sixthiterationlogs | of earthquakes and aftershocks

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of earthquakes and aftershocks

WHO: Kate Kelly
WHERE: The Inn
WHEN: 10th September and a few days after
OPEN TO: Inn Residents, whoever else might be in the building: then, everyone!
WARNINGS: TBA
STATUS: Open

Earthquake

It's 5pm, or would be, if anyone paid much attention to things like clocks here. Sunset isn't for another two and a half hours or so, and the day's been hot. Not as humid as it has been. The Inn is mostly quiet, as it's hours after the midday dinner and the only people around either live at the Inn or have reason to be there. Supper will be made soon, as it's been a good day with the food supply.

Then, a minute later, the ground starts to shake.

Repairs and Aftermath

The Inn hasn't been as badly damaged as some other buildings. Foundations are still strong, walls haven't been cracked. But it's a big building, with lots of furniture and light fixtures, and it got shaken.

Having been turned into the unofficial community centre, it'll take some work and a few days to get everything straightened up again.

There's also the little matter of the water supply...

ooc: this is a party-style post, so set up your own OTAs or tag around and have fun! Setting is both for the day of the quake and a few days after to try and fix things up.

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There's no shame in that fear. Riza can't hold that against anyone, as she had already had her moments like that as well. Her previous experiences had put things like this in perspective though. Riza found other ways of dealing with her frustrations and feelings of powerlessness.

Her gaze drifted to the fireplace and nods, "We got lucky." She crossed over and picked up the chair, figuring that was a good place to start. She moved it away and turned back to the woman.

Miss Kate's injury had apparently been aggravated again in the earthquake if the crutches were any indication. Riza knew, however, that the woman probably didn't want to sit around feeling useless. She looked about ready to cry again, so Riza decided she'd do her best to prevent that. "You're more familiar with how this room was set up before. Would you like to give me some direction?" Riza offered because she wanted Miss Kate to feel like she was doing something, though her injury would not allow for much movement. "I don't want to put it back together wrong. People are going to want to find comfort in the familiar, so I think it'd be a good idea if we could get this place back in order." She spoke from experience. Even on her worse days, it was always the comfort of familiar faces and people that would soften the hardships she had to face.

It's a good idea. It's a very good idea, and Kate thinks better of Miss Riza for having it. She also thinks better of her for not commenting on her fragile appearance (there are mirrors, Kate knows what she looks like, all pale and brittle), better and grateful.

She'd thought she was going to die: it can take someone a bit to get over that. Get up to their metaphorical feet.

"That's... That sounds wise. All right."

So that's what Kate does. She sits down - on a table, so she can see clearer over the room - and she directs Miss Riza with simple, clear instructions. This is something she's used to doing, both giving instructions and giving ones which are easily understandable.

Baby Alice and Jack had been education, trying to get a pair of toddlers to stay out of trouble.

And Riza is very familiar with following clear instructions. They might not be coming from a superior officer or anything and Miss Kate might not even realize the amount of authority she wields here -- but people are going to listen to the person that provides the food. Miss Kate has made herself an integral part of the community, though Riza suspects that Miss Kate is also the type to not realize it or downplay that position quite a bit.

So Riza doesn't say anything about it, and merely follows the directions given. She pushes a table into a corner, uprights chairs and moves them where directed, and even starts making a pile of furniture and items that had been broken. "So if the main room looks like this -- are we going to need to do a lot of clean up in the kitchen area as well?"

Kate's mouth twists bitterly and she laughs, low and short. "I'm sure the damage is mostly aesthetic," she says. "All easily fixed, as me and Brightwall moved a lot of the breakables earlier. And Sorellin and I were in the kitchen when the, the earthquake hit.

But it... It needs a bit of work, yes. I couldn't fix it all. I just needed to get out."

She thinks it sounds like an excuse, but it's true. She needed fresh air, she needed to be outside. Every morning, she wakes up before dawn to clean and then start the kitchen range. She scrubs floors. She washes containers. She sweeps, although she's going to have to make herself a better broom. She does laundry. She tries to make the Inn as freshly aired and decent as she can, but the sight of her hard work undone had been too hard, and too familiar, to stand.

"I see," she pauses and then adds, "We can save it for later then -- the main thing is getting the front area straightened I think." Riza had been mostly making conversation, so she isn't overly concerned about what they work on. "I think it's just important to stay busy. It means you can keep your mind occupied on other things," she admits. She has some experience with that, though it might not be as obvious that a stoic woman like herself can even BE shaken up. "You just keep moving forward."

Riza looks around the main room, "I'll need a broom to sweep up some of the debris still remaining. Where do you keep it?"

"I know. It's... It's what I know, too." It doesn't seem strange to her that someone like Riza knows how to handle upsets, or has her methods of doing so. Someone that calm, in her opinion, must have better ways of dealing than most.

And she's speaking sense, by which she is also agreeing with Kate, and Kate is just self-aware enough to be briefly amused by that.

"It's... Uh, it's first cupboard in the kitchen, actually. Just behind the door there. Only a branch, I've not really worked out how to make a proper one yet."

Honestly, most of it comes from being exposed to a lot at a young age, but also being raised by a man who put his stock in science and not emotions. He'd brought Riza up to be logical and rational, not emotional. Sometimes she wishes she could let herself be more honest about her feelings, but most of the time she had to pretend like nothing bothered her. You didn't advance in the military by being "soft" and she had to advance to stay near Roy.

Riza sighs in disappointment, "They couldn't have provided us a broom?" Weapons were one thing, but sometimes she truly wondered what the people in charge of this place were thinking. True, a more violent group could have snapped the broom and made a weapon. But honestly, a broom wasn't exactly a luxury item. She shakes her head and goes back towards the kitchen, "I'm sure it will suffice. I'll be right back."

She briefly leaves to get the broom and returns, the broom gripped lightly in her hand. "Considering you had to make this, I don't think it's that bad. I doubt I could have managed much better," she replies, hoping the words come across as the compliment she intends them to be.

Kate smiles, tired enough that here, now, she can accept a compliment without much internal or verbal fussing.

"Thank you. I've got as one of my projects to make a sturdier thing, but the reeds are dryin' out. That does what it needs to. I'm used to makin' do, I guess.

But, no, no broom. Not really many tools, besides what you generally find in a kitchen. It's all fairly arbitrary."

She shakes her head at the broom, but she's determined to make it work for her now. Riza moves to some of the larger pieces of debris and starts the process of cleaning up the mess the earthquake had created. She works with quietly and patiently, somehow not showing her frustration with the poorly made broom.

"It does seem arbitrary, doesn't it?" She muses over it as she works, "I suppose we should be glad we have enough utensils to even cook at all."

Kate watches her, aware that the broom is not her best, but she likes that Miss Riza doesn't give voice to how annoying it can be to wield the thing. Not for any sake of her pride, mine, or at least, not exactly that. But because there's a time to complain and a time to just get one with it, and it's usually more the latter anyway.

"Hey, no, don't go givin' our captors any ideas," Kate protests, only half in jest. "We'll wake up soon tryin' to use stones to carve wood into spoons."

Riza chuckles at the suggestion, though she realizes that Kate could be very serious about that. She glanced ceiling-ward as if looking for cameras or other equipment but, of course, there is nothing. "Sorry, you do have a point," she remarks, scratching the broom across the floor as she sweeps up the debris as best she can.

She works quietly for a bit, making her way around the room as she does so. She feels like she's on the verge of humming, but Riza had never really been the type to hum as she worked. However, it does make her think of another woman she met who, much like Kate, had done her best to keep the community of displaced souls together.

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of earthquakes and aftershocks

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