[PQ+] don't matter the weather if we're standing together

I'd burn my house down just to hear them scream my name

Flora has decided that if the Hanged Man is going to rise from its own ashes, then it is absolutely going to do so with better wood, better stone, better sightlines, and significantly fewer opportunities for anyone with the last name Barclay-adjacent-by-divine-technicality to turn the place into kindling.

The old footprint of the bar stretches out around her in half-marked lines and stacked supplies, with fresh timber from the Gilded Market piled neatly beneath canvas coverings, crates of hardware and tools tucked out of the way, and Torchline’s soldiers already moving through the site with the useful sort of purpose that keeps Flora from having to pretend she knows the difference between one load-bearing beam and another. She knows what she wants, obviously. She knows exactly where the bar should go, how the windows should catch the sea breeze, which corner should have enough shadow for secrets, and where the best table should sit so that whoever claims it can see every door and every mistake before it happens. The actual mechanics of making those preferences stand upright instead of collapsing into a very expensive pile of tropical optimism are, thankfully, someone else’s problem.

Because it’s Deepfrost, technically, fires burn in several large braziers around the site, their heat shimmering upward in lazy gold veils despite the warm Torchline air, and Flora has already made three different soldiers move one of them closer to where Dantalion and Kiada will probably end up standing when they arrive. It’s not cold, but Flora has no intention of rebuilding her bar only to have two of her helpers turn into tasteful decorative statues before lunch.

She stands with Kaisel near what used to be the main entrance in fitted jeans, a sweater pushed up at the sleeves, and her blonde curls pulled into a ponytail that has already begun to lose its fight against the humidity. "I can’t believe it’s been a year," Flora says, looking out over the marked foundation with her head tilted. "Like, somehow it feels way longer than that, because I swear I’ve lived at least six entire lives since then." Her lips twist with the kind of smile that doesn’t quite decide whether it wants to be funny or sharp, and so it becomes both, bright at the edges and not remotely soft in the middle.

---

PQ+ To rebuild the Hanged Man!
Flora
Kaisel
Dantalion
Kiada

I've carried hopes & heavy day dreams, but i'm all done with sleepin'

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

// the kinda wrong that make you feel right //

"Personally," Danta is saying as he arrives, all sinful smiles and hands that won't be keeping to themselves when there's shenanigans to stick them into, "I think you could just leave it like this if you had to. I've been to Torchline enough now to know that if you prop up a few barrels of whiskey and crack out some glasses, you've basically made a pub and a party all in one sitting." The humour sits easy in his expression as he moves - as Flora had suspected - to where the fire is most plentiful in the braziers.

"I jest, of course," he drawls, pushing up the sleeves of his red leather coat to let his fingers play through the fire to nip away the chill. "Just tell me where you want me and I'll get myself into any position you like." Bouncing his eyebrows at Kai this time, the Maverick will keep himself amused until they find a use for him - and given that Kiada is also going to be present, they might actually get a day's work out of him too.

---

Danta arrives!

Dantalion

// the little death that make you feel alive //

your battle worn tongue doesn't say the truth anymore;
/// that you are ruined ///

Hearing that Flora required some help with the Hanged Man, the harpy had tagged in with Danta when she’d heard that he’d be heading here to help out. It’s been a while since she’d been in Torchline it felt like anyway, so she tags along for the sheer warmth that the region brings. She arrives a little after Danta does, having snagged something to eat on the way to the Hanged Man, nodding to them with a bright smile of greeting.

“Happy to help and keep this one in line where he needs it.” Kiada says with a fond and teasingly fanged grin shot her Theocrats way. She tugs her own red jacket around her that takes much of the brunt of the cold, then ties up her dark hair that has a few stray strands tangled around her curved horns. The large X scar on the side of her neck is deep and on display, but the harpy pays it little mind as she gets ready to be told where to start.

---

Kia arrives!

kiada

and you wonder why he lets you, the butcher ///
touch him, the sun ///

Kaisel

Haters on my back like a backpack

Surveying the task before them with all the critical care of a man with a lawn, Kaisel stands in a very dad-like pose, hands at his hips and something of concentration on his face. Flora's voice lands somewhere between analyzing their supply piles and judging the form of the soldiers shuffling around. He knows exactly what she means, and more importantly, what this means. He bumps her shoulder with his. "It's a good thing you've got more than a cat then," he offers brightly, as if the wear and tear of everything she's crawled through is light enough to be nothing more than a joke. Certainly easier to handle it then.

His hands finally abandon their post at his hips, pulling up the dark grey sleeves of his light sweater-shirt, the buttons undone on his chest enough to let the mild breeze come under the fabric. The work more than the temperature also sees him fit out in black work pants and boots, more than ready to get dirty today. "That's what she said!" he fires off quickly on the heels of Danta's remark. His attention swings away from the build site to the Maverick, grinning in response to the wagging eyebrows as if he's in on the joke and not the target. He does his very best never to think about the fight they shared, although there's no denying it sits underneath everything just the same.

KKiada as Flora had already told him, catches his eye next though and his devilish smirk fades to something lighter and more curious. "Nice scar!" he offers as easily as if complimenting her hair, nodding towards the x on her neck.

---

Kai is here~

Blowin' up I'm fucking flawless

I'd burn my house down just to hear them scream my name

Flora’s snicker slips out before she can properly dress it up as anything dignified, bright and adoring as she tips her chin toward Dantalion, curls swaying in her ponytail as her aqua eyes shine with mischief. "Oh, you think? Perfect, then. Everyone pack it up, go home, crisis solved, apparently I’ve just been overcomplicating this whole bar thing by wanting walls and a roof." The look she shoots him after that is all wry glitter and very deliberate awareness, because Flora is many things, but immune to innuendo has never once made the list, and if the Hanged Man is going to be reborn today, it might as well start with terrible jokes.

Glancing toward Kiada, Flora offers a quick, warm nod. "Hey," she says, simple but genuine, because there’s something about having people actually show up for the ugly first steps of something that makes her feel all warm and fuzzy.

Taking a breath, Flora turns back toward the gathered supplies with the clipboard already in hand, her expression shifting into the kind of bright, bossy focus that fits her too well to be accidental. "Okaaaaay, so to start, let’s make sure everything’s here before anyone starts heroically hammering the wrong things into the wrong places." She glances at Dantalion, brows lifting as her smile curves with shameless precision. "Danta, I’ll let you check on the wood." 

Her attention slides next to Kiada, and Flora gestures toward the grouped boxes and sacks with a tilt of the clipboard. "Kiada, can you check the supplies of fastenings? Nails, brackets, hinges, that sort of thing." Then, turning back toward Kaisel, she gives the clipboard a tiny shake before handing it over to him, her fingers brushing the edge of the paper as she nods toward the several furniture crates waiting beneath a canvas cover. "And you and I get the furniture crates."

As she heads that way with Kaisel, Flora keeps one hand free to tug her ponytail higher off the back of her neck, already feeling the damp warmth of Torchline gathering beneath her sweater despite the bite of Deepfrost. The site is all promise and splinters, smoke and salt air, a skeleton with better bones waiting to become something loud and alive again, and though she’d sooner step barefoot on a nail than say it out loud, having them all here makes the first ugly pieces of rebuilding feel less like standing in the ashes and more like stealing something back. 

Meanwhile, Danta will find all of the wood accounted for, though some of the boards look warped enough to be a problem if they’re meant for anything precise or load-bearing; Kiada will find that one entire box of fastenings is missing.

---

No posting order.

Kai/Flora to check furniture
Danta to check on the wood
Kiada to check on the fastenings!
will find that one entire box of fastenings is missing.

I've carried hopes & heavy day dreams, but i'm all done with sleepin'

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

// the kinda wrong that make you feel right //

Eyes widening in an exaggerated see? as Flora agrees with him, Danta is already grinning before Kaisel chips in with his remark, and the Maverick snaps his fingers and tips a wink his way before settling in before the brazier to hear what they'll be up to today. And for the next few days, if building something from the ground up is anything to go by. He nudges Kiada with his hip as he listens, as if to remind her that she's to keep him on the straight and narrow, but then Flora mentions wood and he's already smiling broadly in the direction of the supplies.

"I happen to be an expert on many types of wood," he says, and whilst that might be true, none of the wood in question comes from trees, so this will be a first. Nevertheless, he dart!s over to the supplies in a series of quick bursts, examining them with the keen eye of a man who has not yet found something to distract him. (Give it time).

"Ah, these are no good," he announces as he spots some of the warped planks of wood. Separating them from the stacks and piling them up separately, he makes a note of how many are problems and opts to keep the warped boards to be used as decoration later, or for some other purpose. (Like burning).

---

Danta dart!s over to the supplies and takes account of the warped boards. He separates them from the main pile to be used as decoration, for less load-bearing purposes, or just to burn later if they want.

Dantalion

// the little death that make you feel alive //

Kaisel

Haters on my back like a backpack

The innuendos keep coming with all the relentless infinity that years do, as Smash Mouth so well sang. It leave's Kai's cheeks bending over the line of his mouth, a low chuckle barely slipping free beneath the rise of Flora 's voice. Much like Gretchen Wieners, Kiada gets none.

Taking hold of the clipboard he's handed with all the authority of someone who means to make a problem for others, Kaisel studies it with an audible "hmmmm" as they approach the crates. "The stools should be in these ones. Says the wooden legs just screw into the seat, so we just need to check we're not missing any ass platforms or their trusty posts." In theory, the labels should be right, but the crowbar means to the truth seeker today. Slapping the clipboard down like a gavel, he grabs a crowbar off one crate, flipping it over in his hand with a flourishing move that he absolutely only did to look cool. He shoots an expectant glance towards Flora, applause duly incoming.

Prying open some of the crates he tips in and rustles around in the guts of packing paper and straw that nestles the goods safely inside. "Everything looks in order here," he mutters before moving on to others, only pausing to scratch some note or two on the page. "What'd you decide on for the booths this time around?"

---

Kaisel checks on the furniture crates

Blowin' up I'm fucking flawless

your battle worn tongue doesn't say the truth anymore;
/// that you are ruined ///

A nod and a smile is offered to Kaisel with a quieter “thanks,” about her scar. It wasn’t often that it was commented on, but Kiada was never one to ignore a compliment even if the reasoning for said scar was less than ideal (and how it had transferred over even to here from the worlds she’d been to before). So, she settles in beside Danta, nodding to Flora and snickering when she hears the task set for the Theocrat and feels the nudge.

“Yeah I’m pretty sure you’ve got that covered.” She drawls, her tail twitching like an amused feline’s, before she’s stepping away to inspect the fastenings that Flora had indicated. “Got it!” She chimes on her way.

Without having the dart! ability, she just has fire magic and the shifts under her skin, so she remains as herself. Going through the boxes, she has the mental count of how many boxes of fastenings they are to have, only to find as she counts them all out that she’s missing one. And honestly? Kiada, with all of the logistics she does on the daily for Danta, trusts her intuition enough to know that one is missing without having to recount it a million times. “We’re missing a box of fastenings!” She calls over toward Flora with her hands on her hips, glancing back at the crates with a frown.

---

Kiada goes over and inspects the fastenings crates and lets Flora know they’re missing a box!

kiada

and you wonder why he lets you, the butcher ///
touch him, the sun ///

I'd burn my house down just to hear them scream my name

Flora glances up at the sound of Dantalion 's verdict, her aqua eyes flicking from the separated boards to the Maverick himself with an expression that manages to be both suspiciously amused and practically concerned. "Okay, wood expert," she calls, lifting her brows as her gold-ringed fingers tap against the edge of the crate in front of her, "do we need to replace them, do you think? Or do we have enough to cover it?"

Kiada ’s announcement has Flora groaning before she can stop herself. "Of course we are." Exhaling, she turns a pleading sort of smile toward Kiada, trying very hard to make it more charming than desperate. "Would you mind heading into town and checking Brass & Brine Hardware? They should have the rest of what we need."

With that delegated, Flora turns back to the furniture crates just in time to watch Kaisel go after them with the crowbar, and the grin that curls across her mouth is helplessly fond before she tucks it away behind a far more official-looking inspection of the packing straw. "Very dramatic," she murmurs, brows raised as if she’s scoring him privately and generously. "Ten out of ten."

She leans in to check the pieces he’s uncovered, brushing aside packing paper until weathered leather comes into view, rich and worn-looking in a way that makes her smile sharpen with satisfaction. "For the booths, I found this really weathered leather," she explains, smoothing her palm lightly over the material without letting herself linger too long on how nice it feels to see one part of the place already looking like it belongs. "I didn’t want everything to feel squeaky new, you know? This way, the second someone spills rum on it or drags a dagger across the seat, it won’t look like the bar’s been personally victimized."

After another quick look through the crates, Flora straightens and glances toward the soldiers, ponytail shifting over her shoulder as she hands the clipboard back to Kai. "Okay, since you’re more familiar with the soldiers, can you start having them get the foundation materials ready?"

---

Danta can decide whether the warped boards need replacing, can be salvaged for decorative or low-stress use, or should be set aside entirely.

Kiada to head into town to Brass & Brine hardware with the list of missing items!

Kai to start organizing the soldiers around the foundation materials

I've carried hopes & heavy day dreams, but i'm all done with sleepin'

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

I am not a creature that was born

Wincing despite the smile on her face, Kiada meets Flora’s smile with an understanding one of her own. “Yeah, no problem.” She chimes, stepping forward to snag the list of items they’ll need and with a mental note of where she’d be able to find the store in question. And with the list tucked away, she shoots Dantalion a playfully fanged grin. “Don’t get into too much trouble.” She was supposed to keep him in line, after all, and it was harder to do when she wasn’t around to watch for it.

So she tries to make the trip quick, shifting thereafter to her cinderscourge shift, and with a brief little caw of departure, Kiada takes to the sky for the birds-eye view of the town until she spots that perfect little hardware shop from above, dropping down to shift back to shift back into herself and collect each of the items on the list. Only once she has them in hand, does she shift back into the cinderscourge to return, the tied bag in her talons carefully ensuring that she doesn’t lose anything on the way.

Upon her return, she shifts back into herself and hoists the bag up. “Got them.” She shoots over to Flora, hoping that alleviates some of the stress.

---

Kinda uses her cinderscourge shift to make the trip quicker to get the missing parts and returns!

Kiada

I am a fire that was set

Kaisel

Haters on my back like a backpack

The crowbar judges are far kinder than the puddle jumping judges, it'd seem. Not that he's going to complain one bit about a perfect score, which is clearly earned on merit alone. It does lend him some extra enthusiasm as he heaves himself into the cratespection. "Very sanity saving of you," he lauds of her choice to give something new a worn look. Though he might have suggested they all could have worn it in themselves, but maybe there'd be time for that still later with a rousing game of tag using wine glasses.

After finalizing the last of the furniture crates with her, Kaisel is plucking some straw from his hair, and somehow also his mouth. "Phhfft—yep—puh—no oblem," he informs her, picking the piece from his tongue and flicking it away. Taking the clipboard in hand, and using it to deliver a swift and passing smack to Flora's ass present company be damned, he's already breaking out into a jog. Definitely not to keep him out of retaliation reach and only because he means to snap the men in uniform into order.

"LISTEN UP!" he barks, clipboard slapping the side of his leg with more pull than his voice as he stands at attention before the group. They turn with a lazy interest to face him. Maybe Kai's infrequent role as leader is a bit too obviously worn now as he attempts it, the way pretending to drive a car when you never have results in a nausea inducing stuttering, or it could be too many of the lads and ladies recognize him and exactly what rung of the ladder he possess. That said, this is Flora's project, and that's perhaps the only reason they turned around at all. "You lot are to get the foundation materials ready. So grab all the tools we'll need and shuffled everything closer. Nothing can be built without a solid base, so your region and its queen are counting on you!" Maybe not as heroic as defending against invading forces or rabid monsters, but a well-built bar is a staple for any good wealth in a city. The response should result in some shuffling and heaving as hoes, shovels, rakes, and other leveling tools are taken to arms, and in any hands that are still empty, barrels and crates of mixing materials and wood find their place.

---

Kai gets the foundation crew of soldiers sorted

Blowin' up I'm fucking flawless

// the kinda wrong that make you feel right //

Winking obviously at Flora as she calls him a wood expert, like she might not be aware of the innuendo that they've both been participating in for some time, he glances back down at the boards and gives them a thorough inspection. "I think they'll be fine so long as you don't use them for load bearing shit," he says after crouching and examining the planks one by one. "Some are more warped than others, but not beyond hope. And there's no rot or damp on any of them."

They'll have to be careful when planning how to use the rest of the supplies, but he's sure the burly workers of Torchline will be able to manage that well enough. For now, Danta carefully marks each of the wooden planks with his Scorch magic, using just enough heat and fire to leave a black X on the surface of them so they won't be mistaken.

---

Danta decides that the warped planks can be used for decorative/low stress purposes. He also leaves a small X on each plank with his Scorch magic so they aren't accidentally used for more intense building work!

Dantalion

// the little death that make you feel alive //

I'd burn my house down just to hear them scream my name

Flora’s gaze follows the soldiers as they begin hauling the foundation materials into place, and for a few bright, miraculous seconds, everything actually looks like it’s happening the way it’s supposed to, which naturally means Torchline immediately starts looking for a way to make a liar out of her. It comes in the form of a nearby group of co-eds in scanty clothing working through exercise sets on the beach, their stretches and lunges apparently more compelling than the literal rebirth of one of the region’s most beloved bars, because a few of Kaisel ’s soldiers slow with tools in hand and begin watching with the helpless reverence. Flora turns her head very slowly toward Kai, one brow rising as high as it can go beneath the loose wisps of blonde hair escaping her ponytail.

When Kiada returns with the missing fastenings, Flora’s expression brightens with immediate relief. "You’re a lifesaver," she says, meaning it, only for her smile to falter as several Hels settle across the nearby crates in a flutter of wings, sharp eyes fixed on Kiada’s bag while their claws scrape over the wood and they begin literally shitting on the goods. One of them pecks at a crate corner as if there might be pastry inside instead of hardware.

Focusing on Dantalion, the sight of his scorched Xs pulls a grin back onto Flora's face. "Very clever," she says, shooting him a wink that makes it perfectly clear she appreciates both the practical solution and the flourish, before nodding toward the marked foundation lines where the old Hanged Man once stood. "Speaking of clever, do you have any shifts or magic that can tell us whether there’s anything hiding beneath the sand before we start digging, or are we doing this the old fashioned way?"

---

Kai’s soldiers are mostly working, but several have been distracted by the beach workout nearby.

Kiada has successfully returned with the missing fastenings, though a group of hels followed her and are now perched on the crates, pecking and making a mess while trying to investigate the materials.

Danta’s marked warped boards are safely separated, and Flora asks whether he has a shift or magic that can help check beneath the sand before digging starts.

I've carried hopes & heavy day dreams, but i'm all done with sleepin'

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

if this is to end in fire, then we should all burn together

Glancing up at the sound of Flora's voice, Danta offers her a roguish little bow and a grin in return. "I'm not known for it, but I'll take the compliment," he purrs, meandering away from the wood pile now to approach the foundation lines, burying his hands in the pockets of his coat as she continues. His head tilts as if the sand might sift itself through and reveal any hidden secrets and nasties all by itself, and when it doesn't he gives a gentle shrug.

"I mean... I have a lava wyrm shift. I could burrow in and see if I can spook anything out. And if I don't come back, I probably hit a big boulder underground and knocked myself out, so you'll need to dig for me anyway." All's well that ends well, right?

Not waiting for confirmation that it's a good idea or even necessary, the Maverick promptly shrinks down to a housecat sized serpent that oozes and melts rather than properly slithers, the sand around him hissing with the heat of his body as he tunnels away beneath it.

---

Danta goes to scout things out underground as a lava wyrm!

The Maverick

watch the flames climb high into the night