#elsewhere

"Probably, she's annoyingly nice" A munch "YOu ..want me to give her a call?"

A call? Wasn't she supposed to call someone last night... she forgot. A wince, and she sends a quick text to Jonas. All's well. may stay a few days.

"Let me think about it?"

She finds she's had three texts waiting!

Gerd: Hope 'The Lake' works for you. It seemed to be what you might need

Jonas: I hope you're okay. We're thinking of you

Siv: please be well

The text to Jonas is replied to quickly with his second one : _Understood. 💙

"Yeah sure.. this is a good place to sort shit out" Trimblefarhtz munches

She sets aside the last of her lunch and leans back, looking out at the view over the lake. "Do you live here? Or, does anyone, really? Or do folk just filter in and out as they need or desire?"

"Sheriff Sam is the only constant and even he goes flying... somefolks come in thinking they're lucifer come to hell, they ravage for shits and giggles , or try to take over, or even just bully... that's usually where Sam comes in, but none of us are wimps. We form groups fast to expell and invader.. when we're here. It's kind of a mix? uhmm "

"Take the traggo... they'll go a bit stir crazy every three weeks or so and hit the nearest big towns in masse then return shit faced from a concert... sometimes they pick up a new member, sometimes they lose an old one, rotate and repeat? JJJ is pretty constant. A few kithain use this as haven for recent crimes. They get tight as a tick for a full half year before peeking their head out again"

"Do you ever worry about getting raided en mass, like - some local lord- " NOT naming the name- "...decides that this haven is, like, a bandit hotspot or something, and try to flush out the whole nest?" Worried. "Not that I don't think y'all are capable, but take a pack of Knights with sovereign on their side, and soon folk might be marching politely right out to the firing squad.

"Well furk, we WORRY, one reason we discourage actually serieal ravagers from staying here. You know if you got to do it to survive, fine, if you do it because it's a power trip... we got ways of making you start to wonder if you beer has feces in it." a shrug "But work together with some plans in case Sam isn't enough, escape routes for some, distractions for others... hell... me and some other nockers set up the blazing saddles solution"

"Blazing Saddles?" Apparently the old reference might be lost on her.

"Old movie... uhm.. seventies I think, hilarious comedy... to say it's UNPC would be too put it mildly... but one scene has raiders about to stomp into the town of Rockridge into nothing. So the towns folk create a duplicate town to delay the enemy... We nockers did something similar.. if you step out of here and think really hard about attacking the place, you'll suddenly see 'the lake' about 10 miles deeper into the plains/dessert"

A laugh! "That's pretty ingenious. I'll just be glad to know you have plans, and stop digging about them, before I look like some sort of noble plant checking for your secrets."

"Too furking late, it's why I'm collecting your saliva after this..." He points to her water bottle, then grins "Joking.. The decoy is a delaying thing mostly but it buys time and ruins their element of surprise"

She rolls her eyes, amused. "Anything I can do to help out? I mean, I'm mostly just an entertainer, but I'll do what I can."

"Well, depends on what you're good at. But if you ONLY sing, you can at least pick up litter, that sort of thing"

"Yeah, mostly I sing. I know a little art here and there. Flicker-flies, hopscotch, not anything big or flashy. I used to focus on Aphro, but I've moved away from that, had to find, you know, legit uses for that most of the time. I'm not above picking up trash, cleaning, whatever is needed.. though I warn you, you don't want me on cooking duty."

"If you trust folks to know your cantrips, you can always offer.." A grin at the mention of lack of cooking "You know, you are the third woman in this place that claims she can't cook that has mentioned cooking at all. Is it a furking conspiracy to none of the guys say something stupid like 'get me a sammich"? not that I blame you mind you...just so far, only cooks around here are Me, Bach, and Tristo.. all guys"

A laugh, and Piper shares an anecdote of trying to make a simple breakfast back when she lived with her parents...

He breaks out laughing at that, "Well a nocker can usuaally at least tame a toaster, maybe we got the better chance there..." The hotdogs ARE good, "But fairly warned there, we won't let you near open fire and cooking ingredients at the same furking time"

"Not unless you are looking for blackened food that shouldn't be." A grin. She finishes her snack, and looks around over the top of the wall. Spying out to see if any of the other goats from the night before are around for a jam session.

As a matter of fact, there's Bach down below splashing water over himself at the lake... and there's JJ

JJJ is strumming his Ukulele

Tempted to try out a ride on the catapult, but she already had a dip this morning. After thanking Titus for breakfast, she leaves the Nocker to his work for now and heads over to check in with JJJ. "Hey cuz. Wanted to thank you for last night."

"Yeah? It lookeed like a good flight" JJJ smiles

"If you wouldn't mind hooking me up with the chef, I'd appreciate it. Might want to sample more of their wares."

"Yeah? Okay.. you already know your limits? I hate being the guy giving him that speech"

"I'm good." She nods.

"Thank Pan, every time I give 'that speech' I end up sounding like this," his voice shifts to a cheesy 50s style narrator style "Drugs and you- they can be swell, or put you through hell! Golly gee"

"I'll watch out for the Devil's Lettuce." She says dead-pan.

"Oh, reminds me, later tonight we're setting up the screen and watching Reefer Madness" A smile

"We riff trax or MSTK3k the hell out of it"

Laughter! "I'm there for it. What are you up to now? I heard you playing. Mind if I chill for a bit?"

"Just hanging and playing and your welcome" He offers "I tend to go light hearted. Spike says I'm 'Alternative pop' which is hurtful" a grin though

"Just promise to play something other than 'Somewhere over the Rainbow'? A grin. "It's lovely but overdone."

"Awwwww" the grin remains

"I first learned to play on the Ukulele. Still has a fond spot in my heart, but I love anything with strings."

Checking out his instrument.

It looks to be good quality, not one of those cheap mass produced or touristy ukuele songs"

"Nice piece." She says, admiring.

Can't help it, her fingers itch.

"Want to touch it?" He waggles his eyebrows playfully

"I wouldn't say no...." She admits. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours?" Giving him a little flash of her guitar case.

"Ah, the guitar.." A sad look "If you werne't kithin I'd be back peddling now. Sure, " He nods and gives a trade, but seems cautious.

"Oh, I won't steal your baby." She reassures him. "I didn't realize you were a string snob." She grins.

Accepting the Ukulele, she gives it an expert look over, though fingers gentle and respectful.

"No, remember, for me that ravaging to save a friend was a guitarist?" He reminds and takes up her guitar

"Oh..." She winces. "Jesus, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."