Winchester/Fairfield Expedition - The Town of Fairfield

[winfield]

[You saw the towns some time ago, but it still took a good couple hours of treading past the farmland around it before you actually reached it. They have a distinctly "old western" type of feel to them, with their dusty, unpaved dirt roads and the collection of buildings-- most of them obviously wooden-- sitting side-by-side along either side of the road.

More observant residents may notice that the nearer they come to the town, the more people that look up and notice, and subsequently hurry off or head inside. And even if you didn't notice it as you closed in, it sure becomes apparent once you step under the archway of the town; there's no one around. The tumbleweed that rolls by almost seems to be mocking the residents.

Another thing that becomes apparent is the state of the town. Besides having gone eerily quiet, some of the buildings have been wrecked. There are gouges in the wood, where it hasn't been punched through or torn apart. Rails are broken, and a few of them even have damaged or missing doors.

Are they too late?]

DR. BREWER | HEATH | RECONSTRUCTION

((ooc: No sections this time. Comment freely and make your own! There will be a section by the mods soon~ Sections updated!))

Comments

[kungfuwitch]

Things that... can't get out. Okay. Yeah that's good to know. Thank you.

[She swallows, not even wanting to think about what that could possibly mean]

How long have all of you lived here?

[vesania]

We moved out of our castle about...two years ago? Maybe three? It's hard to keep track. Some of us were in Draconis for a while, before we eventually had to leave it.

[kungfuwitch]

Why did you have to leave? What happened?

[vesania]

Our castle lost its mind.

[kungfuwitch]

I think I saw reports of expeditions to other castles finding things about that happening...

[She pauses, reaching out to touch his arm]

I'm sorry. What can I do to help?

[vesania]

[He offers her a weak smile] Some of us got out, that's what matters.

What we need now is help making this place safe. So we can stay here, and be protected from those things.

[kungfuwitch]

[She nods, looking around]

You were able to get the radio to work before so you guys must have some kind of power that works here, right? What about magic?

[vesania]

No magic. [He jerks a thumb at the kids behind him] No natural power, either. Heath's usually our sign for that. We just used the technology already here. We don't know who left it or even how it started working.

[kungfuwitch]

So you have existing tech but no magic? That's so weird...

[When he gestures to the kids her focus changes]

How many children are here?

[vesania]

That radio's the only piece of working tech we've come across in a while.

[He shakes his head]

Not many, only a handful. Draconis was a mess, not a lot made it out. The only reason Heath did is because he's not exactly an average kid. You just can't tell right now because we're in the dead zone.

[kungfuwitch]

[Way to break her heart, dude. She nods, making a conscious effort to focus on the task at hand and not think about how many didn't make it out. Her gaze turns to Heath]

I'm not your average person, either [She smiles slightly] so I know what you mean. [Turning back to him] This place doesn't look like it could withstand much more at all. You should come back with us. All of you.

[vesania]

[Heath sends her a flirty grin, apparently he has no yardstick when it comes to that]

I'm sorry, but we can't do that. We're done with castles, after your own goes crazy and tries to get you all to kill one another, you never want to go into one again.

[kungfuwitch]

[She'll pretend to ignore that, Mister. She's a married witch! She gives him a warm smile back, though]

Okay I can understand that... even though it makes us look pretty loony for staying there, ourselves. [she chuckles] Is there anywhere else you can think of where you guys can go?

[vesania]

We'd like to stay here, actually. If we get the defences right, this would be a brilliant place to settle. We have houses, farmland for crops, it'd be perfect.

[kungfuwitch]

If it weren't for those pesky aliens, right?

[She smirks]

Well we'll see what we can do about that.

[vesania]

[He gives a soft, humoured smile] They do show up when you least expect it to turn everything upside down. [He might not be talking about the Collectors right now]

Great, thanks, it'll mean a lot to all of us.

[kungfuwitch]

Story of my life. [She snorts, thinking of how many times demons had shown up to ruin some event]

How many of you are here? Could all of you fit inside one building? It's easier to defend one than a bunch of them?

[vesania]

Thirty, give or take a few. And yeah, if the building was big enough, there's a town hall here, we could use, or the saloon.

[kungfuwitch]

[She nods, her eyes roaming over the buildings]

Okay. How are the structures? Are the doors and windows still in one piece? [she pauses, thinking] We should probably board up at least some of the windows either way.

[vesania]

That's a good idea, and it's one of the few building's that's held up, thank god,

[kungfuwitch]

[She looks back at him]

Building up the fence and fixing up the defenses overall is a good idea but I honestly think putting everyone in one place and focusing on that building is the best defense. That way we can take more time to fortify that one structure instead of dividing the effort between a bunch of them.

[vesania]

That's not a bad plan, we can do that. I'll see if I can convince some of the others to come out and help.

[kungfuwitch]

[She smiles warmly]

I hope they will. We're only here to help.

[vesania]

They've just had a rough time of it, they'll come around.

[kungfuwitch]

[She pauses, thinking for a moment]

How long have you been in this world? [Wait, that sounded rude] I'm sorry. It's just that I've been here for a couple of years and we know so little about the place. I'm just curious.