Summer of where the hell are we

[tinstar]

Who: Raylan and you!
What: Feasting, MemLoss, around town SoL
When: Month of August
Where: Around Milton, Community hall

[Methusalah's Feast]

Raylan always made sure to come to these when he was able to without betraying himself in one way or another. He also made sure to come with plenty of firewood and dried fish over his shoulder and in his hand respectively, to offer new 'settlers'. Free supplies made things a lot easier when you were just learning how to survive like this and he remembers all too well how harrowing it was to just show up here in Milton out of regular life. It didn't hurt that he liked to see who came in, as well as take an opportunity to check up on the message board. It could be it's own form of entertainment sometimes.

At his side moved a wolf, tall at nearly hip level, with the standard kind of grey and white most people would think of when thinking 'wolf', but seemingly perfectly well behaved as his eyes stay on the rest of the room. Quiet but ready. All up until he got distracted by a smell and starts to nose into someone's meal.

"Goose! No, goddamnit, that's rude," he tuts as a long stride carries him over to push the wolf away. Goose didn't even look sorry, in the way he licked his chops, still eyeing the plate. Raylan sighs and offers an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. Normally, he's got better manners then that."

[In the Woods somewhere]

It was cold. It was the first thing he'd noticed when he woke up and while a deluge of other wildly concerning circumstances were upon him, the cold dug at him more sharply than anything else. He felt sure that he must know who he was, if he could only warm up enough to think about it. What did it matter who he was if who he was didn't have any goddamn fingers? The flash of irritation warmed him only slightly, and he pulls the coat he's lucky enough to be wearing closer around his ears as step by step, he makes his way through the forest.

It was quiet and the kind of quiet that left live nerves under his skin. The kind of quiet that make his ears try and stretch somehow, to hear more clearly anything that might be moving in the roving mists. He couldn't decide if it had worked but after a little while, the crunch of something else stepping in the snow sent his ears right back to their proverbial stretching. Unnerved enough by not knowing who he was, the man without a hat hurries his stride a little bit, in the hope that what was making that noise was human.

"Hey! Hello, yes-" All it would take is eye contact for him to start moving closer. "Can't tell you how good it is to see someone else out here. Is there a- a town or something nearby? I seem to've gotten lost.."

[Around Milton - Wildcard]

Raylan hated this month. There was at least one shiny good part about it, but that withstanding, he wasn't sure how anyone here was sane anymore. The day in and day out that was only broken by terrible things upon terrible things, the gnawing hopelessness that felt harder and harder to fight each time they got knocked down was starting to fray his edges. So Raylan did what he always did when he felt like this (since there wasn't enough whiskey to drown it all out); he stayed busy.

Wood chopping was always needed. The library? Well there were some books he thought Tim might like. The clothing store? Just checking in, to see if anything new has come in. A few t-shirts end up over his shoulder after a quick hold up against his chest sizes it out. Hell, he even stops by the church, just to see the place again. He was happy to do anything that wasn't sit still and think. What he needed was a proper bath in the hot springs but honestly, he would need company lest his head get too far away from itself.

Comments

Wildcard - return from the coast

[meadqueen]

It has been a long time since Randvi has seen Raylan. Other than in passing in the village, the last time they'd spoken may have been during the terrible winter storm when they'd been barricaded in the hall.

So much has happened - Francis and Ragnar’s deaths, her revenge against the Old Bear, Jon and Lyanna and Fraser and Svetlana’s disappearances, her trips to the coast - that she feels like a completely different woman.

She smiles broadly at the sight of her friend.

“Raylan, hail. I bring news from the coast.”

[tinstar]

Raylan's face breaks wide into a smile at the sight of Randvi and he lifts his hand in greeting as he ambles closer.

"Randvi! I meant to find you out in Silverpoint, but the travel and then those fuckin' nightmares.." He trails off and waves off the rest of his answer with a flick of his hand.

"That cannery is wild, ain't it? How are ya? How're the people out there doin'?"

[meadqueen]

“I took two of the new arrivals on a tour through Lakeside and then to Silverpoint, so we took a bit of a circuitous route.”

They’d also been a bit slower as the younger girl was in poor health, but that isn't her place to say.

“The cannery was an adventure for certain. Did you have a chance to meet Marra, who maintains the signal fire?”

[tinstar]

"Nice of you to show the new folks around," he comments with a nod. He should probably be more outwardly towards the new folks, but they deserved better than him and his consistent dark mood. He doubted he would be too much real help.

He shakes his head at the question.

"I didn't, no. Pretty bad, it seems, at branchin' out. Just had a lot to juggle." Emotions were a lot and Raylan was focused on more than just himself. "She got information for us? Anyone see that signal fire?"

The word 'fire' drawled out when he said it, turning more int 'fyre' than what it should be.

[meadqueen]

“I want them to feel…” Randvi pauses to think of the right word. “Not comfortable, exactly, but empowered. Like they know this world and their position within it. Travel makes me feel more connected to the world.”

Somehow she thinks that Raylan will understand.

“Marra was actually looking for information from us. It seems that the survivors who made it to Silverpoint have not been forthcoming about what happened in Milton.”

It's hard to blame them, even if it is a bit irritating.

“She has received no messages that were not pre-recorded and has seen no ships. But she has an electric light that burns even without the aurora, and she was able to modify two radios that I found at the cannery to reach one another via some sort of code.”

[tinstar]

He does understand and nods his agreement. The people that had greeted him and made him a little more comfortable in his situation were still receiving his gratitude. Ironically, travel made him feel more connected to the place he was trying to avoid but this island, no matter how long it took them to cross it, wasn't big enough for him to really consider it travel.

He was spoiled by his access to the world, and he knew it.

Raylan frowns softly at the idea that people weren't sharing what they knew. Who and why, he wanted to ask, primarily so he could go and try to talk those folk out of that position.

"Don't see any reason why they shouldn't've. Then again, if I were out and about more, I might have had the opportunity to share everythin' I know. No reason to keep that information to ourselves, doubly so if we expect any help or information from them back." He tuts softly, eyes dancing across the horizon before skipping back to hers.

"I'm glad you were askin' good questions. So she's workin' on power, huh?" He would have to plan a return trip and be more though this time.

"What kinda code?"

[meadqueen]

“No one anywhere seems to want to speak of what happened in Milton before we arrived. Marra barely had the words to describe what she had witnessed first hand during that time, and she had been in Silverpoint!”

That hasn't stopped her from wishing for just one single straightforward answer.

“It was very strange. She has not left the lighthouse in two winters - she passed her invitation to me through the brewer - and the lamp has never gone out. Even she isn't certain how it works.”

It had almost sounded more like magic than anything to do with electricity.

“The radios communicate with one another via a series of pulses. It is not a code I understand yet.”

[tinstar]

"Huh." It's more of a grunt than a word and all but if the woman had been here since the beginning, she was a rare resource. Raylan regrated his lack of socialization even more now. He was good at getting answers; all those years in interrogation.

"The 'brewer' - I don't know what that is, but I'm guessin' that you didn't get to go inside. But series of pulses sounds make me think of morse code. Anyone else know about 'em?"

Maybe morse had already been suggested - it was fairly common in the modern world.

[meadqueen]

“I was able to go inside, but she never leaves. Others visit her and have told her of our travels, and she invited me to see her through one of them so she could learn what had happened in Milton.”

The lighthouse has an irascible orange cat inside it who had not been a particular fan of Ulfrùn’s.

“I think Morse is the name that she said to me. I have heard noises from my radio some nights but I cannot decipher it.”

[tinstar]

"That's something." If she let Randvi in, chances were higher she might let others in. "Makes me wonder if there's a reason she doesn't leave.."

It was all very interesting.

"I'll write down what I remember of it and run it over later. It's been a while since I've used that particular little skill. But-" he steps over towards an edge of a building, knuckle ready for the knocking. "Tell me if this was part of it."

The only bit he remembered off the top of his head without any thought is SOS. Three short, rapid knocks, followed by three slow spaced out ones, followed by the three rapid ones again. It was all up to luck as to if Randvi remembers but Raylan was sure it was worth asking, at least.

[meadqueen]

"She may be afraid that the lamp will no longer function if she leaves.” Marra had not said so in quite so many words, of course, but that had been Randvi’s impression. “She has maintained it for a long time.”

She considers the sound when Raylan plays it for her. “There is a similar sound in the message I have heard, but without the long one.”

She taps with her hand S-I-S: three rapid knocks, then two, then three again.

“It is part of a longer message, but I have not managed to record the entire thing because I do not understand the letters.”

Randvi has intercepted Hickey’s test message, but doesn't know that's what it is.

[tinstar]

He hums a note of acknowledgement. Probably smart to stay if that was a concern. While they might not have known about this lighthouse until a few weeks ago, that didn't mean that he didn't find it important that it kept running. Maybe someone would see. Maybe a government would get curious. Maybe someone would find them.

"Huh." The grunted sound came with a furrow of his brows. "Another mystery for this place. Maybe we'll be able to figure out a few other letters. S and I aren't much to go on. I'll bring ya what I remember." He lifts his chin a little.

"You plannin' on going back out any time soon?"

[meadqueen]

“The message tends to come at night. If I see you at the hall I will let you hear it.”

Perhaps hearing it for himself might be edifying.

“I am planning to spend every second month there, if I can. Now that Lyanna and Jon have disappeared, I find myself reluctant to spend time in an empty house.”

Things had always been bustling there with three people and three wolves coming and going. It had felt like home.

[tinstar]

"I'll try to make sure to stay late a night or two, make myself available. Probably something in the community hall I can repair or reinforce." And if not, he can sit. Read maybe, and people watch.

He nods and gives her an understanding, sympathetic look. "Sorry to hear that. And I don't blame you. Always seem to get bigger once you're used to people in them.." Something he knew all too well. Milton added it's own twist and flavor, but he'd come home to an empty place enough to know what it felt like.

"If you ever want a safe bed to hit here in Milton that isn't the community hall, my house does have two rooms and the spare is only used now and then. And the house next door ain't bad if you'd rather just be close enough to hear me pluckin' away at my guitar."

[meadqueen]

She nods. “I hope to see you. Marra gave me two of these radios. I am considering leaving one at the hall so that people here can communicate with those of us on the coast.”

If they can figure out the code, at any rate.

“Thank you, Raylan. It's been… so much, recently. So many.” Too many dead and too many simply gone.

[tinstar]

"That might be good. Start buildin' a language for communication, might as well use that morse code if we can pull together a full alphabet."

Any communication over a span of land was good, in his opinion. If Hell started crawling out of the ocean and accosting Silverpoint, he wanted to know for the sake of Milton and lakeside. He was already planning for something like that, keeping a go-bag and a handful of half thought out plans in his back pocket. Just in case.

He follows all that with a nod back at her, eyes steady on her face and serious.

"Any time. Stickin' together is what's gonna get the most of us through this. I'm sorry for your losses." Those kinds of losses suck. "In the meantime, wanna go see if the community center has any tea left? Get somethin' hot in us?"

We can probably wrap here!

[meadqueen]

Randvi smiles, spirit lifting at the suggestion. “That does sound wonderful. I do not feel the cold so severely these days but I can still appreciate a warm drink on a day like this.”