A village gift (Text post AND log) OTA

[clouded_heart]

WHO: Foggy Nelson
WHERE: South Village Inn
WHEN: Jan 10th ish
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS: None at present

---

Text post
UN: haventthe

Hey people, Foggy here. I got a couple of those boxes that seem to happen to people and while it's addressed to me, I get the feeling that it's meant for the collective. I've got a bunch of woodworking tools here, including chisels, files, a saw and a hand drill with drill bits.

I'm taking this a hint that they approved of my amateur forays into carpentry and want that to continue, but I want to make sure everyone knows they're welcome to use them. For now, I'm keeping everything at the South Inn, but maybe we can set up one of the houses, or the mill as a workshop at some point.

Even had an idea for making paper from the sawdust and shavings. That's probably going to need experimentation though.

South Village Inn

True to his word, Foggy has set up in the large front room. He's moved a table to a far corner and he's set out the tools, checking them over to see if they're all fine. He does know all these tools, he did high school wood working, but it's been a while.

A long while.

But the main reason for sitting here is so that it's apparent he is here, and the tools are here, and they can work something out for making useful things and teaching people to make useful things.

Comments

[clouded_heart]

Sitting in the main room, Foggy raises an eyebrow at the approaching man.

He's a cowboy.

No... he's a bounty hunter, which is what too many people call a cowboy, but he doubts this guy's primary income was herding cows.

"Not either," he admits after a moment. "I just got these in a box in my room. Well, two boxes. I work at the butcher's and back home I'm a lawyer." He offers out a hand. "Foggy Nelson."

[onesyllable]

"You got one of them too, huh?" He smooths a hand over his vest. "Got left on Vasquez's bed, but had all my things in them," he admits, nodding. "Hope that happens regularly," he admits, his drawl there but not as pronounced as many.

"You do any wood work then? Or think they're ju... Wait, you said the butcher? So you work with Bobo then, huh?" He makes a face, not quite rolling his eyes. Almost but not quite stopping himself.

He holds out his hand though. "Name's Joshua Faraday. Pleasure to meetcha, Foggy." Not even blinking at the name. It wasn't Goodnight, after all.

[clouded_heart]

"I made a sight cane for my friend, Matt, he's the blind man in house three with Elektra. Now I have this, so I guess the powers that be decided that I should keep doing this. Since I hate handling dead bodies and meat day in and day out. If I'd wanted to do that, I would've stayed in the family business."

He pushes out a chair with his foot, silently inviting Joshua to sit. "You don't sound like you're a fan of the man."

[onesyllable]

"A blind man in this place? Good thing he's got friends like you then. Can't imagine that's going to be easy if there's a lot of cold around here."

Giving a nod, he pulls out the chair and slides into it. "Thank you. I appreciate it," he says, glad for someone being social. "Well, I can't say I rightly know him," he admits. "I mean, we share a house and all, but I'm not real comfortable around him."

Because he has to think about how Vasquez used their relationship to poke verbally at Joshua after he arrived but talking about him and Vasquez like that is hard.

"I guess he's fine. He keeps food in the house and wood for the fire. I don't know. He's just..." He shrugs, waving his hand. "There's just something."

[clouded_heart]

"He lives with his girlfriend, she's with him most of the time."

He actually had no idea where Bobo lived or what he did when he wasn't butchering things. Living with a bounty hunter somehow didn't seem that out of place. "He's a little bit unhinged, yeah, but I don't think he's an inherently bad person. Most people aren't. Okay, I have to ask... are you a bounty hunter from out West?"

[onesyllable]

"I still couldn't imagine. Guess it's a good thing most live down this way and in this place," he says, gesturing around.

He laughs though, slapping the table then. "Unhinged. Now there's a good word for it. Thank you," he says, actually tipping his hat. Though he pauses at that question.

"Does that make this place East?" Which is hedging, and he knows it. "Mostly though I was just a card player," he admits. "Did a little other work on the side when I needed to, but that was the last thing I was doin' before I found myself here, yes."

He arches a brow. "How'd you know?" He sits up a bit more. "Am I infamous now?" He looks way too excited about that.

[clouded_heart]

It was near the fountain. For Foggy, more importantly, it was near Matt and Karen and now, Anne, which was all the motivation he needs.

"Sorry, not in my world, but that is so cool. I can tell from the clothes, the accent, I'm from New York City, but my brother was into the whole Wild West thing when he was a kid, so we watched a lot of things."

[onesyllable]

"Well damn. Figured the least that people could do is make us famous," he says with a sigh, though there's a twinkle in his eye that maybe he's not entirely all that serious.

"It's a mite odd. This whole thing where to most around here my life is history. Not sure what it is I'm supposed to think about it."

[clouded_heart]

It was a bit odd. "Well, at least your time is from a similar world frame. There's a small group here from a place called Thedas, which is really nothing like Earth in so many ways."

Wild West was Earth, at least. Old, but not super old, comparatively.

[onesyllable]

"That like that fellow that's like part animal?" He's seen Bull around his roommate, but he hasn't met him. Not even sure how to react to him. "Never knew nothin' like much of this," he admits, rolling his eyes. "Like this thing..."

He waves his hand in the air where the device is on his wrist.

"All that readin' and writin'," he growls. "And then people talkin' to you from it."

[clouded_heart]

"You're illiterate." It isn't unheard of in Foggy's time, but it's unusual. In Joshua's time...

"Yes, like Iron Bull. But more importantly, no one's taught you reading and writing here? Do you want to learn?"

Foggy is picking a priority here.

[onesyllable]

He makes a face, shifting in his chair. "Wasn't no point in it. I helped my pa and the I left home and I could read cards. And I can read people. All I needed," he says, waving a hand, dismissing it as if it's nothing. "Never thought about needing it."

He falls quiet a minute though, biting at the inside of his lip. "I guess there's a point now. Everyone can, right? I think Vasquez can. Bet Bobo can," he says, rolling his eyes. He knows he's with Vasquez now, but it's still such a sore spot.

[clouded_heart]

"I think Bobo's an educated man, yeah." Foggy drums his fingers on the table. "I'm not saying you should have, back in your time, reading wasn't as important. But here, reading would help a lot."

And a thought is tickling at the back of his head. Matt needs something to do. If Foggy can teach Joshua letters... "Tell you what. I'm going to work with you to teach you letters. And once you've got letter down, I have a blind friend who keeps lamenting a lack of anything he can do. If you can read letters and some words, he can help you with spelling and reading longer words, even if he can't see the words himself."

[onesyllable]

His lip curls, looking away, listening. Though his head turns suddenly, frowning. "How would that work? I mean, if he can't see?"

Maybe it's not the nicest thing to ask, but then he wasn't raised in a time when you had to be polite like that, not talk about a man with a disability like that.

He isn't saying no, though, knowing he needs to learn these things. "You don't happen to speak Mexican, do you?"

[clouded_heart]

"Because he doesn't need to. You need to see. Once you have letters down, he knows how to spell fine... right, Matt wasn't born blind. And he can read braille, which is just raised bumps instead of letters, but he can keep up fine with anything spoken or read or spelt out to him."

Matt would probably appreciate Joshua's forthrightness about it all.

"Spanish? No, but Matt's fluent and I think Elektra is as well, his girlfriend. Why?"

[onesyllable]

His frown might make it obvious he's not sure that what he's saying is true, but how would he know. He can't read, so maybe you don't have to see it to know what he's saying. Or trying to say while he's reading it.

"You can read bumps like letter?" He is just learning more and more every day.

"I guess? He's Mexican." He shrugs. "Vasquez is from Mexico, and he's always saying things to me in Mexican and I want to know what he's saying."

[clouded_heart]

"You can, when you learn to. A guy called Braille invented it, he was also blind and wanted to read. We don't have the facilities here, but if I can teach you some, Matt can help with the rest. And it would really help him, to feel like he's contributing to make someone's life easier and better."

Foggy nods. "Yeah. I can speak a few phrases, but nothing much. Again, I can hook you up with Matt, he's fluent in Spanish. So's Karen, she lives in the Inn here, she could help as well." But Matt has the time and needs occupying.

[onesyllable]

He listens, not sure what to even think of that but he guesses it's a good thing. The right thing to do. "It's hard for him here? Not having what he had before?" He's seen it in others, in himself even, but they all have other things they can do. What does a blind man do in this place?

"I just wanna know what he's saying. I mean, I guess they're not all that bad, but he's always refused to tell me." He nods, filing away the names. "I'll try and remember those. Thank you. I mean it. I appreciate you offerin'."

[clouded_heart]

"It's harder than he's admitting. He's learning to get around, but he doesn't have access to braille and we're lawyers, our skills aren't really directed towards a place like this."

He nods. "It's annoying, I know. Matt Murdock, he's in house... three. The front door has some carvings in it, so you can pick it out pretty quickly. He can definitely help you on the Spanish front, and I can definitely help you with the literacy. If you want."

[onesyllable]

"Lawyers." He chuckles at that, shaking his head ruefully. "Makes you wonder, don't it? About the people they're gathering here and what they're going to expect from us?" He wonders about it. More than is good for him, and he knows it.

"You know, I think I do want to learn. It's nice of you to offer. I'll warn you. I'm apparently not the easiest of men to get along with. So I'm told but not sure I much believe it."

[clouded_heart]

"I hd a conversation with a young woman about it when I first arrived. She- had theories. Which I found, compelling and the evidence supportive of, which is not to say they were right, merely that they couldn't be ruled out.

"Some people are the focus. Others are... their support. This is being observed by someone. An individual. A culture. I don't know."

Foggy waves a hand. "It's fine. I lived with Matt and he's about the most difficult person I've had to deal with. I can teach you to read and write, I'm sure."

[onesyllable]

Joshua hasn't talked to many since he's been in this place, and so he hasn't heard of anything like this. Shifting to sit forward a bit more, peering at him. "Not sure I get what you mean. What makes someone a focus then? And what if you don't want to support?"

He's taking it literally, not familiar with the idea of stars and costars.

He offers his hand over the table. "Thank you for offering and trying." He smiles then. "I'm really glad to learn."

[clouded_heart]

"It's... an idea you might not have, culturally. Like a main character in a play or a supporting role, yeah? Some characters are more interesting than others. Some characters are there as a foil and to interact with the protagonist or antagonist."

It's not that he thinks people are literally that simple, but that their parts in this macabre experiment have been set out with such ideals? Very possible.

"Tomorrow morning, come by here. I'll try and chase up some things that we can start on."

[onesyllable]

He's still frowning, trying to mentally process what it is that Foggy is telling him. It doesn't entirely make sense though part of it he gets even if not in the context that Foggy is using. "You think they brought some people in here to be famous and help save people, and others to just like farm the land and hope that the bad guy doesn't come in and start killing people?"

That is the only context he can come up with, and he isn't like it. Not even if he knows he isn't likely to be the main character.

He nods though at that, drumming his fingers on the table. "Will do. I'll probably stay the night down here then. Save myself one helluva walk in the morning. This place needs horses so bad."

[clouded_heart]

"... sort of. I think some people here are the main interest. I don't know why. I don't know how they chose them. And I think some of us are here as... emotional support, or physical, or to provide social interaction. Like I say, this is just a theory, it was a thought I had with someone and there's nothing to say it's right. Only that I can't prove it's wrong either."

Right. Other village. That's a bit more of a problem. "Um, tell you what. Give me a couple of days to set up some materials for you, okay? Stuff you can take back with you so you don't have to hike back and forth constantly."