C'est La Vie (Worm / MtG)
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"Tap… tap… tap"
Tapping the pen against the desktop, I stared down at my little notebook and the list I'd been putting together. Well, trying to put together.
Funny, how when you need to remember something you can never remember it.
It was almost to the point that if I could've I'd've been cupping my cheek, listening to the rain and falling asleep trying to remember what I'd been—
Putting pen to paper, I scribbled out a few more lines of notes in the chicken scratch that was my off handwriting and leaned back in the creaky old desk chair, skimming over the list.
It wasn't that long, but for my current situation, it may as well be the devil's wishlist. Hell, it probably wouldn't even be the last page once I got started:
Pg.76
—Jungle Impression thing?
—Presence thing?
—Figure why it felt like I had physical feedback from my missing arm
—Make Satchel and/or backpack to help me forage and scavenge (Sacks, Bags, etc)
—A bed and bedding (Hammock?) Net/Sheet style?)
I leaned forward to scratch out a line before leaning back. Problems aside, I already got that.
—Shelter (Can be a bit better)
—Clothes (Sundress, Raincoat, pants, shorts, underthings, shirts, drawstrings?) NEW COSTUME! (Or just a new body suit)
—Dye's (Tree bark? Roots? Blood? Mashed leaves? Dirt (the iron), The berries, ?)Shiny gold silk too shiny)
—Seal the leaky hatch
—FIRE! (Flares, matches, lighter, gasoline, two pieces of metal, magnesium, ANYTHING)
—Cooking? (Dino meat? Birds? Bugs? Forage?) Berries? Roots?)
—Need Pot/Pan and cooking utensils (Fire pit grate?) Grill?)
—Find a proper/complete map (Visitors Center? Airfield? Workers Complex? WTP?)
—Make the front doors easier to open
—Clear the plants blocking the window
—Clean window
—Fallback/Backup location? (First area?)No.)
—Where to go next?
—What can I make? (Silk clothes, wood containers(using termites), ?, ?)Honey)
—Waterproofing (Beeswax?)
—Clean water supply (Water boiling/filtration?)
I grimaced and tapped the pen against my thigh. Water...
Well, water, for the time being, was no issue. The storm coming back around for a second and a third pass over the last two days had ensured I was now stocked up with gallons of the stuff. In filing cabinet drawers sealed with dragline silk, yes, however until I figured out something better it seemed to be working just fine.
But what about in the future? What about storing it and keeping it from going stagnant? What about if the skies were clear for months on end and the only non-salient source left to me was river or stream water that was suspect at best. Boiling would work to sanitize water well enough, but that required fire and fire was something in short supply in addition to needing fuel. Charcoal, sand, and cloth, though? I could do that. I still couldn't be completely certain about the water being safe to drink that boiling it would give me, but it would be better than drinking straight from a stream. Then there was the issue of water being eight pounds to the gallon.
And then there was food… In retrospect, I should've realized being at the top of a difficult to traverse mountain wasn't going to do me any favors. And I was already more than halfway through my berries.
I groaned and rocked back in my creaky chair.
Secure, yes. Fed and watered… less so. Sadly, a grocery store does not a defunct radio building make.
Although location difficulties aside, I probably couldn't have found a better place to hunker down in and beggars can't be choosers.
Sure, my new shelter wasn't exactly the cleanest of places, but again, coming back to it being at the top of a damn mountain…
Tossing the pen on the desk, I ran a hand back through my hair and spun around to look at the large, dimly lit room that I'd familiarized myself with over the past two days… not as if there'd been much else to do, though.
Well, besides clean that is, and I'd already done as much of that as I could as I could… at least for the room. A pair of double doors in back led to a short hall running into the mountain and that was another story.
There wasn't much back there: a lavatory with sink and toilet, a small generator room, and an access hatch at the very end with a ladder leading to the base of the collapsed radio tower higher up-slope. However, there was just a bit of an issue in that the hatch was leaking, and had been for some time as far as I could tell.
It was like a cooler that hadn't been emptied back there, or a refrigerator that had gone without power for too long and left to sit. Things had started growing, and I knew well enough from the aftermath of Leviathan's attack to leave that alone until my swarm had cleaned it up.
Besides that though, the place was habitable enough, if a bit… lacking.
In its current state, I was almost constantly reminded of an old cage, or my old jail cell, what with the concrete walls and skeletal drop ceiling frame. I knew, intellectually, that it was all in my head. Psychosomatic. But as it was, even with the doors open to let fresh air and light in I was getting a little cabin fever.
The place was just too… clinical, and barren. I didn't doubt that would change over time as I settled in, but for now, the conditions were just a little grating on my already frayed nerves.
Of course, it wasn't entirely empty. Just mostly in proportion to the size of the room. There was the desk, some empty filing cabinets on the wall next to it, and a rusty old metal shelf in the back packed with binders and books filled technical manuals, diagrams, and guides. All of the literature was for the tall racks of old radio equipment running along the far left wall most likely. It had all been disconnected, though, and in the center of the rack was an absolutely ancient —though no doubt modern for the day— modem and off white CRT monitor.
Likely left in place as a backup for if they needed to revert if the computer failed or something.
And then there was the generator down the hall, so there were some things left over. Little useful aside from scrap metal and kindling, but the racking that held the old radio equipment might come in handy.
Maybe as shelves or something.
But aside from that, not much. Pilfering through the desk had only earned me an as yet unlocked bottom drawer, a pair of old binoculars with a cracked strap, some random bits clutter that would accumulate in a desk, and a miraculously intact but dog-eared paperback copy of Jailbird. I didn't appreciate the irony.
So aside from some setbacks, the cleanup of this place was going well enough. But there was still no small amount of work to do.
A broom and some old cleaning supplies from a cabinet of cleaning supplies next to the generator had helped, but not as much as I'd've liked and even with the swarm eating the worse of it there was still a lot left to clean. Something that was, and conversely wasn't, helped by the state of the place.
I eyed the roving patches of black moving back and forth across the floor and walls like Roombas, eating whatever was edible or piling whatever wasn't at the entrance. To the latter part they weren't very effective as I'd gotten most of that myself, but for the mold and mildew that had built up back in the hall and beneath a whole bunch of fallen drop ceiling tiles… well without them I don't know how I'd have safely dealt with that.
Probably a good thing the computer had been hooked up in place of the radio equipment and this place largely decommissioned actually. If there had been more left behind, like say a couch that had been dripped on for over a decade or something, then that would have allowed all kinds of hell to grow instead of it just creating a puddle on the floor that could dry up.
So in a way, its emptiness might very well have been what let it hold up… I was probably overthinking this. What really mattered was this place being converted into a network terminal for the island at some point.
Where that network extended to though… I had some idea. Well, I might have, there had been a map, but with emphasis on had been.
Ultimately, over however long this place had languished, mold, mice, and silverfish had all gotten to it at one point or another. The thing was toast. But in spite of that, it may as well have been a goldmine of information to me; even if all that remained was a bottom bit of the island, a scale bar, and an incomplete legend with just four locations.
The bottom bit of the island indicated how far the roads extended, the scale bar could give me an idea of just how big this place was, and the legend… the four places referenced in the legend could tell me where things I needed might be.
The Visitors Center: Presuming this place was supposed to be some sort of administration building there may be more information about the park to be found there. Like a complete map or details on what else is on the island that might want to eat me.
Airfield Control: An 'Airfield Control' meant there was likely an airfield. No doubt the place was in just as bad a state of disrepair as the rest of the island, but if there was an airplane — or hell, even parts — then there may be a bit of magnesium I could use to start fires.
Water Treatment: Again, the place was no doubt trashed, but depending on what method was being used there might be some salvageable filtration parts or chemicals. Hell, just a jug of iodine would be worth hunting the place down. With that, I wouldn't need to worry about getting sick from drinking stream water while out.
Workers Complex: The island wasn't huge, the scale on the map had helped confirm that, but it wasn't exactly small either. This place would've had to have had a lot of workers to build and maintain the place. If I could find the complex, then that might help my food situation. Or at the very, least help with crossing off some other things on my list.
Each location had something I might want, but aside from the Visitors Center, I hadn't the faintest clue where any of them were. And even with the Visitors Center, it was most likely on the other side of the island.
However, thanks to the sign back at the original shelter, I was also fairly certain I could find it just by following the railed-road. It would be a long walk with who the hell knows what between me and it... but it gave me a place to start.
I had options.
Spinning back around I paused to glance at the opened double doors that led outside and eyed the steadily growing puddle of water coming in. It's raining, may as well test how this place handles it. Finishing the spin I propped my feet up on the desk and leaned back when a double clap of thunder shook the air and a flash of lightning blazed through the plants blocking the view through the barred window the desk sat behind.
For the time being though, any plan or to list I made was largely academic with the weather as it was. If it meant going outside, all that could wait until the storm finally passed through for good… or at least let up long enough for me to go outside and restock on food.
"But in the meantime..." Raising my missing hand in front of my face, I drew forth a fraction of Jungle and Green light, like thickened wisps of smoke, flickered into existence and flowed around the missing digits.
"I can keep trying to figure out what the hell this is supposed to be."
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