sixthiterationlogs | mingle post

WHO: Jess Brightwell and everyone!
WHERE: The inn.
WHEN: Sept. 28th to Oct. 11th.
OPEN TO: Everyone who lives at or would visit the inn during the non-stop rain. If you don't feel like making a log for the inn but want a place to tag around, this is the mingle post for you!
WARNINGS: Will update if necessary.
STATUS: Open. Mingle away, comrades.

There's nothing quite like the sky opening up and releasing a torrential downpour to bring people together. With water coming down in buckets and the streets turning into waterways, it would be wise to seek shelter until this lets up...

If it ever lets up.

For those needing a place to warm up, the inn has a roaring fire and hot tea waiting. Pass the time watching the rain at the window, or telling stories around the main room's fireplace, or enjoying friendly company in the pub. You're even welcome to stay the night in one of the inn's spare rooms, just don't mind the leaks. It's an old building. Luckily there are plenty of buckets to go around.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Mark, it's good to meet you. Ravi Chakrabarti," he says in turn, crossing his legs so he can lean forward and offer a hand out. "You see, I could do the pantless thing and the bodies wouldn't mind, but I do think that Liv might have raised a few flags to HR," he says knowingly. "I was a medical examiner," he hastens to add. "Not a serial killer who often thought about going pantless around his victims. That's just an unfortunate image that I've not put in your mind, I am so sorry."

"Is it always like this? I mean, I feel like I showed up and it started to rain. I'm not that depressing, am I?"

I laugh again. "I was actually picturing a serial killer with an HR manager, so I'm glad you cleared that up. And honestly, I don't know if it's you, I wouldn't put much past this place. But you know what they say about the simplest explanation, so I'm guessing it's a coincidence. Then again, I don't know you, maybe you really are just that depressing," I add with a smirk.

Bending forward, I peel off my socks and lay them neatly on the hearth to dry. "I know this isn't exactly polite, but I think I've earned a pass today," I continue. "I myself am a botanist, and I've been out in the deluge trying to figure out if all this rain is going to screw with our crops."

"Now I know we're best friends," Ravi informs him, "because otherwise, we'd be strictly on a sock basis only. I pride myself on getting people out of their socks on our first date, so to speak," he says with a smirk, adjusting the toga and wiggling his own very bare toes before he covers them up again with the sheet, leaning towards the fire because he's exposed himself for cleverness and he's now paying the wet price for it.

"How much precipitation are we talking?" Ravi asks, trying to stem off the panic-panic-fear gnawing at his sensible brain.

"Well, that's the question, isn't it?" I reply with a knowing arch of my eyebrows. "It's been days like this, and no sign of letting up. No telling if it's even natural, although I'm not sure that line of thinking is helpful at this point. We've got drainage dug, and all we can do is wait and see. But if this rain keeps on much longer..." I shrug and sit back in my chair. "We're going to have to start thinking more creatively."

There's no sense in worrying people when there's nothing they can do, but the fact remains that if things don't improve soon, winter is going to be very difficult for us all."

"If you're looking at a lack of sunlight, maybe you could set up some sort of runoff for the water," Ravi supposes, because erecting a flat surface to deflect the water might work, but the length of aqueduct might be a little unwieldy to get it far enough away to not flood the soil. Still, it's a problem to be solved and this is far more fascinating than 'what do I do with my nights' without Major, Call of Duty, or any sort of entertainment.

Frankly, Ravi's a touch surprised he hasn't gone mad yet. "I welcome any challenge to my brain," he says, "if ever you want someone to ping ideas off. Best friend," he adds charmingly with a cheerful smile.

I can't help but feel a little stupid the moment Ravi suggests using the water as a reflective surface. There wasn't a day on Mars that I wasn't out there cleaning off the solar panels; this should have occurred to me long ago.

"Not for the field," I say, leaning forward, elbows on my knees. "But if I've got plants inside, or under an awning -- I have plants on my porch, and I've been trying to find a solution for getting protection from the rain while also getting enough sunlight, if push comes to shove and we have to transplant. There's plenty of space in these houses. Being able to reflect the sunlight inside would solve the problem."

Ravi rubs at his beard thoughtfully (which is, frankly, one of the best reasons to have one as far as he's concerned, though he wonders how long before it becomes strictly mountainous without the right trimming materials) and gives a curious sound. "Is there any spare glass around? I think mirrors might be a little much to ask, but potentially you could magnify sunlight and diffuse it using a complex system," he says.

"Again, I'm really not an engineer," he clarifies. "I just like problem solving. And running experiments," he adds, quickly atop that. "If you ever need a test run expertly well testing out a hypothesis, I'm your man."

"Well, I am an engineer, so I'm annoyed that I didn't think of this myself," I say with a laugh. "It's a solid idea. I think I've just been so wrapped up in whether the plants will make it at all, I hadn't got that far yet. Forest for the trees and all that. So I'm glad you were here."

I squint in thought as I lean back again. "It's definitely worth checking out the houses that were damaged in the earthquakes to see what can be salvaged. I don't think anyone's even tried to remove the windows yet."

At some point, maybe over the winter if the weather allows, we really need to put together a team effort to take those houses completely down. As it is, they're useless at best and hazardous at worst. And sure, there's been scavenging. I've done it myself. But there's a virtual trove there if we can pull it all apart and put everything in the storehouse.

"How many caps do you wear?" Ravi asks, narrowing his eyes like he's once again stumbled on an over-achieving know-it-all. Not that he minds, of course, being a devilishly handsome and smart doctor himself, he's got his own ability to corner the markets, but this is starting to feel unfair.

"I'm not saying I can lift anything impressive, because I can't, but if you'd like the help with the windows, I'm there for the part that comes after," Ravi says, already thinking of the sweet, sweet science he'll get to enjoy.

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