Hare Town Woes (Part 1)

The note brought you here. Left on the bullitin boards at Zephyr and handed off to some guy up in the Promethean community to disseminate. RSX was a little too far to reach.

The note came from Hare Town, and the directions were specific. Someone willing to act as a liason or quartermaster was to come to this location and meet with one of their representatives to discuss a problem they've been having. There wasn't much information beyond that. It was vague and irritating.

At the appointed place in front of the town's entrance a shy young Lapine woman stands, dressed lightly for the weather in a long sleeve shirt and shirts. She's shedding s the season is changing, but that wasn't important. What was important was the clipboard she was carrying and the glasses. A secretary..And for those of more perverse mind, a flat-chested one.

Herma smiled as sie looked at the secretary with a sligtly preditory look. Even if they were both herbavores. The crimson pegasus had hormones running through hir body 24/7, so if Herma thought there was a chance to endear hirself to anyone that sie considered attractive, Sie'd take the chance. "I heard about someone having a job avalable here, What do you need?"

Wanderer, engineer, car-thief, small arms expert... Adding quartermaster to the list of roles should be a simple matter for the Stetson wearing stallion named Thor. "Afternoon ma'am," he offers, tipping his hat with a nod. "Got your message at the Zephyr complex?" ( A polite way of not-mentioning "note posted to board"....)

Herma nickers, "And If I may say so, I heard that the message was from someone cute, and I wasn't disapointed."

From behind the two equines, a relatively smallish feline girl appears, her walk a bit slinky in the non-sexual sense of the word. "Is this where the note thing said to meet?" she asks, her voice confident despite her size.

Ears turned to listen to the other's speak, and Herma just stretched those pegasus wings a bit while sie listened. A bit of a long flight from woodfield to haretown on your own two wings could feel awesome emotionally, but physically it was stressing.

One Zebra, a pegasus, and a street cat. Maybe not the ideal people to send, but perhaps they were curious.

These three were scribbled down on the clipboard by the secretary, nothing short or messy. It has to be a log book of some kind. "Yes, this is where the note instructed to go. I would like to state that for the nature of this buisness, hands be kept to oneselves. We've got enough problems as it is, we hardly need more." This flat-chested girl straightens her glasses then. "The nature of this problem is...and I hate to be tasked with saying it, a lack of supplies."

"We've got plenty of food and water. We just lack tools to begin agriculture and we have no clinical supplies to speak of if accidents happen."

Thor nods, chewing thoughtfully on an unlit cigar. "Hasn't Zephyr been able to help?" he asks, settling to his haunches for the smaller rabbit woman's benefit. HE chuckles ruefully, shaking hyis head. "Though more likely ta charge for the help! Hmm..." He knuckles a hand, tracing idle circles in the earth. "I've done some work with the Promethean settin' up their little farmstead. Could always take a list of requirements that way, see how they compare. Might be able ta get some blueprints or plans for some simple tools, too. Should be plenty o' metal, out from thye highway." He pauses, grimacing. "If the Crimsons don't mind, that is."

Penn is a bit at a loss here. "I'm afraid I don't know much about where to find those sort of things, other than Chandler Hospital, or maybe the second floor of the skunk's Library for medical supplies." She stuffs her paws into her sweatshirt pockets. "I'm pretty good at finding things, though."

"I just haven't looked for those sorts of things before."

Herma sighed as sie rubbed hir forhead. Now the memories of the highway came back to hir "I hope you're right sir, I've pretty much mastered crafting tools out of scrap, but I try to avoid using lead like the plage. And I know for a fact that the pegasuses there may mind, though in your case It might be for a different reason altogether."

The young Lapine secretary shakes her head at Thor, once more poking her glasses. Come to think of it were they decorative or functional? Nanites do a lot to correct 'flaws' in their hosts so these would have to be fake reading glasses. "It only became a problem in the last few days. We'd like to be self sufficient, you see. Support ourselves. While we've been able to build homes and small shops, we've lacked tools to begin setting up fields for the crops and while we have a clinic, herbal medicine simply can't suffice for the needs of this community. We've tried to overcome this but as you can tell by the summons, its beyond our self-sufficiency."

A blush was starting to color the pegasus herm's face, followed by a smile while shi leaned forward. "So you're dealing with an unexpected population growth then, Right?"

The zebra casts Herma a grim nod, sighing quietly. "Tell me 'bout it," he grumbles, ears curving back towards the lapine with a brief intensity. "There's only so much self-sufficient ya can pul off," he begins, "Though the nanos go a good way ta makin' it more likely." He scratches his chin, considering. "Hmm... I'd say put together a short list of folks the village can spare. Send a few ta learn what they can of small-scale nanite work, for an industrial scale-- mostly fer any tool-makin' that's neeeded. Send a few folk over to get some "lessons learned" details from the Prommies. That should do fer starters."

Penn refrains from making any comment on Herma's choice of words, and really doesn't have anything add to Thor's ideas. This is all going over her head, so she just smiles and nods.

Herma nickers, "I could actually spare a whole bunch of nanites for construction right now. But what I also need is some time and salvage resources, it can be exausting to teach an extreme crash corse in turning tin cans into computers. Not even the good computers either, I'm talking a x386 at best."

The secretary gives a quiet sigh, scribbling another note down. "We're... Probably having aan increase in one kind of production you might say. Our hereditary condition seems to want to rear its head as an event of religeous significance in the Old World is about to arrive in two days time from now. And as we're related to the feral rabbits running around within Fairhaven, we share the same quirky habbits reguarding oviposition. So in short, yes we've been having more and more functional females such as myself becoming unable to contribute to the community because they're stuck laying ever larger clutches of eggs. I personally am spared this problem. Still, we have need of basic agriculture tools for the farms and medical supplies for the many of us who are currently in the midst of laying season."

Herma nickers, "Yeah, One of my daughters lays eggs too. Sitting on a nest for her was a weird experience that could make your brain break"

Thor grimaces, tail giving a flashing whisk. Eggs. He closes his eyes, brushing his hand across his muzzle withh a long breath. "Alright," he rumbles. "Agricultural tools 'n some basics of medicine. 'N maybe a market for tobacco ta keep scents at bay..." Ears slanting back, he pats down one of his pockets, absently freeing a small silver lighter from within. "Nobody ya can spare until... afterwards. Got it." He kneels down, shifting carefully as he nods. "Get us a list if ya have one, and we'll get it distributed 'mong the agents over at Zephyr. I'll run it over to the Prommies too, and our ladycat friend here--" He grins, nodding towards Penn. "--can see if the ladies at the Library can lend a hand."

Penn nods. Sounds like a plan to her.

Herma Rubbed the back of hir head and grunted. "I guess I could try to help miss... uh... Kittykat?... We never told each other our names I think, Have we?

The sheet on the clipboard is flipped while the rabbit goes through her notes. "Here," three separate sheets are pulled up and handed out, each with a small list. "We can get a few of the younger males to help move any supplies. The rest are occupied, and don't worry they have other things on their minds than making the egg problem worse."

Thor takes one of the sheets, giving it a quick overview. "...hmm. Take a bit to assemble everythin'. Still, should be able ta do in quick time..." Idly, he twirls the lighter tube in his hand, rolling it it with care. "I agreee with the missus here. Sounds like a plan."

Penn takes a sheet from the rabbit girl. "I'll give this to the skunks, and help deliver anything they'll be willing to donate, but after that, I don't think I'll be of any use." She nods to Herma. "Oh, name's Penn, by the way."

"I guess that's a good thing." Herma smiled as sie looked at the lists of names and tasks "I seem to have a number of guys who have names out of a children's story book." Herma giggled a bit "Cotton tail, really? Well I guess I could make a man out of him or my name isn't Herma!

Herma slapped hir forehead when sie realized how wrong that came out! "I mean I'm gonna teach them how to salvage things! Uh... Okay maybe I'll uh... use my feminine wiles to motivate."

Penn facepalms.

With that part of the work out of the way, the secretarial rabbit turns and heads back into the town. All this community can do is wait and deal with their problems until things get better. Looks like they might have a significant surplus of eggs for the farmers markets too.

Herma nickers, "I have one question though, How come you aren't affected?"