Oct 07 17:49:28 109 PA - Boundary Claim and Basic Navigation

From Chronicles

Oct 07 17:49:28 109 PA.

WILDERNESS REFUGE

This time of the day is a magical one for an early October afternoon. The trees are starting to turn, and birds are packing up to head to lower latitudes. Out here in the wilderness refuge established or possibly found, or possibly simply thought of as property by Gabriel, the animals are enjoying the weather. Unfortunately, he always makes a dramatic entry by necessity - people don't walk the Missouri trails alone. Today, his six-wheeled Diplodicus roars slowly uphill, cutting through what has become a common tunnel for him, a place that nature is already damaged, and more passages won't matter. Dressed in his neat uniform - this being business hours, after all - he makes for a high and flat position on one of the ridges, with his dog's grinning face lolling out the open passenger window.

Rubidia runs the trails alone.. But of course if something happens she can just leave in a flash. So understandable. She is in her armor jumpsuit at least as she runs cross country through the woods into the mountainous area.

Stepping out of his vehicle, Gabriel pauses to enjoy the fresh air before slapping his thighs and calling, "Friday! C'mon, girl!" The dog, a medium-sized brownish mutt of a lady, leaps through the open window and joins him as he leans against the hood. His left hand idly scratches the dog's ears while he waits for his cartographer to show.

Rubidia arrives right on time, stepping out of the bush to come to a stop in the goat trail recent activity has cut into the bush. "Hey there Gabriel." She greets with a friendly wave. "So we need to draw some borders? Where do you want to start?"

"Hi, Ruby!" Gabriel waves to the flashy performer and has to do his best to keep Friday at his side. At least she's domestically trained. "We should start wherever you feel comfortable. I can show you where Whitefeather and I found the source of the spring. Strange place for it to be up so high, I have to wonder how it got there. Not that it's important, as long as it flows. Otherwise?" He offers a shrug. "The stream empties out relatively close to what I'd bet makes a corner of the territory."

"Is it a hot spring?" Rubidia asks with a shrug. "There are hot springs to the south aways, maybe this is another." She offers in explanation before starting upwards. She'll lead Gabriel to the highest point in the area for a start. Give them both a good vantage point.

Gabriel follows along, but does offer up before they leave, "If you need to move faster than I do, I did bring my armor and 'pack." Otherwise, it's just quiet conversation and canine company. "Sage was out here the other day, I'm sure you know. We're figuring out where the first very basic buildings can go."

Rubidia nods. "Yeah we talked a bit about that. I suggested she look into what nature magic can make they could use to grow appropriate homes. Back where I come from trees grow that big on their own sometimes. But here maybe can make the difference and make things a lot easier to build." She notes with a shrug, keeping a grueling pace for Gabriel up the mountain.

Grueling pace? No. Gabriel can move quickly over land without a problem, and with a one-hundred and fifty pound pack on his back. It's just the flashy flying part that would have been an issue. He chuckles, "Well, homes that grow themselves would be good. What I was saying to Sage though, is that I'm expecting the first trickle to need just some basic shelter, but then need to prep for larger and more permanent structures when the mass arrives. But perhaps if you can grow homes with indoor plumbing? That'd be a neat trick." He marches along, easily keeping pace with Rubidia unless she breaks into a full sprint. Friday bounds behind him, and probably nips at the woman's heels a few times.

Five minutes and a decent mountain later Rubidia comes to a stop at its tree-cropped peak. At which point she gestures to the biggest tree at hand. "I'll need your map, and you'll need to divert your eyes." She notes, reaching for the map depicting existing claims.

Gabriel unfurls the map from a very neat, precision fold and hands it to Rubidia. "Here you're going to strip down and I thought we were just friends," he jokes at the necessity to avert his eyes. But, he does, simply turning his back. "You know that unless you've got a compass and a surveyor's scope in your bag somewhere, this is cheating, right?" A light laugh brings Friday closer, where he can protect her eyes as well.

Rubidia shrugs at the implication. "I could probably do it your way. But this way removes most of the chance for error." She explains before lighting up to glide vertically up the tree's branches to its peak to take her bearings. She spends a few minutes up there, marking some points before returning the same way to the firm ground and dimming the light back down.

Not wanting to turn into a pillar of salt like Lot's wife, Gabriel keeps his back to Rubidia, waiting for her actual go-ahead to look again. "A little tough to get things perfect out here with a chance for error when you're surveying brand new territory, isn't it? Seriously, wouldn't that define what you're looking for, thus being a perfect measure of the map?"

"Perfect is quite within our reach once you eliminate some basic variables." Rubidia explains as she leads the way back to the truck. Five minutes later she's laying out the map on the hood to show what she's marked out so far. "So the top of that peak was there, with north going in that direction. Then we have these three other hills as bearing points." She says laying out the basic of triangulating position on a map.

Gabriel looks and nods. "Yeah. I actually used to do this stuff, but *WHACK* time travel does terrible things on the brain." He smirks, whether she can see it or not. "North is no problem, and neither are the three hills. Would this thing help?" He pulls out a small sphere that has one blunt side and a digital readout. "Something I didn't have back in the day." Laser gyro navigation? In 1958? Nope.

Rubidia nods to Gabriel. "It will when we start placing the claim stakes. First let's lay out what we're claiming on paper." She says with a wave to a map. "So how much land do you want?"

"As much as I can get. It looks like there's a fairly natural tree line northwest-southeast with a bump-out to the southwest. Like a lower case 'd.'" Gabriel outlines the area on the topographic map with his finger. "And ending here at this part of the primary stream. Break out the ruler, Ruby, how much is it?" Despite the seriousness of the issue, he doesn't seem to feel the need to be overly businesslike actually out here in the open at this moment.

"How much can you afford?" Rubidia counters with a smirk and shake of her head. She does pencil out the treeline mentioned though, certainly a good starting basis. She then takes the ruler to trace lines to the bearing points to determine those positions.

Gabriel removes his wallet and folds out what is some pretty damn large walkin' around money. Ten one-thousand dollar bills. Or credit bills, for those who prefer. "I told you that I can afford to pay you ten grand right now Ruby," he replies amicably. "Fair price?" He then falls quiet, allowing the hired cartographer to do her work.

Rubidia laughs, shaking her head at the forward offer. "Not for me silly. Not that I'm refusing.. But for the town. They're going to charge a fee for the land based on the services you get with it." She notes before gesturing to the road to Laramy. "Perhaps how far off the road you want to be is a better start."

"Tree line is about five miles or so I'd guess. From the road." Gabriel points south, but then asks quizzically, "I was quoted a price per square mile if I was going to have them come out and survey it. What kind of services are they going to offer out here, anyway? I was also told that they wouldn't want to have anything to do with me or the refugees after I called it mine that their own nebulous asses were in their minds, separated from the issue." He taps the map a few times. "That line, roughly."

"Well this is in their patrol area. So once claimed I imagine you'll have the option of them checking in on you periodically. Possibly it could be feasible to connect to power or water lines, if they have infrastructure on the Laramy road. As well as possible access to on-call emergency services." Rubidia notes, before eyeing the map. "5 miles puts you past the main peak and spring. How about 3?"

Gabriel brings his face much closer to the map, rotating it left and right a tad as he perhaps tries to align it with the stream that he can see, and the peak from which he's just dropped. Since the Laramy road is obvious, as is this point where they're standing, he lays out his finger between them. Keeps it there, then raises it. "So, middle knuckle of my index finger is about a mile?" Yeah, it's a question. Friday laps at his side, and he clicks her to go play with his other hand. "I'll have to talk about services. Because... that would be ridiculously hypocritical of them, from what I've been told already."

Rubidia giggles at that. "They are politicians you know." She points out before shaking her head at the use of a finger to measure distance on a map. "No use the ruler, and the scale. Most maps keep to like units of measure. A kilometer will equal a centimeter, or an inch will equal a mile." She explains before considering the map as a whole, claimed land highlighted in red. "Looks like you got two miles to either side before we start getting close to the flatter farmlands."

"Klicks and miles, that much I remember. I didn't get hit *that* hard," Gabriel says with a grin. "Mmm. Mmm. Yeah, basic topo stuff I can read. Close together, far apart. Lines 'vee' upstream. North." He plops a simple compass on the hood. "I guess I'll need to deal with the politicians later, and only pray that they all drop over dead, those that exist now, existed in the past and ever will exist." After that brief bit of commentary, he leans more heavily on the map, looking over the colored portion. "So you just guessed how far it was between the road and this boundary?" he asks, tapping the southern line.

Rubidia says, "There is no guess work." Rubidia retorts with a shake of her head. "I chose there because it keeps more of the treeline you mentioned. Just under three miles from the road." She explains before gesturing to the north end of the map. "And four miles north we start encroaching on farmlands again."

Despite the fact that he's busy trying to survey territory, Gabriel can't help but gesture to Rubidia's ruler. "So you measured it, right? It's not three inches on the map, is it? What are you basing the distance off of?" He does some quick and easy math in his head, "Sixteen square miles if the boundaries are perfect? That should be enough. Helluva lot more than the refugees in the 'Dregs had. Makes you wonder why they did it. Back to the map though - where does it say three miles?"

Rubidia gestures back to the scale in the bottom left. "There." She says, moving the ruler to the line in question. "So to know that distance you measure your line then move the ruler to the scale and convert it. 2.8 miles from the road." She explains before penciling in the box to be claimed.

Gabriel stands and points to the ruler that she's using, asking a quick and simple, "May I?"

Rubidia nods hesitantly, letting Gabriel take helm with the ruler. What's the worst that can happen?

Gabriel snaps the ruler over his knee! No. He takes it gently as if it were the wing of a balsa wood airplane, turning it to look at the numbers. Simple enough. Doing his best to not bump someone who might possibly be becoming his tutor aside, he lays it down against the straight line at the bottom left. He aligns one defined interval against the scale, and lines it up. "I'm guessing this is in miles? Oh, there it is... so... these must be half a mile, if my simple division works?" Without raising the ruler from the map's scale he gestures to it for verification or correction.

Rubidia nods. "Yep. Since you're curious you can split up the perimeter for the staking. One stake every mile along the perimeter." She instructs, letting Gabriel follow through.

Gabriel smiles, then moves the ruler to along the boundary that Rubidia had already penciled in. Once more, it is neatly aligned and this time a wood-graphite pencil seems to magically appear in his primary hand - his right, like the majority of people. "So... here. Here. Maybe here?" He makes only the lightest of pencil strokes that probably won't even need an eraser to remove, should it come to that.

"Two inches is a mile, so just mark every two inches. That will tell you how many stakes you need to pick up from city hall. Then we can come back out and place them." Rubidia answers with a shrug.

Gabriel looks at the ruler as if making sure that it meets his specs for accuracy. He might not have been using it is a scale, but dammit, he knows his rulers. It gets laid back on the map again - slightly difficult given the mild curve of the hood - and tacks off the proper locations. Only three points to define a line, fortunate because there's only room for three points at the given scale. "There and there," he says, taping the ends of the line with the corner of the ruler. "And halfway in between. You think that'll be enough for them? I have to say, this is strange for people who told me that they want to have nothing to do with it."

"What is strange?" Rubidia asks before double checking Gabriel's marks. "Good, you'll need to pick up 16 claiming stakes. I imagine they'll have tracking beacons built in and stuff so that when a patrol flies by you'll show up on the screen."

"Sixteen?" Gabriel raises a brow. "So we need to mark quarter miles? Or are you talking about the entire perimeter, not just this southern boundary?" He tap-taps the line with the edge of the ruler again. He then uses the ruler to wave at the edges of the distant trees. "Whitefeather says there hasn't been a problem. Maybe the patrols won't be necessary. I mean... they want me - or anyone - to own this land anyway." He shakes his head and makes the ruler available to hand off. "I have no trust in anyone here except myself, you, Sage, Whitefeather and Rasputin. Everyone else has their own agenda and I'm sure that I'll be the one that they try to bend over the barrel. Still?" He waves back toward the peak they'd climbed. "Just the boundaries?"

"The entire perimeter." Rubidia clarifies with a nod before shaking her head. "Trust is another matter altogether. But if you label this square as a no fly zone it's going to raise even more questions. Sometimes it's better to do what is expected. A nice square property with patrols and emergency services is plenty. What you do so the patrol doesn’t see what it won't like or to prevent need of emergency services is up to you."

Gabriel chuckles. "I think they already know what it's for. Hell, I'll meet with 'em, shake their hands and spell it out. It's going to be on me anyway as they pretend to maintain neutrality." He waves idly back toward the Laramy Trail, asking honestly, "When did they put in things like electrical lines and secure routes for emergency services?" Then, "Anything more to do? Got the lower case 'd' of the property to submit? That's it? They were going to charge me.. ah... eighty-thousand dollars to do this themselves. Government these days, they'll bend you down and shove something up your ass the first chance they get."

Rubidia raises her brow. "Won't they refuse your claim if they know it breaks neutrality?" She asks before shaking her head at the second question. "Like a hovertruck needs a road. And EM transmitters don’t need lines.."

Gabriel shrugs, ready to jump in with any further plotting when necessary. "I think that they aren't stupid, and I think that if they have ears, they'll catch on that refugees are coming here. So either they turn a blind eye, or we have to hide them. I get that trucks need roads. But I don't know how we're going to bring in basic services yet. Plumbing, electrical, sanitation, things like that. Clearly down the line, but always good to think ahead." He makes a motion to Rubidia's pack of tools, then the perimeter again. "Sixteen stakes, apparently wood not being good enough. Would you come out to help pound 'em in? I'd hate to have them measure the wrong spot."

Rubidia shrugs as the topic leaves the realm of her understanding and or caring. But she does nod in answer to the closing question before rolling up the map for Gabriel. "Yes of course, that’s part of the job. Though it'll go quicker if I show you how to do it too."

"I'd appreciate that," Gabriel says pleasantly. He gives a loud whistle, and soon Friday is sitting at his side, hairy tail wagging. With a nod of his chin, he asks, "Do you need to sign it or something? Otherwise it could have just been some moron with a ruler. Y'know, like me."

Rubidia shakes her head. "You don’t give that map to the city. They'll go by what the claim stakes read. That’s purely for our reference." She explains.

Gabriel's mouth turns to a frown. "Bureaucracy, fantastic. Well, thanks for coming out, Ruby. Say hello to Friday before you leave, her tail says that she wants a kiss on the snout."