st_oriedqueen: (hmmm chinhand)
Regina Mills ([personal profile] st_oriedqueen) wrote in [community profile] strangetrip2017-03-22 10:25 am

[EP] each has been sent as a guide

Even for a witch, keeping track of inventory in a inn that magically resupplied itself on no definable schema, planning for non-magical and magical shortages and disasters, was only about 10% magic and 90% paperwork. For a witch putting the inhabitants of that inn before herself as penance for past evils and in place of her actual victims, it was 100% soul-searing. Especially because of her self-imposed restrictions on telling people what she'd been doing (they had to notice, because if she spoke through actions she wasn't being boastful or attention-seeking), it was also 100% isolating, lonely, and tedious.

Still, Regina persevered, today working on the health and healing aspects of her pencil-and-paper draft of a crisis management plan. The problem, of course, was that while she'd heard rumors of magical healing, no one had exactly jumped up and proclaimed their expertise in that area, and the few people with practical experience had more field medicine and triage. The only real light in that plague-threatened darkness was Henry's medicinal herb garden.

As morning passed into afternoon, Regina stood, stretched, reversing the bow in her back and then stowed her glasses in the drawer of the desk in the officer she'd appropriated in the otherwise unoccupied back office suite behind the front desk. In need of a break, she passed through the front desk area, told the Innkeeper (who scanned magically as human but never had anything useful to say) she still had the towels he'd given her before (which she did, in the beach bag she'd acquired from the shops), and headed out to explore the best locations on the grounds for fruit orchards and what, if any, structures she could appropriate or manipulate to greenhouse them so the magic wouldn't be as obvious.

High sun found her in the Madonna Meadows across the street from the registration and cafe building where she sat on the clean towels the Innkeeper had given her and made planning sketches. It had the advantage of plenty of room, even if it didn't have the 23 acres the hotel brochures claimed (some of the acreage had been lost to scrub desert by whatever planar shift magic had brought the Inn here. As she surveyed it she decided it would do for bulk growth, but in the event of another plane shift might be lost.

After 2:30, and lunch of a chicken Caesar salad, an apple, and cranberry-soda with a wedge of lime, she packed up her bag again and struck out again. This time she went to the "Secret Garden," and began investigating surrounding structures. When she found a useful tool-and-tractor shed, she rolled up the sleeves on her blazer and blouse, then began clearing the apparently unused materials from the shed. She did most of it using her physical strength (penance), but in the case of heavy objects or the tractor without the keys, she permitted herself magic instead.

[ooc: Find Regina anywhere she is in the post. She's not being showy with her magic, but if you're gifted, you'd probably notice. In the last location, she's uncharacteristically sweat-shiny and her hair's a bit of a mess, because she's not using magic to maintain her untouched glamor. I promise no fireballs unless previously agreed upon.]
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[personal profile] st_oh_honestly 2017-03-24 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
"No," Dot was visibly horrified by the suggestion. "They're just muffins."
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[personal profile] st_oh_honestly 2017-03-24 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
She wasn't nearly as naive as she once had been, and Phryne might have a few things to say about who and what was kind to Dot.

"Banana." She said hesitantly. "But I could make apple. And we have apple pie."
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[personal profile] st_oh_honestly 2017-03-26 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
"I'll make sure to add apple to the rotation, just... well the banana's go soft faster than we seem to eat them." Wherever it was they came from along with other staple items.

"I'm Dot," she introduced herself belatedly. "I.. well, I bake."
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[personal profile] st_oh_honestly 2017-03-26 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh I don't mind, if you like them, I'm sure others will." Plus, she baked, mostly that was all she did these days.

She considered the second question thoughtfully, "Nothing that I bake with, but then those things are mostly dry goods aside from butter and eggs. The cook isn't likely to much help on the items in the main kitchen but I can always take an inventory and track it for you."

She was nice, genuinely nice. But she was also obviously sensible.
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[personal profile] st_oh_honestly 2017-03-27 06:21 pm (UTC)(link)
"You should talk to Kitty and Sam, about the bars. And probably other things too." Dot had seen them taking inventory, she assumed they did more than just the bar and cafe in their rounds.

"I don't know everything they keep track of, but it's a start at least."
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[personal profile] st_oh_honestly 2017-03-28 01:09 am (UTC)(link)
Dot might give marching orders to the likes of Bert and Cec, but never to a toff as Bert would say. Never.

"The Inspector maybe. Inspector Jack Robinson. Or maybe Miss Phryne, she tends to know everything."
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[personal profile] st_oh_honestly 2017-03-28 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, um... well, he's usually around." She wasn't quite sure how much time he'd been spending with Miss Phryne lately and she certainly wasn't telling this woman about that. "Or you could get his room number from the desk clerk. He'll tell you that much, and offer you towels."
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[personal profile] st_oh_honestly 2017-03-28 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Dot watched her go, then went to find a phone to tell Miss Phryne all about the woman.

Yes, she was nice, and helpful, and generally speaking she was gathering intel as planned. Even if it never got them anywhere.