Second floor common room, Friday afternoon

[sairis]

This place was so different, Sairis was still having issues adapting. But he'd started work this week, which meant he had a little more to do, and someplace to sell his charms and potions. He also had somewhere to work on them and spirit walk safely, which had gone a long way to helping.

That said, this place was also cold, and Sairis had no desire to trek to the shop for things that weren't dangerous and messy. So instead he was spread out at the table in the common room, tying and wrapping and weaving.

Hope nobody minded the small bones and grasses and things on the table.


[Open common room!]

Comments

[not_a_haint]

Caleb had seen a fair share of workings, or at least preparations for workings in his time so he respected the tradition of using the kitchen for such things.

He also knew how to keep out from underfoot when needed but given that his plan had been for reading, he hoped his mere presence wouldn't be a disturbance.

"I ain't disturbin' you am I?" he asked, just in case.

[sairis]

Sairis smiled at him. "No, it's fine. I can talk and work. Or ignore you, if you'd rather. What are you reading?"

[not_a_haint]

"Th' Master o' the Bracelets. It's a..." How would one describe the fantasy genre to someone from a magical world? "It's set in an imaginary world, though from what I understand th' author's pretendin' it's actually set in the far far distant past of his own. My own too, I guess."

Some o' the Barbarian tales he'd read had the same conceit.

[sairis]

Sairis nodded. "What's it about?"

[not_a_haint]

"So far it's mostly about th' day t' day lives o' folks called Halflings, but judgin' by th' prologue I think it'll eventually be an epic quest t' defeat some sort o' demon or undead wizard or somesuch.

"Th' Halflings are kinda remindin' me o' folks back in Appalachia."

[sairis]

Sairis thought about it as he braided several pieces of grass together, then shrugged. "Sounds interesting."

As long as there weren't knights in it.

[not_a_haint]

"I hope so, it's a trilogy. What're you workin' on?"

[sairis]

Sairis held it up. "This one will be for focus. Since it's a school, I thought there might be interest in it. I've got charms for memory, fertility, infertility, and being sneaky, too."

Look, he was honest about it, at least.

[not_a_haint]

Caleb's time with Miss Ellie, brief though it had been, had given him at least a passing familiarity with folks looking to keep the wild oats from growing, though she had mostly dealt in tonics and potions for that. He thought the same might have gone for fertility but he also knew that what he didn't know could fill a book, a trilogy of sequels, several appendices and a world building bible published posthumusly.

Plus he'd seen charms and medicine bags in passing.

"I understand formal schoolin' has a period of extra stress so I bet the memory and focus one'll come in very handy. I wonder if the sneaky charms'd keep folks from bein' spied on by the squirrels."

[sairis]

Sairis thought about it. "I'm not sure, honestly. They keep people from noticing you, but if someone's looking for you, it tends not to work. And I've only ever used them on humans before."

[not_a_haint]

Truth to tell, Caleb was not that concerned about the squirrels, though having his business aired over the radio for all to hear irked him a bit.

He never had gotten around to really looking for a place to buy rum.

He hadn't given the moonshine idea much thought since he'd first brought it up. He'd thought it was just idle speculation but now that he was thinking about it...

"Did you say you knew how to build a still?" He would never be able to claim it wasn't his idea.

[sairis]

Sairis nodded. "I can distill a few things; alcohol's just one of them. Though I don't actually think there's enough space in our room." Not that he'd been thinking about it, either."

[not_a_haint]

"No, no, that never even crossed my mind. Every still I ever heard of was outside." Of course every still he'd ever heard of had to be hidden from the law. "Just, I dunno, somethin' that crosses my mind every once in a while."

[sairis]

"There's probably somewhere on the island we could use," Sairis said. He was definitely thinking of it now. "The woods are open enough, but not exactly convenient." And there was something in him that rebelled against doing anything in the actually living wilderness.

"Maybe an unused stable or something?"

[not_a_haint]

Caleb was reluctant to try distilling in the woods as well. Though he did not possess any preternatural connection to the Green, he'd been raised by those who did and somehow running a still in the woods, though traditional, seemed disrespectful somehow.

He frowned thoughtfully. "We could ask around, though I'm not sure who would know. And I'm not sure what sorta regulations or what have you there might be. Not sure if this is a 'ask forgiveness, or permission' typa thing."

[sairis]

"The dean didn't know, so there's probably nothing in the school, then," Sairis said. He finished braiding the greenery and started wrapping it around a tiny bone. "Who's in charge of the town - is there an elder or something?"

[not_a_haint]

"I think there's a mayor, but t' be honest it's been so cold I haven't explored as much as maybe I should've. Which is t' say most towns have a mayor so I'm guessin' this one does too. I do know there's a town hall. Which is also usually an indication that there's a mayor."

[sairis]

"Do you think they'd know where we could set up?" Sairis frowned. "Except you said the government here is a problem sometimes."

[not_a_haint]

"I 'spect that part's complicated." Caleb frowned thoughtfully.

He didn't actually know what the laws here were. Come to think of it he didn't know a whole lot about the laws back in Kentucky either. Was that something he would have learned in a regular school?

"We're not...I don't know if we're technically in th' United States. If this island is it's own, what'd they call it, pocket...somethin'...dimension? We might not be beholden t' th' US government." A dream come true for more than one person of Caleb's acquaintance.

[sairis]

"So are we better off talking to the mayor or just doing it?" Sairis asked.

[not_a_haint]

"I think...we should look for a place first, just t'see if it's feasible. Did you say you talked t'the Dean?"

[sairis]

"Just to ask if we could use the dorms," Sairis said. "I didn't ask about the town."

[not_a_haint]

"Did they say 'no', or 'not here'? Aw heck I'm splittin' hairs. What do we need for a space?"

[sairis]

Sairis shrugged. "Mostly just space. Some form of heat or place to build a fire, and airflow."

[not_a_haint]

"There's some abandoned lookin' warehouses near th' animal shelter I work at. Maybe one'a those'd work."

[sairis]

Sairis nodded thoughtfully. "It would be worth checking them out, anyway."