Chapter 6
Day One, Part 2
While Tyroth and Freya were off exploring on their own, the others had formed groups that spread out across the village.
One such group consisted of Donatello, Heather, Sonia, Pandora, Leona, Hacker, and Chloe the Butterfly, and was investigating the buildings that had been damaged by fire.
"I don't see what we're doing in these burned husks of houses." said Chloe as the group stood in he burned half of a house. "I mean, there's, like, nothing of value left here."
"Maybe not to you, Chloe, but to me, this is almost like a cross section." said Leona, taking a closer look at the remaining support beams in the roof. "By looking at what remains, I can see more than if I was to only check an untouched house, and then I might be able to repair what can be saved."
"You're with buildings like I'm with gadgets." said Donatello. "But since we have no gadgets here, I'll try my best to help you with that. And I think that we can salvage at least ninety percent of what remains of this house to repair others with."
"Think you can build something like a tower on one house, Uncle Donnie?" Pandora asked. "'Cause I'd totally want to have my room up in a tower."
"No guaranties, little Geisha." Donatello chuckled. "But with how many houses there are in the village, we could easily get one house each as our own if we wanted to."
"That would be something, but wouldn't it be better if we try to stick together?" asked Heather. "I mean, if everyone takes one house for themselves, we might get very spread out quickly."
"I agree with Heather." said Sonia. "If we're supposed to defend people, it would be easier if we're all close together."
"Sounds like we'll be choosing room-mates soon then." said Pandora. "But won't the other houses go to waste then?"
"We'll just have to figure out something." said Leona.
"And it's completely possible that other people will find their way here eventually." said Donatello. "Since we're going to live out in the open now, we can't really avoid interacting with the rest of the world forever."
"Wonder what kind of people we meet first." Sonia pondered.
"I'll bet my desert that it'll be an elf." said Pandora.
"Whatever it'll be, they'll sure be in for a surprise." said Hacker as he kept rummaging through ashes, charcoal and rubble. "Well, if you guys are done here soon, I'm okay with us moving on to another place."
Moving on, they continued to check more houses and buildings, especially the damaged ones, but once they were done with those, they found themselves by a larger building, positioned roughly halfway between the plaza and the docks.
"Okay, this door needs fixing. Wonder if it's the hinges." Leona said, having just been able to open the front door.
"Our to-do list keeps growing." said Chloe. "At least this place isn't a complete ruin."
"What is this place?" Heather asked, as she and the others took in the surroundings, exploring it as they went on.
They were in a large, open room with many tables and stools, a counter near the wall farthest in, a door behind it and a stair case next to it.
"Another inn? Could it really work with two inns in a town this size?" asked Sonia.
"I don't think this is an inn." said Pandora, who had walked behind the counter. "I think it's a bar, look what I found."
She presented a couple of bottles that she had found behind the counter, followed shortly by some wooden cups and metal flagons.
"Bottles." Hacker said and picked them up. "Empty bottles. Just our luck."
"It's definitively a bar then." said Donatello. "Close enough to both the docks and the centre of the town to serve anyone. The door probably leads to a store room of some sort, and the stairs should lead to a place for the owner to live."
"You are not wrong, Donnie." said Heather as she floated down the stairs. "There is a small room up here with the basic furniture. Bed, table, chair, drawers, an old stove. Everything you would need to live up there."
"And this room is filled with shelves, normal and those for bottles." said Pandora as she opened the door and looked inside. "But it's all empty."
"I wonder how this place looked when it was still open. It must have been quite the sight." said Chloe.
"It can be again." said Leona. "The wood still seems good, and I haven't spotted anything in need of repair, other than the door."
"So we're gonna have a bar? Do we really need that?" asked Sonia.
"Maybe not, but I think we should have one anyway." said Hacker.
"What do you mean, Hacker?"
"Look, it's not like I can do much around here with my skills. Sure, back home I had plenty to do, computers, programming, security, internet, all of that, but here? Unless you're all okay with me just juggling, I don't think I can help with that much, I'm not very fit or skilled with tools."
"And you think you can handle a bar instead?" said Chloe.
"Well, it's not I'll have much to mix drinks with right now, but I'll probably learn a thing or two as I go on. And I can keep an ear out for gossip from any guests we might have as well, similar to back home."
"It will be like your own world wide web then." said Pandora. "Why not call the place that? The Web."
"That's actually not a bad name, I like it." said the spider with a big smile.
"Do I get a prize for it?"
"Um…" the spider scratched his head and looked around. "I can give you a cup of water, I think that's about it."
"That's just as good, she isn't old enough to drink yet anyway." said Donatello. "But unless I'm mistaken, it's almost time to meet up back at the inn, so we'd better head back. We can ask the others about your idea over lunch, Hacker."
Another group, consisting of Sephie, Loki, Sarah, James, Erica, Richard and Barry, had just entered a building that was built close to the river in the half of the village that was closest to the beach, and it was very clear what it was used for.
"It's a blacksmith." Richard said as they saw the smelter, grinding wheel, workbench and forge that stood to the side of the building, in a room that lacked one wall, giving it an open area to work in.
"Cool. This I want to check out." said Loki, and opened the door to the main part of the building, the storeroom and shop. "Sweet. There are still some stuff left. Tools, metal ingots, pieces of what might be armours, leather pieces, everything that one needs to make something here."
"You've always had a fascination with metal crafting." said Sephie. "I don't know how many times that I've found you in the workshop, either watching Rattletrap work or testing the tools for yourself. I'm just glad that you understood that you aren't supposed to do things the same way as Rattletrap."
"Yeah, he makes more than enough mistakes for the rest of us." said Sarah.
"Well, you all did warn me from an early age." Loki said with a slightly sheepish smile. "But if we can get this place running again, I'm sure that I can forge us what we need."
"You know that much about smithing, Loki?" Erica asked. "I've seen you tinker with a few things, but not anything like that."
"Well, not exactly, Grandma, but I've listened to Uncle Leo's story, about how he forged his swords after his old ones were lost, more times than I can count, and I'm sure that he can give me some pointers too."
"I sure hope you know what you claim, kid." said Barry as he picked up a woodcutter axe, which had several spots of rust. "'Cause I think we're gonna need it, and I sure can't smith to save my life."
"Why are you so intent on learning how to smith?" James asked. "Don't get me wrong, I think it's good skill to have, I'm just wondering where the interest comes from."
"Real ninja made their own weapons and equipment, and I aspire to be the best ninja possible, so I want to learn all aspects of the ninja way, including smithing."
"I see. Well, let's hope that you are successful. I, on the other hand, don't really know how I will do here. With such a limited supply of our healing water, you'd think that I'd have more to do, but I'm not sure just how much I can do with our limited medical supplies, and the healing arts in the medieval times were… both primitive and ineffective, for the most part at least."
"Guess you'll have to be the one to update this place then." Sarah said, giving the chimpanzee a pat on the shoulder. "Show them what a real doctor can do."
"You get me the equipment I need, and I can do that. But without the ability to make the right medications and tools, there is precious little that I can do that the doctors of this world can't. That said, however, I'll keep doing my best."
"Like always, doc." said Barry. "You've always kept us in one piece over the years, and every Mutopian knows that they can trust you to keep doing it. Water or no water."
The chimpanzee doctor couldn't help but smile at the trust his comrades had in him, despite that Mutopians rarely needed medical attention.
But who knew how things would turn out from here on out.
On the outskirts of the northern side of the village, there was one building that was a little off on its own. It didn't look anything special, just a standard broad, one story house, and the inside raised more questions, as there were several large, empty wooden frames in one corner, large vats, tubs and barrels, and a few wooden gantries with long poles.
Michelangelo scratched his head as he, Kate, Percy, Kemeko, Vincent, Alice and Nick the Frog investigated the inside.
"Um… anyone know what this place is?" the orange-masked turtle asked the others.
"Sorry, but I got no idea." said Vincent. "But it has to have been used for some form of production, but what?"
"Maybe they made frames, for paintings and such. There are a few frames over here." said Alice.
"What kind of frame factory needs vats this size?" said Nick the Frog. "I, for one, ain't making any sense of this place."
"Hey, guys… I think I know what it is." said Percy.
"For real? I find that hard to believe." said Kate.
"Now, I'm not sure, but it reminds me of something I saw on TV once, one of those history channels. I'll admit, I wasn't fully invested in the program, but I think this might be one of those places where you dye fabrics, or make leather, one or the other, or maybe both."
"Now that you mention it, I think you might be right." said Kemeko. "I mean, it feels like it makes sense. The vats, the frames, everything, it has to have been used for something like that."
"I bet that we could use this." said Nick. "But is there anyone of us that knows how to do any of that?"
"I'm not sure, though I can't speak for the others, but I sure can't." said Vincent. "It took me almost fifteen years before I could tie my own shoes."
"My skills don't really apply to something like this either." said Alice. "But I'm sure that Tania should be able to do something here."
"Dyeing fabrics perhaps, but I don't think even she knows how to make leather. Whatever the case, I'm sure she'll love to get hold of whatever that is produced here." said Kate. "And I wouldn't mind having her make something off leather for me."
"You can ask her once we get back." said Michelangelo. "And speaking of which, I say that we head back to the inn now. I'm starving."
As the group headed back, Michelangelo lagged behind a bit, together with Kate.
"Hey, just out of curiosity, what would you want Tania to make for you?" he whispered to her.
"Oh, nothing special. I was just thinking of maybe getting a leather bikini." she whispered back with a smirk, making the turtle blush.
"O-oh, r-really? W-well, that's fine. Is it getting hot here?"
Finally done with this chapter. Man did it take time to get together. It also didn't help that I got a new job while working on this, or that the Pokémon games released, but I don't mind those things, other than that I don't have time for everything.
There will be at least one more of these 'Day One'-chapters before moving on to other events, just so that I've managed to build the village to the degree that I want.
Hope to see you all soon.