ph_logs | We're free to decide for ourselves exactly where we belong

We're free to decide for ourselves exactly where we belong

Who: Big Sis Mag and friends!
What: Seasonal log! What she's up to at work and around the village
When: Backdated/Forward-dated in the time around the event as suits, this log encompasses the current and near-future SOTRP
Where: Mostly in the village proper. She's a city girl.
Warnings: Will update as necessary.

If you've been around the village for a while, you've seen Magne. If you've just arrived, you've seen Magne. If you've gone anywhere near the Oak & Iron, or the farm run by César Salazar, you've seen Magne. She stands out as one of the more social of the villagers, dressed sensibly but well, with her hair usually tied up around a stem of magnolia blossoms. She is friendly, supportive, willing to point people toward just about anything they could want be it work or play or simply to find someone else that might have arrived ahead of them. She's got a good memory for these things.

Don't mind the knuckledusters that hang from her belt. She won't turn them on you without a reason.

1. Oak Sweet Oak
People have been arriving in droves. Fortunately the food scarcity problem has passed, and the food at the inn where they all end up staying at first is leaps and bounds better than it has been. The staff are kind, if exhausted, and all of them are willing to help get folks squared away as much as possible. Troublemakers are dealt with swiftly and effectively by one of the staffers, a woman in her thirties with enough muscle mass to be a formidable opponent regardless of whether she employed her peculiar magnetic powers or not.

Flag her down for a drink, or a chat. She will take the time to talk as long as you like.

It is also said that she gives pretty great hugs if you need one.

2. Planning For The Future
There's a nice little two-story house in town, not far off of the main drag. It's unpainted, its furnishings are basic, but the lot out behind it is empty and expansive and Magne can be found out there with a roll of paper that she holds tucked under one arm while she paces in specific areas, counting quietly under her breath. She mutters to herself in her native language as she considers her project, and every so often, she goes back to the back of the house itself. A picnic table is set up there to work on top of when she has to stop and make notes, and it is stacked with reference books so that she can make real progress on plans for her expansive future business.

In the house proper, all of the windows and doors have been thrown open, and Magne can be seen moving here and there cleaning up, airing everything out, rearranging the things that are there, and eventually reserving one specific corner that she is only going to accept help from seasons contractors to modify when the time comes.

Come help her out, see what all the ruckus is, provide the peanut gallery. She still has money to earn to make her plans happen and every little bit of encouragement helps.

3. Fight Club
She had posted a notice on the bulletin board about this weeks ago, to get people together for a proper, sporting approach to fighting your fellow man for fun and profit. And now she's actually opened up a space in which to do just that, out near the fields, in an open stretch that wouldn't be in the way of anyone or anything passing through the area. Fenced in using some spare castoffs from César's ongoing farm alterations, with a sign warning passersby that any and all fights here are fine and legal and nothing to be concerned about, the ring is little more than a smoothed out dirt circle recently dried out after the last hard rain.

At the Oak & Iron, on one of her few days off, she can be approached about using the space for formal matchups or challenged herself. This isn't the official ring after all, but she's still working on getting that together. Something that wouldn't be interrupted by weather or monsters.

A paper is smoothed on the tabletop, with the names of interested parties, and a few bullet points to address concerns that anyone might have. A healer available for when accidents inevitably happened, and a list of the rules of engagement that boiled down to "you have to agree to one another's terms but otherwise it's all copacetic". Do you want to peek in on proceedings or add in your two-brass? Feel free!

4. WILDCARD
Do you want to simply find Magne out and about, invite her somewhere, hang out, hire her for whatever you might like a well-muscled lady bouncer for? Find her primarily at the Oak & Iron, or else out at her home, or at César's farm!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Whatever César might be up to, she hasn't caught him at it quite yet, focused as she is on the task she's set forth for herself. She's bent over her not-blueprints as she sketches and labels, knowing that very little that she's trying to do is going to be to scale. She's still working on the rough draft, after all, and making sure that she has the space to work with to begin with.

Hearing another petname for her coming from the road, Magne straightens up, tilting to look back out at the road and smiling brightly at her boyfriend approaching the lot.

"Maybe," she replies in a lightly teasing tone. "Actually, I might want your opinion on something, if you've got a minute." She smooths down the paper roll as she says it, and points out the square that represents the main house. "Do you think sound-proofing the place will take up space?"

She'll know soon enough!

César's heart skips a beat over that bright smile returning his. He turns and makes a beeline to her side, pausing to kiss her cheek before pouring over the paper roll she's been sketching on. A quick rough draft; oh, she's full on scheming, here!

"I've always got time for you." César glances back up to her with another smile before looking at the paper again and letting his analytical half take over, rubbing his chin in thought. "Soundproofing always takes up space. ... hmm, with the available materials we have here, you could lose only about 16 centimeters per wall. And maybe a bit more in ceiling height since floors are worse. But if you need it, it'd be worth the loss of space. With careful furniture selection or alterations, you'll barely notice."

She nods and bends to mark a few little brackets off of a couple of the corners of her plans, writing down the measurement he's suggested. Up near the top of the smaller square where it meets the much larger shape, she notes slightly more of that extra soundproofing measurement, before adding another few notations to the upper corner of the paper that's filling rapidly with notes.

"If I can finagle it, perhaps the layer between the ceiling of one storey and the floor of another will work in my favor for integrating it seamlessly," she muses, straightening up with the end of her pen tapping on her lower lip.

César keeps rubbing his chin in thought. "Doing that would be a good time to make any changes to the upstairs utilities."

And then that new little subroutine in his thought process that he's been cultivating for eight months before he got here activates, and César quickly looks entirely confused "... why are you soundproofing your house?"

He knows he's missing a crucial factor or several, here. César looks up to her while barely moving his head. And then gets utterly distracted by the pen tapping and forgets he asked a question in the first place.

"So a remodel overall might be in order to keep the utilities working, including running water to both up and downstairs, especially if I'd want to make that area my living space..."

Magne shifts her weight and props her hand on her hip, regarding her plans as she thinks over how she might integrate the idea further into the larger of the buildings. The question makes her blink, then huff a quiet laugh. "Right, I should probably explain. I'm only going to be living in part of it!" She bends back over the page to point out the larger structure. "When I've got a bit more money to my name I'm going to be putting it into this. It'll be a place for people to go that isn't just the Oak & Iron. You've seen how crowded it can be. I'd also open it up to some of the local red light workers that don't necessarily want to work out of their homes or go to clients' houses. It'll be a safe place for them to come and stay, they could take others in as they saw fit, and I would ensure that they were well tended and cared for. A healer on staff, someone in the kitchen, cleaners, laundry, and a bath house," she indicates a space off to one side where she's got myriad notes regarding plumbing.

"Of course, this isn't going to happen immediately. I've only got..." She fishes into a pocket to pull up a bank note. "1200? So I've got a lot more to go."

Oh, talking! Right, time to focus in again. Not think about how he'd like to kiss Magne's lips. It's a good thing his brain works fast.

"Especially if you want a tub." César grins knowingly.

He goes quiet as she explains, staying in his bent down position as she points to the page. Red light workers? It takes him a moment to process that, his cheeks reddening a bit. But that explains the soundproofing. César looks over the plans several times as she speaks, listening closely. He straightens and looks to her when she pulls out a bank note, grinning.

"That's a hell of a lot more comprehensive of a business model than I could come up with all on my own. Geez! And this is a good, really central location, too!" César crosses his arms and has to take a good, approving look at the house.

There's a bit of a squirmy feeling from his sexual inexperience and formerly Catholic guilt around sex, but he squashes it. Silly thing to be worried about, considering he practices 'witchcraft' now. Exciting project for the future now. His smile brightens again.

"You've been scheming, mi amor. I knew you were planning something, but wow!"

"Oh I've got so many little ideas that I want to try and incorporate, but for now I know I'm going to need to focus on the most basic things like construction, utilities, staffing, and pay for those coming on to help. Absolutely nobody will be made to work for free. It'll just take some time to build the capital to be able to pay them as they deserve and keep the lights on." This, she is absolutely adamant about. None of her people will be down and out the way she's been for so long. Not so long as she can fix that.

She reaches across the table for a little notebook that's full of her handwriting, listing out all kinds of disjointed ideas for everything from amenities to decorations, some things circled or crossed out. A note about providing all new staff with a lovely new high-end outfit upon hiring, a sign-on bonus, a couple of cartoonish little drawings of lamps for outside of doors that can be switched on to indicate occupancy, flower-shaped accessories for staff so that only certain people get picked up for services, that sort of thing. There's even a page with several attempts at a name for the place, all of them listed under the title Vanguard Action Squad, as she tries to decide on names that sound similar.

"I've been piecing this together for a while now," she admits. "First it was just wanting to set up a place that could serve the same purpose at the Oak so that they wouldn't have to be working flat-out all the time. Then I realized there wasn't much a protection for some of the sex workers out and about, outside of Lord Osborne. The rest just sort of spun out from there."

Excitment for Magne blasts away the last of the squirming, because everything she says and everything César sees just shows more and more of her vision for the place. The thought, care, detail, and inventiveness put into everything. He's taking it all in like a rapturous student, grinning like a fool.

César even has to hang off her shoulder for a moment with both hands, leaning in closer to both her and the notebook. "They'll be safe and more than cared for under your roof with a modern take on how a place like this should work."

He lets go of her and taps near the lights. "One thing I would add, if you're trying to protect people from worse case scenarios: rig up discreet servant bell pulls in each room. I've seen those in old mansions and castles all over Europe."

After a moment, he pulls out his own little notebook of paper to be ripped out, a sort of self-made 3-ring notebook, starting to draw diagrams. "They can be attached to and hidden by anything hanging—tapestries, ropes, paintings, etc. We could probably do buttons, too. Different elements so clients won't know what to look for. Each room would have their own bell that can be differentiated by tone and numbered. Maybe even something that falls off the bell when rung. Wouldn't need electricity. That way, anyone can silently call for help, you can tell from the number of rings what the crisis is, and then you can unleash hell on the person seeking to hurt someone in your house. And it'd be simple for me to design."

He tugs the piece of paper free and holds it out to her with a confident grin, voice menacing as he quotes:

"Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee."

Edited (César needs to mad scientist bells EVEN MORE) 2024-04-11 21:09 (UTC)

Magne doesn't immediately interpret his discomfort as having to do with the sexual underpinnings of part of the plans, rather figuring that it would be rightfully nervewracking to see such an expansive business plan in its beginning stages before everything is really able to be pulled off. Which would make sense coming from someone to whom such things are very important.

Letting him start to draw up his own plans, Magne observes as he explains the bell pull idea and nods along. "I would also maybe find someone that knows how to install some form of enchantment in case someone's hands are tied, literally or figuratively. Something subtle so it can't immediately be shut down without some kind of detection."

She smirks when he hands over the plans, slotting it neatly into the book holding the rest of her plans, making another note where everything else is written.

"Nobody under my roof will suffer. Anyone that attempts to subvert that will meet the blunt end of the closest weapon at hand."

And yet for César, the scale of the project is exciting.

"Adding another layer of security, maybe activated by a safe word. Sending stones. The light switch rapidly being flipped. And then just throwing something at the door to thud. Five different ways to ask for help, both mechanical and magical."

César has to resist kissing her, beaming. "Your people are going to be some of the safest in all of Pumpkin Hollow!"

Edited 2024-04-14 06:53 (UTC)

"Whatever else happens, they can always reach me, one way or another. The only real downside that I can see in doing this is that I'll have less time, at least to start with. And just when I finally convinced you to take some time," she sighs, turning to face him with her hip against the edge of the table, her hand moving to the back of his arm and running down to his hand to take. "You'll have to come and see the setup when I actually have it all worked out with the builders. They'll probably have a much better blueprint than I can draft."

"We'll figure out how to make time. My schedule's more flexible than yours will be." He squeezes her hand. "... would a paper model help to visualize? I could show you how."

... shh, he usually built mechas in his youth.

"Oh, that's a nice idea. If we can put together something to scale it might help to figure out what I can fit into the lot without losing all of the space surrounding it. I might like to have flower beds around the windows," she muses. She squeezes his hand in return, positively beaming. "It'll take time to get up and running, but hopefully it'll be self-sustaining after a point, then I'll be able to set my own schedule and see you whenever we're both free."

César looks back at the house, considering. "Oh, flowerbeds would be lovely... the entire layout, then!" He smiles brightly back to her, then tugs on her hand a little teasingly. "I'll have to stay over and visit to make sure you're not overworking yourself until it's all settled down. Make you breakfast."

He leans in, speaking a bit quieter so his next words aren't so overwhelming. "If there's any way I can help, let me know. I'm proud of you."

How often have people said that to her or at least hinted at it in their actions towards her? Not enough, by César's guess, especially since she's Japanese on top of everything else in her life.

She can't help but laugh as her concern for him is turned right back around and directed at her instead. Turning back to the plans again, she reaches to roll the paper up carefully, leaving the table and scattered supplies to instead head into the existing house to show him that as well.

It's a good cover for the way that hearing those words squeezes her heart hard. Her hand stays secure around his after she takes it again to lead him inside.

"Come on. I want to show you what I'm doing for the front-of-house part of the operation. I'm going to have my own place and everything in the upstairs portion, too. I'll have to knock out one of the walls to put in a proper kamidana for the rest of the League..."

He chuckles himself, then gives Magne her privacy as she digests his words. The compliment was for her, not him. Magne can take her time to digest them as she needs.

César grins like an eager child when she leads him inside by his hand, his heart hammering in excitement. "Oh, show me everything!"

If he has questions, he'll ask, but otherwise? This moment belongs to Magne, and he is going to do his very absolute best not to interrupt her.

The downstairs portion of the house is barren, though here and there are chalk marks where she wants to put a few things in. A wall separating the kitchen from a large, open floorplanned dining and living area, which she explains would be a lovely, intimate gathering area for those that simply want drinks, company, perhaps music if she got someone in that wanted to do such a thing. A half-bathroom there that would be marked as such, and a large window looking out of the side that she intends to set up as a place to lounge when she could get a nice sofa, love seats, comfortable cushions, a low table for tea service...

Upstairs, it's a different story. She's just started to decorate up here, mostly moving around the furniture that the place had come with. The landing opens up to a wide hallway, where a guest room and a full bathroom have been swept out and set up, waiting to be decorated properly. The bath tub isn't nearly as large as that in César's home, but it's big enough for her to sit upright in, though she confesses that she intends to get it remodeled so that it resembles a bathroom more akin to what she was used to, with an extendable showerhead to let her rinse down before settling into a bath. At the far end of the hall, she opens the door to the master bedroom. It was open, airy, with a large window set back with a small ledge where someone might be able to sit, the soap box resting there with the flowers lending their fragrance to the still slightly musty air. She'd set up a relatively simple dresser, full-size bed, wardrobe wherein all of her clothes are neatly hung, and a desk where she deposits her notebook and plans.

"It's not much just yet, but when I start to make modifications, I'll really be able to start making it into a proper home."

César absorbs everything, eyes and ears taking in everything. He doesn't let go of her hand. A gathering area he can frequent himself! A low table for tea service! The bathroom renovation to give herself a Japanese bathroom! And oh, the bedroom itself... he should build a little area in his own house like that near his bay windows. The layout is simple, but functional, and he loves it.

"So that's why you wanted all the flowers. I can see your vision. It's going to be so lovely" César's grinning wide. "Are you going to give yourself a little kitchenette up here? You don't need much since any events would be handled by the downstairs staff. But it might be nice to have."

"I want the flowers for a few reasons, but yes," she chuckles, looking out of the window onto the side yard, where she would be putting in a path around to a side exit, something of an emergency escape, wanting to keep her potential staff as safe as possible.

She straightens back up at the mention of the kitchenette, hand on one hip as she thinks a moment. "I'd thought about it, but I wasn't sure if it would be feasible with the layout. Maybe when I get them in for the remodel up here I can ask but at least at first, I could easily make myself things down in the main kitchen."

"I'd be happy to help you grow any plants you want, too." César glances out the window, considering the same space while only knowing she's thinking, and rubs his chin in thought. "Local only would be best for outdoor plants. Making all of those nice could be your housewarming gift."

Magne helped César finish up his own house, after all. They're both trying to keep costs lower. Buying then transplanting mature plants is expensive, and they're in short supply on the island.

César thinks then winces a little. "Good point. Moving any size kitchen is a nightmare."

Hands on her hips, Magne considers the space itself as a whole, then glances back at César, before moving to her currently stiffly-made bed to a box containing the first of her belongings that she's moved into the house from the Oak & Iron. Carefully, she picks out the box that she'd gotten from Gerry's yard sale. She holds it out for him to see.

"I need to also reserve a space for things like this. If these show up here every so often, eventually I might find some of everybody from home," she explains, though she doubts that more will wash up any time soon. She just wants to have her shrine.

"Oh! Those are like those Funky Soda! vinyl figures that got popular while I was... away back home." He leans in to look at them closer, reading the English. "Tomura Shigaraki and Overhaul. Special Edition. My Hero Academia?"

His brows furrow a little in thought. It's very clear he has no clue that Overhaul's the man who killed her.

"... this is from a version of Earth where an anime chronicles your world. One that's popular enough that American merchandise is being made for it. It probably has a manga, too...."

Edited (forgot to mention manga, and that's important) 2024-05-02 20:31 (UTC)

"That's...not the strangest thing I've ever heard, you know? At home, heroes and even some of the more benign but well-known villains had merchandise, fan clubs, all of that. If the multiverse exists, and media about other versions of the universe exists, then why wouldn't versions of our worlds crop up here and there? I know there are probably a few people that haven't had the heart to mention to Doctor Watson that there are books, shows, and movies about versions of him and his Sherlock from a hundred years ago.."

Still, she regards the figures with a small pout and a curl to her lip.

"This boy was trying to pull together enough of us to overturn society as we knew it and make it somewhere that all of us could live," she says as she points out Shigaraki. Then she taps her finger against the plastic over the masked man. "And this was the boy that sent me here. If these exist for these two, then I'm almost certain that there are a lot more out there."

"The multiverse honestly makes it an eventuality." César's brow furrows. "... wait, my doctor's that famous in another Earth? Huh!"

It's strange to put a face to one of Magne's own in this way. But it's the second figure being pointed out that is a slap across his face, emotionally. César hadn't know the name of the man who killed Magne. And now, he's staring at a vinyl figure of the man. He barely even hears what she says after.

César's expression fights between rage and protectiveness and grief and just settles on something hard, which extends to his voice, a tone Magne's never heard before. "... Has he been dealt with?"

Dabi would know. Dabi would've said. And Dabi would've done it, if someone else hadn't.

It's not often that Magne sees that look on his face, but she knows what it means, and all she can do is reach over and pat his back in an attempt to distract and comfort. "Don't worry hun, I was told that my people did worse than just kill him. He has to live without his quirk, and that is enough for me."

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