[PQ+] there is a light that never goes out

Liam

And I feel like my castle's crumbling down
And I watch all my bridges burn to the ground

It seemed that their party had split into teams of two; Liam and Maea, and Remi and Kaisel. The soldier couldn't complain about his company, but he did rather hope that the others felt welcome enough. The whole point of this, after all, was to make the Greatwood more enticing. Well - maybe not the whole point; but certainly a part of Liam's intentions, and what kind of host would he be if he ignored his guests?

With the lunch and chatter concluded, and the group having split into their respective teams once more, work went well enough, if a bit slowed by the now-wet ground. Liam and Maea worked together to plant the saplings, the soil now waterlogged and heavy in comparison to earlier - but they managed, and eventually, the saplings were all in place, lopsided and ready for weaving.

Remi and Kaisel were successful in their efforts as well, even if a puddle of mud did cause Remi to slip at one point; Kaisel would find that more of the weight than he was expecting would suddenly be thrust into his arms. Still, despite that small mishap, they were able to move the log out of the way. "Great," Liam called. "Thanks!"

Turning to Maea, he added (perhaps a tad regretfully), "I should probably make sure the targets and dummies get to the right places." With a last, lingering smile, he went to join Remi and Kaisel near the boxes of supplies, where Kaisel had hidden the stuffed dummies and Remi had left the targets. "Can one of you go help Maea with the trees? They need to be woven together to make a fence." To whoever was left, he added, "Alright, I was thinking the targets could go over there, and the dummies this way..."

---

Maea needs help weaving trees together! Someone go help her, and someone help Liam start to set up the archery targets and training dummies.

And you don't want to know me, I will just let you down
You don't wanna know me now

Let's not get lost in the dark blue
But darling if we do, just find me and I'll find you

Kaisel 's question shouldn’t catch him off guard, but it does. Maybe it’s the casual tone. Maybe it’s the rain-slick mud beneath his boots. Maybe it’s the way the boy asks like it’s just a cool scar and not a fault line Remi barely managed to seal shut. His foot slips as he readjusts the branch’s weight—mud sucking at his heel with a greedy squelch—and for half a second the log tilts, shifting more weight into Kaisel’s grip. Remi catches himself with a grunt, jaw tightening as he sets it back down with more care this time. Not a word, not a crack in his expression—but a sharp breath follows, and when he straightens, his eyes slide to the younger man with a faint, unreadable flicker.

"Lion claws," he says at last, voice low and steady. A truth. Just not all of it; Kaisel didn't know they'd been his own claws or the reason he'd tried to take his own life. He clears his throat, the sound hoarse despite the rain. There’s no sharpness in it. No warning. But the weight of it hangs there a moment longer than it should, like fog refusing to lift.

Thankfully, Liam ’s voice breaks through, and Remi certainly doesn't need any prompting. "I’ll go," he says with quiet relief, and without waiting for agreement, he leaves the branch and the question behind. Mud clings to his boots as he crosses the clearing, Oria chittering irritably from her perch beneath his collar as if the shift in mood has rippled through her too.

Finding Maea knee-deep in saplings and the slow, careful work of weaving them, Remi sinks to a crouch beside her with easy wordlessness. For a few seconds he just watches, noting the angle she uses, the rhythm she’s settled into. Then he takes up one of the young trees, mirrors her work, and lets the act of building something living quiet the ache that had tried to rise.

"You’ve got a good pattern going," he murmurs, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "They’ll hold well like this."

---

Remi goes to help Maea!

the bastion

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

Kaisel

The wind coasts out of him with the sudden new weight of the log sinking into his shoulders, a weight that had previously been similar to a jacket and now shoves like someone just remembered to turn on the gravity. His arms are braced under it, but not exactly engaged, so he stumbles to get back beneath it properly. Mud flings with the hasty movement, and though he manages to avoid crumpling under the shift before Remi retakes the weight of it, there's an uneasiness to his stride now and he focuses so intently on the log he almost doesn't catch the answer. "Looks like something amazing to have survived," Kaisel says as he shrugs out from under the branch, no less bright than before despite the subtle change that's come into Remi. Maybe he doesn't know all the details, and while he might not grab onto all the clues, it's clear enough the location had been no easy place to endure something that leaves such a mark, and that discomfort appears to linger. "It's impressive." Surviving always is.

At Liam's new orders though, Remi departs before Kaisel can ask his next question, which is what is that moving twig in his shirt. Instead he glances at Liam, nodding as he gestures and they grab hold of the training targets and start to drag them into position. "How do you want these set in?" Kaisel asks once they've placed them in the proper locations. Though the mud acts as a kind of glue now, he's doubtful it'll hold once it dies, and if flooding happens often here he's not so sure the structures won't be swept away with the first storm. "Use the rocks from earlier to anchor them in, or dig down and set them in more firmly?" Although he's loathe to suggest moving the rocks again, he thinks that might be the best hold against water.

---

Kaisel helps set up the targets and dummies and suggests anchoring them with the rocks

There's darkness in the distance
I'm beggin' for forgiveness
But I know I might resist it

Maea

I am out with lanterns

Looking up briefly to pay attention when Liam spoke up, she gave him a soft smile along with the understanding nod. "Go ahead," she replied,  "I'll focus on these for now." It was simple work, after all, and quite satisfying even if the sheer number of saplings to weave together meant that she would be at it for a while.

Remi's appearance by her side some few moments later was all the more welcome for it. Allowing him the time to see what she was doing without overexplaining, the petite ancient shot him a quick smile in response to his comment. "Good. I want them to have space to grow freely after a certain point - maybe chest high?" The trunks would grow together in time, fuse into a single organism that helped define the space set aside. Just the kind of slow, intentional shaping of the forest she'd learned to value the more time she spent among the Fae. Working with the trees, not against them. Remi's approval meant a great deal, too; like a confirmation from the former Guardian whether she was on the right track in her approach.

With his aid in the planting and shaping of the fence, they made good progress. Maea enjoyed working together with her friend whether they spoke or not; glad to spend this time together without, for once, having to touch upon difficult or dangerous topics.

------

Maea shows Remi what she's doing and keeps working on the fence with him.

Looking for myself

Liam

And I feel like my castle's crumbling down
And I watch all my bridges burn to the ground

Remi departed rather hastily to help Maea, leaving Liam with Kaisel. Not having had a preference for who went where, the soldier smiled at Kaisel, then nodded in agreement to his suggestion. "I was thinking about using the rocks," he said. "Traditionally, we'd use sandbags, but sand is a little hard to come by here." But moving the rocks again would come after they had everything set up the way Liam wanted it. And, working together, the two were able to get the targets and dummies set up in their proper locations.

Remi and Maea worked well together, and would find that their efforts with weaving a living fence went smoothly. When they were done, there were one or two places where a sapling's limb had popped free at a strange angle, but perhaps that only added to the aesthetic. Upon checking more closely, they would find that the structural integrity of their fence remained intact.

With those tasks now complete, it was starting to look more and more like a training field, and not just a field in which some targets were strewn about. Now, though, it was time to work on some other things. "Maea, can you and Remi come anchor these with the rocks?" Liam asked, deciding that the two of them could handle the task easily between the two of them. "Kaisel, you're with me - we're building a small obstacle course on the other side of the clearing. I had some ideas for a climbing wall..." And so he led the younger man back towards the stack of supplies, digging out some blueprints and plans to show Kaisel.

---

Maea and Remi, go anchor the targets and dummies with rocks (or if you have a better plan, go for that, too!).

Kaisel, you're helping Liam put together a climbing wall. The first step is to assemble the wall itself flat on the ground, then we'll all work together to raise it.

And you don't want to know me, I will just let you down
You don't wanna know me now

Maea

I am out with lanterns

By virtue of being a recovering perfectionist, Maea looked at the straggling twigs with an expression of near physical pain. On one hand she realized that they wouldn't compromise the stability of the fence, but on the other hand she disliked leaving a job that didn't look finished. Then there was the whole 'embrace the chaos' mentality she was trying to embrace, and that sort of required her to leave the twigs exactly the way they were.

"Saved by the bell," she sighed, when Liam called for help just as her resolve began to slip. Picking up her shovel she began to head for the pile of rocks together with Remi, pausing by the pile of tools only to trade it for a pair of gloves. "Remi, you know these woods fairly well, right? Do you know if the Fae would be terribly offended if a shrine to Dygra were to appear at some point?" Bending over to pick up a rock, she grunted under the strain waddled off to set it by the base of the targets and dummies. "I noticed there are shrines for all the other gods scattered through the region, so it doesn't seem like they are terribly picky... but what do you think?"

------

Maea begin stacking rocks around the targets to anchor them.

Looking for myself

Let's not get lost in the dark blue
But darling if we do, just find me and I'll find you

Remi hums a low sound of agreement as Maea explains the height she’s aiming for, fingers deftly weaving the saplings just as she does. "Chest high’s smart," he murmurs, tipping his head to better eye the line they’re forming. "High enough to guide without caging anything in." His voice is quiet, warm with the soft satisfaction of shared work and harmony—two things he’s come to value more and more, even if they’re hard-earned.

When Liam calls out, Remi rises with an easy breath, flexing the stiffness from his knees. Snorting under his breath, he turns with a grin toward Maea, mirroring her sigh with a knowing chuckle. He falls into step beside her toward the rock pile, reaching down to lift a hefty one with no more effort than scooping a loaf of bread. Her question catches him mid-lift, and he pauses just long enough to glance sideways at her, one brow lifting. The rock settles into place at the base of a dummy before he straightens again and dusts off his hands with a shake.

"Well..I'm sure you remember how it was before," he says simply at first, brushing damp curls from his forehead. "How hard they fought to keep outsiders out when the barrier fell. How they flinched at anything that felt foreign." Another rock—this one smoother, flatter—finds its way into his grip and is tucked neatly beneath a target’s support.

"Dygra might not be the Voice," he allows. "But she’s still change. Entropy, even. That’s...not something the Fae make peace with easily." There’s no judgment in his tone—if anything, just a wry sort of understanding. He squints at a stone before discarding it and choosing another. "That said...she’s older than most things. Older than the Wildwood itself. She was here before there were borders to protect or rules to break." A flash of dry humour flickers across his face, but he sobers a moment later, expression softening as he glances back at Maea. "But if anyone could build something in her name that the Greatwood wouldn’t spit out..." A small smile curves his mouth. "It’d be you."

---

Remi helps Maea!

the bastion

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

Kaisel

"Yessiiiir," Kaisel punctuates with an exaggerated flourish, stepping in beside Liam as they head to the plans the man's built. Kaisel glances at the blueprints with a healthy dose of ah, interesting, I got no fucking clue what this means. Unlike Koa, Kaisel has no carpentry skills to speak of. He can, however, complete a rubik's cube in a mean amount of time. He has also been known to yo-yo, a little walk the dog, some cat's cradle, but he isn't sure those are skills that will help him now.

"Alrighty mastermind, you guide, I'll place," he suggests instead, gathering up all the pieces which are sorely lacking stickers that label them as "A", "B" or "TOP". There's one that's about thiiiiiiiiiiis long. One that is thiis long. Another that has a little bend to it, which Kaisel can appreciate, he leans a bit left himself.

With the idea that this is just another version of a puzzle to solve, Kaisel throws all the bits and pieces onto the table (the ground) and, as any sane person would, arranges all the edges and corners first as Liam dutifully instructs. "This look right?" he asks with a glance while half sprawled over a section, his foot holding down one piece while his elbow keeps another in check, hammer and nail poised in his hand, one more nail wagging out of the corner of his mouth as he speaks around it.

---

Kaisel starts to build the thing

There's darkness in the distance
I'm beggin' for forgiveness
But I know I might resist it

Liam

And I feel like my castle's crumbling down
And I watch all my bridges burn to the ground

Fortunately for Kaisel, Liam did have some carpentry skills - or at least carpentry theory, given that he had grown interested in learning the trade. With Kaisel laying out pieces as the older man instructed him, they made good progress. With the edges and corners in place, they were able to assemble the climbing wall where it lay. Next, they would need to secure it in place - which would require help.

Maea and Remi would find that their job went well, too, however boring it might have been. At least it would give them a chance to chat, even if it was physically demanding. Fortunately, neither one managed to drop a rock on their foot, which would have been truly tragic given the size of some of the stones that they carried.

With the targets and dummies anchored in place, Liam waved the pair over. "Alright, we need to dig some holes for the posts for the climbing wall," he instructed, wiping his brow with the back of a forearm. "Who wants to dig, and who wants to finish preparing the wall?"

---

Almost thereeeee. Two people to dig holes, two people to finish the climbing wall by mounting hand- and foot-holds.

And you don't want to know me, I will just let you down
You don't wanna know me now

Kaisel

You can't stop a puzzle halfway. That's almost as bad as ending a song before it's finished, like a mental blue balls. "I'm sticking here boss," he announces with a glance towards Liam as he surveys the wall they've managed to complete. Plus, digging is maybe the one thing worse than running, so that's a hard pass from him if he can help it. Maybe one of them could turn into a dog and be done in double time?

He glances into the box of supplies Liam offered, fishing around for a few differently shaped foot and handholds. "You think it matters the order, like could this be made impossible, or should it always create a path that works?" He half asks, half wonders aloud, because without waiting for an answer he seems to shrug and start to fasten them onto the designated areas of the wall, occasionally stepping back and swapping a few out. He might not be the most adept climber in Stormbreak, in fact Koa definitely tops him easy, but he has scaled enough actual walls and tree limbs to have a sense for what should be a passable reach for a climber.

---

Kaisel helps with the wall

There's darkness in the distance
I'm beggin' for forgiveness
But I know I might resist it

Maea

I am out with lanterns

Working quietly alongside Remi, pouring rubble into the cracks between rocks and boulders to further stabilize the dummies, she nodded along as he recalled the fraught history of the fae. She had not forgotten the ban against Ascended, not really, but she was certainly reminded that their aversion to change was as much part of the reason for it as the transgressions of former ascended leaders against the Greatwood. Understandable for a long lived race, perhaps, though their longer perspective should also grant a better understanding of the inevitability of change... An interesting problem to deal with. He seemed confident in her however, enough that she found herself turning pink in the cheeks.
"Your faith in me is ever humbling and much appreciated," she murmured, as taken aback by the high praise as she was pleased to hear it. "I hope you are right. I'd like to think there's room for all the gods in a place as enchanting as this... Being gradual about introducing new elements sounds like a good way to go in general." Good for her, too, who had a tendency to rush ahead.

Smiling to herself as they finished up, Maea took a look at the remaining tasks, and decided to give her back a bit of a break. Treading on quiet feet to where Kaisel was building the climbing wall, she hunched down beside him to see what had been done so far, and what remained to do.
"I've never used onee of these walls before," she admitted as she turned a grip over in her hand. "Sounds more rewarding with a path that's difficult but not impossible, though, doesn't it. It can always be adjusted later on." Letting him choose the placement of the path, she took up a screwdriver and set out on the repetitive task of securing the components in their final position. Climbing had never interested her before, but this wall looked intriguing enough that she might have a go at it later.

------

Maea helps Kaisel finish the climbing wall.

Looking for myself

Let's not get lost in the dark blue
But darling if we do, just find me and I'll find you

Remi hums softly in agreement as Maea speaks, brushing the grit from his palms and giving her a wry, sidelong smile. He says nothing more, though there’s a quiet understanding in his eyes—an acknowledgement of that shared flaw, the impulse to push too fast, or not at all. Maea might rush. But Remi? He simply goes. Straight through, around, beneath—whatever the path, he’s long since learned that waiting for permission isn’t always worth the cost, but there's always a price to pay for such things just the same.

So he lets her go without a word, watching her step away with a lightness in her shoulders he’s glad to see. Then, with an easy breath, he turns toward Liam. The shovel is heavier than it needs to be, but it’s not like Remi notices. He sinks it into the forest floor with a fluid stomp, driving the blade deep and lifting out a generous scoop of earth before tipping it aside. There’s a rhythm to this kind of work, quiet and satisfying, and the Bastion falls into it with the ease of someone who’s found solace in far more brutal labour. The damp loam smells rich beneath the canopy, each slice of the shovel unearthing the roots and worms and life hidden just below the surface.

---

Remi digs!

the bastion

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

Liam

And I feel like my castle's crumbling down
And I watch all my bridges burn to the ground

Kaisel and Maea take on the remainder of the climbing wall, the pale Ancient beating Liam to the answer to Kai's question. "Right, you should be able to get to the top, but I figure we'll switch up the paths every now and then to keep things fresh. So there's some flexibility in where you place things for now." He could always test it later, once it was assembled; someone would have to, to make sure that it was secure.

Leaving the pair to their work, Liam joined Remi, grabbing another shovel on his way over. The demigod was quiet as they dug, but that suited Liam just fine. Measuring out where the holes should be, Liam began to dig his own at a steady pace, without trying to keep up with Remi, who finished his hole first. Eventually, Liam did, too, and he stood straight to stretch out his back as he checked on the others.

"This looks perfect. Now we need to brace the wall while we get the posts buried and stable." After that, judging by the location of the sun in the sky, they'd be nearly done for the day.

---

Two to brace the wall in place, two to bury the posts and stabilize it. Last round (I think)!

And you don't want to know me, I will just let you down
You don't wanna know me now

Kaisel

He glances at Maea as she joins him, offering her a kind smile. "Shame, these are super fun. You will definitely have to try this one out." As for the rest of what she said, he chuckles faintly through the work. "Yeah, no one wants to face off against the impossible, but with walls like this, as with any rock face, sometimes there's a route that just isn't going to work. Just depends how many routes like that we want to build into this. An easy version means you can always find your way up." Maybe he'd said it wrong, although impossible can be pretty relative too. Liam's idea of swapping it from time to time though is a great way to keep the wall always fresh and challenging. "Good idea!" he calls back to the mastermind.

As the holes are dug and he and Maea complete the wall, it all comes together. "Niiice," he admires for a minute before getting into place on one top corner. He waits for the other side to be ready, then lifts it up as one, holding it steady while the feet are placed and buried with stability.

---

Kaisel braces the wall

There's darkness in the distance
I'm beggin' for forgiveness
But I know I might resist it