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

Kaisel

Haters on my back like a backpack

If anyone were to ask him, 'why do you want to climb the corporate ladder ranks?' His answer would easily be: because climbing is fun (plus he's good at it), being tall is awesome (that's without factoring in getting to look down on others literally and figuratively), AND if there's an up, why not get up there (cat logic). At this rate though, he's quickly realizing another shining reason. You get to boss everyone else around, and that's your whole damn job. No wonder the captains always have such clean and perfect uniforms, they don't do shit except put their tongue to work.

Momentarily focused on helping move the last barrel of supplies over, he doesn't immediately see the beach bombshells come to tempt his construction crew like beached sirens. With the same ease of a needle finding North, his gaze naturally ticks back towards Flora. It's then that he becomes aware that something is amiss, because rather than blow him a kiss for how incredible and amazingly strong and capable he is, she's making her face into a Nike symbol. He mouths back a silent what, the question spiking down the bond like mild static. What? he thinks to her, remembering just then the ability to do so, though all version of the question prove unnecessary when he spins about on the spot and snags on the same thing that's dragging at her already.

Oh. I got this. Turning and jogging down the beach towards the workout group, Kaisel offers a wave. "Heeey! So, I almost didn't wanna say anything to you guys, but those soldiers back there." He gestures over his shoulder with a thumb towards the group of boys still smoldering away. Sucking air through his teeth, Kaisel shakes his head slowly. "Weeeell, they said you guys are totally doing it all wrong, and that you probably couldn't even do anything real with your muscles. Like, they were implying you just kinda, do some gestures and call it good. I told them, hey, watch out, I bet that group could totally kick your ass, because from what I can tell, you guys are working really hard and doing awesome. They still disagreed and said there's no way you could beat them, especially when it comes to using your muscles, like what we're all doing up there with the new bar's foundation." Kaisel holds up both hands with a shrug and a nonchalant frown. "So like, I dunno if I would take that if I was you guys, but I think you could show them up easy."

---

Kaisel tries to get the soldiers back on track by recruiting the workout group for some friendly compeittion (or alternatively to beat up the lazy soldiers).

Blowin' up I'm fucking flawless

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

“I try!” Kiada chimes, beaming a smile toward Flora that falters too the second she hears the hels behind her atop the crates. She turns to see them making a mess, immediately moving into action to set the new box of fastenings down to shoo the hels off the crates. She flails her arms around at first, before wrinkling her nose and sparking some fire to her fingertips.

She’s extremely careful as she sends whips of fire up toward the hels immediately becoming a problem to try and scare them off the crates, cursing a little at them in the interim. She probably looks insane, shooing these birds off the crates and cleaning up what she can.

---

Kiada uses her scorch magic VERY carefully to shoo off the hels from the crates and tries to clean up the mess left behind!

Scorch (Ancient): Can generate and manipulate flames within a 30ft radius.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered | Cost: Action

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

For a moment, Flora lets herself believe things might actually keep moving in a way that resembles competence, with Kiada back with the fastenings, Danta disappearing beneath the sand in a hiss of heat, and Kai jogging off with the confidence of a man who has either discovered a brilliant solution or is about to become the architect of a brand new problem.

Unfortunately, because this is Torchline and optimism here is basically just foreplay for disaster, the co-eds only raise their brows as Kaisel approaches, their expressions bright with the sort of amusement that says they know exactly how much attention they’re getting and have no intention of spending that attention on actual labour. Laughter carries back across the beach in the warm air, followed by a few pointedly unimpressed remarks about how no way are they going to be baited into doing construction work that easily, and then, because they’re committed to the bit now, they begin showing off even more. The soldiers who had already been distracted remain, tragically and predictably, distracted.

Flora presses her lips together hard enough that the smile trying to escape has nowhere to go, and when she glances toward Kai, her brows lift. Through the bond, her amusement slips toward him like warm champagne fizzing over the rim of a glass. So close, babe. Truly inspirational levels of almost.

The hels, at least, scatter from Kiada ’s fire with offended shrieks, flapping away from the crates in a storm of feathers and noise. They don’t go far, though, settling nearby with beady-eyed persistence, and every time Kiada’s attention shifts to one crate, several of them immediately begin sidling toward another as if the bag of fastenings might yet become bread if they harass it with enough optimism.

Near the foundation lines, the sand where Dantalion vanished continues to hiss faintly, shifting here and there as the little lava wyrm moves beneath the surface. For a while, there’s nothing but the soft disturbance of his passage as he navigates around buried rocks, old debris, and whatever else the previous version of the Hanged Man decided to leave behind like a drunk emptying his pockets into the earth. Then, farther along the marked foundation, something under the sand gives a dull, unmistakable resistance against him: hard, squared-off, and not stone, roughly the size of a shoebox, with the stubborn cold bite of metal beneath the grit.

---

Oops, seems like the co-eds are not inclined to take Kai's bait, and the soldiers remain distracted!

Kiada's fire has deterred the hels only temporarily, and every time she turns her back, they try for another crate!

Danta has found something beneath the sand!

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 //

Flora and the others won't be able to see it, but Danta is having a riveting time beneath the sand as he navigates around rock and debris. Nothing too exciting to report just yet - which is probably exactly what Flora would like - right up until he amost knocks his tiny teeth into the back of his head with the clang! of metal to his face. There's no human cursing so much as there is lava wyrm shrieking, the sound muffled and obnoxious beneath the sand, but by the time Danta emerges he's got all his limbs back, is covered in sand, and has the shoebox clutched under one arm.

"I FOUND THIS," he announces, his voice louder than planned in an attempt to shout the sand away from his mouth. Shaking himself all over (but rest assured there will be sand in places sand should not be for the foreseeable future), he trudges out of the foundations and offers the metal box to Flora. "A gift from the old Hanged Man, I think," he says. "Nothing else interesting down there, though. Should be save to build on."

---

Danta grabs the box and presents it to Flora!

Dantalion

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

I am not a creature that was born

She watches with quiet satisfaction as the hels scatter, even if they don’t go far. There’s a childish impulse to stick her tongue out at them like it might offend them enough to leave these things alone – but she isn’t quite so lucky, she’s sure. Instead, she takes the time to go through the crates and clean up any of the mess the birds had left behind, organizing them a little easier so that whichever material they needed they’d be able to find easily, but it does prove to make her a bit distracted from crate to crate.

It’s about then that she notices the way several of them begin to move toward the ones opposite of what she’s looking at, and with a wrinkle of her nose, Kiada shifts to her cinderscourge shift and aims her frustration at the bigger one, the one she thinks might be the ringleader of this little hel circus. Wings flared and a caw leaving the Ancient, her talons are extended with the utmost attempt to get them to actually fuck off or else.

---

Kiada notices them trying for another crate when she isn’t paying attention and shifts back into her cinderscourge to attack the biggest hel hoping it’ll ward the others off!

Kiada

I am a fire that was set

Kaisel

Haters on my back like a backpack

Deflated the instant their refusals and laughter land, Kaisel returns it with a higher, mocking sound. "Guess they're right, you're all a bunch of sissies after all," he scoffs, turning back towards the construction site with a dismissive wave of his hand. Women are like hyenas the moment they're in a group, his thoughts storms back to her, a scowl written into the thought like any building thunderhead on the horizon.

Not to be deterred from the ultimate assignment of get-the-meatheads-back-on-task though, Kaisel traipses right up the offending line of them and reaches out to swiftly tap one on the balls with the edge of his finger. It's the well-known game for most young men, many a recess spent earning testicle-saving reflexes and the paramount respect of fastest groin-shield in the west. "Back to work or risk writhing around on the ground in front of them!" he barks, imitating his best commander in chief voice he could muster. The corps were not above torture or humiliation.

---

Kaisel plays ball tap with the distracted soldiers

Blowin' up I'm fucking flawless

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

Flora’s attention drops immediately to the metal box in Dantalion 's hands, and whatever joke had been forming on her tongue vanishes the second she notices the black fox sigil worked into its surface. Her aqua eyes widen, gold-ringed fingers hovering just shy of touching it for half a second before she exhales a quiet, "Holy shit." The words are under her breath, but there’s no mistaking the sudden importance of the find, the way her whole expression sharpens around it. "This must belong to the Blackfox," she says, brows lifting toward Danta before she carefully takes the box from him. "Do you want to make sure all the flagging around the foundation is where it’s supposed to be while I go put this somewhere safe?"

Kiada ’s cinderscourge shift is more than enough to turn the hels’ bold little scavenger game into immediate regret. She catches one of the larger birds, and whether it’s the flash of fire, the talons, or the very clear message of fuck around and find out, the rest of the flock erupts into panicked noise and wings. They scatter away from the crates at last, abandoning the supplies in favour of harassing someone else’s day.

Unfortunately, sexism has somewhat gotten the better of Kaisel 's writer here, because the workout group is not made up only of women, and the soldiers are not made up only of men. Still, the ball-tap threat has the desired effect on several of the male soldiers, who immediately remember that work exists and begin hauling materials again with much less scenic appreciation. The female soldiers, however, turn toward Kai with raised brows and matching expressions of try that with us, made all the more pointed by the fact that their queen and his fiancée are standing well within sight.

Once Flora has secured the box somewhere safe, she lifts her chin and claps her hands, bright and sharp enough to cut through the lingering chaos. "Okay, let’s get the foundation in!"

---

Danta to check the flagging

Kaisel - gj, the women soldiers are mad at you now

Kiada/Flora: Start moving and/or directing the soldiers to put in the long foundational beams inside of the flagging.

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 //

Busy trying to shake the sand out of his hair and to dust it off the metal box, only when Danta dares to blink down at it properly does he realise why Flora has suddenly grown hushed and sharp as she draws closer to him. "Holy shit," he echoes when she elaborates on the motif etched into the box, handing it off to her without a word. "Who knew it was down there all this time." Or perhaps it had only recently been buried there? Either way, it's not worth his balls to try and look too deeply into it.

Instead, he gets assigned flagging - a much simpler task. Tossing Flora a sandy salute, he shakes a bit more sand out of his clothes before getting to work. The majority of the flagging is fine, he'll soon realise, and where there is some out of place, it's only by a small distance, likely blown there by a breeze or disturbed whilst he was rummaging around as a lava wyrm. Either way, easily fixed, and by the time Flora is calling for the foundations to be put in, Danta is getting himself wisely out of the way.

---

Danta fixes the flagging where it needs, then gets out of the way of the construction!

Dantalion

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

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

The cinderscourge has the desired effect as she zooms toward the hels and they immediately begin to scatter. It’s a very clear message she gets across, and once she lands back on her two feet and adjusts her ponytail, she’s full of confidence to see them promptly going and fucking off. Her hands are at her hips and her tail sweeps low at her heels with utmost content to see it, before she’s looking over toward Flora to hear her comments while everything else seems to be pure chaos around them.

Raising her brows to hear the comment of black fox previously, she doesn’t comment on it and instead gets to work, figuring that Flora would be best to decide where the portions go, which leaves Kiada more of a hands-on helper. She moves over to the foundational beams, shifting now to her lial shift, her long nose and bulk of her body making quick work of moving the beams toward the spaces they’re supposed to go.

---

Kiada uses her lial shift to move the foundational beams to where the soldiers can put them inside the flagging!

kiada

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

Kaisel

Haters on my back like a backpack

His writer's point still stands that women are terrifying in groups and men's balls are a great motivator when threatened. As for the current pack of hyenas glaring down at him, the too-bright thought of a purple nurple sweeps in smugly, but the intrusive thing doesn't linger. Instead he tilts his head, expectation more than apology in the motion. "This has got to be better than running laps and doing push ups, but that can be arranged if you're going to consider this your leisure day instead." Point being, maybe he's not their commander normally, but if they're going to waste his time today he'll be sure to put in a word with the one who can give their day to day a ball tapping.

"Besides," he says as he glances back over his shoulder towards the workout group, unimpressed (and slighted). That they have plenty of distractions right besides them hardly bodes well for the soldiers earning their attention. "Shouldn't they be the ones gawking at you? Nothing draws the eye more than a body in motion, so you could turn the tables and make progress on the bar, win win."

---

Kaisel tries threatening and telling them that they aren't pretty enough as is!

Blowin' up I'm fucking flawless

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

The flagging adjustments are clean and easy for Dantalion, with the few displaced markers set back where they’re supposed to be. By the time the foundation beams start moving into place, the marked footprint of the new Hanged Man looks much less like an optimistic sketch in the sand and much more like the beginning of an actual building.

With Kiada in her lial shift, the beams move with far less effort as her shift makes quick work of dragging and nudging them into position for the soldiers. Between her strength, Danta’s corrected flagging, and Kaisel finally getting the remaining soldiers begrudgingly on board, the foundation framework settles into place with surprising ease. Beams are guided into place, tools shift hands, and the whole site briefly resembles a coordinated effort instead of a tropical circus with lumber.

"Okay," Flora says, clapping her hands once as she steps closer to the perimeter, ponytail swaying as she looks over the layout. "Now we just need to add concrete around the edges. Since we’re building on sand, we want a little bit of movement between the beams, so we’re not locking every single piece down but the perimeter needs to be secured or the whole thing’s going to shift."

She glances toward Kai, lifting her brows with a nod toward the mixing supplies. "Can you get the soldiers to bring over the water we need for the cement?" Then her attention turns toward Danta and Kiada. "And can you two use your fire to keep the mixture soft while it’s being poured?"

---

Kai to direct the soldiers to bring over water for the concrete mixture, and Danta/Kia to use their fire magic to keep it soft while it's being poured!

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 //

Danta is left without a sassy remark to show for himself as the soldiers work and the foundation of The Hanged Man starts to come to life, the Maverick honestly impressed with the suddenly coordinated effort. It's almost as though there are people around who know what they're doing when they aren't being distracted or otherwise causing chaos, and as Flora's voice pipes up to call for further help, he tosses her a lazy salute and heads over to where the cement mixture is being poured.

"Can do," he calls, before beaming over at Kiada. "Not too much, or we'll end up drying it out," he warns, knowing full well that if anyone is at risk of being too enthusiastic with their flame magic, it's him. Either way, he kneels beside the mixture and keeps a low pulse of heat and fire dancing against it, ensuring it doesn't get too claggy in the cold air.

---

Danta uses his Scorch to keep the mixture soft!

Dantalion

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

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

The beams move with ease, each one pushed and nudged by her lial shift, giving her an extra boon of strength to knock each one into the spaces they need to go thanks to Danta’s flagging. And she’s far too pleased that they go smoothly, given that she now doesn’t have to worry about the hels interrupting their work.

By the time they’re done with this, though, Kiada’s shifting back into herself, standing and brushing off some sand that’s clung to her stomach and arms and hands when Flora’s voice rings out and she glances over at Danta with a fanged grin as he offers his warning, snorting. “And we can't have that, yeah?” Because she also knows he’s more likely to go a little excited with their Scorch magic.

Either way, Kiada joins Danta over by the cement mixing, flames licking at her fingertips that she joins in on the other side, low and steady to not dry it out but keep it warm enough to move smoothly.

---

Kiada uses her scorch magic to help Danta keep the mixture soft!

kiada

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

Kaisel

Haters on my back like a backpack

Relieved that he didn't get his legs swept out from under him and pinned to the ground by the mob of women, he's happy to have their grumbling backs to look at instead. Easy as pie, which is about right because in his experience pie isn't fucking easy at all and who the fuck came up with that phrase.

Remaining nearby to lend a hand as needed with the shifting of supplies and beams as the group works the framework into place, Kaisel brightens as he bears witness to the new shape of the bar coming to life. "This is gonna be lit," he asserts, which is maaaaybe in bad taste given the history of the place now, but that doesn't cross his mind in the slightest. The ashes hardly matter now than what they're raising out of them.

Flora's clap draws his attention for new command, and he throws her a thumbs up before swinging back to his designated crew. Resisting the urge to say he understands some of them might not know how to make something wet, not desiring to evade his own ball taps, he rallies with a pun instead. "Water we waiting for soldiers!?" He grins delightfully, sweeping them along with him with the arc of his arm. "Everyone, take a few buckets and pour them in one at a time." In their stash of supplies they collect the needed water and ferry it over on shoulders and hands to the mixing station to create the dough necessary for construction.

---

Kaisel makes it rain

Blowin' up I'm fucking flawless