Loren was able to contain most of his water, though that which had dripped through the floor was beyond his reach. The beetles were small and easily moved by telekinesis, well within his reach to gather up again, though it took some time to find them all. Leather was an excellent polisher of wood and metal, but not quite so good on glass. It would take a great deal of elbow grease – and Jigano poking his head in to check on his friend’s progress and delivering one of the buckets of soapy water to help things along – but eventually he would finally conquer The Ladybug Room’s filth, and clear light filtered through the thick glass to reveal a pleasant little room that would make for a cozy little dorm.
Jigano’s faith in
Samuel was well-founded, as it turned out. Shifting, dusting, and cleaning would reveal nothing more ominous in the room behind a few more dark stains on the broken glass of the window, though the sharp edges had been worn down by wind and weather over the years to lose their wickedness. Getting the moldy book corpses out was a Herculean task in itself, but thanks to the bookmaker’s lack of breathing it was accomplished without incident, and soon only the rotting shelves and table remained.
And the stains, of course. Those weren’t going anywhere without some serious scrubbing – or perhaps a nice rug over the top?
Quanil ‘s new friends remained scarce as light from the door once more illuminated the Mystic Room. They would have no trouble gathering the books and bringing them outside to a bemused Jigano, who had thought he was done carrying stacks of literature.
”We can investigate them later. Either the information inside was sensitive, or they might be Sentient Books,” he mused thoughtfully as he collected them.
”When Loren is done we can ask him to fill the lamps. Between the two of us, he and I should be able to get most of the intruders to move along.” Quanil would finally be able to apply the broom with earnest, revealing a lovely parquet floor with a silver circle inlaid in the wood and the phases of the moon inset within in ebony and tulipwood designs.
The rodents were summarily ejected from the building and
Rance was able to finish dusting out the pigeonholes in The Farmer’s Room. The shelves wouldn’t take long, either, but the bigger challenge for him was yet to come with the shifting of heavy furniture and there would be plenty of chance for disaster in that undertaking, as Rance had already figured out for himself.
Amalia finally caught a break as she found a rhythm and got to work. Books were safely gathered, and soapy water obtained without incident. When she went to move the bedding the missing moon dropped out from the last pile of rotting straw. Though the pin that had connected it to its planet was broken the moon itself was still intact, a red-orange metal sphere the size of Amalia’s little finger. Once the pallet’s remains were removed the rest of the cleaning went swiftly and the room soon began to sparkle beneath her care.
The window was immune to
Ronin ‘s sweet words, giving him the cold, glassy shoulder as it refused to be wooed. As in most situations, a little lubrication would go a long way when forcing an opening failed, but lacking any suitable substance at the moment the Dark Star had to turn his full attention to finishing the initial cleaning of the room. When the dust finally settled (outside the open windows, thankfully) he’d be able to begin carrying his shelves out.
”Alright, that’s the last of them,” Jigano said, relieved to have finished the last of the book-carting (for real!) this time.
”Let’s pair up and start emptying these rooms of their shelves. The tables and a chair or two can probably stay, if they have any, but most of these shelves will require at least two people to lift and carry down to the place where the wall was repaired.” He grinned down the walkway at the demigod at the far end.
”Ronin, you’re already paired up. Hmm…” Looking at the others he thought quickly, trying to balance personalities with how strong each looked. In the end, he smiled ruefully to himself and nodded to Quanil.
”I’ll give you a hand with what’s in that dark room, and see what can be done about some of those tenants you mentioned.”
After a lot of hard work, the rooms are finally clean. Great job, team!
This round will work a little differently: there is no posting order, but the partners will be first come, first picked. The first person to respond will get to choose who their partner is and which room to start with. The person who is picked should reply to that post accordingly and get shifting shelves or other heavy objects that might be in the way.
