The stormy March is come at last

[baldrshand]

Who: Ethlyn and you!
Where: The event center (or just outside it), or out and about for foraging trips
What: BBC historical immersion documentary Helping you soft modern people get to grips with the way it was! AKA mingle log for learning some skills. (If your character wants to learn or teach something not mentioned here, feel free!)
Warnings: None to start with!


Without any electricity to run lights and music, Ethlyn's engaged the events center to run her day of tutorials on how to live... well, like she had always lived up until she was whisked away from her own death to this strange world. Admittedly, she didn't have as much expertise as she would like to be more useful; as a noblewoman, servants carried out many of the tasks like cooking and making lights. Still, being a soldier on campaign had forced her to learn, in a rough-and-ready fashion--and soliciting every willing medieval person she could find, she was determined to share those skills with Chosen and townsfolk alike until they figured out how to make the sparks fly once more.

Throwing open the shades to let in as much light as possible and starting at sunrise--as though sun to sun wasn't a perfectly sensible way to live one's life!--she was ready to help.

Making rushlights: Rushlights are just that--rushes, soaked in fat/lard/oil to use as purely sufficient but inexpensive light source. Since Aldrip doesn't have much in the way of rushlight holders (barring a few antiques), there's also a pile of coathangers and pliers to work at some improvised fixtures.

Fires to last: Do you know how to build a fire? Congratulations, you're going to learn. And also you're going to collect wood for it! Start with little twigs and build up to bigger pieces of wood slowly.

Of course, this isn't an appropriate activity for inside the convention hall, so both this and the below will have to happen outside.

Cooking: Since most homes don't have wood-fire ovens, it's going to have to be wood-fire outside. There's a lot more to it than just hot dogs and s'mores. If you've got grain, you've got pottage. If you've got some vegetables that need using up, they can go in the grain that becomes pottage. Limitless variety!

Foraging: It's winter, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to eat. There's black walnuts, wild cranberries (lowbush and highbush), beechnuts, pine nuts, chickweed, watercress, rosehips, and more--and some skillful local artists hired by Ethlyn have put together some sketches for edibles to be found in the wild.

Comments

[entreats]

[ There are a lot of answers that would be reassuring here. And a whole lot that would be worrying.

Instead of going for either, Ange opts for: ]

I have no idea.

[ .. ah, yes. The answer of chaos. And yet Ange seems so genuine about it, like she just.. really doesn't know if food is supposed to do this.. ]

I followed the recipe they told us about, but then this just happened. [ You know, Levi! The food suddenly was on fire! Isn't that a normal part of cooking? ]

[solitarysoul]

Huh...

[Maybe its magic. Who knows.]

You should probably put it out, though. That'll just burn it.

[Whatever it was in there.]

[entreats]

I'm pretty sure it's burnt already.

[ .. not that it isn't a good idea to put the fire out all the same.. It is fire, after all..

And yet it seems like Ange didn't bother to do so just yet. ]

I was just trying to figure out what went wrong in the meantime. I figured I might discover something through watching the fire, but.. no dice, I guess. [ At least Ange doesn't sound particularly worried about it either.

But then again, with Ange's flat tone and pokerface, when she does she ever truly seem worried about anything? ]

[solitarysoul]

Maybe you got it too hot?

[Fire creates heat, maybe heat creates fire???]

[entreats]

[ .... ]

Does anything that gets too hot immediately set itself on fire?

[ A genuine question! She's not just being dry or sarcastic like usually.. Instead it looks like Ange genuinely has no idea, and she's asking both him and herself that at the same time by asking it out loud. ]

[solitarysoul]

Um.

[Does it? He doesn't deal with heat sources that much.]

Not everything, but sometimes if something is really hot it can set things on fire.

[Easily flammable things like paper or wood but he doesn't understand how it works anyway.]

[entreats]

I.. guess that means we should stop this fire before it starts burning more stuff then, yeah.

[ Like this is a concern that's only really come to her now..

Look, in Ange's defense, she felt like it was pretty contained! She's been watching it just burn in the pot for a while now! Even though she still doesn't sound too alarmed by the possibility. Like they're just dealing with a minor issue here, from the girl's point of view. ]

Do you have anything that could take care of the fire?

[solitarysoul]

Yeah...um. Not really. I think if you cover up the pot it might go out?

[entreats]

[ Well, it's relatively little effort, so.. Ange does grab the pot's lid off the ground, putting it on top of the pot. At least it does cover the fire, though it's hard to tell whether or not it's still raging in there.

Ange seems to think she's made enough of an effort, though, since she just moves to sit down again right after. ]

Well, I guess this means I'll just have to starve until the city is back to normal.

[ Because she feels like she sure has no gift for making pottage. Quite the opposite, actually. ]

[solitarysoul]

Or find someone else to get food from? I don't really know how to cook aside from roasting things over a fire but if I have extra I can offer you some.

Or maybe some restaurants are still open?

[entreats]

...

[ The girl is quiet for a moment. She really doesn't like the idea of asking someone else for food.. mostly because she wouldn't even be sure who to ask. Her first thought is Ethlyn, but Ethlyn clearly already has her hands full with this entire situation, and Ange would hate to add on to that.

So when Levi offers instead, her gaze turns towards him instead. ]

You would share with me?

[ Her tone is mostly still flat, but there's a little bit of something else in it. Something just slightly surprised. ]

[solitarysoul]

[He shrugs.]

I go hunting sometimes, I can't always eat everything I bring down. If I have extra I don't mind sharing it.

[He usually tries to save it for later meals or sells it, but he doesn't really need much money so he wouldn't miss that occasional income.]

[entreats]

.. Sure. [ The answer still comes a little slowly.

It's always difficult for her to just believe it when help is offered so easily, even if his reasoning is mostly sound. ]

Thanks. I don't see a real reason for you to share anything with me, so.. I guess you're just being nice. [ Even if that forever remains a wild, wild concept to Ange.

People just being nice. Selfless, in ways. ]

[solitarysoul]

I'd just give it away or sell it anyway. And I don't need much money so I don't really need to sell it. And I don't have any right now anyway, I'll probably just go hunting again for dinner.

[He just likes to help out. Bring a tiny nice thing to his world of horror and pain.]

So, um, yeah. I guess I am being nice.

[entreats]

Of course you are. You don't need to have some sort of long explanation for it. You can just say you're nice.

[ .. says the person who can never admit to doing anything nice herself.

Maybe it's the pot calling the kettle black. ]

Anyway, I guess I'll just accept your kindness then. Thanks for not letting a cute girl starve. [ Granted, that 'cute girl' is said so flatly that she probably just means it in a deadpan kind of way. ]

[solitarysoul]

[He felt like he was being judged for it, though. And that she thought being nice was somehow a bad thing? He's not at all sure how to read her. Or most people, really.]

Um, you're welcome?