PARADISA

( Spike Spiegel )

[And, sometime later, Brock dictates to the journal. Spike can perhaps be heard in the background bitching about animals, like he does.]

Hypothetical question. How do you sober up a handful of half-ton animals. Like... mammals, specifically.

Hypothetically.

[ooc. Brock or Spike will answer your comments! Maybe both. Probably both.]

[Well, it's been a month. Slightly over a month, actually, but Brock can't help that. He's not in charge of when the castle decides to wig out. If he were, it'd happen a whole lot less, rest assured.

So, he's dictating to the pages in his usual hyper-blasé tone.]

Alright, that was a load of fun.

Look -- for those of you who don't me, I'm Brock. I've been here an extra long time, and I've seen a lot of bull happen, and I'm getting kinda bored of just letting it happen, you know what I mean?

A real long time ago, we had this thing called 'Peace Patrol'... if any of you guys remember it, don't worry. It was dumb as all hell and I'm not real keen on repeating that embarrassing mistake. But I think it's about time we formed some kind of defense force, right? Peace Patrol was all about policing each other, which is dumb for a lot of reasons, but long story short -- we need to start protecting each other from the castle and all the crap it throws at us on a, like, monthly basis.

[There is a brief pause. That was a lot of words. In the silence, there's the clink of a metal lighter and then an audible exhale.]

So. I ain't offering to be, like, 'Supreme Commander' or anything stupid like that. If you got more military training than me, freakin' go for it. I am offering to teach you guys non-lethal takedown methods in case your best friend tries to eat your face or something. Self-defense, how to analyze a threat, how to barricade, how to throw a punch -- whatever you want.

I don't do guns. So you'll need to get somebody else for that.

I've had a couple students before, but I'm thinking large-scale, here. So if you know any kind of offensive or defensive skill, let me know and I'll see if I can hook you up with somebody.

[A pause.] Uh, I guess I should mention if you wanna learn stuff just to hurt people, I'll probably just kill you. So. There's that.

( action (outside) )

[Look, here's Brock's deep and manly voice. Despite... everything... he sounds pretty damn blasé, as per usual.]

I'm back, by the way. Don't make a big deal about it. I've been back for awhile but I'm, uh, really busy, so.

[Busy dealing with his wife.......]

Anyway, I haven't made it back to the cabin yet, but please tell me somebody did me a solid and like... cleaned up.

[Dictated somewhat lazily.]

Alright, I haven't mentioned this in awhile and with the like... revolving door policy the castle likes to do, figured I should say something. Name's Brock, I have a little bit of land sort of southwest of the castle, off the main road to the city.

There's a community garden there if you don't feel like wishing for food or paying the townspeople with fake magic money. Which I totally get, by the way; it feels a little, uh... dishonest. Anyway, the garden's there for anybody who wants to use it. Just don't take everything without putting some work in too, alright?

I got a greenhouse too, in case you want to grow something out of season. There's also a smokehouse but I don't want anybody putting weird mystery meat in there so that's sort of off-limits, okay?

That's about all I wanted to say.

[A pause. Apparently he remembered something else, so--]

Oh, uh, if you see a little dude around the garden, that's just Frodo. So don't scare him or anything. He works for me.

( Vereesa Windrunner )

Hey... so, did anybody else see that comet? Maybe it's nothing, but, uh...

[Not that he was on the Terre Haute expedition, but Things Falling From The Sky in Paradisa now sort of make him nervous.]

[Brock sounds distracted, but that shouldn't be that surprising.]

( Frodo )

Anybody who's good with animals, I got a favor. If you could dog-sit or whatever for awhile, that'd be great. I guess I can pay you or... something. Yeah.

[And, belatedly, because he keeps forgetting to do this, regardless of his state of awareness--] It's Brock, by the way.

[ooc. he can also be found in-person in the clinic if you would prefer an action thread!]

[Filtered away from the First Gens or anyone who would be complicit in an attack on the castle.]
Alright, so, unless you've been completely ignoring the journal, there's another expedition. Great timing, guys. Not like half the city's still in ruins or anything.

Anyway...

If you can help it, try to keep anything you have to say about it under a filter. Those guys out in the woods who hate us went and spanked our asses a few years back when most of us were out playing Michigan Smith. So the less they know about us being vulnerable right now, the better.

Those of you who are staying behind, keep your eyes open and speak up if you see or hear anything.

In the meantime...
[/filter]

City's still in rough shape. Anybody who's good with their hands or has "super powers" or whatever, giving the townspeople a hand would probably be a good thing.

Uh, anybody who's good with masonry, my cabin got destroyed, too. I've been meaning to update the walls to brick anyway, so... yeah. Let me know if you're interested.