From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
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!
Well would you look at that? Neron has apparently missed his calling in life, the Hailstorm folding his arms and gazing at the completed shelves as if to wait for it to all fall down. But it doesn’t, and he’s still narrowing his eyes suspiciously at the construction when Chuy calls for them to gather around again. He listens to their next set of instructions, nodding and tossing a lazy salute his way, heading outside to see what he can do about the walls.
One each seems fair, and Neron starts on his wall without complaint, raising an eyebrow at the memory snow... thing... and bouncing his eyebrows at Wessex to ask what it was all about. Once their walls look about done, he steps back and raises his hands, letting ice crawl up and over the structure.
Weak knees from the level, I’m sick from the treble, I’m your type of metal
Ningos are a tricky beast that Hester has dealt with more than once in her life thus far. Usually, you’re lucky, and the birds flee after the fire is lit, seeking cooler, safer places to perch. For a moment, Hester feels lucky, while she works on the desk, but it’s a short lived feeling, more and more telltale coos echoing down the chimney.
Chuy walks past just as she moves to look at the fireplace again, hands on her hips. ”I thought we’d at least be able to finish building before we got to the birds.” Hester sighs, letting her head loll to the side. She knew they were going to finish lunch before she actually did anything though, following Chulane back outside to devour a sandwich (and a half), prepping for what was surely going to be a battle of wits and skill.
The broom is accepted with a steely smile, every part of Hester braced for battle. Before she enters the shack again though, she scrounges up a few damp and rotting slats of waste wood carrying those inside as well. With no one to tend to or feed it while they ate, the fire has burned down, little more than embers. Low enough that Hester feels no fear in leaning over and jamming the broom up the chimney, clattering it against the sides in an attempt to scare the ningo away.
It’s hard to tell immediately if she’s successful, but she has a safety net, the damp wood. Hester builds the fire higher, then sets her damp cargo atop it, smoking out any birds still in the chimney. Then, she leaves the shack, meaning to go and help with the walls. Hester is confident she’s been successful, confident her plan is going to work without supervision.
He laughs along with Hester, before getting on with his work - walking across the field to his chosen wall with a wheelbarrow of bricks. At Wessex's question(s), he paused in his strides, more than happy to chat about it. "It's about community - this way, if a family's main hunter fell ill, or wanted a career change, the family will not ever go hungry. The food stored here is for everyone, and should be large enough to make a stockpile in preparation for DeepFrost and the LongNight within. It'll be stuffed full of ningo when the farm is going, but will also have room for whatever the people wish to contribute, and anything that we manage to trade for with other regions."
It's slow, hard labour, taking up quite a few hours of wheelbarrow-loads of bricks back and forth for each of them across the field. They each made decent headway though, with Chuy managing to get 2/3's of the way through his section, Wessex about halfway through her, and Neron 3/4's of his well established.
Hester does well with her plan to smoke the ningo out, as her efforts with the broom have sent it higher up the chimney, the smoke does the rest of the work within the next ten minutes. In a flurry of feathers and rather indignant squawks, a soot-covered ningo angrily announces its departure from the top of the chimney, flying over the top of them - almost as if it wanted to be sure each of them received some soot in their hair for their efforts.
Heater then manages to make a good start on her section, getting about 1/3 of the way through the build.
"Nearly there," the vet said with a tired but amicable smile as they all crossed paths. "Next job is getting the roof on. It's a simple design - flat and slightly slanted, to divert most of the weight of the snow down the back of the building, but to hold onto enough to keep temperatures within insulated." Taking a swig of water from his waterskin, he resumes pushing the wheelbarrow of bricks back to his spot, determined to see this dream come to life by the strength of those present this day.
---
Almost there!
Chuy gets about 2/3 of his section built.
Wessex gets about 1/2 of her section built.
Neron gets 3/4 of his section built.
Hester successfully smokes the ningo out (though it's not terribly happy about it), and manages to get about 1/3 of her section of wall up.
Round 4 Tasks
Finishing off the last of the walls, and start putting on the timber roof.
Neron is pleased with the work he’s managed to achieve, likening himself to quite the builder now that he’s seen the wall... not fall down or destroy anyone else’s. So when Chuy calls over to describe the roof, the Hailstorm nods and offers him a lazy salute, continuing his work to hopefully finish his wall. Once he’s done, he steps back and raises his hands, coating the rest of the structure in ice. He’s even kind enough to wait until the others are done before helping out there, too.
Now for the roof. ”I’d say we all deserve a drink at the Kraai when we’re done here. It’s on me,” he says, moving to the timber to try and arrange it into appropriate lengths to haul up and onto the roof.
Neron finishes walls and ice, and starts arranging the timber for the roof!
Laser beams we're about to awesome all your dreams
Intentionally disregarding any looks about her failed memory snow construction, the Wraith is not going to let anyone make her feel bad for being a little playful.
So she gives the Agricultural Minister all her attention; nodding at Chuy’s explanation, Wessex listens and from his description of its purpose decides that she likes what she heras (not that it matters what she thinks, not being a citizen of Halo). He seems to be addressing the common problem of death and community and perhaps making it less hard on the widows and orphans than it was before. “Ah, that makes sense,” she says with a light smile and returns to her work, hitting a few snags along the way.
The day is long as they go through the monotonous motions of placing bricks and adhesive, and the Wraith hopes that with the help of her shadow, she can finish her part of the wall. If someone doesn’t get t the roof first, Wessex will scale the new ice walls with the help of her claws and start to set the back section of the roof.
Weak knees from the level, I’m sick from the treble, I’m your type of metal
There is going to come a point where her self claimed reputation of 'Ningo Chaser' is going to come back to bite her, of this Hester is positive. But, today is not that point. Today, between her banging the broom in the chimney and lightning her smoky fire, she is triumphant, and her disgraced opponent flies away squawking all the way. It rains soot down upon them all, and as if it knows who has slighted it, an extra present comes dropping down onto Hester's shoulder, much to her chagrin.
It's supposed to be good luck, Hester tells herself, as she gets to work on the walls. Perhaps it will bode well for the building.
Physical labour like this is not necessarily something Hester is unfamiliar with, but it's not something she's particularly good at either, and it shows in how slowly her efforts begin to take shape. But she's persistent, even if it takes a toll on her conversation. If she's successful in her efforts to finish, she'll move to help with the roof, though it's a task beyond her knowledge, and she'll simply defer to whomever seems like they have the best handle on it.
That is to say, everyone contributed their full efforts to the tasks at hand, and as dinnertime approached, the final pieces all seemed to slot into place.
Much sweat was shed, much collaboration as those who worked a bit slower (unused to such physical labour) were buoyed by assistance from others. All in all, it was a successful end to a hard day's work.
Throughout the work on the roof, Chulane shifted to eagle and leopard as needed, getting clear vantage of the situation, watching the curious shadowy projection of Wessex, assisting each one with a steadying hand (or paw) as needed as the long planks of timber came into place. He was thorough with his placement and sealing against moisture on the timber, not wanting to have to come back and complete repairs at a later date.
There were finishing touches that he could add as he went - shelving and racks inside, possibly extra pillars of support within to ensure the roof was supported enough. But these were things he could configure as he used the space, as he determined exactly what space to allocate to the ningo farm usage and what space to allocate to general storage for the community.
A front door to the facility would also be warranted - he quickly affixed a plain plank of wood to the gap for now, a hole chiselled where a handle might normally go.
Then he wandered the perimeter, testing the structure here and there, before coming to the front, where he met the others.
"Thank you for your help here today. Please, feel free to chisel your name on a stone for posterity if you want." He gestured to the chisel set the stone masons had left behind for them to make use of if they so wanted to. "You have my thanks, and the thanks of Halo, for your efforts. If you ever need a ningo feathered quilt, meat or eggs, you need only ask."
And with that, he clapped his hands together again, signalling the end of the day's work. He lingered a bit afterwards, to admire the structure built in the setting sun (because it's still Flowerbirth), excited to show it to Kia the next time he saw her.
--
The Department of Agriculture has an office and a freezer!
Because a lot has happened since this started, I have expedited the last round to get us to completion! Please feel free to have your character do a final exit post - I will be archiving this thread sometime on the weekend!
