A Place to Lose

[gibson]

Gibson had finally found it, a nice little cafe before the end of things turned it into an abandoned and ransacked ruin. Still, he figured that he might get lucky this time. Sure enough, the place wasn't too bad, most of what had been there was gone and most of the rest had gone bad long ago. He looked the place over with a little more attention to the furnishings. Metal chairs and tables had lasted though the cushions were far gone. Comfort wasn't likely to come soon but familiarity is really all it took to be comfortable.

A lot of people thought civilization could only start once people were on top of the food chain, that was a laugh, others thought it could only happen when people felt safe, that was just silly, other people followed the triangle of needs or whatever. They almost had it but in the end, Gibson felt that there were two things needed to rebuild civilization, one was alcohol, the other was coffee, and the alcohol was optional. Still, coffee was going to be hard to find, but he was sure there'd be some around somewhere. Alcohol would be difficult, but with some work he could make his own still until the really good stuff appeared.

Gibson began to poke around through some of the debris with the stick he'd been carrying around since he'd lost most of his gear. It was a useful stick but he couldn't wait to upgrade. He set a few bottles of gasoline he'd siphoned from cars onto the counter. Gas was always useful to somebody. He looked at the dirty windows and wiped away some of the grime with the remains of a cushion. There he hung the open sign facing out. Sure he had nothing to actually sell other than the bottles of gas, but that could change at any time.

First thing he did was check on the pipes. The water had stopped flowing which obviously meant that an excursion to get it working again was in order. He'd have to find a generator to power the place too. A lot of work needed to be done in order to get the cafe to the point where civilization could spawn. Money would be an issue as well. The world needed currency, bartering could only get you so far. As he tossed debris from the counter he thought about bullets. Bullets were always useful and valuable. Sure they could only be used once but that made them even more precious. A system based on bullets might work. He'd have to think about it some more.

[kiolie]

Ash had been in her small house. It wasn't much. Just a run down old room. No water or electricity. Just a floor to sleep on. She had been saving up everything she found so she could exchange it for a one bed, one bath apartment. There were a few places open, and she was hoping by the time she saved up enough. Then, she decided it was time to leave her home for a while, so she wouldn't go stir crazy.

She grabbed her bag, and put the remaining sandwiches and water bottles into it. Zipping it up and slinging it over her back. She then tied on her belt, which held her sword and walked out the door. Into the rubble covered streets. She made her way through the small alleyway to the main streets. She had found her home in the alleyways, decided that it was well hidden, so no one would go and raid it for food. Because people were that desperate now. So hidden homes were better. And that made her feel even more safe.

As Ash walked through the streets, she placed her hand on her sword, which was in it's sheath. Ready to swing if needed. She walked through the rubble of the town. Feeling sadness overwhelmed her. It made her sad how the town turned out like this. She noticed that the cafe's sign was open. Shocked filled her face. She placed her hand on her sword and walked through the cafe doors. " Hello? Anyone here? " She said loudly. Hoping anyone in there would here her. She wanted to know what they were selling and for how much. She needed to restock her resources.

[gibson]

Well it was all far from ideal. The more he worked on cleaning the place up the more he noticed would have to be done. Sure it would be a serviceable outpost and even a trading post, but there wasn't likely to be any coffee until he grew his own, and that was about as likely to work out as him finding the cure to the disease. That said, he could probably work out a way to make beer and beer was normal enough to bring back some sense of reality. He looked at the walls and wondered if this was like the first bartender to the cowboys in whatever town it was in those old west movies. That was an idea for another time though.

That's when she came in. Another human, female even. It was a welcome surprise. He pointed his stick at her. "Cross me and I'll kill you. So what can I do for you today? We're out of stock on most things but maybe there's something you can use."

[kiolie]

Ash froze. A hostile survivor. Great... maybe she could get on his good side. She needed to get supplies, but she didn't have much to trade. So maybe she could work for this man, and in return get supplies for free. "I'm Ash, and I was wondering if i could work here. Help you clean up, and in return get a few resources for free. I am in desprate need of food and water, along with work. I can work everyday, and i can work during the night to." She explained, hoping to get work.

Yeah, she wouldn't get paid, but getting food and water without having to search would be great. She would love to have the familarity of having a job. It would be good for her. And maybe she could stay in the back room at night. Because all she does is wander, and she would like to stay somewhere like a home. But she would bring that up later. If she could get a job here. Hopfully he would say yes, considering he would need a LOT of help on cleaning this place up.

[gibson]

"Oh, a job. Well that's no trouble at all. Admittedly when it comes to payment there is going to be some trouble." Gibson looked around at the place, still very messy. "See, I just bought this place and it needs work. Electricity is down, taps don't work, supplies have mostly gone bad." He shrugged. "That said, I do have some bottles of gasoline, lots of pieces of metal for stabbing things, and there are probably some kitchen knives lying about around here."

Gibson looked around a bit more and nodded to himself. A girl was bound to bring customers. Waitresses in a bar was something very normal. "Yeah so there isn't much for food and water though I suppose I might find some stuff in storage. Even if I did, I can't guarantee it will be any good. You know what I need, a well. A still would be good too. You know how to make a still?"

[kiolie]

Ash looked around. The place would take at least a week to clean up. And then setting the place up would take another few days. "No, i don't. But i know how to use one. I mean, i could try to make one with trial and error." She told the man. She really needed this job.

Ash walked around, picking up anything that might sell. "We can sell al this metal, along with the knives. And the gasoline would be useful here if we found a generator. So we should lock it up in the back room. We should put one or two knives under the counter if we get robbed." People were so desprate now adays. They would do anything to survive. She put two knives under the counter, and started sitting the metal on the shelves. "We could also melt the metal and use it to patch up some of the holes in the wall." She knew a lot about repairing stuff. She needed to fix her old house a lot. It was REALLY old.

She turned back to the guy. "I will stay late tonight and clean up if you want me to. We need to get rolling, if we are going to open up any time soon. I say we try to get everything done by two weeks." She knew of a place where she could fing useful things, things they could sell. Like aimo, and pain killers. Pain meds were rare, so they could sell them for a good amount of stuff. "I know where we can find pain meds, and other stuff. I will bring some stuff to the shop once we get it fixed up." She said, not wanting to tell where her storage was.

[/size]

[gibson]

Gibson looked at the girl, she was probably lying but why not, how hard could running a still be. He looked around a bit, she seemed capable for the most part, that was good. Still, she didn't seem like she understood much about running a bar. He figured he might be able to reason with her. "Um, I was planning to make this a bar, you know, with alcohol and stuff. That's why we need a still. You might be a little young but back before everything went to hell bars sold beer. Medicine might be nice but you shouldn't be drinking rubbing alcohol.

"The bullets would be great though. They'd make great currency, there are lots of them and people ought to conserve it. Bullets are really worth something, you know?"

[kiolie]

Ash looked at Gibson with annoyance. " Just because i am a teenager doesn't mean i'm stupid. And your the stupid one if you think i don't know anything. I lost my parents to this disease. I know how to take care of myself." She hissed at the man. Okay, now she had to calm herself down. She took a deep breath and said "I know what a still is for. So that kind of gave away the bar thing. And we still could sell other stuff. It would make this place get more popular. Medicine is rare now. If we start selling it, more people would come here. " She scoffed. Very annoyed.

She hated when people thought she was ignorant because of her age. Maybe she as before all of this started, but she grew up a LOT since then. And loosing her parents made her stronger. She wasn't scared of anything anymore. She wasn't affraid to speak her mind. But she stilled tried to be nice. Except for when people made her mad. Like very mad.

She continued to clean up. Making a useful pile, and a trash pile. It would speed things up. "I will go get the medicine and the bullets once this place gets cleaned up. We don't want to get things stolen before even finishing it." She would show this guy. He was ignorant if he thought she was just a stupid teenager. She was no where near the ignorant person she was before. She was smarter and knew how to survive now. More grown up then she should be.

[gibson]

Gibson shrugged off her less than friendly words. "Whatever you say, I'm just saying you weren't likely to be running around the bars before the sickness swept through. I won't deny that it'd be nice to get lots of business, but when you come right down to it, money and stuff is kind of worthless now. That's why I thought about the bullets but even then we'd just be collecting things so we can sell more things, it's not like profit means much nowadays." He shrugged again, picking up a big batch or whatever the ceiling tiles had been made of and unceremoniously dumping it outside one of the broken windows.

"It's all about being normal. I mean, look around you, coffee shop, one on every corner was the norm and now it's all ruined crap. Most people around the world probably aren't much more either. A bar is something normal. People meet, people drink, people forget the world for awhile you know?" He sighed, "People may come for medicine, they may come for beer or weapons or bullets or whatever we give them, but what they want is something familiar." Lord knows that's what he had wanted when he'd finished his tour, but he hadn't been getting it then and now it was even harder to find. If he couldn't find it here in a bar, Gibson doubted it could ever be found again.

[kiolie]

Finished.

Ash cleaned as she listened to Gibson. He was right. But she knew she had a point. And he had one also. But she really thought the medicine idea would be good. But oh well. "What ever you say." She said, shrugging. She put the trash in the trash pile, she would find somewhere to throw it all later. She pushed all of the trash against a wall and made a pile for things they could keep. She looked around. This place was a mess. It would take longer than she thought. "We need to find something to block the windows with. Something nice. Maybe we should decorate some wood or something." She suggested. They needed something to block off the wind and rain. They also needed locks on the door so they could lock up at night.

Ash put some of the stuff to keep, like a napkin holder, on one of the tables. She put her hand on the chair. She would have to find some cusions for the chairs, so that it would be more familiar. But that would take some time. Sher would have to ran sack old houses. But knowing the desprate citizens, they would be hard to find. She went to the back room and found a flash light. She click it on. Nothing. She searched the drawers of the desk and only found a pen. Although that could be useful to. For a check list. She searched another drawer and found a few peices of paper. Perfect. "Hey i found a pen and some paper. The pen works. How about we make a check list of things that need to get done?" She yelled. Hoping Gibson could hear.

[/spoiler]

[gibson]

"We've got loads of crap lying around," Gibson said, "I'm sure some of it will make an acceptable window. Not like we can really keep anyone out who really wants to get it. The trick is making sure they leave on our terms." Something amid the debris on the floor had caught his eye and he was using a broken chair leg to prod under the cabinets trying to get at it. With luck it would be a key, it had looked like a key. He only marginally listened to the girl's chatter. "Yeah sure, that might help." The possible key was giving him trouble.

"Let me know if you find a gun or something, I lost mine awhile back and I'd like something to keep out the looters besides my stick." He got it out, it was a key. A golden thing with a general raggedness that meant it had been used a lot. It wasn't a car key probably since there wasn't a logo, in short, he had no idea what it went to. He tried the cash register first and it didn't fit. "Hey, let me know if there are any locks back there." Maybe it was the door key. He went to check.

[kiolie]

Ash looked around for some metal or wood. If they could mae a fire, the cloud melt some metal to the point where they could mold peices together. And then they could make windows. Maybe by finding nails and some hinges. They could make them lockable. She sat down at a table and started a checklist.

• Needs to be cleaned
  
  • Floor
    
  • Counter
    
  • Back room
  
  
• Needs to be fixed
  
  • Windows
  
  
• Needs to be made:
  
  • Still
    
  • Cold room(to keep food and drinks fresh

Ash looked at Gibson and said "Hey, i have the check list made. Come check it out." She sat back in her seat and looked over the check list again. It looked good. Everything she could think of that needed to be done was added. So the check list was complete.

[gibson]

"Damn key." He muttered as it failed to do anything to the doors or anything else he found in the front. "Sounds great, I'm sure it's a very thorough list. He made his way to where she was. "You didn't happen to find a lock of some sort, this key isn't doing anything for me right now." He glanced at the list. "Kind of general isn't it? I mean, everything needs to be cleaned all the time in a restaurant or whatever. Plus we haven't got glass so fixing the windows isn't right, boarding it up maybe. And if it's a list of things to do it should say where we'll get the still. I think the library first because maybe there'll be a book on how to make drinks that don't kill people." He shrugged. "Maybe it'll have information on how pioneers kept things cold without ice and stuff too. That would help with the cold room."

[kiolie]

Ash swirled through everything she could remeber from her memory. Thinking if she has ever saw a book about drinks. But she couldn't think of any. "I could headdown to the library later tonight and check it out." She looked around the ruble covered floor. Trying to spot a lock. Something gold caught her eye a few feet away, near the back room. "I think i see something" She said as she walked over to it. Bending over she moved the ruble aside and picked it up. It was another key. She looked disappointed. "It's another key." She handed it to Gibson and walked into the back room.

Maybe the lock was in the room. She kicked the rubble around. Thinking. And then she saw it. A rusted but suprisingly shiny, master lock. It was sitting on a shelf and was attached to the small, yet long, rectangular box. She called Gibson in. "Hey Gibson, bring the keys here! I found a lock." She cleared a spot and sat criss crossed on the floor. Looking at the box. Wondering what was in it.

[gibson]

Gibson followed her voice. He certainly hadn't had any luck with the locks so far. "I don't know if it's a good idea to go tonight, night tends to be dark and you don't know what's hanging about in the dark corners of the place. It'll probably be mostly dark anyway so no reason to trouble yourself even further." Why work at night when you could work in the day? Of course there were occasions where you had to do things at night, but in this case there really was no overwhelming hurry. Things that go bad would already be pretty bad, and things that wouldn't could wait.

He set the keys down by her, "You found it, you do the honors. Kind of looks like a cash box or something doesn't it? Though I guess people keep all sorts of things other than cash in them. Handy box with a lock."