white roses in the red dirt

so give me your prayers up on your feet
and i'll give you a show, it helps fill the seats

The day is a vibrant one for the Grounds, the day breaking into mostly sun with a smattering of clouds hued white and gold from where they pass over it. Rain, having recently fallen, floods his nose with the scent of blooming flowers and wet leaves. It’s a relaxing scent for the butcher, though he can’t place why.

It keeps his shoulders loose and body relaxed just so as he strolls into the Temple, cane back in hand finally, dressed up in a comfortable light green silken shirt and a nice pair of pants. Having mentioned the day in passing to Charlie to ensure she was there and ready for them to carve, Astaroth’s already got a bag in his free hand of chisels and the like, ready to get to work (and maybe if there’s a tea set and a particular type of tea within, well, that’s his secret).

“Charlie, darling, I have acquired what we need. Apologies for leaving the slab here for so long.” Stepping back toward the slab in question, Astaroth sets the cane aside and runs his hand along the stone.

Astaroth

so give me your sins, give me your lies
but whisper your love, and i'll whisper mine

charlie

"Oooooooooooh!" Charlie's voice is like a ray of sunshine, beaming from one end of the Temple down to where Asta stood by the slab. Rather than running to him, though already her hands are clasped excitedly together and she seems to be on the verge of doing just that, the priestess darts! until she's standing directly before him, peering up at him with bright blue eyes. "You look amazing." Without touching his shirt, Charlie lets her fingertips scatter all around him to indicate her approval of both the colour and the weave. "Very good for sculpting." For her part, Charlie is dressed in a pair of black wide-leg trousers and a billowy garnet blouse that perfectly matches both her lips and her horns.

"Come, come! Come see what I did first." The blonde pleads brightly, holding out one of her hands for him to take, which, if he does, will be treated to an excited squeeze from the priestess's fingers.

Toward the centre of the Temple is where the shrine will ultimately go, and, as discussed, Charlie had broken up the floor. Only she hadn't just broken it up, she'd made it into part of the worship. "See?" She gushes, gesturing.

Where the polished floors of the Temple had once been pristine, now they were destroyed as if a bomb had detonated in their centre. Interestingly, Charlie made sure that there was no demarcation to separate any one instance of damage from any other, creating an entirely smooth transition from pristine to chaotic. Get it? Like entropy, with Dygra at the centre?

"What do you think?"

Please, please, please don't prove I'm right
& please, please, please
don't bring me to tears when I just did my makeup so nice

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

so give me your prayers up on your feet
and i'll give you a show, it helps fill the seats

“Charlie, how did you do that?” He asks in a surprised tone of excitement, gesturing to how she had just appeared before him, when suddenly she’s inspecting his clothes and he’s more than happy to let her peruse. “You look stunning, my dear.” He says in turn to the wide legged trousers, the beautiful blouse.

At the pleading tone of the priestess, though, he does immediately follow – taking her warm hand into his as he steps away from the slab, wandering over to see all the work she’s done. The floorboards, once pristine, have been torn up in such a perfect nonverbal explanation of chaos he’s seen.

Squeezing her hand, his grin is as bright as it is sharp as he takes it all in and pulls her along with him to step into it, dark eyes following each and every broken up plank of wood. “This is perfect,” he starts to say before turning to her and inclining his head, bending toward her a bit. “Of course, you were the one who did it so I how could it not be?” The compliment is punctuated with a wink.

Astaroth

so give me your sins, give me your lies
but whisper your love, and i'll whisper mine

charlie

"What, this?" Grinning, the priestess suddenly appears at Asta's eye level, before she drops seamlessly back to her feet, tail flicking back and forth mischievously. "Dunno, it's new." Glancing at her fingers, she waggles them slightly before shrugging. "I also have a few new shifts that I've never had before." The priestess hadn't really dug any more deeply than that; it was surprising and sudden, sure, but so was a lot of life since she'd awoken. What use was there trying to track down every single answer when there were much more interesting things to do with her time?

"Thank youuuu.' Twirling in place, the priestess crinkles her nose affectionately up at the butcher as she grins. "I went to that little tailor you recommended and he's been making me loads of new things." She gushes proudly.

As for the flooring (or lack thereof), Charlie waits with baited breath to see what the butcher's reaction might be, before she's nearly bouncing on her toes with joy to hear him say he likes it. "Oh you." She purrs adoringly in response to his flattery, before giving her head a little shake.

"Do you think it's better to carve the obsidian where it is, or should we do it here?"

Please, please, please don't prove I'm right
& please, please, please
don't bring me to tears when I just did my makeup so nice

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

so give me your prayers up on your feet
and i'll give you a show, it helps fill the seats

Brows lifting again as a chuckle escapes him, Astaroth nods his head in agreement. “How unique. You must show me your new shifts when we’re done.” If there’s a hint of a demand in there, the butcher pretends it doesn’t exist. Instead, it’s drown out by his excitement.

She does her twirl and Astaroth beams at her, sharp toothed and quite pleased to hear that the tailor has been helping out. “He is quite a mastermind.” Given that the butcher harbored so much height, it made it difficult to alter pieces at times to accommodate, but that tailor certainly had.

But the floor and the revamp into chaos from pristine traditional temple worship has him distracted and elated tenfold, so much that he glances back toward the obsidian and flashes the shorter priestess an apologetic smile. “Where it will go is likely the easiest spot. I’d be heartbroken to break it.” He tacks on, flashing her a small smile before setting the bag down carefully by the more pristine portion of the floorboards, stepping out of the dirt and chaos of it to head toward the slab. “It should not take too long to get into place.” Heavy, absolutely, but nothing he thinks the two of them can’t handle, especially as he steps over to place his hands on the fatter edge of the obsidian slab, lifting it up a hair to remind himself how much it weighed.

Astaroth

so give me your sins, give me your lies
but whisper your love, and i'll whisper mine

charlie

"Absolutely!" Charlie chimes immediately, her blue eyes flashing with excitement. Had their task been something that didn't have to do with Dygra she'd likely have begged him for even more of a delay in their start so she could show him right then and there.

Nearly as short as Asta was tall, the little blonde can't help but agree. 'Truly. I might be in love with him.' She chuckles playfully before smoothing down the pleats (something he'd had to teach her), before glancing back up at the butcher.

Nudging Asta's, well, nowhere close to his shoulder actually, more like his ribs, with her shoulder, the priestess smiles. "If it breaks, it breaks." She titters, knowing that the shattering of the obsidian would only bring it closer to a state of true entropy. Even so, she'd obviously be careful.

"Okay, just remember not to lift too high." Charlie warns as she places her hands on the more narrow edge of the slab. The weight would prove to be the least of their worries given the differences in their heights, because either Asta would have to grip from the middle and thus have nothing to anchor his hands against, or else Charlie would have to all but have it resting on her shoulders.

Please, please, please don't prove I'm right
& please, please, please
don't bring me to tears when I just did my makeup so nice

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

so give me your prayers up on your feet
and i'll give you a show, it helps fill the seats

“You should ask him on a date, then.” Astaroth flashes a playful grin toward her, teasing and amused because if he’s being honest, he doesn’t know what love feels like. But he also is positive she’s joking with him, and he doesn’t want to be caught on the backfoot of a too serious conversation when things are going so well to begin with. She might plant ideas into his head of the unnamed feelings within that he doesn’t know how to place or what to do with. So, remaining blissfully unaware, Asta chuckles deeply at the elbow that greets his ribs and the top edge of his hip. “My heart or the obsidian, darling?” Flashing her another sharp grin over the obsidian, the butcher nods.

“I won’t.” He offers her gently when she reaches the other side, and true to his word, he lifts the obsidian, unfortunately lifting with his back and not so much with his legs to ensure that she doesn’t strain herself too much – he’ll be sore in the morning, but it’s worth it to ensure this obsidian gets into the location of the shrine.

Of course, they only manage to make it a short way, before the butcher is beginning to set it down. “Alright, perhaps this isn’t going to work quite so easily.” He says, thinking for a moment. “Do you happen to have a… what do they call it? A dolly?” Brows pinching, his tongue pokes on the inside of his lip as he thinks, glancing toward the entrance of the temple before looking back toward Charlie. “A board with wheels attached people often use for moving heavier items?” Like a flat, tiny cart.

Astaroth

so give me your sins, give me your lies
but whisper your love, and i'll whisper mine

charlie

"Should I?" Charlie flutters her eyelashes up at the butcher, grinning. "Was that a thing from when you were awake, before?" Not unlike the butcher, back in Charlie's when there was very little dating if any at all. The ancients of her clan lived communally, fucked communally, loved communally. There were times you might go with a specific person you enjoyed, but there wasn't any sort of formal term for it, and certainly nothing so stuffy as marriage.

Tutting playfully under her breath, the blonde fixes the butcher with an affectionate oh youuuu look before placing her hand solemnly over her heart. "I promise to be careful with both." She hums, tail flicking in catlike swipes behind her body.

"Are you okay?" Feeling the stone begin to lower, Charlie settles her end gently onto the marble before poking her head around one of its shiny edges to peep up at him. "A do—ohhh." Biting at the inside of her lip, the priestess wraps her arms around the slab thoughtfully, her nails clacking against its black shiny surface. "I don't think so. We could either go and check or—" Spinning, she points to one of the nearby windows upon which were hung floor-to-ceiling curtains. "If we take one off, we can lift the slab and then put it down and drag it over? The floor is super smooth until we get to the bit that I roughed up, so it should just glide."

Please, please, please don't prove I'm right
& please, please, please
don't bring me to tears when I just did my makeup so nice

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

so give me your prayers up on your feet
and i'll give you a show, it helps fill the seats

“Not particularly, no.” It hadn’t really been a thing before, either, arrangements were far more common with courting – not with the Ancients, who lived not unlike how Charlie had despite how they had their very distinct, very different sects within it. “But I have heard that is how things are done now.” And he’s already been on one, with a second in line, and perhaps one day he’ll realize they’re actual dates.

Today isn’t that day, though.

Instead, he flashes her that same sharp grin as she promises to be careful with both, inclining his head with agreement that he would hold her to her word as they start to move the obsidian and don’t get too far. “Mm, if only we had a middle man.” Astaroth chimes almost dramatically, before he shakes his head a little to explain the dolly idea.

She comes up with a much better one, though, and as he wipes the ash from his hands from retrieving the obsidian in the Climb, he follows her gaze to the curtains. “You have a brilliant mind, I hope you know.” He says to her over his shoulder as he starts walking over there toward it, utilizing his height to slip the curtain off of its rod, having to stand on his tip toes for once to reach such a height for it – and quietly thankful for his long arms.

Slipping it out, he returns toward her to hand the end to her and flatten out the curtain beside the obsidian, before returning to his side. The second Charlie’s flattened her end out and reached for hers, they should be able to lift and set it onto the curtain, then move with absolute ease.

Astaroth

so give me your sins, give me your lies
but whisper your love, and i'll whisper mine

charlie

"It's weird." The blonde chirps, shrugging her shoulders. "It feels like there are so many more rules to everything now, you know?" Then again, perhaps the hellscape Asta had come from, this seemed more or less the same, just with a lot less torture.

"Ooh? I'd never have pegged you for the type." The priestess hums, bouncing her eyebrows. Whether or not Asta gets the joke (you know, middle man, pegging, shut up), Charlie laughs regardless at the butcher's theatrics as she continues to tap her fingernails against the stone.

"I do." The blonde trills cheerfully, flashing the butcher a smile even as he removes the curtains. About to tell him that she wouldn't care if they were destroyed in the process and that he needn't be careful, of course he was; silly of her to have expected anything else from him.

Helping to smooth out the curtain on the floor, Charlie glances up. "Ready?" Easily they lifted the slab, needing only to hover it a few inches before Charlie was using her tail to slide the curtain beneath her half expecting Asta to do the same with his or use his foot. He was the stronger of the two after all and possessed a good deal more leverage.

"Okay, I think if we just go slow it shouldn't be a problem." So saying, Charlie wraps her tail around part of the slab and hugs it in order to try and steady as much of it as possible.

Please, please, please don't prove I'm right
& please, please, please
don't bring me to tears when I just did my makeup so nice

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

so give me your prayers up on your feet
and i'll give you a show, it helps fill the seats

“It is unfortunate, truly.” He agrees softly, frowning lightly as he shakes his head. So many rules and hidden understanding of things that he has no hope of trying to grasp so soon after waking – something that Charlie would also likely understand.

At least he’s starting to understand the lingo (thanks Danta), because as Charlie makes her next comment, the butcher is snorting as he wanders over toward the window to collect the curtain. “Alas, I am not.” He answers with a soft huff of a laugh, glancing over his shoulder briefly while he pulls them down to raise his brow toward her, the smirk hidden behind his arm. (Insert moxxie I’m a top here).

“Ready.” Hoisting his portion, he does utilize his foot in place of his tail to slide the curtain underneath it – ensuring that the slab of obsidian easily is placed onto the curtain, he flips up the end of it so that the heavy drapery might also offer some help in pulling it without simply pulling the curtain out from under it.

Nodding, the muscles in his arms are easily seen as he starts to pull it slowly, his tail trying to wrap around the curtain fabric at the end he’d flipped over, giving an extra boon as they slide it over. It’s slow going, but they manage it, and only when they can step foot into the unearthed soil from where Charlie had torn out the flooring for the shrine does the butcher stop. “Now, on three we shall lift and slide it over into the space and then we can get started.” Flashing a bright grin toward Charlie, Astaroth lets her pick up the other end that’s a little bit taller and still on the polished flooring to help alleviate some of the height difference. “One… Two… Three.” He says, hoisting his side to bring it into the space where the shrine will go.

Astaroth

so give me your sins, give me your lies
but whisper your love, and i'll whisper mine

charlie

Lifting her chin and laughing brightly at that—no, of course the butcher wasn't one to be pegged nor likely one who'd enjoy being shared—the little priestess wipes a tear from her eye as she gives her head a little shake, her cheeks aching from joy.

With no stats biceps likely the size of Asta's ankles, Charlie has to be creative in the ways she offers her own assistance. There would be little point in brazenly biting off more than she could chew, and so she focuses more on making sure that the curtain is pulled taut so that there's as little resistance as possible for Asta to work against. "You got it!" The blonde purrs before sipping in a breath and lifting again. While she thinks a shattered obsidian slab would be a fitting point of worship for Dygra, Charlie also understands that blatant carelessness was not one of the things that led to genuine entropy, and also that'd probably hurt Asta's feelings to see his hard work simply be dropped upon the floor.

Letting her end lower only when his did, Charlie peers around the slab, eyebrows raised. "What do you think? Happy with it here?"

Please, please, please don't prove I'm right
& please, please, please
don't bring me to tears when I just did my makeup so nice

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

so give me your prayers up on your feet
and i'll give you a show, it helps fill the seats

It’s somewhat quick work, and while the butcher wouldn’t be opposed to having jagged edges and sharp pieces from precise broken points, to simply drop it and ruin the idea in his mind would definitely shatter his heart. And make his muscles even more sore with the trip back to the Climb to snag another one. As it stands, it doesn’t break, and between the two of them they manage to get it precisely where the shrine should go – settled in the center of the chaos of the torn up floorboards.

“More than happy, darling.” Astaroth purrs through a softer tone as he tries to catch his breath, reaching for Charlie’s hand to squeeze it lightly, before he’s departing to collect the bag he’d brought. Within, he produces a piece of chalk and a multitude of chisels and hammers, returning to set the tools on the ground before he takes the chalk into his hand, squinting at the obsidian.

Humming a soft note through his nose, the butcher steps toward the piece, drawing out a little flattened pedestal type of shape, where much like the floorboards in the Temple, one half of it is pristine and square and beautiful like a column, the other side similar to it but broken up like pieces were somewhat shattered. Stepping back, he flashes a grin toward Charlie. “What do you think?”

Astaroth

so give me your sins, give me your lies
but whisper your love, and i'll whisper mine

charlie

Charlie's fingers pulse against his own, and when the butcher returns he'll see the priestess on her hands and knees—clothing be damned, this was much more important—filling in gaps in the earth around the slab to ensure it was completely level all the way around.

Flashing him a fanged smile, the priestess stands and cocks her head at the supplies before her blue stare wanders back toward the slab. Intrigued, Charlie comically tries to peer around the butcher as he works, though of course, his body is nearly as wide as the slab such that she has no chance. Only as he takes a step back does she understand his vision and it has her clapping her hands together in immediate agreement. "Yes! I love that!"

Tail waggling behind her like a cat whose just been left alone with an open fishtank, Charlie sidles her way up to Asta's side, fluttering her eyelashes at him. "Can I do that side?" She points, of course, to the broken and shredded side of the column. "I promise I won't go too far."[/says] Clasping her hands together, she fixes him with as pouty a face as she possibly could manage, her blue eyes going wide and pleading even though there was probably little chance of him saying no.

Please, please, please don't prove I'm right
& please, please, please
don't bring me to tears when I just did my makeup so nice

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!