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

[sistermagnetic]

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!

Comments

2

[pineapplesalmon]

César walks off the main drag solely because he wants to look at something without most people seeing him. He pulls out a little slip of paper and unfolds it, looking at it. Only for a few seconds, gazing at it lovingly, before he folds it back up along its heavily creased folds and shoves it back into the front pocket of his shirt. Then, he looks up, and after a moment of surprise, gives a laugh at how fate has a sense of humor.

"Hola, mi amorcita!" César brightens into a wide smile as he catches sight of his little heart, because making something small is always cuter. "Plotting something?"

3

[maltesefalcon]

On the one hand, Cerrit's never gone out of his way to talk to Magne at work again. But on the other, he hasn't avoided visiting the tavern out of shame for his previous actions. There's the occasional casual glance, and at least once when a patron's gotten rowdy, he's offered to help remove them, if she wants.

But beyond that, he's left her alone.

Until now.

"Do you know anyone looking to get into it to blow off some steam? Hand-to-hand or escrima sticks, I'll keep my talons out of it or wear some sort of gloves if necessary."

1

[spaghettification]

The old man sitting alone at a table in the corner hadn't seemed to be a troublemaker. He's been there for a few hours--maybe four, five, now?--his food untouched and growing cold, his stare distant. Occasionally, something on his table would lift a few inches in the air and then settle down again after a moment. The mug, his plate, the chair opposite him. No big deal.

Until some NPC got close, trying to squeeze into a nearby table. They brushed against him, and suddenly the man's fork flew toward the hapless NPC's throat, stopping a mere inch from skin.

Perhaps this is when Magne ought to step in?

[sistermagnetic]

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?"

[pineapplesalmon]

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."

[sistermagnetic]

It had been kind of surprising when he'd taken her seriously the first time they'd spoken here; usually such a thing required violence and even then, it was never a guarantee. But here he was, being a patient and sensible type, even helping her a time or two when she's needed to escort someone out before they caused real problems. She may not trust the police of any stripe, but Cerrit, at least, was making up for a bad first impression.

As such, Magne tries not to jump to any conclusion when he approached her in her planning for the first bouts in her ring. And then he actually surprises her.

"A few of us, actually. The real training rings are fine for all that, but we're not exactly trying to be official here. The most I would suggest for you is keeping your feet to yourself unless whoever you're up against is fine with the risk."

[maltesefalcon]

"I'm very good at not tearing people apart unless I absolutely intend to." His crest flicks upward, cheerily. "If anyone's interested in facing me, I'm looking for a good scrap. I can also teach."

[sistermagnetic]

Nothing about him really pinged her in a way that she thought she had to worry, if she's honest. She kept an eye on him in case he ended up falling asleep at the table, figuring that if nothing else she could haul him upstairs to sleep off whatever was happening to him. The floating things didn't even strike her as particularly odd, given where she'd come from. Sometimes people made things float and trained their fine control this way.

The flurry of motion catches her eye though, and in the same moment that that fork is in motion, Magne's hand is around one of the server's throats, using one to polarize and attract the other and drag them out of harm's way. It's inelegant, but it works, and she releases both of them to straighten themselves out as she heads over to investigate.

Delicately picking the utensils out of the air, Magne looks at it, then slowly, carefully settles herself on the opposite side of the table to look Siebren in the face.

"You in there, jiisan?"

[spaghettification]

"I..." There's a grimace, and then his gaze focuses on Magne, confused. He doesn't recognize her. He doesn't know why he doesn't recognize her. There's a long moment of silence, but more focused than his previous scattered dissociation.

1

[saltwaterlungs]

Darcy's been manning the kitchens since they arrived, and has seen Magne around work but has also been, y'know, busy. The knives they got from River aren't going to pay for themselves, and the break-neck pace of a kitchen is weirdly soothing.

On this particular evening they hear a commotion from the bar, and Darcy slips out with a parrying knife in hand-

But Magne has it handled before they even get close, huh. The knife shimmers out of their hand and seemingly out of existence, and Darcy gives her a stiff nod.

"I have to know what your deadlift one rep max is."

[sistermagnetic]

Magne's hands prop on her hips as she stands waiting for the problem customer to leave the property after having been frogmarched out of the door while he sputtered about her mandhandling him, her scowl set in place until she's sure she can shut the door again to keep the warm in.

Turning back to see the new kitchen help dismissing their weapon, her expression softens as she considers that.

"You know, I don't actually know? Before all this I had a shop magnet that weighed about... About the same as myself, at least as I was a few months ago. I carried it everywhere with me."

[saltwaterlungs]

"Badass. We really need to get a gym here. I lift about my body weight too, but I'm like. 60 kilos, and I couldn't carry that around with me all day."

Darcy glances around, deciding to make theirself useful and pick up some of the leftover plates and glasses.

"Uh- 'm Darcy, I w- obviously I also work here that's stupid, ehn-" and immediately busies theirself with stacking up plates.

[sistermagnetic]

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.

[pineapplesalmon]

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.

[sistermagnetic]

"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."

[sistermagnetic]

"Mine was my support item. Something that made me more capable in a fight and generally allowed me more maneuverability when using my Quirk," she explains. As if Darcy would know what a Quirk is offhand.

Magne moves to help with the cleanup, figuring that bussing the tables together would be an easy enough way to continue talking while doing their jobs.

The awkward introduction just gets an easygoing smile in return. "It's good to meet you officially, Darcy."

[saltwaterlungs]

Darcy blinks at the mention of a quirk, where did they hear-

"Oh ehn- I think I met someone from your world once. You probably don't know him, but I know what 'Quirks' are."

A small nod of acknowledgement at the smile, their head still kind of ducked in embarrassment.

"I've met a lot of weird people from weird places. Not that you're weird- I'm just not from somewhere with Quirks, I mean. Which probably makes me weird. But ehn- I knew César, or like a- a different version of him- I helped him move some furniture the other day."

1

[yournewsidekick]

"Hey Magne," says the pink rat that trots across the length of the bartop.

Nimona's been at the Oak & Iron ever since her arrival, ostensibly taking one of the subsidized rooms. In practice, though, she's mostly scurried around downstairs as a variety of animals, occasionally pausing to wolf down a bowl of food, chat to the staff, or catch a few zzzz's underneath a table.

Or -- because it's Nimona -- cause a little mayhem.

She vaults off the end of the bar, briefly disappearing in the scuffle of feet. Five seconds later, a patron bolts upright with a shriek as Nimona scampers up their pantsleg.

[pineapplesalmon]

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!"

[sistermagnetic]

"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."

[sistermagnetic]

Magne knows by now not to react when a small pink animal talks to her, after the first time Nimona startled her badly and nearly made her throw the plate she was carrying. She's gotten used to these little pranks and the chaos that ensues, and knows better than to let it get too out of hand.

So the moment that she sees that flash of pink go right up some poor sap's pantleg, she reaches out and claps a hand down on their shoulder, keeping them seated so they don't upset their chair, table, or glass before she's extracted her little buddy.

"If you want to perch there are easier ways to climb up," she notes, nose wrinkled in spite of the casual tone she uses.

[sistermagnetic]

Oh good, that spares her from having to explain it as she's had to a few times now.

"Oh yeah, I've learned that a lot of people here are coming from completely disparate realities. Most everyone here had to die in some form to end up here, unless they were born here in this world." Her hand plants on her hip as she gestures around to some of the locals that seem more obvious upon second glance, all of them a little more worn down and less energetic than the newer folks. "The way I see it, all of us are weird, which means none of us are weird. A different version of César though...that must be odd for him, learning about another timeline of himself." She can already imagine him muttering to himself about paradoxes and the multiverse theory.

[sistermagnetic]

There's a concerning haziness to the way that he's looking at her that tells her that she's going to have to navigate his current state carefully.

"Don't worry about it," she says quietly, and turns to gesture toward one of her coworkers, ordering a pair of cups and a tea pot so that she could pour for him where he could see, rather than risking someone else coming too close and touching him inadvertently again.

[pineapplesalmon]

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."

[sistermagnetic]

"Then you'll have something in common with most of us, I think." She's watching him with some growing amusement, trying to gauge whether this was genuine interest, or an attempt to keep an eye on her and her contemporaries, or both. Given that he hasn't tried to speak to her again since that first foible, she would also guess that he was hoping to get on her good side to keep there from being any friction in the future. Either way, he's being polite, and so she would continue to be as well. "As of now the plans for the official ring are in place, but the construction will take some time. Until then, I've co-opted one of the training areas for the purpose of inviting others to come and try to take me on."