farm animals being social creatures, that they find it stressful to be isolated, so I suppose if they're similar enough to chickens they could be the same way.

[greatcleavage]

[It is very easy to forget Muffet is a spider-monster, Roy considers -- or perhaps very easy to get out of the gut assumption that a spider-monster is in some way dangerous or worthy of extra scrutiny. Which is a a good thing.]

Which begs the question, though: why do animals on a deserted island behave like farm animals? Though considering the ruins here, they might just be descendants of domesticated animals kept by that old civilization.

9/20 Chickens!

[shatteredlenses]

Good fortune is with Roy today because the person who's attention his words catch can't see how silly he looks. Indeed, even if he could, Ignis would have no room to talk considering just how excited he gets when he hears the words 'renewable source of eggs.' Why he almost looks like those are the most wonderful words he's heard in ages.

(They just might well be.)

Ignis slowly rises from where he's been sitting by the pool and moves carefully toward Roy's voice. He might not be able to see the animals Roy's carrying, but he can hear them and he doesn't want the odd stumbling gait a blind man can easily produce to frighten them.

"What eggsellent news! Do you need a hand?"

[greatcleavage]

Uuuuugh. "I'd be happy for assistance," Roy said, managing to keep his voice level despite the joke. "Less happy if this involves the physical transfer of a hand to me in any way, shape, or form."

[shatteredlenses]

Ignis raises a hand to cover his mouth, not quite muffling the snort Roy's answer brings to his lips.

"Don't worry. I just lost my vision. I'm not in any hurry to give up my hands too," he stops just short of Roy and his cargo, tilting his head as if he is trying to figure out what the animals look like despite his blindness.

"So what critters do we have to thank for our new egg supply? I sincerely hope it's not some kind of cockatrice. They can be quite troublesome to deal with."

[greatcleavage]

"As I haven't been turned to stone, or had to save against it, I can pretty safely say they're not cockatrices. Here." Roy turned slightly, the better to extend a hand with one of the bludrocs tucked under it till the feathers bumped slightly against Ignis's chest. "They're a social animal, so I have two of them, and we can probably lure more over if we're gentle and take several at once."

9/21

[deranged_practicality]

Look, being able to draw was one of the tools Isabella used to get her first break. (Well, a justification when it was mostly a frank discussion with her husband about feeling trapped from the life she wanted to life.)

"Do you know much about keeping birds?" Isabella asked. Her family had been too well off to tend to their own chickens, but she remembered them. And knew a few things from observations.

[greatcleavage]

"I know they need a place to sleep and avoid the rain, and I know a little bit about designing a building that'll do that," Roy said, not looking up from his work. "Now, goats I can do. Took a semester of goatherding back in college."

[deranged_practicality]

They offer goat-herding at your university?

[Most of the men Isabella has met who go to university wouldn't know one end of a goat from another, and even the few naturalists who would would consider goats fit only for farmers.]

9/20

[ohnehalfte]

A renewable source of eggs is more than enough to catch Newt's attention, and he jerks his head over towards the guy carrying...two colorful chickens?? At least, they kinda look like chickens. He blinks, twice. "...holy shit, did you find rainbow chickens?"

Because that's clearly the most important thing here.

[greatcleavage]

"Apparently, yes," Roy said, quite cheerfully. "They seem a little more aggressive than your average chicken, but once I made sure I had a pair, they settled down some."

[ohnehalfte]

Newt's gonna push to his feet from where he was sorting some shells and wander his way over, definitely interested. "Okay, but can we talk about the fact that they're rainbow? Because that's definitely different from what I'm used to, just sayin'." He leans in a bit, eyeing the birds.

"Do you think we can domesticate a couple of them? Keep them around without them wandering off and all that?"

9/20

[ohshitsweetflips]

"Nice!" A surprisingly sincere response. Wow, he's really come down in the world, to be this psyched about eggs. Not the first or even probably like the thirtieth time he's thought that. Whatevs, eggs. The birds are actually kinda rad looking, too, upon closer inspection. File that away for later exploitation? Creativity? Something.

"What's the wait list lookin like for some a them bad boys?" Seriously, start talking. Taako is at his most ingratiating here, cake is almost within his grasp. Maybe? Taako isn't someone who knows the cooldown on chicken eggs, let alone...weird glam island not-quite chicken eggs. Whatever, hope springs eternal etc.

[greatcleavage]

This must be the brother Lup had been talking about. It was hard to draw any other conclusion, between appearance and attitude.

Of course, probably no one would guess his sister was related to him if she showed up here, but that's neither here nor there.

"That depends on how willing people are to go back and help herd the rest of the flock this way. These guys are proof-of-concept, to prove we can relocate them. Which we clearly can, if we move them in numbers!"

[ohshitsweetflips]

Yeah, that makes sense, unfortunately. Unfortunate, because it sounds like work? Work he should probably put in if he wants to benefit from eggs. Maybe this dude is enthusiastic enough to do most of it without noticing. Taako steeples his hands, narrows his eyes in egg-based determination, then snaps his fingers sharply. "Numbers. What about, like, a net? Bag 'em and drag 'em." Tell him if that's going to end in some kind of chickenstorm now, because he will defs try it otherwise.