(PrP) Tunnel Trip Telegraph

[Circe]

Circe was feeling much better now. Out of the rat infested, shit smelling tunnels and the clothes with the stench, back into her own condo. Not to mention her foot bandaged up. Burning the rats' nest held a LOT of appeal to the Summer Queen.


But right now? Circe just had her red bathrobe and a cup of coffee. And her smartphone set for a conference call with the others. Cleaning up had been advisable for everyone after the filth they'd scrounged through to build a bridge. Seraphina , Cassandra, and Liam hadn't been better off then the Summer Queen with the caking of dust and other things. Well, Liam and Circe had slammed into the ditch's wall so they'd probably have a little more rat poop on their clothes then did Cass or Sera.


The elf sits at her coffee table, sipping the matching beverage as she clicks the phone on, resting it next to her laptop. "Salve everyone," she says to the phone, "Anybody there yet? Can ya hear me now?"

Shenanigans , Orianna , & BoxingUnicorn feel free to have your character in any condition you wish when on the conference call.

[Seraphina]

The Nix’s angelic voice can be heard over the phone, “I’m here Circe!” she chirps. “And just let me say, it felt so amazing to take a shower!” a light, musical laugh. Between the dirt and digging through the trash, she needed a shower. “So what are we looking at? I have a notebook open with some ideas, but would like to know what direction everyone thinks.” Taking a sip of tea as she sketched an entryway.

[Liam Gelt]

"Here!"
Liam dials in from his cellphone still in the death throes of drying off from his own shower. It'd taken him a bit more time to get the rat stink out of his bark-flesh, and he definitely needed a change of clothes. "Well, it looks like we'll need a more permanent solution for getting heavy equipment into the main chamber past the rat ditch. I'd suggest a concrete structure, but I don't know how easy it would be to have brought down, or how long it would take to assemble." The sound of towel ruffling pine needle-hair briefly crackled against the phone's speakers. "Although, if it would help, maybe a pair of tiki torches or some other flame could keep the rats at bay; at least until we get someone who could remove them." He'd certainly prefer to avoid killing the rats if possible, seeing as how their only crime was living in a high-traffic area.

[Circe]

"Sera, Liam good," she nods and stops to sip her coffee, "Cass? Oookay."


Circe gets to her laptop, "Well we'll talk and catch her up. We got shit ta deal with," smiles. "I have some hand creams ta cover the stench. And I'm on a lumber liquidator order up. Figure a 5' by 16' wood bridge is step 1 fer getting shit done." Plus it could be used to structure for the concrete, "Trap door optional fer fun. Good idea Liam. Concrete pouring would need a frame so that'd be that too. More order, more savings on this site, so I'll do that."


Typing and done. As for the rats, "And now this project has given me wood. Really hard too. I'd prefer extermination fer the moat of biting rats." A Summer response as she looks at her bandaged leg. She'd not waste a goblin fruit on something so minor. Deterrent or not, a moat could do better than rats.


Circe also clicks upon another site, "On the plus sign, the sewer maps I could find don't match up with that area. So it ain't a sewer main, probably." More clicking, "Concrete is cheap if we hafta seal something but washing it away? Portable power washers are expensive."


And Circe just bought a lot of lumber.

[Cassandra Reeding]

Cassandra had a tiny bit of trouble getting her zoom all set up, but she got there in the end. She pops in in the middle of Circe talking about the destruction of the rats and she stays quiet, sipping her tea and adjusting her wet hair off to the side and over her shoulder.

When she speaks about the possible need for a power washer, she speaks up, "I can cover expenses for most things if need be," She is rather well off at this point given her instrument business. Portable power washers aren't that expensive. At least, not on her budget.

[Seraphina]

“Hey Liam!” greets the Nix.

“Concrete would be a nice permanent solution.” Durable, and better than what they currently had. “What would we need to bring down? Generators are cheap enough to get, I only worry about the fumes. We’d need a way to vent the air.” So maybe something else? “How about some traps to catch the rats, then relocate them somewhere else? Not sure how many there are, but it could be a solution.” She wasn’t a fan of killing things unless she had to.

She nods as she listened, “That sounds like it would work! I can toss some money your way Circe to help with the expenses.” No reason the Summer should have to bear all the cost.

“Lets try some traps first. Bait them with some really good food and see if we can relocate them. I mean after all, we kinda did disturb their nest.” But if Circe wanted to kill them, that would be on her.

“I can bring down some battery powered outdoor and indoor lights. I have a bunch of them. And some rechargeable batteries.” That was important.

“That’s a good thing. Maybe the tunnels are not mapped. Which would be a bonus for us. Though maybe checking at City Hall just to make sure. Though it’s going to take some time to fully map them out, seal any dangerous spots and doors we don’t need. But not impossible. As for a power washer? I’m sure we can get one. Send a price and we can send the money.” But it would be needed. That stench had to go. “But it wouldn’t hurt to once we get the smell cleared out, to reseal the walls to make sure there are no leaks and whatnot.”

Smiling, “Hey Cassandra!” happy to hear the Winter in the call.

“That’s very generous of you!” and it was.

[Liam Gelt]

"Hi Sera!" Liam can't stop himself from replying to the Spring Queen. She always had a way of making people feel welcome. If only he wasn't trying to juggle a phone conversation with throwing on a shirt.
After a brief growl of effort, the shirt is on and the Giant returns his focus to the conference call. "Good idea with the rat traps. I just wish we knew someone who could talk to animals." Could Sonnie do that? Or maybe she could only speak monkey. "But that's something we can tackle while we wait on the lumber and concrete delivery at least." That and he didn't relish the idea of salvaging scores of rat corpses from the tunnels.

Cassandra joins the call, and Liam echoes Sera. "Hey Cassandra! Nice work on the navigation down there, by the way." And now she was apparently rich? Or at least well off enough to help foot some of the costs. Was that just a Fairest thing? "Resealing the walls should be pretty easy once we've removed the muck. We might even find more pieces from the old bridge or those junk piles to help out with that. Or if not, we could at least find some other Lost who could find use for it." No use keeping the stuff down there if they weren't going to use it. And maybe those Contracts that Sera and Circe used to de-age the bridge components could be used later.

[Circe]

Circe has a computer so she begins looking up their bridge options. "Concrete would require relocation, unless ya want a ratty foundation," was her comment on the rat removal. "No offense ta the animal lovers but a moat full of rats ain't the most epic thing. And, wait," more typing can be heard, "Okay, so ya CAN make a concrete bridge without a pillar. Ya shall not pass wasn't bullshit building. Still gonna need the wood fer framing it," she shrugs.


Batteries sounded like a better bet. "Yeah, go green and all electric, no fumes." So, getting rid of the rats without killing them? Well, better standard of living then noobs who ate them she supposed. "Oh, anybody can talk ta animals. Understanding is the hard part," she jests. "Humane trappings is gonna be a while, there was lots of 'em. And where too? Anybody pissed off enough at somebody ta drop of a few hundred rats at their home? Seriously, are ya? I'll help." Another a very Summer response.


Being unmapped was good and bad. Good, nobody could find them but bad in that it'd be harder to navigate. "Right Sera," she agrees, "should help keep it hidden. As fer ventilating, that requires, well vents," Circe quickly looks up a cross cut of how mines do it. "One fer bad air out, one fer good air in. But secret tunnels would need secret vents, or not secret." And the Summer had no idea how to drill through stone and keep it secret at the same time.


"Welcome Tunnel Mistress Cassandra," she warmly greets her fellow Summer. "Glad ya kept us from getting lost. Thanks fer the warchest too," her tone is full of appreication, "I appreciate it. Imma be renting a flatbed fer the lumber anyway, so I can just pick other shit up at the store or rental. We may be kicking out the rats or having them temp as the alligators fer the moat." A terrible summary, but a summary none the less.


"Right!" She cheers, "We build a temp wood bridge, move the gear over, and clean the shit out and make sure it don't come back in. Solid plan fer making a rock bridge later. I mean, what is the absolute worst case scenario?" Circe could think of one that was too absurd for even Them, "We fight a operatic poop monster?"

[Cassandra Reeding]

"Oh, thank you guys. I was just happy to help. And we have it mapped out roughly, which helps."


Personally, Cassandra could care less about the rodents. What is the point? There will always be more. Frankly, so Spring. But if she speaks up, she risks looking like an asshole.


"Perhaps at some point we get Sonnie involved. She is rather the animal specialist. Although based on the way you spoke to the rats before, Liam, you did quite well enough," she smiles in a sweet manner. It was helpful, given the alternative.


"We should be fine. It's going to be hard work, but having another space of our own for gathering will be very good." She takes a sip of her tea, taking a moment to breathe in the scent of the lavender. The job was a lot more stressful than she had anticipated, but she felt lucky just to have gotten through it without getting them lost. It makes her feel like she has a value, but it is a value that needs to be upkept.


Bright side to this, it seems like a plan is in order, it just needs to be carried out now. At least, that she can tell.

[Seraphina]

Thinking for a moment, “Not sure if that’s something Sonnie can do or not, but we could always ask her.” She had a feeling it would be a no. “Most certainly! We should get moving on that as soon as possible. The quicker we get them out, the quicker we can get other things moving.” Get a head start and all that.

“I agree with Liam, that was some amazing navigation.” She could see the Winter being very useful in the Hedge. “Repurposing some of that junk might be a possibility. Depending on what we find and what we want to do.” She wasn’t good at repurposing things, but she could make them like new again. And it could save them money in the long run.

“Well, I don’t know the first thing about bridge building, so I’ll leave that to you guys. Just tell me what we need and I can throw money at it.” All she could offer in that regard.

Nodding, she makes a note on a piece of paper, “I’ll start getting those together today. Look into getting some new ones and ones that offer different levels of light. They’ll either be ready for our next adventure down there, or I could head down before hand and get them setup, whichever works best.” She didn’t mind going down there alone. As to the rats? “What about that alley where the Huntsmens mark was?” a smile in her voice, “Maybe his followers would like a little bit of rat company.” But that was the only idea she had.

“Hmmm,” thinking, “would we be able to install secret vents? Or is there a better way to circulate the air? We wouldn’t want to leave an opening for someone to try and poison the air. But we also want to keep the air fresh and breathable.” But safety was the number one concern.

“I know Ram has mentioned having connections in the construction field, so it sounds like he has some knowledge too. Might be good to bring him in as well.” He seemed knowledgeable to her.

“Maybe once we get the area cleaned out, we can sit down and plan out what we want to do exactly. With us all working together, there isn’t much we can’t do down there. If people have ideas, I can sketch them up and then provide copies for everyone to see and agree on. Where we want it as a gathering and safe area, I think we should make sure it has what everyone wants in it.” Well, within reason of course.