The Help Box

[birdical]

Who: Elleru's Help Box and you! [OTA]
What: Someone decided the best way to figure out what help people need was to just ask.
Where: Anchor, housing level
When: Thoughout March and into April
Misc: Wasn't sure if this needed to go in the log comm or the network comm, given the format of it, but feel free to hit me up at grimmhooke or on Discord if you've got any questions!

A box has appeared outside the barracks.



It looks something like the above, save for that it is literally rough around the edges: the box itself is fairly nice, but the slot in the top looks as though it was clawed out with a jagged knife, the edges having barely been smoothed over. There's a lock on the front, hanging above some writing painted in a childish, curlicue script. It reads as follows:

❀ Need Help? Looking for Something? Fill Out A Card. I Want to Help You. ❀

And above the box is a bulletin board with a number of colorful, paper flowers pinned to the corners. That must be for replies. Get creative with notes, steal the flowers from the board, ask a vague question with no real answer -- have at it Anchorites, as Elleru's Help Box is open for business... or trolling. Or both.

Comments

[kaballin]

What is with these do gooder types? He really doesn't understand them.

Kabal steals a paper flower and gives it to the reindire following him to eat. Sorry Elleru.

[sleepyhollowed]

[It takes a little while for Kieran to read the box, between his basic skills and the curly script, but once he's done, he can't help but smile. It's a nice idea!]

[So, he takes a note and in an untidy scrawl, puts in his own request:]

help with ree reading please

[Said request makes him... sad, for lack of a better word, to put in. It had been something special between him and Ben, but with the latter having disappeared, Kieran needs to find another way to learn.]

[It won't replace those wonderful moments where he got to spend time with one of the first people in Anchor who cared enough to consider him a friend. But it also won't change the necessity of having to learn.]

[numerouno]

[Scaramouche notices the newest feature of the lower levels on his patrol in the dead of night. He glances at it without a shred of interest at first.

Then he does a double-take.]

So you're a helper now, huh?

[He plucks one of the flowers from the board; an orange one, not at all unlike the one he's been wearing on his coat lately. He takes a pen in one hand, parts the petals with his other, and quickly scratches something out in thin, harsh, slanted cursive, sounding out each syllable as it appears.]

'Help me get you off my mind.' [Then, to himself:] Can you do that for me, baby?

[With a smug grin, the flower is closed and placed right at the center of the board.]

[superposition]

[ Look, Qubit doesn't trust anything that appears out of thin air around here, so when he finds the box he spends a couple minutes examining it before making a submission. That's the simplest way to contact whoever put it there, after all.

His handwriting is messy but legible; it's supposed to be print, but he writes too quickly for the pen to consistently leave the page (or flower, I guess) between strokes, turning it into sort of a hybrid cursive. ]

Who's offering?

[nothinglikefather]

[ Uh huh.

Well... this is interesting. He's seen bulletin boards and help wanted columns in the papers but this is something else. This is an odd, anonymous form of charity that he isn't sure he understands. Or likes.

He's very much used to going out into the world, looking around and doing what he sees needs to be done. The concept of asking people what they want seems counter productive, because you just get arseholes asking for a bathtub full of beer or a lifetime supply of money or something else stupid.

Then again, when someone makes such a sweeping offer, without specifying what is possible, how are you to know what to ask for?

And, when it boils down to it, what do they want in return?]

How much does it cost? Or what will we owe you?