Here Comes The Sun, Do Do Do Doo

"Okay, listen up." Whiskey Sour addresses a crowd of Guild Members, milling about in the large open-air worshop that has been constructed behind the manor-house, just far enough away that the banging away of hammers, the bubbling of cauldrons, or just the distant dull thumps of experiments becoming problems.

Like a permanent wood and metal pavilion, a whole wing is given way to more closed-off areas, grow houses, and the ETO equivalant of twenty furnaces stacked ten-by-two just to heat all the quantities of alchemical supplies the guild goes through on a weekly basis. Inks, gelatins, oils, and the like all burble away. At a logistics table in that area of the pavilion, Whiskey Sour sits, elevated slightly over a few morons and potentially you, Dear Reader.

"For all you new folks: Just don't. That's the rule. Okay? Rule #1? Just Don't. 'But Whiskey, that sounds very hard' it's not! If you ever think about doing something stupid, Just Don't."

She raises a finger. "Rule number two is: 'If I don't know what's going on, my ideas default to stupid'. And, remember rule one: Just Don't!"

     'Listen up' is one of those phrases that always twangs at Sunshine's rebellious streak. The gentle twanging of his guitar up to this point is halted, with a deliberate sour note slightly louder than what was played before. It's like the musical equivalent of a raspberry, but listen he does, sat upon a less elevated chair with that guitar resting in his lap.

     It doesn't actually sound terribly hard. This, he notes, with an expression of slight surprise, leaning back in the chair and forcing it to rock slightly against its back legs. His long blonde hair, tied several times with leather straps, hangs off the back of the chair, swaying slightly as he rocks. Don't do something stupid, and if you don't know what's going on, your ideas are probably stupid. "Okay. So what *is* going on?" he asks in that tenor drawl of his. It stands to reason that the best way to avoid breaking rule 1 is to avoid making rule 2 the case. He... still can't keep out a bit of attitude from that question, though.

Whis spreads wide her hands, robed sleeves hanging loosely about her. "So, I've finished re-creating the printing press, but, you know, the good kind. I don't want anyone spilling explosives in the workshop while we're trying to make sweet manga about how we're the best."

"Wanna help?"

     Shin laughs. He's got his feet up on a chair in front of him, his scarf dangling around his neck. "That's Whis for you. She's real direct."

     Mostly.

     Usually.

     "So what's on the agenda today, Whis?"

     Ah, the manga.

     Shin swings his feet off the chair and leans forward. "I've got a bunch of scripts all done. Need an artist, though."

"I'm trash at art, but since I literally re-created a printing press, I'm bouncing that ball into the air and seeing who takes a swat at it. If it's art stimulants *or* inks and colors you need, I'm your girl, of course." Whis explains, slouching over.

Her eyes quarter lidded, she shrugs at Sunshine. "I roped you into this, new guy, because you said you were a Bard and Kaleido nearly had an egg. Have you met them yet?"

     "Oh, yeah, hi! Shin Heno. I'm a Hero of Justice." He gives Sunshine a wave. "Nice to meet you, new guy."

     Creative pursuits? Really? Maybe this guild thing won't be so bad. "I ain't got no clue about how to write a story, ain't much good at drawing... but I sure know my way 'round one of these," says Sunshine, letting the chair fall back on its front legs with a slight clack of wood against stone. He grins at Whiskey, patting his resonator guitar. He rises from the chair, resting one foot on the seat and propping the instrument up against his leg. Now that he knows Whiskey isn't a square, he goes back to lightly doodling on the instrument.

     "Howdy," he says to Shin, looking over his shoulder. Actually, this won't work. Pausing in his playing, he turns the chair so that he can face both Whiskey and Shin. Wouldn't wanna seem rude. "Name's Reno Sunshine, just Sunshine's fine. Already met Kauchemar coupla days ago--watched 'er duel that Setsuna boy."

Att Syne, who is presumaby Zordon in some part of the Americanized version of Shin's personal narrative, shows up following twangs and exclamations. A couple of the multiple guild members milling around greet him with various levels of formality and something approaching respect. Is this the legendary AUTHORITY FIGURE?!

"Oh, huh." Att stops on the outskirts of the logistics-side gathering of people with faces. He's wearing an apron, tunic and trousers in brown and black instead of his usual armor. His (vestigal?) wings flex slightly as he stretches his arms above and behind him. "I thought I heard evidence of Kaleido out here. Guess not." He raises a hand in silent greeting. "Am I interrupting tutorializing?"

     "Not really," Shin says cheerily to Att, "Come on in. Whis has the tutorial stuff covered. Just Don't, after all."

"Yes, please, interrupt me, because the art project for the Duck Manga is going nowhere when we have a bunch of jinglewriters and no normal-writers, much less any artists. Save us, sempai, from idea guys."

Whis flops backwards on her table, sprawled out in her technicolor levelling gear robes. "Just Don't, yep. Not having to teach anyone 'play stupid games, win stupid prizes' yet. Anyway, I'm Whiskey Sour, a support player."

She limply handsigns a heart towards Sunshine. "Pleae take care of me."

With Att here, all the authority leaves Whiskey like a soul being extracted by a lich. "Maybe we do need a good jingle though. Yeah, yeah. We've got like three bards. The landers learn things via song. Why don't we make a 'Plant Hwyaden, Heroes Of The People' song?"

     Someone new has arrived--someone with Authority. Let's Inspect... Att Syne, huh? Strange. He doesn't seem to be ruining anybody's good time, or bossing people around. Or talking about how people need to take things they don't care about seriously. Hmm... Sunshine furrows his brow, pausing. "Nope!" He eventually says with a cheery smile. "Just lil' ol' me." Inspect reveals him as Reno Sunshine, and the guild roster lists him as a Charlatan, should Att bother pulling the menu up.

     The bard turns his head Whiskey's way, one leg still propped up on the chair, A song talking about how badass the guild is? He chuckles, pausing in his musical doodling. "Now *that* I can do for ya, Miss Support Player. Lessee... somethin' like..." He begins strumming, creating a driving, uplifting backdrop with the guitar, the resonator making it ring clearly above the sounds of industry and labor all about the guild.

     "One day in the for-est/ I near met my end/ when, out ridin' from Alne town/ A ban-dit came down/" The melody is anthemic and steady, perfect for drunken singing in bars, and easy for people from all walks to manage. "There came up behind me/A great noble soul, he/ was..." He pauses.

     "We got like... armbands? Special hats? Tabards?"

     "We should definitely at *least* make patches," Shin speaks up, "Patches would be a good idea."

"Oh. I mean, I can draw, I guess?" Att scratches behind a pointy ear. "Maybe better than I think. That sounds like an Artisan task, and I'm getting pretty good at that from the sculpting. Weird crossover, but..." He shrugs, smiling. Att turns to regard Sunshine, probably Inspecting the same way.

                         Att Syne / Spriggan Mastermind                        
                              Guild: Plant Hwyaden                              

"Att Syne. I'm deputy guildsomething. Glad to have you aboard!" He does not radiate ominous authoritarian energy. He seems too chill for that. "Hey, that's pretty good. Uh..." Att looks around at the alchemical dealings and the furnaces going. "...we do not. Usually, before the Apocalypse, you'd just see a guild tag, you know? Maybe it's a good idea, though."

     "He's the guy who makes all the nice things around here," Shin informs Sunshine, like a student telling someone about the Big Deal Folks, "And also sets things on fire."

     "Kind of a go-to move, fire!"

"Maybe a feather pin? A goosefeather pin, because of the guild. That's simple as an icon, and white's a good color."

Whiskey Sour / ----- Heretic

Most people don't just casually inspect Whis that often, but Sunshine sees something Definitely Weird about Whis' race field, seeing as he is gazing around.

                     Shin Heno/Were Fang Spirit Caller                      

    As expected, there's nothing strange about Shin's Inspect.

"I do things besides fire," Att says, feigning mild offense. "I also do sword. The nice-thing-making is pretty apt, though."

He nods at Whis, then, because she's kind of sprawled and that was inaudible, says, "Good idea. We should do something a bit more distinct and hard to replicate in case we need to use it for any real identification. Don't want Landers plucking geese and robbing us or something like that, you know?"

     Patches... guilt tags... pins! Feather pins. Taking a brief moment to check out everyone's info, he nods enthusiastically, taking his leg off of the chair and slipping the guitar's strap around his neck. Okay, he can work with that. Hmm... he's looked at everybody except Miss Support Player. What's Whiskey's info, anyway? His brow furrows in confusion. No race field? Weird.

     "Huh."

     Where was he? "Ah, yeah. ...came up behind me/A great noble soul, he/was wearin' a goosefeather pin on his cloak/" Like any good anthem, this is the triumphant part, where the music swells--and for just having one instrument, he does a pretty good job of it. That metal guitar of his can get decently loud, when he needs. Must be that weird disc thing in the middle. "His sword in one hand/and a shield... damn." He snorts, having backed himself into a corner. "I'll workshop it! Since ya asked so nicely."

     "I've got my own theme song," Shin says to Sunshine with a grin, "So don't worry too much about one for me."

     He turns back to Att. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe...something painted with one of Whis's paints?"

     Sunshine pulls out a suffering notepad from his messenger bag, creased as if it's been stuffed in and out with no regard for organization many times. Flipping through the pages, he scribbles a note. 'Lose the goosefeather. Still write rest of song.' He scrawls down what he came up with so far. Wouldn't do to forget that! Then beneath each verse, he writes shorthand for the chords he was using.

"'e came up afore me, kind an' nob-le soul/'e was wearing a goosfeather pin on his stole/'e said 'young man, have ye no care?'/'leave to Hwyaden the acts of dare'." Whis belts off, riffing on Sunshine's initial beat, a passingly good singer herself.

"Something like that?"

"Yeah, maybe. As long as it's easily identified as 'us' without being super simple to replicate, it does the job," Att says.

He quiets down for the riffing. He grins some, after. "Man. Sometimes I wish I had a real musical bone in my body. I've only got the singing-in-the-shower gland, though." Att puts his hands on his hips and looks around at the semi-dispersed crowd -- most of the craftspeople in the guild who turned up to be told not to do things have gone back to safer places -- and then back at Sunshine. "So! What's contained within the Ballad of Sunny the Kid?"

"A lot of singing happening here today, what is the occasion?" A voice speaks from the entryway of the room.  The butler dressed man stands with perfect posture, walking into the room with a swift bow soon after.  "Also, does anyone need anything to eat or drink?" he asks, perhaps very specifically to some of the people who tend to neglect such things.

Att.  Whis.

The Salamander himself, for those unfamiliar with Yobi, is a well-dressed man, in the outfit of what one might consider a butler outfit.  White gloves sit over his hands, and he looks more aged than most players probably bothered to pick for their characters.

Yobi's approach gets a wave from Whis, sprawled out and legs dangling past the knee on a logistics table just outside part of the crafting pavilion behind the guild's manor house.

"New guy has big music chops, and I thought it'd be good for us to write a song about how cool we are to Landers so they'll like us more. Really speak about our virtues. Then we can sell them our manga as devotionals. They 'think' in song, so, we can use that."

Beat. "Well, you can. I'm totally beat from inventing printing via magic, and we've got a whole Bard College now. Why not, right?"

     "Ha, ha. I've been wanting to get my theme song out there, too. Especially since one of my manuscripts it, I mean..."

     He waves his hand.

     C'mon. You know what at least one of the scripts he's been writing is.

grrrowwwllll

Att looks at his stomach, then at Yobi, guiltily. "...I guess I could eat."

A beat. He eyes Shin. "Are we going to get attacked by the Priestesses of Law for copyright infringement?"

     "Masked Ranger Algol is my thing," Shin says firmly, "If they wanna try, they're welcome to come at me."

"What're they going to do, inflict punitive rat dungeon on us? Too late, suckers, already did the rat dungeon! And I'll still do the rat dungeon! No rat will stop me!"

     "No rat stops the mighty Whis," Shin agrees with a broad grin.

     "Yeah! Yeah." He brushes a blonde bang free of his face as he scribbles down a bit more, following Whiskey's suggestion. "And, uh... uh huh, uh huh..." Chord ideas are written in a disorganized mess only he can understand, beneath the lyrics Whiskey offered.

     That's good stuff. What IS contained within his ballad? That seems to render the previously gregarious bard quite skittish. He chuckles nervously, "Well, Att... not much to say, really." C'mon. Give them something, or these guys'll just push. Don't want that, do you? "Played guitar since I was 'bout eight, and I ain't looked back since." He looks away, evidently rather evasive when the subject is him, personally. So much so that when Yobi offers food, he brightens up, seizing a chance to change the subject.

     "Oh, no occasion! Just like Whiskey says--whippin' somethin' up to get Landers talkin' bout us, is all--but it is hungry work! I ain't picky when it comes to food, partner. Whatever you whip up, I'll eat up!"

Yobi, with a careful walk towards one side of the room, grabs a singular work table, a frying pan out of nowhere, and proceeds to literally start cooking right there on the spot.  The fire being provided by the salamander himself, either by occasion fire breath, or a wave of his hands and fire bursting for a few moments under the pan.  

The show really starts going as he starts with rice, turning it into fried rice, and tosses a few bowls across the table that Whis is lounging on.  This is followed by plates and forks because he's short on chopsticks and forks are easier to store.  

As he's going and puts a slab of some sort of meat on the frying pan, he continues the talk, the fried rice already being served first.  "Hm.  I wager that we should make songs around the actions we've done in front of landers.  They need to also be catchy." he says as Shin comments about Agol.  "So...which season?" he asks, curious.

"You know they're going to just recycle the rat dungeon.  They /always/ recycle content," he says, and a grin crosses his face.  "Good good!  We really need more people willing to take care of themselves!" he says towards Sunshine.

     "I'm not..." Shin rubs his brow. "Look, I'm not just stealing from something else. You can have inspiration that's not stealing."

"Forgive me, I did not mean to insinuate. I am curious which season you are taking inspiration from," Yobi says.

     "Mostly the earlier stuff," Shin admits, "I grew up with old tapes. The newer stuff is good, too, but I don't feel like it fits this fantasy world as well as the old."

"Art is theft. As is eating. What's good, tall dark and culinary?" Whis drawls from the table, definitely not drooling a little.

"Rats do cower before our might," Att agrees. "I'm just sayin'..." He trails off. "Either way, if I can help you out, just say. I bet a lot of people would love something to remind them of home, or a taste of what we consider real, genuine," he pronounces it exaggeratedly -- jen-you-wine -- rather than anything approaching normally, "culture."

Laser focus back to Sunshine. He pulls up a stool to the logistics table as it turns into a dining one and digs in, giving Yobi a thumbs-up with his mouth full. A moment later, he says, "Cool. I don't mean to pry; just, we've been getting bigger since the Apocalypse, and when Nureha is busy I've got some semblance of a job to do," he makes a circular motion with his fork, "so I try to figure out who can do what and what I can do to help 'em do it."

Yobi continues his culinary art, looking up now and again to keep up with the conversation.  To Whis he grins, "Fried rice, the meat of some giant lizards I managed to hunt down earlier, and some baby corn for a veggie," he comments, finishing the searing of the meat, and placing cuts on each of the plates in order.

True to his word, he has a pitcher of water and a pot, to which he starts steaming the baby corn he has on hand.  "You know, this world can be bothersome sometimes, but the inventory system is much more convenient than real life.  I also have glasses ready and can set out some water."

"Well, Att.  I am noticing that we could definitely use a garden.  Something local to the guild so I can help supplement the costs of having to keep people fed.  Unfortunately, I can't actually grow anything.." he shrugs, "I can forage, but that's about all.  I was also curious about seeing if we can't keep rarer or temperamental plants on hand, but that might involve developing a green house."

Whis, finding food plated right next to her, just roll-tumbles off the table until she lands on the ground besides.

She 'oofs', but doesn't go to a full 'ow', even though she fell a few feet to the hard earth beneath.

"Frying anything improves it." Whis observes, periscope up as she reaches fingers across the table to drag a plate towards herself. The gremlin energy is critical.

     "Oh, well..." Sunshine seems relieved that Att wasn't looking to learn about his personal life. "If that's all you're after... I figure, if we was to go out and quest together, you might best describe me as an offensive support." He rubs his chin. "I'm hard to pin down, an' I got some tricks up my sleeve, but really, where I'm best is lockin' down the bad guys and beefin' my friends up. I'm real good with people, and..." He smiles faintly, slinging the guitar over his back. "And that's actually what I tend t'go after the most. That, and explorin'. Content's fun and all, but me, I like seein' new places, meetin' new players, chattin' up the Landers."

     "I'm pretty quick, too! So if ya need a Messenger, I'm your huckleberry. And if ya happen to hear anything interesting, in the way of rumors, secrets, old stories... pass it my way, and I'd be much obliged."

     The smell of Yobi's cooking distracts him, enough so that he hooks a leg around that chair he'd pulled away, and scooches it right back to the table. "Damn sure does," he says in response to Whiskey, eagerly sitting down.

"I know some people who know some things about food; we could ask them about getting a garden setup." He salivates at the presence of [meat] on [plate]. "A greenhouse seemed kind of inevitable. Whis, you're an herbalist, right? Do you know anything about getting that setup?"

Cut. Chew. Enjoy. Att takes a moment to reflect on the wonders of ending up in a world that actually cares about things like food having flavor, now that they know how to make it have that thing. The first few weeks were the worst. "Y'know, we have a lot of people who don't really want to talk about themselves," Att reflects, sounding thoughtful, looking up instead of at anyone in particular. "Private lives being private is perfectly fine. I don't want anyone to feel unwelcome, or uncomfortable. We're here to take care of each other. Help each other out, y'know? It's a harsh world out there, and it's full of arses in dire need of a good kicking. Most of the time you want a full party before you try it, though."

Att pulls his head out of the clouds, glancing at Sunshine as he pulls his chair back in. "Good to hear. I'm sort of a magic tank most of the time; feel free to use me for cover when things get dicey." He shows teeth for a second. "We've been around a few places, but after the ex-pack dropped... who knows what's out there to see?"

Yobi continues on his dinner-making crusade.  Eventually finishing up the baby corn and placing it down onto everyone's plates.  Glasses are set down and water is poured into them before Yobi himself cleans up and sits down at his own chair.  

A nod to Att over his response, "That sounds like a good plan.  Otherwise, I think I'd just be digging fruitlessly at the ground forever," he says looking over at Whis when Att mentions that their interests might cross.  

However, for the moment he enjoys his food.  "However, if you do need the advice of an old man, you can always feel welcome to talk with me.  As Butler Supreme, I am sworn to silence on any subject that needs to remain confidential."

Whis mouths 'butler supreme' around a mouthfull of fried rice. Words do not come out, because of aformentioned rice.

With a swallow, and an unladylike chug of water, she asks a cursed question:

"Like... the brand?"

Yobi, after carefully eating and chewing a bit of the meat nods once. "Yes like the brand."

     Sunshine eats his food as if he were worried someone were going to steal it from his plate. Yobi might wonder whether he's even tasted it, were it not for the brief look of elation on his face following the utter and complete cleaning of his plate. There is a sigh of contentment, after which he casts a grateful look Yobi's way, complete with an emphatic thumbs up. He takes off the guitar and places it into his inventory, so that he can lean back in the chair like he was before, balancing it on the back legs.

     "I appreciate that," he says, belatedly, to Att, clarifying, "The attitude about helpin' out, I mean. That's how come I joined with y'all." That... and the fact that having a guild's support makes gathering information and exploring much, much easier. Twirling the end of his long hair around a finger, "And, uh... Yobi, I'll keep that in mind." Sworn to secrecy... that draws a thoughtful look. He just might take the Butler Supreme up on that option.

     For now... a more lively subject, maybe? "I tell ya, I'd sure like to get out there sometime soon, with a party of y'all. Be good to get some new territory under my belt, and just t'hang out."

"That's a brand?" Att consumes corn. Man, that's good. He's got a new appreciation of home cooking after the sheer number of cheeseburgers he got fed during the Great Craftening.

"Mm -- we usually get together to go do a hunt or some other quest pretty regularly. Definitely keep you in mind for it. They can be pretty tricky sometimes, so... more hands and light work, yeah?" Att scrapes his plate clean.

"Anything can be a brand if you advertise it enough," Yobi says, with a nod.  He might have lost the plot at some point, but right now he was finishing up his plate.  Finally, he starts taking the empty plates and shoving them into his inventory.  They can be dropped off later.

"At whatever pace fits you," he says to Sunshine.  "And yes, we regularly team up for quests or shenanigans."

     "Well, I reckon I'll have to keep my ears open, then! He grins." Well... his first meeting with the guildies has actually gone pretty well. Not that he's an anti-social guy, but after his experiences back home, he didn't imagine he'd enjoy being joined to something. This... might be alright, though. Especially since the guildmaster isn't what he imagined. neither, for that matter is the 'deputy something.'

     "So... what I'm interested in right at this moment is Alne. Or, uh... what's under it! Went down below for that slime quest, you know the one I mean? There was the usual stuff you'd expect for a sewer, up 'til a certain point." He leans forward, the chair resting on all four legs again as his plate is taken away. "What really got me was, when you go deep enough, you come to this big, big room with a vaulted ceiling and everything. Real un-sewer-like. Got me wondering what all else might be down there, further in. And who built it." He looks between Yobi and Att, his brow raised.

     "Y'all heard anything about that?"