Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
Maybe if he had Mastered Water Magic the permafrost would be more amenable, but he was content with what he already had to work with. As far as he knew there was no prize for finishing first, but plenty of reason to take his time and do things right rather than fast. Hotaru's direction to make the floor slope was a good one, but it was taking a lot longer to get down to that level than to the seating level. Sweat beaded on the bard's brow as he reached for the earth, attempting to drag it from the ground and having to stop more often to work large rock and boulders free individually first before he could maneuver a chunk of frozen soil up and out the door. There was more work for magic and for shovel alike, and he was very soon shedding a few layers.
Isuma grew bored of his slow progress after awhile and the little white-and-blue gryphon flew to visit the other workers, landing on the ropes in Weaver's room to peep encouragement to the hard-working warrior as she battled the beeswax before fluttering out to the main room to offer Deimos a sympathetic cuddle against his shoulder at the dropped timbers.
She remained there for the time being, watching the two humans at their work and hopefully bringing a bit of much-needed luck to the proceedings while her companion continued his slow but steady fight to dig a hole.
Based on his experiences in construction and creation magic, Deimos had thought everything else would carry on without a hitch. He was proven wrong in a bizarre sense and semblance of not knowing where the hell his legs were – and not since he’d been a gangly teenager had he been quite so clumsy. His tool crashed to the floor, loud, obnoxious, and amplified – to the point where he simply stared at it in wonder, before snorting at Hotaru, her fortune about the same as his. "What a team." They'd scorched and invaded kingdoms, but couldn't fight back against inanimate objects. He picked the discarded tool up and shook his head, leaving the timber to be dealt with thereafter, and wandered back to her. “Of course.” Perhaps both of them would be able to accomplish one task together, and move on to the next – a stray scratch granted to Isuma, who apparently took pity on them both as she flew by.
His hands went to the wood, intending to reach down and grasp it, tug it away from her, muscles at least capable of that.
Hotaru gives a helpless little laugh at Deimos' wry response, gratefully allowing him to lug the wood up and out of her arms. Whether it is Isuma's darling presence or simply them being better together, everything goes so well that Hotaru is nearly shocked by the turn-around. The counter is placed and nailed with no stubbed fingers or ill-placed swings, and the crack is in the perfect place to be easily cut off when shaping the new piece of wood to the counter below. As she moves to help Deimos with the tables, these go along just as easily, setting up a rhythm as the skeletons of the frames come together one after another.
Weaver's luck (or skill, perhaps) holds strong, the wax pliable and easy to spread. There are nearly no blemishes in the coating she puts down, and while she traps Jigano in the room next to her she is successful in escaping herself without leaving a single footprint behind. It will need to be left to cure and harden, and Hotaru glances up at the woman when she sees the tasks for the room are complete for now. "You're ahead of us all," she greets with a playful smile, inviting the woman closer. "This room is mostly decorating now, care to return the painting favor?" With a wink she plucks the paint bucket from where it has sat in the corner with various brushes. "Mostly just the check in counter and the back wall." Appearances are important after all, and both would be objects or areas first viewed when entering.
Jigano's luck falters, perhaps because the adorable griffin has left him? It is enough to get the rocks and permafrost out, but he still has much to do to catch up as the work is grueling and slow, reluctant to part beneath magic and tool alike. It is just barely enough, and who cares about how perfect it is when it will be below your feet and several pounds of mud below? Hotaru is content with it, and takes pity on the man's sweaty work to happily direct him to laying the stones to line the bath.
- - -
Everyone had AMAZING rolls! (Except Jigano, oops!) You've sped through your tasks because of it. Weaver is tasked with painting, Hotaru and Deimos still need to outfit and pad the tables, and Jigano can throw in the towel and begin lining the pool with rocks!
she's a butcher with a smile cut me deeper than I've ever been
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Perhaps it was a bit sad to be surprised by success, but based on today’s circumstances, Deimos still maintained a mild bewilderment as moving the wood, and piecing them together, resulted in no other consequences. No tables were overturned. No tools dropped. No lumber cracked beneath his figure and sent him careening into the floor. So perhaps there was something to be said for teamwork. He stifled a chuckle in her direction, and carried on until they were finished.
With that, he presumed they could implement and go along the same lines. “Help me pad them then?” He proffered, before moving towards the necessary fibers, and fabric, grabbing hold of the tools, placing them nearby, ready for Hotaru’s assistance.
Halo was a nice place to visit if you had a thick coat of fur, but after this Jigano knew he wouldn't want to live here. The work was grueling and his own sense of perfectionism protested against leaving the job done less than perfectly. If he had been in charge he would have persevered a while longer, seeking to smooth the bath's floor and grade it carefully, but perhaps it was for the best that Hotaru was the final arbiter of what was good enough for she saved him from himself.
With a tired smile he nodded acquiessence to her directions, and soon was lifting and carrying the stones to fit them into place as close and tight as he could, starting with the bottom of the pool and working his way up. No mention had been made of a drain, so he used a touch of fire magic to melt the cracks of the stonework together once it was in place, creating a smooth, seamless barrier to prevent the escape of mud or water - unless Hotaru had other ideas.
Isuma maintained her vigil in the front room, excited by all the new activity and chirping bright encouragement to the industrious humans at their incomprehensible human tasks.
So precious is this life, this gift, this temporary blindness.
How unusual, for things to go halfway decently. She has not had the best luck (dice rolls) lately when it came to building things, though at least the changing room came out nicely without too many snags. She surveys the floor for a moment, finding that it was as good as it was going to get. Thankfully Hotaru seems to agree, and asks her to paint. Weaver flashes her a grin. ”Hopefully I can live up to your standard,” she says, recalling the lovely job Hotaru had done for her.
Weaver picks up the paint and brushes and sets to work, starting with the back wall. Again, she works slowly, trying to do a decent job. If this goes well, she’ll move on to the check-in counter next as instructed.
***
Weaver starts painting the back wall first and only moves to the check-in counter if the wall goes well.
Burn and drown and embrace the false dark, then grasp the unthinkable height of resulting joy.
Their success holds true, and Hotaru happily moves to Deimos' side to assist with tacking down the topping for the tables. This at least is more her speed, with fabric and fluff to be manipulated and manhandled down to create a comfortable arrangement for someone to receive a massage on. The tables are summarily completed, leaving them standing in a neat little row awaiting customers. She will likely set up curtains between them sometime in the future, if only to make it easier on those shyer souls who would rather not have their bared torsos glimpsed by their table neighbors.
Weaver's painting goes smoothly - perhaps a few places that need to be painted over a second time, or a few annoying places to reach - but altogether it is a decently performed job. Hotaru looks over it as she turns around, appraising it with a pleased expression on her fair features. "I would say you have," she compliments, gratitude suffusing her tone. The paint will have to be left to dry, and so she beckons Deimos and Weaver back to the room Jigano is in. He has better luck this time around, the stones lying neatly and the fire magic a perfect touch that she had anticipated needing to deal with after the initial masonry. With everyone gathered around, she smiles brightly down at Jigano and offers him a hand up if he needs it.
"That leaves the main event! So the secret to a good mud bath is volcanic ash and spring water - lucky for us, Torchline decided to give us plenty of both." There's a wry tine to her vocals as she says it, aware of the catastrophe and trying to look on the small bright side. It had certainly been a benefit to the citizens for Hotaru to swoop in and gather as much ash as she could physically transport. Which was much more than most would give the small woman credit for. Gesturing to the large sacks containing the ash, and the crude gallons of spring water, she walks over towards them. "We'll have to mix these together with some of the displaced dirt, and with a bit of elbow grease, we'll be ready for business." Before she can lose her momentum, she picks up the ash and begins to pour it into the basin Jigano has made.
- - -
Everyone had good rolls! This is our last round as everyone has made surprisingly great progress! All that's left is mixing up the spring water, volcanic ash, and mud together into a great bath (any fire/earth magic would be appreciated for both mixing and heating purposes!)
she's a butcher with a smile cut me deeper than I've ever been
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
More success, and he’d breathe easier understanding, knowing, that teamwork and collaboration had continued its charitable lines. Thereafter, once everyone had established their own triumphs within the wooded sanction, they were left with mixing the water, ash, and mud together – into some form of bath, apparently. He surveyed, eyed, the contents carefully, before lifting gallon after gallon of spring water, attempting to ensure all of the container’s adornments made it into the basin, before going for another after another. Meanwhile, his fire magic blazed, no need of his palms lifted and anointed after practice, attempting to heat the water to make their lives a little easier in the mixing process.
--
Deimos lifts some gallons of water to put in the basin, and uses his fire magic to heat it up!
So precious is this life, this gift, this temporary blindness.
The painting goes well enough. Perhaps not quite as well as Hotaru’s had gone, but she seems pleased with the work at least. Hotaru leads them all back into the room where Jigano has been, and explains what they need to do. Given the present company, Weaver’s not sure what help she can really be. Jigano had some rather solid earth magic, Deimos had fire and general brawn covered, Hotaru is already pouring the ash.
Still, she wanted to be of some use, so she grabs and shovel and makes her way to the pile of mud. Weaver works to shovel some of the mud into the basin, and though Jigano may end up helping her, at least it would allow him to focus less on this task and more on mixing whatever ends up in the basin.
Burn and drown and embrace the false dark, then grasp the unthinkable height of resulting joy.
Cleaning the bath out was going to be a hell of a chore without a drain in place, but he wasn't sure where they would even sink a drain too. Still, magic was more prevalent in Halo and Hotaru could always call on them for future maintenance if she needed a little magic muscle to make the work go faster.
Accepting Hotaru's hand out gladly - and equally glad that Deimos didn't start pouring the water in on him before he was free of the sunken space - he raised a brow as he realized that it would be a mudbath rather than a hot spring as he'd first assumed. It certainly sounded interesting, at least, and he grinned at Weaver as she started to shovel. "Thank you for the assistance. This is going to be tricky enough as it is..." While Weaver added mud and earth to the water and ash, Jigano used Creation and Earth Magic to fashion himself a long, broad-bladed, sturdy wooden paddle. Dipping it into the goop soup Deimos was cooking up, he began to stir with muscle and magic both, attempting to push the clods of earth around to mix the mess thoroughly as he walked around the edge, making sure to mix evenly across the entire pit.
04-28-2020, 09:52 AM (This post was last modified: 04-28-2020, 09:52 AM by Hotaru.)
HOTARU
Hotaru smiles and clasps Jigano's shoulder gently as she helps him up and out of the bath area. They're in the home stretch now, and she can feel it. Her spa is coming together neatly, like a perfect row of stitches ready to be tied off. It's exhilarating, and she can scarcely bite back the excitement in order to actually finish the project. It's amazing how seamlessly they all work together - the ash thankfully doesn't go anywhere else except the bath, Deimos' water doesn't splash anyone, Weaver's shoveling efforts help immensely in allowing Jigano the focus to help stir up the 'goop soup' as it was so aptly called.
It is sufficiently mixed with a few minutes of hard work, and Hotaru gleefully claps her hands when the last ingredients are exhausted and it's finally, fully mixed. "I can't believe we did this all so quickly!" Admittedly she'd expected it to be much harder, but their luck has held throughout most of the project which has made it far easier to complete. "The stones are heat-conductive and will hold the magic we used, and we can reheat them as needed for group sessions. The showers should keep the replacement process rare, but maybe I'll call on this fantastic team to do it since we had such luck." She winks playfully at the trio, displaying an uncharacteristic amount of joy at their success, at what her spa already means to her. "You don't need to after all the help you've given me, but if any of you are interested I'll be building the hot spring addition next. That one is going to take a lot more work since we'll be starting from scratch." Might as well pop a small advertisement in there in case they want to busy their hands before LongNight and Deepfrost. "And of course, free massages and mud baths in the meantime! If you'd like, you can even jump in now." Gesturing at their point of pride with an impish grin. She's quite eager to hang a name above the entryway, to get to work spreading the word and establishing clients. She is truly grateful to all three of them, and it shows blatantly on her expressive face.
- - -
STILL had fantastic rolls, what! The spa has been officially completed! All three are offered IC free services, and of course if they want to help make the hot spring ;) Thank you for your help, feel free to do a wrap post if you'd like and then I will archive in a few days!
she's a butcher with a smile cut me deeper than I've ever been
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Amazingly, the rest seemed to go off without a hitch. Their incantations, maelstroms, and capabilities forged along, and quickly, efficiently, it all seemed to come together. He stepped back to survey, to contemplate, to marvel at what they’d managed to accomplish, a slow smile sent Hotaru’s way. She’d have something else to add to her repertoire, amongst and amidst a squadron of memories and nostalgic angles; the backdrop of the world completing what was once theirs. “I can help with the hot springs, when you are ready.” Like a piece of the Basin back, in their grasp, instead of out in the ether of memories and destruction. He’d take all the other portions too – mud baths and massages for the future, no inclination to jump into the ‘goop soup’ now. “Congratulations,” and he wrinkled his nose her way, patting her on the shoulder, too many other amusements in sibling-like bonds, before making his way home, to begin preparations of their own for Deepfrost.
It was a nice surprise to have everything come together for a change, and Jigano grinned proudly at the team that had made it all happen. It felt good to be part of a group that worked so well together, and he nodded deeply to Hotaru as he leaned on his paddle. "We had a most excellent leader," he praised where it was due, for it was her preparation and guidance that had let them all complete their tasks in such short order. "And I would also be glad to help with the hot spring. Even more than the mudbath, that's what I yearn for," he admitted with a chuckle. "Once that's done I'll book myself in for a day of pampering and primping. Perhaps with Deimos to keep me company?" he teased the General slyly.
But the day's tasks here were done, and there was harvest yet to help Rory bring in back home. With a final bow to Hotaru and Weaver he followed Deimos out the door and back to the portal, Isuma fluttering cheerfully about the gathering as she trilled her own congratulations on the new business, stealing any pets and cuddles the ladies would give her before she followed her companion home again.
So precious is this life, this gift, this temporary blindness.
It goes well, perhaps surprisingly. Shoveling the mud is hard work, and her arms grow tired, but she enjoys the burn of exertion. It makes her feel alive, and together, all the work pays off. Soon the mud bath is done, and it looks far more luxurious than anything in Halo has looked. Though Hotaru suggests jumping into the mud bath now, Weaver does find herself declining. ”I will definitely take you up on that offer soon.” For now though, the day is nearly done and she has her own business to attend to, and she probably ought to go check on the Kraai.
’Find me when you need more help,” she says with a smile toward Hotaru, pausing briefly to pet Isuma, before heading out after Deimos and Jigano. Tonight, she would dream of massages and mud baths. For all Korbin’s complaining, Weaver was not sorry to see business booming in Halo.
Burn and drown and embrace the false dark, then grasp the unthinkable height of resulting joy.
