Time to make moonshine

[justrunsasaloon]

Who: Ellen and Ruby
What: Making a still, and accidentally appropriating supplies.
When: Afternoon Day 68
Where: Around.
Warnings: Probably none. Though swearing is probably a good bet.

Ellen scowls at the back of the bar and then heads to where she's gathered the one supply she'd managed to find: an old metal wash basin. It needs scrubbed and boiled a while, but it'll do.

Her eyes sharp, she starts looking in the least likely of places: the back of the library, the church, and then she heads for the general store. If anything, she should be able to find something in there. Tubing, more tubs, something.

Nothing, the place is a bust.

Ellen isn't going to let that stop her. She has to find...

In back of one of the houses, she finds them. A tiny bit of tubing a couple of wash basins.

Bingo. Almost enough to make a still.

The hairs on the back of her neck rise and she reaches under her coat. The heavy butt of the .357 is comfortable in her hand.

"I'm just lookin' for supplies. No reason to start anything."

Comments

[justrunsasaloon]

Ellen huffs out a laugh. "That's the one. Michael and Lucifer throw down, everyone dies." They took her bar, her home, and her daughter. She does not like the angels. Never mind the demons and everything else.

"Yeah, probably for the best. They're all... well, they're angels." There's really no explanation beyond that for them, really. Ellen has tried to do it to herself if nothing else, but even driving with one she hasn't got a clue how to explain them.

Ellen ducks through the door with a nod of thanks. "Been a while since I ran one, but it's like riding a bike. You never forget." She finds the bathroom and frowns at the still. "You make anyone blind yet?" Because if not? Well, that's better than some.

[hark_and_hush]

"Dilandau's alright." Ruby shrugs. "Well, he's not blind. Alright might be a stretch. I didn't drink any until he'd had some." Because she's a good housemate like that.

She watches Ellen look over her handiwork. There's only so much you can learn from a couple of books. "So what did you do before the Apocalypse?"

[justrunsasaloon]

"Probably better to test it out on a few folks before offering it for the public." Since Ellen knows that there can be issues with moonshine. Especially depending on which grains are used.

"Bartender. Ran my own saloon." Ellen crouches carefully, studying the boiler. They're going to need to fix that. Some of it is going to require more hardware. "Then, demons burnt it down."

[hark_and_hush]

Saloon? When is she from? Ruby smiles as she watches Ellen look over everything. This is so exciting. She hasn't had someone to work on a project like this with in a while.

"Man, your life is just full of all sorts of crazy stuff, huh? It almost makes mine look like a picnic." Regina had never tried to actually end the world.

[justrunsasaloon]

Ellen chuffs out a small laugh. Someone being impressed with her life is... Well, it's never happened before.

The prick of sadness at losing the Roadhouse isn't as sharp as it used to be. Just another loss she's getting used to. Ellen forgot how easy it is to get used to some losses.

"It's not a bad set up. Probably should move it somewhere the fumes aren't going to build up. That way if something goes wrong, we lose a shed, or something, not your house." She pushes herself upright, able to feel the creak in her joints. She's getting too damned old for this. "What about supplies to make the alcohol?"

[hark_and_hush]

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I guess I haven't been thinking long-term enough to get too attached to the house."

She bends down, pulling out a box from behind the tub. It's not exactly stocked, but it's enough to make a few more batches. "This is what I've got right now."

[justrunsasaloon]

"Not so much long term, but a stupid short could set it off. Not the best wake up call." Because getting blown up in the middle of the -

Right, she shouldn't follow that line of thinking.

Instead, she crouches to look at the supplies. "This'll be enough for a big batch. The weather ever warms up, we can get fruit and dandelions and things from the woods. Hell might even be some grapes to make a nice wine out of." Probably not, but it'll be better than straight rotgut.

[hark_and_hush]

This place is starting to teach Ruby that nice is all relative. At this point, she'll take anything that can pass for pleasant enough.

She smiles at Ellen. "Wow, I'm glad I found you. I get the feeling you're less likely to blind anyone with this stuff."

[justrunsasaloon]

Ellen huffs out a laugh and stands up. She can feel the smile twitching her lips. It feels odd, after everything, to find something to smile about.

"No." Ellen admits. "Blinding someone is still a possibility, but I know a few folks we can ask to test it before we let anyone else try it." And she'll ask, not demand. But a few of the angels present don't seem to be as big of dicks as Lucifer and Michael.

... She needs to remember to not say that out loud.

"But I do know how to make a bit more than just rotgut. Depending on what we can find, we might be able to get a decent brandy. But that'll take most of a year. Not sure if I want to start it, out of hope or ... not." She shakes it off. "You know where we can store it? Locking it would be alright, but somewhere not put in with folks would be better."

[hark_and_hush]

"There are a few sheds around town. I'm sure we could appropriate one for ourselves." That should be safe, right? No one living in it and they tend to be set off far enough away from the houses that everyone should be fine if something goes wrong.

"I don't want to think that we'll be here for a year, but I've been in similar situations for much longer than that." Of course, she'd had no idea for most of it. This is scarier, in a way, because she'd known from the start that she's not in the right place.

[justrunsasaloon]

She tries to remember, scraping hair out of her face. "There's a shed not far from the bar. I'm staying there, if you don't want it close to you. Plus, that'll give us bottles for the stuff close at hand." Because Ellen believes in recycling. Sort of.

"It won't have to be looked at too much, a couple times a day. But I should be able to get a batch ready in a couple of weeks. Ready enough to try, anyway." Try by people who weren't going to immediately go blind, anyway.

[hark_and_hush]

"Sounds like a plan." This is getting more comfortable. Ruby's not used to playing such a leader role. It's not that she's timid, obviously, but being self-motivated and being in charge of things are completely different and Ruby tends to take a little better to playing the sidekick, if she's honest.

"I think I saw a wheelbarrow not far from here."

[justrunsasaloon]

Ellen nods. "You get the wheelbarrow, I'll disassemble this and get it ready to move. Then we can get it set up over there." Plus, she wants a good close look at it.

Her hands work swiftly and with the confidence of having done this several times before. It makes her miss her uncle's place back in Oklahoma, and the old still they used to have in the Roadhouse. She hadn't used it for years, because more than one cop had stopped by, but she misses it.

... Hell, she's pretty sure Bobby had one at one point.