[OPEN] a beautiful day, don't let it get away

[tehilim127_1]

Who: Zivia (tehilim127_1) & all comers (with prompts for Lev, Anzu, Ava, Dahlia, Tayrey, Degas)
What: Things resume after the flood
When: Late May and early June
Where: At work (Town Hall), at the beach, at the grocery, at an impasse
Warning(s): To be added as relevant

1. you love this town

Somehow -- magically? miraculously? Zivia feels like either of those could apply, and like neither is safe to use carelessly -- somehow the island and the town have been barely damaged by the floodwaters. Neither the plants nor the animals nor the works of human hands are any worse for wear than they might be after a heavy rain.

This does mean more work at Town Hall, as Zivia and Fever empty all the file drawers to make sure there's no water damage anywhere, and then have to put everything back. And simultaneously have to be available to answer any questions anyone has, though they agree to take turns being on call while all of that's going on. Maybe you'll show up with a question while it's Zivia's turn to address it? Or maybe, sometime during this month, you'll encounter Fever at Town Hall's booth at the job fair, and decide to follow up by inquiring within.

2. reach me, i know i'm not a hopeless case

One nice thing about living here, Zivia will readily admit, is being within walking distance of a beach.

She's out for a walk on the shoreline, some days after the end of the flood, feet bare in the sand and shoes tucked into a bag slung over her shoulder. As a wave recedes, a glint of silver catches her eye, and she breaks into a brief jog to get closer before the water comes in again.

Anyone who happens to be nearby at the time will see her drop into an unsteady crouch to pick it up, then press one hand over her mouth as though to keep from crying out in shock -- or maybe just to keep from crying.

3. see the bird with a leaf in her mouth

It is so good, after even that brief time spent scrounging things on board ship, to be able to walk into a shop and purchase things again. Whole wheat flour, honey, salt, oil, a form of yeast she isn't familiar with but is nonetheless confident she can figure out; dried spices, fresh herbs, a basket full of vegetables and fruit in season; a beautiful fillet of salmon, which she hurries home to stow in the icebox directly next to the ice. Milk, eggs, butter. A few bottles of wine, after some conversation with the shopkeeper not too dissimilar from the one she had with Dahlia on board the cursed ship.

She considers, briefly, giving Dahlia a bottle of wine in return, and discards that idea. Instead, Dahlia -- and a few other people around town who've been especially helpful in the last month or so, including Ava Starr, Arilanna Tayrey, Wilson Higgsbury, and Degas Clayton -- will receive a small loaf of home-baked braided bread by way of appreciation and thanks.

(Feel free to run into Zivia doing her grocery shopping, or to meet her delivering challah, whether to you or to someone else!)

4. after the flood all the colors came out (for Lev/Lyubov and Anzu)

One thing she can't buy anywhere here, she already knows, is kosher meat. Which leads to her picking up the sending stone to contact Anzu and Rov Morgenshtern, and asking if either of them knows how to perform shechita; the soaking and salting part she can do, she assures them, but she's never done that part.

And the thing is, she explains, she'd really like to be able to serve chicken if they would like to join her for Shabbos dinner, this or next Friday night.

5. it was a beautiful day

Wildcard!

Comments

[tehilim127_1]

Zivia blinks at the change in Tayrey's face. "I ... don't recall that you did. We wrote up a contract for the work you did on my brick oven, is that related?"

[astrogator]

'Partly.' Tayrey's trouble is that she knows enough to suspect that people from other universes will continue to react badly to the norms of her own, but not enough to be able to explain it in a way that would avoid that.

'In my sector,' she says, 'contract is at the root of everything. Civilisation is built on fair and mutually beneficial contract, and it's always been that way. Contract is... seeing what the other person is offering, and saying I value that and so I offer this in return, value for value.'

She hopes Zivia can see where she's going with this. 'So. I value your bread and the effort you went to, making it, so I need to offer fair contract in return. You'll let me pay?'

[tehilim127_1]

Zivia listens, very seriously, and gives a low "Hmm" when Tayrey's finished speaking.

"So I want to honor that. If you feel strongly that it wouldn't be right to take this and offer nothing in return, I'm not gonna insist otherwise. But on the other hand, it'd feel weird to take money for this when I wasn't planning on selling it. You said value for value, would that include like ... trading favors? Do your contracts draw a distinction between trading and selling? Because those feel different to me, though I don't think I could articulate why."

[astrogator]

There's a flood of relief when Zivia doesn't object, isn't offended. Tayrey will talk very firmly about contract in the abstract, assert that someone who can't deal with her on equal terms isn't someone she wants to deal with at all. She means it. Except that for her the not dealing would be neutral. Offending isn't her intention.

What she has here is the best possible outcome.

'It includes any kind of trade. In my sector we don't really distinguish between trading and selling, because straight selling is just trading for currency, and different colonies use their own currencies so it's not like we're attached to one. If they feel different to you, that's no trouble, I can trade you something else, no money needed,' she assures Zivia.

'I don't like trading in unspecified favors but if there's something in particular you had in mind?'

[tehilim127_1]

"I don't have anything particular in mind, but I bet I could come up with something. Especially if ... hmm. Could you give me an idea what kinds of favor you might consider fair value for homemade bread?"

[astrogator]

Has she ever had homemade bread? She isn't sure if the market bakeries back on Cardalek count, and they wouldn't have accepted anything but the marked price anyway. She takes her time, thinking it over.

'It's practical. So I could help with something practical? Maybe a small repair, or a delivery across the island?'

[tehilim127_1]

"That could work for me. Or ... is there anything you like making? Something practical or enjoyable or both?"

[astrogator]

Tayrey sits up a little straighter, tapping her fingers on the table. 'I don't really... make things,' she admits. 'Unless technical drawings count, or my star charts.' The latter she'd advertised across town, but she asks a high price for them.

[tehilim127_1]

Zivia smiles wistfully. "A star chart sounds lovely, but that's definitely not equal value. Maybe let's go with the small repair or delivery idea?"

[astrogator]

'Sure thing,' says Tayrey brightly. 'That one you can just call in when you need it, because I trust you to be reasonable.' Then she can't help but push a little. 'I have star charts for sale, or partial trade, if you're ever interested.' It's a good way to make her extra brass, and she's in need of it.

[tehilim127_1]

"Oh, interested I already am, but it might be a while before I'm solvent enough to buy one." She grins ruefully. "We'll see. In the meantime ..."

And she proffers the braided loaf again.

[astrogator]

This time Tayrey accepts, taking the loaf from her with both hands.

'Thank you. Fair contract. And a much valued one.' Now that she has the bread, she looks at it closely, breathes in that fresh-baked smell. 'I can already tell I'm going to enjoy this. I don't think I've ever had bread like this before. We had bread shipside, but when you're cooking for hundreds at a time it's all done by machines.'

[tehilim127_1]

She beams. "I hope you do enjoy it. I know I'm going to, I made a whole five-pound bag of flour's worth and I'm keeping about half of it."

[astrogator]

'It must keep well, then,' she says approvingly. 'Do you bake other things, or is the bread a speciality - oh, and can I make you some coffee?' This last as almost an afterthought, as she realised her hospitality was lacking.

[tehilim127_1]

"Coffee would be lovely, thank you." She beams. (And notes internally that hospitality to guests seems to be an exception to the nothing-for-free rule. Unless it's understood as demonstrating appreciation for the value of a guest's company? Either way, not against practice -- and she remembers that Tayrey was willing to accept a similarly offered drink when she was visiting.)

"And yes, I bake all sorts of things, though right now I'm limited to the recipes I've memorized and the ones where I can fudge the details. What I wouldn't give for my files ... As to how well it keeps, I'll find out -- I'm used to better refrigeration, so this is in the nature of an experiment."

[astrogator]

Zivia's perceptive. Hospitality customs in Tayrey's sector are in fact older than their law of contract, although she's completely unaware of the fact and might well rationalise it with the value of a guest's company.

'I'll get it started,' she says, before going to put the bread safely away in one of her storage cupboards, and setting a pot of water to boil over the fire. She has yet to come up with a quicker method.

'It's impressive,' she says as she sets out her coffee things on the table, including two little dishes, one with sugar and one with spices. 'Baking. You could try looking in the library? It won't be the same as home, but they might have books with local recipes.' She thinks for a moment. 'I'll have to work out how to preserve food for the winter, too, since freezing isn't an option. Fruit should keep well in jars, if they're properly sealed and heated.'

[tehilim127_1]

"Right," she says, "canning -- I've never done that myself, but I know how to dry fruit in a low oven, it'll last that way too. That's a good idea, too, check the library for cookbooks. Maybe make some copies and start up a new recipe file."

She leans over to look with curiosity at the spices on offer, and gives a cautious sniff to see if she can identify them.