Winchester/Fairfield Expedition - Depature

[winfield]

[After working for roughly a day and a half, nearly nonstop for some of you, the town's looking both healthier and hardier. With most (if not all) of the expeditioners contributing to reparation and building, you've managed to get a lot of work done: all the buildings have at least been patched up to some extent, and the poor broken fence is now standing and sturdy. You've even managed to get together a couple outposts. Nothing fancy-- they're just elevated platforms, really-- but they serve their purpose of allowing people to see far out quite well.

It's probably best to start heading back now, though, since you need the supplies you brought to last you the trip home.]

DR. BREWER | PACK IT UP, KIDS | HEATH | PEOPLE WHO WANT TO STAY

Comments

[youfallback]

[Carolina sets down her pack in one of the chairs at the kitchen table, glancing around before following him into the kitchen. Four bedrooms. If she took one, him another, that would leave two guestrooms and the hayloft. She knows she would take the smallest room, as she doesn't need it for much more than sleeping, which would leave one of the bigger rooms for guests.

The key, though, would possibly getting power out here if they could rebuild the steam engines in some way to be used more permanently. That would make any guest's stay that much nicer, especially if it could pump water into the house.]

We'll need to return for supplies for those.

[Maybe it's being away from the Castle, maybe it's having him here rather than a toy, maybe it's a combination of both, but she manages to ask a question,] Will those keep? [Her eyes are on the food sitting out. She never knows what York brings that is or isn't perishable.]

[encryptedlock]

[York, for his part, will claim the master bedroom. It's much bigger than one person needs, but it had been his before and he wasn't quite ready to give it up yet. They'd have to do laundry soon if they wanted the blankets to be any good, though.]

Mostly. You want to keep the beans and grains away from light and moisture, but the canned food will keep pretty much forever. It'll be better once we have some fresh vegetables to go with it, but meat might be a problem until we can get some stock.

pretend this isn't literally a month late

[youfallback]

[Carolina nods and settles her pack on the table to start picking through what food she has. Surprise, surprise, it's MREs. As she tugs them out from her pack, though, she does at least offer a halfway apologetic glance. She knows how he feels about them, or really the more important factor of her not eating right.]

Nuts will help with protein until then. And we have these if those run out. [She gestures to the MREs and tries to not sound hopeful. Tries.]

I saw nothing amiss

[encryptedlock]

[York shakes his head and grins just a little.]

Only in an emergency. Despite the crawling pace we took to get here, it only takes a couple hours to get back to the castle with the vehicles. Still, they are all right for emergencies. If we really have to.

[youfallback]

[Alright, she can at least hang on to them for an emergency. She'll start tucking them away into one of the cabinets, albeit in the very back.]

For emergencies, then. [She gives him a small half-smile.] We can unpack and start making lists of supplies we need out here.

[Because yeah she'd rather not go back to the Castle unless she needs to.]

[encryptedlock]

I think that sounds like a great plan. Once we get things rolling, I think we could be self-sufficient out here.

[And then they wouldn't have to go back to the castle for anything.

The idea sounds better and better all the time.]

[youfallback]

I would be alright with never going back to the Castle. [She says it quietly, as if she's afraid that the aforementioned Castle might hear.]

[encryptedlock]

[He smiles a little, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes.]

I've still got some unfinished business there. But--maybe some day. We could just take off.

[youfallback]

[As she finishes unpacking the MREs, she frowns up at him. She had spent months in the Dead Zone already, felt like there was nothing holding her to the Castle anymore, but she knew he wasn't like her in that respect. There were a lot of people he cared for, a lot of people who had disappeared, too, without warning.]

I'd like that. [Even his use of the word "we."]

[encryptedlock]

[And that, well, that's promising enough. Somewhere to start from, anyway.]

I'll keep you up on my plans, okay?

[youfallback]

If mine correspond with yours, I'll do the same. [Not that she was planning on deviating from his plans, but she liked keeping the option of complete independence of anyone open. And despite the fact that she had moved into his guest room.]

[encryptedlock]

[Even that was more than he could have asked for even a few months ago.]

You got it.

[youfallback]

Until then, we'll work on cleaning up the ranch and making it usable. [She shoulders the remains of her pack and heads out of the kitchen toward the stairs.]

[encryptedlock]

All right. Let me know if you want a hand anywhere in particular.

[Otherwise he'll start outside and make sure the roof was in good condition.]